Theodore Dalrymple has an interesting review in the City Journal of Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, by Paul A. Offit.
"Paul Offit’s new book, as readable as a good detective novel, tells the story of how autism, a disorder of psychological development, came falsely to be blamed first on the MMR vaccine and then on thimerosal, a preservative found in several vaccines. It is a tale about bad science, worse journalism, unscrupulous political populism, and profiteering litigation lawyers."
Comment: It is too bad that the Republicans over the last several years have given a political spin to the term "junk science". There is a world of difference between condemning the results of good science to support political actions which the research results militate against, and condemning the results of bad science as such. We can also expect the popular media to refrain from pushing the results of bad science as worthy of peoples attention and as reasons to change peoples health or other behavior. JAD
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