Saturday, April 12, 2014

Jenny McCarthy

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Jenny McCarthy sprang to national attention as a Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1993.  She subsequently published two best-selling pregnancy and parenting books, in 2004 and 2005.  Following the September 2007 publication of her book Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, Ms. McCarthy began publicly promoting her views that vaccines can cause autism, that vaccines are unsafe and filled with "toxins". She also promoted the belief that autism can be "cured" or "reversed"  by elimination diets, supplements, and "biomedical" treatments such as chelation.

On June 6, 2008, Ms McCarthy led a small march in Washington, "Green Our Vaccines",  sponsored by Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) and Generation Rescue. The photographs from the march show that the participants were extremely ant-vaccine.

In late 2008 or early 2009, Ms. McCarthy became the President of the anti-vaccine group Generation Rescue, which beginning in 2005 began promoting, via full-page ads in The New York TImes and USA Today, the idea that mercury in vaccines, and other, unspecified aspects of vaccination, must be the  cause autism.

Jenny McCarthy recently claimed (in a Chicago Sun-Times column) that she is not anti-vaccine, but pro-safe vaccines. Let's look at the record.

In a September 2007 interview with Larry King, Ms. McCarthy voiced fears about vaccines, and while claiming to be "pro-vaccine", talked more about the dangers of vaccination and the toxins they contained than the diseases they prevent.
We're scared. I mean moms and pregnant women are coming up to me on the street going, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. And I don't know what to tell them, because I am surely not going to tell anyone to vaccinate. But if I had another child, there's no way in hell.
More durable was her April 1, 2009 interview with Jeffrey Kluger published in Time Magazine, which was given some months after she had replaced J.B. Handley as the President of Generation Rescue. The "we" may refer to Generation Rescue, or generally those who believe in the "autism is vaccine injury" myth.

Kluger: Most people who blame autism on vaccines point to the mercury in the shots, yet mercury has been removed from most vaccines and autism rates continue to climb.
McCarthy: We don't believe it's only the mercury. Aluminum and other toxins also play a role. The viruses in the vaccines themselves can be causing it, too.

Kluger: Your collaborator [Jerry Kartzinel MD] recommends that parents accept only the haemophilus influenzae type B (HIB) and tetanus vaccine for newborns and then think about the rest. Not polio? What about the polio clusters in unvaccinated communities like the Amish in the U.S.? What about the 2004 outbreak that swept across Africa and Southeast Asia after a single province in northern Nigeria banned vaccines?

McCarthy: I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism. (Read "New Clues to Autism's Cause.")

Kluger: And yet in many cases, vaccines have effectively eliminated diseases. Measles is among the top five killers in the world of children under 5 years old, yet it kills virtually no one in the U.S. thanks to vaccines.
McCarthy: People have the misconception that we want to eliminate vaccines. Please understand that we are not an antivaccine group. We are demanding safe vaccines. We want to reduce the schedule and reduce the toxins. If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the f___ing measles.













Beginning late in 2010, both Jenny McCarthy and Generation Rescue were less public about their (mistaken) beliefs that vaccines cause autism, and Something Should Be Done.  Yet, in January 2011, she did publish a Huffington Post piece defending Andrew Wakefield and spreading fear about vaccines, but her last article at the Huffington Post was published in April, 2012.

In early 2011, it was reported that "Jenny McCarthy no longer speaks out about vaccines."

McCarthy continued to give the keynote presentation at the "autism is too vaccine injury"trade fair and conference, AutismOne (where in 2012 she offended a large swathe of the autism parent community).

When it was announced in the fall of 2012 that Ms. McCarthy would be writing a parenting column for the Chicago-Sun Times, concerned autism parents protested.  A public relations person responded,
I would like to reach out as part of the communications team for the Chicago Sun-Times and Splash publications, to share with you the Sun-Times’ statement regarding concerns specifically about the focus of Jenny McCarthy’s column: 
“Jenny McCarthy has signed on to share her special brand of humor with fans through her Splash column and daily blog. As our readers know, Jenny’s contributions are lifestyle focused and light-hearted. The vision for the column is not medical advice, therefore medical topics, like vaccination, are not within the scope of the column and will not be addressed.”
On February 23, 2014, Ms. McCarthy wrote a column on vaccines.  I suppose such a promise sort of falls by the wayside after a couple of years.

Early in 2013, Ms. McCarthy was scheduled to headline at a fundraising event for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. A social media backlash ensued, and Ms. McCarthy was replaced.

In July of 2013, the television program The View announced that Ms. McCarthy would be joining the program. There was an immediate backlash. A petition was launched, Just Say No to adding Jenny McCarthy to The View, which closed with 12,302 signatures. (The anti-vaccine organization Fourteen Studies, closely linked to Age of Autism and Generation Rescue, started a counter-petition. It garnered 1,332 signatures.) James Poniewozik, Time's TV critic, summarized the opposition in Viruses Don’t Care About Your View: Why ABC Shouldn’t Have Hired Jenny McCarthy.

Ms. McCarthy has never publicly rescinded her support of the disgraced former doctor, Andrew Wakefield. Ms. McCarthy has never publicly rescinded her many statements that the MMR vaccine "caused the light to go out" of her child's eyes -- a euphemism for autism. Ms. McCarthy still believes vaccines are "toxic", and uses common anti-vaccine tropes, such as the "too many too soon" and "overwhelms the immune system".


