This week, actress Amanda Peet called parents who don't vaccinate their kids "parasites," and then essentially went on to lie when she announced that scientists have concluded there is "no association between autism and vaccines."
Peet saw fit to blast "the media and journalists" and "a few fringe medical groups and parent advocacy groups" for "presenting vaccine safety as a controversy." She thinks the debate, save for a few dangerous holdouts, is over.
I thought that Ms. Peet (and her ill-advised advisors such as Dr. Paul Offit) might want to see from whence these parasitic, fringey parents and doctors have been getting their cues of late.
Here are just a few recent examples:
July 15, 2008 - A workgroup report of the IACC (the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, which includes HHS, CDC, NIH and others) says that some members want "specific objectives on vaccine research" included in the new, multimillion-dollar national autism research program, as mandated by Congress in the Combatting Autism Act.
Notes from the meeting indicate that workgroup members want federal researchers to consider "shortfalls" in epidemiological studies cited as proof against a vaccine-autism association (by Offit, Peet, et al); as well as a specific plan "for researching vaccines as a potential cause of autism." The workgroup also says that the final research agenda should "state that the issue is open."
July 14, 2008 - Rep. Brad Miller (R-NC), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, (Committe on Science and Technology) writes to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt to complain that current federal autism research "shows a strong preference to fund genetic-based studies," even though there is, "growing evidence that suggests a wide range of conditions or environmental exposures may play a role" in autism. He cites a recent study on vaccines and monkeys, presented as a poster (unreviewed) at the International Society for Autism Research, which, "suggests that research on primates is about to emerge that will provide additional evidence of environmental contributions to ASD."
Rep. Miller specifically cites the case of Hannah Poling as "just one example that is suggestive of very important lines of inquiry," and he recommends some "very suggestive writings along these lines," such as the April 5, 2008 letter from Terry Poling, (Hannah's mother, an attorney and former nurse) to The New York Times titled, "Vaccines, Autism and Our Daughter, Hannah."
Finally, Rep Miller writes that HHS "has lost much of the public's trust," and urges Mr. Leavitt to form a Secretarial-level Autism Advisory Board to provide public feedback, liaise with parents groups, and "assist in reestablishing the public trust" that Ms. Peet herself said was lagging. Miller recommends tapping groups such as Safe Minds, Generation Rescue, Autism Speaks and the Autism Research Institute for their, "experience evaluating research' and an "in-depth knowledge of the current body of ASD research." All four groups support vaccine-autism research, and thus presumably fall within the rubric of what Ms. Peet terms as "fringe."
May 12, 2008 - Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH and the American Red Cross and current Health Editor of US News & World Report tells CBS News that, "Officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational," and says they "don't want to pursue a hypothesis because that hypothesis could be damaging to the public health community at large by scaring people."
But, unlike Amanda Peet, Dr. Healy believes that, "the public's smarter than that. The public values vaccines. But more importantly, I don't think you should ever turn your back on any scientific hypothesis because you're afraid of what it might show."
April 21, 2008 - Presidential Candidate Sen. Barack Obama, speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania, answers a question about autism by saying: "We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it."
April 11, 2008 - The HHS Vaccine Safety Working Group (comprised of the nation's leading vaccine experts) meets to review the CDC's draft research proposal for vaccine safety issues. Among the top vaccine questions that CDC wants answered: "Are neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, clinical outcomes of vaccine injury?" And, "Is immunization associated with increased risk for neurological deterioration in children with mitochondrial dysfunction?"
March 29, 2008 - Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC, speaking about the Hannah Poling case on CNN says: "If a child was immunized, got a fever, had other complications from the vaccines, and was pre-disposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage (including) symptoms that have characteristics of autism." And she adds: "I think we have to have an open mind about this." Meanwhile, the CDC website lists autism studies it currently funds on thimerosal and the MMR vaccine.
March 11, 2008 - The CISA Network (Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment), headed by the CDC, receives a report from top researchers at Johns Hopkins University that 30 typically developing children with mitochondrial dysfunction all regressed into autism between 12 and 24 months of life. At least two of them (6%) showed brain damage within one week of receiving simultaneous multiple vaccinations.
Included in this vaccine safety network is the US health insurance industry - which is now being forced by many states to cover autism treatments, and wants to know what possible role vaccines are playing in the neurodevelopmental health of children. A month later, the CISA network announces it has "formed a working group to study methods related to mitochondrial disorders and immunization."
