Showing posts with label Barbara Loe Fisher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbara Loe Fisher. Show all posts

January 8, 2010

Barbara Loe Fisher Sues Paul Offit, Amy Wallace and Conde Nast for Defamation in the Wired Article

Last year Paul Offit was sued by JB Handley for lying about him in his book, "Autism's False Profits". Offit wrote an apology letter and had to donate money to Jenny McCarthy's favorite charity.

This represents the second such suit in about a year, and stems from the claim that Offit made in the atrociously biased November 2009 Wired Magazine article, "An Epidemic of Fear: One man's battle against the anti-vaccine movement" in which Dr. Offit claimed that Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center "lies".

"Kaflooey theories' make him (Offit)crazy, especially if they catch on. Fisher, who has long been the media's go-to interview for what some in the autism arena call 'parents [sic] rights,' makes him particularly nuts, as in 'You just want to scream.'The reason? 'She lies/ he says flatly.' "

Now if Dr. Offit truly believes that Fisher is lying to the public and passing on "Kafloey theories" that are catching on, then certainly it is his duty to list them and correct the record. But that is not what he does here. He calls her a liar, fails to tell us what bad vaccine info she is passing on, and then retreats back into the St. Paul the Oppressed martyer stance that we have come to see so often now.

"Barbara Loe Fisher inflames people against me. And wrongly. I’m in this for the same reason she is. I care about kids. Does she think Merck is paying me to speak about vaccines? Is that the logic?” he asks, exasperated. (Merck is doing no such thing). But when it comes to mandating vaccinations, Offit says, Fisher is right about him: He is an adamant supporter."

Ms. Fisher's opinions and research are among those that I have listened to over the years. If there is something that she is lying to me about, then Offit should be telling me, right? So if she is lying, why isn't he telling me where?

This may be to be a repeat of the episode wherin Offit claimed that CBS news correspondent Sharyl Attkisson lied in a piece about him in this story:



Offit's response to the story:

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

...but when the Orange County Register spoke to him and...

"Asked whether any specific facts in the story were wrong, he said it was primarily the tone he objected to."

Is the same thing happening with Fisher? I guess we will find out.

Amy Wallace and Conde Nast are also named in the suit for publishing the information. Wallace interviewed Fisher, and had every opportunity to both require Offit to provide proof of his charge, and allow Fisher to defend her self against specific charges of lying. But if this happened as it should have if it was being properly researched and written by a responsible journalist, none of that seems to have made its way into Wired. Fisher charges it never happened at all. From the suit:

"Before publishing the article, Wallace engaged in a lengthy interview with Plaintiff Fisher by phone and in communications with her via electronic mail. She never questioned in that interview Plaintiff Fisher's honesty or integrity and did not thereafter confront her with the Offit charge that she was a liar and invite her to respond."

Merely a charge of telling lies, with out even mentioning what lies she is telling.

On this blog I called the head of the AAP a liar mitruther, and then I spent a significant amount of time detailing the lie and the documentation showing that he was full of bologna. Certainly Dr. Offit should at least be required to do what a little blogger like me must do when attacking public figures.

Personally, I am no fan of law suits, but at this point, I want people under oath when talking about things, because the BS is so thick in this debate, and the accountability for flat out lying so thin, that something has got to put the breaks on the corruption.

July 22, 2009

Swine Flu Vaccine Should Not Be Given to Children in Schools



by Barbara Loe Fisher

On April 26, a national public health emergency was declared by officials in the U.S. Departments of Health and Homeland Security. 1,2 We were told it was necessary to declare a national emergency because people were getting sick from a new swine flu virus that began in Mexico and might cause a deadly influenza pandemic.

So far, the vast majority of people who get sick with swine flu have symptoms that are no worse than the regular flu and recover completely. 3,4,5, 6

Three Week Testing of Swine Flu Vaccines
The declaration of a national public health emergency last spring set a chain of events in motion: some schools were closed, 7 some people were quarantined 8, 9 and drug companies were given billons of tax dollars to create experimental swine flu vaccines. 10 These new vaccines are being fast tracked by the FDA. We are being told they will only be tested for a few weeks on a few hundred children and adults 11 before being given to children in schools in October.

