In support of Ken McLeod's complaint against the AVN

Better late than never I guess...

To whom it may concern,

I write to support Ken McLeod's complaint against the Australian Vaccination Network. I found AVN after a rather heated discussion with friends about vaccination and was so appalled at the misinformation on the AVN's website that I wrote two lengthy blog posts calling them out on their errors.

http://emervents.blogspot.com/2009/05/thinking-about-vaccines-thinking-of.html

http://emervents.blogspot.com/2009/06/critique-of-avns-10-reasons-to-think.html

I have two degrees, one of them in science, and sometimes I use my advantages (education and access to university resources) to call out organisations who would seek to sway the public with, if I'm kind, mistakes and outdated information.

In summary, the AVN use information that is often outdated, cherry picked, or just plain erroneous, and I think that it is of grave concern that well meaning parents might use their information as a basis for an important decision regarding their children's health.

Please keep in mind that these are blog posts, the tone is meant to be conversational and sometimes acrimonious (I get grumpy when tired). Nonetheless, the second one especially should give a clear indication of the kinds of untruths the AVN are happy to have parents believe. I am not happy about it at all. Hence this letter of support for Ken McLeod's complaint.