Oh Jenny!

Jenny, Jenny, Jenny! How appropriate it is that you should be interviewed by TIME Magazine on April fool’s Day?
If ignorance was truly bliss, you’d be in a permanent state of euphoria. But really, how does such an ignorant individual get so many “so called”, smart people in the media to buy into so much crap? How do you sell so many books on a subject of which you have no education or expertise? If it was not such a serious issue, it would be quite funny. Oh Jenny, I wasted 15 years of my son’s life, if I’d have only known. Shazaam, you can cure autism. I am not worthy to be writing this blog about you. Oh well, I’ll write it anyway. Or is it, that deep down that you laugh about this too? Just think. We have all of these brilliant scientists at all these universities doing all this great research on autism, and the vast majority of people don’t know who they are, or even that they exist. But they know about you Jenny. And they know they are not sure if they should vaccinate their child or not. Many of them trust you more than they trust their own doctor, and what is the result? Their children, if not vaccinated will be at risk for diseases that can easily be prevented. No fewer cases of autism will exist either. But you couldn’t achieve this all on your own. Oh no, you have the support of a lazy, ignorant media, and several other ideologues that have practically turned this into a political issue.

Let me explain a little something to you Jenny. Science does not support your theory on vaccines, or autism. It never has, and your theory continues to unravel. I know you think that a thousand parents who tell you they saw symptoms of autism after vaccination counts for something, but anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence. Actually, anecdotal evidence is somewhat of an oxymoron. Do you get that? Have you ever heard a math teacher say that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line? Well Jenny, the shortest distance between the cause of autism and “real treatment, prevention, and a cure” is the scientific method. That means real research conducted by real researchers with carefully designed studies using controls and independent variables.

We are moving further and further away from a time when thimerosal was used in vaccines. The case surrounding Andrew Wakefield is closed. He is disgraced and can no longer practice medicine in the U.K., so he packed his bags and lives in the U.S. But the number of individuals diagnosed with autism continues to rise. And what is your response? Well, it may not be just the thimerosal; it could be the virus, or something in the environment. So, are we supposed to test everything in our environment? No Jenny, let’s allow the scientific method to work. Wow, that’s an idea, how profound!

For anyone who wants to know the real facts about vaccines from a real scientist who conducts real research, do a Google search on Paul Offit. Then read his book.

Will the anti vaccine crowd ever give it up?

I just read the FDA’s opinion on Mercury, Vaccines & Autism. How soothing it is to read so much common sense. For once I feel great about my tax dollars at work. I've spent far too much time reading the rants of J.B. Handley. I seemed to have noticed a recent trend. The anti vaccine crowd is still promoting the dangers of vaccines, while speaking less about thimerosal. That’s convenient, since mercury is no longer an issue.

Now they seem to be moving on to environmental toxins. Is that how they explain California’s “explosion” of autism? Given that California has the most restrictive EPA in the union; it seems a bit ironic doesn’t it?

I studied agriculture. I seem to remember all of the loons twenty or thirty years ago saying we used too many chemicals. Then came the seed scientist and they began with their ingenious gene stacking of hybrids. They came up with a miracle where they modified the corn and soybean genes to make them resistant to glyphosate. Just about the time I could appreciate all of the benefits of using Round-Up Ready hybrids, I was hearing the same voices who had previously complained about chemicals. They were now complaining about GMO’s. The common thread seems to be:

Some people have too much time on their hands.
People naturally make associations and conclusions despite the lack of evidence for any association.
Scientists in every industry need to devote more time to educating the masses. Otherwise consumers are behind the technology. In other words, we need to do a better job of customer relations.

The anti vaccine crowd cannot win. The best they can do is to create increasingly more and more serious outbreaks, until the guest on Larry King and Oprah are asking “How could we have allowed such an epidemic to occur in the richest country in the world?” As a matter of fact, I fear one day we will hear Offit saying “I told you so!”

Ignorance is not bliss; it is an expensive commodity that we cannot afford. Whether or not we spend valuable research dollars to investigate vaccines as the cause of autism should not be left up to majority rule. Keep the politics out of this. It should be for scientists only to decide.