Has everyone heard that the researcher who pushed the idea that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism has been outed as a fraud. Yep, he faked his data (from the Sunday Times (London):
Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.
The research was published in February 1998 in an article in The Lancet medical journal. It claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children’s conditions.
There goes one, and perhaps two, of the foundations of the anti-vaccine crowd. I am one of that crowd, though not avid. We didn't have our kids vaccinated as babies because five to ten innoculations seemed too many, too soon. However, this research was part of our decision. This doesn't mean, of course, that there is no link between mulitple innoculations and autism, but it calls into question the entire notion.
Wakefield might have a gig waiting for him in psychopharm development.
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