Scientific American: Trump's Alarming Dismissal of Science

The journal, Scientific American, does not ordinarily write political endorsements or condemn political candidates.  Its principal concern is science and the fostering of scientific advances and discoveries that have the potential to better the human condition and foster progress.  However, this year, given Donald trump's embrace of ignorance and denial of scientific truths - something not surprising given Trump's Christofascist, natvist, white supremacist base of support - the journal has felt compelled to make the case why Trump is unfit for the presidency.  Here are highlights:

Four years ago in these pages, writer Shawn Otto warned our readers of the danger of a growing antiscience current in American politics. “By turning public opinion away from the anti-authoritarian principles of the nation's founders,” Otto wrote, “the new science denialism is creating an existential crisis like few the country has faced before.”
 Otto wrote those words in the heat of a presidential election race that now seems quaint by comparison to the one the nation now finds itself in. As if to prove his point, one of the two major party candidates for the highest office in the land has repeatedly and resoundingly demonstrated a disregard, if not outright contempt, for science. Donald Trump also has shown an authoritarian tendency to base policy arguments on questionable assertions of fact and a cult of personality.
 A respect for evidence is not just a part of the national character. It goes to the heart of the country's particular brand of democratic government. When the founding fathers, including Benjamin Franklin, scientist and inventor, wrote arguably the most important line in the Declaration of Independence—“We hold these truths to be self-evident”—they were asserting the fledgling nation's grounding in the primacy of reason based on evidence.

Scientific American is not in the business of endorsing political candidates. But we do take a stand for science—the most reliable path to objective knowledge the world has seen—and the Enlightenment values that gave rise to it. For more than 170 years we have documented, for better and for worse, the rise of science and technology and their impact on the nation and the world.
 [O]ver the past few decades facts have become an undervalued commodity. Many politicians are hostile to science, on both sides of the political aisle. The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has a routine practice of meddling in petty science-funding matters to score political points. Science has not played nearly as prominent a role as it should in informing debates over the labeling of genetically modified foods, end of life care and energy policy, among many issues.
 The current presidential race, however, is something special. It takes antiscience to previously unexplored terrain. When the major Republican candidate for president has tweeted that global warming is a Chinese plot, threatens to dismantle a climate agreement 20 years in the making and to eliminate an agency that enforces clean air and water regulations, and speaks passionately about a link between vaccines and autism that was utterly discredited years ago, we can only hope that there is nowhere to go but up.
 In October, as we did four years previously, we will assemble answers from the campaigns of the Democratic and Republican nominees on the public policy questions that touch on science, technology and public health and then publish them online. We will support ScienceDebate.org's efforts to persuade moderators to ask important science-related questions during the presidential debates. We encourage the nation's political leaders to demonstrate a respect for scientific truths in word and deed. And we urge the people who vote to hold them to that standard.

GOP Base Lunacy and the Measles Vaccine Debate

More and more the base of the Republican Party displays fear of modernity and scientific truths and in the name of "parental rights" refuse to expose their children to public schools and more dangerously, modern vaccines to avoid preventable diseases.  One of the results of this backwardness is the current measles outbreak which is being fueled by those who  refuse to have their children vaccinated.  To me, it is symptomatic of the lunacy that has become synonymous with today's Republican Party.  It is also typical of far right Christians who are among the most self-centered and selfish people one will encounter despite all the claims of piety and adherence to the Gospel message.  They truly, in my view, do not give a damn about how they endanger others.  Now, would be GOP presidential candidates are being pushed to take positions as to whether the public welfare outweighs pandering to those who live in a fantasy world.  The New York Times looks at the issue.  Here are highlights:

WASHINGTON — The politics of medicine, morality and free will have collided in an emotional debate over vaccines and the government’s place in requiring them, posing a challenge for Republicans who find themselves in the familiar but uncomfortable position of reconciling modern science with the skepticism of their core conservative voters.

