Skeptics Censor Skepticism of Paul Offit's Book
By Jake Crosby
Two weeks after millionaire vaccine industrialist Paul Offit verbally abused me at the University of Pennsylvania, he gave a talk about his book “Deadly Choices” at the Washington D.C. Chapter of the Center for Inquiry – an umbrella organization for several pharmaceutical industry front groups that call themselves “skeptics.”
CFI's pharmaceutical ties run deep. Dr. Jonathan Tobert – retired Merck scientist who developed the first statin drug – sits on CFI's board of directors. Prior to his appointment to the board, he had already supported the organization for 30 years according to CFI's website. For 24 of those 30 years, he was employed by Merck until retiring from the company in 2004 to join an FDA panel through that ever-revolving door between government agencies and the pharmaceutical industry. CFI president, bio“ethicist” Ronald Lindsay, headlined a recent conference with bio“ethicist” Arthur Caplan, director of the Penn Center for Bio“ethics.” Caplan chaired GlaxoSmithKline's bio“ethics” advisory panel for three years and is vehemently opposed to vaccine choice.
“Friends of the Center” for Inquiry could attend Paul Offit's talk free-of-charge, but I'm no friend of the center, so I had to pay an entry fee. After signing my name, I was all ready to hand over my money when I was asked:
“What's your name?”
After I answered, I was told:
“I can't take your money. I can't let you in. I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because the speaker is uncomfortable with you being here.”
“Can I get your name?”
“My name is Simon, you can speak to Melody. She's the executive director.”
I would later find out that his name is Simon Davis, treasurer of the Center for Inquiry's Washington DC Chapter (CFI-DC).
Simon left and brought back Melody, executive director of CFI-DC.
“Hi, I'm Melody Hensley! Are you Jake?”
“Yes,” I said.
“I'm sorry, we cannot let you in.”
“Why not?”
“Because this is a private event sponsored by a private organization and we have the right to refuse entry to whoever we want.”
“I totally respect that right, I just want to know why you want to refuse entry to me.”
“Because we don't want a disturbance.”
“I'm not the one who disturbs his talks.”
“That's fine, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”
Online, I noticed Melody Hensley repeated Offit's libel of me on Twitter:
I should probably expect a Google alert soon from anti-vaccine blogger and Paul Offit stalker for not allowing him into the event.
When another attendee asked why I was barred from attending Offit's talk, CFI-DC treasurer Simon Davis replied (while the attendee was recording (click here to listen at 2:23) him, ):
“He follows him to events and just makes him very uncomfortable and there are police reports. This is the first time we've ever had to deal with this. It's more than just a disagreement, he fears for his safety.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. I mean, there's suspicion of a mental diagnosis, there's police reports – so that's the story with him.”
“Are you sure what you're saying is true, 100%? Police reports?”
“That's what he's told me.”
No police reports were filed against me at the places where I saw Offit speak – Penn, Yale and NIH. I guess I can also discount Offit's two-time “apology” to me following his claim that I do not have Asperger Syndrome, but “paranoid schizophrenia,” given that he told the CFI-DC treasurer of a suspected “mental diagnosis” to bar me from the talk.
Although I was not there, I did learn from someone who attended that Offit said he was all for getting rid of the Vaccine Injuries Compensation Program. This too, was recorded (click here to listen at 3:24.)
In stark contrast, Offit told American Medical News four years ago that the VICP was an advantage for vaccine makers, since it shields them from personal injury litigation. It was after I brought up the American Medical News story to Offit at Penn last month – reminding him of his financial motives – when he replied:
“Get the fuck out of here! Piece of shit!”
I guess that's why Paul Offit changed his stance, although he was not the only person to contradict himself that day. The Center for Inquiry barred my inquiry of his book based on lies apparently told by Offit himself. Barring me from the talk contradicts what CFI claims on its “About Us” web page:
“No topic should be placed off limits to scrutiny...”
Unless the topic is millionaire vaccine industrialist Paul Offit, in which case skepticism is fair game for censorship, even by “skeptics.”
