Did anyone hear this on the Today Show this morning???

October 30, 2008

Doctor disputes autism, vaccine link

In his new book, author says his life has been threatened as a result

Video

Doctor challenges autism, vaccine link

Oct. 30: NBC chief medical editor Dr. Snyderman tells the

story of one doctor who believes vaccines are not to blame for

autism.

Today show

TODAY

updated 2 hours, 7 minutes ago

In his book, " Autism's False Prophets, " A. Offit, a national

expert on vaccines, recounts the history of autism and challenges the

idea that vaccines lead to autism. An excerpt.

From the prologue:

Although most of my hate mail mentions my work with Merck on a

rotavirus vaccine, that alone doesn't explain why some people hate

me. A lot of people work with pharmaceutical companies and don't get

hate mail. I suspect that if I had simply continued my career in

research and stayed out of the public's view, I would have escaped

notice. But a series of events at our hospital in the early 1990s led

to what some perceive as my second crime.

In 1991, a measles epidemic swept through Philadelphia. The outbreak

centered on a religious group in the city that chose not to vaccinate

its children. Seven children in that group died of measles, three in

our hospital. Then the virus spread to the surrounding community,

killing two more children, both of whom were too young to have gotten

the measles vaccine. Because modern medicine is often incapable of

preventing diseases, it's enormously frustrating. But the measles

vaccine has been around for more than thirty years. It works and it's

safe. Still, these parents had chosen not to protect their children.

During the next ten years, I saw several children come into our

hospital with pneumonia caused by whooping cough, or severe skin

infections caused by chickenpox, or meningitis caused by the

bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), because their parents

had chosen not to vaccinate them. When I asked why they had made that

choice, they said vaccines were too dangerous: the whooping cough

vaccine caused brain damage, the chickenpox vaccine caused paralysis,

and the Hib vaccine caused diabetes. They had gotten their

information from reports on television or the radio, from articles in

newspapers and magazines, or, most commonly, from the Internet. So,

in October 2000, we started the Vaccine Education Center at the

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, hoping to counter this

misinformation. Within a couple of years, I was frequently quoted by

the media trying to reassure parents that their concerns about

vaccines were often ill-founded or had been disproved.

Although I received some hate mail for these efforts at reassurance,

nothing matched what happened after the media started to carry the

story that vaccines caused autism. Since the late 1990s, many studies

have shown that the rates of autism are the same in vaccinated and

unvaccinated children. The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics,

and the Institute of Medicine have all issued statements supporting

these studies. So the notion that vaccines cause autism isn't a

medical controversy. But when I appeared on television and was quoted

in newspaper and magazine articles saying that vaccines didn't cause

autism, my life changed.

During a congressional hearing chaired by Indiana congressman Dan

Burton to investigate the cause of autism, Tierney, a

congressman from Massachusetts, asked if I had vaccinated my own

children. I said I had, stating their names and ages. At the next

break, a member of Tierney's staff came up to me, grabbed my arm, and

pulled me aside. " Never, " he said, breathlessly, " never mention the

names of your own children in front of a group like this

After I appeared on MSNBC, an extreme anti-vaccine activist called

our home; later, our eleven-year-old daughter asked whether I thought

anyone would ever hurt me. While I was on a federal advisory

committee to the CDC — one that had made recommendations about the

use of the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in vaccines —

I got a death threat. A man from Seattle wrote, " I will hang you by

your neck until you are dead! " I called the CDC, which sent the e-

mail to the Department of Justice, which sent it to the FBI. The

threat was deemed credible, and for the next few years an armed guard

was placed at the back of advisory committee meetings; for the first

few months, he followed me to and from lunch, a gun hanging at his

side. The mail room at my hospital regularly checks my mail for

suspicious letters and packages. In June 2006, I had to walk through

a rally by anti-vaccine protesters at the CDC. People shouted at me.

One put a megaphone in my ear, calling me the devil. Another carried

a placard with the word Terrorist in big red letters under a picture

of me. Just before I emerged from the crowd, a man dressed in a

prisoner's uniform grabbed my jacket and pulled me toward him. I

don't think he wanted to hurt me; he was just excited to be close to

the personification of such evil. I put my hands up in the air and

asked him to please let go of my coat, which he did.

