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    courtAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 11:11am

    Guy with a Masters in Special Education and 17 years working with children with severe autism here: 1. Fuck you DeNiro, you degenerate piece of garbage. 2. The causes of autism are widely accepted as a mess of disparate factors.....the age of the father, a heightened level of testosterone in the mother, genetics ( a sibling of a twin who has autism is much more likely to have autism than non-twin siblings, and more. Also, and so important, 8 of 10 children with autism are boys, 80 percent. This number has not fluctuated. Following the vaccine theory, girls would be just as susceptible... but they are not. There is something inherently “male” about autism. We can safely say that we don’t know exactly why 1/88 children are now born on the spectrum, but it sure as Fuck ain’t vaccines.

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      Zukkacourt
      4/13/16 11:18am

      Ehhh, I dunno, I’m still unconvinced. Listen, De Niro is in some of my favorite movies of all time (like Goodfellas!), so I feel like I should be listening to his opinion. Right?

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      MahlersFifthcourt
      4/13/16 11:22am

      Also: De Niro said his wife believes their son, who has autism, “changed overnight” after being vaccinated. “I don’t remember.”

      How do you not remember if it’s that dramatic?

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    thetallblonde loves twinjaAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 10:57am

    celebs don’t have to be role models. they don’t have to be politically aware. they don’t have to be rational and intelligent.

    they also, however, don’t have to be given a platform on any subject other than their craft.

    (if they are any or all of the above things, that’s great! but we need to stop looking to them for their expertise.)

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      Hoyo Afrikathetallblonde loves twinja
      4/13/16 10:58am

      Thank. You! Just act, sing, dance, whatever. Just keep your noses out of politics, medicine, education, aid work, etc.

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      thetallblonde loves twinjathetallblonde loves twinja
      4/13/16 10:59am

      this is not to say, however, that if a celeb voices a dangerously inaccurate opinion **cough cough** DENIRO **cough** that they shouldn’t be corrected and educated.

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    benjaminalloverAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 10:58am

    I truly feel for parents desperate to find something to blame for their child’s disorder, but once you cross the line into spreading dangerous untruths because you want the conspiracy to be true so badly, you must be told to sit down and shut up. Looks like Mr. De Niro has crossed that line.

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      yvanehtniojbenjaminallover
      4/13/16 11:04am

      Agree 100%.

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      Perraviejabenjaminallover
      4/13/16 11:13am

      He’s in pain and wants something to blame. Sometimes shitty things happen to good people through no fault of their own. So many people have a difficult time accepting this. I feel for him. Until he starts putting other people in danger, like he is doing here. That’s where my sympathy for you ends, Bob.

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    crankylittlephotonAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 10:57am

    And for me to get so upset here, on the Today show, with you guys, means there’s something there.

    NO. NO, IT DOESN’T. Your being upset by something does not mean that there is a vast Pharma/FDA conspiracy afoot. Why do we keep giving ignorant, uneducated celebrities a platform to spout this bullshit? It’s exhausting and it’s dangerous.

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      PussyFartcrankylittlephoton
      4/13/16 10:59am

      I have FEELINGS, about THINGS, and that means SOMETHING!

      Yes, it does. Just not the things you think it does.

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      Lady Cannibal Sharkcrankylittlephoton
      4/13/16 11:01am

      Robert De Niro gets upset at literally anything so I'm inclined to take him even less seriously over this.

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    elachAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 10:56am

    I believe that unicorns come in a variety of colors. I believe that it’s currently raining avocados. I believe that my kitchen floor is cleaning itself, right now.

    Using the phrase “I believe” over and over again DOES NOT MAKE YOUR BELIEFS VALID.

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      LostAnotherBurnerPasswordelach
      4/13/16 11:12am

      Okay but if that self-cleaning kitchen floor thing comes through I want to know about it.

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      hanging gardenselach
      4/13/16 11:22am

      “Sincerely held beliefs” are even worse.

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    MsMenstruationAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 11:11am

    I had a conversation with a bunch of the women in my family the other day and I couldn’t believe how skeptical they all were of vaccines. My sister A NURSE was going on about how scary the mercury is, my other sister chose not to have her newborn given the flu vaccine. My cousin’s little boy has a serious condition where he gets brain bleeds and only got vaccinated after doctors pleaded with his parents because of how dangerous it would be to spend lots of time in hospitals without being vaccinated. I was the only person who was staunchly pro-vaccine out of about 20 women.

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      PerraviejaMsMenstruation
      4/13/16 11:31am

      This is terrifying.

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      LuckyMc44MsMenstruation
      4/13/16 11:32am

      I read an article somewhere a few years ago (I can’t recall where...it might have been on Jez?) that talked about a study (discussion of the study can be found here) that found the anti-vaxx movement is largely white, affluent and suburban. The article had posited that a few reasons this might be true are 1) these privilege of these people tends to make it easier to believe that nothing bad could happen to them and 2) they’re smart enough to say, realize mercury can be dangerous, but not smart enough to know that the levels in vaccines are perfectly safe. This speculation wasn’t based on any scientific data, but was more trying to figure out why that might be (these speculations were in addition to the one in the linked article about buying isolated in an echo chamber). It’s interesting, and depressing, to ponder.