Liability Protection for Vaccine Injuries & Deaths
Under federal legislation passed by Congress since 2001, an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) 12,13,14 allows drug companies, health officials and anyone who gives experimental vaccines to Americans during a declared public health emergency, to be protected from liability if people get hurt.

Safety and Informed Consent At Risk in Schools
The National Vaccine Information Center has been a vaccine safety watchdog since 1982. We are questioning the need to turn schools into medical clinics this fall where swine flu vaccines being rushed to market will be given to children first. We are calling on the Obama Administration and state Governors to provide solid evidence to parents that it is necessary to give children experimental swine flu vaccines in schools.

Are the states prepared to obey vaccine safety provisions in the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act,15 which include:

1. Giving parents written information about vaccine benefits and risks before children are vaccinated; 16

2. Keeping a record of which vaccines the children get, including the manufacturer’s name and lot number;

3. Recording which vaccines were given in the child’s medical record;

4. Recording serious health problems that develop after vaccination in the child’s medical record and immediately making a report to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) 17

Will States Compensate Vaccine Injured Children?
And there are more questions that need to be answered: Are the states prepared to provide financial compensation to children harmed by swine flu vaccines given in schools? Are parents going to be given complete, truthful information about swine flu vaccine risks and have the right to say “YES” or “NO” before their children are lined up and vaccinated in the school setting?

Vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry a risk of injury or death and those risks are greater for some than others. 1 in 6 children in America is learning disabled18. 1 in 9 has asthma 1 in 150 develops autism. 1 in 450 has diabetes and millions more suffer with allergies and autoimmune disorders. Will the swine flu vaccine be safe for them?

Although it is a good idea for health officials to prepare for a worst case scenario and stockpile vaccines, it is a bad idea to turn schools into medical clinics and basically test experimental swine flu vaccines on children first. Especially when nobody has any liability. That has the potential to hurt children instead of keeping them well.

NVIC Oct. 2-4 Conference Addresses Vaccine Risks
This Oct. 2-4, 2009 in Washington, D.C., parents concerned about the lack of vaccine safety and informed consent protections in the vaccination system will gather with doctors, scientists, bioethicists, legal experts, journalists, and consumer advocates at the Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination to talk about the science, policy, law and ethics of vaccination.

Register now

– Special Early Bird registration ends on July 31.

Click here for more information about swine flu, swine flu vaccines, public health laws that govern you and you family, and how you can be better prepared to make well informed decisions during the declared national public health emergency.

Endnotes:

1 U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Press Briefing on Swine Influenza with Dept. of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and White House. April 26, 2009.

2 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Determination That A Public Health Emergency Exists. April 26, 2009.

3 Gale J. Bloomberg News. Swine Flu May Be Less Lethal Than Earlier Estimated, Study Says. July 6, 2009.

4 Schmid RE. The Seattle Times. Study: New flu inefficient in attacking people. July 2, 2009.

5 Centers for Disease Control. FluView. 2008-2009 Influenza Season Week 27 Ending July 11, 2009.

6 Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Office of Vaccine Research and Review. Regulatory Considerations Regarding the Use of Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Vaccines. July 23, 2009.

7 US Department of Education. H1N1 Flu & U.S. Schools: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions. May 5, 2009.

8 NBC. Marine Tests Positive for Swine Flu. April 29, 2009.

9 CBS. DHS Sets Guidelines for Possible Swine Flu Quarantines. April 28, 2009.

10 The Independent. Obama earmarks emergency funding to fight swine flu. July 16, 2009.

11 Food and Drug Administration, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Office of Vaccine Research and Review. Regulatory Considerations Regarding the Use of Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Vaccines. July 23, 2009.

12 Project Bioshield Act of 2004 (PL 108-276)

13 The Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006 (PL 109-417).

14 Nightingale SL, Prasher JM, Simonson S. Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Enable Use of Needed Products in Civilian and Military Emergencies, United States. Emerging Infectious Diseases Vo. 13, No.7: July 2007.

