The Poisoning of School Girls in Iran
Across different cities in Iran, school girls have been falling ill with disturbing symptoms, some ending up in ICU for weeks. Iranian officials have stated that the poisoning of school girls was deliberate and intentional, and the link to toxins has been confirmed. #SaveIranianSchoolgirls
Athena Akrami
Neuroscientist at The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, UCL, in London. Leading the "Learning, Inference & Memory" laboratory. Accidental advocate of #longcovid
-
Hey world, have u heard of >1000 school girls in Iran who've been poisoned in the past 3m? #bbc in this 'impartial' report talked to a known figure for his controversial views in the #MECFS community, to suggest it's mass hysteria#SaveIranianSchoolgirls
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023
https://t.co/fAa5uXoFov -
Across different cities, school girls have been falling ill w/ disturbing symptoms, some ending up in ICU for weeks.
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023
Some Iranian officials have already stated that the poisoning of school girls was deliberate & intentional. The link to toxins has been confirmed too.
2/ -
But then #bbc decides to bring clarity (read muddy the waters), by choosing to interview a controversial figure, Simon Wessley, who's famous for favouring psychological explanations for many conditions like #MECFS, Gulf war synd, #LongCovid#poisoning_of_student_girls_in_iran
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023
3/ -
You literally cannot find a more controversial figure than Wessley, when it comes to attaching causes to illnesses. If a journalist reaches out to Wessley, that means they know what they're looking for. It's not an impartial view, it's imposing a very biased view.
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023
4/ -
From the article:
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023
'Wessley said several "key epidemiological factors" led him to believe these were not a chain of poisonings, but were instead a case of "mass sociogenic illness" - in which symptoms spread among a group with no obvious biomedical cause.'#IranianSchoolgirls
5/ -
I'm sorry, but wtf do you know? Have you examined anyone? Have you seen medical reports, lab tests of anyone? Have you examined the evidence?
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023
I think this judgment alone tells a lot about his previous views on other conditions too ...
6/ -
To sit in your comfortable psychiatrist/journalist chair, from the heart of London, and so confidently bullshit is just abhorrent.
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023
Here you can read more nuanced reports on #IranianSchoolgirls
7/
1. https://t.co/OtUWm5h7zr
2. https://t.co/55bOsUY0AW
3. https://t.co/LKrZCj3ZBa -
Please excuse all my typos in spelling the name -- it's Wessely.
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023 -
Some more details herehttps://t.co/s4Q1lZbCjw
— Athena Akrami (@AthenaAkrami) March 4, 2023