“Bad scientists”, MMR, LBC and Ben Goldacre

For anyone who is not yet aware of the whole Bad Science – MMR – LBC saga, it rumbles on yet more. Please visit www.badscience.net for the latest.

In a nutshell, LBC radio presenter Jeni Barnett waxed (may be not lyrically) on air about the ‘dangers’ of MMR vaccination. Ben Goldacre at BadScience.net posted an audio recording of 45 minutes of her show on his website as an illustration of “every single canard ever uttered by the antivaccination movement”. Please see Jeni Barnett’s wikipedia entry for another description of events. According to the Barnett wiki, even an MP is expressing disappointment “that ill-informed comments by presenters such as Jeni Barnett on her LBC radio show will continue to cause unfounded anxieties for many parents and are likely to result in some parents choosing not to vaccinate their children …”

For anyone reading this who not British and has no idea why British parents wouldn’t protect their children against measles, mumps and rubella, see here.

Ben Goldacre explains more about the issue in a recorded interview on www.journalism.co.uk.

LBC accused BadScience.net of infringing copyright and the audio clip was taken down. Although BadScience no longer has a clip posted, it may be possible to listen in somewhere in the blogosphere.

Amusingly, LBC is calling anyone supporting BadScience.net a “bad scientist”. A list of blogs supporting Ben is available here.

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