dagblog - Comments for "The New McCarthyism: Fear of Vaccination is Killing Kids"

My daughter is an

acanuck — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:20:33 +0000

In reply to Related: Judge rules family

My daughter is an aromatherapist and acupuncturist. She's no new-age quack, having studied for years and earned an M.Sc. in medical anthropology from a respected Canadian university. She believes thoroughly in the efficacy of what she practises, but always stresses that it is an adjunct to, not a replacement for, conventional medical procedures.

Parents have to be allowed to teach, shape and raise their kids poorly (the state can't substitute its judgment on a routine basis, if only because it's logistically impossible) -- up to the point where their lives and health are at risk. Then the kids' civil rights trump the parents'. No religious exemptions, either.

Related: Judge rules family

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:24:12 +0000

In reply to The New McCarthyism: Fear of Vaccination is Killing Kids

A Minnesota judge ruled Friday that a 13-year-old cancer patient must be evaluated by a doctor to determine if the boy would benefit from restarting chemotherapy over his parents' objections.

In a 58-page ruling, Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg found that Daniel Hauser has been "medically neglected" by his parents, Colleen and Anthony Hauser, and was in need of child protection services.

While he allowed Daniel to stay with his parents, the judge gave the Hausers until Tuesday to get an updated chest X-ray for their son and select an oncologist.

...

Doctors have said Daniel's cancer had up to a 90 percent chance of being cured with chemotherapy and radiation. Without those treatments, doctors said his chances of survival are 5 percent.

Daniel's parents have been supporting what they say is their son's decision to treat the disease with nutritional supplements and other alternative treatments favored by the Nemenhah Band.

The Missouri-based religious group believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians.

There is anecdotal evidence

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:00:14 +0000

In reply to So I guess these people who

There is anecdotal evidence that academic philosophy also causes autism.

So I guess these people who

jaisizzle — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:48:48 +0000

In reply to The New McCarthyism: Fear of Vaccination is Killing Kids

So I guess these people who refuse to have their kids not vaccinated also have no intention of their kids ever going to college. Vaccinations much like intro to Philosophy is a prerequisite. I guess its time to separate the wheat from the chaff anyway.

DF, Thank you so much for

Bluesplashy — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:50:53 +0000

In reply to The New McCarthyism: Fear of Vaccination is Killing Kids

DF, Thank you so much for posting on this. I am so glad that someone else besides me thinks this connection between autism and vaccines is a public nuisance. I had a friend that was adamant about not vaccinating children and she worked in Earth Fare. Some regular customer came in with her daughter that had been vaccinated a couple of days earlier and was running a slight fever. I guess my friend jumped in with both feet and pretty much told her she had just destroyed her daughters life. Next thing you know, the husband is speaking to the store manager. My friend couldn't understand why he was so upset. I suppose letting their sons get measles and then become sterile due to the fever is just fine with them. The response I have gotten when I point out the lack of connection between drop in mercury in vaccines and number of cases of autism has been really frustrating. They claim that the FDA calling for a reduction in the mercury levels means they know there is a connection and they are hiding the studies. Just wacky.

Get Off My Lawn!!!!!

elliottness — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:49:17 +0000

In reply to This is off-topic, but I

Get Off My Lawn!!!!!

I speak Latin: Uckfay ouyay.

Orlando — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:18:16 +0000

In reply to Most of the people who

I speak Latin: Uckfay ouyay.

Most of the people who

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:02:08 +0000

In reply to Initially, those who were

Most of the people who believe that vaccination causes autism have not based their beliefs on scientific methodology. (If they did, they would not believe that vaccination causes autism--reductio ad absurdum*) They just seized on thimerosal as an explanation for their preconceived opinions which, being pre-conceived, don't depend on the presence of thimerosal.

* Midwesterners, please ignore the high falutin' Latin.

This is off-topic, but I

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:57:01 +0000

In reply to This fits nicely with this

This is off-topic, but I thought that media piece was awful. The critque may itself may be accurate, but speaking of deductive fallacies, Pincus's conclusion that the flaws he criticizes have caused the loss of newspaper readership is entirely unwarranted. He nowhere cites any evidence other than his own obviously highly-esteemed opinion. Moreover, his NYT-centric arguments don't even make sense in the context of a global drop in newspaper readership. Which newpapers are losing readers because they're pursing pullitzer prizes? There are only a few newspapers, like the NYT, that aim for suchs prize, on those papers are actually doing better than the industry as a whole. Furthermore, his assessment of online readership belies a complete misunderstanding of the web. Did he even bother to ask anyone in the online industry whether his assessment that 20M unique visitors per month translates to "roughly 667,000 readers a day" is accurate? I thought that this guy was a famous reporter.

I picture an old worn-out journalist, chomping on his cigar while fulminating about the kids these days and blaming the perceived loss of old-time values for everything that's going wrong.

Initially, those who were

Nebton — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:54:03 +0000

In reply to The New McCarthyism: Fear of Vaccination is Killing Kids

Initially, those who were promulgating the idea that autism was being induced by vaccines pointed to the thimerosa l, which the CDC et al. assured us was quite safe, though it did contain mercury. However, sensing that fear of the thimerosal was contrinbuting to kids not getting vaccinated, it was almost completely removed from vaccines for children under 6 starting in 1999. As the CDC had suggested, there was no correspdonding decrease in the prevalence of autism. You would have thought that would have settled the question (or at least I would've thought so), but unfortunately, it did not.