[Bobboau]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31864218

  schadenfreude

[Aesaar]

The reward was later claimed by German doctor David Barden, who gathered evidence from various medical studies. Mr Lanka dismissed the findings.

Of course he did.  This is why you can't argue with anti-vaxxers.  No amount of evidence is sufficient because their opinions aren't based on facts.

[Dragon]

Well, that, and €100,000 isn't exactly a small sum. I'd deny it too if I found I had to fork over what amounts to almost half a million in my currency (though I'm usually smart enough not to wager half a million on anything, regardless of how unlikely it is).

As for anti-vaxxers, I think they should all be put together in a closed ghetto. That way, they'd both be safer from diseases and not spread them. Oh, and health insurance should cost more for them if it doesn't already (since they have a higher risk of getting sick).

[Lorric]

Is this guy actually an anti-vaxxer though? It doesn't say anything about him being one, and he only selected a single condition out of the myriad of conditions you get vaccines for. And his thoughts were that measles is caused by something else rather than a virus.

[Bobboau]

if you google his name, you'll find many references to him being anti-vax. clearly he is a germ theory denier, and if you have no germs what is a vaccine supposed to do?

[Lorric]

if you google his name, you'll find many references to him being anti-vax. clearly he is a germ theory denier, and if you have no germs what is a vaccine supposed to do?

I've had a look, not an exhaustive search, but all I see is people claiming that he is like you. I'd want to see a quote at least from him going against vaccines.

If you didn't believe germs caused disease, then you also wouldn't believe a vaccine could cause harm, right? I don't like putting labels on people without proof is all. I saw something about him having a stance on HIV too. Another virus, but no vaccine for that yet.

[Bobboau]

his particular line seems to be that the Evil Science Industrial Complex is using common psychosomatic effects as a way for pushing cures for diseases that don't exsist.
for instance: http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/hiv/hkslahprotease.htm

unfortunately he speaks german and this story is eclipsing everything else he has ever said so at the moment it's rather hard to get a lot of good quotes from him directly.

[Lorric]

I tried a search on anti-vaccine to block out anything from 2014 onwards. There's a few hits and I've done some skimming, but I don't see anything pointing to him himself being an anti-vaxxer. His name pops up in a few places where the subject comes up, but I don't think he looks like being anti-vaccine. Have a look if you want:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?num=30&hl=en&tbs=cdr:1,cd_max:2013&q=Stefan+Lanka+anti-vaccine&spell=1&sa=X&ei=15kEVdojis5o1sKC4A8&ved=0CBoQvwUoAA&biw=1024&bih=653

I think it looks like people are just assuming that's what he is.

[Dragon]

Maybe try searching in German (or asking someone who speaks the language to do it for you)? It's likely that before this incident, he was all but unknown everywhere else. If he does his preaching in his native language (likely the case), then hardly anyone outside Germany, Austria and (maybe) Switzerland would've heard of this. I know that The_E is from Germany, there are likely many other HLPers from there.

[The E]

No, Lorric. This Guy is a complete nutcase. He is part of a group that once convinced South Africa to not use antivirals to combat aids. He has published books in which he describes germ theory as a hoax. He is a quack, a fraud, a dangerous individual.

We are not assuming he's an antivax moron. We know he is, because he told the public often enough. His article on the German wiki goes into more detail.

He is a proponent of new germanic medicine, which you can read about here here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryke_Geerd_Hamer and which should tell you everything you need to know about his scientific credibility.

[Lorric]

We are not assuming he's an antivax moron. We know he is, because he told the public often enough.

It should be a simple matter for you to produce an instance of this then. I'd like to see.

I'm not doubting his lack of credibility.

[Scotty]

You sure sound like you are.  You may want to take stock of what exactly you're implying, Lorric.

[Lorric]

Is that so...

I'm not doubting his lack of credibility.

No, I think that's definitely pretty clear.

[The E]

https://www.psiram.com/ge/index.php/Stefan_Lanka for background info in German. Or, as already pointed out, his entry at the big wiki https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Lanka

Here's an article he wrote about viruses and them not existing: http://www.wissenschafftplus.de/uploads/article/Wissenschafftplus_02_15_Virus_vor_Gericht.pdf

Please note that all of the above is in German and references German source material.

[Lorric]

I was hoping to get a quote from him to show it from his own mouth, to see it in his own words. But as far as simply showing he is anti-vaccine this seems quite sufficient. There's this for instance, of course I'll have seen it after google-translate goes over it:

http://www.sz-online.de/sachsen/impfgegner-muss-4800-euro-strafe-zahlen-2054816.html

Unfortunately I can't translate the pdf into English. Thank you.

[Scotty]

Is that so...

I'm not doubting his lack of credibility.

No, I think that's definitely pretty clear.

I'm not doubting your sincerity, I just want to see proof of it first.

[Lorric]

Why?

[Scotty]

Because that's what you just said to The_E not ten posts ago.

[Lorric]

What's your point?

[Scotty]

My point is that it was unbelievably rude.  I'd hoped you could understand the little bit of nuance I was putting into the suggestion that you consider what you were saying.