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A Further Perspective
Andrew Wakefield’s Lethal Legacy
Given the damage he’s already done, his autism fraud is beside the point.
On Wednesday, the British Journal of Medicine published the first of several articles detailing the systematic fraud Andrew Wakefield engaged in writing a study in 1998 claiming measles-mumps-rubella vaccine triggered autism in 12 children. News outlets have posted accounts of the fraud as ‘breaking news.” They also note Wakefield’s false research led to fear of vaccines and to kids dying from lack of shots.
Wakefield’s fraud is beside the point. He was able to do so much damage for so long because the media, the scientific community, politicians and trial lawyers found it in their interest to believe and lionize him. We ate our young. Wakefield just gave us the recipe.
The Lancet published Wakefield’s original article in 1998. Though the study’s weaknesses were evident back then, it was also clear — to Wakefield and the law firm that paid him millions to concoct the research and falsify his conclusions — that it would be enough, once published in a major medical journal, to spread a wildfire of fear about vaccine safety.
It took over a decade for the Lancet to retract the original publication and for Britain’s General Medical Council to strip Wakefield of his medical license. During that time, despite the substantive questions about Wakefield’s research, untested theories, lack of medical training and source of funding, there was no serious challenge to Wakefield. Dozens of large studies showing no correlation — first between MMR and autism, then between thimerasol (a mercury-based vaccine preservative) and autism, and then between all childhood shots and autism — were undermined because the media allowed Wakefield and his followers to discredit the findings just by saying so.
His theories were published by mainstream medical journals, championed by major media outlets, given legitimacy by other scientists and politicians. He didn’t fool us. He was given a platform. He created a narrative people wanted to believe and profited from.
The BMJ accompanying editorial on Wakefield notes that while he might be exposed, “the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession.”
Sadly, the harm is not limited to immunization rates, To be sure, confidence in all manner of vaccines among certain groups of parents is in decline. There is a corresponding spike in the number of kids killed and hospitalized by vaccine-preventable diseases.
Wakefield and the movement he helped spawn live on. Wakefield wannabes now overrun scientific discourse and dominant medical journals and shape public perception of the value of medical innovation. Wakefield was one of the first to realize that churning out a series of small studies and spreading them over the Internet was more powerful than genuine science.
The Wakefield formula of hijacking medical science by spreading flimsy fears through the Web is now mainstream. Today, anyone willing to pay for newsfeeds that continually distribute and obtain prominent placement in Google searches can have their medical scare stories and half-baked research virtually circle the globe ten times over before the truth takes its first step. Rest assured, unbalanced media reporting, biased researchers and publicity-seeking medical professionals will spread panic for their own gain.
Hence, Wakefield’s imitators are many and are damaging the public health in equal measure. David Healy, another British physician, published a small study matching Wakefield’s 1998 research for shoddiness to spread panic about the link between suicide and a class of antidepressants called SSRIs. It led to a decline in the use the drugs and an increase in teen suicide. David Graham, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) researcher, circulated an unpublished study through the Internet claiming Vioxx was responsible for 100,000 deaths. The rest is history.
In 2007, cardiologist Steve Nissen in the online version of the New England Journal Medicine claimed the oral diabetes drug Avandia was linked to heart attacks (though a NIH clinical trial found Avandia managed diabetes well and reduced heart risks). Overall use of oral diabetes drugs has declined. Millions of women are avoiding hormone replacement therapy and mammograms because of misleading claims about the dangers of both. As a result, the risk of breast cancer is higher than it should be. And government health czars like Medicare director Donald Berwick invoke the pseudo-science of comparative effectiveness to switch patients to alternatives promoted by the fear mongers, compounding harm and undermining innovation. You see, medical progress is not only too risky, it’s too expensive.
Wakefield may be discredited. But as long as the Internet is manipulated to inspire fear about using and developing medical innovations — and as long as researchers, journalists, and politicians spread these misperceptions — people will die and Wakefield’s lethal legacy will endure.
About the Author
Robert M. Goldberg is vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and founder of Hands Off My H ealth, a grass roots health care empowerment network. His is new book, Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet is Being Used To Hijack Medical Science For Fear and Profit, was published last month by Kaplan.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (91) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Robert M. Goldberg
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http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/07/andrew-wakefields-lethal-legac
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Appleby| 1.7.11 @ 6:54AM
I blame the 24 hour news cycle, which is desperate to fill those hours with something they can promote with ominous music and keep people tuning in to their commercials, er, breaking news.
The other thing I blame is the lack of exposure to reality (as opposed to teevee *reality*) among the wireheads and binkie babies -- who want a Good Story with a Villain and Good Guys, that can be pinpointed, solved, wrapped up, and ends happily with all the corners milled off and tucked in, in an hour or two. Thus the expansion of those who see Conspiracy under every bed and are willing to stampede on command -- uncertainty upsets them and they cannot stand the thought that sometimes things just happen. In Binkie World everything has a Plot, a Villain and a Happy Ending...or everybody in the world is a mass murderer, kidnapper, or criminal who is lurking in wait for them. And the only solution is to find the magic bullet, the treasure box, the golden pill or the scret word that will move them to the Next Level.
Another good reason to be an old lady -- we have seen reality and we know it is uncertain and nothing is 100% safe or effective against it. We go to church and we do our research and we live with the knowledge that one cannot know everything until one gets to Heaven.
Brian Mc| 1.7.11 @ 7:54AM
"...This just in, it has been reported to this news team that recently, life has been related to several deaths in the area. We will continue to monitor the situation and bring you updates, because we care so much!"
Bob K.| 1.7.11 @ 9:08AM
When one makes one's living talking in sound bytes one must think in sound bytes. That will inevitably result in brain damage. It is contagious and we are well advised to avoid exposure to these people.
Super Car| 3.2.12 @ 4:17AM
The primary problem in education is not federal spending
KyMouse| 1.7.11 @ 9:14AM
I shriek at the TV every time I hear some talking head say that one study has found (or as the commercials say, "Emerging science suggests...") something remarkable. One swallow does not make a summer, nor does one study prove anything. But, as you say, they have time to kill, and anything sensational will do.
darcy| 1.8.11 @ 12:42AM
I've nearly given up on TV entirely. I don't want ANYTHING it's selling.
