McCarthy is a conspiracy theorist and one of Wakefield’s biggest supporters.  She wrote the forward to his book Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines—The Truth Behind a Tragedy, where she states: 

“I believe history will be very kind to Andy Wakefield…For hundreds of thousands of parents around the world, myself included, Andy Wakefield is a symbol of strength and conviction that all parents of children with autism can use to fight for truth and the best lives possible for their kids.”  

I don’t have celebrity status that gives Jenny the ability to get her now debunked message across to an audience of millions like on Oprah, Larry King and in People Magazine.  I have to keep fighting one blog entry at a time (along with many others)—hoping that we can turn the tide around. There are many like me but no one with McCarthy’s appeal.  So even with all the evidence against her message, she is winning.  The mainstream media is beginning to report the fraud and will hopefully continue to push this message.  New generations of parents will hopefully never hear about Wakefield or McCarthy for that matter.  I can dream, can’t I? 

Many celebrities and parents backed Andrew Wakefield (Britain revoked his medical license so I refuse to refer to him as “Dr.”) and worldwide immunizations levels have yet to recover from the fear. Preventable diseases like whooping cough and measles are making a comeback thanks to the Wakefield/McCarthy alliance.  McCarthy is on record saying:

”I do believe sadly it’s going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They’re making a product that’s s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we’ll use it. It shouldn’t be polio versus autism.” 

Where is her evidence coming from? How does she know they are unsafe?  I sure hope it’s not because Andrew Wakefield said so.   

I get it.  Many parents want an answer as to why their child is autistic. I am at peace with my child’s diagnosis, but that does not mean that others should stop looking for an explanation. Time and time again we’ve seen that there is no link between vaccines and autism, so let’s stop wasting valuable resources.  Maybe we, as parents, can focus our energy towards finding ways to communicate with and educate our children.  There is an entire community of autistic adults willing to help.  Let’s engage them and expand the conversation to more than causation and cure. 

Delusional? Misguided? Desperate? Call it what you want, but McCarthy should apologize for scaring millions of parents from vaccinating their kids and then step down from the autism platform.  Give it to someone who actually knows what he or she is talking about. If you are concerned about these issues, then listen to a vaccine expert like Dr. Paul Offit and check out his new book Deadly Choices (Watch out, now I’ve really pissed off the anti-vaccine folks).  Let’s end this debate in the autism conversation and start to discuss quality of life issues.  C’mon Jenny, I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say on that topic.  And please don’t let it be about your new line of eco-bedding.

In a Time Magazine article last year, she announced that she would rather her son contract a potentially life-threatening disease than be autistic (I apologize now to any autistic adults that may be reading this for I can imagine how offensive that is).  The problem is, there is no proof that vaccines cause autism. Celebrities mean well.  Whether they are trying to free Mumia or inform us that 9/11 was the first time in history that fire melted steel, they desperately want to “do good” so that we don’t stop paying attention to them.    

“I do believe sadly it’s going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They’re making a product that’s s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we’ll use it. It shouldn’t be polio versus autism…If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the f___ing measles.” 

I don’t ever remember Jenny calling me, or any of my friends, to see if we’d rather have children with measles or autistic children.  Many of us would prefer she just stopped talking about autism altogether.  She is not brave, nor is she any kind of warrior mom. She is simply a misguided attention-seeker. Before she went public with her son being autistic, she announced that he was a “crystal child:” 

“The day I found out I was an adult Indigo will stay with me forever. I was walking hand in hand with my son down a Los Angeles street when this woman approached me and said, ‘You’re an Indigo and your son is a Crystal.’ I immediately replied, ‘Yes!’ and the woman smiled at me and walked away.” 

Based on this chance encounter, McCarthy started a website for Indigo Moms (mother’s of crystal children) and dreamed of a school where each child would start the day in silent meditation, eat in organic cafeterias and attend lessons outdoors.  Unfortunately, Jenny gave up this attitude when she went public with her son’s autistic diagnosis.  The Indigo crap may be far fetched, but it was harmless. She has since taken down her IndigoMom.com website—however, perhaps due to the bizarre nature of this subject matter, many bloggers and browsers have this info readily available if you know where to look.  Here is some more in case you are interested: 

“Being the Indigo I am, I do know I have taken on the biggest task anyone could try to accomplish in one lifetime. I have no doubt in my mind you will be watching me do this for the rest of my life, until I can barely hold myself up with my walker.” 

