AGE OF AUTISM

Random House Poisoned Profits on Autism One Radio

August 12, 2008
12:00 noon ET
Teri Arranga
Autism One: A Conversation of Hope
Click HERE to enter the Voice America site to listen.

Teri Arranga of Autism One will interview Philip and Alice Shabecoff along with Age of Autism Editor-at-Large Mark Blaxill and his wife, Elise on Tuesday, August 12 at 12 noon Eastern. Here’s a brief description of the Shabecoff’s new book, Poisoned Profits.

Poisoned Profits: the Toxic Assault on our Children, just released by Random House, unveils alarming facts correlating the rate of disease among America’s children with toxic environmental exposures.  This book, by former New York Times environmental correspondent Philip Shabecoff and his wife Alice, is a meticulously researched, well written and easy to read no holds barred account of industrial polluters, obstructionism, and the epidemic of children’s chronic diseases, including autism.  It discusses the scientific evidence, walks the reader through a typical American day to disclose the surprising places where poisons enter our lives by our own actions and by stealthy trespass, and tells the stories of families, including the Blaxills, and of communities harmed by toxic exposures, from industrial chemicals to pesticides to nuclear-contaminated water.  The book ends with hope and optimism, with ways for parents to protect their children and for citizens to change the economic and political system that allows these assaults to continue. 

See the Poisoned Profits website for more info and to order the book.

CNN Reports on Gardasil Vaccine Reaction

From CNN: A Michigan teen suffered a severe reaction two months after getting the Gardasil shot...

Watch the report from CNN HERE.

Obama and McCain Non-Responses to Vaccine Safety Requests

Managing Editor's Note: 8/11/08: Who says an old dog can't learn a new trick? I added a pop up window for the letters to the candidates so that you can see them full size. I apologize for the eye strain!

By Rebecca Estepp

In May, I sent out a video of Vaccine Safety Requests to all three Presidential candidates. The rationale behind this video project was to get the Presidential candidates to go on record about vaccine safety.  For those who have not seen the video you can access it HERE.

To refresh memories, here are the two Executive Orders I requested:

The first Executive Order I would like you to consider is within the first 100 days of taking office, would you issue an Executive Order requiring the removal of MERCURY from all vaccines by January 1, 2010?

For the second Executive Order, within 100 days of taking office, would you issue an Order requiring a Moratorium on the addition of new vaccines to the recommended list for children, until the current vaccine schedule can be proven safe?

Dr. Jenkins, Want to Rethink Your Position?

The United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF) today announced landmark research finding that one in every 200 people has a DNA mutation that could potentially cause a mitochondrial disease in them or their offspring. Mitochondrial disease is a devastating and often fatal disease, and mitochondrial disorders are at the core of many well known diseases and chronic illnesses, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and autism spectrum disorders.  Click HERE to read more.

Olmsted on Autism: No Child By Two

BY Dan Olmsted

I've got an idea: Let's not vaccinate kids until they turn two, at the earliest. Of course, I'm not a zealot like the industry-funded Every Child By Two folks who made themselves look like paranoid idiots in New York City last week. I'm just someone who has heard enough from parents and read enough simple science to know that, for starters, some children are vulnerable in ways we don't understand to neurological problems after vaccination; some vaccines given too early can trigger asthma; some vaccines -- HepB and chickenpox, to name two -- are unnecessary; and the whole kit-and-kaboodle has never been studied in toto on human infants, but when it was tested on primates, those little monkeys got really sick and developed features that resemble autism.

As I say, I'm not a zealot: If a mother has HepB, by all means vaccinate the child; if polio pops up in Peoria (unlikely), by all means vaccinate infants; if rotovirus starts to strike down American infants the way it does in developing countries (for which it is really intended -- getting it approved here is just good precedent for the manufacturers to inoculate kids in Africa and Asia by the tens of millions), then get Paul Offit, stat!

More from Dan Olmsted at Spectrum Publications

Can't get enough of Dan Olmsted? Click HERE to read his column in Spectrum Magazine.

David Kirby on AAP's Dr. Renee Jenkins: For the Record

By David Kirby

On Friday afternoon, I spoke with a representative from the communications office at the AAP about the remarks by AAP President Dr. Renee Jenkins, who was quoted on Good Morning America as saying: “97-plus percent of children don’t have these kinds of defects, and so when you look at what the risk is to children, and then what the benefits are, the benefits far outweigh the risks that occur.”

