Seth Mnookin Exposes His Cursory Knowledge of the Vaccine Autism Debate

Managing Editor's Note: Seth Mnookin's book is riddled with errors that even basic editing should have caught. His rudimentary understanding of this complex topic is startling. That the media has latched onto him as a darling of the Vaccine Injury Denialist community is not. Read  Dan Olmsted's "Seth Mnookin and the Error Virus HERE. And Jake Crosby's expose Bob's Your Uncle! And now this following the CBS report Vaccines and Autism A New Scientific Link :

By John Stone

‘Panic Virus’ author, Seth Mnookin, showed up his profound ignorance of the history of the vaccine autism debate by publishing on his blog a criticism of study author Helen Ratajczak for her use of the ChildHealthSafety website ( HERE ) as the immediate source for the scientific and legal concessions that the US government has already made over vaccine encephalopathies  and autism ( HERE ).

Ratajczak wrote:

“The United States Government and Dr. Geberding, Director of Vaccines at Merck & Co., Inc. say that autistic conditions can result from encephalopathy following vaccination (Child HealthSafety, 2010).”

CHS ( HERE ) is the correct citation because it has assembled all the sources. Mnookin is of course shooting two excellent messengers, Ratajczak  and CHS, but is more seriously showing up his own ignorance because he does not seem to realise that the sources are bona fide and he ought to have known them about them, if he knew anything about his subject at all. Either that or he was just trying to bluff. Neither explanation would be very satisfactory for a senior journalist and Harvard graduate.

The CHS blog has challenged Mnookin to justify his dismissal of this thoroughly well-documented information ( HERE ), and Mnookin has also now posted CHS’s challenge on his own blog. Everyone should write to Mnookin at his blog demanding an explanation.

John Stone is UK Editor for Age of Autism.