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Bad Science, Risky Medicine, And The Search For A Cure
Columbia University Press
September 2008
On Sale: September 5, 2008
328 pages
ISBN: 0231146361
EAN: 9780231146364
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
A London researcher was the first to assert that the
combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine known as MMR
caused autism in children. Following this "discovery," a
handful of parents declared that a mercury-containing
preservative in several vaccines was responsible for the
disease. If mercury caused autism, they reasoned,
eliminating it from a child's system should treat the
disorder. Consequently, a number of untested alternative
therapies arose, and, most tragically, in one such
treatment, a doctor injected a five-year-old autistic boy
with a chemical in an effort to cleanse him of mercury,
which stopped his heart instead. Children with autism
have been placed on stringent diets, subjected to
high-temperature saunas, bathed in magnetic clay, asked to
swallow digestive enzymes and activated charcoal, and
injected with various combinations of vitamins, minerals,
and acids. Instead of helping, these therapies can hurt
those who are most vulnerable, and particularly in the case
of autism, they undermine childhood vaccination programs
that have saved millions of lives. An overwhelming body of
scientific evidence clearly shows that childhood vaccines
are safe and does not cause autism. Yet widespread fear of
vaccines on the part of parents persists. In this
book, Paul A. Offit, a national expert on vaccines,
challenges the modern-day false prophets who have so
egregiously misled the public and exposes the opportunism of
the lawyers, journalists, celebrities, and politicians who
support them. Offit recounts the history of autism research
and the exploitation of this tragic condition by advocates
and zealots. 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.
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