tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/avn-2031/articlesAVN – The Conversation2017-09-14T16:47:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/828492017-09-14T16:47:59Z2017-09-14T16:47:59ZGhana is boosting Africa’s ascent to astronomical heights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185644/original/file-20170912-19546-1n7hkdm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The refurbished radio telescope in Kutunse, Ghana paves the way for astronomy in Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SKA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-the-square-kilometre-array-40870">Square Kilometre Array (SKA)</a> is the world’s largest radio telescope project, which will collect data over one million square kilometres from radio astronomy telescopes on the African and Australian continents.
In the long run the two-phased SKA could possibly help scientists answer questions in astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics. Phase one of the project entailed setting radio telescopes in <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za/about/the-project/">South Africa</a> and <a href="http://www.ska.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx">Australia</a>. Phase two will include more telescopes being added by partner countries, New Zealand and the eight African countries namely: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. The full array should be up and running by 2030, but the first phase is expected to be operational by 2023. The launch of Ghana’s radio telescope is a critical part of this process. Dr Bernard Duah Asabere explained its significance.</em></p>
<p><strong>How did Ghana get involved in the project and how does it fit in?</strong></p>
<p>Ghana has had a redundant satellite communication antenna in Kutunse – a suburb 25 kilometres north-west of the capital, Accra.</p>
<p>Between 2011 and 2017 this antenna has been undergoing refurbishment for use as a radio astronomy telescope. At the end of the first engineering phase, the refurbished telescope is capable of participating in global network observations using a technique known as <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za/science-engineering/avn/">Very Long Baseline Interferometry</a> (VLBI). It also be used in single dish or standalone operational mode.</p>
<p>Interferometry is a technique in which collections of telescopes scattered over a large area function as a single radio telescope. The Very Long Baseline Interferometry technique is most well-known for:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>imaging distant cosmic radio sources, </p></li>
<li><p>tracking spacecraft, and </p></li>
<li><p>for applications in astrometry. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>But the technique can also measure the time differences between the arrival of radio waves from separate antennas to the same source in the sky. This helps astronomers get a better image resolution of an object or a region in the universe. </p>
<p>Put simply, if different telescopes at different locations are all tuned to observe the same source in the sky at the same time, astronomers can get fine details of the specific object being observed.</p>
<p>The countries that make up the African SKA project are each building their own radio telescopes or converting redundant telecommunication dishes so that they function as a network known as the African VLBI Network (AVN). </p>
<p>Ghana now becomes the first country in the African SKA partners besides South Africa to have a <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za/media-releases/ghana-and-south-africa-celebrate-first-success-of-african-network-of-telescopes/">telecommunication antenna</a> converted to realise the African VLBI Network. With Ghana’s telescope now operational, it means that South Africa and Ghana will be able to do joint observations. When the other seven African SKA partner countries get theirs ready, they will join the African’s network. </p>
<p>Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia are contending to add the <a href="https://furtherafrica.com/2017/08/28/eight-african-countries-commit-to-developing-radio-astronomy/">next </a>telescope to the network.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185643/original/file-20170912-19550-ts7kx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185643/original/file-20170912-19550-ts7kx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185643/original/file-20170912-19550-ts7kx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185643/original/file-20170912-19550-ts7kx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185643/original/file-20170912-19550-ts7kx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185643/original/file-20170912-19550-ts7kx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185643/original/file-20170912-19550-ts7kx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A full view of the refurbished radio telescope in Ghana that forms part of the Square Kilometre Array project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">supplied</span></span>
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</figure>
<p><strong>How did we know the Ghanaian telescope was ready and what will it do?</strong> </p>
<p>Across the globe there are several very long base interferometry networks: Europe has one, as does Australia and America. Any telescope across the world is able to join an observation in one of these networks.</p>
