neglect
The health-related news comimg out of the US get more worrying by the day. In June 2026, a New World screwworm was detected in Texas cattle for the first time since 1966, a catastrophic failure traceable to the Trump administration’s systematic dismantling of animal disease prevention programs. The flesh-eating parasite, whose larvae consume living tissue and can kill livestock within days, has returned due to preventable policy choices.
Trump slashed over $382 million in USAID funding dedicated to international disease monitoring, including specific programs tracking screwworm spread through Central America and Mexico. More than 100 US-funded FAO programs were thus terminated, representing nearly 10% of the FAO’s planned budget. Scientists had warned for months that screwworm was advancing north through Mexico, accumulating 9,574 confirmed cases by late 2025, yet the administration cut surveillance funding precisely when vigilance was most critical.
The consequences are now undeniable. An infected three-week-old calf was discovered in La Pryor, Texas, approximately 30 miles from the Mexican border, triggering a 20-kilometer quarantine zone. The pest could further shrink the US cattle herd, already at its lowest level in 75 years, potentially costing Texas alone up to $1.8 billion in economic losses through livestock deaths, medication expenses, and labor costs.
Beyond negligence, Trump actively undermined US ranchers. In October 2025, he announced plans to import Argentine beef to lower grocery prices, calling domestic cattle producers’ concerns about tariffs as not understanding economics. The cattle industry condemned this as “undermining the future of farmers” and creating “turmoil at a crucial time”. Canadian authorities subsequently imposed temporary livestock import restrictions from affected Texas areas, emblematic of the international trade vulnerabilities the outbreak creates.
The administration’s response – claiming they “bought time” while defending against inevitable predictions that models showed screwworm entering in 2025 – reads as damage control rather than genuine accomplishment. Meanwhile, the USDA established sterile fly releases and quarantines, emergency measures that should have been unnecessary with proper preventative funding.
Trump’s agricultural policy combines reckless budget cuts with market interference that harms American producers. The screwworm outbreak is not merely bad luck; it is the direct result of prioritizing ideological slashing of foreign aid over protecting American food security and the livelihoods of ranchers who already face record-high consumer prices and shrinking herds.
New World screwworm poses serious, potentially fatal dangers to humans through myiasis, where larvae burrow into and consume living tissue. While primarily affecting livestock, humans can be infested as well – particularly those with open wounds, diabetes, or peripheral vascular disease. The first US human case was confirmed in August 2024. Infestations cause painful, foul-smelling wounds that worsen rapidly and can lead to death if untreated, with scalp involvement carrying an 8% mortality rate as larvae may burrow through the skull into the brain.
Update 11/6/26:
USDA had already confirmed the first US livestock case in decades in a 3-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, and by June 9, 2026 it was reporting six domestic animal detections, including cases in Texas, New Mexico, and a goat in Gillespie County.
A few final points:
- Precautions consist in measures like keeping wounds clean and covered, wearing protective clothing, using insect repellent, and sleeping indoors with screens are essential.
- Treatment might include Ivermectin – yes, the drug that was hyped for COVID might finally come into its own.
- The US meat market share in Europe is extremely small, less than 1% of Europe’s total meat consumption.
- The whole story might seem insignificant, would it not confirm the many other ways in which the Trump administration is almost systematically endangering public health in the US and beyond (see previous posts).
The US resurgence of measles in 2026 serves as a stark, data-driven refutation of the anti-vaccine rhetoric championed by quacks like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. For years, vaccine antagonists have framed immunisations as a matter of personal autonomy, minimizing the societal dangers of declining rates. Yet, public health is not governed by ideology, but by biology. The realities of 2026 – marked by over 2,000 confirmed measles cases across 40 US jurisdictions – demonstrate that when charlatans undermine trust in medical science, the real-world consequence is the return of preventable, highly contagious and dangerous diseases.
The core flaw in RFK Jr.’s rhetoric, it seems to me, is the failure to understand that vaccine protection is a collective barrier, not just an individual shield. Measles is one of the most infectious viruses known to humanity, requiring a high community vaccination threshold of 95% to maintain herd immunity. When coverage drops below this line, the virus easily finds pathways to spread. Because of sustained anti-vaccine sentiment, US kindergarten MMR coverage dropped from 95.2% in 2019–2020 to a dangerous 92.5% by the 2024–2025 school year. This decline left roughly 286,000 children unprotected, effectively dismantling the wall that kept measles at bay for decades.
Furthermore, public health crises thrive on localized vulnerability. While national averages can mask the severity of the issue, anti-vaccine messaging often clusters within specific communities, creating relatively dense pockets of under-vaccinated populations. When measles enters these communities, it does not remain isolated; it triggers rapid, localized outbreaks where almost all of cases are tied directly to these transmission clusters.
