Wakefield Vaccination Flap: Running interference for Merck?

[catbirdsteed]

Another battle rages in the political/media arena over the MMR vaccine and autism, as the doc credited with starting the UK vaccine "scare" is convicted in the press. All, however, is not as it appears. First is an article outlining the current big media take on this. Brian Deer, investigative journalist for the Sunday times of London DID take on Merck for their Vioxx debacle. He seems to be firmly on their side now in this debate.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/02/british-doctor.html

British doctor who kicked off vaccines-autism scare may have lied, newspaper says
3:39 PM, February 9, 2009

Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the British physician who jump-started the scare about a link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism, manipulated and changed data to make his case in the 1998 Lancet paper, according to an investigation by the Sunday Times of London. The purported link has subsequently been refuted by a large number of epidemiological studies.

That Lancet paper said that the families of eight of 12 autistic children attending a routine clinic at Wakefield's hospital claimed that symptoms of autism developed within days after they were given the shot -- or the "jab," as the British call it. Wakefield and his colleagues also claimed to have found the measles virus in the children's intestines and that the virus caused an inflammatory bowel disease linked to autism.

But by studying confidential and public records, investigative reporter Brian Deer, who has been following the MMR controversy since the beginning, found a different story. Hospital and other records indicated that virtually all of the children had begun developing symptoms of autism well before the shot, Deer's report said. Hospital pathologists examining the children for signs of inflammatory bowel disease were unable to find it in most of the cases, Deer discovered, but Wakefield or someone on the team changed the data to make it appear as if the condition was found, Deer reported in the Times. At least one parent of a child in whose intestines the virus was said to have been found took samples to three other labs, which were unable to find the virus, Deer's report said.

Curious criticisms about Brian Deer abound. Below is an excerpt of a post in such a vein. I will continue to look into this issue. Any interested parties are encouraged to do the same and post their findings and views.

http://onibasu.com/archives/am/157674.html
robertbloch writes:

Where is Brian Deer when the world really needs him? His special attention
to smearing Dr. Andrew Wakefield included the ah-ha! smoking gun stuff about
the MMR. It was Brian Deer who led the charge to discredit Dr. Wakefield's
work. It was Brian Deer who made the media circus forcing the Lancet to remove
Wakefield's legal aid funded investigation report based entirely on a minor
disclosure lapse, which unless I'm mistaken, Wakefield himself reported to the
Lancet once he found out about it.

It was Brian Deer who did an expose' on Royal Free Hospital and Wakefield
deriding the fact they tried to develop an safe alternative vaccine or a
replacement to the controversial MMR vaccine. I remember specifically that Deer
made the strong insinuation that Wakefield and the Royal Free Hospital were
merely poo-pooing the MMR because they had developed something on their own.

Now here's yet another stab by Mr. Offit at a rotavirus vaccine, a minutely
serious bug problem. And looky his hospital is right there with him. So
where's Mr. Brian Deer? Offit might as well go around the world sticking people
with toothpicks claiming it to be a vaccine against splinters for all the
necessity of yet another rotavirus shot attempt.

Rotashield was pulled from the vaccine market after infants' bowels started
collapsing over one another requiring surgery. Who knows how many children
died thanks to Mr. Offit's vaccine ditty. And who knows what long-term problems
these poor babies around the world who've survived the Offit vaccine now
face, and at what cost? Think of the unnecessary medical expenses Mr. Offit, the
vaccine mogul, added to everyone's medical insurance due to these poor
children's treatment and recovery.

Of course, Andrew Wakefield may have had the foresight to attempt to develop
a solution for the troublesome MMR. To anyone who knows him or of him, he's
that kind of man, thoughtful and kind. Deer drilled Wakefield because Andy
saw the whole picture. Royal Free moved to protect the general health of the
public in the event that MMR would fall from favor. Measles in the guts and
brains of fully vaccinated and fully autistic children. Gee, maybe there's a
problem? What alternatives can we come up with? All perfectly acceptable logic.

I can post a variety of such excerpts, but am looking for more distinct journalism along these lines. I hope to report back later. Some of you in the UK may be quite familiar with Deer. I would like to hear your views on him and his reporting.

[catbirdsteed]

New developments on the Wakefield story;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kir ... 66103.html

Keith Olbermann -- Today's Best "Worst Person in the World"

Last night, thousands of parents and grandparents of children with autism sat in front of their TVs, mouths agape, as Keith Olbermann declared their national hero, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Tuesday's "Worst Person in the World" on the popular Countdown show on MSNBC.

Quoting from a story in the Sunday Times of London, Olbermann said that Dr. Wakefield had fabricated data in a 1998 Lancet article about 12 children with autism and severe bowel disorders. Wakefield had written that eight of the families noted deterioration in their children within days of them receiving the triple live virus MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine, and that vaccine-strain measles virus had been identified in gut biopsies in some of the patients.

The uproar has never really subsided, especially in the United Kingdom, where Wakefield and two other doctors who worked on the Lancet study are on trial at the General Medical Council on several serious charges of misconduct.

The person who brought these issues to the Medical Council was a freelance reporter named Brian Deer - the same Brian Deer who wrote the article on Wakefield in the Sunday Times. In his writing, Deer claimed that Wakefield had made up results about severe MMR reactions in the children just days after receiving the shots, had ignored signs of autism in some kids before they received their MMR vaccine, and changed lab reports on the gut biopsies - among other alleged infractions that have been covered in the two year trial in London of Wakefield et al.

