AGE OF AUTISM

Did Change.org's Brie Cadman Promote Censorship of Science?

Managing Editor's Note: Looks like Brie Cadman is following Secretary of Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius's directive to censor/suppress/choose not to run science that questions vaccine safety. Where's the 1st amendment outcry from left or right?

By J.B. Handley

Brie Cadman is the Health Editor for Change.org. According to her bio:

“Prior to Change.org, Brie was an editor at DivineCaroline.com, a Web 2.0 site for women. As a freelancer, she has covered health, science and sustainability for print and online publications. Brie's previous professions include biochemist, clinical trial coordinator, indoor air pollution researcher, wine bottler and farm hand. She has a degree in biochemistry and a Master of Public Health, both from U.C. Berkeley.”

Today, Brie has posted an article begging people to denounce the “anti-vaccine agenda” of Professor John W. Oller Jr., a professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. As some of you may know, Professor Oller is the author of a terrific book, The Autism Epidemic and Related Issues.

Here’s what Ms. Cadman writes:

“The scientific community has overwhelming concluded that vaccines do not cause autism, but Oller, who does not have a background in immunology, epidemiology or toxicology, continues to push an agenda  based on false premises and conspiracy theories. Perhaps most troubling is that Oller uses his University of Louisiana-Lafayette website to promote his books, praise Wakefield and link to his anti-science blog.

2004 and the Birth of the Hungry Lie, “Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism"

By J.B. Handley

Parents, I really need you, I need you right now. There are so many liars, they’re all working overtime, desperately trying to convince the public that we’re all crazy, the studies have been done, and everyone, for the nth freakin’ time, just needs to move on, and, for God’s sake, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

Or, if you’re Paul Offit, you just declare “the war is over.” Mission accomplished, baby, yowzer!

In case you’re wondering, I’m doing fine. I have actually had friends, good friends and “believers”, call me to offer their condolences to the rout they think we’re taking in the media right now. I really don’t care. This doesn’t impact my kids at all, I know what I know. It’s not like I make money doing this. My only goal in getting involved with autism activism was to warn other parents, and that’s what I’ll keep on doing. The amount of attention Deer and the BMJ have brought to this issue is unprecedented.

Parents aren’t stupid, they do their own research. For every one parent who just became  falsely reassured that vaccines are totally safe, five just got worried and did more homework. We win, as usual, because we have truth on our side, and that’s just damn hard to beat!

That said, I want your help, fighting the haters. In particular, please, at every turn, challenge the idiots feeding the hungry lie, I hope a short history lesson will help. First, consider these many luminaries noursishing the hungry lie:
 


Dr. Paul Offit: "It's been asked and answered: Vaccines don't cause autism."
 


The Supreme Court Takes on Zicam - What About Vaccines?

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

Do you ever find yourself wondering when the media will look at vaccines with the same skepticism as it does other medications?

After watching Anderson Cooper of CNN go after Dr. Andrew Wakefield with more anger than if he'd been questioning a dictator who'd killed millions, I'm not really holding my breath for the media to do their job.

I'm a little more hopeful for the Supreme Court.  In a January 13, 2011 editorial for The New York Times entitled "The Anosmia Case" HERE the Times told of a very interesting case before the Supreme Court in which the justices displayed an admirable amount of intellectual curiousity and just plain common sense.

It's one of those cases in which you get to the end and ask yourself, are the lawyers really making that argument?  Here are the facts. 

Zicam, a homeopathic cold remedy was marketed by a company called Matrixx Initiatives.  The company received complaints from 23 users of the product claiming they'd lost their sense of smell, a condition known as anosmia.  "Good Morning America" aired a piece questioning the safety of Zicam and as a result the price of Matrixx's stock fell 24 percent.  The shareholders sued, saying the company should have warned investors about the problems and potential lawsuits.

According to The New York Times, "The company complained that it didn't have to, arguing that the complaints had no scientific basis, that any loss of smell should be blamed on illness and that the number of complaints was not statistically significant."  Sounds similar to how the pharmaceutical companies respond to complaints regarding vaccine injury, doesn't it?  If it's not "proven" we don't have to tell you the company claimed.

UK's Pediatric ConFLUsion on Flu Vaccination

UK Telegraph Tuesday 18 January 2011

Doctors ordered to stop giving flu jabs to children

Health officials have ordered doctors to shelve a vaccination programme which was under way to protect children from swine flu.

By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent 10:15AM GMT 16 Jan 2011

Doctors in north-west England began giving jabs to healthy schoolchildren earlier this month, after senior medics decided that stocks of vaccine should be used to prevent the spread of disease among the young.

The decision, taken by Bury Primary Care Trust (PCT), came 11 days ago, following more than a dozen deaths in Greater Manchester, including three in Bury, as well as that of three-year-old Lana Ameen, who died on Boxing Day soon after falling ill in nearby Stockport.