デ・ニーロからフリントへ - Living, Loving, Thinking, Again

承前*1

Rebecca Carroll “Why did De Niro promote an anti-vaxx film?” http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/28/robert-de-niro-anti-vaccination-tribeca-film-festival-autism

何故ロバート・デ・ニーロは当初アンドリュー・ウェイクフィールドのVaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastropheの上映を弁護したのか。Rebecca Carrollさんは、デ・ニーロが黒人であるグレース・ハイタワーと結婚していることと関係しているのではないかという。デ・ニーロも「パーソナル」な問題が絡んでいると述べていた。彼の18歳になる「自閉症」の息子も（優性遺伝*2により）黒人である。1932年から1972年までの40年間に亙ってアラバマ州の黒人住民が、US Public Health Serviceによって梅毒の自然な進行を観察するために梅毒の治療をされないまま放置されていた「タスケジー梅毒実験」*3のような、科学の名の下のレイシズムに曝されてきたこともあり、黒人社会ではCDC（Center for Disease Control and Prevention）*4のような医学的権威への反発は強く、科学的権威と大手製薬会社がタッグを組んだ陰謀に対する懸念も強い。 Rebecca Carrollさんはさらに踏み込んで、Vaxxedには「CDCの内部告発者」であるWilliam H Thompson*5やBrian S Hooker*6の、CDCが黒人の子どもは三種混合ワクチン接種後に自閉症と診断されるより強い傾向があるというデータを隠蔽しているという主張が含まれているらしいということに言及している。しかし、Brian S Hookerの論文は既に撤回されている*7。実のところ、CDCのデータによれば、黒人は白人に比べて「自閉症」になりにくい傾向があるのだ*8。勿論、人種やエスニシティを問わず、ワクチン接種と自閉症の間の因果関係に関する医学的エヴィデンスは認められていない。

Ultimately, De Niro removed the film from the festival. One would hope that it is more about doing the right thing for his son – and all of the other black boys whose bodies are viciously exposed to predatory malpractice and systemic injustice – than because of pressure from the media.

このテクストでも引用されているが、Steven Zeitchik “Tribeca to screen movie by controversial anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield” *9はMichael Specter*10の言葉を引いている；

"It's shocking," Michael Specter, a staff writer at the New Yorker who has studied and written extensively about the issue, said when asked in a phone interview Tuesday about the screening. "This is a criminal who is responsible for people dying. This isn't someone who has a 'point-of-view.’ It's comparable to Leni Riefenstahl making a movie about the Third Reich, or Mike Tyson making a movie about violence toward women. The fact that a respectable organization like the Tribeca Film Festival is giving Wakefield a platform is a disgraceful thing to do."

さて、Rebecca Carrollさんの記事ではミシガン州フリント*11の水道水汚染事件が言及されている。フリント市では水道の水源をヒューロン湖から、財政上の理由で（ヒューロン湖から取水する場合、デトロイト市に水代を払わなければならない）、フリント川*12に換えたため、水道水が鉛などの重金属に汚染された。『ボストン・グローブ』のDerrick Z. Jackson 氏はフリントの事件を「タスケジー実験の現代における等価物」であるとし、前者の「医療レイシズム」に対して、後者を「環境レイシズム」と呼んでいる*13。事件の基礎知識として、

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisis
Sara Ganim and Linh Tran “How tap water became toxic in Flint, Michigan” http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan/
Greg Botelho, Sarah Jorgensen and Joseph Netto “Water crisis in Flint, Michigan, draws federal investigation” http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/05/health/flint-michigan-water-investigation/

さて、

Ed Pilkington “How the scientific community united against Tribeca's anti-vaccination film” http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/29/tribeca-de-niro-anti-vaccination-film-scientists-response

ロバート・デ・ニーロを説得して、Vaxxed上映を中止させたのは Immunization Action Coalition (IAC)のメイリング・リストによる迅速な反応だった。
さて、大統領選挙（予備選）の話を絡めて；

