Celebrity Scientists

By  Rich Kozlovich

On September 28, 2016 Julianna LeMieux posted this article, Hasn't Jenny McCarthy done enough damage already? on the American Council on Science and Health web site say:

It was bad enough when Jenny McCarthy used her celebrity status and loud voice to back the anti-vaccine movement, shouting to anyone who would listen the fallacy that vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  

Now, it seems that promoting one non-scientific claim that harms children is just not enough for this former Playboy playmate. And, this time, what she's up to is just as bad -- or maybe even worse.

 McCarthy is now exploiting vulnerable parents by promoting a treatment for ASD called hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2). This technique provides 100% oxygen (air is 21% oxygen) in a chamber that can provide up to three times more pressure than one would experience on Earth -- resulting in an increase of oxygen in the blood.

 She goes on to say:

The NIH's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health states that, "There’s very little high quality research on complementary health approaches for ASD. There’s no scientific evidence that secretin (a gastrointestinal hormone), hyperbaric oxygen, chelation therapies, or antifungal agents help people with ASD, and they may be dangerous." 

Of course Jennie McCarthy and her group Generation Rescue know better.  Okay, maybe that's ture, Maybe they do know better, however, why do they know better?  Especially when their supporters are among the same bunch that oppose childhood vaccinations?  They certainly didn't know better over that issue and untold numbers of children ended up sickened and some died.  Died because loving parents believed her nonsense - promoted by none other that Ophra Winfrey - refusing to vaccinate their children - life saving vaccinations! 

What pain these parents must face over these unnecessary loses of life can only be imagined, but we know who's responsible. 

The article goes on to add credence to the idea this is just one more insane endeavor by McCarthy, but what I found interesting wasn't just the article - the comments were worth exploring. 

Someone with the handle, bachcole, asked:

"Who funds this ACSH? Pharmaceutical companies? And, bye the way, I was already deeply skeptical if not just plain ol' ordinary hostile toward the medical profession and their pharmaceutical company handlers long before Jenny McCarthy was even a gleam in her father's eye. Observation trumps theory. With the medical profession, money trumps science, theory and observation."  

This idea that anyone who sides with industry - whether it's fracking, mining, pesticides or vaccinations are nothing more than paid shills of industry is tiring....and it's a red herring fallacy.  If there's evidence of that then present it.  And merely receiving funding for their work isn't evidence, otherwise every environmental scare mongering scientist in the world should be under these people's microscope.  But they're not!  Why?  Because it's all about ideology and money with the anti-everything's. 

Bachcol's comments aren't singular.  I see this all the time.