Industry Insider Paul Offit Attacks... Every Non-Pharma Treatment Known To Mankind
Paul Offit, MD has taken on a new role. Not only does he tirelessly devote himself to defending and promoting vaccines as safe and effective for everyone, but now he's getting lots of coverage for two new books attacking complementary and alternative medicine as useless and dangerous.
Offit goes after a number of people in his books, including celebrities like Dr. Oz and Dr. Mercola.
The real danger seems to be that people are taking charge of their own health. The idea that diet, supplements, homeopathy, and alternative treatments like chelation and acupuncture can restore health and keep us that way, is of course a huge threat to the pharmaceutical industry and mainstream medicine---entities that profit from treating chronic conditions, especially with prescription drugs.
Killing Us Softly (released June 9. 2013) (From the publisher's Amazon description:)
More people than ever are using alternative medicine. But, as expert Dr Paul Offit explains, these untested therapies are ineffective, expensive and even deadly.
Now that homeopathic remedies are offered on the NHS, it’s clear that various therapies once considered alternative or complementary, have become mainstream – prescribed to burn fat, shrink prostates, alleviate colds, reduce stress, eliminate pain and prevent cancer.
But as Paul Offit reveals, alternative medicine – an unregulated industry under no obligation to prove its claims or admit its risks – can actually be very harmful. In ‘Killing Us Softly’ he exposes how:
• Homeopathic asthma preparations and bogus cancer cures have replaced life-saving medicines.
• Acupuncture needles have pierced hearts, lungs, and livers and transmitted viruses, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
• Chiropractic manipulations have torn arteries.
• Megavitamins increase the risk of cancer and heart disease—a fact well known to scientists but virtually unknown to the public.
Do You Believe in Magic? (released June 18, 2013) (From the Publisher's Amazon description:)
Medical expert Paul A. Offit, M.D., offers a scathing exposé of the alternative medicine industry, revealing how even though some popular therapies are remarkably helpful due to the placebo response, many of them are ineffective, expensive, and even deadly.
An outspoken advocate for science-based health advocacy who is not afraid to take on media celebrities who promote alternative practices, Dr. Offit advises, “There’s no such thing as alternative medicine. There’s only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t.”
Incredibly, Offit can seemingly command immediate coverage everywhere, even his own opinion piece in the New York Times, something few authors could ever imagine happening.
June 8, 2013, NYT
June 15, 2013, CBS Philadelphia
June 18, 2013, USA Today
June 18, 2013, CNN
June 19, 2013, CNN
June 19, 2013, NBC
Leslie Manookian, producer of the stunning film, The Greater Good, that has now been seen by over one and a half million people, has her own thought provoking piece on Dr. Offit's books called, Do you believe in magic? No, but we believe in facts. It's on the Greater Good website.
It seems mainstream medicine has its own version of "killing us softly."
Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.
Alternet review of Offit's book by Alison Rose Levy:
"The Medical Establishment's "Favorite" Doctor and his Crusade Against Supplements and Alternative Medicine
Paul Offit's new book and media blitz pretend to objectivity, but really offer one-sided bashing of natural healthcare."
http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/medical-establishments-favorite-doctor-and-his-crusade-against-supplements-and
Posted by: Linda | July 13, 2013 at 10:05 AM
@ Cherry Sperlin Misra, Here's the article:
"Grandfather Warrior: Robert Emmett 1921-2008"
By Adriana Gamondes
http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/12/grandfather-war.html
(Google is nice sometimes, although I hope they are being *very* selective about what exactly they are giving to the NSA)
Posted by: Jim Witte | July 01, 2013 at 12:01 PM
Valuable link
http://www.drpauloffit.org/
Posted by: John Stone | June 29, 2013 at 04:33 AM
Time to take out and dust off an article printed on AOA some years ago- It began something like this: "My father survived being an orphan; my father survived the great depression; my father survived Anzio Bay in WWII.... but he couldnt survive modern medicine.
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | June 29, 2013 at 03:37 AM
Merck on doctors critical of their products: 'We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live.' Does that go for Paul Offit? Seven Seas, the well-known British supplement company, is owned by Merck.
http://www.seven-seas.com/seven-seas-and-merck
Posted by: Cap'n Jack | June 29, 2013 at 03:24 AM
We are pleased to announce that our up coming guests on our Autism Awareness Radio Show "The Candy Store" will be Dr. Paul Offit. Any questions for this guest? Please contact me. Tune in for times & dates.
