Under Siege: The Medical Sciences

We are witnessing an unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in the U.S. and to a lesser extent in Canada.

Girl Getting Vaccinated

Source: Pexels

What you believe, is what you perceive. The stronger one is attached to a particular ideology the more one tends to distort reality which then leads to mutual antagonism, questioning of motives and tragic consequences, as evidenced by the alarming new outbreaks of measles in unvaccinated children in North America.
Measles is among the most contagious diseases known. If exposed to someone infected, nine out of 10 unvaccinated children are likely to catch the virus leading to potentially serious complications such as ear infections, pneumonia, and encephalitis that can result in lasting neurological issues or even death. On average, measles claims the lives of one to three out of every 1,000 infected children. [1].
Even a single dose of the vaccine is highly effective in preventing infection. Scientific research has shown unequivocally that the measles vaccine does NOT cause autism or other permanent neurologic or developmental problems. [1].
Parents with newborns or young children will often seek advice from their family doctor - if they have one - or try a walk-in clinic. The doctor will likely explain what’s involved in having their child vaccinated and urge them to make an appointment for their child to be vaccinated right away. Often, they leave still confused, not having had their concerns addressed.
It is not surprising therefore, that an increasing number of people is seeking advice and treatment from alternative medicine practitioners such as doctors of osteopathy, chiropractic and naturopathy. Part of the popular appeal of these practitioners is the way they respond to people’s unmet needs.
Alternative medicine practioners not licensed to prescribe drugs, instead recommend vitamins and supplements made of naturally grown mushrooms, plants, fruits, seeds, etc. This, together with the influence of Eastern healing practices like yoga, meditation or acupuncture, has coalesced into a new wellness culture that values everything organic and natural and tends to disparage everything pharmaceutical or manufactured. Personally, I have utilized many of the practices of holistic medicine and found them beneficial. But drugs, surgery, chemotherapy and the like may be necessary sometimes. Beware of throwing out the baby with the bath water.
The wellness industry functions with little oversight and frequently relies on personal experiences, anecdotal accounts and intuition. [2]. Since it emphasizes individual perception wellness culture is especially susceptible to unsupported health claims, misinformation and conspiracy theories. This environment often assigns more weight to individual beliefs than to scientific or professional perspectives.
Alongside the growing number of alternative medicine practitioners, there has been a dramatic rise in lifestyle and health influencers on social media. Many of them blend New Age ideas with wellness rhetoric and fringe political ideologies. Like the Pied Piper from the Brothers Grimm tale, they guide their followers toward personal websites that promote
the sale of supplements, courses, books, films, and retreats that claim to enhance emotional and nutritional health. [3]
We are witnessing the rise of an unholy alliance that champions the idea that both health and wealth are attainable through strong, unwavering faith between unregulated, dubious health products — such as cancer-curing coffee enemas or devices claiming to eliminate parasites through bodily electrical currents — and misleading political rhetoric and prosperity gospel ideology. [4].
How do we separate the wheat from the chaff and decide who to believe? Here are my five rules for practicing information hygiene.
1. Who wrote the story or who is putting it out? You want to be informed by a person who is free of political or ideological agendas, who follows the data dispassionately. If you are not familiar with that person, turn to your search engine and look to neutral sources for biographical information.
2. What is the track record of the writer or proponent? Have they in the past made mountains out of mole hills to concoct wild theories from kernels of truth and to promote, frankly, quack medicine?
3. What is the actual research study the story is based on? Take the claim that vitamin A is as good at preventing measles as receiving the measles vaccine. If you spend a few minutes researching you will discover that this claim is based on a 1991 paper in The American journal of clinical nutrition, from South Africa. Sixty hospitalized children aged 4–24 months with complicated measles received a World Health Organization recommended dose of vitamin A or placebo. There was one death in the placebo group, no deaths in the experimental group. [5]. That’s it. Nothing about vitamin A providing protection from catching measles. The best that can be said about vitamin A based on this and similar studies from third world countries is that Vitamin A improved the recovery of some very sick and probably undernourished children.
4. Differentiate between well-intentioned influencers and unscrupulous influencers.
Unscrupulous Influencers promote products/services without disclosing they’re sponsored or affiliated. They hide or downplay how they profit from it. They guarantee massive and instant success, loss of weight, perfect skin, etc., with little to no effort. They only respond to praise. They are often associated with conspiracy theories.
Scrupulous influencers disclose sponsored content clearly and are upfront about their affiliations. They don’t jump on every trend or promote things outside their niche. They respond to comments and are open to feedback or constructive criticism. They do not advocate any political or religious views.
5. Beware of AI fabrications.
AI systems reflect the data they’re trained on and the biases of their creators. Therefore, not everything you receive from ChatGPT or similar systems, is reliable. Once again, if it sounds too good to be true or too far-fetched, check it out.