Facebook recently announced that it was finally cracking down on anti-vax pages and content, which was music to the ears of every sane person on this green(ish) earth.
But it appears celebrity chef Pete Evans didn’t get the memo from the social media giant because ol’ mate is the latest to jump on the anti-vax bandwagon.
The My Kitchen Rules judge recently endorsed an anti-vax podcast from self-proclaimed “expert” in “corrective kinesiology” Paul Chek, sharing the link to his 1.5 million Facebook followers and calling it “one of the most important podcasts to listen to.”
Oh boy…
Just to put Evans’ latest hot fad into perspective, he is a bloke who believes that staring into the sun is good for you and sunscreen is nothing but a myth devised by corporations to make moolah.
Needless to say that Evans’ ringing endorsement of Chek’s anti-vax podcast drew quite a response from actual doctors.
Australian Medical Association president, Doctor Tony Bartone issued out a statement (via The Sydney Morning Herald) in response, saying that Evans’ anti-vaxxer views and “his misinformation about vaccination is a recipe for disaster”.
Just to really hammer home his point, Bartone also managed to slip a subtle third-degree burn into his statement, telling Evans to stick to cooking and “keep quiet about matters he has no skills, experience or expertise in.”
The evidence is clear and indisputable – vaccination is a remarkable public health success. Celebrity chefs should stick to cooking, not spreading unproven medical advice #VaccinesWork #VaccinesSaveLives https://t.co/H2BhtFup4X
— AMA Media (@ama_media) March 14, 2019
This whole anti-vaxxer thing is the latest in a growing list of controversial health beliefs from Evans over the last few years. Just to recap, he’s:
- Co-authored a cookbook in 2015 that drew concerns for being harmful and potentially fatal for babies
- Claimed in a 2017 Netflix documentary that a ketogenic diet could alleviate asthma and autism
- Endorsed a brand of alkaline water that falsely claimed to increase bone density
- And of course the staring into the sun thing.
Evans has yet to respond to Bartone’s on-point statement at the time of writing.