Toronto Public Health vs Jenny McCarthy

[tropaka]

didn't know if this might fall under Worldly Distractions (feel free to move) but considering some fundies are anti vax I thought I'd throw it here first

http://www.thestar.com/life/health_well ... ealth.html

Toronto Public Health is speaking out against model/actress-turned-activist Jenny McCarthy, an anti-vaccine advocate who believes her son Evan’s autism was triggered by a vaccine.

The local health agency tweeted on Monday that McCarthy “cites fraudulent research on vaccines and it’s irresponsible to provide her with (The View’s) platform.â€

McCarthy is the newest co-host of The View, replacing Joy Behar on the daytime talk show.

In its tweets, the health agency linked to a Toronto Public Health infographic showing the impact of vaccines in Canada. It says vaccines have virtually eliminated reports of several diseases, including polio, pertussis, diphtheria and rubella.

Toronto Public Health also linked to a fact sheet called “The Truth About Vaccines,†which debunks the myth that there’s a link between the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine and autism.

“Many studies of thousands of children show that the levels of autism are similar among vaccinated and unvaccinated children,†the fact sheet says.

“The recent increase in autism rates may be the result of better recognition and diagnosis.â€

It encouraged readers to ask ABC “to change their mind†about hiring McCarthy.

The anti-vaccine movement stems from a 1998 paper authored by researcher and doctor Andrew Wakefield. It drew a link between childhood mumps, measles and rubella vaccinations and autism and bowel disease, causing vaccine rates to take a hit in Britain.

The study has since been retracted by The Lancet, which published it. But McCarthy has continued to support the paper’s findings and the anti-vaccine crusade.

Brian Ward, a professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at McGill University, says it’s a small group of people, including McCarthy, who continue to promote anti-vaccine views.

“The trouble is that someone like Jenny McCarthy, photogenic with the tragic story of a child with autism, can reach many, many people, especially parents who are watching daytime television,†Ward said.

“That’s precisely the format where she can be phenomenally convincing.â€

He helps run a vaccine clinic for people going abroad. Often, university students will show up saying they’ve never had any vaccines because their parents didn’t believe in them — a dangerous choice, he says, because measles is still a very infectious disease.

“It’s a not a death wish but it’s so stupid,†Ward said.

[lilwriter85]

Uggh Jenny McCarthy. A friend of mine used to work with autistic kids and Jenny McCarthy has pissed of parents and educators in that community.

[Arete]

That tool has done so much damage with her anti-vaccine bullshit. Anti-vaccine charlatanism is one of my beserk buttons.

[Jana814]

Uggh Jenny McCarthy. A friend of mine used to work with autistic kids and Jenny McCarthy has pissed of parents and educators in that community.

That does not Suprise me at all. It's all over my Facebook feed that people r pissed that they choise Jenny McCarthy.

[BalconySmoker]

One of my children cannot have many vaccinations or must have them delayed due to medical issues. Luckily, herd immunity has kept them from getting ill. Unfortunately, despite them not being vaxed, that child is still Autistic. So Miss. McCarthy is a dolt. Vaccinations don't cause Autism.

Furthermore, after having a child with Autism....i'd still take that over polio. Just sayin'. Even if these anti-vaxxers had a point (which they don't) wouldn't you still rather have an Autistic child than a dead child from a disease we've largely eradicated? I mean shit.

The other thing that scares me is that these idiot parents put my kids at risk. Since I have a kid who medically has to pass or wait on vaccines, and they give them up just because of some bullshit they read on google. It's my understanding that herd immunity will keep my kid safe, but that's less likely to work the more people pass on vaxxing when they have no medical reason to.

[DifferentGurl]

One of my children cannot have many vaccinations or must have them delayed due to medical issues. Luckily, herd immunity has kept them from getting ill. Unfortunately, despite them not being vaxed, that child is still Autistic. So Miss. McCarthy is a dolt. Vaccinations don't cause Autism.

Furthermore, after having a child with Autism....i'd still take that over polio. Just sayin'. Even if these anti-vaxxers had a point (which they don't) wouldn't you still rather have an Autistic child than a dead child from a disease we've largely eradicated? I mean shit.

The other thing that scares me is that these idiot parents put my kids at risk. Since I have a kid who medically has to pass or wait on vaccines, and they give them up just because of some bullshit they read on google. It's my understanding that herd immunity will keep my kid safe, but that's less likely to work the more people pass on vaxxing when they have no medical reason to.

I'm autistic and I'd rather have autism than a painful disease that I might die from. I mean, if I got polio or some of these other diseases, I'd end up disabled anyways.

