AGE OF AUTISM

Alice Park and TIME: Great Media Frauds

By Jake Crosby

Just recently, TIME Magazine writer Alice Park included Dr. Andrew Wakefield among the “Great Science Frauds” of all time in TIME “HealthLand” on January 12, 2012. But if there is anything one should know about Park, it’s that she is a great media accomplice of pharma in the vaccine injury cover-up.

In 2008, Alice Park penned an article titled “How Safe Are Vaccines?” timetabled to coincide with the Washington DC “Green Our Vaccines” rally. The piece drew public rebuke from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the rally, who announced in front of the capital, “I called that woman who wrote that TIME Magazine article!” “That woman” was Alice Park.

It so happens that TIME Magazine was going through a makeover implemented by the corporate global consulting firm, McKinsey, which was still firmly under the leadership of Ian Davis, twin brother to the judge who killed MMR litigation in the UK. Their older brother, Crispin Davis, was the boss of Lancet Editor-in-Chief Richard Horton when Horton lied about not knowing of Dr. Wakefield’s involvement in litigation. McKinsey was also the location for a book party for congressionally reprimanded millionaire vaccine industrialist Paul Offit.

Other examples of TIME’s abhorrent coverage include a profile of Jenny McCarthy that questioned her son’s diagnosis of autism on the basis of speculation by unnamed doctors who never examined her child. The author, Karl Taro Greenfeld, is now a contributor to Alison Singer’s blog.

Editorial influence could have also played a role. TIME’s Senior Science and Technology Editor, Jeffrey Kluger once interviewed Jenny McCarthy with a barrage of loaded questions. Kluger had a history of writing about the vaccine industry even before he began covering this controversy.

In 2005, Kluger authored Splendid Solution, Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio. The book aimed to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the success of Salk’s polio vaccine. However, the book was full of errors.

“The hell with balance!” - Paul Offit Throws Out Jake Crosby, Argues with NYU Research Scholar Mary Holland at Yale

By Jake Crosby

Millionaire vaccine industrialist Paul Offit lied about me again. Unlike at NIH, where Tara Palmore had me removed after I asked Paul Offit a question during Q&A, at Yale, Dr. Offit himself demanded I leave after he repeated his lie that I am a “stalker.” Fortunately, Vaccine Epidemic co-editor Mary Holland was also in the audience – and defended me after I left.

On January 13, 2012, Offit gave the Beaumont Lecture at Yale’s Sterling Hall of Medicine, sponsored by the Beaumont Medical Club. The title of his talk was “Hard Knocks: Communicating Science to the Public.” It contained many of the same talking points as his recent NIH “Clinical Grand Rounds – Great Teacher Lecture” titled “Communicating Vaccine Safety Science to the Public.” The Yale audience numbered around fifty to seventy-five people, comprised mostly of older physicians.

It was during Dr. Offit’s lecture when he first spotted me seated in the audience. At the end of his talk, he scowled at me. I was not intimidated.  Three questions into the Q&A discussion, the microphone was handed to me and I proceeded to ask my question:

"Hi Dr. Offit, I'm a student at GW School of Public Health. You said Dr. Wakefield "can't stop suing people"…

As I was about to ask my question, Offit began shouting me down:

"Stop right there! Stop right there!"

"Were you aware..."

"Stop right there! Jake, I am sick and tired of you following me to my events! Get out! Leave!"

"This is only the second event of yours I've been to."

He responded by saying I cannot criticize him in person, only online.

"You can write about me on your vindictive blog!"

The Mnookin Virus Infects CBS and HuffPo

By Jake Crosby

Seth Mnookin has spread his deceit to CBS and The Huffington Post, with the help of accomplices from both sources.

It is amazing just how much Seth Mnookin continues to be propped up as having credibility he simply does not possess. Now, thanks to two fellow opportunists - David Freeman and Neil Katz - we see that pharma’s censorship has taken over CBS and The Huffington Post, both of which have now welcomed the vaccine industry’s shameless pusher, Seth Mnookin. 

