Consuming Kids The Commercialization of Childhood

One of the appeals of moving to Maine from LA is that there was so much less of a marketing assault on my kids. But even now, I need to work harder to shield them from this crap.

Web and I have had long talks about marketing promotions and that their purpose is to sell you things you don't need. I have spent time out in public playing "spot the promotion" and he is getting better at thinking critically about the marketing he comes into contact with.

Protect your babies from being sold a bill of goods.

David Kirby: The Growing List of Professionals Recognizing the Vaccine/Autism Connection

From David Kirby:

The List Keeps Growing
By David Kirby

It’s getting harder to keep up with the list of scientists, doctors, and public health officials who now believe that a vaccine-autism connection is at the least possible, and should be researched further.

Earlier this week, Dr. Peter Fletcher, former Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Department of Health was added. Now, eight more prominent researchers have joined the group. (See list below – they are the last eight names added).

These are the authors of the new study, “Mitochondrial Disease in Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients: A Cohort Analysis,” who did chart reviews on Hannah Poling and two dozen other young people with autism and mitochondrial dysfunction.

In my opinion, it could well prove to be one of the most significant autism studies published to date. (My Huffington Post article on this is HERE:

Mito disorders, which might affect 7-to-30 percent of all children with ASD, can predispose kids to developmental regression following a stressful trigger. Such a trigger might come from a febrile infection – or it could conceivably come from a vaccine reaction, the authors wrote.

“There might be no difference between the inflammatory or catabolic (breaking down of tissue) stress of vaccinations and that of common childhood diseases, which are known precipitants of mitochondrial regression,” they said.

And then they wrote this: “Large, population-based studies will be needed to identify a possible relationship of vaccination with autistic regression in persons with mitochondrial cytopathies (cellular disorders).”

And so, they get added to the list.

The list keeps changing in other ways. For example, late last spring it listed, “all three presidential candidates” (Obama, Clinton and McCain). Soon enough, that will be changed to US President, Secretary of State, and a pivotal and potentially filibuster-busting Senator from Arizona.

Another change: Before, the list said, “Autism researchers at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center.” Now, those people can be named, along with their colleagues: Investigators at the Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. I have also listed a Harvard scientist who sits on an advisory panel of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).

It makes you wonder how long the term “fringe” can seriously be applied to people who believe that this debate is not over.

Finally, keep your eye on the draft National Vaccine Plan at HHS, especially this January - right around the time the nation gets a new HHS Secretary and, reportedly, a new Director of the CDC – both of whom could potentially be added to the list, as well.

-----------------------------------------------

In 2008, the following groups and individuals have advocated, or at least considered, further study of a possible vaccine-autism connection:

1) Presidenti-Elect Barack Obama,
2) Sen. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Designee
3) Sen. John McCain, Senior Senator from Arizona and pivotal minority vote
4) Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC
5) Dr. Bernadine Healy, Former Director of the NIH and President of the American Red Cross
6) Rep. Brad Miller, (D-NC), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the House Committee on Science and Technology
7) Members of the HHS Vaccine Safety Working Group
8) Officials at the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office who drafted the federal vaccine safety research agenda, the National Vaccine Plan
9) Medical personnel at the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program of HHS, who ordered federal compensation to Hannah Poling for her vaccine-associated autism.
10) Members of the CDC’s Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network (CISA)
11) America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association representing nearly 1,300 companies covering more than 200 million Americans
12) Research grant making officials at Autism Speaks
13) Dr. Douglas Wallace, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, Director of the UCI Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine in Genetics, and member of the Scientific & Medical Advisory Board of the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation
14) Dr. Peter Fletcher, former Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Department of Health
15) Dr. Jon Poling, prominent neurologist and father to Hannah Poling
16) Dr. Isaac Pessah, Professor and Chair, VM: Molecular Biosciences,
Director, Center for Children’s Environmental Health, University of California, Davis, and member of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).
17) Dr. Martha Herbert, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Neurology Director, Transcend Research Program, Harvard Medical School, and member of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).
18) Dr. Geraldine Dawson, Chief Science Officer, Autism Speaks, and member of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).
19) Dr. Jacqueline R. Weissman, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
20) Dr. Richard I. Kelley, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University Medical Center and Division of Metabolism, Kennedy Krieger Institute
21) Dr. Margaret L. Bauman, Department of Pediatrics and Learning and Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation Services (LADDERS), Massachusetts General Hospital
22) Dr. Bruce H. Cohen, Neurological Institute and Pediatrics Institute, Cleveland Clinic
23) Dr. Katherine F. Murray, Genomic Department of Pediatrics and Learning and Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation Services (LADDERS), Massachusetts General Hospital
24) Dr. Rebecca L. Mitchell, Genomic Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic
25) Dr. Rebecca L. Kern, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University Medical Center and Division of Metabolism, Kennedy Krieger Institute
26) Dr. Marvin R. Natowicz, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine


“HONORARY MEMBER”:

HHS Secretary Designee Tom Daschel, who said in November of 2002: “Mercury-based vaccine preservatives actually have caused autism in children.”

They Gave Him 12 Shots at One Time

I am not sure what this woman is complaining about. According to Paul Offit her kid still could have gotten another 99,988 shots and still have been fine.

Taking on autism
Jessica Glover hopes to be a champion for children on the autism spectrum, like her son Cade

By Christina Lent
The Beaverton Valley Times, Nov 27, 2008

Cade Glover has regained his engaging personality after a switch in diet. His mother Jessica is on a mission to share the lessons she’s learned with Cade to help other children with autism.

Jessica Glover is on a personal quest to change opinions about autism on a local and national level.

She and her family moved to Beaverton from Bend eight weeks ago to launch Autism Resources of Beaverton, a non-profit resource agency dedicated to autism and advocacy, and to work with the Beaverton School District to open its first K-12 charter school for autism spectrum children.

The 27-year-old mother of four children also opened an in-home Sun Drops Child Care and Preschool for children on the autism spectrum.

Her focus on autism awareness and advocacy is one from the heart.

Glover’s son Cade was diagnosed with autism when he was 22 months old after going in two months before for vaccinations.

“When I went to the health department in Central Oregon, they told me they wanted to ‘catch him up’ on his vaccinations,” Glover recalled. “They gave him 12 at one time.

“When I took him home, his fever spiked to 102, 103, 104 and 105. I took him to the emergency room four times in six days. In two weeks, he stopped walking and talking and regressed to an infant. Before that, he was a very typical, very healthy baby.”

Over the next couple months, Glover began to notice other changes in her once “very loving, adorable, cuddle bug.”

Cade had been really excited about the coming birth of his baby sister Maycie, often asking questions and feeling his mom’s expanding tummy. But when Maycie was born, his previous interest was nonexistent.

“For two months he never kissed or touched her,” Glover said as she fought back tears. “I knew then that something was wrong because by that point he had stopped looking at us.

“All of a sudden he wanted nothing to do with us. He didn’t want to be held or kissed and we’d find him buried in his room under blankets. He also started to fixate on things like lining up all his toys or playing with his trains for eight hours at a time.”

At that point, Glover began seeking answers for the differences in his personality and behavior.

“Something inside me started this personal quest,” Glover recalled.

After extensive research and reading, “Unraveling the Mystery of Autism,” the business woman’s life focus shifted.

She began using holistic methods she found in her research to help her son.

“I took him off of dairy and within a week he started walking,” Glover said. “It was like a veil had lifted.

“A week into his new diet, he said, ‘Mama,’ and I about died. From there I cut out gluten and the words just started flowing. Within that week he also stopped obsessing over things. He would drink out of different cups. He wanted to interact with the family again and started loving on his baby sister.”

Glover cherished each new development.

“It was like he had been in a cave for 18 months,” she recalled. “Now he is the most loving child – it’s like he’s making up for lost time.”

It became Glover’s mission to start Autism Resources in Bend and help other families convert autism children’s diets over to gluten- and dairy-free.

“I needed to share this with as many people as possible,” she said.

That thought led her to dreaming of opening a school that would not follow the common Applied Behavioral Analysis model used in many public schools.

Her dream school for children like Cade would have a natural setting, where teachers and specialists would work one-on-one with students, figure out their allergies and focus on their abilities rather than their disabilities.