The accusations printed in the Sunday Times are, frankly, outlandish. And they are false. A thorough accounting of the entire blackballing of Andrew Wakefield was published today by journalist Melanie Phillips in The Spectator, (UK): called The Witch-Hunt Against Andrew Wakefield."

It makes for some pretty interesting reading:

What the Sunday Times did not report was that the GMC investigation into Wakefield was triggered by a complaint from... Brian Deer, who furnished the allegations against him four years ago. He has thus been reporting upon the hearing into his own complaint. Since when has a reputable paper published a story by a reporter who is actually part of that story himself -- without saying so - and who uses information arising from the disciplinary hearing which he himself has instigated and which is investigating allegations he himself made in the first place.

The point is an excellent one. Imagine if a US journalist sued a doctor for libel or misconduct, and then went to the NY Times and asked to be hired as a freelancer to cover the trial that they themselves had instigated in the first place. It wouldn't happen.

Ms. Phillips also wrote:

It is remarkable how so many commentators take at face value the claims being made by Wakefield's detractors, and how many recycle the misrepresentions of easily verifiable facts - such as what the Wakefield paper actually said -- which his detractors disseminate.

Which brings us to Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

It does not matter what opinion you have about the vaccine-autism controversy (and you know you do) for you to realize that Dr. Wakefield was unduly maligned by the Sunday Times. The allegations are not true, and Andy Wakefield is not, nor has he ever been, the "worst person in the world."

What made Keith Olbermann's mistake almost deliciously ironic was that, in the same "Worst Persons" segment, he gave the Bronze Award to a Fox News Anchor for reading Republican talking points without doing any independent reporting or verification. The Silver went to Bill O'Reilly (no surprise there), another employee of Fox News -- and Rupert Murdoch.

Mr. Olbermann even got out his trademark pirate voice to imitate right-winger Murdoch, by saying, "We have never been a company that tolerates facts! Rrrrrr!"

So here was Keith Olbermann, in the same segment, slamming Fox News -- owned by a company that does not "tolerate facts" -- for promoting falsehoods and propaganda; and then slamming Dr. Wakefield for something that was reported in The Sunday Times -- owned by that same fact-intolerant company.

Countdown's producers clearly took the Sunday Times story at face value, without doing a little due diligence. After all, Wakefield had denied the allegations in the original article, he issued a formal statement of denial earlier this week, and the autism treatment group he works for in Austin, TX also issued a statement. Olbermann's people should have picked up the phone and called Austin before he blasted Wakefield for faking scientific data.

Which brings us to today's Best Person in the World -- Keith Olbermann, who is issuing an eloquent and fitting correction on tonight's show.

I contacted his office today, as did many, many people, to see if he would address the issue. And address it he will. Here is the email I got back this afternoon:

Here is Keith's script from tonight's show, where Brian Deer will receive (at least) the bronze Worst Person in the World honors... it will air tonight, barring breaking news:

The bronze to Brian Deer.

He wrote the Times of London report that Dr. Andrew Wakefield had allegedly altered key research linking the Measles, Mumps and Rubella triple-vaccine to autism in children, which earned Dr. Wakefield a spot on this list yesterday.

The Times of London did not bother to mention that the British investigation into whether or not Wakefield did that was the result of a complaint by... Brian Deer.

The guy who wrote the article about the investigation never mentioned he was the complainant who precipitated the investigation.

The truth about the doctor's research may be in doubt here, but not Deer's vast conflict of interest nor the Times of London's journalistic malfeasance.

The paper is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and it's my bad for forgetting his new motto: "We have never been a company that tolerates facts."

It might have been your bad, Mr. Olbermann, but you have turned it into a good.

------

PS - Just to remind everyone that vaccine-autism research is neither fringe, nor a threat to civilization as we know it, I copy again this list below, which I also sent to the good people at Countdown:

I hope you will take just one moment to see that vaccine-autism research continues, because the link has not been disproven. Even the new President agrees with that statement, so Dr. Wakefield is not as far outside the mainstream as you might think. (Please see below)

MAINSTREAM VOICES FOR VACCINE RESEARCH:

President Barack Obama -- Who said last year, that: "We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- Who said last year that, " I am committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines. We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out."

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) -- Who told Congress in 2006 that the Combatting Autism Act should fund "environmental research examining potential links between vaccines, vaccine components and autism. In January, 2008, he called efforts to strip vaccine research from funding, "contrary to the spirit of the (CAA) bill."

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) -- Who said last year, "It's indisputable that (autism) is on the rise amongst children, the question is what's causing it. And we go back and forth and there's strong evidence that indicates that it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines."

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) -- Who told Congress in 2006, "I want to be clear that ... no research avenue should be eliminated, including biomedical research examining potential links between vaccines, vaccine components, and autism."

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) -- Who concured on the Senate Floor with Senator Enzi's remarks.

Bob Wright, Co-Founder, Autism Speaks -- Who told the UK Daily Telegraph in 2008 that, "There is no question but that autism is partly genetic and partly environmental. We ought to be able to zero in on some of the environmental factors in early childhood. Vaccines are one of the variables."