The supremacy of the scientific process has been under attack in this presidential cycle, in which several leading Republican candidates have expressed their doubts about the science of climate change*14 , or even denied evolution*15 . The GOP frontrunner Donald Trump directly raised the spurious link between vaccines and autism during a televised presidential debate*16 .
At such a febrile time, there was a palpable sense of relief among experts that in this case, respect for science was reinforced. Amy Pisani, executive director of Every Child By Two, a pro-vaccination group co-founded in 1991 by the former first lady Rosalynn Carter, said she was thrilled by the decision to pull Vaxxed.
“Robert De Niro said he wanted the conversation about vaccines and autism to happen. But that conversation has already happened – it has shown there is no connection. He just wasn’t paying attention,” she said.

ドナルド・トランプ *17って、そうだったんだ！　まあ、陰謀理論系には妙に人気があるのだが。

*1:http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20160328/1459097414

*2:See http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20160328/1459185673

*3:See eg. Center for Disease Control and Prevention “U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee” http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/ “About the USPHS Syphilis Study” http://www.tuskegee.edu/about_us/centers_of_excellence/bioethics_center/about_the_usphs_syphilis_study.aspx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment なお、グアテマラでは放置だけでなく、住民を人為的に梅毒に感染させる実験も行われていた。See Associated Press “Shocking new details of US STD experiments in Guatemala” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/30/guatemala-experiments Philip Dayle “Guatemala syphilis experiments: why the US's apology may not be enough” http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/oct/08/guatemala-syphilis-experiments-us-apology Chris McGreal “US says sorry for 'outrageous and abhorrent' Guatemalan syphilis tests” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/01/us-apology-guatemala-syphilis-tests Rory Carroll “Guatemala victims of US syphilis study still haunted by the 'devil's experiment'” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/guatemala-victims-us-syphilis-study http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110831/1314716914

*4:http://www.cdc.gov/ See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centers_for_Disease_Control_and_Prevention https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AB%E7%96%BE%E7%97%85%E4%BA%88%E9%98%B2%E7%AE%A1%E7%90%86%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC

*5:See eg. Orac “The CDC whistleblower William W. Thompson: Final (for now) roundup and epilogue” http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/08/29/the-cdc-whistleblower-william-w-thompson-final-for-now-roundup-and-epilogue/ David Gorski “The “CDC whistleblower saga”: Updates, backlash, and (I hope) a wrap-up” https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-cdc-whistleblower-saga-updates-backlash-and-i-hope-a-wrap-up/

*6:See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Hooker_%28bioengineer%29

*7:See eg. Orac “It’s official! Brian Hooker’s “reanalysis” of MMR data is retracted.” http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/10/06/its-official-brian-hookers-reanalysis-of-mmr-data-is-retracted/

*8:See eg. “Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/addm.html 「ヒスパニック」はよりなりにくい。

*9:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-anti-vaccine-andrew-wakefield-movie-tribeca-20160322-story.html

*10:http://www.michaelspecter.com/ See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Specter

*11:http://www.cityofflint.com/ See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michigan https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88_(%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B7%E3%82%AC%E3%83%B3%E5%B7%9E) also http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20061102/1162474253

*12:See eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_River_%28Michigan%29

*13:“Flint evokes the public health racism of years past” https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/01/29/flint-evokes-public-health-racism-years-past/a7TGWimWU3SrWWMQHb8B3K/story.html

*14:See Dana Nuccitelli “The Republican Party stands alone in climate denial” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2015/oct/05/the-republican-party-stands-alone-in-climate-denial

*15:See Alan Yuhas “How Republican presidential candidates are getting away with denying evolution” http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/05/america-politicians-evolution-climate-change

*16:See Rory Carroll “ Donald Trump on vaccines: ‘It’s not helpful’, experts say” http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/17/donald-trump-vaccines-autism-debate