“By sitting with them one-on-one you can help them with their social skills by getting them to use their words to say how they are feeling or having them draw a picture to express their emotions,” she said.

The school would also offer all organic food, not require immunizations, follow a pattern of daily routines rather than a strict schedule and expose students to art, music and outdoor activities like gardening.

That vision became so clear that Glover looked for the ideal place to open a charter school.

Beaverton is that place, she said, “because it has one of the highest autism rates in the nation.”

“There is an entire lost generation of kids that are lost in public school systems across the nation because they were mainstreamed and there is no funding for supporting these kids,” Glover said. “There is a big group of teenagers who are hurting.

“It’s important to work with autistic children when they are young and focus on their abilities. These children are gifted in their own ways.”

Glover is in the process of laying the ground work for opening a charter school tailored for autism spectrum children in Beaverton.

The idea to offer an alternative option for students has gained the interest of both the Educational Service District and Beaverton School District.

“They are both helping me so much because they want a different option for these kids,” Glover said. “The responses I’ve had so far have been wonderful. Families have really welcomed me with open arms.

“We all want these kids to feel like there is a group of people here who love and support them.”

Ideally, she’d like to open a charter school near Beaver Acres Elementary School in August 2009, just as Cade enters kindergarten.

But there is a lot to accomplish between now and then, including an extensive review process by the Beaverton School District.

“There are a lot of people in Beaverton that need another option for their children, so this will be very good for the community,” Glover said.

As for Cade, he’s doing very well, she said as the young man bounced from one inflatable activity to the next at Pump It Up Jr.! in Beaverton.

“My biggest goal is to find what he likes and is passionate about,” Glover said. “I want him to be able to one day be able to make a living doing what he loves, be able to live on his own and ultimately be able to relay his feelings with others.”

HT: Anne Dachel

UPDATE: Jessica dropped by and left this comment:

"Hey :) this is Jessica Glover Cades mom (the one in the article.)

Hindsight is always 20/20.

The silver lining is that Cade is doing very well and he is a jewel. My personal mission is to create a concept learning environment for these kids. My ultimate goal is to see the vaccine companies and government pay for it.... that is a dream. Until then we are fund raising and grant seeking. Bio-med intervention has helped Cade so much. He will grow to be a great Man who changes the way the World perceives these Children. Much like your precious Son. I refuse to label Cade. Thanks for all you do! "

FDA Hid Names of Melamine Contaminated Infant Formula Products from the Public

Peter Rost for FDA Commissioner. It is going to take proven whistle blower to clean up this disaster.

FDA Hid Names of Melamine Contaminated Infant Formula Products from the Public

by Mike Adams
November 27, 2008

When the FDA discovered melamine in U.S. infant formula products, it made a conscious decision to withhold that information from the public. Instead, it called a teleconference with the infant formula manufacturers to warn them about its findings!

The truth about the melamine only became public after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request, demanding the test results from the FDA. Absent that request, this whole issue would have continued to remain an FDA secret.

In the aftermath of that decision, the FDA is now under intense fire for once again betraying the public trust and acting to protect the interests of corporations rather than the people. Congress, public health groups and consumer advocate (like me) are blasting the FDA for utterly disregarding public safety and catering (once again) to the financial interests of the companies it regulates...

Autism Rate in the UK is now 1 in 88

... and 1 in 54 boys.

Autism catastrophe
Published Date: 28 November 2008
The Scotsman

...The most recent government study confirmed that the rate of autism in the UK now stands at one child in 88, with the rate for boys, who are most likely to be affected, around one in 58. Make no mistake, this is a public health catastrophe.

As a result of parental demand, Autism Treatment Trust opened a clinic in Edinburgh in 2006 and to date has arranged comprehensive testing and commenced treatments for more than 300 autistic children. The results of the tests have been striking and a remarkable pattern is emerging: gastrointestinal issues are common, particularly inflammation; food intolerances and allergies feature regularly, as do immune abnormalities and heavy metal toxicity. Many of these children are very ill. All are treatable.

The belief that autism is solely genetic in origin is unsustainable; environmental factors must be at play. You do not get genetic epidemics.

BILL WELSH
President, Autism Treatment Trust
Stafford Street
Edinburgh

Open Letters to Barack Obama

Mark Blaxil and Angela Warner have both written open letters to the President Elect asking for him to do right by our children and children yet to be born.