I make exceptions for an occasional old movie and cooking competitions.
Hear that, advertisers?
Super Car| 3.2.12 @ 4:20AM
I shriek at the TV every time I hear some talking head say that one study has found Super Car
Motor Show
Stan Redmond| 1.7.11 @ 9:39AM
Speaking of the 24 hour news cycle... As infrequently as I watch cable TV when i see the sponsors on Fox News Channel at least half of all commercials is a law firm suing drug and manufacturing companies.
The Big E| 1.7.11 @ 12:00PM
And the other half are drug companies trying to sell pharmaceuticals which, a few years, will be the subject of the law firm commercials you referenced.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 12:13PM
NEWS FLASH!! This just in! Latest research has shown that the 24 hour news cycle has been proven to cause fraudulent election of America hating, muslim loving, communist leaning half black kenyan-indonesians to high level jobs in the U.S.! Film at 11!
AutismNewsBeat | 1.7.11 @ 7:25AM
"His theories were published by mainstream medical journals..:
Not really. Bona fide scientists recognized the 1998 study as speculative at best, and as junk science at worst. The real damage was done by credulous reporters and editors who yielded to their reflexive urge to balance a story where the evidence was anything but. Wakefield loaded the gun, but our news and entertainment media pulled the trigger. Shame on all of us.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 12:19PM
NO! SHAME ON OUR LYING FRAUDULENT MEDIA...and the self important a$$holes in hollywood and all the idiots that believe a thing they say.
We all know the vital importance of a FREE AND UNBIASED MEDIA. But, that is not what we have. We have the propaganda wing of the democrat party and the trial lawyer's guild. Place blame where it belongs. My only problem is how to identify the liars and punish them appropriately without making things worse than they are now.
Remember, the media is virtually 100% responsible for the mess we're in with "his fraudulency" in the White House. There HAS to be some way to make the chris matthews and keith olbermans of the media pay..and pay... and pay. Being drawn and quartered is too good for their 'ilk'.
Rick| 1.7.11 @ 8:32AM
The process of using medical science to “prove” something that isn't true was perfected long before Wakefield. In the 1950s and 1960s, Kinsey’s trash research on sex and Hooker's trash research on homosexuality were the spear tips that eventually led to the normalization of promiscuous sex. Today, we are completely surrounded by every manner of sexual pathology—we are literally screwing ourselves to death—and physicians stick their heads in the sand and prescribe Viagra, the Pill, and condoms…. along with plenty of anti-biotic cocktails to manage sexually transmitted diseases. And big pharma is whistling all the way to the bank.
Seek| 1.7.11 @ 5:51PM
Male homos might be screwing themselves to death, but the fact remains that syphillis, gonorrhea and other STDs among heterosexuals have been on the wane for decades. Where's the crisis? You write like all those fundamentalist ministers back in the Forties who denounced the discovery of penicillin as an inducement to promiscuity. New flash: People have been having sex, in and out of marriage, for ages. They just talk about it more often nowadays. Lucky us.
darcy| 1.8.11 @ 12:45AM
Whatever it is you're "Seek"ing, it isn't virtue or wisdom.
Honor? Truth? Self-control?
Oh, right; it's tolerance.
Galen| 1.7.11 @ 9:54AM
I find the anti-smoking medicines especially heinous. After listing "side effects," some of which have affect friends adversly,believe me smoking is better. Nevertheless why hasn't Wakefield been given the "umbrella treatment with ricin?
David W| 1.7.11 @ 10:04AM
So he lost his license. Big deal. Why can't frauds like him and the climate-gate team be sued or thrown in jail? Surely there should be some punishment for outright lying? Oh wait, I guess under the liberals on the Supreme Court that would be protected under the first amendment (like those who lie about earning Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, and Medals of Honor).
Dixie Pixie| 1.7.11 @ 11:03AM
Greetings David
Unfortunately outright lying is the foundation and honored tradition of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.
A court case can be described as two professional liars in a contest to concoct the most pleasing fiction in the judges eyes.
Did any one else notice that the Law firms involved were protected by media silence. It was not even thinkable that the lawyers who created, managed and monetary benefited from this scam will not be held accountable for the deaths they caused and profited from.
If you can come up with a better system, I would like to he about it.
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 10:07AM
Great. NOW what is Don Imus going to get up in the morning for? Without the demon of thimerisol to flog, the desiccated Imus will dry up completely and blow away.
My guess is it's just too good for Imus to let go of. And when you're a liberal, if you wish hard enough and click your heels, gosh darn it, it BECOMES true!
Just like "Bush lied, people died,” which was a patent lie from the git go, but it made liberals feel sooo superior to pretend it was true, and so, voila! It is now the "truth," nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
Well, that's the state of "news" today - We've all followed the NY Times's lead. It used to be, "All the News that's Fit to Print." Now it's, "All the Agenda-driven Propaganda That we CAN fit." And the rest of the media fall in line.
People today assume we are at the pinnacle of knowledge - our capacity to fit circuits on a chip of silicon doubles every 18 months; we've delivered a severe blow to things like AIDS and other diseases; we are learning more every day about the vast universe outside our little planet.
But the truth is that we are every bit as subject to the foibles of myth, superstition, prejudice and ignorance as the isolated, benighted, ancient , long-extinct civilizations we presume to have risen so far above. This is made manifest in our new deities: “Green jobs,” "social justice," "tolerance" and "celebrating diversity."
THAT is our hubris - to pretend that we've risen above our own natures and to ignore all evidence to the contrary - and to preserve that myth by building thicker and more impenetrable walls of lies even as Rome burns beyond those walls.
Just as long-ago tribes and communities explained away life's and nature's vicissitudes by inventing angry gods that had to be appeased and developing elaborate, often violent rituals by which to achieve this, we have actually regressed to a state of willful ignorance in which untruths, empty gestures and phony medicine men are held up as totems of "progress."
We now embrace a pagan theology where Mother Gaia is angry at us for our hubris - not the hubris of assuming we can change human nature (of which we ARE guilty), but the hubris of being white, being heterosexual, being male - of trying to achieve success in the marketplace of reality. Our constant striving to nurture a stable, homogenous, normal culture, a sense of right and wrong, to build, to create, to better the quality of life for ourselves and our families is now anathema in the church of secular self worship.
