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Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure
A London researcher was the first to assert that the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine known as MMR caused autism in children. Following this "discovery," a handful of parents declared that a mercury-containing preservative in several vaccines was responsible for the disease. If mercury caused autism, they reasoned, eliminating it from a child's system should treat the disorder. Consequently, a number of untested alternative therapies arose, and, most tragically, in one such treatment, a doctor injected a five-year-old autistic boy with a chemical in an effort to cleanse him of mercury, which stopped his heart instead.
Children with autism have been placed on stringent diets, subjected to high-temperature saunas, bathed in magnetic clay, asked to swallow digestive enzymes and activated charcoal, and injected with various combinations of vitamins, minerals, and acids. Instead of helping, these therapies can hurt those who are most vulnerable, and particularly in the case of autism, they undermine childhood vaccination programs that have saved millions of lives. An overwhelming body of scientific evidence clearly shows that childhood vaccines are safe and does not cause autism. Yet widespread fear of vaccines on the part of parents persists.
In this book, Paul A. Offit, a national expert on vaccines, challenges the modern-day false prophets who have so egregiously misled the public and exposes the opportunism of the lawyers, journalists, celebrities, and politicians who support them. Offit recounts the history of autism research and the exploitation of this tragic condition by advocates and zealots. He considers the manipulation of science in the popular media and the courtroom, and he explores why society is susceptible to the bad science and risky therapies put forward by many antivaccination activists.
328 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2007
About the author
Paul A. Offit
27 books500 followersPaul A. Offit, MD is the Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit is also the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is a recipient of many awards including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics bestowed by the University of Maryland Medical School, the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America, and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Paul A. Offit has published more than 130 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recently recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC; for this achievement Dr. Offit received the Gold Medal from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Jonas Salk Medal from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Dr Paul Offit was also a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is the author of multiple books.
from www.paul-offit.com
Dr. Paul A. Offit has published more than 130 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recently recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC; for this achievement Dr. Offit received the Gold Medal from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Jonas Salk Medal from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Dr Paul Offit was also a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is the author of multiple books.
from www.paul-offit.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 191 reviews
October 19, 2008
While this book is specifically about the story of the vaccine-autism scare of the 1990s and 2000s, it also does a good job of addressing the public's perception of science and medicine in general. The book is laid out chronologically, talking about all the false leads autism treatments have had in the past years, how vaccines and mercury got to be the scapegoat for autism, and the evidence on either side. The epilogue even includes some recent developments that couldn't be worked into the text proper. I imagine the paperback version will contain more such things.
There are also some lovely chapters on what this teaches us about science in the courts, science in the media, and science and the people. One thing Offit is very careful to do is also balance the facts of the situation, with the appeal to emotions by having extensive quotes from people. In a case, where a lot depends on who said what, and who is really looking out for the parents of autistic children, I liked that.
I thought the book did a good job of both capturing the main players in this debate, as well as the parents and kids themselves who were involved. I got the feeling Offit was sympathetic to parents on either side -- that he felt parents on the anti-vaccine side were trying to do the best they could for their kids, but were using bad information.
It's scary stuff, to realize that a lie can travel around the world before the truth has got its boots on. I myself have Asperger's Syndrome, and part of my diagnosis was because my mother was trying to educate herself about my brother's autism. I shudder to think if she had stumbled on some of this. One of the big problems of the Internet, is that it is a repository of information, much of it garbage. Researching anything via the Internet is not a matter of finding any information, it is a matter of finding which information isn't crap.
There are also some lovely chapters on what this teaches us about science in the courts, science in the media, and science and the people. One thing Offit is very careful to do is also balance the facts of the situation, with the appeal to emotions by having extensive quotes from people. In a case, where a lot depends on who said what, and who is really looking out for the parents of autistic children, I liked that.
I thought the book did a good job of both capturing the main players in this debate, as well as the parents and kids themselves who were involved. I got the feeling Offit was sympathetic to parents on either side -- that he felt parents on the anti-vaccine side were trying to do the best they could for their kids, but were using bad information.
It's scary stuff, to realize that a lie can travel around the world before the truth has got its boots on. I myself have Asperger's Syndrome, and part of my diagnosis was because my mother was trying to educate herself about my brother's autism. I shudder to think if she had stumbled on some of this. One of the big problems of the Internet, is that it is a repository of information, much of it garbage. Researching anything via the Internet is not a matter of finding any information, it is a matter of finding which information isn't crap.
September 21, 2010
This is a close-to-home topic for me. I’ve spent many years working within the autistic community and I have an incredible appreciation for these kids (and adults!). It’s a devastating fact that children are still being exposed to dangerous treatments and procedures that proclaim a “cure” for autism. Parents with a little hope and a lot of money can purchase chelation therapy, dangerous drugs, expensive and restrictive diets, surgeries, and unproven alternative medications and therapies; all founded in bad science and myths about autism.
Whether out of love or desperation, this “curing” surge is a terrifying reality for those of us familiar with the actual scientific research on this topic. Andrew Wakefield began a horrific and largely unwarranted panic in 1998 when he claimed that he’d proven that the MMR vaccination caused autism. His research and ethics were largely discredited; he’d accepted large amounts of money from biased sources, his research was faulty and outrageously erroneous, and he deliberately and knowingly falsified resulting data when the outcome was undesirable for him. Unfortunately, this all was too little, too late. The media and political figures unflinchingly grasped this issue and ran with it; to the detriment and harm of thousands of children and families.
On a personal note, I sincerely hope that parents begin to realize how beautiful their children are. These amazing children are far from damaged, broken, soulless, empty, or any of the other cruel and unjustified labels that have so ruthlessly been tossed around in the midst of all this. Their talents, uniqueness, abilities, insight, and wonderful realities should be celebrated and encouraged. There is no known cause and no known cure for autism. This is when we find strength, clarity, and magnificence simply in the amazing little personalities that grace our lives.
Whether out of love or desperation, this “curing” surge is a terrifying reality for those of us familiar with the actual scientific research on this topic. Andrew Wakefield began a horrific and largely unwarranted panic in 1998 when he claimed that he’d proven that the MMR vaccination caused autism. His research and ethics were largely discredited; he’d accepted large amounts of money from biased sources, his research was faulty and outrageously erroneous, and he deliberately and knowingly falsified resulting data when the outcome was undesirable for him. Unfortunately, this all was too little, too late. The media and political figures unflinchingly grasped this issue and ran with it; to the detriment and harm of thousands of children and families.
On a personal note, I sincerely hope that parents begin to realize how beautiful their children are. These amazing children are far from damaged, broken, soulless, empty, or any of the other cruel and unjustified labels that have so ruthlessly been tossed around in the midst of all this. Their talents, uniqueness, abilities, insight, and wonderful realities should be celebrated and encouraged. There is no known cause and no known cure for autism. This is when we find strength, clarity, and magnificence simply in the amazing little personalities that grace our lives.
August 13, 2010
I admit to reading this book with a bias. But my bias pales in light of this author's bias.
Some contentions in this book are just that; the implied preface is, "I am a doctor, what I say is right. No need for sources."
This book is referenced, but not when he casually dismisses topics such as the plasticity of the brain that many of his colleagues believe in and apply to their practice every day.
The reason I read this book was to hear the other side of the Andrew Wakefield controversy. Offit contends throughout the book that Wakefield's premise is "MMR CAUSES autism". IF Mr. Offit read the primary research, he would know that Wakefield's research did not attempt to SHOW or PROVE CAUSATION. He has stated that GI disturbance in autistic children is almost 100%. Campbell-McBride (neurologist-turned-nutritional authority (MSN) with an autistic child) took that information and ran with it. Why have so many others lost themselves in the blaming game?
How can we justify telling pregnant woman NOT to eat fish because of the mercury contamination, then deliberately inject their vulnerable children with mercury that goes directly into the bloodstream instead of having the chance to be eliminated through nature's plan to eliminate toxins - through the GI system??
We have collectively known since Hippocrates that "All diseases begin in the gut."
Western medicine has lost its way in the labyrinth of technology, greed, and arrogance. The sooner we acknowledge that, the safer we are.
Some contentions in this book are just that; the implied preface is, "I am a doctor, what I say is right. No need for sources."
This book is referenced, but not when he casually dismisses topics such as the plasticity of the brain that many of his colleagues believe in and apply to their practice every day.
The reason I read this book was to hear the other side of the Andrew Wakefield controversy. Offit contends throughout the book that Wakefield's premise is "MMR CAUSES autism". IF Mr. Offit read the primary research, he would know that Wakefield's research did not attempt to SHOW or PROVE CAUSATION. He has stated that GI disturbance in autistic children is almost 100%. Campbell-McBride (neurologist-turned-nutritional authority (MSN) with an autistic child) took that information and ran with it. Why have so many others lost themselves in the blaming game?
How can we justify telling pregnant woman NOT to eat fish because of the mercury contamination, then deliberately inject their vulnerable children with mercury that goes directly into the bloodstream instead of having the chance to be eliminated through nature's plan to eliminate toxins - through the GI system??
We have collectively known since Hippocrates that "All diseases begin in the gut."
Western medicine has lost its way in the labyrinth of technology, greed, and arrogance. The sooner we acknowledge that, the safer we are.
