PAGING DR. GUPTA -- STAT!
By Dan Olmsted
As the fallout from the Hannah Poling case continues, several people have mentioned the same thing to me: They've noticed that Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN, arguably one of the most powerful arbiters of medical information in the world, has seemed honestly perplexed and cautious in his response to the case.
Unlike Gardiner Harris, Dr. Timothy Johnson, Dr. Nancy Snyderman and their ilk -- people whose careers are wrapped up in the defense of vaccines, and vaccine mercury, at all costs -- Dr. Gupta seems like a real reporter. What's the difference?
To quote an epidemiological maxim: "Assume nothing. Let the evidence speak for itself." And that's the mantra all journalists are taught: You know what happens when you assume? You make an ass-out-of-you-and-me. Real journalists question assumptions, including their own. What the others do is ass-ume that the scientific bigshots are right about the absence of a link between vaccines and autism, and then proceed to shamelessly shill for them under the guise of protecting the world from smallpox, polio etc..
(Maybe they should get honorary stripes from the Public Health Service to wear on their sleeves.) If you doubt it, read Clark Hoyt's misguided "Public Editor" defense of Harris et. al -- in which he enshrined a bias against the mercury-autism theory as the stated policy of the Times.
Dr. Gupta, several people have suggested, may be different. First of all, CNN broadcast the Poling press conference live, covered it all day, put David Kirby on CNN International, and gave it a huge bite of Larry King Live. If CNN's in-house doctor had cried foul, would that have happened?
People of my generation -- older boomers, but not elderly, not by any means! -- will remember when Walter Cronkite went to Vietnam and returned to tell America that the war was, in essence, unwinnable.
That was a key turning point. As Lyndon Johnson said shortly before tossing in the towel, "If I've lost Walter Cronkite, I've lost the country."
Who will break ranks with the ass-out-of-you-and-me "reporters" at the top of the media food chain, the ones feeding off the bogus studies and buddy-buddy relationships with public health officials? I really don't know, but I'm betting on Dr. Gupta.
In fact, I'm rooting for him.
Thanks to all of you who are working to warn parents of the dangers of vaccines. If your child is already vaccine damaged you have my sympathies, particularly as you were misled into believing you were acting in your child´s best interests. There is a way back from vaccine damage ...google Amy Lansky and Impossible Cure to find out more. Wishing you and your children well.
Posted by: mary aspinwall | March 22, 2008 at 02:28 AM
"Numerous windows were broken at CNN Center. A firefighter outside the CNN building said three people in the vicinity had been transported to hospitals, including a child with head injuries."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/15/us/15brfs-STORMSMASHES_BRF.html?ref=us
Unsure if its Gupta or his bosses that are being "paged" to "get it right." There was even a child with head injuries. How ominous is that?
"The Answer to the Ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything ...."
Posted by: Gupta et al | March 15, 2008 at 07:50 PM
Diane:
I think you're right that when the collapse comes, it will be fast and furious. There is a case to be made the biggest, most corrupt, most totalitarian systems are the ones that crash the hardest because they're rotten inside. That was the case with the Soviet empire -- once the protests started with the Solidarity movement, the handwriting was on the (Berlin) wall. I think we might be at that Solidarity moment -- it still could take some time, by which I mean a few yars, but the process is in motion.
Posted by: Dan Olmsted | March 14, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Two thoughts on Sanjay Gupta...the first concerns his young children. I wonder if he followed the standard vaccination schedule. I thinks its almost impossible to be a parent of young children and not have friends in your circle who have children with Autism or whose friends have children with Autism. I'm thinking that maybe he got the connection long before Hannah Poling caught the airwaves.
Secondly...I (as well as you, possibly) think this deal with the Poling family will blow the cover the CDC and IOM have been hiding under for the last several years. I think they knew it all along, I think they finally "get it" that the cat's out of the bag, and I think they will have no choice but to come clean as the Omnibus hearings move forward and more and more kids are vindicated.
I believe change is coming - and while it took too long to get here, I think it will come in a huge wave...fast and furious.
Posted by: Diane | March 13, 2008 at 11:00 PM
You know, it makes me shake my head ruefully whenever I hear the doctors talking about how Hannah Poling was not diagnosed with Autism, but with autism-like symptoms. What a crock of $#!%. The medical industry and their attached-at-the-hip lawyers are just using medical double speak to obfuscate the fact that Hannah developed autism after receiving one of their poisonous shots.
Posted by: Craig Willoughby | March 13, 2008 at 03:55 PM
Teresa,
Baggs is not autistic. She was a normal child until she abused LSD at age 14 while at Simon's Rock College. The link here shows that the people who promote her also know she is not autistic.
http://hatingautism.blogspot.com/2008/03/when-musics-over-amanda-baggs-and.html
I've dedicated about 20 blog entries to this where many people have come forward to provide the evidence that she is a fraud. There's probably 100 pages devoted to this that I can't explain in one reply.
Posted by: John Best | March 13, 2008 at 02:47 PM
I personally will wait and watch Dr Gupta before giving him a gold star. I used to be exited about Montel until he was bought and paid for by Pharma.
Posted by: Richard | March 13, 2008 at 01:19 PM
John Best-
Why do you bring up Amanda Baggs and also fraud? I am being sincere here.
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | March 13, 2008 at 01:00 PM
Dr Gupta was not being completely truthful in his treatment of Amanda Baggs by excluding all of the comments on his blog that gave evidence of her fraud. I don't expect he will be truthful about anything else.
