And the Search for a Cure - Risky Medicine

Dr Andrew Wakefield, who is the center of this controversy (and is not the author of this book)was recently struck from the UKs Medical Register in May 2010. His research provided most of the so called evidence for vaccines as a cause for autism Why was his research retracted and he punished by the British medical system?: Performing research without IRB approval, performing unnecessary procedures, and four counts of dishonesty and 12 involving the abuse of developmentally-challenged children. The panel ruled that Wakefield had "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant", acted against the interests of his patients, and acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in his controversial research. On February 2, 2010, The Lancet retracted his 1998 publication, noting elements of the manuscript had been falsified.

Case closed.

The first thing I thought when reading this book is "Paul A. Offit obviously knows what he's talking about. And he's damned courageous for talking about it."

The fact is this: Vaccines do NOT cause autism. There is no definitive proof that vaccines cause autism. And yet parents, grasping for straws and irrationally afraid, are willing to deny their children adequate medical care by not getting them vaccinated. There's obviously a lot of hysteria about autism and its causes; plenty of that hysterica can be seen here, in the negative reviews of this book. And the argument that Offit doesn't know anything about autism because he's not the parent of an autistic child is ridiculous and ignorant. It is also unfair to say he wrote this book because he is a shill for pharmaceutical companies. It's obvious from reading the book that is not his intent.

People are willing to do anything if they believe it will help their child, even if the methods to improve their child's health are unproven and may be dangerous. Offit addresses these issues in his book; parents are heartbreakingly vunerable to any new "therapy" that is said to work, even if its veracity has never been proven. He cites "facilitated communication", which proved to be a fraud and the airhead Jenny McCarthy, who got on Oprah Winfrey and declared her son was recovering from autism because he was on a diet that excreted yeast from his body.

Offit has his vehement detractors, but that's just because what he says is not what the parents of autistic children want to hear. They want a solution and they want it NOW; they don't want to think their kids will never recover from autism and they want someone to BLAME for them having it. And there are the parents whose fear is such that is they hear vaccines are the cause of autism, then by God they will not have their kids getting vaccinated, even though their kids may suffer from that action.

Autism and its causes are complicated issues and there needs to be a lot more study in this area in order to find definitive answers. It's just not as simple as not getting vaccines and being on a gluten-free diet.

This book is full of information and it makes scientific SENSE. I would urge anyone interested in autism to read it.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and found it very interesting. As a student who just learned about autism, I wanted to learn more about the vaccine-autism theory, especially after our child psychiatrist lecturer so quickly and forcefully dismissed it. To be honest, I had always been skeptical of any link, as much as I am skeptical of people who claim to have gotten the flu from a flu shot. But despite my prior opinions, I thought this was a good book on autism.

Yes, this book dismisses the notion that autism is caused by vaccinations, which angers many parents of autistic children that cling to this idea as the cause of their child's illness (and the reason for so many 1-stars). But that is not a valid reason to bash this book, or refuse to read it. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it cannot be ignored. With so much attention being placed on Jenny McCarthy (the most attention she's ever received in her career, I suppose), it is nice to get the other side of the argument.

People all have their own views on autism, but I hope that whether you agree with the author or not, you read this book, if only to get a new perspective on autism. Hopefully, out of this argument will come research that will show the causes of autism (whether vaccine-related or not) and what can be done to prevent its onset in the beginning.

This is a scientifically based, factual book. Parts of it drag but READ IT ALL. The author uses other examples to drive his point home. For years I have seen people prey on parents who just want to help their children. They offer false hope ... for $$$. Bottom line, this author offers you the truth. He also has an extensive resource list and bibliography. I thoroughly researched both and found everything he said in this book to be true.

I think this is a very accurate and brief summation of the vaccines-cause-autism debate from a medical standpoint (being that most credible doctors view the hypothesis to be complete bullocks.) Having read many of the papers discussed in this book prior to reading it, I think Dr. Offit did an outstanding job in analysing them. I am not suprising by the several negative reviews this book has (though I do question how some of those who did review it can do so without having read it) but I find that to be an inaccurate reflection upon the text. It is very well done, and it describes the major bullet points of the debate in a very colloquial way for the average person. While Dr. Offit may not be a specialist in autism it doesn't require any special expertise to see the hypothesis to be completely unbased and unsupported.

One complaint I do have is the refrence system which is used. Its not very good, but besides that...

