Saturday, February 26, 2011

Quack of the Day: Alan Phillips

As mentioned previously, Mr. Hubbs thought it was a good idea to cite the work of Alan Phillips, because Hubbs felt Phillips was qualified to write on the subject of vaccines.  Thus, if we wish to be logical and speak about qualifications we should determine who Alan Phillips is.  Phillips is not a doctor, he is not a research scientist, he does not hold a PhD, nor has he written any peer-reviewed papers.  He is not an immunologist nor has he attended medical school.  He isn't a nurse, he doesn't hold an advanced degree in any medical or scientific field, and as far as I can tell he has never so much as set foot in a research lab where vaccines are being studied.

In reality, Phillips is a lawyer rather than a scientist or doctor.  That was obvious as soon as I read the first paragraph of his editorial, because even the most anti-vaccination doctors out there seem to have a better grasp on the facts, but beyond being a lawyer, Mr. Phillips is actually an anti-vaccine lawyer or a vaccine exemption lawyer whichever you prefer.  This means he gets paid to sue organizations, states, the federal government or whoever else in an attempt to claim vaccine exemptions for his clients for a number of different reasons with the most common falling under the guise of a religious objection.  He even posts a FAQ on his website (http://www.vaccinerights.com/q&a.html) which counsels people on how to go about requesting a religious exemption even if they have no such religion in the first place.  Does this wreak of a conflict of interest to anyone?  I find it ironic that a lawyer writing about vaccines and making claims about vaccines being harmful has such an obvious ethical conflict here, but that isn't likely to sway any of the anti-vaxers even when they (hypocritically) try to suggest the vaccine manufacturers are just in it for the money.

Philips is also an advisory board Member of the American Chiropractic Autism Board (yes really... I didn't even have to make that up) and a board member of the World Association for Vaccine Education.  If neither of these organizations means anything to you don't fret because you aren't alone.  The anti-vaxers like to create groups and give them clever names even though the same handful of people are involved in all of them... it is just another way they try to give credibility to their cause because they can add things to their resumes and websites to make themselves sound important.

How do I know these groups are entirely worthless?  Well in the case of the "World Association for Vaccine Education" (or WAVE as they like to be called), they have a introductory statement on their website that reads "... study vaccine data from a non-medical point of view".  Are you serious?  What other way is there to study vaccines that from a medical and/or scientific viewpoint?  Frankly you cannot study vaccines any other way.  The quackery doesn't stop there however - WAVE even invented their own journal (Medical Veritas - obviously not an accepted or reputable journal within the medical or scientific community) so they could pack it with their own data and claim it was "published in a journal".  The mere fact their website is http://www.novaccine.com/ is enough to tell us they aren't interested in the scientific process but rather have formed opinions and seek to throw data at those opinions in the hopes something will stick.  If you want to talk about bias - this is a prime example at work.

Besides Philips, who else is on the board of WAVE?  Well it is a laundry list of anti-vaxers, but there are the usual suspects including Sherri Tenpenny, Mary Tocco, a guy who created the "Hyperbaric Medical Association" and who operates a "Hyperbaric Medical Center" and a "Hyperbaric Oxygen Clinic" (I could write a whole separate post about this guy and his unscientific alternative medicine quackery) and several chiropractors, one of which feels it important to specifically list in his bio that he was Michigan All-State Cross Country in 1983.  Yes really - these people really have no shame.

So what about the comically named "American Chiropractic Autism Board" or ACAB?  Well if you visit their website you will find their "board of advisers" includes many of the same people as are found on WAVE such as Philips, Boyd Haley and Mary Tocco.  You will also find Tocco's daughter and Tocco's husband (or former husband... I seem to remember something about them being divorced) both of which are Chiropractors, and you will find a few other Chiropractors, NDs, a woman who is a "Certified Nutrition Counselor" and a couple of women who have no official credentials at all other than the fact they are mothers of autistic kids (or in the case of one a mother of a kid who was autistic and has since recovered).  I suppose one of them does claim to be a "writer, teacher and cartoonist" so that is probably worth something right?

I'm not sure being affiliated with either of these organizations makes Phillips qualified to speak on the subject of vaccines, but he sure seems to think so.  In fact he claims on his website that he is "is one of the nation's leading vaccine rights attorneys" (although I'm not exactly sure how he is able to verify such a claim).

Rest assured however if you can't afford Mr. Philips services he can offer you his book for the low-low price of $24.95.  Keep in mind that is a great value, because the book is "over 100 pages" and Philips claims it holds a retail price of $39.95.  Of course it is only an e-book because for $25 you can't expect real paper, and you will need to download it yourself or pay an extra $5 to have them mail you a CD.  Honestly - are there ANY of these anti-vaxer types who DON'T have a book, CD, DVD, or line of supplements to sell?

