Dr. Rahul K. Parikh, I Am Becoming Embarrassed For You

By David Kirby

Some Pediatricians are thoughtful. Others are just plain, (well, let's be polite) "belatedly informed."

To wit: The recent book review by Rahul K. Parikh, M.D, in Salon: (HERE)

In his overly simplistic way, this pediatrician from Northern California, who has repeatedly ignored third-party invitations to debate me in an open forum, praises Dr. Paul Offit for his attacks on groups like DAN! and Generation Rescue, while holding up Autism Speaks as a bastion of rational scientific thinking, one that does not succumb to what this doctor calls the "slanted science" of thimerosal research:

"While Offit focuses on those groups (like Defeat Autism Now! and Generation Rescue) that have been very confrontational and that support slanted science, there are many … groups (like Autism Speaks) that have been broader in their search for autism's causes and cure."

Dr.  Parikh published those comments on September 22, 2008. One has to wonder why he did not first check the website of the ("non-slanted") Autism Speaks, just four days earlier, on September 18, before he composed his review.

I did, and this is what I found:

"Three projects will focus on the potential role of vaccines, specifically the role of ethylmercury or other vaccine components. These include a project by Dr. Flavio Keller at the University Bio-Medica in Rome, who will study the behavioral and pathological effects of ethyl and methyl mercury on a strain of mice that possess a certain mutation in order to examine gene and environment interactions. Dr. Mark Noble from the University of Rochester will use a genetically modified cell line to study the effects of ethylmercury and aluminum hydroxide on oxidative potential. Finally, Dr. David Baskin from Methodist Hospital in Houston will study cell proliferation in response to thimerosal exposure. http://www.autismspeaks.org/press/environmental_grants_2008.php

Dr. Parikh – Please get your rhetorical ducks in a row, or refrain from participating in this discussion altogether. Misinformation is a dangerous thing. If Autism Speaks is not "slanted," then how do you explain their support for thimerosal-autism research?

And, if you ever change your mind about a live debate, I know several universities that might want to sponsor it.

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

Comments

[John Stone]

Huh?

Yes, indeed. I am sure that the Alan Rees's challenge to the vaccinators to accept the infant vaccination load adjusted to adult weight still stands:

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/330/7483/112-d#93670

But I will let you into a secret. Even you placed before them the challenge of accepting the infant vaccine load at the an adjusted weight (ie a fraction of what our children get), they would remain equally silent, or make their excuses and run.

[huh?]

Dr. Parikh wrote : "In pediatrics, we dose drugs and therapies by weight, so kids who are heavier get more."
oh really? why not the same approach to vaccines?

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

To Dan Roy and Dr. Parikh,

Oh, where to begin...

Regarding debating: Mr. Kirby invited any and all comers to debate in several different forums of which Dr. Parikh participates. So he was invited albeit not individually (at least AFAIK). And you could have brought friends -- so the "one bullet believer" comment is a total cop-out. And, if you have the truth behind you then you shouldn't need any help.

Twice in this response he points out what "others" in the community do that Mr. Kirby didn't. What's the point of that???

Dr. Parikh repeated his "disclosure" where he specifically states that he doesn't get any money from the pharmaceutical companies. But he still hasn't answered the other 5 questions that were originally asked of him by "thebossthetruth" on Huffington Post (which I reposted below -- see the 2nd message in this thread -- near the bottom). IS ANYONE ELSE PAYING YOU TO DO THIS?

Regarding: "Cite studies that have very little relevance...". Did you read what you wrote here? In what way are these studies not relevant???

Regarding the dosing levels in animal studies of thimerosal: Most of the studies that I've looked at in this regard specifically state that they've dosed relative to the weight of the animal. So which one(s) are you referring to specifically?

The recent MMR study did an absolutely horrendous job of attempting to recreate Wakefield's study as has been reported on this site and many other. 20%, only FIVE children, in this study met the same criteria as Wakefield's study. This is good science???