CDC's Immunization Safety Office -- As part of its draft research agenda for vaccine safety, this agency last April proposed looking at several clinical outcomes from childhood vaccinations, including "Autoimmune diseases; central nervous system demyelinating disorders; encephalitis/ encephalopathy; and neurodevelopmental disorders including autism."

Former CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding -- who told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "If a child was immunized, got a fever, had other complications from the vaccines, and if you're predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage (and) symptoms that have characteristics of autism. We have to have an open mind."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases -- who told US News, "If we can show that individuals of a certain genetic profile have a greater propensity for developing adverse events, we may want to screen everyone prior to vaccination (for) undetectable diseases like a subclinical mitochrondrial disorder."

Drs. Richard I. Kelley, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Margaret L. Bauman, Massachusetts General Hospital, Marvin R. Natowicz, Cleveland Clinic, etc -- "Large, population-based studies will be needed to identify a possible relationship of vaccination with autistic regression in persons with mitochondrial cytopathies."

And then there is this. The full article contains Dr. Wakefield's defense of his position. He is sticking to his guns.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephill ... ield.thtml

The campaign against Wakefield in the Sunday Times has been led by journalist Brian Deer. Last weekend, the paper published a two-page ‘investigation’ and a front-page spin-off story alleging that confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established Wakefield had changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism...amidst various other lurid charges. Deer claimed that his ‘investigation’ was confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council

What the Sunday Times did not report was that the GMC investigation into Wakefield was triggered by a complaint from... Brian Deer, who furnished the allegations against him four years ago. He has thus been reporting upon the hearing into his own complaint. Since when has a reputable paper published a story by a reporter who is actually part of that story himself -- without saying so – and who uses information arising from the disciplinary hearing which he himself has instigated and which is investigating allegations he himself made in the first place?

Again, on the surface at least, Deer was on the offensive against Merck and Vioxx, but it is very easy to see his serious conflict of interest here.
Important point about Wakefield: he is not patently against vaccinations, in fact he was developing a competitive one (uh-oh) for measles in particular.
His position was that the "triple jab'' is too much at once. especially at such an early age, and that the shots should be spread out in early childhood.

[catbirdsteed]

http://www.vaccinetruth.org/merck.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24388001/

FDA warns Merck to clean up vaccine plant
Sterility problem in 2007 forced company to recall 1.2 million vaccine doses
The Associated Press
updated 12:04 p.m. ET, Wed., April. 30, 2008
TRENTON, N.J. - The Food and Drug Administration has ordered Merck & Co. to correct numerous manufacturing deficiencies at its main vaccine plant, the latest in a string of setbacks for the drugmaker. The agency on Wednesday released a warning letter sent to Merck's chief executive, Richard T. Clark, that states FDA inspectors determined manufacturing rules are not being followed at the plant in West Point, Pa., just outside Philadelphia.

The plant, which recalled two vaccines in December over sterility problems, makes a number of children's vaccines and four for adults. The nine-page letter states FDA found "significant objectionable conditions" in the manufacture of vaccines and drug ingredients during repeated inspections from Nov. 26 to Jan. 17. In a separate posting on its Web site, the agency said it issued the warning letter because Merck's response to the FDA report sent after the inspections was "inadequate to address the serious deviations noted."

According to the heavily redacted warning letter, Merck officials didn't thoroughly investigate when vaccine batches inexplicably failed to meet specifications, even if batches had been distributed, and some combination measles-mumps-rubella shots that failed "visual inspection for critical defects" were distributed anyway. The letter also said the plant didn't have written procedures, tests or other laboratory controls to ensure "identity, strength, quality, and purity" of products. However, in the Web site posting, the FDA said it "does not believe that the issues identified will affect the safety of the vaccines" made at West Point, or their availability.

"We're committed to working with the FDA to ensure that all these issues are addressed to their full satisfaction," said Merck spokeswoman Amy Rose, who added that the company does not distribute contaminated products. "We are confident in the quality, effectiveness and safety of our medicines and vaccines," she said.
Rose said Merck would be submitting additional information to the FDA and discussing it in a meeting, which is requested in the warning letter. The letter was signed by David K. Elder, head of enforcement in the agency's Office of Regulatory Affairs. Merck shares, hammered by FDA rejecting two of its experimental drugs since Friday, initially dropped about $1 on the news, then recovered. They ended Wednesday up 90 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $38.04. The warning letter gives Merck 15 days to tell the FDA how it will correct the violations. If Merck does not comply, the letter states the FDA can take actions including suspending or revoking the
plant's manufacturing license, seizing products or seeking injunctions, such as against product shipments.

"Warning letters help achieve voluntary compliance," FDA spokeswoman Mary Long said in an e-mail response to questions from The Associated Press. "Further action can be taken in the event violations remain uncorrected and would depend on the details of a given situation." Production of two vaccines made at West Point _ PedvaxHIB, to prevent Haemophilus influenza type B, and Comvax, a combination vaccine for Haemophilus B and hepatitis B _ stopped last year and 1.2 million doses of them were recalled after a sterility problemwas discovered in October.

The plant also makes ProQuad, which protects children against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox; hepatitis A, hepatitis B and meningitis vaccines for children and adults; and Gardasil, to protect young women against cervical cancer.

