I’m hoping this becomes a slammed-in-parliament series. Last week I wrote this post: Anti-vaccination network slammed in NSW Parliament. I have just found out that two of my favourite groups – anti-vaccinationists, and general conspiracy wingnuts – were served a cold dish of whoop-arse in the South Australian Legislative Council (home of chemtrailer, Ann Bressington). The hero, in this case? Kyam Maher MLC:

Meryl Dorey and Ann Bressington can be heard to exclaim, in unison: “HANG ON, I RESEMBLE THAT COMMENT”.

I am ashamed that this speech slipped by, almost one week before Dr Andrew McDonald’s speech in NSW Parliament. But, better late than never.

Thank you Mr Maher. You have pretty much nailed it. We can only hope that this conversation will lead to similar changes in South Australian health complaints legislation (and other States and Territories), as those which are underway in New South Wales right now. Without appropriate mechanisms to hold cranks to account, all we can do is complain amongst ourselves. That doesn’t help anyone.

I will include the full transcript of Mr Maher’s March 20 2013 speech, because it so good:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (15:33): As members of parliament, we have a great privilege in shaping the policy and laws that guide our state, but with that, I believe, comes a responsibility to base what we do on the best available evidence and on scientific consensus. Science is central to our understanding of the world. Good, accepted science is testable, can be replicated, peer reviewed, unpicked, examined and reconstructed, but it is also open to new ideas and is self-correcting when better evidence is presented and properly tested.

However, science regularly finds itself under attack. As Ian Chubb, Chief Scientist for Australia, recently noted:

As a society, we should be challenging those who, regardless of reason or factual basis, mock science and scientists for their spurious ends, whether it’s a headline or avoiding an inconvenient truth.

And he is right. The Hon. Ann Bressington has been making quite a name for herself recently in her assaults on accepted science. From her Agenda 21 conspiracy, which seems to hold that scientists and policy makers across the world are secretly involved in an elaborate conspiracy to control all aspects of our lives, to supporting the chemtrail conspiracy, which claims aeroplanes deliberately drop chemicals on the population for some reason. Apparently, it happens right here in Adelaide. To quote the Hon. Ann Bressington, ‘from two unmarked plain white small aircraft that often land at Parafield Airport after a morning spray’.

Many such conspiracy assaults on science can be mildly amusing and, apart from encouraging others to abandon reason and critical thinking, do not necessarily do much external harm. However, some anti-science irrationality actually causes harm—potentially, great harm.The Hon. Ann Bressington is a well-known and vocal opponent of the fluoridation of water. I am not an expert in this area of science, so I rely on the overwhelming scientific consensus. Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council and the World Health Organisation are strong supporters, and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have called fluoridation of public water supplies one of the 10 most important public health achievements of the 20th century.

It is suggested that fluoride is dangerous because it is toxic. This falsehood comes from a very fundamental misunderstanding of the idea of toxicity. Toxicity is dose dependent; it depends literally on how much you have. The water to which fluoride is added is toxic in high enough doses; when consumed in large quantities, people die from water intoxication. Respected scientists, experts in their field, those whose research is properly peer reviewed, overwhelmingly agree that the levels of fluoride added to public water supplies are safe and have a very positive dental health effect.

Then there are some anti-scientific pursuits that can actually lead to deaths, such as the anti-vaccination movement. The Hon. Ann Bressington commented on Twitter as recently as last month that vaccines are about population reduction. Nothing could be further removed from reality. Vaccines save the life of an estimated three million people every year.

As with the fluoridation of water, over time individuals, groups and researchers dwelling at the fringes of science have criticised the efficacy of vaccinations, or they have falsified or overstated potential side effects of vaccinations. Perhaps the best known example is that of Dr Andrew Wakefield, whose claim against the scientific consensus that the MMR vaccine might be linked to autism saw vaccination rates in England drop considerably. The dangers of relying on bad, not accepted science were highlighted when this particular doctor, who was found to have falsified his results, was struck off as a medical practitioner and massive conflicts of interest in his research were revealed.

