Study Fails To Clear MMR/Autism Link
JOHN
by Barbara Loe Fisher
www.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com
www.NVIC.org
www.StandUpBeCounted.org
As the latest study attempting to disprove a link between vaccination and
autism demonstrates: if you really don't want to know the answer, just ask
part of the question. When medical researchers take a reductionist approach
to investigating vaccine risks, the public can always count on spin doctors
to position the conclusions of a narrowly focused study in a way that
appears to totally exonerate vaccines from association with all risks,
especially autism.
The most recent paper purporting to clear MMR vaccine from any relationship
with the development of regressive autism in previously healthy children was
published by researchers at the CDC and Columbia University in the online
journal of Public Library of Science . The authors report on a federally
funded initiative to address the hypothesis published in 1998 by Andrew
Wakefield, M.D. and others that some children who receive MMR vaccine
develop inflammatory bowel disease and regressive autism due to persistent
measles virus (MV) infection.
The examination by three laboratories of intestinal tissues from 25 autistic
children, five of whom developed gastrointestinal (GI) and autistic symptoms
after MMR vaccination, confirmed the presence of measles virus RNA in one
child with autism and one control case. Even though the study only included
five children who were previously healthy before regressing into autism
after MMR vaccination, it is being touted as concrete proof that MMR vaccine
is not in any way involved in the development of regressive autism in
previously healthy children.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
While Wakefield may have imperfectly described the biological mechanism for
development of MMR vaccine induced autism in 1998 (proposing a persistent
measles virus infection in the GI tract that affected the brain), he
certainly DID correctly report an association between receipt of MMR vaccine
in previously healthy children and subsequent simultaneous development of
serious bowel disease and autism. It was an important clinical observation
and call for further research published in a respected medical journal (The
Lancet) but one that Wakefield and his colleagues would pay for dearly. The
hypothesis has been furiously denounced for a decade by mandatory
vaccination proponents in government, industry, and medical organizations in
Europe and the U.S. as they scramble to defend aggressive one-size-fits-all
MMR vaccine policies being used in measles eradication campaigns worldwide.
Thoughtful House, a pediatric care facility and research institute in
Austin, Texas founded by Dr. Wakefield, issued a response to the study which
said in part: "We are pleased to see that this new study provides further
confirmation that children with autism suffer from gastrointestinal problems
that deserve to be addressed as a priority. Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Executive
Director of Thoughtful House Center for Children, whose work has focused on
intestinal disease, and on the possible role of MMR vaccine in regressive
autism in children with GI symptoms, welcomed these new findings. Dr.
Wakefield was a co-author of the 2002 paper that, unlike yesterday's study,
examined children in the majority of whom there was a clear temporal link
between MMR exposure and regression. Dr. Wakefield comments, "The search for
the 'footprints' of measles virus in the intestine is merited, based upon
the previous findings and the intestinal disease that is commonly found in
these children. This new study rules out only one possibility - that the
measles virus must remain for the long term in the intestine. We need to
consider that the MMR vaccine can cause autism as a hit-and-run injury, but
not necessarily leave the measles virus behind."
The biological mechanism for MMR vaccine induced regressive autism - as well
as autism that develops in previously healthy children following injection
with other vaccines like DPT/DTaP, hepatitis B, varicella zoster,
pneumococcal - could well involve an interaction between individual genetic
vulnerabilities (autoimmunity, allergy) and the known ability of drugs and
vaccines to induce immune mediated inflammation in the body, especially
brain inflammation. The most serious and feared complication of the very
first vaccines - smallpox and rabies - is inflammation of the brain
(encephalitis/encephalopathy), which can be mild or severe with a
constellation of acute symptoms that are subtle (deep sleep with difficulty
arousing) to dramatic (convulsions, high pitched screaming).
Mild to severe brain inflammation can lead to permanent brain dysfunction in
at least one-third or more of all who experience it. The residual effects of
brain inflammation can vary from learning disabilities and ADHD/ADD to
medication resistant seizure disorders, autistic behaviors and mental
retardation.
In 1998, officials of the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)
published a review of vaccine injury and death claims submitted to the VICP
involving measles vaccine either alone or in combination (such as MMR). They
analyzed the medical records of 48 children ages 10 to 49 months who either
had died or suffered mental regression and retardation, chronic seizures,
motor and sensory deficits and movement disorders following receipt of
measles containing vaccines. The authors concluded that "The onset of
neurologic signs or symptoms occurred with a nonrandom, statistically
significant distribution of cases on days 8 and 9" and "This clustering
suggests that a causal relationship between measles vaccine and
encephalopathy may exist as a rare complication of measles immunization."
Immune mediated chronic inflammation of the brain, gastrointestinal tract
and other parts of the body in previously healthy children following receipt
of MMR and other vaccines may not be as rare as CDC officials would have the
public believe.
Researchers have found evidence of chronic inflammation in the brains of
patients with autism, particularly in the cerebellum. Brains of those
suffering with autism have been observed to be in "a chronic state of
specific cytokine activity." The suggested biological mechanisms for the
observed brain inflammation included chronic disease or an external
environmental source. In addition, there is a good possibility that genetic
predisposition to immune system dysfunction (autoimmunity, allergy) may be a
key to development of regressive autism following vaccination in some
children.
The recent study out of the CDC and Columbia University is not good enough
evidence to disprove the autism-MMR link first reported by Wakefield and
others in 1998. The scope of the most recent investigation was far too
narrow and enlightened pediatricians and informed parents know it. As autism
advocate Rick Rollens and national autism groups have pointed out, more
methodologically sound research must be done before the public jury
questioning MMR vaccine safety will stand down. A good start would be a
prospective case controlled study comparing immune and brain function of
highly vaccinated children to that of unvaccinated children for a period of
at least ten years, which has been requested by parents of vaccine injured
children for several decades.