From another, article same link-page. This time referring to thimerosal (ethyl mercury), a preservative that was- until recently- used extensively for early childhood vaccines.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-v ... -headlines

'91 Memo Warned of Mercury in Shots
By Myron Levin
Times Staff Writer

It was added to multi-dose vials of vaccine to prevent contamination from repeated insertion of needles to extract the medicine. It was not needed in single-dose vials, but most doctors and clinics preferred to order vaccine in multi-dose containers because of the lower cost and easier storage.

Coincidentally, a single dose vaccine is exactly what Wakefield was planning on developing. I am becoming aware that there have been a handfull of physicians in the last decade who asses the MMR multi-virus assault to be the most likely instigating agent in the development of the near-onset fevers and seizures so prevalent in the young recipients, not so much the therimosal ( toxic, unnecessary, cost-cutting straw man.)
Of course, I am not referring to the "scientific community's" consensus here, but to the firsthand observations by numerous parents and pediatricians, many given in legal deposition.

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

The spook media is vigilant against any stories that reinforce the public's distrust of government-mandated drugs because the single biggest fear of governments which, for them, validates all systematic deceptions of the public is...a biological weapon release.

And worse, governments know full well that their own boys in labs like Fort Detrick and Plum Island are just as likely to be the instigators as any darker-skinned foreign eeee-vil doer.

See 'anthrax attacks, Swine Flu, West Nile virus, Lyme disease, AIDS.'

[catbirdsteed]

Dr. Paul Offit: The Spook in the Hospital

Posted February 11, 2009 | 10:39 AM (EST)
By Deirdre Imus
On Vaccinations: Consider the Source and Follow the Money


Last month, Dr. Paul Offit, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the vaccine industry's most outspoken activist, warned Huffington Post readers not to "risk going unvaccinated."

When presented with conflicting information on a critically important health issue I generally follow two simple rules...educate myself on the issue and "follow the money." When it came to Dr. Paul Offit, and the credibility of this advice, this was an easy assignment.

I normally wouldn't waste my time responding to Dr. Offit. After all, he is entitled to his opinion. However, this man's relentless campaign that includes attacking concerned parents and the dissemination of false information needs to be exposed for what it is.

Dr. Offit has been on a very aggressive crusade in defense of vaccines for years. With what appears to be unlimited resources, Offit is routinely granted ample unchallenged opportunities to mount his campaign in newspapers around the country.

In recent years, Offit has become the "go-to guy" on all things related to vaccines. While other physicians, civic leaders and even members of congress are denied the opportunity to share their views on this issue, Offit is frequently provided with generous op-ed space to promote his views on the safety of vaccines, the need to take away vaccine exemptions, and the need to protect vaccine manufacturers from any liability. In short, if the word vaccine or autism appears in the article, so does Dr. Offit.

-snip-

According to a 2008 study, it is Dr. Offit who might be "mistaken" when he claims vaccines don't cause diabetes. Vaccine Induced Inflammation Linked to Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome, published in the Open Endocrinolgy Journal.

[the study] shows a 50% reduction of type 2 diabetes occurred in Japanese children following the discontinuation of a single vaccine to prevent tuberculosis.

The current data shows that vaccines are much more dangerous than the public is led to believe and adequate testing has never been performed even in healthy subjects to indicate that there is an overall improvement in health from immunization. The current practice of vaccinating diabetics as well as their close family members is a very risky practice," says Dr. J. Barthelow Classen.

Multiple studies suggest Dr. Offit might also be "mistaken" when he says vaccines don't cause asthma or allergies. One by researchers at the UCLA School of Public Health published in 2000, examined the effects of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DPT) and tetanus vaccines and found an asthma and allergy association in vaccinated children compared to unvaccinated children.

The odds of having a history of asthma was twice as great among vaccinated subjects than among unvaccinated subjects (adjusted odds ratio, 2.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.59 to 6.74). The odds of having had any allergy-related respiratory symptom in the past 12 months was 63% greater among vaccinated subjects than unvaccinated subjects (adjusted odds ratio, 1.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.05 to 2.54). The associations between vaccination and subsequent allergies and symptoms were greatest among children aged 5 through 10 years. CONCLUSIONS: DTP or tetanus vaccination appears to increase the risk of allergies and related respiratory symptoms in children and adolescents.

In another study published last year, Canadian scientists found childhood asthma could be reduced by 50% if the first dose of DPT is delayed by more than two months.

It is Dr. Offit who is again "mistaken" when he says vaccines don't cause multiple sclerosis (MS). Published in 2004, a prospective study from the Harvard School of Public Health examined the potential link between the hepatistis B vaccine and MS.

Conclusions: These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that immunization with the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine is associated with an increased risk of MS.

Just last month the US government's Court of Federal Claims, also known as "vaccine court," rendered a judgment awarding compensation to a woman who received the hepatitis B vaccine, developed multiple sclerosis and then died. Several more similar cases have been awarded since 2006.

This is just another example of the thousands of claims awarded compensation by the special court set up to review injuries caused by vaccines. It is an indisputable fact that over the past 20 years, the vaccine court has dispensed close to $2 billion in compensation to families whose children were injured or killed by a vaccine.

Dr. Offit is also "mistaken" when he claims vaccines don't "overwhelm the immune system."