The Australian Vaccination Network is a fearmongering anti-vaccination group pushing this life-threatening nonsense in this country. They have been the subject of various adverse findings and orders by health authorities, government departments and Liberal government ministers in their home base of New South Wales. I congratulate the New South Wales authorities for tackling this dangerous group.

The risks posed by the anti-vaccination movement are real. Millions die unnecessarily. Children too young to have their full course of vaccinations and the herd immunity that prevents the uncontrolled spread of horrible disease are put at risk. On vaccination the science is clear; the debate is over. The benefits of vaccines are so immense that the morality of advocating against them without very good evidence needs to be questioned. When bad science is promoted such that it can cause great harm, we have an obligation to call it out. We cannot stand idly by and let such claims go unchecked.

I note that the Hon. Rob Lucas is down to speak after me, and I invite the shadow health minister, who sits in this chamber, to join with me in condemning dangerous anti-scientific approaches to public health that can endanger lives and cause death.

I want to introduce you to a Californian chiropractor. His name is Billy DeMoss. I encourage you to visit his Facebook page. There is no way anyone could include all of his anti-science conspiracy theories in one post, so you’ll need to see it, and gauge it, for yourself. Because my modus operandi (you’ll see what I did there), is to allow subjects to speak for themselves, I’ll include many screenshots in this post – and for this I apologise in advance. On DeMoss’ page you will see many testimonials which include the names and faces of babies, who, one would think, have not given their permission to be included on a public page. Obviously “Mom” gave the permission. I’m also guessing they did not ask to be taken to a chiropractor. As it is unethical to include these names and faces I have redacted all from the screenshots. I give you, Billy DeMoss:

“Vaccination is the biggest hoax ever sold to humankind”:

Contains bonus Tenpenny and Siegel, his sources.

Chiropractic treating severe autism, caused by the MMR vaccine, of course:

Just two weeks? Result! Incredible stuff.

Chemtrails. No, really:

Be aware of the chemtrails. It is your only hope.

Depopulation caused by vaccines and fluoride:

It’s a shoot ’em up end game. I lost the game. Did you?

Chiropractic treats eczema and asthma, apparently:

Subluxations are freaking amazing. No wait. They’re not. Or are they?

The whole pie. This is just amazing:

When these guys shout, I like to watch. I have nothing to add, here.

“What has this got to do with Australia?” I hear you ask; and I thank you for your patience. This is what it has to do with Australia.

The Australian Spinal Research Foundation (ASRF) is listed on the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia website as an “Associated Organisation”:

Who is the ASRF? The ASRF appears to be born out of the CAA, as a research arm. However, it appears to operate more as a public relations unit. From their “about us” page:

Our Focus

Our focus is chiropractic research.

Spinal Research is a non-profit organisation facilitating research that is unique to the chiropractic paradigm.

That doesn’t sound so bad. Research is great. Research is awesome. Let’s see what else is there:

Vision Statement

We are the Research Foundation which demonstrates that subluxation-based chiropractic care enhances quality of life and human performance.

Oh dear. I am now having visions of Tony Abbott’s recent denialist statement about pricing carbon emissions. Only, the latter are obviously real. Subluxations, however, are magic. I’ll quote the Leader of the Opposition:

It’s a so-called market in the non-delivery of an invisible substance to no-one.

Not quite accurate, in that there is a market, and subluxations are sold to real people, for real money, as something that need fixing. But let’s see what the ASRF says about the need for research in invisible substances:

Modus Operandi

Our Modus Operandi is to be evidence-based, collaborative and engaging.

Evidence-based – It is critical to ensure our activities add to the evidence base for health outcomes through chiropractic. We believe chiropractic by nature is vitalistic and patient-centred, and therefore recognise that being evidence-based does not and must not restrict us to considering only such evidence as that gained through the traditional, reductionist scientific method. We are committed to a view that robust, evidence-based research will ideally come from a variety of research methodologies.

Let me attempt to understand that one. I think it means that ASRF research does not necessarily need to be encumbered by that for which there is no evidence, so we’re going to power along in a robust manner looking for the elusive evidence for the elusive subluxation, proving that it is not elusive, because we believe it is not elusive, even though we just cannot pin down that sucker. And, we will base further research on the existence of this invisible substance.