A book that comprehensively exposes the false data, media frenzy and subsequent scandal about vaccines and autism. Dr. Offit is a modern day hero for exposing the truth of this continuous controversy by reviewing the falsely held belief by a few key players in the medical community that vaccines cause autism. He reviews just how low these "scientists" would stoop to publish false data that could not be replicated, who paid them off, and, most tragically, how things may have turned out differently had our CDC, AAP, and Vaccine programs had the ability to respond in a unified, strong voice instead of making a snap decision and causing public panic and doubt in physicians and government. Even now, years after thimerosol has been pulled out of vaccines (at a high cost) and the rates of autism increase, parents are still not vaccinating their children and putting them (and others) at high risk. Worse still, parents are still subjecting their children to dangerous "therapies" (at a high cost) by "doctors who really care about their child". Dr. Offit's book offers a wake up call: "doctors" will make a buck off any desperate parent willing to do anything to help their suffering child (except vaccinate them in some cases) and money has been stolen from researching the real causes of autism. Problem is it is too easy to point fingers at our government and our "uncaring" doctors for "poisoning" our children when the cause is genetic, which parents will read as "my fault". A harder pill to swallow, but the truth. While exposing the vaccine/autism scandal, Dr. Offit also exposes the problem with our health care system: not trusting doctors and getting advice from Universty of Google, which tells you which tests to demand of your doctor (unnecessary spending) or you will be hiring a lawyer to sue the doctor (which costs your doctor money and time taken away from caring for patients). Also, I applaud him for including parents who are representing the other view points and not anti-vaccine. My only criticism: published too soon to see how Dr. Offit feels about the Hannah Poling case: would love to hear what he has to say about the award, the mitochondrial disease link, and whether there is any need to give vaccines at a different schedule for a sub-population. The good news: Autism Speaks is working closely with many physicians to see who would fit in to this sub-population and whether there is any benefit of changing the schedule: for now, the specialists are saying no change to vaccine schedule. Money for research finally going towards researching the genetic causes! Thank you Dr. Offit and please keep writing and setting the record straight!!

This book is excellent! Well researched, clearly presented and fully documented with references. This is one of the better documents to lay to rest the mistaken idea that a terrible genetic malady (autism) is caused by something in vaccines. The author debunks and exposes most of the crackpots who have been selling "snake oil" cures to parents who are desperate for a cure (there is no cure).

I was surprised at the number of newscasters and Senators who were taken in by the vaccine propaganda (mainly by lawyers who want to make a killing off the poor children with this affliction). Maybe now research funds can be directed to finding the true cause, and then maybe a cure for Autism - now that the manufacturers do not have to be spend large sums on legal defenses.

I really enjoyed this book (though I enjoyed his biography of Maurice Hilleman more). I started going to online discussion groups when we got our first modem over fourteen years ago (I still chuckle at the responses about "dyslexia" I got when I asked about "dyspraxia", which is what my oldest child was diagnosed with in 1991). As I moved around on Compuserve, briefly on Usenet, and on the Apraxia-Kids listserv, I saw these events unfold.

At first I could simply say "No, vaccines are not the cause of apraxia/dyspraxia, my kid had his seizures before any vaccine"... and it would be accepted and we would go on discussing insurance and school issues. Then "they" came, and "they" would not take "no" for an answer. "They" would send nasty-grams if anyone challenged anything they wrote. One tried to get me booted from the listserv just because I tried to explain that the MMR vaccine never contained mercury (a sure sign that someone does not know the issues is when he/she says "the thimerosal in MMR").

Also "they" started to promote all sorts of cures. I spoke against craniosacral and essential oils, and received nasty-grams that I had a closed mine (in frustration I told her to go bother the writers of paper saying that BC Health should not fund craniosacral therapy). Then I wrote an email to the group trying to explain that chelation was a "bad idea"... lots of nasty grams, including one telling me I was dangerous!

I found out from someone else that one of "them" was actually employed by a prominent DAN! doctor who sold the stuff she was promoting. So I left.

Just a couple of months later Roy Kerry killed a kid through chelation just because he was autistic. The interesting thing is that the owner and the moderator of the listserv do not live far from where that happened.

I was tempted to sign back up to see what the reaction was, but I resisted. I went on with my life. That support group had nothing that I needed. Since my kid was older all I could do was explain what we had gone through and suggest books. I decided to stick with my local folks who I could talk to in reality.

This book shows exactly who "they" are... they are the ones who want to blame the vaccines, they are the ones who want to skew science to their own conclusions, they are the ones that want to take advantage of desperate parents, they are the ones who want to divert scarce public funds from educational therapies to some phantom cause/cure... especially for there are kids like mine with OTHER disabilities!

If you are interested in how special interests have taken over an issue and caused more harm than good... get this book!

"Autism's False Prophets" is a thorough and insightful discussion of the alleged link between vaccines, gastrointestinal disorder and autism, by a true expert in children's immunizations. He sets the matter to rest. There is no link. The book is exceptionally readable,despite the technical nature of the topic. My favorite part of the book discusses the multitude of reasons the hypothesized link between autism and immuizations has received so much attention and unjustifiably led parents to be wary of having their children vaccinated. Offett gives the news media a bit of boxing about the ears for promoting misinformation and ignoring scientific facts. Kudos. A great job.