McCarthy must have seen that this movement was not taking off like she had hoped. Then in May of 2007, announced that her son was autistic.  She blamed his autism on childhood vaccines without any real scientific evidence, based on her “mommy instinct.” While “mommy instinct” might be useful in determining whether your child actually brushed his teeth or not, it is not the best tool to use when formulating complex scientific hypotheses. Sadly, this message took hold and people stopped vaccinating their children.  

Thanks to the anti-vaccine movement that heralded Ms. McCarthy as one of their most vocal leaders, whooping cough is back with a vengeance. In California alone, the number of cases has risen to its highest point since 1955.  Los Angeles Unified School District sent out a recorded message to all families this month warning of an epidemic. 10 babies have already died of whooping cough in California this year alone.  The saddest part is that all of these deaths were preventable. 

Recently, McCarthy was asked if she would ever pose for Playboy again.  She claims that if they would donate $2 million to an autism charity, then she would do it.  The problem is that $2 million to her type of autism charity would inadvertently go towards more children dying.  I’m begging Jenny to stop.  Here is my plea: 

Dear Ms. McCarthy, 

I can honestly say that you are a beautiful woman with a fantastic figure.  You have managed to use those charms to make a wonderful career for yourself.  However, you turned those charms into dangerous weapons when you took on autism and childhood vaccines.  You are part of a risky message that makes parents so afraid of autism that they will risk their child’s life to avoid it.  I’m begging you to change your message. 

Sincerely, 
Dana Commandatore 

I hope her ego doesn’t get in the way of doing the right thing.  It’s true that autism needs attention but not the kind that McCarthy delivers.  She feels that autism is worse than diseases that kill (yes Jenny, measles can be deadly).  Despite the overwhelming evidence that there is no link between vaccines and autism, her message persists.   

There are real world consequences when celebrities decide to make a difference.  Many good charities get overlooked or worse, children get sick and die from the pseudo-scientific advice that Ms. McCarthy is peddling.  Make jokes about dirty diapers and bootie calls, but leave the serious stuff to the pros.

—–

While most telethons are about helping people this one seemed more concerned about the oil soaked animals. In fact two thirds of the proceeds went to environmental activist groups, The Nature Conservancy and the National Wildlife Federation. The United Way was there for the human victims, although very few of the stars seemed concerned about that aspect of the tragedy. Robert Redford made a response so comical; that it looked like it was a SNL skit (I’m saving that for the end).

The best example of the Telethon’s focus was voiced by Chelsea Handler:

“Everybody now is thinking about the animals, and and it’s really scary, especially for anybody, you know, espec… for-for a mill…  a bevy of reasons I mean we have to think about the animals out there. Everybody needs to be thinking about animals.”

Perhaps victims of the Nashville flood could have activated Hollywood behind their disaster had they shown pictures of drowning possums.

Chelsea was seated next to the very animated and annoying Jenny McCarthy at the beginning of the show, and moved over two seats after Jenny volunteered $5000 of Chelsea’s money. Every time the camera came on Jenny was mugging and gesticulating and Chelsea had moved another seat farther away from her. I’m guessing her remark might have been mocking Jenny.

But Jenny brought up a very good point. Why weren’t these celebrities donating more of their own money? The entire telethon raised about $1.3 million, which is a pittance to most of the stars appearing.  There was a time when Ted Danson was making that much in a week of Cheers residuals. Sting could have raised nearly that much by playing a few songs at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding.

Philippe Cousteau Jr. was on board as the oceanic expert, and if he ever attended college, I couldn’t find it in any of his biographies posted around the Internet. I’m fairly certain that being the grandson of Jacques Cousteau gives him ample credibility, but he made a remark that I believe is scientifically wrong. He claimed:

“Oil is toxic, deadly toxic, at one part per billion in the water column.”

One part per billion is a half teaspoon of crude into an Olympic-size pool. Drinking a glass will gross you out, long before it kills you.

Ian Somerhalder chimed in with his own take on the toxicity:

“I made the mistake of getting it on my fingers and then I went to rub my eye and I didn’t pay attention that I was touching my eye and the whole thing swelled up and got red stinging …it’s-it’s really toxic, I can’t imagine having it on my entire body.”

(Although many fans of the Vampire Diaries probably do.) I mean come on, Ian, a little misplaced eyeliner would do the same thing, and THAT isn’t stopping you.

Philippe Jr. also claimed that the spill is a…

“Symptom of a bigger problem our dependence on fossil fuel we just refuse to get off. All of us have a part to play.”

Somewhat hypocritical, considering Philippe is an heir to an empire built on fossil fuel consumption. Grandpa Jacques didn’t sail out to film his documentaries. I would bet the Calypso burned more oil filming one episode of the Undersea World than most of us will use in our entire lifetime.

