#seth mnookin

[thebooklook]

The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin

The Panic Virus is a thorough investigation of the history of anti-vaxxers, vaccine fears, and the "vaccines cause autism" hoax. While resistance to vaccination has existed practically since the development of vaccines, it's only recently that it's grown into an industry. Mnookin makes it clear that fake science, shameless grifters, and a complicit media have created the recent resurgence in preventable diseases, and that vaccine fears are unfounded. The true tragedy here is that desperate parents turn to these lies because they claim to provide hope, and insistence that there is a vaccine-autism link funnels research dollars away from useful research. If you want to understand anti-vaxxers and how we've gotten to this point, this book is an excellent resource. My one complaint is that among the many interviews conducted, there are no quotes from someone diagnosed with autism. The lack of their voice robs the book of a full perspective on the issue.

[asmallexperiment]

[sciencebookaday]

The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy

The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy

By Seth Mnookin

Synopsis: WHO DECIDES WHICH FACTS ARE TRUE?

In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist with a history of self-promotion, published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized hold of the story and, in the process, helped to launch one of the most devastating health scares ever. In the years to come…

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[thehouseholdcat]

In 2011, Mnookin published "The Panic Virus: The True Story of the Vaccine-Autism Controversy" (Simon & Schuster). "The Panic Virus" looks at the history of the controversy over vaccines and autism, going back to a retracted 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield through the current day. It is heavily critical of several public figures, including Jenny McCarthy, Oprah Winfrey, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Michael Shermer said it "should be required reading at every medical school in the world. ... a lesson on how fear hijacks reason and emotion trumps logic. … A brilliant piece of reportage and science writing."

[bb-k8]

If it's true that baseball, along with jazz, is one of the great indigenous American art forms, then certainly the story of baseball in Boston has been, for most of its history, one of America's most compelling tragedies. As John Cheever famously said, "All literary men are Red Sox fans-- to be a Yankee fan in literate society is to endanger your life." The Yankees play on the biggest stage, they've fielded the biggest superstars, and, of course they've won the most championships. But it's the Red Sox who truly represent the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of man as he struggles to transcend the limits of his essential nature.

Seth Mnookin, Feeding the Monster

[neuroatypically-speaking]

Got Seth Mnookin's book The Panic Virus for Christmas and have read somewhere around half.

On the one hand, there's quite a lot of good information here, including definitive proof that the anti-vaxxer claim that science and health officials haven't researched the possible vaccine-autism link is complete fucking hogwash (not that those of us with a couple of brain cells to rub together didn't know that already).

On the other hand, apparently Seth Mnookin, whose research abilities are otherwise fabulous, could not be arsed to do enough research to find out that autism is not a disease. I keep gritting my teeth in frustration at the way the book upholds pervasive attitudes about autism as some horrible, incurable thing for which there is simply no hope or help. 

So while it is full of good information, it reinforces attitudes that I firmly believe are part of the problem as a whole and part of what feeds into the absurdity and paranoia of the anti-vaxxer movement. The language is not at all sensitive to the fact that actual autistics might be reading it and yes, Mr. Mnookin, as anyone can no doubt observe, I can read.

[itsokaytobesmart]

I try to stress to my patients that you can't predict when [vaccine-preventable diseases] are going to show up — and you can't protect your child any other way. Pediatricians have no hidden agenda; our agenda is to protect kids. We've been there with incredibly sick children, and when you see that, you want to do everything you can to stop it.

Ari Brown, M.D., a pediatrician and author of the Baby 411 books.

A must-read in Parade magazine from vaccine defender Seth Mnookin:  Why So Many Parents Are Delaying or Skipping Vaccines.

[davidquigg]

These debates likely never would have occurred had it not been for the press's willingness to parrot quack claims under the guise of reporting on citizen concerns. In this instance, anti-flouridationists fixated on the dangers of fluorine, a poisonous gas that is among the most chemically reactive of all elements. What we know as "fluoride" does not contain fluorine gas—it's made up of some combination of sodium fluoride, sodium aluminum fluoride, and calcium fluoride. Equating the two is like accusing Joe the Plumber of being a murderous dictator because he shares a first name with Joseph Stalin, or claiming Joseph Stalin must be a brilliant writer due to the skill of Joseph Conrad. That parallel is not as tenuous as it sounds: Sodium fluoride is used to strengthen teeth, sodium chloride is table salt, and chlorine is a poisonous gas that was used by Germany in World War I.

- Seth Mnookin explains things in The Panic Virus