Jenny McCarthy is officially joining The View. “Do I have opinions?” one reporter asked today. Yup.
My concerns center around Jenny McCarthy’s past willingness to trade-in her experience for expertise. That is, she widely shared her theories and anecdotes about her son’s experience with learning challenges and falsely placed blame on vaccines for his then-diagnosed autism. I will not discount her private experience. What I discount is her decision to leverage a modeling/pornography career to message about health. She aligned herself with pseudoscience. She mistook “mommy instinct” for fact. She partnered with the debunked Andrew Wakefield and has been an ardent spokesperson for Generation Rescue. She directed families away from life-saving vaccines and pointed them towards costly and unproven treatments like chelation for learning and behavioral challenges. In sum, she created fear.
She created myths around “greening” vaccines, a concept that lives on today and make very little sense.
Her myth (stating the MMR vaccine caused her son’s autism) has potentially increased disease burden. Outbreaks of measles in Europe have overwhelmed France and Wales in the past few years and under-vaccinated communities persist here in the US. In part, this is because of Jenny’s megaphone.
The auspicious truth is when Andrew Wakefield was debunked her fervor slowed. I hear less about Jenny McCarthy in the exam room these days. She’s retreated from the vaccine discussion. Trouble is, I still hear about the myth she methodically created. Some families remain scared and confused about true benefits/risks when it comes to life-saving vaccines. I’m angry she’s made so many parents falter.
As a pediatrician, I know her theories have caused confusion, fear, and harm for parents and their children here and across our borders. Her distribution has caused researchers to pause, re-directing their efforts to disprove what we already knew rather than move our understanding forward. There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism. In fact, a 2011 Institute of medicine report reviewed over 1000 research articles about vaccine safety concluding, ” Overall, the committee concludes that few health problems are caused by or clearly associated with vaccines.”
In the medical community, we’ll work to undo myths around vaccine safety for the rest of our lives in part because Ms McCarthy used her pulpit to mislead the public about vaccine science. Lacking medical training and an understanding of infectious disease, she has changed the landscape of the United States medical practice. That’s the power of the word.
The View is entertainment, of course, but the public has a very difficult time deciphering the lines between science education, information, news, and entertainment.
There’s no news release about proposed topics of discussion for The View once Ms McCarthy joins. Her microphone will once again extend and we can only hope she steers clear of discussions about medicine. Perhaps they will stick to her true expertise. If they venture into vaccine science, I’d be delighted to join in and have plenty of ideas who can join us at the table.
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Lisa says
Excellent article. Thank you, Dr. Swanson.
David Spector says
An interesting, and irrefutable counterpoint, to Ms. McCarthy’s off-the-wall world view would be to show a few bar-charts overlaid country by country on a world map showing the decline in childhood mortality (and injury for those not killed outright) over time with the introduction(s) of vaccines. Hard to argue with facts like those…
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
Yes, great vaccine infographics exist
Here’s one
https://blogs-images.forbes.com/matthewherper/files/2013/03/c6fb5feb7f1ee71b7e725277d30999161.jpg
Meagan says
I’ve heard the argument that the ONLY reason for a drop in mortality is hygiene.
The graphs are perfect for people who are on the fence, but the true believers will simply shift the goalposts, change the argument, or plain invent facts.
John says
Sanity! Thank you!
Looking at it from the perspective of “The View” – they want eyeballs and so choosing someone contentious like Body Count McCarthy might be seen as a strategy to gain publicity.
Bryan Vartabedian says
Nice, WSS. I will throw a wrench in the works as I often do and suggest that had we had more pediatricians in the infosphere 5-10 years ago, the conversation would never have been hijacked so easily. And you said it best, she created fear.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
I wonder if our platforms could have contended. Hard to know.
It’s certainly my hope that were equivalent threats to science and reason to percolate and originate today we’d do better with quick response and public education. But I don’t know, some days it feels easy to scream from the rooftops while others it seems hard to have someone respond even to the knock of the door. Onward!
Katie @ Mommy Call says
I am so disappointed that ABC has given Jenny McCarthy a bigger platform to potentially spread her anti-vaccine propaganda. I think even if vaccines are never discussed, the hiring of this spokesperson sends the wrong message to the many parents who watch this show and look to them for current events and “hot topics.”
I have watched The View on and off (as my work schedule permits) since the beginning and enjoyed the idea of a round table of women discussing varying topics. I can say that with the addition of McCarthy to the table, I will no longer support this show.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
I think there will be many on your side but I also see clearly that all this discussion today is exactly what they were looking for. Thanks!
Charlie says
She is now a member of two formidable quartets: The View and her lesser known affiliation as one the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It seems fitting there would be overlap in a Venn diagram of these two groups.
Sarah says
Well put, Dr. Swanson! Thank you for giving us a sane, rational perspective on vaccine safety.
