5-Minute Time Out: Dr. Paul Offit, M.D.
The author of Autism’s False Prophets says vaccines don’t cause autism.
by Gwynne Watkins
March 2, 2009
So given that you made a lot of money from pharmaceutical companies developing this vaccine, how is this not — to borrow an analogy from the book — a "David and Goliath" thing, where the parents are the little guy fighting a big, money-motivated evil?
They've got the players wrong. When I stand up for vaccine science or vaccine safety I do it because I care about the little guy. Because I care about the child in Minnesota whose parent chooses not to give them a vaccine and then watches the child die from meningitis. Or the parents in San Diego who choose not to give their children the measles vaccine and then watch their children get hospitalized with severe dehydration from measles. There's a lot of misinformation out there that gets put out in the name of standing up for the little guy but then it does exactly the opposite.
And frankly, as I said, I made millions of dollars — I actually don't need to work anymore. But I continue to work because I love it.
I'm trying to get at the issue of who profits here. Because it seems like there's a popular belief that the people behind the vaccines and behind the medicine are making enormous profits, and while that may be true, it seems like the people who have challenged them have, in some sense, more of a monetary stake in the idea.
Well I would argue — first of all, the fact that we were lucky enough to be co-inventors of the vaccines and make a lot of money, it's like winning the lottery. Believe me, no one goes into science thinking "God, if I can figure out which of these two viral surface proteins invoke a neutralized antibody, I can be rich!" From a company standpoint I think that vaccines have never been big money makers. They're not something like lipid lowering agents or psychiatric drugs or diabetes drugs that you're taking every day.
How do you explain the vitriol that you face from parents?
For parents of children with autism, I think it's a financial and emotional burden. And it's difficult. I think that some believe that vaccines caused it, and so they give chelation or gluten-free diets or whatever that their child can get better, and it gives them hope. And what I do is say "Look, it's not vaccines, and therefore all this bio-medical stuff isn't going to make your child better." I take away hope.
"We have a very poor understanding of risk."
If I read correctly in your book, the amount of mercury in vaccines has never been shown to have caused harm.
Right, or even caused subtle forms of mercury toxicity, which would actually make some sense. You can argue that mercury can cause mercury poisoning, but it would never make sense that mercury would cause autism, because mercury toxicity does not cause autism.
I remember when I was pregnant and I was reading all these conflicting things about whether I should eat fish. I read an article that came out while I was pregnant that said there had never, ever been a case of mercury poisoning affecting a fetus.
There was this Iraqi disaster, where this grain that had been inadvertently fumigated with mercury and it was made into bread, and those pregnant women showed mercury poisoning in the unborn child. But it was a massive, massive single-source mercury poisoning. That can happen. But no, eating your tuna fish sandwich isn't going to poison your child.
But everyone wants to tread softly, because no one wants to be the one who says it's okay if there's a .01 percent chance that it's not.
I think we have a very poor understanding of risk.
The single most interesting thing that I took away from your book was the history of placebos in autism treatment. You describe various miracle cures that people claimed worked. And every time one was put to the test with placebo, the parents who gave their children the placebo reported the same improvements.
I think there's a desperate desire to see your child getting better. And in autism symptoms, which are those of communication, behavior, language and speech, there's a normal waxing and waning. It's a fact.
©2009 Gwynne Watkins and Babble
About the Author
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Gwynne Watkins was Babble's founding Senior Editor. She has written for a variety of web and print publications, and her theatrical work has been produced throughout the New York area. Her new family musical, Tea with Chachaji, will premiere in early 2010. |
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