 So, McCarthy's anti-vaccine status:
  1. Claiming that all vaccines are unsafe and ineffective Yes
  2. Claiming better sanitation and nutrition account for the 20th century decline in vaccine-preventable diseases Maybe or Undetermined
  3. Claiming that vaccines cause diseases and conditions such as autism, asthma, SIDS, or shaken baby syndrome Yes
  4. Claiming that anecdotal evidence is superior to scientific evidence; rejecting science and epidemiology Yes
  5. Cherry picking and misrepresenting the evidence Yes
  6. Using  logical fallacies without shame in arguing Yes
  7. Conspiracy mongering Yes
  8. Silencing criticism (especially by deleting online material), rather than responding to it Maybe or Undetermined
  9. (If in business) Profiting from the sale of products and services that spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about vaccines, or products and services that are said to be superior to vaccines and conventional medicine in preventing disease Yes
Score: 
7/9

 Summary:
Jenny McCarthy's immense popularity has done more to push the dangerous myth that vaccines are risky, and cause autism, than any other one person. McCarthy has also done more to demonize autism and to spread fear of autistics, than any other one person.

Timeline:
  • October 1993: Ms. McCarthy first springs to national prominence as October's Playmate of the Month.
  • May 2002 Ms. McCarthy's son Evan born (father: John Mallory Asher) 
  • Spring 2003: Evan would have received the MMR vaccine.
  • April 2004  Ms. McCarthy's book, Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth, is published
  • 2004 Ms. McCarthy severs relations with John Asher's mother, Joyce Bulifant, over Bulifant's concerns about Asher's development.
  • April 2005 Ms. McCarthy's book, Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood, is published
  • May 2005 Evan  diagnosed with autism
  • June 2007 Becomes spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)
  • September 2007 Ms. McCarthy's book,  Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, published. Introduction by Jerry Kartzinel MD.
  • September 18, 2007 Ms. McCarthy appears on the Oprah Show (in which she first describes Evan receiving the MMR vaccine, describing the doctor as 'swearing at her' and "going 'Oh, God, no!'. And soon thereafter I noticed a change. The soul was gone from his eyes."  
  • September 26, 2007 Ms. McCarthy appears on CNN's Larry King Live
  • May 2008 Ms. McCarthy is the keynote speaker at the "autism is vaccine injury" conference, Autism One
  • June 4, 2008 Ms. McCarthy and her then-boyfriend Jim Carrey lead the "Green Our Vaccines" rally in Washington DC.
  • September 2008 Ms. McCarthy's book, Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds, published. Foreword by Jan N. Gordon MD FAAP.
  • October 2008 Ms. McCarthy resigns as spokesperson for TACA
  • Late 2008 or early 2009, Ms. McCarthy becomes president of the "autism is vaccine injury" organization Generation Rescue.
  • March 2009 Ms. McCarthy's book with Jerry Kartzinel MD, Healing and Preventing Autism, published.
  • April 1, 2009 Ms. McCarthy is interviewed by Jeffrey Kluger for Time Magazine. "If you ask a parent of an autistic child 
  • April 3, 2009 Ms. McCarthy and Jim Carrey appear on Larry King Live, promoting Generation Rescue. During that appearance, Ms. McCarthy said of Evan,  "He had a vaccine injury which led to seizures. So we still can’t necessarily say that those are healed, but the autism is gone."
  • May 6, 2009, Ms. McCarthy appears on The Doctors (with J.B. Handley).
  • October 1 2009 Ms. McCarthy is interviewed by K. Chetry on CNN's American Morning program.
  • February 2010: Ms. McCarthy and Jim Carrey publish a statement in support of the disgraced doctor, Andrew Wakefield
  • April 2010: Ms. McCarthy and Jim Carrey announce that they have separated.
  • January 10, 2011 in an article at the Huffington Post, Ms. McCarthy continues to defend disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield
  • February 20, 2011 The Doonsbury comic scolds Jenny McCarthy for being anti-vaccine
  • October, 2012 Jenny McCarthy lands a gig writing a parenting column for the Chicago Sun Times
  • [more to come]