To top it all off, the ASRF is a charity with Deductible Gift Recipient status:

Our Bona Fides

Australian Spinal Research Foundation is a company limited by guarantee under Australian Corporations Law. The Foundation is an approved Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) under the Australian Income Tax Assessment Act (Section 30-15, Research Institute) and an Income Tax Exempt Charity (Section 50-5). The Foundation is registered as Charity No. 1193 under the Queensland Collections Act and is exempt from Stamp Duty under the Stamp Act.

Recently, ABC TV’s Catalyst program had a pretty good look at some of this type of chiropractic. One of the (then) board members of the NSW CAA declined to be interviewed for the program. But, Nimrod Weiner did not come out of this unscathed, due to his anti-vaccinationism, among other practices. We’ve met Weiner before here, and here. After the Catalyst program, secretary Weiner was ejected from the NSW CAA board. Thrown under a bus, as it were. Someone had to go, so as to prove the CAA was serious about cleaning up its act. So, what is Weiner up to now, apart from manipulating babies?

Well, he is still on the board of the ASRF. And here he is at a recent meeting of the ASRF board. Rydges? Nice digs:

The ASRF also holds a lot of seminars. They seem to me to be more about marketing each other, to each other, and learning how to market chiropractic. Think about being stuck in a room full of life coaches for a weekend. That.

One of the larger seminars held by the ASRF is the Dynamic Growth Congress. In 2011 Meryl Dorey of the thoroughly discredited anti-vaccination organisation, the Australian Vaccination Network, was even given a gig. In February 2011 Dorey wrote:

Dynamic Growth Conference, Brisbane 2011     

This is just going to be a very quick post to say that I’ve just returned from an inspiring and fun weekend at the Dynamic Growth conference, hosted by the Australian Spinal Research Foundation (ASRF) in Brisbane.

I have been to several DGs in the past, but this is the first time I have spoken at one and to look out at a sea of 500 or so attentive, interested faces as I described the 10 ‘Must Knows’ of vaccination – well, it was a wonderful experience!

I thank the ASRF for their kind invitation to speak, and to all of the chiropractors, chiropractic students and recent graduates, CAs, naturopaths, homeopaths and others who took the time to come up to me and ask some very interesting questions, thank you as well!

Dorey was back again last year, with a stand:

This year Billy DeMoss got a gig. Here is the blurb:

Full Throttle Heavy Metal ‘Yelling the Story’ and Driving the Starship Enterprise

Billy DeMoss

Billy D might be unique. He organises the world’s largest chiropractic party – California Jam, runs a super successful practice in Orange County California, speaks (loudly) anywhere there is a soapbox, dishes out fistfuls of purposeful posts on Facebook and  surfs whenever he can, wherever. He rides waves and he creates waves! He is HIGH VOLTAGE Rock n Roll chiropractic – no holds barred. This is a man who lives chiropractic full throttle, turbo-chargers maxed out and sparks flying! If you’re looking for a little boost of certainty, conviction and commitment around chiropractic being the most amazing life saving profession on Planet Earth

Billy D is coming to UNLEASH full fury SPIZZ and put the OMG into DG.

I get it. This guy is the full shizzle gangsta, or something.

Now you can see where I’m coming from, my homies. This guy – the same guy who publicly states the encyclopedia of conspiracy theory as his personal belief, on his professional Facebook page, where everyone knows what he thinks and feels and does – got a gig at one of the premier Australian chiropractic conferences of the year, run by the ASRF, an “Associated Organisation” of the CAA, and he got a rock star welcome. How could this come to pass? You’ll need to indulge me one more time.

