Reducibly Complex

On this day in 1796, English physician Edward Jenner administered the first vaccination against smallpox to an eight-year-old boy. Jenner innoculated an 8-year-old boy, James Phipps, with material from the sores of dairymaid Sarah Nelmes who had a mild case of cowpox. A few weeks later, on 1 Jul, he subsequently tested the boy’s resistance to smallpox, by inoculating Phipps with smallpox virus. Fortunately, the immunization had been successful. This tested a conventional wisdom he had heard that those who had survived cowpox seemed to be immune to the deadly smallpox disease. By 1798 he had 23 cases, which he recorded in An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae. Jenner’s work was rapidly taken up in Europe and America.

Stealing a line from Penn and Teller, “And then there’s this asshole:”

To read about WHY she is an asshole, and why I put her in this post, read this!

Those of you who don’t know her, the above is our pal Jenny McCarthy. McCarthy began her career as a Playboy Playmate, and moved on to an acting career which landed her in amazing acting roles like a spot in the “Lingerie Bowl.” So naturally, this makes her an authority on the toxicity of vaccines.

McCarthy, whose son is autistic, believes that “her son was developing normally until he received his measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (at 15 months of age) and claimed that they were the cause. McCarthy has stated at many talk shows and rallies that chelation therapy [pronounced kee-lay-shun] helped her son recover from autism; the underlying rationale for chelation, which is that mercury in vaccines causes autism, has been roundly rejected by scientific studies, with the National Institute of Mental Health concluding that autistic children are unlikely to receive any benefit to balance the risks of cognitive and emotional problems posed by the chelating agents used in the treatment.” (Wikipedia page on Jenny McCarthy, May 14th, 2009).

McCarthy has since become a major spokesperson for the anti-vaccination movement in America. The key point to be taken out of the above context from the Wikipedia page on McCarthy is that “the underlying rationale for chelatioin…has been roundly rejected by scientific studies.” The National Institute of Mental Health, who would know a thing or two about a mental illness like autism, reject chelation as a valid treatment for autism. Of course, facts do not stop McCarthy. Nor do they stop Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who simply states that the above is simply a large pharma-industrial complex and government conspiracy. As was pointed out on a recent episode of “The Skeptics Guide to the Universe”, it’s interesting to see a Kennedy proposing a conspiracy theory. Those of you who don’t know why, just go here. (You may want to go there anyways; conspiracies are always good for a laugh.)

I would go on about this, but the absurdity of it brings me to simply say that, once again, Dr. Novella has written extensively on the topic and is a much better source for the nitty gritty details. To read more, I suggest using this link to do a search of the good doctor’s Neurologica blog for “McCarthy.” There is a wealth of information there too vast to summarize in my one short post.

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On this day in 1811, The original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, were born of Chinese parents in Siam (Thailand). Upon immigrating in to the U.S., they adopted Bunker as their surname. They were joined at the waist by a band of cartilage, about 8 in. circumference and 4 in. long. Only after their death was it found that this could have been easily separated. Robert Hunter, a British merchant, discovered them in 1829 and contracted with them to be exhibited as a curiosity in a world tour. Later, they went into business for themselves. In 1839, they visited Wilkesboro, N.C. with P. T. Barnum. They found the town appealing and settled there. The twins later became United States citizens, and married two sisters with whom they raised 10 children.

So, it’s been a very long time since I’ve updated my blog. Long-story made very short, I’ve had little time. I would say that I’m going to start updating this thing again, but I don’t know that I can live up to that promise right now. I will be making a new “Science of Yesteryear” in just a few minutes, so hopefully that will hold you over until I have time again to do something more creative.