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A Banner Day For Junk Science . . .
IBD Editorials ^ | January 6, 2011 | Staff

Posted on 01/06/2011 6:41:52 PM PST by Kaslin

Corruption: A study debunking vaccines by a scientist in the pay of trial lawyers was found to be "an elaborate fraud." Meanwhile, the "Great Garbage Patch" turned out to be a sea myth. Science has some explaining to do.

Scientific inquiry, once perceived a noble redoubt of objective truth-seeking and enlightenment, is doing a bang-up job of dragging itself down to P.T. Barnum-style snake oil-elixir hype, given the amount of fraud being exposed almost daily.

Of course, mistakes happen in any field of inquiry, but these are politically motivated ruses intended to advance an agenda.

A 1998 British medical study linking autism to childhood vaccines by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, published as fact in the prestigious Lancet journal, was exposed by a rival as a fraud. According to an investigation from U.K. medical journal BMJ, Wakefield misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 patients in his study.

BMJ concluded there was "no doubt" of his responsibility.

More fakery arrived from the other side of the world, too. After years of alarming claims about a "Great Garbage Patch" of plastic bottles and bags floating around the Pacific in a space twice the size of Texas, an Oregon State University professor of oceanography, Angelicque White, found the actual size of the supposed horror was "grossly exaggerated." Instead of taking up two Texases, the floating landfill's size was about 1% of that state's bulk.

Claims that the ocean was filled with more plastic than plankton, and that the garbage patch was growing tenfold each decade since the 1950s, were also found to be rubbish.

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: junkscience
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1 posted on 01/06/2011 6:41:53 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

>According to an investigation from U.K. medical journal BMJ, Wakefield misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 patients in his study...

LOL And the facts were not confirmed BEFORE the study was published in medical journals???


2 posted on 01/06/2011 6:51:48 PM PST by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: Kaslin
¨For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.¨
--Richard Feynman
3 posted on 01/06/2011 6:55:42 PM PST by onedoug
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To: Kaslin

When politics entered the Science community, they were doomed. Interesting how some jumped right into bed with the propagandist and outright liars.


4 posted on 01/06/2011 6:57:57 PM PST by Marty62 (Marty 60)
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To: Marty62

It’s all part of people’s irrational fear of anything that isn’t “natural”, and a function of vaccination being too successful. Not many folks have seen some poor child with whooping cough or had a child become deaf due to measles.

Not to mention, the greedy trial lawyers, like John Edwards and Erin Brockovich, who make a fortune from promoting these phony scare stories.


5 posted on 01/06/2011 7:12:31 PM PST by Pining_4_TX
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To: Pining_4_TX

Frankly I think it is irresponsible of Parents to not vaccinate children against these diseases. I remember when swimming pools were closed due to Polio Scares. Somethings stick with you when your a child. That sure did.


6 posted on 01/06/2011 7:16:15 PM PST by Marty62 (Marty 60)
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To: Kaslin
In recent years, thousands of parents have refused vaccines for their children, to the detriment of public health. Measles, mumps and rubella cases have all risen among children since Wakefield's scam, taking public health back to the levels seen in P.T. Barnum's day as well.
7 posted on 01/06/2011 7:22:03 PM PST by iowamark
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To: Kaslin
Ten barefoot boys with shoes on stood sitting on the grass.

8 posted on 01/06/2011 7:33:54 PM PST by I see my hands (How's that ballot box working out for you?)
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To: Kaslin

Jenny McCarthy just got a little more saggy with this news.


9 posted on 01/06/2011 7:53:56 PM PST by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
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To: onedoug

Whataguy the good Dr. was.


10 posted on 01/06/2011 7:57:12 PM PST by oyez (The difference in genius and stupidity is that genius has limits.)
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To: Kaslin
The Earth in in real danger due to all the B.S. pollution.
11 posted on 01/06/2011 8:00:58 PM PST by oyez (The difference in genius and stupidity is that genius has limits.)
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To: Marty62

Its time to call for a separation of Science and State!


12 posted on 01/06/2011 9:10:44 PM PST by irishtenor (Everything in moderation, however, too much whiskey is just enough... Mark Twain)
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To: Kaslin

There’s a “Great Garbage Patch” in the White House right now and that’s not a myth.


13 posted on 01/06/2011 9:32:21 PM PST by AlanGreenSpam (Obama: The First 'American IDOL' President - sponsored by Chicago NeoCom Thugs)
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To: Kaslin; metmom
From a 2005 FR thread:

Many Scientists Admit to Misconduct

When one is trained to think as a Darwinist and chooses to identify themselves with the Darwinist worldview, it is little wonder that one witnesses politically corrupted and fraudulently debased thought processes in other scientific disciplines, as well.

FReegards!


14 posted on 01/06/2011 9:37:50 PM PST by Agamemnon (Darwinism is the glue that holds liberalism together)
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To: Kaslin

Bump to read the rest later. Thanks, Kas.


15 posted on 01/06/2011 9:42:34 PM PST by kitkat ( Obama: Hype and Chains.)
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To: bill1952
And the facts were not confirmed BEFORE the study was published in medical journals???

Raw data are often supplied in supplements. Complete medical histories are not provided with case reports, just the pertinent facts. He summarized a series of case reports for 12 patients in the Lancet paper, IIRC. He was expected to be honest, not in cohoots with shysters.

16 posted on 01/06/2011 10:47:53 PM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: Kaslin

1% the size of Texas is still 2,686 square miles, or 1,719,040 acres - a circle nearly 60 miles across. Still pretty staggering, though not as staggering as the size of the Pacific Ocean.


17 posted on 01/07/2011 2:54:44 AM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: Marty62
When politics entered the Science community, they were doomed.

So.... it seems like we should be more concerned about the 'separation of Science and Politics', than about the 'separation of Church and State'.

18 posted on 01/07/2011 4:17:36 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post)
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To: Kaslin

Most of this plastic junk comes from China and other Asia countries...


19 posted on 01/07/2011 4:44:09 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine .. now it is your turn..)
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To: irishtenor

I like that:

seperation of science and state. Catchy.


20 posted on 01/07/2011 4:53:34 AM PST by Marty62 (Marty 60)
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