http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=1487#more-1487"I recently received the following e-mail:
"Hi, I just started listening to your podcast and I’m really enjoying it. I noticed one of the things you discuss often is the anti-vaccination movement, and I’m grateful for that because I was able to use the information you guys were talking about to combat some stupidity. I’m a senior in high school and my health teacher is kind of nuts. She was talking about how it’s bad to eat fish when pregnant because of the mercury levels, but then decided to go off about how vaccines cause autism because of the mercury in them. I raised my hand and told her that the levels of mercury in vaccines were lower than in fish comparatively. She waffled a bit and said something about how some studies show different things and whatever. She then went on to talk about how she doesn’t want to vaccinate her kid and that the doctors just want to shove like 100 vaccines in her and get a kick back. I raised my hand again and told her that that’s not really a good idea because diseases like mumps are coming back because people aren’t vaccinating their kids. She misunderstood me I guess and then said something about how it is good to vaccinate in third world countries because of that and I said no, there have been outbreaks of mumps recently in the united states because some dumbasses decided not to vaccinate their stupid kids. She backtracked and said something about how it was good that I was playing the devil’s advocate, pretending like I was agreeing with her or something and completely ignored what I said. She then went on a rant about how corrupt the medical industry is and how doctors are just giving you pills to make money and the pills don’t really work and it’s all just the placebo effect, and then decided to talk about how awesome homeopathy is. I was so angry by then I was afraid if I opened my mouth an unintelligible stream of curses would just spew out. It just makes me so angry that someone like her is not only teaching, but teaching health of all things. She should not be telling people such bullshit, especially when she’s in such a powerful and influential position. She also earlier said some bullshit about how HIV could possibly not be real or something crazy because they’ve never seen the virus under a microscope and the symptoms are just other diseases. Is this like a new crazy thing that I’ve never heard of? She also loves chiropractors. Ugh."...
This is, unfortunately, not an isolated example. I frequently receive similar e-mails.
First, let me address some of the factual claims reportedly made by this health teacher, then I will discuss the bigger issue. There is indeed mercury in fish – and the “bad” kind of mercury, methylmercury. The EPA advises that people limit (but not eliminate) their consumption of certain kind of fish and shellfish. Pregnant women especially should avoid mercury.
..."The author goes on to show the actual science in relation to the teacher's claims, and to discuss this as an issue in terms of teaching science and health in this country. What are the guidelines and expectations for teachers? What is the culture that would allow such a teacher to ignore science and push her own ideology? It's no wonder that so many Americans can't understand a basic scientific study when it's released. (Heck, most supposed science journalists can't seem to do it.)
So, what can schools do to stop this type of behavior in teachers? I'm not saying that most health teachers are this extreme, or even that most health teachers go away from actual science. However, in my work, I have come across far too many who have strayed from actual science, and it's often not pretty.
Anyway, Ugh is right.
:hi:
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