Alison Campbell • Nov 26, 2019 •
Today the death toll from measles in Samoa rose to 32. All but four of the dead were less than 5 years old. Absolutely terrible, heartbreaking, news. That statistic alone should be enough to give the lie to the common claim by antivaccination activists plague enthusiasts that “measles is a benign childhood disease”. Clearly, it is not. (And never … Read More
Alison Campbell • Oct 02, 2018 •
The internet, while it can be a godsend if you need to find something out (gotta love google maps for directions), can also be a wretched hive of wrongness and misinformation. That misinformation can take many forms, but when it comes to 1080 it’s clear that those opposed to NZ’s use of this chemical firmly believe that a picture … Read More
Guest Author • Apr 09, 2018 •
New app iWitnessed will allow eye witnesses and victims to record details of their testimony to help with police investigations. The app guides users through a list of key interview questions allowing specifics to be captured as quickly as possible after a crime. Developed by experts in forensic psychology at the University of Sydney and … Read More
Guest Author • Apr 03, 2018 •
Phoebe Roth, The Conversation This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Children with autism and their younger siblings are less likely to be fully vaccinated than neurotypical children and their siblings, new research from the US has found. Of children aged seven years and older, 94% of neurotypical children had … Read More
Ken Perrott • Jan 31, 2017 •
New Zealand anti-fluoride campaigners have whittled their list of objections to community water fluoridation (CWF) down to 12 reasons. Maybe that’s progress – they used to tout a list of 50 reasons! Let’s go through that list one by one and see if any stand up. I am responding here to each reason given in the Fluoride Free New Zealand’s … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Mar 26, 2015 •
Food Babe, aka Vani Hari, has developed quite a following on her blog where she provides advice on healthy living. Some of the advice can be quite good, however, it can also include incorrect information often creates unnecessary chemophobia. A recent article for magazine The Cut provided some good examples of how good advice can be muddled with less … Read More
Ken Perrott • Jan 14, 2015 •
A recent analysis of the internet and social media illustrates the up-hill battle science and health professionals, and pro-science lay people, often face with misinformation and outright distortion of science. The authors show the problem for the case of community water fluoridation and … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Dec 08, 2014 •
This is the second article in a series critiquing contributions to the Fluoride Free NZ report “Scientific and Critical Analysis of the 2014 New Zealand Fluoridation Report.” My first article Peer review of an anti-fluoride “peer review” discussed Kathleen Theissen’s contribution. (It also discussed a draft contribution by Chris Neurath which does not appear in the final version). I will shortly post … … Continue reading … Read More
Gareth Renowden • Mar 14, 2014 •
This powerful article by Lawrence Torcello, assistant professor of philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology, first appeared at The Conversation here. It examines the potential legal liabilities that should attach to deliberate misinformation campaigns to delay action on climate change. The importance of clearly communicating science to the public should not be underestimated. Accurately understanding […] … Read More