Latest news with #SuzanneHumphries
Glasgow Times
07-07-2025
- Glasgow Times
Trossachs Explorer bus returns for summer 2025 season
The Trossachs Explorer, operated by Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, officially began on Monday, July 7, and will run until October 5. To mark the occasion, members of the National Authority team joined drivers from McColl's, the company operating the service, to exchange knowledge on the route. Trossachs Explorer driver Colin MacDonald and National Park Authority Ranger Team Leader Suzanne Humphries (Image: Supplied) This move aims to ensure passengers have the best experience and learn more about the national park landscape during their journey. The service features two low-emission, modern buses running daily between Drymen and Callander. Read more: Glasgow children invited to write poem about classic British vegetable They stop at popular visitor spots including Aberfoyle, The Lodge, Ben Venue, Loch Katrine, Ben A'an, Brig o' Turk, and Kilmahog for Ben Ledi. Gordon Watson, chief executive at Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, said: "Following the success of last years' service, we're delighted to welcome the Trossachs Explorer back on the road this summer - helping visitors and residents to build deeper connections with nature, while doing their part to reduce emissions and protect our National Park for future generations. Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park join McColls bus drivers for Trossachs Explorer launch in Drymen (Image: Supplied) "The expanded service helps us directly tackle the challenge that 79% of visitors to the National Park arrive by car, while also opening up opportunities for young people, families without cars, and staff working in local businesses who need reliable transport options. "Services like this prove that rural areas can lead the way in demonstrating multiple benefits to visitors, residents and local businesses.' The service also offers improved connectivity with coordinated timetables linking existing bus services to and from Killin, Stirling, Glasgow, Alexandria, and Balloch, as well as Loch Katrine sailing times. All-day tickets cost £6 for adults, £3.50 for children, and £5.65 for students. Group or family tickets are £16 for up to five people. A seven-journey saver ticket is available for £25. Under 22s and over 60s travel free with a National Entitlement Card. Cllr Jen Preston, convener of Stirling Council's Environment, Transport and Net Zero Committee said: 'There's a clear appetite for sustainable and well-connected public transport options in rural Stirling, and in particular to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, which this service responds to." Liam McColl, director of McColl's, said: 'This is a real opportunity to show what rural public transport can achieve when it's planned around local needs, environmental priorities and visitor access. 'Our team has worked closely with the National Park Authority to design a timetable that provides reliable, accessible connections - not just for visitors, but for local people too.' This summer, the service will trial further enhancements and route expansions as part of ongoing efforts to provide sustainable travel options, reduce congestion, ease parking pressures, and help people connect with and protect the national park's environment.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
False claims about mercury in vaccines aired on Joe Rogan's podcast
"If you were to drop a vaccine at a vaccine clinic onto the floor, the hazmat guys will come, and you're not allowed to just pick it up if it's a mercury-containing vaccine. The hazmat people have to come and take that away. Yet we're okay to set a portion of that vial and inject it into, you know, a child," claims Suzanne Humphries, a nephrologist AFP has previously fact-checked for spreading health misinformation, in a video posted to Instagram April 23, 2025. The clip, which also circulated on Facebook, comes from a March 26 episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" in which Rogan promoted Humphries's debunked 2013 book "Dissolving Illusions" (archived here). The YouTube video of the interview received more than 2.2 million views. Vaccine ingredients are regularly targeted by activists who claim, without evidence, that they are dangerous or linked to neurological disorders such as autism. Humphries's statement about mercury is also false. "It is absolutely made up that there is any danger with a spill from a vaccine," said pediatrician Michelle Fiscus, the chief medical officer at the Association of Immunization Managers (archived here). "Typically what you do is clean it up with a piece of paper towel." The safety data sheet from GlaxoSmithKline, the British manufacturer of the influenza vaccine that includes thimerosal to prevent bacterial and fungal contamination, says those handling the product can wipe small spills with an absorbent material (archived here). Humphries further misleads by claiming that a mercury containing vaccine would be given to a child. The US Food and Drug Administration says all the shots recommended for children under the age of six are available in formulations that exclude the ingredient (archived here). Mercury is a neurotoxin and can be harmful after it reaches a certain level in the body (archived here). There are different types of mercury, however, and thimerosal is a form called ethylmercury (archived here). Ethylmercury "is very easily broken down by the body," Fiscus said. Health officials are concerned with poisoning from another form, methylmercury -- though almost all people have some level of exposure, typically from eating fish. (archived here). The World Health Organization's Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has studied mercury as a preservative and consistently reached the same conclusion: "There is no evidence to suggest that the amount of thiomersal (thimerosal) used in vaccines poses a health risk" (archived here). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other global health authorities approve its use as safe (archived here and here). The CDC says the most common side effect of thimerosal is "redness and swelling at the injection site" (archived here). As with any ingredient in a medical product, in rare cases the recipient may have a serious allergic reaction (archived here). Despite the ingredient's approved use, thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines in the United States in 2001 (archived here). This was in part to reduce the exposure levels of premature infants with low birth weights and benefit babies and young children in places where total exposure to mercury from environmental sources is more difficult to eliminate (archived here). Since then, studies have found that immunization with thimerosal-containing vaccines during infancy does not decrease neuropsychological performance later in childhood (archived here and here). Additionally, a review of studies found "no association between thimerosal exposure and autism" (archived here). More of AFP's reporting on vaccine misinformation is available here.
