Product Details

Publishers Weekly

Attempting to answer the enormous frustration and unhappiness of parents "tired of watching their autistic children improve at rates so slow it's hard to tell if they are improving at all," pediatrics professor and vaccine researcher Offit explores purported causes and cures. Examining false approaches like facilitated communication ("a massive, nationwide delusion") and secretin injections ("no better than salt water"), and mistaken theories of origin (the MMR vaccine, thimerosol), Offit pleads with journalists to resist the lure of "dramatic headlines, advertising dollars, and ratings" rather than report an unconfirmed or untrustworthy study. The only worthwhile studies, Offit purports, are those meeting three criteria: "transparency of the funding source, internal consistency of the data, and reproducibility of the findings." Overall, Offit's text seems unbalanced: though he takes on the "$40-billion-a-year" alternative medicine industry, he's largely silent on the much larger pharmaceutical industry; and after 10 chapters of debunking the "false prophets," there's just one brief chapter on what is known about autism causes and cures. A thorough and convincing debunker, however, Offit will likely leave parents still hunting for information, albeit better armed to find it.
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Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Arguably the most detailed and thorough history available of the current anti-vaccine movement.

— Roy Richard Grinker

SEED magazine

More than a book about a disease, it is an ode to uncorrupted science and a cautionary tale that data alone is never enough.

Metapsychology

The vast range of professionals who may be enriched, professionally, by the book's contents extends to: psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, neuroscientists, speech pathologists, pediatricians, primary care physicians, geneticists, virologists, immunologists, vaccine experts, nurses, infectious disease experts, internists, gastroenterologists, epidemiologists, public health professionals, special education teachers, bioethicists, biochemists, biologists, biostatisticians, endocrinologists, pharmacists, pharmacologists, pharmaceutical industry professionals, health policy makers, journalists, politicians, and trial lawyers.

— Leo Uzych

The Bulletin

A very good read.

— Dom Giordano

Journal of Child Neurology

[A] must-read... it will keep pediatricians and pediatric neurologists awake over the nightmarish possibilities of pseudoscience in the 21st century.

— Roger A. Brumback, M.D.

Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine

The book is a fantastic read. I recommend it to all physicians and their patients and families.

— Brian Alverson, MD

Communication: The Magazine of the National Autistic Society

Detailed but easily readable... should be required reading for any parents who are considering denying vaccination to their children.

Neurology Today

A sobering indictment.

— Isabelle Rapin, M.D.

Infectious Diseases in Children

A fascinating read... Eloquently and clearly written.

— Stan L. Block, MD

Philadelphia Magazine

[This] book doesn't just show that the anti-vaccine activists are wrong; it attempts to explain why, in our culture, they tend to win.

— Jason Fagone

Midwest Book Review

Seeking to help readers realize the truth about Autism, Autism's False Prophets is a much need read, not to be missed.

Buffalo News

[Offit] provides important insight into the fatal flaws of the key arguments of vaccine alarmists.

Choice

Highly recommended.

Philadelphia Inquirer

[Dr. Offit] has done a huge public service by exposing the tragic and dangerous place the anti-vaccine hysteria has taken us.

— Huntly Collins

Wall Street Journal

An invaluable chronicle that relates some of the many ways in which the vulnerabilities of anxious parents have been exploited.

— Linda Seebach

New York Post

Arguably the most courageous and most knowledgeable scientist about vaccines in the United States.

— Robert Goldberg

Social History of Medicine

This is a powerful book which should be read by all professionals working in the area ofmedicine.

— Michael Fitzgerald

The New England Journal of Medicine

A very helpful book for both medical personnel and parents.

BioScience

Paul A. Offit is one of the most respected scientists and clinicians in a field of vital importance to public health.

— Patricia M. Rodier

About.com

A good read and an important piece of work.

— Lisa Jo Rudy

Salon.com

Enlightening, highly readable and... timely.

— Rahul K. Parikh, M.D.

Kathy Arsenault - Library Journal

Autistic children, their desperate parents, unscrupulous doctors, and opportunistic lawyers call forth the "false prophets" whom physician Offit resolutely confronts here. Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he is well placed to marshal extensive evidence to discount theories that either mercury preservatives in vaccines or the NMR inoculations in particular (the most commonly cited culprits) are linked to increasing autism rates. He challenges other "false prophets" who attempt to market expensive, unproven, and even life-threatening treatments to frantic, vulnerable parents. While tempers flare over the merits of suspect cures and vaccine-liability claims, funds are diverted from badly needed social services for autistic children, and far more productive paths of autism research remain unexplored. Kathleen Seidel, a Columbia University-trained librarian, is one of the stars of the text. Her web site, www.neurodiversity.com, seeks to portray the strengths and the struggles of autistic children and those who care for them; her research skills allowed her to ferret out the dubious scientific standards and financial conflicts of interest of well-known advocates of questionable treatments and theories. Though Offit does not offer easy answers to readers on the autistic spectrum and those who love them, his thoughtful and readable study is recommended for academic libraries and institutions supporting communities with a strong interest in autistic spectrum disorders.

What People Are Saying

No one has been more vocal-or courageous-than Paul A. Offit in exposing the false and dangerous claims of the growing antivaccine movement. Offit's latest book lays waste to the supposed link between autism and vaccination while showing how easily Americans have been bamboozled into compromising the health of their own children. Autism's False Prophets is a must read for parents seeking to fully understand the risks and rewards of vaccination in our modern world.

— David Oshinsky, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History for Polio: An American Story

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents