Paul Offit’s new book, as readable as a good detective novel, tells the story of how autism, a disorder of psychological development, came falsely to be blamed first on the MMR vaccine and then on thimerosal, a preservative found in several vaccines. It is a tale about bad science, worse journalism, unscrupulous political populism, and profiteering litigation lawyers. - article in City Journal
Older, Wiser (Maybe), I'm Back
3 months ago
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Whether autism is caused by vaccines will not be decided by Paul Offit, a vaccine patent holder who soon will be faced with libel and defamation lawsuits.
The Federal Omnibus Autism Proceedings have been underway since 2002, with verdicts expected in 2009. Read the expert testimony at its website.
Thousands of vaccine injury reports are documented within the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, the CDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink, and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
It's easy to sell concepts that people want to hear, rather than the unfortunate paradox that a product intended to improve health is having the opposite effect in a subset of children.
These vaccine-injured children deserve study -- to provide medical treatment, and to prevent it from happening to others. But the CDC is not providing these humane services.
No child should be written off as collateral damage in the war on disease.
Trying to silence him with a lawsuit will do no one any good.
The causes and treatments of autism should be based on the factual science of double blind studies and peer-reviewed research, not anecdotes that autism onset coincided with vaccination.
This whole issue is exacerbated by the fact that the age at which autism begins to manifest itself is the same time that vaccines occur.
I can certainly understand the need folks feel to identify a villain, but I fear the consequences of mass opting out of vaccines far more.
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