The latest example of this is a blog post he wrote for The Huffington Post’s new “Science” section comically titled:

The Autism Vaccine Controversy and the Need for Responsible Science Journalism

Seth Mnookin summed up the rant on his own blog:

In it, I talk about “the legacy of years of dispatches that created a false equivalency between verifiable facts and…outlandish allegations,” …

And given Seth Mnookin’s tendency to prefer outright lies to verifiable facts, it is not surprising what his biggest fear is:

I figure a worst-case scenario is the site uses the fig leaf of “balance” and posts another anti-vac screed in the next day or so…in which case, lesson learned.

The Atlantic Wire (a website of The Atlantic, edited by the nephew of John Stossel) ran a blog post celebrating Mnookin’s Huffington Post article, quoting Huffpo’s spokesman Mario Ruiz:

"We believe in providing a platform to bloggers from a variety of disciplines and points of view -- indeed, we welcomed Seth Mnookin’s critique, and regularly present multiple sides of hotly debated issues."

But Seth Mnookin tells a different story:

…I was somewhat surprised when a new HuffPo editor approached me about contributing to their about-to-be launched science section. It would be, he promised, a marked departure from what the site had featured in the past.

That editor, former WebMD writer David Freeman, was managing editor of CBS News’ “Health Channel” before joining HuffPo. Seth Mnookin has high praise for him according to The Atlantic Wire:

"[David] wanted me to contribute and was very vocal about the fact that this was going to be a pro-science section that adhered to strong standards. And David certainly has a good track record," Mnookin told us, adding that he'd worked with Freeman a bit a(sic) CBS. "From the first time we talked he's always struck me as someone who's incredibly smart and also very responsible. Again, my most optimistic reading is that Arianna wouldn't have hired someone like him if she wasn't interested in doing this the right way."

Last April, when Freeman “worked with” Mnookin at CBS, the network posted a talking point gallery on its website titled “10 deadly myths about childhood vaccines”:

What's the truth about childhood vaccines? Are they an effective way to safeguard kids against a range of potentially deadly illnesses? Or do they cause autism and other medical problems? Keep clicking as Seth Mnookin, the author of "The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear," separates vaccine fact from fiction with his list of common misconceptions. It's information that just might save a life.

Accompanying it was an article by Freeman’s colleague and then-cbsnews.com executive editor Neil Katz (just before he was hired by The Huffington Post as its new executive news editor). The title:

What autism, climate change and Obama's birth certificate have in common

It was posted on the very same CBS HealthPop blog that Freeman started and edited with Katz, to which Freeman also contributed biased blog posts riddled with vaccine industry talking points.

Katz’s hiring at HuffPo came right after David Kirby’s piece about the Pace Law Review – ignored by CBS - titled, High Rates of Autism Found in Federal Vaccine Injury Program: Study Says More Answers Needed. There hasn’t been another article like Kirby’s on HuffPo since. 

And New York Times writer Carl Zimmer, who I saw share a stage with Seth Mnookin in New York City last summer, blogged about Mnookin’s piece for Discover Magazine, in an entry titled “Huffington Post + Science. A New Leaf?” The implication being that The Huffington Post will become the latest addition to the vaccine industry’s collection of propaganda outlets.

"Contagion" and CNN - Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s Pretend Interviews In Hollywood and Real Life

By Jake Crosby

Little did viewers know that while medical news anchor Dr. Sanjay Gupta denounced Dr. Andrew Wakefield approximately one year ago on CNN and CBS - right after the British Medical Journal (BMJ) accused him of fraud - a movie of pure vaccine industry propaganda was being filmed with Dr. Gupta in its cast. That movie, Contagion, was about the outbreak of a fictional swine flu virus that jumped species and caused a pandemic, stopped only by a fictional vaccine developed by the CDC. In that film, Dr. Gupta played himself as a mainstream media reporter.

In the part of the film where Gupta appeared, he was on television interviewing the fictional CDC doctor, Ellis Cheever, played by Laurence Fishburne, and fictional anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist blogger, Alan Krumweide, played by Jude Law.

In real life, Dr. Gupta appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper in a one-way smear attack on Dr. Wakefield that masqueraded as an “interview” just before Seth Mnookin made his television debut on that same show as the vaccine industry’s new spokesman. In stark contrast, Mnookin was given an open forum to spew his talking points while simultaneously interviewed by Cooper and Dr. Gupta, all three comfortably seated at a table in the AC360 studio of CNN. If there was any commonality between Dr. Gupta’s CNN interviews and his interview in the movie Contagion, it’s that they were all pretend.

