[Årne Longbörgenssen]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/health/research/03lancet.html

For anyone who's been following this story for the last 12 years, the Lancet's retraction yesterday of the original sham-science report it published in 1998 is a gratifying final chapter...or is it ? If you haven't been following the story, and don't want to read the above article, here's a summary: In 1998 the Lancet (one of the most prominent and reputable medical journals in the world) published an article by a Doctor (and now demonstrated to be a fraud) named Andrew Wakefield, claiming to demonstrate a link between regressive autism (child seems normal, then around age two development takes a bad turn and the child is diagnosed as autistic) and measles vaccination. A huge scare ensues, people become skeptical of vaccination, many don't vaccinate their children, or make up their own guidelines for vaccination, and decades of medical progress are slowed or even reversed. For example, measles which had all but been eradicated in the developed world, makes a comeback. For the first time in decades, new cases of...and deaths from measles arise. Widespread mistrust of the current public health response to the current swine flu epidemic no doubt is connected to this whole fiasco as well.

Well, it turns out that the original findings of the paper have never been able to be replicated. Mountains of data since then have failed to show any connection between autism and vaccination. At one point the focus shifted to the preservative in many vaccines, thimiserol. So they removed the thimeserol...and autism diagnoses didn't decline. Also, years ago most of the other authors on the paper retracted their findings. But it wasn't until the UK General Medical Council concluded that Wakefield had been "dishonest”, “irresponsible”, and conducted himself “contrary to the clinical interests of [a] child” in the study, that the Lancet itself formally retracted the original article. Turns out Wakefield was on the payroll of a lawyer representing people suing vaccine companies, and was performing unapproved "research", and subjecting children to unnecessary, painful, and potentially dangerous testing.

But, like any good horror movie, there's always a creepy coda at the end. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...chomp ! your leg is gone...or the ax-wielding lunatic pops out of the lake. About halfway down in the the times article is the chilling, nauseating and infuriating inevitable reaction:

"Jim Moody, a director of SafeMinds, a parents’ group that advances the notion the vaccines cause autism, said the retraction would strengthen Dr. Wakefield’s credibility with many parents.

“Attacking scientists and attacking doctors is dangerous,” he said. “This is about suppressing research, and it will fuel the controversy by bringing it all up again.” "

For an even creepier account, read the report of the British journalist who cracked the story: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7009882.ece

[SeaCliff]

The three basic, inescapable truths: Death, Taxes, and Conspiracy Theorists.

[onefinookas]

I cant say what does and does not cause autism as I have no idea.  But having spent the better part of this decade working with 1000,s of autistic children and their parents through Surfer's Healing it is hard to turn a deaf ear to some of the horror stories you hear from the parents regarding the gnarly adverse reactions some of the kids had immediately following their vaccinations, specifically the three in one.  If it was one story I would say wow, if its a number of times you hear a similar story you say whoa.  It starts with normal infant, who receives vaccine, child gets raging fever which lasts for days with all sorts of complications immediately following vaccination, parent normally says something to the effect of " and they were never the same again."  I recall one parent describing how they felt the incredible high fever contracted by their child post vaccine melted their brain (probably not but that is how a parent would describe it). 
I will say that this is not the same story you hear from all parents of autistic children but you hear it from families at each camp, true or not.  I wonder what the overall fatality rate is of any given vaccine?  Is our betterment of medicine allow us to save people that would have normally died after the vaccine due to weak immune systems or some other reason, medicine is a double edged sword, it may save you but it may not be the you any will remember if there are adverse reactions to the medications.

[onefinookas]

Also didn't Merck have to pay a family of an autistic girl big bucks after her family proved emphatically that the vaccine was the direct cause of her autism?  Think it was two years ago everyone was talking about the court verdict at the camp.

[Harry Balzsac]

Not that anybody asked for it, but I can offer a view on this issue from the point of view of a drug and medical device defense attorney.
 
The Merck settlement re: the MMR vaccine was attrition on Merck's part, not an admission that anything was wrong with the vaccine.  It was plain that the cost of the settlement would be less than trying the case and there was no downside risk because the remaining cases were without merit.  Litigation over vaccines, like much mass tort litigation, has been a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, because the plaintiffs' claims are simply not supported by science. 
 
Jim Beck at the Drug and Medical Device blog has a quick post on today's retraction from the Lancet.  Its worth a read if you want to look at this from the lawyer's perspective, which you probably do not.
 
http://druganddevicelaw.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-evidence-that-vaccine-autism-link.html

[Årne Longbörgenssen]

onefin:
I share your sympathy for kids and parents dealing with Autism, and respect the hell out of you for actually doing something to help. In fact, my sympathy is one of the things that drives my outrage over this kind of thing. Of course parents suspect vaccines, particularly whe they see their kids regress after getting a shot. But that doesnt mean theres a causal relationship. That's why we have science. So you can take observations and hypotheses and test them out. When it was done carefully by reputable people, the connection between the vaccines and autism didnt pan out. When it was done sloppily (at best), you get people getting rich and famous (like Wakefield) exploiting the emotions of suffering people. Then to make matters worse, you get collateral damage, like decreased vaccination, and death and morbidity from diseases society went to great effort to eradicate.