Despite what you think Age of Autism and Generation Rescue don't exist "solely to try to prove a vaccine-autism link." We have much bigger problems than trying to prevent this from happening to other children -- but we're going to keep trying to do that as well, because we know what it's like.

"vaccines are safe and effective" -- where is your scientific proof of this (i.e., vaccines, plural, in combination)? (It's a rhetorical question, because we know you don't have any.)

Autism isn't one of the risks of vaccines you say? How do you know? Epidemiological studies? None of these studies, as you should well know, prove that vaccines do not cause autism; and it's not good science to say they do. You DON'T KNOW what causes autism. So you can't prove that it's not the vaccines.

If you care so much about children why don't you advocate for a wide scale vaccinated vs not-vaccinated study that would provide a better understanding of the risks of vaccines? Until you and the rest of the entrenched medical community do then you'll continue to see a decline in vaccination rates. Ivory tower versus reality: Your words and Dr. Offit's are falling on deaf ears -- because the kid down the street has autism, and that scares the hell out of people (as it should).

[Stagmom - Geneticist]

Oh yes, the concerned neuro says, "I recommend you see a geneticist." Finally a scrap of hope! You go. You do the blood draws from hell. You learn your girls are perfectly genetically intact. You hang the results next to your perfect MRI, your perfect CATs and your perfect EEG's...... And you still a child who no longer speaks, is clumsy, can't poop and on and on and on. And this after millions have been poured into the genetics holy grail. Also know as the commode as far as it helps today's real, live children.

[Dan Roy]

This is Dr. Parikh's reply in Salon of Sep, 23 to Kirby's rebuttal above.

David Kirby wrote a rebuttal to my book review in Salon of Dr. Paul Offit’s new book, Autism’s False Prophets.

Here’s a link to his post:

“Dr. Parikh, I am Becoming Embarrassed for You.”

Far be it for me to change Mr. Kirby’s mind. On the other hand, I didn’t write the review to persuade him or those like him who religiously believe in this autism-vaccine link. I write about autism and vaccines to make sure that parents understand that their child’s doctors care deeply about them and that vaccines are safe and effective. Like anything else in medicine, they have risks. But autism isn’t one of them, and the benefits of vaccines clearly outweigh the risks for both a single child and our society as a whole.

But since he makes some claims, I’d like to clarify a few points:

He’s never invited me to “debate” him. The only invitation I’ve ever received to debate anybody about this came earlier this morning via my email, where the manager of autism one radio asked me to debate Andrew Wakefield. I declined that invitation because, as one person said, I don’t want to be the one bullet believer amongst a bunch of grassy knoll conspiracy theorists. But neither Mr. Kirby, nor anybody representing him, has ever contacted me. But I did email him through his website today to ask him if he’s been emailing the wrong person and to let him know about this rebuttal.

He’s right that Autism Speaks does sponsor some anti-vaccine research, but as opposed to Mr. Kirby and the organization that pays him (Age of autism) or Jenny McCarthy’s group (Generation Rescue), they don’t exist solely to try to prove a vaccine-autism link.

Mr. Kirby’s response is also a pretty clear case study of the usual methods anti-vaccine folks use to defend their point of view

· Attack the messenger: “Some Pediatricians are thoughtful. Others are just plain, (well, let's be polite) "belatedly informed."

A more typical example of this is when anti-vaccine folks say that doctors who speak to the safety of vaccines are all paid speakers for vaccine makers or are somehow doing it on their behalf. Mr. Kirby didn’t do that here, but that’s because I added my disclosure to the end of my article:
“Dr. Parikh does not have, nor has he ever had, any relationship, financial or otherwise, with vaccine makers or other other pharmaceutical companies.”
· Demand we stop speaking up: “Dr. Parikh – Please get your rhetorical ducks in a row, or refrain from participating in this discussion altogether.”

Letters and emails that I’ve received from past articles I’ve written about autism and vaccines have demanded that I (or my editors) retract what I’ve written. Mr. Kirby is a lot more restrained here than others, but his point seems to be the same: View different than theirs should not be allowed.