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    CreampuffclintonAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 11:17am

    The logic that all vaccines are safe for all people is fundamentally flawed because we are not all the same. A person will be allergic to certain foods, allergens, medications, etc. based on their genetic makeup. Why wouldn’t this apply to some kids with some vaccines? It’s really not that crazy a question and I hate that we demonize people for simply asking. I’m sorry but the CDC and other researchers know they would have a total shitstorm on their hands, (and perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths FROM diseases that are preventable), because many parents would not vaccinate out of fear. To be clear, my children are vaccinated fully but my son is on the spectrum and I always wondered because he had SO many shots at SO young an age. I just think it’s sad that we don’t take parents like this seriously.

    �XӶ+

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      Cherith CutestoryCreampuffclinton
      4/13/16 11:22am

      Some people are allergic to vaccines and they don’t get them after doctors realize there is an allergy. Nobody has ever denied that an individual can have an allergic reaction to a vaccine. That’s partly why herd immunity is so important. Some people can’t get vaccinated and they rely on everyone else doing so.

      But allergic reactions don’t cause autism. Parents like this aren’t taken seriously because it has been studied over and over and there is no link.

      I’m sorry but the CDC and other researchers know they would have a total shitstorm on their hands,

      Paranoia isn’t evidence. There is no way in hell there wouldn’t be at least one or two mavericks who tell the “truth”. It’s impossible to keep a secret like this. So many people work on these projects. Conspiracies don’t work with lots of people in on them. But the only doctor who ever found a link has been thoroughly discredited.

      The CDC, frankly, just isn’t that powerful. They wouldn’t be able to keep that many people quiet.

      I do get that people in the US have lost faith in healthcare and pharmaceuticals. And that’s the fault of healthcare in this country. But this particular fear is dangerous and it’s based on nothing.

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      assmonkeysaysI'mBRITNEY, BITCH!Creampuffclinton
      4/13/16 11:25am

      The science could not be more crystal clear that because he had “so many shots” at such a young age, THAT IS NOT A CAUSE OF AUTISM. Full stop. There is no question or anything to “wonder” about.

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    usedtobehereAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 11:33am

    “Vaccines aren’t 100% safe”

    You know what else isn’t 100% safe? Smallpox. Measles. Rubella. Pertussis. Mumps. Listening to medical advice given by someone with absolutely no medical training or experience who keeps quoting discredited pseudoscience.

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      GrumpyEagleusedtobehere
      4/13/16 11:59am

      True. I have a few noticeable measles scars on my face and body I show to people who pull the "dangers of vaccination" card. (My mother was a very anti-vaxx sort because she once had a bad reaction when she was eight years old; later she concentrated her efforts on the horrors of fluoridation.)

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      reboundstudentusedtobehere
      4/13/16 12:22pm

      I mean, for heaven’s sake, there’s almost NOTHING that’s 100% safe. Seat belts aren’t 100% safe. Taking a shower isn’t 100% safe. And yet, we understand that something with a 95% safety rate is still *better than nothing.* Why is this a hard concept to grasp when it comes to diseases??

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    KatMarloweAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 11:01am
    GIF
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      JujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes hereKatMarlowe
      4/13/16 11:02am

      SAMESIES!

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      KatMarloweJujyMonkey: Clever tagline goes here
      4/13/16 11:06am
      GIF
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    kamla deviAnna Merlan
    4/13/16 10:58am

    Before I begin, let me start by saying that I get ALL THE VACCINES for myself and my children. ALL THE VACCINES, on whatever the latest and greatest recommended by the CDC schedule is.

    That said, the thing that is so sad about the anti-vax crowd is that it is misguided anger and frustration. On the one hand, I get it man, the for-profit healthcare industry is terrible and has to fucking go. But rather than attack vaccines, why not attack health insurance? Demand healthcare as a human right for all, not make up some malarkey about vaccines (ironically, part of our healthcare system that was created by a man who legitimately did not want to profit off of them, but created them for the greater good!)

    It makes me really frustrated that people misdirect what is totally legitimate distrust of the American healthcare system into total nonsense. If that energy were channeled in the right direction, we could make some headway, but nope!

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      jemandthehologramskamla devi
      4/13/16 11:29am

      If there wasn’t for-profit health care, it wouldn’t exist. Pharmaceutical development is extremely expensive and the government isn’t exactly handing out money to develop these drugs left and right. Also, promoting routing vaccines generally aren’t driven by profit, most are generics and don’t bring in significant revenue.

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      ErinB05jemandtheholograms
      4/13/16 12:09pm

      I can attest to the government being stingy. Every time the NIH and science budgets got cut, there was a collective shudder in my institute. It got to the point where they started having seminars on how to write grant proposals in a way that would sound appealing to the NIH and others on places and organisations to approach in order to obtain funding.

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