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It’s not unfitting that a week in which a new study further disputing the MMR vaccine-autism link appeared would end with the publication of a book with no less a title than Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, and by no less an author than Dr. Paul Offit, chief of Infectious Diseases, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In the words of Orac of Respectful Insolence, Dr. Offit is the “Dark Lord of Vaccination” himself, and the special target, now for some time, of the ire, rage, and general hatred of proponents of a vaccine-or-something-in-vaccines-autism link.
One of those proponents, Generation Rescue founder and Editor At Large for Age of Autism J.B. Handley, has expressed some of these feelings by creating a website, PaulOffit.com, by which he proclaims that Dr. Offit is “the vaccine industry’s most well paid spokesperson.” In a number of articles and other writings over the years, Handley and other anti-vaccine/pro-vaccine-safety advocates have performing the verbal equivalent of tarring and feathering Dr. Offit and widely impugned not only his work as a scientist and doctor, but also his character. After attending an August 2008 press conference on vaccines sponsored by Every Child By Two at which Dr. Offit and actress Amanda Peet were present, June Johnson (director of Defeat Autism Now!), wrote this on Age of Autism:
“I have to say it felt odd sitting that close to Paul Offit. There are few human beings toward whom I feel so much anger.”
More than just the “Dark Lord of Vaccination,” Dr. Offit has been raised (or lowered, I suppose you could say) to the level of some demonic force of evil. An April 2007 article in Nature Neuroscience indeed noted that some of the tactics used against Dr. Offit—-and some autism bloggers, and scientists and researchers who have publicly stated that there is no link between vaccines and autism— resemble those used by “certain animal rights groups” (such as this group).
“I get a lot of hate mail” is actually the first sentence of Autism’s False Prophets; Dr. Offit notes a few choice examples that he has received—-and before you can say, Elementary, my dear Mr. Handley, it’s clear that Dr. Offit’s mail box, email inbox, voicemail inbox, and who knows what else will be filled to the brim in the wake of the publication of his new book, Autism’s False Prophets.
And yet, despite buckets of anger and meanness directed towards him, Dr. Offit’s tone throughout the book is one of thoughtful civility, rigorous and constant adherence to science and the scientific method, and a generosity of spirit and unflagging sense of purpose. After noting all the hate mail he gets, Dr. Offit narrates why he decided to become a doctor by describing two childhood memories. In one, a doctor made a home visit after a n-year-old Dr. Offit was in a serious playground accident; the second memory is about a three-week stay in a chronic care hospital in a room with twenty children, all of whom had polio.
With Autism’s False Prophets, Dr. Offit has written a succinct account of a curious chapter of the history of autism. He traces the rise and fall of hypotheses about mercury and also the MMR vaccine as a cause of autism, beginning with an overview of earlier theories of autism causation and of treatments—faciiliated communication and secretin are mentioned—-that offered parents “false promises” (p. 17). Dr. Offit begins with the 1998 Lancet study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that set off the whole scare about the MMR vaccine. He shows how books like David Kirby’s 2005 Evidence of Harm and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s 2006 “Deadly Immunity” article in Rolling Stone magazine directly fueled the flames of the so-called mercury militia. The numerous alternative and biomedical treatments for autism are reviewed (pp. 119-124), along with the Autism Omnibus Proceedings and the roles that figures ranging from Don Imus to Representative Dan Burton have played in keeping the vaccine-autism alive in the minds of the public. Dr Offit also considers why scientists have not been able to effectively communicate about vaccines to the public, and about how scientific study after study continues to refute a link.
Autism’s False Prophets also highlights four parents of autistic children who “don’t believe that vaccines are at fault” and for whom a “special kind of venom is reserved” (p. xviii). Kathleen Seidel, librarian and dedicated chronicler of the science and legal issues surrounding autism today on Neurodiversity, is prominently featured in chapter 7, “Behind the Mercury Curtain.” Chapter 11, “A Place for Autism,” describes Camille Clark who is “the best known, most widely read, and arguably the most irreverent autism blogger” (p. 223) for her Autism Diva blog. Dr. Offit also notes Peter Hotez, chairman of Microbiology and Tropical Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine, and Roy Richard Grinker, professor of anthropology at George Washington University and author of Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.
