Part the First: CDC Finally \u201cDecides\u201d that Vaccines Cause Autism<\/strong>.\u00a0 In news that will surprise absolute nobody, while pleasing some and causing despair in others, CDC says the mountains of data that show vaccines do NOT cause autism is not evidence-based<\/a>:<\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday publicly reversed its stance that vaccines do not cause autism, over the objections of career staff and counter to years of scientific evidence.<\/p>\n A CDC webpage that previously said there\u2019s no link between autism and vaccines was quietly updated<\/a> to call that claim \u201cnot evidence based,\u201d among other statements that are not factual.<\/p>\n The updated page did not go through normal scientific clearance (of course it didn\u2019t), Daniel Jernigan, a top CDC leader who resigned in August<\/a>, told STAT, citing conversations with CDC staff. Another person familiar with the situation, not authorized to speak publicly, also said that the CDC office that manages the page was not involved in the decision.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I do wonder, what does Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-Louisiana) think about this, since he made it possible?\u00a0 Which naturally leads to the question, \u201cWhy did you not believe this was coming when you cast your vote that confirmed the current Secretary of Health and Human Services?\u201d\u00a0 You believed him when he told you he would consult with you?\u00a0 OK, then.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told STAT that studies supporting a link between vaccines and autism \u201chave been ignored by health authorities,\u201d echoing a claim on the CDC page.<\/p>\n \u201cHHS has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links,\u201d HHS said in a statement. According to HHS, federal lawmakers were informed in advance of the change.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n From this STAT article, an archived STAT covering the evidence: Here is how we know that vaccines do not cause autism<\/a>.\u00a0 RFKJr\u2019s mania against thimerosal is just as misguided.\u00a0 Here is an explanation from a non-archived STAT article<\/a>:<\/p>\n Thimerosal is a critical tool for the safe use of some vaccines that are packaged in multi-dose vials, a format that is the backbone of vaccination efforts in low- and middle-income countries. The preservative ensures that the product does not become tainted by bacteria or other contaminants as health professionals insert syringe after syringe into the bottle to draw out successive doses<\/strong> (especially where refrigeration is not always available consistently).<\/p>\n It is a mercury-based compound, a fact Kennedy and his allies belabor when they rail against its use in vaccines. But thimerosal is ethylmercury, not methylmercury<\/strong>. The latter (originating from industrial pollution) is found in some fish and shellfish, is dangerous to human health, especially to developing fetuses. Ethylmercury, on the other hand, clears the body quickly. It has been used for decades in vaccines and multiple studies have found that in the concentrations used in vaccines, it does not pose a human health risk. The Minamata Convention contains a carve-out for thimerosal \u2014 it uses the name thiomersal \u2014 based on a WHO assessment<\/a> (pdf) about its safety and importance.<\/p>\n The Food and Drug Administration also acknowledged the safety of thimerosal in vaccines in a review<\/a> that was first published in 1997 that remains posted on its website today (but probably not for long). \u201cA robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Mercury is indeed a poison, now most commonly caused by artisanal gold mining, in which metallic mercury forms an amalgam with gold from low-grade ore and then heated with a blowtorch to leave a tiny gold droplet behind as the mercury evaporates.<\/p>\n Here is the simple but not simple-minded way to understand why thimerosal is not toxic, especially at the vanishingly small doses used in vaccines.\u00a0 I have used the similar vanishingly small amounts for long-term storage of solutions to prevent bacterial growth:<\/p>\n In each case, two simple compounds produce two widely divergent outcomes.\u00a0 The stupid, it burns.<\/p>\n Part the Second: Wellness on Steroids to Somewhere<\/strong>.\u00a0 Wellness startup Function Health raises $300 million as consumer lab testing picks up steam<\/a>.<\/p>\n Function Health, which offers its members nutrition, supplement, and other lifestyle guidance based on lab tests and body scans, announced on Wednesday $298 million in new funding with plans to add artificial intelligence features to help with the interpretation of patient data.<\/p>\n Function\u2019s new fundraise is a reflection of momentum behind a booming wellness industry that the company helped manufacture. Function, based in Austin, Texas, is one of the leading companies marketing preventive care services directly to consumers with emotional advertising that implores watchers to \u201cfind out what you\u2019re made of\u201d and that individuals \u201cdeserve answers just as unique as they are.