Jake Crosby has Asperger Syndrome and is a contributing editor to Age of Autism. Jake is a 2011 graduate of Brandeis University with a BA in both History and Health: Science, Society and Policy. He currently attends The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services where he is studying for an MPH in epidemiology.
In _Deadly Choices_, Offit says that in 2004 ten of thirteen Wakefield co-authors "formally withdrew their names" from the Lancet paper, citing (without page number) Richard Horton's _MMR: Science & Fiction_ as his source. Having read the retraction in question, I know that none of the authors withdrew his name from the paper so I decided to read Horton's book, the one which had so misled Offit. What I found was this:
"We needed a partial retraction, erasing, as far as one reasonably could, the interpretation concerning the vaccine and autism. None of the factual material described in the 1998 paper was in doubt. Twelve children did exist. Their clinical case histories were not disputed. The findings on physical examination of the children remained unquestioned. The hypothesis that formed the principal conclusion of the paper--that a new syndrome of bowel disease and an autistic-like behavioural disorder had been discovered--was intact, although it remained a subject of continuing investigation...."
There's nothing in Horton's book about the authors withdrawing their names from the paper (as devoutly as they may have wished they'd never mentioned MMR in it). Indeed, the authors seem to have been reluctant to go along with any of this retraction business. Horton again: "Simon Murch managed to convince ten of the original thirteen authors to sign up to this partial retraction....After protracted negotiation, the draft statement was considered too inflammatory. It seemed to lay particular blame on Wakefield for advocating single vaccines in place of the triple MMR vaccine at the press conference...." (Now we're getting to the crux of the matter: MMR is sacred.)
So Offit got it wrong and can't blame anybody but himself. He doesn't include the text of the retraction so the reader has to take his word. What that amounts to is...Offit lied.
Posted by: Carol | June 20, 2012 at 12:33 PM
@John:
Randi is not an officer of CFI, but he is a fellow of CSI (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry), which is an affiliate of CFI. In fact Randi is a founding member of CSI, but then he began his own offshoot when he started having some legal troubles to keep them from spreading to the rest of the contingency. Only recently has Randi been made a CSI fellow, though unofficially I don't think there was ever any real severance of ties between the two, except in name alone.
Interestingly, Randi's investigation of Beneviste's lab happened just 11 months after the first statin drug - developed by Merck scientist and CSI supporter Jonathan Tobert along with his team - gained FDA approval. That a high school dropout would be called in to investigate an immunologist's lab by a top science journal is bizarre all by itself.
Posted by: Jake Crosby | June 11, 2012 at 08:15 PM
Keep going to any presentation by prOffit that you can. It's always funny and good news to hear the stories that come out of it. Each time we find out just how crooked prOffit and his Pharma goons are.
Posted by: keith | June 09, 2012 at 07:46 PM
Celia;
Put this on todays article
Autism One: Is there a Doctor in the House by Julie O
If fits in perfect with today's blog.
Thanks for the article.
Good picture of Offit -- he is so pleasant looking in the picture.
I am also sick of them putting the words describing Dr. Wakefield in front of his name.
The discredited Wakefield.
Posted by: Benedetta | June 08, 2012 at 04:11 PM
This was forwarded to me by an editor at the Daily (not because he was sympathetic to it.) It's so defective I don't know if anybody here wishes to send in corrections, but in any case, here it is:
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/06/04/060412-news-nobel-autism-1-3/
Posted by: Celia Farber | June 08, 2012 at 01:55 PM
Offit is often showcased by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Here's how prwatch describes CMPI:
"The pharmaceutical industry-funded front group Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI) is helping its corporate funders fight health care reform by disseminating misinformation and orchestrating campaigns to generate fear about health care reform. CMPI arose out of the Pacific Research Institute, a corporate front group that worked with Philip Morris in the past to fabricate academic support for the tobacco industry. CMPI has been sponsoring anti-Obama Tea Party protests, producing attack ads against health care reform and creating Web sites that feature 'horror stories' about citizens in countries that offer universal health care. CMPI is headed by Peter Pitts, the head of global health care for the international corporate public relations firm Porter Novelli, which specializes in helping drug companies evade FDA marketing restrictions by using stealth marketing techniques, like creating fake, unbranded 'public service ads' nominally to raise awareness of diseases, but that really drive people to drug-company funded Web sites that advertise drugs. "
Any questions?
