I just thought that I would share some comments I left on a story in the
Washington Times about
vaccines being safe and not causing autism. I thought this was a no-brainer, but apparently stories like this attract the no-vaccination trolls in droves. So, I thought that I would put one of them in their place. You can read the full article
here.
Enjoy.
Here is my first comment:
Here is my second comment:
"This story is proof that parents really need to research this topic."
No, they need to shut their traps and start listening to the people who actually research this for a living.
I know that WebMD, Wikipedia, and Youtube has every amateur convinced
that they are the world's greatest unpaid physician, but there are
people who actually do this stuff for a living who quite frankly know
more than you do. There are literally millions of research articles and
patient studies that have been published over the last 200 years or so
that modern medicine has existed. These recommendations about vaccines
and vaccine safety represent the best guesses as to what is effective
and safe in preventing childhood diseases. To have uniformed people
continually dismiss this body of research in favor of anecdotal evidence
and the testimony of modern snake oil salesmen is the epitome of
ignorance.
Also, I see that you're proud of that website you run -- Age of
Autism. Tell me, how many leading doctors and researchers in autism
subscribe to the theory that childhood vaccinations contribute to a
child developing autism? 50%? 10%? 5%? I am sure that if you polled the
leading researchers in the field, you wouldn't even get that high of a
percentage. That should give you a clue. Just because you can find a few
quacks willing to say that the two are linked doesn't mean that you get
to ignore the scientific consensus on the matter. And, even if you
choose to ignore it, it's very wrong for you to mislead impressionable
people -- who may be legitimately looking for advice on whether they
should get their children immunized -- on the subject. To do so is
beyond irresponsible.
You are a bad person. You may not see yourself as such, but you are.
If even one child dies from a preventable childhood illness because of
some stupid lies you wrote on the internet about not getting children
vaccinated, you should realize that you are partially to blame for his
or her death.
Here is the CDC's analysis of the
non-existence of the link between autism and vaccinations.
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