Cameron Diaz voiced what the whole event was really about: making sure that private planes, limousines, and imported raw organic vegan deli trays are only available to movie stars.  She claimed that we all need to:

“…start making a change in the way you live: What you buy, what you drive, what you eat. You can make the difference; you can help prevent a terrible tragedy like this from ever happening again.”

Victoria Principal not only repeated the debunked Al Gore hurricane chestnut, but indicated she hasn’t been looking at weather reports for the past four years:

”The reason we’re having more hurricanes is because we weren’t thinking in advance about how we treat this planet, so it’s really a wake up call on every level.”

CNN reporters Kyra Phillips and Soledad O’Brien both did nice human interest angles on the tragedy, talking to fisherman whose lives have been interrupted, although neither talked to any oil workers unemployed by the moratorium. The only time the oil workers were mentioned was when Larry asked Robert Redford about them and you won’t believe how he responded. (It’s coming).

There was a lot of blame put on BP, a little blame put on Congress, and absolutely no mention made of the President, beyond the plug Kerry Kennedy squeezed in:

“One of the things that we’re doing is trying to get people to petition President Obama to sign, um, a legislative order that will make 100,000 green jobs in the uh, in the gulf coast.”

Shouldn’t a Kennedy be aware that Congress does all the legislation?

As I mentioned before there was no sympathy for the oil economy. Ted Danson doesn’t see a problem with it:

“No more offshore oil drilling, pump the wells we got, but no more new because the risks as we see are way too high, and the benefits are not that big.”

But the funniest and most telling moment of the evening came when Larry asked a befuddled Robert Redford about what will happen to the oil workers if offshore drilling ceases. (Incidentally, I’m fairly certain that Standard Oil is now BP, but Bob doesn’t seem to be aware of that.)

The show was closed out with a performance by Herbie Hancock and India Arie, playing John Lennon’s Socialist classic Imagine, which doesn’t have anything to do with the topic at hand. Religion, Possessions and Country weren’t really responsible for the explosion. At least Sting played Fragile, which seemed somewhat appropriate.

And just imagine where we would be…without our stars.

Matt Lauer and NBC seemed to make a conscious decision to lend support by promoting celebrities’ wares rather than providing much needed information to the autism community.  The Today Show featured an interview with actress Holly Robinson Peete and her former pro-football player husband, Rodney, promoting their two new books about autism.  They told the story of how depressed they were when they received the diagnosis and how tough it was on their marriage.  At the time, they were informed that their child wouldn’t speak, be social or play organized sports.  

Then, I turned to the Internet and saw Jenny McCarthy begging people to vote for her anti-vaccination charity, Generation Rescue, to win $250K from the “Pepsi Refresh Everything Project.” In a somewhat crazed plea, McCarthy promises that she will spend everyday for the rest of her life helping raise money for these autistic kids.  And then I heard something from way out in left field.  Yoko Ono was named the first-ever “World Autism Ambassador” by Autism Speaks.   Huh? 

The month was getting off to a bad start and then something good happened.  HBO aired “A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back to Autism.”  This was an informative and fascinating documentary of an Icelandic mother’s quest to help her severely autistic son.  Interspersed with hopeful and educational conversations with Temple Grandin, Simon Baron-Cohen and Soma Mukhopadhyay, Kate Winslet narrates this mother’s journey of discovery.  

Apparently, the type of awareness that Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete are spreading is not helping Margaret Dagmar Ericsdottir or her son.  This former businesswoman turned full-time mother was so starved for helpful information that she had to travel the globe with a film crew to find a way to actually help her severely autistic son, Keli, communicate.  “A Mother’s Courage” was refreshing in that it moved past hearing about how hard it is for parents to accept an autism diagnosis and move toward improving the quality of life of autistic individuals.  Acceptance, understanding and progress are what autistic people need, not celebrities selling books and declaring war on the CDC. 

When I listened to Holly and Rodney talk about the day their son received his diagnosis, I cringed a bit.  What kind of doctor tells parents that their children are hopeless?  Further, who believes it?  

Our story began like many others.  Early on, our son met all his developmental milestones and, from the outside, everything seemed normal.  However, deep down, we always knew he was different.  When he was three months old, we considered that he might be deaf or blind.  We did our own test and both seemed satisfied with the results.  He seemed incredibly bright, although a bit non-social, so we didn’t initially worry when the speech never came.  Sure there were sounds and attempts, but by 18 months we hardly got more of an “Mmmm” or “Buh” out of him.  There was flapping, poor eye contact, spinning and some screaming but, this being our only child, what did we know?  There was even a bout of ear infections and high fever close to the time he received some vaccinations.  In retrospect, this could have provided the anecdotal evidence needed if we were inclined to blame vaccines—but when we remembered all the other issues, it didn’t make sense.  While our son was undergoing a hearing test, I overheard one technician say the word “autism”.  This prompted us to do some research and we scheduled an appointment with the regional center to see if, in fact, our child was autistic.  

