Peete vs. Peet

Amanda Peet has chosen to mark Autism Awareness Month by telling moms they have to vaccinate their children and that vaccines don't cause autism. She is doing it with her usual lack of subtlety and with out offering any details that might suggest that she actually has done any research and understands the arguments being made.

Holly Robinson Peete has heard enough from Ms. Peet and has made her boldest statement yet about her sons vaccine reaction and regressed into autism:

PEETE VS. PEET ON VACCINES AND AUTISM: Holly Robinson writes open letter to fellow actress Amanda regarding differing opinions.
(April 1, 2009)

Essence.com is featuring an open letter from Holly Robinson Peete to actress Amanda Peet regarding her comments about autism, a disease she believes struck her 11-year-old son after he received vaccinations when he was just 2-and-a-half.

Peete is the first African-American to sit on the board of Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to increasing awareness and prevention of the disease. She shares her thoughts with the Web site about comments made by Peet, the spokesperson for vaccinateyourkid.org, who recently said that vaccinations don't cause autism.

I'm really disappointed to hear people like Amanda Peet—who have never been affected by autism—make public allegations like vaccinations don't cause autism. It makes me angry because it's so disingenuous to have this kind of public discussion, especially when World Autism Awareness Day is coming up on April 2.

But I know exactly what she is trying to do and that's to instill fear: if your child doesn't get vaccinations, you're going to make every other child sick. Believe me, I understand both sides of the argument because I have four children. Although I have total respect for what any mother feels is best for her child, you can't tell me what is right, because it's not necessarily going to work for my kid. I know because I've experienced it with my eldest son.

When my son was 2-and-a-half, he was just recovering from an ear infection and had been on antibiotics, therefore his immune system was suppressed. He had already missed several appointments for his vaccination so his pediatrician wanted to catch him up on all of them in the same day.

Although I asked if he'd consider waiting or breaking up the cocktail, which contains three viruses, he laughed me out of the office and belittled me. I firmly believe that it took my son to a place of no return and his body could not handle it. He had a violent reaction with convulsions and then he stopped talking and slipped into a silence. He no longer said, "Hi, Mommy," he no longer responded to his name and he no longer made eye contact. And to think that today there are more than 30 vaccines that children are required to receive is scary. I don't know why boys are five times more likely to become autistic, but they are.

I respect Amanda Peet for advocating for her children by trying to keep them safe with vaccines. If I could talk to Amanda Peet, I would say that, I'm glad your child was able to tolerate that level of toxicity, but don't expect me—after witnessing what vaccinations did to my son—to inoculate my other children under the same circumstances.

So who's to blame? Is there some pre-genetic predisposition? Do genetic and environmental factors load the proverbial gun and the vaccines pull the trigger? Since you claim all the studies and conclusions have been drawn, how do you explain the thousands of families that have received millions of dollars from the Vaccine Injury Court? So clearly, the jury is not in and the independent studies on susceptibility and genetic predisposition have not been done.

Knowing all this do you think it's okay to make a judgment about me based on what I know about my son and the rest of my children physiologically? If your mission is to gain the public's trust, then you're not going to get parents to do it by fearmongering. Until you've experienced the physical, emotional and financial toll you simply can't make such public statements.

Despite what happened to my son, I'm not anti-vaccine. However, if the government wants to make me and other parents who have autistic children feel comfortable with vaccinations then there needs to be some independent studies done regarding these treatments. Not only would it make me feel comfortable, but it'd make me feel like I'm being listened to and heard.

Lastly, to Amanda Peet: I would never ever wish what we've gone through in our family on her and her family or anybody. I would just ask her to give the respect she has on her position to mine. It's not about reading so-called studies online; it's about living and learning. My study is my son.

Failure to Disclose Conflicts of Interest in "Vaccinate Your Baby" Kick Off

The American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two and Dr. Paul Offit, whom I have now decided to refer to as the Axis of Conflict of Interest, forgot to mention something during the press conference this morning, when they were encouraging everyone to "Vaccinate Your Baby".

