Andrei Mihai Read online

  1

  A child’s immunity needs to develop naturally

  Vaccines actual y strengthen the immune system. Because they

  introduce a weakened form of a virus into the body, vaccines help the

  immune system by teaching it to identify and defend against infections

  in the future. Children need to be vaccinated at a young age because that’s

  when their immune system is the most susceptible. However, young

  and old people alike need an immune system boost with a vaccine.

  2

  Vaccines contain toxic chemicals such as

  mercury, aluminum or formaldehyde

  While some vaccines contain potential y toxic substances, these

  chemicals become toxic to the human body only when present at

  certain levels. All vaccine ingredients are present in very low quantities,

  and they don’t cause any harm in these small amounts. Mercury used

  to be present in negligible amounts, but due to public outrage, it was

  removed entirely from vaccines in 2001. A vaccine contains only 0.1

  mg of formaldehyde, which is far less than the 500 mg the human body

  makes every day for DNA synthesis.

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  Anti-Vaxxing

  3

  A baby’s immune system can’t handle that

  many vaccines

  On any given day, a child will fight between 2,000 and 6,000 immune

  challenges, which is far more than the number of antigens or reactive

  particles in all of the 14 scheduled vaccines combined. Even if a baby

  were to take them all at once, the vaccines would only slightly tax their

  immune system -- less than 0.1% of its total capacity. Immunizations

  are negligible in comparison to the countless bacteria and viruses that

  a baby fights off every day.

  4

  The side effects aren’t worth it

  Children have been vaccinated for decades and, despite what you

  may have read, there is no one reputable source or credible study

  linking immunization to long-term health problems. Significant side

  effects are extremely rare (around one in a million cases), and are far

  outweighed by the advantages.

  . . .

  Some vaccines can lead to mild symptoms resembling

  the infections they are designed to prevent.

  In the very rare cases where these symptoms occur,

  the person’s immune response is to the vaccine’s

  content, not the disease itself.

  . . .

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  Anti-Vaxxing

  5

  Hygiene and better sanitation are responsible

  for the drop in infections, not vaccines

  While these socioeconomic elements are important and significantly

  lowered the population’s death rate, their effect on infectious diseases

  isn’t nearly as great as that of vaccines. It was a vaccine, not running

  water and soap, that eradicated polio. The immune response is to the

  vaccine’s content, not the disease itself.

  Vaccines infect children with the diseases

  6

  they’re supposedly trying to prevent

  There is only one instance in which a vaccine was shown to cause

  disease -- the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), which in some cases caused

  patients to develop poliomyelitis due to the live virus being used. OPV

  is no longer used and was replaced by an injection that doesn’t contain

  live viruses.

  Vaccines are a conspiracy designed by big

  7

  pharma for profit

  Pharmaceutical companies make money from vaccines, like all

  companies do from their products. Compared with drugs that require

  daily doses, vaccines are only administered once a year or once in a

  lifetime, which offers far less economic incentive than other drugs.

  Besides, if more people don’t use vaccines and get sick, that would make

  pharma companies even richer.

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  Anti-Vaxxing

  People have the right not to vaccinate

  8

  themselves (or their children) because it’s

  their body

  Vaccines are designed to protect you but are just as important for

  protecting those around you -- especial y vulnerable groups like the

  elderly or those who can’t be vaccinated due to medical considerations.

  By choosing not to vaccinate, you put others at risk, which interferes

  with their right to a healthy life. Even if it’s just for yourself, vaccines

  aren’t nearly unique in this -- laws also mandate wearing seatbelts, for

  instance, or local smoking bans.

  9

  Vaccines are no longer required -- there aren’t

  any more diseases left to fight!

  The Polio virus (like many others) is still around and could easily

  start re-infecting unprotected individuals when re-introduced to the

  country. A better example is measles, which was very rare in the United

  States until outbreaks occurred as a result of Americans traveling to

  countries where the disease remained widespread.

  When there are adequate vaccination rates, most types of outbreaks

  can be prevented.

  10

  Vaccines cause autism

  We’ve already gone through this, but it deserves another mention.

  Hopeful y, this long-disproven idea will eventual y go away.

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  Anti-Vaxxing

  References (anti-Vaxxing)

  28. Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine, Committee on

  Infectious Diseases, Committee on State Government Affairs, Council on

  School Health, Section on Administration and Practice Management, “Medical

  Versus Nonmedical Immunization Exemptions for Child Care and School

  Attendance“, American Academy of Pediatrics.

  29. Sachiko Ozawa et al., (2016), “Return On Investment From Childhood

  Immunization In Low- And Middle-Income Countries“, 2011–20, Health Affairs.

