Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites
My list of the worst offenders on the web in the promotion of scientific and factual misinformation.
Filed under Alternative Medicine, Conspiracies, Consumer Ripoffs, General Science, Health
| Skeptoid #283 November 08, 2011 Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe |
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By Brian Dunning, Skeptoid Podcast
Episode 283, November 08, 2011
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4283
The Internet is a dangerous place. It's full of resources, both good and bad; full of citations linking one to another, sometimes helpfully, sometimes not. Today we're going to point the skeptical eye at ten of the worst web sites in terms of quality of science information that they promote. To make this list, they not only need to have bad information, they also need to be popular enough to warrant our attention.
Many of these sites promote some particular ideology, but I want to be clear that that's not why they're here. Sites that make this list are only here because of the quality of the science information that they advocate.
As a measure of each site's popularity, I'm giving its ranking on Alexa.com as of this writing. Of course this changes over time, so I'm rounding them off to give a general idea of each site's traffic. Also, I'm giving its US traffic ranking, as these are English language sites and the worldwide rankings are skewed by sites in China, Russia, and the rest of the non-English world. For a starting point of reference, Skeptoid.com's ranking is currently about 40,000, meaning that 40,000 web sites in the United States get more traffic than I do. And, compared to the number of web sites there are, that number is actually not half bad — but note how it compares to some of these sites promoting misinformation.
Let's begin at the bottom of our list of the worst offenders, with a site that nevertheless has staggering amounts of traffic:
10. Huffington Post
huffingtonpost.com
Alexa ranked
#23
Google PageRank 8
The Huffington Post is arguably one of the heaviest trafficked news, opinion, and information sources on the Internet. Its many editors and 9,000 contributors produce content that runs the gamut and is generally decent, with one exception: medicine. HuffPo aggressively promotes worthless alternative medicine such as homeopathy, detoxification, and the thoroughly debunked vaccine-autism link. In 2009, Salon.com published a lengthy critique of HuffPo's unscientific (and often exactly wrong) health advice, subtitled Why bogus treatments and crackpot medical theories dominate "The Internet Newspaper". HuffPo's tradition is neither new nor just a once-in-a-while thing.
Science journalists have repeatedly taken HuffPo to task for this, and repeatedly been rebuffed or not allowed to submit fact-based rebuttals. HuffPo's anti-science stance on health and medicine appears to be deliberately systematic and is unquestionably pervasive.
9. Conservapedia
conservapedia.com
Alexa ranked
#13,600
Google PageRank 5
Conservapedia was founded by Christian activist Andrew Schlafly as resource for homeschooled children, intended to counter what he saw as an anti-Christian bias in Wikipedia and science information in general. It is, in short, an encyclopedia that gives a Young Earth version of every article instead of the correct version. If you want to know about dinosaurs, geology, radiometric dating, the solar system, plate tectonics, or pretty much any other natural science, Conservapedia is your Number One resource to get the wrong answer. That it is intended specifically as a science resource for homeschooled children, who don't have the benefit of an accredited science teacher, is its main reason for making this list.
8. Cryptomundo
cryptomundo.com
Alexa ranked
#41,800
Google PageRank 5
Run by cryptozoologists Loren Coleman, Craig Woolheater, John Kirk, and Rick Noll, Cryptomundo promotes virtually every mythical beast as being a real living animal. Cryptozoology may be a fun and illustrious hobby for some, but its method of beginning with your desired conclusion and working backwards to find anecdotes that might support it is pretty much the opposite of the scientific method. Cryptomundo only ranks as #8 on our list because, let's face it, cryptozoology is not exactly the most harmful of pseudosciences. It's more of a weekend lark for enthusiasts of the strange.
Cryptomundo's forum moderators have something of a notorious reputation for editing comments posted by site visitors, and for deleting comments that express skeptical points of view. Some skeptical commenters have reported even being banned completely from the forums, not for spamming or trolling, but just being consistently skeptical.
See this screen capture of Cryptomundo's amusing criticism of my inclusion of their site.
7. 9/11 Truth.org
911truth.org
Alexa ranked
#109,000
Google PageRank 5
The only reason this site has such a low traffic rating is that its field is saturated with competition. 9/11 Truth.org is only the largest of the many, many web sites who began with the idea that 9/11 was a false flag operation against American citizens staged by the American government, but unlike most others, it has stayed on topic. Even more than a decade after 9/11, 911 Truth.org still manages to find and post articles almost daily promising to reveal new evidence proving the conspiracy.
