#1484: Tara Cook-Littman

Tara Cook-Littman was a Democratic candidate for the Connecticut legislature in District 134, a career she embarked upon after having made a name for herself as an ardent promoter of denialism and anti-science. Indeed, Cook-Littman is a self-described “holistic health counselor”, and her zealous disregard for science, evidence or reality has been on ample display in her campaigns against genetically modified foods and for laws addressing the labeling of GMO foods.

Even more objectionably, Cook-Littman featured in the film “Bought”, a piece of shrill propaganda trying to argue, against all medical evidence, that vaccines are dangerous and lead to autism and that – once again without a shred of evidence and clearly as a feeble attempt to avoid having to engage with the actual science by appealing to conspiracy – that the pharmaceutical industry has “bought off” the government to make money selling vaccines. The film also discusses GMOs, suggesting – once again blatantly contradicting numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies to the contrary – that they, too, are dangerous, and that – but of course – the relatively small biotech industry has bought the government regulators.

Diagnosis: No, anti-science is not the exclusive domain of wingnuts; indeed, Cook-Littman’s attempts to support advicing adults not to vaccinate their children is arguably more dangerous and insane than what all but a very few wingnuts could come up with. A horrible person and a real threat to civilization.