section_path: Anti-vaccine advocacy and conspiracy theories on public health/Vaccines and autism claims/Writings and speeches promoting anti-vaccine theories
section_name: Writings and speeches promoting anti-vaccine theories
paragraph_text: Writings and speeches promoting anti-vaccine theories
  
  In June 2005, Kennedy wrote an article, " Deadly Immunity ", that appeared in both Rolling Stone and Salon.com and alleged a government conspiracy to conceal a connection between thimerosal and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. The article contained factual errors, leading Salon to issue five corrections. Joan Walsh, Salon.com ' s editor-in-chief at the time and the sole Salon editor of the piece, said she had mistakenly relied on Rolling Stone 's fact-checking, a process she later learned was "less than arduous". As soon as the piece was up, she said, "We were besieged by scientists and advocates showing how Kennedy had misunderstood, incorrectly cited, and perhaps even falsified data... It was the worst mistake of my career. I probably should have been fired."
  
  In 2011, Salon.com retracted the article in its entirety. It said the retraction was motivated by accumulating evidence of alleged errors and scientific fraud underlying the vaccine-autism claim. A corrected version of the original article was published on Rolling Stone 's website. Kennedy said on The Joe Rogan Experience —and was paraphrased in The New York Times as saying—that " Salon caved to pressure from government regulators and the pharmaceutical industry." Walsh responded: "That's just another lie. We caved to pressure from the incontrovertible truth and our journalistic consciences."
  
  In May 2013, Kennedy delivered the keynote address at the anti-vaccination AutismOne / Generation Rescue conference.
  
  In 2014, Kennedy's book Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury – a Known Neurotoxin – from Vaccines, was published.While methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin, thimerosal is not. According to the CDC, there is "no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines". The book's preface is by Mark Hyman, a proponent of the alternative medical treatment called functional medicine. Kennedy has published many articles on the inclusion of thimerosal in vaccines.
  
  In June 2005, Kennedy wrote an article, " Deadly Immunity ", that appeared in both Rolling Stone and Salon.com and alleged a government conspiracy to conceal a connection between thimerosal and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. The article contained factual errors, leading Salon to issue five corrections. Joan Walsh, Salon.com ' s editor-in-chief at the time and the sole Salon editor of the piece, said she had mistakenly relied on Rolling Stone 's fact-checking, a process she later learned was "less than arduous". As soon as the piece was up, she said, "We were besieged by scientists and advocates showing how Kennedy had misunderstood, incorrectly cited, and perhaps even falsified data... It was the worst mistake of my career. I probably should have been fired."
  
  In 2011, Salon.com retracted the article in its entirety. It said the retraction was motivated by accumulating evidence of alleged errors and scientific fraud underlying the vaccine-autism claim. A corrected version of the original article was published on Rolling Stone 's website. Kennedy said on The Joe Rogan Experience —and was paraphrased in The New York Times as saying—that " Salon caved to pressure from government regulators and the pharmaceutical industry." Walsh responded: "That's just another lie. We caved to pressure from the incontrovertible truth and our journalistic consciences."
  
  In May 2013, Kennedy delivered the keynote address at the anti-vaccination AutismOne / Generation Rescue conference.
  
  In 2014, Kennedy's book Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury – a Known Neurotoxin – from Vaccines, was published.While methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin, thimerosal is not. According to the CDC, there is "no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines". The book's preface is by Mark Hyman, a proponent of the alternative medical treatment called functional medicine. Kennedy has published many articles on the inclusion of thimerosal in vaccines.