It got worse. While sitting in my office, I got a phone call from a

man who said that he and I shared the same concerns. We both wanted

what was best for our children. He wanted what was best for his son,

giving his name and age. And he presumed I wanted what was best for

my children, giving their names and ages and where they went to

school. His implication was clear. He knew where my children went to

school. Then he hung up.

Some people who believe vaccines cause autism hate me because they

think I'm in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry, that I say

vaccines are safe because I am paid to do it. To them, it is logical

that I would spend twenty-five years working on a rotavirus vaccine —

a vaccine that has the chance of saving hundreds of thousands of

lives every year — so that I could lie about vaccine safety and hurt

children. But the reason I say vaccines don't cause autism is that

they don't. I say this because the false alarm about vaccines and

autism continues to harm a lot of children — harm from not getting

needed vaccines, harm from potentially dangerous treatments to

eliminate mercury, and harm from therapies as absurd as testosterone

ablation and electric shock. I say this because the feared vaccine–

autism link, which has now been disproved, diverts research dollars

from more promising leads. I say this because I care about children

with autism.

I'm not alone in this. Many parents of autistic children are angry

that the media and Congress rarely talk about autism without blaming

vaccines. And although I am certainly a target of some parents'

anger, I simply represent the other side. A special kind of venom is

reserved for parents of autistic children who don't believe that

vaccines are at fault and actively, vigorously, and relentlessly

oppose those who do. You will come to know some of these parents —

the real heroes of this story — in the pages that follow

October 30, 2008

Oh, poor poor Pr(Offit)....He's such a victim....NOT!!! The guy

is a greedy, cold-hearted baby killer. Period.

And Snyderman is Evil Incarnate....she should have been fired

ages ago for all her lies. Those are the last two people I would

trust with medical information.

Puke.

> Doctor disputes autism, vaccine link

> In his new book, author says his life has been threatened as a result

> Video

>

> Doctor challenges autism, vaccine link

> Oct. 30: NBC chief medical editor Dr. Snyderman tells the

> story of one doctor who believes vaccines are not to blame for

> autism.

> Today show

> TODAY

> updated 2 hours, 7 minutes ago

> In his book, " Autism's False Prophets, " A. Offit, a national

> expert on vaccines, recounts the history of autism and challenges the

> idea that vaccines lead to autism. An excerpt.

>

> From the prologue:

> Although most of my hate mail mentions my work with Merck on a

> rotavirus vaccine, that alone doesn't explain why some people hate

> me. A lot of people work with pharmaceutical companies and don't get

> hate mail. I suspect that if I had simply continued my career in

> research and stayed out of the public's view, I would have escaped

> notice. But a series of events at our hospital in the early 1990s led

> to what some perceive as my second crime.

>

> In 1991, a measles epidemic swept through Philadelphia. The outbreak

> centered on a religious group in the city that chose not to vaccinate

> its children. Seven children in that group died of measles, three in

> our hospital. Then the virus spread to the surrounding community,

> killing two more children, both of whom were too young to have gotten

> the measles vaccine. Because modern medicine is often incapable of

> preventing diseases, it's enormously frustrating. But the measles

> vaccine has been around for more than thirty years. It works and it's

> safe. Still, these parents had chosen not to protect their children.

>

> During the next ten years, I saw several children come into our

> hospital with pneumonia caused by whooping cough, or severe skin

> infections caused by chickenpox, or meningitis caused by the

> bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), because their parents

> had chosen not to vaccinate them. When I asked why they had made that

> choice, they said vaccines were too dangerous: the whooping cough

> vaccine caused brain damage, the chickenpox vaccine caused paralysis,

> and the Hib vaccine caused diabetes. They had gotten their

> information from reports on television or the radio, from articles in

> newspapers and magazines, or, most commonly, from the Internet. So,

> in October 2000, we started the Vaccine Education Center at the

> Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, hoping to counter this

> misinformation. Within a couple of years, I was frequently quoted by

> the media trying to reassure parents that their concerns about

> vaccines were often ill-founded or had been disproved.

