Re: Offit's article in Medscape

[Guest guest]

I don’t think I have the emotional strength to read his tripe. Just highlight for me. Nita, homeschooling mompreneur to 8 kids and an online store! A tiscuit, a tasket, what a lovely gift basket: http://www.nitasbaskets.com I have to walk early in the morning,before my brain figures out what I'm doing...http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/763604?src=mp & spon=38

[Guest guest]

Have to join Medscape to view??

In a message dated 5/22/2012 6:09:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, organicgrrl@... writes:

Doesnt this just make you want to scream? http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/763604?src=mp & spon=38You might have to cut and paste this on your browser. This was the top story in Medscape Week in Review. Yuck.Kelley

[Guest guest]

http://alternativemedicine.medicinaalternativanaturale.it/blog/which-complementary-and-alternative-therapies-merit-study-medscape-news/

My bad. Yes you have to register. I found the article published on this site too. Below is a cut and paste of what he said.

Hi. My name is Offit. I am speaking to you today from the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I thought I would talk about a viewpoint piece that appeared in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.[1] It involved studying complementary and alternative medicines, specifically focusing on the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. This center was born as the Office of Alternative Medicine, in 1992, by the influence of 2 Iowa politicians. One was Tom Harkin, who believed that bee pollen had cured his hay fever. The other was Berkley Bedell, who believed that cow colostrum had cured his Lyme disease. Their notion was that alternative medicines, if

studied, would move into the mainstream.

Since the founding in 1992, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has received about $1.6 billion of federal money to study a variety of things. What they have studied has been disappointing. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to see whether prayer treated AIDS; to see whether prayer could promote wound healing after breast reconstruction surgery; to see whether coffee enemas could treat pancreatic cancer; to see whether magnets (in mattresses or otherwise) could improve carpal tunnel syndrome, migraines, or arthritis; in addition to whether lemon or lavender scents could improve arthritis. I think the disappointing part of these studies is that they are not based on any biological principle. In fact, they seem to hark back to a much more distant time, before we really understood the pathophysiologic basis of diseases and were able to direct treatments towards them.

You could argue that negative studies are of some value, even when they are not based on any sound biological principle. For example, when Wakefield claimed that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine caused autism, or when there were fears that thimerosal and ethyl mercury-containing preservative in vaccines caused autism, they, too, were not based on any biological principle. But in any case, those negative studies were useful in being able to reassure parents that their concerns or fears about those vaccines were ill founded and that studies showed that vaccines do not cause autism.

One could then argue that these negative studies are of some value, but that does not seem to be true in regard to complementary and alternative medicine. Many studies have shown that megavitamins are not what they are claimed to be. In fact, a number of studies have shown that megavitamins can increase one's risk for heart disease or cancer or shorten a person's life. Studies have shown that chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine do not treat arthritis, or that St. 's wort does not treat depression, or that ginkgo does not improve memory, or that garlic does not lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, yet we are still looking at alternative and complementary medicine, a $34 billion-a-year business. I think few people are aware of those studies, so it hasn't really changed behavior.

For these reasons, I think that NCCAM should reevaluate its portfolio. One could argue that just because an alternative medicine does not work better than placebo, that doesn't mean that placebos don't work; or, said another way, that alternative medicines can act as placebos. If NCCAM wants to study the placebo response or the physiologic basis of the placebo response, I think that is of value. But I do think that studies that have bases that, frankly, border on mysticism are not of value. Thank you for your attention.

[Guest guest]

Ewww ugh. I knew I could not read it w/o it making my blood boil. That man is a hideous creature walking on 2 legs! Wakefield never said MMR caused autism. Why do people keep saying that???? what idiots. And what? Vaccines are so perfect, they never, ever fail? He makes so sick and disgusted. And I don’t need a study on glucosamine. I have personal experience that it does work. And we in the know know that mainstream people are completely clueless when it comes to cholesterol Nita, homeschooling mompreneur to 8 kids and an online store! A tiscuit, a tasket, what a lovely gift basket: http://www.nitasbaskets.com I have to walk early in the morning,before my brain figures out what I'm doing...

[Guest guest]

Offit--he makes my blood boil! I know he is such an annoyance to the truth parents need to know, even though I can not spit out facts on the man and his associations to others on the spot. Is anyone able to rather spit out a few facts on the man and his allegiances, that I can use in discussions (and use a leads to study up on him).....I think these things about the man need to be continually brought up, so it is never forgotten....someone just coming in cold will read an article like this and have no idea about the man. Just a mention....I have my first "convert" to not vaxing their baby, directly because of the information I gave her--one of the books from Amazon. This new mom, in her early 20's was shocked and refused the vaccines in advance--followed all the advice in the book etc. Imagine how many more people she will tell and on and on it goes! Anyway, was a real moment of victory for me--and all of us out there.

[Guest guest]

Offit. I can't even read what he says any more. He's such a jerk. The things that come to mind are that he has a conflict of interest where vaccines are concerned since he shares the patent on the rotavirus vaccine Rotateq. I would google his name and rotavirus vaccine.

Winnie Re: Offit's article in MedscapeVaccinations > Offit--he makes my blood boil! I know he is such an annoyance to > the truth > parents need to know, even though I can not spit out facts on > the man and > his associations to others on the spot. Is anyone able to > rather spit out a > few facts on the man and his allegiances, that I can use in > discussions > (and use a leads to study up on him).....I think these things > about the man > need to be continually brought up, so it is never > forgotten....someone just > coming in cold will read an article like this and have no idea > about the > man. Just a mention....I have my first "convert" to not vaxing > their baby, > directly because of the information I gave her--one of the > books from Amazon. > This new mom, in her early 20's was shocked and refused the > vaccines in > advance--followed all the advice in the book etc. Imagine how > many more people > she will tell and on and on it goes! Anyway, was a real moment > of victory > for me--and all of us out there.>

[Guest guest]

At www.naturalnews.com, Mike has several articles on Offit. Here is

one reporting that he made $29 million from his share of royalties for Merck's

Rotateq vaccine.

http://www.naturalnews.com/026359_vaccine_CDC_childhood.html

>

> Offit--he makes my blood boil! I know he is such an annoyance to the truth

> parents need to know, even though I can not spit out facts on the man and

> his associations to others on the spot. Is anyone able to rather spit out a

> few facts on the man and his allegiances, that I can use in discussions

> (and use a leads to study up on him).....I think these things about the man

> need to be continually brought up, so it is never forgotten....someone just

> coming in cold will read an article like this and have no idea about the

> man. Just a mention....I have my first " convert " to not vaxing their baby,

> directly because of the information I gave her--one of the books from Amazon.

> This new mom, in her early 20's was shocked and refused the vaccines in

> advance--followed all the advice in the book etc. Imagine how many more

people

> she will tell and on and on it goes! Anyway, was a real moment of victory

> for me--and all of us out there.

>