Vaccines and Autism Connection
Dr. Wakefield
One of the leaders of the vaccine/Autism connection “movement” is Dr. Wakefield who had an office in my town a while back, so I looked into this a few years ago during the initial stages of the controversy and prior to my discovering the rational scientific method. I’ll have to re-visit the subject, but I quote from Natural News back then… Wakefield was accused of fraud.
“Dr. Wakefield Demands Retraction
"A prior study (including 7 of Wakefield's subjects) was discussed at a meeting prior to the Lancet's article, indicated that Wakefield did not commit fraud.”
Many Natural News articles, do not document their articles very well, they link to their own articles more often than not, and their author's sources often are missing, incomplete, or no longer available. However, we can easily understand that there may be a connection between the use of drugs and conditions, such as, Autism. We can also understand the obvious connection between pharmaceutical companies and vaccines as well as their studies which indicate no connection between vaccines and Autism, and also why these studies are questionable.
We are told that the British Medical Journal (BMJ), in essence, has been caught pulling off what may be the largest scientific fraud ever perpetrated by any medical journal in the history of the world.
"Independently documented evidence of a possible MMR vaccine - autism link 14 months before Dr Wakefield's paper first appears in The Lancet -- based on several of the same children appearing in Dr Wakefield's study."
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031117_BMJ_Dr_Andrew_Wakefield...
Dr. Wakefield called for a retraction of BMJ's accusations of fraud. OK, even if the BMJ retracts their accusation (instead of including Professor Walker-Smith and Dr. Amar Dhillon in the fraud accusation) what does that "prove" about a connection between the vaccine and autism?
We are told that the Wakefield and Smith studies are far too small a sampling to be conclusive. In fact, there have been many studies that do not show the connection. Google this: studies linking MMR to autism. You will find lots and lots of studies showing no link between MMR and Autism, or they are inconclusive.
Can we trust any study? No, but we need to look at both sides of any issue, to discern the possible from the impossible.
To be fair, if Natural News can make allegations of BMJ being in bed with “Big Pharma” (because of their advertising in the journal) then I can make an accusation too. The sword cuts both ways after all. Just speculation, but here goes:
Natural News is just trying to sell copies of Wakefield's book Callous Disregard (see call to buy book at bottom of page from the following link).
BUT SO WHAT? Accusations of fraud on both sides; hype on both sides ignored, and we can critically and rationally begin to understand the issue.
Natural News:
http://www.naturalnews.com/031116_Dr_Andrew_Wakefield...
That the BMJ and its writer Brian Deer have been caught ignoring ‘evidence’ and engaging in their own fraud may give credence to the idea that MMR vaccines may indeed not only be dangerous; but that they may be so dangerous that the top medical journals have to lie about the ‘facts’ in order to protect them. Afterall, we can rationally say: Pharmaceutical companies by nature and by design are bound by corporate manifest to protect their shareholders just like any other corporation.
Natural News continues:
“What's clear here is that the BMJ has strayed so far from the realm of evidence-based scientific thinking that it can no longer be called a reputable medical journal at all. Its callous disregard for the truth -- and its politically-motivated witch hunt against a researcher who only sought to protect the health of children -- exposes it as a danger to the scientific community and the world of conventional medicine.
"As this truth unfolds, these revelations will rock the medical world and expose these science journals as the frauds they truly are. Think about this: While these medical journals are taking money from vaccine manufacturers (who pay their ads), they are ignoring any scientific evidence they don't like in order to vilify anyone who threatens the profits of these very same vaccine companies! And yet, these medical journals never admit that their very existence depends on the financial flow of money from these vaccine manufacturers who are strongly impacted by their editorial decisions!
"There is fraud taking place in the vaccine industry today, of course, and the medical journals are the point men who push their distorted disinformation into the minds of doctors, journalists and anyone they can reach with their scientific distortions. At stake is the future of the vaccine industry, which is of course a multi-billion-dollar industry that thrives on misinformation and the ongoing scientific censorship of the facts surrounding the health risks posed by vaccines.”
Truth, evidence and facts (opinions) aside, there very well may be a link between MMR and Autism, though we can not assume this based upon correlation/causation. Even if it is shown that the BMJ intentionally lied about Wakefield, it does not show an industry wide conspiracy amongst Medical journals. There may be a conspiratorial link between pharmaceutical companies and independent research labs, but that does not show a connection between MMR and Autism.
Still, it IS reasonable to suppose that it may possibly be the case. Just keep in mind 100% of all studies will only report what researchers were paid to report. The rest gets the circle file, never seeing the light of day.