> Although I received some hate mail for these efforts at reassurance,

> nothing matched what happened after the media started to carry the

> story that vaccines caused autism. Since the late 1990s, many studies

> have shown that the rates of autism are the same in vaccinated and

> unvaccinated children. The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics,

> and the Institute of Medicine have all issued statements supporting

> these studies. So the notion that vaccines cause autism isn't a

> medical controversy. But when I appeared on television and was quoted

> in newspaper and magazine articles saying that vaccines didn't cause

> autism, my life changed.

>

> During a congressional hearing chaired by Indiana congressman Dan

> Burton to investigate the cause of autism, Tierney, a

> congressman from Massachusetts, asked if I had vaccinated my own

> children. I said I had, stating their names and ages. At the next

> break, a member of Tierney's staff came up to me, grabbed my arm, and

> pulled me aside. " Never, " he said, breathlessly, " never mention the

> names of your own children in front of a group like this

> After I appeared on MSNBC, an extreme anti-vaccine activist called

> our home; later, our eleven-year-old daughter asked whether I thought

> anyone would ever hurt me. While I was on a federal advisory

> committee to the CDC — one that had made recommendations about the

> use of the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in vaccines —

> I got a death threat. A man from Seattle wrote, " I will hang you by

> your neck until you are dead! " I called the CDC, which sent the e-

> mail to the Department of Justice, which sent it to the FBI. The

> threat was deemed credible, and for the next few years an armed guard

> was placed at the back of advisory committee meetings; for the first

> few months, he followed me to and from lunch, a gun hanging at his

> side. The mail room at my hospital regularly checks my mail for

> suspicious letters and packages. In June 2006, I had to walk through

> a rally by anti-vaccine protesters at the CDC. People shouted at me.

> One put a megaphone in my ear, calling me the devil. Another carried

> a placard with the word Terrorist in big red letters under a picture

> of me. Just before I emerged from the crowd, a man dressed in a

> prisoner's uniform grabbed my jacket and pulled me toward him. I

> don't think he wanted to hurt me; he was just excited to be close to

> the personification of such evil. I put my hands up in the air and

> asked him to please let go of my coat, which he did.

>

> It got worse. While sitting in my office, I got a phone call from a

> man who said that he and I shared the same concerns. We both wanted

> what was best for our children. He wanted what was best for his son,

> giving his name and age. And he presumed I wanted what was best for

> my children, giving their names and ages and where they went to

> school. His implication was clear. He knew where my children went to

> school. Then he hung up.

>

> Some people who believe vaccines cause autism hate me because they

> think I'm in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry, that I say

> vaccines are safe because I am paid to do it. To them, it is logical

> that I would spend twenty-five years working on a rotavirus vaccine —

> a vaccine that has the chance of saving hundreds of thousands of

> lives every year — so that I could lie about vaccine safety and hurt

> children. But the reason I say vaccines don't cause autism is that

> they don't. I say this because the false alarm about vaccines and

> autism continues to harm a lot of children — harm from not getting

> needed vaccines, harm from potentially dangerous treatments to

> eliminate mercury, and harm from therapies as absurd as testosterone

> ablation and electric shock. I say this because the feared vaccine–

> autism link, which has now been disproved, diverts research dollars

> from more promising leads. I say this because I care about children

> with autism.

> I'm not alone in this. Many parents of autistic children are angry

> that the media and Congress rarely talk about autism without blaming

> vaccines. And although I am certainly a target of some parents'

> anger, I simply represent the other side. A special kind of venom is

> reserved for parents of autistic children who don't believe that

> vaccines are at fault and actively, vigorously, and relentlessly

> oppose those who do. You will come to know some of these parents —

> the real heroes of this story — in the pages that follow

>

> ------------------------------------

>

> Autism_in_Girls-subscribe

> ------------------------

> Autism_in_Girls-unsubscribe@...! Groups Links

>

October 30, 2008

Yes, I thought it was pretty pathetic that he whined about being threatened, you

put yourself out there. Also he obviously does not have enough sense to keep his

own children protected......I am sure not going to trust him with my child's

health!