Dr. Steven Novella, why is this so hard to understand?

By J.B. Handley
 
I’d never heard of Dr. Steven Novella until I read his recent blog piece HERE rebutting Generation Rescue’s recently introduced website, FourteenStudies.org.
 
I don’t know Dr. Novella and I certainly have nothing against him personally, but I was stunned by the utter lack of knowledge and critical thinking that went into his critique of our new site. In general, I think the site so resolutely exposes the dirty underwear of the mainstream’s weak science on the vaccine-autism debate that most critiques of the site seem to center around the idea that “you have no need to go look at the site, and please pay no attention to the dirty underwear behind the curtain…”
 
Before I explain why Dr. Novella is so wildly ignorant and off base when it comes to the topic of vaccines and autism, let’s look a little more closely at who he is:
 
Dr. Novella is a clinical neurologist and assistant professor at Yale’s school of medicine. His areas of specialization are neuromuscular disease and botulinum injections (see appendix below). He appears to have done both his undergrad and med school at Georgetown University. Looking at his biography on wikipedia (which he undoubtedly wrote himself), he became a doctor 11 years ago and turns 45 years old this July. It doesn’t appear that autism, vaccines, immunology, toxicology, nutrition, or gastroenterology are part of his area of focus, expertise, or study.

I have been astonished by the culture of arrogance and elitism that medical schools appear to breed in their doctors and scientists. The culture tends to produce an “us vs. them” mentality, where doctors collectively back each other up on controversial issues, typically without understanding the issue for themselves. Somehow, if you have a medical degree and you practice conventional medicine, you get it, and if you don’t, you don’t.
 
Stephen Greenspan, a psychologist and expert on gullibility, explains this recurrent experience of smart people falling for the b.s. of others they relate to as due to "the tendency of humans to model their actions—especially when dealing with matters they don't fully understand—on the behavior of other humans."
 
I’m not intellectually intimidated by any of these jokers. Their degrees mean zippo to me, because I knew plenty of knuckleheads in college who went on to be doctors, and they’re still knuckleheads (I also knew plenty of great, smart guys who went on to be doctors and they’re still great, smart guys).
 
I chose a different path and went into the business world. In the business world, having a degree from a great college or business school gets you your first job, and not much else. There are plenty of Harvard Business School grads who have bankrupted companies and gone to jail, and plenty of high school drop-outs who are multi-millionaires. Brains and street-smarts win, not degrees, arrogance, or entitlement.
 
On of the most fascinating aspects of the autism epidemic is how the mainstream health community seems to get away with a stunning paradox: they are so damn smart that they are certain as to what doesn’t cause autism, but they haven’t a clue as to what does. How can that be? Why aren’t the smarts being applied to finding the cause?
 
*        *
 
For those of you who haven’t read it, FourteenStudies.org is a website that not only deconstructs the myth that “the science has spoken and vaccines do not cause autism” but also is the only place on the web where you can actually find all the scientific studies the other side makes reference to. As I have written about repeatedly, the mainstream medical community, and people like Dr. Novella, continually misrepresent what has and hasn’t been studied, make glaring over-generalizations, and falsely reassure parents that the science has been done to study the possible relationship between vaccines and autism. They seem perfectly willing to set aside any critical thinking of their own, and reference studies that don’t remotely do what they claim they do, because, dammit, they know more than you do.
 
Consider the following:
 
Children receive 36 vaccines by the age of 5 in the United States. Of those 36 vaccines, 2 have ever been studied for their possible relationship, the two doses of the MMR. But, children receive 23 vaccine BEFORE THEIR FIRST MMR SHOT, and no work whatsoever has been done to consider these other vaccines and their relationship to autism.
 
According to the CDC’s website, vaccines contain 53 separate ingredients, but only 1 – thimerosal – has ever been looked at in terms of its relationship to autism.
 
At my son’s 2-month vaccine appointment, he received the following vaccines simultaneously: Hep B, Rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PVC, and Polio. He developed eczema, was lethargic for weeks, and went on to develop autism. Have any of these vaccines or the co-administration of so many vaccines ever been considered for their relationship to autism? Not remotely.
 