\u201d <\/strong>The company\u2019s gospel of self-empowerment has been buttressed in part by co-founder and chief medical officer Mark Hyman\u2019s friendship with health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n For a yearly subscription fee of $365, Function tests members\u2019 blood for common biomarkers, like glucose and LDL cholesterol, as well as for metals like lead and markers of autoimmune health. The company also offers add-ons including Grail\u2019s test for multiple cancers, a test for gluten intolerance, and \u201cextended hormone health\u201d tests for men and women. Members repeat tests as often as every three months to monitor for changing signals in their biology. Following the acquisition of Ezra earlier this year, Function has tapped into the preventive body scanning trend<\/a>, and now offers MRI and CT scans to detect cancers, aneurysms, plaque in the heart, and more. Function is not covered by insurance.<\/p>\n After testing, members receive a clinician-reviewed overview of their results along with nutrition, supplements, and lifestyle recommendations (clinician undefined).. Hyman told STAT that the company is planning to launch a supplements offering \u201cthat is unlike anything that\u2019s ever been in the marketplace before<\/strong>\u201d but declined to go into detail.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Naturally Mark Hyman, \u201cthe most trusted name in functional medicine,\u201d and winner of the 2009 Linus and Ava Helen Pauling Award in Functional Medicine<\/a>, declined to go into detail.\u00a0 But you can find answers and details about \u201cfunctional medicine\u201d at his other link<\/a>.\u00a0 And if he does not work for you, Medical Medium<\/a> or the Surgeon General designee<\/a> will have other answers.\u00a0 But back to Function Health:<\/p>\n With a fresh $2.5 billion valuation, Function is charging deeper into its thesis that oodles of data collected from users can be used to inform consequential health care and lifestyle decisions. On Wednesday, the company is announcing Medical Intelligence, its new AI platform for analyzing user data and providing personalized recommendations. Initial features include a chatbot that can answer questions based on the user\u2019s health data and new \u201cprotocols\u201d that offer concrete steps that users can put into practice. Members will be able to upload clinical notes, lab tests, and scans for the system to analyze as well.<\/p>\n \u201cMedical Intelligence is about being able to sort through the infinite complexity of human biology, and understanding that the way medicine is currently practiced is based on a very reductionist model, but the body is infinitely complex,\u201d said Hyman. He added: \u201cIt\u2019s a platform that allows you to sort through and sift through all that data that makes sense of what\u2019s going on with unique biology and create personalized road map for you.\u201d<\/p>\n The AI chat will answer questions and offer suggestions about a range of topics. Examples provided by a Function spokesperson include creating an \u201canti-bloating\u201d nutrition plan; recommending supplements for heart health; reviewing out-of-range test results or explaining negative trends; and creating a morning routine for energy. The new protocols feature builds on the recommendations Function already offers users and might include \u201cfoods to enjoy vs. avoid, meal plans, supplements, sleep, exercise, stress, and anxiety relief.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson said the company employs \u201ca clinician-in-the-loop system where clinician inputs are used to continuously train the model.\u201d Hyman acknowledged that concerns around the accuracy and confabulation are valid but said the system wouldn\u2019t go too far.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n No, the human body is not infinitely complex.\u00a0 But even Wassily Leontief\u2019s system of 500 linear equations eventually broke down<\/a>, which was a tragedy to the professor who taught my linear algebra class.\u00a0 The equations that govern human physiology from the cell to the organism are probably uncountable and 95% of them are nonlinear. \u00a0Plus, outcomes are not path independent.\u00a0 This will make a lot of money for a lot of people.\u00a0 At the far margin, it will do some good, because the fraction of functional medicine that actually works is simply medicine.<\/p>\n One cannot help but wonder how well people would be thriving if we had an economy that was mostly for people rather than the other way around.\u00a0 That would include living wages across the board in meaningful employment, healthcare for all and universal childcare for those who want or need it, and a secure, affordable place for every family on any size to live.