As the latest measles outbreak raises alarm, and parents who have decided not to vaccinate their children face growing pressure to do so, the national debate is forcing the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential hopefuls to confront questions about whether it is in the public’s interest to allow parents to decide for themselves.

Gov. Chris Christie’s trade mission to London was suddenly overshadowed on Monday after he was quoted as saying that parents “need to have some measure of choice” about vaccinating their children against measles.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a physician, was less equivocal, telling the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on Monday that parents should absolutely have a say in whether to vaccinate their children for measles.

The vaccination controversy is a twist on an old problem for the Republican Party: how to approach matters that have largely been settled among scientists but are not widely accepted by conservatives.

It is a dance Republican candidates often do when they hedge their answers about whether evolution should be taught in schools. It is what makes the fight over global warming such a liability for their party, and what led last year to a widely criticized response to the Ebola scare.

There is evidence that vaccinations have become more of a political issue in recent years. Pew Research Center polls show that in 2009, 71 percent of both Republicans and Democrats favored requiring the vaccination of children. Five years later, Democratic support had grown to 76 percent, but Republican support had fallen to 65 percent.

[A]sked about immunization over the weekend in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press,” Mr. Obama urged parents to “get your kids vaccinated.”

Hillary Rodham Clinton also weighed in with a jab at vaccine naysayers, writing Monday night on Twitter, “The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and #vaccineswork.”

The issue has more political potency among conservative voters who are highly skeptical of anything required by the government.

The vaccine question surfaced in the 2012 Republican primary when rivals of Rick Perry, then the Texas governor, pounced on him for issuing an executive order requiring sixth-grade girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus . . .

[T]he debate is not one-sided for Republicans. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, also a possible 2016 candidate, was asked on Sunday about vaccinations on the ABC News program “This Week,” and insisted that the science was clear and convincing. “Study after study has shown that there are no negative long-term consequences,” he said. “And the more kids who are not vaccinated, the more they’re at risk and the more they put their neighbors’ kids at risk as well.”

Asked about immunizations again later on Monday, Mr. Paul was even more insistent, saying it was a question of “freedom.” He grew irritated with a CNBC host who pressed him and snapped: “The state doesn’t own your children. Parents own the children.”

Rand Paul's comment is very distressing. NO ONE owns children.  They have every right to be protected from the ignorance of their parents and from their parent's poisonous religious beliefs.  Yet the far right sees children as chattel property to be mistreated and abused, physically and psychologically as deranged parents see fit.  This mindset needs to be eradicated.

Judge Overrules Religous Objections to Vaccinations

Increasingly America is facing a rise in diseases formerly almost wholly eradicated through vaccination programs.  So what is causing the near epidemic situation in some regions?  Parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated based on claimed religious beliefs.  Like some many other things the Christofascist do in the name of "religious freedom," the refusal to have children vaccinated reflects a total disregard for the health and safety of others.  The motto of the Christofascists ought to be "It's all about me - everyone else, go f*ck yourself."  As the judge in the ruling in New York State concluded, the Christofascist movement against Vaccinations poses a public health threat.  Here are highlights from a piece in the Huffington Post:

Judge William F. Kuntz II has ruled to uphold a New York City policy that bars unvaccinated children from attending school when another student has a disease preventable by a vaccination, reports The New York Times.

In the ruling, Kuntz wrote that the Supreme Court, "strongly suggested that religious objectors are not constitutionally exempt from vaccinations."

Three families filing suit contended that the school policy preventing their unvaccinated children from attending school at risky times is a First Amendment violation of religious freedom. The Brooklyn Eagle reported that Nicole Phillips, Fabian Mendoza-Vaca and Dina Check had decided not to vaccinate their children on the grounds of "sincere religious belief."

From a public health standpoint, the small unvaccinated percentage of the population threatens efforts to eradicate preventable diseases from society. Depending on the contagiousness of the specific disease, a certain percentage of the population must be vaccinated in order to prevent an outbreak, due to a phenomenon known as "herd immunity," reports The Times. For highly contagious diseases like measles, that percentage is as high as 95%, which means that even a few unvaccinated children could pose a hazard to an entire school.

