Tag: MAHA
Revisiting the question of debating science deniers
Wealthy tech bro turned antivax crank Steve Kirsch attacked Paul Offit for refusing to debate antivaxxers, while Dr. Mike was "surrounded" by MAHA stans. These recent events led me to revisit the question: Is it ever a good strategy to publicly debate cranks?
It’s a madhouse! Public health under the heirs to Lysenko (and Dr. Zaius) in 2025
As 2025 barrels towards its depressing conclusion, I look back at the damage federal science and medicine have sustained thus far under Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. through the lens of a classic film. Truly, it's a madhouse, in which our federal science apparatus is run by Lysenko's heirs.
“Best practices”: The buzzword that the Trump administration will use to eliminate as many vaccines as RFK Jr. can
The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met last week, eliminating the universal recommendation for the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. There was, however, a more insidious threat to vaccines in a White House press release after the meeting cloaked under the buzzword "best practices."
If The Atlantic Wishes to Honestly Understand the Origins of MAHA, They Need to Investigate The Atlantic.
The Atlantic has some of the best writers around. But they were also eager to launder right-wing talking points under the guise of a being liberal, reasonable, and moderate publication, able to see all nuanced sides of complex issues.
“MAHA has fallen”? Antivaxxers are getting very impatient with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Recently, antivaxxers have been expressing their impatience with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s progress eliminating vaccines. It was inevitable. Has MAHA fallen?
Surgeon General nominee Dr. Casey Means and functional medicine: Legitimizing quackery
Surgeon general nominee Dr. Casey Means is an advocate of "functional medicine." She, MAHA, and a new "board certification" will falsely legitimize quackery.
Denial of germ theory and the genetic basis of disease: Two pillars of MAHA
To understand MAHA, understand the specific science that it denies.
EBM “Boy Wonder” Vinay Prasad is toppled
Evidence-based medicine "Boy Wonder" Dr. Vinay Prasad was fired as CBER Director after less than three months on the job. What can the kerfuffle surrounding his ouster tell us about the FDA and doctors who enabled Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?
COVID-19 contrarian Dr. Vinay Prasad meets real world responsibility
Dr. Vinay Prasad parlayed his COVID-19 contrarianism into a high-ranking position in the FDA. Now he's facing real world responsibility, and knives are out for him. Can he survive?
Wearables and Wellness Populism: How Smart Watches Got MAHA’d
Fifteen years ago, then-contributor Peter Lipson wrote a short post on this blog that I’ve reflected on many times since. Titled Your Disease, Your Fault, Peter described a central theme that runs through nearly every variant of alternative medicine: That illness is preventable, and therefore, your fault. According to this worldview, disease isn’t a product of biology, inequity, or chance. It is...