<p>After Ghana re-engineered the antenna into a functional radio astronomy telescope, it needed to do a science commissioning of the facility to see if the refurbishment was successful and it could track and observe astronomical sources in the sky and join international observations. </p>
<p>When Ghana tested its telescope it was able to detect methanol masers, observe pulsars and also succeeded in participating in an observation with 15 other telescopes which form part of the European very long base interferometry network. </p>
<p>Until now South Africa has been the only country on the continent that had been joining in VLBI observations with other countries’ networks because it was the only country with a radio telescope on the continent. </p>
<p>With radio telescopes in Ghana and South Africa, an African network is now given birth to. Aside being a part of the African network, Ghana could join other telescopes on the globe to do science observations. </p>
<p><strong>What is the significance of Ghana’s telescope for astronomy in Africa?</strong></p>
<p>There are many celestial objects to observe in the Universe: planets, masers, galaxies, meteorites, stars and even regions in the sky. And there are global questions that astronomy community is interested in addressing. This includes questions like: is there any life outside earth? Are there other stars that are as prominent as the sun? How did the universe come into being? These are questions that the SKA will attempt to address. </p>
<p>If Africa has its own network, astronomers on the continent can choose what celestial objects and regions it wants to observe. </p>
<p>If we look at most of the existing telescopes across the world, there has been a hole in Africa. Telescopes situated in the Northern hemisphere are unable to see the region of the sky in the southern hemisphere. With an African very long base interferometry network set up, astronomers in Africa can now observe both the northern and southern hemispheres of the sky from the continent. </p>
<p><strong>What is Ghana bringing to the party and what does it hope to get out of this SKA collaboration?</strong></p>
<p>The facility at Kutunse will be used as a science instrument but also as a training facility. Ghana will help the other seven countries that form part of the African network refurbish their unused antennae. </p>
<p>Although this technology is not new and has been done in Australia, Peru, Japan and the UK, no other country in Africa has done this. </p>
<p>For Ghana, developing the skills, regulations and institutional capacity in the partner countries is a vital part of building the square kilometre array on the continent over the next decade. This is because it will optimise African participation in the SKA.</p>
<p>Ghana will build it robust research community in a field never before accessible to the country.</p>
<p>But there is also the prospect of improving the radio astronomy capacity in the country. <a href="http://skatelescope.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/01_asabere.pdf">Ghana’s radio astronomy development strategy</a> forms part of the broader Ghana Science, Technology and Innovation Development Plan.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bernard Duah Asabere is the manager and lead local scientist of the Radio Astronomy Observatory. </span></em></p>Astronomy on the continent has been given a much needed boost with Ghana’s converted radio telescope between it and South Africa, to conduct scientific observations.Dr. Bernard Duah Asabere, Manager of the Ghana Radio Telescope Observatory, Ghana Space Science and Technology InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/148582013-06-03T00:49:42Z2013-06-03T00:49:42ZDivine astroturf: should anti-vaccinationists get their own church?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24824/original/5r7zx8vv-1370218690.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Church of Conscious Living, which offers 'believers' with a religious exemption from vaccination is engaging in astroturfing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefani/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <em>akedah</em> narrative – the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s command – is one that has long inspired and haunted Jews, Christians and Muslims. </p>
<p>In being prepared to kill his own son, Abraham is presented as the “father of faith,” an exemplar of pious obedience and unwavering belief that God would, somehow, fulfil his earlier promise to Abraham that through Isaac he would found a great nation.</p>
<p>It’s hard not to find the story deeply unsettling. How does Abraham know he’s hearing a command from God? Mightn’t he just be dreaming, or deluded? And what sort of God would ask such a thing? Can even God override such a basic ethical principle as that of not murdering one’s child?</p>
<p>No wonder the philosopher Søren Kierkegaaard, whose <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/kierkegaard-200/4653104">200th birthday</a> has just passed, called his exploration of the story <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=XZSIVe_ohA0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=fear+and+trembling&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MjmoUcnWIeayiAel0ICIBw&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=fear%20and%20trembling&f=false">Fear and Trembling</a>. </p>
<p>In this work, “Johannes di silentio”, one of the many pseudonyms Kierkegaard uses in order to decentre authorial authority, considers whether there can ever be a “teleological suspension of the ethical.” That is, can there be justified exceptions to moral laws on the basis of a direct command from God?</p>
