it was just over a year ago that I had my last bit to say about a man who can arguably called the antivaccine activist who gave Orac his start. I’m referring, of course, to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Indeed, my first deconstruction of the nonsense about vaccines that Kennedy laid down in 2005 in an article foolishly and irresponsibly published in both Salon.com and Rolling Stone was what got Orac noticed, a mere six months or so after this blog had begun—exactly nine years ago, today, amazingly enough. (Holy crap, this blog is old…) Every so often, Kennedy has reappeared to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt (otherwise known as FUD) about vaccines, specifically vaccines that contained thimerosal, a mercury containing-compound that was commonly used in the US as a preservative in childhood vaccines, at least until around 2002, which is when the last lots of thimerosal-containing vaccines expired. After that, thimerosal was not added to childhood vaccines anymore.

Oddly enough, even though autism prevalence shows no signs of decreasing 12 years after it was removed from most childhood vaccines (some flu vaccines still contain thimerosal; but they’re not often used in children anymore, at least not in the US), Kennedy still likes to party like it’s 1999, which is around the time that thimerosal fear mongering reached the consciousness of the nation and lead to the recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S. Public Health Service to remove thimerosal from childhood vaccines. Indeed, as recently as last year, Kennedy was, in his usual subtle way, likening US immunization policy and autism to Nazi death camps. Even more amusingly, at his appearance at the autism quackfest known as Autism One in 2013, RFK, Jr. made a threat. He claimed that he had a book nearly written that would blow the lid off the thimerosal conspiracy and demonstrate that mercury in vaccines causes autism. He went on to threaten:

Kennedy has put together a book-length treatment on the dangers of ethylmercury, given every year to 84 million children around the world including the United States (in prenatal and infant flu shots). He wants to get meetings with the CDC, AAP, FDA, etc., and get a commitment by the end of this summer to finally remove thimerosal from vaccines in one year. ONE year. If not, he said, he’ll publish the book.

“If they don’t do this,” he said, “this is what I’m going to do with my life.” Since they’re not going to do it, it looks like we’ve got a friend for life.

That’s right. If the government didn’t do exactly what he wanted, RFK, Jr. was threatening to (unleash hell) write a book. Yes, write a book. Actually, he threatened to publish a crank book full of autism fear mongering, quackery, and pseudoscience if the government doesn’t do what he demands. True, he didn’t say that, but the crankiness, quackery, and pseudoscience go without saying whenever RFK, Jr. writes anything about vaccines. But a book-length pseudoscience-laden screed? That’s going to turn the crankery up to 11.

I’ll give RFK, Jr. credit, though. He does appear to keep his promises. I just learned that, true to his word, a little more than a year after making his promise, RFK, Jr. is apparently actually publishing his book. It’s written by Robert F. Kennedy (Author), Jr., Mark Hyman, MD (Preface), Martha Herbert, MD (introduction) and is entitled Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: Mercury Toxicity in Vaccines and the Political, Regulatory, and Media Failures That Continue to Threaten Public Health.