Beyond its well-known immediate dangers, a measles infection inflicts severe, long-term damage on the human body by causing a phenomenon known as immune amnesia. The measles virus actively targets and destroys memory T and B cells, the specialized white blood cells responsible for remembering past pathogens. A single measles infection can wipe out 11% to 73% of a person’s preexisting antibodies, effectively erasing the body’s immunological memory. While the patient develops immunity to measles itself, their defense system is left “flying blind” against other entirely unrelated viruses and bacteria they had previously beaten or been vaccinated against. This induced state of generalized immunosuppression typically lasts from two to five years, leaving recovered individuals dramatically more vulnerable to secondary, life-threatening infections long after the initial measles rash has cleared.
Ultimately, the current measles spikein the US illustrates that US public health control is being sabotaged. When prominent morons like RFK Jr. weaponize anti-vax delusions and distort clinical data, they do not simply foster debate, they actively erode the herd immunity threshold. The current US outbreak proves that the protection wall has thinned below the critical margin of safety. Far from being under control, measles has found a resurgence precisely because the rhetoric of figures like RFK Jr. has opened the door for a dangerous, preventable virus to reclaim its ground in and beyond the US.
Dr. Toby Rogers, a political economist and fellow at the libertarian Brownstone Institute, ignited a firestorm in March 2026 when he declared the current childhood vaccination program “one of the greatest crimes in human history” (“libertarian” refers to someone who advocates for extreme individual liberty—particularly freedom from government mandates and regulations—believing that the state should be minimized and that individuals should have absolute autonomy over their own bodies, property, and choices without state coercion).
Rogers’ 2026 statement is not an isolated outburst but the culmination of years of vaccine skepticism. After his partner’s son was diagnosed with autism in 2015, Rogers abandoned his original doctoral focus to study autism’s causes, reviewing nearly 1,000 studies over four years. He concluded that vaccines are the primary driver of the autism epidemic. The overwhelming scientific consensus, however, is that vaccines are safe and that autism’s rise stems from improved diagnosis, broader criteria, and complex genetic and environmental factors unrelated to immunization (see the plethora of previous posts on this subject). His PhD thesis, The Political Economy of Autism, and subsequent publications have been widely criticized by the scientific community. Its methodological flaws include:
- selection bias,
- cherry-picking,
- inclusion of weak studies,
- dismissing robust epidemiological research.
Rogers’ 2026 statement elevates personal conviction and contested research over scientific rigor and public health reality. Rogers argues that children receive too many vaccines too early, warning of “cumulative effects” on developing immune systems. Yet the Institute of Medicine has found no evidence of major safety concerns with the current childhood immunization schedule, and the National Academy of Sciences has repeatedly affirmed that vaccines are safe and effective. Rogers dismisses the 22 major studies confirming vaccine safety as “worthless” because they lacked a true unvaccinated control group—a standard that is both ethically impossible and scientifically unnecessary given the massive population data demonstrating vaccine safety over decades.
Rogers’ evidence relies heavily on a handful of independent studies to support his claims. These studies have been criticized for small sample sizes, selection bias, failure to control for confounders, and methodological flaws so severe that some of Rogers’ co-authored papers, such as “Autism Tsunami,” were retracted from peer-reviewed journals. His claim that vaccinated children have dramatically higher rates of autism and chronic disease rests on research that has not withstood independent replication or scrutiny by mainstream scientists. By contrast, the scientific community’s confidence in vaccine safety derives from massive, longitudinal studies involving millions of children, rigorous clinical trials, and decades of population surveillance.
Rogers’ credibility is compromised not least because he is a regular contributor to Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that has a long history of spreading debunked claims. Roger’s testimony before the US Senate Subcommittee on Investigations in September 2025, titled “How the Corruption of Science has Impacted Public Perception and Policies Regarding Vaccines,” tried to position him as a whistleblower exposing “flawed science.” In reality, it relied on the same flawed studies and conspiracy narratives that have been repeatedly discredited by the scientific community.
Rogers receives funding from several anti-vaccine and libertarian organizations, though specific salary figures are not publicly disclosed :
- Brownstone Institute is a libertarian think tank founded by economist Jeffrey Tucker that promotes vaccine skepticism, “medical freedom,” and opposition to public health mandates. The institute is funded by libertarian donors and provides fellowships to researchers who align with its ideology.
- Children’s Health Defense is explicitly an anti-vaccine organization led by Mary Holland (CEO) and founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The organization has illuminated funding sources through IRS 990 filings, showing it raised millions of dollars and pays researchers, speakers, and staff. In Rogers’ Senate testimony, he explicitly stated: “Since then I’ve continued my research with Children’s Health Defense, as an independent journalist, and as a Fellow at Brownstone Institute”.
