Health Canada is finally making (baby) steps toward better informing the public when it comes to homeopathy. As readers of the blog should know by now, homeopathy is based on really silly, counterfactual beliefs that, if true, would lead to a complete rewrite of biology and chemistry textbooks. Despite this, Health Canada routinely approves homeopathic … Continue reading
Tag Archives: vaccines
Read: Vermont’s Pro-Vaccine Position
The State of Vermont officially says “no” to philosophical objections to vaccination: “Like most states, Vermont currently offers parents an exemption for medical conditions and one for religious beliefs. It has been one of about twenty states that allow for philosophical exemptions, and the majority of exemptions in Vermont have been for philosophical reasons.” Vermont’s … Continue reading
Watch: How Vaccines Work
The Patient Education Office of the McGill University Health Centre has just released a video to educate the public on the importance of vaccination. And who guides us through the mechanism of action of one of our most effective public health measures? Dr. Christopher Labos… in cartoon form. If … Continue reading
Replication Is Key: Revisting the Hypnagogic Jab
You may remember a two–part article I wrote last January on the very complex issue of whether or not a particular H1N1 vaccine might have caused new cases of narcolepsy. Toward the end of the second part, I wrote the following two paragraphs: “The group which recently reported on this hypocretin-targeting white blood cell tested … Continue reading
CRTKL: Mercury in Vaccines
If you missed my talk entitled “CRTKL: The Critical Reasoning Tool Kit Lecture”, here’s a clip from it: Continue reading
CRTKL Follow-up: The Videos You Didn’t Get to See
First of all, I want to thank everyone who came to the “Critical Reasoning Tool Kit Lecture” last night at McGill University. I received great feedback from the people who came to see me afterwards and it was particularly stimulating for me to be talking about critical thinking to people outside of the usual local … Continue reading
CRTKL: The Critical Reasoning Tool Kit Lecture (McGill, April 9, *ROOM CHANGE*)
I have been graciously invited by the brand-spankin’-new Freethought Association at McGill to give a talk in the evening of April 9 on critical thinking skills. Why me? I used to head the Montreal chapter of the Centre for Inquiry; I have a background in biochemistry, molecular biology, and human genetics; and as one of the … Continue reading
Read: This Mom Was ‘Anti-Vaccination’ (Until She Went Hunting for Evidence)
What a compelling read. If you are a mother who believes vaccination is unnatural, I implore you to read this fantastic article by Megan Sandlin who used to be in your shoes. Don’t want to hear about vaccines from a skeptical guy who doesn’t have a child? How about from a mom with two kids … Continue reading
Unveiling Culprits, Part 2: The Hypnagogic Jab
As I write this, British multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline is conducting a study in my backyard. No, there are no lab-coat-clad scientists bagging petunias in my garden. I don’t have a garden, much less a backyard. (And, for what it’s worth, I think “Bagging Petunias” would be an awesome band name) By backyard, I mean … Continue reading
Unveiling Culprits, Part 1: The Immunological Morpheus
As medical research pushes back the veil on the causes of certain well-known diseases, we are sometimes surprised at the unlikely culprits. It sounds obvious today, for instance, that cigarette smoking can cause lung cancer: one can easily picture the smoke snaking down to the lungs and leaving a nasty deposit. Sometimes, however, the connection … Continue reading
Cracked Science 
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