Not for the tribal wise men, of course, who live like self-indulgent sultans, denying themselves no pleasure, off the backs of the serfs, but for the serfs themselves - US.
It is WE who must be thrown into the volcano's roaring mouth in order to assuage the anger of the gods and appease the vanity of those wise men.
And so they tell us that we have affronted the secular church of self worship's supreme deity by creating global warming, and now we must appease her with downsized, managed lives enslaved by destructive gestures like cap & trade (of course that's just a ruse for Marxism), ethanol, wind, solar, biomass, etc. - all proven non-starters unless you happen to be one of the favored ones on the subsidy gravy train (see Al Gore).
And the extent to which we buy into this pabulum en masse is underscored by the fact that our major oil companies spend billions of dollars a year paying lip service to nonsense, worshiping at the altar of a false idol - when they know full well that 1) the earth is not Bambi, a fragile soul wounded by the evil, greedy hunter in his quest for pointless bounty; and that 2) these alternative fuels will never, ever work.
Because in the real world - the world beyond the self-serving gossamer and fairy dust and nonesuch con games that comprise liberalism - the market, the true arbiter of reality, has already delivered its verdict a hundred times over. When you have to expend more energy creating an energy source than that energy source yields, it is an inefficient use of resources and, like a sliver in a human finger, the market will eventually reject what cannot be sustained. That is, a market undistorted by government bribery, coercion, threats, lies and opprobrium.
But the mainstream media and popular culture are the government’s enforcers, and have enshrined the false consciousness such that its lies cover the whole of modern society's landscape and block out entirely the light of truth.
And so we agree to be good little sheep and go backward just as Frank Rich and Paul Krugman want us to do. So, in order to achieve secular salvation (or at least gain the approval of the NY/DC corridor cocktail party set), we throw ourselves headlong down the darkened alley of the progressive agenda: regression. We’re gonna party like it’s 1099.
And in the meantime, we pretend that the elite among us, the Ivy Leaguers and the liberal pundits and the socialist politicians, are demigods themselves, charged by the inchoate powers of the universe and Gaia herself with coercing us into some vague, elitist, academic theory whereby man's instinctive, healthy reflex toward self interest is expunged and replaced with a preposterous, utopian ideal of "the common good" - ignoring completely the fact that every previous attempt to force people into a collective “for the common good” has failed at producing anything except misery among the serfs and corruption among the very powers who are tasked with shepherding us into the Elysian Fields of "social justice."
So the Wakefield con has been exposed. Great.
Now let's get to work on the other 4,567,399,428 frauds being perpetrated on us by the Obama/Media complex.
Ned| 1.7.11 @ 10:23AM
Not to slight Mr. Goldberg, Grzmlyk, but your post in response is more insightful than the article you respond to...
Okay, so tell me once more what "Grzmlyk" stands for - I read the original months ago, and now can't for the life of me recall...
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 10:55AM
Thank you, Ned - I don't like to run on and on, but I couldn't help myself. I'm so annoyed at the blatant lies vomited forth in the last couple of days - like Pelosi saying the 111th congress was all about attacking the deficit (HUH?), and the cockroach democrats all saying that repeal of Obamacare - a brand new entitlement for 30 million people - will COST $150 billion.
I mean, nobody on the left (I include the media) even cares how outrageous the lies are anymore. Even a cynic like me is astonished anew at the corruption every single day.
The origin of Grzmlyk - well, when I was in high school, I hung out with a bunch of guys who were sort of unofficial morale boosters at basketball games. We'd do silly things, make asses of ourselves, and do some very silly cheers. All good natured. One of our spoof cheers (I don't know its origin) was when one of us would stand up and yell to the crowd, "Give me a 'G'! ('G'!); give me an 'R'! ('R'!); give me a 'Z'! ('Z'!); give me an 'M'! ('M'!); give me an 'L'! ('L'!); give me a 'Y'! ('Y'!); give me a 'K'! ('K'!). WHAT'S THAT SPELL?
And of course everyone would look at each other bemused, not knowing how to pronounce it. It was very amusing; particularly at visiting gymnasiums, where the home crowd hadn't heard it before.
Well, years later, when I was picking user names on various web sites, everything I came up with was already taken. I didn't want to be "so-and-so 1143," so I recalled that cheer and figured "grzmlyk" would be available. It was - on every web site for which I needed a password.
I no longer use it as a password, but in my various blogging activities, it has become my nom de guerre.
Ned| 1.7.11 @ 12:11PM
Love it! Causes me to recall being asked to desist attending my high school basketball games, because the air horn I had hidden under my coat sounded too much like the official game clock 'buzzer'... chaos ensued.
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 12:15PM
It sounds like we're birds of a feather!
Ah, for those bygone, innocent times. . .
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 12:27PM
I'd love to track you down and swap opinions, but I am very leery about ever giving the lefy trolls any way of finding us. I have found nothing beneath these people. Is there any way you smart people can think of? A few of us have actually tracked each other down and have fostered great friendships and productive endeavors. Hmmm
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 1:39PM
Yeah, I've actually wound up developing friendships with a couple of people outside.
It's always a challenge to pass through that membrane.
In one earlier instance, someone was brave enough to give me her email address right on these pages and introduced me to someone else she knows.
I don't think she suffered repercussions (she's an infrequent poster), but it's not something I'd do - I usually draw a fair amount of troll fire.
I'm not sure of a good way, frankly - I'm open to suggestions.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 3:57PM
Have you seen the website where the book "TEXAS SAID NO" is available? I've heard that there have been occasions where messages have been sent to that order fulfillment center. That's where I got my copy of the book. it is REALLY good.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 1:44PM
GRZMLYK; May I keep this post and pass it on? Do you wish attribution or anonymity? Well written post.
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 2:12PM
Thank you - sure, I'd be happy if you disseminated it You can attribute it to Grzmlyk, I guess.
If I gave my real name, I'll have to hire a guy to start my car for me!
Kidding. But you never know - I live in a very, very liberal area and work with very, very liberal people!