- Rogers also appears at MAHA Institute conferences (Make America Healthy Again), which is aligned with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s movement and features speakers from anti-vaccine organizations including Children’s Health Defense.
Rogers’s financial ties to anti-vaccine organizations create clear conflicts of interest. His research supports the organizational mission of Children’s Health Defense and Brownstone Institute, and his income appears tied to producing content that aligns with these organizations’ anti-vaccine advocacy. The political economy of Rogers’ work is thus ironic: while he critiques the “political economy of autism” and government response, his own research is funded by private organizations with clear ideological and financial incentives to promote vaccine skepticism.
Rogers is not a medical doctor. He has a doctorate in political economy from the University of Sydney and a Master’s in public policy. He holds no medical degree or formal training in medicine, immunology, epidemiology, or vaccine science. His expertise is in political economy, not medical or vaccine research, which means his claims about vaccine safety and autism lack the scientific credentials required to make authoritative medical assertions.
During outbreaks of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), public health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) combat “infodemics”, i.e. surges of false information and unproven so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) polluting social media (Bedrosian et al., 2016; Fung et al., 2016; Obol & Nzedibe, 2024). Because these SCAMs are ineffective and frequently dangerous, authorities issue warnings against their use. Here are just a few of the many claims that can be found:
- Bathing in or drinking hot, highly saturated saltwater solutions can sweat out or kill the Ebola virus (Fung et al., 2016). Public health agencies strongly advise against this practice. It does nothing to prevent or treat EVD and can cause severe illness and death from acute hypernatremia (Vijaykumar et al., 2019).
- Solutions containing silver nanoparticles act as powerful natural antimicrobials capable of neutralizing the Ebola virus inside the body (Fung et al., 2016). The WHO has explicitly stated that Nano Silver is an unproven compound with no demonstrated efficacy against Ebola. Authorities recommend avoiding these products, as silver accumulation can cause irreversible organ damage and a condition called argyria (which permanently turns the skin blue/gray).
- Consuming large quantities of specific botanical items, such as raw onions, ginger, or alligator peppers, can stave off infection (Nsoesie & Oladeji, 2020). These “natural cures” possess no therapeutic effects capable of stopping viral replication of the filovirus family. Relying on them creates a false sense of security, which delays life-saving, evidence-based triage and supportive care (Fridman et al., 2025; Nsoesie & Oladeji, 2020).
- Ebola has been attributed to spiritual curses or witchcraft that can only be reversed by traditional spiritual cleansing (Bedrosian et al., 2016). Public health organizations work alongside local communities to pivot away from these practices. Delaying medical intervention to seek traditional spiritual healing drastically increases community transmission and prevents patients from receiving SOTA antiviral therapies and fluid replacement, lowering survival rates (Obol & Nzedibe, 2024).
- A homeopath market “e-remedies” online, claiming that the “energy signature” of a remedy could be digitized into an audio file (Moffitt, 2018). He claimed that listening to a specific, hissing MP3 file could stimulate the body’s immune system to fight off Ebola. This prompted an investigation by the Medical Board of California into the doctor’s license for promoting unscientific and unproven online remedies (Moffitt, 2018).
- Some chiropractors claim that spinal manipulations can prevent Ebola infections, because misalignments interfere with the nervous system. Since the nervous system coordinates the immune responses, these misalignments weaken the body’s ability to recognize and destroy the Ebola virus (Terry Chiropractic Boulder). People “have nothing to fear but fear itself” regarding outbreaks if they keep their spines properly aligned to maximize their natural innate immunity. Global public health authorities and mainstream scientific institutions strongly reject these claims. There is zero credible scientific evidence demonstrating that manual spinal manipulation enhances immune competence or protects an individual against Ebola (Côté et al., 2020).
Ebola infection requires immediate, professional medical treatment. Treatments include monoclonal antibody therapeutics along with intensive supportive care. Relying on internet remedies significantly delays proper clinical treatment and increases the risk of mortality.