Posted by: Carol | June 03, 2012 at 12:04 PM
Here are my three questions for Paul Offit:
1. Do you think that this graduate student, Jake Crosby, has a mental illness? Yes or No.
2. If your answer to Question One is Yes, do you think his asking you a question (at the December 14, 2011 meeting at NIH) about the safety of the MMR vaccine is an indication of that mental illness? Yes or No.
3. If your answer to Question Two is Yes, do you have a mental illness? Yes or No.
Posted by: Mary W Maxwell | June 02, 2012 at 07:11 PM
I picture poor beleaguered P.O. delivering a lecture from his custom tufted fainting couch, a cool rag over his eyes, one wrist to forehead, the other hand limply clutching his pearls, smelling salts and a glass of sherry at the ready...Oh, the sheer horror of having to answer questions about one's life's work...it must be completely debilitating, being expected to explain yourself to the generations you damaged...
Kudos to Jake and Mystery Wingman!
Posted by: Garbo | June 02, 2012 at 06:41 PM
Just about everything's been said in response to this post, so I'll just say keep up the good work, Jake. The cracks in the system are widening. One day they will get so big that "they" will be unable to maintain their structure. It's people like you who are making that happen more quickly, Jake.
Posted by: Janet Levatin | June 02, 2012 at 09:58 AM
Carol
Randi and the CfI - they're definitely associated but he is not necessarily an officer:
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/tribute_to_james_randi_with_humor_at_my_expense/
I first became disgusted with Randi and also with Nature editor John Maddox (whom previously I had admired) over their treatment of Jacques Benveniste. Outlandish though Benveniste's discoveries seemed to be I did not think they acted in a way which clarified anything.
John
Posted by: John Stone | June 02, 2012 at 06:45 AM
The point is, isn't it, that government bodies can bluster and tell half truths about the vaccine programme but they need proxies to tell outright lies?
Posted by: John Stone | June 02, 2012 at 06:21 AM
Is the Center for Inquiry associated with James Randi? James Randi's boyfriend just got off with a short house arrest and probation for stealing someone's identity for a couple of decades, a crime that Randi appears to have been well aware of.
Posted by: Carol | June 02, 2012 at 03:42 AM
prOffit is a psycho,he is trying to spin up his own story
against you.I think he is dangerous,both as a doctor,as a
vaccine formulator and as a presenter.I do not understand
why anybody listens to a man like prOffit,who only represents pHARMA's best interests.Take very good care of yourself Jake and be careful.prOffit is the narcissist sick one...here.
Posted by: oneVoice | June 02, 2012 at 01:04 AM
JAKE CROSBY YOU ROCK!!!!
People like Paul Offit are All Profit and have NO CONSCIENCE. Therefore they LIE. He has made a fortune lying to protect the vaccine industry. Regarding his desire to get rid of the vaccine court, now that the Supreme Court has ruled no more civil actions in state courts, all they have to do is get rid of the VICP next, and then they can continue to poison everyone with no impediments whatsoever. I am sure this statement by him reflects the goal of the vaccine industry, not just his own personal opinion.
It is good when evil people lie because it exposes their true colors.
Posted by: AutismGrandma | June 02, 2012 at 12:50 AM
Meg Allen- no problem! It was clear who the message was for.
Ottoschnaut- it was a limited analogy. Offit doesn't carry out his own crimes directly-- he jobs out. I apologize if any batterers were offended.
Posted by: Madoffit | June 01, 2012 at 11:37 PM
Bob I agree with you about Offit being a narcissist. He fits the classic description perfectly. Since I have a family member who could be described as a narcissist I can tell you that it begins in childhood and impacts all of their relationships. They need to be idolized by peers, especially in business. They lack empathy and the ability to have remorse. They may have regrets but that is different than remorse. They are easily offended and belligerent when challenged since they can never admit they are wrong.
Offit is insecure with his professional reputation, or he would not be as vitriolic in his antagonism of parents who believe their children were injured by vaccines. He has become absurd in his defenses, including barring Jake from his talks.
