Celebs and Medical Advice: Great Only When Message Pro-Treatment?
By Kim Stagliano
You might have missed the December 23rd USA TODAY article on the effect of celebrities on healthcare knowledge and decisions. It appears that when Katie Couric tells viewers to get a colonoscopy she's doing the right thing, according the the medical powers that be. Sally Fields can tell you to take a pill that has side effects longer than your arm - and she's as pure as The Flying Nun. J. Lo can tell you to get the pertussis vaccine for your child, with zero disclaimers on side effects required, (preferably NOT while wearing that hideous catsuit from New Year's Eve.) But when Jenny McCarthy asks questions about vaccine safety, she's "wrong."
Americans are back to eating spinach and hamburger because they belief the risk of e.coli is gone. Not so with vaccines. Many parents have lost trust in the AAP and the vaccine manufacturers. They are afraid of the side effects. The Gardasil marketing push followed by the H1N1 pandemic overkill did not help allay fears. Jim Carrey said it best, "We are not the problem. The problem is the problem." (See here.)
Check out the quote from the article by the Wyeth funded pro-vaccine group Every Child by Two (See our post about ECBT last year HERE.) Someone send Amy Pisani a tissue, will you? And tell Africa they dodged a big bullet for the time being.
...Doctors and public health groups say they struggle over the best way to respond to celebrity claims.
At Every Child By Two, an immunization campaign co-founded by former first lady Rosalynn Carter, board members were initially inclined to ignore celebrities who question vaccine safety, says executive director Amy Pisani. Now, the group spends 80% of its time explaining why vaccines are still critical.
"We were poised to start working in Africa," Pisani says. "But we were forced to pull back just to re-educate people here in the United States."
For good or bad, research shows that stars exert powerful influence not just on popular opinion, but on public health.
•Vaccines. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,017 adults found that more than half were aware of McCarthy's warnings about childhood shots. More than 40% of adults familiar with her message — 23% of all adults surveyed — say McCarthy's claims have made them more likely to question vaccine safety. The Nov. 20-22 poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points... Read the full article in USA TODAY.
Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism.
This post is really much more useful for the people who believe that these days if we have to go with the contemporary era then knowledge is the most important piller in each and every area.
Posted by: medical advice | January 18, 2010 at 09:06 AM
http://www.examiner.com/x-3565-Autism--Parenting-Examiner~y2010m1d7-Jenny-McCarthy-and-autism-are-not-a-team
Robin Morris Hausmans is another Alison Singer. Completely pathetic.
Posted by: Jay | January 09, 2010 at 08:41 PM
Kathy, my sentiments on who or what I trust goes further than, "I think we have put way too much trust on our medical system...." I suppose my first taste of disillusionment was the Vietnam War, but vaccination was the real eye opener, brain expander, knife through the heart, rip your guts out, anger- betrayal.
There's a very long list(too long for this post) of what or whom earns my distrust. But your reference to the Matrix is appropriate. To earn my trust it helps to have taken the "red pill".
MORPHEOUS: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.
The Age of Autism is about those who have willingly or unwillingly been given the red pill.
Posted by: michael framson | January 03, 2010 at 03:27 PM
I think we have put way too much trust on our medical system to tell us the truth in all things. Something I read the other day is included here, hopefully it will make you all think about it...
What follows is a brief history of the "physician" from the Ferguson Report.
"Before the arrival of the professional medical tools that have dominated 20th Century medicine, most health concerns were managed at home. The citizens of the day would typically keep a good supply of herbs and other home remedies on hand. When illness struck, they would call upon their personal networks of kin and community. From time to time, they might ask a neighbor for advice, or seek help from an older neighbor woman with extensive experience in caring for the sick.
"When the people of the Nineteenth Century spoke of their 'family physician,' they were referring not to a person but to a book. Detailed encyclopedias of lay medical practice occupied a place of honor in many homes. One of the most influential was The Domestic Medicine, by William Buchan, MD, one of the great best sellers of its day. Buchan provided his readers with detailed instructions for dealing with a wide variety of 'diseases, conditions, and calamities' at home-from Quinsy, Consumption, and Dislocation of the Jaw, to Swooning, Low Spirits, and Noxious Vapors. The entire text of The Domestic Medicine is currently available online. It makes for fascinating reading.