Posted by: John Best | March 13, 2008 at 11:31 AM
What frustrates me most about the doctors who poo-poo any connection btw vaccines & autism and those who claim there is no increase in autism rates is how they ignore the observations of parents. Where are the documented cases from the 60's and 70's of regressive autism where children were talking and then stopped talking? Had I had a vocabulary of 20 spoken words on my first birthday and then lost them as happened to my son, I'm sure my mother would have screamed bloody murder. Many other current grandparents would have screamed as well.
One of the first things taught in science class is the importance of observation. We parents have been observing a phenomenon that did not exist before and that correlates with the administration of vaccines. Many of us, like Jon Poling, were/are scientists and medical professionals. Yet even our observations and thoughts are dismissed out of hand by the heads of the CDC and the likes of Paul Offit. Is it that they truly don't believe us or is it that they don't want to believe us?
I applaud Dr. Gupta for considering that the world might not be flat. It was a bold step to publically state that perhaps there might be an issue with vaccines.
Posted by: Jeff Stone | March 13, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I know that I sent Dr. Gupta the link to David Kirby's "Every American Should Read This" as well as the link to the Autism One Radio interview with David Kirby and Dr. Geier, and other scientific data in the past. He (or the person handling his email) has been in possession of the facts. Maybe the ad people at CNN are scrambling to find alternative sources of revenue for when and if the pharmaceutical companies withdraw their ads? There is no logical reason for the fence-sitting anymore so I think it has to be about what it's been about all along - money. With very few acceptions, true journalism has definitely been bought, and/or has sold-out.
Posted by: biomedmama7 | March 13, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Terri!
You get the “Energizer Bunny” gold star award! I love your enthusiasm and determination!
You are definitely “right on target” about “more action, less talk” – it’s all about “forward movement” and doing anything that gets that result.
When I go to meetings, I’m always focused on the “ask” – getting a concrete “next step.”
When we met with Dr. Fineberg (IOM President) and Dr. Raub (Secretary Leavitt’s Science Advisor) in Oct. of 2006 and the 2 hour meeting was winding down (the last 20 minutes) I started to throw out the “asks” (Roundtable, Workshop) because there was no way I was walking out of that meeting “empty handed.”
I started to joke around asking them to “break open their piggy banks” to fund an IOM function. And they did. Six months later, HHS (Secretary Leavitt) commissioned the IOM to hold an Environmental Workshop on Autism.
I’d love to talk more. Please ask Kim for my e-mail address.
Bottom Line: YOU ROCK.
Kelli
Posted by: Kelli Ann Davis | March 13, 2008 at 11:01 AM
Right on Terri! I will contact Gupta as well. We should all contact him. Let's bring him up to speed on "our side" and "our stories" and most importantly, the fact that our very loud voices are being ignored by top officials and especially by Julie Gerberding!
Seems like Gupta is open - the pump is primed people - and that means he could help. Let's do this!
Posted by: Jeanne | March 13, 2008 at 11:01 AM
I think it's very important that anyone who witnessed their toddler/child's descent into autism following adverse reactions to vaccines should tell their stories to all they can reach in the government and media. Hanna Poling's story has caught some people's attention; now it is important for them to hear that her story is not "unique". It is representative of many others, and all too common.
Posted by: Twyla | March 13, 2008 at 10:56 AM
If we don't hear something from Julie Gerberding by this Friday, I'm going to contact Dr. Gupta with the news that Julie Gerberding--despite a week-long campaign, including phone calls to the White House, Senators, presidential candidates, et.al.--refuses to address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of parents.
This is news.
It's news that so many of us have called for her to resign and she has failed to even acknowledge it.
But the big news is--we are going to win this war, have no doubt about it. We have lost so many battles, but we are winning the war!
So all of us need to start thinking like warriors and like winners.
There are more and more people on our side every single day. Let that sink in. There are--literally--more and more people on our side every single day.
We need to start talking to them, not just quibbling amongst ourselves, and together we will bring down the enemies of our children in shame.
Posted by: Terri Lewis | March 13, 2008 at 08:58 AM
Diane Farr, you ask:
"So, should we all start paging Dr. Gupta?"
YES!
He is easily reached on the CNN "House Call" comments page, and I've already sent an e-mail. It took exactly two minutes to google, find, and send it. (I don't have a phone number; does anyone have a phone number?)
More action, less talk, because THIS IS OUR MOMENT. We are finally, finally starting to be heard.
Please, everyone, send a comment to Dr. Gupta TODAY. IT CAN BE DONE IN ONE MINUTE.
Let's overwhelm him with positive comments on his coverage so far, and encourage him to look into it further. Mention any good web site where he can find the science we all know by heart now.
Report back here to encourage more people.
DO IT TODAY--like we spent all day Monday jamming the phones to remove Julie Gerberding, only this time, we get to work with somebody who isn't really a part of the problem!! YAY!
Then go about your day, and watch it start to unfold, like a rosebud that's just about to open, the truth will finally see the light of day.
Posted by: Terri Lewis | March 13, 2008 at 08:33 AM
Dan,
Great piece! The analogies are wonderful.
I saw that too, like in the cartoons, a big bubble above him with his visible thought of "Wow, this is biologically plausible!" We all should root for him as his apparent conversion was another positive that has developed from Hannah's case.
At the end of the day, we may see more conversions but it may be too late to believe them. I do think Dr. Gupta was sincerely shaken by the realization that vaccines could harm some children. I was impressed that his ego didn't deny this again but instead portrayed those facts with matching emotions. That congruency changed my opinion of him too.
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | March 13, 2008 at 07:35 AM
Dan, I saw the same thing during the Larry King interview with the Poling's. I saw a piece with him on CNN; just a couple days before and I told a friend that he's definitely not on our side. I could tell by his experessions that something had changed in him. So, should we all start paging Dr. Gupta?
Posted by: Diane Farrr | March 13, 2008 at 07:30 AM