February 20th, 2011 → 12:13 pm @ Seth Mnookin // No Comments
In today’s Doonesbury, Boopsie bemoans the bum wrap Jenny McCarthy is giving to all of those former Playmates that don’t write books about bogus health scares…
As a wise man once said, Don’t Ever Change, Boopsie. Don’t ever change.
Post Categories: Blog post
Tags: Doonesbury, Jenny McCarthy, Playboy Playmates, vaccines
Maurine Meleck
13 years ago
This cartoon will make absolutely no difference in Doonesbury or Mnookin’s website to the tens of thousands of parents who watched their normally developing children regress from encephalopathy
and gut disease following vaccinations. In fact, this type of joke at the expense of those children who suffer extraordinary pain daily, will likely increase the will of parents with children on the spectrum—to make their information known to the rest of the world.
It’s sad that people have to resort to this kind of mockery to explain away a probable cause of autism. These same people have no other explanation for its cause.
Maurine meleck, SC
Rob
13 years ago
How much did big pharma pay Seth Mnookin and Gary Trudeau? It is very sad that Jenny McCarthy ever stooped to whoring herself for Playboy so that she wont be taken seriously. I watched my child regress IMMEDIATELY after being administered vaccines. Who the #@%& are any of you to say it isn’t even possible? Do you even read the warnings on medicine bottles? do you read about the adverse side effects? Or are you all a bunch of media puppets following blindly as big pharma gets rich off your ignorance, your apathy, and your illnesses.
Wake up you blundering idiots and really look into EVERYTHING before you chose sides! No infant should be given 6 diseases at one time. Thats what your vaccine is; a disease. Not every child will be able to fight that amount of illness without some consequence. And since we are passing damaged DNA through our genes, it stands to reason, REALLY, that VACCINES ARE DANGEROUS to infants. ESPECIALLY given in bunches by doctors who put their patients on an assembly line. They book like 3 patients evey 15 minutes now. C’mon REALLY think about this!!!! Or are you no longer ABLE to think for yourself and need the media to think for you????
Twyla
13 years ago
Right on, Maureen and Rob.
Tweets that mention “You’d expect better from a Playmate”: Doonesbury issues a Jenny McCarthy smackdown -- Topsy.com
13 years ago
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by David Folkenflik, Brett Keller, Kristen Schlag, Brendan Nyhan, thechuckmo and others. thechuckmo said: RT @sethmnookin: Doonesbury issues a Jenny McCarthy smackdown: http://ht.ly/3ZVbV #vaxfax […]
Andrew
13 years ago
As the parent of an autistic child, I’m very much against jokes about autism, and very much in favor of mockery of people who lie about the dangers of vaccines, so I’m very much in favor of this Doonesbury cartoon, and hope to see many more people like Trudeau telling the truth.
Sullivan
13 years ago
“explain away a probable cause of autism.”
???
First, vaccination in general isn’t a probable cause of autism. More to the point of the cartoon: Andrew Wakefield’s hypothesis of MMR causing autism is as improbable a cause as one might propose.
Jenny McCarthy pushed herself into the scientific debate with such eloquent statements as “Bullshit!”, shouted on Larry King Live to a pediatrician who was calmly discussing the facts. Garry Trudeau’s response, years later, is mild.
Ms. Meleck attempts to use disabled children to shield Jenny McCarthy from criticism. Jenny McCarthy earned this criticism. And more.
Twyla
13 years ago
There’s no doubt that the MMR sometimes causes autism.
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/BANKS_CASE.pdf
chamara
13 years ago
it wasn’t wakefield’s research that the DAN! movement was based on, it was the work of dr. bernard rimland, his science has proven sound since he started in the 1960’s. thousands of parents use his protocols to help thier children, including myself. if you won’t bother to even research where this idea of healing the gut to heal the brain came from originally how can you pass judgement on anyone? i watched my son lose his ability to speak, point, sit still, even sleep through the night within a week of his mmr. i have talked to parent after parent with the same story. do you have an autistic child? do you know anything about autism? how dare you say that a woman trying to help sick children deserves to be ridiculed in public by a missleading cartoon? wakefield’s work, while highly quoted, has nothing to do with the mecury in the shots, it had to do with finding measels viruses in the intestinal tissue of the children. jenny mccarthy, and the rest of us, heal our children through fixing the leaky gut issues (rimland’s work) and chelating mercury from their bodies. check your facts, please, before you run your mouth.
Sullivan
13 years ago
“don’t ever change, Boopsie” is a classic line. I remember it well from reading and re-reading “The Doonesbury Chronicles” as a kid. It dates back to the very early days of the character, back when they were still in College. I thought about the line myself when I first read the comic.
David in Cal
13 years ago
I totally agree with Trudeau and Mnookin. There is no reason at all to think that vaccines are a cause of autism. Sadly, some children will suffer unnecessary diseases because they didn’t get vaccinated. And, these diseases could spread and infect to other children as well.
