Original Vaccine-Autism study proved fraudulent

[Jetsetlemming]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683671.ece
The doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

The research was published in February 1998 in an article in The Lancet medical journal. It claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children’s conditions.

However, our investigation, confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council (GMC), reveals that: In most of the 12 cases, the children’s ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated. Hospital pathologists, looking for inflammatory bowel disease, reported in the majority of cases that the gut was normal. This was then reviewed and the Lancet paper showed them as abnormal.

Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper’s impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92% to below 80%. Populations acquire “herd immunity” from measles when more than 95% of people have been vaccinated.

Last week official figures showed that 1,348 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales were reported last year, compared with 56 in 1998. Two children have died of the disease.

With two professors, John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch, Wakefield is defending himself against allegations of serious professional misconduct brought by the GMC. The charges relate to ethical aspects of the project, not its findings. All three men deny any misconduct.

Through his lawyers, Wakefield this weekend denied the issues raised by our investigation, but declined to comment further.
Diseases that were once nearly extinct are on the rise, children have died, and thousands of retarded parents have acted even more retarded, and the concept's ballooned along other paths. This motherfucker's pretty much the devil. The science has been disproven countless times (and ignored by chicken little retards), and now it turns out the original idea was a complete lie.

[PopCulturePooka]

Wow this is amazing.

The number of absolutely shocking idiotic moves here is astounding.

How on earth did a respected journal like Lancet even publish a study as fact that had such a small sample size?

How can the doctor and professors involved possibly get away with this and keep their reputations at all intact? What motive did they have for such professional and scientific dishonesty?

However I still think in these cases the truly idiotic ones are the parents who believe media scare hype enough to not get their children immunised.

[D-pad]

I've always thought that study was bullshit, but can you believe all the stupid parents who went with that shit?

[mawande]

Yes.

People wanted reasons for their children being autistic. The doctor wanted reasons. Put 'em together and you got someone who hoped that the data would prove him right if it were further studied.

[Jetsetlemming]

Last time I heard science-based "reasons", it was that in 90% of Autism cases there's genetic history, and there's one chemical I can't remember the name of that's been shown to cause chromosomal damage similar to autism if introduced to a fetus in development.

[Gorlam]

I've always thought that study was bullshit, but can you believe all the stupid parents who went with that shit?

You need to remember that most people don't actually read these reports, they just hear of the outcome and assume its 100% accurate. Then those people tell their friends and the whole damn thing spirals out of control. Not the first time it has happened and unfortunately it wont be the last.

[Jetsetlemming]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212/ap_on_go_ot/austism_ruling

WASHINGTON – A special court has ruled against parents with autistic children, saying that vaccines are not to blame for their children's neurological disorder.

The judges in the cases said the evidence was overwhelmingly contrary to the parent's claims — and backed years of science that found no risk.

More than 5,000 claims were filed with the U.S. Court of Claims alleging that vaccines caused autism and other neurological problems in their children. To win, they had to show that it was more likely than not that the autism symptoms were directly related to the measles-mumps-rubella shots they received.

The court still has to rule on separate claims from other families that other vaccines played a role.

[Jetsetlemming]

http://whatstheharm.net/vaccinedenial.html

[volomavi]

Last time I heard science-based "reasons", it was that in 90% of Autism cases there's genetic history, and there's one chemical I can't remember the name of that's been shown to cause chromosomal damage similar to autism if introduced to a fetus in development.

I never knew there was a study involving deliberate induction of autism-like symptoms in human fetuses, any chance you remember the title or who it was done by?

[Jetsetlemming]

Nope. I've never read it, only heard it quoted, most recently on Skeptoid:
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4055

[akitaka]

So the incentive wasn't for profit? Furthering the study is one thing, but he might as well have just kept the vaccinations going while recording patient's progress instead of outright throwing people into paranoia. JSL's link was a good read...particularly this part:

It doesn't help that this misinformation is spread by celebrity activists like Robert Kennedy Jr., whose only medical experience comes from carefully making lines of cocaine with a razor blade. Kennedy wrote an article for Rolling Stone magazine in 2005 charging that the government knows that vaccines cause autism and is actively covering it up.

Because it's always the government, right?

[SlickWilly440]

Whether a vaccine is the cause of autism or not, I think we are all a little autistic, but not autistic enough to not to be able to cope and function normally day by day.

[volomavi]

We are all schizophrenic, but not enough to not be able to cope and function normally day by day.

[Anders]

The link between Vaccines and Autism concerns me even if the findings are proven wrong. My son is 3 1/2 months old now. He is amazing in every sense of the word. I will love him no matter what, but I don't want to cause him to become Autistic.

I don't believe that the vaccines themselves cause autism, but that validity of that study sure has lasted a long time against criticism. I think that regardless of the truth, that research has caused vaccines to be made safer. Vaccines used to contain Mercury and other potentially dangerous heavy metals and ingredients as preservatives. Today, those vaccines are free of those ingredients. Without that study and others like it, how many of us would have found out exactly what we're injecting into our kids? How long would it take for pharmaceutical companies to spend the money to develop safer, better ways of producing the vaccines? Truth is, we may still be using vaccines with the old formula. Does the MMR vaccine cause autism? No, but the study made the MMR vaccine safer.

My son will get all of his shots. Still, I will be reading the ingredient listing accompanying every one of those shots, and if I see something I know to be dangerous, I will insist on an alternative.

