On 16 Feb 2009 at 2:24, Allen Esterson wrote: > A brief comment on the ongoing Wakefield saga. Stephen Black highlighted > that Brian Deer, whose Huffington Post comments Mike Palij linked to at > http://tinyurl.com/c8xykb , has a (dubious) record of campaigning against > vaccines. I'll just add that the journalist Melanie Phillips whom Deer > quotes in support of his arguments in the Huffington Post article has a > long record of vociferous campaigning in favour of Wakefield in the Daily > Mail.
A quick correction. Allen seems to have confused Brian Deer with David Kirby. Admittedly, it's not easy to keep track of who said what in this tangled story. But it is David Kirby who is the anti-vaccine campaigner and author of the Huffington Post piece slagging Brian Deer. Brian Deer is the London Times reporter who has been investigating Andrew Wakefield, the British doctor who's now in trouble with the General Medical Council for his vaccines-cause autism paper. And I agree with Paul Okami that there is no credible evidence in support of the irresponsible and dangerous hypothesis that MMR vaccine causes autism. This sad story is related in a new book whose title says it all: "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure" (Paul Offit, 2008). In a review of it Grinker (2009; J. Autism Devel. Disord, 39, 544-546) says "The book is arguably the most detailed and thorough history available of the current anti-vaccine movement and the increasingly widespread popular belief that vaccines and/or ingredients in vaccines are related both to autism and the changing prevalence of autism. Offit provides a sustained scientific attack against the misinformation disseminated by the media and a small but vocal group of anti-vaccine advocates". Just recently a special "vaccine court" in the USA decided that there was no merit to the claims of the anti-vaccine movement. See, for example, the LA Times at http://tinyurl.com/amarfo. One of the judges concluded "the evidence was overwhelmingly contrary to the petitioners' contentions". Will that stop the anti-vaccine nutters? Not a chance. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