[onefinookas]

my rottweiler died from a parvo vaccine, has nothing to do with anything about autism.  Over 20k in vet bills trying to save the guy with no luck.  The vet that administered the vaccine took it as bad if not worse than we did when we had to put the dog down and had never seen complications like that from the vaccine but after doing research it turns out some larger breeds dont handle the parvo vaccine well.  My current vet recommends I get my two largish dogs vaccinated for Parvo but I think I will pass.  Some times good science is coerced by heavy handed donations from cooperate subsidies, cough cough, tobacco industry.  Not to mention all the medicines and vaccines that have been pulled after the FDA assured us of their safety through in depth scientific studies and research.

[theusername]

i don't think there's anyone out there who doesn't have sympathy for kids with autism and their families, but junk science is still junk science.

[onefinookas]

One of the curious things about autism from my experience is it mostly effects middle to upper class caucasian boys, at camps other people have pointed this out.  I have no explanation for it and no rhyme or reason why this occurs but I have always found it really unusual.  Also, why the hell does NJ have the highest rate of autism in the US nearly double most other states, is it the way autism is diagnosed there or some brown trout in the water, WTF?

[theusername]

some of it is better diagnostics and testing. upper middle class families have more money and better access to resources, plus they're more capable of advocating for their kids.

[16ASteadyrock]

Speaking of junk science, folks, if you're not generally skeptical about vaccines (and that means doing your own research diligently--at a minimum), you might as well bend over and let Big Pharma open a profit-driven, profit-focused experimental lab right in your ass. And don't think you'll be able to seek recourse if something goes terribly wrong.

Never forget: Jonas Salk was not in it for the money.

Remember "swine flu" in 1976?

The first vaccinations were given on October 1; the government suspended the immunization program on December 16 after reports of at least 54 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome across ten states.[1] Approximately 24% of the population had been vaccinated by the time the program was canceled.[7] Only one person, the Fort Dix Army recruit, died from the flu.

President Ford offered vaccine manufacturers indemnity,[5] and Congress "rushed" indemnity legislation that has been characterized as "faulty and "haphazard"

That's right. Profits first, indemnity second.

More recently (but a small sampling):

http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/michele_mandel/2010/01/30/12680636.html

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/swine.flu.h1n1.2.1216352.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/swine-flu/7130303/Was-swine-flu-ever-a-real-threat.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246370/Drug-firms-drove-swine-flu-pandemic-warning-recoup-billions-spent-research.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFluNews/school-staffers-insulin-swine-flu-shot/story?id=9606504

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243034/Swine-flu-taskforces-links-vaccine-giant-More-half-experts-fighting-pandemic-ties-drug-firms.html



http://www.naturalnews.com/026722_Gardasil_HPV_cervical_cancer.html

[snaggletooth]

putting aside the fact that wakefield appears to be a complete quack, is there a downside to following his recommendation to spacing out the vaccinations? going solely off the article, they say he suggested not to get the three in one. rather, he suggested spacing the three vaccinations over a longer period of time. is there anything problematic with doing that? any reason to expect reduced efficacy?

[BOB]

I'm not a statistician but NJ has the highest rate of a lot of things simply b/c its the most densely populated state. I just read an article someplace where the pro camp was represented by PhD research scientist and the anti- camp side was Jenny McCarthy, who's credentials include banging Jim Carrey and showed her bush in Playboy 10 years ago.

[Harry Balzsac]

Speaking of junk science, folks, if you're not generally skeptical about vaccines (and that means doing your own research diligently--at a minimum), you might as well bend over and let Big Pharma open a profit-driven, profit-focused experimental lab right in your ass. And don't think you'll be able to seek recourse if something goes terribly wrong.

Never forget: Jonas Salk was not in it for the money.

Why should anyone be generally skeptical of vaccines?  Its been a long time since I heard something so stupid.  Vaccines have been proven, time and time and time again, to prevent and, sometimes, totally eradicate (e.g. smallpox) diseases. 
 
Speaking of Jonas Salk, are you aware that polio, a disease that was nearly totally eradicated, made an alarming comeback in parts of West Africa after rumors spread in parts of Nigeria that the vaccine caused sterility in girls. Government-sponsered immunization efforts were stopped in parts of the country.  This caused a severe rise in polio rates in those parts of Nigeria.  During the ban on immunizations, the virus spread across Nigeria and into 12 neighboring countries that had previously been polio-free. 
 
The "connection" between vaccines and autism is bunk and has been driven, in large part, by a lazy mainstream media that traffics largely in fear.  When a respected medical journal like the Lancet publishes an article like the one it just retracted, it is often parroted, without any source verification, in the mainstream media.  Hysteria ensues, writ large.

[BlueBerry]

This thread is depressing. I just took my boy to get two shots this morning HepA and Tet. I do worry but... It's not like I have a choice. I just hope his Dr. that seemingly really likes the kid, has his best interest. I trust his Doc. I'm really medically too dumb not too.


My Nanny has twins, a girl and a boy. The boy has Autism. My heart goes out to him, he's such a good kid. She literally has to bust her hump to get him any kind of services and into programs. It's really hard work. Her daughter is in a "really smart" gifted kids school. She off the chart smart and super social. Even with someone so close to me, I don't get/understand autism.