They forgot to mention their conflicts of interest.

This after having the CBS Evening News expose their serial nondisclosure of their financial ties to vaccine makers only ten days ago!

From Jane Johnson director of DAN!, whose account of the event was on AOA this morning when I asked if the Axis disclosed their financial ties to vaccine makers:

"Not a peep.  Amanda referred, vaguely and defensively, to 'following the money trail,' but if you hadn't seen Sharyl Attkisson's CBS news piece you wouldn't have known what she was talking about.  She made an analogy to Boeing investigating airplane safety that was mystifying--I'm still trying to remember what she said and make sense of it.  There was no mention by anyone else that they make a penny off of anything relating to vaccines."

This the day after Paul Off it made a statement to Inside Autism claiming that he discloses his vaccine profits.

"Do we ever hide information? Of course not. I have declared my potential conflicts of interest regarding my relationships with Merck on the development of the Rotavirus vaccine ever since I was on the (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) starting in 1998. Every time I’ve written an article, whether it was for the New York Times or the New England Journal of Medicine, I’ve declared that, because I’m not ashamed of it. Quite frankly, I’m proud of it. I’m the co-inventor of a vaccine that’s currently in five developing countries and clearly has already made a difference in this country."

Apparently he was not proud enough of his patent this morning to mention it to the press covering the event.

Don't miss the part where Offit flip flops on CBS's story on him.

First Attkisson lied:

“Did (reporter Sharyl Attkisson) lie about whether or not we provided materials? Of course,” said Paul Offit"

But when pressed for specific errors, he only can object to the "tone" of the story.

"Asked whether any specific facts in the story were wrong, he said it was primarily the tone he objected to. But he did say that the hospital owns the patent, not him (though he received a share of royalties from it). Also, when Attkisson noted that he had been quoted as saying children could safely take up to 10,000 vaccines at once, “what I actually have said is at least 10,000. It’s probably closer to 100,000."

So I guess Attkisson did get one thing wrong... Offit's claims of vaccine safety are WAY crazier than she gave him credit for.

Posting the video again:

AAP, ECBT, Offit and Peet Hold A Press Conference to Tell You To Vaccinate

You have to admit, they have balls.

A week after having CBS hold the spot light on their conflict of interest and all the cash they get from vaccine manufacturers, AAP, Every Child By Two and Paul Offit will hold a press conference together, along with Amanda "Parasites" Peet, to tell everyone "The Facts About Vaccination®" and to kick off their "Vaccinate your Baby" campaign.

I guess they have decided that the best defense is a good offense, rather than simply responding to CBS and addressing their credibility problems.

I am reminded of Ken Lay's assertions that Enron was just dandy when the press started asking questions after Jeff Skilling took his money and ran.  August 24th 2001, two months before the stock hit the fan:

Business Week: "There has been some concern among investors that perhaps there is more to his resignation than meets the eye, perhaps accounting or other issues that have yet to come to light. Is there anything more?"

Ken Lay: "There are absolutely no problems that had anything to do with Jeff's departure. There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues. The company is probably in the strongest and best shape that it has ever been in."

JB Handley has unearthed more info on Every Child By Two, turns out half their income is from Pharma.

Jenny McCarthy has sent a shout out to all available hands that can get into NYC tomorrow to picket and get our mesage out.

I will go ahead and repost the CBS piece from last week to remind us that what is on tap for tomorrow is merely a commercial brought to you by the good folks who sell vaccines:









And a blast from the past so that you may remember the bravado and seduction that was Enron, when in their last days they promised that they could protect you from the weather:






The lesson?  If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If someone promises you that your child can be free of all diseases, down to the common flu, with no side effects... buyer beware.

UPDATE:

The press release mentions that the mother of a child with autism will be there.  Apparently it will be Ann Hotez whose husband Peter Hotez is a vaccine researcher and President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute.   So it looks like Amanda Peet will be the only one there not getting a check from Vaccine Inc.