February 6, 2009
I have to say, even after working with autistic children this book opened my eyes. I have a couple of quotes from the book that really stand out. "Fombonne reasoned that there wasn't an epidemic of autism; rather, broadening the definition of the disability to included mildly affected children, as well as heightened awareness among parents and doctors, had accounted for the increase." It makes me angry that celebrities and their "cures" think that scientist who have spent their whole lives working on this don't know what they are doing. "The science is largely complete. 10 epidemiological studies have shown MMR vaccine doesn't cause autism; 6 have shown thimerosal doesn't cause autism; 3 have shown thimerosal doesn't cause subtle neurological problems; a growing body of evidence now points to the genes that are lined to autism:and despite the removal of thierosal from vaccines in 2001, the number of children with autism continues to rise." I hope more people read this book and learn more about Autism...even people who think they know everything there is to know since they know an autistic child.
January 27, 2009
Excellent read for anyone remotely interested in the autism/vaccine debate. Informative account of the progression of the research and why the controversy still has momentum, even though there really is no debate at all.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
April 3, 2014
Despite the fact that those researchers who initially perpetuated the myth of the link between MMR and autism had been found to be frauds, misinformation still continues to prevalent in the media/social networking. Though I never fully bought in, I was cautious vaccinated my youngest two children - using a slower schedule because in the back of my mind was always "what if vaccines do cause autism?" Everyone hates big pharma - they are an easy scapegoat. And I read this knowing Paul Offit is known as "For Profit Offit" - an apparent big pharma supporter and having a monetary interest as a vaccine developer himself. But I wanted more information because of mumps and pertussis outbreaks locally, and measles outbreaks in other parts of the country - herd immunity seemed to be declining. The facts are laid out here in this book. Those who perpetuated the vaccine/autism myth had plenty of personal financial incentive to do so. Though the hysteria began with a small study of 8 children in England - 5 of whom were involved with an attorney looking to sue pharmaceutical companies for causing autism and said attorneys financed the "research" - large studies of 100,000+ children have shown there is no link and that even the thiomersal preservative people feared has had no link to autism. Thiomersal was removed from childhood vaccines in 2001 and yet the rate of autism continues to rise! Additionally, I am one of those parents who feared the number of vaccinations kids received and "vaccine overload" - but now I know that the number of immunologic challenges contained in 14 vaccinations given today are less than what was contained in 1 vaccine 100 years ago. Also interesting to note is that while autism diagnosis has increased in the past few decades, the diagnosis of "mental retardation" has declined. And while I can completely sympathize with parents who are desperately searching for a reason for their children developed autism, the research speaks for itself - it's not vaccinations. So, I've decided to let go of those fears in the back of my mind. I took my youngest in last week to finish off the vaccine series I'd been delaying.
November 4, 2009
Damned statistics. For every study that shows there could be a link between vaccines and autism, there is one that appears to show no link. The truth (and cause of autism) is out there somewhere. I wish the two "sides" of the issue would just drop their differences and work on finding something genuine that could assist parents to help their autistic children.
Offit's book is pretty much a response to Evidence of Harm and I found it to be quite snarky and condescending in tone. I really didn't care for some of his conclusions: There is no connection whatsoever between vaccines and autism. Done deal. Those who think there is a connection are simply fools. One must be a scientist to really understand what is going on. Alternative therapies are always bogus. The media is evil. Especially Oprah. Parents are stupid and will believe anything when desperate. Lawyers just want money. The "legitimate" government agencies and pharmaceutical companies have our best interests at heart. Only trained scientists or doctors are qualified to interpret or conduct valid studies.
I don't always accept these conclusions. Sometimes they are true and other times they are not. I got tired of wading through the condescension to get to the autistic plot thread.
I still don't know...
Offit's book is pretty much a response to Evidence of Harm and I found it to be quite snarky and condescending in tone. I really didn't care for some of his conclusions: There is no connection whatsoever between vaccines and autism. Done deal. Those who think there is a connection are simply fools. One must be a scientist to really understand what is going on. Alternative therapies are always bogus. The media is evil. Especially Oprah. Parents are stupid and will believe anything when desperate. Lawyers just want money. The "legitimate" government agencies and pharmaceutical companies have our best interests at heart. Only trained scientists or doctors are qualified to interpret or conduct valid studies.
I don't always accept these conclusions. Sometimes they are true and other times they are not. I got tired of wading through the condescension to get to the autistic plot thread.
I still don't know...
October 11, 2008
Who should read this book?
Parents. People with an interest in autism. People with an interest in public health. Politicians. Lawyers and students. Health professionals and students. Basically, everyone.
But if I had to pick just one group of people, I would say JOURNALISTS and journalism students NEED to read this book. I know writing about science is hard when you don't have a background or formal training in science. I know many media outlets are getting rid of their science specialists to cut their costs. But poor science reporting can do incredible damage. I sincerely hope journalists will learn from the mistakes described in this story.
Parents. People with an interest in autism. People with an interest in public health. Politicians. Lawyers and students. Health professionals and students. Basically, everyone.
But if I had to pick just one group of people, I would say JOURNALISTS and journalism students NEED to read this book. I know writing about science is hard when you don't have a background or formal training in science. I know many media outlets are getting rid of their science specialists to cut their costs. But poor science reporting can do incredible damage. I sincerely hope journalists will learn from the mistakes described in this story.
November 1, 2024
Dr. Paul Offit is a pediatric infectious disease doctor and one of my favorite physician authors (my favorite books of his include Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong and Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far). In this 2008 book, Dr. Offit recounts the autism-MMR vaccine controversy of the late 90s and early 00s, in which disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield, mercury preservative, and a bunch of politicians and minor celebrities who retain some level of relevance today played a large part. In meticulously-researched detail, Dr. Offit recounts key events in this pseudoscientific saga that still continues to some extent today, no matter how much definitive evidence exists:
Honestly I got frustrated the longer this book went on, because the same arguments were repeated over and over -- but that's the reality of an argument like this where one side is armed with reason, science, and facts while the other is armed with feelings, emotions, an army of high-profile spokespeople who aren't doctors or scientists, and a fundamental unwillingness to listen.
Further reading:
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions by Temple Grandin
My statistics:
Book 262 for 2024
Book 1865 cumulatively
The science is largely complete. Ten epidemiological studies have shown MMR vaccine doesn���t cause autism; six have shown thimerosal doesn’t cause autism; three have shown thimerosal doesn’t cause subtle neurological problems; a growing body of evidence now points to the genes that are linked to autism; and despite the removal of thimerosal from vaccines in 2001, the number of children with autism continues to rise. Now it’s up to certain parent advocacy groups, through their public relations firms, lawyers, and celebrity spokespersons, to convince the public that all of these studies are wrong—and to convince them that the doctors who proffer their vast array of alternative medicines are the only ones who really care.
Honestly I got frustrated the longer this book went on, because the same arguments were repeated over and over -- but that's the reality of an argument like this where one side is armed with reason, science, and facts while the other is armed with feelings, emotions, an army of high-profile spokespeople who aren't doctors or scientists, and a fundamental unwillingness to listen.
Further reading:
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions by Temple Grandin
My statistics:
Book 262 for 2024
Book 1865 cumulatively
July 22, 2022
review of
Paul A. Offit, M.D.'s Autism's False Prophets - Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 1-20, 2022
For the full review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticO...
I'd already read 2 bks on autism before reading this one. The 1st was Elizabeth Fein's Living on the Spectrum - Autism and Youth in Community (see my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). That one's by a friend of mine & I found it reasonable. The 2nd was Andrew J. Wakefield's Callous Disregard—Autism and Vaccines—The Truth Behind A Tragedy (See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). Wakefield has been widely lambasted so I decided to give him a chance & to read what he has to say in defense of both himself & his medical findings & opinions.
I also decided to read Autism's False Prophets to give consideration to the opinions of one of Wakefield's critics & to learn more about what I take to be common medical opinions re autism. This, understand, was done in the spirit of at least making an attempt to be fair to a medical industry & philosophy that I generally have a highly critical opinion of. The inside front cover blurb gives the reader an idea of what to expect:
"Paul A. Offit, a national expert on vaccines, challenges the modern-day false prophets who have so egregiously misled the public and exposes the opportunism of the lawyers, journalists, celebrities, and politicians who support them."
The mood is immediately set that Offit represents 'objective truth' & that he's going to put those who disagree w/ him in their place as scoundrels. One thing that I appreciated about Wakefield's Callous Disregard is that he was more nuanced in his positioning, he gave substantial scientific backing for his opinions & conclusions, & he didn't depict everything in terms of good guys vs bad guys. Offit doesn't either, at least not all the time, but his approach immediately strikes me as arrogant.
To be direct, I've spent my whole life as what one might call a creative outlaw. The so-called 'straight' world (& I'm not referring to sexuality here) has been my adversary for as long as I can remember, since I was a small child. Offit strikes me as typifying, even exemplifying, the self-righteousness that characterizes people who've always been mainstays of the status quo. Offit's a BELIEVER: he knows he's 'right' &, from 'on high', he's going to tell the SHEEPLE that he is their leader & that to disagree w/ him shows a person to be a fool. Obviously, my attitude is showing that I strongly disagree. For me, Offit's narrative embodies an unquestioned paradigm - he's essentially a priest of the new religion, unquestioned science, science that's implied to be monolithic.. but isn't.
At the end of the back inside cover it's stated that "Paul Offit will donate all royalties from sales of this book to autism research." Even if I thought Offit is a poor man I wdn't be impressed by that b/c I'd have to think that autism research is the way to go, wch I don't. Non-institutionalized support groups, such as friends, are much more promising - & also a sort of 'vanishing species' in today's enforced social distancing environment.