References
Bedrosian, S. R., Young, E. C., Smith, L. A., Cox, J. D., Manning, C., Pechta, L., Telfer, J. L., Gaines-McCollom, M., Harben, Kathy, Holmes, Wendy, Lubell, K. M., McQuiston, J. H., Nordlund, Kristen, O’Connor, John, Reynolds, B. S., Schindelar, J. A., Shelley, Gene, & Daniel, K. L. (2016). Lessons of Risk Communication and Health Promotion — West Africa and United States. MMWR Supplements, 65(3), 68–74. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su6503a10
Fridman, I., Boyles, D., Chheda, R., Baldwin-SoRelle, C., Smith, A. B., & Elston Lafata, J. (2025). Identifying Misinformation About Unproven Cancer Treatments on Social Media Using User-Friendly Linguistic Characteristics: Content Analysis. JMIR Infodemiology, 5, e62703. https://doi.org/10.2196/62703
Fung, I. C.-H., Fu, K.-W., Chan, C.-H., Chan, B. S. B., Cheung, C.-N., Abraham, T., & Tse, Z. T. H. (2016). Social Media’s Initial Reaction to Information and Misinformation on Ebola, August 2014: Facts and Rumors. Public Health Reports®, 131(3), 461-473. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335491613100312
Moffitt, M. (2018). State doubts Los Gatos doctor can cure ebola with hissing MP3 files. SFGATE. https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/dr-bill-gray-medical-license-homeopathy-treatment-12954925.php
Nsoesie, E. O., & Oladeji, O. (2020). Identifying patterns to prevent the spread of misinformation during epidemics. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-014
Obol, S. J., & Nzedibe, O. (2024). Critical perspective on infodemic and infodemic management in previous Ebola outbreaks in Uganda. Frontiers in Public Health, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1375776
Terry Chiropractic Boulder. (2014). Hold On Ebola: How Bolstering Your Immune System Can Help You Avoid Disease. https://terrychiropracticboulder.com/blog/hold-on-ebola-how-bolstering-your-immune-system-can-help-you-avoid-disease/
Vijaykumar, S., Jin, Y., & Pagliari, C. (2019). Outbreak communication challenges when misinformation spreads on social media. Revista Eletrônica de Comunicação, Informação e Inovação em Saúde, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.29397/reciis.v13i1.1623
For some time, I had suspected that the stupidity of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. runs deep. Just how deep, is a surprise even to me. Let me give you just two examples from a choice of plenty:
EXAMPLE No 1
In January 2026, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released far-reaching new Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025–2030. They dramatically “flipped the food pyramid” by encouraging Americans to consume red meat and whole milk, sources previously discouraged by public health experts because of their contributios to heart disease and other chronic conditions.
“American households must prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains—and dramatically reduce highly processed foods. This is how we Make America Healthy Again”, Kennedy commented. “Thanks to the bold leadership of President Trump, this edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans will reset federal nutrition policy, putting our families and children first as we move towards a healthier nation,” Secretary Rollins said. “At long last, we are realigning our food system to support American farmers, ranchers, and companies that grow and produce real food. Farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of the solution, and that means more protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains on American dinner tables.”
The scientific community responded with outrage, calling it a reckless abandonment of evidence-based nutrition and science. Promoting saturated fats and red meats contradicts decades of medical research and will increase cardiovascular disease rates across the US.
EXAMPLE No 2
In a hilarious revelation Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took to Joe Rogan’s podcast to inform the world that the UK has become a dystopian nightmare. “It’s like the Soviets. It’s like Kafka,” he declared in February 27, 2026.
The trigger for this epiphany? David Lammy, the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister, announced plans to scrap jury trials for offenses carrying less than three years imprisonment. Instead, a judge will decide. Lammy felt that this was necessary because of the backlog that meant cases could not be heard for years. RFK Jr., ever the historian, reminded listeners that the UK was once the “birthplace of Magna Carta”. Now, according to him, the UK is a “dictatorship over speech restrictions”.
Joe Rogan was horrified. “Existential threat to freedom of thought!” he cried, as if the UK had outlawed laughter or something. The pair seemed genuinely shocked that a country with a functioning parliament and a Prime Minister might have different ideas about justice than, say, a certain American podcast audience.
The comparison to Kafka is particularly weird: Kafka’s The Trial features a man arrested by a mysterious bureaucracy for an unspecified crime. Meanwhile, RFK Jr. seems to be arguing that replacing juries with judges in minor cases is the moral equivalent of the Soviet Union. A bold claim, especially from someone whose vis part of a government that checks people’s social media upon arrival – one of several reasons why I would never travel to the US, while these people are in power. But not as bold as Kennedy’s Nazi and Holocaust references in relation to vaccines. In his 2025 HHS confirmation hearing, Senator Raphael Warnock pressed him on statements likening the CDC to a “Nazi death camp,” which RFK Jr. denied, claiming he was comparing injury rates rather than the institution itself.
Perhaps the real dystopia is RFK Jr. spending his time lecturing other countries while the US degrades into a Kafkaesque nightmare of its own?
