Immunologist and Microbiologist | Biomedical Scientist | Founder, ImmunoLogic | Executive Director, American Lyme Disease Foundation | Science Communicator
Apr 1 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
The CDC has literally been gutted today.
There’s no need for “April Fools” when reality is a nightmare for every human on this planet.
Thousand of scientists fired.
Entire departments erased.
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No more occupational health research.
No more HIV research. Or tuberculosis. Or sexually transmitted infections.
No environmental health & science research.
No chronic disease research & prevention.
CRUELTY is the point.
This won’t make anyone healthier.
It will do the opposite.
Mar 24 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Have you heard:
“measles mortality was already declining before vaccines because of nutrition and hygiene, therefore vaccines aren’t effective?”
It’s spread by RFK Jr., Children’s Health Defense, Physicians for Informed Consent, & others to undermine vaccines.
A thread:
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Measles is fatal when pneumonia, diarrhea, dehydration, & encephalitis develop.
We have decades of data and millions of data points that to show this.
This lie insults people with autism too — as if it’s an “adverse effect” of medicine.
Some of the data:
A cohort study of 467,450 children born in Denmark b/w 1990 & 1996 analyzed the association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.
NO increased risk of autism or autism spectrum disorders among vaccinated children versus unvaccinated children.
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Mar 2 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
mRNA vaccines, COVID-19 or otherwise, are not gene therapy.
Misconceptions & misinformation have eroded progress in science innovation.
2 main reasons for misunderstanding:
1) legitimate misunderstanding of nuanced science 2) intentional spread of falsehoods
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A gene is a segment of a DNA molecule with multiple regions: a promoter, exons (the bits that dictate amino acid sequence in a protein), introns, & terminator regions.
mRNA is a short-lived intermediate of exon segments of DNA — it is a TRANSCRIPT of a piece of the gene.
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Feb 26 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
An unvaccinated child died of measles in the Texas outbreak.
Measles kills 1 in every 1,000 people in developed nations, more where healthcare is scarce.
The measles vaccine has never caused a death. It ALSO prevents deaths from measles.
Anti-vaccine lies kill children.
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This is the first measles death in the US in a decade, because we had the disease under control through vaccinations.
People like RFK Jr who have spread lies for DECADES—yes he has been anti-vaccine since 1999–have systematically erased our health protections.
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Feb 15 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
“chronic disease” is a dog whistle by RFK Jr. & influencers who don’t understand science.
“Chronic disease” are a huge umbrella of MANY health conditions. Each have different causes, treatment options, risk factors.
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Cancers are chronic diseases.
Genetic disorders are chronic diseases.
Autoimmune disorders, are chronic.
Some viral infections are chronic.
Cardiovascular disease can be chronic.
Neurological diseases too.
Which chronic diseases is MAHA going to address?
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Feb 8 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
RFK Jr:
Screams about dyes in food which ARE regulated for safety
and
Screams about vaccine ingredients which ARE tested and regulated for safety
While consuming a synthetic dye, methylene blue, that is NOT regulated OR tested for safety & encouraging others to do so too.
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We use methylene blue in the lab to stain cell structures for microscopy.
Methylene blue is FDA-approved for methemoglobinemia. THAT methylene blue is regulated for safety.
Methylene blue supplements are not.
It doesn’t offer health benefits and can be harmful.
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Feb 8 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
The measles outbreak in Texas is because of RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine profiteering.
2 cases jumped to 20 in 2 weeks, all unvaccinated, mostly kids.
Measles was eliminated in the US in 2000 because of vaccines. RFK Jr’s lies reduce vaccine rates & cause PREVENTABLE outbreaks.
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Measles is the most contagious human pathogen. It can cause lifelong complications & death:
It also can cause subacute sclerosing panencephalitis: incurable & always fatal. Kids under 5 are at highest risk.
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Feb 2 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
A chemical is not the sum of its parts.
Sodium: a metal at room temperature & explodes in water.
Chlorine: a gas at room temperature, toxic if inhaled at 400 ppm for 30 min.
Together? Sodium chloride, a crystal chemical that dissolves in water & is essential for human life.
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You know one version as table salt.
When people make scary claims about chemicals, they often don’t understand this fundamental concept.
We see this often when people conflate a component of a chemical with the actual chemical.
Example: “mercury” and vaccines.
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Jan 29 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
RFK Jr & his kids are vaccinated.
Because he knows vaccines are safe & effective.
Yet he makes millions of dollars causing preventable illness & death by telling other people vaccines are harmful.
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RFK Jr says he wants to end chronic illness.
Cancers are chronic: several types are caused by HPVs.
HPV vaccine has eliminated 90% of cervical cancers, 50% of head & neck cancers.
He tells people it’s harmful while profiting off lawsuits against the HPV vaccine manufacturer.
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Jan 28 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Biomedical scientist who works in cancer & infectious disease life sciences biotech here:
Banning US scientists from communicating with the WHO threatens humanity.
Banning communication about emerging health risks like disease outbreaks & food recalls threatens humanity.