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 3:35PM
I don't have that problem. I'm independently poor! But, like the bumblebee, not knowing I'm poor, I just keep right on a'goin'. Actually, I have a disease related to ALS which gives one a certain amount of independence. That means nobody can really do anything to me; time's just too short. (Although as Mark Twain once wrote: "Reports of my demise are premature." I wasn't supposed to last 5 years when diagnosed...in 1999. Hmmm)
Anyway, thanks for the permission to use your posting. I certainly will. You might even see it in other contexts!
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 3:52PM
Wow, MikeD - I'm impressed in several ways!
I'm independently poor too - I just happen to live in Vermont and I'm connected to the very small arts scene here. In addition, my coworkers, too, are mostly liberal (though I've unearthed at least one fellow conservative).
I don't think anyone in my cirlce would stumble onto my identity, but if they did, I'd be persona non grata among the bohemian set. You know, starving artists love to fantasize about Marxist nirvana (which is odd, because if we ever did go Marxist, artists are usually the first to go).
Congrats on beating the odds - that's great. Maybe we can figure out a way to touch base outside the confines of Amspec .
joli| 1.8.11 @ 12:04AM
Here's a thought--set up a junk email (excite, yahoo, etc) and post that here, then after you exchange your real email address by way of the junk email, ignore it. After about 90 days of no activity, they will deactivate the account. Or leave it active and every couple of months go in and delete everything in it (no need to read it)... then, whenever you want to arrange to get someone's email, delete everything in the account first so that you won't have to go digging through the junk to find the email you want.
Works for me. :) I've been doing it for years. It's a little bit of a nuisance, but it works.
MikeD| 1.8.11 @ 4:02PM
joli: Thanks for the idea. You are a smart person. That must be why you read TAS!
Occam's Tool| 1.7.11 @ 7:31PM
May I recommend Nassir Ghaemi's book on evaluating statistics in medical research? It's quite small, and fairly easy reading.
Oh, in addition:
Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2010 May;29(5):397-400.
Lack of association between measles-mumps-rubella vaccination and autism in children: a case-control study.
Mrozek-Budzyn D, Kiełtyka A, Majewska R.
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Jagiellonian University, Collegium Medicum, Krakow, Poland. dorotamrozek@tlen.pl
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The first objective of the study was to determine whether there is a relationship between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism in children. The second objective was to examine whether the risk of autism differs between use of MMR and the single measles vaccine.
DESIGN: Case-control study.
STUDY POPULATION: The 96 cases with childhood or atypical autism, aged 2 to 15, were included into the study group. Controls consisted of 192 children individually matched to cases by year of birth, sex, and general practitioners.
METHODS: Data on autism diagnosis and vaccination history were from physicians. Data on the other probable autism risk factors were collected from mothers. Logistic conditional regression was used to assess the risk of autism resulting from vaccination. Assessment was made for children vaccinated (1) Before diagnosis of autism, and (2) Before first symptoms of autism onset. Odds ratios were adjusted to mother's age, medication during pregnancy, gestation time, perinatal injury and Apgar score.
RESULTS: For children vaccinated before diagnosis, autism risk was lower in children vaccinated with MMR than in the nonvaccinated (OR: 0.17, 95% CI: 0.06-0.52) as well as to vaccinated with single measles vaccine (OR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.22-0.91). The risk for vaccinated versus nonvaccinated (independent of vaccine type) was 0.28 (95% CI: 0.10-0.76). The risk connected with being vaccinated before onset of first symptoms was significantly lower only for MMR versus single vaccine (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.22-0.99).
CONCLUSIONS: The study provides evidence against the association of autism with either MMR or a single measles vaccine.
PMID: 19952979 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
David| 1.7.11 @ 10:07AM
You’re a Global Warm…er…Autism Vaccine denier!
Obviously this article was fully paid for by Big Oil..er…Big Pharma!
Junk science being promulgated by elites and naïve idiots? That’s never happened and never will happen, obviously that despite all your facts and proof, all I need is belief, and faith, and I will get all the answers I need.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 3:37PM
David; VERY well stated! You made my day! Now, if you were about 30, female, brown eyes (or blue, or black, or gray...) and had no taste in men, you'd be perfect!
Thomas| 1.7.11 @ 10:53AM
Before we start up the hill to Doctor Wakefield's house with our ropes, torches and pitchforks, let me ask a simple question: What causes autism?
In 1980 the rate of autism diagnoses in U.S. children was 1 in 10,000. In 2005, the rate of diagnoses was 1 in 250. If this rate of occurrence was measles or mumps, this would be classified as an epidemic. But for autism, which is not a transient condition such as measles or mumps is for most people, but a life long debilitating condition, this isn't worth a tick on the outrage meter. The flu gets more coverage every year.
So what has caused the increase in autism diagnoses in the U.S. and the world? Some might be attributable to better diagnostic techniques, doctor training and even a change in diagnostic definitions. But, were doctors so much more incompetent twenty-five years ago than they are today? The diagnostic rate for autism is 4000% [40 times] higher today than it was thirty years ago. What has changed to account for that? I don't know. But it is interesting that the number of vaccines administered to young children rose from an average of 6 in 1980 to over thirty today. Does this provide a positive correlation between the number and type of vaccinations administered and the incidence of autism? No. But, there is no evidence to disprove a correlation exists, either.
So, before we lynch Dr. Wakefield, let's make sure that he was not only wrong, but knew that he was. Remember, that the same medical journal that has just pilloried the man, the British Medical Journal, published his work in 1998. Personally, I would like the question of what is causing the autism epidemic to be answered first.
Ryan| 1.7.11 @ 10:57AM
There is SOME evidence to prove that there is no correlation. Thimerasol was removed from several vaccines, and the autism diagnosis rate was still going up.
Thomas| 1.7.11 @ 12:59PM
While Thimerasol has been removed from SOME vaccines, it has not been removed from all, and it has been replaced by other preservatives some of which also contain mercury. As I said, the problem here is no single smoking gun that may be responsible. In the late 1980s, the mumps vaccine in the MMR was theorized to be causing a specific disorder to a limited number of patients. It was changed and these disorders decreased markedly. If thimerasol had been removed and the mumps vaccine had not been changed, there would have been no reduction in the rate of this disorder. The point is that, Thimerasol may have been responsible for some of the cases of autism. If the total removal of all mercury from vaccines does not effect the rate, then all that proves is that that element of the vaccine is not to blame. It does not exonerate the vaccine or vaccination program
The question of what causes autism and why the rate is going up still remains.