Faith, Love & Hope!!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecandystore
Posted by: Sandy Waters | June 29, 2013 at 03:11 AM
His goal is to destroy alternative medicine,so we will have to
to use big pHarma's products and services.I hope that nobody buys his books,he is an "expert" liar, the darling and a well paid representative of big pHarma.
I give his books zero stars.36-50 vaccines by age 6-years; prOffit is a criminal,a big pHarma stooge.
Posted by: oneVoice | June 29, 2013 at 01:14 AM
Offit is an honest lobbyist he was bought and he stays bought.
"The real danger seems to be that people are taking charge of their own health."
Yes this is the real problem for Industrial Medicine and the genocidal political evil driving honest medicine from our market place.
Expect CONTINUOUS attacks and "LAWS" to attempt to keep us from abandoning a system that has PROVEN not only to not work but to kill us and give autism and other diseases to our children.
Industrial Medicine killed itself by abandoning science and compassion among other human qualities.
Posted by: Lou | June 29, 2013 at 12:13 AM
JB is so right, as usual. Even the people who believe in vaccines are seeing this pharma shill for what he is after this latest attack.
Posted by: Amber | June 28, 2013 at 01:42 PM
Thanks Boycott;
Devil in the details that is true!
Darn it though, I am putting in all the food esp Guar Gum in all I can get ahold of - next I will just have to tell them - they are not allowed to eat! Period!
Which I have thought bout doing -- fast I tell them; but they kind of rebell at that point.
Posted by: Benedetta | June 28, 2013 at 11:41 AM
Bendetta,
All I can say is follow the link on carrageenan that I supplied. As usual the devil is in the details. Extracting a substance and processing the life out of it doesn't mean it retains the health benefits of the whole plant. Look what happened to soy.
********
I can't recall where I read this the other day but it went something like this:
"Isn't the placebo effect just your body's ability to heal itself?"
Posted by: boycott the Offits | June 28, 2013 at 10:00 AM
If this is true than why has Nestle company decided that it " discovered" the benefits is a plant and thus has the patent rights - of this plant that has been known for ages? Which is to say that patents are simply copies of what nature provides for freely, thus what is touted as discovery is simply imitation, labeled, diminished - for control- and processed in self interest for the monetary benefit of a few. This is a huge campaign of cognitive disinformation, a presentation of limitation, a lie by omission. An omission as an offense in self interest is considered a crime, as it is treasonous to life, to what supports life.
The smoke and mirrors of some aspects made huge, to then allow slippery switches closed doors in self interest - bait and switch. meanwhile life suffers and this is a crime and disrespect of life, which is the value.
Natural medicine is not " proved" because research is all done by the companies of self interested profit, and any other research is disallowed and then said to not be proved. Another act of omission, the same we see in the Fracking industry.
Time for a systemic change. BIG Basic Income Grant, get the money flowing in society because people are life and as life can make decisions that are best for all.
Posted by: Rebecca Dalmas | June 28, 2013 at 06:16 AM
The only good medicine is that, which works and is not toxic. It can be a placebo, vacation, diet, fasting, massage, spa - anything. It certainly is not the medicine advertised by the pharma and its lobbyists such as Offit. More and more people realize that (based on their own experience) and turn away from toxic allopathic pharmaceuticals. This hurts them in the pockets, that's why they want to convince the people that diet, vitamins, massages etc are harmful, but injections of mercury, aluminum and other toxins are beneficial. It is hard to find a bigger and more pathetic clown than Offit.
Posted by: instinct | June 28, 2013 at 03:36 AM
Do you believe in magic.
Isn't society based on magic mr Offit, in your wallet you have lots of magic paper with funny symbols on it, representing something that what created out of thin air and that you can exchange for actual things, (magi)strates make up laws in a proper abracadabra fashion based on wrongful premises forcing people to put harmful and toxic stuff (a proper witches' brew) into their own bodies or their children, (magi)sters or masters give you mainstream information and call it truth and a uniform or a white coat magic you an authority that no one can ever have over anyone else.
When you see the results, the sickness and violence against the innocent that ensue, this version of magic looks a lot like sorcery.
