My "WTF?" of the day, anti-vaccination scam edition...

#1469: Catherine Clinton

Nonsense engenders nonsense, and someone who has bought into pseudoscientific nonsense as ridiculous as homeopathy is predisposed to buy into antivaxx nonsense as well. There’s a business idea there. And enter Catherine Clinton, a “mother-naturopath” who has invented a naturopathic “remedy” that will reverse the negative effects of vaccinations. She has invented those effects as well – although she’s a bit vague about what effects she imagines she can cure, her product, Vaccishield, will do the trick; according to Clinton, she “became concerned about vaccinating my son and wanted another option to support him during vaccinations. I looked to the research to see if there was something I could do nutritionally to support health during this vulnerable time. So we created VacciShield to fill a gap that we saw in the vaccination process. VacciShield is designed for infants and kids to help support healthy brain, immune, gastrointestinal and detoxification function during vaccination.” Of course, she has to leave the description somewhat vague – if she made actual medical claims she might have drawn FDA attention and thus have to deal with evidence and accountability – but what she offers is not only vague, but complete nonsense. It’s in fact pretty clear what “effects” she has in mind: the familiar but mythical harms for which vaccines are responsible in the minds of the antivaxx brigades, including autism (the code words for every vaccine-related conspiracy theory are all there in her brief description for those who know them). The “evidence” for the efficacy of her product is discussed here.

Her magical elixir sells for $27.99 USD for 1.36 ounces. At one point in the past we wouldn’t have believed that anyone could possibly fall for this kind of ploy, but at this stage we’ve become pretty confident that someone could successfully market arsenic as a wellness product and get people to defend its benefits of their own free will.

http://americanloons.blogspot.ca/2015/09/1469-catherine-clinton.html