Recanting of the link between mmr vax and Autism...

[frolick16]

caught the end of this statment on the Today show this morning that 13 authors who had written on this subject said that due to insufficent evidence they could not prove any connection...does anyone have the whole story or the hole in the story???

[Tracy]

It appears there are more discussions in the UK on this subject.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/m...xhfeatures.html

The truth about MMR must be revealed, says Dr James Le Fanu

The Government finds itself in an invidious situation over the MMR/autism controversy, having painted itself into a corner by denying parents the option of the single measles vaccine. They, thus, have no alternative other than to insist the MMR is totally safe - irrespective of evidence that might emerge to suggest the contrary.

This may not constitute "proof" and, indeed, a former colleague of Dr Wakefield challenged the significance of these findings in the Lancet a fortnight ago - and he may be right to do so. None the less, it is beginning to look as if, as neurologist Peter Harvey points out in the same issue, there is now "a step-by-step cascade of evidence" linking the MMR vaccine to some cases of autism

This could explain the assault on Dr Wakefield's integrity. The validity of his original findings, it is claimed, may have been compromised by a conflict of interest involving research funds that he failed to disclose. This might be relevant if it were true, but it is not, as anyone can check for themselves: Dr Wakefield acknowledged the source of his funding in the Lancet in 1998. It would seem to be that neither the Government nor the medical establishment can afford for Dr Wakefield to be vindicated - and they are getting pretty desperate. .

and here is wakefield's response...

WAKEFIELD RESPONDS TO THE RIDICULOUS ALLEGATIONS

http://www.internationalsymposium.c...statementAW.htm


Please go to this link for the full response...... but I put my money on Wakefield and frankly this whole thing feels like a very political attack more than anything...

anyway, here is a tidbit of his response..


quote:

Serious allegations have been made against me and my colleagues in relation to the provision of clinical care for children with autism and bowel disease, and the subsequent reporting of their disease......

All but one of the allegations, which are grossly defamatory, have been shown to be baseless. One allegation remains against me personally. That is, that I did not disclose to the Lancet that a minority of the 12 children in the 1998 Lancet report were also part of a quite separate study

[abranger]

the link to wakefields responce isn't working can you post it again?

[Tracy]

here is another link...see if this works, it is further down the document by the way..

http://image.thelancet.com/extras/st...Feb2004web.pdf

[Britishmum]

Interestingly, nobody has said that the research is faulty, just that he failed to disclose 'other interests'.

Which is extremely ironic when you consider the 'other interests' involved in just about every study that shows that the MMR is safe. But it's OK if your other interests happen to be a paycheck from the drug company - as long as you prove that MMR is safe. :

[Tracy]

[suschi]

Wakefield is probably being held as an example of what will happen if you speak negatively about vaccines,

you will be blackballed

labeled as a "misguided maverick"

funding pulled

forced out of a job

Who can blame those associated with him for changing their tune!

[Pam_and_Abigail]

Article in my local paper

I just wanted to add this link to an article in my local paper this morning. The Dr. in the article is from the same University I graduated from! She seems to be claiming that ALL the researchers are repudiating the study.

And here's a point/question:
Didn't a researcher from the US (forget the name) repeat their study and reach similar conclusions? I wish I could remember the name or which school he was from. Anyone know who or what I am talking about?

Here's the link. If I can muster the mental energy, I think this needs a response to the editor.


Autism debate shows effects of bad science- Reversal of errant claim took years:

[Pam_and_Abigail]

here are some links my dh found. It's being jumped on by news everywhere!


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/index.php?newsid=6308 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/science/04AUTI.html http://cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/03/retraction040303 http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/...369076-cp.html

[Deborah]

Dr. Wakefield's summing up

http://www.visceral.org.uk/science.php

This was posted over on the Vaccine Science discussion list on Yahoo.

Dr. Wakefield makes a very good case for MMR causing severe illness in some children. What I've noticed is that most of the criticism of what he has presented concentrates on side points and ignores the major problems.

For example:

Why do these children have inflamed intestines?
Why do they have measles virus in their intestines?

and so on. Instead, the attacks focus on stuff like the fact that he has not been able to "prove" that the measles virus in these children is the MMR virus and not the wild virus. Given that all of the children were definitely exposed to the MMR virus, it seems unlikely that every single child would also have been exposed to the wild virus and in every case the wild virus would have proceeded to move into their bowels.

Nana

[goodpapa]

This still stands...

http://www.aapsonline.org/jpands/vol8no3/geier.pdf


Unfortunately, this is taking place as well:



http://www.sundayherald.com/40427




No more PharmaDestruction!



Ray

[ericaz]

there's an interesting (and alarming) article in the latest issue of mother jones magazine. i urge anyone who follows vaccinations and the laws that surround them to read it.

Here's the article abstract:
Once the government regulators and pharmaceutical companies knew that mercury in childhood vaccines might be responsible for an epidemic of autism, they did not publicize their data and mount a recall. They were more concerned with protecting the national vaccine program - and shielding themselves from liability. Rock presents several researches that point to a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.