At one point she was in, but the next she was out. Jenny McCarthy had been scheduled to appear at a breast cancer fundraiser in Ottawa on March 2. She was going to be a huge draw and help raise a lot of money. Then someone read what Jenny said about autism being caused by vaccines and that cancer can be cured by spending time in a hyperbaric chamber. At that point the organization rescinded their invitation to Jenny. I think Jenny would have been a good fundraiser, but I also understand that you don't want a reporter asking Jenny a question about her views at the event because then it could turn into a big mess.
Prime example of what happens when a woman is so pretty that she goes through life never being challenged when she says something stupid.
ReplyDeleteGood to know the people in charge have some principles. This woman is not a doctor or a scientist.
ReplyDeleteSometimes wildly attractive people misinterpret all the positivity they've received for every dumb thing they've ever said, as irrefutable evidence that everything they say & think is golden, forevermore. That they really are deep-thinking geniuses who must be heard.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend like that. She was hot & had a lot of guy friends, and never realized she wasn't as brilliant as those guys told her all the time.
libby, I want to know what happened to pretty girl..
Delete@caitlin: but she has nice implants, which is really the same thing as being a doctor/medical researcher, so I really think we should hear her out. What could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteChris, I'm a slow typer, and we crossed---I think we are saying the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jenny McCarthy on this one. With Autism, she's not anti-vaccine; she wants to dial back the vaccine schedule to what it was in the 80s. And there's nothing wrong with bringing awareness to alternative medicinal treatments for cancer. If there is a homeopathic remedy that would help to speed recovery, why would they want to put a kibosh on that?
ReplyDeleteShe has consistently backed faulty theories until they've been utterly and completely debunked, and then just changed what she says a little bit. She's responsible for so much misinformation getting out there, and so much time, effort and $$$ being spent on bad theories that had already been disproven. Do you know how many moms will tell you they're waiting on their kids vaccines because they heard on TV that they can make kids sick? I'm all for responsible healthcare, but there have been whooping cough outbreaks around here every year since my kids were born because too many people were choosing not to vaccinate.
DeleteAmen, Bridget!
DeleteBridget, exactly!!!
DeleteI'm so slow. I only found out today she's Melissa McCarthy's cousin. I also didn't know Kate Upton was born rich because her great-grandfather was a co-founder of Whirlpool and Tommy Lee Jones & Al Gore were roommates in college.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting...Kate Upton however is still pushing maximum density
DeleteHeaven help her if she ever gets cancer. I understand researching homeopathic remedies but I also know that Steve Jobs' cancer was curable if he had followed conventional medicine.
ReplyDeleteSteve Jobs survived nearly 8 years after his surgery - which is remarkable for pancreatic cancer. I watched my father go through every conventional type of treatment for the same thing and he was only able to survive 10 months. Pancreatic cancer is one of the least curable cancers out there
DeleteCurable....???
DeleteReally?
Huh.
@VIPBlond
ReplyDeleteThat's NOT what Digbat McCarthy originally said. She went on Larry King sounding like an idiot about it. She also has never admitted her son does was misdiagnosed and does NOT have autism.
This charity was smart to get rid of her.
Her crusade against vaccines is in part responsible for the anti-vaccine movement, which is causing a very real public health problem. Look no further than the whooping cough problem in Washington state. It's irresponsible.
ReplyDeleteEvidence-based medicine is there for a reason. Her crusade hurt other children and the most vulnerable. It's bigger than one person.
ReplyDeleteThere is no vaccine for whooping cough.
ReplyDelete@pugglewug: yes there is
Deletehttp://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/vaccines.html
DTaP and PDaT (one is for adults and one is for children)
Delete@PuggleWug - There is a vaccine for whooping cough however it doesn't last as long as they thought it would.
ReplyDeleteMy son got the whooping cough at age 8 (even though he was vaccinated) and I don't think he is due for another vaccine until age 10. He had a very mild form of it, thankfully, and we caught it early enough that we kept him home and he couldn't spread it.
@PuggleWug: The medical name for whooping cough is pertussis and there most definitely is a vaccine for it.
ReplyDeleteI also want to mention that my son's whooping cough (Pertussis - thanks StewMcG) was mild BECAUSE he had been vaccinated. Given he has heart/lung issues, we are very thankful for that vaccine and for flu shots.
ReplyDeleteReally? I remember I couldnt work for about two days while being tested for whooping cough. I was negative, but wasn't told a thing about any kind of vaccine. Maybe I was too old?
ReplyDeleteThere's an adult version - in fact the most common way for WC to be passed on is mother-to-baby, so new moms are frequently given a shot.