Posted by: Mary | June 01, 2012 at 10:20 PM
Jake,
I told you at A1 that he was following you around the whole time so you are entitled to do the same. He was that fly on the wall and under the dinner table. I swatted at him once but he had no blood, only venom--and survived. Guess we can call him"The Lord of the Flies." He and his followers are a pesky group full of fly lies and disease. Next time you go carry a swatter or a can of Wipe Out.
Maurine--
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | June 01, 2012 at 09:34 PM
Offit always comes across as a man full of hate. I wonder what kind of child he was. Did he make enemies of all the good kids and spread lies about them, or did he sell his soul in college? When the Merck/GSK/Murdoch Media muck raking machine shoves truth seeking doctors out of his way, does he feel any empathy at all that an innocent man is destroyed or does he revel in it? What a job he has,7 figures for 2 simple tasks: pushing a program he knows injures kids, and slandering public figures who aren't sure Pharma is looking out for us. There just aren't enough Jake Crosbys around.
Posted by: Carter's daddy | June 01, 2012 at 09:30 PM
The wheels are coming of Offit's trolley. His trolley is coming off the tracks. Inevitably, Paul Offit and Brian Deer will find themselves on the same island of the disgraced, or working for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Posted by: michael | June 01, 2012 at 09:01 PM
What a coward!
Posted by: Jackie murphy | June 01, 2012 at 08:59 PM
Heidi, Offit's objective is to convince Americans that anyone who brings up vaccine injury is "dangerous." No congressional inquiry, attorney general or lawsuit can interfere with him preaching pharma's gospel that "vaccines don't cause autism" or lying about his conflicts. Do you really want someone like that speaking unchallenged to audiences full of students and physicians?
Posted by: Overvaccinating for fun and PrOffit | June 01, 2012 at 08:26 PM
Keep doing the right thing. Eventually the right thing will make it right.
Posted by: LDC | June 01, 2012 at 07:46 PM
Because Katie;
He is on the side of evil, and evil just like vampires cannot stand the light of questions.
Grow a spine - that was a good one!
Now this CHOP getting the funds cut by the federal government - the article did not say why the federal government is cutting them;
Does anyone know why?
Posted by: Benedetta | June 01, 2012 at 07:24 PM
Jake, I agree with Helen's post:
"Jake, what I have to say is that you are very patient person, but let me share what I have learned about people. Individuals who do "unethical" things that they justify as ethical will NOT change when you bring your views to them, no matter what the science, proof, etc."
However that being said, if we don't have people like Jake attending these meetings, we will not know what is going on there and we need to! And for those few at the meetings who may not yet have fallen into the depths of depravity that others in attendance have sunk to, perhaps their eyes will be opened and they will turn away from the poisoning for profit that continues...
Posted by: F Sousa | June 01, 2012 at 07:12 PM
It is silly to argue that Offit is some kind of victim. Let'e be real. If I were Offit I would be a man and face this head on.
Take Jake's questions, state your answer calmly. Offit puts himself in a public forum. Jake is not going to Offit's house. If you lecture to the public, you have to grow a spine and deal w questions u may not like. After an exchange with Jake calmly take other questions. I would not show fear by forcibly ejecting this graduate student.
What is with this "Jake asks the same questions." Offit lectures about the SAME subject all over the country, I bet he gets A LOT of the same questions over and over again. Deal with it.
Parents like us deal w people expressing radically different points of view all the time. We never eject people from our NAA meetings.
Posted by: Katie Wright | June 01, 2012 at 07:06 PM
I think we should have groups of us attend these talks all with the name of Jake Crosby...tha twould rattle his cage.
Or just have at least one person at each of his speaking events sign in as Jake ...
Posted by: Katie Kelley | June 01, 2012 at 06:55 PM
It's amazing the lengths that pathetic man Offit will go to to disparage you, Jake. He is a liar among other things. I'm glad his hospital was dropped from the research study. I mean, people who lie and abuse others (including trying to label you "paranoid schizophrenic") are not worthy of being in positions of responsibility. I seriously hope you take some kind of action against him.