However, I'm getting ahead of myself. Recently, I've been reading science bks, esp medical science bks, for the layperson. Some are written by people w/ standard accreditation, such as this one; some are written by autodidacts. I tend to prefer & identify w/ the latter. However, I've found ideas I value in all the bks. The challenge, for me, is to not throw out the baby with the bathwater. In other words, I'm not going to 'blanket-accept or reject' anything by anyone based on the degree to wch I can relate to their societal position. Nonetheless, I feel that it's important to try to analyze what subtexts I find underaddressed b/c I think they're more profoundly influential on the conclusions presented than will be otherwise apparent.
In his "PROLOGUE" Offit states that:
"I get a lot of hate mail.
"Every week people send letters and e-mails calling me "stupid," "callous," an "SOB," or "a prostitute." People ask, "How in the world can you put money before the health of someone's baby?" or "How can you sleep at night?" or "Why did you sell your soul to the devil?" They say "I don't have a conscience," am "directly responsible for the death and damage of hundreds of children," and "have blood on [my] hands." They "pray that the love of Christ will one day flood [my] darkened heart." They warn that my "day of reckoning is coming."" - p xi
Giving Offit the benefit of the doubt that he's telling the truth, I find this outpouring of contempt for him to be very unfortunate & uncalled for - despite my disagreeing w/ him over many things. A theme throughout the bk is that the people who disagree w/ him are ignorant religious people, people too stuck in the dark ages (although he doesn't exactly express it that way) to understand the enlightenment of his scientific position. NOW, I'll quote some of the reviews that're on Goodreads of Wakefield's Callous Disregard. Since Wakefield is presented by Offit as backed by the religious people, these attacking reviews are presumably written by pro-science people:
"poorly written book by a disgraced doctor with an introduction by a playboy centerfold.
the sequel to this, Charlatan by pope brock is much better written and shows how medicine like wakefield's can succeed."
"I would give this book zero starts if I could. This book is incredibly difficult to follow and poorly written. It screams of a child caught doing something bad who is saying, "Yea, I was caught and did something wrong , but ........" Not worth your time."
"My contempt for this man and his book knows no bounds."
"Wakefield has caused an incredible amount of harm to the world with his theories, none of which have ever held up to scrutiny. He used a sample of 12 children and from that declared MMR dangerous and recommended cessation. That is about as irresponsible as it gets. His study has been reviewed and analyzed, and millions of children in several countries have been studied, and not once has he been validated.
The best thing that could happen is if his works are gathered up, put in a pile and burned, except for a single copy to be placed in a museum under lock and key. It can be a warning to us all what irresponsibility can lead to."
"Andrew Wakefield is a fraud and a hack. His falsified data and bogus science has caused thousands of deaths, yet people continue to believe him because it fits their Big Pharma and government "mind control" narrative. There's a reason why his medical license was revoked - he's a total disgrace to the profession and should be locked up for life."
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Now, obviously, I chose the negative reviews. Fortunately, there're positive ones as well. What I hope to show here is that the people who agree w/ Offit are just as likely to be as hateful & ignorant as the people who disagree w/ him. 2 of them call the bk "poorly written" - but I've read it & found it reasonably well-written. The challenge for the lay reader is that it uses a fair amt of specific medical jargon to explain Wakefield's findings. The average lay reader is likely to find that too difficult a hurdle. The reviewers feel free to call him "disgraced" & a "fraud and a hack". One makes the unsubstantiated claim that "His falsified data and bogus science has caused thousands of deaths", another calls for the burning of his bks & says he shd be "locked up for life." It seems likely to me that Wakefield has been subjected to far more abuse than Offit has & that Offit is one of the reasons for this abuse. In other words, Offit is far from innocent. NEITHER OF THEM SHD BE SUBJECTED TO SUCH HATEFULNESS.
Offit is from where I spent the 1st 40 yrs of my life. As such, that gives him a slight prejudice on my part in his favor b/c I can relate to his origins: "I grew up in a suburb outside of Baltimore." (p xi)
Offit describes childhood influences on his wanting to become a doctor. The narrative is of a typical sort: sensitive-caring-person-perceives-suffering-in-the-world-that-they-set-out-to-alleviate. I assume that for many people this narrative is genuine. For me, however, I'm somewhat distrustful of what goes unsaid.
"I also remember how hard it was for the other children in the ward, horribly crippled and disfigured by polio. As I got older, the image of those children remained. I wanted to protect them, to make them feel better, to champion their causes. So I became a pediatrician and later a pediatric infectious disease specialist." - p xiii
To some people, I may seem to be being horribly cynical - but, to me, I'm just being realistic: this image of the doctor as the champion of good is a bit too pat for me, it's too much a standard public relations poster boy thing. I wonder whether Andrew J. Wakefield has a similar tale to tell of his early inspiration to be a doctor. If he does, he didn't tell it in Callous Disregard - not that I remember, at least.
My questions about those kids in the hospital ward suffering from polio are: 1. How many of them were vaccinated? In other words, how many of them either got polio despite the vaccination OR how many got polio b/c of it? It's unclear to me whether Offit's story is from polio vaccine times or before. If it was 1956, as the narrative seems to imply, the Salk vaccine wd've been available for at least a yr. 2. How many of the children were made sick or sicker in the hospital? I don't see hospitals as necessarily a place where people are only helped - I see them as places where people are often harmed. Either way, they're always charged - & that's pretty damned important. Maybe Wakefield is greedy.. but how many doctors aren't?! Not many, I'd wager - & I doubt that I'd be able to count Offit among them. If he's lived at the level of poverty that I have for most of my life I'd be impressed - but there's no way that that's likely. According to https://networthpost.org/net-worth/pa... his net worth is 1.6 million.
"I went to college in Boston and medical school in Baltimore before training in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh." - p xiii
Ok, there's the Baltimore connection again AND there's a Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh w/in sight of my current house. It's not, however, the same children's hospital. The one I can see was created anew in 2005, long after Offit was there. It helps abate my cynicism slightly when I can identify w/ physical particulars.
"Because modern medicine is 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." - pp xv-xvi
I find that language rather manipulative. 1st, I think that "Because modern medicine is incapable of preventing diseases, it's enormously frustrating" might be better expressed as 'Because modern medicine is incapable of preventing diseases, there's no good reason to trust it.' 2nd, the claim that the measles vaccine "works and it's safe" goes strangely against the 1st sentence, does it not? If "modern medicine is incapable of preventing diseases" then how exactly is it that the measles vaccine works? 3rd, saying that "these parents had chosen not to protect their children" b/c they reject the vaccine is out-&-out lying propaganda of the worst sort: parents who reject getting their children vaccinated do so b/c they think that the vaccine will do more harm than good, they haven't "chosen not to protect their children", they've chosen to protect them - they may be wrong - but they're not necessarily ignorant religious fanatics.
Now, keep in mind that Offit's PR hype presents him as "a national expert on vaccines". In fact, his specialty is working on rotaviruses: "We found if we inoculated rotaviruses into the mouths of baby mice, they would get diarrhea. For the next ten years we worked to determine the parts of rotavirus that made mice sick and the parts that evoked a protective immune response. Then we constructed a series of combination rotaviruses—made from cow and human strains���that protected mice without causing disease. We were confident we had made a vaccine." (p xiv) No doubt he was pd very well for this.
I'm reminded of a former friend of mine. She was born rich, she went to a university that cost something like 3 times as much a yr as what I made working. She got a well-paying job as a union organizer. Her heart's in the right place. After 10 yrs or so, as far as I know, she'd been pd over a half-million to organize a union but, gee, hasn't done it yet. It appears that only her heart's in the right place & the rest of her is out-to-lunch. Do you get my drift?! These people who fancy themselves to be so smart expect to be able to have an indefinite amt of time to do their job & to be pd very well for doing so.. even if they fail.
Now, imagine someone who isn't using the 'I'm-so-smart-&-what-I'm-doing-is-so-hard-you-really-wdn't-understand' card: a plumber comes to yr house b/c you need yr toilet fixed, you've been having terrible diarrhea b/c you're addicted to cheap Mexican fast food. You're paying the plumber $150 an hr to get that diarrhea-filled toilet up & running again. 10 yrs later he's still at it. He's now a millionaire. He explains to you w/ a very straight serious face why it's so damned hard for him to do. He's tried every plunger known to man but he's had to have some specially made in Wuhan, China, & he has to pay a research team to design them. Let's face it, a real plumber wd have the job done in half a day - & even then that wd be extreme. If you're lucky, he might even give you some worldy advice gratis about changing yr eating habits.
"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 chose not to vaccinate them." - p xvi
You see? This is the way it works: the parents choose against vaccination & the children imediately break out in a disease, it's the decision that causes it! Eureka! All the drs have to do is get everyone to make the decision that they dogmatically present as the ultimate wisdom & no-one will get sick again! Too bad that totally flies in the face of all reality given that people who get vaccinated still get sick all the time - & it's not just "several" of them either!!
Even though I find Offit to be a transparently dishonest person b/c of the manipulative language he uses, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt again in regards to the following story:
"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, whch 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." - p xvii
Now, it's funny: poor people often live in neighborhoods where one's life is more threatened than that on an almost daily basis - but, for us, the police are as much a part of the threat as the less legal violent people are. & we don't get our very own guard. I'm not in favor of Offit having his life threatened. Strangely, perhaps, I'm a 'live & let live' type - but the armed guard thing just highlights the haves & the have-nots.