LiveFreeOrDie | 1.7.11 @ 11:10PM
The huge spike in autism can only partially (at best) be explained away by the difference in diagnosis over the years. It should be more thoroughly researched. We spend billions on the AGW fraud while real problems are all but ignored.
Are vaccines the cause? We don't know either way. That's a problem for me. Take the flu vaccine for example. At the doctor's office or the local pharmacy (or the road-side java hut these days) you will be probably be told it's safe. You are being lied to. They also say it will keep you from getting the flu, but that's also a lie. They don't know, nobody does. Why do the flu vaccine manufacturers have to be immunized (pardon the pun) from lawsuits by congress if the product is perfectly safe? I'd like to be proven wrong but no credible study exists concluding the flu vaccine has ever been effective. Some people will be fired for refusing to get a "flu shot." It's not even called a vaccine anymore, it's a "shot." I'm not even going to get into how our tax money is being spent on the advertising. People line up in droves to get this stuff. You may have guessed that I do not.
Dr. Wakefield's fraud is discouraging. The result will probably hinder legitimate study in the future. It does seem he was systematically and thoroughly discredited. I'd like to see something similar happen to Michael Mann and company. There's still hope.
I'd like to offer this website for good information about vaccines, mercola.com. I've found Dr. Mercola to be a great resource. After following his site for several years I believe him to be an honest and sincere person.
Bob K.| 1.8.11 @ 2:20AM
Has the definition of it expanded?
Jon| 1.7.11 @ 11:06AM
Thank you for your statement. My son was developing normally and at 15 months of age had his "shots" as proscribed by the Dept. of Health and his doctors. He had a vocabulary and would look you in the eye. Within one month these milestones all disappeared. Within 4 months he was diagnosed as Autistic and has not spoken a word since. He is now 14 and I rue the day I allowed him to have all those shots at htat youg age at one time. While Dr. Wakefield may have "lied" this parent firmly believes there is a direct correlation to my sons autism and the MMR shots he recieved per his doctors and the Dept. of Health. As for those of you whom have commented about this unless you have a child with autism and have witnessed what happened first hand maybe you should rethink your casting of stones.
Occam's Tool| 1.7.11 @ 7:17PM
I am sorry for your pain, Jon. You are describing Rett's disorder, or childhood disintegrative syndrome. This was described for quite some time.No correlation has been made to that condition and vaccines, and an N of '1" is not the way to determine this.
By the way, my greatnephew has autism. Treatment was started at 4. I made the diagnosis at age 18 months watching the kid at a Thanksgiving get together (Yeah, it was THAT obvious), and my family chose not to believe me for several years. I'm a Board Certified psychiatrist in my professional life, and have worked with a LOT of autistics. So, yeah, it matters to me. And it has nothing to do with vaccines or Global Warning, and 9/11 was not an inside job. Not trying to throw stones, just trying to keep this conversation on a FACTUAL basis.
*BS Detector*| 1.7.11 @ 11:33PM
Just curious how an experienced, board certified psychiatrist who has worked with "a LOT of autistics" (By the way "Autistics" is not a word, Dr.) whose opinion ought to be heeded was completely ignored by his family? For "several years?" It matters to you, according to your own words so for several years you couldn't get through to them? For several years this kid went through school and everything else without a diagnosis? Your whole story sounds like bullshit to me.
Vaccines might not be safe, Global Warming and 9/11 Inside Job theories, these are all equally ridiculous in your mind? You should delete your post and be embarrassed you even said anything to Jon. Loser!
RCV| 1.8.11 @ 2:25AM
Occam is no loser and his personal story is not only plausible, it's typical. My wife is a special education teacher with more than 30 years experience in diagnosing children with autism, asperger's syndrome and a whole host of neurological disorders. It is a rare family when told their child may have such a condition and ought to be tested who will follow up at first. It often takes years for them to overcome their "my child is normal, justva little slow in developing, or shy, or different.". Occam speaks the gospel truth.
fungoking| 1.7.11 @ 12:14PM
I saw a John Stossel report on the Wakefield nutters, the nonnutter doctor he was interviewing had a graph that showed the the increse in Autism cases over the last several years matched the DECREASE in mental retardation cases. The dr's point being that there is no increase in the occurence of autism, but what was before called mental retardation is now called autism. The dr theorized that this was due to better science and the social stigma attached to mental retardation compared to autism.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 12:33PM
Actually, much of the increase in the number of 'diagnosed' Autism cases has been the expansion of the term to cover more sets of symptoms. The worst aspect of that is that it has 'cheapened' the condition of the people who really suffer from Autism and have to support them.
The same thing has been happening with almost every other mental/emotional disorder. How many young people are being drugged senseless daily due to some fraudulent diagnosis of ADD or AHD or ADHD or ADXYZ? In the desperate quest to turn EVERYBODY into some sort of a victim, people who REALLY have a problem and need help are reduced to statistics and members of a large class that has trivialized the effects of the disorder.
Appleby| 1.7.11 @ 3:27PM
A lot of these so called diagnoses are the result of mothers who read books they cannot understand, desperately looking for some other reason that their children are brats...or, in the case of my foster grandson, are not what the blurb promised when Mom bought the book. "All I want is a normal child!" his mother would say fifty times a day. Well, he WAS a normal child -- the problem was that she had never even baby-sat before she adopted him, and her sole experience with children was her memory of her own (girl) childhood. Her son was a rambunctious, energetic boy with no interest in intellectual pursuits; he was a good sportsman, could put together a 3D puzzle when he was 8 years old, had an incredible memory for directions, and could sit motionless in a flock of Canada Geese for 20 minutes until they forgot he was there, which allowed him to take some excellent natural photos. Nevertheless, his mother, who read assiduously, was determined that he suffered from a Syndrome, because he was "like having a German Shepherd in the apartment" and eventually decided he was Bipolar, or had ADHD, or Aspberger's Syndrome, or you name the fashionable Syndrome of the day. And she demanded a pill to cure it! "All I want is a normal child." All she wanted was a doll.