 Sources

  1. No Date, Generation Rescue, Background http://www.generationrescue.org/about/background/
  2. September 22, 2007, Orac at Respectful Insolence Jenny McCarthy and Oprah Winfrey: Two crappy tastes that taste crappy together on autism http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/09/22/jenny-mccarthy-and-oprah-winfrey-two-cra/
  3. September 26, 2007 CNN's Larry King Live, Interview with Jenny McCarthy http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/26/lkl.01.html
  4. October 22, 2007 Orac at Respectful Insolence  The “Jenny McCarthy effect”: More credulity towards autism quackery http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/10/22/the-jenny-mccarthy-effect-more-credulity/
  5. November 27, 2007, Orac at Respectful Insolence Post-holiday “The stupid, it burns,” part 1: Jenny McCarthy http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/11/23/postholiday-the-stupid-it-burns-part-1-j/
  6. February 18, 2008, David Gorski MD at Science-Based Medicine Toxic Myths About Vaccines http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/toxic-myths-about-vaccines/
  7. May 2008, Jenny McCarthy's keynote speech at Autism One http://www.autismone.org/content/jenny-mccarthy-autism-one-2008-conference-keynote
  8. Juen 6, 2008, Steven Novella MD at Neurologica  Drinking the Anti-Vaccine Kool-Aid http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/drinking-the-anti-vaccine-kool-aid/http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/drinking-the-anti-vaccine-kool-aid/
  9. June 9, 2008, David Gorski MD at Science-Based Medicine Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, and "Green Our Vaccines" Anti-Vaccine, not "Pro Safe Vaccine"  http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/jenny-mccarthy-jim-carrey-and-green-our-vaccines-anti-vaccine-not-pro-safe-vaccine/
  10. October 8, 2009 Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy:....But How Do We Recover From Jenny McCarthy? http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2008/10/20/but_how_do_we_recover_from_jenny_mccarthy.html
  11. April 1, 2009, Jeffrey Kluger at Time Magazines Interview with Jenny McCarthy http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1888718,00.html
  12. April 1, 2009 David Gorski MD at Science-Based Medicine In Jenny McCarthy’s own words http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/in-jenny-mccarthys-own-words/
  13. April 6, 2009, David Gorski MD at Science-Based Medicine  Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends: The Jenny and Jim antivaccine propaganda tour has begun http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-jenny-and-jim-antivaccine-propaganda-tour-has-begun/
  14. May 18, 2009 Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy: An Open Letter to Oprah http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2009/05/18/an_open_letter_to_oprah.html
  15. June 3, 2009, Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy Newsweek slams Oprah http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2009/06/03/newsweek_slams_oprah.html
  16. July 6, 2009 Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy Jenny McCarthy: spreading more dangerous misinformation http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2009/07/06/jenny_mccarthy_spreading_dangerous.html
  17. February 5, 2012 Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carey, Age of Autism, Andrew Wakefield, Scientific Censorship, and Fourteen Monkeyshttp://www.donotlink.com/gmN
  18.  February 25, 2010 Karl Taro Greenfeld at Time Magazine, The Autism Debate: Who Is Afraid of Jenny McCarthy? http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968100,00.html 
  19. February 27, 2010 Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy Jenny McCarthy still thinks vaccines cause autism http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2010/02/27/jenny_mccarthy_still_thinks_vaccines_cause_autism.html
  20. January 10, 2011 Jenny McCarthy at Huffington Post  In the Vaccine-Autism Debate, What Can Parents Believe? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenny-mccarthy/vaccine-autism-debate_b_806857.html
  21. February 3, 2011 Matt Carey at LeftBrain/RightBrain Jenny McCarthy Backs Away from Vaccines? http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2011/02/03/jenny-mccarthy-backs-away-from-vaccines/
  22. February 20, 2011 Ken Reibel at Autism News Beat Doonsbury Piles On http://autism-news-beat.com/archives/1481
  23. March 10, 2012 Jenny McCarthy at Age of Autism  MMR Doctor Exonerated—Who’s Guilty Now? http://www.donotlink.com/gmv
  24. June 14, 2012 Matt Carey at LeftBrain/RightBrain Jenny McCarthy: Autism Moms “Fall in the the victim role…and they are loving it” http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2012/06/14/jenny-mccarthy-autism-moms-fall-in-the-the-victim-role-and-they-are-loving-it
  25. October 2012 Emily Willingham at Forbes Jenny McCarthy is a newspaper columnist.  http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2012/10/22/jenny-mccarthy-is-a-newspaper-columnist/
  26. November 13, 2012 Ken Reibel at Autism News Beat Dear Chicago Sun Times http://autism-news-beat.com/archives/2027
  27. February 14, 2013, Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy Vaccinating Against McCarthyism http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/04/jenny_mccarthy_antivaccination_promoter_won_t_be_speaking_at_charity_fundraiser.html
  28. July 9 2013, Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy The View of Jenny McCarthy http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/07/09/jenny_mccarthy_antivax_advocate_considered_for_co_host_on_abc_s_the_view.html
  29. July 15, 2013  James Poniewozik at Time Viruses Don’t Care About Your View: Why ABC Shouldn’t Have Hired Jenny McCarthy http://entertainment.time.com/2013/07/15/viruses-dont-care-about-your-view-why-abc-shouldnt-have-hired-jenny-mccarthy/
  30. January 6, 2014, Matt Carey at LeftBrain/RightBrain Jenny McCarthy setting the record straight…when it suits her
  31. January 12, 2014, Ken Reibel at Autism News Beat Of seizures and celebrity: Evan’s grandmother speaks up http://autism-news-beat.com/archives/2310
  32. April 12, 2014, Jenny McCarthy at Chicago Sun Times: The Grey Area on Vaccines http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/26784527-452/jenny-mccarthy-the-gray-area-on-vaccines.html
  33. April 12, 2014, Jeffrey Kluger at Time Magazine That Moment When You Must Have a Word With Jenny McCarthy http://time.com/60416/jenny-mccarthy-anti-vaccine-whitewash/
  34. April 12, 2014, Melody Anne Butler at Nurses Who Vaccinate, Dear Jenny McCarthy http://nurseswhovaccinate.blogspot.com/2014/04/dear-jenny-mccarthy.html
  35. April 13, 2014, Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy Jenny McCarthy: “I’m Not ‘Anti-Vaccine’” http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/04/13/jenny_mccarthy_responds_to_claims_she_s_not_antivax.html
  36. April 14, 2014, Orac at Respectful Insolence Jenny McCarthy Thinks in Shades of Gray, Or So She Claims http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/04/14/jenny-mccarthy-thinks-in-shades-of-gray-or-so-she-thinks/
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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Periodic Table of Vaccine Rejectionism

click to see full-size




















Created by Ken Reibel of Autism News Beat.