Posted by: GennyGC | June 28, 2013 at 02:47 AM
I have used chiropractors with good results. I did not have to use muscle relaxants that put me to sleep too much etc.
Posted by: Marvin Lewis | June 28, 2013 at 02:26 AM
Hey Paul and Bonnie-
Why don't you start by giving Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, and Johns Hopkins a call? They are ALL offering alternative and complementary treatments at their facilities now (often even reimbursed by insurance). We wouldn't want these "science-y" places offering people magic carpet rides! Please set them straight, oh omniscient ones!
Posted by: Jenna | June 27, 2013 at 11:49 PM
Offit presents misleading, one-sided information to discredit alternative medicine. At http://www.supplements-and-health.com/vitamin-benefits.html is an in-depth article that dismantles Offit's anti-supplement "evidence".
Posted by: Eric S. | June 27, 2013 at 07:32 PM
Funny, isn't it, that the sportsedicine docs and physiatrists I know go to chiropractors for their own ailments...
Posted by: Taximom | June 27, 2013 at 07:20 PM
boycott the Offits
Boycott because he is an idiot that invented a vaccine, voted to get it mandated and his vaccine was not worthy of causing Kawasakis - which woke me up that other vaccines can cause Kawaskis too.
But sea weed dangerous and guar gum -- dangerous?
It might be just the opposite as in this found on pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2584810/
Posted by: Benedetta | June 27, 2013 at 06:49 PM
Dr. Offit's toxicity is growing by leaps and bounds.
Posted by: Shawn Siegel | June 27, 2013 at 04:43 PM
May I live to see the day.....................
And Death by Medicine 2003 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/11/26/death-by-medicine-part-one.aspx
and here for PDF
http://www.webdc.com/pdfs/deathbymedicine.pdf
SEE PDF
"As shown in the following table, the estimated total num
ber of iatrogenic deaths—that is
, deaths induced inadvertently
by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or
diagnostic procedures— in the
US annually is 783,936. It is
evident that the American medical system
is itself the leading cause of death and
injury in the US . By comparison,
approximately 699,697 Americans died of hear
t in 2001, while 553,251 died of cancer.
(5" and
"This fully referenced report shows the number of people having in-hospital, adverse reactions to prescribed drugs to be
2.2 million per year. The number of unnecessary antibiotics pre
scribed annually for viral infections is 20 million per year.
The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures
performed annually is 7.5 million per year. The number of
people exposed to unnecessary hospitalizat
ion annually is 8.9 million per year.
The most stunning statistic, however,
is that the total number of deaths
caused by conventional medicine is an
astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the Am
erican medical system is the leading cause of death and
injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attr
ibutable to heart disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number
of deaths attributable to cancer was 553,251.5"
Full Book with even more here http://astore.amazon.com/wellwithin?_encoding=UTF8&node=20
Posted by: Sheri Nakken, former RN, MA, Homeopath | June 27, 2013 at 04:24 PM
Let's not forget that P.O. is a trustee of ACSH, the non-profit industry front group.
http://www.acsh.org/trustees/paul-a-offit/
According to their 990s he's not paid by them, but maybe they are aiding his prolific publishing and/or facilitating his media appearances?
Posted by: Garbo | June 27, 2013 at 03:22 PM
Offit’s wife, a pediatrician, has gone in to the yogurt business1. Considering the garbage that is in commercial frozen yogurt2 including an ingredient3 that causes immune reactions and leads to GI inflammation and guar gum which can reduce the absorption of vitamins and minerals (add to that the HFCS, GMOs in those candy toppings) one could not be faulted for surmising that both her and Paul are happily embedded in feeding the pharma/medical complex machine. Of course a tidy profit- a possible 500% markup4 on frozen yogurt lends to Bonnie sharing that “having won the lottery” feeling Paul is so familiar with.
1 http://www.amednews.com/article/20120604/business/306049961/7/
2 http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/06/12/food-babe-investigates-frozen-yogurt-gone-bad/
3 “In the past decade, researchers have successfully identified several ways in which food-grade carrageenan causes harm. The chemical structure of carrageenan—unique chemical bonds not found in other seaweeds or gums—affects the body in several ways. Most notably, it triggers an immune reaction, which leads to inflammation in the gastrointestinal system. Prolonged inflammation is a precursor to more serious diseases, including cancer.”
http://www.cornucopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Carrageenan-Report1.pdf
4 http://www.businessinsider.com/why-frozen-yogurt-chains-are-opening-2013-6
Posted by: boycott the Offits | June 27, 2013 at 02:47 PM
From Dr. Mercola’s website –
FDA Adverse Event Reports in 2008:
• 1,080 dietary supplement AERs
• 526,527 prescription drug AERs
• 26,517 vaccine AERs
488 times as many adverse events reported from prescription drugs as from dietary supplements.
