Vaccine - autism study 'an elaborate fraud'

[Bad^Hat]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/index.html

An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.

Britain stripped Wakefield of his medical license in May. "Meanwhile, the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession," BMJ states in an editorial accompanying the work.

Speaking to CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Wakefield said his work has been "grossly distorted" and that he was the target of "a ruthless, pragmatic attempt to crush any attempt to investigate valid vaccine safety concerns."

The series of articles launched Wednesday are investigative journalism, not results of a clinical study. The writer, Brian Deer, said Wakefield "chiseled" the data before him, "falsifying medical histories of children and essentially concocting a picture, which was the picture he was contracted to find by lawyers hoping to sue vaccine manufacturers and to create a vaccine scare."

Paints a pretty damning picture, but then I haven't really followed the whole vaccination scare much (wasn't a big thing over here as far as I know) so don't have a very good frame of reference. Still, pretty repulsive if accurate.

 

[Llama]

This has been known for a good while, Ben Goldacre writes about it in Bad Science.

 

[Remus]

I've heard about this before. Was it a particular vacicine which they claimed caused autism?

 

[Eejit]

They said it was the MMR vaccine. Yeah it's been known as a big fraud for years now.

 

[Bad^Hat]

The part with the lawyers, too?

Well damn. News to me.

 

[Eejit]

Indeed. The scandal happened 12 years ago now, but official investigations are typically glacial. Wakefield was only struck off in the UK last year iirc.

 

[Mr Stabby]

How do we know these so called experts, who say vaccines don't cause autism, don't work for the CIA.

 

[VirusType2]

How do we know these so called experts, who say vaccines don't cause autism, don't work for the CIA.

Teh Conspiracy Cookbook

Rule 1: Establish a motive.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Teh Conspiracy Cookbook

Rule 1: Establish

Let's do this

 

[Emporius]

Teh Conspiracy Cookbook

Rule 1: Establish a motive.

Let's do this

1. To destroy the career of Jenny McCarthy.

 

[Nabobalis]

1. To destroy the career of Jenny McCarthy.

That is a goal worth fighting for.