\u00a0 And no war, which only destroys the Earth and its people while making a solitary few unimaginably rich to the rest of us:<\/p>\n With splashy new AI features, Function may be the vanguard of a new wave of testing startups, but it is replicating playbooks that have been tried before. Like a recent crop of direct-to-consumer wellness companies, it\u2019s advertising on podcasts that appeal to listeners likely to be conscientious about their health.<\/p>\n Companies selling screening tests on the internet are also not new. Tim Mackey, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, recalled his research<\/a> from over a decade ago that identified bad behavior by direct-to-consumer testing companies, including misleading marketing and insufficient counseling offered to patients.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a gold rush market,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s so many more people worried about disease than actually have the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Well, there are so many more rich people worried about disease<\/strong> than actually have the disease.\u00a0 Everyone else has more pressing matters relating to survival of their families.<\/p>\n Part the Third: The Hits to NIH and the Rest of Us, They Just Keep on Coming<\/strong>.\u00a0 Has NIH funded clinical research and basic research that in hindsight wasn\u2019t worth it.\u00a0 The common answer is, \u201cYes!\u201d\u00a0 The correct answer, however, is \u201cNo!\u201d\u00a0 And this is for the simple reason that virtually nothing in biomedical science or clinical medicine can be known in advance, by deduction, for example.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Which brings us to this short article in Scientific American<\/em>: Halted NIH Clinical Trials List Reveals Slashed Treatments for Cancer, COVID and Minority Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sickle cell disease, sleep disorders and lung cancer: these are just a few of the medical issues that were under investigation in at least 383 clinical trials that have had research grants terminated by the National Institutes of Health since February.<\/p>\n That\u2019s about 1 in 30 of all the clinical trials\u2014tests of medical interventions in human volunteers\u2014funded by the federal agency, which has a $48-billion<\/a> research budget, according to a JAMA Internal Medicine <\/em>study<\/a> published Monday.<\/p>\n The full list of 383 shelved clinical trials cited in the JAMA paper, obtained by Scientific American<\/em>, reveals a wide range. The cuts follow a Trump administration drive to slash costs and cull funding for studies \u201cmisaligned<\/a>\u201d with its priorities; some 74,000 study participants have been affected by the trial cuts, according to the study.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Misaligned with its priorities?\u00a0 Sickle cell disease?\u00a0 Hmm. \u00a0Or this one, which is quite a mouthful: \u201cIntensive Symptom Surveillance Guarded by Machine Learning-directed Risk Stratification in Patients With Non-Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer, The INSIGHT Trial<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 As a survivor, so far, of a similar thing, that one stuck out.\u00a0 Perhaps the 85% survival rate (or 15% death rate after a long and miserable decline) for my condition could have been improved to 95% or higher.\u00a0 We will never know.<\/p>\n Once again, in a surprise to absolutely nobody, \u201cspokesman Andrew Nixon said the Department of Health and Human Services \u2018strongly\u2019 rejects the study\u2019s findings,\u201d while noting the 42,500 trials in the planning, recruiting, and active stages.\u00a0 So, why these 383 trials?\u00a0 Followed by this nonsense:<\/p>\n Selective focus on a handful of appropriately paused studies does not change that fact, and it should not be used to cast doubt on the overwhelming majority of trials that meet or exceed the gold standard of clinical research,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are committed to ensuring that taxpayer dollars support programs rooted in evidence-based practices and gold standard science\u2014not driven by ideological agendas.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cGold-standard\u201d science is nothing more than fetishistic trope, although it does fit the president\u2019s faux-Versailles aesthetic (apologies to the shade of the Sun King). \u00a0There is no evidence presented that any of this research was driven by ideological agendas.\u00a0 And aside from the knowledge never developed that could save many in the future, this is also a complete breach of trust with the 74,000 people who volunteered for these trials and the thousands of scientists, physicians, nurses, clinical trial coordinators (who have a huge task), and other healthcare workers who were doing this research.<\/p>\n Part the Fourth: Can Artifacts Tell Us Anything about Prehistoric Belief Systems<\/strong>?