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Friday, March 5, 2010

Censored on The Wakefield Inquisition: Case Series Insanity

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1 comment:

  1. Posted at Age of Autism on March 5, 2010 at 10:05pm (EST)

    It appears that Mr. Olmsted did not read or comprehend the GMC ruling regarding the consecutive referral part of the study. Please refer to points 33-34 for Wakefield and points 31-32 for Prof. Walker-Smith in the ruling (http://www.gmc-uk.org/static/documents/content/Wakefield__Smith_Murch.pdf). Wakefield and Walker-Smith did not follow the methodology as reported in the study. In other words, they screwed up the science and the media actually did get the reporting correct. It is Age of Autism that has misreported the scientific misconduct.

    "The simple fact, Wakefield told me, is that none of the children referred to his clinic were involved in litigation when the referrals were made"

    The first child was referred in May 1996, according to the GMC's findings. Sometime before June 1996, Wakefield had been in contact with the lawyer, Mr. Barr, regarding a research to establish that the MMR vaccine was the cause of autism, as alleged by several individuals represented by Mr. Barr. It would appear, then, that the children were involved in litigation by the time of the study.

    While the study does include the disclaimer you mentioned, "We have not shown an association between the syndrome” – meaning autism – and MMR.", Wakefield, in nearly every press appearance afterward, strongly suggested that the MMR caused autism. The dominant idea at Age of Autism itself was that MMR causes autism:

    http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/02/mmr-and-the-sim.html
    http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/thoughtful-house-center-for-children-on-court-ruling-mmr-causes-autistic-disorder.html
    http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/09/mmr-overview-of-the-studies.html
    http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/olmsted-on-autism-autism-explosion-followed-big-change-in-mmr-shot.html

    That last one even includes an account of Mr. Olmsted's conversation with Wakefield about children who "became ill after the vaccination and subsequently regressed into autism".

    The fact that everyone at Age of autism is now crowing that the study never said MMR causes autism, since the GMC ruling and the Lancet retraction, is a bit disingenuous.

    So much for AoA's journalistic integrity.

    This comment is being cross-posted to Silenced by Age of Autism.

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