Dr. Kenneth Stoller has put together a letter for the rest of us asking our new president to end the chemical assault on Americans.

Please visit http://www.bodiesinrebellion.com and add your name to the signing statement.

CDC States that Chemical Exposures Will Be Shown to Cause Autism

I am a little speechless.

Apparently David Kirby has attained some sort of Jedi mastery and has gotten the Centers for Disease Control, The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Minnesota Department of Public Health snapping to attention to answer his questions. And all in one day!

One letter full of questions to each of them has elicited lengthy responses and more promised to come. This is in stark contrast to CDC's response to him in 2005. He wrote a big fat book about their malfeasance and their only response was to post a note on their web site that they were reading the book and would respond, and then just took down the notice a few months later with out ever responding.

Some sort of fire has been lit under some asses somewhere. Could it be in response to the rumor that Julie Gerberding is on her way out, and during her lame duckiness everyone is scrambling to make themselves look like they were doing the right thing all along so that if/when Secretary Daschel walks in the door on Jan 21 and asks to see the Poling files, their flesh will not burn under the white hot sunshine that starts to flood the place?

(Now you know what I dream about at night).

I will let you read for yourself, but the highlight of the work is this statement from CDC, in fact Julie Gerberding's officer itself, that Chemical Exposure will be shown to be one of the causes of autism through "today's research".

"While it is important to understand if autism is affecting any group of children disproportionately, it is also important to keep in mind that there are likely multiple causes of the autism spectrum of disorders. Most scientists agree that today's research will show that a person's genetic profile may make them more or less susceptible to ASDs as a result of any number of factors such as infections, the physical environment, chemical exposures, or psychosocial components."
-CDC Director’s Office of Enterprise Communication (OEC)

Oh... and they also mentioned that infections may cause autism as well.

Minnesota and the CDC Confer on Somali Autism Situation: CDC’s Office of the Director: Autism May Result from “Chemical Exposures”.

Is Anyone Open to and Autism Adoption?

I thought I would put this out to my readers:

I hope this e-mail finds you well. I am writing because I am actively looking for a home for 3 year old “Sam”. Sam was adopted from Russia in 2006, at the age of 13 months. Sadly, his placement is not working out and I must find him a new family.

Sam has been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder and he shows signs of having an autism spectrum disorder, although this is not yet confirmed. Sam can be a very challenging little boy who is sometimes loving, but often prone to tantrums. He would do best in a home with no other children or older children, and a parent or parents who feel called to adopt a special needs child.

If you think you might be the right parents for this little boy, contact me and I will get you in touch with his adoption agency.

Hep B Vaccine is Associated with a 9 Fold Developmental Disability Rate

Boys getting the recommended 3 Hep B shots, while the vaccines still contained Thimerosal, were NINE TIMES more likely to have a developmental disability than unvaccinated boys.

Finally... someone actually did a vaccinated v. unvaccinated study.

After Chandler was diagnosed, I printed out the Engerix B vaccine package insert, which I believed to be most significantly responsible for his autistic regression at 18 months and took it into my pediatrician.  My main question, "If the vaccine is known to cause Gilliam-Barre, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system, then why couldn't it cause autism, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system?"

He wouldn't take the highlighted print out from me and he didn't answer the question. He did remind me that vaccines were not associated with autism.

I will be sending this to him this week, as I am sure the American Academy of Pediatrics International Pediatricians Union won't be bringing this to his attention:

Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children aged 1-9 years

Authors: Carolyn Gallagher ^a; Melody Goodman ^a

Affiliation:

a Graduate Program in Public Health, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Health Sciences Center, New York, USA

DOI: 10.1080/02772240701806501

Publication Frequency: 8 issues per year

Published in: Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, Volume 90, Issue 5 September 2008 , pages 997 - 1008

Abstract This study investigated the association between vaccination with the Hepatitis B triple series vaccine prior to 2000 and developmental disability in children aged 1-9 years (n = 1824), proxied by parental report that their child receives early intervention or special education services (EIS). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2000 data were analyzed and adjusted for survey design by Taylor Linearization using SAS version 9.1 software, with SAS callable SUDAAN version 9.0.1. The odds of receiving EIS were approximately nine times as great for vaccinated boys (n = 46) as for unvaccinated boys (n = 7), after adjustment for confounders. This study found statistically significant evidence to suggest that boys in United States who were vaccinated with the triple series Hepatitis B vaccine, during the time period in which vaccines were manufactured with thimerosal, were more susceptible to developmental disability than were unvaccinated boys.

