Comments on: Vaccine-Autism Coffin Has No More Room for Nails

By: Two New Books Destroy Anti-Vax Claims | The Intersection | Discover Magazine

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:07:01 +0000

[...] have a lengthy review of the following new books, which couldn’t be better timed in light of the recent devastation of the Wakefield paper that started the whole autism scare: The Panic Virus: A True Story of [...]

By: Nytt år, nya föresatser (?) och ny webb : Vetenskap & Allmänhet

Nytt år, nya föresatser (?) och ny webb : Vetenskap & Allmänhet — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:37:29 +0000

[...] publicerade den beramade studien, fuskade. The vaccine-autism coffin has no more room for nails, som Chris Mooney uttrycker det. Karin Bojs skriver om eländet i sin söndagskrönika och DN skriver i sin ledare om [...]

By: Pieter B

Pieter B — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:16:02 +0000

If Gupta had done half the preparation that Cooper did, he would have been much more effective. He obviously hadn’t done much homework at all, because he let a number of easily debunked statements by Wakefield fly by. I’d have been happy with just a “When your book has been peer-reviewed by the BMJ or another journal of equal stature, I’ll read it, but not before,” but I didn’t even get that.

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:39:00 +0000

I just love when the fraud says “You’ve just accused me of committing a falsehood” at the end of the interview. Um… doesn’t he know what the definition of fraud is?

I agree that the interview accomplished nothing in the way of communication, but the purpose was not communication, it was to make Anderson Cooper look tough. Its purpose, however, doesn’t really matter. What matters is what it could accomplish and that is making more people aware of how much of a dangerous fraud this belief is. Cooper is using his fame to attack the claims of another person. Its the first thing that I’ve seen Cooper do that I genuinely side with him on entirely.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:26:46 +0000

Amazing! I agree with Mooney.

By: Curious Wavefunction

Curious Wavefunction — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:48:53 +0000

At this point, I think an accusatory tone is quite justified with someone like Andrew Wakefield.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:55:59 +0000

While Anderson Cooper is diligent, I would not consider that interview impressive. It is tiring to listen to Anderson throw out “experts around the world” and Wakefield to refer to “studies in five countries” and neither ever gets to any definitive points of discussion. As well, the tone is accusatory and not about discovering what the response is to the reports of fraud. Anderson was not at all interested in Wakefield’s responses, but in getting his prepared points of what has been reported out. Is that interview really science or medical journalism? I hope not.

Here is what I would consider good science and medical journalism, and it goes ignored by the journalism profession because it shows their high error rates:
http://www.healthnewsreview.org/

By: Laying Waste to Wakefield | It's Okay To Be Smart

Laying Waste to Wakefield | It's Okay To Be Smart — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:49:51 +0000

[...] unfamiliar with the history of this case, well damn, open Google and get with it. Or start here, then check out this [...]

By: Ed Yong

Ed Yong — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:28:57 +0000

This is interesting – compare and contrast the excellent stuff from Anderson Cooper with the godawful he-said-she-said stuff from “The CNN Wire Staff”. One network, two stories, an entire spectrum of quality http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/06/autism.vaccines/

By: Tai Fung

Tai Fung — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:12:59 +0000

I found Seth’s comments about the “round vs. flat Earth” false equivalency were really heartening. I think, as Skeptics, we often talk like that to each other, but I don’t see a lot of it brought to the forefront like that on a show. But it’s one that could stand to be made more often. It’s not Coke vs. Pepsi. It’s not even Coke vs. Shasta Cola. It’s Coke vs. “Hey, WTF, there’s nothing in that other glass.”