In the fictional interview by Dr. Gupta involving Fishburne and Law’s characters, Fishburne’s Dr. Cheever was caught in a lie after Law’s Krumweide revealed that Dr. Cheever gave his fiancée advanced-warning of a citywide quarantine before it was given to the public.

In the real-life but equally pretend interview of Dr. Wakefield involving Dr. Gupta on CNN, Dr. Wakefield was dubbed a liar after recommending his book in response to Brian Deer’s smears that were published and supported by the BMJ.

Back to the fictional interview, Jude Law’s Alan Krumweide said public health officials like Fishburne’s Dr. Cheever are in a conspiracy with vaccine makers, “because they are.” Krumweide insisted, “They’re working hand in glove.”

Paul Offit Lies About Jake Crosby; Tara Palmore Throws Him Out and NIH Covers it Up

By Jake Crosby

Like Seth Mnookin did earlier this month, Paul Offit blatantly lied about me while giving a lecture. The congressionally reprimanded millionaire vaccine industrialist told a room full of people I was a “stalker,” and event organizer, Dr. Tara Palmore had me escorted out of the “Great Teachers” lecture given by Paul Offit at the NIH on December 14, now on Videocast.

My crime: Asking Dr. Offit a challenging question and then pointing out one of the fallacies in a statement he made after dodging my question. Drs. Offit and Palmore also had a little talk about me at the end of the lecture, which was recorded onto the VideoCast, unbeknownst to them.

It all began when I found out online that Paul Offit would be speaking at the NIH, part of the “Clinical Center Grand Rounds – Great Teachers Series,” sponsored by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The title of Dr. Offit’s lecture was “Communicating Vaccine Safety Science to the Public.” He’s also author of the now infamous claim that an infant can safely take 10,000 vaccines at once. So I took the metro out to the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, just as I did for the talk given by Fiona Godlee. As I took my seat, I saw Paul Offit in person for the first time.

Dr. Palmore – associate director of the Infectious Diseases Training Program for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease - gave a grand introduction to Dr. Offit and described how he has bravely taken on the “anti-vaccine movement” (even though most vaccine safety advocates are not against all vaccines). She called him a “Rock star in the pediatrics and infectious diseases communities.” He’s more like Ronald McDonald for the vaccine industry. She also introduced his son who was with him and looked college-age.

Despite the estimated $10 million Paul Offit earned from RotaTeq vaccine sales and despite his Merck-sponsored chair at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, his lecture began with his incredible claim that he has no relevant financial disclosures. He even received a congressional reprimand for taking part in voting on vaccine policies for which he is conflicted.

Here’s what he said instead:

“I’m sorry. I have no financial conflicts of interest. This is my only real conflict is that I am a Philadelphia Eagles season ticket holder, which gives me an inability to actually effectively assess that team.”

When Paul Offit’s presentation ended, the question and answer session began. A woman sitting near me asked Dr. Offit if he recommends “scare tactics” (which he favored). At that point I went to the microphone, ready to ask my question.

Even though there were already two men lined up behind another microphone, Dr. Offit looked directly at me, which I took as a cue to ask my question. So I began (42:59 on VideoCast):

“Hi, Dr. Offit - Jake Crosby - GW School of Public Health and Health Services, I’m a grad student there actually studying epidemiology for an MPH.”

Just then, as you can see in the VideoCast, Dr. Palmore – in a white lab coat – bolted from her second row seat and dashed towards the back of the room, out of camera shot. (43:12) That’s how quickly she decided I had to go – all I’d stated was my name and where I go to school. Fortunately, I had time to ask a quick question before being evicted.

“You said that Dr. Andrew Wakefield said that the MMR vaccine causes autism. He never said that actually. He said that the safety data to back up the MMR vaccine’s use was inadequate and seven years later the Cochrane Review basically came to that same conclusion. What do you have to say to that?”

Paul Offit responded, without addressing his misrepresentation of Dr. Wakefield:

“What I would say is what I said before which is that those 14 studies have looked very carefully at whether or not MMR vaccine is associated with autism - has clearly shown that it doesn’t. I think the second thing that is clear is that if you look at the cause or causes of autism I think an enormous amount of data has come up with that. We now know that there is a genetics [sic] to autism. We also know there can be environmental influences, but when those environmental influences occur, they have to occur in the first or second trimester - take your pick - valproic acid, congenital rubella virus, thalidomide. So I think that those…”

At this point, Dr. Palmore’s hand can be seen resting on his podium (44:01).

She shadowed him for the rest of the talk, literally. Her shadow hovered next to him – as if to guard him from other unauthorized questions.

Seeing that he dodged my question about Andrew Wakefield and instead rehashed several of his talking points, I decided to challenge him on one of them.

“Well those are prenatal but that doesn’t mean that everything that could possibly cause autism has to be in the womb just because those two exposures just so happen to be prenatal.”

I mistakenly said “two” instead of “three,” but it hardly mattered. As with my original question, he did not address my point at all. This time, however, he got personal.

Seth Mnookin Boots Jake Crosby Out of Public Conference Chaired by Merck Exec

By Jake Crosby

Seth Mnookin blatantly lied about me again, this time at a public conference run by an organization that is chaired by a Merck vaccines executive. In short, I asked Mnookin a question during the Q/A period; he stopped me, accused me of disrupting the event, and falsely stated I had disrupted past events of his, whereupon security escorted me out.

It all happened on December 2, 2011 – my 23^rd birthday – when I attended the “Research Ethics Book Group Lunch and Book Signing,” at the annual “Advancing Ethical Research Conference,” held by “Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research” (PRIMR). 

The book being discussed was “Panic Virus,” by Seth Mnookin, who fielded questions from the audience. He was originally scheduled to be physically present, but his daughter was born three weeks early the day before, so he held the discussion via Skype. The conference was listed under the “current speaking schedule” on his personal website.

When signing up in advance online, I was told the event was already full, so my name was placed on the waitlist. Nonetheless, enough people who successfully registered for the event did not show up, and I was allowed in without a registration badge after giving my name, saying that I was on the waitlist and also saying I was covering the event for a major autism news website. I was even told I could sit down at one of the tables and help myself to lunch.

In the lead up to the question and answer session, a sheet labeled “Questions for discussion” was handed out to all audience members, filled with some of the most loaded questions I’ve ever seen, one of which read:

According to Mnookin, Andrew Wakefield and the other players in the movement to link vaccines and autism succeeded in convincing so many people, despite overwhelming scientific evidence against such a link, because they played to the desperation and frustration of parents of autistic children. How, according to Mnookin, did the desperation and frustration of parents also allow Wakefield and other clinicians who “treated” autistic children – with multiple endoscopies and the like – to shield themselves from charges that they were engaged in bad science and unethical behavior?

Surprisingly, the conversations by some of the folks at my table seemed to run counter to the overarching message of the event. I overheard one person saying he always rejects flu shots. Another person remarked that if Seth Mnookin is so sure vaccines do not cause autism; he must have some alternate reason for the skyrocketing rate of the disorder. Except that he doesn’t.

Eventually, the screen at the conference turned on and up came Seth Mnookin’s face. He couldn’t see us; he could only hear us, but we could see and hear him. As soon as questions rolled around, I raised my hand, was called upon and got up to the microphone to ask the first question.

“Hi - Jake Crosby - congratulations,” I said, regarding his newborn daughter. I then proceeded to ask my question:

“With regard to Dr. Andrew Wakefield, given the new advancements within the past month, with Dr. David Lewis…”

Then – all of a sudden – the screen went black. The moderator said that we lost connection. Audience members then told me to switch microphones in case the one I was using didn’t work either.

Eventually, the audio returned. The moderator asked, “Seth, are you there?”

“Yes,” he said, “The last words I picked up were ‘given these new advancements…’” Then his face reappeared.