Posted by: Jen | June 01, 2012 at 06:25 PM
Just to recap, as people may have forgotten, Offit was branded as a liar by the Orange County Register last year and yet he is still supposed to retain professional credibility:
'An OC Register article dated Aug. 4, 2008 entitled “Dr. Paul Offit Responds” contained several disparaging statements that Dr. Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia made about CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and her report. Upon further review, it appears that a number of Dr. Offit’s statements, as quoted in the OC Register article, were unsubstantiated and/or false. Attkisson had previously reported on the vaccine industry ties of Dr. Offit and others in a CBS Evening News report “How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?” July 25, 2008.
'Unsubstantiated statements include: Offit’s claim that Attkisson “lied”; and Offit’s claim that CBS News sent a “mean spirited and vituperative” email “over the signature of Sharyl Attkisson” stating “You’re clearly hiding something.” In fact, the OC Register has no evidence to support those claims. Further, Offit told the OC Register that he provided CBS News “the details of his relationship, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s relationship, with pharmaceutical company Merck.” However, documents provided by CBS News indicate Offit did not disclose his financial relationships with Merck, including a $1.5 million Hilleman chair he sits in that is co-sponsored by Merck. According to the CBS News’ documentation recently reviewed by the OC Register, the network requested (but Offit did not disclose) the entire profile of his professional financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies including: The amount of compensation he’d received from which companies in speaking fees; and pharmaceutical consulting relationships and fees. The CBS News documentation indicates Offit also did not disclose his share of past and future royalties for the Merck vaccine he co-invented. To the extent that unsubstantiated and/or false claims appeared in the OC Register and have been repeated by other organizations and individuals, the OC Register wishes to express this clarification for their reference and for the record.'
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/correction-296910-dated-entitled.html
He was also, of course successfully sued by JB Handley, and lost a UK edition of one of his books after legal action.
Posted by: John Stone | June 01, 2012 at 06:11 PM
Jake, what I have to say is that you are very patient person, but let me share what I have learned about people. Individuals who do "unethical" things that they justify as ethical will NOT change when you bring your views to them, no matter what the science, proof, etc. You see, people do what they want, not what they think is correct for humanity. They do what they think is correct for themselves, and this is why we have the IRS and the police -- to force people to act fair and ethically. Anyhow, what I mean to say is that you are a very intelligent person, so use that intelligence to make a difference, not to "talk" someone into changing who clearly is not going to. But, what does make people change are lawsuits, complaints to Attorney Generals, Congressional inquiries, etc. What I have learned in life, is that in order to get an unethical person to change, you have to make the right complaint to the right person.
Posted by: Heidi N | June 01, 2012 at 06:10 PM
Pamela - my response was actually to YOUR post, sorry Madoffit.
Posted by: Meg Allen | June 01, 2012 at 04:42 PM
Ottoschnaut: I too got a chuckle out of the splaining to Merck about getting rid of the Vaccine Compensation thing.
Offit is getting to be a loose cannon, doesn't he know there are just some topics that must not be brought up?
Oh, perhaps Offit thought he was threatening -- Don't make me laugh, again - my side is hurting!
But then all I have to do to stop laughing and go from happy to just out right - out--raged Jake has a mental disabilty.
Unless he is psychotic - walking in his sleep - how dare they! Jake is also a steely jawed, clear eyed hero - to keep being reasonable after that statement. Your a better human and a better Christian than most others in this situation, Jake. I would have saw red, lost it, and stopped thinking clear enough to keep talking reasonable.
Posted by: Benedetta | June 01, 2012 at 04:17 PM
@ottoschnaut
LMAO!!!
But seriously, that was quite a coup - a double coup. The wingman has skills.
About the VICP quote, you assume that Merck etc. would pick up the tab on vaccine injury claims if Offit has his wish and VICP is deep-sixed. I'm not so sure that's what he had in mind. My interpretation is that he simply wants to eliminate all avenues for compensating for vaccine injuries, not open Merck up to civil claims. Perhaps someone should ask him to elaborate - that is, if he ever takes a question outside of his comfort zone again.
