Congratulations & Caution · 2008-11-07 20:00

Dear President-Elect Obama,

I am writing to offer my heartfelt congratulations on your victory in Tuesday’s election. I am one of the hundreds of citizens who attended your September 2007 rally in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and am overjoyed that the momentum created over the past year and a half has borne such remarkable fruit.

Two of the factors that most influenced my decision to support your candidacy were your commitment to promote the welfare of disabled citizens, and to uphold the highest standards of scientific integrity in federally-sponsored programs. I am therefore utterly dismayed to hear rumors that you are considering appointing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Back in May 2005, I wrote to Mr. Kennedy to express my concerns about his promotion of the unproven, litigation-driven hypothesis that autism is a consequence of vaccine injury. I reminded him that I and many other parents have no reason or evidence to support attributing our family members’ autistic spectrum conditions to vaccine injury. I expressed my offense at the aggressive efforts of vaccine injury plaintiffs and their advocates to convince the public that the majority of instances of autism are a result of “toxicity.” I pointed out that such an assertion requires dismissing copious amounts of research documenting the genetic basis of autism, creates an unnecessary burden of parental guilt, and is potentially stigmatizing to autistic citizens inappropriately deemed “contaminated.”

Mr. Kennedy never responded to my concerns. Rather, in a steady stream of histrionic articles, interviews and public appearances, he has accused policymakers, researchers and medical professionals of fraudulently and venally conspiring to conceal the supposed dangers of vaccines. He has made inaccurate, sensationalistic generalizations about autistic people, such as suggesting that the majority suffer from gastrointestinal disorders and self-injurious behavior. He has accused those who dispute unverified claims of the efficacy of treatments purported to alleviate “toxicity” of “attacking mothers,” when in fact many of those critics are parents like me who are concerned for the welfare of autistic children subjected to invasive, risky and medically unjustifiable procedures. Such conspiracy-mongering, grandstanding, emotional manipulation, and self-serving mischaracterization of other citizens’ concerns make it clear that Mr. Kennedy is not an appropriate choice to lead any federal agency, let alone one concerned with scientific matters.

I wish you all the best in the challenging days, months and years ahead.

Respectfully,

Kathleen Seidel
http://www.neurodiversity.com

November 7, 2008

Letters to President-Elect Obama can be sent from the contact page at http://change.gov.

Comments


  1. That’s gonna leave a mark.

    — Ken    2008-11-07 20:51    #

  2. Thanks, but to be honest, Orac leaves a bigger, redder, more detailed one.

    Now I'm wondering whether we'll ever find out whether the threat is or ever was real, or if fans of RFK Jr. started the rumor in the hope that it might become reality.

    — Kathleen Seidel    2008-11-07 21:13    #

  3. Well, I wasn’t sure where to send mail so I sent contact on his senate page.

    — Navi    2008-11-07 23:02    #

  4. I bet Obama is in the market for a speechwriter. I can think of a candidate.

    — isles    2008-11-08 00:14    #

  5. LOL! Wouldn’t I love to be pulling a paycheck for writing my little rants. (Oh, I forgot — I’m supposedly getting one already.)

    — Kathleen Seidel    2008-11-08 00:29    #

  6. The best place to send your comments is the contact page on www.change.gov

    — ebohlman    2008-11-08 06:25    #

  7. Thanks very much for the link; I've just added this information to the end of the post.

    — Kathleen Seidel    2008-11-08 08:43    #

  8. The full url for the contact page is:

    http://change.gov/page/s/ofthepeople

    I sent some suggestions, but didn’t mention RFK Jr.

    — Sullivan    2008-11-08 10:37    #

  9. How dare you talk about “stigmatizing” to bolster your argument against those who won’t keep quiet about toxicity as a cause! I’m sick of your phony expressions of pretending to care so much about anyone who is harmed and unfortunate, while you try to cover up the horrors that autistics have to endure. Why don’t you push to have one of Bush’s negligent pro-business cronies kept in or put in the position of head of the EPA while you’re at it, as they won’t cause any trouble?

    — lurker    2008-11-14 03:32    #

  10. lurker, people like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are trying to scare people from getting their children vaccinated. This might not sound so bad, but vaccines are saving lives, so he is pushing an agenda that will get people killed.

    Such people should never be any positions of influence.

    — Kristjan Wager    2008-11-15 10:27    #

  11. I don’t think RFK Jr. has complained about vaccines aside from blaming the thimerosal in them. So, he shouldn’t be considered one of the anti-vaccine people. I don’t think he should have been wrapped up in that “green our vaccines” thing, but I’m glad he reminded some of those people that thimerosal was the actual culprit, and that he’s still sticking to his story about thimerosal.

    — lurker    2008-11-16 06:22    #

  12. lurker said “but I’m glad he reminded some of those people that thimerosal was the actual culprit, and that he’s still sticking to his story about thimerosal.”

    There is no scientific evidence to support “that thimerosal was the actual culprit”.

    — HCN    2008-11-17 16:07    #

  13. I think RFK, Jr. just within the past month recanted on the thimerisol link, according to a Paul Offit talk I was at two weeks ago.
    Now maybe we know why he did it….

    — Dr. Jim    2008-11-21 16:24    #

  14. Dr. Jim, I will believe it when I see an article by RFK, jr that says “I was wrong because real scientists explained it to me, and I promise to listen to real scientists”.

    — HCN    2008-11-22 15:23    #