Ken is a writer and a former journalist;  his son, now an adult, is autistic.  He created Autism News Beat in October, 2007, to help journalists cover autism related stories.  The purpose of the site is:
  • to provide constructive reviews of print and television news coverage
  • to do original reporting on autism and autism-related issues
I thank Ken for sharing this, and for giving me a checklist of individuals and organizations to cover in the coming months.
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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Walene James, 1926-2012

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Back in the early 1970s, I had a job reading and summarizing communiqués from various anti-government groups.  This was of course before the days of electronic communications; these missives were delivered by mail and were variously dittoed, mimeographed; and (cutting edge technology from better-funded groups) photocopied.

There was an anti-vaccine thread, mostly objecting to government coercion of vaccines for school entry (which had a history dating back to the nineteenth century).  There was a lot of overlap with resistance to fluoridated municipal water, as well.

As I began compiling this entry, I had a vague memory of encountering Ms. James's arguments in those long-ago days. I thought she was associated with John Welch's  John Birch Society (JBS, established 1958)  but subsequent researches have not established a  JBS link.

Walene James is a little-known figure in today's anti-vaccine world, but she was an early and ardent proponent of the myths that vaccines are dangerous and useless, and her books and articles are still in print. Her 1988 book appears to have had wide influence in anti-vaccine circles.

James published three books.
James, whose maiden name was Monson,  was raised in the Mormon church and earned a BA from the University of Utah in about 1947.  She earned a teaching credential from UCLA, again about 1949, and taught in the Los Angeles school district for a number of years. At some point, she married and had several children.  Her youngest daughter, Ingri Cassells, is carrying on her work.

In 1973, she moved to Virginia  to be closer to the Edgar Cayce organization, Association for Reasearch and Enlightment, or A.R.E., which published her 1977 book).

For those of you for whom the name Edgar Cayce (1866-1945) means nothing, he was a wildly popular psychic in the early to mid-twentieth century.  He was particularly interested in helping with health problems; some of the cures or treatments he suggested were:



  • topical applications of creosote for skin ailments
  • "peach-tree poultice" (for convulsions)
  • "bedbug juice" for disseminated swelling, usually caused by congestive heart failure ("dropsy")  
  • "fumes of apple brandy from a charred keg" for tuberculosis; 
  • Rabbit-blood serum for the treatment of cancers
  • "Animated ash," (bamboo fibers treated with an electrical current) 
  • Poultices made of freshly-killed rabbits, to treat breast cancers.  


    • While living in Virginia, James's older daughter refused immunizations for James's grandson; the case eventually went to court on charges of child neglect for vaccine refusal.  This court battle prompted James to publish Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth, and prompted her involvement with the lobbying group The National Health Federation.

    Here are James's rationalizations:
    Six Reasons to Question Vaccinations--by Walene James
    1. Vaccinations are forced. For example, there are compulsory vaccination laws  in every state. If something is good it doesn't have to be forced.
    2. Vaccinations are toxins by definition.
    3. Vaccinations are indigenous to only one model of healthcare--the allopathic medical model--and its practitioner's  particular understanding of disease phenomena.
    4. Vaccinations are promoted by fear, guilt, and 'creative' statistics.
    5. Vaccinations are represented as safe and effective when evidence suggests they are neither.
    6. Vaccinations are aggressively pushed by public health departments and other government agencies as though they were a public health issue when they are not.   This is done to insure a high rate of compliance.
    Ten Reasons to Just Say 'No' to Vaccinations
    1. Vaccinations are toxins by definition.
    2. Vaccinations are aggressively promoted by those who have a financial stake in their consumption.
    3. Vaccinations are promoted using fear, intimidation, and coercion.
    4. Vaccinations are big business.
    5. Vaccine manufacturers are nearly liability proof for their products.
    6. Vaccinations are not only forced upon us, but those who deny us the exercise of our free will refuse to take responsibility for the    consequences of their actions.
    7. Evidence suggests that vaccinations damage the immune system, the nervous system and the spirit-mind-body connection.
    8. Compulsory vaccinations ignore biochemical and psychospiritual individuality.
    9. Vaccinations are misrepresented by government agencies as a public health issue which they are not.
    10. Vaccinations are heavily subsidized, heavily propagandized and can be seen as a wake-up call for us to see how we allow ourselves to be programmed by huge vested interests.
    Walene goes on to say:
    Perhaps more important than anything else is for our group to consider the larger picture:   What lessons do we need to learn trying to stem the tide of coercion from an out-of-control medical-pharmaceutical industry and the Mass Mind that allows this?   How does understanding and working with the vaccination issue contribute to our maturation as spiritually aware and fully alive human beings?

    Among other counter-factual beliefs, James was a germ-theory denier, positing instead something she called "terrain theory".:

    Image Source: photo capture from The Vaccine Religion

    In 1996,  James founded Vaccination Liberation: Citizens for the Repeal of the Compulsory Vaccination Laws, which is now run by her daughter, Ingri Cassel.

    Who James Influenced
    • John Scudamor (UK, wrote that Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth was the first vaccine book he read and it inspired him to start Whale.to's vaccine section)
    • Neil Z. Miller (US)
    • Sherri Tenpenny (US)
    • Viera Scheibner (Australia) Many big names in the vaccine awareness movement have noted that it was her second book, Immunization: The Reality Behind the Myth, that compelled them to put fulltime energy into “the most important health freedom issue of our time”, as Walene would say. 
    • Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. (wrote the foreword to the 1995 edition of Immunization)
    • Archivides Kalokerinos (Australia)
    • Phillip Incao
    • Ingri Cassels, James's daughter, who now runs Vaccination Liberation. 

