http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/10/wired-magazine-and-amy-wallace-drink-paul-offits-kool-aid.html#more
October 21, 2009
Unbelievable. That was my first reaction to reading Wired Magazine’s new cover
story on vaccines and autism that you can read
HERE. It’s
not a thoughtful look at both sides of the debate. It’s not a piece providing a
new spin on a well-known conflict. It’s simply a regurgitation of Paul Offit’s
talking points that he’s been dishing out to the uninformed media now for years.
Ms. Wallace didn’t just drink Offit’s Kool-aid, shit, she scooped the Kool-Aid
out of the rusty old bucket to make enough for everyone!
The article is so misguided, one-sided, lacking in basic research, and
ultimately useless, I found myself yearning for Gardiner Harris, Anahad
O’Connor, or some of the other Vaccine Patriots
(HERE) at the New York Times to spew out something new – at least their
stories have the occasional original thought.
Ms. Wallace appears to have gone exclusively to Google University to research
her feeble attempt at describing a very complex topic. Aside from a low-profile
visit to Autism One, it seems Ms. Wallace never actually bothered to interview
anyone from our side of the fence, perhaps she was simply too busy hanging out
at Paul Offit’s Rotateq-funded mansion? Did you get a call or an email? I sure
didn’t. Ms. Wallace, I would have welcomed you to spend a day at my house with
my son to get, I don’t know, maybe a different take on the topic?
I grow so weary of pointing out the same logical fallacies, misstatements, and
outright factual errors that many journalists make when covering this debate,
it’s going to be a struggle for my stamina to analyze her tripe in detail. To
save us all some time, I’ve decided to offer up her “Top 10 blazingly untrue
passages” for you to enjoy, along with some comments -- feel free to add a
few more of your own.
1. “To be clear, there is no credible evidence to indicate that any of this
is true. None. Twelve epidemiological studies have found no data that links the
MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine to autism; six studies have found no trace
of an association between thimerosal (a preservative containing ethylmercury
that was used in vaccines until 2001) and autism, and three other studies have
found no indication that thimerosal causes even subtle neurological problems.”
Comment: This is the #1 sign that a journalist is totally ignorant. What about
the 34 vaccines that HAVE NOT been studied? The 50+ ingredients that no one has
considered? Giving six vaccines in 15 minutes? Anyone? Bueller? It’s why the
website 14 Studies was created. If you
start with a belief that the “science has spoken”, you’re wrong from the get-go.
(Note to Amy: did you Google Bernadine Healy? I heard she does interviews.) For
a much longer rebuttal, please read “Feeding the Hungry Lie”
HERE.
2. “The risk of dying from the pertussis vaccine, by contrast, is practically
nonexistent in fact, no study has linked DTaP (the three-in-one immunization
that protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) to death in children.
Nobody in the pro-vaccine camp asserts that vaccines are risk-free, but the
risks are minute in comparison to the alternative.”
Comment: Wow, did you ever go to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
website? It’s hosted by our lovely government. It shows 792 claims of death from
DTaP vaccine, and more than 1,200 claims of injury from DTaP where an award was
paid by the government. You can read it all
HERE.
Is that your definition of “nonexistent”? Unbelievable!
3. “Counterintuitively, higher rates of non-vaccination often correspond with
higher levels of education and wealth”
Comment: It’s only counterintuitive if you think vaccines are great, never cause
injury, and that the science has spoken. Most people, hearing that rich,
well-educated people vaccinate less, would stop and figure out why! Maybe with
their brains, education, and free time, they know something you don’t seem to
get?
4. “As a result, Offit has become the main target of a grassroots movement
that opposes the systematic vaccination of children and the laws that require
it.”
Comment: The main targets of our movement are the CDC, AAP, and vaccine makers.
Offit is an annoying sideshow, nothing more. He’s annoying because of articles
like yours. He didn’t cause my son’s autism, and he has nothing to do with my
son’s recovery. Offit actually has proven to be quite helpful – he’s the poster
boy for the other side, which means his faults become the other side’s faults.
5. “The doubters and deniers are empowered by the Internet (online, nobody
knows you’re not a doctor) and helped by the mainstream media, which has an
interest in pumping up bad science to create a “debate” where there should be
none.”
Comment: The mainstream media helps us? Which planet are you living on? And, the
internet democratizes truth, you’d think Wired magazine would embrace that!
6. “Looking back over human history, rationality has been the anomaly. Being
rational takes work, education, and a sober determination to avoid making hasty
inferences, even when they appear to make perfect sense. Much like infectious
diseases themselves beaten back by decades of effort to vaccinate the populace
the irrational lingers just below the surface, waiting for us to let down our
guard.”
Comment: Pot, meet kettle. Why are you boring readers with misguided
psychobabble? You could have used this time to read some of the science on our
side of the fence which is also peer-reviewed! Clean water, toilets, and
refrigerators eradicated disease, or at least 98% of it, I’ll give vaccines
credit for the final 2% -- and a whole lotta’ autism, allergies, and other
demylenating illnesses.
7. “Today, because the looming risk of childhood death is out of sight, it is
also largely out of mind, leading a growing number of Americans to worry about
what is in fact a much lesser risk: the ill effects of vaccines.”
Comment: If 1 in 100 kids have vaccine-induced autism, this may challenge your
conclusion about “low-risk,” unless you like those odds. Few parents do, and
your article is unlikely to change that.
8. “The so-called epidemic, researchers assert, is the result of improved
diagnosis, which has identified as autistic many kids who once might have been
labeled mentally retarded or just plain slow.”
Comment: Please. Help. Me. Can’t. Breathe. Um, which researchers did you talk
to? As I stated very recently, what you are saying here is 96.7% impossible
(HERE), and always will be.
9. “In fact, the growing body of science indicates that the autistic spectrum
which may well turn out to encompass several discrete conditions may largely
be genetic in origin.”
Comment: Mark Blaxill, I need you, man, I really can’t take it anymore! (Read:
Autism and Genetics: What We’ve Got Here is a Failure to Replicate
HERE.)
10. “Then, he came up with a rough estimate: a person could handle 100,000
vaccines or up to 10,000 vaccines at once. Currently the most vaccines
children receive at any one time is five. He also published his findings in
Pediatrics. Soon, the number was attached to Offit like a scarlet letter. “The
100,000 number makes me sound like a madman. Because that’s the image: 100,000
shots sticking out of you. It’s an awful image,” Offit says. “Many people
including people who are on my side have criticized me for that. But I was
naive. In that article, I was being asked the question and that is the answer to
the question.”
Comment: OK, this last one wasn’t an error by Ms. Wallace, it was just a quote
from Offit, but for God’s sake why do they still talk to this guy? If you had
100,000 doctors in a room, and you asked them what would happen to a baby if you
gave that many shots, 99,999 would say every single child would immediately die,
and well before the 100,0000th vaccine! Makes you sound like a madman? I know
the answer to that question.
Ms. Wallace, no one is all that surprised you wrote a piece that bad. Heck,
we’re all kind of used to it. I Oh, and wipe the kool-aid of your upper lip, I
heard Dr. Nancy wants to interview you.
Unhappy with her piece? Anything you’d like to correct? You can let Amy Wallace
know at ecallawyma@gmail.com.
J.B. Handley is co-founder of
Generation Rescue.