And I bet the Western World is riddled with carbon copies of her, trying to change their children, especially their boy children, into dolls, and calling them Autistic because they'd rather swing from a tree by their feet than sit quietly in their rooms doing needlepoint.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 3:47PM
Thanks to Dr. Benjamin Spock who's own kid committed suicide because his father was such an a$$hole! He eventually admitted he had ruined two generations of American kids with his crappy books.
Thomas| 1.7.11 @ 1:11PM
As to the total increasing in diagnosed cases increasing due to better diagnostic techniques, the possible wholesale inclusion of people who would have been diagnosed with another disorder or even the complete misdiagnosis of healthy children as suffering from autism, still does not address the primary question of what causes autism in the first place. There have been a number of studies that have indicated that, in a number of cases, children who appeared to be developing normally, suddenly exhibited behaviors that led to a diagnosis of autism. No cause has ever been found. What is interesting is that these changes manifested themselves shortly after the child had received a multiple vaccine. Does this prove there is any correlation between the vaccines and the condition? No. Does it suggest that there may be one? Yes. Should it be explored? Yes. Why isn't it? That is a good question.
james wilson| 1.7.11 @ 11:21AM
It is you and yours that is casting the stones, Jon, because the alternative is admitting that your genetic makeup is dangerous for the purposes of reproduction.
Jon| 1.7.11 @ 11:33AM
On what do you base your statement that my "genetic makeup" is dangerous? I have three other children who are not autistic and developed normally. Obviously you are a proponent of eugenics, ie the selective sterilization of people YOU deem inferior! The last time I looked the only being in the universe who has the right to deem who is inferior or not inferior is God. And since he LOVES all his children I think I will bow to his plan!
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 11:56AM
Jon, that experience must be absolutely heartwrenching. I cannot imagine what you've gone through.
Nobody can blame you for looking at the vaccine as the cause. Maybe some day real science will vindicate the theory, or maybe a different cause will be irrefutably identified.
But regardless, god speed.
Jon| 1.7.11 @ 12:26PM
Thanks for your understanding.
John K| 1.7.11 @ 11:42AM
James, that is one of the most fucked -up comments I have ever read in my life. What a nasty little bastard you must be.
Jon| 1.7.11 @ 12:26PM
Thank you John K! Best post I have seen today!
RCV| 1.7.11 @ 12:27PM
What an incredibly cruel thing to say to the parent who has watched their child suffer. Whether there is merit to the vaccine-autism link
-- and the scientific evidence shows no link -- you, sir, are the person who appears to have a deficient makeup, genetic or otherwise.
Nick| 1.7.11 @ 1:55PM
Mr. Wilson,
You seem to have come from the shallow end of the gene pool.
sci-or-fi| 1.7.11 @ 11:44AM
Mainstream big science journals like Lancet are riddled with fraud, and we all know it.
No one has any interest in admitting the massive amounts of day to day fakery and fraud in science. The scientists get their monster grants to fly around the world to international meetings.
The journals get their big societies bringing in money and impact the news, to the awe of the people. On and on the money power and corruption of science go hand in hand.
The reason that this scientific fraud case was exposed is because the results of the fabrication were directly negatively impacting a major weapon against disease, that is vaccines.
Without some thoughts of culpability Lancet would have done nothing. The scientific community and peer review are equally capable of looking the other way. Do not want disrupt the gravy train for the corrupt scientific leaders, do we?
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 12:09PM
I'm no scientist or doctor, sci-or-fi, but I've read of Lancet's shenanigans many, many times.
Remember when science was reliable? Now, I hear about a new study in the news, and I automatically dismiss it, realizing there is always an agenda behind the findings (the same is true of polls).
Lawyers, scientists, politicians, pundits, "experts" - they're all on the take. The whole construct is a rigged carnival game.
There are many questions when it comes to worldy things, but there are really only two answers, and they're mirror images of each other: Money and power.
What is global warming? The pursuit of money and power. A wonderful scam, a reinvention of the ogre in the cave just outside of town. Give the itinerant shaman who magically shows up in the town square armed with mysterous potions all of the townsfolks' money, and he'll appease the ogre. Promise.
It kills me that liberals, marxists and progressives detest profit when YOU make it, but believe their own wealth, attained through theft, fraud and larceny, is pure and righteous.
I am at a loss as to understand why otherwise intelligent people willingly refuse to get hip to this.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 12:46PM
Read Michael Crighton's "STATE OF FEAR" where he 'debunks' the whole glo-bull warming scam and clearly footnotes his sources well before the IPCC and Michael Mann data and fraudulent 'hockey-stick' chart.
Science has sold out to politicians, mostly on the left who think the only way they can succeed with their 'nanny state' stupidity is to keep the masses in a state of turmoil with the threats of all sorts of bogeymen outside the door.
The best start toward elimination is to remove every cent of federal money from higher education with the possible exception of limited defense department research more closely suited to a university lab environment; and I'm not real sure about that.
The dems and their willing lackies in the media have so reduced the credibility of current science that we will never believe them if a real crisis like an approaching space rock were to actually occur.
The univ of Virginia has been caught in a bare faced lie over michael (lying pseudo-scientist) mann's notes and e-mails while he was perfecting his scam on faculty in Charlottesville. Va. Atty General Ken Cuccinelli has caught him and the univ. red handed and is nailing them to the wall. Check the Washington Examiner for the past week for details. Frankly, as a former scientist and engineer I think these guys should be strung up, but the 'bleeding hearts' might think me a tad 'extreme'.
Grzmlyk| 1.7.11 @ 1:29PM
Hi MikeD:
Thank you - I own State of Fear, but it sits on my stack, unread. But I will read it - I remember when it came out, Crichton lent some badly-needed credibility and gravitas to the then-nascent voices of dissent.
I absolutely agree with you about getting the fed out of education.
In truth, the problem in this country is NOT Obama. He is merely a symptom.
The problem in this country is a culture that willingly elevated this non-entity to the position of President - an otherwise empty suit inflated exclusively by narcissism, puerile platitudes and seething resentment.
