Dear Mr. Lauerman,
I applaud your January 16 correction of Salon’s 2005 article (“Deadly Immunityâ€) which asserted a connection between the use of thimerosal in vaccines and the rise of autism. This purported association has now been thoroughly debunked.
It is important that the media take responsibility to get the facts straight. You are correct in your assessment of the potential danger of wildly misleading stories such as this one. It is a shame that autism and vaccines have become a political football to toss and kick around.
If more journalists would publish follow-up articles such as yours — especially when errors have been found in the original research — dead-end avenues of so-called “autism treatment” could be avoided, and resources could be focused on scientific investigation of better ways to help those impacted by autism.
Unfounded non-scientific quackery should not lead the way in the quest for effective autism treatment; your article provides a strong example that all media outlets should follow. Thank you!
Joshua K. Pritchard, M.S., BCBA
Board Member, Association for Science in Autism Treatment
Read More at http://www.salon.com/2011/01/16/dangerous_immunity/