· Cite studies that have very little relevance: “Three projects will focus on the potential role of vaccines, specifically the role of ethylmercury or other vaccine components. These include a project by Dr. Flavio Keller at the University Bio-Medica in Rome, who will study the behavioral and pathological effects of ethyl and methyl mercury on a strain of mice that possess a certain mutation in order to examine gene and environment interactions. Dr. Mark Noble from the University of Rochester will use a genetically modified cell line to study the effects of ethylmercury and aluminum hydroxide on oxidative potential. Finally, Dr. David Baskin from Methodist Hospital in Houston will study cell proliferation in response to thimerosal exposure.”

Lately, anti-vaccine folks have been funding and citing a series of animal studies demonstrating thimerasol is toxic. But none really furthers the case that thimerasol causes autism (I’ll get to aluminum below). For one thing, the relative concentration of thimerasol animals are exposed to in these experiments is very different than in kids. Here’s why: In pediatrics, we dose drugs and therapies by weight, so kids who are heavier get more. This ensures medicine is effective and safe. If you give, as has happened in many of thee animal experiments, the same amount of thimerasol to a rat or monkey as to a child, you’re giving much greater relative amount because these animals weigh much less than a child. Just about anything given in high enough amounts can be toxic. An example of this is the Ames cancer test, in which you can place any suspect chemical onto a testing medium that reacts if that suspect chemical is carcinogenic. The thing is, the Ames test reacts to just about everything you put on it if you add enough of it. Think of these animal thimerasol experiments like placing infinite amounts of mercury onto the Ames test—it will cause a reaction and then every anti-vaccine advocate will declare that they’re right.

On the other hand, the latest MMR study looking at people (the link is in my review) that came out showing (once again) that there is no link between it and autism was very relevant for many reasons—first, it essentially reproduced what Wakefield did and contradicted his findings. Second, the study was designed with the input and participation of groups who are against vaccines. A unique and interesting collaboration. Mr. Kirby hasn’t commented on this study anywhere—he knows about it, since sources tell me he was part of a conference call with the media when the study was released.

A couple of other methods Kirby did not use here, but others he supports do use:

· Move the target: First it was MMR, then it was thimerasol. Now that studies have shown they’re both safe, anti-vaccine folks are moving on the aluminum, “antifreeze” (there’s no antifreeze in vaccines), to anything else that helps make the safe and effective. I’ve even seen studies that blame Tylenol for causing autism coming from this camp. In short, the whenever scientific research debunks the latest culprit in vaccines, they move the target.

· Good P.R: One page ads in newspapers to scare parents, celebrity endorsements, political hearings—all of these are tools that anti-vaccine folks have used to make their case. Psychologists call this the “principle of social proof” or "social authority." Advertisers use it a lot to sell products. Have someone with stature stand next to you and endorse you or what you’re trying to sell. It’s a quick way to get credibility and publicity for your agenda. Anti-vaccine folks have been very effective at doing this. Offit makes this point when he reveals that Generation Rescue (the ones who placed those one page ads) hired the same P.R. agency that those who sued the maker of silicone breast implants used a couple of decades ago. Lately, that P.R. campaign has taken on the slogan "Green Our Vaccines." But what, exactly and specificially, does that mean? Removing everything from vaccines that anti-vaccine folks think are poisonous would, well, be eliminating vaccines. After all, it's some these components that keeps them safe and effective. Before thimerasol, for example, some children would die from infection because they were given a vaccine from a contaminated vial.

Again, the question we need to ask of Mr. Kirby’s response (or any other argument coming from anti-vaccine advocates or groups) is the following: Does anything he said show that vaccines cause autism? Isn't that the question he seems to keep posing?

I don’t believe so. So instead of attacking the messenger, citing irrelevant science, moving the target, demanding that alternative views to theirs be squelched, or relying on slick slogans and celebrity endorsements, I would ask Mr. Kirby to clarify why he still believes vaccines cause autism, especially after we see his rationale explained in Dr. Offit’s book.