6. Mercola.com
mercola.com
Alexa ranked
#650
Google PageRank 6
The sales portal of alternate medicine author Joseph Mercola has received at least three warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop making illegal health claims about the efficacy of its products. A tireless promoter, Mercola has built his web site into probably the most lucrative seller of quack health products. But Mercola's web site is not wrong because it's lucrative; it's wrong because the vast majority of its merchandise has no proven medical value, yet virtually all of its product descriptions imply that they can improve the customer's health in some way. Today's Featured Products include:
Probiotics supplements that can "boost your body's defense against disease and aid your production of essential nutrients".
and
Krill oil that provides "A healthy heart, Memory and learning support, Blood sugar health, Anti-aging, Healthy brain function and development, Cholesterol health, Healthy liver function, Boost for the immune system, Optimal skin health".
At least Mercola.com usually includes the required statement (tucked way down at the bottom of the screen in a tiny font) that "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease." Presumably that's a result of all the regulatory action he's suffered.
5. Answers in Genesis
answersingenesis.org
Alexa ranked
#9,800
Google PageRank 6
Evangelical Christian web sites are a fine thing for those who roll that way, and most such sites do good charitable and social works. But a few stray from that mission, and Answers in Genesis is the leading example. Their "Statement of Faith" is, in their own words:
Scripture teaches a recent origin for man and the whole creation, spanning approximately 4,000 years from creation to Christ. The days in Genesis do not correspond to geologic ages, but are six [6] consecutive twenty-four [24] hour days of creation. The Noachian Flood was a significant geological event and much (but not all) fossiliferous sediment originated at that time.
There's no way around it: This is not doing any kind of a service mission, this is unabashed promotion of scientific misinformation. Even the world's largest Christian organization, the Catholic Church, rejects Answers in Genesis' alternate-reality version of geology, biology, and virtually every other natural science. Worse, AiG provides a wide array of highly polished, very professionally written educational materials including study guides, online courses, and lesson plans for teachers. So far the American court system has done a pretty good job of keeping this stuff out of public schools, but their penetration into private schools and homeschools is only growing.
4. Australian Vaccination Network
avn.org.au
Alexa ranked
#21,600 (in Australia)
Google PageRank 4
The website of Australia's best known anti-vaccine activist, Meryl Dorey, earns its recognition by the sheer magnitude of scientific, regulatory, and ethical criticism it has received. The AVN really put itself on the map with its refusal to post a disclaimer clearly identifying itself as anti-vaccine, as ordered by Australia's Health Care Complaints Commission. It's had its license to accept charitable donations revoked for multiple violations of the Charitable Fundraising Act, and its anti-science stance earned it a spot on Australian Doctor magazine's "Top 50 Medical Scandals of the Past 50 Years". If I wanted, I could do an entire podcast just listing the violations, criticisms, complaints, investigations, and regulatory actions the AVN has been hit with.
Yet it persists, boasts thousands of members, and continues to significantly reduce levels of immunity to infectious disease within Australia.
3. Prison Planet / InfoWars
prisonplanet.com
Alexa ranked
#2,000
Google PageRank 6
infowars.com
Alexa ranked
#566
Google PageRank 6
There doesn't appear to be any clear difference between Prison Planet and InfoWars, the websites of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Both sites are heavily trafficked collections of articles predicting the takeover of the world by nebulous Illuminati in the form of governments, companies and industries. There's nothing wrong with being anti-government and anti-corporate; they're perfectly valid philosophies, if that's the way you roll. Alex Jones' sites are on this list for having almost daily made predictions of New World Order takeovers, global currencies, and mass executions for many years, none of which have ever come true; and for distorting virtually every aspect of modern society into evidence of some vague worldwide plot to control or kill law abiding citizens.
2. Age of Autism
ageofautism.com
Alexa ranked
#33,500
Google PageRank 5
This website of investigative reporter Dan Olmsted promotes his own notions that autism is caused by mercury toxicity (contrary to what we've learned scientifically), that it is increasing dramatically at epidemic proportions, not just in counting methods but in actual incidence (contrary to whats been measured), and that it can be cured by holistic treatments, supplementation, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, removal of dental fillings, and bowel cleansing (contrary to all research done on these methods).