Keywords: early intervention; special education services; developmental disability; Hepatitis B vaccine triple series

Even though he was born in 2002, His first Hep B Shot contained thimerosal, which is known to cause mitochondrial dysfunction, which HHS has conceded become autism when multiple vaccines are later administered.

I would like to see this study repeated with children born since 2003 who received, "Thimerosal Free" Hep B shots. Was it the thimerosal or the aluminum or the shot itself.

New AAP President Shows Us His Priorities, And It Is Not The Health of American Children

Last month David 'no such thing as vaccine injury' Tayloe, was sworn in as the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Naturally, on day one of his new job, he laid out his priorities for his tenure:

'Tayloe said that he intends to focus on 5 main areas this coming year -- "Medicaid payments, vaccine financing issues, fair payment of pediatricians, retail-based health clinics and funding medical students' education."

As Anne Dachel notes in her piece, there are no actual children's health issues on his list of priorities. What is important to Tayloe, is getting pediatricians paid.

His priority is money.

Since he has decided to shift the focus of the group from children's health to doctors liquidity, it only seems appropriate to change the name of the group from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the Pediatricians Guild or the American Union of Pediatricians, so that the public can know who they are really dealing with.  A group that puts the interests of pediatricians above the interests of children.

Or I would have recommended those names, before I read this article today:

Dubai to welcome US paediatric group

Dubai: A US-based advocacy and education group for paediatricians is setting up practice in Dubai, bringing regulation and education standards for child health to an area lacking uniform paediatric policies.

The Dubai chapter of the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), would be the first overseas chapter of the medical group, comprising mostly of paediatricians, dedicated to the well-being of children.

The organization sets out guidelines and recommendations for child care in the US, while also looking after the interests of child healthcare providers. These policies have now been adopted as standard policy in many countries.

Dr. David Tayloe Jr., President of AAP, told Gulf News Dubai was ripe for a chapter. "A number of countries are underdeveloped, poverty is an issue - and that is not the case here," he said.

He added the UAE's struggle with child health issues, such as obesity and diabetes - on par with developed countries, were issues the AAP usually dealt with. Dr Tayloe expects the chapter to work closely with UAE health authorities on child health policies...

Tayloe's first order of business is not only NOT the health of American children, it is not anything American or health related. His first order of business is to expand his group internationally, and to expand it to one of the richest nations in the world. He was not kidding about getting paid, now was he.

I have a friend who is a pediatrician. She makes house calls, she does not charge her low income patients a good part of the time, she spends one month out of the year digging wells and treating kids who live on an island in Indonesia with no doctor and a few time she has even babysat her poorest patients when their single mothers had job interviews and other opportunities to elevate them selves and their little families. Her patients can call her cell phone at three in the morning and they will get her. While she and I don't agree on how vaccines should be used, I have a great deal of affection for her, because it is clear from the way she lives her life that the well being of children is what is vital to her.

When I stand David Tayloe next to her, the contrast is stark. His are the actions of someone who cares about money, hers are not. Hers are the actions of someone who cares about the health of children, especially poor children, his are not.

If he was concerned about the health of children, his focus would be on fixing the HORRIBLE condition of children's health in this country, that has happened under the watch of his own group, instead of exporting and OBVIOUSLY broken system to the children of Dubai. If he was concerned about the plight of foreign children, he would go to Africa to confront AIDS, or Thailand to confront the child sex trade, or even Minneapolis to confront autism. Instead he goes to UAE where their most notable characteristic is an overabundance of cash.

This is not the move of a man who is working for the benefit of children, this is a man who is looking to expand his business internationally. Dubai is not a place for health missionaries, it is a place for expanding market share.

I thought I couldn't get more cynical about this man. Well he managed to make that happen after only one month in his position.