Last year, government officials conceded the vaccine injury claim of a young girl with autism named Hannah Poling and agreed that the family is "entitled to compensation" from the federal vaccine injury fund. [Ga. Girl helps link autism to childhood vaccines]

In a second decision for epilepsy, medical officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determined Hannah's "autistic encephalopathy" was "caused" by an "underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, exacerbated by vaccine induced fever and immune stimulation that exceeded metabolic reserves."

The problem with Dr. Offit is he apparently sees no problem in misleading confused and concerned parents or his equally concerned colleagues. He routinely insults the intelligence of parents with a condescending attitude about their ability to make an informed decision. In an effort to bolster the safety of vaccines, he repeatedly cites a select group of studies he claims support his opinions and ignores the ones that don't. Each one of the epidemiological studies Offit relies upon has been discredited by experts in epidemiology for their methodological flaws and the conflicts of interest of the authors involved in those studies. None of the studies he points to have ever studied what is called "regressive autism" or examined how multiple vaccines given at the same time may affect sensitive populations.

Former NIH Director, Dr. Bernadine Healy, made this very important point abundantly clear when interviewed by CBS News.

I think the government, or certain public health officials in the government, have been too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying the population that got sick. I haven't seen major studies that focus on three hundred kids who got autistic symptoms within a period of a few weeks of a vaccine. I think that the public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational without sufficient studies of causation. I think that they often have been too quick to dismiss studies in the animal laboratory, either in mice, in primates, that do show some concerns with regard to certain vaccines and also to the mercury preservative in vaccines.

Just to be clear, I am not against vaccines and my own child has been vaccinated. But I share the growing concerns of many parents that have studied this issue closely and question the number of vaccines given to children under today's recommended schedule, some of the toxic ingredients in vaccines, and whether we know enough about the synergistic effects of multiple vaccines given to immune compromised children and during critical developmental windows.

Offit is a major stockholder in Merck. Who would have thunk it?

[catbirdsteed]

It is worth keeping in mind that the Wakefield flap itself started in the UK.

http://www.justmindpower.com/Wakefield.html

Dr Peter Fletcher, who was Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health and Medical Assessor to the Committee on Safety of Medicines before he retired, said publicly

“...there has been a tenfold increase in autism and related forms of brain damage over the past 15 years, roughly coinciding with MMR's introduction, and an extremely worrying increase in childhood inflammatory bowel diseases and immune disorders such as diabetes, and no one in authority will even admit it's happening, let alone try to investigate the causes."

Dr Fletcher should know. He was in charge of vaccination programs in the UK for many years.

He also said

“There are very powerful people in positions of great authority in Britain and elsewhere who have staked their reputations and careers on the safety of MMR and they are willing to do almost anything to protect themselves”.

Of course Dr Fletcher can speak freely now he is retired. To have done so while employed by the Department of Health would have meant professional suicide with the loss of a sizable pension. What does this say about the official information we receive regarding vaccination?

Cambridge University’s Autism Research Centre (ARC) have estimated that one in 58 children in the UK now suffer from some form of autism. None of this takes into account the variable degrees of damage. It is entirely feasible that between the two extremes of ‘severe mental and physical impairment’ and ‘no obvious consequences’, there can be a significant lowering of IQ with latent minimal or partial damage never really noticed or remarked on by anyone. We just assume that Janet has ‘always been a bit slow’, or that Johnny’s tendency to violent reactions is just a ‘characteristic or genetic thing’.

If we consider these recent events: a point blank refusal to investigate the many valid studies into MMR by independent researchers across the world: the sudden and unexplained withdrawal of legal aid funding from parents about to bring a ‘class action’ case to court: and the spiteful witch hunt against Dr Andrew Wakefield - the conclusion is inescapable. There is deliberate connivance and nobody in power wants to discuss openly and in public a possible link with autism and the measles virus.

Reports in the national press that uptake of MMR has fallen to a mere 60 percent in some parts of the country and that those most likely to reject the three in one jab were observed to be from the higher educated classes are hardly surprising. It is surely obvious that better educated and articulate individuals are more confident and able to withstand diktats from authority and critically evaluate the pro’s and con’s of vaccination with their own due diligence. What is more, they are less likely to be fooled by the cynical sophistry of pursuing Andrew Wakefield for supposed infringement of ethics through the courts, and will see it for what it is; a premeditated effort to deflect the real issue; that jabbing viruses into young babies is a game of russian roulette and the real possibility that there may indeed be a link between MMR vaccine and subsequent autism should be investigated independently of pharmaceutical industry influence.

[Penguin]

I posted this in another thread, its relevant so Ill copy it here.


Imho, the mercury - autism link is worth looking into.
Also, now US government has for the first time admitted that vaccinations can cause "autism like" syndrome for babies with a genetic variation. Before, they refused to admit any link.

http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/ ... case/2568/

Heres some about the diet, gluten and milk free. Helps some people, not all.

http://www.autismweb.com/diet.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 120953.htm

"A newly published study of Texas school district data and industrial mercury-release data, conducted by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, indeed shows a statistically significant link between pounds of industrial release of mercury and increased autism rates. It also shows—for the first time in scientific literature—a statistically significant association between autism risk and distance from the mercury source."

Dr. Palmer, Stephen Blanchard, Ph.D., of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and Robert Wood of the UT Health Science Center found that community autism prevalence is reduced by 1 percent to 2 percent with each 10 miles of distance from the pollution source.