Web authors like Olmsted obviously must know that their writing is at variance with science based findings, so there must be some kind of cognitive dissonance going on, outright dishonesty, or perhaps even a belief in a global Big Pharma conspiracy of bad science.
Lest you think that fringe cranks like Olmsted have no influence and their sites can be dismissed, Age of Autism articles were cited in a 2006 U.S. House of Representatives bill to re-investigate the thoroughly debunked link between mercury and autism — using taxpayer funds to challenge science-based medicine.
1. Natural News
naturalnews.com
Alexa ranked
#1,000
Google PageRank 6
When Natural News began, it was basically the blog and sales portal of anti-pharmaceutical activist Mike Adams. His basic premise has always been the Big Pharma conspiracy, the idea that the medical industry secretly wants to keep everyone sick, and conspires with the food industry to make people unhealthy, all driven by a massive plot of greed to sell poisonous medicines. Adams appears to have become a protégé of Alex Jones, for he now writes on Natural News at least as many police state conspiracy articles as he does anti-science based medicine articles. They carry ads for each other on their sites as well.
Some examples of current articles on Natural News are:
New World Order: Implantable RFID chips capable of remotely killing non-compliant 'slaves' are here
and of course:
Jumping rope and 9/11 truth - how the sheeple have been trained to avoid unpopular truth about WTC 7
Natural News' misleading title — I see very little on the site that I would think to classify as "natural news" — and pretense of being a health resource has helped it to become an often cited and heavily read site. For its frighteningly large influence, and abysmal quality of information, it earns the #1 spot on this list.
© 2011 Skeptoid Media, Inc.
References & Further Reading
Barrett, S. "FDA Orders Dr. Joseph Mercola to Stop Illegal Claims." Quackwatch. Stephen Barrett, MD, 26 May 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html>
Novella, S. "Mike Adams Takes On 'Skeptics'." Neurologica. New England Skeptical Society, 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/mike-adams-takes-on-skeptics/>
Parikh, R. "The Huffington Post is Crazy about Your Health." Salon.com. Salon Media Group, 30 Jul. 2009. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.salon.com/2009/07/30/huffington_post/singleton/>
Pehm, K. "Letter to AVN." Health Care Complaints Commission. New South Wales Government, 7 Jul. 2010. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://www.stopmeryldorey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/HCCC-Report.pdf>
Phelps, D. "The Anti-Museum: An overview and review of the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum." Defending the Teaching of Evolution in Public Schools. National Center for Science Education, 17 Oct. 2008. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. <http://ncse.com/creationism/general/anti-museum-overview-review-answers-genesis-creation-museum>
Zaitchik, A. "Meet Alex Jones: The Most Paranoid Man in America." Rolling Stone Magazine. 17 Mar. 2011, Issue 1199.
Reference this article:
Dunning, B.
"Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc.,
8 Nov 2011. Web.
19 May 2013. <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4283>
Discuss!
10 most recent comments | Show all 222 comments
Very misleading page title. I love how skeptics like yourself throw around the word "science" when you've never take the time to investigate the criminal relationship between private interest and the AMA / FDA.
Your science is for hire, bought and sold daily. Conventional medicine is a business. I refuse to believe you, as a researched writer, could be that naive.
You blast the practitioners that empower others to take control of their health / lives once and for all without being dependent on a system that only keeps them sick.
Shame on you. Lives are at stake and over 700,000 people needlessly die per year from MD's, drugs, and surgeries here in the US alone.
Instead of uncritically accepting and supporting the established medical cartel as you've done, you might want to follow the money.
If you want to disseminate propaganda, you're going to have to do a better job now that people can find the truth in a matter of clicks.
Do you even know the history of medicine? I suspect that's not the case.
Now, the real question is will you be a coward and delete this or allow this comment to be live on your blog.
Funny, many skeptics don't like when truth is injected into the discussion.
Matthew, Atlanta, GA
December 30, 2012 1:59pm
Good one Matthew. I have a pill for that.
Look, no one can argue with a man who has a megaphone standing on a milk crate with a loaded pineapple in his hand and a mind control hershey bar in his pocket.
You started this..
Thank goodness there are numerous sports programs in Georgia.
Mud, At virtually missing point, NSW, OZ,
January 03, 2013 2:45am
Matthew, studying the "criminal relationship between private interest and the FDA" has nothing to do with science. That's why it wasn't brought up.