"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 a chance of saving hundreds of thousands of lives every year—so that I could lie about vaccine safety and hurt children." - p xvii
Again, I find the language manipulative. He essentially 'puts words in the mouths' of people who distrust him & disagree w/ him. Are they saying 'it is logical' that Offit wd 'spend twenty-five years working on a rotavirus vaccine' 'so that [he] could lie about vaccine safety and hurt children'? OR are they saying something more like this: 'Offit is being paid well by companies that have extreme profit motives to do something that he believes in but that may have the opposite effect than what it's purported to.'
What's illogical, to me, is that a person wd get wealthy spending "twenty-five years working on a rotavirus vaccine" "that has a chance of saving hundreds of thousands of lives every year" [emboldening mine]. 25 yrs & millions of dollars spent on something that produces a "chance". These claims by pro-vaccine people that "hundreds of thousands of lives" are saved every year have always struck me as hard to prove. I can say: 'I prayed to the Medical Industry God that 400,000 children wd not die this year &, Lo & Behold!, 400,000 children did not die!' but there are always people who might point out that a lesser number of child deaths might be due to other causes such as improved nutrition, etc.. OR they might point out that the statistics used to 'prove' the claims are suspect.
For the full review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticO...
Paul A. Offit, M.D.'s Autism's False Prophets - Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - July 1-20, 2022
For the full review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticO...
I'd already read 2 bks on autism before reading this one. The 1st was Elizabeth Fein's Living on the Spectrum - Autism and Youth in Community (see my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). That one's by a friend of mine & I found it reasonable. The 2nd was Andrew J. Wakefield's Callous Disregard—Autism and Vaccines—The Truth Behind A Tragedy (See my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ). Wakefield has been widely lambasted so I decided to give him a chance & to read what he has to say in defense of both himself & his medical findings & opinions.
I also decided to read Autism's False Prophets to give consideration to the opinions of one of Wakefield's critics & to learn more about what I take to be common medical opinions re autism. This, understand, was done in the spirit of at least making an attempt to be fair to a medical industry & philosophy that I generally have a highly critical opinion of. The inside front cover blurb gives the reader an idea of what to expect:
"Paul A. Offit, a national expert on vaccines, challenges the modern-day false prophets who have so egregiously misled the public and exposes the opportunism of the lawyers, journalists, celebrities, and politicians who support them."
The mood is immediately set that Offit represents 'objective truth' & that he's going to put those who disagree w/ him in their place as scoundrels. One thing that I appreciated about Wakefield's Callous Disregard is that he was more nuanced in his positioning, he gave substantial scientific backing for his opinions & conclusions, & he didn't depict everything in terms of good guys vs bad guys. Offit doesn't either, at least not all the time, but his approach immediately strikes me as arrogant.
To be direct, I've spent my whole life as what one might call a creative outlaw. The so-called 'straight' world (& I'm not referring to sexuality here) has been my adversary for as long as I can remember, since I was a small child. Offit strikes me as typifying, even exemplifying, the self-righteousness that characterizes people who've always been mainstays of the status quo. Offit's a BELIEVER: he knows he's 'right' &, from 'on high', he's going to tell the SHEEPLE that he is their leader & that to disagree w/ him shows a person to be a fool. Obviously, my attitude is showing that I strongly disagree. For me, Offit's narrative embodies an unquestioned paradigm - he's essentially a priest of the new religion, unquestioned science, science that's implied to be monolithic.. but isn't.
At the end of the back inside cover it's stated that "Paul Offit will donate all royalties from sales of this book to autism research." Even if I thought Offit is a poor man I wdn't be impressed by that b/c I'd have to think that autism research is the way to go, wch I don't. Non-institutionalized support groups, such as friends, are much more promising - & also a sort of 'vanishing species' in today's enforced social distancing environment.
However, I'm getting ahead of myself. Recently, I've been reading science bks, esp medical science bks, for the layperson. Some are written by people w/ standard accreditation, such as this one; some are written by autodidacts. I tend to prefer & identify w/ the latter. However, I've found ideas I value in all the bks. The challenge, for me, is to not throw out the baby with the bathwater. In other words, I'm not going to 'blanket-accept or reject' anything by anyone based on the degree to wch I can relate to their societal position. Nonetheless, I feel that it's important to try to analyze what subtexts I find underaddressed b/c I think they're more profoundly influential on the conclusions presented than will be otherwise apparent.
In his "PROLOGUE" Offit states that:
"I get a lot of hate mail.
"Every week people send letters and e-mails calling me "stupid," "callous," an "SOB," or "a prostitute." People ask, "How in the world can you put money before the health of someone's baby?" or "How can you sleep at night?" or "Why did you sell your soul to the devil?" They say "I don't have a conscience," am "directly responsible for the death and damage of hundreds of children," and "have blood on [my] hands." They "pray that the love of Christ will one day flood [my] darkened heart." They warn that my "day of reckoning is coming."" - p xi
Giving Offit the benefit of the doubt that he's telling the truth, I find this outpouring of contempt for him to be very unfortunate & uncalled for - despite my disagreeing w/ him over many things. A theme throughout the bk is that the people who disagree w/ him are ignorant religious people, people too stuck in the dark ages (although he doesn't exactly express it that way) to understand the enlightenment of his scientific position. NOW, I'll quote some of the reviews that're on Goodreads of Wakefield's Callous Disregard. Since Wakefield is presented by Offit as backed by the religious people, these attacking reviews are presumably written by pro-science people:
"poorly written book by a disgraced doctor with an introduction by a playboy centerfold.
the sequel to this, Charlatan by pope brock is much better written and shows how medicine like wakefield's can succeed."
"I would give this book zero starts if I could. This book is incredibly difficult to follow and poorly written. It screams of a child caught doing something bad who is saying, "Yea, I was caught and did something wrong , but ........" Not worth your time."
"My contempt for this man and his book knows no bounds."
"Wakefield has caused an incredible amount of harm to the world with his theories, none of which have ever held up to scrutiny. He used a sample of 12 children and from that declared MMR dangerous and recommended cessation. That is about as irresponsible as it gets. His study has been reviewed and analyzed, and millions of children in several countries have been studied, and not once has he been validated.
The best thing that could happen is if his works are gathered up, put in a pile and burned, except for a single copy to be placed in a museum under lock and key. It can be a warning to us all what irresponsibility can lead to."
"Andrew Wakefield is a fraud and a hack. His falsified data and bogus science has caused thousands of deaths, yet people continue to believe him because it fits their Big Pharma and government "mind control" narrative. There's a reason why his medical license was revoked - he's a total disgrace to the profession and should be locked up for life."
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Now, obviously, I chose the negative reviews. Fortunately, there're positive ones as well. What I hope to show here is that the people who agree w/ Offit are just as likely to be as hateful & ignorant as the people who disagree w/ him. 2 of them call the bk "poorly written" - but I've read it & found it reasonably well-written. The challenge for the lay reader is that it uses a fair amt of specific medical jargon to explain Wakefield's findings. The average lay reader is likely to find that too difficult a hurdle. The reviewers feel free to call him "disgraced" & a "fraud and a hack". One makes the unsubstantiated claim that "His falsified data and bogus science has caused thousands of deaths", another calls for the burning of his bks & says he shd be "locked up for life." It seems likely to me that Wakefield has been subjected to far more abuse than Offit has & that Offit is one of the reasons for this abuse. In other words, Offit is far from innocent. NEITHER OF THEM SHD BE SUBJECTED TO SUCH HATEFULNESS.
Offit is from where I spent the 1st 40 yrs of my life. As such, that gives him a slight prejudice on my part in his favor b/c I can relate to his origins: "I grew up in a suburb outside of Baltimore." (p xi)
Offit describes childhood influences on his wanting to become a doctor. The narrative is of a typical sort: sensitive-caring-person-perceives-suffering-in-the-world-that-they-set-out-to-alleviate. I assume that for many people this narrative is genuine. For me, however, I'm somewhat distrustful of what goes unsaid.
"I also remember how hard it was for the other children in the ward, horribly crippled and disfigured by polio. As I got older, the image of those children remained. I wanted to protect them, to make them feel better, to champion their causes. So I became a pediatrician and later a pediatric infectious disease specialist." - p xiii
To some people, I may seem to be being horribly cynical - but, to me, I'm just being realistic: this image of the doctor as the champion of good is a bit too pat for me, it's too much a standard public relations poster boy thing. I wonder whether Andrew J. Wakefield has a similar tale to tell of his early inspiration to be a doctor. If he does, he didn't tell it in Callous Disregard - not that I remember, at least.
My questions about those kids in the hospital ward suffering from polio are: 1. How many of them were vaccinated? In other words, how many of them either got polio despite the vaccination OR how many got polio b/c of it? It's unclear to me whether Offit's story is from polio vaccine times or before. If it was 1956, as the narrative seems to imply, the Salk vaccine wd've been available for at least a yr. 2. How many of the children were made sick or sicker in the hospital? I don't see hospitals as necessarily a place where people are only helped - I see them as places where people are often harmed. Either way, they're always charged - & that's pretty damned important. Maybe Wakefield is greedy.. but how many doctors aren't?! Not many, I'd wager - & I doubt that I'd be able to count Offit among them. If he's lived at the level of poverty that I have for most of my life I'd be impressed - but there's no way that that's likely. According to https://networthpost.org/net-worth/pa... his net worth is 1.6 million.