Those who think Dr Offit is writing this book for his own profit should consider the threats against his life and his children's lives he's had to hear for writing this book--all because there are people who want to expose children to preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough in the name of a disproven conspiracy theory.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and found it very interesting. As a student who just learned about autism, I wanted to learn more about the vaccine-autism theory, especially after our child psychiatrist lecturer so quickly and forcefully dismissed it. To be honest, I had always been skeptical of any link, as much as I am skeptical of people who claim to have gotten the flu from a flu shot. But despite my prior opinions, I thought this was a good book on autism.

Yes, this book dismisses the notion that autism is caused by vaccinations, which angers many parents of autistic children that cling to this idea as the cause of their child's illness (and the reason for so many 1-stars). But that is not a valid reason to bash this book, or refuse to read it. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it cannot be ignored. With so much attention being placed on Jenny McCarthy (the most attention she's ever received in her career, I suppose), it is nice to get the other side of the argument.

People all have their own views on autism, but I hope that whether you agree with the author or not, you read this book, if only to get a new perspective on autism. Hopefully, out of this argument will come research that will show the causes of autism (whether vaccine-related or not) and what can be done to prevent its onset in the beginning.

After thirty years as a pediatrician I have read volumes of literature on the controversies in health care and do so with a cautious optomism. Dr. Offit has authored an enjoyable summary of a complex subject.I read it overnight. I've passed my copy on to another in my group and will order more for my loaner library.

This book is very well written. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any doubts about autism. After reading this book, I can't see how anyone can't listen to the other side. This book is based on facts; has a full index of references. Really intelligent. Go Dr. Offit!

An absolute MUST BUY for any parent who is concerned about vaccine safety. It's important to see both sides of an issue before we can give INFORMED consent and this books does an amazing job discussing the people and organizations that are involved in what has become a confusing and somewhat controversial issue today.

As a pediatrician, I have started recommending this book to parents who have questions about vaccines. A very thorough, comprehensive history of the "controversy" in the lay press (there was never much doubt about vaccine safety among medical professionals), which should put parents' fears to rest. A good read as well!

Brilliant book. Recommended reading for anyone involved in vaccinations or with children on the autism spectrum.

I'm donating my copy to my daughters early intervention centre so the truth can be read by more families of children on the spectrum.

Thank you Dr Offit.

This book contains information which every parent of an autistic child should read. As a father of an autistic girl I am really grateful to have this thorough go-through of false hopes. It is too easy to thrust a false hope and even damage your child if you do not have enough good information. No matter how you think now. Read this book, I recommend it.

One sided, fear mongering attempt to bully parents into vaccines. Fact: there are serious risks. Fact: parents have been paid out by VAERS for the damage or death caused by vaccines. Do your own research folks. Your kids are relying on you.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is very hard to put down. Although I have read a lot about autism, I didn't know a lot of the information Dr. Offit included in his book. As a physician-researcher, he has clearly done his homework (unlike a referenced journalist who did NOT do his, especially among the Amish). I have an extra copy that I am going to donate to our library, to make sure they have one for all to read.

Most poorly understood medical conditions attract some degree of quackery, and autism is no exception. In this book, Dr. Offit exposes the pseudoscience which has led many families to entertain false hopes and sometimes subject their autistic children to treatments that are, at best, a pointless waste of time and money. He also profiles individuals from the autism community who have stood up against the offensive attitudes promoted by the "false prophets" of autism.

Dr. Offit describes how, as a specialist in infectious diseases, he is troubled by the popular suspicion of vaccines which has grown in spite of tremendous scientific evidence showing no connection between vaccines and autism. He also provides understandable explanations of why certain "alternative treatments" for autism are medically implausible.

Anyone who cares about someone with autism should read the book. It will also be of interest to professionals who counsel parents of autistic children.

Dr. Offit presents shocking details about the people and organizations who have been trying to scare parents into not immunizing their children. I was startled by the amount of money lawyers paid to doctors and other scientists who were willing testify in court that vaccines cause autism. Parents who are frightened about immunization should find this book reassuring.

This book is fantastic. Paul Offit is great for the autism community. This book does an incredible job at dispelling all the propaganda surrounding autism, and there is so much one could drown trying to wade through it all! I only wish this book would have been available when autism first entered my life. Thank you Paul Offit for you time, and generosity!!!

The plain-speaking Autism's False Prophets is unlikely to receive a fair, overall star rating at this venue, owing to the highly polarized opinions of antivaccinationists and those of informed, rational thinkers. For this second group, a relatively quiet majority, the events depicted in Offit's book will anger (as opposed to blindly enrage), but they will also perhaps mobilize investigations away from exonerated, life-saving vaccines and onto the real, very elusive causes of autism. A more comprehensive review of Offit's necessary chronicle of the hijacking of modern medicine is available at [...]