Guest post by Ken McLeod
It seems like it was a century ago, but it’s been only six years since the COVID19 pandemic hit the world. Governments reacted in similar ways implementing severe public health measures such as lockdowns and mandatory wearing of facemasks. When those public health measures hit, they hit hard. The city of Melbourne was locked down for 111 days, for example,[1] alongside social distancing, curfews, and closed borders.
And then the vaccines arrived and were added to those rules. On 7 October 2021, the Victorian Chief Health Officer issued public health Directions that required, unless a valid medical exemption was given for medical reasons by a registered medical practitioner, ‘manufacturing workers’ must receive a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 15 October 2021 (or have a booking to do so) and must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by 26 November 2021.3 The refusal or failure by an employer to comply with the Directions was an offence which carried a significant penalty.
Antivaxxers were quick to exploit those exemptions and regrettably, out of tens of thousands of registered medical practitioners, some were willing to put their own unfounded beliefs above the science.
One of those doctors was Dr Denes C.Borsos, originally from Romania, practicing in the Australian state of Victoria in the picturesque country town of Colac, pop 22,000.
Dr Borsos issued 189 COVID-19 vaccination exemptions and 122 face mask exemptions to his patients, largely in the period from 11 to 14 October 2021. In the period from 11 to 13 October 2021, Dr Borsos saw approximately 221 patients in his practice.
Evidently word had got around. According to the Geelong Advertiser, a local newspaper, reported that on 14 October 2021 police were forced to disperse a crowd of alleged antivaxxers who had flocked to his clinic following reports that he was handing out vaccine exemptions.[2] According to AusDoc “Police were called to Dr Denes Borsos’ practice….following reports that about 100 people were lined up for a kilometre outside his clinic waiting for vaccine exemptions.” [3]
Health Care Commission Inspectors visited his clinic on 18 October 2021 and issued Borsos a $1,817 fine and an Infringement Notice which said that:
- Dr Borsos contravened public health directions; and
- undermined the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and
- failed to meet his obligations as a registered medical practitioner; and
- inappropriately wrote referrals to specialist cardiology practitioners for each of those patients; and
- failed to make adequate clinical records for each of those patients except in the cases of eight patients where Dr Borsos failed to make any clinical records; and
- engaged in inappropriate billing practices, in that he falsely claimed benefits from Medicare for 84 patients.
On 24 December 2021 the Medical Board of Australia issued Borsos with an immediate suspension of his registration and referred the case to the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
In his submission to the Tribunal Borsos branded the vaccine an ‘experimental bioweapon’ and that the Medical Board was ‘wrong, cruel and arrogant’ and accused it of ‘stretching the legislation like bubble gum’. [4]
Meanwhile Borsos then ran as an independent candidate for the Victorian seat of Polwarth, Victoria, on 26 Nov 2022. Of 53,064 eligible voters, Borsos received 2,017 votes, or 3.8 % [5] of votes.
Then in 2024 Borsos made two applications to Australia’s paramount Court, the High Court of Australia, for leave to appeal. On both occasions leave was refused. At least he was in good company; two other failed applicants were suspended antivax medical practitioners, Mark Hobart and Valerie Peers. [7]
At the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing on 13 May 2025:
- Dr Borsos stated that if a patient stated that they did not wish to have a COVID-19 vaccination, this was sufficient justification to grant the patient a vaccination exemption;
- Borsos claimed that Covid 19 is a scam, the PCR tests are a fraud and the COVID jabs are intentionally harmful;
- When Dr Borsos was asked whether the referrals to cardiologists were used as a justification for the vaccination exemptions, he stated that the justification for the vaccination exemptions was that the patient wanted an exemption;
- Dr Borsos did not accept the authority of Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) Guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination exemptions. [8]
- Borsos said of his referrals of 196 patients to un-named specialist cardiology practitioners [the patient] “is pressured at work to have the COVID jab and is very concerned about the risk of myocarditis, and the implications of getting injured.” [9]
- Borsos claimed that his opinion should override that of the expert and regulatory authorities.
We might never know how many of Borsos’ clients went on to suffer illness because of his irresponsible actions. We do know, however, of one real victim.
Mr Ross Edwards was employed by Bulla Dairy Foods as a Plant Operator at their Colac factory. After being employed by Bulla for 17 years, his employment was terminated effective 25 October 2021, because he had chosen not to be vaccinated against COVID-19: a requirement under Victorian Government public health orders.
Mr Edwards had obtained an ‘exemption’ from Borsos on 13 October 2021. He contended to the Fair Work Commission that his dismissal was harsh, unjust and unreasonable, but the dismissal was upheld.
The Commission’s decision says that in addition to Mr Edwards, Dr Borsos also provided exemptions to four other employees of Bulla. More than a dozen other employees were terminated. [10] So at least 13 people lost their jobs due to Borsos’ irresponsibility.
