Posted on 01/28/2008 11:54:13 PM PST by bd476
ABC Show Will Go on, Over Protest by Doctors
By EDWARD WYATT
Published: January 29, 2008
ABC said on Monday it would include a disclaimer about the plot line of the debut episode of the drama “Eli Stone,” which links childhood vaccines to autism, and direct viewers to a government Web site that discredits such a link.
ABC’s decision follows a call by the American Academy of Pediatrics for ABC to cancel the opening episode of “Eli Stone,” which is scheduled to be broadcast at 10 p.m. Thursday.
In a letter to ABC executives on Friday, Dr. Renee R. Jenkins, the president of the pediatrics academy, warned that the episode “could lead to a tragic decline in immunization rates.” The first episode portrays a lawyer who wins a case against a drug company on behalf of a mother who believes that a preservative in a vaccine caused her child’s autism.
The link between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism has been debated for much of the last decade, but many scientific studies have failed to show any causal link between the two.
The letter from the pediatrics group followed an article in The New York Times last week highlighting..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I agree completely.
What about the free speech argument, or the excuse that it's just a fictional show for entertainment purposes only?
Is there legal justification to prohibit content if the content is portrayed as "fiction" in a television drama? Just asking because I do not know.
Bless you and thank you.
Ugh... Is this that mercury thing again? Debunked and debunked - years ago. Autism rates in Europe actually began to skyrocket AFTER they stopped using it in vaccinations. And now the mercury-less vaccinations, adopted to prevent autism, are suspected of causing autism again?
Gettin a little ridiculous.
But are we asking the right questions?
Is there really a rise in the number of children with Autism or are there simply more children being diagnosed with Autism that once were diagnosed with something else (retardation) or not diagnosed period.
If the increase in Autism is real finding the cause will be difficult. The correlation between vaccines and the onset of Autism is flimsy. The mercury-based preservative once widely used in childhood vaccines has not been used in years and I have not heard of any drop in the incidence of Autism.
The onset of Autism has always been in the 1 to 5 age range which co-incidentally is also the age when vaccines are administered.
Nailing down the cause of a disorder effecting the brain is never going to be easy because it is such a complex organ and is developing rapidly from a few weeks after conception through age six or seven (and keeps developing to about age 27). One theory of Autism that I read is that it is analogous to schizophrenia. Schizophrenia has an onset of around 17 to 22. This is also a time of critical brain development similar to the time when Autism occurs.
Another theory I have read noted a correlation between flue like symptoms and the onset of Autism. This suggested a possible link to a viral infection causing a change in brain development.
My point being that determining the cause(s) of Autism will be a long and difficult process unless we get lucky.
If Mercury based preservatives are not dangerous then why is it banned in many of the industrialized nations except of course the United States. Why is it that Dick Armey a man in the pocket of the pharma industry puts a rider in in the 2002 Homeland security act to protect the industry from lawsuits from thimerosal?
If you accept the party line from the goverment who passes laws to protect industry at the expense of its citizens, then you really are very naive.
So does every other company in the world. It's called capitalism. It's the reason we have the wealth and leisure to sit in front of computers and debate, instead of walking behind ox-drawn plows all our lives.
Profit at the expense of human lives and health. Thats the side of capitalism I can do without.
As with the statin hype (some people are helped) the hype with all the 'preventable' diseases that children can be immunized for has increased 7 fold since the mid-late 60's.
Mumps, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, TB, smallpox, and polio were pretty much the standard immunizations when I was a kid, but today, diseases once practically eradicated from the US are back and climbing.
I think the crap in our food (preservatives, antibiotics and steroids ingested by the expecting mothers) combined with the additional 'needed vaccinations for kids' in our meat supply is the culprit triggering the rise in autism. Think about the sheer level of the combination of these man-made substances in our systems today.
Of course, the quest profits will keep the scientists quite for these answers.
the story line of the TV show gives you your answer. Your buddies like John Edwards don't care about facts, just profiteering on peoples' fears. I guess you got canned by a pharmaceutical company and are pretty bitter about it . I'm sorry.
Durasell, thanks for responding.
Your response is a lot longer but I wanted to quote just the first part of what you wrote because I believe that unintentionally, you've made a strong point.
How many people take the time to carefully read before responding?
I read your entire response and based upon your first sentence, I doubt that you read mine.
A difficulty we all face is that the information highway is jam-packed with scientific facts while unproven, untested hearsay, gossip and guesses are loading up on the on-ramps.
If you're not going to read and address what I've personally experienced, why in the world would I bother reading alleged quotes from some actress neither one of us know personally?
This show appears to be a John Edwards for President 2008 infomercial.
First, what post are responding to?
Secondly, your If... then argument fails logically.
I don't have to possess enough of anything to understand that you have a serious reading comprehension problem.
Where did you read that?
Where did you read that?
Whoa! Did you take a wrong turn and instead of heading to DU, you landed here?
ROFL! Perfect!
Thimerosal might be a TRIGGER for autism, but it is not the cause - - IT NEVER WAS.
Autism is a genetic disorder. See #18... I have researched this topic extensively and have several dozen more pages than that
Nice straw man argument. But totally innacurate.
Here are the facts... I worked for a pharma company In Delaware in the mid 90s as a consultant. They were working a new AIDS drug and someone was killed from it. The talk around the office was that they had spent 400 million dollars and they were not going to see a return on the investment. No mention about the poor man who died.
My eyes were opened and I realized that people love money far more than they do each other.
Anyhow the scuttlebut later was that further animal experimentation might have caught the lethal problem, but they were in a race with other pharma companies.
So you see no one can sell me that companies and the gubberment are just hookers with a heart of gold crap. I aint buying.
Go soak your head moron.
Yes, agree that it's ridiculous. Yet this is also a good example of how important it is for everyone, including you and me, to be wise consumers, wise voters, and have access to and read factual information.
The non-stop "infotainment" we receive from television dramas, talk shows and the 5:00 Evening News rarely has anything of substance.
Do you have links to the information you cited about the rise in autisum rates in Europe after Europe (which countries?) stopped using mercury in vaccinations? Thanks in advance. I appreciate it!
LOL! Aww, come on, why would you say something like that? I'm here to discuss and you seem only intent on name-calling and trying to bully people.
What's your motive in doing that? It certainly can't be to prove or disprove a point.
What is your goal in posting here?
So what you’re saying is, let the guy die of AIDS, don’t try to do anything about it because somebody might make some money. You are a true lover of your fellow man.
See #18... I have research and sources...
Now, about man made agents in our food.
I would only agree (in my limited expertise on the subject) that it is troublesome the depletion of trace minerals in the soil is affecting nutritional health.
Mothers need to breast feed infants. The antibodies are essential. In fact, bovine colostrum is now being harvested as a nutritional supplement because of the antibodies...
However, this also means the calf is not getting this. Dairy farmers and beef producers often load their stock up on antibiotics. Add to this the fact that the feeding practices of cattle are sometimes neglected, then consider problems like mad cow disease.
There is a reason cows are regularly given mineral salts.
The funny thing about cow’s milk is that the casein is very course and not readily absorbed by the human digestive system. Goat’s milk is much better for you because it is very easy to digest.
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