February 25, 2008 - Presidential Candidate Sen. John McCain says at a rally in Texas that "It's indisputable that (autism) is on the rise amongst children, the question is what's causing it. And we go back and forth and there's strong evidence that indicates that it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines." McCain notes that there's "divided scientific opinion" on the matter, with "many on the other side that are credible scientists that are saying that's not the cause of it."
February 22, 2008 - Medical Personnel at HHS concede an autism case filed by the family of Hannah Poling in the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, before the claim can go to trial as a "test case" of the theory that thimerosal causes autism. Though portrayed by some (ie, Dr. Offit) as a legal decision, it is in fact a medical decision. HHS doctors admit that the "cause" of Hannah's "autistic encephalopathy" was "vaccine-induced fever and immune stimulation that exceeded metabolic reserves," which exacerbated her underlying mitochondrial dysfunction. At 19 months of age, Hannah was given 5 injections containing nine vaccines.
January, 2008 - Presidential Candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, responding to a questionnaire, says that autism is "epidemic," and that she is, "committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines." When asked if she will support an autism study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children, she replies: "Yes. We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out."
So there you have it. Since the beginning of the year, we have heard from:
1) Three United States Senators
2) The next President (and possibly Vice President) of the country
3) The Director of the CDC (and her "open mind")
4) The former head of the NIH and the American Red Cross
5) The Chairman of a House Science Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
6) A respected Pediatric Neurologist and Resident at Johns Hopkins University Medical School (Dr. Jon Poling)
7) The HHS Vaccine Safety Working Group
8) The CDC's Vaccine Safety Research Agenda authors
9) Medical personnel at the HHS Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
10) The Strategic Planning Workgroup of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee
11) The Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network
12) Leading autism researchers at Johns Hopkins University Medical School
13) America's health insurance companies
Virtually all of the above advocate, or have at least considered, exploring the possible links between vaccines and autism.
I am not a parent, and I am not anti-vaccine. But if I were going to listen to experts on this subject, I would be more likely to consult some of these people, rather than a well-meaning but grossly misinformed actress who is guided by a doctor who will likely make money from his own work helping to develop a childhood vaccine.
Ms. Peet apologized for calling parents "parasites," and that's nice. But it is her continued use of the "fringe" label, I believe, that will ultimately come back to bite her the hardest.
The vaccine-autism debate may be over in the firmly closed minds of Peet and Offit, but for serious, rational thinkers such as those listed above, this debate (and the real work that lies ahead) has only just begun.
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Why is the rate of diagnosis not mentioned more often? When my son, 26, was growing up, much less attention was paid to the causes of learning disabiliti
I feel for all of you, and wish all the families well in their learning and healing, but I would encourage a good scientific method of enquiry, being aware that bias can occur on drug company's side, and also support group's.
We can't drop this as parents of vaccine injured children. We can't just let it go. We can't let this happen to any more children.
Alternativ
I'm sorry that your children are ill, but blindly jogging behind Forrest Gump is not going to change the world. It's just going to leave you stranded in the middle of the desert.
If you're sorry about our kids then that's fine. Just remember it's YOUR tax dollars that are going to pay the bulk of their support for the rest of their lives (my son is already enrolled in a private school at tax-payers expense -- the tuition there is higher than most universiti
So, what do we tell our kids? "Oh, I'm just kidding...
To deny what has happened is to deny what we are fighting for EVERY DAY to give our children the best possible life. I refuse to do that. I can not and will not deny what I have seen with my own eyes. I have medical documentat
So, go ahead and stick with the rest of the blind sheeple that jog behind the pHARMa-scu
I understand wanting legislatio
I know that vaccines have their risks, and as I said I fully support measures to make them safer. I think the autism link should be fully investigat
You're addressing people who think vaccines don't work at all. People who only know what they read on a select few internet sites who will tell you that nobody every dies from measles, or that it's better to get a disease "naturally
And, BTW, it is absolutely well documented that you do acquire much greater immunity from getting the disease than getting the vaccines. That's the whole point behind getting booster shots. If some kid throws eggs at your house you might consider getting a light in your front yard. If they break in and trash the place your more likely to get a full blown alarm system... Your body does the same thing.
Finally, a word of advice... Stick to the points and stop attacking people for being who they are. You have considerab
And Ken? How often does a child in the US die of Measles? Say, for the past 20 years.
I know that measles can cause an encepalopa
And why confine the death toll to the US? What, Africans don't count?
And when did I call you an "unreasona
No one here wants fatal diseases rampant in this country or world, but do demand cleaner vaccines, safer ones.
