Wanderings – Why is science the enemy?
When did science become the enemy? I think I missed the memo here that said that anything scientific must be bad. It certainly was not the case when I was growing up. Science was (and is now still) truth. Somewhere along the line, some people’s thinking has become corrupted.
Recently in the United States and Canada there has been a dramatic increase in measles infections. Since October 2024, cases in Ontario have been steadily increasing. As of April 28, Public Health Ontario reported over 900 confirmed or probable cases. These infections are largely in unvaccinated children and teens. While centred in the province’s south-west, there have been cases reported across Ontario. This is for a virus that was largely eliminated in 1998.
When I was in Grade 3 (1985) I had just returned from two weeks off school after recovering from chickenpox, and had been back to school for only a couple of days when I was home again for a couple of weeks due to measles. Both went through my school like wildfire. This story may resonate with many Gen-Xers and older. I remember my grandmother saying though, “at least it’s not polio.”
Measles was declared eliminated in 1998, due to vaccines. Polio earned the same distinction in 1994. Rubella in 2005. The mumps do not have that label yet, but was on track to being declared eliminated until recently. Both measles and rubella were knocked down thanks to the two-dose MMR vaccine which was approved in 1996. Better living through science.
That phrase, better living through science, applies to our progress made throughout the industrial revolution. As more people moved to the cities, illness increased due to poor sanitation. Cities improved sewers, indoor plumbing was introduced, and life improved.
Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine in 1955, and mass immunization clinics by public health units throughout the 1960s vaccinated the country. No one now has to go through the debilitating and life-long effects of a polio infection. Better living through science.
In the early-2000s there was a study published by Andrew Wakefield that said that the MMR vaccine caused autism. The study has been debunked more times than the magic bullet theory of who killed JFK, yet the effects of that misinformation continues to poison a generation. Celebrity figures latched on to Wakefield’s bogus theory and used their “influencer status” to seriously undermine science. I’ll add at this point that genetics, not vaccines, is what causes autism. Science has proven this. Having some family experience in this, the research is sound. Vaccines do not cause autism – period.
Sure, some people are unable to have vaccinations due to allergies to certain elements in the vaccines. That is a per cent of a per cent of a per cent. There are a few religious groups that say that their views prevent vaccinations. Otherwise there is no excuse, no real reason, not to get vaccinations. Oh no, wait... the government. There are those who say because the government says you should be vaccinated for XYZ, that means we shouldn’t. The word I want to write here is not suitable for print – suffice it to say bovine excrement is a printable substitute term. The government passed laws saying you should drive on the highway at a certain speed; and wear seatbelts; and have cars with glass that doesn’t explode on contact in a collision – why? Science!
Respected Globe and Mail columnist and health reporter André Picard wrote last week saying that personal beliefs should not supersede the public good when it comes to vaccination. I agree. There is a point with vaccines when the public good outweighs personal belief.
I am a big believer in personal responsibility and individual freedom of choice, so long as what I do doesn’t infringe on the rights of others. Vaccinations, especially for diseases or viruses like measles, polio, and mass-communicable viruses, should be mandatory.
Science is not bad. Our life spans have increased because of science. Again, better living through science. Science certainly is not the enemy!
Science is obviously not the enemy. Willful ignorance is, and the mis/dis-information that feeds it. I live on the east coast and dread the start of cruise-ship season and tourism in general, for more reasons than just the rampant spread of communicable diseases they foster (the environment also leaps immediately to mind). Some places have banned, or at least limited, the number of cruise ships allowed in their harbours. Here, unfortunately, the Conservative provincial government, and presumably our municipal government as well, are so greedy for tourist dollars it's disgusting. I can wear a mask in public, and you've prompted me to consider doing that again. By why do people insist on travelling unnecessarily, internationally in particular, when there is so much going on in the world these days that might give a rational person pause? It's a rhetorical question, basically. As I suspect you may be, I'm probably preaching to the choir.