    Can we fairly say that James was anti-vaccine? To summarize, I think we can safely say a person or organization is anti-vaccine if he or she exhibits at least three of the following points.
    1. Claiming that all vaccines are unsafe and ineffective Yes
    2. Claiming better sanitation and nutrition account for the 20th century decline in vaccine-preventable diseases Maybe or Undetermined 
    3. Claiming that vaccines cause diseases and conditions such as autism, asthma, SIDS, or shaken baby syndrome Yes
    4. Claiming that anecdotal evidence is superior to scientific evidence; rejecting science and epidemiology Yes
    5. Cherry picking and misrepresenting the evidence Yes
    6. Using  logical fallacies without shame in arguing Yes
    7. Conspiracy mongering Yes
    8. Silencing criticism (especially by deleting online material), rather than responding to it Maybe or Undetermined 
    9. (If in business) Profiting from the sale of products and services that spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about vaccines, or products and services that are said to be superior to vaccines and conventional medicine in preventing disease No
    Yes No Maybe or Undetermined

    Score
    6/9

     Summary: 
    Walene James had deeply held beliefs in many counter-factual ideas, which would be of no interest here except that she also was a foundational figure in the anti-vaccination movement.

    Sources:



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    Tuesday, January 14, 2014

    Harold E. Buttram, MD

    image source
    http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Harold_Buttram/profile
    In 2004, Arthur Allen interviewed Harold Buttram in the course of writing Allen's book Vaccine.

     Born in 1925 (+/- 2 years) Buttram grew up in Oklahoma, and although his family was "suspicious of medicine", he graduated from the University of Oklahoma Medical School following his military service during WWII.

    Despite being educated in the post-Flexner era, Buttram's medical philosophy was distinctly nineteenth-century in character. The explanation for his is that early in his medical career, Buttram came under the influence of the physician and Rosicrucian Fraternity leader Reuben Swinburne Clymer (1878-1966), especially through Clymer's 1957 book, The Age of Treason: The Carefully and Deliberately Planned Methods Developed By the Vicious Element of Humanity for the Mental Deterioration and Moral Debasement of the Mass As a Means to Their Enslavement

    Arthur Allen wrote,
    The book's thesis is that birth control, polio vaccine, mood-altering drugs [such as the benzodiazepenes and other anxiolytics] hormones, and racial miscegenation are the tools of a Satanic plot to undermine Anglo-Saxon America.
    Clymer and his protégé  Buttram found vaccines to be particularly vile, in use by the "enemies of God and mankind" to destroy children's minds and moral sense (The "vicious element of humanity", according to Clymer, consists but is not limited to,  Jews, Negroes who do not know their place, and Communists).

    Most of Buttram's medical career was spent at institutions associated with Clymer's original clinic in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, treating conditions not recognized in mainstream medicine such as "adrenal fatigue", and using unusual treatments for recognized disorders, such as chelation for heart or circulatory ailments.  (Buttram has not renewed his medical license since 2008, when he would have been in his early 80s.)

    Buttram also published a number of works through the Rosicrucian publishing house, Humanitarian, including Vaccinations and Immune Malfunction.  In this and other works, Buttram claimed (without evidence) that immunizations are the root cause of such conditions as  autism, Crohn's disease, ADHD, and many other health problems.  In summary, Buttram claimed
    • The actual benefits of many vaccinations are  not as good as advertised.
    • Vaccinations induce a transient depression of immune dysfunction.
    • Vaccines may permanently change immune response in negative ways
    • Many problems linked to vaccinations have not been disclosed to the public
    • Vaccines may induce genetic mutation
    • Vaccinations may contribute to the development of other diseases or dysfunctional states.
    Late in his career, Buttram became a paid legal expert witness for the defense in a number of shaken-baby prosecutions, the most notorious of which was the case of Alan Yurko, going so far as to co-author Vaccines And Genetic Mutation with Yurko (and Susan Kreider RN) while Yurko was in prison for murdering his baby.  According to Allen, Buttram testified for the defense in upwards of 60 trials, which would have been a rather nice source of income for a physician in his late 60s and early 70s.  According to Buttram himself, he never testified for the prosecution, which I believe is telling. I believe Buttram worked most frequently with attorney Toni Blake, who continues to provide services to defendants accused of injuring or murdering infants.

    Back to Yurko.  On  February 3, 2001, Peter Bowditch of the (Australian) The Millenium Project wrote,
    I want you to think about a dead baby. This baby was ten weeks old when he died. The autopsy revealed bleeding around the brain, in the eyes and in the spinal column. There were bruises on the sides of his head. Another thing that the autopsy showed was four broken ribs. These fractures had started to heal, and therefore indicated a pattern of physical abuse prior to the date of death. The father admitted to holding the baby by his feet and hitting him shortly before he died. I now want to you to form an opinion of the father. If you are the sort of person who opposes vaccination, you would see this man as a hero. You would see him as a martyr to the cause and would try to get him released from prison. In a breathtaking demonstration of what it can mean to believe that the end justifies the means, the anti-vaccination liars have adopted Alan Yurko as a symbol that they can use to frighten parents into refusing vaccination for their children. 
    Bowditch then directed readers to the essay, Shaken Baby Syndrome or Vaccine Induced Encephalitis: The Story of Baby Alan, written by  Harold E. Buttram, M.D. & F. Edward Yazbak, M.D. (link in sources, below).