\u00a0 This is addressed in a short article from Reuters: Figurine of a woman and a goose offers peek at prehistoric beliefs<\/a>. \u00a0The course in Comparative Belief Systems I took during my misspent youth was a favorite, and the distinguished anthropologist who taught the twelve of us said, \u201cIt all depends.\u201d\u00a0 A diamond motif is common among the few artifacts left by Native Americans of Southeastern North America, so the natural conclusion by many is that these peoples venerated the eastern diamondback rattlesnake.\u00a0 Or they could have just liked the motif.<\/p>\n One of my first lessons in archaeology was given by a guide at Rock Eagle<\/a> in Georgia when I was in elementary school.\u00a0 Naturally, that bird effigy on the ground must be an eagle or the site would have another name.\u00a0 But as he said, \u201cRock Buzzard\u201d is just as likely.\u00a0 And even then, buzzards were probably much more common in this part of the world than eagles.<\/p>\n In the present case, these archaeologists are more convincing:<\/p>\n It is the earliest-known figurine worldwide showing human interaction with an animal, according to Laurent Davin, a postdoctoral researcher in archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and lead author of the study published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em>.\u00a0 It is also the oldest-known naturalistic, rather than stylized, portrayal of a woman in art from Southwest Asia, Davin said.<\/p>\n The goose is positioned on the crouching woman\u2019s back with its wings spread in a typical mating posture. The scene offers insight into this prehistoric culture\u2019s belief system, Hebrew University archaeologist and study co-author Leore Grosman said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe interpreted the interaction scene as the depiction of the imagined mating between an animal spirit and a human. This theme is very common in animistic societies across the world in specific situations such as erotic dreams, shamanistic visions and myths,\u201d Grosman said.<\/p>\n Animism is a belief system holding that natural things \u2013 living organisms such as plants and animals and inanimate objects like rocks and rivers \u2013 possess a spiritual essence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scene itself \u2013 depicting a sexualized interaction between a human and an animal \u2013 is part of a long tradition in myth. Such imagery is rarely meant to be literal. Instead, it often symbolizes fertility, spiritual beliefs or the sacredness of life,\u201d University of Connecticut anthropologist and study co-author Natalie Munro said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many myths across history and cultures, gods or beings take on hybrid human-animal forms to convey symbolic meanings, not actual sexual activity,\u201d Munro said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This is something we can never know, but that people were doing sculpture 12,000 years ago may be evidence of a mind not much different from our own.\u00a0 Julian Jaynes would probably disagree, and his The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind<\/a><\/em> is a very interesting book.<\/p>\n The PNAS paper is here (not yet behind a paywall but that is probably coming): A 12,000-year-old clay figurine of a woman and a goose marks symbolic innovations in Southwest Asia<\/a>.\u00a0 The illustrations show archeology at its best.\u00a0 And later in the Levant, the goose had become a swan<\/a>, sort of. \u00a0Continuity of the human psyche?\u00a0 We can be our own judge of that.<\/p>\n Part the Fifth: Responses to The Making of the MAGA Right<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 I rarely have time to engage the commentariat on alternate Wednesdays, so I would like to take this opportunity to do so.\u00a0 First, thank you all for reading and your thoughtful comments.\u00a0 I always come away from them knowing a lot more than I did before.<\/p>\n DJG, Reality Czar<\/a> \u2013 Carpet tack, meet 16-oz carpenter\u2019s hammer in a direct hit:<\/p>\n This is the usual religious \/ patriotic gore: \u201cOne of the postliberal changes that Deneen advocated in this vein was the embrace of an overtly Christian state, with holy holidays and tax-funded religious public works.\u201d<\/p>\n Yep, I\u2019m in favor of the U S of A putting Mary, the Theotokos, the Gran Madre di Dio, on the nickel. I\u2019ll wait\u2026 And Saint Joseph\u2019s Day as a national holiday, with traditional fritters of chickpeas. I\u2019ll wait.<\/p>\n What these clowns want is power. What they don\u2019t want is the Beatitudes getting in their way or inconvenient behavior by Saint Francis of Assisi \u2014 kissing lepers and using a stone for a pillow.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n steppenwolf fetchit<\/a> \u2013 Part of me wondered about this.\u00a0 I think you have gotten to the point in response to Judith<\/a>:<\/p>\n Vance wants to be President. The Legions of Saint Kirk will not accept a Hindu First Lady.<\/p>\n If Mrs. Vance won\u2019t convert to Catholicism, then Mr. Vance will find a way to get divorced from her. Maybe he will try forcing her into seeking the divorce.