http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/03/larry-king-to-1.html
Larry King interviewed a family tonight. A family that consists of a neurologist father, attorney and nurse mother and a nine-year-old daughter who suffers a mitochondrial disorder with "autism like symptoms." The family was just awarded a settlement from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation fund.
As I was watching, I yelled at my TV several times, especially when all of the people interviewed, including the parents whose child regressed into Autism, oh wait, that's "autism like symptoms" (which for some reason, were enough to get Hutton diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder) all said how important vaccines are. Really? So, when vaccines may possibly cause autism, and did in the case of Hannah Poling, and Autism affects 1 in 150 children, everyone should just go right ahead and get all of those shots, and just hope their kids aren't one of the "special ones" to get Autism? No thanks. I'm done with vaccines until the medical and scientific community can figure out to make them so they don't cause harm. First, do no harm.
I also screamed at the TV when hearing for the umpteenth time how mercury/thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines in 2001. GRRRR! No, it wasn't. It was in all of Hutton's vaccines (he was born in August 2001). It was phased out, not recalled There are still vaccines with the full amount of thimerosal floating around that were manufactured before the "phase out". And thimerosal is still in most flu shots, which are recommended for infants and pregnant woman, don't you know. Oh, and the other thimerosal free vaccines? They still have trace mercury. It's "removed" during manufacturing. So, they still have trace amounts of a potent neurotoxin, that bioaccumulates in the brains of many children, especially when they receive up to...well, I don't even want to count how many they receive. You can see it here. No, not all of those have thimerosal -- MMR uses live viruses, and can't have thimerosal, since it's used to kill things, and it would kill the viruses in the vaccine. Oh, and the fact that live viruses are injected into kids -- that's not a big problem either. Don't worry your pretty little head.
Anyway, even though listening to the spin on this big decision made me want to vomit, it still is a chink in the armor: the government settled a case, admitting that vaccines caused one child to regress into autism. I'm pretty sure she's not the only one.
Oh, and Ginger at Adventures in Autism has a great post about the spin going on. Read Spinning the Hannah Poling Case.
UPDATE: After watching the Poling family on Good Morning America, I felt much better. They said much more than they had a chance to on Larry King. Just stop watching as soon as the talking head/doctor comes on, because he just has more of the same vaccine BS.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
A Chink in the Armor
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I'd have shot the tv. I heard about this on Full Soul Ahead earlier today. You know, it kind of irks me that thousands of parents have cried "immunization regression" and are treated as imbeciles, as if those thousands of parents have no clue, then wealthy doctor and wife lawyer stand up -FOR THEMSELVES ONLY? and are handed some damned cash (which won't make their kid better and they don't seem to be hurting for cash). Give me break, please, or a license to take some . . . . out.
I agree. Larry King was painful to watch. But the initial press conference was good and actually the family interview this morning was pretty good.
I also cringe on the "vaccines save lives" irregardless of the risks stance but I do get the impression that the Poling family are having to closely watch what they say. Their message often seems conflicting and honestly on Larry King it almost felt like they were wanting to say "but..." but didn't get the opportunity. But then they are also medical professionals and I can understand them sort of toeing the line. Still we watched it stunned as well.
Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and share your pain and joy.
Stacy - Although you have a point about the $ not helping, and the family probably not really needing it, I do think their taking their child's case to court has helped the autism community. It brings awareness, and having parents who are "smart" telling their story, as opposed to the rest of us with our silly "anecdotal" evidence -- the scientific community is more likely to say, "Well, hmm, this MD/PhD neurologist says vaccines played a part in his daughter's autism. That's the same thing all these normal parents have been saying for years, but we've just ignored them. Well, gosh, maybe we DO need to look into that!"
MWAM - Yeah, I watched them on GMA and felt better about things, and I do get the impression that they can't speak out completely on the issue due to the settlement. I just hate hearing the same thing every time vaccines are brought up - JUST DO IT! Don't question their safety! Vax your kids without a second thought!
Post a Comment