“This study was not designed to understand which individuals in the population are at risk due to mercury exposure,” Dr. Palmer said. “However, it does suggest generally that there is greater autism risk closer to the polluting source.”

“We suspect low-dose exposures to various environmental toxicants, including mercury, that occur during critical windows of neural development among genetically susceptible children may increase the risk for developmental disorders such as autism,” the authors wrote.

The rise in autism occurrence coincides neatly with rise in environmental pollutants as well...

(And vaccinations, of course)

[Code Unknown]

It strikes me that, intentionally or not, founded or not, this accusation also serves, obliquely, to discredit in the public mind the Lancet - the publication responsible for presenting some of the most devastating (and most rigorously formulated) statistics on civilian deaths in Iraq since 2003 (among other politically-embarrassing subjects), a stark reminder of which by The Nation contributor and Executive Director of MIT's Center for International Studies John Tirman having just been published on AlterNet one week prior, incidentally.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the British physician who jump-started the scare about a link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism, manipulated and changed data to make his case in the 1998 Lancet paper, according to an investigation by the Sunday Times of London.

[Penguin]

Well, in my eyes, most medical publications are severely discredited in any case. Lancet included. For publishing decades of doctored studies paid by big pharma companies, and advertising for their products, and not taking care of scientific objectivity in relation to said Big Pharma research.

Still, good point. Have read that Iraq study, and I thought lt looked like being a good study. Numbers strike me as likely too.

[vigilant]

Real video of mercury killing a brain cell below.


This is a video of mercury killing the dendrites of a brain cell. This was done by the University of Calgary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU8nSn5Ezd8

When you kill a dendrite, you lose the controller for about 300 killer T-cells of the immune system. These T's don't have anyone to call them into action when they should be attacking a pathogen. Even worse, they may run amock and attack the wrong thing, such as the tissues of your own body, which is known as an auto-immune defeciency. Thats right, your own killer cells might decide they don't recognize something in your own body, and proceed to rip it out of your body a bite at a time. They won't stop until they destroy the tissue they no longer recognize, and probably the rest of you in the process.

I should know, its happening to my inner and middle ears right now.




This is a video of a mainstream television reporter telling the public that mercury may "actually improve behavior and mental performance". There should be a special place in hell for her and whoever paid her to say it. I have little patience with the theory that perhaps she doesn't know mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive metal known to humans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZArebYZzdc



This is a video of ex Fox News reporters Jane n Steve Akre. Two heroes who took their battle to inform the public of cancer causing properties of bovine growth hormone in milk. They got fired, but they fought hard. She tells their story below.

video....http://www.taosplaza.com/content/view/2653/185/

[catbirdsteed]

So, again we can all rest assured that science has figured it out and we need not worry about these, or perhaps any vaccine again. This story is. of course, the big breaking news today. I will continue to look at the blowback and commentaries from both sides, but I thought I should toss this up now in case anyone watching this thread has not seen this development. This is not directly related to the Wakefield case, but the inderect implications are fairly apparent.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29160138/

updated 1 hour, 49 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Vaccines aren’t to blame for autism, a special federal court declared Thursday in a blow to thousands of families hoping to win
compensation and to many more who are convinced of a connection.

The special masters who decided the case expressed sympathy for the families, some of whom have made emotional pleas describing their children’s conditions, but the rulings were blunt: There’s little if any evidence to support claims of a vaccine-autism link.

The evidence “is weak, contradictory and unpersuasive,” concluded Special Master Denise Vowell. “Sadly, the petitioners in this litigation have been the victims of bad science conducted to support litigation rather than to advance medical and scientific understanding” of autism.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

Science years ago reached the conclusion that there’s no connection, but Thursday’s rulings in a trio of cases still have far-reaching implications — offering reassurance to parents scared about vaccinating their babies because of a small but vocal anti-vaccine movement. Some vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, are on the rise, and last fall a Minnesota baby who hadn’t been vaccinated against meningitis died of that disease.

http://www.harpub.co.cc/
For some tangential historical reference:
It seems there was always a concern that polio- one of the darlings, perhaps the quintessential success story of vaccinations was not an infectious disease, but an environmentally mitigated degenerative condition.

Images Of Poliomyelitis
A Critique Of Scientific Literature



Polio Secrets

"The lesson to be learned from Swayze's insistence that infantile paralysis is not a contagious disease is that, nevertheless according to the law, it is a contagious disease, and that it is illegal to consider it otherwise."

"Poliomyelitis is unique in that it is the only disease in the history of medicine in which a theory, and not an established fact as to its cause, has become incorporated into the public health law."

"Although poliomyelitis is legally a contagious disease... every attempt has failed conclusively to prove this mandatory requirement of the public health law... Hoyne points out... the startling revelation that the etiologic agent of the disease is still unknown..."

"...when this disease was legally made a communicable disease... funds for poliomyelitis research were from then on designated for the investigation of the infectious theory only."

Ralph R. Scobey, M.D., "Is The Public Health Law Responsible For The Poliomyelitis Mystery?"
Archives of Pediatrics, Vol 68, p220 (May, 1951)

"In 1907, [during] an epidemic of poliomyelitis... no infant who was fed exclusively on the breast developed poliomyelitis."