The most comical aspect of Philips' bio however is the following quote: "Alan is an accomplished professional singer-songwriter on piano and 12-string acoustic guitar, with achievements that include standing ovations at seven international conferences and sales of original music to citizens from countries on six continents."

Awesome - so apparently when you get a standing ovation for your music, or when you have sold some CDs in a few different countries... that means you are somehow qualified and at all relevant to speak about vaccines.  Gothca.

As sad as it is, these are the types of people who are professed as experts on vaccine related subjects within the anti-vaxer camps.  Actual credentials matter little when the snakeoil salesman is telling you exactly what you want to hear, but don't expect an anti-vaccination conspiracy theorist to admit it.  In truth I really can't even blame Phillips because he is probably a very intelligent guy.  He found a niche market (parents who are petrified that their kids will be harmed by vaccinations) and he ran with it.  For all I know Phillips might have kids who are all up to speed on their vaccinations, but he understands he has a role to play, and it becomes rather easy to prey upon ignorant anti-vaccination types while laughing all the way to the bank.

So at the end of the day what do you really believe?  Do you take the opinion of a lawyer who has an obvious ethical bias tied to his personal income, or do you trust proven time-tested scientific methods which produce research and results which are replicated and peer-reviewed?  For someone with a level head and at least average intellect the answer is clear, but for someone like Lowell Hubbs apparently it isn't quite so easy... which is exactly what keeps so many anti-vaccine snakeoil salesman in business.

8 comments:

  1. Sorry Mr. Hubbs, but your six comments were automatically flagged as spam and after reading them I'm afraid I have to agree with Google on this one. You do seem to share one trait with Mr. Phillips (and pretty much every other antivaxer out there) in that you are only able to cite biased sources such as whale.to and anti-vaccine websites as your source material.

    I've told you before I only cite reputable sources, so your endless lists of various blogs and anti-vaccine websites won't serve as valid when speaking of scientific matters. If you can find some peer-reviewed studies from a legitimate medical journal (any medical journal worldwide so as to eliminate your excuse that the CDC or FDA controls the information) then by all means let me know. However as it sits, even the idiotic "Medical Veritas" journal that your friends have invented hasn't been able to publish even a single study which proves vaccines are harmful, that the risks outweigh the benefits, they can be in any way linked to autism, or that chiropractors can cure autism as they suggest.

    Until you can find some real science to support your silly views... stop wasting my time.

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  2. Lowell, you should be a little more careful about what you search for online at the library!!! Going through the search history reveals disturbing images from the imgsrc.ru website, sick galleries and other porn searches dating back several years ago. Makes me wonder why you’re obsessed with the Gardasil vaccine (maybe it’s the the age range it targets). You claim to be disgusted of what your buddy Harley dose for a living and has on his computer and you are out in the world doing the same thing?

    By the way, viewing and then deleting emails on a computer does not mean they can’t be retrieved! Remember, everything you do on a computer system will always remain no matter how far back.

    If you keep up your vulgar language, threats and anger management issues at the downtown library, you will end up banned from the establishment like at the Sanford Health Wagner Library. Once that happens, it will only be a matter of time before you will be banned from the children’s school you go to for computer time (or should I send them and the cops a copy of your web browsing history?)

    Did any hackers put a black box on your utility pole again??? Is your phone bugged??? Did “Costner” make you feel bad??? Find any Netgear routers blocking access to your websites??? Maybe certain places you visit to use the computers blocked access to your sites after getting infected with viruses, Trojans etc… ever think of that buddy???!!! Or maybe they don’t want that type of trash accessed from their systems for the Feds to raid them in the future.

    Steve will soon get a copy of my report and findings. I hope you are having a great day working at Command Labor going to Ellison’s in Pipestone, MN every weekday. From what I hear you piss allot of people of at work to the point where they don’t want to take you in their car. Not everybody has the same demented mind as you do so stop trying to get everybody on your side. Looks like that all that Keystone beer is getting to you.

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  3. I'm not sure if that comment answered more questions than it brought up, but it does appear that Lowell makes friends everywhere he goes.

    Isn't Ellison's a meat packing plant? I guess a degree from Google University leaves your options somewhat limited.

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  4. IT Firestone, you are as sick if not sicker than Costner. People like you belong in prison, and tha fact you clearly claim to have been following me around, puts you right in the middle of a whole lot of illegal activity. And does your supervisor know that? Your little and factually twisted expose here, clearly is a testiment to what you really are dude!

    The things that happened today, I suppose have nothing to do with you? Including all the sick porn messages being sent to both of my email accounts, some of them even from my email account? The exact same type of stuff you refer to with Mr. Manning. And is it a coincidence that all this again happens at the very height of Costner again having been made a fool of? Any honest person can see that.

    You clearly are and have been involved in a whole lot more illegal activity than your expose admits to and exposes. As a fact. Would you like to put your real name on your next blog post?

    Keep up the revenge, and the personal attacks Costner, you are directly involved as well, with all of it; and you always were.