<p>Clearly, the problem of whether faith can exempt people from earthly laws and human morality is not a new one. And interestingly, it’s flared up again in Australia just this last week.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24831/original/244rschy-1370219466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24831/original/244rschy-1370219466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24831/original/244rschy-1370219466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24831/original/244rschy-1370219466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24831/original/244rschy-1370219466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24831/original/244rschy-1370219466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24831/original/244rschy-1370219466.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">bobosh_t/Flickr</span></span>
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<p>The NSW parliament has introduced legislation to allow childcare centres to <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/vaccinate-your-children-or-declare-why-not-parents-told-20130528-2n8wp.html">refuse to enrol</a> unvaccinated children. It didn’t take long for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Vaccination_Network">Australia’s main anti-vaccination group</a> to suggest a loophole for those wanting to get around the new laws: find religion.</p>
<p>For just $25 you can join the <a href="http://www.churchofcl.com/">Church of Conscious Living</a>, which was set up <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/anti-vaccine-zealots-form-sham-church/story-fni0cx12-1226653266194">with the express purpose</a> of providing “believers” with a religious exemption from vaccination. </p>
<p>There’s no liturgical basis to this church, apparently no organised community, no scriptures, no theology beyond a handful of broad statements about bodily sanctity and vaccines. They haven’t released a newsletter since 2010. Even the <a href="http://www.churchofcl.com/Church%20Newsletter%203.pdf">recipe for scalloped potatoes</a> they offer looks a bit thin.</p>
<p>We’ve seen this phenomenon of “<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/08/what-is-astroturfing">astroturfing</a>” many times – where something that looks like a grass-roots movement turns out to have been cut from whole cloth by a corporation or public relations company. </p>
<p>Now, it seems we’ve got the religious equivalent – a “religion” that has been concocted for other purposes.</p>
<p>Joining a church to claim an exemption rather than out of genuine spiritual belief might seem a bit sleazy. Still, you might ask, is this any worse than joining a religion to placate your partner’s family or so you can get married in their faith? </p>
<p>Besides, who has the right to tell you that your religious belief isn’t sincere? How can the state determine whether your beliefs count as religious or not?</p>
<p>Actually, the state has already <a href="http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/research/handle/10453/20166">been doing that</a> for some time. That’s why “Jedi” <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3110124.nsf/24e5997b9bf2ef35ca2567fb00299c59/86429d11c45d4e73ca256a400006af80!OpenDocument">still isn’t recognised</a> by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, despite thousands of people listing it as their religion on census forms. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, defining religion is a notoriously difficult business. Trying to define religion either by listing its essential features or describing the function it fulfils leads to serious difficulties. Given this ambiguity, might anti-vaccinationism be entitled to be considered a new religion?</p>
<p>The reasons why people believe in <a href="http://theconversation.com/six-myths-about-vaccination-and-why-theyre-wrong-13556">anti-vaccination myths</a> are many and varied and often specific to individuals. No doubt many are seeking answers as to why their child has a health problem, an answer which anti-vaccine narratives appear to offer. </p>
<p>Still, when reading online anti-vaccination discussions, particularly those that shade into endorsing alternative medicine, a number of overlapping themes keep coming through. One is a visceral distrust and resentment of authority, whether government, medical or judicial. </p>
<p>Associated with that distrust is selective regard for expertise: someone with years of university education and published research under their belt is clearly corrupt and can be dismissed, while homeopaths, naturopaths and cancer quacks are lauded as brilliant sages.</p>
<p>Another recurring idea is that of a secret body of knowledge that offers the initiate a short-cut to health or other goods. Just eat the right foods, take the right supplements, and even the most terrifying of diseases can’t hurt you. (The unspoken corollary is that if they <em>do</em> hurt you, it must be your fault). </p>
<p>This idea that the world can be hacked to work the way you want it to, so long as you know the cheat codes, even carries over into bizarre pseudo-legal beliefs such as “<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Freeman_on_the_land">Freeman on the Land</a>” defences, which anti-vaccinationists <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/142694199/AVN-FOTL-Redacted">have sometimes tried</a>. For the record, <a href="http://canlii.ca/en/ab/abqb/doc/2012/2012abqb571/2012abqb571.html">this never works</a>.</p>