[bubbles]

The link between Vaccines and Autism concerns me even if the findings are proven wrong. My son is 3 1/2 months old now. He is amazing in every sense of the word. I will love him no matter what, but I don't want to cause him to become Autistic.

I don't believe that the vaccines themselves cause autism, but that validity of that study sure has lasted a long time against criticism. I think that regardless of the truth, that research has caused vaccines to be made safer. Vaccines used to contain Mercury and other potentially dangerous heavy metals and ingredients as preservatives. Today, those vaccines are free of those ingredients. Without that study and others like it, how many of us would have found out exactly what we're injecting into our kids? How long would it take for pharmaceutical companies to spend the money to develop safer, better ways of producing the vaccines? Truth is, we may still be using vaccines with the old formula. Does the MMR vaccine cause autism? No, but the study made the MMR vaccine safer.

My son will get all of his shots. Still, I will be reading the ingredient listing accompanying every one of those shots, and if I see something I know to be dangerous, I will insist on an alternative.


Fuck any validation of this study. It gave the crackpots ammunition to scare enough parents into not immunising that diseases that should have died out have made a resurgence. Kids shouldn't be fucking dying of measles. And it's not just hurting the kids who don't get immunised. Herd immunity for measles only comes at really high rates across the entire community. With the last outbreak in California, at least 2 goddamned kids died. While there is of course always room for debate on the safety of vaccinations, they are overwhelmingly safer than letting kids run around unvaccinated.

Thiomersal, the mercury preservative that was present in past vaccines (and I believe still is used in some multi-dose flu vaccines) has no effect on the human body. (Except for allergic reactions, apparently).

The major motive behind most claims linking autism and vaccines is the fucking fund that gets paid into with every vaccine given out. Yes, it has paid out a couple of times, because there is a fraction of a percent of kids who will have an adverse reaction to a vaccine.

Ugh. As a parent, this should make you angry more than anything. The safety of your kid is important to you, and while keeping an eye on what goes into his body is a great and positive step, your best bet for keeping him alive is to get him vaccinated, and keep him vaccinated.

We have the luxury of having our kids live through their childhood. Look at the mortality rates of the past. Anti-vaccination campaigners need to stop fucking killing kids.

PS - Hi JSL. Saw you in the Ask/Tell hooker thread. This place is dead.

[Anders]

Bubbles- your post- though laced with unnecessary language brings up some interesting points but I think you misunderstand my position. My son will get all of his shots, he just won't get any shots that contain harmful ingredients, which I believe is a responsibility all parents should have.

to quote your last post:Thiomersal, the mercury preservative that was present in past vaccines (and I believe still is used in some multi-dose flu vaccines) has no effect on the human body. (Except for allergic reactions, apparently).
As far as I know, babies and infants typically don't get flu vaccines. They're given when the child is older and bigger if at all.

I am a proud parent, and I am not angry at the "scientists" that wrote that study. I am more relieved that it was found to be untrue. Still, I don't think their intent was to prevent parents from vaccinating. Responsibility for that blunder lies with fanatics, not the Doctors. Not immunizing is a very stupid thing to do, and the consequences can be unimaginable. On that, you're just preaching to the choir.

p.s. Your posts would be a lot better if you read what you write before you hit "submit." The language you used isn't necessary to make your point- in fact it detracts from your arguments.

[ruaidhri]

In little over a month I’ll be 68. I grew up at a time when childhood diseases were exactly that, diseases from which children suffered and died. There weren’t many vaccinations available to protect children. Poor people (and there were many) couldn’t afford what was available so during the summer trailers with nurses would sit next to school playgrounds offering free vaccinations. Still, Measles, Rubella, Mumps, Chicken Pox and the dreaded Polio attacked children and adults regardless of social-economic class.

I had my share of those diseases. Although I escaped Polio, I did have a suspected case of Spinal Meningitis at the beginning of my junior year of High School. I remember summers spent stuck in hot and humid homes because my parents were afraid to let me outside to play. I remember getting Chicken Pox as a small child and having my older brother back from WWII visiting my parent’s home proclaiming that he was damned if he was going to be kept out by a childhood disease. Well he got it and got it bad. He almost died.

Going back even further I remember my mother telling me that her sister lost all her hair from Typhoid (it grew back) and how she herself had a minor case of small pox as a child in the early years of the 20th Century.

We don’t want to return to those years. Responsible parents have their children immunized. Like many young parents, Anders was warned against getting his son immunized by a acquaintance who had a child diagnosed as autistic. Not knowing if the study was accurate, he and his wife still decided to have their son immunized. They independently investigated the threat and doubted any danger from the immunization itself but questioned the safety of some of the preservatives.

Anders is the type of person that doesn’t just accept what other people tell him. He investigates without preconceived notions and makes up his own mind. He welcomes opposing positions because they test his decisions. How do I know all this about Anders? He’s my son. My grandson will receive all his immunizations.

[darighaz]

Woa.

[Harrison]

As silly as the whole vaccine->autism thing always was, the ravings of trial lawyers and their paid pseudoscientific expert witlesses long predates 1998. I don't know why the media has been reporting that as being "the original study".

[Jetsetlemming]

PS - Hi JSL. Saw you in the Ask/Tell hooker thread. This place is dead.
She didn't react nearly how I was hoping when I compared her to a superhero. Most people don't though, really.