At first, I thought Mnookin might be complaining about faulty wax paper, when he wrote, “Boopsie bemoans the bum wrap…” 🙂
Twyla
13 years ago
There are plenty of reasons, including:
– thousands of parental reports of vaccine reactions followed by loss of language and social skills, and development of self stimming repetitive behaviors
– published peer reviewed studies showing higher rates of immune system issues in people with autism, including inflammation in the brain, inflammatory cytokines in the spinal fluid, family history of autoimmune disorders (susceptibility factor), imbalance between Th-1 and Th-2 cells, auto-antibodies against the myelin basic protein coating nerve cells, and more
– huge increase in autism during the past 25 years in tandem with the huge expansion of the vaccine program
– vets and pet owners describing the same health issues in over-vaccinated pets as are common in children with autism (e.g. seizures, GI issues…) http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/05/veterinarian-wi.html
– historical cases of encephalitis and encephalopathy reported after vaccines
– encephalitis and encephalopathy listed in the government’s vaccine injury table and on the MMR package inserts as possible side effects
Andrew
13 years ago
You might not realize it, but comparing autistic children to pets is offensive to parents of autistic children, and to autistic adults as well. It’s comments like this that make it very hard for the autistic community to take antivax advocates seriously.
However, I appreciate your recognition that the pharmaceutical companies are honest about reporting the risks of their products in the package inserts – so at least you reject the conspiracy theories that many antivaxxers adopt.
Twyla
13 years ago
Andrew, I’m not comparing autistic children to pets. Dogs and cats and humans with autism and humans without autism are all mammals, and we share a lot of attributes, such as lungs, hearts, brains, nerves, stomachs, blood, immune systems… This is why products are often tested on animals for safety.
Birgit Calhoun
13 years ago
There used to be a time when Doonesbury had something to say. I suppose anyone has the right to say what they feel like saying. However if you want to be credible, Seth, you better start looking around for other illustrations. Doonesbury has lost his touch and by printing this cartoon you are not far behind. Are you married? Do you have children? Do you know what it is like to have a child who is fine one day and then due to the vaccine schedule changes into a different being, someone you don’t recognize? It is a shame that compassion is missing in your book. Think how it would be if, suddenly, you had to care for someone who got one shot too many.
Maureen
13 years ago
Jenney McCarthy is the one who popularized an autism-vaccine link???!! I thought that was Dr. Wakefield!!!. Or maybe it was us parents who read the Simpsonwood Transcripts. Probably Gary doesn’t have time to read – too busy being funny.
Ingrid
13 years ago
This is just yet another classic case of the media, cartoonists included, not understanding AT ALL what Jenny and others who are wary of vaccines have been saying for years. We did not look at ONE tiny little study done by a doctor in England and decide that vaccines must be terribly dangerous. Heck, that study studied only 12 kids! Do you seriously, SERIOUSLY, think we’re that stupid? Well, maybe you do. Maybe you do assume that a beautiful sexy woman with large breasts MUST be stupid. (In which case, who’s stupid?)
No… we didn’t take one study and run with it like a band of crazies. We looked at EVERY SINGLE STUDY that has been done on vaccines. We scoured the research. We analyzed the assumptions. We looked at who funded the studies and what conflicts of interest exist in them. We are, by far, the MOST highly educated demographic of parents out there. We – the “stupid” moms who are wary of vaccines.
And what did we all conclude? Not enough studies have been done to determine their true safety. For instance: there has not been a single study done comparing kids who have been vaccinated “on schedule” with those who have never received vaccines. There has not been a single study comparing kids who received high dose versions of aluminum vaccines as opposed to those who received low aluminum doses. (The amount of aluminum in vaccines varies from brand to brand.) There has not been a single study that even tested whether or not giving 9 shots in one sitting is a safe practice, and yet pediatricians do this all the time assuming a study was done showing it is a safe practice. Nope.
There are HUGE glaringly obvious aps in the kinds of studies that have been done on vaccine safety. This is what we, Jenny and other beautiful and intelligent mothers like myself have a problem with.
Doom2doones
13 years ago
Ignoramus.
Twyla
13 years ago
As Katie Wright wrote on the Age of Autism site, “Gary Trudeau recently took a cheap shot at a single Mom who cares for her recovered, yet chronically ill, son. When this Mom is not with her son she can be found donating almost all her time and energy towards helping other ASD families in need. When is the last time Gary Trudeau fielded phone calls from broke ASD families and offered them tangible assistance? When the last time Gary Trudeau went to an autism conference and was mobbed for 5 hours by crying moms sharing stories of their sick autistic children? When was the last time Gary Trudeau spend Valentine’s Day in the hospital with his small son after he suffered a series of seizures? When was the last time Gary Trudeau heard his child spontaneously speak – today? – yesterday? For me it was 2004, just prior to a series of adverse vaccine reactions that took away his voice.