<p>You can, in fact, discern something like a proto-religious worldview in all this, complete with its own myth of the Fall and promise of salvation. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24837/original/cz55bh3j-1370220250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/24837/original/cz55bh3j-1370220250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24837/original/cz55bh3j-1370220250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24837/original/cz55bh3j-1370220250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24837/original/cz55bh3j-1370220250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24837/original/cz55bh3j-1370220250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/24837/original/cz55bh3j-1370220250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The natural world is understood as a fundamentally benign place. If we suffer, it’s because, in our hubris, we’ve fallen away from a paradisical state of nature to our present artificial condition. </p>
<p>Only through purging ourselves of our corruption (read: “toxins”) and returning to a “natural” way of life can we return to our blessed prelapsarian state.</p>
<p>That’s actually quite an old story. There are broad themes here that are familiar from many religious texts, from the Eden narrative in the Abrahamic faiths to pre-Qin Chinese religious texts like the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, with their insistence on returning to the primordial <em>dao</em> or the “way”, from which we have strayed.</p>
<p>But a few broad themes do not a religion make. And even if they did, it’s not clear that a belief that entails causing risk not just to yourself but to your children and to others in the community deserves accommodation. </p>
<p>I have <a href="http://theconversation.com/love-thy-neighbour-religious-groups-should-not-be-exempt-from-discrimination-laws-11634">argued on this site</a> before that the collision of deeply-held faith beliefs and public ethics is often messy. Negotiating the collision requires thoughtfulness and care.</p>
<p>But where people seek to engage in activity that harms others on the basis of reasons that cannot be shared from the perspective of public ethics, it’s far from clear why we should be obliged to accept this.</p>
<p>In Fear and Trembling, di silentio has to conclude that he cannot understand Abraham. Perhaps God really <em>did</em> order him to kill his son but, in human terms, Abraham must be accounted a murderer. Kierkegaard’s point is that the believer must regard Abraham as an exemplar of faith <em>despite</em> this humanly valid judgement. </p>
<p>But in public ethics, faith-based reasons have no place – even, or perhaps especially, when religious exemptions would lead to real harm to innocent people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/14858/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Stokes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The akedah narrative – the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s command – is one that has long inspired and haunted Jews, Christians and Muslims. In being prepared to kill…Patrick Stokes, Lecturer in Philosophy, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/113682012-12-18T19:46:11Z2012-12-18T19:46:11ZAnti-vaccination network told to change its name or be shut down<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18841/original/4jdwxwt8-1355802316.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Parents need the facts about childhood vaccination.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nonanet.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-vax-network-wins-court-case-but-its-claims-are-still-misleading-5568">heated battle</a> between Australia’s anti-vaccine lobby, the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), and those fighting against its misinformation took a positive turn late last week, with the <a href="http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/About_us/News_and_events/Media_releases/2012_media_releases/20121215_australian_vaccination_network.html">New South Wales Department of Fair Trading </a> ordering the AVN to change its name or risk being shut down.</p>
<p>The move follows what has been described as “<a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/minister-orders-anti-vaccination-group-to-change-its-name/story-e6frf7kx-1226537155195">numerous</a>” complaints from both the public and the <a href="https://ama.com.au/media/misleading-claims-about-vaccination-putting-australian-lives-risk">Australian Medical Association</a> that the AVN name was misleading the public and wasn’t an accurate representation of its activities.</p>
<p>The order was hand delivered to the home of Meryl Dorey, AVN president, spokesperson and public officer, just before midday on Friday.</p>
<h2>What’s in a name?</h2>
<p>Publicly, the AVN claims to be pro-choice and a “vaccine safety watchdog”. And its name gives the impression of a neutral resource for vaccination information, but scratching the surface of its slick-looking website quickly reveals an anti-vaccine agenda.</p>
<p>A 12-month investigation of the site by the <a href="http://www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/">NSW Health Care Complaints Commission</a>, found the AVN website, “provides information that is solely anti-vaccination, contains information that is incorrect and misleading, and quotes selectively from research to suggest that vaccination may be dangerous.” This resulted in the <a href="http://www.stopavn.com/HCCCPublicWarning.jpg">publication of a public warning</a> advising people not to get their medical advice from the AVN.</p>