______________________________________________-
Addendum 9/24/08: Mr. Kirby has not responded to my email yet. On the other hand, he's busy briefing a NY congresswoman and 130 other members or staff of other other politicians on the autism issue. The hearing is run by a congresswoman who is, by her record, is anti-vaccine. In other words, it will be like Dan Burton's hearing as described in Offit's book. To make a more modern day comparison, as critical an interview as Sean Hannity interviewing Sarah Palin. To my knowledge, there are no opposing views being aired.

[doctorsknowbest]

"If you have not seen a geneticist, I would highly recommend a consultation."

That's a good one. Once fragile-X is ruled out, mainstream doctors just throw up their hands and say it is some "magically" genetic cause.

Ya know, if it were so easy that a simple genetic profile would give the answer, nobody would be asking these pesky questions about regressive autism.

[Sue M.]

"Posted by: nhokkanen
Dr. Parikh misspells Thimerosal 17 times.

Um - no nhokkan. "thimerasol" is considered correct spelling. How do you spell colour, flavour or aluminium vs aluminum. Oh and my son calls me mum".

Nope. Try again. Dr. Parikh misspelled the word thimerosal. Whether or not you can find some reference to a spelling of "thimerasol" somewhere is not important to me. The standard most well-known spellings are thimerosal or thiomersal. End of story. I guarantee you that Dr. Parikh's heart sank when he realized that he spelled the word wrong :)

It doesn't look good for him at all... being a doctor and someone who supposedly is so up on the vaccine/autism connection... He should be able to spell thimerosal. The average "Joe citizen" can get away with misspelling that word... but not Dr. Parikh.

So sorry.

[Solomon]

Aha! another doctor(Doc Bruin) that needs further education! I suggest DAN!Conference on Oct 23-27 for starters. Maybe you can get Big Pharma to sponsor you.

[belinda]

Posted by: nhokkanen
Dr. Parikh misspells Thimerosal 17 times.

Um - no nhokkan. "thimerasol" is considered correct spelling. How do you spell colour, flavour or aluminium vs aluminum. Oh and my son calls me mum.

[Steve]

Dr Bruin: "Since I have never encountered a patient situation such as yours, nor have I met a doctor who has managed a similar case, so it is difficult for me to answer your question as to why?"

Have you looked? I can introduce you personally to dozens families with similar stories. Have you looked at a kid with regressive autism and said "I am going to look until I find out what happened here"? Since you have "never encountered a case", the answer is no, and as such why are you commenting on the causes of regressive autism?

"There are known causes of developmental regression that are not related to vaccine administration and I trust that you have been seen by many physicians, including a medical geneticist to evaluate some of these known causes."

Name one that causes the lapse I described. Name one.

"Many causes of autism are yet unknown, but I feel that we are making progress."

Who is "we"? What are you doing to prevent or treat autism in your practice?

"I definitely do not want to return to the days of polio, HIB meningitis and rampant whooping cough and it is my job to protect my patients and my community in the best way that I can."

Nor any other lists of diseases of the past that have left on their own or with the help of vaccines. I noticed you didn’t say “the days of hepatitis or chicken pox or flu”. Can we start with an honest debate on turning the clock back some on the vaccine schedule?

"While I emphathize with your situation, I cannot give you an answer as to why your child regressed, nor do I think it is reason for me to stop vaccinating the children in my community. I also I do not think that gives you the right to scare other families from preventing their children and our communities from vaccine preventable diseases such as HIB, measles and pertussis."

Now tell me Doc Bruin how did I "scare families"? I simply told the truth. Are you asking me to withhold the truth? Are you saying that my kid gets this sick after vaccination and I don’t have "the right" to talk about it? Do you hear yourself? Again I ask have you put your "empathy" in action?

"If you have not seen a geneticist, I would highly recommend a consultation."

Actually Doc Bruin I had thousands of dollars of genetic testing done at one of the top genetic research hospitals in the country. Guess what the results are… I bet you can… the results were a completely normal genetic profile.

Thanks Doc Bruin for once again documenting how completely out-of-touch the average physician is with what is really going on with regressive autism.

[Kelli Ann Davis]

doc Bruin:

A couple of important points for you (and others from the vaccinate-at-any-cost crowd) to remember as you make *disease prevention* your ultimate and primary focus when advocating for vaccines:

** Classifying parents of vaccine-injured children as "anti-vaccine" is misleading and false. Our children were injured because they were vaccinated;

** Promoting vaccine safety has absolutely nothing to do with the issue of whether vaccines are successful in protecting against infectious diseases -- they are two separate issues; and

** Its only when safety issues are ignored that parents are eventually forced to weigh the risk of safety against the risk of infectious disease and the two issues come together

Unfortunately, it is the *failure* of the federal health agencies to adequately address legitimate vaccine safety concerns which has placed us in this current predicament where parents are forced to weigh the costs of vaccine "benefits" against vaccine "risks". And when parents see numbers like 1 in 150 for a life-long disability staring them in the face is it any wonder many are making the choice NOT to vaccinate their children?

Bottom Line: My guess is vaccination rates will continue to decline until the safety issues surrounding the current vaccine schedule are properly addressed by unbiased, scientific research which looks at *fully unvaccinated/vaccinated* population outcomes.

Hint: I wouldn't hold my breath on that study happening anytime soon.

[Angie]

Doc Bruin,
You still have not answered the questions....

Please, if you would like your thoughts and opinions to be taken seriously here, you must be able to defend/answer your statements/our questions.

1. You state you have never seen a child get Autism from vaccinations. Does this mean the only cases of Autism in your practice are fully UNvaccinated or that you do not have any patients with Autism at your practice?

2. You stated that you have seen "many" children die from vaccine preventable deaths during schooling/training/practice. Do you know for a FACT that these children NEVER recived the vaccination and boosters for the diseases for which they died from? My fully vaccinated son, who regressed into Autism after his 15 and 18 Month vaccinations (who is still nonverbal after having 'more than the average 14 month vocabulary at his 'well child checkup' and regressing so dramactially after his 15 and 18 month vaccinations) had FULL BLOWN Whooping cough last year, so as a doctor, you must know that NO ONE is 100% immune to something after a vaccination. So, do you know for a fact that the "many" (and also please help us by stating how many you consider to be "many" had no vaccinations?

3. How can you explain, or your partners account that THOUSANDS of us families have experienced almost the EXACT SAME thing with our children? Both of our boys, ages 4 and 5 both regressed so dramatically into Autism, that viewing the family videos is enough proof for anyone to see what has happened to them. When you take their medical record, and with a simple, elementary school 'timeline' do a timeline of vaccines, illnesses and development, you can plainly see exactly WHAT was going on. They reacted to each and every vaccine, whether a HUGE reaction or a small fever...and the reactions and illnesses were worse and worse after each one, eventually until their little brains and immune systems couldnt take it anymore, and they regressed so dramatically into Autism. How do you explain that each and every one of our stories, are SO SIMILAR?

4. As a doctor, I am intersted in knowing why vaccines are 'one size fits all', and how with the growing number of food and environmental allergies in children these days, how any doctor would feel comfortable giving EVERY child the same vaccine, lets say that was produced in or contains eggs? And the vaccines are given 'as recommended' WAY before any 'food' allergies would be tested for? Just given that fact alone, how could that be right, or 'doing no harm'...if so many children now suffer from food allergies, how could ANY child be given ANY vaccine that contains a food allergen without given an allergy test? Hmm...

thanks in advance for your answers. I hope you didnt get offended by anything I wrote here, I just want to be able to pick the brain of a doctor who doesnt believe vaccines are not 100% safe for 100% of the kids today...thats all.

Angie

[Donna]

Q.E.D. (quod erat demonstrandum - that which was to be demonstrated)

Regarding Dr Bruin's response to my opinion that many peds are in denial:

"It is healthy to have a good debate about this important issue. As a pediatrician in a 7 person practice with a collective 100+ years of pediatric experience, I recently polled my partners about their experiences with vaccines. The results are as follows:

-No patient in our practice has ever developed autism after receiving a set of vaccinations."

[doc bruin]

Steve - I genuinely feel for you and your situation. But why insult me? We have never met and I should be entitled to share my experience with out the shallow insults.

Since I have never encountered a patient situation such as yours, nor have I met a doctor who has managed a similar case, so it is difficult for me to answer your question as to why?

I do know that spending 4 years in medical school, three years in training and 8 years in clinical practice has allowed me to see many horrific cases of children dying/severely sickened from vaccine preventable illness. There are known causes of developmental regression that are not related to vaccine administration and I trust that you have been seen by many physicians, including a medical geneticist to evaluate some of these known causes. Many causes of autism are yet unknown, but I feel that we are making progress. I definitely do not want to return to the days of polio, HIB meningitis and rampant whooping cough and it is my job to protect my patients and my community in the best way that I can.

While I emphathize with your situation, I cannot give you an answer as to why your child regressed, nor do I think it is reason for me to stop vaccinating the children in my community. I also I do not think that gives you the right to scare other families from preventing their children and our communities from vaccine preventable diseases such as HIB, measles and pertussis.

I hope that you are able to find treatments that will help you and your child. If you have not seen a geneticist, I would highly recommend a consultation.

[nhokkanen]

Dr. Parikh misspells Thimerosal 17 times.

"David Kirby Smacks Me Down" 9/23/08
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=21538

"Anti-vaccine" appears 11 times.

I suppose inventing and repeating a prejudicial pejorative is easier than using the phrase "people who have witnessed vaccine injury and prefer to prevent it rather than lie about its existence." And denial is easier than dealing with reality.

[samaxtics]

Doc Bruin,
“As a pediatrician in a 7 person practice with a collective 100+ years of pediatric experience, I recently polled my partners about their experiences with vaccines.”

Our eldest son received his last vaccinations at 18 months when he received the MMR, DTaP and OPV. We made the decision to stop vaccinating based on the discussion we had with the developmental pediatrician who diagnosed my son with Asperger’s/HFA and who btw, had double+ the individual average years of pediatric experience of doctors in your practice; someone who had been around long enough to treat children (such as myself, siblings and neighbours) who had all the “childhood” diseases.

Where I live here in Canada, vaccines are given at health clinics. No pediatrician we have ever seen has ever asked about his vaccination status let alone got their knickers in a knot about it. When the health clinic called to advise me that my son’s boosters were due, I informed them that as we were pretty sure that vaccinations were involved in his condition we were not going to be vaccinating either of our children anymore. They said “okay, we’ll write that in his file”. We do see people in the medical field on a social basis and not one has ever disputed that vaccines may have a role in autism and other disorders/disabilities.

“A lot of time and money is currently being wasted on the vaccine hypotheses at this point in time.”

It is indisputable that vaccines have been responsible in cases of injury and death; that is why there is a compensation fund. Why you and others wouldn’t want to look into the vaccine ingredients/vaccine schedule or the subset of the population who become adversely affected is simply incomprehensible.

[Stagmom]

Do you recall Dr. David Tayloe Jr., President of the AAP on Larry King last Spring? He said his practice sees 100,000 kids a year and he has never referred a patient to the vaccine compensation program. He's never had a vaccine injure a child? Why? Because he does not believe that is even possible?

TAYLOE: And you must have immunization rates that approach 90 percent to keep diseases such as polio, measles, whooping cough and diphtheria from coming in here from countries. They're one plane ride away and we're that close to an epidemic.

So, for the American Academy of Pediatrics to want to change the immunization program, there would have to be medical evidence -- indisputable medical evidence that we ought to change it. Now...

MCCARTHY: But isn't parents'...

TAYLOE: ...we've changed it about six times just in the last 10 years. We changed the whooping cough vaccine, we changed the polio vaccine, we changed the rotavirus vaccine.