Delete@PuggleWug. Are you sure you weren't being tested for TB? That's the one that generally people have to be tested for regarding employment, etc. They prick the skin and then you go back in two days to have a nurse/doctor check the site.
DeleteI've had that one a few times, because I worked for the high school (while I was a student) and I was a foster parent.
The vaccine used is commonly the DTaP - diptheria, tetus, and pertussis. And 'round here, state law requires a booster in 6th grade. The health department rolls right up to the school and (with parental permission, of course) lines them up. I love it - we would be crazy as a society to let these illnesses make a comeback!
ReplyDeleteI don't loathe many celebrities but I loathe Jenny McCarthy. She has done more than anyone to set back public health in this country and I fear for a day when thousands of children die because their parents were stupid enough to follow this bimbo's advice and because they have absolutely no knowledge of history and the devastation on the human race that the diseases that vaccines prevent used to bring.
ReplyDelete@Ms Cool, glad to hear your son's case was mild. I'm very pro vaccinations.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone else seen the Jenny McCarthy death count website? It's a website which counts all the children and adults who have died from vaccine-preventable diseases since she started spouting her anti-vax crap. It's scary.
*Tetanus* sheesh
ReplyDeleteMy mom had whooping cough when I was a kid. Trust me, we need to do anything possible to prevent that one! It's horrible for the patient, and torture for everyone around them.
@ pugglewug: Where I live (Canada), pertussis is part of the tetnus/diptheria vaccine, as Frufa mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAdults should have a booster (tetnus) shot every 10 years, and then you're covered for pertussis.
(I asked my doctor for a shot, as there was an outbreak here, and I was worried.)
Puggle, I believe, but am not positive, that there is a stand alone pertussis vaccine. I don't know that it's commonly offered to adults though since the disease doesn't occur as often (in adults) and is usually milder than in children.
ReplyDeleteI got a DTaP vaccine before I got pregnant. My doc recommendeds it if you're going to be around children.
ReplyDeleteHer son is autistic and she as a mother believes the timing was directly related to the sudden massive vaccine dosage -- a lot of parents have since asked their doctors to mete out the childhood vaccinations on a more extended scale instead of all at once. I don't understand what this has to do with her being good looking and thinking she always gets her way; my God, her son, your son, what the fuck ever.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had read elsewhere (because usually I don't follow news about Jenny McCarthy) something recently about oxygen therapy (i e hyperbaric chamber) and cancer.
I mean I don't for one second hold it against this organization for rescinding the offer. I do have a problem with just saying she should shut the fuck up and just pulls this stuff out of her ass, like she makes it up, and "gets away" with talking about it because she's beautiful and no one calls her out.
@amy: people think she needs to shut the fuck up because it is proven beyond any doubt that vaccines do NOT cause autism. The study that said they do was fabricated, as admitted by the head researcher. Meanwhile lack of vaccines do cause death in children. That has been proven thousands of times over. She needs to stfu because her spreading these lies to ignorant but well-meaning parents can directly result in the death of their children.
DeleteYeah...she should just shut the fuck up. She's clearly not smart enough to differentiate science from quackery and guesswork; unfortunately, far too many people think she is.
DeleteAha. I have gotten all of my vaccines. I was 23 when I had to be tested. Perhaps the doctor thought I was capable of contracting it after so much time had passed.
ReplyDelete@StewMcG - My son also got the swine flu when it was so scary a few years ago and we were very lucky that his doctor's office gave him a first round of the scarce vaccine a few weeks before. I'm certain he would have been hospitalized or worse if they had not.
ReplyDeleteThe vaccination fears are so scary. We are so fortunate to have the vaccinations available to us.
Her son is autistic and she as a mother believes the timing was directly related to the sudden massive vaccine dosage
ReplyDeleteSo what? Being "a mother" doesn't mean she has more knowledge on disease than actual scientists. That's taking the "power of being a mother" stuff wayyy too far to suggest otherwise.
@Amy - my memory may be hazy but I think Jenny McCarthy said his autism was cured and there have been some major recent studies that have come out that said the autism/vaccine study that she was referencing was invalid (and possibly manipulated).
ReplyDeleteI think this is why people hate her - she spearheaded or at least became a very vocal opponent of the vaccine causes autism campaign - and then claimed she cured her son's autism and shut the hell up when it turned out the study was false.
