I hoped we'd put this nonsense to bed when Andrew Wakefield's credentials and credibility went away. But there is always money and influence to be gotten by ginning up unreasoning, visceral fear.

Recently, Robert Kennedy Jr. was in Sacramento, California, to campaign against Senate Bill 227, which makes it harder for parents to opt out of vaccinations. In his remarks at an anti-vaccination movie screening, he decided to compare "vaccine-induced" autism to the Holocaust. He said, "They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone," Kennedy said. "This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country."

He apologized for the Holocaust comparison - sort of. He didn't apologize for his damaging and inaccurate position that there is a link between vaccination and autism. But there's even more to be ashamed about here.

Ari Ne'eman, president of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, wrote, "Robert Kennedy Jr, who has engaged with autism only to spread lies, misinformation and dehumanizing rhetoric, has never meaningfully engaged in efforts to improve the lives of autistic Americans. While his father, uncle and many others in the Kennedy-Shriver family championed the rights of people with disabilities, he has instead cast his lot with those who use pseudo-science to question our humanity."

I'll try and keep an eye on this; please add related links, or just drop me a note.