From an article in Salon today called "The Week in Crazy: Jenny McCarthy" by, wonder of wonders, Mary Elizabeth Williams:
"By offering the vague caveat that 'there is no cure' while peddling her Generation Rescue's slogan "autism is reversible" and telling parents that 'for a moderately autistic kid the best prognosis is full recovery,' McCarthy makes a promise that no one on the planet has the authority to make. It's one that puts the onus of failure on parents whose kids can't or simply don't make that 'full recovery' and opens up those who take her advice to "try everything" to a buffet of expensive to downright dangerous quackery.
The correlation between the MMR vaccine and autism may still be unproven, but the correlation between the MMR vaccine and preventing death and disease is pretty clear-cut; considering that, McCarthy is fueling an alarming resurgence in illnesses all but eradicated a decade ago. Her response to a potential rise in life-destroying diseases like polio? Last year she told Time, '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.'
To recap: If not vaccinating your kids means bringing back polio, so be it. And if your offspring is diagnosed as autistic, do 'everything' to fix him. Insist on accountability from the CDC but advocate a whole raft of unproven therapies. And all the while, smugly describe yourself as "the voice" for a noble cause. Those maternal instincts are in the right place, but too often, the voice of autism recovery seems to be coming out of Jenny McCarthy's ass."
Don't ever let it be said that I don't give credit where it's due.
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