“Jenny McCarthy’s ‘crime’ is advocating for objective vaccine safety research. Guess what Gary? Millions of American parents want objective vaccine safety research too. Safe vaccines are their number one health care priority.”
Anita Newhouse
13 years ago
This cartoon is meaningless spin enjoyed only by those without a clue. All of the parents, grandparents, healthcare providers/ doctors, teachers, childcare providers and anyone else who works day-in, day-out with children on the autism spectrum don’t really care what any of the rest of you think. Actually living with ASD is enough “proof” that something is wrong. Jenny simply asked questions that all parents ask before we decide whether or not to vaccinate our kids. She used her connections-and many are grateful for it- to pursue the lack of answers and information about what has been happening to 1 in 110 children, per the CDC. Just as the housing and derivatives markets were kept afloat by studies and complicit firms before those complex truths couldn’t be powered by spin anymore, I will not be at all surprised to “learn” that some individuals may indeed be injured by the process currently used to control childhood illnesses that adversely affect productivity and GDP. No worries, at the rate of 1 in 110, the basic cost of services as these children grow up will be astronomical, bankrupting not just familes of these children, but also governments that must provide for those who turn 18 and can’t care for themselves. THAT’S when it will become publicly relevant to answer the questions Jenny put forth. All of the people attached to the 1 in 110, will be those already moving ahead finding not just a new way to provide herd immunity (if it can ever really exist) to protect the GDP, but also, reaping the benefits of all of knowledge that comes form actual problemsolving vs denial.
Anon
13 years ago
I’d expect better from a former heroin addict, Seth.
McD
13 years ago
I wish all you ‘warrior-moms’ only the best. I do know what you are going through, from sitting for hours numb with fear while search-and-rescue are combing the river banks for the run-away, again; to scraping poo from the carpets and wallpaper, again. Like you I want to do the best for my son.
What really really pisses me off is the cynical, cold-hearted way you, and yes, Jenny, have been manipulated into service as disposable pawns in a manufactroversy designed to wring money out the bloated money-grubbing drug and vaccine industry and dribble it straight into the maw of the bloated money-grubbing vaccine-damage lawyering and ‘expert’ witnessing industry.
Since 1999, autism-related claims have made up 67% of vaccine court cases. Before 1999, the percentage was 0.
You can see the stats here: http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/statistics_report.htm
Since 1988, autism cases have made up 41% of the vaccine-court lawyers’ case-load.
Since 1988, vaccine court has paid out $2,183,595,780.77. yup, Two billion dollars and change.
Of that, $48,604,511.80 was paid in attorneys fees for DISMISSED cases alone – a significant proportion of which will have been autism cases. And as payments lag a few years behind hearings, this doesn’t even include the 400-odd dismissed cases in the past two years.
Those bottom-feeders, and their expert witnesses get paid out of trust funds whether they win or lose. Autism parents provide a significant proportion of their revenue stream, The industry actually have quite a lot to lose if the parents realize what’s really going on here. The only losers are the parents who are being manipulated into making baseless claims to pad out some shyster’s case load at public expense.
Actually there are other losers – people with autism – who miss out when attention and research funds are
diverted from investigating reasonable prospective causes and therapies.
curt
13 years ago
Jenny mccarthy claims she went on journey, but in reality she was on a sprint. Typically Hollywood celebrity who goes in high gear upon the slightest hint of her child having something that would immediately put her in the limelight and jumpstart a fading career cuz we know she can’t act. No disrespect to her son. It’s not his fault his mom is a greedy person who could care less about misinformation regarding autism. It’s even more heinous those surrounding her don’t have the guts or decency to pull away from this fraud, since they are either benefitting from her “friendship” or gaining money from her bull shit lies about her son being autistic and her curing him, in some other way. It must be easy to cure what never was. What a disgrace. Funny that Jenny also backed the fraud who claimed she was maimed by the flu vaccine, and in turned out she was a fake. Just like Jenny’s story about autism. Maybe her son is the Indigo child after all…I guess we won’t see a book about that, or Landau Kleffner syndrome..which is most likely, according to severeal experts, and Time magazine eluded to..her son has
Jack
12 years ago
The fact Jenny McCarthy has made a lot of money off her son’s false diagnosis, is telling. Also, the fact we never hear anthing specific about her son’s diagnosis is disturbing. Her son’s alleged “cure” and “recovery” is a very misleading statement. She had caused many parents of autistic children to seek the gluten free diet and bio-medical treatments. Autism is so easily cured. This is very misleading. And the fact she continues to milk the autism industry with her false claims is highly suspect. People must forget that her son was once considered an “indigo child.” Then, suddenly after she heard many stories of autistic children from their parents, she used these stories as a smokescreem to her own son’s real situation, which isn’t autism. He has landau kleffner syndrome.