The Chiropractic Board of Australia has had enough:
The Chiropractic Board of Australia cracks down to protect the public.
The Chiropractic Board of Australia is cracking down on chiropractors who step outside their primary role as healthcare practitioners and provide treatment that puts the public at risk.
To protect public safety, the Board has:
– ordered practitioners to remove all anti-vaccination material from their websites and clinics
– removed several courses from the list of approved CPD programs, and
– introduced random audits of practitioner compliance with the Board’s registration standards. [Media Release August 8 2013]
Before I introduce the feature artist, I want to highlight this recent post, by Orac. There are two reasons, both pertinent to our star chiropractor.
Firstly, there is this superb introduction by Orac, to which I will add nothing:
If there’s one thing antivaccinationists hate having pointed out to them, it’s that they are antivaccine. If you really want to drive an antivaccinationist up the wall, point out that they are antivaccine. Sure, there are a few antivaccinationists who openly self-identify as antivaccine and are even proud of it, but most of them realize that society frowns upon them—as well it should given how antivaccinationists are responsible for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease.
Secondly, Orac includes the most recent US Measles outbreak, due to vaccine refusal.
Speaking of religion, there is a church that is demonstrating just how dangerous antivaccine views can be. It’s been in the news for several days now, and I had meant to blog about it, so I thought I’d segue into mentioning them because 21 cases of measles have been linked to this church:
A Texas megachurch linked to at least 21 measles cases has been trying to contain the outbreak by hosting vaccination clinics, officials said Monday.
The outbreak started when a person who contracted measles overseas visited Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, located about 20 miles north of Fort Worth, Texas. Officials with area health departments said those affected by the outbreak range in age from 4-months to 44-years-old. All of the school-aged children with measles were homeschooled, and majority of those who were infected had not been vaccinated.
You would remember the recent Measles outbreak in Wales, caused by vaccine refusal. Others also remember this.
Natalie Stevenson practices her business on her customers at Bungendore Chiropractic, in NSW. Stevenson is a member of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia.
Stevenson linked to anti-vaccinationist Stephanie Messenger’s website. You would remember Messenger from Melanie’s Marvelous Measles infamy. Messenger claims she lost a baby due to vaccination. I will be blunt, because it is required: there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that this is true. Messenger’s own family member has doubted that this is true, and a diagnosis of Alexander Disease was ignored by Messenger. This has never stopped Messenger in her crusade to lie about immunisation. There is no doubt that Messenger still suffers the heartache of having lost a baby. This is heartbreaking. But, it is not a free pass to misinform.
It would be nice to think that health practitioners like Stevenson would get their facts straight before credulously sharing misinformation like this:
As poor as her information is, it is heartening to see the good people of Bungendore stand up against the bullshit, citing some facts about immunisation, and what happens when we stop: Measles in Wales.
But, Stevenson is “NOT” anti-vaccine. No way. She’s just informing. She’s just educating.
No, you’re not. You are doing less than informing. You are anti-informing. You are providing information which is not true. You are working to the detriment of the health of your community by negatively affecting the health education of those who read this stuff. If you don’t know the difference between truth and lies, then, just stop. Just stop. Stop pretending that you know what you are talking about.
Here is another example of Stevenson’s education and information campaign. A lie about the Pertussis vaccine, from Gaia Health, an anti-vaccination stalwart:
I covered this terrible link in #8. The anti-vaccine chiropractors just share the thing without even batting an eyelid:
Everyone remembers this article: Whooping Cough Epidemic Caused by Virulent New Pertussis Strain—And It’s the Result of Vaccine. Great headline, except the epidemic was not caused by “a virulent new Pertussis strain”, and it wasn’t the “result of the vaccine”. Immunologist Tom Sidwell addressed why in these magnificent posts. As to Timbs’ claim that they’re “not doing anything about it!!!”, Tom also has this covered.
And, because this appears to be a thing, here are the obligatory testimonials:
This is what the Chiropractic Board of Australia has to say about the use of testimonials:
Guidelines for advertising of regulated health services
5 What is unacceptable advertising?
This section is intended to provide a clear indication of the
type of advertising of services that the boards consider to
be unacceptable. Where examples are provided, they are
intended to assist practitioners and other persons who
advertise regulated health services to comply with the
advertising provisions of the National Law. They are not
intended to be exhaustive.To comply with s. 133 of the National Law and these
guidelines, advertising of services must not:(d) use testimonials or purported testimonials
Is the CBA watching?