And Borsos lost his career and can’t apply for registration until 2031.
REFERENCES
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10846680/
[2] Geelong Advertiser November 3 2021 ‘Colac GP agrees to stop practicing medicine….’ Harrison Tippet
[3] AusDoc 4 November 2021 GP at Centre of Vax exemption case agrees to stop practicing
[4] Daily Mail ‘Doctor who blamed Shane Warne’s death on vaccines is banned from for five years: ‘Career destroyed’ ‘Ian Vickers https://tinyurl.com/3pk9xm3f
[5]https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/results/state-election-results/2022-state-election-results/results-by-district/polwarth-district-results/polwarth-results-distribution
[7] Leave refused [2024] HCASL 256
[8] Medical Board of Australia v Borsos (Review and Regulation) 2025 VCAT 15 July 2025 VCAT reference No Z294/2024
[9] Medical Board of Australia v Borsos (Review and Regulation) 2025 VCAT 15 July 2025 VCAT reference No Z294/2024
[10] Fair Work Commission Decision https://tinyurl.com/yc5a8ukk
I am always delighted when I find authors who think in a similarly rational way as I. When it comes to the subject if INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE, this sadly is a rare occasion. I know that most medics would be critical of it, but only few are sufficiently insensed to publish a paper on their criticism. Here is the abstract of a recent article that is a rare exception:
The term integrative medicine claims to describe a third category in clinical practice, somewhere between conventional evidence-based medicine and alternative therapies. This article argues that this category is conceptually confused and often misleading. If an intervention is supported by good evidence, is safe in practice, clinically useful and cost-effective, it should simply become part of regular medicine. If an intervention does not have such evidence, it does not become stronger by being called integrative. The article examines how the language of integrative medicine works. It shows how one attractive label can bring together two very different things: evidence-based supportive care on the one hand, and weakly supported or unproven interventions on the other. This creates the impression that both have the same clinical status, even when they do not. The article also discusses the possible consequences for patients, including confusion about evidence, false confidence in unproven treatments, and reduced adherence to effective care. Drawing on more than a decade of experience evaluating complementary medical claims through foundation IOCOB (a foundation to study complementary medicine) , it argues for a simpler and more honest approach. Proven interventions should be called medicine. Unproven interventions should be called unproven. Disproven interventions should be called disproven. There are not two equal medicines waiting to be synthesised. There is only medicine that has earned its place, and medicine that has not.tive medic ine m
True words well expressed!
We have discussed interated medicine on this blog more often than I care to mention. The response of proponents usually is that INTEGRATED MEDICINE is so much more than just using alternative treatments. If we look at this claim, we quickly realise that the “so much more” are things stolen from conventional medicine (which proponents denounce by their claim of neglecting these things). If they feel that important bits of healthcare are being neglected, the proper reaction would be to reform medicine and rectify the situation. Instead the proponents put their money on INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE which undeniably is at least partly an attempt to smuggle unproven treatments into healthcare.
I wrote “at least partly” which is, in fact, generous to the extreme! If we look up what the clinics of INTEGRATED MEDICNE actually offer, we quickly realise that it is much more that “partly” – it is their main and lucrative business.
Sorry, but to me this is deeply dishonest!
I came across an interesting article about chiropractic. Let me try to summarise it for you:
Texas’s system for disciplining chiropractors has become much less transparent, making it harder for patients to know whether a provider has faced regulatory action or not. Disciplinary cases reported by the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the National Practitioner Data Bank have dropped sharply even as the number of licensed chiropractors has risen, which prompted patient advocates to ask whether the public is being misled.
A rule change adopted in 2019 that narrowed what the chiropractic board can publicly disclose seems at the heart of this. According to board executive director Boyd Bush, the result is that roughly 70 cases, mostly minor administrative matters such as late license renewals, are no longer appearing in the public-facing record. Bush argues the change was intended to prevent chiropractors from suffering disproportionate consequences, such as losing patients or paying higher insurance premiums, for technical violations that do not directly affect patient care.
That explanation contrasts with the view of patient advocate Ware Wendell of Texas Watch, who says the public needs clearer, more usable information when choosing care. His concern is that a chiropractor can have regulatory action behind the scenes while still appearing to have “no board action taken” in public-facing materials, leaving patients unaware of relevant history.
Moreover, not all chiropractor-related enforcement is handled by the chiropractic board. In some cases, the Texas Medical Board has issued cease-and-desist orders against chiropractors accused of practicing medicine without a license, including claims involving neurology expertise, stem cell therapy, diabetes treatment, thyroid disorders, and chronic degenerative diseases. That overlap between boards adds confusion and can make it even harder for the public to interpret what level of discipline or risk a practitioner has faced.