    Buttram was (I believe) a founding editor of Medical Veritas ("the journal in truth in health science"), a founding member of the International Medical Council on Vaccination (another anti-vaccine interest group),  and a member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a far-rightwing medical group that has an anti-vaccine agenda and publishes the Journal of the American Physicians and Surgeons (JPANDS), which was the house organ for the notorious Geiers, père et fils.

    So, Buttram's anti-vaccine status:
    1. Claiming that all vaccines are unsafe and ineffective Yes
    2. Claiming better sanitation and nutrition account for the 20th century decline in vaccine-preventable diseases Yes
    3. Claiming that vaccines cause diseases and conditions such as autism, asthma, SIDS, or shaken baby syndrome Yes
    4. Claiming that anecdotal evidence is superior to scientific evidence; rejecting science and epidemiology Yes
    5. Cherry picking and misrepresenting the evidence Yes
    6. Using  logical fallacies without shame in arguing Yes
    7. Conspiracy mongering Yes
    8. Silencing criticism (especially by deleting online material), rather than responding to it Maybe or Undetermined
    9. (If in business) Profiting from the sale of products and services that spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about vaccines, or products and services that are said to be superior to vaccines and conventional medicine in preventing disease Yes
    Score: 
    8/9

     Summary:
    Harold Buttram, although little cited today, was an important (if deluded) figure in the 20th and 21st century anti-vaccination movement.

     Sources
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    Monday, January 13, 2014

    Jagannath Chatterjee

    Image source http://www.donotlink.com/fMz
    Jagannath Chatterjee is an Indian anti-vaccine and anti-GMO activist. According to his biography at Living Farms,  Chatterjee was once a journalist with a national English-language daily newspaper in India.  He moved on to a public sector company, rising to be a regional director of the company.

    Chatterjee, according to his Whale.to page, has been campaigning against vaccinations since 1985.

    He is best known for publishing two screeds against vaccines:
    1. August 20, 2008 40 Infallible Reasons Why You Should Not Vaccinate Infants
    2. September 16, 2011 50 Reasons To Protect Infants From Vaccines
    The two documents are quite similar, as a side-by-side comparison shows, and are equally mistaken and fearmongering on all counts.

    The 2008 document was the subject of several devastating online critiques. In short, every assertion of fact Mr. Chatterjee made was false or misguided.

    Nonetheless, both the 2008 document and the 2011 document have been widely distributed, and Mr. Chatterjee's Facebook page is very popular with the US anti-vaccine, autism-hating contingent.

    Chatterjee claims to be vaccine injured himself,
    ... Vaccinated in 1979, at 17, by the MMR I have suffered horribly since. I went on to research on vaccines and today I fight like hell for the other kids.
    Image source http://www.donotlink.com/fMz



    I am a vaccine victim. I am irreversibly damaged. I am in great unimaginable pain for the last 33 years. I was 17 and was a relatively healthy person. They made me a wreck. I am physically mentally and emotionally disabled. It is subtle it is gross. But it is.
    Image source http://www.donotlink.com/fMz






    Mr. Chatterjee has made friends in the US who he credits with "healing" his vaccine injuries, including the notorious Andrew Wakefield and a US anti-vaccine homeopath, Sheri Nakkan.

    PEOPLE WHO HAVE SHAPED MY THINKINGAnd then one fine morning crossed the man we love the most, adore and look forward to. None other than the giant, the Messiah, Dr Andrew Wakefield himself! He wrote to me that he had come to know about my campaign from his wife who surfed the net and that he was sorry I was hurt by the MMR. He approved of the homeopathic treatment I was resorting to, and he said he felt bad he could not help me physically because we were so far apart. I wrote back saying that his personal mail was the greatest gift he could give to me and just requested for an autographed photograph, which he dutifully provided and which I have nurtured like a gift from God. He just came and went but that minute personal God given touch touch gave me the resolve to continue fighting and still gives me hope when I tend to loose it at times. It is good to know that we are not alone and that certain doctors too are with us. God Bless you Sir! Here he is in the midst of a campaign along with his wife.
    http://www.donotlink.com/fM0










    PEOPLE WHO HAVE SHAPED MY THINKING
    Slowly as I fought my disability, thanks to kind homeopath, and started regaining more of my memory and faculty of learning, Sheri Nakken Vaccinedangers came into my life. She is a Registered Nurse who turned a vaccine researcher, I never asked her why, and she took me under her wings, teaching me both about the faulty science of vaccines, pointing out how ineffective they were, how they were hyped by a corrupt medical establishment and finally the horrible damage they were causing to society. She did it by providing me material from medical journals, quoting from peer reviewed published scientific studies, showing me copies of internal correspondence between doctors and the vaccine industry, and a whole host of literature I could have never otherwise have had access too. I salute this second Guru of mine and wish her all the best in her continuous tirade against this horrible medical intervention as she moves across continents lecturing or taking classes, and also corresponding with those interested and sharing crucial information. Thank you Sheri, I will never forget the way you helped me learn.
    image source http://www.donotlink.com/fMX













    Anti-vaccine checklist: how does Mr. Chatterjee score?
    1. Claiming that all vaccines are unsafe and ineffective Yes
    2. Claiming better sanitation and nutrition account for the 20th century decline in vaccine-preventable diseases  Yes
    3. Claiming that vaccines cause diseases and conditions such as autism, asthma, SIDS, or shaken baby syndrome Yes
    4. Claiming that anecdotal evidence is superior to scientific evidence; rejecting science and epidemiology Yes
    5. Cherry picking and misrepresenting the evidence Yes
    6. Using  logical fallacies without shame in arguing Yes
    7. Conspiracy mongering Yes
    8. Silencing criticism (especially by deleting online material), rather than responding to it Unknown
    9. (If in business) Profiting from the sale of products and services that spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about vaccines, or products and services that are said to be superior to vaccines and conventional medicine in preventing disease No
    Score
    7/9

     Summary:
    I have the sense that Mr. Chatterjee really believes everything he writes, unlike some other anti-vaccine figures. He lacks the education or training to  understand epidemiology, vaccine development, or vaccine safety trialsl, Mr. Chatterjee may fall into the category of "useful idiot": "people who are propagandists for a cause whose goals they are not fully aware of, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause."