Obviously, this quote was edited in mid-sentence, making it impossible to know exactly what Dr. Jenkins was referring to.

I was told that Dr. Jenkins misspoke when she referred to children with “defects.” What she was talking about is the subset of children who have adverse vaccine reactions such as localized pain and swelling, and/or fever.

Slightly fewer than 3% of children will have one or more of these reactions, I was told. So Dr. Jenkins was talking about susceptibility to relatively mild side effects, not genetic “defects” that can lead to long term neurological damage.

I realize that some people may not accept this explanation, but I do.

David Kirby is a journalist, the author of Evidence of Harm and contributor to Age of Autism.

Mary Holland on the Every Child by Two Press Conference

By Mary Holland, Esq.

The Press Conference

I arrived at my office Tuesday morning in Greenwich Village, to find an urgent email from Jenny McCarthy and the Autism Action Network to attend this ECBT-AAP press conference in New York City.  The press release promised a swank address, celebrity, politics, science and the press – so why not? I thought.  So I hopped on the subway, entered the Peninsula Hotel at 5th Avenue and 55th St., and went to the appointed hall, where outside lay glossy red press kits labeled “Get the Facts: Vaccines Save Lives!” and videos with Amanda Peet’s smiling face and her public service announcements.

The Everyday Art of Autism Activism

By Tim Kasemodel

The best thing about the Age of Autism is how all the contributors get us thinking, creating an atmosphere of hope and possibility.  Instead of seeing only the injustice of it all and becoming overwhelmed by the magnitude of how vaccines have affected our lives, we have here a venue to help each other focus on the task at hand – waking others up to what is really going on regarding the meteoric rise autism.

Kent Heckenlively's recent post "Let Us Praise Good Doctors" got me thinking about how we in the "safer vaccines community" communicate and educate others in our daily lives.  Harry Hofherr's "A Savage Ignorance" reminded me why it is so damned important that we do.

The New Car

By Tricia Zarro

Imagine, the day you buy a brand new car. It is what you always hoped for. It is shiny and new. It has all the right gadgets and gizmos. It responds quickly and has that “new car” smell. Your friends and family even stop by to visit, perhaps buying you a gift and wishing you miles of happiness and luck.

Now imagine, the day you bring home your new baby. He is a beautiful baby, everything you had hoped for. He has all the right gadgets and gizmos—ten toes, ten fingers and a beautiful smile. Your baby has that new baby smell. Your friends and family stop by and bring your new baby gifts and wish you years of health and happiness.

Dr. Bernadine Healy: Don’t Make it Personal

By David Kirby

Researchers have been arguing with each other since science began, and that is a positive thing. The fights, while often heated, are usually contained to theories, evidence, data quality, confounding factors and the like.

But sometimes, the disputes get personal. Instead of attacking their opponents’ ideas, some researchers resort to attacking their opponents themselves.

Dr. Paul Offit, a prominent and accessible figure in the vaccine-autism debate, this week engaged in some of his own personal criticisms against two people who happen to disagree with his views: Dr. Jon Poling and Dr. Bernadine Healy.

A Prayer for Amanda Peet

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

In an interview with Cookie magazine when Amanda Peet first called parents who didn’t vaccinate their children over fears of autism “parasites”, I thought I should be angry and upset with her.

When she went on Good Morning America to say much of the same thing I figured maybe I should take her advice and not listen to celebrities. 

But the more I thought about it neither anger or apathy seemed like the appropriate response.

Instead I find myself looking for some word which probably doesn’t exist in the English language, but if it did would probably mean something along the lines of, “you poor, ignorant fool!  I was once in your shoes and I can’t believe I was ever so stupid!”

Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Jon Poling: New England Journal of Medicine

By Anne Dachel

Managing Editor's Note: You can click into the NEJM to read the two pieces referenced. The body copy also runs at the bottom of the post.

