Lancet retracts 1998 paper linking vaccine and autism

[leelaplay]

Lancet retracts paper linking vaccine and autism

Tue Feb 2, 9:06 am ET

PARIS (AFP) Medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday withdraw a 1998 study linking autism with innoculation against three childhood illnesses, a paper that caused a major storm and an enduring backlash against vaccination.

The British journal said it was acting in the light of an ethics judgement last week by Britain's General Medical Council against Andrew Wakefield, the study's lead researcher.

"We fully retract this paper from the published record," The Lancet's editors said in a statement published online.

The 1998 paper, based on a small sample of 12 children, implied a connection between an autism-like disorder and a triple vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.

Although other experts said the claim was spurious, many parents in Britain were deeply alarmed and refused to have their children given the triple vaccine.

The slump in vaccine use has yet to fully recover today and as a result young, unprotected lives have been placed at risk, say doctors.

In 2004, 10 of the paper's 13 authors distanced themselves from part of the study, publishing what they called a "retraction of an interpretation."

In last Thursday's ruling, the General Medical Council attacked Wakefield for "unethical" research methods and for showing a "callous disregard" for the youngsters as he carried out tests.

He was also accused of acting in a "dishonest" and "irresponsible" way in describing the research.

"Following the judgement of the UK General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Panel on January 28, 2010, it has become clear that several elements of the 1998 study by Wakefield et al are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation," The Lancet said.

 

[Min]

makes me wonder what's being covered up, there's now a vaccine link to autism, ME/CFS & Gulf War Syndrome


do the medical authorities already know vaccines are contaminated with XMRV?

 

[Elliot]

Good, I say.
There's no evidence that vaccines cause autism, and parents preventing their children from receiving vaccines are putting the larger population at risk, with herd immunity etc.

 

[dsdmom]

makes me wonder what's being covered up, there's now a vaccine link to autism, ME/CFS & Gulf War Syndrome

Min, this is obviously very controversial but do you have actual studies you can point to in order to support this statement? I am not arguing the fact that many parents feel this to be the case (I'm wary of vaccines myself but have not withheld any from my daughter) but have yet to see any published studies linking them to autisim, etc. So if you can point us toward them, I'd love to be better educated on this subject.

 

[Min]

sorry I don't but but this reminds me so much of the way the researcher who found XMRV in 1996 was discredited

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599195765600

 

[dipic]

Good, I say.
There's no evidence that vaccines cause autism, and parents preventing their children from receiving vaccines are putting the larger population at risk, with herd immunity etc.

Seconded.

sorry I don't but but this reminds me so much of the way the researcher who found XMRV in 1996 was discredited

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599195765600

You're not talking about Dr.Defreitas are you (which wouldn't be XMRV nor would it have been 1996)? Also, to my knowledge, XMRV was discovered in 2006.

 

[Frickly]

CDC admits vaccines cause autism

What was the ruling? I'm confused. Also, there is such a strong movement by the government to support vaccine use that things can get turned around very easily. The fact is...the government dosen't even want to study or consider that vaccines could cause problems and I think their are several reasons for this with money being number one.

The fact remains that in a court of law it was found, at least twice, that vaccines were the cause of "autism like symptoms" in two young children. One had mitochondrial disease. The CDC admitted that if a child has an underlying condition such as mitochondrial dysfunction that it could cause "autism like symptoms". Notice they stop short of just saying autism. The CDC knows that if a child has a mitochondrial dysfunction that a vaccine could trigger autism. However, they will continue to talk circles around it because the amount of people that would come forward to sue the government would be tremendous. Its on tape and you can see it at the attached link.

By the way, no disrespect intended to the above poster, but protecting the herd is a perfectly reasonable notion until your child's life is ruined. I don't think we have to sacrifice these children to protect the group. If we would just stop trying to protect ourselves and start studing vaccine safety then we could come up with a way to test these children for underlying conditions before they are given these vaccinations at such a young age and/or spread out the vaccine schedule.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh-nkD5LSIg

 

[Wayne]

Protecting the herd is a perfectly reasonable notion until your child's life is ruined. I don't think we have to sacrifice these children to protect the group. If we would just stop trying to protect ourselves and start studying vaccine safety then we could come up with a way to test these children for underlying conditions before they are given these vaccinations at such a young age and/or spread out the vaccine schedule.

Hi Frickly,

I couldn't agree more. I've taken a fair of time to research Andrew Wakefield and his approach to autism (he has an autism health center in Texas I believe). I saw him on 60 Minutes, read his rebuttals to some of his criticisms, and view him as very credible. So do many other people, especially those who have autistic children.

I believe some grade school vaccinations played a big part in my ME/CFS onset. I was so ill for several weeks after getting them, and I think this set the stage for some of my vulnerabilities later on. I've heard others with ME/CFS say the same. Plus a very high percentage of health care workers who are required to get certain vaccines have a high preponderance of developing ME/CFS.

