Deadly Immunity

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"Deadly Immunity" is an article written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that appeared in the July 14, 2005 issue of Rolling Stone and, simultaneously, on the website Salon . [1] The article is focused on the 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference and claims that thimerosal-containing vaccines caused autism, [2] as well as the theory that government health agencies have "colluded with Big Pharma to hide the risks of thimerosal from the public." [3] The article had originally been fact-checked and published in print by Rolling Stone, but posted online by Salon. [4] The article was retracted by Salon on January 16, 2011, in response to criticisms of the article as inaccurate.

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"Deadly Immunity" was heavily criticized for quoting material out of context, and both Rolling Stone and Salon eventually amended the story with corrections in response to these and other criticisms. [3] [4] Such criticisms included that Kennedy had incorrectly claimed that the amount of mercury children received from thimerosal-containing vaccines was 187 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's limit for methylmercury exposure. The correction later posted to the article on Salon stated that the actual amount, 187 micrograms, is only 40% greater than this limit. [5] Within days after running the piece, Salon had appended five corrections to it. [6]

Salon later amended their amendment to the story by adding "it has become clear from responses to the article that the forty-percent number, while accurate, is misleading. It measures the total mercury load an infant received from vaccines during the first six months, calculates the daily average received based on average body weight, and then compares that number to the EPA daily limit. But infants did not receive the vaccines as a "daily average" -- they received massive doses on a single day, through multiple shots. As the story states, these single-day doses exceeded the EPA limit by as much as 99 times. Based on the misunderstanding, and to avoid further confusion, we have amended the story to eliminate the forty-percent figure." [7]

Retraction by Salon

On January 16, 2011, Salon announced that it was retracting "Deadly Immunity". In a statement on the website, Kerry Lauerman, Salon's editor-in-chief, explained that in addition to five corrections [8] they had previously made to the story, "subsequent critics, including most recently, Seth Mnookin in his book "The Panic Virus," further eroded any faith we had in the story's value." [4] Phil Plait hailed the retraction of the article, writing, "I applaud Salon for doing this, but wish it had been done years ago, or better, that Salon had never published Kennedy's piece at all." [9] In 2023, Salon editor Joan Walsh wrote that this was the worst mistake of her career and justified firing her, but her position was secured due to Jann Wenner sitting on the board of Salon. [10]

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<i>Rolling Stone</i> American monthly magazine

Rolling Stone is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccination</span> Administration of a vaccine to protect against disease

Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating the body's adaptive immunity, they help prevent sickness from an infectious disease. When a sufficiently large percentage of a population has been vaccinated, herd immunity results. Herd immunity protects those who may be immunocompromised and cannot get a vaccine because even a weakened version would harm them. The effectiveness of vaccination has been widely studied and verified. Vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases; widespread immunity due to vaccination is largely responsible for the worldwide eradication of smallpox and the elimination of diseases such as polio and tetanus from much of the world. However, some diseases, such as measles outbreaks in America, have seen rising cases due to relatively low vaccination rates in the 2010s – attributed, in part, to vaccine hesitancy. According to the World Health Organization, vaccination prevents 3.5–5 million deaths per year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thiomersal</span> Organomercury antiseptic and antifungal agent

Thiomersal (INN), or thimerosal, is an organomercury compound. It is a well-established antiseptic and antifungal agent.

<i>Salon.com</i> American progressive news and opinion website

Salon is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</span> American attorney and anti-vaccine activist (born 1954)

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American environmental lawyer, politician, and writer. He is known for advocating anti-vaccine misinformation and public health–related conspiracy theories. He is a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2024 presidential election.

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Seth Mnookin is an American writer and journalist.

Generation Rescue is a nonprofit organization that advocates the scientifically disproven view that autism and related disorders are primarily caused by environmental factors, particularly vaccines. The organization was established in 2005 by Lisa and J.B. Handley. Today, Generation Rescue is known as a platform for Jenny McCarthy's autism related anti-vaccine advocacy.

The 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference was a two-day meeting convened in June 2000 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), held at the Simpsonwood Methodist retreat and conference center in Norcross, Georgia. The key event at the conference was the presentation of data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink examining the possibility of a link between the mercury compound thimerosol in vaccines and neurological problems in children who had received those vaccines.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny McCarthy</span> American actress and model (born 1972)

Jennifer Ann McCarthy-Wahlberg is an American actress, model, and television personality. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for Playboy magazine and was later named their Playmate of the Year. McCarthy then had a television and film acting career, beginning as a co-host on the MTV game show Singled Out (1995–1997) and afterwards starring in the eponymous sitcom Jenny (1997–1998), as well as films including BASEketball (1998), Scream 3 (2000), Dirty Love (2005), John Tucker Must Die (2006), and Santa Baby (2006). In 2013, she hosted her own television talk show The Jenny McCarthy Show, and became a co-host of the ABC talk show The View, appearing on the program until 2014. Since 2019, McCarthy has been a judge on the Fox musical competition show The Masked Singer.

Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 Lancet MMR autism fraud, characterised as "perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years". The fraudulent research paper authored by Andrew Wakefield and published in The Lancet falsely claimed the vaccine was linked to colitis and autism spectrum disorders. The paper was retracted in 2010 but is still cited by anti-vaxxers.

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References

  1. ↑ Moreno, Joelle Anne (2006). "Toxic Torts, Autism, and Bad Science: Why the Courts May Be Our Best Defense Against Scientific Relativism" (PDF). New England Law Review . 40 (2): 414.
  2. ↑ Edwards, Jim (January 22, 2011). "Rolling Stone Retracts Autism Article, but Lots of Junk Journalism Remains". CBS News . Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Kloor, Keith (July 18, 2014). "Robert Kennedy Jr.'s belief in autism-vaccine connection, and its political peril". The Washington Post . Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Lauerman, Kerry (January 16, 2011). "Correcting our record". Salon.com . Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  5. ↑ Mestel, Rosie (January 25, 2011). "Autism-vaccine article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed from Salon.com's website". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  6. ↑ Pollowitz, Greg (May 2, 2014). "Did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tell Chelsea Clinton to Forego Immunizations for Her Baby?". National Review . Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Salon: Corrections: 2005". May 1, 2011. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Salon: Corrections: 2005". May 1, 2011. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  9. ↑ Plait, Phil (January 16, 2011). "Salon mag pulls dangerous and fallacious antivax article". Slate.com . Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  10. ↑ Walsh, Joan (June 22, 2023). "Just Another RFK Jr. Lie. I Know, Because It's About Me". Politics. The Nation . ISSN   0027-8378 . Retrieved June 23, 2023.
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