The science that has been done to date to look at the relationship between vaccines and autism has only been done to quell legitimate concerns raised By SafeMinds (thimerosal) and Dr. Andy Wakefield (MMR), it’s never been done to answer the recurrent testimonials, now numbering in the hundreds of thousands, of parents who lost their kids to autism after vaccine appointments.
 
Back to Dr. Novella. His critique of FourteenStudies.org seems to be largely based on the naïve idea that his colleagues couldn’t possibly be mistaken on this issue, which means that I must be:

“It is also remarkable that Handley himself quotes many professional, expert, and advisory bodies who also have read the studies and concluded that they overwhelmingly support the conclusion of a lack of correlation between vaccines and autism - including the Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Medical Association, the Institute of Medicine, and the March of Dimes. Handley casually and self-servingly assumes that all of the professionals in these organizations are incompetent or they are lying.”

“And keep in mind what it would mean to lie on this issue - Handley believes that many doctors who have chosen the career path of public health are deliberately condemning millions of children to autism simply to avoid admitting past error, because they cannot face the horrible truth, or to receive their Big Pharma kickbacks. It’s no wonder their rhetoric often become hysterical - they really believe this is going on. For some reason it is easier for them to believe this astounding horrible claim than even consider the possibility that perhaps they have misinterpreted the science and that trained experts who have dedicated their lives to understanding the science may know better. This is what we call the ‘arrogance of ignorance.’”

Arrogance of ignorance? Dr. Novella asserts, “I personally know of many people, including myself and David, who have both read all the studies and are telling the truth about our opinions that they do not support a link between autism and vaccines.”
 
He’s read the studies. The ones that cover 2 of 36 vaccines, 1 of 53 ingredients, never consider unvaccinated kids, and are almost all funded by conflicted parties and they clearly show ALL VACCINES don’t cause autism? And I’m the ignorant one?
 
Taking his ignorance to a new level, Dr. Novella then chooses to defend, as one example, one of the Danish studies looking at the relationship between thimerosal and autism. You can read about a critique of that study HERE. He concludes:
 
“In addition to a lack of correlation between thimerosal and autism, this study supports the conclusion that the rise of autism rates in the 1990s and beyond are due to changes in the definition of autism and efforts to make the diagnosis in the population. That is the common element between Denmark and the US. Exposure to thimerosal and the vaccine schedule differed between these two countries, and yet autism rates were similar.”
 
And, in making his point, this is the only study Dr. Novella points to. To summarize, Dr. Novella demonstrates an incomprehensible level of ignorance in the following four ways:
 
1. He argues that I suffer from the “arrogance of ignorance” because many of his self-interested colleagues disagree with me and they must surely be right. Do I really need to cite the thousands of examples in human history where the consensus of the day turned out to be wrong? He calls himself a “skeptic” but I’m wrong because his friends think I’m wrong and surely my brain is not as big as theirs?
 
2. He cites a study that solely looks at the relationship between thimerosal and autism (1 of 53 ingredients in vaccines) as PROOF that “vaccines do not cause autism.” This is a reckless over-generalization that has no basis in fact.
 
3. Of all studies, he chooses to defend the Madsen Denmark study (see above) that has without question the most egregious data-trick ever used in a thimerosal-autism study, and a study that has even been discredited by the CDC and NIEHS as “unhelpful.”
 
4. He states that “autism rates were similar” between the US and Denmark. Yet, a fifth grader could look at the Madsen study he himself cites and read on page 605 of the study that the autism rate in Denmark was under 5 per 10,000, while the U.S. rate is somewhere between 60-100 per 10,000, which means our rate of autism is 12-20 times higher than Denmark’s, which would mean our rates are “similar”, so long as you define similar as the U.S. rate being twenty times the rate of Denmark.
 
Dr. Novella claims to be a scientist. For all I know, he is great at neuromuscular disease and injecting botox. When it comes to vaccines and autism, his “critique” of FourteenStudies.org demonstrates an unacceptable level of ignorance, non-critical thinking, and parroting of the words of others. My only guess for why Dr. Novella would publish such rubbish is that he knows his friends demonstrating similarly narrow and misguided views will tell him how smart he is.
 