Posted by: daydreaming about the mystery wingman | June 01, 2012 at 03:34 PM
it's like shinging a light in a dark cave, the bats freak out. Visual of what I think Offit is doing. Sometimes truthful inquiry is the one thing these people fear, becuse they have nothing to back their arguments, nothing...all lies and collusion and untruths, twisted for their favor, tobacco bought and paid for researchers and "epidemeiological untruths", and never held up by the light of day. It's a harsh world when that bubble is bursted, twould and would be the end of careers, jail time, imprisonment, shame, fervor that the harmaceutical companies have had over us for a loooong time. They are not in the business of prevention, or knowing causation, or, cures. They are a BUSINESS. Paul Offit is made of the same cloth. His venom is so far outreaching, he has poisoned the whole discourse, when, in fact, all this could have been worked out. It would work out for me to know that parents have an option not to partake of the bitter pill and shrink, and be their choice given the COMPLETE information that vaccines are not studied long term, are not safe, are often contaminated and neurotoxic and life altering as in harming the brain for life, and immune system and is pushed on us because of BUSINESS and PERCEPTION of dangers which, are not even there anymore due to sanitation and hygeine. Truthful discourse without the "I hope the public doesn't find out" attitudes. Jake, you must continue and say to yourself while doing so, I am doing this for the thousands and thousands of parents out there with the same questions which are not being answered. If I had the resources, I would accompyany you, and do my biddings as well, but alas, two at home harmed by vaccines is enough for my brain and entire life and theirs to explode. Somehow, I think this is why they have gotten away with this for so long...because we are all at home on our own personal battlefields of autism, and have no resources, time and frankly the ability to make our message known. I fear they fear the sheer numbers of moms and dads waking up to these facts, and are doing all they can to even be more secret than the Bildeberg meetings. Such industrialists are probably their co conspirators. We should sik Alex Jones on him too. Seriously, consider that. Cameras, we need cameras~ LOL...
Posted by: kathy blanco | June 01, 2012 at 02:25 PM
@ Madoffit agree with you in general, I think comparing Dr. Offit to a wife beater is not a fair analogy to him, or Jake. I understand your point, however that type of language gives Offit ammunition to debunk his critics...
@ Pamela- the first event Jake showed up was NIH, where he was literally dragged from the room for asking the guy a question. You want to defend that, go ahead. Just don't bitch when it happens to you someday, OK? Your description of Jake's actions is inaccurate. He does not "obsessively" do anything that I can see, and his question at each forum has been different. So what are you basing your statements on? Will you tell us next that Jake is actually a unicorn, and unicorns should not be allowed to question preeminent vaccine types?
Dr. Offit's talk was promoted as being about the "most dangerous citizen activist movement in the history of the United States." Next lecture, I half expect him to start waving a sheath of papers while yelling,"I have the names of 342 known anti vaxxers who work in the very halls of government and science!" Flecks of spittle optional, but I can see it happening....
Personally, I respect Jake's pursuit of truth, wherever it may lead. I enjoy his articles. Considering he has been perp walked, cussed, labeled as mentally unstable and as a stalker, and barred entry to public events, all without reason, I commend the objectivity and restraint in his articles.
Last thought- who is the wingman who made the tape? In my mind, I see a steely jawed, clear eyed, handsome devil, with a full, luxuriant, bushy head of hair, stout and resolute in pursuit of the truth, willing to step into the fray on the side of the underdog. Getting Offit on tape advocating "getting rid of" VICP is priceless! Offit's gonna have some 'splaining to do to Merck about that one...kudos to the mystery wing man! I am sure in real life (girls take notice) he is just dreamy....probably married though (all the good ones are!)so don't get your hopes up....
Peace, and Thank you! to Jake and AoA!
O/S
Posted by: ottoschnaut | June 01, 2012 at 02:20 PM
If words have any meaning then attending meetings addressed by public figures and asking the awkward questions is not stalking.
Posted by: John Stone | June 01, 2012 at 02:10 PM
Pamela,
Since you seem to believe that Paul Offit does not lie, then are you telling us that Simon Davis lied on the recording about police reports having been filed?