     Sources: Critiques of Mr. Chatterjee's ideas, expressed in his two lists
    Other Sources
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    Friday, January 10, 2014

    Cure Autism Now Foundation (CAN), 1995-2007

    Image Source
    http://tinyurl.com/k2rtbsn
    I did an informal poll of current supporters of science and public health -- that is, advocates for vaccines -- and almost all were entirely ignorant of the Cure Autism Now Foundation, which merged (or disappeared) into Autism Speaks. So here is a background post.

    Cure Autism Now (CAN) was founded in 1995 by Jonathan Shestack and Portia Iversen, parents of a child with autism.

    According to a May 2003 press release:
    The Cure Autism Now Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and funding autism research and accelerating the pace of scientific progress toward effective treatments and a cure. The organization is the largest private funder of biological research in autism, providing more than $10 million in grants since its inception in 1995.
    While not as stridently anti-vaccine as some other individuals or organizations listed in this Encyclopedia, in 2001 CAN founder Johnathan Shestack sent an open letter to Marie McCormick, M.D., Sc.D.,  then the chair of the Immunization Safety Review Committee for the Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, which was widely distributed as a press release.
    Mercury is a known neurotoxin with the potential to cause severe developmental deficits in even the smallest amounts. We feel that the Institute of Medicine must take a leadership position in making sure that thimerosal is removed immediately from all new vaccines, and, in addition, old stock containing thimerosal should be recalled.
    Furthermore, for the sake of scientific truth, better treatments for people with autism and public confidence in federal vaccination policy, we believe it is essential that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommend further research to ascertain, once and for all, the potential link between thimerosal and the rising incidence of autism. If a link is found, then further research must be directed at clinical efforts for mercury toxicity remediation."
    Shestack said these recommendations are "conservative, compassionate and reasonable" in light of the great public interest. Cure Autism Now, which is based in Los Angeles, California, and is comprised of scientists, clinicians and parents of autistic children, has issued and generously funded a Request for Proposals (RFP) specifically on the role of mercury in autism etiology. 
    CAN was as of 2007, still supportive of the idea that vaccines could somehow cause autism.  In an October 10, 2007 press release:
    Cure Autism Now believes the Institute of Medicine's recent report, which rejects a causal link between MMR and thimerosal-taining vaccines and autism, is premature and should not be considered definitive. The IOM report unfortunately places greater emphasis on population-based epidemiologic studies using statistical analyses than on existing and emerging biological data from studies of individuals with autism which present biological mechanisms that may indicate a causal relationship. Cure Autism Now is aware of at least 15 ongoing studies, some of which are funded by CAN, that explore the potential biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced autism and believes these should be given serious consideration before a final verdict is made.
    In On Feb. 1, 2007, CAN announced that it would be combining operations with Autism Speaks.

    CAN pioneered the idea of community-based "walks for autism" under the umbrella of the now-defunct website, Walknow.org.  The walkathon idea was taken over and expanded by Autism Speaks following the merger.

    Individuals associated with Cure Autism Now, 1995-2007:
    • Portia Iversen, founder
    • Jonathan Shestack, founder
    • Peter Bell, CAN CEO at the time of the AS merger 
    • Sallie Bernard, Executive Director of SafeMinds, board member of national CAN Foundation; Executive Director, New Jersey CAN (2001)
    • Albert Enayati , Secretary, SafeMinds; president of New Jersey CAN
    • Heidi Roger, Treasurer, SafeMinds treasurer of New Jersey CAN (2001);
    • David S. Baskin, MD, FACS , Scientific Director, SafeMinds;  member of the CAN Scientific Review Committee
    Sources:
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    Thursday, January 9, 2014

    Rebecca Lee Carley

    Image Source
    http://www.donotlink.com/dVn
    To me, Rebecca Lee Carley (née Roczen) is one of the saddest figures in the anti-vaccine movement.  A woman of considerable ability early in her career, she seems to have slipped into significant untreated mental illness in her late thirties, after graduating from medical school.  The anti-vaccine movement has taken advantage of her MD to use this very ill woman as an authority, to promote their ill-founded ideas.

    Carley first developed expertise in fetal echocardiography, and then attended medical school. Carley earned her medical degree in 1987, and from 1987-1991 was a surgical resident.  At some point during her residency, Carley developed the idea that vaccines were dangerous.   After leaving her surgical residency before the end of the program, Carley was briefly a resident in Physical and
    Rehabilitation Medicine at Nassau University Medical Center in 1993.  The director of the program had significant reservations about Carley's "emotional stability".   Carley appears not to have worked in the medical field in any capacity (other than self-employment) since the early 1990s.

    Carley's only child was born in 1996, following several rounds of fertility treatment.  Carley was 42 at the time of her son's birth.  She separated from her husband shortly after the child's birth.