After an examination, I listened to a psychologist deliver the news.  She handed me some pamphlets and then said: “You will need some time to digest this information. Discuss it with your husband and allow yourself to grieve.” 

“Grieve?” I questioned her choice of words.  “My son’s not gonna die or anything, is he?”

“Oh, of course not.” She said.  Well then, why would I grieve?  My husband and I were actually relieved when our son was diagnosed with autism.  Now that we had some answers, it was time to make a plan and get to work.  

Conventional wisdom states that there is a higher divorce rate among parents of autistic children. A study conducted in 2008 by Harris Interactive for Easter Seals in cooperation with the Autism Society of America found divorce rates for parents of Autistic children lower than those for families with no children with disabilities. Every marriage has its share of stress and strain, but ours seemed to flourish with the acceptance of our role as parents of an autistic child.  Just like all other parents, we needed to teach our child how to communicate, socialize, and behave appropriately.  We just needed to go about it differently. 

Let’s get back to the celebrities, for I know how upset they get when they are no longer the center of attention.  The truth is plain and simple. Jenny McCarthy wants to continue her battle against the CDC and keep her name in the news as much as possible.  What I find sad is that there are several charities also competing for Pepsi’s money that are much more deserving.  I found one deserving cause called Miracles Kidcare that is trying to open a treatment center for children with life threatening diseases.  Maybe it’s just me, but I would like to see children with life threatening diseases get treatment and see any autism funds go toward better services for autistic people rather than McCarthy’s pseudo-science charity. 

A parent desperately searching for a way to communicate with a severely autistic child takes little solace from hearing about how disappointed Mr. Peete was to find out that his son would never be a professional athlete.  She might, however, love to hear about those moments when Rodney and his son really connected.  And let’s not forget Yoko Ono (I know, I forgot about her too).  But really, does the autism community need Yoko Ono as their World Autism Ambassador just because she allowed a pro-eugenics organization like Autism Speaks to auction her painting?   

I thank this Icelandic mother for embarking on this mission to help her son.  I learned a lot about communication and the autistic brain.  I saw a mother receive hope for the very first time that her son can learn how to communicate and express his desires and fears.  If there are any parents who are ready to give up on their child’s ability to communicate, they should watch this documentary.  There is another important lesson to learn here: Just because someone is non-verbal it doesn’t mean that they don’t understand what you are saying or writing about them.   I get so upset when I hear someone talk about how hopeless their child is while in their presence.  This can’t have a good effect on the child’s overall psyche.  

Once again, we’ve learned that celebrities do not have the answers.  Sure, they look good on camera and can deliver a line better than average folks, but they are missing out on something important in the case of autism.  Parents don’t need pseudo science and anecdotes.  They need real life experiences and tried and tested information.  Maybe next year we will move away from the celebrities and move toward progress.

And how does the former Playmate turned warrior mother feel, now that the basis of her argument has yet again been debunked?  She and boyfriend Jim Carrey released this statement:  “It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers…”  It is clear to me that anyone who holds “mommy instinct” in higher regard than years of vaccine research is irrational and dangerous.  Yes, McCarthy and Carrey are dangerous on many levels.  They don’t know when to stop.  Unfortunately, people will continue to listen to their tales of diets curing autism and how Big Pharma is poisoning our children. 

I know there are some rational people left in Hollywood and the media and it’s time for them to speak out against pseudoscience. Greg Gutfeld may have taken some comedic liberties in his piece “Celebrities that Makes Kids Sick” but his intent was dead on, in my book.  I just hope Mr. Gutfeld doesn’t feel the wrath of the anti-vax crowd as Dr. Paul Offit has.  Dr. Offit is the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine.  When his book, Autism’s False Prophets was released, he refrained from doing a book tour for he received too many death threats.  And you thought politics were rough. 

Not every parent is fighting for a cure.  In fact, there are parents, like my husband and I, fighting for society to accept autism as a disability rather than an illness to be cured. We have adopted a philosophy similar to any responsible parent.  We celebrate our autistic son’s strengths and try to improve on his deficits.  We continue to be encouraged by the results and are devoted to supporting him whenever and wherever possible.  We are tired of listening to celebrities that claim to speak on our behalf while making accusations that carry little weight and incite emotional responses.  We do not think our child is trapped inside a shell or has been taken from us.  In fact, we find this message extremely detrimental to the development of our child and the way society views him.  