Melbourne chiropractor Tony Croke is a board member of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia. He appeared in the Catalyst episode, and you’ve met him before in my post, here, as a 10 year Professional Member of the anti-vaccine Australian Vaccination Network:

I want you to see what happened today. Yesterday, DeMoss posted a nuclear grade screed to his Facebook page. I will include it here in full. It is as brilliant as one billion guano-fueled stars. It will likely collapse on to itself:

…last week we had 4 NEW AUTISTIC PEEPS in our practice…this is [child]…the story is pretty much the same on all of these children…perfectly normal HEALTHY children that get vaccinated usually at around 18 months,usually the MMR and instantly these children become totally disconnected and permanently damaged neurologically AUTISTIC…you see you DON’T have to be a rocket scientist to see a trend here and anyone with any degree of common sense would step back and say maybe we should stop or slow down this massive CHEMICAL assault on these children’s lives…let’s at least do some REAL research on what is really going on…but see if we proved that vaccines were REALLY at cause of destroying the health of our children then that whole BOGUS SYSTEM/PARADIGM/well baby care would CRUMBLE…mind control is working…vaccines are the biggest HOAX ever sold to humankind…they NOT only don’t work but they DESTROY the lives of poor innocent children like [child]…I look forward to helping improve [child]’s life but he will NEVER be what he could have been in this life ALL because of DESTRUCTIVE DRUGS…(yes vaccines are drugs and you think you and your family are DRUG FREE???)…go ahead LIVE the LIE…be good little obedient citizens/sheeple and do everything the man/big brother tells you to do…DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY WANT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HEALHTY???…for Christ’s sake their WHOLE industry is based on SICKNESS CARE and selling you MORE drugs when you are SICK…WAKE THE FROG UP…HEALTH IS PROMOTED FROM WITHIN…1. EAT HEALTHY 2. EXERCISE 3. SLEEP HEALTHY 4. THINK HEALTHY THOTS 5. EXPRESS HEALTH OVER YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM…ie GET UNDER CHIROPRACTIC CARE TO MAXIMIZE YOUR LIFE POTENTIAL…HEALTH DOES NOT COME FROM OUTSIDE IN…FROM A NEEDLE FULL OF ANIMAL PUS AND CHEMICALS…is the frog awake yet?

I admit to being very surprised at one of the commenters who welcomed this stream of unconsciousness, going so far as saying that Australian chiropractic will again welcome it Down Here:

Here are the pertinent comments in the thread leading up to the Croke comment. Ben Phillips is a chiropractor at  Innisfail’s Total Lifestyle Chiropractic. I am only guessing that he is a CAA member, and ASRF member, going by his “professional links” page:

Ben Phillips Go you, Billy d. Keep these stories coming. Our board in Oz have determined that it is not within our scope to discuss this with people. BAH. I asked them what evidence they were quoting as ‘accepted opinion’ in making this determination. ..they referred me to the australian government immunisation handbook. Good to see they’ve done some independant research of the facts…NOT!

Billy DeMoss Ben Phillips…the question is am I banned from coming back to OZ???

Ben Phillips Never banned by me Billy DeMoss! The Board have no call on you coming to visit! Your energy is always welcome…it just tends to rub some Aussies the wrong way…cultural differences or something…but I love you!

Tony Croke Always welcome in my country, dude. [Child] is a smart guy to find his way to your office. Serve him up the good stuff!

Be afraid, Public Health Unit, in Innisfail. Be very afraid. Codes and policies mean nothing, apparently. But, we knew that.

We have been here before with the CAA and what they deem to be appropriate information. Remember when they gave CPD approval to US anti-vaccine chiropractor, Tim O’Shea? I don’t really see that anything has changed at all. The same misinformation is still being peddled, and accepted; only now they attempt to be a little more discreet about it. They can’t even do discretion properly. The only time they are ever held to account is when public cock-ups happen, like that above. When the Chiropractic Board of Australia are informed, nothing much ever changes. The implementation of codes of conduct, and policies on immunisation and subluxation are only as good as in the adherence to those codes and policies. There is hardly any of that.

I really feel for the evidence based chiropractors out there. I can’t say it enough. These people are really hurting due to the guys out there on the fringes of reality, and literacy. How can anyone take them seriously when the loudest in the profession have subluxation and anti-vaccinationism as their core strengths? And, when they do speak up in defence of their evidence based practices, like John Reggars, and many more, they are attacked by the “straight” fanatics. They just can’t win. But, we can help them win, because they deserve it. They don’t deserve the taint which has been forced upon them by the loud, anti-science practitioners from the fringe.

