Evidence of Harm by David Kirby: Book Cover

    Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy by David Kirby

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    (Paperback - Reprint)

    • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
    • Pub. Date: February 2006
    • ISBN-13: 9780312326456
    • Sales Rank: 77,325
    • 491pp
    • Edition Description: Reprint
     
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    Synopsis

    Kirby, a contributor to The New York Times, investigates the controversy about the connection between autism and vaccination by following the increasingly desperate efforts of several families to find the cause of their children's sudden behavioral changes. He reports on the closed meetings of the FDA, CDC and drug companies, as well as open Congressional hearings, and marshals both statistical and anecdotal evidence to argue that the medical establishment is determined to deny evidence of harm from thimerosal and mercury in vaccines. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

    Kirkus Reviews

    A sympathetic account of parents battling the government the and pharmaceutical industry because they're convinced a form of mercury used in vaccines is the principal cause of their children's autism. Kirby, a science contributor to the New York Times, acknowledges that while there is no proof that mercury in vaccines causes autism, neither is there any proof of its safety. Parents of children, mostly boys, who developed autism after being inoculated with vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal have been gathering data that they believe demonstrates a link between the increase in thimerosal-containing vaccination and the increase in U.S. rates of autism-from 1 in 5,000 in the 1980s to 1 in 166 today. One side calls this an epidemic; the other claims it's the result of better diagnosis and reporting. Kirby creates warm portraits of parents trying desperately to find treatments for their damaged children while, at the same time, carrying on a war with both big government and big business. With a wealth of detail, he shows the activists waging battle on four fronts: in the scientific literature and at science meetings, in the courts, in Congress and with powerful government health agencies-the Centers of Disease Control and the FDA. Although he presents evidence for both sides, the parents, who willingly talked to him, appear in a more favorable light than the bureaucrats, who did not grant him interviews. Kirby points out that while the government agencies and the drug companies reject the activists' theory that mercury causes autism, its use in pediatric vaccines, except flu shots, is rapidly being phased out in the United States. Further, he notes that an unfortunateresult of this affair is the refusal of some parents to allow their children to receive any vaccinations against serious diseases. With knocks to bureaucrats and kudos to parents, Kirby does a good job of explaining the scientific issues in an unresolved controversy.

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    Biography

    David Kirby has been a contributor to The New York Times for eight years, where he writes articles about science and health, among other subjects. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

    Customer Reviews

    Great bookby Anonymous

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    June 10, 2008: It's all about the money, not protecting our children. Anyone who is going to have a child should read this book.

    Comment for last reviewerby Anonymous

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    October 19, 2005: Autism is not, I repeat not a disease, it is a disorder. And by reading the book that you just reviewed you would have not only realized that and known it by the time you finsished reading it. I have 6 year old with Autism and never ever have I considered it a disease. A disease has a cure, there is no cure for autism. Next time remember what you read before you write a review.


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