Columbia University Press: Autism's False Prophets

A researcher in London was the first to assert that the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine known as MMR caused autism in children. Following this "discovery," a handful of parents declared that a mercury-containing preservative in several vaccines was responsible for the disease. If mercury caused autism, they reasoned, eliminating it from a child's system should treat the disorder. Consequently, a number of alternative therapies arose, and in one such treatment, a doctor injected a five-year-old autistic boy with a chemical that bound to mercury, only to stop his heart instead.

Children with autism been placed on stringent diets, subjected to high-temperature saunas, bathed in magnetic clay, asked to swallow digestive enzymes and activated charcoal, and injected with various combinations of vitamins, minerals, and acids. Instead of helping, these therapies often hurt those who are most vulnerable, and particularly in the case of autism, they undermine childhood vaccination programs that have saved millions of lives. In this book, Paul A. Offit, a national expert on vaccines, challenges the modern-day false prophets who have so egregiously misled the public—and exposes the opportunism of the lawyers, journalists, celebrities, and politicians who support them. Offit recounts the history of autism research and the exploitation of this tragic condition by advocates and zealots. He considers tha manipulation of science by the media and the courtroom, and he explores why society is susceptible to the junk science and dangerous therapies put forward by anti-vaccination activists.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• health
• vaccine
• m.d.
• mental
• studies
• research

[cinnyluvscats]

Vaccines have saved millions of lives and kept all of us safe from deadly diseases. I am thankful for these vaccines! Hopefully, researchers can find the true cause(s) of autism for these families and take vaccines "off the hook" so to speak.

[sickofdumbpeople2008]

He wrote it. He, unlike yourself, is actually educated about the subject.  Please show me a study that directly links vaccination to autism. If you can't find one, I assume you'll just use the radical claim that all scientists and doctors are a part of some conspiracy. Educate yourself, please. Education does not constitute a Google search.

[MadMadamJess]

@MadMadamJess The "results" the researcher is speaking of is the CDC, FDA, etc.."conclusion" of the actual studies...these original studies can be found for free on PubMed..again, search the term: Thimerosal.

xoxoxo

[MadMadamJess]

@sickofdumbpeople2008 PubMed....search for the term: Thimerosal, which is the mercury-containing compound used as a preservative in these vaccines even given to infants at birth and you will find many studies on the effects of the compound on animals and human beings. Hope this helps! :)

xoxoxo -Jess

[sentenced988]

Merck doesn't sell vaccin against cervical cancer. How funny isn't ?

[vaccineshurtbabies]

Get real. Merck commissioned ghost writers to come up with safety studies for VIOXX, then paid prestigious doctors to attach their names to these stories. Some 55,000 people died from VIOXX, and Merck was ordered to pay an enormous amount of money in compensation, which Merck is now recovering through the sale of its fake cervical cancer vaccine.

[vaccineshurtbabies]

That still doesn't mean that what he says about the harm vaccines and the mercury in them cause is incorrect.

[vaccineshurtbabies]

"more than ten international studies made by different scientists have led to the conclusion that there isthe same % of autistic people in a population that get vaccined and another one that doesn't"

Can you send links to my youtube inbox?

I'll send you links that support a vaccine autism connection.

[vaccineshurtbabies]

"Answer this question"

Nobody denies that there is such a thing as science, or that science has contributed to humankind's progress, but it's equally obvious that science has ben a mixed blessing, and that much of science has become a perversion of the word's meaning, vaccination being one of them. It's IMO also obscene that technology to kill people has become the world's largest industry.

[sentenced988]

Answer this question :

How can someone who live in an advanced country question the scientific method while being surrended by its products ?

How can somebody living in a civilisation that has dominate the world for centuries because of its scientific advance question this method ?

How can somebody who have access to the greatest libraries and universities of the world, choose ignorance over education ?

It's changing the world as you read and you manage to deny its validity ?

[sentenced988]

Sure, this is why more than ten international studies made by different scientists have led to the conclusion that there isthe same % of autistic people in a population that get vaccined and another one that doesn't ?

Today scientific method allowed you to have acces to youtube, to drinkable water, to TV, radio, car, electricity, nuclear power, cheap food, and a life expectency of 78 years during which you'll see the world change even more because of this method.