P.S. There was no reason for the removal of C. Clark's initial, constructive review (which happened to be favorable).

For a long time people thought the earth was flat and the moon was made of cheese. Now some believe that vaccines cause autism. There are always a handful of people who insist they are right, despite overwhelming evidence. I don't think your book will change their minds, but maybe, hopefully, it will prevent some more rational people from being sucked in by the misinformation on the internet. This book is very clear and lays out the evidence very logically. I am now quite convinced that vaccines have absolutely nothing to do with autism and I think most educated individuals will feel the same way after reading the book. It was really quite interesting to learn how people get sucked into believing something that has absolutely no science behind it at all. It's almost become a cult. I think many people will enjoy this book and will learn from it. Tony Demarest

These books read like a one sided debate. There are thousands of real Drs and Scientist's that prove vaccines cause autism. I think because the author is paid MILLIONS of dollars by the vaccine manufacturers you have to wonder if his opinion has been swayed.

I just read an article about Jenny McCarthy--yes, that Jenny McCarthy. Ms. McCarthy has a child with autism and she is convinced that a vaccine caused her child's autism. She now considers herself an expert because she attended the "University of Google" (her words, not mine) and that she is right because "because there is an angry mob on my side" and "until [someone] walks in our shoes, [he/she] really has no idea."

That's right...because there is an angry mob on her side, the consensus of scientists that attended real schools and obtained real master and doctorate degrees in things like epidemiology and medicine, is wrong.

Dr. Offit faces a very challenging opponent and he did it with an exceptionally calm and rationale analysis of vaccines, why they are safe and more importantly, why the quacks and anti-vaxxers are wrong. And he did it in a style that is very readable by the lay person.

When Dr. Offit starts laying out damning facts against the anti-vaxxers, you will be left agape. For example, Dr. Wakefield took $800,000 from a plaintiff's attorney and used it to fund his studies and never disclosed where the funding came from, he never obtained informed consent and when he ran his studies past IRBs, they were anything but medically qualified. Just astounding. Of course, the results of his studies have never been duplicated and any physiological basis for his hypothesis has been debunked.

Yet, there are people who flock to Dr. Wakefield and give him lots of money for unproven and dubious-at-best treatments and cures. Very, very sad.

Dr. Offit also discusses how science is perceived in society. A lot of people simply don't "believe in" science and how science is done. Dr. Offit analyzes this later in the book and it is hardly comforting. (An excellent book about this phenomenon is Carl Sagan's Science as a Candle in the Dark.)

Probably the scariest part of the book is when groups like Generation Rescue hire public relations firms. Whilst I'm all for spirited debate, these groups will misrepresent any fact, omit crucial details and pander with the most vile and loathsome tactics.

Definitely a highly recommended book. Scary and depressing because science and vaccines have taken such a bad rap. But hopeful because there are folks out there like Dr. Offit, Orac and others that are willing to stand up for rational, evidence-based medicine.

While I feel for Jenny McCarthy and her struggles with autism, her incessant denial of huge amounts of science and evidence is causing thousands of parents to forego vaccinating their children. She is endangering our children and some will die from childhood disease that were once almost completely eradicated.

Fascinating and readable. "Autism's False Prophets" traces the histories of the MMR-autism and thimerosal-autism controversies, and discusses the science in clear, layman's language. I found the book very difficult to put down: it's a wonderful (and enlightening) read for anyone interested in autism, vaccines, or scientific controversy, and its "Science and Society" chapter should be required reading for any parent (or any person) researching vaccines or other medical decisions.

(NaturalNews) He's one of the mainstream media's darling vaccine fanatics, but Paul Offit of Philadelphia Children's Hospital is an unabashed liar and fraud. This king of quackery has been caught on numerous occasions fabricating defamatory and completely made-up fables about vaccine safety advocates such as investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, formerly of CBS News, and autism researcher and publisher Kathleen Seidel, presumably out of spite.

After outing him for being on the financial dole of major vaccine manufacturers such as Wyeth and Merck, Attkisson became an instant enemy of Offit. As admitted by the Orange County Register in 2013, Offit lied when he claimed, ironically, that Attkisson had lied about his tightly-knit relationship with the vaccine industry -- she didn't, of course. Offit also lied about "mean spirited and vituperative" emails he supposedly received from CBS News. It was later revealed that he never received such emails.

In a published correction to a July 25, 2008, report that aired on CBS Evening News entitled "How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?", the Orange County Register had this to say about Offit's failure to speak honestly about his financial ties with the vaccine industry:

According to the CBS News' documentation recently reviewed by the OC Register, the network requested (but Offit did not disclose) the entire profile of his professional financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies including: The amount of compensation he'd received from which companies in speaking fees; and pharmaceutical consulting relationships and fees.

