The Cycle

Debate about vaccines focuses on celeb moms

Actresses Jenny McCarthy and Amanda Peet are in the news this week, thanks to a disagreement about vaccines. McCarthy, whose 6-year-old son has autism, is currently fighting to prove a connection between vaccines and autism, and in an interview the July issue of Cookie magazine, Peet, a spokeswoman for vaccine advocacy group Every Child by Two, said that parents who don’t vaccinate their children are “parasites.”

Peet has apologized for her use of the word “parasite,” but McCarthy has not forgotten.

“I am a parasite,” McCarthy told Spectrum magazine, which covers autism issues, in September. “I am so proud to be a parasite.” And McCarthy has support. Autism United is planning a boycott of Peet’s movies, including this summer’s X-Files: I Want to Believe.

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