“Exploring Science Literacy and the Literacy Communities of the Anti-Vaccination Movement”

by Wyn Andrews-Richards | Xchanges 11.2

Natural News Isn’t Science

A common thread among the anti-vaccination groups I’ve followed on Facebook and Baby Center is the citation of articles and blogs from Natural News. The “About” section on Natural News states, “Natural News is a science-based natural health advocacy organization led by activist-turned-scientist Mike Adams, the Health Ranger.” Interestingly, there is no biography of Adams listed on the site. The process regarding how he changed from an activist into a scientist is not offered. Adams started a software company after college graduation, which he sold in 2003 to focus on being the self-named Health Ranger. It is an important rhetorical move that Adams has left out important details regarding his credentials to call himself a scientist.

An examination of an article on Natural News, “Key CDC scientist who downplayed vaccine-autism connection is now fleeing from justice,” reveals that the only sources listed are the Huffington Post, a sometimes reliable news source, the Office of Inspector General of the US Department of Health and Human Services, a website called rescupost.com (which was inaccessible), and other articles posted on naturalnews.com. The scientist the article is written about is Poul Thorsen, who was contracted to do research for the CDC, not actually a CDC scientist as the headline suggests. Thorsen was indicted on 11 counts of Wire Fraud and Money Laundering. However, this has no impact on the other studies regarding vaccine safety.

Science literacy is called into question regarding Natural News’s communication of science information. Natural News, a self-proclaimed science-based news source, distributes incorrect information regarding science. When an Internet source speaks with a scholarly tone, it is no surprise that those with science illiteracy and science aliteracy will take their word as scientific truth.