Offit forced to "apologize" after publishing lies in propaganda book

Oops, it must have been an accident! Or maybe not, considering that Offit has raked in untold millions of dollars in profits from - you guessed it - his infamous rotavirus vaccine that he just so happens to have sold to Merck in exchange for a lifetime of patent royalties. Merck, of course, is the same vaccine company that owns the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella, which has been the focus of ongoing research, investigations and whistleblower admissions for its possible role in triggering the onset of autism.

Offit doesn't want people to know that he and Merck have an intense love affair with one another, a fact that the lapdog media rarely, if ever, speaks about. This is critical information that shows that Offit is anything but an independent source of scientific expertise on vaccines. His entire lifeline, it appears, is dependent upon keeping the vaccine racket going.

Doing his part to keep the public in the dark about real healing medicine, Offit added further insult to injury when he published lies about Kathleen Seidel in his boorishly titled propaganda treatise Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure.

Offit reportedly made up a fictitious conversation he had with Seidel, painting her as a threatening and unreasonable person in an attempt to tarnish her reputation. This conversation never actually happened, of course, and Offit later settled a libel accusation, agreeing to issue an apology, correct the "error" in his book, and make a donation to an autism charity.

Nevertheless, Offit continues to hold the undue title of "medical expert" in many mainstream circles despite the fact that he's a proven shyster and a brazen quack. Because of this, his continued influence in the mass media is only furthering the unsubstantiated myth that the science is "settled" on the vaccine-autism debate, when nothing could be further from the truth.

"[N]o study to date conclusively proves or disproves a causal link between vaccines and autism and -- despite the misreporting -- none has claimed to do so," writes Attkisson. "To declare the science 'settled' and the debate 'over' is to defy the plain fact that many scientists worldwide are still sorting through it, and millions of people are still debating it."

Sources for this article include:

SharylAttkisson.com

OCRegister.com

NaturalNews.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/051377_Paul_Offit_vaccines_Big_Pharma.html#ixzz3nKdyCKHX

Offit provides few arguments on the merits of vaccine safety. Consequently, the book is basically 250 pages of character assassination and straw man arguments, all the while dripping with arrogance.

Nowhere does Offit deal with the fact that secret internal CDC studies (before Simpsonwood) proved that thimerosal causes autism, ADHD, speech and neurodevelopmental delays. The secret CDC studies were pried from the CDC by FOIA lawsuits. Verstraeten manipulated the data and published their fraudulent Pediatrics paper when they finally succeeded in erasing the effect.

Offit didnt see any problem with Verstraeten changing the VSD data to eliminate the troublesome finding that mercury from vaccines caused neurological damage.

Offit also does not mention the complete lack of safety studies on aluminum adjuvant. The recent studies that have been done show that aluminum adjuvant is extremely neurotoxic and powerfully stimulates neuroinflammation. And neuroinflammation is implicated as a cause of autism. The link between neuroinflammation and autism is well proven by many replicated studies. Autistics have chronic brain inflammation and elevated brain cytokines. Immune activation during brain development is a proven cause of autism. And of course its obvious that vaccines are powerful stimulators of immune activation. Vaccines cause brain inflammation, which causes autism. The evidence is quite strong at this point. But the medical establishment continues to lie about the evidence and refuses to accept responsibility for the public health disaster they have created.

Offit does not mention the overwhelming body of scientific evidence implicating mercury (thimerosal) as a cause (one of many causes) of autism. Autistics have porphyrin markers indicative of mercury toxicity, and these markers normalize and autistic symptoms delcine or disappear after chelation therapy. Autism rates are higher in areas with mercury pollution. Autistics have much LOWER levels of mercury in their hair (indicating impaired mercury detox ability). Like aluminum, mercury is also a powerful inducer of neuroinflammation.

And of course, Offit doesnt mention that the CDC to this day will not let anyone outside the CDC have access to the VSD data. The largest database of vaccine adverse effects, which could reveal the truth, is locked and sealed at the CDC, unavailable to anyone but the CDC's own chosen researchers. The CDC transferred control of the VSD to a private corporation to create additional barriers to access.

For being such an arrogant, dishonest hack, its funny that Offit makes some scientific errors of his own. For example, on page 201 Offit claims that the cold fusion (CF) experiments of Pons/Fleischmann violated the first law of thermodynamics. This is wrong. CF does not violate the first law or any other law of thermodynamics. What CF does is conflict with aspects of nuclear theory; it does not violate any "laws" of science.

This book does not stick to the title. Pretty much the whole thing is to protest anti vaxers which is stupid and disappointing that it was given that title. It was zero help a total waste of time. Don't read if you're seeking out a help book....wow just wow.....