15 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (PL99-660)

16 CDC. Fact Sheet for Vaccine Information Statements.

17 MedAlerts. Online Access to the U.S. VAERS Database.

18 Fisher BL. Vaccine Safety Research Priorities: Engaging the Public. National Vaccine Advisory Committee. April 11, 2008.

September 19, 2007

Jenny McCarthy on Oprah: Vaccine Injury Finally

(Update 2009 - This has become a very popular blog post, especially for those who are looking for information on just what Jenny McCarthy is talking about when she writes about vaccine injury and autism treatment. Much disinformation is out there on what she is 'preaching'.

No she is not advocating the abandonment of vaccination, but a reexamination and easing off of the overly aggressive/untested CDC vaccine schedule, and stricter safety standards of individual vaccines. Currently the vaccine schedule has more than tripled since I was a child, as it has gone from 10 vaccines to 66 vaccines, and 36 alone in the first 18 months of life. There is no safety testing of the vaccine schedule as a whole, and public health agencies have refused to do any, despite parent protests. Safety standards are very poor and Pharma is asking for even regulatory standards to even be lowered for them.]

She is also advocating medical treatment for children with autism. No these are not HER treatments, they are emerging treatments that began to be put into use at least 15 years ago, and now are in use by most parents of young children with autism. (She is just the most well known and vociferous advocate of these medical interventions) For example, CDC now recommends that children with autism be screened for gastrointestinal damage. Treating this damage often improves the cognition and functioning of people with autism.

In short, in case after case that is properly medically investigated, doctors are finding that children with the behavioral diagnosis of "autism" have neuro immune disease. These kids have an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system has attacked the central nervous system. Onset is often directly following vaccination (or other environmental insults), and we know that vaccination causes autoimmune disorders (check the VCIP "vaccine encepalopathy" and individual vaccine package inserts for details). At issue is whether many cases of "autism" are in fact neuroimmune disease in a genetically vulnerable subset of the population, triggered by an over reaction of the immune system to the ingredients in the vaccine.

The testing that would prove or disprove this theory have never been done.

Further, most of these children have serious GI damage that causes malabsorption of nutrients, resulting in further damage to the brain and related systems.

Jenny McCarthy's book about autism treatment is a collaboration between Jenny, and a very well respected physician in the autism community, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel. "Healing and Preventing Autism: A Complete Guide" is a book in which Dr. Kartzinel discusses the treatments and McCarthy discusses her experience of the treatments.

For more information on environmental causation and treatments feel free to explore this site or contact me personally. My son has been on said treatments for five years and has responded very well.

Recommended posts for you to visit:

  • Maine CDC Autism Conference - GI dysfunction in autism, Environmental causation in autism, Vaccine causation in autism.
  • Julie Gerberding Tells CNN that Vaccines Trigger Autism
  • An article on just how bad the research is that CDC uses to exonerate vaccines in autism causation.
  • Jenny's book with Dr. Kartzinel on autism treatment was directed at parents, but this could be considered the companion piece for physicians on the state of research into the treatments that are successful in recovering children from autism: Changing the Course of Autism. If you are serious about finding out why Jenny's message has resonated with so many parents, but don't think that she is a credible source of medical information, please read Dr. Jepson's book. This is the book that Martha Herbert of Harvard mentions in her speech at the Maine CDC autism conference.
  • The head of the AAP's very easily disprovable lie that vaccines do not cause long term damage.
  • Contradictory rulings in the Vaccine Court that vaccines cannot cause autism, but the MMR absolutely did cause Baily Bank's autism. The media did not pick up the Banks ruling.
  • A partial list of research for those who have come here under the assumption that the only evidence of the link between vaccines and autism is temporal correlation and who are tempted to comment and make the "correlation does not prove causation" arguement.


Thank you for visiting and enjoy the site.)

Jenny McCarthy on Oprah
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

When she was not yet a superstar or even broadcasting nationally, in early 1985 a friend gave Oprah a copy of "DPT: A Shot in the Dark," which was the first report of an association between autism and vaccination. "We're waiting until it comes out in paperback," a producer told her friend. The paperback version was published in 1986 but, by then, Oprah had starred in "The Color Purple," her show had been nationally syndicated and the vaccine safety debate had become a heated controversy. Over the last two decades, many parents of vaccine injured children have written letters to Oprah in hopes that she would do a show about vaccine risks.