KING: Why are there so many?

TAYLOE: Because we've been able to develop ways to vaccinate children to prevent pain and suffering. Just in my practice, I've watched three children die of each of the different kinds of bacterial meningitis that we immunize for today. And it's tragic when that happens. I, in my practice, have not referred a child to the compensation program for a vaccine-related injury...

MCCARTHY: But do we really need all of these?

TAYLOE: ...and our practice has seen over...

MCCARTHY: Do we really need all of these, though?

TAYLOE: ...over a hundred thousand kids a year.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/02/lkl.01.html

[Steve]

Doc Bruin,

Thank you for your 4th grade science project level "scientific assessment" of the state of infectious disease and the vaccine-autism link you were so kind to share with us.

I recently polled my family about their experiences with vaccines. The results are as follows:

- Our son was developing totally typically. At his 15-month checkup he met all his milestones and nothing out of the ordinary was noted on his medical record.

- At his 15-month checkup he received a MMR and DTaP

- He became ill that same evening and was sick for three weeks. By the end of the three week period he was profoundly autistic. We took him to the pediatrician who agreed he had seen a typical child three weeks prior and now he needed to be evaluated for autism.

- He did not eat solid food for a year and had completely liquid stools for a year and a half.

And in case you are wondering, yes he is still a mess – and will never be the person he was supposed to be - but at least I don’t have to worry about a wild case of measles.

Instead of having a circle jerk with your colleagues, why aren’t you investigating cases like mine?

[For doc bruin]

From doc bruin -

"A lot of time and money is currently being wasted on the vaccine hypotheses at this point in time. Vaccines are responsible for keeping our communities free from diseases that only decades ago claimed thousands of childhood lives each year."

doc bruin, you have dodged the issue. Guess what, we are not stupid. What I would like to know is, how many of the kids in your practice HAVE autism. Or maybe your practice has none because they left your practice and are now seeing DAN! and other alternative docs, who are actually *treating* them for the autism.

How the heck do you know that nobody got autism after receiving vaccines? Where did that statement come from, its doesn't even make sense. Did the autism inform you as to what exactly triggered it? Do you also think its safe to inject even trace amounts of neurotoxins like aluminum and thimerosal into infants and toddlers? And finally do you think its safe to inject 20+ strains of viruses and bacteria in kids in a short period of time? Where do SIDS deaths come from - opps, sorry "we don't know." Guess what, you don't know squat.

Where are the studies that show the safety of an overladen vaccine schedule? Show them to me, otherwise shut the hell up. You have NOTHING to back your claim that vaccines are safe. You have NOTHING to back the claim that vaccines do not cause chronic disease.

And you have no idea what the autism epidemic is going to do to the national debt. If you thought the housing mortgage crisis was bad enough, wait till autism hits the fan. It already has by the way - exactly how long are you going to keep denying your role in this fiasco?

[kat23]

Thanks David!
Having gone rounds with Parikh on Huffingtonpost, I know his level of ignorance is high. He has never offered any true information that is not backed by the already debunked studies like the Denmark one. He never reveals his personal financial connection to the pharmaceutical industry. He's is overly opinionated until someone demands truth from him, and POOF...he disappears....until the next blog. What a worthless human-being. Hides behind a computer screen and hides from an honest debate on this subject. IF YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU SAY....DEBATE IT!!! I am sure that DK would keep his word and find and nice comfy place for your debate, take him up on the offer. Knowing you for the coward you are, you will NEVER do this. Although it is obvious by the amount of time you stay on the computer giving parents a hard time, you have more than enough time to fit this debate into your life. You are not interested in the truth...never have been...you seem to thrive on reducing this argument to "it's all the crazy parents of children with autism's fault"....end of subject.

