I was just reading an article about how they're trying to improve immunisation rates in developing countries. There was a lot of hand-wringing about the devastating impact of lack of access to vaccination, and it made me so angry to think of all the people who have access to vaccines for their children, and are convinced to squander the opportunity by pseudoscientific conspiracy theories.
Having said that - a lot of good science is also funded by people with vested interests, for obvious reasons, and a lot of bad science is funded by supposedly neutral parties like government agencies. Wakefield's work was rotten science in every way, starting with his sample group, and the funding source is only a motivating factor, it's not the problem in itself. Don't remind me of this when I'm ranting about how the BMI is the product of "science" funded by Weight Watchers, OK? :)
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Date: 2007-01-02 06:15 pm (UTC)Having said that - a lot of good science is also funded by people with vested interests, for obvious reasons, and a lot of bad science is funded by supposedly neutral parties like government agencies. Wakefield's work was rotten science in every way, starting with his sample group, and the funding source is only a motivating factor, it's not the problem in itself. Don't remind me of this when I'm ranting about how the BMI is the product of "science" funded by Weight Watchers, OK? :)