Appendix
 
As an aside, Dr. Novella does appear to have expertise at injecting the botulinum toxin in people’s bodies, as his webpage characterizes this as an area of expertise:
 
“Yale Neurology provides diagnostic and therapeutic treatment of patients with hyperactive neurological disorders, such as cervical dystonia, hemifacial spasm, blepharospasm, limb dystonia and spasticity. Using both botulinum A (BotoxTM) and botulinum B (MyoblocTM) toxin, we will evaluate and design a treatment plan for patients and work with referring physicians to assist in their care.”
 
Wikipedia tells me many interesting things about botulinum including this winner: “Despite Botulinum toxin being one of the most lethal naturally occurring substances known to science, it is still widely used for cosmetic purposes in a purified and isolated form.”
 
And:
 
“In September 2005, a paper published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology reported from the FDA saying that use of Botox has resulted in 28 deaths between 1989 and 2003, though none were attributed to cosmetic use.”

“On February 8, 2008, the FDA announced that Botox has "been linked in some cases to adverse reactions, including respiratory failure and death, following treatment of a variety of conditions using a wide range of doses," due to its ability to spread to areas distant to the site of the injection.”

“In January 2009, the Canadian government warned that botox can have the adverse effect of spreading to other parts of the body which could cause muscle weakness, swallowing difficulties, pneumonia, speech disorders and breathing problems.”
 
J.B. Handley is co-founder of Generation Rescue.
 

Comments

[TeacherMommy]

I'm not commenting at the moment on the vaccine/autism debate, because I'm still looking at it (I have been cautious and veeeerrry slow with vaccinating my own children--a sort of compromise, I suppose). However, I do have to point out that you have weakened your own otherwise well-written and well-reasoned arguments by referring to Wikipedia as a source. Wikipedia is not a reliable resource because it can be written and edited by anyone--as you yourself pointed out. I would love to see more from you, but as a teacher who warns my students to NEVER use Wikipedia as a reference, I can't help but be concerned about some of your own research practices.

[Jacey]

I think it is fascinating that Dr. from Yale would actually address JB. I would usually think they would not even substantiate a reply to a "layman" non-medically trained individual.
Makes you think they are actually realizing this all makes sense and trying to hide it. Why else would they give JB the time of day?? Hmmmm.

Like the old Shakespearean quote: "I think thou protest too much."

[Chris]

Novella makes a more convincing argument and has the scientific backing to articulately explain it.

Oh, but good job bringing up his wikipedia page, that has everything to do with the argument at hand.

[Jason]

Wow, I'm convinced, there is a risk involved in vaccinations. But EVERYTHING we do in life has risk. Face it, life is hazardous, and everyone is in danger 100% of the time, you don't even have to leave the house to have a fatal accident. I see too often people trying to lay blame on others for their own problems. I notice quite a few posters referring to their children and how it has effected them, and I wonder if they would even voice or have an opinion if it did not effect them personally. Me, I'm sure glad my children will not be getting smallpox, or polio, just as I am glad they weren't part of the percent that have autism. I hope they don't end up with any other serious illness either. I also hate the fact that my mothers medication for migraines is more expensive than crack, or heroin, and I'm amazed at the number of accidental deaths caused by aspirin. So I cant really stick up for drug companies. I say do what you do, and stop all this fighting. I personally like the fact that everyone is not looking for a possible cause and a possible cure in the same place, that would just be silly.
So you got a critique, get over it, learn from it, I have learned that the truth is usually the last thing you want to hear. Now your both arguing like a couple of eggheads about which logical fallacies the other is making, which has nothing to do with autism at all. Logical fallacies are part of human nature. Your followers are going to back whatever you say, his are going to do the same for him, and none of it seems productive. Is it me or wouldn't working together do more good than trying to out intellect each other?