DR Bruin,
So in your practice there are no children with autism? or is it that there are no children with regressive autism? How in the world can you support your claim that you have never had a vaccine injured child? With children receiving their first vaccine the day they are born....makes your statement stupid. Unless you are here to say that there is no sickness of any kind in your practice, then there is NO WAY to back p your words. This is a ridiculous blanket statement that has no base in science. NO doctor can honestly make that statement. Are you aware that Dr Juli Gerberding has even debunked the studies that claim no connection?

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

Doc Bruin,

"-No patient in our practice has ever developed autism after receiving a set of vaccinations."

So you either have no patients with autism or you have patients with autism that have never receved vaccine? Or maybe you do have children with autism in your practice and it's your assumption that there is no effect from the vaccines; in which case where is your science to back up this assumption???

Matt,

"...not backed up by science"??? Get a clue dude:
For more reading on science read the following testimony and, when you have a few weeks, read any of the 60+ scientific papers referenced on the last 6-7 pages of this paper:

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Kinsbourne_Final_Report_April_2008.pdf

[Kris]

Dr. Parikh works at the HMO I take my children to. The same HMO that gave my child a 5/1 shot plus the MMR vaccine at 13 months when she had a "slight" fever. When I inquired about giving shots with a fever they told me that a "slight" fever was fine as long as it did not accompany any symptoms. I just didn't know any better - but they should have. About a year ago, I had to take my NT child in for an emergency and ended up having to see "Dr." Parikh. By then I did know better and when he challenged me about why I hadn't given her all of her vaccinations while going over her records- I told him that my older daughter had autism because of vaccine damage. He hadn't even done a full examination of my child, handed me a script and said that the only damage being done to my children was not vaccinating them and walked out of the room. How's that for a bedside manner? I did a follow up with our regular ped. 2 days later and I reported him to the HMO, but surprise, surprise, never heard a word back. He posts commentaries about "parents like us" in our local papers often. His ego is massive. Even if his own child was diagnosed with autism following a round of shots, I very much doubt he would ever say it was related. I am embarrassed for the hospital and disgusted that they keep a "dr" like him on staff. I just wonder how many children he has injured over the years?

[Solomon]

Matt,

Ignorance is not an excuse!

[doc bruin]

It is healthy to have a good debate about this important issue. As a pediatrician in a 7 person practice with a collective 100+ years of pediatric experience, I recently polled my partners about their experiences with vaccines. The results are as follows:

-No patient in our practice has ever developed autism after receiving a set of vaccinations.

-Not one patient has been diagnosed with HIB meningitis in the last 10 years

-No patient has been admitted to the hospital with a varicella related complication in the past 5 years

-No patient admitted to the hospital with rotavirus over the past 2 years

-Over the past 5 years we have seen increasing numbers of whooping cough (including the death of several infants) and the highest level of measles in the last ten years.

The conclusion that we collectively reached was that in our practice we have seen no link between vaccines and autism and we have in seen a signigicant historic decline in vaccine preventable diseases, with the exception of whooping cough and measles (in recent years) as many parents have recently been declining immunizations out of unsubstantiated fears of vaccines causing autism.

I wholly support further research into the potential causes of autism, including looking into other environmental factors. A lot of time and money is currently being wasted on the vaccine hypotheses at this point in time. Vaccines are responsible for keeping our communities free from diseases that only decades ago claimed thousands of childhood lives each year. Let's work together to find the cause(s) of autism without destroying our vaccine programs.

[Teresa]

John and Matt-

"Is this site actually about autism? Or is it a general rant against vaccines and the medical industry?"

"I see a group of passionate folks, many of them parents of children with autism, who are advocating a cause not backed up by science."

"My daughter is 20 months old and fully vaccinated."

Our children our vaccinated too. We also felt vaccines were important and safe until our children became ill, stopped talking, had GI distress, strange hand movements, no eye contact, crying, isolation, rashes, seizures, biting, and many more horrible signs and symptoms of pain and inflammation.

This particular blog you have commented on is about a briefing tomorrow on the science and evidence of harm. Tune in tomorrow and prepare to be educated instead of posting comments that show your ignorance and complete lack of understanding.