At a protest rally in Washington DC, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey spoke yesterday on behalf of “Green Our Vaccines” a group that has called into question the vaccination program for infants and toddlers recommended by the government. The two celebrities articulated the group’s position, that childhood vaccines are likely a contributing factor to a rise in childhood autism and possibly other diseases as well.
McCarthy, whose own son has been diagnosed with autism, has been especially outspoken on the subject. According to CBS News, the actress and “Green our Vaccines” are most concerned with the schedule of childhood vaccines and preservatives added to the vaccines. Green our Vaccines attributes a rise in childhood autism to an increase in the number of vaccines, coupled with chemicals used in the vaccines that may cause severe neurological problems to a small minority.
Critics of the group, including the Center for Disease Control, point to a lack of evidence that links vaccinations directly to Autism. CDC also points out the thousands of lives saved from vaccinations against smallpox, polio, measles, and whooping cough. Other critics point out that more awareness of autism and new ways to identify autism has led to more reported cases of the disease, which has led to an appearance that more children are developing the disease. Finally critics point to recent studies that failed to prove any causal connection between Autism and childhood vaccinations.
However, the Allegheny Times reports that since the 1980’s the number of vaccinations required for children has tripled. The times quotes one critic of the CDC’s mandatory vaccination schedule:
In the early 1980s, children were receiving only 10 vaccinations. At that time, the rate of autism diagnoses was one in 10,000. Now, children receive 36 vaccines, and the number of autistic children, according to federal agencies, is one in 150.
Both sides agree that vaccinations are necessary to prevent many childhood diseases. But despite the CDC’s claim that vaccinations are safe, it will take more than studies funded by the pharmaceutical companies to convince the skeptics like Green Our Vaccines.
Jenny McCarthy was on Larry King Live last night and she was very clear that she thinks her nearly six year old son, Evan, would not have suffered from autism if it wasn’t for vaccinations. She said that autism is a global epidemic, and that she and the autism community are not anti-vaccination, but that they’re anti-toxin and anti-schedule. She’s says “we’re not treating autism, we’re treating vaccine injury.”
Larry asked Jenny about the schedule and she said that back in 1987 there were 10 shots scheduled for children and today it’s 36, which is “too many too soon.” She says we need an alternate schedule, and that the mercury has not been removed from vaccines and that the shots also include aluminum, ether, and antifreeze.
MCCARTHY: I personally haven’t heard of that many people falling off the map that we needed to implement 26 new shots in this time. And isn’t it ironic, in 1983 there was 10 shots and now there’s 36 and the rise of autism happened at the same time?
And parent after parent after parent says I vaccinated my baby, they got a fever and then they stopped speaking and then became autistic.
KING: Is your link scientific or statistical?
MCCARTHY: Well, I believe that parents’ anecdotal information is science-based information. And when the entire world is screaming the same thing — doctor, I came home. He had a fever. He stopped speaking and then he became autistic. I can’t — I can see if it was just one parent saying this. But when so many — and I speak to thousands of moms every weekend and they’re all standing up and saying the same thing. It’s time to start listening to that. That is science-based information. Parents’ anecdotal is science-based information…
KING: Jenny, will you agree that some cases have nothing to do with vaccines, which makes it more puzzling?
MCCARTHY: Absolutely. You know, environmental toxins play a role. Viruses play a role. Those are all triggers. But vaccines play the largest role right now and something needs to be done. You know, testing these kids for immune issues, you know, that would help so much, changing the schedule. You know, I don’t understand — as a precautionary measure, why don’t they do this?
If everyone is screaming this and they’re so worried about parents going into offices right now telling the pediatrician j everyone is going I’m too scared to vaccinate my child. This is the new parents’ number one fear — I am afraid to vaccinate.
I am not trying to start this global non-vaccinating world. I’m trying to implement change.
Jenny says that her son Evan hasn’t “recovered,” but that he no longer qualifies as autistic for special services. She compared it to being hit by a bus. You can get better but you’re never quite the same. She called him a “a wonderful example of hope and possibility for parents out there.”
They had journalist David Kirby, the author of “Evidence of Harm” on. He discussed the case of Hannah Polling, in which the “vaccine court,” a special court created by the US government to shield the pharmaceutical companies from large lawsuits, ruled that vaccines did contribute to Polling’s autism. In that case Kirby notes that Polling had an underlying mitochondrial disorder that was exacerbated by the vaccines. Kirby says, like McCarthy, he’s not anti-vaccination but thinks that the schedule should be individualized to each child. He said you could for example specifically test for the genetic defect that causes a mitochondrial dysfunction and make sure that those children, who are genetically more susceptible to autism, be given less vaccinations at once.
At the end of the show there was a panel of doctors trying to sum up the issue. Earlier they discussed the importance of vaccination and how childhood illnesses have been eradicated. The discussion got heated and McCarthy plainly said “that’s bullshit” when one doctor said vaccines have been a boon to families. She said “my son died in front of me,” and talked about how her son died for two minutes and went into cardiac arrest. She asked “are we considered acceptable losses?”
Clip of McCarthy saying “that’s bullshit!”
I clipped the rest of the show and the links are below if you would like to watch it. This is an important issue that touches so many families and I can’t imagine the heartbreak of having a child with autism. Good for Jenny for having the courage to speak out about this. There are no clear-cut answers and there needs to be more study into this, but it seems as if the pharmaceutical companies have been shielded from scrutiny due to the reasonable fear that people will stop vaccinating.
Larry read out a statement from Jim Carrey at the end of the show that “Vaccines are more a profit engine than a means of prevention. And that’s why there are so many vaccines.”
Jenny and Jim Carrey will lead a march on Washington on June 4th, and you can learn about it on GenerationRescue.org
MCCARTHY: Jim and I are going to lead a march and rally in Washington, D.C. And I’m announcing it right here on June 4th. You can go on GenerationRescue.org for more information. We will be there and we’re asking every parent that can make it there in Washington on that day, every grandma, mom, dad, to be there with us marching, rallying. You have a voice that day.
KING: Are you raising money?
MCCARTHY: Oh, no. This is a day — you know, I’ve been talking to parents across the country, thousands of them. And they’re so dying to have a voice one day. So we’re bringing the media. We’re bringing the attention, and now I’m asking every parent that’s watching this right now, come there that day and you will be heard.
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 1
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 2
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 3
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 4
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 5
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 6
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 7