From a spiritual perspective, if even one person has to suffer (from vaccines) for the benefit of the greater good, then it is not in line with spiritual principles. Like Frickly's comments about studying vaccine safety, why don't we acknowledge the problems with vaccines and begin to develop vaccines that are safer than the ones we have now? Unfortunately, we probably all know the answer to that, and it's not very spiritual one.

Wayne

 

[Frickly]

The following link are details of the courts findings.

http://www.rescuepost.com/files/facts-wwsm-280110-final-complete-corrected.pdf

Age of Autism with more info on autism/vaccine debate and opinions regarding the ruling

http://www.ageofautism.com/dr-andrew-wakefield/

 

[Frickly]

"Thoughtful House" the clinic in Austin, Texas which was founded by Dr. Wakefield issued this press release regarding the court finding.

http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/pr/GMC-response.php

 

[Frickly]

Hi Wayne, this subject is difficult for me as it continues to astound me that people are so unwilling to simply look at the issue and take measures to ensure that all our children are safe from harm. Even though the government conceded in a court of law on more than one occasion that a vaccine was the trigger for a childs autism diagnosis. Even though there are countless stories of vaccine related injuries and deaths. Still.....people are not doing anything about it. It just goes to show how good the government is at 'spinning' the situation. The autism community is getting the same treatment the CFS community has gotten for years. Why do we beleive the CDC is so flawed with respect to our disease but it just couln't be the case with vaccines and autism. If you do your research there is no way you can simply dismiss this connection. The CDC knows the truth....parents of autistic children know the truth....individuals who have been harmed by vaccines know the truth. I have absolutly no doubt that my son's autism and my disease are connected. The science will one day prevail......

 

[Elliot]

But it's really implausable for vaccines to cause childhood autism? All the evidence leads to a genetic disorder which manifests.
Sorry, just trying to understand why people think this.

 

[Athene]

Eliott,
Can you link mne to some articles presenting the evidence of a genetic disorder causing autism? I haven't been able to find any proof of this on the Internet myself.
Thanks.

 

[Elliot]

Not too great today to trawl through tons of stuff but here's a good page to get started on, even if it is wikipedia, it does cite sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_autism

 

[Katie]

I got my issue of Private Eye yesterday (for the American's this is our freest press outlet, most unbiased, honest and accurate and the editor is Ian Hislop, I'm a fan girl) and it explained this disciplinary hearing much more clearly than the mainstream press.

This hearing was not about the validity of his findings that there is a link between vaccines and a sub-set of autistic children with a certain gut disease but whether he put children through "unnecassary tests and procedures." There was an issue with him taking blood at a childrens party but the parents had consented to this approach. The parent were not called to speak at the hearing. No parent of guardian had complain about the treatment or tests. Parents that spoke to Private Eye said that the help they had received had helped thier childrens symptoms.

In balance, (still from Private Eye) no further research has backed up the assertion that vaccines could cause this sub-set of autism.


Personally, I think this is being looked at in the wrong way. It's not what's wrong with vaccinations (tainted, too strong etc), but what is wrong with these children. If this was given a decent look at we could discern which children were safe to be vaccinated and which should rely on herd immunity, if that is even the case. I have a theory that a rubella vaccination began my slide into ME which was completed when I contracted a glandular fever like flu three months later, but it wasn't a problem with the vaccine, the problem was with me. I've had a history since childhood of bad reactions to vaccines, I even caught the disease I was being protected from three times, this suggests an immunity problem on my behalf. Unfortunately this means no holidays in countries where I need innoculations

I still support vaccination (I'm leaving XMRV out of this paragraph until more is known) and would vaccinate my children.

 

[willow]

Katie,

I see your point, that some children are more vulnerable to vaccine damage than others, but there's no excuse for putting the rubbish in vaccines that currently is.

And how would you unequivically establish which children should not have them?

And what about the vaccines in their current state adding to the burden of toxins we all carry, at some point could these be the straw breaking the camel's back that tips someone in to a disease or condion? I think they could.

Willow

 

[Katie]

Katie,

I see your point, that some children are more vulnerable to vaccine damage than others, but there's no excuse for putting the rubbish in vaccines that currently is.

And how would you unequivically establish which children should not have them?

And what about the vaccines in their current state adding to the burden of toxins we all carry, at some point could these be the straw breaking the camel's back that tips someone in to a disease or condion? I think they could.

Willow

Hi Willow,

You're right, vaccines shouldn't be filled with all the other chemicals and whatever else they put in their, this is something that should be looked at more carefully, maybe a call for a review of vaccine ingredients?