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Banning scientists from attending research conferences where we discuss emerging data in the field is a threat to humanity.
None of this will make ANYONE more healthy.
It will harm everyone.
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Jan 26 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
The recent “vaccination & autism study” does NOT show that vaccines cause autism.
In fact, it doesn’t show anything. It’s a “study” funded by an anti-vaccine activist group.
This an attempt to undermine MILLIONS of data points across decades from countries globally.
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It uses Medicaid claims, data used for BILLING.
There are major method flaws. The journal’s editorial board full of anti-vaccine activists.
Vaccines are safe. They save lives. 3-5 million lives are saved every year from vaccines.
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Jan 24 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Why does RFK Jr. continue to spread the lie that the HPV vaccine causes cervical cancer when countries around the world have shown its effectiveness in preventing cancers?
Because he makes money on lawsuits filed against the HPV vaccine manufacturers.
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He’s already made nearly a million dollars off HPV vaccine lawsuits.
The more people he convinces to get on board with his lies, the more money he makes.
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Jan 21 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
“chronic disease” is a dog whistle by RFK Jr. & influencers who don’t understand health & science, yet profit off selling lies.
Why?
Chronic diseases are a huge umbrella of MANY health conditions.
Each have different causes, treatment options, risk factors.
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Cancers are chronic diseases.
Genetic disorders are chronic.
Autoimmune disorders are chronic.
Some viral infections are too.
Cardiovascular disease can be chronic.
Neurological diseases too.
lifestyle diseases can be too, which include obesity, type 2 diabetes, cirrhosis.
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Jan 16 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
The FDA ban of red 3 has nothing to do with actual health risks & everything to do with public outrage & lobbyist money.
Adverse effects? IN RATS: after eating 4% of their weight daily for months.
That’s if a 150-lb person ate 102 GRAMS of red 3 EVERY DAY, for months.
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Plus: those rats have genetics predisposing them to thyroid tumors.
The average person MIGHT eat 0.2 mg per day, 7,500 TIMES LESS than rats ingested.
There is ZERO evidence that tiny levels of red 3 in foods pose risks to humans.
The claims of harm are irrelevant.
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Jan 13 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Medical conspiracism is the false belief that government & powerful “entities” lie to the public about health topics to control them & cause harm.
The most prevalent is “government & big pharma are hiding cures for cancer.”
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It’s wrong - and insulting to scientists like myself who spend their careers studying the complexities of cancer.
But this belief causes people to forgo proven treatments for cancers & die unnecessarily.
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Jan 10 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Calley keeps sharing this graph but doesn’t understand it.
PREVALENCE = number of people with a condition at a point in time: new AND previously diagnosed.
This graph shows more people survive & live with cancer. Because of: science.
It ALSO isn’t normalized to 1) cancer TYPE or 2) population numbers.
We don’t present raw numbers - that’s misleading.
We present rates - prevalence and incidence as number PER 100,000 (or similar).
That ACTUALLY tells you about cancer trends.
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Dec 28, 2024 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
RFK Jr and the MAHA crew claim they’re going to address chronic disease by pausing on infectious diseases.
Do they know that:
HPV infections cause cervical cancers, anal cancers, penile cancers, throat (oropharyngeal) cancers, vaginal cancers, and vulvar cancers?
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Hepatitis B and C infections can cause cirrhosis, liver failure, & liver cancer?
Rheumatic fever (Strep pyogenes) can cause heart valve damage & heart failure?
Measles can cause deafness, immune amnesia, brain damage, & a fatal disorder, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis?
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Dec 9, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Do you say raw milk tastes better than pasteurized?
It’s fat.
Milk undergoes quality control before sale.
On top of pasteurization, that involves skimming fat.
You like the taste of fat.
Raw milk is not healthier.
Consuming raw milk is can cause infections from:
•Escherichia coli.
•Campylobacter jejuni.
•Salmonella
•Listeria monocytogenes.
•Brucella abortus.
Symptoms: diarrhea, cramping, vomiting, organ failure, Guillain-Barré syndrome, death.
Dec 2, 2024 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
Did you know that organic farming is 22-35% more profitable than conventional farming?
And that organic farming uses LOTS of pesticides, many of which are more ecologically damaging or less safe for farmers?
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Farmers grow food to feed millions of people. To protect crops from pests - pathogens, insects, and other plants (weeds) - farmers must control them. How do they do that?
With pesticides - chemicals that kill a target group of organisms (that suffix -cide is the clue there).
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Nov 15, 2024 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
RFK Jr. DOES NOT want to “make America healthy” or address chronic disease.
Because if he did, he would advocate for a vaccine that prevents many types of cancers. Cancers, which are chronic diseases.
Because if he did, he would push for healthcare, no matter your income.
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Since wealth inequality and lack of healthcare is a key determinant in poor health outcomes.
Because if he did, he would correct his lies about the “harms” of conventionally-grown fruits & vegetables.
Organic farming uses pesticides.
Conventional foods are safe.
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