I later realized he probably disappeared from view in order to make a phone call. I then proceeded to ask how he can continue to accuse Dr. Wakefield of unethical research and bad science given the ongoing investigation by Dr. David Lewis – professional scientist with the National Whistleblower Center – who exonerated Wakefield of the pathology fraud allegations made by BMJ earlier this year, and stated the pathology results were consistent with what was in the Lancet paper, and also given that the expert pathologist – Dr. Amar Dhillon –  defended the results in a letter to the BMJ. But as I was finishing up, he cut me off.

“Okay, Jake, I’m going to stop you right there.”

“I just want to know how you can continue to accuse Dr. Wakefield of this.”

“We’ve talked before at my other events you’ve been to, and you’ve been into interrupting and disrupting.”

“I haven’t been disrupting; I was just asking a question.” (At the only event of Mnookin’s that I attended before this one,  I conversed with him afterwards. He even shook my hand – hardly a “disruption” of his “events.” But then again, accuracy is not Mnookin’s strong suit as he readily admits.)

“I never mentioned Andrew Wakefield in my plenary address,” he claimed, even though Dr. Andrew Wakefield was mentioned several times in the questions for discussion given out at the event.

During this exchange, I overheard some snickers from a few audience members. Then a woman came up to me, grabbed the microphone, aimed it down at the floor so I couldn’t speak into it and asked, “Can I see your badge, please?”

“I don’t have a badge, I was let in from the waitlist.”

“You’re going to have to leave!”

I repeated what I told her, but it was no use. Apparently, you can’t ask Seth Mnookin a challenging question without a badge.

While she was escorting me out, Seth Mnookin proceeded to answer my question that he had just labeled disruptive of his event. I could make out bits and pieces of what he was saying:

“…he [presumably Dr. Lewis] is not an expert on bowel pathology…the BMJ evaluated the data and found there was nothing there…it doesn’t even matter if Wakefield acted unethically, he’s still wrong…”

Anderson Cooper 360 Writer/Producer Fails to Disclose Conflicts

By Jake Crosby

Addendum: Five months before Dr. Wakefield's interview on AC360, Thomson Reuters announced that BMJ Group had selected Thomson Reuters' product, ScholarOne Manuscripts, as the peer review workflow management system for all of its journals.  The company press release put out by Thomson Reuters quotes the BMJ Group's publishing director, Peter Ashman, as saying “We are excited to expand our partnership with one of the world’s leading publishers...By serving all of the journals published by BMJ Group, our customizable and flexible ScholarOne Manuscripts will standardize the organization's review process, adding to its effectiveness and efficiency in journal administration.” This is a direct partnership between the Merck/GSK-funded BMJ Group and the Merck-managed employer of an AC360 writer/producer's husband. The reason for Anderson Cooper leading the US media to support the BMJ's sham allegations of fraud against Dr. Wakefield within hours of their publication should now be crystal clear.

The following is a letter I sent to CNN after the January 5^th televised abuse of Dr. Andrew Wakefield by the network’s mascot, “Silver Fox”  Anderson Cooper, whose pale face regularly haunts the channel. I didn’t receive a response.

With  the BMJ’s prime example of Wakefield’s alleged misconduct proven false followed by the  collapse of the BMJ's fraud claim, it is especially timely that we revisit this abhorrent example of coverage by the media in light of its deafening silence. Whatever happened to “keeping them honest”? You know, “challenging authority and exposing corruption”?

Dear Anderson Cooper 360,

I am writing about your show on January 5th of this year in which Dr. Wakefield was repeatedly cut off, interrupted, berated and called a "liar" while Brian Deer was allowed free reign to bluff his way through his interview the next day. 

I hope you will understand that the conflicts of interest below thoroughly compromised your show's credibility, especially in light of the fact that Anderson Cooper was evidently not willing to read Dr. Wakefield's book. I hope he will be more willing to watch a lecture Dr. Wakefield gave at Brandeis University in which he spent the first 20 minutes addressing fraud allegations and thoroughly exposing what turned out to be Brian Deer's fraud. Every statement Dr. Wakefield makes is documented and verifiable. You owe it to your viewers to watch this video. 

The conflicts of interest on the January 5th show were especially serious in light of that fact that they were not disclosed on your program.

