Following the judgment of the UK General Medical Council's Fitness to Practise Panel on Jan 28, 2010, it has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Wakefield et al are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation. In particular, the claims in the original paper that children were "consecutively referred" and that investigations were "approved" by the local ethics committee have been proven to be false. Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record. (Lancet editors)
This was the article that started the whole debacle of vaccine related autism. The investigation found that 8 of the 12 "consecutively referred*" patients were actually selected from the primary author's birthday party and paid $8 if he could draw blood from them. He also never received approval from the ethics board for some of his research, and was known to perform painful procedures (like spinal taps) on children without clear justification for why the procedures were needed.
A panel is Britain will now discuss whether Dr. Wakefield's (the principal author) medical license should be revoked.
*consecutively referred means that patients were recruited as they came, and not selected for inclusion by the researcher.
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27 comments:
Maybe it will never be "scientifically" proven that something in immunizations leads to autism. Maybe someday it will.
Personally I think that it's a little self-centered to think that we have had all the scientific advances that we will ever have and there's no way the two are actually linked.
I don't care what article is retracted next, I personally know 3 different kids that were 100% normal until the day they were vaccinated and were later diagnosed with autism. It was a complete 180 degree flip with all three of them, not a slow digression. I can't be convinced it's not SOMEHOW related.
Because anecdotal evidence always supersedes the scientific method. That's a good thought process.
[/sarcasm]
It is about time that they prove that article was a sham!! IMMUNIZATIONS DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM!!!
I don't believe immunizations cause autism. BUT I don't like the idea of pumping a 2 month old baby full of 6 different vaccines all at once. I do individualized vaccines for my kids, and space them out a bit.
Hey Benjamin, are you the OP?
@4:07...
Okay, so you personally know "3 different kids that were 100% normal until the day they were vaccinated and were later diagnosed with autism." How many kids do you know who were vaccinated and had absolutely no ill effects from the vaccine?
Jane doe,
Are you suggesting that it's okay for even a small number of people to have adverse reactions to vaccines and that's okay with you? Is it okay with you that baby Ian died?
http://iansvoice.org/
I'm suggesting that people stop listening to Jenny McCarthy and looking for something to blame things on, and that they start paying attention instead to hard numbers, and the fact that autism wouldn't show up until 15-18 months at the earliest. Autism is a developmental condition. It can't manifest itself when there is relatively no development present in the first place.
9:48, how many people died before they came out with vaccinations? A lot! I would take one death over millions.
Yeah, I would rather have an autistic kid than a dead kid. Also, 4:07, I only know 3 people who have autism - total. How many do you know total if 3 of them were 100% percent normal and then the day after their vaccination became 100% autistic? Exaggerate much?
7:42,
Yes, I did make the original post. Consider it my public service for the day :)
How could a child be considered completely normal when i baby starts having vaccines at 2 months? And you said they were "later" diagnosed with it, which means they were pretty normal right after the vaccinations as well. I don't know what all you people think we're supposed to do? Not vaccinate and have all those deadly illnesses come back? It wouldn't matter if they completely proved that vaccines cause autism, the risks are still higher by not vaccinating at all.
I agree with 4:07. It's easy to say that you'd rather have one autistic child that thousands of sick ones when it isn't your child.
There was a time that the brightest people in the world thought the earth was flat, and that the sun revolved around us. It's not crazy to think that there might be a link we just aren't smart enough to find yet.
And I think that 4:07 meant when they got that one vaccination (I don't know what it's called cause I don't have kids) that is like three things packed in to one. Isn't that the one everyone is skeptical about?
I am perfectly aware that it's hard to have a child with autism. But it makes no sense to constantly pursue a link between autism and vaccines that is repeatedly discredited by empiricism.
As this debate has unfolded, the camp that thinks autism is related to vaccinations has kept on moving the goal posts to hang on to this false hope that autism is caused by vaccines.
First it was autism, but when the data were weak for autism, they included autism spectrum disorders (which can by physiologically different, meaning that they blamed one cause for multiple results). Then they threw in the bit about mercury. But when mercury was removed and nothing happened, it became about the vaccine itself.
These people have made an emotional connection between vaccines and autism that is based purely on the coincidental scheduling of the MMR at 18 months which happens to be at the same time autism manifests itself.
Someone can claim they have seen 3 kids that were normal until they received the MMR, but for those three kids, there are 327 who received the MMR and didn't develop any autism spectrum disorder.
Continuing this witch hunt could start to get dangerous. Vaccination depends on the concept of herd immunity. And that requires that somewhere around 90% of the population be vaccinated. When only 80% of the population is vaccinated, diseases can get strong enough in the unvaccinated group to overwhelm the inoculation and put the inoculated group at risk. When the vaccination rate drops to 70%, the inoculated group actually has a higher risk of disease than the inoculated group.
So yes, I understand that having a child with autism sucks. But constantly raving about how vaccines cause autism diverts resources away from finding what is actually causing it. It's actually a disservice to those with autism to keep pursuing this.
oh gag this debate is so old.
My son is autistic, here's my story.
He was 100% normal developmentally before he got his MMR shot. He might have even been a little above average, he could tell me his abc's at fifteen months without needing help.
I actually waited until he was 3 to get the MMR shot just because I thought it might be a little much for an 18 month old. You can criticize me for waiting if you want but I just wanted to be safe.
I wanted him to be vaccinated but it made me nervous to give his little body so much at once.