On August 7, the New England Journal of Medicine published the opposing opinions of Dr. Jon Poling, father of Hannah Poling, and Dr. Paul Offit, Infectious Disease Specialist from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, on the Vaccine Court case in which the federal government conceded that vaccines were a factor in the development of autism in Hannah. Titled, Vaccines and Autism Revisited, the letters run in the "Correspondance" section of NEJM. (Click HERE to read the August 7th piece)

In the May 15 NEJM Perspective section, Offit split every hair he could to try and lessen the impact of the Poling case.  He tried to convince the public that there was no scientific basis for the concession. (Click HERE to read the May 15th piece.) Offit's remarks led to the August 7 response by Dr. Poling. 

In his August 7 piece, Poling went after Offit's opinion about his daughter's case using phrases like "Offit misrepresents my position,"  "Offit confuses issues," and "His opinion is unsupported by clinical trials." 

Closed IACC Meeting Now Open To the Public

By Kelli Ann Davis

We were informed this week by NIMH Director Tom Insel that an important Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's (IACC) Implementation Workgroup meeting will be open to the public this Friday, August 8th  by phone 888-455-2920; access code 3857872 or via the web HERE.

During the last IACC meeting on July 15, it was announced that the meeting for the Implementation Working Group would take place in private and the Federal Register entry from last Thursday, July 31st states that the meeting will be “closed to the public” with “attendance limited to invited participants.” Here's the body copy of the letter:

Have You Had Your Google Today?

If you enjoy reading Age of Autism, here's a fun exercise. Google "Every Child By Two" and see what pops up. Aw, we can't wait to tell you. It's Age of Autism's JB Handley post outing Every Child by Two as a vaccine industry front group. Isn't that magically Googlicious? Go ahead, Google Every Child by Two. "Wyeth" not?  ;)

Katie Wright on the Every Child By Two Press Conference

Today I had the privilege of standing outside the Peninsula Hotel for two and half hours with a great group of autism parents. They are smart, dedicated, hard working parents, who apparently pose a security threat to Rosalyn Carter. We all wanted to hear what Every Child by Two and the AAP had to say at their vaccination press conference. We were denied entry to this public event because of “security risks to Rosalyn Carter.” OK, I have been accused of some crazy things but being a security risk…to Rosalyn Carter???? Insane and laughable. Because we did not RSVP in within the allotted half hour of 9:30 -10PM, when the registration was supposedly open, we were denied entrance.

What a difference between Every Child By Two and a DAN!, AutismOne or NAA event, where anyone who purchases a ticket is welcome.

Louise Kuo Habakus on the Every Child By Two Press Conference

By Louise Kuo Habakus

Late last night, a dozen of us were online, e-mailing about the ECBT-AAP press conference that we had just learned would take place today.  We shared notes, compiled information and put out the word to get parents to NYC by 10:30am.  I couldn’t make it but I prepared a statement and my good friend and fellow parent and health practitioner, Lisa Rudley, said she’d try to read it.

It’s Tuesday at 12:40pm and Lisa called.  “Louise, it was worse than the AMA seminar we attended.”  We had started calling ourselves “Thelma and Louise” after attending that seminar in June, intended for doctors seeking Continuing Ed credit.  That seminar was bad.  I asked her, could this really have been worse?

Cris Italia of Spectrum Magazine on the Every Child by Two Press Conference

Managing Editor's Note: Click HERE to link over to our friends at Spectrum Publications. Here is Cris Italia's report on the press conference today. Thank you to Cris for allowing us to run this piece from his blog at Spectrum.

by Cris Italia

I’m not sure what you can call this, maybe some of the readers can come up with a fancy name for the war of words that will begin between Jenny McCarthy and Amanda Peet. On Tuesday morning Every Child By Two (ECBT) an organization created by Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady of the United States and wife of former President Jimmy Carter and Betty Bumpers wife of retired U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers, held a press conference in Manhattan to settle the score about vaccine safety.

Every Child By Two 2006 Tax Return

Every Child By Two 2006 Tax Return 

Contribution by Wyeth: $350,769 (page 23)

Salaries: $72,000 - $89,000 (page 10)

The address on the tax return? "666" 11th Street, DC.

Jane Johnson on the Every-Child-by-Two Press Conference

By Jane Johnson

My daughter and I showed up in the very pretty and obviously extremely expensive lobby of the Peninsula Hotel, where we were met by a couple of attractive but chilly young women who informed me that we weren’t on the list.  I explained that I hadn’t even heard about the meeting until about 10 pm, but had tried to reserve a slot then.  Finally they took my card, scurried upstairs, and returned to tell me we would be allowed in.  We went upstairs, where they told us it was for members of the press only (bless Spectrum’s Cris Italia—he tried to pull us in), and they were concerned they wouldn’t have enough seats.  I offered to wait and see if spare seats were an issue, and they sent us back down to the lobby. 

