Seth Mnookin Exposes His Cursory Knowledge of the Vaccine Autism Debate
Managing Editor's Note: Seth Mnookin's book is riddled with errors that even basic editing should have caught. His rudimentary understanding of this complex topic is startling. That the media has latched onto him as a darling of the Vaccine Injury Denialist community is not. Read Dan Olmsted's "Seth Mnookin and the Error Virus HERE. And Jake Crosby's expose Bob's Your Uncle! And now this following the CBS report Vaccines and Autism A New Scientific Link:
By John Stone
‘Panic Virus’ author, Seth Mnookin, showed up his profound ignorance of the history of the vaccine autism debate by publishing on his blog a criticism of study author Helen Ratajczak for her use of the ChildHealthSafety website (HERE) as the immediate source for the scientific and legal concessions that the US government has already made over vaccine encephalopathies and autism (HERE).
Ratajczak wrote:
“The United States Government and Dr. Geberding, Director of Vaccines at Merck & Co., Inc. say that autistic conditions can result from encephalopathy following vaccination (Child HealthSafety, 2010).”
CHS (HERE ) is the correct citation because it has assembled all the sources. Mnookin is of course shooting two excellent messengers, Ratajczak and CHS, but is more seriously showing up his own ignorance because he does not seem to realise that the sources are bona fide and he ought to have known them about them, if he knew anything about his subject at all. Either that or he was just trying to bluff. Neither explanation would be very satisfactory for a senior journalist and Harvard graduate.
The CHS blog has challenged Mnookin to justify his dismissal of this thoroughly well-documented information (HERE ), and Mnookin has also now posted CHS’s challenge on his own blog. Everyone should write to Mnookin at his blog demanding an explanation.
John Stone is UK Editor for Age of Autism.
personally, this is my favorite mnookin article: http://www.salon.com/life/feature/1999/08/27/heroinson
Posted by: GL | April 04, 2011 at 08:17 PM
The debate on Mnookin's blog is throwing up some interesting items - [aside from Mnookin - a journalist - still failing to answer basic questions].
A recent exchange demonstrates how corrupt medical journal publishing has become. This can be seen from a long list of citations of medical journal papers posted on Mnookin's blog and claimed to be evidence vaccines are safe and do not cause autistic conditions.
Fortunately, as AoA and CHS have pointed out previously, numerous US Government agencies have confirmed vaccines can cause autistic conditions.
Bit embarrassing for Harvard educated Mnookin, journalist and Vanity Fair writer, having devoted an entire recently published book to claiming there is no link.
If you want to read more you can see it here:
“Unsafe Vaccines & Corruption In Medical Journal Publishing”
http://tinyurl.com/3znajyo
This also begs the question of why Kev Leitch and Sullivan's LBRB blog is called an Autism Blog when it is really an anti-vaccine safety blog. Kev and Sullivan have been asked to answer here:-
http://tinyurl.com/4ylwvtc
Mnookin now seems to be allowing some posts by CHS.
Posted by: ChildHealthSafety | April 03, 2011 at 05:38 AM
Not tense any more on Mnookin's blog.
Mnookin will not answer and has blocked all further comments.
Pretty amazing behaviour from a journalist and author [but then it is of an anti-vaccine safety book and he does seem to know Paul Offit - The Doctor of Vaccine Profit].
Posted by: ChildHealthSafety | April 02, 2011 at 01:31 PM
It looks as if things are getting tense over at Mnookin's blog.
Posted by: Denning | April 02, 2011 at 10:57 AM
Let's not be too hard on Mnookin. He's very busy Tweeting about world events:
sethmnookin Seth Mnookin
Yeow: Tiger's 22-yr old girlfriend arrested for DUI. The mug shot is...well, see for yourself. http://ht.ly/4l7Wp
23 Mar
(Isn't alcoholism on page 181 of the DSM IV? Alert Kev at LBRB that Mnookin "abused, disparaged and ridiculed" a woman "with a psychiatric disorder and encouraged readers to do the same." As Kev recently wrote, "this behavior is shameful and deeply offensive" and maybe he "should think twice before attacking someone based solely or partly on their disorders...")
Mnookin also enjoyed ridiculing a man who couldn't afford corrective surgery for a birth defect:
sethmnookin Seth Mnookin
Legit (albeit intentionally ha ha) headline of day: "Holy crap! Chinese dude lived 55 years w/out an anus." http://ht.ly/4lbbL
23 Mar
Let's face it - Mnookin is too busy Tweeting about other people's unfortunate life circumstances to keep up with mundane facts about vaccines and autism.
Posted by: Tweet-Tweet | April 01, 2011 at 07:08 PM
What was Mnookin smokin?
Yes, Mnookin doesn't seem to be answering even now, although there are various exotic beings prowling his blog and trying to distract from the fact.
Posted by: John Stone | April 01, 2011 at 03:23 PM
A few months ago Mnookin had a live chat promoting his book on Gawker.com and claimed Hep B is transmitted by contaminated food. Now I'm not a MD, but I have taken high school sex ed- I think Hep A is spread by contaminated food, not Hep B.
http://gawker.com/#!5732161/gawker-book-club-seth-mnookins-the-panic-virus
"smnookin 13 Jan 2011 1:57 PM @John Cook: Hep B is a different, and more complicated, issue, and I think illustrates the very real danger of the public health community not being straightforward. Hep B can actually be transmitted in ways outside of IV drug use/unprotected sex -- and every year, a small number of kids get Hep B through contaminated food, etc. But you're right: Overall, that's a very, very low risk.
The communities with higher rates of Hep B are generally poorer, minority communities, or communities where drug use is rampant -- and it's hard to say to someone, "We think you might be a drug addict or are at high risk for not coming in for follow-up pediatric appointments and so therefore we're going to give your child the Hep B vaccine but not give it to the rich, white parent in the private delivery room next to yours."
The Hep B is not a vaccine a lot of doctors will argue with you about if you ask to delay it. It's also been shown to be safe -- but certainly if it's something that worries you, I wouldn't fixate on that."
Posted by: Heather | April 01, 2011 at 03:19 PM
This syncs up with there being absolutely no reference to former CDC Director Julie Gerberding in the book Panic Virus. Or none that I could find.
To those of us who are very familiar with the events of that period including Poling/Gerberding and the CNN interview, Mnookin's version of what occurred is truly bewildering.
Posted by: What was Mnookin smokin? | April 01, 2011 at 02:56 PM
Typical. Ad hominem attacks on so-called "anti-vax" people rather than critical review of the actual evidence.
Posted by: Sandy Gottstein | April 01, 2011 at 12:23 PM