ABC Show Will Go on, Over Protest by Doctors - New York Times

[Guest guest]

" In a letter to ABC executives on Friday, Dr. R. , the

president of the pediatrics academy, warned that the episode could lead to

a tragic decline in immunization rates. The first episode portrays a

lawyer who wins a case against a drug company on behalf of a mother who

believes that a preservative in a vaccine caused her childs autism. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/business/media/29abc.html?ex=1359349200 & en

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ABC Show Will Go on, Over Protest by Doctors

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By EDWARD WYATT

Published: January 29, 2008

ABC said on Monday it would include a disclaimer about the plot line of the

debut episode of the drama Eli Stone, which links childhood vaccines to

autism, and direct viewers to a government Web site that discredits such a

link.

ABCs decision follows a call by the American Academy of Pediatrics for ABC

to cancel the opening episode of Eli Stone, which is scheduled to be

broadcast at 10 p.m. Thursday.

In a letter to ABC executives on Friday, Dr. R. , the

president of the pediatrics academy, warned that the episode could lead to

a tragic decline in immunization rates. The first episode portrays a

lawyer who wins a case against a drug company on behalf of a mother who

believes that a preservative in a vaccine caused her childs autism.

The link between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism has

been debated for much of the last decade, but many scientific studies have

failed to show any causal link between the two.

The letter from the pediatrics group followed an article in The New York

Times last week highlighting the episode. Greg Berlanti, a co-creator and

executive producer of the series, said that executives at neither ABC nor

its ABC Studios production unit had any qualms about the episode, which he

said he believed showed both sides of the argument.

Most public health organizations believe there is only one side, however.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug

Administration, the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization

are among the organizations that have studied and rejected possible links

between autism and the preservative in vaccines.

Many people trust the health information presented on fictional television

shows, which influences their decisions about health care, Dr.

wrote. Her letter said that beginning in 1998 in Britain, erroneous

reports linking the measles vaccine to autism prompted a decline in

vaccination and the worst outbreak of measles in two decades, including the

deaths of several children.

ABC will present a written notice and voice-over saying: The following

story is fictional and does not portray any actual persons, companies,

products or events. A second card will direct viewers to the Center for

Disease Controls autism Web site, www.cdc.gov/autism.

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

Vaccines - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm Email classes start in

February