"Follow the money!" activists shout. The money trail, according to this logic, always leads to lies and deception.
This puerile fallacy, argumentum ad aurum, is just a thinly disguised ad hominem attack commonly used against scientists. Instead of criticizing the quality or conclusions of the research, activists instead assault the integrity of the scientist.
Other Science News
Soliris is a drug for an orphan disease, one which affects relatively few people. While these types of drugs are inherently more expensive, the market expected a price tag of $100,000 – not the actual cost of $500,000. How did the manufacturer Alexion come up with this astronomical price?
As part of the newly-published proposed budget are significant cuts to research. The prime target is indirect expenses, which seems to be a slush fund to some and a critical financial asset to others. A deeper look finds interconnections, rather than a way to reduce spending.
“When patients enter a hospital," the author of a recent article writes, "they arrive with complex and dynamic microbial assemblages that will be shaped by the treatment they receive and by the interactions they have with staff and with the building itself." Just a few reasons why hospital-acquired infections are frequent and costly.
Whole Foods lies 9 different times, and that is just on the landing page of its Organics section.
Drug companies buy their ingredients and make their drugs outside the United States. That's one reason why Stephen Barrett, MD, makes an argument for also buying them outside the country.
Here we go again ... the anti-vaccine movie VAXXED by Andrew Wakefield, is back. This time at the Cannes Film Festival, taking place this week. Like an itch, this piece of anti-vaccine propaganda just won't go away. And it's resurfacing as we're seeing a surge in cases of measles and other preventable diseases all over the world.
Your education dollars at work
There is no question diagnoses of psychological conditions can be abused. Disney World had to stop with special autism passes at the park because so many rich Manhattan elites got "autism spectrum" diagnoses for their special snowflakes in order to get around the lines that we ordinary peasants must endure. And it may be that some teachers know a child better than the parents, who may want to medicalize a child's personality in some kind of Munchausen scenario. Really, in the world of science almost everyone could be considered 'on the spectrum' if dislike for people and impatience were the criteria when they were kids.
In the race of charlatans, David Avocado Wolfe is taking a very strong lead – Usain Bolt style, actually – due to both the bizarre nature of his ideas and the expanse of his subjects. Unfortunately, with a Facebook following 10 million strong, the audience for his anti-science ideas is large and it's listening attentively.
An SNL sketch walks the fine line between comedy and perpetuating unfortunate stigmas. This time with respect to infertility.
Can an electrical signal applied to the ear reduce, on a global basis, the greatest cause of maternal death?
With contemporaneous medical coverage in the media, being first should not trump the essential need to be accurate. The North Carolina senator had to release two videos correcting seemingly false reports about the consequences of his collapse during a race in Washington, DC.