ABC defends show against outcry by pediatricians

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080129/entertainment/entertainment_

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Mon Jan 28, 9:55 PM

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The ABC network said on Monday it will go

ahead with plans to air an episode of its new legal drama " Eli Stone "

despite objections from pediatricians who say the show may discourage

parents from having their children immunized.

The debut episode features the show's title character and hero, a

trial lawyer for big corporations who decides to fight for the little

guy, convincing a jury that a mercury-based preservative in a vaccine

caused a child's autism.

On the show, a jury awards the boy's mother $5.2 million in damages

after it is revealed the CEO of the vaccine maker kept his own

daughter from getting the company's vaccine because of autism

concerns.

The " Eli Stone " plot ventures into a highly charged debate between

the U.S. medical establishment and some parents and advocates for

autistic children over the safety of vaccines for youngsters.

Critics of childhood immunization have argued that thimerosal, a

mercury-based preservative formerly used in vaccines, is a primary

cause of an autism in young children.

Major health authorities, including the U.S. Centers for Disease

Control (CDC), cite numerous studies that rule out any scientific

link between autism and vaccines.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, reacting to a synopsis of

the " Eli Stone " episode in a recent New York Times article, issued a

statement criticizing the show as " leaving audiences with the

destructive idea that vaccines do cause autism. "

The academy also made public a letter to ABC, a unit of the Walt

Disney Co., calling on the network to cancel the show's premiere

episode, which is scheduled to air Thursday.

" Many people trust the health information presented on fictional

television shows, which influence their decisions about heath care, "

academy president Dr. wrote in a letter to Disney-ABC

Television Group President Anne Sweeney.

ABC said it plans to broadcast the episode without changes, but would

run a disclaimer at the opening of the show stating the story is

fictional. A message at the end will refer viewers to a CDC Web site

for information about autism.

The show's two creators, Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, disputed

the notion that their show would frighten parents away from vaccines.

" We actually share the concern of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

We believe that children should be vaccinated, " Berlanti told

Reuters. But he also said, " We hope that people do watch the episode

and draw their own conclusions. "

, in her letter to ABC, said the pediatricians group

is " alarmed that this program could lead to a tragic decline in the

immunization rate. "

" In the United Kingdom, 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, "

wrote.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Todd Eastham)