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  5. Sorry Lowell, but the only fool around here is you. I was hoping you could at least deny some of the statements made by "IT Firestone" but based upon your comments it seems he/she is right on the money.

    However I have to take issue with the accusation I have been "directly involved" as I haven't a clue what the two of you are even talking about. It does sound interesting though... so I hope we see more from IT Firestone in the future!

    By the way Mr. Hubbs, if you are going to make accusations about me being involved with whatever you think I am involved in, I'm afraid you need to provide some evidence to support such a claim. Now since we both know no such evidence exists and since you always seem to be so short on real proof, I guess you'll need to scurry back under the rug.

    Have fun on your drive to Pipestone!

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  6. Mr. Wildman, it's people like you that brows websites like imgsrc.ru, Jailbait Gallery, Image Shack, Dumpster Sluts, Motherless, Porn Hub, Stickam Caps (just naming a few) and type search terms to bring up illegal, young teen, preteen age material of both boys and girls, watch videos and print disgusting photos is just sick and twisted. I only know about Harley because you composed messages about him (btw, I only found those messages from searching through your account history).

    Everything I know about you I got from YOU using the public computer terminals and looking into your computer usage details with the exception of being at the gas station acros from the Admin building while you were buying beer. A stalker I am not, I’m just doing my job looking into your history based on some complaints.

    If I were you I would take the following message to heart: As I stated before, everything you do on a PC is logged and kept on the server (including every print job sent to the printers). Every webpage you view with your browser is downloaded to local machine for it to be possible to view. Even if you delete something it’s still available. Everything you view I can view, even at the same time while you’re using the computer. I can even interact with you or disable your keyboard and mouse. Everything I’ve done is legal since you are using the public systems.

    I thought i'd be nice and share with you that if you open one more questionable link or type one more questionable search term while on those systems (including at that school who is also on the same network), you will be banned from all properties and all information that has not already been turned over will be turned in to the police.

    Every other thing I mentioned in my previous post about the hackers, Netgear, your job, etc, came from reading this blog and going through your account activity dating back to 2007, and by the way, I find this blog to be really entertaining.

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  7. As a matter of fact Costner, you need to remove this slander from this blog. You have REFUSED to allow any reply on my behalf, to that second post. Why is that? You are putting this slander forth, and yet refuse to allow any rebutal, and there has been more than one post been made here in regard to that. Really, how sick is that? There were no such websites viewed. There were no such search terms entered. You were told there is nothing I do, but what pertains to the issues I put forth. I would have time for nothing else, and I have no interest whatsoever in anything such as what was put forth by IT Firestone.

    It is an interesting fact that on the same day as this post was made, someone hacked into my email acct. and set up in google alerts the same such request for similar sites, and a whole lot of sick stuff. As well, there were several hacked emails from me to me containing reference to my site server, and acct changes, etc. As well, there was reference a deposit change to a bank I dont bank at. These false/spoof sends were clearly downloading a porn site, on the computer system, as evidenced by something that came up as to the search history.

    As well, a certain false call was made to my work place the very same day as the said first post was made.

    There was as well no information in my accounts, nor emails that IT Firestone refers to, and as to the claims he makes. That information is false, and it was not attained from those sources. It is nothing but a false smear. Therefore, you need to remove this slander from this blog. You also have some specific replies made here as to those said claims being believed as real. Those you need to remove as well! To not remove any and all reference to this, in light of the truth being put forth here, is just asinine. It shows your true motive, and that is nothing but lies and adding more to a batantly false smear cmapaign. Of course that fits well with the rest of your twisted lies and misinformation as to the subject matters addressed.

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  8. Mr. Hubbs - it is only slander if it isn't true, and based upon the laundry list of excuses you are making in an attempt to blame things upon "hackers" and how you continually fall back upon that old tired line of people hacking your email or computer etc, I'm guessing IT Firestone probably knows more about you than you would like to admit.

    That said I informed you previously what I will and will not allow to be said here. I'm not about to post your endless rants including references to your own blog as "evidence" nor will I accept you using profanity in your posts. I told you because of your actions I temporarily banned you from commenting, so don't pretend I haven't given you ample chances to respond like a civil human being (in fact the post above is yet another example of me allowing you a response).

    If you can remain civil and act like an adult and follow the rules, I will post some of your nonsense, but since you continually resort to childish tactics or feel the need to refer to your own blogs and websites I'll continue to ignore those comments because as I have told you numerous times I don't link to non-scientific sources or biased websites. You can link to whatever you choose from your own website, but this isn't your website... so get over it.

    Bottom line Mr. Hubbs, I'm not about to remove anything and I have given others a full opportunity to speak. If you don't like what they have to say that is your choice, but I can hardly accept your opinion as being fact and since I don't have personal knowledge of either side I have a duty to present both sides of the issue. Nobody said you have to like it.

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