To wrap up, here is a post from Croke’s Liberty Chiropractic, this morning. This says more than I really want to think about:

Sometimes, there is only one response available. THIS GUY*:

____________________________________

*THIS GUY’s latest post is also well worth reading:  Chiropractors and the reflex arc.

The Chiropractic Board of Australia has had enough:

“We will not tolerate registered chiropractors giving misleading or unbalanced advice to patients, or providing advice or care that is not in the patient’s best interests,” chairman Phillip Donato said.

Dr Donato said chiropractors should only provide evidence-based treatment and anyone with concerns should report them. [Sydney Morning Herald August 9 2013]

Oh boy. This guy.

Mr Frank Mechler popped up in my own Facebook timeline, and I thank him for doing this.

Mechler runs a business called the Mechler Chiropractic Centre, in Brisbane. Mechler is a member of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia. Checking out his blog, I’m also wondering if he is Rush Limbaugh. Climate change, guns. He’ll tell you something about those things and more.

On Mechler’s business’s web site, he has a tab called “Health Tips”. I’m going to provide some for you. I had to stop. This post would be endless if I didn’t.

On page 3 we have this, with accompanying sky-needles killing the children picture:

As more people become educated about the many vaccine side-effects, they are demanding the right to control what goes into their child’s developing bodies. This is a GREAT SIGN as it means more people are seeing that medicine in its dogmatic, brainwashed belief in the vaccine cure-all is based on false assumptions and hard research is proving their fallibility.

On the “Criminal Marketing of Gardasil”, on page 5, with toxic/blood/chemical/poison filled syringe, we have:

Gardasil contains a whooping 225 micrograms of toxic aluminium which can cause nerve cell death and even penetrate into the brain! See my May 24th posting on the liisting of the cocktail of crap in this vaccine.

I woud implore you to take my warning seriously and avoid this vaccine for both your sons and daughters. Tell others, as I fear the effectiveness of this drug company’s million dollar marketing campaign has already brainwashed our local GPs and will be focused on the gullible public to have them believe this is how to ”protect” their precious children from this phony scourge. Fortunately, you now know better….and you have every right to refuse it without feeling guilty.

On page 6 Mechler advises his customers against mammograms, and promotes thermography. This is precisely the sort of thing which gets Australian doctors disciplined:

On page 7 Mechler again rages against Gardasil, citing the lie that the vaccine has caused deaths. He also lies about adverse events reporting and collection, in Australia; and he relies only on VAERS reports, which can be made by anyone, regardless of any causation:

It’s time for the Truth about Gardasil to come out. In the past year, in the United States, 49 unexplained deaths of young girls following the Gasdasil injection were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System that also included over 17,600 reported adverse reactions.

Unfortunately, Australia doesn’t have an official government watchdog for adverse drug and vaccine reactions. You only hear about these events in the media from time to time if it’s on a large scale, not if it’s one girl here and another there. With Human Pappiloma Virus (HPV) accounting for less than 1% of all cancer deaths and only 4 strains out of 96 included in the shot…why risk it? Let me list the crap that is in the Gardasil vaccine, but you’ll have to triple the amount as your child will need to get THREE shots over 6 months! If this doesn’t scare the heck out of you….I don’t know what will.

Also on page 7 Mechler repeats the lies about the H1N1 vaccine. Advising that the vaccine is worse than the disease (where have we heard that before?), Mechler is placated by the knowings of his customers:

Thankfully the majority of my patients know that a healthy nerous system means a strong immune system and there is no need for any vaccinations.

Mechler also advises that customers should avoid the:

…insult from the “crap” found in vaccines”. Please take this seriously and DO NOT get a Swine Flu shot and get under chiropractic WELLNESS CARE!

Mechler’s blog is not much better, In fact, it’s no better. As with his business site, I had to cease searching. There is just too much to include.

Here’s that brave Mr Wakefield with his obvious truths that vaccines cause autism, which is, of course, being covered up:

And the obligatory fluoride/poison wingnuttery, which is becoming mandatory for these guys:

This guy should probably be de-registered, and given a spelling test. It’s your call CBA.