ABC News Philadelphia Offers Fair Coverage

By Anne Dachel

Dr. Offit's hometown of Philadelphia's ABC 6 offered one of the more balanced presentations of his new book, Autism's False Prophets. Click HERE.

They should be congratulated.  They did their job.  Not only did they say that 'the controversy is far from over,' they also gave us parents who claimed that their children became autistic after receiving certain shots.  And ABC 6 cited Offit's ties to the vaccine industry.

ABC 6 included a doctor who uses biomedical treatment and is recovering kids.  They reported that Dr. Allan Magaziner "thinks vaccines may be one of many environmental triggers that can cause autism in genetically pre-disposed kids."  And the doctor got to make the eye-opening statement, 'When pharmaceutical companies test, they only test one vaccine at a time, but what happens when we're putting five, six, seven vaccines in a child at one time.'

That's balanced coverage. 

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.

Comments

[Stagmom, My Amazon Review]

I'm happy to see that Amazon ran my review of Dr. Offit's book (http://tinyurl.com/5y7s9v)

Infectious Disease Specialist = Autism Treatment Expert?, September 19, 2008 By Kimberly R. Stagliano "Stagmom" (New England) - See all my reviews

I am the mother of three children with autism (full disclosure you know.) I have to ask why Dr. Offit, a well documented expert in infectious disease, was compelled to write a book that disputes treatments for an illness that is not infectious. Could it be that it is the autism community that has been the most vocal in our questioning of the safety of our national immunization program? Is Dr. Offit shooting the messenger with this book? How does a doctor who does not treat children with autism for a living know so much about what does NOT work? I find the entire premise of the book curious and more fitting to have been written by a neurologist or psychiatrist who at least sees children with autism every day.

Also, my girls have benefitted greatly from some of the treatments Dr. Offit "debunks." For them, treatment may mean the difference between a dreadful life in an institution and life at home with their father and me. I think that makes the potential "risk" of our treatments practically null compared to doing nothing for our precious girls.

Thank you for reading this. I have to go kiss my kids goodnight now.

[Jim and Amanda Blinn]

Kudos to ABC for their balanced presentation of different views of the sad and controversial issue of the possible connection between vaccines and autism. We are parents of an 11 year old boy, dx'd autistic before age 2. After reading about the thimerosol vaccines (in Parents' Magazine, Feb. 2000) we had our son tested for mercury poisoning. He tested positive. We can't prove that the mercury that caused his symptoms came from AMA approved rx, but we do know that chelation helped him tremendously. We thoroughly tested his lifetime environment and found no other mercury source. "Autistic" kids should at least get tested for mercury and if they test positive, their parents should be educated about chelation. It has ennabled our son to walk again (he stopped from age 2 to 4) and he can now use words to communicate. Thanks again to ABC. Jim and Amanda Blinn, Bellevue, Washington

[Holly M.]

Way to go Jen - I'm so proud of you. Jen and her husband Tommy chelated Gabe for 3 years. Her "apraxic" boy is now a delightful conversationalist.