Autism Street

I had meant to mention the upcoming release of scientist, Dr. Paul Offit’s new book

Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure

but it’s been difficult to find writing time with current work and family commitments. Fortunately, Dr. Offit has been talking about it, and most recently on NPR’s Science Friday. What a pleasant surprise to hear a little more about this from a fairly new (month-old) blog written by a non-parent.

Aside from the fact that Offit’s book is likely to address unsubstantiated belief in a vaccine etiology of autism, this blogger’s post really doesn’t have anything to do with autism, but I really enjoyed it. I think scientifically minded readers might too. Here’s a young man who doesn’t even have children, speaking out on the issue of childhood vaccination in favor of  science and reason and in the interest of  public health. He’s even assembled some links for additional reading at the end.

Without further ado, please enjoy this guest article (reprinted here with permisssion) by Bevans of Dubiosity. Link to the original article, here (discussion/comments are at the end of the original article on the a author’s site).

The embedded audio interview with Dr. Offit is very interesting, and I think most readers will enjoy the Dubiosity article if they listen to the complete interview first.

By: Bevans on Sunday, August 31, 2008
Tags: Debunking, Government, Medicine, Science

I just got done listening to a recent segment on NPR’s Science Friday (hosted by Ira Flatow) where they discussed the anti-vaccination movement, and even after 20 minutes, I’m still quivering with rage and frustrationn.

Science Friday: Childhood Vaccinations

Ira’s guest is Paul Offit, who I’ll just let Wikipedia tell you about:

Paul A. Offit, MD, is a pediatrician specializing in infectious disease medicine, an internationally known expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology, the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit has been a member of the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Dr. Offit has published more than 120 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety and is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine recently recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC.

The interview starts with Dr. Offit and Ira discussing the recent outbreaks of measles due to declining vaccination rates, and the reasoning that people who are against vaccinations give for their stance, and why they’re wrong. It’s very interesting (to me at least) and they address many of the common misconceptions, in language that anybody can understand. Or so you’d think.

The first caller is a woman who’s an anti-vaccinationist. She starts by asking a couple questions that are, I suppose, pretty fair to ask. But you soon discover that no matter what Dr. Offit says, this woman isn’t going to change her mind. She’s one of those unfortunate people who thinks that if they believe something enough, that makes it true.

Personally, I think the whole anti-vaccination movement is a bunch of conspiracy theorists who would probably latch on to UFOs or Bigfoot or something if such topics interested them. But they see Jenny McCarthy on Oprah telling a sad story about how she thinks vaccines made her kid autistic, and their conspiracy-prone minds latch onto it.

(One of these days, I’ll write a post about how harmful to society Oprah is. To summarize: if I believed in the devil, I would say that she is at least related to him.)

Ira does a great job refereeing this conversation between the doctor/professor and the random nut, and even points out the nut’s obvious logical faults, like how she says that no amount of evidence would change her mind on the issue. But this person’s mindset is typical of the anti-vaccination movement at large. They’re true believers: nothing will sway them.

Dr. Offit does a great job combating the woman’s lunacy too. If it were me, I’d be screaming and swearing and insulting her (as I have in this post), but Offit addresses as many of her concerns as he can, far more calmly and politely than she deserves.

I don’t know why I care so much about this issue. I’m a graphic designer, and I don’t even have any kids. But, I guess I care about humanity or something. I see the ignorant having a negative effect on society, and it infuriates me. I want to do something about it, but the best I can do is confront ignorance head-on, and try to help people to see reality, or at least nudge them in the right direction.

Those of you who know me who have kids or will have kids, if you’re thinking about not vaccinating them, you’re going to be hearing from me until you do.

• Science Friday: Childhood Vaccinations
• CDC: Vaccines and Immunizations site
• NeuroLogica Blog: Drinking the Anti-Vaccine Kool-Aid
• Science-Based Medicine: Vaccines
• Skeptoid: Mercury, Autism and Chelation: A Recipe for Risk

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