This book should be retitled " Over Vaccine Nation". Dr. Offit has written (7) separate books all of the same subject ..on Vaccines importance to global health( you think he has an interest in pushing vaccines?) Yes, I agree that childhood diseases have been near extinct due to vaccines , but with the recent controversy about their possible link to Autism (it can't be just coincidence that thousands upon thousands of children show symptoms soon after vaccinations), I feel this book's content is too onesided and its author too nearsighted and self promoting for me to appreciate. The cause(s) of Autism are still so vague, research still in its own infancy in a world and population that is constantly evolving. To discount that potent vaccines may not be somehow related is narrowminded and leaves the door closed to better science, remember that blood letting was considered the treatment of choice in medieval times and handwashing was considered a disgusting practice! I tank this book for its bias, partial tone and for leaving parents with a sense of failure and deepening despair. It is a slap in the face to the warrior parents seeking any way to help/treat their children, as well as hopefully stopping the increasing numbers! Not to say that a parent should blindly try any and every snakeoil treatment out there, but at least support that parent by helping find or offer smart alternatives. Science is jumping ahead rapidly but human evolution is a slow process. One day it may be realized that these vaccines may be too strong in its delivery to our little ones, hopefully before we extinguish ourselves by chemicals. When Dr.Offit donates all the proceeds of this book to Autism research or discover his own "Vaccine" against Autism, call me!

Profit: "An overwhelming body of scientific evidence clearly shows that childhood vaccines are safe and does not cause autism."

Comment: Safe to Offit is benefits outweight risks, no kidding, so why do you think he denies vaccines cause autism? Yes, it makes vaccines 'safe' in his definition, and he would be OUT OF A JOB if the truth came out, and in hiding. And there is a MOUNTAIN of PROOF to show vaccines never reduced the death rate for one single disease, eg measles deaths had declined by 99.4% before vaccination, and that decimal point is in the right place.

"He considers the manipulation of science in the popular media and the courtroom, and he explores why society is susceptible to the bad science and risky therapies put forward by many antivaccination activists."

Comment: here are all the fraudulent studies showing vaccines 'don't cause autism' [...]

"The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint but is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices."---C. S. Lewis

Statistics don't lie, but liars use statistics. ----James B. and Hannah Yoseph

and the independent ones showing the truth, they do [...][...]
Selected Studies on the Toxicity of Thimerosal [...]
"Nancy Hokkanen came up with one of the greatest analogies ever to describe the autism and vaccine controversy and how it feels to us parents of kids with autism. She compared it to the Catholic Church's cover up of decades of sexual abuse."-----Nancy Hokkanen and Kim Stagliano - on the Cover up of vaccine damage and Autism

"We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines.......Every doctor now essentially in this country has done something as heinous as the Nazis did, unknowingly."----Dr. Mayer Eisenstein

"40 years ago when I started my practice only 1 in 10,000 children had autism. Today it's 1 in 100. What is the only difference we have seen? The inordinate number of vaccines that are being given to children today. My partners and I have over 35,000 patients who have never been vaccinated. You know how many cases of autism we have seen? ZERO, ZERO. I have made this statement for over 40 years: "NO VACCINES NO AUTISM".---Dr. Mayer Eisenstein (sourced [...]
I am no longer "trying to dig up evidence to prove" vaccines cause autism. There is already abundant evidence,...... This debate is not scientific but is political. --- [July 9, 2006 Blog/letter] Discovering the causes, treatment of autism ----David Ayoub, MD

The evidence is now overwhelming, despite the misinformation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Institute of Medicine. The (Pretending to) Combat Autism Act By Bernard Rimland

"I think that the biological case against Thimerosal is so dramatically overwhelming anymore that only a very foolish or a very dishonest person with the credentials to understand this research would say that Thimerosal wasn't most likely the cause of autism."--- Interview of Dr. Boyd E. Haley by Teri Small:

"In my view, this is not a scientific issue. This is about as proven an issue as you're ever going to see, and what's occurring here is a cover up under the guise of protecting the vaccine program. And I'm for the vaccine program. You keep covering it up and your not going to have a vaccine program," Geier

PAUL OFFIT AND DOCTORS AND CDC ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB....WE HAVE AN AUTISM EPIDEMIC OF 3.5 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE USA AND THEY HAVE NO ANSWERS AS TO WHAT THE CAUSE IS....WE NEED ANSWERS AND WE NEED CURES. NOT EXCUSES. ALL THEY DO IS SIT AROUND AND SAY...."AUTISM IS NOT FROM THIS OR THAT"