Kuntz cited a 109-year-old ruling on public health as a precedent in this case. He also pointed to a more recent Brooklyn federal court decision that said, "the free exercise clause of the First Amendment does not provide a right for religious objectors to be exempt from New York's compulsory inoculation law.”

 I'm sorry, but these Christofascist are not only incredibly selfish but  they are insane to boot.  Kudos to Judge Kuntz.

Gay West Hollywood Man Brain Dead from Bacterial Meningitis - New York Connection?

As several LGBT blogs are reporting, young, seemingly fit gay West Hollywood attorney, Brett Shaad (pictured at left) is brain dead from bacterial meningitis and for the time being is on life support.  At present, it is not known if he contracted it via someone from New York City where there has been an out break of bacterial meningitis in the gay community.  The purpose of this post is to underscore how critical it is that members of the LGBT community take this situation seriously and preferably get the vaccine against the disease.  This story sends shivers through me and revives old nightmares.  And for good reason.   And to me, it is criminal that the vaccine is not widely recommended.  The CDC in its wisdom believes that the risk is low and, therefore, the cost is not merited.  Stated another way, since the number of individuals who die each year is low, the CDC is willing to write off their lives as a cost control measure.  Anyone who has seen this disease first hand would NEVER be willing to just write off a given amount of lives as an acceptable reaction.

As long time readers likely recall, one of my daughters was stricken with bacterial meningitis almost 14 years ago and very nearly died.   While she had a miracle recovery - she was actually written up in the hospital's magazine after the roughly six month ordeal - many do not.   And what is the most frightening about the disease is the speed with which it strikes.  Often, by the time discernible symptoms are displaying (most noticeably a rash like phenomenon where capillaries in the skin begin to rupture), time is almost out to save the victim from either death or horrible impairment.  In the case of my daughter, another 10 to 15 minutes in getting her to the hospital and she probably would have died.   As it was, the hospital ER staff struggled to stabilize her and thankfully we were at a hospital with top trauma facilities and with staff who immediately recognized what they were dealing with.  I can still hear the doctor telling me to call my former wife and tell her to get to the hospital immediately, no shower, etc., because he did not know if they were going to be able to save my daughter.  Towleroad has some details on this sad situation and the, in my view, irresponsible manner in which the medical authorities are reacting.  Here are highlights:

Brett Shaad was declared brain dead but remained on life support Friday afternoon, said Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Shaad’s family. She declined to release further details.

West Hollywood Councilman John Duran incorrectly said he had been taken off life support earlier on Friday, the wire adds:

Duran, who saw Shaad last weekend, described the openly gay man as being “robust and healthy” prior to Monday, when he began to feel sick.

On Wednesday, he went into the emergency room. By Thursday, he was in a coma.

Tests are underway on the strain of meningitis to determine if it is related to the deadly strain in NYC, against which health officials have urged sexually active gay men to be vaccinated.

It has not been determined how Shaad contracted meningitis. Shaad's family cricized Duran after he mentioned that Shaad attended the recent White Party in Palm Springs. Shaad also recently visited an Equinox gym in WeHo, the AP adds.

Symptoms typically develop within three to seven days of exposure and can include stiff neck, fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and an altered mental state, often confusion.

More info on meningitis and how it is spread here at the CDC.

According to WABC: "Vaccinations are not being widely recommended in Los Angeles County. But community agencies such as the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center are urging individuals to take precautions."

Added Duran: “We don’t want to panic people. But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS. We are sounding the alarm that sexually active gay men need to be aware that we have a strain of meningitis that is deadly on our hands."

Our thoughts go out to Shaad's friends and family.

Likewise, my thoughts go out to Brett Shaad's family and friends.  I came withing not too many minutes of facing what they have had overwhelm them seemingly out of the blue.  