ZDoggMD says
Mad love for this post. Don’t be fooled by the poop that she spews, she’s still, she’s still Jenny from the View. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vQOM91C7us
Traci Neff says
I love it when celebrities think they know better than scientists. Or when people try to make a case for the one wacko scientist that irritates the reputable scientist. I had all my shots when I was a kid and I still got Rubella but it was a much less serious case than it probably would have been had I not been vaccinated. You better believe that when it was time to vaccinate my kid, we did.
Joe Kerbasan says
I have no love for Jenny, but I can’t help but point out the obvious.
—
I hear less about ___PSA tests / Breast Cancer Screening____ in the exam room these days. Trouble is, I still hear about the myth that’s been methodically created. Some patients remain scared and confused about true benefits/risks when it comes to early screening.
—-
or
—
In the medical community, we’ll work to undo myths around early cancer screening for the rest of our lives in part because USPSTF used their pulpit to mislead the public about the science of early screening. Lacking statistical training and an understanding of needless treatment due to false positives, they changed the landscape of the United States medical practice. That’s the power of the word.
—-
I’m not trying to equate early cancer screening and the autism / vaccine controversy.
I’m just pointing out that bad information, and the lasting consequences, came come from the most surprising of places. We all may have a bit of mea cupla to own up to.
Denise Somsak says
I do not condone what Jenny did but she made the media notice autism. In her first book about her son, she discusses the benefits of ABA (evidence based therapy for autism). She also talks about how agonizing it was to wait for effective therapy. If only she had talked up the need for these services. But be honest…who would listen? Every parent gives vaccines but how many even know or care about ABA ( watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyCx-OLzgJw)? How many pediatricians even understand ABA? I cannot speculate why she did what she did but some of it most certainly was due to a mother’s anger and grief at her broken son and a broken system. She would not have had been listened to by so many parents, if physicians and society were taught more about the care of children with developmental disabilities. They didn’t need to be on twitter, they just needed to listen and be effective advocates for the patients in their care.
Natalie's advocate says
Chelation works around here. I’m glad we found it. It has freed my daughter from much of the horribly disabling OCD (which is more crippling to her as her being nonverbal and having autism is) that ABA would not touch and letting her try new things that she just wasn’t capable of because she just could not get her head around things like wearing a coat when it is cold outside or putting on hiking boots instead of her casual shoes to do a trail walk to a lake in the national forests, which is better therapy for her than sitting at home at a desk sorting shapes is anyhow and now she is less and less a prisoner of her own mind because of it.
Moderation says
While I am very happy to hear that your daughter is doing better. I feel it is important for those who might read your comment to be aware that chelation therapy is not recommended for any illness except heavy metal toxicity (mercury, lead, cadmium, ect … lead being by far the most common in children). This treatment has been tried for autism, OCD, chronic fatigue syndrome and coronary artery disease to mention a few conditions. Even in the lagest study of chelation therapy (“TACT” for coronary artery disease) the results were so equivocal that “… due to its borderline significance and the above-mentioned reasons, the TACT study is not conclusive and should not change clinical practice.” (Mayo Clinic) Additionally, chelation therapy is very dangerous and has resulted in deaths … even children (for example: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5508a3.htm ). For this reason, no evidence of effectiveness and side effects up to and including death, chelation therapy is not an appropriate treatment for and disease, except life threatening heavy metal toxicity.
Ayse says
fyi
https://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Anti-Vaccine_Body_Count/Home.html
ellen says
In the press announcement, Barbara Walters said of her, “Jenny brings us intelligence as well as warmth and humor. She can be serious and outrageous.”
Let’s talk about the outrages.
Much of the criticism toward hiring McCarthy, including mine, has focused on her stance against vaccines.
David Perry
David Perry
She has repeatedly claimed that that vaccines played a major role in giving her son autism, that he “recovered” from autism thanks to a special diet, and the government and medical establishment did not bother to investigate her son’s recovery. She argues that we vaccinate too much, too quickly, and that the research on a link between autism and vaccines should continue. Her charity, Generation Rescue, continues to question the safety of vaccines and sponsors events starring anti-vaccine advocates, such as Andrew Wakefield, a disgraced British doctor.
Let us be clear: The statements she has made about vaccines are deceitful and dangerous.
If you’re curious about the anti-vaccine scare and McCarthy’s part in spreading misinformation, read “The Panic Virus” by Seth Mnookin or follow the work of Phil Plait. If you think a few parents choosing not to vaccinate their children has no impact on your life, Plait and Mnookin (and the CDC and pretty much every pediatrician) will gladly refute that misconception.
McCarthy’s controversial vaccine ‘View’
But beyond the damage she’s already caused, I’m worried about what she’s going to do next, now that she has an even bigger platform.
McCarthy has displayed a willingness to leap into new belief systems and promote them to people hungry for answers.
