The View criticized for not addressing causes of autism
The View’s special on autism is receiving criticism for not discussing the controversy over the possible causes of autism. David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy, wrote this article on the Huffington Post. In the article, he states that he was asked by The View to sit in the audience during the autism special and possibly field questions. He was surprised that the show did not mention that vaccines, specifically vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal, which is made with mercury, may be a cause of autism.
Kirby stated that during a break in the show, he spoke with Rosie personally who told him that the topic of the show was not about causation, but instead was a focus on families and their kids. According to Kirby, Rosie told him that she had read his book and thinks that mercury might have something to do with autism. Kirby said that later, Rosie apologized to him that causation was not broached on the show, saying that the producers decided not to include the topic and said “I don’t run the show.” She promised him that she would try for a special on causation.
Rosie has received numerous questions on her blog, about whether she or the network was pressured by advertisers not to discuss causation.
She said this on her blog:
i decided not to talk about it
because we did not have the time
to get into the causes
it was not ABC
A few days later, likely after receiving the same questions repeatedly into her “Ask Ro” in-box, Rosie had this response to the question of whether she had been pressured into not doing causation.
pressured? by who
listen
I ROSIE ODONNELL
chose not to do causation
ME
She almost never uses capitalization in her blog, so her anger and frustration over the issue is clear. Only time will tell if the show indeed does another special, this time focusing on causation.
The View, Rosie O’Donnell, autism, David Kirby, autism causation, mercury
February 3rd, 2007 at 8:26 am
oh come on. they only had an hour. and they should be commended for having a special about it, albeit time was limited. critics, nothing is ever enough. they can’t say one good thing without saying something negative.
February 3rd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Dexie: That was my thinking too. You can never please everyone. I thought the special was great, personally.
February 6th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
I felt a little disappointed that there wasn’t enough on causation while watching it. BUT, once I realized they were trying to raise awareness, which is far more important, I let it go.
Someday if they can re-address the issue and focus less on the families who deal with autism, they can hopefully discuss TV watching and vaccines and why, oh why, this has jumped from 1 in 2500 to 1 in 166 in the past few years.