Ooooh, too bad there isn't a comments section on the article on Paul Offit's book, Autism's False Prophets. I can only imagine the furor caused by the book, which apparently states the scientific case against antivaccine adherents who believe vaccines cause autism, and even the article. There would be some amazing fireworks.
Because several of our friends are in the midst of PDDNOS and similar autism-spectrum diagnoses with their children, and because my kiddos were preemies (with multiple food sensitivities to boot) and had their immunizations spaced out, I have long followed the autism/vaccination debate. For the record, I'm a vaccination agnostic: I don't think we really know what causes autism and therefore can't rule out the possibility that vaccinations, among other environmental factors, have an effect (for the record, I haven't read Offit's book--or Jenny McCarthy's--and don't plan to). I doubt a single book can derail what has become a big industry of celebrities and theories, with McCarthy on one side and Amanda Peet on the other. It's like "Medical Battle of the Network Stars." Has American medicine and parenting really come down to which celebrity you have on your side? I guess doctors aren't sexy enough to get their points covered by major news outlets. Well, there's always Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General . . . he's a doctor and a tv star!
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