As skeptoid has pointed out several times before, alternative medicine is just as much a business as conventional medicine, and they have just as much reason to want you to stay sick as "Big pharma" does. The fun part though is that atlernative medicine doesn't actually have to do what the product claims.
700k out of a population of 300m only touches .2% You will find more people dying from lack of any healtchare, than those who die from the supposedly evil big pharma.
Ford, Conor, Poway California
January 07, 2013 2:49pm
I've practiced in 28 countries and the US and I cannot tell you how many people have created illness, exacerbated illness or driven themselves beyond medical help by "cures" from the snake oil peddling charlatans squirming their way into the public's pocket.
The "all or nothing" attitude seems to ignore that 90% of pharmaceuticals in the market are in fact, derived from "all natural" substances. Instead, they drown in a sea of self hypnotic conspiracies and dark shrouded figures bent on world domination.
Hogwash.
Barnum was right, there's one born every minute...but these suckers are playing with their lives.
Noel, Savannah, Ga
January 07, 2013 7:01pm
Noel, its the very reason I call alternative modalities "pure and applied" hypochondrias. Munchhausens by proxy at the practitioner level.
Should you see my posts arguing with these frauds on skeptoid blogs you will be amased at their diversionary tactics..
There was a series on TV called the X-files where the hero "Fox Mulder" had a psoter saying "I want to believe". For all the skeptical criticism of this show and its mythology, the hero always focussed on "I want to believe".
Fans of the show realise that for all the bizarre within that mythology, Fox was at odds within..
"Is this real?".
Its a bit sad that the negative part of Mulderism wrt to conspiracy and monsters in that mythology is now an apparent pop phenom that is "real".
Real only if you think the foo fighters is original..
Derivation isnt derativity.
Makes you wonder why Buffy the vampire slayer or the night stalker conspiratories...hang on... I see them every week on skeptoid comments...
Project Blue book anyone?... It was a great TV series...Almost Majestic I would say!
Mud, At virtually missing point, NSW, OZ,
January 07, 2013 9:39pm
It's amazing to see so many people waking up, and commenting against this site because they're now able to use their better judgment, instead of having it imposed upon them.
And people try to sell this as a bargaining tool to help defend their false beliefs; Well, I can only hope you'll end up living a healthy active lifestyle.
This man's skepticism so far appears to be based on outdated "policies" which, by the day, are being evidentially exposed as fake. He sounds fearful of the alternative in case it leaves him without a job or nothing to say.
Tom Morgan, Cardiff
February 17, 2013 2:30am
Why are people now able to use their better judgement, Tom? What has changed?
'And people try to sell this as a bargaining tool to help defend their false beliefs; Well, I can only hope you'll end up living a healthy active lifestyle.' Can you please explain what this means?
'This man's skepticism so far appears to be based on outdated "policies" which, by the day, are being evidentially exposed as fake.' Which policies? What evidence?
Darren, Liverpool, UK
February 17, 2013 9:33am
@Brian, I enjoyed the humour in the post, thank you.
@Noel, keep practicing until you get it right.
@Reptoidal shift shapers, stay in America, you're in good company. ;)
Vaughan Harran, Johannesburg South Africa
April 03, 2013 2:06pm
Brian, you may find Mercola's products overpriced, and some of them unnecessary if eating a balanced diet, but to say that Krill (fish) oil and probiotics are not good for you puts you in opposition to most mainstream nutritians.
Recently I found an interview of Mercola by Dr. Oz, and he was asked what supplements he himself take. I was expecting him to rattle a long list (after all, he sells them) but he only mentioned three: Krill oil, Coenzyme Q-10 and Astaxanthin.
jordi heguilor, San Diego, CA, USA
May 17, 2013 4:58pm
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Architects & Engineers For 9/11 Truth (representing more than 1,700 Architects and Engineers) is a good site for those who want to understand that the government's "conspiracy theory" regarding 9/11 violates the laws of high school level physics.
If you understand the laws of...
* gravity
* conservation of energy
* conservation of momentum
* conservation of angular momentum
...you will see that the official story of 9/11 is impossible and therefore a big lie.
The obvious controlled demolition (with explosives) of WTC 7 (and WTC 1 and WTC 2) has been proved, based on the scientific evidence.
As to who planted the explosives...that would be good to know.
Science Guy, Queens, NY
December 16, 2012 3:59pm