What Happens When you Try to Argue with an Anti-Vaxxer

Over the past few days, I've been noticing a ton of pseudoscience or anti-science posts in the "health" and "science" tags. Tonight I came upon this gem.

Let us see what this man has to say.

Now it is true that very small amounts of aluminum (<1 mg) are present in many vaccines as various aluminum salts to help improve the immune response, however, the average adult ingests around  7-9 mg of aluminum each day through their diet. While most of this ingested aluminum never the bloodstream(only <1% does), it certainly contributes more to the total amount present in the body than vaccines over time. Secondly the majority of aluminum that enters the bloodstream is eliminated by the kidney, generally 1/2  in <24 hours and >3/4 over the next few weeks. 

But what about the remaining aluminum? 

The majority of remaining aluminum is then primarily found in the bones and lungs; only about 1% of this aluminum accumulates in the brain.

Still worried? Don't be, our friend @tomm claims to have found the cure!

That's right friends, mineral water will fix all your problems. 

Now, as I begin to respond to tomm, the rabbit hole goes a bit deeper

Now this is the only time tomm actually responds to the information about aluminum in vaccines. 

Notice I'm also going into a bit of bad science territory myself as I didn't fully explain that there is some difference between the amount of aluminum ingested and that which is then absorbed into the bloodstream. I attempt to clarify it another post, but honestly it's still a bit oversimplified for my tastes.  My bad.

tomm also begins discussing how he believes vaccines lead to a diminished immune system despite this having been disproved so many times. 

Now tomm will try to show just how correct he is by appealing to his authority in the "business of health."

ORLY?

Also notice the capitalized letters, I take this to mean that our friend tomm is getting a bit angry.

Now I wasn't happy with his response, after all, the "business of health" is a bit general (And I don't mean general practice)

Finally, something in this post that is actually believable. 

But still this is also a bit general, so I pressed further.

I may have poked the bear a bit too much.

Time to call this snakeoil salesman out for what he is; a fraud.

AND MUTED

Although I have to say thank you tomm for believing that I am qualified for a career as a pharma rep.

Now for all of you who have bothered to make it this far, you might wonder why I posted some silly man going on and on about the evil vaccines. As we all know the internet is full of them.

I posted this little story because anti-vaxxers and by extension many anti-science people seem to have infected steemit with their easily preventable diseases. I believe that as a community we need to take action against these people to prevent them from further fill the "health" and "science" tags with garbage and ridiculous posts. By allowing them to continue, it reflects poorly on the developing scientific community here on steemit and dissuades rational people from joining in a well thought out discussion.

Take action by flagging these wackos, hurt their payouts and they will quickly disperse. 

Thank you for your time.