By that point Katie Wright and some other parents were milling around, along with an impossibly beautiful, adorable little boy named Rome.  We chatted for a while, until they came back down and apologized, and—eureka!—let me and my daughter in.

Amanda Peet, Here's an Idea for Your Next X-Files Movie

(Managing Editor's Note: We ran this post last March. It seems appropriate to run it again today, as the AAP, Paul Offit and actress/vaccine spokesperson Amanda Peet hold a press conference to shore up confidence in our national vaccine program with their new "Vaccinate Your Baby campaign.)

Thank you to Cornelia Read of Naked Authors and mother of a 14 year old daughter who is profoundly affected by her autism. By profoundly, I mean in ways I can not fathom. And I have three girls with autism. Even if you only scroll down to the bottom of the post - take a look at that beautiful young girl. And think hard.

The post parallels the vaccine/autism controversy with the history of drugs and products long removed from the market or given stark warning labels. I warn you, this post is long. It's intense. It's the work of a creative, talented mother who loves her child. If you want the CODE for it so you can run it on your own blog, email me at kim stagliano at gmail.

By Cornelia Read There's a topic I've wanted to blog about here for a long time, but it's pretty heavy stuff--not exactly the bright and breezy fare most people want to skim through online while sipping their morning beverage of choice. Over the last year or so, every time I said to myself, "hey, maybe this week, if I can just get my head around a way to make the info meaningful and compelling... to personalize it somehow so that it's not a complete drag to ingest, but yet not so bereft of necessary info that it's easy to blow off..." I'd end up scuppering the whole thing as impossible to convey. I'm still not sure I can make a blog post out of this that won't put you to sleep, but something happened this month that makes me feel like it's really, really important that I give it my very best effort right now, okay?

False Prophet: Rotateq, Created By Paul Offit, Responsible for at Least One Death

By J.B. Handley

Paul Offit, the vaccine industry's well-paid spokesperson, has been on quite a roll lately. Recruiting Amanda Peet to be a spokesperson for the Wyeth-funded Special Interest Dot-org (SID) called Every Child By Two seems to have given him some new energy in talking to the press. Consider his comments yesterday to the Orange County Register:

"I asked him whether, given how much money he made because of a vaccine, he is the best person to advocate for vaccine. Even if we assume he's never done anything improper, does he have the credibility to convince the public? He says yes, because he has the knowledge of how vaccines are tested and created, because he's been behind the curtain at pharmaceutical companies — things a strictly academic scientist wouldn't have access to. He admits his vaccine made him wealthy, but he says he spent 25 years trying to develop it because he wanted to save kids."

So, Paul Offit admits the Rotateq vaccine has made him wealthy? Offit goes on to clarify the "a child can tolerate 10,000 vaccines" comment that CBS News attributed to him:

"Asked whether any specific facts in the story were wrong, he said it was primarily the tone he objected to. But he did say that the hospital owns the patent, not him (though he received a share of royalties from it). Also, when Attkisson noted that he had been quoted as saying children could safely take up to 10,000 vaccines at once, "what I actually have said is at least 10,000. It's probably closer to 100,000."

Oh, so it's actually 100,000 vaccines a kid can tolerate?

OC Register Inside Autism: Paul Offit Responds

Sam Miller of the OC Register Inside Autism blog (see their ad on the side bar) has a response to the CBS piece by Dr. Paul Offit, of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia HERE.

AAP, Paul Offit, Amanda Peet To Promote Vaccines Today

AAP is kicking off a "Vaccinate Your Baby" campaign.  Speaking to the press today is Amanda Peet, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Bumpers, the President of AAP, Paul Offit (holder of several vaccine patents), and a mom of a child with autism.  They say, "This initiative will address misinformation about vaccines that causes confusion among parents and puts children at risk."

The press conference is today (Tuesday, August 5th, 2008) at the Peninsula Hotel, 700 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 3rd Floor Gramercy Room from 10:30 to 11:30. 

