Why it’s safe to completely ignore Dr. Mercola

Source: Kitchen Table Medicine

A chiropractor for whom I have considerable respect – she’s a scientist, formerly an aeronautical engineer – is handing out copies of an article by Dr. Mercola that recommends against the swine flu vaccine. Another chiropractor told me she knew of no one in her profession who would receive, or allow their children to receive, vaccinations of any sort. She promptly added that, being “only” a chiropractor, she couldn’t legally make such a recommendation anyway.
Is the safety of vaccines merely a difference of opinion? Everything I’ve read on the scientific evidence for vaccine side-effects – which is the primary grounds for opposition – favors vaccination.

Swine flu vaccine and Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Deciding whether to vaccinate one’s children against swine flu should be determined by scientific evidence, not alternative beliefs. Opposition that appeals to fear, however, remains very effective. Creating fear in order to generate profits is irresponsible and immoral.
Dr. Mercola is a doctor of osteopathy and a long-time opponent of vaccines for children. One of the headings in his anti-swine flu vaccine article is “Are you willing to let them experiment on your child?” As a conscientious parent, how do you ignore such an emotional appeal?
Dr. Mercola claims the swine flu vaccine causes Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). The CDC lists GBS as a possible side-effect that could happen in one out of a million cases. You can also get GBS as a result of having the flu. (Here’s the CDC’s Q&A on the subject.)

Dr. Mercola: Alarmist and huckster

My objection to Dr. Mercola is not simply that he gets the science wrong, which is bad enough when it comes to matters of health. It’s that he knows people have concerns about the conventional health care system, and he uses that as an opportunity to take advantage of the anxiety and vulnerability of potential customers.
The information he provides makes us more anxious, at which point he’s ready to sell us something — nutritional supplements, protein powders, juicers, coconut oil, metabolic assessments, CD packages, alarm clocks with remote controls, books, and how-to guides (such as “How to Protect Yourself from Self-Help Scams”). He’s both an alarmist and a huckster, a combination that’s not too easy to respect.
Business Week had the following to say about Dr. Mercola:

Dr. Mercola gives the lie to the notion that holistic practitioners tend to be so absorbed in treating patients that they aren’t effective businesspeople. While Mercola … distinguish[es] himself from “all the greed-motivated hype out there in health-care land,” he is a master promoter, using every trick of traditional and Internet direct marketing to grow his business.
Unfortunately, Dr. Mercola isn’t selling furniture or digital cameras. He is selling health-care products and services, and is calling upon an unfortunate tradition made famous by the old-time snake oil salesmen of the 1800s, who went from town to town around the U.S. promising miraculous cures for diseases and selling useless concoctions.
If they [Dr. Mercola’s products and services] are as helpful as he believes, and if so much of conventional care is as inappropriate as he argues, then he’d dispense with the high-pressure “buy-one-get-one-free” marketing techniques that degrade everything he does.

For more on Dr. Mercola and the swine flu vaccination, see this post by Joseph Albietz: “9 Reasons to Completely Ignore Joseph Mercola.”
There may be some valid reasons to question the swine flu vaccination (see the next post), but Dr. Mercola doesn’t mention any of them.

Related posts:
Giving “alternative” a bad name
Fear of flying: Will I catch swine flu on an airplane?
Flu news overdose