The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition] Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B004JCBS5Q | Format: PDF, EPUB
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The Panic Virus is a gripping scientific detective story about how grassroots radicals, snake-oil salesmen, and cynical journalists have perpetrated the biggest health-scare hoax of all time. It explores what happens when the media treats all viewpoints as equally valid, regardless of facts, from parents who are convinced that vaccines caused their children's autism to right-wing radicals who believe that climate change is a myth. It also explains how the endless quantity of information available online has radicalized partisans by fueling their tendency to filter out anything that doesn't reinforce their way of thinking.
Tens of millions of dollars have been wasted appeasing denialists who think the government is perpetrating a health "holocaust" on children. Declining vaccination rates have caused recent outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, and Hib - and children around the country are dying as a result.
Like works by Oliver Sacks and Richard Dawkins, The Panic Virus uses everyday experiences to show how science affects our lives. Listeners will learn why definitive proof in science is virtually impossible, how rational decision-making is ruled by emotion, and why paupers' graves in the 1880s led to an outbreak of throat cancer in the 1950s.
Direct download links available for The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 10 hours and 44 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Tantor Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: January 11, 2011
- Language: English
- ASIN: B004JCBS5Q
The title of my review comes from a quote in the book by Arthur Allen, who was describing what, to date, has been the penultimate courtroom showdown in the debate over vaccines and autism. As a mother, I could not agree more. Decisions related to our children's healthcare are agonizing and should be done carefully, using the best information available. In my opinion, this book summarizes that information as well as can be done when distilling complex science down to its most elemental truths. Even though to me it was pretty clear which side of the debate the author falls on, he nevertheless managed to present both sides of the argument and write a pretty engaging story while at it.
The Panic Virus focuses primarily on the debate over vaccines, thimerosal, and autism, but it doesn't end there. Mnookin doesn't gloss over mistakes that were made by the CDC and other government bodies in overseeing the safety of multiple vaccines. Even as someone who has a lot of respect for the contributions of vaccines to public health, I was taken aback by some of the points he made regarding the lack of rigorous safety studies in some areas related to vaccines.
However, he also presents the science that has demonstrated as conclusively as possible that vaccines do not cause autism. Those looking for the ultimate proof of a negative will not find it here, because it cannot be done using science, as Mnookin points out. He also covers some of the psychological reasons for why people are so willing to believe in junk science, and discusses Andrew Wakefield's chicanery in detail. Finally, he gives a voice to families whose children have been harmed by the anti-vaccination movement.
In fairness, one or two of the more esoteric points about the science are a tiny bit off the mark.
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