Germany court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros

This is awesome. A charlatan is actually being held to account by a court of law:



Germany court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros

Quote:

A German biologist who offered €100,000 (£71,350; $106,300) to anyone who could prove that measles is a virus has been ordered by a court to pay up. Stefan Lanka, who believes the illness is psychosomatic, made the pledge four years ago on his website. The reward was later claimed by German doctor David Barden, who gathered evidence from various medical studies. Mr Lanka dismissed the findings. But the court in the town of Ravensburg ruled that the proof was sufficient. Reacting to the verdict by the court in the southern town, Mr Lanka said he would appeal. "It is a psychosomatic illness," he told regional paper Suedkurier. "People become ill after traumatic separations." A recent outbreak of measles in Germany has sparked a debate about whether vaccinations against the disease should be compulsory. An 18-month-old boy in Berlin died last month of the disease.

Amazing how anyone could think that. He must be a "true believer" impervious to all evidence. If psychosomatic, how does a vaccine prevent it? (And we know that they do because the prevalence of measles changed dramatically once a vaccine was introduced). That alone seems like sufficient proof to me, but I'm sure this doctor was able to amass much more evidence than just that.



No one forced him to make the pledge, but if does, he should live up to it.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1NUu3C7