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The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy Paperback – January 3, 2012
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In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist with a history of self-promotion, published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized hold of the story and, in the process, helped to launch one of the most devastating health scares ever. In the years to come Wakefield would be revealed as a profiteer in league with class-action lawyers, and he would eventually lose his medical license. Meanwhile one study after another failed to find any link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Yet the myth that vaccines somehow cause developmental disorders lives on. Despite the lack of corroborating evidence, it has been popularized by media personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Jenny McCarthy and legitimized by journalists who claim that they are just being fair to “both sides” of an issue about which there is little debate. Meanwhile millions of dollars have been diverted from potential breakthroughs in autism research, families have spent their savings on ineffective “miracle cures,” and declining vaccination rates have led to outbreaks of deadly illnesses like Hib, measles, and whooping cough. Most tragic of all is the increasing number of children dying from vaccine-preventable diseases.
In The Panic Virus Seth Mnookin draws on interviews with parents, public-health advocates, scientists, and anti-vaccine activists to tackle a fundamental question: How do we decide what the truth is? The fascinating answer helps explain everything from the persistence of conspiracy theories about 9/11 to the appeal of talk-show hosts who demand that President Obama “prove” he was born in America.
The Panic Virus is a riveting and sometimes heart-breaking medical detective story that explores the limits of rational thought. It is the ultimate cautionary tale for our time.
- Print length464 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJanuary 3, 2012
- Dimensions5.5 x 1.2 x 8.44 inches
- ISBN-101439158657
- ISBN-13978-1439158654
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Mnookin deftly describes how the Internet has fostered new communities of people fiercely gathered around their own versions of truth. . . . Loaded with interesting anecdotes and historical tidbits, The Panic Virus is a fascinating read. The scope of the book is often impressive." -- Susannah Nesmith ― The Miami Herald
"The Panic Virus is sure to attract attention. . . . Mnookin's book is an unsparing brief against the vaccine skeptics. But in a larger sense, this volume is less about the insurrection against inoculations than it is about the democratization of information. . . . Less about the contagion of ideas than about the contagion of misinformation and mistrust that metastasizes in the new technology." -- David M. Shribman ― The Boston Globe
“A must-read for parents and parents-to-be.” -- Trine Tsouderos ― Chicago Tribune
“The definitive, infuriating history of the myth that vaccines cause autism.” -- Bill Wasik ― The New York Observer
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster
- Publication date : January 3, 2012
- Edition : 1st
- Language : English
- Print length : 464 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1439158657
- ISBN-13 : 978-1439158654
- Item Weight : 13.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.44 inches
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About the author

Seth Mnookin is the co-director of MIT's Graduate Program of Science Writing and is the author of three books. His most recent, 2011's THE PANIC VIRUS: THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE VACCINE-AUTISM CONTROVERSY, won the National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Book Award, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was named one of The Wall Street Journal's Top 5 Health and Medicine books of the year. In 2006, he published the national bestseller FEEDING THE MONSTER: HOW MONEY, SMARTS AND NERVE TOOK A TEAM TO THE TOP, which chronicled the rise of the Boston Red Sox and their 2004 World Series win. Seth's first book was 2004's HARD NEWS: THE SCANDALS AT THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THEIR MEANING FOR AMERICAN MEDIA, which was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year.
Seth began his career as a rock critic for the now-defunct webzine Addicted to Noise. He's been a police reporter at The Palm Beach Post, a political reporter at Brill's Content, a music columnist at The New York Observer, and a national affairs reporter at Newsweek. Since 2005 he's been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where he's reported from Iraq, written about Stephen Colbert, and delved into plagiarism accusations against Dan Brown. His work has also appeared in The New Yorker, New York, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post Book World, Spin, Slate, Salon, and other publications. He graduated from Harvard College in 1994 with a degree in the History of Science and was a 2004 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. A native of Newton, Massachusetts, he and his wife currently live in Brookline with their two children and adopted dog.

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