First, the BMJ - which alleges Dr. Wakefield committed fraud - is in partnership with Merck and GlaxoSmithKline - manufacturers of the MMR vaccine. Its editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee admitted the BMJ failed to disclose these connections even though they should have.(1)

Secondly, Brian Deer is a freelance reporter; he is not employed by The Sunday Times as he claimed in a related interview on your network . He was put on this story by an editor named Paul Nuki whose father George Nuki knowingly approved a dangerous vaccine in 1988 that caused meningitis. Brian Deer was assisted by MedicoLegal Investigations - a front group of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry - and was the original complainant in the GMC hearing against Dr. Wakefield yet was allowed to continue to write about the story Deer created.(2)

Finally, to add to the litany of failures to disclose COIs on your program, a writer/producer for your show named Cate Vojdik is married to a medical reporter named Dr. Ivan Oransky.(3) 

Dr. Oransky is executive editor of Reuters Health - Thomson Reuters' CEO Thomas Glocer - Oransky's boss - is on the board of directors of Merck.(4) Oransky is also a longtime and major contributor to The Lancet, which retracted Dr. Wakefield's paper.(5) Dr. Oransky's father was a pediatrician who was personally responsible for vaccinating many children born between the years of 1972 and 1998.(6) The latest national prevalence estimates by the CDC show that children born in 1998 have an autism prevalence of 1 in 110.(7)  

Below is a link to the recent video of Dr. Wakefield's lecture at Brandeis University. Later in the lecture, Dr. Wakefield also shows that there is still evidence linking vaccines and autism - including from a CDC study claiming to show the exact opposite of all things. 

Dr. Andrew Wakefield at Brandeis University

I hope you will view this video of Dr. Wakefield's Brandeis lecture.

All the best,

Jake Crosby

False Statements from David Tayloe and Paul Offit About Dangerous, Withdrawn Vaccine

By Jake Crosby

Recently, Dr. David Tayloe, past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, gave false statements about Dr. Paul Offit’s involvement in both the approval and the removal of the first Rotavirus vaccine, RotaShield. The vaccine was taken off the market more than a decade ago because it caused intussusception – a severe gastrointestinal condition that killed eight children. Last year, Paul Offit denied his involvement in RotaShield’s approval, claiming he did not vote to add it to the CDC’s childhood vaccination schedule, when he in fact voted for it three times. 

These are hardly the first false statements to have come from Tayloe and Offit, however. Paul Offit previously said that an infant can conservatively take up to 10,000 vaccines at once and David Tayloe claimed on the Today Show that “credible studies don’t show any relationship between vaccines and permanent injury.”

Tayloe’s latest false statement followed my question to “Pox” author Michael Willrich, who was speaking at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. I asked him if he was aware that Paul Offit was involved in the approval of RotaShield – the vaccine that caused intussusception in Willrich’s own infant son. Professor Willrich did not answer my question, but said he would talk to me afterwards. Now I know why.

Willrich’s talk was being taped by  Book TV for CSPAN-2. He then answered my question privately.

In my article about the talk –  The Original Paul Offit – I described a white-haired man who stood up right after me and flat-out denied what I said (46:28):

“To be perfectly clear, when the data came forward on the RotaShield incidents of intussusception Dr. Offit was among the first to say with the ACFE (sic) – the council – ‘this must be withdrawn,’ and that was not in his interest in the way it’s been portrayed here.” [gesturing towards me]

Although I had suspected it at the time, watching the C-SPAN2 video now has confirmed that the white-haired man who did not introduce himself at the lecture was indeed Dr. David Tayloe Jr., former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics whose father was successfully sued over a DTP vaccine injury sustained by one of his patients in the 1980s. The $3.5 million lawsuit was settled for $1.1 million, costing Dr. David Tayloe Sr. $400,000, which was not covered by his insurance.

Despite Tayloe Jr.’s claim that voting RotaShield onto the schedule was not in Paul Offit’s interest, it was in fact very much in his interest because its approval opened up the market to future Rotavirus vaccines, including Offit’s. Secondly, Tayloe argued that Offit was “among the first” to say the vaccine should be withdrawn. That statement was also false  – Offit merely said intussusception should be included on the label as a side effect – hardly a call for the vaccine’s withdrawal. Furthermore, Offit only voted to add the vaccine onto the schedule, never to remove it.