The night that he had the shot he developed a 104 degree fever that just got worse as the night went on so we took him to the emergency room. He stayed there for three days before his fever broke.
He never spoke again after that. He went from being a totally normal 3 year old one day to the developmental level of a 3 month old the next. He didn't slowly degenerate at 18 months which is when most kids have the shot and when autism usually manifests itself.
You can feed me every scientific answer in the book, but I know that something happened to him the day he got that shot. I don't know what it was or how it happened but 3 year old boys don't just get fevers and then become autistic.
Maybe he had a gene that made him more susceptible to being autistic and something in the vaccine triggered it, I don't know. But I do know that one day he was fine, the next he had a shot and wasn't. So Benjamin, please explain that to me because no doctor has been able to yet.
9:36,
Most people who are concerned about vaccine safety would like to see the schedule spread out. When I was a kid I was exposed to about 10 vaccines. Today kids are exposed to 30+.
For example the hepatitis B which is given to infants at birth is completely unnecessary for most babies at that age. Most newborns are not shooting up drugs with dirty needles or having sex therefore unless the baby is directly exposed to hepatitis B it could wait until later when the immune system is stronger.
They would also like to see the vaccines made with less toxic preservatives in them because some people may lack the ability(Glutathione) to expel toxins from their body as well and others. They could make the vaccines safer but it would be more expensive and mean a shorter shelf life.
Look, personal experiences do not count. All that counts is was Benjamin reads. He knows everything. You know, I was so impressed at the time he talked about what it is like for a woman to lose her virginity as if he had a vagina (is there something about him that we don't know!!!)
Anyway, this guy knows more than those of us with autistic children because he has read ALL about it (from only those sharing his point-of-view). I highly doubt he has read Jenny McCarthy's books even though he is SO quick to judge her or anyone that has been influenced by her. So, my advice to those of you wanting to post, don't share your personal experiences. Benjamin won't respect it or you. Besides, he has a masters degree in statistics--therefore HE KNOWS EVERYTHING! We are only so lucky he comes to this blog!
3:40,
You might want to look at the research going into mitochondrial disorders. There's been some preliminary research showing a link between mitochondrial disorders and developmental disorders. The spark that seems to ignite it is the fever. So your story very much fits the description of mitochondrial related autism.
The past year or so there has been a push for better fever management following vaccinations. Eventually I would hope that this leads to a spreading out of the vaccination schedule.
Regardless, to use this to make a case against vaccination isn't particularly wise. A fever high enough to trigger the mitochondrial disorder is a rare side effect, and such a fever could be sparked by other factors as well, resulting in developmental disorder.
The place we should be putting the research money that's going into the vaccine research ought to be redirected toward fever management and better screening for mitochondrial disorders.
Currently, the research is inconclusive, but it shows a lot more promise than the vaccine link right now.
To 3:40, you are not alone in this situation as for the Benjamin Statistics fellow, way to get a Masters Degree but not the way to use it like you know EVERYTHING! Some things are taught from self-experiences. Not everyone has had that happened and therefore have no room to talk.
@5:07: thank you.
Wow, luckily Benjamin isn't a female, otherwise he'd probably be so offended that he'd never come back. I am grateful that Benjamin is an intelligent human being who believes in studying things for himself rather than just hearing about the experience of a friend of a friend of a friend and basing his opinion on that. I think his research is helpful (on this post and the others) and hope he continues to share his scientific point of view. We have enough people on here sharing their emotional/drama-filled comments and frankly I wish their were more commenters like him and Jane Doe who like to throw a little fact in amongst all the opinion.
Benjamin, apparently you are smarter than all the specialists that I've been too who told me that his fever didn't cause this. I don't want to go into specifics but basically he's a medical mystery. So I will agree with whoever said we don't know everything about vaccines yet.
Oh 5:23... that was so pathetic. Oh well. By the way, people who have argued with Benjamin aren't talking about friends of friends of friends. They actually are talking about their own children. But, you too probably have a degree in stats... good with numbers but not with words. Try a little harder next time. Ooops, I forgot to ask if you were a woman. Because, if you are... I'm sorry because my comment might have embarrassed you out of the blog. And, I found it cute that you brought up Jane Doe, when no one really called her out.
3:40
For starters, I'd be surprised if your specialists thought the MMR was the cause of your son's autism.
Not knowing a time frame, I can't say if the mitochondrial research was available yet or not. This is very new research, the the first probings beginning in June of 2008. The most recent, and so far the one with the strongest link between fever, mitochondrial disease and autism was E-published in September of 2009 (it should hit printed journals in the next couple of months). So these studies are about as new as they get.
You should also note I said it was inconclusive research, but it has more promise than vaccine research.
Oh, and for what it's worth, I have a brother on the autism spectrum. So yeah, I'm not as emotionally disconnected from the issue as you might like to think.
I am another one who appreciates Benjamin's rational thinking on this blog. I don't always agree with him, but he never lets emotions get involved. And he's obviously very well researched, you can't deny that. He never said that vaccines definitely don't cause it, just that the research is inconclusive and that he thinks that the research money is better spent else where. So you people who are getting offended really need to calm down.
Again, don't click the link. Stupid google chrome...
Benjamin, not that you really care what a bunch of random people in cyberspace think, but I always appreciate your well thought out comments and the sense of level-headedness you bring to this silly blog. Thank you.
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