Need medical advice? Ask an expert — not a celebrity
Doctor: Science is under siege on the right and left
When Angelina Jolie told the world that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy because of her pervasive family history of breast and ovarian cancer, the actress’s words were laudable and responsible. In a 2013 New York Times piece, Jolie highlighted her reason for having the surgery: She had inherited a faulty BRCA1 gene, which significantly increased her cancer risk.
Though she perceptively elevated the public’s interest in BRCA mutations, a potentially life-saving thing, Jolie’s moving story, involving complex genetics minutiae, also inspired anxiety and confusion. Often lost amid the general discussion surrounding her missive was an essential fact: Most women do not have a BRCA1 mutation and are at average risk for breast cancer.
If Paul A. Offit had his way, scientists would be much more nimble in filling these types of medical-information voids. In his most recent book, “Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren’t Your Best Source of Health Information,” Offit, a pediatrician, scientific researcher and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, argues that scientists should immerse themselves much more proactively into
our popular discourse to help educate the public.
While “Bad Advice” is a quick read, its goal is weighty: to defend science as a vital beacon in the public sphere. Offit lays a compelling — and sometimes disturbing — foundation for why we need to protect its honor, and he calls for scientists to “become an army of science advocates out to educate the country. Because science is losing its rightful status as a source of truth, now is the time.”
In breezy and deceptively conversational prose that often winks with humor, “Bad Advice” breaks down complex scientific subjects that have been distorted through several cultural lenses. Offit takes to task actors, network news anchors, quack scientists and even politicians who have opined on scientific subjects in a way that misinforms the public, on occasion to a potentially dangerous degree.
Offit himself has spent years navigating media appearances as a medical and scientific expert. A co-inventor of RotaTeq, a vaccine against rotavirus, which can cause lifethreatening vomiting and diarrhea, most commonly in infants and young children, Offit has become a high-profile voice on vaccine safety and, in particular, an ardent defender of the scientific community’s consensus that vaccines have no association with autism. He dedicates a chapter of the book to how his role in bringing RotaTeq to the market has been used by anti-vaccine activists to discredit him as a shill for pharmaceutical companies. The impulse to include this information is certainly understandable: Offit has been harassed and even sued for taking on the anti-vaxxers. He ultimately leaves it to the reader to trust the compassion and sincerity in his profession he displays in these pages.
“Bad Advice” homes in on the consequences of the failure of clear and overwhelming scientific evidence regarding vaccines to win the day. Offit examines, for example, the root causes of the re-emergent debate about whether they cause autism. He cites several recent outbreaks of measles and mumps that swept across the nation because some Americans are choosing to withhold vaccines from their children.
Beyond the sizable list of celebrity activists such as Jim Carrey, Charlie Sheen, Robert De Niro and Jenny McCarthy who have questioned the safety of vaccines, Offit says the current political climate bears some culpability for what he calls “science denialism.” He points out that before being elected, President Donald Trump posited the idea that vaccines may have an association with autism. Offit also says evolution denialists probably were heartened by Trump’s choice of Mike Pence as vice president since Pence doesn’t exactly support evolution as a concept.
Across the aisle, Offit says, “liberals have waged their own war on science, holding the unshakeable beliefs that all things natural are good; anything with a chemical name is bad.” He points to the fallacy of going “GMO-free” — in the mistaken belief that genetically modified organisms are dangerous. Health organizations worldwide have consistently issued statements to the contrary. Offit says these so-called “Frankenfoods” are no more dangerous than non-GMO foods. Similarly, the misguided fear of genetic modification in medicines (a technology, for example, that led to the creation of insulin for people with diabetes), inspired a Democratic member of the New York State Senate, Thomas J. Abinanti, to introduce a bill in 2015 banning genetically modified vaccines. It rightfully failed to win support.
In addition to misconceptions about GMOs, Offit tackles the current gluten hysteria, citing the ever-expanding array of gluten-free items on our supermarket shelves, from hair products to pet food. “If you really want to watch science denialism at work, just walk into a Whole Foods store,” Offit half-jokes. He says only about 1 percent of the U.S. population would benefit from avoiding gluten. It is nevertheless a billion-dollar industry here.