According to a blogger and proponent of “neurodiversity”, Paul Offit wrote her the following claim in an email exchange (boldface mine):

Petula Dvorak’s Symphony of Pharmaceutical Lies

By Jake Crosby

 My Great-Grandmother Dvorak liked to say we’re related to the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, but I seriously hope I am not related to the pharma-influenced Petula Dvorak, who writes a column for The Washington Post. She recently wrote a very unoriginal piece bashing Dr. Andrew Wakefield and alleging the reason people support him is because they are won over by Jenny McCarthy’s sexiness:

“That woman. With the swinging blond hair and spray tan. People listened to her. They still listen to her,”

Actually, they listened to the former chief science advisor for the UK’s Department of Health, Dr. Peter Fletcher, who said:

"There are very powerful people in positions of great authority in Britain and elsewhere who have staked their reputations and careers on the safety of MMR and they are willing to do almost anything to protect themselves."

People also listen to the US Government, which compensated many cases of children who developed autism as a result of their vaccinations. People listened to the previously suppressed  CDC data showing mercury in vaccines multiplied the risk of autism. People listened to the studies showing vaccine-strain measles in the  guts, blood and cerebrospinal fluid of children with autism. People listened to the scandal in Denmark where the team led by indicted fraudster Poul Thorsen used fudged statistics to argue that autism continued to rise after thimerosal was removed when just the opposite was the case. People listened to the fact that most of the tobacco science Dvorak invokes but probably only knows about through oft-repeated talking points actually found relationships between vaccines and autism but those findings were suppressed. People also listen to the side effects listed on vaccine package inserts. And finally, people listened to the increasing number of parents who reported eerily similar stories of their children regressing into autism following their vaccinations. Petula Dvorak didn’t listen to any of this; I guess she doesn’t have a very good ear.

She is a metro reporter who specializes in parenting issues and has also won praise from Lisa Belkin – the former writer of the “motherlode” blog for the ethically bankrupt and pharma-directed newspaper called The New York Times. 

Belkin once loaned her blog out to a member of Alison Singer's pharma front group that pretends to be an autism charity, resulting in another long, bitter and obsessive screed against Jenny McCarthy, similar to Dvorak’s recent piece.

Belkin is also colleagues with a reporter named Susan Dominus - who added to the chorus of lies about Dr. Andrew Wakefield by writing a similar story for The New York Times Magazine earlier this year suggesting he wins support by engaging in some covert form of mind control. Dominus’ article was moderated by Belkin’s blog, which censored many critical comments (I’ve never seen a comment of mine successfully uploaded to The New York Times website – and I don’t think I ever will). Susan Dominus previously wrote a puff piece for Seth Mnookin's Uncle Bob.

Best of Age of Autism: Paul Offit’s Message: CDC, FDA, NIH, IOM, AAP, WHO and Merck Engaged in Pseudoscience

Managing Editor's Note: Dr. Offit has been appointed to the IOM.

By Jake Crosby

Did Age of Autism move the goalposts? Paul Offit says yes, but statements from the CDC, FDA, NIH, IOM, AAP, WHO and even Merck say otherwise.
In the PBS documentary Frontline, responding to concerns about vaccine-related factors in the etiology of autism other than just thimerosal or the MMR vaccine, millionaire vaccine industrialist Paul Offit said:

“So now this is classic for pseudoscience, is you just keep moving the goalpost. So now the goalpost is, no, we didn't mean actually MMR caused autism or thimerosal caused autism”

First of all, we continue to mean that the MMR and thimerosal clearly do cause autism as actual science shows - even if routinely denied by the tobacco science Offit regularly cites.

Secondly, his dismissal of any further criticisms of vaccines beyond these two factors as “pseudoscience” conflicts with the expressed concerns of many high-ranking members of public health and the pharmaceutical industry. They voiced opinions that other factors such as aluminum and receiving too many vaccines at once may cause autism and related disorders.

At the secret Simpsonwood meeting 10 years ago, Dr. Richard Johnston - a pediatric immunologist funded by SmithKline Beecham - said (on page 20):

“Aluminum and mercury are often simultaneously administered to infants, both at the same site and at different sites.