"I went to college in Boston and medical school in Baltimore before training in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh." - p xiii
Ok, there's the Baltimore connection again AND there's a Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh w/in sight of my current house. It's not, however, the same children's hospital. The one I can see was created anew in 2005, long after Offit was there. It helps abate my cynicism slightly when I can identify w/ physical particulars.
"Because modern medicine is 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." - pp xv-xvi
I find that language rather manipulative. 1st, I think that "Because modern medicine is incapable of preventing diseases, it's enormously frustrating" might be better expressed as 'Because modern medicine is incapable of preventing diseases, there's no good reason to trust it.' 2nd, the claim that the measles vaccine "works and it's safe" goes strangely against the 1st sentence, does it not? If "modern medicine is incapable of preventing diseases" then how exactly is it that the measles vaccine works? 3rd, saying that "these parents had chosen not to protect their children" b/c they reject the vaccine is out-&-out lying propaganda of the worst sort: parents who reject getting their children vaccinated do so b/c they think that the vaccine will do more harm than good, they haven't "chosen not to protect their children", they've chosen to protect them - they may be wrong - but they're not necessarily ignorant religious fanatics.
Now, keep in mind that Offit's PR hype presents him as "a national expert on vaccines". In fact, his specialty is working on rotaviruses: "We found if we inoculated rotaviruses into the mouths of baby mice, they would get diarrhea. For the next ten years we worked to determine the parts of rotavirus that made mice sick and the parts that evoked a protective immune response. Then we constructed a series of combination rotaviruses—made from cow and human strains���that protected mice without causing disease. We were confident we had made a vaccine." (p xiv) No doubt he was pd very well for this.
I'm reminded of a former friend of mine. She was born rich, she went to a university that cost something like 3 times as much a yr as what I made working. She got a well-paying job as a union organizer. Her heart's in the right place. After 10 yrs or so, as far as I know, she'd been pd over a half-million to organize a union but, gee, hasn't done it yet. It appears that only her heart's in the right place & the rest of her is out-to-lunch. Do you get my drift?! These people who fancy themselves to be so smart expect to be able to have an indefinite amt of time to do their job & to be pd very well for doing so.. even if they fail.
Now, imagine someone who isn't using the 'I'm-so-smart-&-what-I'm-doing-is-so-hard-you-really-wdn't-understand' card: a plumber comes to yr house b/c you need yr toilet fixed, you've been having terrible diarrhea b/c you're addicted to cheap Mexican fast food. You're paying the plumber $150 an hr to get that diarrhea-filled toilet up & running again. 10 yrs later he's still at it. He's now a millionaire. He explains to you w/ a very straight serious face why it's so damned hard for him to do. He's tried every plunger known to man but he's had to have some specially made in Wuhan, China, & he has to pay a research team to design them. Let's face it, a real plumber wd have the job done in half a day - & even then that wd be extreme. If you're lucky, he might even give you some worldy advice gratis about changing yr eating habits.
"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 chose not to vaccinate them." - p xvi
You see? This is the way it works: the parents choose against vaccination & the children imediately break out in a disease, it's the decision that causes it! Eureka! All the drs have to do is get everyone to make the decision that they dogmatically present as the ultimate wisdom & no-one will get sick again! Too bad that totally flies in the face of all reality given that people who get vaccinated still get sick all the time - & it's not just "several" of them either!!
Even though I find Offit to be a transparently dishonest person b/c of the manipulative language he uses, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt again in regards to the following story:
"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, whch 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." - p xvii
Now, it's funny: poor people often live in neighborhoods where one's life is more threatened than that on an almost daily basis - but, for us, the police are as much a part of the threat as the less legal violent people are. & we don't get our very own guard. I'm not in favor of Offit having his life threatened. Strangely, perhaps, I'm a 'live & let live' type - but the armed guard thing just highlights the haves & the have-nots.
"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 a chance of saving hundreds of thousands of lives every year—so that I could lie about vaccine safety and hurt children." - p xvii
Again, I find the language manipulative. He essentially 'puts words in the mouths' of people who distrust him & disagree w/ him. Are they saying 'it is logical' that Offit wd 'spend twenty-five years working on a rotavirus vaccine' 'so that [he] could lie about vaccine safety and hurt children'? OR are they saying something more like this: 'Offit is being paid well by companies that have extreme profit motives to do something that he believes in but that may have the opposite effect than what it's purported to.'
What's illogical, to me, is that a person wd get wealthy spending "twenty-five years working on a rotavirus vaccine" "that has a chance of saving hundreds of thousands of lives every year" [emboldening mine]. 25 yrs & millions of dollars spent on something that produces a "chance". These claims by pro-vaccine people that "hundreds of thousands of lives" are saved every year have always struck me as hard to prove. I can say: 'I prayed to the Medical Industry God that 400,000 children wd not die this year &, Lo & Behold!, 400,000 children did not die!' but there are always people who might point out that a lesser number of child deaths might be due to other causes such as improved nutrition, etc.. OR they might point out that the statistics used to 'prove' the claims are suspect.
For the full review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticO...
October 21, 2025
This was carefully presented and a great presentation of the larger conversation around autism and vaccines in the era of Andrew Wakefield. I learned a lot more about the motives of the hidden power players manipulating parents of children on the spectrum.
November 6, 2009
I fully admit to being predisposed to agreeing with and liking this book before I picked it up. Silly me, I'm partial to the scientific method as opposed to anecdotes as a more effective way to separate the fact from the fiction. That being said, I found it to be a thorough, well-articulated explanation of the scientific process in general and of the rise and fall of various scapegoats which have been erroneously blamed for causing autism. This wide-ranging book covers the history of class-action lawsuits against medical companies, epidemiological studies, basic statistics, the scientific method, how our culture understands science (or not), how the media portrays science, and the timeline of anti-vaccine activism.
Dr. Offit methodically details the last ten to fifteen years worth of questionable "causes" of autism (thimerosal, MMR vaccine, combination of both, etc.) as well as many of the alternative "remedies" proposed (chelation, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, swallowing or injecting various microorganisms, minerals or proteins). While repetitive at times, his argument is bolstered by the sheer number of studies that have shown no correlation between vaccination rates and autism rates, no deleterious effects due to the thimerosal preservative. He traces the arguments against thimerosal and MMR vaccine as they were built throughout the 1990s and then carefully dismantles them with well documented studies.
While I can understand parents grasping at straws for anything that might help their children, I was disgusted by those who peddled these alternative methods, preying on parents' fears and love of their children. The resistance of those who proposed these "treatments" (and stood to profit enormously from their use) to having their efficacy evaluated in a controlled study - and then the absolute refusal to accept data that didn't agree with their preconceived notions - made me furious. Saying something loudly over and over and over (when all the data contradicts what you say) doesn't make it so. I learned that in elementary school, folks. The sheer hypocrisy of the extreme anti-vaccine, conspiracy theorists was mind-boggling, particularly when it came to financial backing of studies.
I appreciated the chapter on "Science and the Media" which explained how difficult it is for Science to make its case to the public. Most science isn't particularly flashy or exciting to watch. It's boring. It's methodical. It takes time to understand and analyze. And then another scientist comes along to do the same thing again, just to make sure the results from the first study are reproducible. And then another. While that generally provides more reliable conclusions, it really doesn't make for edge-of-your-seat television. Since the goal of most media is to increase viewership and, therefore, earn advertising dollars, the boringly accurate scientist will be shoved aside in favor of the flashy, exciting, muckraking journalist or the attractive, passionate, University-of-Google-educated actress.
"Science and Society" addressed how our culture processes scientific information, or doesn't, as the case may be. Dr. Offit addresses several culture aspects including: the cynicism and hunger for scandal in our culture, the lack of understanding of the scientific method and scientific terminology, the human desire to find an answer which often leads people to assume that coincidence equals causality, and how much easier it is to scare people than to "unscare" them, to name a few.
As a scientist who has devoted his life to treating children and developing a vaccine (for rotavirus) that undoubtedly has saved lives, he is understandably passionate about this issue. His frustration with the enormity of efforts and resources being diverted into beating the dead horse of MMR or thimerosal as the cause of autism, instead of being used to search for a real cause and effective cures is palpable throughout the book. The book sometimes bogs down in scientific detail, but because of the subject matter, that's somewhat necessary.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
Dr. Offit methodically details the last ten to fifteen years worth of questionable "causes" of autism (thimerosal, MMR vaccine, combination of both, etc.) as well as many of the alternative "remedies" proposed (chelation, hyperbaric oxygen chambers, swallowing or injecting various microorganisms, minerals or proteins). While repetitive at times, his argument is bolstered by the sheer number of studies that have shown no correlation between vaccination rates and autism rates, no deleterious effects due to the thimerosal preservative. He traces the arguments against thimerosal and MMR vaccine as they were built throughout the 1990s and then carefully dismantles them with well documented studies.
While I can understand parents grasping at straws for anything that might help their children, I was disgusted by those who peddled these alternative methods, preying on parents' fears and love of their children. The resistance of those who proposed these "treatments" (and stood to profit enormously from their use) to having their efficacy evaluated in a controlled study - and then the absolute refusal to accept data that didn't agree with their preconceived notions - made me furious. Saying something loudly over and over and over (when all the data contradicts what you say) doesn't make it so. I learned that in elementary school, folks. The sheer hypocrisy of the extreme anti-vaccine, conspiracy theorists was mind-boggling, particularly when it came to financial backing of studies.