Also, I am still unsure about whether vaccines cause autism or not. If they really want to prove the world that vaccines don't cause autism, they need to study all the vaccines and not just that MMR one ( sorry if I got that wrong ) and need to study if it's something else in the vaccines that cause it.

My mother hate McCarthy with a passion. Just mentioning her name causes her to instantly scowl.

Does anyone else believe her son may not have autism? There are articles that he may have this Landau-Kleffner syndrome that mimics autism.

[Someonetocall]

But didn't Jenny say she'd cured her son's autism? Surely, with this miraculous cure for autism now existing, she can shut up and stop interfering with the actually prevention and potential eradication of diseases?

[CallmeChaCha]

^^ yes, that's what I remember too. She said it was due to her changing his diet, right?

[GeoBQn]

She claimed that her son was cured by chelation therapy, which is done on the assumption that autism is caused by mercury in vaccines--even though children's vaccines haven't contained mercury since 2001. Chelation therapy has risks of causing heart attacks and strokes.

[CallmeChaCha]

She claimed that her son was cured by chelation therapy, which is done on the assumption that autism is caused by mercury in vaccines--even though children's vaccines haven't contained mercury since 2001. Chelation therapy has risks of causing heart attacks and strokes.

Ahh ok. I dont think I had heard that's what she tried. It sounds... not pretty. I know chelating agents are used to remove metals in wastewater. Didn't know it was used in humans as well.

[MsSaylor]

Yeah I thought I saw somewhere that she now believes her son has something else and vaccines didn't cause it. Whatever. I can't stand celebrities who think they are fucking doctors influencing people with their crap.

I'm also an autism mama (interesting how much ASD is representing on fj). My son is only 3 so we are relatively knew to the game. I have always been staunchly pro vaccine, and knew all about the Andrew Wakefield fraud before my son was even born. He is fully vaccinated. I will admit to having many dark moments after realizing he had autism where I contemplated (and googled) everything I could think of that was ever put into his or my body that could have caused this. I began being haunted by every choice I made and just knew I did something to cause it. It didn't help that I was pregnant with my daughter during this time. I have mostly come to my senses and realized that it's probably genetics. Also that it doesn't really matter what caused it and that my guilt and fear were not helping my son and were getting in the way of bonding with my daughter. But I will admit that there is a lingering fear there. My daughters 2 month shots are coming up and im scared. Anyway my point is even if this stuff about vaccines is bullshit and I know it, the people out there in the media preaching it and writing articles plants the seed of doubt in my mind. And for many people that would be all it took to make the decision not to vaccine. And that has very dangerous consequences.

[bluelady]

Uggh Jenny McCarthy. A friend of mine used to work with autistic kids and Jenny McCarthy has pissed of parents and educators in that community.

My sister works kids with autism and more than pissed people off, there are a whole lot of parents trying very radical things in order to "cure" their child's autism like Jenny claims to have. In one example my sister told me of, a set of parents put their toddler on a very radical, very strict organic, raw, vegan diet. My sister said that the whole time she worked with this child, she didn't see him have access to anything but almonds and veggie sticks.

**not saying that organic, raw, vegan diets are inherently bad - my sister felt that the diet this particular child was on was extreme and its only purpose was to "cure" autism, not for any health benefits or moral beliefs held by his parents.

[Lainey]

That tool has done so much damage with her anti-vaccine bullshit. Anti-vaccine charlatanism is one of my beserk buttons.

Me too. Actually, Jenny McCarthy is one of my berserk buttons. :evil: :x

[crazyforkate]

Even if vaccines did have a risk of autism, I'd rather have a living kid with autism than a kid who didn't make it to kindergarten because he picked up measles or something. Do they not realize how many lives vacccines have saved and continue to save? Team Toronto Public Health. Jenny, GO AWAY.

And to any parents who come across this, why are you taking the word of an idiotic no-talent with no scientific background over millions of trained professionals? The mind, it boggles.

[niagarahauls]

I do think it is hilarious that there is a website out there called jennymccarthybodycount.com which tracks the number of vaccine preventable deaths since she launched her anti-vax media campaign in 2007.

She was much more likable when she was simply the host of that vacuous dating show on MTV in the 1990s.i fail to see how anyone would take parenting or medical advice from her. The coolest thing about her in my opinion is the fact that Melissa McCarthy(from Bridesmaids) is her cousin.

