A professor at Queen’s University is under fire from students who allege she teaches anti-vaccination information as fact in her classes, according to the student government.

In HLTH 102, Physical Determinants of Health, Melody Torcolacci teaches information about vaccines and health that has been widely refuted by medical experts but is presented as truth, students told the student government’s academic affairs commissioner.

“It’s clear to say the students are very, very upset,” said Colin Zarzour, the Alma Mater Society’s academic affairs commissioner.

Zarzour was alerted to the material on Tuesday, when he was approached by a residence don whose students were concerned about the material being taught in their class.

Since then, Zarzour has spoken with former and current students who also said the anti-vaccine material is taught in the class, he said.

The class is offered through the university’s department of kinesiology and health studies.

Zarzour said he spoke with the head of the university’s of kinesiology and health studies department on Tuesday. He was told they were aware of the issue and would have a “conversation” with Torcolacci, a continuing adjunct professor.

Torcolacci did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Star.

The course description states, “HLTH 102 looks at some of the many physical determinants of health beyond the obvious factors of physical activity, nutrition, and stress management.” The course summary says “vaccines and health” will be covered in the class.

Lecture slides sent to the Star and posted online, which appear to be from the class, ask the question, “Vaccines – Good or Bad?”

“No scientific evidence exists showing vaccines are NOT contributing to increased incidents of chronic illness and disability in children,” reads one slide.

Queen’s University Principal Daniel Woolf sent out two tweets responding to the controversy Wednesday.

“I am aware of the situation regarding HLTH 102 and have asked the provost to work with Arts and Science to gather more information,” he tweeted, which was followed up with, “Re: HLTH 102: I encourage people to be respectful and patient, and to reserve judgment until the facts are known.”

University Provost Alan Harrison told the Star he was aware of the flurry of social media attention on the issue – tweets on the issue were tagged with #antivaxprof – but had not received complaints from students.

“We have certain expectations of our faculty members. Those expectations are that the available scientific evidence will be presented objectively, comprehensively, and that if the individual doing the presentation had biases, those biases should be declared,” said Harrison.

Harrison said he was looking into the issues regarding Torcolacci but did not yet have a full picture of the issue. He said he had not yet spoken with Torcolacci as of Wednesday afternoon.

Harrison said Queen’s does not have a position on being “for or against” vaccines.

“We want our students to think for themselves. Sometimes in order to do that, there may be some provocative material but it’s the context in which that’s presented that is critical,” he said.

One former Queen’s student said she dropped the course after a few classes out of frustration.

“I really wanted to jump up and scream and say… what are you doing?” said Sarah Pekeles, 24. “You can’t just present something in such a biased way.”

Pekeles said she took issue with Torcolacci’s “skewed” presentation of controversial health information as fact or without proper context.

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“When I was there, there was a line saying, ‘Vaccines contain detergent,” which is true. But it’s not like vaccines contain Sunlight soap,” she said. “It was kind of clear that there was an agenda there.”

Pekeles said Torcolacci once told the class, “I’m not anti-vaccine. I just want to show you the other side.”

However, one student wrote to the Star to defend Torcolacci’s teachings.

“Professor Torcolacci is an excellent (professor) who has not once imposed her own views or any bias on us,” wrote current HLTH 102 student Mike Silcock in an email. “Anyone with half a brain who is enrolled will understand that she is simply providing students with well-rounded information and it is up (to) the students to make a decision about said information.”

In class, anti-vaccine information was clearly defined as the “alternative view” and was presented along with the pro-vaccine “mainstream view,” said Silcock.

The news comes as Toronto experiences an outbreak of measles — with four cases confirmed and more expected.

Isabelle Duchaine, a former student and former student government academic affairs commissioner, said she received complaints from three students in the 2012/2013 school year about anti-vaccine material in Torcolacci’s classes.

She said she didn’t follow up on the issue but directed the students to speak to their department head — a decision she now regrets.

Duchaine said a current student in the class recently sent her the class slides. She called the material “pseudoscience.”

“It is a question about academic quality but it goes into other issues of public health as well,” she said.

Dr. Shelley Deeks, medical director with immunization and vaccine preventable disease for Public Health Ontario said if misinformation is being spread it is “absolutely concerning.”

Medical experts widely decry anti-vaccine proponents who spread information that has been medically proven to be untrue. Notably, celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey have publicly said they believe vaccines are linked to autism.

The medical journal that once published a report purporting to link vaccines with autism has since retracted the piece. The author of the report, Andrew Wakefield, has since been stripped of his medical licence.

Zarzour said he wants to see the course content undergo academic review.

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