A letter to Oprah

An excellent letter, and needs to be broadcast far and wide. I hope it gets to Oprah, and that she takes it to heart.

You reach millions of people everyday and your words and endorsements carry an incredible amount of weight. If you say to buy a certain book, people will buy it. If you do a segment on a certain charity, people will contribute. And if you say that what Jenny McCarthy is saying has merit, people will believe you.

As your speech drew to a close on Sunday, you mentioned that you still make difficult decisions from time to time. You told us about a show where you had the exclusive first interview with the author of a prominent book on the Columbine tragedy. Despite days of promos and confirmed broadcast schedules, you decided to cancel the show at the last minute because it had a negative energy, and you didn’t want to be responsible for sending that dark energy out into the world. You didn’t want to be responsible for someone seeing that show, feeling that dark energy, and going out to commit another Columbine. You said that you followed your gut to make the right decision.

Maybe your gut is being silent on this one, so let me speak up on its behalf. You have another decision to make. Pull your support from Jenny McCarthy and her platform of anti-vaccination. Because while the Columbine segment raised the specter of potential future tragedy, anti-vaccination propaganda is causing more and more people – mostly children – to fall sick and die from preventable illness as I write this. Jenny McCarthy could be considered responsible for a significant number of these; you can imagine what might happen if you give her influence over your audience of millions.

Good news

Strike a blow for science and sanity.

In his strongly worded decision, the special master, George L. Hastings Jr. ruled that the government’s expert witnesses were “far better qualified, far more experienced and far more persuasive” than the Cedillos. Although the Cedillos only had to show that the preponderance of the evidence was on their side, the judge ruled that it was “not a close case” because the evidence was “overwhelmingly contrary” to their argument.

While expressing “deep sympathy and admiration” for the Cedillo family, he ruled that they were “misled by physicians who are guilty, in my view, of gross medical misjudgment.”

WSJ has links to the court decision

MD lied about vaccination/autism link

This man has a body count and should be in prison. I wonder if Oprah will bring it up the next time she has Jenny McCarthy or any of the other anti-vaccine crowd on her show?  Will this story ever see the light of day in the U.S.?

THE doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

[...]

Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper’s impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92% to below 80%. Populations acquire “herd immunity” from measles when more than 95% of people have been vaccinated.

Last week official figures showed that 1,348 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales were reported last year, compared with 56 in 1998. Two children have died of the disease.

One lie. One. Big. Lie. And those desperate to know “why” their child was autistic, and those who were willing to believe that anything Big Pharma and Big Medicine does is, by definition, evil and designed to kill us all, ate it up. It did not matter how many studies denied the connection between vaccinations and autism, no matter how many doctors, researchers, and those who would actually have the expertise to determine the truth spoke up and denied the link. It did not matter that the ingredient “suspected” of causing autism hasn’t been used in vaccinations in years with no corresponding decline in autism rates.  Are you listening, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?

It didn’t matter. One lie and a conspiracy-minded, uneducated, frightened portion of the population ate it up.  And now, a disease that the World Health Organization had hoped to eradicate by next year, is springing up again, including the United States which had declared measles eradicated in the U.S. in 2000.. And yes, there is a body count.

Measles is a highly contagious disease characterised by a high fever and a rash. It can be passed on without direct contact before the rash appears. About one in every 15 children has complications that can include meningitis, pneumonia, fits, encephalitis (swelling of the brain), blindness and brain damage.

Furthermore, as these unvaccinated children grow into adulthood, we just may see a return to something akin to the rubella epidemic of 1964-65 was responsible for 20,000 cases of Congenital Rubella Syndrome in the U.S., and more world-wide, and accounted for a flood of deaf and deaf/blind babies being born.*

Wow. What progress.

 

* I have a cousin who was born about this time, and she is profoundly deaf. I’ve never put two and two together, but I had measles during this time and wonder if my aunt had it as well.

Unnecessary death?

In case you haven’t heard, John Travolta’s 16-year-old son, Jett, has died of still-to-be-determined cause while the family vacationed in the Bahamas.  There is much to the story. According to TMZ.com:

There have been reports that Jett was autistic, though Travolta has denied it, saying he suffers from Kawasaki Syndrome, a condition which often leads to heart disease.

UPDATE 5:15 PM ET – Police just released more details. According to a report, Jett was last seen going into the bathroom at their private suite at the Old Bahama Bay Resort sometime yesterday. The body was discovered by the caretaker, Jeff Michael Kathrein (pictured bottom right with Travolta in 2006), at 10:00 AM today. The report says Jett suffered from seizures.

An autopsy is being performed to determine the exact cause of death.

While my sympathies go out to the Travolta family on their loss, another part of me wants to throw up.

First there is Jett’s alleged autism. I didn’t realize it until today, but rumors have swirled for years about Jett being autistic and that the Travoltas denied his condition due to their belief in Scientology.

Second, your kid disappears into a bathroom the day before, and you never wonder what happened to him? The caretaker finds him? What?

Third, seizures. “The report says Jett suffered from seizures.”  So does my daughter. Guess what she is not allowed to do?  Take a bath. No bathtubs for her. If she is any room too long, but especially the bathroom, with no noise coming from it, we check.  Further, she’s on anti-seizure medication. But I can guarantee you that Jett was not.  Scientology forbids the use of psychiatric drugs. Y’all remember Tom Cruise slamming Brooke Shields for taking Paxil for post-partum depression, don’t you? Seizures,  if left untreated, can become progressively worse and lead to death. 