And one of the biggest contributors to the collective false consciousness that delivered Obama to preside over our dismantling is higher education, long since converted into Marxist indoctrination camps.
And, as you point out, gravy trains for organizations who have the "right" agenda.
I had to laugh months ago when Dick Morris dismissed conservative furor at the Fed takeover of student loans; his take was that the government could administer the program more efficiently. Dick, sometimes you are a blind fool.
If by "more efficiently" he meant that the government can transform little pod people directly from student activists into government-paid thugs without skipping a beat, he was right.
Tim the Enchanter| 1.7.11 @ 5:53PM
Well- I tried to read it. There's still a blue haze over my house from all the F-bombs dropped in the book.
garsol| 1.7.11 @ 8:22PM
re Crichton's "State of Fear" for those more interested in the reality of the current state of environmentalism: just go about two-thirds of the way thru to the author's notes, where Michael clearly and succinctly lays out his research and his findings. As a scientist / engineer practicing in a field where only real results matter, when I hear "the debate is over" I know the claim is false and a scam. Simple as that. The rest is rhetoric. Got to love Crichton's finishing statement, " Everyone has an agenda. Except me."
Richard| 1.7.11 @ 12:35PM
What is more interesting is the tendency of many to believe these junk science claims: AIDS "does not discriminate"--remember that one?; Alar; silicone brease implants; and so on. Again and again, I have seen otherwise intelligentint and educated people suck this stuff in. On the other hand I am proud of conservative skepticism toward the man made global warming hoax. Let's have more of the latter and less credulity and gullibility.
Rich Fisher| 1.7.11 @ 12:44PM
Lost in a lot of this post is the original premise. Wakefield lied, he doctored the evidence and quite frankly I don't know how anyone could make a conclusion on such a small sample (12 kids). Whether or not vacinations cause Autism or not isn't the point of this article. What is the point is that many people bought into the notion that vacinations were bad, didn't have their kids vacinated and many thousands of them died as a result. Unfortunately after the Global Warming debacle, government has abdicated its right to assure us of any scientific findings they have funded. Now that scientists are so dependent on funding from "interested" parties it's hard to know what if any "conclusions" we can trust. Science has killed millions of African children with malaria because of the junk science that banned DDT. Where does it end.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 12:53PM
First thing should be to schedule an annual "Pi$$ on Rachel Carson's Grave" celebration on the anniversary of her death. HER falsified data and 'bleeding heart' writing about the poor birds whose shells were breaking due to DDT only caused about 100,000,000 DEAD PEOPLE, not birds, in africa and other tropical climates due to the banning of DDT by the U.N. forced by liberal fools who didn't live anywhere near the people they killed with their sefl righteous crusade. (That number is one hundred million)
That, my friends, is the essence of liberalism: full of unintended consequences suffered by other people who had nothing to do with whatever got the libs' panties in a bunch to begin with. And they are so full of their innate goodness because they CARE. What a crock! Dead is dead! And the libs were responsible. And, YES, it does upset me because that's the type of mind in control of our Country today.
Rich Fisher| 1.7.11 @ 3:19PM
Mike, you know there is a list published every year with the absolute worst words in the vocabulary for the year. This isn't aimed at you, you just triggered the thought, again. I am so tired of ascribing what happens when Liberals do their thing to "unintended or unforseen consequences". Really? By whom? Virtually everything they do that ends up causing problems could have been and often was predicted by sane, reasonable people. We're letting them off the hook too easy. I don't think the consequences were unintended in this case or any other that the Liberals have foisted on us with their feel good decision making. I fully believe they knew and know exactly what they are doing and just don't give a damn. It's time we stopped pussyfooting around with them and started calling them out when they do stupid things and the rest of us know just exactly what is going to happen next. Unintended consequences is when you use a condom for safe sex and get pregnant anyway.
MikeD| 1.7.11 @ 8:40PM
Unintended Consequences are the result of sloppy research, planning, execution, and forecasting.
idalily| 1.9.11 @ 12:28AM
Agree 100%!
Aindyin| 1.7.11 @ 1:10PM
This perp should be jailed, convicted and given the very death sentence he gave all those children he is reponsible for killing.
Michele San Pietro| 1.7.11 @ 3:55PM
Buffoons like Wakefield are really the people America doesn't need.
MARK| 1.7.11 @ 5:33PM
There are STILL no definitive, large scale, longitudinal US studies of fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and non-vaccinated children and the incidence levels of ASD. My 4 year old son has autism and regressed after he was 1 year old with a few words. Now he doesn't speak at all. I don't know what the cause was - but I am very suspicious.
These stories implying that I and other autism parents are stupid dopes, reacting on unscientific fears are way off base. We are reacting to what is happening with our own children, and to the FACT that the US CDC has chosen not to conduct a full-blown study on the incidence levels of vaccinated versus non-vaccinated kids. So, in essense, the establishment has shown us very little to debunk any link - and we are left to fend for ourselves and our children.
Personally, I'm delaying vaccinations for our kids and spreading them out. We're not anti-vaccine - just going back to the pre-1980 schedule.
Occam's Tool| 1.7.11 @ 7:10PM
Sorry, Mark, but I deal with autistics for a living. The Lancet article was pulled by the editors of the Lancet. There is no data linking these vaccines to autism. Nada, none. My Greatnephew is autistic. It matters to me, too.
However, I wonder if you've ever met any victims of Polio? I have---born before 1955. It hurts a long time. Mumps can make your sterile, and Measles...don't get me started.
Your kids---but if they get a childhood disease, I'll be paying for their treatment.
darcy| 1.8.11 @ 1:15AM
What the hell did you mean by that, Occam's Tool: "but if they get a childhood disease, I'll be paying for their treatment"?
L Oakley| 1.11.11 @ 10:00AM
I'm an immunologist. Spacing the vaccinations and delaying them sounds like a good idea to me. Any time you stimulate the immune system, you take a risk - and even an attenuated live virus can cause excessive pro-inflammatoy cytokine release, fever, etc. To give all these vaccines at the same time to babies and toddlers may be statistically (that is, "on average") "safe" but that doesn't mean the safety can't be improved upon by a more cautious schedule. The developing brain and nervous system are quite sensitive to fever and other effects of immune activation.
