Seth Mnookin Never Answered Questions on US Government Vaccine Autism Concessions
Seth Mnookin walks away without answering awkward questions on US government concessions regarding autism and vaccine
By John Stone
‘Panic Virus’ author Seth Mnookin closed his blog the other week entitled ‘More embarrassing reporting from CBS News’s Sharyl Attkisson’ (HERE) without responding to fundamental criticisms. What is at stake is his very credibility as an historian of the vaccine/autism controversy, as someone who failed to recognise the most basic facts.
Mnookin had censured study author Helen Ratajczak (HERE ) and in turn the report of Sharyl Attkisson of CBS ( HERE) for citing the ChildHealthSafety website (HERE ) but the information from CHS came well documented, and Mnookin ought to have known this as author a popular book on the subject. Mnookin appears to be living in a parallel universe in which the head of Merck’s vaccine division, Julie Gerberding, had not conceded that vaccines cause autism to CNN TV when we she was director of the Centers for Disease Control, and in which the US government had not made important concessions in Vaccine Injury Compensation Programme, and in which significant awards had not been made.
CHS summarised the points on Mnookin’s blog:-
- The US HRSA has confirmed vaccines can cause autistic conditions.
- Merck’s current Director of Vaccines Division confirmed vaccines can cause autistic conditions – and that was when she was the Head of the US Centers for Disease Control.
- Autistic conditions can be caused by multiple vaccines as was conceded by the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Hannah Poling case.
- Autistic conditions can result from acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) following MMR vaccination as held by the US Federal Court in the case of Bailey Banks.
- The increase in autistic conditions, diabetes, childhood asthma and obesity can only be caused by enviromental factors as was confirmed by the current Director of the US National Institutes of Health and leading geneticist Dr Francis Collins in evidence to Congress when he was head of the Human Genome Project.
- the rate in the USA is approximately 1 in 100 and in the UK it is 1 in 64
- the cost to the UK has been estimated to be £28 billion per annum.
Meanwhile, Mnookin walks away without answering and it looks like the embarrassment is all his.
To further the sports analogies:
Mnookin plays for the Dodgers.
Posted by: nhokkanen | April 20, 2011 at 04:13 PM
I saw the Seth Mnookin present at an event recently and was taken aback by his comments about families impacted by ASD. I felt he was extremely condescending towards them, calling the conferences parents attended relative to vaccine injury "large support groups" rather than informational gatherings. I am not a parent of a child with ASD but still found that comment offensive.
Posted by: Betsy | April 20, 2011 at 09:40 AM
Continuing your 'football' theme (pic). I think it has been a good week for the home team. We are well and truly giving them a thrashing. The opposition have turned up without their kit!
They must be red faced.
Well done Age of Autism - you are top of the league.
Posted by: Deborah Nash | April 19, 2011 at 09:58 AM
Isn't it odd how Mnookin keeps on going on about embarrassment. Does embarrassment perhaps figure large in his life? Three weeks ago it was Sharyl Attkisson who was supposed to be embarrassed, now in his latest blog it is Bob McNeil. But the people who are really embarrassed are the vaccine lobby and their simpering cronies, who just don't want people to talk about things.
Posted by: John Stone | April 19, 2011 at 07:19 AM
Twyla
Yes, he walked away (washing his hands). He complained in his final note that people had made the same point over and over, but the trouble was that the point that we were making was one that he couldn't/wouldn't answer, and which related firmly to his original claims in the blog: he had criticised people unfairly, the information they had cited was correct and had never reported by him.
In the UK we call it stonewalling:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stonewall
Well, Mr Mnookin, we are still waiting...
Posted by: John Stone | April 19, 2011 at 05:52 AM
Yeah, it was interesting how Seth Mnookin suddenly ended comments to that blog. I was wondering if he simply realized that his article didn't make sense.
Posted by: Twyla | April 19, 2011 at 03:23 AM
Mnookin doesn't do his homework.
Posted by: Theresa Cedillo | April 19, 2011 at 02:07 AM