"In the closing years of the Nineteenth Century, the cultural persona of the physician as we know it today-knowledgeable, authoritative, and universally respected-did not exist. While some physicians were revered because they were devoted and able healers, a variety of non-physician resources-midwives, homeopaths, naturopaths, and a variety of layfolk with special medical competence-were accorded the same high regard. By contrast, physicians of poor reputation were regarded as little more than unscrupulous vagabonds. Most citizens took responsibility for their own illnesses and injuries, turning to health professionals only in extreme situations. And citizens had unhindered access to the full range of medical tools and treatments that were available."
To make a pop culture comparison, we are the helpless adult embryos that power the machine world of The Matrix films. We have become so reliant on physicians and the medical industry that we no longer think or diagnose for ourselves, which is still our constitutional right. Like the "battery" people of The Matrix, we are born into the system, we are nourished as slaves by the machines, and in the end the system kills us and our bodies are recycled back into the network in the form of mortality statistics and disease foundations that bear our or our loved ones' names.
I do not trust doctors.
May I say, AMEN to that statement? And may I say, I don't care what physicians and medical societies say about vaccines, when they have so much interest in the profit by them? And, never check them for safety? Is it time to go back two centuries ago? Me thinks so!
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | January 03, 2010 at 01:02 PM
"when Katie Couric tells viewers to get a colonoscopy she's doing the right thing... but when Jenny McCarthy asks questions about vaccine safety, she's wrong."
So true!!!
Posted by: jen | January 03, 2010 at 12:47 PM
I loved the bit in Jim Carrey's film "Yes Man" where his on-screen girlfriend has a band called "Munchausen by Proxy". A lot of parents doing biomed or believe in vaccine cause have been accused of it, particularly at one point in the UK. If that wasn't a wink I don't know what is. Subversion can be beautiful whether you're resisting Pinochet, Milosevic or pharma goonsquads.
Posted by: Gatogorra | January 02, 2010 at 11:51 PM
What is the percentage of families living with autism that STOP vaccinating? THAT is the "epidemic" they are most worried about.
Living with autism might be the biggest game changer. Staring into autism everyday motivates you far deeper than the advice of a celebrity or a "re-education campaign" ever could.
But, thank goodness that we finally have celebrities on our side. Maybe knowing you are not alone gives you the courage to stand on your original convictions to make your own common sense decisions about how you consume medical care.
Posted by: Cynthia Cournoyer | January 02, 2010 at 10:08 PM
Let's not forget Christy Yamaguchi reminding us to get our mercury laden flu shots.
Posted by: Mom23boys | January 02, 2010 at 09:06 PM
The recent study linking vaccines to autism is online at
http://www.rescuepost.com/files/hewitson-et-al-09-primate-hbv-study.pdf
However, I also want to note that some organizations supposedly advocating for autistics are engaging in unethical practices.
unethical practices of Autism Speaks:
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=61
unethical practices of the Judge Rotenberg Center:
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=63
-- Chris Dubey
Posted by: Chris Dubey | January 02, 2010 at 06:49 PM
I love the Carter Center's work. I have a nagging fear that they are a tiny bit connected to Rosalynn Carter's Every Child By Two, but the Carter Center assures me that they are entirely separate, and that none of the money I give toward eradicating guinea worm disease through sanitation measures will end up in the hands of Mrs. Carter's charity that hurts babies.
Posted by: Kristina | January 02, 2010 at 05:52 PM
Wow! Jenny has more influence than I thought. Awesome!
Posted by: Kristina | January 02, 2010 at 05:46 PM
It would be great if Jim Carrey could get the funding do do an up to date film on vaccine damage and how our children are so brave to cope with all that entails.
Posted by: Joan Campbell | January 02, 2010 at 03:22 PM
Can someone "win against a group" who took an extra 50 years to learn to wash their hands between "dead patients" and "birth-mothers" when the idea was first suggested ???
I would think so.