Ms. Cool. The study was incontrovertibly invalidated. The journal that originally published it (I think the British Journal of Medicine) took the extraordinary step of not only recinding the article but writing a retraction that the study was fraudulent and that none of the claims had any basis in medicine. That never happens (that they explain why they recinding and state that the article was absolutely hogwash). The study was found to contain faked data and conclusions and the doctor that did the study was found to have been paid by a law firm that was trying to bring lawsuits against vaccine makers in the UK. The doctor had his medical license yanked and left the UK in disgrace to open up a snake oil clinic in Texas (surprisingly Not Florida). He has tried, and failed to get a medical license here.
DeleteThere have been dozens of huge studies, and a very recent meta-study that shows absolutely NO link between vaccines and autism.
Autism usually presents at about the same age as the 1st DTaP vaccination and people make the common mistake of assuming correlation equals causation.
This whole subject (and Jenny McCarthy) make me stabby.
@Amy I don't know if her son has autism or not, but there have been plenty of studies showing there is no link between any of the autism spectrum conditions and vaccines. At best, it's irresponsible for her to promote that idea when there is no evidence. No doubt she loves her child, but what about the other children who have suffered because of her statements. It has nothing to do with her looks as far as I'm concerned. Although without her looks, she wouldn't have her celebrity platform.
ReplyDeleteer, my grammar is screwed up - she was a vocal proponent of the vaccine causes autism campaign. Sorry! Empress of Socks said it better than me anyway.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a dog in this argument becuase I don't have kids. But good God I tried to watch her Vh1 show on Friday, and it was a train wreck of awful. Like we were supposed to pretend we were at a hip night club with Jenny having 'fun' ie. stupid conversations.
ReplyDeleteCancel it Vh1 STAT!
Hyperbaric chambers do NOT cure cancer! That's a crock of shit. Hey I'm all for alternative medicine, and have even thought of having a few sessions for my MS, there's some indication that the chambers are helpful. But to say it CURES cancer is more BS from this woman. She may have attracted more funds, while again misinforming the public.
ReplyDeleteThere's a rumor that there is some kind of cure/aid for cancer, scientifically backed in Canada, but no one will touch it because it's cheap AND Big Pharma is squashing it. Big Pharma does not want us cured, trust me.
@Amy, Jenny came out very quietly about 2 years ago and said her son never had autism, that he was misdiagnosed. What he actually had was Landau-Kleffner syndrome.
ReplyDeleteAs the aunt of 2 severely autistic children, the sister of an Aspie, and the cousin to many others on the Autism spectrum, I am disgusted by her actions. She railed on and on about how vaccinations cause Autism (something which has been proven FALSE, the doctor she cites admitted to falsifying his study) and has caused more harm than good. Especially with her claims that chelation therapy "cures" Autism. In fact, it's extremely dangerous for children (Autistic or otherwise) to have chelation therapy (it can cause cardiac and kidney damage.)
She is ans asshole. Her son is going to end up suffering. No one is ever cured of autism. Since he is "cured" of autism, he will not be getting the help he needs for his condition.
ReplyDeleteAn***
ReplyDelete@Lola - thank you for putting into words (and backing with the appropriate information) what I was pathetically trying to say.
ReplyDelete@StewMcG - she admitted her son never had autism? Pity she isn't as vocal about that as she was about her stupid misconceptions.
ReplyDeleteAs for the tetanus/pertussis vaccine PLEASE get it every 10 years, I don't care HOW old you are. I've seen adults die of both tetanus AND pertussis and frankly they both scare the hell out of me.
I've also heard there are some people who can't get the pertussis vaccine because of allergies to one of the components of the vaccine. Your getting the vaccine gives "herd protection" - lowers the likelihood of pertussis spreading in a community. I know the shot hurts but just get it.
@SusanB. >>pertussis vaccine because of allergies to one of the components of the vaccine<<
DeleteThey probably culture it in a chicken egg. I'm allergic to duck eggs (yeah, go figure,) which we found out when I had to get a rabies shots as a child (and again when someone I worked with brought in cookies made with duck eggs. *scratching*) I have fun telling the nurses giving the flu shots "Yes, I'm allergic to duck eggs." It always throws them off because they're interested in chicken eggs and don't really know how the duck thing effects it (it doesn't.)
By the way, I don't want @amy to feel like anyone is jumping all over you. But I know for me at least this is a somewhat touchy subject and to people who have looked into her claims. She is wrong, there's no other side to it. She is directly hurting children with her wackadoo ideas and she needs to sit down. I assume you probably haven't looked into her platform (good for you, it's stupid) but there it is. I'm sure many of the other people here just feel a boiling rage when they hear her name and you got the wrath.
ReplyDeleteSorry, sorry... she didn't say he was misdiagnosed. She said he may have been misdiagnosed and then she retracted her "MMR vaccinations cause Autism" statement. Her new stance on vaccinations is that they need to be tested better before being given.
