April 15, 2011

PBS Newshour: Robert MacNeil Shares his Grandson's Story

Our community has been savaged by PBS, so when they announced that they were doing a series on autism for autism awareness month, we didn't know what to expect.

Brian Deer, on another blog, was crowing about the upcoming series, while showing his profound lack of understanding of the subject on which he has spent the last seven year writing.

From my post on his clueless comment from a few days back:

Brian Deer
March 31st, 2011
13:48:59

"Looks like the NAS is getting its shit together. It has taken them long enough, if you ask me. But I’m sure everyone will be glad to see them going out to spread their message. Ditto Bob MacNeil coming back for a PBS series of reports.

If those who believe that there may be environmental causes of developmental disorders turn out to be right, people will look back at this interlude caused by Wakefield, Jenny McCarthy, the Age of Hatred site and so forth with burning outrage.

If there are toxic substances out there doing harm to children (and I recall Tom Insel at NIH pretty much saying that there were too many candidates to know where to start) then there’s not one minute of time and not one cent in public money to be wasted over those lying fools."

Deer must be heartbroken today to see the piece, and realize that the grandson of the esteemed MacNeil was diagnosed by the well respected Harvard pediatric neurologist Tim Buie, with "Lymphoid Nodular Hyperplasia"... which Deer claims does not exist. And to see it all airing on PBS.

I think it is probably a bad day in Pharma town.... watch for yourself:


Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Can't wait to see the rest of the series.

Update: MacNeil/Lehrer discuss autism and the series.



Update:

Adding in Tim Buie's lecture from the Maine CDC autism conference:

Maine CDC Autism Conference 2009
Gastrointestinal and Nutritional Co-Morbidities in Autism, followed by Q&A
Tim Buie, MD
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
LADDERS Program, MassGeneral Hospital for Children
Harvard Medical School



Questions from the Audience

13 comments:

K Fuller said...

Sobbing. Not only does the boy have my son's name, but his behavior's. I am so afraid to watch the whole series. I so want it to be as calm and informative as this short piece.

Unknown said...

Watching this is like feeling the pain inside me as fresh as the day I realized what had happened to my beautiful girl.
With all of my heart and soul, I want the truth to come out.

Mrs. Ed said...

Thanks for posting this. That mother is telling the nation exaclty what we have been battling!!

nhokkanen said...

Wonderful video and great family. Both children are so articulate and adorable and their mom is a powerhouse, bless her heart.

I just hope that viewers start realizing that the informational foundation of our medical establishment is based on repetition. If the source documents are corrupted, then everyone in the information chain is misinformed.

steve said...

Overwhelming.

So close to home. I am stunned that something this honest and accurate has been produced.

cookingwithjanecasey said...

It is hard to watch other kids struggling. My kids were so sick and are now so well. This piece will help educate others about the disease of Autism. Perhaps we can finally rename it and call it what it is. A man made epidemic.
Jane

Unknown said...

Break my heart into a million pieces. Watching this video brings back all the memories of growing up with an autistic brother (who is now 30 years old!) I could see so much of myself in his 10-year-old sister. I have deep scars from the pain of knowing that what was done to my brother was preventable, and is still going on every day to new little babies.

Gina Perales Waterman said...

Wow!! Fantastic piece that reflects a true picture of what so many of us are working with every day. Though I was in tears by the end, I am so happy they produced this and look forward to seeing and sharing with the community.

John4774 said...

Wow. What a great post. The tide is turning; slowly. Thank you Ginger!

Ren said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ginger Taylor said...

So Rene, you read this whole piece, and rather than remarking on the fact that Deer is incompetent to even hold a basic conversation on autism causation that he has been reporting on for almost a decade and taking a second thought about all he has accused, rather than noting the hardship that the family being profiled, highlighted most prominently by a little girls grief over what her little brother's vaccine injury and what it has done to all their lives, rather than respecting the grief of similar such families posting in the comments... you want to quibble over an adverb?

I want to be as frank as I can be with you on this... I am actually stunned that you claim to be a public health official.

When you began commenting here, I was sure that you were a 19 year old wanna be skeptic who had not emotionally matured to his chronological age yet. To find out you are a married adult with a degree and an epidemiologist?

And that since I have called you out repeatedly for trolling on this blog, you continue to do this stuff? It is baffling to me.

You are advertising to all my readers that public health is in the hands of teenage jerks. Nothing that I say on this blog is as powerful an advertisement for the disaster that is public health more than the things you write here.

Your credentials are listed as" Epidemiologist, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
2007 to present
Influenza surveillance coordinator and communicable disease surveillance epidemiologist"

How exactly does a second life as an Internet Troll engender faith in public health exactly? This is going to

You are nothing but a bully.

You are public health official pissing on the parents of vaccine injured children. Do you get that? Did you get in to public health for that?

I began my career working with teenagers in foster care in Baltimore, and then with teenagers in an outpatient drug program. These kids had real problems. But not one of them displayed the kind of anti-social behavior you have displayed on this blog in the last few weeks.

If not out of decency, should not not stop this horrid behavior just to try to prevent the further erosion of public trust of the people of Maryland in vaccination?

Are you it? The contempt you have for our community... is that what it is like in the halls of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene?

Because if you are representative of the kind of cruel and biased and childish people who are making public health policy, why the hell would anyone ever do anything that your department recommends?

As far as my characterization of PBS's treatment of us, you can read my article on their trashing of our community last year, here: http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2010/04/war-death-murder-and-suicide.html

I strongly encourage you to do some serious soul searching on what you are doing.

Unknown said...

Ginger Taylor I love YOU! Oh My God you are awesome!!!!

Neal said...

It's my understanding that autism is caused by toxins in the body, inherited from mom/dad and then add insult to injury in the form of vaccinations with more processed foods. Please go here www.healingnaturallybybee.com and type in "autism".