Posted by: cmo | January 02, 2010 at 02:32 PM
Perhaps 2010 will be the tipping point year - when more people begin questioning the paid talking heads on TV and really start listening to parents' eye-witness reports of post-vaccine problems.
It really is perplexing to me that you can line up 1000's of people including doctors, lawyers, teachers, preachers, and well-respected people from all walks of life and they can all say the same thing - their kid changed drastically after a round of routine shots. And people will agree with the talking heads that all those people are just plain wrong....huh??!!
The science will always be debatable because people cannot discern fact from fiction when both are presented with equal logic.
But you can't debate what myriad people and particularly parents have seen all over the world.
Just read vaccinationnews.com every day and the same story plays out across the globe. Child gets shot, derails physically and mentally and sometimes dies, parent blames the vaccines, authorities state they will look into it, and the next day the authorities say the parents are wrong....the vaccines are not to blame.
"The Coincidence" reruns are getting old. 2010 is time to cancel the show or at least change the channel.
Posted by: Beth | January 02, 2010 at 02:17 PM
Here's an article about the dismal progress in the US on "health" goals for the decade:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091231/D9CUF5O80.html
Note: Vaccination rates are up, but so are a host of chronic illnesses and obesity--way up. Coincidence? (Newsweek ran an article this fall about new evidence linking obesity to as-yet-unknown chemicals in the environment.)
Oh and btw, autism was not even mentioned.
Posted by: Lynn | January 02, 2010 at 01:29 PM
Shouldn't the various African peoples first be assisted with finding water and installing wells? Which leaves to improved crop growing and better nutrition? The end result is children who aren't neurologically and immunologically devastated by vaccine injury -- and foreign do-gooders' ill-informed intentions.
And gee, I thought J-Lo's catsuit was to distract from her hideous eye makeup....
Posted by: nhokkanen | January 02, 2010 at 01:24 PM
Heh, ECB2 didn't pull back because of Jenny McCarthy. They pulled back from their Africa missionary tour because they're not welcome. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/pfizer-to-pay-16350m-after-deaths-of-nigerian-children-in-drug-trial-experiment-1663402.html
After Pfizer's unlicensed human research atrocity in Nigeria, many Africans are less interested in "medical charity" from Pharma. Who's fault is that? Did Jenny McCarthy force Pfizer to go to Kano to set up a clinic right next to Doctors Without Borders and lure 200 critically ill children away from proven treatment in order to test their new "blockbuster-potential" deadly antibiotic? Did Jenny McCarthy force Pfizer to try to cover up the deaths and injuries from Trovan?
The problem is most definitely the problem. Pfizer is the problem. Wyeth (now merged with Pfizer) is the problem.
Posted by: Gatogorra | January 02, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Pisani et al. better wise up to the fact that we're not going away. We going to keep on talking and writing.
The autism numbers are the real pandemic AND NOT ONE OFFICIAL CAN TELL US WHERE THESE KIDS ARE COMING FROM.
The public is not going to ignore the hordes of disabled children everywhere and just keep on vaxing and vaxing.
The end is near for the lies and the coverup.
Anne Dachel
Media
Posted by: amdachel | January 02, 2010 at 11:53 AM
It all comes down to who is paying the bills. As long as the governmental/pharmaceutical/medical-establishment complex is in control, people like Ms. McCarthy and Mr. Carrey will be portrayed as nutcases while Amanda Peet will be lauded for her courage (almost as brave as her mentor, Dr. PrOffit, who so boldly withstands our vicious insults).
As for the hideous catsuit, it accomplished what it was intended for. It diverted attention from Ms. Lopez's hideous lip-syncing. Of course, lip syncing is pretty much what some of these celebrities are doing: they mouth along to the soundtrack created by those who pay the bills. Thanks to Jenny and Jim for speaking their own minds.
Posted by: Wade Rankin | January 02, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Wow If Jenny can make more that half of the world aware, the combination of all the impacted families, supporters, Jim Carrey, and others should shake things up. Great piece thank you as always Kim. Happy New Year to All... Now get back to work... ( Oh I forgot for a second... Families dealing with Autism never really got a holiday ) TannersDad Tim Welsh
Posted by: Tanners Dad | January 02, 2010 at 09:00 AM