AFP
09-05-2025
- Health
- AFP
False claims about mercury in vaccines aired on Joe Rogan's podcast
"If you were to drop a vaccine at a vaccine clinic onto the floor, the hazmat guys will come, and you're not allowed to just pick it up if it's a mercury-containing vaccine. The hazmat people have to come and take that away. Yet we're okay to set a portion of that vial and inject it into, you know, a child," claims Suzanne Humphries, a nephrologist AFP has previously fact-checked for spreading health misinformation, in a video posted to Instagram April 23, 2025. The clip, which also circulated on Facebook, comes from a March 26 episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" in which Rogan promoted Humphries's debunked 2013 book "Dissolving Illusions" (archived here). The YouTube video of the interview received more than 2.2 million views. Image Screenshot of an Instagram post taken May 8, 2025 Vaccine ingredients are regularly targeted by activists who claim, without evidence, that they are dangerous or linked to neurological disorders such as autism. Humphries's statement about mercury is also false. "It is absolutely made up that there is any danger with a spill from a vaccine," said pediatrician Michelle Fiscus, the chief medical officer at the Association of Immunization Managers (archived here). "Typically what you do is clean it up with a piece of paper towel." The safety data sheet from GlaxoSmithKline, the British manufacturer of the influenza vaccine that includes thimerosal to prevent bacterial and fungal contamination, says those handling the product can wipe small spills with an absorbent material (archived here). Different kinds of mercury Humphries further misleads by claiming that a mercury containing vaccine would be given to a child. The US Food and Drug Administration says all the shots recommended for children under the age of six are available in formulations that exclude the ingredient (archived here). Mercury is a neurotoxin and can be harmful after it reaches a certain level in the body (archived here). There are different types of mercury, however, and thimerosal is a form called ethylmercury (archived here). Ethylmercury "is very easily broken down by the body," Fiscus said. Health officials are concerned with poisoning from another form, methylmercury -- though almost all people have some level of exposure, typically from eating fish. (archived here). The World Health Organization's Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has studied mercury as a preservative and consistently reached the same conclusion: "There is no evidence to suggest that the amount of thiomersal (thimerosal) used in vaccines poses a health risk" (archived here). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other global health authorities approve its use as safe (archived here and here). The CDC says the most common side effect of thimerosal is "redness and swelling at the injection site" (archived here). As with any ingredient in a medical product, in rare cases the recipient may have a serious allergic reaction (archived here). Despite the ingredient's approved use, thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines in the United States in 2001 (archived here). This was in part to reduce the exposure levels of premature infants with low birth weights and benefit babies and young children in places where total exposure to mercury from environmental sources is more difficult to eliminate (archived here). Since then, studies have found that immunization with thimerosal-containing vaccines during infancy does not decrease neuropsychological performance later in childhood (archived here and here). Additionally, a review of studies found "no association between thimerosal exposure and autism" (archived here). More of AFP's reporting on vaccine misinformation is available here.
