Amanda Peet vs. the Medical Establishment
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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Thanks, David, as always!
I was especially happy to see that the insurance industry may now be getting involved. I wrote about my hopes that they would do so in my 2002 Scandals column "Look Who's Paying" http://www
All the best,
Sandy Gottstein
www.vaccin
Borrowing roughly from Margaret Atwood:
Wanting to (know the opinion of) an (artist) because you like their work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pâté.
I actually don't think the above is always true. There have been great humanists among authors (present company included, David Kirby) and artists, people really worthy in their day to day lives as well as in the public message they bring. But in Amanda Peet's case, waddle, waddle, quack, quack.
This from people who worship at the Jenny McCarthy alter. My irony meter just exploded.
This from someone who worships at the feet of (for-Pr)Offit and the impotent CDC ringleader Gerbiding.
Yeah man, ditto.
And it's spelled altar
Amanda has apologized for the rude remarks. That's a start. But now we are owed an apology for the lies.
Robin Nemeth
Proud parasite
http://wid
Dear parasite:
Freeloader also works well.
If I was a tapeworm, I would sue Amanda Peet for defamation of character.
Now I know what a football must feel like. The parents of autistic children and our autistic children are thrown around, kicked, fumbled, spiked, passed, and left deflated. I almost long for the days of refrigerator mothers. Now we are parasites, fraud, moron, screaming idiot, putz, absent father, fool, dummy, loser, beaten man, and racketeer (Just a few quotes from peet and savage). I am shouted at by police chiefs, teachers, clergy, and the nasty lady in the grocery store.
I would trade just about everything to have a day with my son in our time zone and planet. It does not get much more simple. He spoke. He got shots. He stopped functioning in our world. How many other parents and people with disabilities are treated like lepers?
I pray that amanda and mr. savage lose sleep over their comments. I lose sleep everynight because someone out their knows that they poisoned my child and the fact he is jumping and bouncing off the walls... It probably is not my son's last pediatrician because he committed suicide? Ya think there is a connection?
Hey, tannersdad, do not lose sleep over illogical, ignorant, and good for nothing pieces of s#!t like them. They are just the next set of people set up by big pharma to get bulls#!t out there again. I most certainly would be suspicious about the doc committing suicide! Possibly the guilt took over.
Tanner's Dad-- the ped who gave our kids 90% of their shots sold his practice with hardly a warning and went to work for the county prison system right after David Kirby's book came out. Connection?
Amanda's apologised for being rude. This isn't enough. Now we are owed an apology for the lies.
Robin Nemeth
proud parasite
http://www
Ms Peet has an interesting view of things. She said in Cookie Mag., "I buy 99 percent organic food for Frankie, and I don't like to give her medicine or put sunscreen on her. But now that I've done my research, vaccines do not concern me."
Really? You don't like toxins in your daughter's food, but shots with mercury, aluminum, MSG, formaldehyde and more, don't concern you?
It's hard to understand the logic here.
Anne Dachel
Media editor
Age of Autism
It's obviously hard for you to understand the science, too. Dose makes the poison. There's more formaldehyde in a banana than in a vaccine. In fact, your body makes its own formaldehyde whenever you have a glass of wine.
I noticed you left "anti-freeze" off your list of toxins. That's a start. There is no anti-freeze in vaccines. Maybe ya'll can order some new t-shirts next time. ;-)
"Dose makes the poison."
Okay. That's a start. Now we're getting somewhere.
So again, can you or one of your *bona fide researchers* point out ONE study that demonstrates the SAFE *dose* for injecting mercury *directly* into the bloodstream of a baby??
Waiting...
Have you been injecting your bananas directly into the bloodstream?
You are absolutely correct, Ken. The dose DOES make the poison. You keep saying that the thimerosal content in vaccines is negligible. However, let's accumulate .3 micrograms here and 50 micrograms there, all in one sitting. Doctors like to inject 4 to 6 shots in one sitting. How much accumulated mercury is in those shots? My bet? A lot more than a "safe" dose.
It just amazes me what people who know little to nothing about autism have to say. I read that article too and I am just shaking my head thinking, "what is she even thinking?" I don't think there is any logic to worry about with her.
She understands the functions of the components of a vaccine. Sadly, none of the vaccine rejectionists do.
No, I don't think she understands. prOffit saw that the safe-vacciners were starting to at last be listened to, and he felt that he could get a gullible celebrity as sort of an Anti-Jenny. In other words, he was acting like a 5 year old...you know "They have one! Why can't I have one???"
If you watch the interview with Amanda carefully, you could see prOffit with his hand up her behind making her mouth move.
Amazing how more and more evidence that autism and vaccines are linked comes out almost weekly and yet these mercury defenders still spout the same old crap.What a bunch of ignorant,u
What do you suppose will happen to Jenny and Jim's careers when a child dies during the next major measles outbreak, and the grieving parents tell the local action news team that they trusted Jenny and didn't vaccinate their kid?
The First Couple of Contagion might want to draw up a crisis communication plan in the mean time.
You know, I was going to comment to that, but you are obviously not worth my time.
And what do you suppose will happen to Ms. Peet when the link finally comes out? Ken, you can keep denying it, but the truth will out. I hope that you and Ms. Peet both will come to realize the danger the medical establishment has placed on our kids before the fit hits the shan.
FANTASTIC RESPONSE DAVID!!! We owe you our gratitude yet once again!! Many, many thanks for this and the entirety of your work! Go, David, Go!!
Lin
I think Dr. Offit has used Amanda Peet in a crude attempt to get his name out there as advance publicity for his book which debuts this fall. The book goes after autism treatments -- why a medical doctor who is an immunologist and infectious disease specialist who does not see or treat people with autism would spend his time writing a "these treatments are garbage" book is beyond me. Dr. Offit, you're a healer, no? Why would you go after autism, autism parents, autistic kids who are being treated unless you fear that our community has exposed the soft underbelly of your life's work: vaccinations? I think the book is a way to belittle the autism community so as to make our questions about vaccines seem inappropriate and ridiculous. Pathetic.
Kim Stagliano
Mom to 3 with autism
HuffPo Blogger
Ms. Peet - I fear you've been used terribly by Dr. Offit.
Kim, I think you hit the nail right on the head! I was looking Amanda up on the web and all I can think is... Where does she fit in this at all? I do not see where she has anything to do with this. The only thing possible is that she is a new mom. It just baffles me why she should feel it necessary to call us parents rotten names, for God's sake, she does not know any of us. I seriously doubt she has ever spent any time with a child with autism. I believe she should take her sorry ass home and stew with her behavior.
Honestly, I just do not understand why we should listen to Amanda Peet! Who is she? What does she do? She is an actress and a new mom. Yeah, so just curious, if her daughter starts displaying signs of autism, what will she think then? Oh, well, whatever! She feels like she is informed well, so be it! Thousands of us parents have our first hand experience with autism, she does not.
Unfortunately, she can get magazines, internet sites, TV, radio, etc. to listen to her incorrect crap. Hopefully, she will see that Paul Offit was not the expert that he portrayed though those dollar signs may get in the way. If she signed on the dotted line she may have already sold her soul.
So Red, when did you become such a stickler for accuracy?
Really. Who would ever take a D-list actress seriously, especially when it comes to technical matters such as immunology and toxicology?
And yet you want us to take Ms. Peet's comments as gospel?
Two words: "Jenny McCarthy." Now sit back down.
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