    In 1997, Carley began broadcasting a public-access television program “What’s Ailing America?”, covering such topics as "vaccine induced diseases, police corruption and corruption in the courts."According to Carley, on of the reasons for the demise of her marriage was that her husband was offended by her broadcasts.  In June 1999 Carley and her husband were sharing custody and there was a dispute. Rebecca Carley felt that her son had been sexually abused by his father, while in his father's care.  The State of New York investigated, and exonerated the father.

    Subsequently the boy was placed in foster care for several months. Rebecca Carley could only see her son during supervised visitation at the courthouse, during which Carley exhibited quite provocative behavior.  Following the finalization of the Carley divorce in 2000, Carley's son was returned to the custody of his father.  As best I can ascertain, Carley's son has not had any contact with his mother since 2003.

    Beginning in 1999, Carley developed a Grand Scheme of the cause of all disease -- vaccines are a major culprit, as well as other "toxins".  The two alternatives are death by allopathy, or a return to wellness by using Carley's "Hippocrates Systems".


    Image Source
    http://www.donotlink.com/dVM





















    I am not sure I can do justice to the Gish Gallop of atni-vaccine claims in the chart developed by Carley, below.  Suffice it to say that not one is evidence-based.

    Image Source:
    http://www.donotlink.com/dVN

















    But fear not, Rebecca Carley has developed the "Hippocrates Protocol" to heal what ails you. Yes, the one pseudoscience to rule them all, homeopathy; plus colloidial silver and other questionable "therapies".

    Image Source
    http://www.donotlink.com/dVO


















    Carley also claims to have the following expertise:

    Image Source
    http://www.donotlink.com/dVP











    EXPERT WITNESS QUALIFICATION BY COURTS

    Vaccine Induced Diseases (VIDS)
    Child Sex Abuse
    Child Physical Abuse
    Post traumatic Stress disorder secondary to Legal Abuse
    Expert in Vaccinology as per NYS Department of Health

    After a search of legal databases,  I found no evidence for such Carley to be an expert witness in any legal proceeding.

    Of course, the "vaccine induced diseases" is a figment of Carley's imagination. Her truncated training in general surgery over two decades ago would not prepare her to be an expert witness in pediatric abuse, either physical or sexual.  Her complete lack of training in psychiatry would also make her claim to expert witness status in PTSD quite silly.  And of course, a court doesn't declare a person an expert in vaccinology; one's peers do.

    Here is a list of Carley's publications since 1995:


    “Inoculations:  the True Weapons of Mass Destruction”, April, 2005.  On:  CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/od/ophr/cdcra/comments.htm .

    “Inoculations: the True Weapons of Mass Destruction causing Vaccine Induced Diseases (An Epidemic of Genocide) NOT published in any medical journal (as it would be a conflict of interest for the pharmaceutically controlled medical profession to admit they are creating disease).  However, this article has been published on thousands of websites, and many “alternative medicine” publications.

    “Response Of Rebecca Carley, MD to CDC’s Public Health Protection Research Guide 2006-2014”, submitted Jan 2006.  According to the CDC, public comments will be “posted in near future” (still waiting for that to happen; the internal link to my document on the CDC site which initially existed for CDC affiliates to respond to it has since been disabled by the CDC after 100 pages of comments were submitted which were unable to refute the contents of said paper).



    Image Source
    http://www.donotlink.com/dVP







    Anti-vaccine checklist: how does Carley score?
    1. Claiming that all vaccines are unsafe and ineffective Yes
    2. Claiming better sanitation and nutrition account for the 20th century decline in vaccine-preventable diseases  Maybe or Undetermined
    3. Claiming that vaccines cause diseases and conditions such as autism, asthma, SIDS, or shaken baby syndrome Yes
    4. Claiming that anecdotal evidence is superior to scientific evidence; rejecting science and epidemiology Yes
    5. Cherry picking and misrepresenting the evidence Yes
    6. Using  logical fallacies without shame in arguing Yes
    7. Conspiracy mongering Yes
    8. Silencing criticism (especially by deleting online material), rather than responding to it Yes
    9. (If in business) Profiting from the sale of products and services that spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about vaccines, or products and services that are said to be superior to vaccines and conventional medicine in preventing disease Yes
    Score
    8/9

     Summary:
    I was under the misapprehension that Carley's mental issues had become obvious even to the anti-vaccine movement.

    However, to my surprise Carley was quoted today as an authority.

    Text:

    There is no dispute over whether or not mercury is a neurotoxin and that it can have a disastrous effect on brain development. A court qualified expert on vaccine induced disease, Dr Carley says that “Mercury is 1000 times more toxic than lead and is second only to uranium as the most toxic metal.” While mercury is present in multiple forms and comes from a vast number of sources it does not mean that autism or another pervasive developmental disorder cannot be exacerbated by the mercury in vaccines. The mercury emissions from massive coal burning operations in China can also contribute as this is now affecting the United States. This goes further to suggest what an enormously complicated issue autism is.
    (This is not the time or the place to discuss the shortcomings of the article, or the fitness of the author,  Lara Stielow, whose previous employment was as a home health aide.)

    Carley's value to the anti-vaccination movement is her M.D. degree; her willingness to profess qualifications she does not possess; and her support of others in the anti-vaccination movement.


     Disambiguation:
    There is another Rebecca Carley in health care, who is an assistant clinical professor of nursing at the University of Rhode Island.  There is even a slight physical resemblance. This page is not about Professor Carley.

     Sources:
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