I hope that many, if not every, individual who is certain that vaccines or something in vaccines can be linked to autism reads Autism’s False Prophets and, even more, writes in a public forum about what he or she thinks, and thereby stokes the interest of others to read it. Actually, I hope that anyone with an interest in autism reads Autism’s False Prophets, and not only for the evidence and arguments that Dr. Offit presents to refute the hypothesis that vaccines or thimerosal or mercury might be a cause of autism. Autism’s False Prophets presents a history of the past several years of autism in the United States and, to a lesser extent, the United Kingdom. I’ll be posting more about Autism’s False Prophets and specifically about how the public attention and sometimes paranoia and a vaccine-autism link has distracted our focus away from the other issues—of education, supports and services, housing, employment, and quality of life—-of pressing concern autistic persons and their families, beyond what false prophets and failed poets can claim.
I have more then people now i wish thay can leve me a lone
Offit has no science to back his claims.
Its like the emperor’s new clothes, and obviously idiots like Chew have fallen for it.
In about 10 years time, when a LOT of kids are better, I hope Chew realises if she has stopped even one child from getting better, this is an evil act.
Stop supporting lies Chew. All you have to do is shut your mouth. Better yet, go and do a search on pubmed. You’ll find a myriad of evidence from relevant studies that can help your child. Stop being part of the propoganda problem.
I found it hard to put the book down. I honestly enjoyed his critique of the media and how it covers science. But, Offit’s strident nature will put off readers. I also think he would benefit from a deeper understanding of how different types of journalists operate, a context that would help him change the way autism and other science is covered, instead of just blasting it.
Interesting conversation. My daughter is diagnosed with ADHD and I find some similarities with what you write. Could it be that some children are misdiagnosed with Autism thus the rise in rates? Perhaps they are shyer or distractable. BTW her symptoms worsen with milk. She may have a sensitivity to Casein in the milk.
1321 days ago
[...] You can also read other reviews of Dr. Offit’s book in the Kansas City Star and on the LA Times Booster Shots blog. The Rocky Mountain News gives the book an A- and notes that “Offit’s sarcasm and brow-beating of those he disagrees with is grating – this book will do little to stop the nasty phone calls.” [...]
Here’s the panelists’ page:
http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/contributors.php
I’m a lit-type down to the bone and very honored to be included.
Kristina,
‘Interesting to find out that you are one of the panelists–cool.
I got my copy the other day and am looking forward to the bookclub discussion. (Be there or be square [wink].)
1332 days ago
[...] review of Dr. Paul Offit’s Autism False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a [...]
1332 days ago
[...] a Cure, Rahul Parikh, a physician who writes the sWell blog for Salon, starts by noting that the hate mail and, indeed, death threats, the book’s author, Dr. Paul Offit, has received are reminiscent [...]
I’d like much to know what you think—–from October 1 to October 10, there’ll be a discussion of the book at Science Blogs, as a new installment of the Science Blogs Book Club.
It is a fascinating book, I’m still reading it. I was hoping the vaccine-anti-vaccine debate was getting more civil, but maybe it’s just getting worse.
Ed,
That’s really cool! My daughter is just about to take her final exams for yr 12. She’s hoping to go to the School of Music to study voice.
Alison,
My son is past all that now and is studying calculus and physics this semester in college.
Ed,
Fair enough…
Hope all goes well for you and your son.
Alison,
It was a medical event that made my son lose his prodigious math skills. It was medical intervention that brought him back. Stress was not part of the issue.
Kristina
Wow! I have never heard of ABA from a neurodiverse perspective. Sounds like things are progressing on the behaviourists front.
What are the differences?