Either the CFI treasurer or the millionaire vaccine industrialist is not telling the truth. Which is it?
Also, some reporters "follow" candidates around the country and attend dozens of their events. They even ask questions. Are they "stalkers" too? Are the Offiteers seeking to limit media coverage of public figures? Seems like it.
Posted by: Re: Pam's spam | June 01, 2012 at 01:29 PM
Personally, if I were giving a talk on vaccines/autism etc., I’d welcome Paul Offit. I would respectfully engage in an exchange with him. I have enough questions for him to last for hours. There’s nothing that would off the table. I have nothing to hide.
Anne Dachel, Media
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | June 01, 2012 at 01:19 PM
Madoffit:
Actually, I find it comforting to know that someone as knowledgble as Jake will "ask Dr. Offit ...the same obsessive questions again and again" - some one needs to keep this man in check, especially considering that his position on vaccination has been an integral part of hurting innocent children. Are we all supposed to just stand by and watch?
Posted by: Meg Allen | June 01, 2012 at 01:08 PM
Wow, Jake. Imagine if regular reporters had your initiative and perseverance. We might actually get stories exposing the criminal cover-up of the autism-vaccine disaster.
Regardless, you're showing us what Paul Offit is really like and it has nothing to do with free inquiry. He's defending a totally corrupt and colluded system--namely, an unsafe, unchecked vaccine program and I think excluding those who point that out is the only recourse left to him. Offit would do much better to give his talks in a country with a totalitarian regime. Then there'd be no pretense at "free inquiry."
Anne Dachel, Media
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | June 01, 2012 at 01:08 PM
Offit seems overconfident of his linchpin status as government/industry vaccine defender. There's a limit to how much those interests will shield him if he keeps coming unhinged in public.
Only a iffy grade of human being would perform this kind of dishonest PR role and the risks of grandiosity or getting busted for spiraling pathological lies are probably very high, which I'm sure study groups for spinmasters are well aware of.
Maybe Offit is also overconfident about how fast our society becomes a closed one. Even with NDAA looming, we're not quite there yet and the public is not fully acclimatized to the idea of living in an all-out police state, though Offit's hopes spring eternal as anyone could see from some of his recent articles and his interview in "The Greater Good" calling for unilateral medical mandates. Offit is at least a partial totalitarian, though it's not really a thing which can be done by halves.
Offit doesn't seem like the type who reflects much on the political ramifications of his actions-- a bit like a wife beater who always fancied himself egalitarian until he had to face his wife in court and then suddenly begins lobbying to repeal the law allowing women to sit on juries. He's guilty, desperate and reactionary- not fully in control. He will either be pulled back by is handlers or will go for broke with his next set of accusations. He's in a corner.
Posted by: Madoffit | June 01, 2012 at 12:35 PM
It's not an "insinuation". Jake indeed "follows him to events" so that he can ask Dr. Offit (without actually listening to him) the same obsessive questions again and again that he already thinks he has an answer to anyway. Jake likes to publicly imply that Offit is a liar, enjoys finding any way to discredit him so he has something juicy to write about and have published here. Isn't he, then, just preaching to the crowd?
It's weird and worrisome harrassing-stalkish behavior, and a pathetic waste of Jake's precious time and fine mind.
Posted by: Pamela | June 01, 2012 at 12:18 PM
Hey Jake, Offit also lied in his book about what I said to him & what he said to me in front of the CDC.
Posted by: Jeff R. | June 01, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Holy shitballs. Sorry...it's the only ridiculous response I can muster for such a ridiculous situation. Unfortunately Jake, I pray you stay safe while you're shining the light to reveal the truth. You're doing amazing work that will save many children from injury.
Posted by: Lori Orrico | June 01, 2012 at 11:51 AM
And what will Offit do now that there are others in the crowd recording what he says?
I would think that Simon and Melody should be very careful about what they say about you, Jake. Would their spreading of lies be considered rather slanderous?
