In a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) directly confronted anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his rejection of germ theory—the unquestionable scientific idea that specific pathogenic microbes cause specific diseases. After Kennedy defended his fringe view, Senator Bill Cassidy fact-checked and debunked Kennedy’s denialist arguments in real time.
The exchanges mark a rare instance in which Kennedy’s dismissal of germ theory has been raised in such a high-profile public setting, in this case, a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Kennedy, who has no background in science, medicine, or public health, is well known as an ardent anti-vaccine activist and peddler of conspiracy theories. But his startling rejection of a cornerstone theory in biomedical science has mostly been underreported.
As Ars Technica reported last year, Kennedy wrote about his germ theory denialism explicitly in his 2021 book The Real Anthony Fauci. In it, Kennedy maligns germ theory as a tool of pharmaceutical companies, scientists, and doctors to promote the use of modern medicines. Instead of accepting germ theory, Kennedy promotes a concept akin to the discarded terrain theory, in which diseases stem not from germs, but from imbalances in the body’s inner “terrain.” Those imbalances are claimed to be caused by poor nutrition and exposure to environmental toxins and stressors. (In his book, Kennedy erroneously labels this as “miasma theory,” but that is a different theory that suggests diseases derive from breathing bad air, vapors, or mists from decaying or corrupting matter. The idea was supplanted by germ theory, while terrain theory was never widely accepted.)
…
When he dies, I hope they do an autopsy of his body to see how many parasites and infections he had.
I think he’ll explode into bugs like the oogie-boogie man.
These kinds of things are available to watch and honestly, with this current adminstration, they’re incredibly interesting imo. If you care to watch the whole thing:
If you just want Bernie Sander’s question it’s the second star at about 24:00
It was interesting for me decades ago before i realized these politicians just make shit up all the time and it’s boring now. Yes trump admin is definitely the dumbest one ever but idk it just bores me now, this was all stuff us teenagers were crying about under bush and now it’s just work.
Didn’t ancient china have something similiar to the terrain theory?
Source: some Manhua i didn’t like.
Such a tragic family history with so many promising people lost over the years. Kind of makes you question survival of the fittest.
Alligators looking pretty darn close to how they did millions of years ago is a nice indicator for survival of the fittest. I think fittest probably involves social paradigms with humans, and being recognized as fit might present an interesting intellectual challenge where you are more likely to find yourself surrounded by sycophants who soonest reenforce your own bias. Perhaps even, you’re looking at decades of that toxin in its effects. But, I am not a researcher on this field so I digress.
Those imbalances are claimed to be caused by poor nutrition and exposure to environmental toxins and stressors.
So, like swimming in streams polluted with sewage?
like inhaling Trumps dookie stank
Or having brain worms?
Or getting whale carcass juice on you?
Or handling a dead bear?
Or cutting off a dead raccoon’s dick?
This guy is trying so hard to be patient zero in the next plague, and he’s not even trying to hide it.
Lead
Not that I trust any politician’s credibility on such a matter, but I’m not familiar with germ vs terrain theory, and offhand, terrain theory doesn’t sound completely absurd from a quick reading of this perhaps not so credible-sounding source: https://docrah.substack.com/p/germ-theory-vs-terrain-theory-louis. It seem both are opposite extremes, though not mutually-exclusive, and the truth may sit somewhere in the middle, though now I’m interested in reading actual studies.
Germ theory was controversial when we didn’t have microscopes that could see microbes. Terrain theory is working backwards, that germs are attracted to areas of disease. It is so trivially easy to disprove today that it was disproven in 1870.
Doctors do not use “Germ Theory” to diagnose patients. Research into chronic and/or viral diseases has not stopped because “it’s probably germs”. Treating germ theory as the sole monolith of modern medicine is petulant contrarian nonsense that is grouped in with a whole host of other anti-establishment conspiracy theories.
What I always think about these morons is that we propose a test. Since they have super healthy bodies, or so they claim, they should be totally resistant to whatever virus or bacteria we expose them to. So, how about we expose them to the worst viruses or bacteria we know about and see who wins?
So how do scientists reliably give lab rats diseases we want to study?
Clearly, scientists are witches and must be burned.
As usual this is all made up and none of it happened
You mean environmental toxins like germs?
We truly live in the golden age of the moron.
It is insane to think that he is endorsing a theory that was widely rejected even by Miasma guys in the 19th century.
The miasma advocates were wrong, but they still did many things that were beneficial. The first water treatment plants that provided the first safe drinking water were advocated for by miasma advocates, and the London sewer system, one that is still being used today was also built by them.
Terrain theory? They did jack shit. Just a bunch of crazy nuts who rejected both miasma and germ theory in the late 19th century.
To be fair, miasma theory made sense and was completely logical, before microscopes.
They knew about actual lethal gases, and ones that had different effects on the body. They knew there were gases they couldn’t yet detect, as they were still discovering new ones. They knew rotting stuff produced all kind of gases and stenchs.
Hell, the theory is still pretty much valid for radon, though for reasons they couldn’t have possibly imagined.
And at the same time, the idea that animals could get small enough to be invisible, and to invade the human body, was absurd.
It came as quite a surprise when the microscope was invented and every single drop of water turned out to be a whole ecosystem teeming with life, and we turned out to be precariously balanced colonies of microscopic cells, also inhabited by a whole bacterial ecosystem teeming with both friends and foes.
And then came viruses, which are downright absurd to the point that we’re still figuring out where they fit in the tree of life, and whether they’re alive or not.
And prions, which are the stuff of horror science fiction yet completely logical when you think about how proteins works, and how they might sometimes not.
Miasma theory wasn’t correct, sure, but it was definitely simpler, and made much more sense.
How is that even something I have to Read? Fuck these morons.
This guy is in charge of the CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL. Not only responsible for the health of the nearly 400M US Citizens, but really globally in many ways. And this failson thinks you can sweat away ebola with some fucking supplements… that he happens to peddle.
deleted by creator
I’d like to challenge him to prove it. Ebola is a messy way to go so I wouldn’t want to be in the same room, but I guess that’s what cameras are for.
I love the term “failson”. It’s such an apt description for these grifting fuckups.
Except for the way they keep succeeding 😐
people let him off easy because he can’t talk well. heard he’s invested in supplement sales. like snake oil guy of yesteryear
People didn’t let him off easy. They outright rejected him. So he sold himself to Trump for the position he has. He’s a morally compromised whore for money and power so he doesn’t have to face the harm he has caused to countless people.
unquestionable
Can we not call it that? The beauty of science is that it can be questioned.
The way MAGA questions it is far from beautiful my friend.
You are correct, but I’m willing to give some leeway for using “unquestionable” as shorthand for “backed by such a remarkable corpus of evidence that for any contradictory hypothesis to seriously call it into question would require a literally unimaginable scope of evidence”.
I think germ theory and gravity are about the only ones I can readily think of. Not relativity based gravity, just… Gravity.
deleted by creator
Isn’t the definition of a germ a microbe that can cause disease? Like I don’t think you can, by definition, have a germ that doesn’t cause disease.
deleted by creator
This is what happens when you accept something without question… You might happen to be right, but you don’t know why…