[TOM SAVAGE]

The battle has been joined. The Shadowy evil doers, in this case scientists, plotting away in their laboratories. And theyd get away with their awful plans if it werent for the Messiahs, those other wordly types who see straight through the conspiracy because they have special insight. They just know they are right! They already have the results because they already know the answers. The Messiahs protect the rest of us, the great mass of fearful uninformed bozos, by pushing back against the dark side. What we would do, us poor sad little people, without their guidance? For starters we could check the claim that Novella wrote his own Wikipedia entry. Its not that hard. He didnt. Handley not so Messianic, but very human!

[Paul]

Moderator: do you understand what "intellectual dishonesty" is? I didn't think so.

From Moderator #5: Yes. Readers can find Dr. Novella if they'd like to easily enough. Do you feel ignored? Wah.

[Tim Kasemodel]

Novella states:

"And keep in mind what it would mean to lie on this issue - Handley believes that many doctors who have chosen the career path of public health are deliberately condemning millions of children to autism simply to avoid admitting past error, because they cannot face the horrible truth,..."

Some parents of children with autism who see vaccine damage for what it is go through a period of unnecessary guilt, that they held there child down to recieve the vaccines that sent there perfectly normal child down a path different from the one they were on the day before. This is true for any adverse reaction to vaccines.

Imagine if you were faced with the thought that you did this to thousands of children. How horrible whould that feel?

Some say "seeing is believing", but in reality we only see what we believe, or want to believe. So who is more desparate, who is more likley to avoid evidence or seek evidence that will support their beliefs?

The AAP is crapping their pants and we all know it.

;o)

[Tim Kasemodel]

Sean,

You (and Dr. Novella) sound like the perfect candidate for an idea I had on how you could prove once and for all that Thimerosal and vaccines in general are perfectly safe. You obviously are perfectly fine with injecting ethyl mercury into the bloodstream of small babies so you would not mind considering the following idea.

You could follow the same schedule that my son did at the time he was born in
1997. Since we had put him in daycare at 6 weeks, his vaccine schedule was
accelerated to accommodate their rules regarding immunizations. I would only
expect you to get injected with the Thimerosal alone since an avid proponent of
vaccines like yourself has probably been vaccinated for everything anyway.

On the day of his birth my son was given the Hepatitis B vaccine which
contained 12.5 mcg of ethyl mercury, injected into his 7.5 lb body. That would
be 1.6 mcg per pound. The EPA allowed daily limit is 0.1 mcg per kilogram, or 0.045 mcg per pound. That means you will be injecting into your bloodstream an amount 36.74 times the EPA daily limit. I will just assume 200 lbs for your wieght for simplicity, so you would be injected with 320 mcg of ethyl mercury (hg) on that day.

Keep in mind as you read on that the EPA daily limit is based on methyl mercury. There has NEVER been an established safe dose or daily limit of ethyl mercury. Also note that the University of Rochester has published a study (peer reviewed of course) that shows they found that methyl mercury causes damage at levels 90% lower that previously thought safe.

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050035

Two weeks later at the clinic my son was again given the Hepatitis B shot
because the hospital failed to record the first dose.
At 8.5 lbs he was given 12.5 mcg hg (1.47 mcg/lb - 32.42 times EPA limit)
You would get 294 mcg ethyl mercury injected that day.

At two months he was given Hepatitis B, HIB IPV, and DTaP. At 12.5 lbs he was
given 62.5 mcg hg (5.00 mcg/lb - 110.23 times the EPA limit)
You would get 1000 mcg ethyl mercury injected for that day

At four months he was given HIB, DTaP, and IPV. At 17.5 lbs he was given
50 mcg hg (2.85 mcg/lb - 62.99 mcg/lb - 62.85 times the EPA limit)
You would get 570 mcg ethyl mercury injected that day.

At six months he was given Hepatitis B, HIB, and DTaP. At 20.5 lbs he was
given 62.5 mcg hg (3.05 mcg/lb - 66.40 times the EPA limit)
You would get 610 mcg ethyl mercury injected that day.

At twelve months he was given MMR, HIB, OPV and Varivax. At 24.5 lbs he was
given 25 mcg hg (1.02 mcg/lb - 22.68 times the EPA limit)
You would get 204 mcg ethyl mercury injected that day.