As for finding out which children shouldn't have them I think the best place to look would be genes (once we understand them better, we're only just scratching the surface but the genome project is the discovery of penicillin of our generation) and, understanding the risk of saying this, looking at latent viruses and retroviruses. You can't be 100% but the more information you can arm a GP and parents with, the better. It deserves a shot at seeing what we can do with our current level of understanding, there's so much we don't know about autism. Heck, cancer is the best funded disease (if you group them, I think) and we still don't know what causes cancer. Also, building on your point of toxins, this is also an avenue of exploration to discover which children (and adults) are at risk of tipping over into illness. I know Biolabs where I had my XMRV test specialises in enviromental toxins and associated illnesses. There's a lot we don't know and there is a lot to study in the bodies of people who do not handle vaccines well for whatever reason, we just don't know enough.

 

[willow]

Hi Katie,

I hope you're right about the genome project, but I'm unsure if it will turn up enough reliable information. For example I am one of the most reactive people I know, tolerate almost no supplements, and since I had a say in the matter I have purposely avoided nearly all pharma on the basis of my childhood reactions- some severe. From the results of genetic test currently offered by Genova none of these should've affected me. From speaking with a friend in the field, Personalised Medicine (i.e. prescribing in accordance with individual genetics) is not delivering much since it was declared the latest big thing several years ago. But as you say it's early days, let's hope.

I also wonder about how many toxins show up in tests like Biolab's. I know there were adults and children whose metals tests were clear until they improved methylation enough that they were able to excrete them. Not saying methylation is key, it's just an example.

I think having had an awful lot of tests, most paid for by myself, I'm a bit disillusioned with how useful they are, especially as one offs. I just can't see the NHS paying for a whole raft of testing and repeat testing, they make such a fuss over inexpensive ones and neither GPs nor specialists I've seen seem clued up on how to interpret them.

But if the tests and interpretations were thorough and reliable, and if vaccines were clean, safe and only offered when entirely necessary for highly infectious diseases, then yes, maybe they'd be ok. The concept of herd immunity for very serious, highly infectious diseases appeals to me.

I had a homeopathic prophylatic/vaccination for Swine Flu. Trouble was i already has Swine Flu!

Back to dirty vaccines; have you ever seen this $240 000 offer for some of those involved in vaccines to take a mixture akin to that a 6yr old child would have? http://www.spontaneouscreation.org/SC/VaccineOffer.htm I first saw it in 2006 when it was $75 000. Guess that implies a shortage of applicants!

 

[Frickly]

But it's really implausable for vaccines to cause childhood autism? All the evidence leads to a genetic disorder which manifests.
Sorry, just trying to understand why people think this.

Hi Elliot,

I just wanted to clarify something. The autism community has never said that vaccines cause autism. They are also not against vaccines and beleive they are important and have saved many lives.

This is a common misconception and one that that has kept this debate going for far too long. The autism community and many others feel that some children have a genetic disorder that is triggered by these vaccinations. The thought is that if a child who has a conditions such as mitochondrial dysfunction is given a huge amount of vaccines at the same time before the brain has developedthat it can trigger autism.

Futher more, the CDC has conceded, in a court of law that a series of vaccinations triggered autism in a little girl with mitochondrial disorder. This is not scientific proof but I think shows that we need to investigate this further.

The autism community only want researchers to ensure the safety of all children. If these children have a disorder from birth that can be worsened by toxins, vaccines, ect. we need to know about it so we can test and pick out these children before the damage is done. These children could wait to be vaccinated until the brain is developed and be put on a different vaccination schedule.

The problem is that the government doesn't want to even hint that any child could be harmed by a vaccination because they are afraid parents will stop vaccinating. I think parents deserve to know the truth. Look at guardisil....this has caused symptoms in children that are identical to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Lives have been ruined and many children have died from this vaccine, yet I see commercials on tv all the time trying to talk parents into getting this for their children. Our governor was even trying to make it mandatory!

 

[Sunday]

I believe one of the problems with vaccines is that they contain mercury. In another thread, I read that they often change the name of mercury but still include it, because it's important in getting the vaccine virus into the system (sorry forgot the exact way this happens).

As for vaccines in general, I tend to be more case-by-case. We've had vaccines long enough that people have forgotten how many kids used to die of scarlet fever, what it was like to have polio strike kids without warning and land them in iron lungs. Take a look at countries where they don't have vaccination programs for these illnesses, and at the pictures of the many children who are permanently affected. Also, non-vaccinated adults who get mumps, especially guys, run the risk of anything from sterility to death. Now we're seeing antibiotic-resistant forms of diseases such as TB, we may get an unwelcome trip down memory lane. I'm not trying to deny the possibility of harm from vaccines, here, just pointing out that it would be an excellent idea to research and have ways to test children who might be affected by a vaccine, and weigh that against the merits of not having the disease in question.

On the other hand, I think flu shots are just stupid: the one salient characteristic of all viruses is that they mutate, so I can't see how anyone can guarantee that the stuff in the shot is going to have any relationship with the virus that's currently going around.

I'm not a parent, and I realize there may be a lot of immunizations these days which aren't absolutely necessary. It does seem that hitting a small child with a huge spectrum of vaccines could really upset the system. I'm just here to point out that vaccinations might sometimes, with all their faults, be the better of two evils.