Her journey through the world of hunch-based parenting has taken a number of twists and turns. In 2006, as recounted by Mnookin, a random woman told McCarthy that her son was a “Crystal” and McCarthy an “Indigo.” Suddenly, McCarthy plunged into the new age philosophy of Indigo moms and their Crystal children — believed to be the next phase of human evolution.
That never took off so she dumped it and moved on to the anti-vaccine movement. She landed time with Oprah and Rosie, and wrote multiple books on “healing autism.” Although her TV and movie career eventually stalled, her popularity among desperate parents, discredited scientists, sellers of snake oil, and conspiracy theorists has apparently propelled her back into the spotlight.
“The View” is watched by millions of people, many of whom are parents of young children, a staple market for daytime TV.
Parents are more likely to jump at “fads” rather than sticking to “evidence-based” parenting. It’s hard to blame them for this characteristic — they are primed to be afraid.
Parents are told that unless they buy a given product, their child will get sick, learn too slowly, fail to flourish, or even die. Being a parent requires so many leaps of faith on a day-to-day basis. We just hope and pray that we’re getting it mostly right.
When someone claims to have answers, especially someone with the intelligence and charisma of a Jenny McCarthy, parents are easy targets.
In the world of special needs parenting, a world to which both McCarthy and I belong, parents are even more afraid and seek answers. Doctors present parents like us with long lists of risk factors and complicated prognoses. The days are hard, laden with therapies, doctor visits, worries about medical expenses, estate planning, schooling, bullying, transportation, and so much more. All of the fears become magnified. I don’t want you to pity parents of children with special needs, but do understand that many of us are looking for answers to questions we barely understand.
Parents of children with autism, in particular, have proven especially susceptible to fraud and fear. Life with autism can be hard. Studies found that stress levels for primary caregivers of children with autism compare to those of soldiers deployed in combat zones.
Some parents have not only followed McCarthy’s decision to create a gluten-free/casein-free diet, as still advocated on her organization’s website, but have pursued much more extreme measures. At this year’s Autism One/Generation Rescue conference in Chicago, many sessions focused on costly stem-cell treatments, though no science supports the idea that injecting a child with stem cells will cure autism.
In previous years, panels at the same conference have promoted the practice of giving autistic children bleach orally and as an enema — all as part of a detox method (predicated on the idea that autism is an environmental disease).
Parents who do this are not cruel; they’re just looking for hope.
Enter Jenny McCarthy, a woman who evangelizes. She jumps at fads, hunches, intuitions and really bad ideas. She believes them. She makes them hers. Then she builds institutions to promote them with the full-throated roar of a new convert.
McCarthy has profited handsomely from her outrageous views. She is intelligent, funny and persuasive. She writes books that sell very well. Her organizations throw successful events. She is a tireless promoter of her ideas. And now she’s a host on “The View.”
What idea will she seize on next? What dangerous fad will she claim needs more study? How many parents, at home in the morning, will be persuaded? I’m deeply disappointed that Barbara Walters and ABC have decided to let us find out the answers to these troubling questions.
Hannah says
If The View is going to give Jenny this platform, maybe they should agree to have Melinda Gates as a guest, like, every week. She does a great job tirelessly pointing out the usefulness of vaccines in saving the lives of children around the world.
Lauren @ the VEC says
For tips and resources when evaluating media reports for accuracy and reliability, check this page on the Vaccine Education Center’s website: https://bit.ly/EvaluatingScientificInfoandStudies
Dustin Ward says
If people only knew, luckily for them we really haven’t had to fight these diseases in years so many people miss the severity. If you enjoy medical satire this nails it on the head: https://gomerblog.com/2013/06/rare-diseases-gives-jenny-mccarthy-life-time-achievement-award/
Kate Gamble says
Excellent piece. This is precisely why I loved your blog long before I became a Mama myself. Thank you for combating Jenny McCarthy’s claims with the truth. I believe in free speech, but I have no tolerance for celebrities who choose to abuse their power by spreading dangerous lies.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
Thanks, Kate.
Tonja says
Fight the fight Dr Swanson! A world of concerned parents are behind you. I will look forward to watching you as a guest on The View. 🙂
Jenny Vas says
Well then what about this recent development? July 27th 2013 https://www.autismspectrumconnection.com/blogs/parentblog~2/uscourtsawardmorevaccineinjurymoneytoasdfamilies
Jenny McCarthy is not be the best person to present this issue about MMR and its links to Autism but it doesn’t mean the link is not there. I wouldn’t take any advice from celebrities (including those publishing recipe and lifestyle books). And of course Andrew Wakefield is persecuted and unable to practice medicine – he went against the pharmaceutical companies.
JRM says
I would strongly suggest evaluating your source.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
Which source? Happy to read/learn more…pls specify