  30. Brian Deer, “Andrew Wakefield – the fraud investigation“, personal blog.

  31. Godlee F, Smith J, Marcovitch H., (2011), “Wakefield’s article linking

  MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent“, British Medical Journal.

  32. Taylor L., Swerdfeger A., Eslick G., (2014), “Vaccines are not associated

  with autism: an evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort

  studies,“ Vaccine.

  33. Jessica Atwell et al., (2013), “Nonmedical Vaccine Exemptions and

  Pertussis in California, 2010“, Pediatrics.

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  Detox

  Detox

  very good

  at selling Th at

  does

  you stuffn o t

  work.

  45

  Detox

  So,

  what’s

  *These fads will do nothing to

  remove toxins and some are very

  Detox*?

  risky and may seriously harm you.

  Many people use so-called detox diets to cleanse their bodies of

  toxins -- or so they think.

  There’s only one real type of detox: the kind performed in hospitals in

  order to treat a person suffering from dangerous levels of drugs, alcohol,

  or poison. In any other context, ‘detox’ refers to unproven alternative

  medicine hacks like diets, supplements, or colon irrigations meant to

  flush toxins out of your system.

  Essential y, detoxin
g is supposed to remove ‘toxic’ things that have

  accumulated in the body. Needless to say, there’s no scientific evidence

  behind these practices. The supposed toxins are never specifical y

  named, and instead are general y referred to as “poisons”, “pol utants”,

  and “toxins”. Like true snake oil salesmen, detox practitioners like to

  use vague statements to trick people.

  Detox programs may involve a variety of approaches, such as:

  • Fasting;

  • Exclusively consuming juice or some other liquid for days at a

  time;

  • Eating a very restricted selection of foods;

  • Using various dietary supplements or other commercial products;

  • Cleansing the colon (lower intestinal tract) with enemas,

  laxatives, or colon hydrotherapy (also called “colonic irrigation”

  or “colonics”);

  • Combining several of these together, or utilizing other approaches.

  46

  Detox

  You can find of articles online on all sorts of detoxes[34]. Some are relatively benign, such as the “carrot juice cleanse”, but others are

  downright dangerous. Many programs permit no food, just tea and

  lemonade, and sometimes including more exotic ingredients like maple

  syrup and cayenne pepper.

  Detoxing

  and

  There is no scientific evidence that

  science

  these diets remove any toxins.

  The only thing that they achieve is weight loss but that’s, of course, to

  be expected when a person stops eating food. Even the weight loss bit is

  a smokescreen, as detox helps you lose fluids, not fat[35].

  In fact, using this diet can harm you in the long run because it robs

  the body of important nutrients like protein, vitamins, and minerals.

  According to the Harvard Medical School[36], the laxative component of the diet can lead to dehydration and electrolyte loss as well as an

  impaired bowel function. Other side effects[37] may include fatigue, nausea, and dizziness over the short-term, and loss of muscle mass and

  a heightened risk of heart attack in the long-run.

  Most other popular body cleanses make similar promises and follow

  more or less the same low-calorie, nutrient-poor diets. It’s important to

  understand why this is happening, and that just because you’re losing

  weight doesn’t mean it’s good for your body.

  . . .

  A lot of people who fall for detoxing are drawn in by

  the mirage of healthy living. They see detoxing as a

  quick fix, a miracle cure, or a much-needed reset

  that will let them feel refreshed and anew.

  . . .

  47

  Detox

  Want a detox? Just ask your liver

  Good news! You already have the perfect al y against toxins: your

  body! Your body is an expert at getting rid of waste, and it’s doing fine

  whether you’re doing a detox or not. The key is your liver.

  Out of the hundreds of functions your liver performs, ensuring

  toxins are safely removed from your blood is one of its most critical

  jobs. Your body is exposed to potential y toxic chemicals (only toxic

  if their concentration in the blood passes a certain threshold) when

  coming into contact with certain environmental pol utants such as

  pesticides, but also as a result of normal digestion. For instance, when we

  digest protein, ammonia is released as a byproduct, which is eliminated

  through urine. Any wastes your liver cannot use are converted and

  either carried out by bile into your small intestine or by the blood to

  your kidneys.

  But the truth is that these toxins don’t build up in your liver, kidneys,

  or any other part of your body, and if they did, you’d be in major trouble

  -- and no detox program would be able to help. It’s basic biology.

  In 2009, a group of young British scientists -- part of the pro-

  science charity Sense About Science -- compiled the

  “Detox Dossier” [38].