Round Up: NAA's FOUND, Poling Schools Novella, Too Many Sick Kids, More Outrage at Savage, Kirby on Peet, NZ Angry Over Expensive/Usless Vaccine

• The National Autism Association (NAA) has announced the launch of a new program called Found, aimed at providing families and counties nationwide with safety tools for children with autism which will immediately fund $54,400.00 to provide at least eight counties with Project Lifesaver equipment and tracking watches. The program was made possible by a huge donation from Pixies Train Ride and the half a million visitors to her site.  God Bless you Pixie!
• Dr. Jon Poling reminds Dr. Stephen Novella about the facts in his daughters case and requests that he refrain from attacking autism moms.
• Allison Edwards is outraged over all the sick little boys in the UK.
• Kim Stagliano takes another swing at Michael Savage over at the Huffington Post.
• Also on the Huffington Post, David Kirby with observations and more observations on the Amanda Peet kaffuffle.
• New Zealanders angry that $200 million was spent on a much hyped meningococcal vaccine that only protects 30% of users, for only 7 months, and that they were not given informed consent before taking the shot.
• Mercola on avoiding mercury and other metals.
  

Round Up: More Missing Children, Doc Slaps Autistic Boy, Perez on Peet, Hep B for Future Drug Addicts,

• Little Girls Lost and Found
  
• Pediatrician slaps a five year old boy with autism.
  
• Amanda Peet Causes a Stir - Issues Apology - Perez Hilton's readers have LOTS of feedback.
  
• Hepatitis B Vaccine. Things to Ponder...
  
• Autistic boy not allowed in golf shop because his special stroller was too big and "Sunday is our busiest day".
  

Amanda Peet, Paul Offit, Parasites and Biostitutes

JB has shared the contact information for Ms. Peet's representation.  I took a moment to write to them:

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Amanda Peet and Paul Offit
Date:	Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:48:57 -0400
From:	Ginger Taylor
To:	Stephen.huvane@pmkhbh.com, ekranzler@management360.com

Dear Mr. Huvane and Mr Kranzler,

You may have already gotten word on this, but your client may need a little more back ground on who this doctor that Ms. Peet is taking her cues from, Paul Offit, actually is. 

Paul Offit is a doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and is very often seen in vaccine autism stories making claims that vaccines are safe and have no relationship to autism.  But what those stories do not tell the audience is that Paul Offit is a vaccine patent holder and consultant for Merck Pharmaceuticals.  He is a co-creator of the Merck RotaTeq vaccine that is on the CDC's current vaccine schedule.  It is a vaccine that prevents Rota Virus, a benign virus under which subjects experience a miserable day or so of diarrhea and vomiting, and from which you usually gain immunity after having it twice.  The CDC recommends treating it at home with Pedialyte to prevent dehydration.  In third world countries, Rota virus can be a more serious threat to children's health, because death can occur from severe dehydration due to lack of infrastructure, clean water and basic sanitation.  But in the US, it is not a serious health threat to any one with indoor plumbing or within driving distance to a 7-11.

In addition, Paul Offit's RotaTeq can cause a very serious, life threatening condition called intussusception in which the intestine actually folds up, telescoping in on itself.  The FDA has confirmed that RotaTeq killed one child in such a manner this year.  A previous Rota virus vaccine, Rota Shield, was taken off the market for causing the same problem.  And this far, RotaTeq has more reported incidences of intussusception than it predecessor that was removed from the market.  RotaTeq also causes Kawasaki Disease.

Many people, myself included, believe that the vaccine schedule is too aggressive and should be pared down.  If the CDC decides to remove any vaccines from the schedule, surely the first to go will be Paul Offit's vaccine.  Further, if parents do as we are urging, and start evaluating vaccines one at a time to see which are important for a child to have, and which are not really needed, the first one that parents will likely stop buying for their kids will be RotaTeq, and that will effect the sales of his vaccine.

