Autism News Beat

Tweet Add The Weather Channel to the growing list of media outlets gunning for the anti-vaccine movement.  In “The Dangerous History of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracies”, Jeffrey Kopman forgoes false balance, and instead calls out the fraud, paranoia, and general scientific illiteracy of a movement that recklessly endangers public health. The money quote: “Part of [the movement’s […]

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Tweet You might recognize Joyce Bulifant for her character Marie Slaughter, Murray’s wife, on the Mary Tyler Moore show. Or you might know her as grandmother to Evan Asher,  Jenny McCarthy’s 11-year-old son. Bulifant and her husband, actor Roger Perry, also advocate for autism research and education. On Friday, Jan. 17, the couple will perform […]

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Tweet Jenny McCarthy is the face of vaccine rejectionism in America. The story she tells of how her son, Evan, became autistic after his MMR shot is arguably the origin myth for the anti-vaccine movement, and the legions of  “Warrior Mothers” who follow her. Now, a competing narrative from someone else close to Evan calls […]

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Tweet Much has been written about Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent Lancet study.  This is the first video dramatization I’ve seen. In two parts, from Vaccines: Getting to the Point, by FAIR Media, 2011. Disclosure: I was interviewed for the video, but alas, my face didn’t make the final cut.  

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Tweet In Contagion, Steven Soderbergh’s dark medical thriller about a viral pandemic, Jude Law plays Alan Krumwiede, a hyperventilating, overexposed anti-science blogger who convinces his 12 million “unique visitors” not to vaccinate. He also makes millions pushing a quack homeopathic remedy, and stalks a CDC scientist, tape recorder in hand. Sound familiar? To those us who […]

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Tweet Last week Doonesbury. Now YouTube. I really wanna immunize so frickin’ bad Protect you from those germs you’ve never had Don’t want you to catch the mumps–meningitis too Pertussis, hepatitis or the flu. But everywhere I turn my eyes, The internet is spreading lies. So many parents scared by fairy tales and hate I […]

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Tweet From the perspective of popular culture, the evolution of America’s anti-vaccine movement reminds us of Schopenhauer’s three stages of truth, only in reverse. First, the idea that vaccines cause autism and other developmental problems was hailed as plausible. Second, it was questioned, albeit delicately. The third stage, outright ridicule, can be seen in today’s […]

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Tweet Dr. Nancy Snyderman is an unabashed defender of vaccines and, as medical editor for NBC News, a highly visible advocate for evidence-based medicine. Her zealous, no-nonsense attacks on anti-vaccine activists stand out from the lackluster and clueless reporting of others in the news and entertainment media.  She rightly pointed out, for instance, that among […]

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Tweet Reginald Latson loves to walk. “He’ll walk five or ten miles, it’s nothing to him. Sometimes he walks five miles just to grab a bite to eat at Chili’s,” says his mother, Lisa, of Stafford, Virginia. “Walking is his release.” Neli, as his family calls him, is 18 and has Asperger’s, a mild form […]

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Tweet False balance is the scourge of science reporting, and in The Vaccine Wars, we see how it’s possible to represent both sides without misleading viewers. The Frontline documentary, which first aired Tuesday, devotes about 60% of its time to the researchers and experts who are best qualified to speak. That leaves about 22 minutes […]

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