A prominent British medical journal on Tuesday retracted a 1998 research paper that set off a sharp decline in vaccinations in Britain after the paper’s lead author suggested that vaccines could cause autism.

Why did he do it? Possibly to make himself rich.

But an investigation by a British journalist found financial and scientific conflicts that Dr. Wakefield did not reveal in his paper.  For instance, part of the costs of Dr. Wakefield’s research were paid by lawyers for parents seeking to sue vaccine makers for damages.  Dr. Wakefield was also found to have patented in 1997 a measles vaccine that would succeed if the combined vaccine were withdrawn or discredited.

But the ramifications of this man’s behaviour are still being felt far and wide.  He was the spark that started a much larger wild fire.

But the retraction may do little to tarnish Dr. Wakefield’s reputation among parents’ groups in the United States.  Despite a wealth of scientific studies that have failed to find any link between vaccines and autism, the parents fervently believe that their children’s mental problems resulted from vaccinations.

[...]

In the United States, anti-vaccine groups have advanced other theories since then to explain why they think vaccines cause autism.  For years, they blamed thimerosal, a vaccine preservative containing mercury.  Because of concerns over the preservative, vaccine makers in 2001 largely eliminated thimerosal from routinely administered childhood vaccines.

But this change has had no apparent impact on childhood autism rates.  Anti-vaccine groups now suggest that a significant number of children have a cellular disorder whose effects are set off by vaccinations.

It never ends with these people, it’s not their child that’s flawed, it’s gotta be somebody’s fault.

(Part 1 here & Part 2 here)

• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died… – Part 2
• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died…
• IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN!

The MMR/autism hypothesis took off in 1998 with the publication of a study of 12 autistic children by Canadian gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield.  Wakefield’s study found traces of the measles virus in the guts of children he tested.  He concluded that the virus derived from the MMR vaccination, and suggested that it caused inflammation possibly related to the children’s neuropsychiatric dysfunction. 

Since then study after study has debunked Wakefield’s research.

This anti-vaccine hysteria that is being promoted by and through celebrities and psuedo-scientific nonsense has got to stop.

(Part 1 here)

• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died… – Part 3
• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died…
• IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN!

Some of the important bits:

In most of the 12 cases, the children’s ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated.

and

Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper’s impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92% to below 80%. Populations acquire “herd immunity” from measles when more than 95% of people have been vaccinated.

Last week official figures showed that 1,348 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales were reported last year, compared with 56 in 1998. Two children have died of the disease.

If the Times’ allegations are true, the doctor should be stripped of his title and perhaps tarred and feathered for good measure.

• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died… – Part 3
• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died… – Part 2
• Defeat Malaria? Sure…

But seriously folks, the anti-vaccine movement is seemingly filled with the same kinds of people that populate the 9/11 truth movement and the anti-global warming (er.. or is it anti-climate change now?) movement.  They all love junk science and ignoring real studies by real scienticians.  Please Mr. President Barack Obama, if you only do one thing right in your term, make it a huge makeover of science education in America’s public schools.  The future of our country depends on it.

• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died… – Part 3
• Defeat Malaria? Sure…
• Andrew Wakefield lied, children died… – Part 2