"Inclusion bodies have been defined as products of virus activity or the elementary virus bodies themselves. Inclusion bodies have been found in poisoned humans and experimental animals."

"No intensive studies have been made... to determine whether or not the so-called virus of poliomyelitis... simply results from an exogenous [external] factor or factors..."

"Medical studies have shown repeatedly that paralytic diseases in... [domestic animals] occur simultaneously in districts where epidemics of poliomyelitis are prevalent."

"Poliomyelitis investigations... have been confined exclusively to virus studies."

Ralph R. Scobey, M.D., "The Poison Cause of Poliomyelitis"
Archives of Pediatrics, Vol 69, p172 (April, 1952)

"There is much evidence to indicate that the poliomyelitis virus is synthesized or activated within the human body instead of entering it as commonly assumed."

"Carrel (1925) was able to produce tumors resembling [exactly] Rous' sarcoma and transmissible by cell-free [Berkefeld] filtrates with indol, arsenic, or tar in chicken embryo. Carrel's observations have been confirmed by other workers. Fischer (1926), by treating cultures of normal cells with arsenic obtained on one occasion a filtrable virus capable of causing tumors."

Ralph R. Scobey, M.D., "Poliomyelitis Caused by Exogenous Virus?",
Science, v71 (1954)

[catbirdsteed]

It looks like my statement that Brian Deer took Merck to task for the Vioxx debacle was a bit overstated... it seem that Deer did not publish the piece until Vioxx was well off the market (by a full year). By his own admission it was a "who knew what, and when?" sort of story. http://briandeer.com/rofecoxib-index.htm

So, here are the promised responses from the pro Wakefield camp. If you want responses from the anti's, well- look 'em up-they are not too hard to find. The link is today posts, tomorrow they will not necessarily be on the front page. I will highlight the websites owner's post due to the relavant things he says about Keith Olbermann

http://www.ageofautism.com/

Olmsted on Autism: Worst Person in the World

Irony UPDATE: Keith did the right thing last night in response to the outcry, putting Brian Deere on his Worst Person in the World list for both bringing the complaint against Wakefield and writing about it in the London Times. And he noted, as we did, that King of Bias Rupert Murdoch owns The Times.

By Dan Olmsted

Yesterday morning I warned that things could go against us big-time in the next few months -- see Steel Thyself. So Keith Olbermann of MSNBC calling Andy Wakefield "The Worst Person in the World" last night didn't exactly shock me. In this case, you have to laugh (a little) because the first and second runners-up for Worst Person of the World were Olbermann's Permanent Nemesis Bill O'Reilly and someone else from, as Olbermann puts it, "Fix News." That's Fox, of course. Owner: Rupert Murdoch. And where is Olbermann getting his information about Wakefield? From the Times of London. Owner: Rupert Murdoch. C'mon Keith, show a little consistency here, will ya?

Meanwhile, check out this superb look at current issues in the vaccine-autism debate written by Andy, with our own Mark Blaxill as a co-author (HERE.)

And be sure to visit the Child Health Safety blog post: Sunday Times Made Up Wakefield MMR Data Fixing Allegation.

You can email Keith Olbermann at countdown@msnbc.com.

Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/safe ... ision.html

February 12, 2009
SafeMinds' Response to Autism Omnibus Court Decision

Safeminds currentManaging Editor's Note: Below is a response from our sponsor SafeMinds.

Washington, D.C. - February 12, 2009 - Autism advocacy organization SafeMinds regrets today's ruling by the U.S Court of Federal Claims against three families who argued that vaccination contributed to their child's autism. The denial of reasonable compensation to families was based on inadequate vaccine safety science available to the court. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the defendant in vaccine injury cases and is also responsible for carrying out the very vaccine safety research that should be integral to court decisions. This conflict of interest means the deck is stacked against families when they enter "vaccine court" and is yet one more reason for parents to doubt the integrity of the National Immunization Program.

"The government has its thumb on the scales of justice," said Jim Moody, director of SafeMinds and an advisor to the Petitioners Steering Committee of the U.S Federal Court of Claims. "The Vaccine Injury Compensation Act passed by Congress in 1986 gave immunity to vaccine manufacturers and removed the incentive to create safer products. Meanwhile, the law only gives the illusion that parents will have their day in court. The process is dysfunctional and many families will not see justice done."

Continue reading "SafeMinds' Response to Autism Omnibus Court Decision"

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/vaccine-awakening-blog-vaccine-studies-under-the-influence-of-pharma-.html

Vaccine Awakening Blog: Vaccine Studies Under the Influence of Pharma

Svengali By Barbara Loe Fisher

If you take more than a casual look at the way the mass vaccination system in the U.S. works, you see that pharmaceutical companies marketing vaccines have a lot of clout. It was the pharmaceutical industry that told Congress in 1982 that they were going to leave the nation without vaccines if they didn't get liability protection but have opposed making it less difficult for vaccine victims to obtain federal compensation in the U.S. Court of Claims under a 1986 law that gave them liability protection. It is Pharma lobbyists, who bully the FDA into fast tracking vaccines like Gardasil and who sit at the CDC's policymaking tables urging that new vaccines be recommended for use by all children so they can persuade state legislators to mandate vaccines like influenza vaccine.