While this book does show the errors committed by greedy researchers in the early anti-vaccination movement, it does not address the other issues revolving around the current epidemic. It is obviously multifactorial in nature. Although this book focuses primarily on the MMR vaccine and thimerosal, it does not address the aggressive increase in the number and grouping of vaccinations and the possible complications of such an assault upon naive immune systems like those possessed by infants/toddlers. As a physician with a child on the Autism Spectrum, I can assure you that there is nothing clear cut about this diagnosis. I can tell you that my child has a folder full of abnormal labs and obvious evidence of leaky gut syndrome. This author foolishly dismisses the notion that a leaky gut can lead to cognitive impairment, an over-reactive immune system, and a subclinical encephalopathy. He is wrong. I have read extensively regarding the biomedical approaches to curing Autism, and the science is quite sound. The gluten-free/casein-free diet alone have altered my child dramatically, as have the supplements and probiotics. The DAN! Doctors he so casually disparages are very clear that they do support vaccinations, just not in such an aggressive fashion, and not without first determining if the individual child has risk factors which might lead to an adverse reaction. This book does nothing more than defend an industry while simultaneously stripping parents of hope. I read it in one day, so it is engaging. It is also extremely biased.

This book is absolute Garbage. He seeks to gain monetarily from big pharma so of course he is pro vaccine. Failure to mention the drug manufacturers cannot be held liable for vaccine injury or death....108 children died from the MMR shot and 3.1 billion of your tax payer $ have been paid out to families of vaccine injured children, not opinion but fact. Not a single child has died in the USA from measles in the last 10 years. Dr.Wakefields ground breaking research linking the MMR to autism has been confirmed many times over since he was falsely discredited. Currently Italy has come forward publically with their findings on the MMR link to autism. but the professional paid astroturfers will continue to bully and lie about anyone that goes against the industry as there is too much money involved.

Buyer beware....the author of this book Dr. Offit, is a very big beneficiary, to the tune of tens of millions, of the vaccine industry itself. Please just Google him in combination with "conflict of interest" and do your due diligence on this man. I would not trust anything written by this man on this subject because he is not objective.

Paul Offit is so certain that vaccines are safe and in particular the MMR vaccine and yet he's not undertaken ANY research into why Autism now affects 1 in 50. If he really cared about children he could finance 'independent' studies and and at least attempt to find out what is happening with these poor children.
Vaccines don't just cause Autism either, a very wide range of side effects from GBS, encephalitis and even tragically SIDs are listed as possible side effects on vaccine inserts.
Stop checking your huge bank balance Offit and start caring.

Although Offit is an M.D., he avoided delving into genetics. Just a brief primer would have helped his readers understand why autism is such a complex disease. Put simply, certain operons on the DNA can be switched "on" or "off" due to environmental influences. He makes the connection between environmental toxins and autism when the child is in the womb, but minimizes this very connection in childhood, preferring the argument that a child is born autistic and a specialist can often spot this very early, even in infancy. While there is likely a propensity (genotype) toward or away from autism, where some children are born with the coding for various proteins and enzymes which ameliorate various environmental effects and some children are not, whether or not autism is EXPRESSED (phenotype) is potentially due to environmental factors.

The author should have spent less time repeating things he'd said earlier and devoted more of the book's space to footnoting and referencing. Some of the allegations and claims he makes are simply untrue. The routine vaccination list he describes on p. 243 is incomplete. Besmirching what the DAN! doctors and their group have done for autistic children, his accusations on p. 123 lack footnotes. He doesn't bring up Elaine Gottschall's work. He concludes, yet does not support, that autism is a brain issue alone, and dismisses the brain/gut connection, in spite of the wealth of biochemistry and science to support this. Most people do not understand the genetics or biochemistry behind diseases, but doctors are supposed to help bridge those gaps, not widen them.

The book concedes that there is more effort underway than ever, but still no cure, yet vilifies parents who are trying all they can and have made huge strides with dietary intervention. He greatly overexaggerates the use of some of the more bizarre alternative treatments, and maligns parents who, horror of horrors, include probiotics and digestive enzymes in their child's healing regimen. Because scientific studies have not been conducted on the benefits of dietary intervention, he dismisses the "proof is in the pudding" evidence. This is a shame, as so many more parents would find relief and experience less behavioral difficulties with their autistic children, but they will not attempt the diet or stick to it long enough unless their doctor supports them. Books like this are a major setback to that.

I found this book to be filled with demonization of individuals who have truly tried to help autistic children and adults reach their full potential. The author includes descriptions of some very trying days with severely autistic children, yet offers nothing in the way of practical advice, hope, or solutions. It's simply a book against people who have experienced vaccinations to be harmful, even though these people may well represent the "acceptable risk" percentage associated with vaccines, and may actually have valid points and observations