At eighteen months he was given the DTaP. At 26 lbs he was given 25 mcg hg
(.96 mcg/lb - 21.20 times the EPA limit)
You would get 192 mcg ethyl mercury injected that day.

I hope that you see more clearly why there is concern about Thimerosal when it
is put into you own personal perspective.

Our son was injected with a total ethyl mercury burden of 250 mcg in the first
eighteen months of his life. Yours calculated proportioned to you body size
(assuming 200 lbs for simplicity) would be 3190 mcg. Considering that your
digestive system, brain and all other bodily functions are done growing and his
was not, that your immune system is not run down due to constant illness, that
your digestive system is not ravaged by constant use of antibiotics, and all
the while this is going on you are not being injected with all the stuff in the
vaccines themselves that weaken or otherwise affect the immune system, it seems
fair to assume this is not a truly accurate scientific experiment. However if
the ethyl mercury in Thimerosal is as safe as you, the CDC, FDA, IOM, NIH,
Pharma, and Paul Offit say it is, you would have no problem saying yes.

I would just like to say if you are actually thinking of doing this, I can not
hold myself responsible for your action. A study released by Thomas M. Burbacher and others on the effects of injected Thimerosal versus oral methyl mercury on macaques reported that ethyl mercury clears the bloodstream faster than methyl mercury, so it has been reported this means that it proves Thimerosal "safe". However, Out of the blood does not mean out of the body. Some of the ethyl mercury goes to the brain of the monkeys and is transformed into inorganic mercury and stays there. This is never mentioned in stories done on the report, and I am not sure why. Please read the entire 36 page report for yourself so that you can be properly informed before you write on this subject again.
It can be found at:
http://www.safeminds.org/research/library/Burbacher-EHP-Primates-April-2005.pdf

There is also the fact that the EPA allowable limit is .01 microgram of
METHYL MERCURY per kilogram of body weight PER DAY. My son was not given these
ETHYL MERCURY containing vaccines a little each day over the course of these
eighteen months, he was given large doses on certain days. Keep in mind also
that ethyl mercury, Thimerosal in general, was never studied on infants. It
was studied on a few people who were dying of meningitis, and since they died
very soon of meningitis, Thimerosal was presumed from that point on to be
unquestionably safe. As I understand it, Thimerosal itself has not been
studied at all since then, and all of the "previous studies" alluded in any
reports are based on epidemiological studies of databases only.

I encourage you to read "Evidence of Harm" by David Kirby. It explains in
detail what the CDC means by the statement "studies have shown" in regards to the safety of Thimerosal. If you are truly being objective, you will not have a problem at least reading it and coming to your own conclusions as opposed to accepting without question the rhetoric given by the agencies and individuals who are out protect themselves from possible
future liability.

I suggest you do this reading prior to injecting the ethyl mercury, after all,
there are no studies available that prove it is safe to do so, so no one knows
what you will be like when you are done.

Tim Kasemodel
Wayzata, MN

[Craig Willoughby]

Sean, let's turn that little statement around, shall we?

What would it take to convince you that vaccines DO cause autism?

If your answer is nothing (and I'm positive it is), then you are just blowing smoke out of your ass, you hypocritical piece of sh&%.

Go tell Orac that you had an epic fail.

[CM]

Sean,

The NNii says on their website that aluminum has been used in vaccines as an adjuvant for over 75 years. So aluminum (a known neurotoxin) has been in vaccines since the 1930s.

According to the FDA, thimerosal (another known neurotoxin) has been in vaccines since the 1930's also.

While the vaccines given to children today are not the same vaccines that were on the 1930's vaccine schedule, the vaccines given today still contain thimerosal (full amount in the flu shot and trace amounts in other vaccines) and aluminum (in amounts that exceed the minimal risk level).

Furthermore, according to Mercury Rising by Dan Olmsted "there is a distinct lack of observed cases before 1930". And as vaccines have been added to the immunization schedule, autism rates have also increased proportionately.

So I really must disagree with your comment. While correlation does not prove causation, this correlation does invalidate your specific argument.