Again, Jett’s death is undoubtedly a sad event and I am sure his parents are grieving as any would.  But I have to ask, would Jett still be alive if not for the delusional and denialist beliefs of his parents?

Michael Savage: Autism expert?

I got an email from Media Matters the other day with the subject line: Top Radio Host: Autism Is “A Fraud, a Racket” What followed made me furious. During his July 16th show, Michael Savage, speaks out of his ass (as usual) and goes off on Autistic and asthmatic children. If he was trying to be funny, he failed miserably. Truly funny humor pokes fun at the powerful. Seriously, one has wonder at the void within this man.

Snippet:

During the July 16 edition of his show, Savage claimed that autism is “[a] fraud, a racket. … I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out. That’s what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ” [** For Audio/Transcript of the remarks, CLICK HERE **]

I forwarded the email on to William’s parents and William’s mom sent me this reply. I asked her if I could post it here and she agreed.

Thank you for forwarding the article about Savage. Beyond doubt, he is a horrific ass, but I suspect that his attack is the tip of an iceberg.

In a way, I saw this coming, though not necessarily from Savage, who is so busy attacking every minority and poor person on the planet, I’d have thought he’d be too busy to bother with the Autistics. After all, how much abuse can one poor, overworked bigot be expected to dish out? Surely he would have left the Autistics to some other bigot, perhaps one who was just getting his start in the prejudice-for-profit business.

We’ve witnessed any number of medical miracles in our lifetimes. For all of them, I’m grateful. What troubles me is that that we have witnessed so many scientific and medical breakthroughs that we have started to expect instant everything. The minute a medical problem is brought to our attention, we want it solved — preferably yesterday and for $1.50. We don’t realize that the “instant successes” that we have witnessed came after much money was spent to fund research and after many researchers worked, without fanfare, often for decades. The “eureka moments” didn’t come out of nowhere, but we forget that too easily.

For the last several years, there has been a huge public awareness campaign about a disability which does not “cure” quickly or cheaply. (I use the word “cure” with some trepidation — many with Asperger’s and high-functioning Autism do not feel that they need curing; obviously, children with William’s level of disability would be much better off if a “cure,” or, at least, better treatment was available.).

In the meantime, the public is terribly frustrated because, like all major medical conditions, it (gasp!) costs money to help the people who have it. I think this was brought home to me the day I was talking to a (supposedly) well-informed person who asked me whether all the research money raised for Autism really went to research, because he did not think that money raised for other diseases/disabilities had gone to research. After all, he informed me, if the research money raised had been properly used, those diseases/disabilities would be cured by now, no? No. They. Would. Not. I explained that to him as best I could and promised myself I’d never speak to this person again.

All that said, Savage is still an ass of the first order, and the sooner he decides that retirement is a good option, the better.

In other news

Like Jazz? Check out this ACON fundraiser today.

Autism Jams Blues Festival

Please Join the Autism Coalition of Nevada for a warm summer afternoon and evening filled with sizzling Blues and events fit for YOUR Whole FAMILY!
WHERE: Bartley Ranch, 6000 Bartley Ranch Road, Reno, NV
WHEN: July 19th, from 4p.m. – 10p.m. Gates will open at 3:00.
COST: $40 Per Person, ages 16 and over. *FREE for children under 16 who are accompanied by their parents. *Note: This Applys only to children under age 16 whose parent has paid $40 for entry
For more information call 775-329-2268
100% of Proceeds will go toward treatment/services for families affected by ASD and other Neurodevelopmental Disorders right here in our community!

Click on the link above to take you to the page where you can buy your ticket online (or, if you’re like me and previously committed to something else, and you would still like to support ACON – buy a ticket anyway)

In other news…

My thoughts? Publish the contents, never the headers.

I got this from Chris Dodd yesterday:

Friends,

I just wanted to send a quick note of thanks for your support throughout the entire FISA fight.

While we came up short, the experience working with online activists and embracing emerging technologies in the fight to restore the Constitution was personally gratifying.  It’s a collaboration that will serve us well as we work with an Obama Administration to end the war in Iraq and achieve universal health care at home.

Meanwhile, I’ve begun my re-election campaign in Connecticut.

One of our top priorities of the campaign is to replace technological capability not transferable from the Presidential race.

Your $25 contribution right now can help us fund a new website, bulk-emailer, and other tools to foster opportunities for meaningful participation.

Can I count on you to make a $25 contribution, right now?

My reply: Tell Senator Dodd that if he recants his endorsement of Barack Obama and says he’ll cast his superdelegate vote for Hillary Clinton at the convention, and works to turn others to the true patriot, I’ll send him a contribution to his senate campaign. Otherwise, all I can think is that he is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Science News – Autism

I download and listen to The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe podcast and it has been an invaluable resource for challenging my preconceived notions, debunking myths, conspiracy theories and pseudo-science, and giving me the tools for determining the validity of a claim. Steven Novella, the host of said podcast (and a clinical neurologist) also writes a blog: NeuroLogica.

One of the topics that comes up on a regular on SGU is autism and its causes. My ears always perk up for these reports for I have a friend whose son is autistic. William is a beautiful boy and my friend and his wife are wonderful parents. They love their son with all their hearts, and my friend has only once hinted at the sadness of not being able to fully share his life and his faith with his son.  He is not bitter, but I imagine he’d like some answers. I cannot know their sadness, but I do know the sadness that I felt when Alzheimer’s moved my aunt’s consciousness to a place I could not follow her.

As a neurologist, Novella is well-schooled in the research of autism and his latest post indicates that the research is strongly suggesting  that genetic, rather than environmental, causes are largely responsible for autism.

Go. Read.