Skip to content
  • Home Home Home, current page.
  • Moments Moments Moments, current page.

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Language: English
    • Bahasa Indonesia
    • Bahasa Melayu
    • Català
    • Čeština
    • Dansk
    • Deutsch
    • English UK
    • Español
    • Filipino
    • Français
    • Hrvatski
    • Italiano
    • Magyar
    • Nederlands
    • Norsk
    • Polski
    • Português
    • Română
    • Slovenčina
    • Suomi
    • Svenska
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Türkçe
    • Ελληνικά
    • Български език
    • Русский
    • Српски
    • Українська мова
    • עִבְרִית
    • العربية
    • فارسی
    • मराठी
    • हिन्दी
    • বাংলা
    • ગુજરાતી
    • தமிழ்
    • ಕನ್ನಡ
    • ภาษาไทย
    • 한국어
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文
  • Have an account? Log in
    Have an account?
    · Forgot password?

    New to Twitter?
    Sign up
gorskon's profile
David Gorski, MD, PhD
David Gorski, MD, PhD
David Gorski, MD, PhD
Verified account
@gorskon

Tweets

David Gorski, MD, PhDVerified account

@gorskon

Surgeon/scientist promoting science in medicine and exposing quackery. Editor of Science-Based Medicine. My opinions do NOT represent those of my employers.

Michigan, USA
sciencebasedmedicine.org
Joined October 2009

Tweets

  • © 2021 Twitter
  • About
  • Help Center
  • Terms
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies
  • Ads info
Dismiss
Previous
Next

Go to a person's profile

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @

Promote this Tweet

Block

  • Tweet with a location

    You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

    Your lists

    Create a new list


    Under 100 characters, optional

    Privacy

    Copy link to Tweet

    Embed this Tweet

    Embed this Video

    Add this Tweet to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Add this video to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Hmm, there was a problem reaching the server.

    By embedding Twitter content in your website or app, you are agreeing to the Twitter Developer Agreement and Developer Policy.

    Preview

    Why you're seeing this ad

    Log in to Twitter

    · Forgot password?
    Don't have an account? Sign up »

    Sign up for Twitter

    Not on Twitter? Sign up, tune into the things you care about, and get updates as they happen.

    Sign up
    Have an account? Log in »

    Two-way (sending and receiving) short codes:

    Country Code For customers of
    United States 40404 (any)
    Canada 21212 (any)
    United Kingdom 86444 Vodafone, Orange, 3, O2
    Brazil 40404 Nextel, TIM
    Haiti 40404 Digicel, Voila
    Ireland 51210 Vodafone, O2
    India 53000 Bharti Airtel, Videocon, Reliance
    Indonesia 89887 AXIS, 3, Telkomsel, Indosat, XL Axiata
    Italy 4880804 Wind
    3424486444 Vodafone
    » See SMS short codes for other countries

    Confirmation

     

    Welcome home!

    This timeline is where you’ll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

    Tweets not working for you?

    Hover over the profile pic and click the Following button to unfollow any account.

    Say a lot with a little

    When you see a Tweet you love, tap the heart — it lets the person who wrote it know you shared the love.

    Spread the word

    The fastest way to share someone else’s Tweet with your followers is with a Retweet. Tap the icon to send it instantly.

    Join the conversation

    Add your thoughts about any Tweet with a Reply. Find a topic you’re passionate about, and jump right in.

    Learn the latest

    Get instant insight into what people are talking about now.

    Get more of what you love

    Follow more accounts to get instant updates about topics you care about.

    Find what's happening

    See the latest conversations about any topic instantly.

    Never miss a Moment

    Catch up instantly on the best stories happening as they unfold.

    1. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      Basically, germ theory denialists take "terrain theory," which claims that it is the "terrain," not the microbes, that makes one ill and was a competing theory contemporaneous with Pasteur, and claim that it is a better explanation for infectious disease than Pasteur's.

      1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
    2. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      The main scientist promoting terrain theory was Antoine Béchamps, a respected scientist at the time, and in fairness at the time the idea that microbes arose from diseased tissue rather than causing the disease was not entirely unreasonable based on 19th century science.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    3. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      The problem, of course, is that Pasteur's theory was supported by evidence and had far more explanatory power than Béchamps' theory did. That's why it won out.

      2 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
    4. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      There's an interesting similarity between creationists and germ theory deniers. Both like to point to the flaws in Darwin's theory or Pasteur's germ theory in order to justify their rejection of the theories and preference for "alternate" theories.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    5. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      Basically, both creationists and germ theory deniers like to focus on Darwin and Pasteur, as if evolutionary theory and germ theory, respectively, had been frozen in amber sometime in the late 1800s and hadn't advanced enormously since then.

      1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
    6. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      Then, of course, there are the deathbed "recantations." Both creationists and germ theory deniers have spread stories of "death bed" conversions or recantations. Darwin, it was claimed by Elizabeth Cotton in 1915 (30 years after his death), had "recanted" on his deathbed.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    7. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      Similarly, it was claimed that Louis Pasteur's last words were, "“Bernard avait raison. Le germe n’est rien, c’est le terrain qui est tout.” ("Bernard is correct. The germ is nothing. The soil is everything.")

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    8. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      Claude Bernard was another scientist who, like Béchamps, believed in "terrain theory." He had described the milieu intérieur, the interstitial fluids regarded as an internal environment in which the cells of the body are nourished and maintained in a state of equilibrium.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    9. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      Of course, as I described, there is no evidence whatsoever that Pasteur said any such thing on his deathbed.https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/germ-theory-denial-in-the-age-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/ …

      1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
    10. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica @BethMarieMole

      Australian skeptic @RatbagsDotCom wrote about the lie of Pasteur's "deathbed conversion" back in 2004. https://peterbowditch.com/comment/skeptic0409_pasteur.htm …

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
      Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica and

      Anyway, germ theory denial is nothing new. It's always been part and parcel of antivaccine beliefs. Think of it this way. If microbes don't cause disease by themselves, then vaccines are not necessary. So of course antivaxxers love germ theory denial.

      6:18 AM - 7 Aug 2021
      • 2 Likes
      • Rachel Manija Brown Dogger
      1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
          Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica and

          Among alternative medicine practitioners and believers, if the "terrain" is all and the germs are only a manifestation of a bad "terrain" or can only cause disease in a favorable terrain, then you can make yourself immune to disease if only you "fix" your "terrain."

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. David Gorski, MD, PhD‏Verified account @gorskon Aug 7
          Replying to @gorskon @arstechnica and

          According to alternative medicine, fixing your terrain, of course, eating the correct diet, taking the correct supplements, doing the correct things. If you do those things, according to this view, you will be virtually immune to infectious disease because of your "terrain."

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        4. Show replies

      Loading seems to be taking a while.

      Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.

        Promoted Tweet

        false

        • © 2021 Twitter
        • About
        • Help Center
        • Terms
        • Privacy policy
        • Cookies
        • Ads info