Posted by: Shelly | June 01, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Jake Crosby is the Bomb! Absolute Genius. I love reading him. He and my favorite, J. B. Handley, are what makes this newspaper great. Keep exposing the scum of university pharm and the medical industrial complex. After thirty years, I am amazed these despicable vermin are roaming free, using taxes to fund their murderous ways and feeling no remorse. Sociopaths every one of them. And shameless liars. Hopefully people reading AoA will abstain from injecting biological toxoids into their babies and avoid a lifelong sentence of childhood disability and death. My advice to readers is stop electing whores who sleep with the Paul For Profits of this world.
Posted by: ioneskye | June 01, 2012 at 11:42 AM
Oh my God! I am laughing out loud!
What a paranoid persecution complex Paul Offit has!
"He fears for his life!" Such a drama queen.
More like he fears and open and honest debate! It is scary that in his mind someone who disagrees with him = someone making a threats on his life. Can u imagine? What nonsense.
My 2 year old niece is braver than this guy.
People like David Kirby have offered Offit to debate- anywhere of his choosing but he refuses because he is afraid. Afraid of the truth maybe?
Posted by: Katie Wright | June 01, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Paul Offit is sort of the "Bernie Maddof" of vaccines, except he does not like to discuss vaccine issues with informed adults who ask difficult or even simple questions.
...instead he prefers to make his "liability free money" off of those less than 12 months in age.
Posted by: cmo | June 01, 2012 at 10:47 AM
Jake, you need to publicly ask for an appointment with him to sit down with you with police present so that you are allowed to ask him all you want to ask.
In the meantime, send people to his talks with written questions from you.
Thanks for all you do.
Posted by: maggie | June 01, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Having spent so many years defending vaccines while watching the autism rate skyrocket it is no surprise if Dr. PrOffit is starting to have mental problems.
Posted by: GH | June 01, 2012 at 09:35 AM
Jake .. sorry that Offit "told the CFI-DC treasurer of a suspected “mental diagnosis” to bar (you) from the talk".
Unfortunately, Offit's odd reason for barring your attendence at this event seems eerily similar to classic "narcissism" .. defined by Webster's as:
"self-love; excessive interest in one's own appearance, COMFORT, etc."
"COMFORT" CAPS are mine .. not Webster's.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | June 01, 2012 at 08:50 AM
Thank goodness I didn't yet have my coffee mug in hand when I started reading your post, Jake. The picture at the upper left made me laugh out loud. I am so sorry you are vilified for being smart enough to know the truth about what too much mercury, too much aluminum and too many viral and bacterial contaminants (from all manner of beasts- monkeys, pigs, cows, chickens, and now dogs and caterpillars, too ) can do to a person when injected into that person. A logical person would wonder what the breaking point would be for the immune system to process all of this injected crap, but those in industry want us to close our eyes and shoot ourselves up to the max-- to infinity and beyond-- and count our lucky stars for vaccines, while they make insane amounts of money due to their growing vaccine mandates! These pharma criminals know there is no way to spin the ugly truth of what is actually being injected into people, and it freaks them out to know that people are finally waking up to that reality.
Wow! Offit wants to do away with the VICP? We need to demand he publicly rescind that statement. He needs to be humiliated and shamed for that comment. To give an industry the right to harm and maim and injure us and our kids and for there to be no legal remedy AT ALL for all the people and babies and children harmed by vaccines? I wonder if devil horns finally grew out of Offit's skull at that exact moment in time for all to see.
Posted by: Not an MD | June 01, 2012 at 07:46 AM
"Paranoid"? Patricia, I suspect he is just "uncomfortable" with home-truths.
John
Posted by: John Stone | June 01, 2012 at 07:02 AM
Offit is the paranoid personality Jake. He is a very dangerous individual in a precarious mental state. He needs help, of some kind!
Thankyou for continuing with your scrupulous reporting of events.
Posted by: patricia | June 01, 2012 at 06:48 AM
Surely the 'Center Against Inquiry'.
I note the insinuation "he follows him to events" rather than just attending the events like everyone else. These people have a little problem with the truth - it doesn't put them in a good light. Thanks Jake, as ever, for standing up to liars and bullies. This is not a milieu grounded in reality.
Posted by: John Stone | June 01, 2012 at 06:01 AM