ABC defends show against outcry by pediatricians

Reuters via Yahoo ^ | January 30, 2008 | Steve Gorman

[TheRealDBear]

The ABC network said on Monday it will go ahead with plans to air an episode of its new legal drama "Eli Stone" despite objections from pediatricians who say the show may discourage parents from having their children immunized.

The debut episode features the show's title character and hero, a trial lawyer for big corporations who decides to fight for the little guy, convincing a jury that a mercury-based preservative in a vaccine caused a child's autism.

On the show, a jury awards the boy's mother $5.2 million in damages after it is revealed the CEO of the vaccine maker kept his own daughter from getting the company's vaccine because of autism concerns.

The "Eli Stone" plot ventures into a highly charged debate between the U.S. medical establishment and some parents and advocates for autistic children over the safety of vaccines for youngsters.

Critics of childhood immunization have argued that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative formerly used in vaccines, is a primary cause of an autism in young children.

Major health authorities, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), cite numerous studies that rule out any scientific link between autism and vaccines.

[TheRealDBear]

Wow, just what we need, a show where a trial lawyer is the hero! A bit late for John Edwards, tho. I thought there was a writer's strike going on.

[Republicus2001]

ABC has an interesting take on “family programming”. On some show I passed through on the remote control I caught a bit from one of theirs showing a five-year old kid pointing to a computer and calling it “Daddy’s naked women machine”. Full laugh track chuckles and guffaws. This was at 8pm.

[MizSterious]

If you think that was bad, be very wary of the cable/satellite channel, “ABCFamily”—neighbors had it on while we were there, and it was supposedly a show for and about teenagers—who, I might add, had a somewhat graphic conversation about condoms, and the “parents” on the show just rolled their eyes. No family values on for the “family” channel, that’s for sure.

[Sherman Logan]

Critics of childhood immunization have argued that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative formerly used in vaccines, is a primary cause of an autism in young children.

FWIW, thimerosal has not been used in vaccines for a number of years now. Autism rates have continued to increase at the same rate as when it was being used.

[Gingersnap]

You gotta love the networks: always a day late and a dollar short. That particular “debate” is now over.

Even if it were still going on, you have to wonder at a special interest group claiming that a TV show is so utterly powerful that their clients will be instantly taken in by a plot line.

That says a lot for how pediatricians view parents.

[Republicus2001]

Yeppers there - next thing ya know they’ll be praising Planned Parenthood and the American Eugenics Society.

[SunkenCiv]

How about a show on a brave attorney who took on the cell phone manufacturers for causing cancer? Or one who sues the maker of Teflon, or aluminum cookware, for causing alzheimers? Or about breast implants causing cancer?

Autism Rate Is Still Rising Despite Vaccine Change
Wall Street Journal | 7 January 2007 | JENNIFER CORBETT DOOREN
Posted on 01/07/2008 7:23:06 PM EST by shrinkermd
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949928/posts