Jon Entine, the executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project, and a Senior Fellow at the World Food Center, Institute for Food and Agricultural Literacy at the University of California-Davis, pulls no punches. And, given the choice, you would rather not be punched by him.
Entine s views on science, medicine and GM foods are virtually indistinguishable from ours at ACSH, and he doesn't mess around, so we thought we should give him a shout out for his very smart piece, entitled Organic activists reject science, propose natural Ebola cure, claim government conspiracy. A shorter version also appears on the Science 2.0 mega-site.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom, also a frequent critic of the pseudo (and that s being generous) science organic movement, which involves the use of vitamins and supplements in place of real medicine says, It should be no surprise that the quacks and other vermin have slithered out of the woodwork at a time like this. He adds, Yet, I find it especially appalling that they are doing this at a time when there is still uncertainty about the best way to handle this very scary outbreak.
Entine makes his case quite clearly. He says, As often happens in times of medical crises, fringe groups come out from hiding in this instance, organic activists in the form of the most high profile organic lobby group in the United States. Bingo.
Entine is referring to an article from the always-unreliable Organic Consumers Association (OCA) website, which, among other idiocy says, With Ebola panic taking hold of the country, we hear very little about the natural ways to prevent the disease or treat the patients. This becomes even more important when you consider that these natural ways are less expensive and can often be self-administered. In addition, they often build up the immune system, and people susceptible to Ebola are more likely to have compromised immune systems.
And the reason that this approach isn t being explored is you guessed it the conspiracy theory.
Entine wonders, So why hasn t more stress been placed on these measures, which could effectively treat Ebola and potentially save lives? According to the OCA, this might be the result of the government putting greater stock in the profitability of drug companies than actually treating the virus. In other words, the organic group claims the government is in a conspiracy with Big Pharma to deny people inexpensive life-saving remedies.
But in this case, it is even stranger, since the OCA is arguing against the use of an Ebola vaccine that does not even exist. So is the Facebook page of the Nurses Against Mandatory Vaccines (and if you re looking for a worse place to seek medical advice we wish you luck).
Do you need proof of this? Here is plenty:
- They are already threatening the new ebola vaccine to be used on healthcare workers!
- Health care practitioners had better start refusing the flu vaccine en mass.... maybe even protests/strikes.
- Yes, being set-up already! Nurses as human lab rats!
- And perhaps the best, They didnt [sic] plan this "epidemic" well. It is back to school time. Big pharm is out of control!
Dr. Bloom says, GlaxoSmithKline is busting its a$$ to come up with something that could put an end to this nightmare. Since the target population is poor, it is hard to imagine that they are doing this for money, yet there are a bunch of imbeciles out there that absolutely refuse to even consider the possibility that this may be a valid solution that is being done for the right reasons. Too bad they weren t alive during the time when Jonas Salk finally came up with the first polio vaccine, which kept people from becoming paralyzed and unable to breathe. Perhaps they might have learned something.
