Roxon's response to AVN and a dig at her take on home birth.

From a press conference with Nicola Roxon, the Health Minister, and Jim Bishop, the Commonwealth's Chief Medical Officer.

Question: Do you think an element in the slow take-up has been misinformation from the internet and from groups like anti-vaccination network?

Nicola Roxon: I think we've been quite clear about the anti-vaccination network's objections to any type of vaccination which is not based in any of the science or medical advice that we have.

I can't explain or predict how many people pay attention to that. I think it is irresponsible material, by and large, and I would encourage all Australians to act on the advice of the Government, of course based on the advice from the Chief Medical Officer, our specialised teams that meet to provide us with information, the very rigorous TGA process to ensure that this is safe for children, and we are satisfied of all those things and I think it is foolish for people to spread misinformation about a vaccine which can actually provide protection where we know there have been some bad consequences in paediatric situations, so for young children, and this is a way to protect against that.

Though I wholeheartedly agree with her this time, it's a depressing thought for me that she lacks credibility due to her involvement in restricting home birth. Roxon, unfortunately, appears to do none of the research herself. Rather, she seems to take as gospel anything anyone with a white coat or an AMA membership says.

Music for Agnostic Ears

I DO like this Father Peter Kennedy guy: "I think it's much more wonderful to believe in evolution, it's such a mystery, it's so wonderful and it's breathtaking, but that doesn't destroy my faith in God - in whatever God is."

This, coming from a recovering catholic priest, is music to the ears of an agnostic like me who believes that a common belief and regular gatherings are good for a community. For those who are under the erroneous impression that we agnostics are 'fence sitters' may I remind you that a a true agnostic is one who believes that the existence or not of a god is something that we, as human beings, CANNOT POSSIBLY KNOW.

Read more at www.abc.net.au

For Melbournites - Birth Choices Meeting

Wanna bet I'll be moderated off the AVN blog?

Below is my response to AVN's blog post that jumped on the Sunday Express front page "Jab 'as dealy as the cancer'"!!! Headline. I'm betting it won't make it past moderation, because the AVN won't be at all interested in what Dr Diane Harper actually had to say about the HPV vaccine.

That's because this 'woman' - Dr Diane Harper - was contacted for comment by Ben Goldacre and it turned out she did not say any of the things above. She made a complaint and the article was removed from the Sunday Express website. Obviously, however, the damage it caused remains.

To read what she actually thinks of the HPV vaccine and to learn some important distinctions between the UK vaccine and the US vaccine, try:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/10/ben-goldacre-cervical-cancer-jab
This was published in the Guardian. You will note that Dr Diane Harper has not asked the Guardian to remove this column.

Prochoice Comfort Food

A great interview demonstrating why any religious body should steer clear of interfering with the state - They have NO idea how legislation enforcing their moral codes would work. Enjoy.

Large Hadron Rap. Making physics funky.

Ever wonder what the Large Hadron Collider did? Also check out Marty's blog for photos of the Gordan Freeman look alike :)

Women Deserve Better

Thanks to Leslie Cannold for passing this on. As she said, strap in, and hold on. Folk using readers may have to visit to see...

I think I really am two people.

I'm getting more than I bargained for with this multi-disciplinary thing. Whenever I read medical or scientific papers my philosopher persona continually shakes its head in disbelief at the all too frequent internal contradictions and ambiguity caused by sloppy choice of words. Yet if I try to read philosophy my scientist persona thunks its head on the desk in frustration at subtle distinctions it sees as time-wasting bickering over definitions or processes that can't be tested.

I just wish they would talk to each other for a bit and leave me alone!

Letter to Essential Baby re AVN link

Sent this a few minutes ago. It would be so nice to get a reasonable response! We'll see:


Dear Editor,

I write regarding the article in Essential Baby entitled "Vaccines and Your Child".

I have no complaint about the article, but I am gravely concerned that it links to the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN).

The AVN are currently under investigation by the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission for providing misleading information to parents who are researching vaccination.

I am deeply worried that if this link to AVN is provided by Essential Baby it will give the AVN a credibility that I am convinced they do not deserve.

They are demonstrably anti-vaccination and it would be extremely difficult to find a doctor in NSW (where they are based) who would recommend them as a balanced or reliable source of information on vaccines.

I have personally gone through their claims and found most of them to be outdated or cherry-picked. (I have a BSc/BA Hons and have worked in an industry where we create anti-bodies for research.) I published my (long) findings on my otherwise uninteresting blog - http://emervents.blogspot.com/2009/06/critique-of-avns-10-reasons-to-think.html

I recommend you change the link to the Victorian Government's information page which also has vaccine information available in languages other than English and has links to recent data on vaccine coverage etc. http://www.health.vic.gov.au/immunisation

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Extension vs Intension

If you have arrived here hoping for a clear explanation of extension and intension I would read no further and go to Garth Kemerling's page on Meaning and Definition which is excellent. In this post I'm just having a play with the words and I'm likely to muddy the waters rather than enlighten you. (Also, it's very probably false.)

The extension of the term ‘extension’ consists of every word that could be said to be extensional.

Whereas the intension of the term ‘extention’ is the criteria for extension which is that the word be extensional.

The extension of the term ‘intension’ consists of every word that could be said to be intensional.

Whereas the intension of ‘intension’ is the criteria for intension which is that there be criteria a word must meet before the word intension applies.

OK?

An honest account of motherly anger? About time.

Film-maker Julia Black, a BAFTA and Grierson nominated independent documentary maker, is making a film about motherly anger. As a mother of two, she is interested in shifting the taboo that surrounds a mother's anger towards her child or children and wishes to research into how many mothers, like her, have been shocked by the level of anger they experience.

Please take a few minutes to fill in this online questionnaire. All answers are entirely anonymous and cannot be traced to your e-mail address.

www.survey.ingenious2.co.uk

I did it, and it can be done in ten minutes or so. There's also room for the more loquacious of us to comment at the end which was nice (for me anyway!).

I love this sentence...

...from an old essay:

Deleuze and Guattari state that “The problem of philosophy is to acquire a consistency without losing the infinite into which thought plunges.” (p 42). It is the conceptual persona that drinks from the infinite and vomits possibilities onto the philosopher's page. They are the explorers, the provocateurs and engineers of thought, the part of the philosopher that ventures into the new, awake while the remainder wallows in dogma anaesthetic. This aspect of the creative process is a necessary part of thought and thus for Deleuze and Guattari's philosophical ontology, indispensable.

...and I can't help wondering where all of my conceptual personae have got to :(