I appreciated the chapter on "Science and the Media" which explained how difficult it is for Science to make its case to the public. Most science isn't particularly flashy or exciting to watch. It's boring. It's methodical. It takes time to understand and analyze. And then another scientist comes along to do the same thing again, just to make sure the results from the first study are reproducible. And then another. While that generally provides more reliable conclusions, it really doesn't make for edge-of-your-seat television. Since the goal of most media is to increase viewership and, therefore, earn advertising dollars, the boringly accurate scientist will be shoved aside in favor of the flashy, exciting, muckraking journalist or the attractive, passionate, University-of-Google-educated actress.
"Science and Society" addressed how our culture processes scientific information, or doesn't, as the case may be. Dr. Offit addresses several culture aspects including: the cynicism and hunger for scandal in our culture, the lack of understanding of the scientific method and scientific terminology, the human desire to find an answer which often leads people to assume that coincidence equals causality, and how much easier it is to scare people than to "unscare" them, to name a few.
As a scientist who has devoted his life to treating children and developing a vaccine (for rotavirus) that undoubtedly has saved lives, he is understandably passionate about this issue. His frustration with the enormity of efforts and resources being diverted into beating the dead horse of MMR or thimerosal as the cause of autism, instead of being used to search for a real cause and effective cures is palpable throughout the book. The book sometimes bogs down in scientific detail, but because of the subject matter, that's somewhat necessary.
For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.
April 8, 2015
Back in college, I did therapy with children with autism. I watched as parents tried one alternative therapy after another in the hopes of finding a cure, despite the fact that their children made little improvement and continued to be autistic. Even though their children did not make noticeable improvement, they would recommend enzymes, elimination diets and vitamin b12 supplements to each other as though it was the gold standard of medicine. Most were convinced vaccines caused their children's autism, a few weren't. As I was leaving, I knew someone who even started the chelation therapy. I checked, her son still has autism.
I was real sensitive to all of the magical cures and snake oil out there. I kept tabs on the vaccine controversy and became convinced by the preponderance of evidence that vaccines were safe and that there are early signs of autism in children. I studied child development, psychology and became a therapist.
Now, I have a son who has autism. I was diagnosed with autistic tendencies as a child, so it seemed inevitable. I watched his development carefully and was aware of the red flags, and got ECI involved early. But getting the therapists to see that he could not relate to me like a typically developing child would was difficult and defeatening. I was told he would grow out of his behavior, that his speech delays would disappear, and that he was cuddley and expressive and not to worry about autism. And now he has a diagnosis of autism.
First thoughts on reading this book is that every parent whose child gets diagnosed as on the spectrum needs to be given a copy. This book does an excellent job of describing how cures that seem miraculous and promising can fizzle out and turn out to be nothing. It will not give parents the false sense of security that comes with fool's gold, but it can teach them how to protect themselves and their children from fraudulent cures, cures that sometimes result in death.
Second thought is it demolishes that idea that vaccines cause autism. However, it does more than that. Offit thoroughly examines how our culture created the hysteria that caused people to believe that it did. This was riveting and fascinating.
Third thought was that it makes me angry that so much time has been wasted on vaccines and not educating people, especially early childhood specialists, about early warning signs and how to intervene. I'm angry that so many specialists brushed my concerns aside and told me if I just did a better job of interacting with him he would get better. I'm angry that parents are panicking about whether or not to give their children vaccines and not looking for things such as whether or not their infants point or use other hand gestures.
Fourth was I loved the last chapter of the book which included stories of families learning to accept and live with a family member on the spectrum. My son is high functioning, but at 4 years old, and considering how much variation there is with how autism progresses, it seems like nothing is certain. Stories about people finding ways to manage and find meaning are more enduring than the false hope offered by magical cures.
I was real sensitive to all of the magical cures and snake oil out there. I kept tabs on the vaccine controversy and became convinced by the preponderance of evidence that vaccines were safe and that there are early signs of autism in children. I studied child development, psychology and became a therapist.
Now, I have a son who has autism. I was diagnosed with autistic tendencies as a child, so it seemed inevitable. I watched his development carefully and was aware of the red flags, and got ECI involved early. But getting the therapists to see that he could not relate to me like a typically developing child would was difficult and defeatening. I was told he would grow out of his behavior, that his speech delays would disappear, and that he was cuddley and expressive and not to worry about autism. And now he has a diagnosis of autism.
First thoughts on reading this book is that every parent whose child gets diagnosed as on the spectrum needs to be given a copy. This book does an excellent job of describing how cures that seem miraculous and promising can fizzle out and turn out to be nothing. It will not give parents the false sense of security that comes with fool's gold, but it can teach them how to protect themselves and their children from fraudulent cures, cures that sometimes result in death.
Second thought is it demolishes that idea that vaccines cause autism. However, it does more than that. Offit thoroughly examines how our culture created the hysteria that caused people to believe that it did. This was riveting and fascinating.
Third thought was that it makes me angry that so much time has been wasted on vaccines and not educating people, especially early childhood specialists, about early warning signs and how to intervene. I'm angry that so many specialists brushed my concerns aside and told me if I just did a better job of interacting with him he would get better. I'm angry that parents are panicking about whether or not to give their children vaccines and not looking for things such as whether or not their infants point or use other hand gestures.
Fourth was I loved the last chapter of the book which included stories of families learning to accept and live with a family member on the spectrum. My son is high functioning, but at 4 years old, and considering how much variation there is with how autism progresses, it seems like nothing is certain. Stories about people finding ways to manage and find meaning are more enduring than the false hope offered by magical cures.
June 29, 2022
This book does an excellent job outlining the history of the Autism-Vaccine debate. A history I was eager to learn more about, as a person who works with autistic people for a job.
However. A book about autism yet the author does not interview ONE autistic person? Essentially gate keeping autistics from a book about themselves. Beyond that, the descriptions of autism the author fees compelled to repeatedly include are heartbreaking to read. While I understand that this is often the reality for many parents there are also certainly specific joys that come from being a parent of an autistic child. And the author recognizes this - the very last three paragraphs of the book describe this experience. But for a 200+ page book to have only three paragraphs illustrating the positives of ASD? Is upsetting.
I understand that the goal of the author was to discredit the “vaccines cause autism” argue. I wish he had done it with more class.
However. A book about autism yet the author does not interview ONE autistic person? Essentially gate keeping autistics from a book about themselves. Beyond that, the descriptions of autism the author fees compelled to repeatedly include are heartbreaking to read. While I understand that this is often the reality for many parents there are also certainly specific joys that come from being a parent of an autistic child. And the author recognizes this - the very last three paragraphs of the book describe this experience. But for a 200+ page book to have only three paragraphs illustrating the positives of ASD? Is upsetting.
I understand that the goal of the author was to discredit the “vaccines cause autism” argue. I wish he had done it with more class.
July 6, 2012
An excellent book- I will be recommending this one to parents of children with autism. Although I knew a little about Andrew Wakefield's work, I had no idea about the extent to which he falsified his study- nor the damage it did to thousands of children who's parents decided not to vaccinate them as a precaution. As someone who has worked with parents who have put their children on starvation diets to cleanse their guts (and thereby rid them of autism)- I think this work is really important. As the author points out, scientists (the non dodgy one's) don't do a great job of explaining scientific method and data to the public and its so important that there is a 'voice of reason' to counter all the wacky stuff desperate parents read trying to be responsible and research a cure for their children.
September 7, 2009
I started this book yesterday. It's interesting so far. The thing about Wakefield is he only had a handful of patients, 8 he supposedly found a link to the MMR vaccine and autism. BUT, other folks have studied hundreds of folks, they've studied millions of cases and haven't found any link to autism at all.
So I continue to believe that autism does not come from vaccines at all and that emphasising this link that doesn't exist takes away from bigger issues like what do autistic adults need to be productive and healthy members of society?
Perhaps folks should not listen to Jenny McCarthy and read With the Light instead as in the 4th one they were talking about that very issue, finding their son a job when he grows up and helping him to live independently.
But again, I'm still reading it.
So I continue to believe that autism does not come from vaccines at all and that emphasising this link that doesn't exist takes away from bigger issues like what do autistic adults need to be productive and healthy members of society?
Perhaps folks should not listen to Jenny McCarthy and read With the Light instead as in the 4th one they were talking about that very issue, finding their son a job when he grows up and helping him to live independently.
But again, I'm still reading it.
September 6, 2012
I couldn't put the book down and finished it within 24 hours. I found it interesting, both from the medical and public health perspective. I would implore everyone who is interested in learning more about vaccines and/or autism to make this book a must read in their search to become better educated. A lot of bad information is available, but this book helps puts things in a proper perspective. Bottom line - vaccines save lives.
January 23, 2013
Love it, a must read for any parent with an Autistic child. It makes me so glad that I didn't fall into the "Don't Vaccinate" trap. Comprehensive and full of information, it explains in detail the goings on with all the crazy treatments parents have put their autistic kids through
November 26, 2022
Decades ago, Paul and I both lived in Baltimore during the same years, but that has nothing to do with my great appreciation for this book. Vaccines do not cause autism.
