- Free events tentatively scheduled at the Briar Patch Community Room in Grass Valley
- Saturday September 10th at 10:30 AM, 1:00PM and 2:30PM
- Books and autographs available for sale after each discussion.
Playboy Magazine’s 2003 Playmate of the Year and controversial author Jenny McCarthy will be coming to Nevada County to speak about the threat of autism from childhood immunizations. In 2007 McCarthy announced that her son Evan was diagnosed with autism two years prior. Before claiming that her son’s autism was caused by vaccination, McCarthy wrote that he was a gifted “crystal child” and she an “indigo mom”.
Evan’s disorder began with seizures and his improvement occurred after the seizures were treated, symptoms experts have noted are more consistent with LandauKleffner syndrome, often misdiagnosed as autism. She has denied that her son was misdiagnosed. McCarthy served as a spokesperson for Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) and participated in fundraisers, online chats, and other activities for the non-profit organization to help families affected by autism spectrum disorders.
McCarthy’s book on the subject, Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism
, was published in 2007.
In 2008, she appeared on a Larry King Live special dedicated to the subject, and argued that vaccines can trigger autism:
“If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we will stand in line for the fucking measles. The reason why [parents] are not vaccinating is because the vaccines are not safe. Make a better product and then parents will vaccinate. I think I would have skipped the chicken pox [vaccine]. I had it when I was little. To me, I’m not too worried about Evan dying from chicken pox. There should be some vaccines that we can go, ‘Hmm, maybe not.'”
“We are demanding safe vaccines. We want to reduce the schedule and reduce the toxins. I believe in the importance of a vaccine program and I believe parents have the right to choose one poke per visit. Should a child with the flu receive six vaccines in one doctor visit? For my child, I asked for … one shot per visit instead of the multiple shots they were and still are giving infants. Again I ask, what happened to critical thinking?”
