In October 2007, Dr Robert Sears, in response to growing parental concerns about the safety of vaccines, published The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child. Sears' book is enormously popular, having sold >40000 copies. At the back of the book, Sears includes "Dr Bob's Alternative Vaccine Schedule," a formula by which parents can delay, withhold, separate, or space out vaccines...

Exactly eighty years ago the founder of a struggling manufacturing company approached executives at the prominent mail order specialist Sears, Roebuck to demonstrate an electric washing machine. Despite the number of electrics marketed since the first Thor appeared in 1908, Sears sold primarily hand-powered machines. Now Louis C. "Lou" Upton sought to list his product. Just hirty years of age, ...