  This was an investigation into “some of the many products,

  special diets, tonics and supplements which are widely

  promoted as being able to ‘detox’ you after the festive season.”

  The authors of the report felt the public was being duped

  by dodgy science claims such as detox so they contacted

  the manufacturers of 15 detox products. What did these

  producers mean by detox?

  None had any clue!

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  Detox

  A fad

  There is not one credible scientific paper that endorses a detox

  product, diet, or remedy. A review recently published in the Journal of

  Human Nutrition and Dietetics[39] sums it up nicely:

  “To the best of our knowledge, no rigorous clinical investigations of

  detox diets have been conducted. The handful of studies that have been

  published suffer from significant methodological limitations including

  small sample sizes, sampling bias, lack of control groups, reliance on

  self-report and qualitative rather than quantitative measurements.”

  That being said, of course a healthy diet will help your body function

  better -- but this is no detox. Ultimately, the best ‘detox’ is not smoking,

  exercising regularly, and enjoying a healthy balanced diet that is rich in

  fruits and vegetables.

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  Detox

  References

  (Detox)

  34. “Do “Detox” Diets Work? Are They Safe? ”, CBS News 35. M. Yang, T. Van Itallie, (1976), “Composition of weight lost during short-

  term weight reduction. Metabolic responses of obese subjects to starvation

  and low-calorie ketogenic and nonketogenic diets“, The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

  36. Harvard Women’s Health Watch, “The dubious practice of detox“, Harvard Health Publishing.

  37. Scott Gavura, “The one thing you need to know before you detox“, ScienceBased Medicine.

  38. “THE DETOX DOSSIER (2009)“, Sense About Science.

  39. Alice Klein, Hosen Kiat, (2014), “Detox diets for toxin elimination and

  weight management: A critical review of the evidence“, Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.

  50

  Climate Change Denial

  the Climate

  isn’t

  changing

  We are

  changing

  it.

  51

  Climate Change Denial

  Climate change

  The Earth’s climate is changing, this change is unnatural, and we humans

  are causing it. That is the extent of what we know so far.

  Lastly, it’s time to address a problem much more complex than

  what we’ve dealt with so far: climate change. Sure enough, a counter

  movement has also emerged: climate change denial. Groups of people

  (often with vested interests) are spreading unwarranted doubts, opposing

  the overwhelming scientific evidence, denying that this change is

  happening and/or that humans are responsible. The evidence linking

  climate change to human activity is so clear it resembles the relationship

  between smoking and cancer risk -- in fact, there is more statistical

  relevance linking human activity to climate change than smoking to

  cancer. Therefore, climate change denial can only be regarded as a

  pseudoscience[40].
r />   Surely Earth’s climate has changed

  before?!

  The Earth is no stranger to climate change. From the narrowly-

  avoided “snowball Earth” 650 million years ago [41] to the ice-less Cretaceous period, our blue dot has had its fair share of changes. But

  our era is unlike any other -- there was no dramatic event or natural

  phenomenon like a volcano eruption that can explain this change -- it’s

  simply happening too fast.

  Natural changes on this scale tend to happen in geological time, on a

  scale of tens of thousands of years to millions of years -- whereas most

  of the changes we’ve seen have happened in the past 30 years.

  52

  Climate Change Denial

  We’ve also observed far more than a correlation -- the causation

  mechanism is also pretty clear: the large amount of greenhouse gases

  we’re outputting, particularly CO2, is what’s causing climate change.

  There have been tens of thousands of studies on this, with only a handful

  (often dubious works) casting any doubt on the conclusion that climate

  change is, indeed, happening[42].

  How do we

  know that

  There is, almost literally,

  climate change is a mountain of science

  supporting this.

  happening?

  If you were to pile up all these studies, which tend to have around

  20 pages, you’d end up with a pretty impressive mountain of paperwork

  supporting climate change[42].

  Jokes aside, there are very clear indicators that climate change is

  happening, and that it is linked to human activities:

  a) temperatures are rising: this[43][44] is the most direct piece of evidence.

  The planet’s average temperature has risen by about 1.62 degrees

  Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, when the

  Industrial Revolution kicked in. This doesn’t mean that every single

  place is warmer than it used to be, or that every single day is warmer

  than usual -- it’s important to make the distinction between weather

  (atmospheric conditions over a short period of time) and climate (an

  “average” of the weather over a longer period of time).

  Just because we occasional y have cold days doesn’t mean climate change

  isn’t happening. On a large scale, the Earth is definitely heating up.

  b) oceans are heating up: it’s not just the atmosphere or the land that’s heating up -- global waters are absorbing much of this heat as wel [45].