A broader policy debate sits behind the story. Lawmakers tried to reduce inter-board oversight last session through Senate Bill 268, but Governor Greg Abbott vetoed it, citing public health and safety concerns. The Texas Chiropractic Association, meanwhile, says complaints should be handled by the boards with direct oversight, while a 2017 Sunset Advisory Commission review had already criticized the chiropractic board for slow complaint resolution and weak enforcement.
The article closes by noting that the board says it has improved the backlog, but the transparency issue is likely to return in the next legislative session. Evidently, a tension exists between protecting chiropractors from over-penalization for minor offenses and ensuring patients can see meaningful disciplinary history before seeking treatment.
On this blog, we have discussed repeatedly that dishonesty and transgressions are by no means rare events in the realm of chiropractic. I think it is time that this profession gets its act together, puts more emphasis on ethics during education/training, and becomes transparent, even if it might not enhance their public image in the short-term.
I remember it well: when I was a kid, I went every day in the evening to a nearby farm to fetch a litre of luke warm raw milk. I was lucky; I never caught tuberculosis or any other infection that is transmitted in this way.
Today, raw milk has become the centrepiece of a heated debate. Once only on rural homesteads, unpasteurized milk is now being championed by a powerful coalition of political figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., promoters of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM), and “trad wife” influencers. This movement frames raw milk as a “magical health secret” suppressed by a corrupt establishment. However, beneath the veneer of “food freedom” and nostalgic aesthetics lies a complex interplay of populism, nutritional misinformation, outright BS, and significant public health risks.
The issue is largely fuelled by RFK Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) idiocy. For him, raw milk is less of a dietary preference and more of a symbol of resistance against federal overreach. He frequently characterizes the FDA’s restrictions on raw milk as a “war on farmers” and an example of “regulatory capture.” In his worm-eaten mind, federal agencies are not protecting the public from pathogens but are instead protecting the profits of “Big Dairy” by criminalising traditional foodways. By pushing for the legalisation of raw milk, Kennedy taps into a deep-seated distrust of institutions that has intensified in the post-pandemic US. He frames the choice to drink unpasteurized milk as a fundamental civil liberty, positioning himself as a defender of the individual against a nasty “nanny state.”
Simultaneously, the “trad wife” and SCAM movements are providing the lifestyle framework for raw milk promotion. On social media, influencers portray a return to traditional domesticity, featuring sourdough starters, hand-churned butter, and glass jars of creamy, raw milk. In this context, raw milk provides a “moral signal” for those who have little else to worry about. What counts is the willingness to go to great lengths to bypass industrial food systems and provide “pure” and “natural” nourishment for the whole family – because pasteurisation “kills” the milk, destroying vital enzymes and probiotics that could cure everything from asthma to lactose intolerance.
As soon as these claims are held up to scientific scrutiny, the “magic” begins to dissipate. The core argument – namely that raw milk is nutritionally superior – is largely unsupported by sound evidence. Modern pasteurisation is as non-invasive as possible. While heat slightly reduces levels of Vitamin C, milk is not a primary source of that vitamin anyway. Moreover, the levels of protein, calcium, and essential minerals remain virtually identical to the raw product. Furthermore, the valuable “enzymes” touted by advocates are enzymes that the human stomach acid neutralizes before they can be absorbed.
On top of all this, there is potential for serious harm. The most dangerous aspect of the raw milk nonsense is the dismissal of microbial risk. Before pasteurisation became standard in the early 20th century, milk was a leading cause of tuberculosis, typhoid, and scarlet fever. Today, even on the most meticulously managed farms, cows can naturally shed E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria and contamination can occur in a split second during the milking process. The rise of the H5N1 (Bird Flu) virus in dairy cattle in recent years has added a lethal new variable; while pasteurisation effectively inactivates the virus, raw milk remains a potential vector for human infection. A recent study showed, for instance, that unpasteurized milk, consumed by only 3.2% of the population, and cheese, consumed by only 1.6% of the population, caused 96% of illnesses caused by contaminated dairy products.
So, the current raw milk frenzy puts a spotlight on the ignorance of those who support it. While raw milk is marketed as a health-conscious return to nature, it is primarily a brainless and unnecessary revival of long-forgotten risks. Pasteurization is – after immunisation (that is also rejected by these clowns) – one the most successful public health interventions in history. Advocates are not just embracing “food freedom”; they are embracing a level of risk that modern medicine spent a century eliminating.