;-)
I never understood why vaccinatio
I would much rather be a parent making decisions for my kids and their health care rather than being told I have to do so. We know our children and their health better than our government
When I was 13 I contracted Whooping Cough, which had been vaccinated for. Further tests showed that I had a genetic predisposi
So I think the reason they don't want non vaccinated kids in school is because if they bring in a disease, they are still able to pass it along to vaccinated kids. The rationaliz
So that is my GUESS as to why schools require vaccinatio
So why is this vaccine useless for herd immunity? The bacteria which causes whooping cough produces a toxin. The vaccine protects against the toxin, sometimes, but not against the bacteria. Therefore, logically, we can all tote the pertussis bacteria hither and yon, sick or not sick and share it at any moment.
The vaccine does have one interestin
Here is a nice little article about the vaccine and the CDC informatio
Ms Peet is perfectly entitled to express her opinion without being vilified. But here is the thing - you don't have to listen to her. She isn't an authority on the subject, and even if she were, nobody is forcing you to do anything.
My argument lies in exactly that, choice. My kids were vaccinated
I think the issue lies in the choice and not the vaccines themselves
My kids were healthy, fat, bouncy babies born on time, if not late. If I had given birth to an underweigh
This is incorrect. In most states, all you need to do is sign an exemption form that you object to the vax. All states except for 2 have religious exemptions
The recent articles about CFLs breaking and releasing a minute amount of mercury vapor supposedly requires a call for a Haz Mat clean up.
Yet injecting mercury into very young children with undevelope
Huh?
Yet injecting mercury into very young children with undevelope
Studies have shown that a significan
Thimerosal still exists in shots. Aluminum is higher in shots as well. Trace amounts are considered more toxic than what should be in drinking water.
ANB: A child could receive Meningococ
Source; thimerosal http://www
Would you be willing to line up for the same vaccines?
Trace amounts of what are considered more toxic than what should be in drinking water? Thimerosal
And to answer your final question, yes, I would. In fact, I received the meningococ
"I am not a parent, and I am not anti-vacci
Oh, you mean Jenny McCarthy?
I rephrase: "who is guided by a doctor who will likely make money from his own chemical castration and manufactur
Are we talking about NIH funding? I don't know how well the general public understand
However, the problem at the moment is that money is tight. Paylines in some institutes are in the single digits. That means that less than 10% of grant proposals actually get funded, despite how good the science may be.
So tell me...how many researcher
If no one is applying for grants to study the vaccine/au
Also, part of the problem has been that those who do these studies often find that they're soon out of a job. The medical establishm
"Also, part of the problem has been that those who do these studies often find that they're soon out of a job. The medical establishm
People aren't typically forced out of jobs for doing good science. Do you have any specific examples of this you'd like to share? Who exactly is "the medical establishm
I did however find a long list of studies that HAVE been done on the link between autism and vaccines. Most of these studies were initiated by doctors who did in fact suspect a link. These peer reviewed, multi disciplina
Furthermor
With any scientific inquiry you want to be as sure as possible, and I would certainly want more reasearch into the matter. There are many studies are still being reviewed that may tell us conflictin
But your claims of conspiracy in the medical establishm
Ms Peet offered no apology, just a slap in the face.
Amanda, sit down and take the time to research. You are selling yourself short by simply reading some articles. Your trust is misplaced.
http://lef
His piece entitled, "David Kirby vs Accuracy" has major errors within the first few paragraphs which I pointed out in his blog comment area (notice he doesn't even get Mark's last name correct):
"I’m sure that some members do want this. Lynn Redwood and Mark Baxhill to be precise. As the upcoming IACC account will show, I don’t think any other IACC workgroup members were interested
Kev:
Right out of the gate and you've got it wrong! Whoever your note taker is I'd suggest you *fire them* since they aren't even providing you with the correct basic informatio
For example, Mark Blaxill is *NOT A MEMBER* of the IACC -- you know, the meeting that took place on Tuesday and the one in which you are writing with such authority about -- and therefore doesn't have a direct say in what the IACC decides. He wasn't even present!!
You're getting the IACC mixed up with their *workgroup
Bottom Line: Might want to do some basic fact checking before you start trying to discredit another writer's story, no?
http://tin
Amanda, sit down and take the time to research. You are selling yourself short by simply reading some articles. Your trust is misplaced.
Peet did offer an apology, which is more than I've ever heard from Jenny Mc for the insults and baseless accusation
And her apology? Wasn't really an apology but more of a way for her to push across her (i.e. the pHARMa-scu
thanks again
Sorry about the sour grapes from someone else who's "parasite money" from the in-laws must be running out.