As an added note, some individuals are carriers of the disease and never show or develop symptoms themselves.  In my daughter's case, they were never able to tack her infection to anyone in particular, meaning that whoever had the bacteria was a carrier.   If in doubt, go to your doctor and get the vaccine even if you have to pay for it out of pocket.

Mandatory Vaccine for Deadly Bacterial Meningitis Sparks Debate

MSNBC has an online column (See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20519953/) about the debate over requiring entering college students to have the vaccine against believe parents should be able to choose which vaccinations they — or their children — receive. . Opponents of mandating the vaccine believe parents should be able to choose which vaccinations they — or their children — receive. Having nearly lost my oldest daughter to meningococcal meningitis in 1999, my personal view is that only a fool would not have their child receive the vaccine. I would urge any readers who are the parents of high school or college students or college age themselves to get the vaccine. While rare, the devastation that this disease can do even if not fatal is horrific, and the financial costs of treatment can be likewise devastating even if one comes through with a full recovery. Without a doubt, the experience with my daughter's experience with meningitis was probably the worse experience in my life to date. Here are some highlights from the MSNBC column:

Meningococcal meningitis strikes fewer than 3,000 people in the United States each year, many of them college students or children under age 1. But while the bacterial infection is relatively rare, it’s also deadly, killing 10 to 12 percent of those it infects, sometimes within hours. The disease attacks and shuts down major organs and prevents blood from circulating to limbs, causing tissue to die. Among survivors, 20 percent suffer brain damage, kidney disease, loss of hearing or sight, limb amputations or other severe complications.

A growing grassroots movement is pushing for more states to require the shot. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Menactra for kids ages 11 to 18, but only 12 percent of teenagers got the vaccine in 2006.

But the disease can be horrific when it does strike. It happens so quickly’The disease’s hard-to-spot symptoms and rapid progression make meningococcal meningitis a “great fear” for doctors, says Dr. Tom Clark, a medical epidemiologist for the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The symptoms are devastatingly easy to overlook, to dismiss as something minor.

When Lynn Bozof’s son Evan was a teenager, there was a meningitis outbreak in a neighboring county. Evan was worried, and he asked his mom if he should get the vaccination. “‘Mom, how do I know if I’ve got meningitis?’” Bozof recalls her son asking. And she remembers her reply: “Oh Evan, you don’t need to worry about meningitis!” But five years later, as a junior at Georgia Southwestern University in 1998, Evan called his mom complaining of a migraine. It got so bad that he went to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with meningitis and placed in intensive care. His kidneys shut down. His liver stopped functioning. Both arms and legs had to be amputated. After a 26-day fight against the disease, Evan died. Bozof says, “Just because this disease is rare doesn’t mean it’s not going to affect you or someone you know.”

Many of those advocating for mandatory vaccinations are parents, including Frankie Milley, who have lost children to meningitis. Nine years ago, her 18-year-old son, Ryan, died of the disease, and since then, she has worked in her home state of Texas to make meningitis education available to all families. She also supported a bill currently being considered by the Texas Legislature that would require college students to get the vaccine.

Dr. Jim Turner, the executive director for the department of student health at the University of Virginia, was skeptical in 2001 when Virginia passed a law mandating that all students attending four-year universities must get the vaccination or sign a waiver. He thought most students would just choose to sign the waiver. But it seems that education about the disease has motivated many to get the vaccine. He’s seen the numbers climb from 55 percent of students getting vaccinated to 95 percent.

“It’s a safe vaccination, it’s an effective vaccination, and it’s one of those terrible, terrible risks — albeit extremely rare — that you can really minimize by spending money on the vaccine,” says Turner, who is also the chair of the Vaccines Preventable Diseases Committee for the American College Health Association. The vaccine is generally covered by insurance and costs around $120 on most college campuses.

In fairness, I have to comment that one of those who helped push the 2001 Virginia law requiring the vaccine was then state Senator Ed Schrock with whom I had discussed the need for the legislation.