Some of the earlier reviewers of Offit's book appear to be a bit dense concerning what they (claim to have) just read, so I'd like to re-emphasize that one flawed study paid for by people who had a result selected before the research started and conducted by a man who studied an unforgivably small sample, manipulated the data, and kept his funding secret from most of his fellow researchers; then, had his medical license revoked and the paper containing his duplicitous results retracted by the medical journal that made the mistake of publishing that trash in the first place; then, doubled-down with his fingers firmly jammed in his ears and yelling the childish mantra of "La, la, la, la, la" when all subsequent epidemiological studies, with samples sizes that dwarfed his tiny . . . selection, have found no indication of ANY connection between the MMR vaccine, thimerosal, or a combination of the two and autism does not a controversy, a disagreement, or even a note of note make. Vaccines do not cause autism.
Wakefield and his useful idiots have succeeded in making the world a less safe place for children to live. Such dedication to dumitude is truly remarkable, but in the past years, none of us has seen any decrease in gullibility, stupidity, belief, and the entitlement of people with opinions and no evidence. Vaccines do not cause autism.
There may be hope for humanity, but it does not rest with those who simply refuse to believe what they do not want to be true. Imagine the strides that might have been made had the dimwits who insist on opposing actual evidence had just said, "Oh, I see. Well, then, let's take all this money we've extracted from the duped and donate it to efforts for further study of actual causes and treatments for this condition with which our children suffer." Vaccines do not cause autism.
Vaccines do not cause autism. Can we let the science science now?
Some of the earlier reviewers of Offit's book appear to be a bit dense concerning what they (claim to have) just read, so I'd like to re-emphasize that one flawed study paid for by people who had a result selected before the research started and conducted by a man who studied an unforgivably small sample, manipulated the data, and kept his funding secret from most of his fellow researchers; then, had his medical license revoked and the paper containing his duplicitous results retracted by the medical journal that made the mistake of publishing that trash in the first place; then, doubled-down with his fingers firmly jammed in his ears and yelling the childish mantra of "La, la, la, la, la" when all subsequent epidemiological studies, with samples sizes that dwarfed his tiny . . . selection, have found no indication of ANY connection between the MMR vaccine, thimerosal, or a combination of the two and autism does not a controversy, a disagreement, or even a note of note make. Vaccines do not cause autism.
Wakefield and his useful idiots have succeeded in making the world a less safe place for children to live. Such dedication to dumitude is truly remarkable, but in the past years, none of us has seen any decrease in gullibility, stupidity, belief, and the entitlement of people with opinions and no evidence. Vaccines do not cause autism.
There may be hope for humanity, but it does not rest with those who simply refuse to believe what they do not want to be true. Imagine the strides that might have been made had the dimwits who insist on opposing actual evidence had just said, "Oh, I see. Well, then, let's take all this money we've extracted from the duped and donate it to efforts for further study of actual causes and treatments for this condition with which our children suffer." Vaccines do not cause autism.
Vaccines do not cause autism. Can we let the science science now?
March 25, 2020
A wonderfully informative book, with stories that could cause nightmares and heartache, as well as anger at how so many have preyed on frightened parents, and how anti-vaxxers cause so much damage.
May 2, 2025
A must read for parents, especially those questioning whether or not it is the right decision to immunize their children. As a pediatrician, this book was also immensely helpful to better understand the history of vaccine hesitancy.
March 10, 2019
This is a good science-based resource for anyone on the fence about whether vaccines cause autism or about the importance of vaccinations in general. While the arguments presented are based on hard science and epidemiological studies the material is written for lay people in and understandable way.
"The Panic Virus" by Seth Mnookin is also an excellent, and highly readable, science-based source for anyone examining the vaccine-autism controversy.
"The Panic Virus" by Seth Mnookin is also an excellent, and highly readable, science-based source for anyone examining the vaccine-autism controversy.
March 1, 2016
There is a lot of information on autism being generated and circulated by rumors, the mass media, and the Internet. Critically evaluating this vast body of information is like trying to navigate a large ocean that is almost impossible to navigate. That is what it is like for most people when they try to understand autism in order to help their loved ones affected by it, mostly their children. This book acts as a compass and a radar to navigate the ocean of information in order to separate the facts of autism from the myths, misconceptions, and falsehoods regarding what it is, how it develops in the brains of those affected by it, what causes it, and what can be done to help autistic people.
The book opens up with the author, Paul A. Offit, briefly describing in this edition's prologue his reasons for becoming a medical doctor and his experiences with the hate mail and death threats he received from angry parents of autistic children on the assumption that vaccines (his speciality) caused the disorder. In the introduction, he makes a comparision with the increased visibility of autism to the polio epidemic in early-20th century America in terms of public response. In both cases, people panicked and desperately sought any form of solution to deal the outbreaks (Note: the growing rate of autism is note really an outbreak) and, if possible, cure them. When the science and government institutions could not provide immediate answers to the general public, a few doctors have appeared with them and promises of a cure. To many people, especially parents, such doctors are like prophets that promise a deliverance of a sort of salvation from the epidemics; they were the only ones who cared about them and have the best of intentions. Unfortunately, such assumptions were not the case as those so-called "prophets" have treated their patients with difficult and expensive therapies that have no validity in science, were ineffective and, in some cases, dangerous. Given this fact, they are 'false prophets' who emotionally and financially exploit the desperation of parents seeking a cure for their children's autism for their own interests and benefits.
The rest of the book then goes over the many circumstances that gave rise to and permeate the 'false prophets' in regards to autism. They include the lack of public understanding of science, the failure on part of the public and the science institutions to communicate, how information on science is filterd by the mass media with mixed results, and the culture that equates commonly held beliefs with common wisdom, that seems to thrive on cynicism and scandal, and that considers reason to be an enemy of emotion. The author also discusses, in layman's terms, the profiles of such 'false prophets' as Andrew Wakefield, Mark and David Gier, Lyn Redwood, and Sallie Bernard, the movivations of promoting their cases as to what causes autism (the myth that vaccines cause autism, for example), and their personal agendas they sought to achieve through publicity campaigns and lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers and the government. The autism advocacy groups including Defeat Autism Now (DAN), are also discussed. The parents who are skeptical of the whole issue, most of whose children have autism, are also discussed. Such parents include Kathleen Siedel, founder of the website neurodiversity.com, Camille Clark, a mildly autistic blogger known as Autism Diva, and Michael Fitzpatrick, a British physician with an autistic son and a critic against the vaccines-cause-autism myth promoted by Andrew Wakefield.
As an autistic person who is currently living with my parents who have been skeptical of the disorder since my birth (and have given me this book for my 25th birthday), I highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to have some crystal clear information about autism, including parents with autistic children, people with a form of autism, aides and teachers to autistic students, and other people who have an interest in autism. It will prove to be a helpful navigator in the vast and cloudy ocean of unevaluated information on autism.
The book opens up with the author, Paul A. Offit, briefly describing in this edition's prologue his reasons for becoming a medical doctor and his experiences with the hate mail and death threats he received from angry parents of autistic children on the assumption that vaccines (his speciality) caused the disorder. In the introduction, he makes a comparision with the increased visibility of autism to the polio epidemic in early-20th century America in terms of public response. In both cases, people panicked and desperately sought any form of solution to deal the outbreaks (Note: the growing rate of autism is note really an outbreak) and, if possible, cure them. When the science and government institutions could not provide immediate answers to the general public, a few doctors have appeared with them and promises of a cure. To many people, especially parents, such doctors are like prophets that promise a deliverance of a sort of salvation from the epidemics; they were the only ones who cared about them and have the best of intentions. Unfortunately, such assumptions were not the case as those so-called "prophets" have treated their patients with difficult and expensive therapies that have no validity in science, were ineffective and, in some cases, dangerous. Given this fact, they are 'false prophets' who emotionally and financially exploit the desperation of parents seeking a cure for their children's autism for their own interests and benefits.
The rest of the book then goes over the many circumstances that gave rise to and permeate the 'false prophets' in regards to autism. They include the lack of public understanding of science, the failure on part of the public and the science institutions to communicate, how information on science is filterd by the mass media with mixed results, and the culture that equates commonly held beliefs with common wisdom, that seems to thrive on cynicism and scandal, and that considers reason to be an enemy of emotion. The author also discusses, in layman's terms, the profiles of such 'false prophets' as Andrew Wakefield, Mark and David Gier, Lyn Redwood, and Sallie Bernard, the movivations of promoting their cases as to what causes autism (the myth that vaccines cause autism, for example), and their personal agendas they sought to achieve through publicity campaigns and lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers and the government. The autism advocacy groups including Defeat Autism Now (DAN), are also discussed. The parents who are skeptical of the whole issue, most of whose children have autism, are also discussed. Such parents include Kathleen Siedel, founder of the website neurodiversity.com, Camille Clark, a mildly autistic blogger known as Autism Diva, and Michael Fitzpatrick, a British physician with an autistic son and a critic against the vaccines-cause-autism myth promoted by Andrew Wakefield.
As an autistic person who is currently living with my parents who have been skeptical of the disorder since my birth (and have given me this book for my 25th birthday), I highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to have some crystal clear information about autism, including parents with autistic children, people with a form of autism, aides and teachers to autistic students, and other people who have an interest in autism. It will prove to be a helpful navigator in the vast and cloudy ocean of unevaluated information on autism.
August 9, 2010
I get it, I get it. Avoiding vaccinations because of media-hyped fears in spite of good science makes for bad parenting. But I could have used a bit more understanding for those parents who, because of what they have experienced in the life of their child, don't give good science as much credit as Offit. A concluding chapter with news of any leads or scientific hopes in the future of autism research would have been welcome as well, but I guess Offit didn't want to set himself up as another "False Prophet."