ReplyDeleteI had the dTap vaccine in the hospital right after I gave birth to my son last year. We do all our vaccinations, just a little more drawn out, starting at 6 months instead of 2 months. My daughter was fully vaccinated by 2 and a half instead of the 18 months it usually takes, and my son is on schedule for the same. Public health has never said a word to me about it, I just don't like putting a bunch of stress on a newborn's little body. We are in Canada, if it makes a difference
ReplyDeleteThis is in my area. I'm only 30mins from Ottawa & its been in the papers/tv news this pass week. The No Thanks was a wise choice in most peoples opinions. I put Jenny M & Kelly Preston in the same boat - both are mothers that lie about their children's health.
ReplyDeleteI agree with holding back the timeline on the vaccines until the little ones can tolerate the side effects better.Especially the MMR. Just bump it to 2yrs. I do know a oo-worker whos son is autistic. They have a hyperbaric chamber in their basement and he swears it's improving his son's condition.
ReplyDeleteMy baby had a bad reaction to his first shot, which was the pertussis. At the time (17 years ago) it was a live version, now they have a dead version.
ReplyDeleteI never heard about her retracting her statement and her son's dx?!?! Someone said it above, but wow, why wasn't she vocal about that?
@msgirl, she didn't come flat out and retract. She said he may have been misdiagnosed and if you look at her son's symptoms and the symptoms for Landau-Kleffner syndrome, it's almost a perfect match. Either way, she won't come flat out and say she was wrong because then she'd lose all the money she earns being an "expert."
ReplyDeleteMy sister (the one with Asperger's), my other sister (the mother of autistic twins), and my cousins (the parents of several Autism Spectrum Disorder children) HATE her.
Thank God they were smart enough to get rid of her. She definitely would have tainted the legitimacy of the organization with her pseudo-science nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem is that most of us are of a generation that had vaccines and don't realize how bad these infectious diseases can be if introduced back into the mainstream.
ReplyDeleteIf Jenny was duped, she should dump her pride and start a new crusade. Otherwise, I have no use for her.
Good on them to drop her. Like said above, if she's retracted her autism-vaccine belief, she needs to bang that drum as loud as she did before!
ReplyDeleteGeegmarie - Hopefully now that will change to "was" least curable. A couple weeks ago, a 15-year-old kid won a science award for creating an early detection test for pancreatic cancer. The results were incredible!
ReplyDeleteSteve Jobs' biographer said he regretted not having the surgery when first diagnosed. Who knows how long he would have made it if he had done it sooner? He could have still followed the other path as a supplement to the surgery.
ReplyDeleteHey guys, FYI, homeopathy is a scam! Don't confuse it with natural or herbal, organic stuff.
ReplyDeleteHomeopathy is where they take a substance, dilute it literally to the point there is not one molecule of it left, then sell it to you. Literally, the amounts are akin to dropping one aspirin in the ocean. They say it works because "the water has a memory of it being there." 0_o
Some folks believe it's like a vaccine, where you take a tiny part to build immunity. No. A vaccine is made from the actual thing that causes the disease, but homeopathy is random. For example, that Oscillococcinum "medicine" for the flu. It's "made" from duck heart and duck liver; neither of which cause the flu. A flu vaccine is made from what causes influenza.
Another fine example is one sold in Germany, for relieving that "blah" headache, tired, run-down feeling. The active "ingredient" is concrete from the Berlin Wall. Why? "Because the wall remembers."
Regarding Steve Jobs' cancer, he had a less lethal type of pancreatic cancer. According to this article:
ReplyDeleteJobs’s cancer manifest in neuroendocrine tumors, which are typically far less lethal than the “pancreatic adenocarcinoma” that make up 95 percent of pancreatic cancer cases.
She and Suzanne Somers should be locked in a room together and forced to use the Thighmaster for all eternity.
ReplyDeleteIf you are follow medical advice from a celebrity, I blame you for being a total fucking idiot more than I blame the celeb.
ReplyDeleteYes, McCarthy went on and on and on about a study that was later debunked, never admitting she was taken in by a fraud. She could do a lot to clear this up, but doesn't. And that's not right.
But any parent who makes a medical decision for their child based on something they heard from someone on tv once instead of their doctor's recommendation is just criminally stupid. If you are that wary, get a second opinion. Hell, even just a quick Google will lay bare the man behind the curtain. It's patently ridiculous for people to blame McCarthy -- whose two biggest claims to fame are getting naked and routinely pretending to fellate a mic on an MTV dating show -- for the choices some parents make for their kids. If Dr. Oz or Sanjay Gupta were touting this garbage, then I would squarely blame them -- both have the degrees, experience and expertise to lend reasonable credibility to such claims. But her? Nuh uh. That's stupidity, laziness and tinfoil-hat-wearing batshittery by the parents right there.