The US “Health Freedom Movement” (HFM) is a coalition of activists, alternative practitioners, supplement and device manufacturers, and libertarian or populist politicians who oppose strong government regulation of healthcare. They claim to defend the individual’s right to choose any treatment or product they consider beneficial, especially so-called alternative medicine (SCAM).
Its roots lie in resistance to medical licensing and in movements around homeopathy, naturopathy, and chiropractic, which often portrayed organized medicine as a cartel limiting patient choice. The John Birch Society and other conservative groups use the term to oppose fluoridation, vaccination mandates, and federal health programs. During 1990s–2000s, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994, backed by a coalition of supplement companies and “health freedom” advocates, limited the FDA’s pre‑market control over supplements; libertarian politicians like Ron Paul and figures such as Prince/King Charles support aspects of this agenda. More recently, anti‑vaccination activism, opposition to the Affordable Care Act, and then COVID‑19 mandates and vaccines gave the HFM a major boost and re-grouped as “medical freedom” or “health freedom” across partisan lines, but with a strong right‑wing infrastructure.
The HFM’s main players include politicians (e.g. Ron Paul, Tom Harkin, Orrin Hatch, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) and media personalities (e.g. Gary Null, Kevin Trudeau, and many supplement‑selling influencers as well as SCAM doctors). Many of them have strong financial ties to supplement, wellness, or SCAM industry.
The HFM’s stated aims sound liberal: individual autonomy, informed and access to SCAM. In practice, however, its core goals are sharper and consistently deregulatory:
- Limit or abolish pre‑market safety and efficacy requirements for supplements and many SCAMs.
- Oppose or roll back mandatory childhood vaccination, COVID‑19 vaccination and mask rules, school-entry requirements, and sometimes even basic disease‑reporting obligations.
- Resist overarching government health programs, including water fluoridation, electronic health records, and population‑level data sharing, which they portray as surveillance or tyranny.
- Create broad legal shields for all types of SCAM practitioners and restrict the enforcement powers of medical boards and public‑health authorities.
While the rhetoric centres on “freedom” and “choice”, the policy is liberating commercial interests from evidence‑based standards and oversight. For this, the HFM uses a mixture of advocacy and classic populist agitation:
- Legislative lobbying: Drafting model bills that redefine or exempt SCAM practitioners, weaken vaccination requirements, and restrict state health departments’ emergency powers.
- Litigation: Groups such as the “Health Freedom Defense Fund” use lawsuits against mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and school or airline rules both as legal tools and as high‑visibility fundraising and mobilization devices.
- Electoral politics: Endorsing and funding candidates who promise to “reign in” public‑health agencies, defund WHO, or defy CDC guidance; in some places, anti‑vaccine activists have captured local hospital or school boards.
- Media ecosystems: Conferences, podcasts, Substack newsletters, and “documentaries” circulate narratives of regulatory capture, big‑pharma malfeasance, and heroic mavericks, often entwined with sales of supplements or courses.
These activities reinforce distrust of science and conventional medicine and thus create a host of issues and problems:
- Selective use of autonomy: Autonomy is invoked vigorously when opposing vaccines, fluoridation, or regulation of supplements, but tend to disregard it when patients are misled by misinformation, coercive marketing, or opaque conflicts of interest in the alternative sector itself. Yet protection against deception and unsafe products is essential for meaningful autonomy; “choice” among misrepresented options is not genuine choice.
- Systematic downplaying of risk and evidence: The HFM treats lack of evidence of benefit as if it were evidence of safety and legitimacy and often dismisses adverse‑event data. Regulators and critics must meet impossibly high standards, while proponents of SCAM face essentially none.
- Commercial conflicts of interest: Many leading voices within the HFM derive substantial income from selling SCAM. The HFM criticizes “Big Pharma” conflicts of interest while largely ignoring or concealing its own.
- Wilful ignorance of collective harms: Opposition to vaccination, masking, and quarantine treats infections as purely individual matters, neglecting that infectious disease risk is shared and that one person’s “choice” can impose morbidity and mortality on others. Yet any rights framework that leaves no space for legitimate public‑health constraints on individual choice is incompatible with controlling epidemics.
- Alliance with broader conspiracist and extremist currents: Sections of the HFM have fused with anti‑globalist, anti‑UN/WHO, and sometimes far‑right political currents, amplifying conspiracy narratives and distrust that spill over into many domains beyond health. Thus they corrode trust in institutions that are necessary for coordinating large‑scale health responses.
In a nutshell, the HFM is a deregulatory, commercially entangled project that uses the language of liberty to erode evidence‑based medicine and to normalise quackery as well as anti‑vaccination politics. To put it bluntly: the HFM does not seem to operate in the best interest of either the individual patient or the collective public health.
