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
But you wonder about all this anecdotal evidence. It's persuasive to see people go on Oprah and say, "I did this, and this, and this and my kid showed these signs of improvement."
Sure it is. I would argue that the term "anecdotal evidence" is a contradiction in terms.
Is it?
It's not evidence.
So what's the danger in parents believing in these alternative therapies and these testimonies that aren't backed by science?
There was the autism research group in California that claimed chelation worked. Haley claimed this. David Kirby in his book. It's not hard to get the parental testimonies for anything. You know, "My child was struggling to speak and then I gave him secretin or I gave him gluten-free diets or I gave him chelation and it got better." Chelation is not a benign therapy. It binds not only to mercury or lead, but to anything with two pluses, like manganese or calcium. A kid in Pittsburgh got chelated and died. And then these things like casein-free diets that can cause you to become vitamin D-deficient, that's been shown. And so you can have bone thinning.
On the one hand I completely identify with the parents' desperate desire to see their child get better and that they will do anything that they think might help. I think that's a tribute to their devotion to their child.
That's, in part, what upsets me the most about this. Some doctors have been perfectly willing to capitalize on that devotion. Parents have been taking out second mortgages on their house. They get a home hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber.
"When there's no clear cure, charlatans will always fill in the void."
Especially for diseases like this where there isn't a clear cause and cure, I think charlatans will always fill in the void: "Your doctor doesn't care because your doctor doesn't know what to do." "Your doctor wants to do ABA therapy or just behavior modification therapy. Well I can cure him. I'm going to give him this prescription for an antifungal and he's going to be better."
That's your David and Goliath thing. The doctor who cares is the doctor who's actually willing to stand up for good science and say, "This isn't going to be easy. It's going to be expensive, it's going to be emotionally taxing." That's the doctor that really cares.
You do name some positive role models on the internet — parents of children with autism who are advocates for research and a scientific understanding of their children's condition.
They're the real heroes, certainly. They're the ones who, every day, go home to a child who is a challenge to them emotionally and financially and they still want to try and get it right. It's the much harder route. It's much easier to think "Look, I'm going to give my child an antifungal therapy and hopefully this will all go away."
I know a number of people who are afraid to vaccinate their children. I worry about my child going to school with children who aren't vaccinated.
I'm actually writing another book at some point just about this growing threat of American anti-vaccination. It's certainly not theoretical anymore. Outbreaks have been going on for about ten years. The measles epidemic last year was bigger than anything we've seen this decade, and that cluster of cases in Minnesota where that child died of meningitis because their parent chose not to vaccinate them. I think this is only getting worse.
There was an outbreak of measles in the Netherlands in 1999-2000. It was big, and it involved about four thousand children. What's interesting is that you were less likely to get measles if you were completely unvaccinated living in a highly vaccinated community than if you were completely vaccinated living in a relatively unvaccinated community. Which is to say that if you're in a school or an environment where other kids aren't vaccinated then you're at risk. No vaccine is 100% effective and if you're not living in a herd that's immune, then you're at risk.
Click here to read an excerpt from Autism's False Prophets on Babble.
Click here to buy Autism's False Prophets from Amazon.
©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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