<p>The AVN later <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-vax-network-wins-court-case-but-its-claims-are-still-misleading-5568">challenged the public warning and won</a>, however during the case the Judge was not convinced by Dorey’s claims “to educate her subscribers and the general public into making decisions about vaccinations”.</p>
<p>As Justice Adamson put it, “It seems slightly coy that your client is so shy about admitting what it is on about”.</p>
<p>Further evidence for the Judge’s suspicions come in the form of T-shirts sold on the AVN website emblazoned with “<a href="http://shop.avn.org.au/products/Love-them-%28text-only%29-T%252dShirt.html">Love Them, Protect Them, Never Inject Them</a>”. And a children’s book called <a href="http://shop.avn.org.au/melanies-marvellous-measles/">Melanie’s Marvellous Measles</a> which teaches children to embrace infectious diseases!</p>
<p>Not very “pro-choice”.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18830/original/bxntb9j4-1355797994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18830/original/bxntb9j4-1355797994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18830/original/bxntb9j4-1355797994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18830/original/bxntb9j4-1355797994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18830/original/bxntb9j4-1355797994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18830/original/bxntb9j4-1355797994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18830/original/bxntb9j4-1355797994.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The AVN provides incorrect and misleading information to parents wanting to learn more about vaccination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The issue of the misleading name has led to confusion for parents and professionals alike, with <a href="http://www.midwives.org.au/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=MIDW/ccms.r">The Australian College of Midwives</a> a recent victim. It mistakenly sent out invitations to all its members (which were later withdrawn) for an AVN seminar, as it was unaware the AVN was an “anti-immunisation lobby”.</p>
<p>Parents commenting on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stopavn">Stop the AVN Facebook page</a> share similar stories;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dear Meryl, I was attracted to the AVN several years ago because the name suggested that you might be a reputable source of information about vaccination (I was preparing for an overseas trip). I found nothing of the sort on your site…..I was indeed misled and deceived by your name. And I’m not the only one.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2009, the <a href="http://www.skeptics.com.au/">Australian Skeptics</a>, with sponsorship from Dick Smith, took out an <a href="http://depletedcranium.com/Anti_AVN_Advertisement.jpg">ad</a> in the Australian newspaper to warn parents not to look to the AVN for health information. During the flurry of publicity that ensued, Dick Smith said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They are actually anti-vaccination, and they should put on every bit of their material that they are anti-vaccination in great big words. They have every right for that belief but they should communicate it clearly so people are not misled.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet, the practice of anti-vaccine groups using misleading names is not new. In the United States there is the National Vaccine Information Centre or NVIC, (which refers to itself as a vaccine watch dog) and in New Zealand there is VINE or Vaccination Information Network.</p>
<p>And it’s pretty obvious why they are so keen to disguise their true agenda – I can’t imagine parents looking to the Anti-Vaccine Network for unbiased advice (although kudos to the Australian media, as the AVN is increasingly being called this).</p>
<p>The AVN now has until February 21, 2013 to submit an application for a name change which also must be approved by the Commissioner. Of course, Dorey and co have a right to appeal this order, but if they decide to ignore it, their registration can be cancelled and their assets seized and split up – making this a rather serious matter indeed.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18843/original/32kwwjfm-1355802684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/18843/original/32kwwjfm-1355802684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18843/original/32kwwjfm-1355802684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18843/original/32kwwjfm-1355802684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18843/original/32kwwjfm-1355802684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18843/original/32kwwjfm-1355802684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/18843/original/32kwwjfm-1355802684.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The AVN has until February to change its name.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/tyfn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So far, <a href="http://nocompulsoryvaccination.com/2012/12/16/government-puts-boot-into-the-avn-democracy-and-the-truth/">Dorey has responded</a> to the order in the only way she knows, with accusations of “suppression of free speech” and “government bully boys”. And in a bizarre analogy she questioned why she was being targeted when “Greenpeace is not green, nor do they go around looking for peace…”.</p>