Every Child By Two: A Front Group for Wyeth

Managing Editor's Note: That's a photo of the board of Every Child By Two, you can click HERE to see a larger photo and a list of the members and their affiliations.  (10/14/08, ECBT asked us to remove the photo as it is copyrighted. We replaced it with a similar photo.)

By J.B. Handley

17 years ago, in 1991, the DTP Vaccine was under fire for the high rate of autism, brain injury and death it was causing in children. Lawsuits were mounting. In fact, DTP was why Congress created the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in the first place. As Barbara Loe Fisher, co-author of A Shot In the Dark, a book chronicling the problems with DPT, said, "it is important to note that the vast majority of vaccine injury awards in the VICP have been for children suffering DPT vaccine brain injuries and deaths…of all the vaccines which have been routinely used by children in the past century, the brain damaging effects of the pertussis (whooping cough) portion of DPT vaccine is among the most well documented in the scientific literature."

On the firing line was Lederle Laboratories of Wayne, NJ, one of the largest manufacturers of DTP vaccine at the time. A spokesperson for Lederle was charged with working the press to try and defend DTP, mercury, and vaccines in general--he was the Paul Offit of his time. This spokesperson, in January 1991, was quoted in the New York Times saying, "Any chemical product, because it is a chemical substance, does produce some side effects. The current vaccine [DTP], as far as we are concerned, is a very safe and efficacious vaccine."

As we all know, the DTP vaccine was soon replaced with DTaP because of safety concerns.

So what, you say?

Dr. Frank Engley: Farewell to a Truth-Teller

By Anne Dachel

Most of the time, in the countless articles and news videos I look at, the controversy over vaccines and autism is presented as a debate with scientists and doctors on one side and parents along with the general population on the other side.  We rarely hear about the experts who challenge the claims of health officials.  This is a point of increasing frustration for me and countless others in the autism community. 

This isn't just an argument about proving vaccines have serious side effects.  It's really about who will be held responsible if it's clearly shown that through complete oversight failure, a generation of children has been damaged by unsafe vaccines.   That's it -- pure and simple.  But we don't talk about that.  We pretend that autism is a puzzle we just haven't been able to solve and that officials have earnestly looked for a link with vaccines, but they keep coming up empty.

Late last week, I received word from Linda Weinmaster of No Mercury that Dr. Frank Engley had died.  Dr. Engley has an extremely important place in the story of the autism epidemic and he'll be long-remembered for what he did to expose the truth. 

A Savage Ignorance

By Harry Hofherr

I am not a fan of talk radio although I've been known to listen for a few minutes every six months or so, just to make sure I'm not missing anything.

A friend and I once discussed the fascination with Rush Limbaugh and he claimed Rush was an entertainer. I said he was a preacher and his flock is every bit the same as any other religion. I did point out however, that most respectable religions avoid preaching a doctrine of hate and derision. Our discussion ended when I suggested my friend read Eric Hoffer's classic book, The True Believer.

I've never listened to Mike Savage but I've heard about his rants over the years. I spotted one of his books in the bargain bin a few years ago and read the dust cover. After reading the faux anger directed at everyone and everything, I thought it needed to be in the recycle bin. I figured this guy was out to make a buck and his whole shtick consisted of being pissed off. It seems like a waste.

When Freedom of Speech is a One Way Street

By Jane Milota

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

To this day, the first amendment to the United States Constitution is being enjoyed by people everywhere. James Madison carefully drafted this amendment in 1789 and centuries later it still guards the people's right to speak out.

But when does the right to speak out cross that invisible line of becoming hateful slander?

Adult Onset "Autism?" Is Minnesota our Neurological Damage Capitol?

Older American men are sliding into neurological impairment. Have our children been the canaries in the coal mine and now the miners themselves are becoming ill?

Autism tends to strike boys more frequently than girls, which is the same trend being seen in older Americans and this frightening new state called, "Pre-Dementia." The study was conducted in Minnesota, in the county surrounging the Mayo Clinic. This is the same area where Somalian children have been diagnosed with autism at an alarming rate.

From the article which ran earlier this week: "A prime goal is finding drugs to treat the mild impairment before Alzheimer's develops." How about finding out what environmental factors are denigrating human brain function to avoid the condition, rather than simply treat the symptoms? 