I detest that she came out saying she cured her son's autism - how many parents of autistic children would do anything to cure them??? All of them. Look, vaccinations are scary and only recently they phased thimersol (mercury) out of them, and my doctor said most vaccines are made in India but some doctors pay more for the preservative-free vaccines. We have to give our children a shit ton more than we received as kids. It's scary and dicey and as the mother of a one year old I try to do as much research as possible but it's overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteBut as frightened as I am, I vaccinate and hope the parents of children who are around mine do as well. Because these diseases are nothing to play with. I just read about Gavin Norton, a baby who died of pertussis at ten weeks. His parents are now pro-vaccine and reluctant faces of the pertussis vax PSAs.
My mother-an RN-also understands how scary all of these vaccinations are. She was the one who reminded me that a vaccination doesn't prevent contraction of an illness, but certainly lessens the symptoms. I wish our FDA, CDC, and govt in general were all more transparent and honest about past missteps. It's when they don't admit to major "oops" that we grow more and more suspicious and scared of them. Jenny McCarthy played into those fears and made MONEY off of them. She's despicable.
I had all my shots & still got mumps, German measles & whooping cough. I am totally pro-vaccination, but believe you should try & get them without preservatives, & absolutely without mercury. I was a pathology technician & while vaccinations don't cause autism, I do think preservatives in our food, drinks & medicines are contributing to the exponential growth of disorders & diseases. This is where I would like to see research. I also agree with those who are spreading out the vaccinations. I am 43 & I remember our shots being over a long period of time.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get one this year, but I always ask for a flu shot devoid of thimerasol, and every year I get denied - they say they don't get many and they save it for the babies. I do agree there's some shit in there, but I also have both my son and myself vaccinated.
ReplyDeleteAltho I will not get him Gardia, that one I've heard too many bad things about. It's now being recommended for boys, I though I escaped that decision by no having a girl.
She was anti-vaccine until she found out her child didn't have autism at all. Then she was sort of OK with them, except for the ones she didn't like.
ReplyDeleteWhat really blows is how these days, even Googling something doesn't necessarily give you the right answer. There are a bunch of websites about natural foods, giving up GMO's, all that sort of thing, that pair pseudoscience with actual, good info.
ReplyDeleteThere's one that people always link to on Facebook that's crazy. NaturalNews. They'll have a great article about gluten; then bring you a story about how aloe cures or stops cancer, and a video about how Bill Gates wants to murder millions of people via vaccines. You never know which you're gonna get.
FYI - I am pro-vaccine, pro-medicine when needed, AND pro-natural, organic foods and medicines. I'm only against the pseudoscience.
Jenny McCarthy is irrelevant and nobody wants to hear what she has to say, because, let's face it, she's a completely brain-dead idiot. She is getting older and soon her looks will be completely gone, and then no one will want to look at her either. She has no talent but has spent a lifetime being told how great she is by people who are swayed by a pretty face: HA. I can't wait to see this P.O.S. go down in flames.
ReplyDeleteJenny McCarthy is irrelevant and nobody wants to hear what she has to say, because, let's face it, she's a completely brain-dead idiot. She is getting older and soon her looks will be completely gone, and then no one will want to look at her either. She has no talent but has spent a lifetime being told how great she is by people who are swayed by a pretty face: HA. I can't wait to see this P.O.S. go down in flames.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, NaturalNews drives me nuts!
ReplyDelete@NomNom83
ReplyDeleteI agree with you for the most part, but Dingbat McCarthy didn't stop with just sprouting stupid crap. She went on a crusade against vaccines, wrote books about it, and got major money for speaking out against them. When she was debunked and her doctor too, she never came out and admitted to be wrong.
It was Time Magazine that outed McCarthy's son did not have autism. McCarthy still makes money off her stupid garbage.
So she's against vaccines, but loads up her chest & face with chemicals & fillers? Awesome.
ReplyDeletemygeorgie, good one:)
DeleteLife lesson: DON'T TAKE MEDICAL ADVICE FROM PLAYBOY PLAYMATES!
ReplyDeleteShe should have learned a long time ago to learn when and when not to speak. I understand that she's got a vested interest in autism, it's treatment, causes etc because of her son, her books about her son, their struggles, etc. But when you go talking about cancer, and what you think cures it, that's going wayyyy too far, and she should have known it would come back to bite her. I do like the subtle work that she's had done, she still looks like herself.
ReplyDelete