Posted by: nhokkanen | June 27, 2013 at 02:39 PM
Good gosh John stone! it is surprising that pharmacy retained that name. there is something magically as if some higher power is trying to warn us all!
Posted by: Benedetta | June 27, 2013 at 02:36 PM
According to what Leslie Manookian has posted on TGG website,
http://www.greatergoodmovie.org/news-views/do-you-believe-in-magic-no-but-we-believe-in-facts/
"Pharmaceutical drugs are the 4th largest killer in America after heart disease and cancer - killing an estimated 106,000 people each year even when properly prescribed, properly administered, and yes, FDA approved. "
And a New York Times piece in July, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/opinion/more-treatment-more-mistakes.html?_r=0 said,
"According to a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, as many as 98,000 Americans were dying every year because of medical mistakes."
Maybe for his next book, Dr. Offit could apologize for the suffering and death caused by mainstream medicine.
Anne Dachel, Media
Posted by: Anne Dachel | June 27, 2013 at 02:32 PM
"Does this guy know that the Queen of England and her family have been devoted believers in homeopathic medicine?"
Yes, and look how long she is living... and seemingly in good health!
Posted by: healthforchildren | June 27, 2013 at 02:08 PM
In his NEW BOOK, does Dr. Offit explain WHY modern medicine cannot figure out... after 20 years,
the cause of Autism, which is now nearly 100 times more common than polio in the 1950's ???
Why does the public look to other health alternatives ???
Posted by: cmo | June 27, 2013 at 02:00 PM
The higher up a tree a monkey climbs, the more of his ass you see.
Posted by: JB Handley | June 27, 2013 at 01:51 PM
Does this guy know that the Queen of England and her family have been devoted believers in homeopathic medicine?
http://www.naturalnews.com/031556_homeopathy_King.html
I suppose these extremely well informed people are all lunatics, is that what he thinks I wonder?
Posted by: Patricia | June 27, 2013 at 12:12 PM
"Theres only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't".
Well he is spot on there.
My youngest had severely contracted fingers.
Surgery helped a lot ( I love and appreciate those surgeons, ( conventional medicine, 1 success) Then tried physical therapy. They strapped his hand to splints at night, zero improvement in over a year, but he did start getting obsessed with tying up all his toys. Cost paid by insurance, $150 9 or more, I think)a session.(Conventional medicine 1 failure.)
Went to a chiropractor with a great reputation, referred by our friends, $100 initial visit, $50, every visit thereafter, paid for by us. His finger stretch improved after a couple of sessions, ( after zero improvement in one year)and as a huge bonus for the first time in his life he started to feel pain when he hurt himself.
At ten years old he cried in shock when he fell over and grazed his knee; until then he really had never felt pain in the same way most people do.(The major surgery that had required breaking his bones had really not caused him much pain.)
Bittersweet to see him in tears.
Major success , alternative medicine.
Yes, Dr Offit, we are actually interested in doing what works.
Posted by: Hera | June 27, 2013 at 12:11 PM
This is what acupuncture has done for me in the past 6 months:
resolved my tendonitis(previously diagnosed by my pcp, who could do nothing except refer me to a sports medicine dr.)
managed my allergies so that for the first time in a decade I was able to go zyrtec free this spring and summer
Chiros and acupuncturists have to be licensed in the state where I live. Where does Offit get off implying that those doctors are just bums off the street? He and his ego are disgusting.
Posted by: Shelly | June 27, 2013 at 12:08 PM
whack job. meglomaniac. control freak. people should take charge of their own health care decisions and be free to seek treatment that is right for them. Not everyone is sold on mainstream medicine. The only reason Offit is critizing alterative practitioners is because more and more people are turning away from the mainstream medicine and these Alternative docs are competition. Such a pathological need to control is not healthy.
Posted by: Sarah | June 27, 2013 at 12:08 PM
Paul Offit is scum, just like all the other pharma/social media lackies.