<p>Of course, this is not an issue of free speech, but one of a name that accurately describes the activities of the organisation. As NSW Fair Trading Minster Anthony Roberts <a href="http://www.2ue.com.au/blogs/2ue-blog/antivac-group-told-to-change-name/20121217-2bimp.html">put it</a> in no uncertain terms on radio 2UE:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What we are asking this organisation to do is be upfront and honest with people and stop misleading people … for far too long this organisation has been misleading individuals and getting away with it.</p>
<p>These people aren’t about pro-choice, these people are about pushing an anti-vaccine line.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So here’s my suggestion for the AVN: change your name to the Anti-Vaccination Network. That way there can be absolutely no confusion about your agenda and you get to keep you domain name. Because you’re not fooling anyone anymore.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11368/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Dunlop receives funding from The Institute for Ethnomedicine, WY. She is a Vice President of Australian Skeptics and an administrator of the Stop The AVN Facebook page. </span></em></p>The heated battle between Australia’s anti-vaccine lobby, the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), and those fighting against its misinformation took a positive turn late last week, with the New South…Rachael Dunlop, Post-doctoral fellow, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/46782011-12-13T03:56:06Z2011-12-13T03:56:06ZMeryl Dorey at Woodford Folk Festival: a hazard to your child’s health?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6357/original/n388ncvx-1323747712.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AVN spokesperson Meryl Dorey's message contradicts the position of several Woodford Folk Festival sponsors.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This year’s bill of speakers at the <a href="http://woodfordfolkfestival.woodfordia.com/">Woodford Folk Festival</a> features anti-vaccine lobbyist Meryl Dorey, spokesperson for the Northern New South Wales-based Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), and purveyor of vaccine misinformation. </p>
<p>The festival is one of Australia’s largest and most popular festivals with approximately 130,000 people attending every year. Held over six days and six nights, the programme includes bands, street performers and speakers covering a range of styles and topics. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6358/original/k246mmjm-1323748001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6358/original/k246mmjm-1323748001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6358/original/k246mmjm-1323748001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6358/original/k246mmjm-1323748001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6358/original/k246mmjm-1323748001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6358/original/k246mmjm-1323748001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6358/original/k246mmjm-1323748001.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1199&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Meryl Dorey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">luckylosing.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The AVN is a self-declared vaccine safety watchdog and list among its goals, to “empower people everywhere to make informed health choices for their families and themselves”. Yet, if you know any of the history of AVN, you might be sceptical about this claim. </p>
<h2>Dubious dealings</h2>
<p>In 2009, a <a href="http://www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/Publications/Media-Releases/PUBLIC-WARNING-/default.aspx">public warning was issued about AVN’s website</a>, following a 12-month investigation by the <a href="http://www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/">NSW Health Care Complaints Commission</a>. Despite assertions from the AVN that it is “pro-choice”, the commission concluded that its website “provides information that is solely anti-vaccination, … is incorrect and misleading.” </p>
<p>The Commission also found evidence that the AVN cherry-picks reliable and peer-reviewed research, quoting selectively and often contradicting the conclusions or findings of the studies themselves. </p>
<p>In response to this accusation, Meryl Dorey asserted that her assessment of scientific data was better than that of the authors – “We actually read the studies and frequently, the summary and conclusion does not agree with the raw data itself.”</p>
<p>She went on to suggest that this was due to some kind of conspiracy – “that disconnect can be explained by the financial links between the study’s researchers and the companies whose products are being studied” and therefore her interpretation was “not selective reporting - it is accurate reporting.”</p>
<p>This is curious considering Dorey has no scientific or medical qualifications, and in response to a query on the topic, declared, “I am not a doctor, but I have a brain.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K3hO7nFrgoU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Harassment</h2>
<p>Although she claims to have studied vaccination for over 20 years, Dorey gets some things fundamentally wrong. Australia has been in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/clear-and-present-danger-how-best-to-fight-the-latest-whooping-cough-outbreak-3134">grip of a whooping cough epidemic</a> for several years now, and since 2008, seven babies have lost their lives. But discussing whooping cough on national television in 2009, Dorey said, “You didn’t die from it 30 years ago and you’re not going to die from it now.”</p>