CHICAGO - A milder type of mental decline that often precedes Alzheimer's disease is alarmingly more common than has been believed, and in men more than women, doctors reported Monday.

An Autism Mom Goes Out!

Foxboro, MA. Bruuuuce! LIVE!

KS

CBS Does Not Back Down to Vaccine Industry

The Tiffany Network, CBS, will not retract its report on Dr. Paul Offit, the AAP and Every Child by Two and their financial ties to vaccines.

Sam Miller, of the OC Register's "Inside Autism" blog shares an email from CBS to Voices for Vaccines. If you haven't added "Inside Autism" to your favorite sites list, we suggest you do. Click HERE to leave a comment on "Inside Autism" for Sam Miller. Here's the email Sam ran:

Our report last Friday represents one part of the extensive reporting CBS News has done, and will continue to do, on the issues surrounding vaccines and possible links to autism. That continuing coverage has repeatedly reported on the critical importance of the nation’s maintaining a robust vaccination program for children. Reporting on what critics, including members of Congress, believe to be potential conflicts of interest for vaccine advocates who receive funding from vaccine makers is also an entirely legitimate aspect of our overall coverage. We believe our report was in no way defamatory of any institution or individual, and that no retraction is warranted.

Jenny McCarthy is The Main Event Tonight!

WWE has teamed with Jenny McCarthy and Generation Rescue to raise $100,000 toward autism research leading up to Saturday Night's Main Event tonight at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

Jenny McCarthy and Wrestler John Cena on Autism

Click HERE to watch the video and to read the Entertainment Tonight report on air around the country now about Jenny McCarthy and John Cena, as they get in the ring to fight autism tonight on the WWE Smackdown.

The "Click to View" in the photo is not live. Please click the link in the post, above.

It’s Time for Some Chatter – CDC Style

Managing Editor's Note: Scroll to the end of this post to learn how you can follow Kelli Ann's lead and leave a comment on the CDC blog.

By Kelli Ann Davis

As most of you know, a letter was issued to Secretary Leavitt by the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology on July 14th. (Read the Age of Autism Post about it HERE.)

The letter asked the Secretary to ensure that the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee “promote a balanced research portfolio when examining the underlying causes for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” and specifically pressed for research into “environmental exposures” citing two vaccine references.

The Subcommittee is currently investigating CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on several fronts including the recent Beryllium toxic exposure incident.  See the CBS Investigative Report here HERE, and the Subcommittee’s Press Release here: HERE.

On Autism's Trail: Olmsted & Blaxill Meet Hans Asperger Jr.

Greetings from Europe: On the trail of autism’s origins

By Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted

We’ve just arrived in London after several days in Vienna, doing research for our book on the natural history of autism. Our search took us to hospitals, pharmaceutical museums and the home and office of a certain Viennese psychiatrist named Sigmund Freud.

On Tuesday evening, we met Hans Asperger Jr. at our hotel and walked the grounds of Belvedere -- one of the grandest mansions in the world -- while we talked about his father’s discovery of a disorder that is now included on the autism spectrum. “My father always said: ‘I love the children,’” he told us. His father was a warm and loving father as well as a pediatrician who began seeing children with unusual behaviors starting in the 1930s; his interest was in how to give these children an opportunity for education and a happy adult life. Hans Jr. described his father reading classic Austrian literature to them as they sat in a circle around him, their restless behavior subsiding as they became engrossed.

Sam Miller of OC Register's "Inside Autism" Blog and Voices for Vaccines

Sam Miller, of the OC Register (Orange County, California) contacted Lisa Randall of Voices for Vaccines about her letter requesting a retraction from CBS.

Lisa Randall, executive director of Voices for Vaccines, has asked CBS to retract a story it ran last week that documented financial ties between some defenders of vaccines and the vaccine industry.

The story was by Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative reporter who covers government spending and taxpayer issues for CBS.

“It was a pretty sorry piece of reporting,” Randall told me in an email. “It bothers me when journalists make unfounded accusations and defend themselves with the claim that they’re doing a service simply by raising questions. David Kirby [the author of “Evidence of Harm”] has tried to argue similarly recently. I think ‘raising questions’ without a firm evidentiary basis is exactly the same as ’starting rumors.’”

You can add your own comments on the OC Register blog HERE.