Posted by: jen | June 27, 2013 at 11:29 AM
He believes in magic. How you can turn 1 vaccine into 27 million dollars over night. Paul--Off his rocker and not Fit to read.
Maurine
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | June 27, 2013 at 09:45 AM
Bonnie ....are you joining us today ?
Posted by: White Rose | June 27, 2013 at 09:30 AM
Well, let's see, 'conventional' US medicine said that I needed ankle surgery. Acupuncture - one of the bugaboos that Offit considers 'magic' - has permitted me to avoid that surgery for more than a year now. Think I will make my own decisions - consult 'conventional' medicine, but use a healthy dose of 'magic' when I see fit, thank you.
Posted by: Vicki Hill | June 27, 2013 at 08:13 AM
we should give the book a review or two
Posted by: IAngus Files | June 27, 2013 at 07:33 AM
Biasedjournalism
An excellent point - he belongs to a class who trade on professional status as "opinion formers" but never actually has to answer. They are obvious specialists of a sort (its a bit like chess pieces that have a certain dedicated purpose). The UK's Dr Goldacre would be another such example.
Posted by: Mercky Business | June 27, 2013 at 07:21 AM
This psychomed is becoming more and more ridiculous. That he continues to author such pharma propaganda, without even mentioning that pharma drugs (aka pseudoscience based) kill each year about 200,000 Americans, is an indication that big pharma is loosing the game with rational humans, who more often reject now their proven or ineffective poisons.
Posted by: instinct | June 27, 2013 at 07:15 AM
Let's see, Paul Offit is an expert on Autism, and expert on ALL forms of alternative medicine...and yet, as an expert, he has never testified under oath as to his expertise in ANY of these fields. He is bought and paid for by marketing strategy. Stop trying to win a fight with science or reason, Paul doesn't use either. Ethos, pathos, logos. Time to fight fire with fire. Marketing...that is the fire...
Posted by: biasedjournalism | June 27, 2013 at 07:05 AM
"A Pharmakós (Greek: φαρμακός) in Ancient Greek religion was the ritualistic sacrifice or exile by the sorcerers of a human scapegoat or victim. The victims themselves were referred to as pharmakoi and the sorcerer was referred to as a pharmakon.[1] A slave, a cripple or a criminal was chosen by the pharmakon or sorcerer and expelled from the community at times of disaster (famine, invasion or plague) or at times of calendrical crisis, after being given pharmakeus or drugs by the pharmakon or sorcerer who was a practitioner of pharmakeia or pharmaceutics. It was believed that this would bring about purification. On the first day of the Thargelia, a festival of Apollo at Athens, two men, the Pharmakoi, were led out as if to be sacrificed as an expiation. Some scholia state that pharmakoi were actually sacrificed (thrown from a cliff or burned), but many modern scholars reject this, arguing that the earliest source for the pharmakos (the iambic satirist Hipponax) shows the pharmakos being beaten and stoned, but not executed."
1. The Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the King James Bible defines the word as follows in its Greek Lexicon:
5331 φαρμακεια pharmakeia, far-mak-i'-ah; from 5332; medication ("pharmacy" [pharmaceutical]) i.e. (by extens.) magic (lit. or fig.):-sorcery, witchcraft.
5332 φαρμακενς pharmakeus, far-mak-yoos'; from φαρμακον pharmakon (a drug [or medicine] i.e. spell giving potion); a druggist ("pharmacist") or poisoner, i.e. (by extens.) a magician:-sorcerer.
5333 φαρμακος pharmakos, far-mak-os'; the same as 5332:-sorcerer. (Pharmakos was actually the ritualistic practice of the sorcerer in ancient Greece over a victomized scapegoat.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmakos
Posted by: John Stone | June 27, 2013 at 06:57 AM
Re: "Do you believe in magic"
There is no stronger belief in "magic" than believing a solution containing well-known, scientifically proven toxic ingredients that cannot be safely breathed, touched or ingested, such as, formaldehyde, mercury and aluminum to name just three of many more .. can be INJECTED into a perfectly healthy toddler .. creating a "magical" transformation of those toxins into a safe and harmless vaccine.
The only thing missing from that scenario is the pediatrician .. at the moment of injection into the toddler .. completes the illusion by dramatically saying .. ALLACAZAM!!!
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | June 27, 2013 at 06:14 AM