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Henry Moon Pie<\/a> \u2013 Absolutely on Richard John Neuhaus and First Things<\/a><\/em>, and this gem, which I will use during a talk somewhere, sometime, with attribution:<\/p>\n Authority is the refuge of the frightened and the lost, and the calling card of the sociopath. Better to seek harmony, to reconcile with reality rather than trying to hide behind the skirts of some strong man or institution.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Henry Moon Pie<\/a> \u2013 I agree that the common good can be<\/strong> defined, and this has been done by Kate Raworth, Herman Daly, and many others mostly unappreciated by the establishment.\u00a0 This is a task for the remnant before the world becomes a remnant.<\/p>\n And thank you for appreciating my appreciation of the great Curt Flood.\u00a0 There are few of us Little Leaguers left who had teachers who let us watch the World Series on a snowy black & white television during the middle of the day when the games rarely lasted much more than two hours.\u00a0 My fourth-grade teacher was one of those!\u00a0 We were the only fourth-grade class in my school that did not have to use a battery-powered transistor radio with the earplug. My sixth-grade teacher had the same view of baseball and I watched two games of the Orioles against the Dodgers \u2013 in a Series that seems to have had a dozen Hall of Famers.<\/p>\n And don\u2019t forget, the late, great Bob Uecker \u2013 Mr. Baseball<\/a> \u2013 was also on that 1964 Cardinals team as McCarver\u2019s backup.<\/p>\n Gulag<\/a> \u2013 Thank you for reminding us The Wizard of Kalorama recommended Deneen.\u00a0 He would have.\u00a0 You are certainly correct that Deneen was, and should have remained, in sympathy with Christopher Lasch and Wendell Berry.\u00a0 Deneen was a founder of Front Porch Republic<\/a> if I remember correctly.\u00a0 FPR is hit or miss, but the hits are often resounding.<\/p>\n Shockley Jensen<\/a> \u2013 Very interesting handle.\u00a0 Is your middle name Herrnstein?<\/p>\n Hard to judge without reading, but it sounds like more willful misreading of the situation by liberal academia. No one with tenure had anything to do with what is happening on the right.<\/p>\n To begin to understand what is happening, it might be helpful to look at a list of every conservative thinker and writer that was cancelled by Buckley and his minions. It\u2019s a long list but at the top there\u2019s Sam Francis<\/strong>, Joe Sobran, Peter Brimelow<\/strong> and John Derbyshire<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Francis<\/strong>, Brimelow<\/strong>, and Derbyshire<\/strong> make their fleeting appearances in Furious Minds<\/em>, as New Right racists.\u00a0 Sobran is not in the index and I do not remember any mention of him.\u00a0 According to LKF, \u201cthe \u2018particularist\u2019 nationalism (related to Abraham Lincoln) that Sam Francis<\/strong> defended was white nationalism.\u201d \u00a0That is about as racist as it gets.<\/p>\n Plautus (Julius Krein) of Journal of American Greatness<\/em> (seriously?) \u201cquoted well-known racists \u2013 Steve Sailer, Peter Brimelow<\/strong>, and John Derbyshire<\/strong> \u2013 approvingly and mocked anyone \u2013 especially establishment conservatives \u2013 who might be squeamish about nativism and racism.\u201d\u00a0 LKF is not the only observer who knows these men are racists.\u00a0 They are not bashful about it.<\/p>\n Derbyshire was fired in 2012 from National Review<\/em> for a racist article he published at Taki\u2019s Magazine<\/a> (no, I did not look it up).\u00a0 Bill Buckley died in 2008, so how Derbyshire was cancelled by Buckley is a mystery.\u00a0 Buckley was a force of nature and I quite enjoyed Firing Line<\/a><\/em> in my relative youth.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think he came back from the grave to defenestrate these men.\u00a0 Buckley\u2019s minions?\u00a0 Probably not, either.\u00a0 Buckley\u2019s legacy has little influence on most of the New Right.\u00a0 Their \u201cconservatism\u201d is mere appurtenance to their animus toward The Other, and they have burdened themselves with a lot of Others.\u00a0 This is in no way a modern conservatism worth considering.\u00a0 I trust LKF.<\/p>\n One other thing, LKF is not \u201cliberal academia.\u201d\u00a0 She was an academic from a legitimate conservative philosophical background who had second thoughts for very good reason.\u00a0 Read her preface. \u00a0She left academia to become a scholar, that is, a person who begins with the world as it is instead of herself in relation to the world when trying the make sense of it all.<\/p>\n Cheers!<\/p>\n Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!\u00a0 See you next week.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
![\"Print](\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/print-button-gray.png\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n