Yesterday, after 22 years, Oprah finally talked about vaccine injured children when she interviewed Hollywood Moms, Jenny McCarthy and Holly Peete. Jenny has written a book on her experience of watching her two and a half year old son regress into autism after an MMR shot.

On the show, Jenny talked about the increases in autism among children and asked what parents of vaccine injured children have been asking for a quarter century: "What number will it take for people just to start listening to what the mothers of children who have seen autism have been saying for years, which is, 'We vaccinated our baby and something happened."

Jenny says even before Evan received his vaccines, she tried to talk to her pediatrician about it. "Right before his MMR shot, I said to the doctor, "I have a very bad feeling about this shot. This is the autism shot, isn't it?' And he said, 'No, that is ridiculous. It is a mother's desperate attempt to blame something,' and he swore at me, and then the nurse gave [Evan] the shot," she says. "And I remember going, 'Oh, God, I hope he's right.' And soon thereafter-boom-the soul's gone from his eyes."

The CDC's prepared response to a query from the Oprah Show staff about whether there is a link between autism and vaccines was "CDC places a high priority on vaccine safety and the integrity and credibility of its vaccine safety research. This commitment not only stems from our scientific and medical dedication, it is also personal-for most of us who work at CDC are also parents and grandparents. And as such, we too, have high levels of personal interest and concern in the health and safety of children, families and communities. We simply don't know what causes most cases of autism, but we're doing everything we can to find out. The vast majority of science to date does not support an association between thimerosal in vaccines and autism. But we are currently conducting additional studies to further determine what role, if any, thimerosal in vaccines may play in the development of autism. It is important to remember, vaccines protect and save lives. Vaccines protect infants, children and adults from the unnecessary harm and premature death caused by vaccine-preventable diseases."

It is curious that the CDC would confine its response regarding the autism-vaccine connection to thimerosal, when MMR vaccine has been strongly associated with regressive autism and live virus MMR vaccine never contained thimerosal. The National Vaccine Information Center, which has operated a Vaccine Reaction Registry since 1982, continues to receive reports from parents describing how their children regressed after receiving live virus or non- mercury containing vaccines, often after being given 8 to 12 vaccines on one day. The most heart-breaking stories are when children are vaccinated over and over again despite deteriorating health because their pediatricians are in denial about vaccine risks.

Jenny McCarthy gave a star turn on Oprah when she clearly, simply and passionately described what happened to her son after vaccination and how she was empowered by information she found on the internet to find ways to cure his vaccine-associated regressive autism. She listened to her mother's instinct and pursued a course of treatment that involved nutrition and other alternative therapies. It is a story of a mother's love and determination to heal her son after he was given the diagnosis of autism, a neuroimmune disorder that so many pediatricians are taught is untreatable.

In the early 1990's, a mother in California, Cindy Goldenberg, was the first Mom to cure her son of regressive autism by listening to her mother's instincts and doing her own research into vaccine-induced neuroimmune dysfunction. Her son experienced regressive autism after receiving MMR vaccine. Cindy sought out IVIG therapy as well as nutritional and probiotic therapies that she said "healed his gut." Her son was soon in a regular classroom and this year he graduated from high school.

As of last night, there were nearly 2,000 messages, primarily from Moms, for Jenny and Holly posted on Oprah's website at http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/1812

Bravo, Oprah. You allowed Jenny to tell it like it is. You have helped millions of Moms across America understand what happened to their children, who changed physically, mentally and emotionally after getting vaccinated, and now suffer with autism and other kinds of vaccine-induced brain and immune system dysfunction such as learning disabilities, ADHD, seizure disorders, asthma, and diabetes.

If your child stopped speaking, wouldn't look you in the eye and completely ignored the world around them, what would you do? In her new book, Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, actress Jenny McCarthy shares her emotional story of diagnosis, hope, faith and recovery-a journey many thousands of parents now face.


National Vaccine Information Center
email:news@nvic.org
voice: 703-938-dpt3
web: http://www.nvic.org