For a comprehensive summary of the decade- long persecution that Andrew
Wakefield has endured at the hands of individuals with major financial
conflicts of interest with government and industry, visit the Cryshame
website at http://www.cryshame. net/ maintained in Great Britain. A new
essay by British journalist Martin Walker entitled "An Interest in Conflict"
examines the tactics used by those determined to punish Wakefield for daring
to publish an hypothesis discussing the association between vaccines and
autism.
The Cryshame website also features a video tutorial by British pediatrician
Richard Halvorson on measles, mumps, rubella, and MMR vaccine. Questions Dr.
Halvorsen poses and answers include:
· How dangerous is measles?
· Is measles a killer?
· Can measles be good for you?
· Does vaccination give life-long protection?
· Is MMR necessary?
COMING UP IN THE NEWS: On Monday, Sept. 8, the Dr. Mehmet Oz show on the
Oprah & Friends Network is scheduled to broadcast a radio debate on
hepatitis B vaccine ( http://www. oprah.com/oafhost/moz); On Tuesday, Sept.
9 the new daytime CBS show "The Doctors" will feature a segment on Gardasil
vaccine; On Sept. 18, "The Doctors" will broadcast a segment on mandatory
vaccination. For more information or to post a comment after the segments
have aired, go to http://www.tvweek.com/ne
ws/2008/09/video_cbs_tv_distributions_the.php
Mark Probert
> Study Fails To Clear MMR/Autism Link
>
> by Barbara Loe Fisher
I( said to cite someone other than an anti-vac liar, not their Queen
D. C. Sessions
> The most recent paper purporting to clear MMR vaccine from any
> relationship with the development of regressive autism in previously
> healthy children was published by researchers at the CDC and Columbia
> University in the online journal of Public Library of Science . The
> authors report on a federally funded initiative to address the hypothesis
> published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield, M.D. and others that some children
> who receive MMR vaccine develop inflammatory bowel disease and regressive
> autism due to persistent measles virus (MV) infection.
When you're setting up to call something a failure, one good move is
to assign it objectives that it never had.
The study in question makes no claim to "clear MMR vaccine from any
relationship with the development of regressive autism." Rather, it
is simply that most basic of scientific exercises: an attempt to
replicate previously-announced results. In this particular case, it
was an attempt to replicate the 1998 Wakefield study that has been
so influential in Great Britain.
I do find it vastly amusing that Fisher, of all people, is now
complaining about the general press getting vaccination news
wrong. She and her party were, after all, the beneficiaries over
the last decade of having vaccination issues covered by society
writers rather than science journalists.
--
| The brighter the stupid burns, the more |
| chance that someone will see the light. |
+- D. C. Sessions <d...@lumbercartel.com> -+
Jan Drew
news:QuKdnTS2d5ASwlzV...@bt.com...
> Study Fails To Clear MMR/Autism Link
>
> by Barbara Loe Fisher
>
Jan Drew
>
> by Barbara Loe Fisher
>
> www.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com
> www.NVIC.org
> www.StandUpBeCounted.org
>
> As the latest study attempting to disprove a link between vaccination and
> autism demonstrates: if you really don't want to know the answer, just ask
> part of the question. When medical researchers take a reductionist
> approach
> to investigating vaccine risks, the public can always count on spin
> doctors
> to position the conclusions of a narrowly focused study in a way that
> appears to totally exonerate vaccines from association with all risks,
> especially autism.
>
> relationship
> with the development of regressive autism in previously healthy children
> was
> published by researchers at the CDC and Columbia University in the online
> journal of Public Library of Science . The authors report on a federally
> funded initiative to address the hypothesis published in 1998 by Andrew
> Wakefield, M.D. and others that some children who receive MMR vaccine
> develop inflammatory bowel disease and regressive autism due to persistent
> measles virus (MV) infection.
>
> autistic
> children, five of whom developed gastrointestinal (GI) and autistic
> symptoms
> after MMR vaccination, confirmed the presence of measles virus RNA in one
> child with autism and one control case. Even though the study only
> included
> five children who were previously healthy before regressing into autism
> after MMR vaccination, it is being touted as concrete proof that MMR
> vaccine
> autism.
>
Jan Drew
>
> by Barbara Loe Fisher
>
> www.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com
> www.NVIC.org
> www.StandUpBeCounted.org
>
> As the latest study attempting to disprove a link between vaccination and
> autism demonstrates: if you really don't want to know the answer, just ask
> part of the question. When medical researchers take a reductionist
> approach
> to investigating vaccine risks, the public can always count on spin
> doctors
> to position the conclusions of a narrowly focused study in a way that
> appears to totally exonerate vaccines from association with all risks,
> especially autism.
>
> relationship
> with the development of regressive autism in previously healthy children
> was
> published by researchers at the CDC and Columbia University in the online
> journal of Public Library of Science . The authors report on a federally
> funded initiative to address the hypothesis published in 1998 by Andrew
> Wakefield, M.D. and others that some children who receive MMR vaccine
> develop inflammatory bowel disease and regressive autism due to persistent
> measles virus (MV) infection.
>
> autistic
> children, five of whom developed gastrointestinal (GI) and autistic
> symptoms
> after MMR vaccination, confirmed the presence of measles virus RNA in one
> child with autism and one control case. Even though the study only
> included
> five children who were previously healthy before regressing into autism
> after MMR vaccination, it is being touted as concrete proof that MMR
> vaccine
> autism.
>