Blog on the PBS show

[Guest guest]

http://www.boston.com/community/moms/blogs/in_the_parenthood/2010/04/autism_awar\

eness_causes_and_controversey.html

Autism Awareness: Causes and

controversey<http://www.boston.com/community/moms/blogs/in_the_parenthood/2010/0\

4/autism_awareness_causes_and_controversey.html>

E-MAIL<http://www.boston.com/community/moms/blogs/in_the_parenthood/2010/04/auti\

sm_awareness_causes_and_controversey.html>

|

LINK<http://www.boston.com/community/moms/blogs/in_the_parenthood/2010/04/autism\

_awareness_causes_and_controversey.html>

| ADD A COMMENT

(11)<http://www.boston.com/community/moms/blogs/in_the_parenthood/2010/04/autism\

_awareness_causes_and_controversey.html#comments>Posted

by Lylah M. Alphonse April 28, 2010 12:36 PM

While the search continues for a cause -- and for a cure -- autism in

general has become part of the mainstream. But while children's programs

like PBS's *Arthur*are encouraging acceptance and

understanding<http://writeeditrepeat.blogspot.com/2010/04/autism-awareness-asper\

gers-goes.html>

about

autism spectrum disorders, controversey is what's making headlines in the

news.

Last night, PBS broadcast its *Frontline* piece on " The Vaccine

Wars<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/>, "

touching on the MMR vaccine-autism debate and the Thimerosal-autism debate,

both of which are still ongoing in some communities in spite of the fact

that the supposed links have been

debunked<http://www.boston.com/community/moms/blogs/child_caring/2010/02/study_l\

inking_mmr_vaccine_to_autism_officially_retracted.html>.

The show pitted anecdotal evidence from parents against research and advice

from medical professionals, creating, as Dr. Jay Gordon put it in an open

letter

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-gordon/pbs-frontline-show-about_b_554691.html\

?utm_source=twitterfeed & utm_medium=twitter>to

one of *Frontline's* co-producers, " a pseudo-documentary with a preconceived

set of conclusions: 'Irresponsible moms against science' was an easy

takeaway from the show. "

An assistant professor of pediatrics at UCLA Medical School who has

reservations about vaccinations, Dr. Gordon's multi-hourlong interview with

Frontline ended up on the cutting room floor, he

says<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-gordon/pbs-frontline-show-about_b_554691.\

html?utm_source=twitterfeed & utm_medium=twitter>,

as did an interview with Dr. W. Sears, author of *The Vaccine Book:

Making the Right Decision for Your Child,*who advocates an alternative

vaccination schedule. Evidence in favor of vaccination was provided

by researchers including Dr. Offit, who has earned millions of dollars

as the co-creator of the RotaTeq vaccine, is a paid spokesman for Merck, and

has said that he thinks infants' immune systems could theoretically handle

as many as 10,000 vaccinations at one

time<http://www.newsweek.com/id/165644/page/2>,

or perhaps " closer to 100,000. "

*The Vaccine War* wasn't all about autism. (Missed the show? You can watch

it

here<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/view/?utm_campaign=viewpag\

e & utm_medium=grid & utm_source=grid>.)

It also delved into the way not vaccinating kids leads to a dangerous breach

in herd immunity (Moms against science AND society!), but didn't touch

on vaccine failure. (It does happen: An outbreak of the

mumps<http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5905a1.htm> in

New York and New Jersey last year was not caused by a lack of immunization;

in fact, most of the more-than 1,500 patients had been properly vaccinated

against it.)

I'm fascinated by the discussion going on at the PBS.org forums

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/forum/>right

now. There are many parents posting with anecdotal evidence about the

dangers of vaccination, and some of their stories are gut-wrenching. And

there are plenty of medical practitioners posting well-worded, researched

responses. It's a far cry from the moms-against-science tone of the program

itself -- and, frankly, much more interesting.

*Lylah M. Alphonse is a Globe staff member and mom and stepmom to five kids.

She writes about juggling career and parenthood at **The 36-Hour

Day*<http://www.workitmom.com/bloggers/36hourday>

* and blogs at **Write. Edit. Repeat.*<http://writeeditrepeat.blogspot.com/>

* E-mail her at**lalphonse@...* <lalphonse@...>* and follow her

on Twitter @WriteEditRepeat <http://www.twitter.com/writeeditrepeat>. April

is Autism Awareness Month; you can **read her posts about autism

here*<http://writeeditrepeat.blogspot.com/search/label/Autism%20Awareness>

*.*