<p>The AVN also repeatedly misrepresent statistics for whooping cough to make it appear that the current epidemic is solely a result of vaccine failure. This was the subject of a complaint <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/contact/upheld/s2739849.htm">upheld</a> by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 2009. </p>
<p>What’s more, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2010/s2951651.htm">AVN has been accused of harassing the parents of a baby who died</a> from whooping cough and going so far as calling a director of public health at the North Coast Area Health Service demanding to know the details of the child’s death. Dr Corben described how “Ms Dorey called me on 12 March seeking details of your daughter’s illness and death. Ms Dorey contended that I had misled the public in attributing your daughter’s death to pertussis (whooping cough).”</p>
<h2>Flogging a dead horse</h2>
<p>According to the Woodford Festival program details Dorey will be sitting in a panel and giving a lecture about autism, where she will “explain more about the causes of this epidemic so you can help prevent your children from being affected”. </p>
<p>It seems likely Dorey will assert a role for vaccines in autism, despite the fact that this link has been <a href="http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/Vaccines/MMRDen.html">well and truly debunked</a> both in the <a href="http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Adverse-Effects-of-Vaccines-Evidence-and-Causality.aspx">lab</a> and the <a href="http://www.skeptics.com.au/latest/announcements/special-court-rules-that-vaccines-are-not-linked-to-autism/">courts</a> and the paper that sparked the debate has been <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673697110960/fulltext">struck from the scientific record.</a></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6355/original/smy2r8p5-1323746813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/6355/original/smy2r8p5-1323746813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6355/original/smy2r8p5-1323746813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6355/original/smy2r8p5-1323746813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6355/original/smy2r8p5-1323746813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6355/original/smy2r8p5-1323746813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/6355/original/smy2r8p5-1323746813.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=962&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Disgraced researcher Andrew Wakefield.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The lead author of that paper, Andrew Wakefield, claimed there was a link between the MMR vaccine and a gastrointestinal disorder in autistic children, warning parents against using the triple jab. But what he neglected to mention was that he was being <a href="http://briandeer.com/mmr/st-dec-2006.htm">paid</a> more than $A676,658 by lawyers building a case for vaccine damage, and he had a <a href="http://briandeer.com/wakefield/vaccine-patent.htm">patent</a> for a single measles vaccine, all of which stood to make him an nice swag of cash. </p>
<p>In 2010, Wakefield was <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/24/mmr-doctor-andrew-wakefield-struck-off">struck from the medical register</a> for unethical and dishonest behaviour and “for showing callous disregard for children’s suffering” and in 2011 he was accused of elaborate fraud by the <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c7452">British Medical Journal</a>. Despite these serious ethical breaches, Dorey <a href="http://www.northernstar.com.au/story/2011/01/08/dorey-backs-fraud-medico-andrew-wakefield/">continues to support him</a>. </p>
<h2>Highly inappropriate</h2>
<p>But you won’t find any of this information on the website of the Woodford Folk Festival even though several people have already written to the organisers to express their concern about the omission. Indeed, it appears that the AVN’s message contradicts that of <a href="http://woodfordfolkfestival.woodfordia.com/index.php?id=112">several festival sponsors</a> including the Queensland Government and the Moreton Bay Council. The latter actually provides <a href="http://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/living.aspx?id=738">several free immunisation clinics</a>. </p>
<p>The trouble with the AVN is that it’s not completely transparent about its agenda. The AVN insists it is pro-choice, but offers information which is anything but balanced. In some cases, it’s misleading, and in others, outright incorrect. </p>
<p>At a time when vaccine preventable diseases are on the <a href="http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2011/03/21/300795_gold-coast-news.html">rise</a>, it’s irresponsible and dangerous of the Woodford Folk Festival to be supporting such misinformation. The AVN poses a threat to public health and the public has a right to be know about its agenda, so – like the AVN says – they can make informed health choices. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/4678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Dunlop receives funding from the Heart Research Institute and The Institute for Ethnomedicine, Wyoming. She has previously received funding from the NHMRC.</span></em></p>This year’s bill of speakers at the Woodford Folk Festival features anti-vaccine lobbyist Meryl Dorey, spokesperson for the Northern New South Wales-based Australian Vaccination Network (AVN), and purveyor…Rachael Dunlop, Post-doctoral fellow, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.