I also didn't appreciate how dismissive he was of diet adjustments, probiotics, etc. It seems these are positive, healthy adjustments any parent seeking the best for his child's well-being (not just parents of autistic children) would be prudent to consider. Offit doesn't really explain why these trends are "False." Instead, I got the impression they were dismissed simply for being financially draining.
As for me, a mom and not a scientist, I'll happily spend my $35 a month on prescription Folic Acid for my son, add Flax Seed Oil to his breakfast each day, and sprinkle circumin on his lunch each afternoon even if Offit thinks I'm wasting my money. And even after reading the book, I do not regret our decision to go slow with our son's shot schedule (we're vaccinating but at our own pace), because logic says that injecting pathogenic cells into my child's body is something that should be taken very seriously. So it's up to me, the parent, to decide if I think that much more than good science dictates pediatric recommendations... What of the financial interests of drug companies and the overall attitude that the best fix has to involve a medication or an injection with no other focus on other factors (nutrition!) for overall health?
But that's just me, a total nut, who is about to put garlic drops in her three-year-old's ear because today he's been complaining of an earache.
All of that seems pretty critical but I still give the book three stars. Why? Because Offit does a great job explaining just how the MMR-causes-autism and then the mercury-in-shots-causes-autism scare came into being, but why parents should be assured of the safety of vaccinations. Since we're obviously never going to get those follow-up explanations and reassurances from the media it's nice to have it all together here.
I also didn't appreciate how dismissive he was of diet adjustments, probiotics, etc. It seems these are positive, healthy adjustments any parent seeking the best for his child's well-being (not just parents of autistic children) would be prudent to consider. Offit doesn't really explain why these trends are "False." Instead, I got the impression they were dismissed simply for being financially draining.
As for me, a mom and not a scientist, I'll happily spend my $35 a month on prescription Folic Acid for my son, add Flax Seed Oil to his breakfast each day, and sprinkle circumin on his lunch each afternoon even if Offit thinks I'm wasting my money. And even after reading the book, I do not regret our decision to go slow with our son's shot schedule (we're vaccinating but at our own pace), because logic says that injecting pathogenic cells into my child's body is something that should be taken very seriously. So it's up to me, the parent, to decide if I think that much more than good science dictates pediatric recommendations... What of the financial interests of drug companies and the overall attitude that the best fix has to involve a medication or an injection with no other focus on other factors (nutrition!) for overall health?
But that's just me, a total nut, who is about to put garlic drops in her three-year-old's ear because today he's been complaining of an earache.
All of that seems pretty critical but I still give the book three stars. Why? Because Offit does a great job explaining just how the MMR-causes-autism and then the mercury-in-shots-causes-autism scare came into being, but why parents should be assured of the safety of vaccinations. Since we're obviously never going to get those follow-up explanations and reassurances from the media it's nice to have it all together here.
January 20, 2010
Nonfiction 2
This was an eye-opening, extremely factual book about the doctors and quacks that purport the cause and possible cures of autism. It is written from the 'goliath' side of the argument with the author defending the FDA and CDC. Rarely does the media go back and finish the sensational stories it reports.
Because of this book, I am not worried about vaccines causing autism. The scientific studies done regarding thimerosal, MMR vaccination, and about the children that do claim vaccinations caused their autism were explained very well. There were no scare tactics. There was no hint of conspiracy or setting up the other side of the argument with unfair accusations.
I recommend this book to anyone that is worried about giving their child vaccinations. It is crucial for the child's safety and the safety of our society that as many people as possible are vaccinated to prevent deadly outbreaks. Not everyone can be vaccinated (small children with auto-immune disorders) and need to be safe within society until they can be. This book is NOT for people that have to interact with autistic people (unless you think a child got it from vaccines). This book is very focused on the legal and scientific issues surrounding the 'controversy.' It does not discuss autistic symptoms, nor does it discuss treatment for those with autism.
This was an eye-opening, extremely factual book about the doctors and quacks that purport the cause and possible cures of autism. It is written from the 'goliath' side of the argument with the author defending the FDA and CDC. Rarely does the media go back and finish the sensational stories it reports.
Because of this book, I am not worried about vaccines causing autism. The scientific studies done regarding thimerosal, MMR vaccination, and about the children that do claim vaccinations caused their autism were explained very well. There were no scare tactics. There was no hint of conspiracy or setting up the other side of the argument with unfair accusations.
I recommend this book to anyone that is worried about giving their child vaccinations. It is crucial for the child's safety and the safety of our society that as many people as possible are vaccinated to prevent deadly outbreaks. Not everyone can be vaccinated (small children with auto-immune disorders) and need to be safe within society until they can be. This book is NOT for people that have to interact with autistic people (unless you think a child got it from vaccines). This book is very focused on the legal and scientific issues surrounding the 'controversy.' It does not discuss autistic symptoms, nor does it discuss treatment for those with autism.
February 28, 2009
The vaccine "controversy" is so frustrating. I have sympathy for parents struggling with autism, but the SCIENCE is overwhelming-vaccines do NOT cause autism. The MMR data was completely fabricated and never duplicated by another study and thimerosol has not been in vaccines since 2001 and autism rates have not declined, not to mention that no epidemiological studies find higher rates in vaccinated children. What science does show, however, is that vaccines are crucial for preventing childhood deaths. I'd ask any of these non-vaccinating parents if they would like to go live in an area where 90% of the population (enough to give "herd protection") isn't vaccinated and see if they want to subject their child to polio, measles, hepatitis B, etc. I'm glad Dr.Offit is willing to call out the dangerous pseudoscience, despite the death threats and backlash. Oh and by the way, thanks to Dr. Offit for helping discover the rotavirus vaccine that my child just got, since diarrheal diseases are a huge killer of children all over the world.
May 18, 2009
Autism's False Prophets is an overview of the controversy surrounding the safety of vaccines and the contention that they cause autism. This controversy has caused a great deal of anxiety to parents of small children and has also engendered heated feelings on both sides. Offit is a doctor who helped to develop a vaccine, and does not attempt to conceal his own point of view -- that vaccines save far more lives than they harm, and that there is no scientific evidence that they cause autism. By now, that is fairly well established, as is the fact that the original study that pointed the finger at vaccines was deeply flawed, and indeed most likely the results were consciously fudged.
Although Offit's book concerns the autism/vaccine controversy, it sheds light on the process and problems of medical research and how science is reported in the media. Perhaps most poignantly, it ilustrates why even smart people are often all too willing to embrace unproven or quack alternative remdies that promise a fix for problems for which conventional medicine has nothing to offer.
Although Offit's book concerns the autism/vaccine controversy, it sheds light on the process and problems of medical research and how science is reported in the media. Perhaps most poignantly, it ilustrates why even smart people are often all too willing to embrace unproven or quack alternative remdies that promise a fix for problems for which conventional medicine has nothing to offer.
April 12, 2010
In my 6 years as a mother, I've taken a journey from sold-out believer in the medical establishment to skeptical and suspicious, especially of vaccines, medications and traditional treatments for children. But my journey has taken me full circle.
At the beginning of that journey, I was shocked and amazed at all I hadn't been told about the dangers and drawbacks of modern medicine. However, as my research expanded, I discovered a lot of what was presented as fact by the "alternative" community was based on flimsy evidence, rumors, and hear-say, at least in regards to vaccines.
vaccines have saved so many lives and prevented so much short and long-term suffering. It was wonderful to read a book that brought all the facts and the full story of the fabricated controversy over vaccines and autism together in one place. Paul Offit's writing is clear and easy to understand, coming from a non-science background. Great book and highly recommended for anyone who believes they are seeking the truth on vaccines and autism, this contains REAL truth!
At the beginning of that journey, I was shocked and amazed at all I hadn't been told about the dangers and drawbacks of modern medicine. However, as my research expanded, I discovered a lot of what was presented as fact by the "alternative" community was based on flimsy evidence, rumors, and hear-say, at least in regards to vaccines.
vaccines have saved so many lives and prevented so much short and long-term suffering. It was wonderful to read a book that brought all the facts and the full story of the fabricated controversy over vaccines and autism together in one place. Paul Offit's writing is clear and easy to understand, coming from a non-science background. Great book and highly recommended for anyone who believes they are seeking the truth on vaccines and autism, this contains REAL truth!
December 23, 2011
I'm giving this four stars not for the writing (it was fine, but as with his other books, could get a little dry at points), but for the point-by-point explanation of the absolute lack of proof of a connection between autism and vaccines. Every possible shred of "evidence" claiming vaccines or their components cause autism is completely disproven in multiple ways. It's heartbreaking to read how alternative "cures" for autism not only do nothing but actually harm and in some cases even kill children--at some points, I had to stop reading because I got so angry. But I appreciated the thoroughness of the book, and I now feel like I can engage in conversation with others about the subject and actually know what I'm talking about. I can only hope that this gets through to people who are debating about vaccinating their kids and really convinces them of the truth.
September 23, 2010
Among parents who have children with this life-claiming condition, there is a desperate desire for a cure, or at least for treatments that help. With that desperation, many ideas have come forth in an attempt to assign blame for the rising rates and to provide hope for these parents. We happen to have a son with autism and have had many people raise their brows in surprise when they find out that we have continued to immunize our other children despite the "supposed link" between autism and immunizations (particularly MMR.) This book is a fantastic resource for that issue in particular, showing pretty conclusively that nobody has enough EVIDENCE to make that claim. Fascinating read.
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