Continue reading "Vaccine Awakening Blog: Vaccine Studies Under the Influence of Pharma " »

Thanks to penguin, code, vig, and yes, even hugh for the input. peng, the emphasis on the therimosal inspired me to put up the link about polio being an environmental toxins illness, and vig, the video of the neurons dying in the presence of the mercury is shocking, and golden info too. Still waiting to hear from any UKer's about their perceptions of Deer.

[Perelandra]

Thanks, cbs and others. I was sent this article today and will use some of the links provided to respond.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021201391.html

"This is a real victory for children and a great day for science," said Philadelphia pediatrician and vaccine expert Paul Offit, in a statement issued by the vaccine advocacy group Every Child by Two. "I hope that this decision will finally put parents' fears to rest and that we can once again concentrate on protecting children from the resurgence of deadly vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough."

To which, I propose, he concentrate on fucking himself and dying.

Sorry, I'm angry today.

[compared2what?]

But...as far as I can tell, Wakefield did do what Deer says he did. He himself doesn't really argue otherwise; his response to the Times is such a classical example of the Non-Denial Denial that Karl Rove would probably give it an A+. Also, as far as I can tell, nothing Wakefield came up with put Merck within a million miles of exposure to any legal liability in any way, shape or form whatsoever.

And although fewer people may now have their children vaccinated as a result of his work, they're not necessarily losing money because of that. Or at least in the United States, where vaccines are now Thisemerol-free and therefore more expensive.

Anyway. Obviously, Deer has an axe to grind. And he may very well have an unstated agenda. All of that strikes me as totally plausible. I just don't see what the evidence for the assumed one is. I mean, Merck is totally evil, of course. But that's not evidence. It's sort of more like an atmospheric condition.

[catbirdsteed]

compared2what? posted:

But...as far as I can tell, Wakefield did do what Deer says he did. He himself doesn't really argue otherwise; his response to the Times is such a classical example of the Non-Denial Denial that Karl Rove would probably give it an A+. Also, as far as I can tell, nothing Wakefield came up with put Merck within a million miles of exposure to any legal liability in any way, shape or form whatsoever.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3346281/the-witchhunt-against-andrew-wakefield.thtml

I am not sure if this is the same or similar to what you saw in the Times, but he addresses the points directly. He denies pretty much everything point blank. If Wyeth loses this one it will be much bigger than Vioxx. They may not lose, but thier MMR product is dangerous. Despite this court hearing there are numerous irrefutable studies where various vaccines have killed and injured children and infants. That does not prove MMR, therimosal or MMR/therimosal caused these three cases of autistic regression, ruled on today, but to continue to say- over and over again- that "the case is closed, there is no link" is just not going to work unless they say it louder and more often.

Many parents WANT vaccines and a lot of them want SINGLE vaccines. Paul Offit doesn't want that. Wyeth doesn't want that. It would seem that Brian Deer doesn't want that either. Wakefield IS NOT patently anti-vaccine by any stretch of the term.

Melanie Phillip's blog
The witch-hunt against Andrew Wakefield
Wednesday, 11th February 2009

I draw to your attention your prior contractual undertaking with Mr Barr, and your joint undertaking to the Legal Aid Board to attempt to find a "new syndrome". This latter undertaking was entered into before any of the children were admitted to the Royal Free, or you could ever have known of any syndrome. Eighteen months later, you would declare that you had found precisely such a syndrome, based on the 8/12 temporal link, and an alleged coincidence of regressive autism and inflammatory bowel disease. The records show that neither of these are valid. Without the public ever suspecting, the route by which you reached this claim required the wholesale changing and misreporting of data. Following your claims, to which you attached the reputations of 12 other, generally unwitting, doctors, you successfully extracted substantial sums of money from the legal aid fund, not least for the business Unigenetics, of which you were a director, and for yourself personally. We have previously reported that the Legal Services Commission says that you pocketed more than £435,000, plus expenses. The amounts you received increased as the scare you created continued: the grossest possible conflict of interest.

W: Deer is wrong on all counts. The purpose of the contract with Mr Barr was to conduct a scientific study to look for measles virus proteins in the bowel of children (initially those with Crohn’s disease and later, to include those with autism and intestinal symptoms (such as abdominal pain and diarrhea) that required endoscopic examination and biopsy. On the other hand, the clinical basis for the investigation of the autistic children has been established by my pediatric colleagues – two of the most experienced pediatric gastroenterologists worldwide - beyond any reasonable doubt.

Deer has completely missed the point; the “syndrome” that we have accurately and reproducibly described is the combination of autistic regression, swelling of the lymph glands in the last part of the small intestine (ileum) and inflammation of the colon. Any association of this syndrome with MMR vaccine remains to be confirmed and, in contrast with Deer’s claim, the syndrome does not require any temporal link to MMR vaccination at all. This has been made clear to the GMC.

The children who turned out to suffer from the “syndrome” were referred as early as May 1995, long before I had ever heard of Richard Barr or vaccine litigation. Deer is aware of this fact.

Any payment that I received over the course of working for more than 7 years as a expert to the UK courts in the MMR litigation – substantially less than the sum Deer claims – was donated to an initiative to build a new center for the investigation and care of patients with inflammatory bowel disease at the Royal Free. This matter is described in more detail in a forthcoming essay by Bill Long, access to which will be posted in due course at http://www.drbilllong.com/index.html.

on edit: punctuation