First and foremost people should know that Dr. Offit invented a vaccine for rotavirus and is associated with Merck pharmaceuticals. He is not unbiased in his opinions.
I do believe that a vaccine may have pushed some children over the edge and into autism. I believe children become at risk through allergies, environmental toxin exposure, overuse of antibioitics and medications, and being born prematurely. An overstressed or immature immune system results. They may also have a decreased ability to detoxify their system naturally. You add a vaccine on top of that and it may just be the fateful straw that broke the camel's back. For other children, autism may develop over time but I believe it is still due to the above factors that put children at risk and a vaccine may just add insult to injury for these children instead of pushing them completely over the edge.
I believe Dr. Offit should be spending his time finding ways to help these poor children instead of writing books against parent's who are just looking for some hope and answers to why their child no longer says "Mommma" or "Dada" or anything else for that matter. I do agree that the more intensive therapies and interventions for autism should be under doctor's supervision and carefully monitored. He does make a point there but that is about all I can find useful from this book. I think all Dr. Offit does here is possibly send more children down a road to autism instead of finding the reason it is happening for so many American children. Until they get ALL the toxins(aluminum, antifreeze, formaldehyde, aborted human fetus cells, chick embryos, monkey kidney cells, fetal bovine serum)out of vaccines, I feel they could still be a contributing factor. (By the way, the flu vaccine still contains the mercury based preservative-beware!) After all the number of autistic children is going up, not down. I am not anti-vaccine, we just need them to be safe, take out ALL the toxins. And let's identify the children who could be at risk for autism through testing before we have more children develop the heartbreaking disorder.
Until Dr. Offit is able to provide the cause for autism, in my estimation, he is not qualified to tell us what does not cause it. The fact is he doesn't know.

Dr. Offit is so convinced that all the studies disprove a link between vaccines and autism, yet there are major gaps in his reasoning. Health officials and Dr. Offit attribute the explosion in autism to "better diagnosing" by doctors and therefore no real increase, yet there has never been a study showing us the misdiagnosed adults with autism at a rate even approaching what we see in children. If autism's always been around, why are we always talking about kids with autism?

Dr. Offit never addresses the fact that the mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal was never tested and approved by the FDA. Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Co. came up with the plan for using mercury in vaccines and after the creation of the FDA, its use was simply continued.

And the studies that Dr. Offit and others love citing are epidemiological research. They're the same type used by the tobacco industry back in the 1940s and 50s as proof that smoking didn't cause lung cancer.

The truth is a once rare disorder is now so common that everyone knows someone with an autistic child and no one can reasonably tell us why. Parents are afraid. This book does nothing to dispel fears that vaccines have damaging side effects.

Anne McElroy Dachel

Offitts Book is not fully researched. It was totally one sided and makes quotes from various doctors who are out of sync with the real world. These kids were "normal" then all the sudden they stop talking, become ill and mentally can't connected with anyone and anything around them. Wouldn't you think something happened all the sudden?! Offitt needs to spend a day in the life of a parent or doctor who deals with these small children who are sick and disconnected. Then he will see that they are not just children being stubborn or spoiled. Watch our for Karma!

I was highly disappointed in this book. The author was stating opinions and one sided results from flawed studies. I am a mom of a child who has autism and I am undecided if his autism was due to vaccinations, however, I do believe it can cause it in some children. The author mentions Jenny McCarthy and "her degree in Google". This is similar to what I recently went through by seeing various doctors (including an allergist) to determine a source of my itching from head to toe. I finally found the simple answer on my own by searching the internet. If you want to read an informative, unbiased book about vaccination benefits vs. risks, read The Vaccine Book, by Robert Sears.

I am the mother of three children with autism (full disclosure you know.) I have to ask why Dr. Offit, a well documented expert in infectious disease, was compelled to write a book that disputes treatments for an illness that is not infectious. Could it be that it is the autism community that has been the most vocal in our questioning of the safety of our national immunization program? Is Dr. Offit shooting the messenger with this book? How does a doctor who does not treat children with autism for a living know so much about what does NOT work? I find the entire premise of the book curious and more fitting to have been written by a neurologist or psychiatrist who at least sees children with autism every day.

Also, my girls have benefitted greatly from some of the treatments Dr. Offit "debunks." For them, treatment may mean the difference between a dreadful life in an institution and life at home with their father and me. I think that makes the potential "risk" of our treatments practically null compared to doing nothing for our precious girls.

Thank you for reading this. I have to go kiss my kids goodnight now.

Zero stars. This book claims a child could get 100,000 vaccines in one day, no problem. Really? Offit's prose is based on the assumption that epidemiology (study of populations) is infallible. We had over a decade of epidemiology "proving" that cigarettes did not cause lung cancer. He ignores the only two non-epidemiological (in the lab) studies have been done on autism and vaccines. Columbia University (rats) and University of Pittsburg (monkeys) came to the exact opposite conclusion as Offit. This book reveals Offit as the next Walter Freeman ("Dr. Labotomy"), who went to his grave in denial that he had harmed anyone. The only difference here is money: the $180 million in Offit's pocket for his patent. He concentrates on harsh words for doctors doing the search for a cure, while he and the medical community at large are still in denial that there's an epidemic. The bold red "FALSE" is the word that jumps out at you from the cover, and sums up the content -- FALSE. Save your money, this book is drivel.