So now if we want to properly name the American Academy of Pediatrics, we have to drop "American" because Tayloe is taking it global; we have to drop Pediatrics, because it is not about the art of keeping children in good health, but getting docs and their reps paid while covering their collective asses; and after his nonsensical comments on The Today Show, well let's just say that referring to any group that follows his lead as an "Academy" is a poor choice.

International Guild of Pediatricians seems like a good fit.

To the people of UAE, please take a look at the health of American children.  Around 1% have autism; 17% have a developmental delay or disability;  diabetes, asthma and cancer are through the roof; and our country is consistently listed near the bottom of modern countries in terms of children's health.  Why in the world would you want to invite in and adopt the policies of the professional organization that ushered in this health disaster?  Smile politely at Tayloe, and move on.

And again... to our wise American Pediatricians who have watched silently as your professional organization decays into a corrupt, ass covering, buck making organization... rise up... take back your profession.

Dr. Stephen T. Colbert Gives Props to Statins

Statins for Everyone!

Offit: "Vaccines are Safer than Vitamins".

First off, kudos to Lisa Green for actually researching an article on vaccine controversy and not just recycling the same pablum.

It is difficult to understand why anyone listens to Paul Offit's opinions on vaccine safety. Yet another irresponsible statement from him:

"I see myself as a champion of children. That's why I went into pediatrics," Offit said.

He knows parents dislike seeing children get painful shots.

"What really upsets people is that their child is pinned down and injected with a biological agent that they don't really understand," Offit said. "But in many ways, they're safer than vitamins."

The article does not elaborate on how toxic substances like mercury and aluminum are less dangerous to humans than the vitamins that the body actually needs to function properly.

I can't imagine what kind of narcissistic delusion I would have to descend into in order to call myself a "Champion of Children". If you ever hear me calling myself a "Paragon of Pediatrics" or a "Liberator of Little Ones", please slap me.

UPDATE: Best email response I got to this headline:

"Then why don't we have a Vitamin Injury Compensation Program?"

UPDATE:

In 2008 the number of people who died from vitamin overdose was zero.

Paul Offit Acts As A Spokesman For The AAP

This is a pretty good local news report on alternate vaccine schedules featuring Dr. Bob Sears who advocates breaking up the MMR and giving no more than two shots at a time.

But the most interesting part of the piece was this statement:

"The I Team asks the American Academy of Pediatrics why they are opposed to different vaccine schedules. Infection disease specialist Dr. Paul Offit responds on its behalf, saying, "...by delaying those vaccines, all you're doing is increasing the period of time during which children are susceptible to vaccine preventable diseases with out any benefit."

Paul "100,000 vaccines at once are safe for babies" Offit is a vaccine millionaire. Having him speak on behalf of the AAP is analogous to having the president of Merck speak on behalf of the AAP. This is completely inappropriate.

Now I and others in our community have railed against the ethical breaches and the revolving door between Pharma, government, Pharma non-profits and professional medical associations, but this move demonstrates that there is no door any more.

Having a vaccine patent holder (again not disclosed in the story) represent the AAP shows complete boundarylessness. Offit can apparently represent CHOP, Merck, AAP, CDC/ACIP, and the best interest of children, and there are no conflicts of interest, because, as he claims, he is a good guy and only has the good of children in his heart.

He is an infectious disease specialist who writes a book on autism, even though he does not treat autism, that clears him, his associates and his profession of any culpability in the autism epidemic?

This is just crazy. Do we allow lawyers to represent both opposing litigants in a case? Do accused bank robbers get to be the judge or jury at their own trial?

If you went to the bank tomorrow to deposit your paycheck, and found that all your accounts were empty, and the bank responded to your astonished and urgent demands to know where all your money went with, "Good news sir! We have audited your accounts, and ourselves, and we have exonerated ourselves of any wrongdoing! We found that you never had any money in these accounts. So you can feel safe going ahead and depositing your next paycheck"... there is not a chance in the world that you would say, "Whew! Good thing that is straightened out. Here is my hard earned paycheck!".

Again... do they think that people are really this stupid? Do they really think this continued madness will work long term?

And again... I call out to you wise pediatricians out there who are members of the AAP. Rise up, take back your profession and bring ethics and integrity back to pediatrics.