Medical Journal Retracts Study Linking MMR Vaccine to Autism

[G-Kue 1911]

I remember getting shut down by my mom at the barbershop cause I wanted a Nike swoosh sign in my head for an additional $4.00....lol!

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOL

Kids today are so spoiled and unappreciative!

[PhoenixAzul]

Ugh, thank goodness. Hopefully more parents will get their kids vaccinated. In Britain, this "study" has lead to a bunch of outbreaks of measles and mumps!

I also work at a place that attracts a lot of the "granola" crowd...needless to say I got my H1N1 and seasonal flu shots ASAP. I'm diabetic, so one of those germy little buggers can really knock me down for the count. I worry.

Autism is a real challenge for parents, and I really hope that more money will be put towards interventions, treatments and medications that actually HELP these kids, not proving that vaccines cause autism.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOL

Kids today are so spoiled and unappreciative!

They don't know sufferin' unless they've got chicken pox in unmentionable areas!

This is all Obama's doing, with vaccinating kids from things that are A PART OF LIFE! NOW, pull up your pants and get off my lawn!

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by agzg

Well the crazies that are so anti-vaccine were crazies beforehand, most likely. People are still having "chicken pox" parties so that their children get "mild" cases and build up the anti-bodies.

I think I would have rather gone to a chicken pox "party" and missed a week of school when it had no real consequence (other than social) than missed 2 weeks of high school when it did have real academic consequences because my mother didn't like the idea of our having chicken pox, and thus shielded us from it. I was 16 when I got it; my sister was 21. My niece and nephew had to be vaccinated before they went to pre-school.

[xxstardust]

I never had the chicken pox vaccine - I had it as a little kid and the vaccine didn't come out until I was a teenager.

I've read a few articles which discussed a link between the vaccine and increased rates of shingles in adulthood - does anyone know if that's been proved, or likely? I'm just curious.

[Kappamd]

The vaccine is *fairly* new, so I find it doubtful that there would be substantial information about the link between the varicella vaccine and adult-onset shingles.

Plus, there's a shingles vaccine too. Potential problem solved.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I think I would have rather gone to a chicken pox "party" and missed a week of school when it had no real consequence (other than social) than missed 2 weeks of high school when it did have real academic consequences because my mother didn't like the idea of our having chicken pox, and thus shielded us from it. I was 16 when I got it; my sister was 21. My niece and nephew had to be vaccinated before they went to pre-school.

But you never know whether or not your child is going to have a mild case if you purposefully put him or her in a situation where he or she will be infected.

Some people were having swine flu parties as well.

[ComradesTrue]

From Last Week:
Retracted Autism Study an Elaborate Fraud

A now-retracted British study that linked autism to childhood vaccines was an "elaborate fraud" that has done long-lasting damage to public health, a leading medical publication reported Wednesday.

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.

Wakefield has been unable to reproduce his results in the face of criticism, and other researchers have been unable to match them. Most of his co-authors withdrew their names from the study in 2004 after learning he had had been paid by a law firm that intended to sue vaccine manufacturers -- a serious conflict of interest he failed to disclose.

According to BMJ, Wakefield received more than 435,000 pounds ($674,000) from the lawyers. Godlee said the study shows that of the 12 cases Wakefield examined in his paper, five showed developmental problems before receiving the MMR vaccine and three never had autism.

(emphasis mine)

And now today:

Vaccine Study's Author Held Related Patent

(CNN) -- The author of a now-retracted study linking autism to childhood vaccines expected a related medical test to rack up sales of up to $43 million a year, a British medical journal reported Tuesday.

The venture "was to be launched off the back of the vaccine scare, diagnosing a purported -- and still unsubstantiated -- 'new syndrome,'" BMJ reported Tuesday. A prospectus for potential investors suggested that a test for the disorder Wakefield dubbed "autistic enterocolitis" could produce as much as 28 million pounds ($43 million U.S.) in revenue, the journal reported, with "litigation driven testing" of patients in the United States and Britain its initial market.

Among his partners in the enterprise was the father of one of the 12 children in the 1998 study that launched the controversy, the journal reported.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

It was one thing for this fraud to manipulate (um, create?) data to satisfy reseach requirements for maintaining his job. But we now are learning that not only was he "in bed" with lawyers planning to sue vaccine companies, but that he also was planning to market a product based on these false finding that would make him tens of millions of dollars? It's sick, just sick.

I am most saddened for those innocent children who did not receive the necessary vaccines they needed and have had to pay the price for this greedy piece of filth.

[AZTheta]

There are NO WORDS for this.

At the very least, I hope that he is stripped of his medical license to practice.

I wonder if any of the parents of children who didn't get vaccinated based on his study... no, not going there. Not today.

[ComradesTrue]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

At the very least, I hope that he is stripped of his medical license to practice.

That has already happened. Thank goodness.

Anyone heard from Jenny McCarthy lately? I have a SIL (mother of an autistic son) who is a strong believer in the vaccine link. I haven't had the guts to ask what she thinks, and probably won't ever get the guts to ask her. You know, family harmony and all.

[Kappamd]

Jenny McCarthy is ignorant and irresponsible and everytime I see her, I literally want to throw myself in front of a bus. She has NO. CLUE.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

Jenny McCarthy is ignorant and irresponsible and everytime I see her, I literally want to throw myself in front of a bus. She has NO. CLUE.

Jenny McCarthy said Jim Carrey was the best sex she ever had. That should have been a clue to her cluelessness right there.

[Kappamd]

She is supposed to be on Ellen today, I just read. Speak of the devil.