[Antigone]

Wow. I can't really understand taking a celebrity seriously over the health authorities. That's just me, though. I know celebrities have their platforms and their issues (Michael J Fox and Parkinson's, for example) but the thing that bothers me is that people are using McCarthy as an expert or authority or whatever on the issue instead of medical professionals. I could be wrong though, since I only read a few articles back when this whole thing broke out and moved on.

Sev is in the medical profession, and gets a funny twitch whenever McCarthy is mentioned.

[Mela99]

Uggh Jenny McCarthy. A friend of mine used to work with autistic kids and Jenny McCarthy has pissed of parents and educators in that community.

Same. My mom worked at a special needs camp every summer, and still has 2-3 autistic and aspbergers students.

Has she ever apologized for her crazy-crazy? I remember when it came out that that study she hawked was totally fake.

[tropaka]

generationrescue.org/

her foundation's web site. Advisory board seems to be made up actual M.D.'s but she includes diets, chelation therapy and homeopathy as part of the treatment options. No word on vaccines.

[StatenIslandMom1]

My older son is on the autism spectrum, and I am relatively certain that vaccines had nothing to do with it. He has a congenital heart defect and had open heart surgery as an infant, and that increases the risk of having developmental disabilities.

I dislike Jenny McCarthy so much that I can't really talk about her rationally. She says that parents who don't use the special diet and other "therapies" are cowards, etc.

Some of the things promoted by her are fine in moderation, i.e. modifying a diet to be healthier, trying to cut out gluten to see if it helps, etc. But many of the things like chelation therapy are harmful.

[MsSaylor]

I hate the idea that autism can be cured also. There is no cure. Early intervention and therapies improve outcomes and that's what parents should focus on. Not spending their money and time on supposed cures that only offer false hope. A vegan diet is not going to rewire my sons brain and chelation is dangerous. A gf/cf diet can improve behaviors for any kid who may have an intolerance to those things but is not a cure for autism.

Jacqueline from the RHONJ also has an autistic child and has worried me some with her talking about "healing" him. She also bought him a hyperbaric chamber. She also appears to be getting him the appropriate therapies and so far doesn't seem as bad as Jenny McCarthy with hawking pseudoscience. I'm keeping an eye on it though. I do appreciate seeing the storyline on a mainstream show

[Coconut Flan]

I've heard it said by a friend with several grandchildren with autism that any child whose parents claim their child was cured of autism had a bum diagnosis from the beginning.

[MsSaylor]

Yeah. There are people who can qualify for the diagnosis and then later, after intervention, no longer qualify for it. Some of these kids didn't have it in the first place. Others are high functioning enough to have learned and applied enough "normal" social skills that they can basically pass as neurotypical. Just like there are tons of adults out there who werent diagnosed but might be under today's diagnostic criteria. They can function and pass but are now learning why they've always struggled with certain things.

[dairyfreelife]

From what I can recall, her son didn't even have autism after all, so her claim that her son was cured is a lie.

[FreeJosie]

One of my children cannot have many vaccinations or must have them delayed due to medical issues. Luckily, herd immunity has kept them from getting ill. Unfortunately, despite them not being vaxed, that child is still Autistic. So Miss. McCarthy is a dolt. Vaccinations don't cause Autism.

Furthermore, after having a child with Autism....i'd still take that over polio. Just sayin'. Even if these anti-vaxxers had a point (which they don't) wouldn't you still rather have an Autistic child than a dead child from a disease we've largely eradicated? I mean shit.

The other thing that scares me is that these idiot parents put my kids at risk. Since I have a kid who medically has to pass or wait on vaccines, and they give them up just because of some bullshit they read on google. It's my understanding that herd immunity will keep my kid safe, but that's less likely to work the more people pass on vaxxing when they have no medical reason to.

My son has Asperger's syndrome, and I totally agree with you about Jenny McCarthy.

[luv2run]

My six year old has autism. And my 3 year old

still isn't talking. I don't believe vaccines caused the

autism, but I don't think they helped. They both regressed receiving the vaccines.

I have a 3 month old now and I refused her 2 month

vaccines. I can't be sure if its the vaccines or not

that's causing these issues, but I'm delaying them because so far, several of my kids aren't responding

well to them (we landed in the ER after my autistic sons

8 month round of shots - wasn't diagnosed them).

I don't find it easy to say of rather pick autism.

I can't pick either because they are both hard. Watching

your children regress is like watching a flame flicker

out. I Iove my kids, but the emotional heartbreak of

watching them lose what they had (speech,

playing with kids) has left me uterrly devestated some

days.

I loathe Jenny McCarthy with an unbridled passion