James+B’s+OpEd+Article

by James B
media type="file" key="jimb-muckraker-0910.mp3"

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// Jenny McCarthy is a former actress, comedienne, and Playboy model. She is the mother of a child who was diagnosed as being autistic. She has awakened concern for autistic children through her various efforts, written books on the subject, and rallied for green vaccines.

She has stated that she believes that the childhood MMR vaccination was the cause of her son's condition. She believes that she cured her son through biomedical treatments, and has stated that he will not be receiving any more vaccines.

Some do not believe that her son was autistic in the first place. Many have dismissed claims such as this (from McCarthy's Generation Rescue organization) as pseudoscientific quackery: //

//"We have helped thousands of children improve their symptoms or recover from autism and related disorders."// //-Generation Rescue Home Page//

// Regardless, McCarthy's voice was and is being heard. She has appeared on Oprah and currently lies under "Expert Content" on Oprah's website. //

// "Though close to 80% of American children receive the standard battery of vaccinations, skepticism about their safety remains widespread, in part because of the antiscientific clamor of the McCarthy camp. Enough parents are refusing to vaccinate that some long-dormant maladies, like measles and meningitis, have re-emerged. Nonvaccination rates among kindergartners in some California counties have been reported at 10%. To McCarthy's opponents, from the public-health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the pediatricians of the American Academy of Pediatrics, this makes McCarthy much worse than a crank: she's a menace to public health." -TIME //

Passion–intensity–crusades of caring–

Concern yourself not with these.

The responsibility to vet lies not with the zealot–not with the babbler.

It lies with those who can choose to give that person voice–

It lies with those who do.

It lies–neglected–dying–

But does it lie with you?

// “I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their fucking fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's shit. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism.” // // –Jenny McCarthy //

// “A federal court ruled Friday that the evidence supporting an alleged causal link between autism and a mercury-containing preservative in vaccines is unpersuasive.” // // –CNN //

// “We don't believe it's only the mercury. Aluminum and other toxins also play a role. The viruses in the vaccines themselves can be causing it, too.” // // –Jenny McCarthy //

// “The United Kingdom's General Medical Council concluded Jan. 28 that Wakefield participated in "dishonesty and misleading conduct" while he conducted the 1998 research. Most of the findings against Wakefield are breaches of standard ethical codes meant to keep bias out of scientific journals.” // // –ABC //

// "It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers reporting on the retraction of a paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues." // // –Jenny McCarthy //

A belief rooted in faith cannot be refuted. That which is known through faith to be dangerous can never be proven safe.

An open definition of cause leaves nothing but ambiguity when it comes to effect. That which is continually explained by conspiracy cannot be rational.

Those who are thrust up upon a pedestal of complete understanding–of prophetic vision–they cannot help but error.

It takes only one to cry out in a smoke-filled theatre. It takes the crowd to stampede through its mirrored walls.