Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H., with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digestâs primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here.
Disinformation disseminator, Rashid Buttar, dead at 57. Rashid Buttar, D.O., whom the Center for Countering Digital Hate recognized in 2021 as one of the Disinformation Dozenâspreaders of most anti-vaccine content on Facebook and Twitterâunexpectedly died on May 18. No cause of death has been disclosed. Anti-vaccine conspiracy-spreaders have since claimed he was poisoned after a CNN interview last year. A week before he died, Buttar said he had been hospitalized a few months ago after being poisoned with 200 times the amount thatâs in the vaccinations, but he did not explain how that could have happened. Other questionable sources are blaming his death on snake-venom poisoning. [Goforth C. An anti-vaxxer passed awayânow his followers think he was poisoned with the COVID vaccine by CNN. Daily Dot, May 22, 2023]
Buttar reportedly had a stroke last February he blamed on the false notion of viral âsheddingâ from vaccines. Some promoters of baseless conspiracies are suggesting his death is linked to other supposedly suspicious deaths of âholisticâ practitioners. [Merlan A. After an anti-vaccine figure dies suddenly, conspiracy theories abound. Vice, May 22, 2023]
Buttar was reprimanded by the North Carolina Medical Board in 2010 and again in 2019. The first reprimand was for his treatment of: (a) several cancer patients with hydrogen peroxide, ozone, or other dubious therapies, and (b) a child with autism using a dubious method of extracting heavy metals through the skin. The second reprimand followed another physicianâs accusation that Buttarâs treatment of a patient added to âpain and suffering.â The Board concluded that Buttar failed to conform to medical standards for documenting the patientâs treatment. Further details about Buttarâs history of quackery, his opposition to regulatory authorities, his health problems since last year, and responses to his death by other spreaders of misinformation are provide at the Respectful Insolence blog. [Orac. Antivax physician Dr. Rashid Buttar âdied suddenlyâ and antivaxxers are contorting reality to blame vaccines. Respectful Insolence, May 23, 2023]
Researchers examine cultural appeal of anti-vaccine messaging. Researchers from the University of London have systematically examined the anti-vaccine presentation strategies used by Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on social media and their personal websites, as well as in their newsletters, books, and documentaries published during the pandemic. Mercola and Kennedy were listed by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) as members of the Disinformation Dozen.
Using a grounded theory approach, the British researchers identified four main themes used by Mercola and Kennedy from January 2021 through May 2022:
- positioning against an evil, corrupt establishment
- access to true, âstigmatizedâ knowledge
- calls to action
- offers of guidance
The report further described the Disinformation Dozen as facilitating strong emotional attachments by subscribing to what the researchers call ‘The Truther Playbook,’ with four âtantalizing promisesâ cloaked as truth to âseekersâ: (1) identity and belonging, (2) true knowledge and enlightenment, (3) meaning and purpose, and (4) leadership and guidance. They also concluded:
Conspiracy theories, spread by COVID Truthers such as Mercola and Kennedy, convey the profound attraction of alternative anti-establishment forms of explanation, not simply as facts, but as precursors to in-group membership, as we have demonstrated through âThe Truther Playbookâ.
. . . COVID Truthers appeal to their followers by promoting their agenda in a parable of good and evil to further sow distrust of experts and elites and to amplify doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Truthers foster in-group dynamics by drawing on the grievances of those who feel alienated and disempowered, giving adherents a sense of meaning, purpose, identity and belonging through the promise of a superior epistemology and ontology. The theories Truthers disseminate are contingent on meaning and identification and consequently their knowledge claims elude the scientific falsifiability principle. Moreover, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic . . ., Truthers simply needed to question the limits of the official narrativeârather than verify their claims.
[Baker SA and others. Simple solutions to wicked problems: Cultivating true believers of anti-vaccine conspiracies during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Cultural Studies, May 22, 2023]
Health experts recommend whole-society action to counter anti-vaccine movement. A recent paper by 21 experts in health policy, public health, medicine, and vaccinology describes how anti-vaccine activism has: (a) become increasingly aligned with right-wing political identity, (b) become nationally networked, (c) increased campaigns to harass health-care and public-health professionals, and (d) increased during the COVID-19 public-health emergency using sensationalism, outrage, and controversy to influence state legislation. [Carpiano RM, and others. Confronting the evolution and expansion of anti-vaccine activism in the USA in the COVID-19 era. The Lancet, 401(10380):967-970, 2023] The paper calls for a whole-society approach that engages diverse academic, civic, and other stakeholders to:
- develop a broad, diverse, and coordinated network of expert messengers and influencers
- solicit input from and collaboration with public health agencies
- leverage networked, coordinated communities so diverse, trusted voices can: (a) counter trends in anti-vaccine activism, (b) effectively separate narratives about liberty from anti-vaccine attitudes, and (c) mitigate anti-vaccine activist harassment of public health communicators
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