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''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' called the book "forceful" and "an easy-to-read medical thriller about the consequences of greed, hubris, and intellectual sloppiness."<ref name=Lord>{{cite journal |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=2008-12-12 |volume=322 |issue=5908 |pages=1635–6 |title= Yes We Can! Choose Science in Autism |last=Lord |first=Catherine |doi=10.1126/science.1167173}}</ref> The review noted that Offit did not discuss the irrationality of human decision-making in the presence of relative risk and both anecdotal and empirical evidence, and mentioned that Offit did not carefully discuss the role of regression. In conclusion, the review observed that the book has emboldened the media to apply scientific principles, and called for using the book's momentum to shift resources from the autism–vaccination debate to research into causes and treatments.<ref name=Lord/> |
''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' called the book "forceful" and "an easy-to-read medical thriller about the consequences of greed, hubris, and intellectual sloppiness."<ref name=Lord>{{cite journal |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=2008-12-12 |volume=322 |issue=5908 |pages=1635–6 |title= Yes We Can! Choose Science in Autism |last=Lord |first=Catherine |doi=10.1126/science.1167173}}</ref> The review noted that Offit did not discuss the irrationality of human decision-making in the presence of relative risk and both anecdotal and empirical evidence, and mentioned that Offit did not carefully discuss the role of regression. In conclusion, the review observed that the book has emboldened the media to apply scientific principles, and called for using the book's momentum to shift resources from the autism–vaccination debate to research into causes and treatments.<ref name=Lord/> |
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Four months after its release, the ''[[New York Times]]'' reported that the book was "galvanizing a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the United States". The book had been endorsed widely by pediatricians, researchers into autism, vaccine companies, and medical journalists. The ''Times'' story also reported that many doctors were now saying that reporters should treat the antivaccine lobby like [[AIDS denialism]] and other fringe theories.<ref>{{cite news |last=McNeil |first= Donald G., Jr. |title= Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade |work= [[New York Times]] |date=2009-01-12 |accessdate=2009-01-13}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
== See also == |
Revision as of 18:18, 13 January 2009
Author | Paul Offit |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Subject | Autism and vaccine controversy |
Publisher | Columbia University Press |
Publication date | September 5, 2008 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Pages | 328 (first edition) |
ISBN | 978-0-231-14636-4 |
Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure is a 2008 book by Paul Offit, a vaccine expert and chief of infectious disease at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The book focuses on the controversy surrounding purported links between vaccines and autism.
Summary
Offit describes the origins and development of claims regarding the MMR vaccine and the vaccine preservative thiomersal, as well as subsequent scientific evidence which has disproven a link with autism. The book discusses possible explanations for the persistence of these claims in the face of scientific evidence to the contrary, as well as the proliferation of potentially risky and unproven treatments for autism.[1] The author takes a critical view of several advocates of a vaccine–autism link, including Andrew Wakefield, David Kirby, Mark Geier, and Boyd Haley, raising scientific and, in some cases, ethical and legal concerns. The book also explores divisions within the autism community on the topic of vaccines, as some parents consider the ongoing narrow focus on vaccines a distraction from more scientifically promising avenues of research. In this vein, Offit interviews Kathleen Seidel, a mother of an autistic child who has published investigations critical of those who profit from promoting vaccine–autism claims.[2]
Offit also touches on the heated and bitter debate surrounding vaccine claims. He describes receiving death threats, hate mail, and threats against his children as a result of his advocacy for vaccine safety. Offit declined to do a book tour for Autism's False Prophets, citing concerns about his physical safety and comparing the intensity of hatred and threats directed at him to that experienced by abortion providers.[3] Author's royalties from the book are being donated to the Center for Autism Research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.[4]
Reception
The book was the nucleus of profiles of Offit in Newsweek[3] and The Philadephia Inquirer.[5] The New York Post reviewed the book positively, concluding: "Although arguably the most courageous and most knowledgeable scientist about vaccines in the United States, Offit lives in fear for his life and that of his family."[1] The Wall Street Journal also praised the book as "an invaluable chronicle that relates some of the many ways in which the vulnerabilities of anxious parents have been exploited."[6]
The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that the book "names names and calls nonsense nonsense", and provides "important insight into the fatal flaws of the key arguments of vaccine alarmists." The Inquirer applauded Offit's focus on slanted and sensationalist media coverage of the vaccine–autism issue, but faulted Offit for not holding scientists themselves sufficiently accountable for their failure to communicate the facts to the public.[7]
The Rocky Mountain News noted that the book "turned the tables" on those who see a pharmaceutical-industry conspiracy behind vaccination, by pointing out that the advocates of the autism–vaccine link receive large sums of money from lawyers and lobbyists. The News applauded the book's deconstruction of "misinformation" from Don Imus, Jenny McCarthy, Joseph Lieberman, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., among others, but found Offit's "sarcasm and brow-beating of those he disagrees with" to be "grating".[8]
Salon reviewed the book as an "enlightening, highly readable, and ... timely" work which "deconstruct[s] the anti-vaccine movement as one driven by bad science, litigious greed, hype and ego."[2] Salon faulted Offit for minimizing the work that autism advocacy groups have done to raise awareness, create support networks, and obtain research funding; the review noted that Offit focuses instead on aggressive and scientifically "slanted" groups like Defeat Autism Now! and Generation Rescue. The review concluded that the book "effectively pulls back the curtain on the anti-vaccine movement to reveal a crusade grounded less in fact and more in greed and opportunism".[2]
Science called the book "forceful" and "an easy-to-read medical thriller about the consequences of greed, hubris, and intellectual sloppiness."[9] The review noted that Offit did not discuss the irrationality of human decision-making in the presence of relative risk and both anecdotal and empirical evidence, and mentioned that Offit did not carefully discuss the role of regression. In conclusion, the review observed that the book has emboldened the media to apply scientific principles, and called for using the book's momentum to shift resources from the autism–vaccination debate to research into causes and treatments.[9]
Four months after its release, the New York Times reported that the book was "galvanizing a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the United States". The book had been endorsed widely by pediatricians, researchers into autism, vaccine companies, and medical journalists. The Times story also reported that many doctors were now saying that reporters should treat the antivaccine lobby like AIDS denialism and other fringe theories.[10]
See also
References
- ^ a b Goldberg, Robert (2008-09-14). "Autism's False Prophets: A Shot of Truth". New York Post. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ a b c Parikh, Rahul (2008-09-22). "Inside the vaccine-and-autism scare". Salon. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ a b Kalb, Claudia (2008-11-03). "Stomping through a medical minefield". Newsweek. 152 (18): 62–3. PMID 18998447. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ "Author Royalties From Autism Book Donated to Autism Research" (Press release). Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 2008-11-03. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ Avril, Tom (2008-09-17). "Expert sees no link between vaccines and autism". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ Seebach, Linda (2008-09-23). "Charlatans to the Rescue". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ Collins, Huntly (2008-09-21). "Defending vaccines in the autism debate". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ Ruskin, Steve (2008-10-02). "Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure". Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ a b Lord, Catherine (2008-12-12). "Yes We Can! Choose Science in Autism". Science. 322 (5908): 1635–6. doi:10.1126/science.1167173.
- ^ McNeil, Donald G., Jr. (2009-01-12). "Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade". New York Times.
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External links
- Columbia University Press web page for Autism's False Prophets
- Excerpt from the book's prologue