Occam's Tool| 1.7.11 @ 7:11PM
"Mumps can make you..." sorry.
GavInTucson| 1.7.11 @ 9:19PM
Perhaps people are starting to fear vaccines for another reason. If you follow the link below, Bill Gates, who does a great deal of "philanthropic" work with vaccines has gone on record numerous times mentioning his goal in using vaccines to lower the population of the planet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPVgNqy5a0Q
GavInTucson| 1.8.11 @ 12:03AM
I might also add his mention of "health care" in this endeavor. A little more than spooky, if you ask me.
Claypoole| 1.8.11 @ 11:39AM
Not sure if it was last year or the year before, but do you remember Bill and Melinda Gates's Abort-Your-Baby tour of the Third World? Hard to believe, but there are liberals who love death--just not their own, of course.
darcy| 1.8.11 @ 1:20AM
GavInTucson: At least someone here understands that the BIG pharma money is in vaccines, and that in Gates' case, it also comes with another, even more sinister agenda.
There's more to this story than meets the eye. Dr. Wakefield has been targeted for character assassination, in my opinion.
Nick| 1.8.11 @ 12:15PM
Darcy,
Then your opinion is both ignorant and sophomoric.
June from Maryland| 1.8.11 @ 7:00AM
Related website from the New Yorker on the "Decline Effect."
http://www.newyorker.com/repor.....act_lehrer
Most autism is hereditary. I am the mother of two sons, both high-functioning autistic (means they were late talkers and have cognitive delays but are more functional than a child with Rett's or childhood disintigrative disorder, for example). My brother has autism and I likely have Asperger's. Our mother's brother is also an Aspie (diagnosed at age 64), and her father likely was as well. My own father exhibits several tendancies including stickler for detail, reclusiveness and social anxieties, and his brother and nephew were bipolar (both deceased, one by his own hand and the other within weeks of H. Katrina - he lived in Kenner). My step-father also exhibits tendancies, had a first wife who also exhibited extremes in behavior similar to bipolar disorder, definitely on meds, and at least two of my step-siblings are similarly affected. I married a "late-talker" (unknown to me as such until AFTER our first son was initially diagnosed). His father (whom I didn't meet until the day before we got married) is likely on the spectrum (non-reader his whole life, issues with anxiety) and his sister is reclusive, also has heavy anxiety and is under periodic psych care.
I believe our family issues are the result of what is called assortative mating - we seek each other out on some kind of weird subconscious level. That's why they call it "Silicon Valley Syndrome," geeks marrying other geeks and having little geeks.
As for the vaccination issue, I was double-immunized when North Carolina changed the graduation requirements in the late 1970's, but my brother was not. Did that affect my children? I don't know. But it had NO bearing on anyone born before me. As for my children, we did not forgo the shots, but when my younger son was born, we could see within months several of the same indicators that our older son exhibited. So we knew there was a problem there.
We don't blame anybody or anything. Frankly, I don't mind the vaccines but think they could be spread out a lot more and some could be eliminated because I think we're just making the "bugs" stronger (topic for another day). There have been a few we refused, not because of mercury but because they were "recommended" but not "required" by the local school system for entry. I think the increase in cases is due to better diagnosis; my brother was initially diagnosed as mentally retarded. My mother refused to believe it and never took him back for any further analysis. The CDC statistic everyone throws out (1 in 100 or whatever) is never explained as to whether these are official diagnoses made by medical professionals or are self-diagnoses (mine is a self-diagnosis based on circumstantial evidence and personal research but also on some psychiatric care). The MSM just blindly repeats the number. I've tried to look it up and haven't been able to find out.
Also there is never a breakdown between how many are children and how many are adults. My uncle, for example, did not become autistic - he always was and was only diagnosed because he is actually currently in prison and it was part of his psych workup. The vast majority of us are born this way. Many of us actually don't mind in some ways - it has its pluses! (good excuse for not having to make small talk at boring parties) We have turned into a culture, however, of demanding instant results and quick fixes and I think many children who are diagnosed as ASD simply need a little more time to grow and develop. Some of those who claim their kids are no longer autistic are (1) either in denial, or (2) their kid never was in the first place. ASD diagnoses also can be "flavor of the month" and it remains its own category for funding for special education. For which our school system has only lately begun to capitolize on, I might add. There is much quack science out there (we have avoided it all and simply let nature take its course - on the advice of Thomas Sowell!).
Audi| 1.8.11 @ 1:10PM
Sounds a lot like the ClimateGate controversy. The media barely covered/followed up on this huge story. When you have warming scientists saying , "Just use Mikes trick and add to the cooler temps, hide the decline" its pretty obvious. The prevailing excuse, "scientist always talk that way".
Nina Stephens| 1.8.11 @ 4:55PM
The reason the government and Big Pharm can't put up a decent defense is because they haven't tested vaccines for efficacy or safety beyond and week or two of very small samples. When the government and Big Pharm can prove that these vaccines are safe and efficacious, then parents will rethink their decision.
Marc Jeric| 1.8.11 @ 6:52PM
Trial lawyer hyenas are trolling for "victims". You see, it costs them nothing if they lose. We need tort reform! Let the loser pay! Like in all civilized countries in the world - all except in America.
Dan Smith| 1.9.11 @ 8:28AM
When I was a child, thermometers had mercury, and no one called a SWAT team when they broke to clean it up. In science class in 8th grade in the 1970's, the teacher brought in liquid mercury, and we let it puddle in our hands. Of course, we didn't breathe in mercury, but we thought there was a difference between mercury the element, and mercury which has been bound with something else to make it easier to absorb.
Flash forward to 2010. Touching mercury is considered extremely hazardous. Children don't play with it. And yet, it's apparently considered OK to inject someone with it into his bloodstream.
Something doesn't quite click.
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 6:24AM
Wakefield's fraud is beside the point. He was able to do so much damage for so long because the media, the scientific community, politicians and trial lawyers found it in their interest to believe and lionize him. We ate our young. Wakefield just gave us the recipe.
Adidas | 8.11.11 @ 5:55AM
is good
العاب بنات | 4.10.12 @ 12:22PM
Thanks for your understanding.