Oh yes, ABA has worked well for Charlie combined with what is called a sort of “neurodiverse” perspective. Structure is good, and alike deep appreciation of differences.
ABA.
Yes i know what it is like to have to step by step, over and over teach an autistic child a particular skill.
The funny thing is though put in the right situation, with the right tools, the right environment that same autistic child can learn the same skill with incredible ease and amazing ability to excel at that skill. Without having been taught the usual way.
I have learned that that it is possible that autistic people need to ‘see’ the bigger picture….observe the very intricate details of something and put those little parts into the whole before they can then translate that knowledge into actions (ie skill). That it takes time and all sorts of different environmental factors and tools to have this process happen. But when it does their knowledge and ability quite often exceeds the non-autistic person.
So it is possible that teaching an autistic child a skill through DTT may infact reduce their ability to ‘draw’ on what they need to learn that skill. To limit these ‘tools’ means that what they have left with is having to learn that skill in a very labourious and boring and repetitive way.
Not only is that skill very slowly aquired it is then attached to reward. It becomes a performance based ability. The child’s existence is reduced to performing. There is less chance that the child can meaningfully process the skill as a useful addition to their over-all sense of who they are.
This is a very hard concept to explain.
I’ll just say….it is my understanding that non-autistic people can separate WHO they are from what they DO. Autistic people ARE what they DO. So if your existence is based on performing then your whole SELF is going to be based on getting that performance right. And if that performance is reliant on people responding well to you then you will find yourself a pretty messed up person. Because people are unpredictable.
I can only imagine!
Can I ask?
Is Charlie’s anxiety due to him repeatedly overestimating any real danger in situations, either the likelihood or how bad the consequences will be?
Why I ask is that medication for anxiety is given to people who have this type of anxiety. An incorrect perception of the situation they are in. They have ‘incorrect’ thinking so to speak. That needs CBT to correct it.
Autistic people find themselves in situations that are anxiety provoking.
If you are constantly in a situation that your way of communicating is not shared or understood by the others around you, you will start to exhibit anxiety because your needs are likely not going to be met. You will be constantly misinterpreted and will have to suffer the consequences of that. Knowing through experience this is the case most times….will your anxiety be because of a REAL danger of your needs not being met or an over-estimation of that danger?
If you are in a situation that requires you to behave in a certain way or you will be punished, (and I don’t mean necessary physical, deliberate punishment, but the subtle ones that tell you that somehow you are ‘wrong’) but the ‘rules’ that determine those behaviours are constantly changing and at any moment you are going to have work really quick to somehow think up the ‘right’ behaviour for that situation…..is your estimation of the danger of getting it ‘wrong’ real or not?
Would any doctor worth their salt…prescibed anti-anxiety medication for a person who is in a real and sustained anxiety provoking situation (like say….being in the ocean surrounded by sharks) and tell them that ‘your symptoms are the same as someone who has an anxiety disorder, so instead of getting out of the situation, take these meds and you’ll feel better.”
The problem autistic people have is that the situations that provoke anxiety for them are NOT the same for non-autistics. Just as being in the water with sharks may not be anxiety provoking for a shark enthusiast.
But it is non-autistics that are constantly deciding which situations should be rightly causing anxiety and which ones shouldn’t and then interpreting the behaviours as wrong or maladaptive.
If you are in that water surrounded by sharks….knowing and sensing the very real possibility that you are going to be attacked and you want out….what sorts of behaviours will you be exhibiting? If you are given medication to damp down those natural defense mechanisms, or are trained out of them what have you got left to make sense of the world around you? How do you keep your sense of reality in check?
@Alison,
Hi—medication is for behavior and also anxiety. Behavior is one thing covered by ABA/DTT but Charlie’s in a ABA program at school that uses ABA for everything; ABA’s helped us to teach him ride a bike and play piano and cello.
So ABA’s been very important for him—but he’s also been in programs that used ABA/behavior therapy and some of his behaviors got worse, much worse. It’s been a bit of an odyssey—–