We need a paradigm shift in the way we view autistic individuals and I refuse to let media and celebrities frame the debate unchallenged. Autism awareness should not be aimed toward a world without autistic people, but that is exactly what organizations like Autism Speaks promote.  Autism Speaks supports research that will inevitably lead to selective abortion, the same so-called “cure” that is often used for Down Syndrome.  Recently they aired a video directed by Alfonso Cuaron and Billy Mann at the World Focus on Autism event that depicted autism as a demon that will rob your child and your family of any chance of happiness.  Celebrities flock to Autism Speaks and the general public donate millions of dollars each year. Very little money goes back into the community or into improving the quality of life of autistic people. And how can they call themselves Autism Speaks when they don’t have one autistic person in a decision making position to determine where they will spend their money or how they will portray autism in the media?      

Recently, HBO premiered Temple Grandin to rave reviews from the autism community.  Claire Danes beautifully portrayed the brilliant and fascinating Dr. Temple Grandin, an autistic woman that had to overcome all odds, not to cure her autism but to be the best in her field. It was inspirational, intriguing and refreshing to see a film from the perspective of an autistic person.  I would encourage Hollywood and the media to explore this side of autism a bit more.  And then maybe, the autism community will get the help and support it deserves.

Now this would really be great news, if the study had not come out, oh, 12 years ago. It’s really scary that it took a medical journal over a decade to admit what nearly everyone else with a working brain knew: the study had more gaping holes in it than Tom Sizemore’s septum.

But sadly, although the study author has also been discredited for this harmful crud, it doesn’t matter. People who believe in junk science will continue to believe in junk science, because their egos won’t allow any other option. And so they will continue preaching to parents a dangerous and false belief that ends up killing kids.

I speak of Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, and all the saps at the Huffington Post who by their own earnest idiocy, misled the public into skipping vaccinations. The potential result: measles outbreaks all over the globe – and ultimately, dead kids.

It’s hard to make jokes about that, so I won’t.

But I will make jokes about gasbags like Carrey and McCarthy, two cretins who can’t be content simply making us sick to our stomachs with their work – they also gotta make our kids sick with ego-driven medical advice. Now, I’m not a celebrity, but here’s my medical advice for this sort of behavior: whenever a star offers an opinion on important health matters – citing flawed studies they know a nearly comatose Larry King won’t bother checking – they should be given a vaccination of their own. It should be full of lead and shot straight up their ass.

And if you disagree with me, you’re probably Arianna Huffington.

Tonight, Congressman McCotter also joins us! To see the rest of the guests, look below!

Also, check this piece I did on the autism/vaccine link. Like my current underwear, that piece is over two years old.

Tonight we’ve got the lovely Reshma Shetty (from Royal Pains), the witty blogmaster Alex Blagg, Congressional candidate from that delightful country, Hawaii, Charles Djou, and a special guest to be named later.

You are realizing your age today if you grew up in the 1970s or ’80s. Farrah Fawcett, whose iconic image was as ubiquitous on the bedroom walls of American teenage boys as Kim Il Sung’s was in the homes of North Koreans, died of cancer at 62 yesterday. Age is the cruel fate of all sex symbols. In Fawcett’s case, she not only contended with Father Time but with the public’s changing tastes that dated what once symbolized sex. Demographics, and Sir Mix-a-Lot, killed the pin-up girl monopoly of bleach-blond anorexics. But even twenty years after her heyday, ’70s postergirl Fawcett so symbolized sex that her 1995 appearance in Playboy became the bestselling issue of the 1990s. To put this in perspective, an over-the-hill Farah Fawcett beat Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, and Denise Richards in their primes.

Six years after Farrah Fawcett appeared on the bestselling poster of all time, Michael Jackson released the bestselling album in history. Thriller was so big that, not only did it inspire fashion and dancefloor trends, it outsold numbers two and three on the all-time list combined. Jackson, who before our eyes morphed from cuddly, precocious singing/dancing machine to the world’s biggest pop star to Howard Hughes, died yesterday too. For Jackson, life’s victory lap–that even an overweight and jumpsuited Elvis enjoyed–eluded him. The last image embedded in the public’s mind is that of Michael Jackson in a courtroom rather than on a stage. A court of law acquitted him of sexually abusing a minor. The court of public opinion convicted him of being strange. Seeing Farrah Fawcett in her red bathing suit, or Michael Jackson moonwalking, brings us back to a time when we were young. News of their deaths reminds us that we’re old.