Further, Paul Offit was personally reprimanded by the U.S. Congress, at length, for his ethics problems.  He actually sat on the ACIP, the CDC committee that decides what vaccines go on the US schedule, and voted for RotaShield to be added to the schedule, knowing full well that it would pave the way for his own vaccine, Rotateq to be added and be immediately put into wide spread use as soon as it came to market.  Which is exactly what happened.  Offit should have abstained from any comments or votes on any thing to do with Rota virus because of his conflicts of interest.

Paul Offit is the poster child for medical conflicts of interest.

When you take vaccine advice from him, it is as if you called Merck to ask if their products cause autism.

Finally, Paul Offit makes completely irresponsible and ridiculous statements about vaccine safety.  In Baby talk magazine he was quoted as believing that studies, "theoretically show an infant could handle up to 100,000 vaccines at one time … safely."  I personally wrote to Offit, assuming that of course this was some sort of misprint.  It wasn't.  He replied, "The figure of 100,000 is correct, and probably a little conservative."

We in the autism community cannot understand why this man continues to be taken seriously.  Do people who are interviewing him or taking his advice understand know who this guy is?  Did Ms. Peet know who he really was when she took his council as gospel?  Does she know that his nick name in the autism community is Dr. Proffit, and that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. labeled him a "Biostitute" because his opinions on medicine are for sale?

The only thing that we can think of is that because, he is always merely introduced as a doctor at CHOP, that no one knows the whole story about him.

So now you know.  You should probably encourage your client not to tout her association with this doctor, as the exposure of his back story is getting out there.  "Distancing" might be wise for her at this time.

Ginger Taylor M.S., Parasite
AdventuresInAutism.com

Amanda Peet Thinks Parents Who Don't Vaccinate Are "Parasites"

Vaccine patent holder Paul Offit, whose Rotateq vaccine has already generated more adverse reactions than the last Rota virus vaccines that was pulled from the market, whose Rotateq vaccine has already killed a child, who believes that it is safe to inject a baby with 100,000 vaccines at once, and who was reprimanded by congress for his ethics problems, has personally schooled Ms. Peet in vaccine safety.

From Cookie Magazine:

"...Peet's analytical urges are comical when she's talking about kids' gear, but not when she's discussing a subject she feels is among today's most pressing public-health issues: infant vaccinations. "As soon as I was pregnant, the neuroses kicked in," says Peet, 36, who is married to screenwriter David Benioff. She began calling her older sister's husband, a Philadelphia pediatrician, "every five minutes" with all kinds of questions, especially about shots. "I asked him, 'Why are all of these necessary? Why are some people staggering them?'?" Eventually her brother-in-law arranged a series of phone calls between Peet and his own mentor, Paul Offit, M.D., who is chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, a co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, and a board member of Every Child by Two, a pro-vaccine organization cofounded in 1991 by former first lady Rosalynn Carter.

"Once we had spoken, I was shocked at the amount of misinformation floating around, particularly in Hollywood," says Peet, who quickly boned up on the hot-button controversies surrounding the topic, including the unproven link between certain vaccines and autism; the safety of preservatives like mercury-based thimerosal; and the fear that the relatively high number of shots kids receive today can overwhelm young immune systems. Her conclusion? Well, not only is Frankie up-to-date on her vaccines (with no staggering), but her mom will soon appear in public-service announcements for Every Child by Two. "I buy 99 percent organic food for Frankie, and I don't like to give her medicine or put sunscreen on her," says Peet. "But now that I've done my research, vaccines do not concern me." What does concern her is the growing number of unvaccinated children who are benefiting from the "shield" created by the inoculated—we are protected from viruses only if everyone, or most everyone, is immunized: "Frankly, I feel that parents who don't vaccinate their children are parasites."

I am assume that when she makes her PSA, they will ask her to leave out the part where she calls non vaxing parents, "parasites".