Hornig, MMR and absent friends.
The press release issued by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health that announced the results of their recent study into MMR and autism ended with this remarkable statement from W. Ian Lipkin, John Snow Professor of Epidemiology and director of the Mailman School’s Center for Infection and Immunity.
“The study design process was a critical piece for us, as there is still so much public concern over the safety of the MMR vaccine. For this reason, we involved the autism parent/advocacy community as we designed the study to ensure that all issues were being addressed. We are hopeful that this process of community engagement will build important partnerships among members of the autism community, physicians, public health agencies, and clinical researchers; serve as a paradigm for the conduct of future studies to understand the causes of this disorder; and facilitate the rapid communication of clinically relevant scientific findings to the broader community.”
I understand this to mean that the research team consulted with those sections of the parent/advocacy community who have voiced concerns about a possible connection between MMR and autism. The obvious candidates are SafeMinds, the National Autism Association (NAA), Generation Rescue and Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)
I visited TACA first. They make a big deal out of having Jenny McCarthy as their spokesperson and she blamed MMR for her son’s autism when she appeared on Oprah. But there was no mention of this latest research on their website.
Then I went to Generation Rescue. They have Jenny McCarthy as a board member and just like TACA they feature her prominently on their website. And just like TACA they do not mention this new research either.
Next stop SafeMinds. Nothing there either, which is strange. Because there is a press release that purports to come from SafeMinds circulating on the internet. Kev has commented on it over at Left Brain Right Brain and I have no reason to doubt its authenticity. It first appeared on EOHARM, one of those anti vaccination, autism parent/advocacy email lists. It begins:
A scientific study released today examined the hypothesis that measles virus persisting in the intestinal tract from the MMR vaccine causes or exacerbates autism. The study refuted this hypothesis for the majority of autism cases…
That is stretching the truth slightly. According to Columbia University the lead researcher actually said,
“Our results are inconsistent with a causal role for MMR vaccine as a trigger or exacerbator of either GI difficulties or autism [...] The work reported here eliminates the remaining support for the hypothesis that autism with GI complaints is related to MMR vaccine exposure. We found no relationship between the timing of MMR vaccine and the onset of either GI complaints or autism.”
That sounds to me as if they are saying the study refutes the MMR hypothesis in ALL cases, not just the majority.
…while validating the link between gastrointestinal (GI) disease, inflammation and autistic regression. The study design precluded assessment of a role for acute measles infection from MMR in a subset of children with autism…
More spin. The study was designed to test Wakefield’s hypothesis that persistent measles virus infection in the gut was associated with GI disorders and autism. Is there anything anywhere in the literature to suggest that anybody has developed autism as a result of an “acute measles infection from MMR? Never mind autism. What is the prevalence of acute measles infection from the vaccine?
…and did not examine the role of other vaccines, vaccine components such as thimerosal, or other environmental exposures which can trigger gastrointestinal and immunological problems…
And what about everything else that it did not examine? Science does not work by examining everything at once. You isolate the variable that interests you and try to control for other factors that might confound your results. Did Wakefield examine the role of other vaccines etc. in his original study?
…The topic is of public health interest due to the increasing autism epidemic and parent and scientific reports connecting mercury and vaccines, including MMR, with autism onset.
Not exactly. This topic is of public health interest because anti-vaccine scares have led to an increase in cases of measles in Europe and America. The autism epidemic is a canard. And despite what SafeMinds thinks, most of the science reports a disconnect between mercury and vaccines and autism. The press release continues in similar vein. It is obvious that even if SafeMinds were one of the parent/advocacy groups consulted on the design of the study they are not happy with it.
NAA at least did publish their press release on their website. Orac has done an excellent job of analysing it over at ScienceBlogs, so I don’t have to. Suffice to say that NAA are not enamoured of Mady Hornig’s latest offering and there is no evidence that they were involved in the design of the study.
It must be remembered that until a short while ago Mady Hornig was a hero in these circles. Her mouse study was lauded as proof of the thiomersal/autism connection and printed on their websites. She was a keynote speaker at their conferences and a key figure in the whole vaccine/autism movement. One “bad” study and they have turned on her.
So who else is there to consult in the autism parents/advocacy community? It occurs to me that probably the aforementioned groups were consulted about their concerns and the scientists went away and incorporated those concerns in their study. But the data came back negative. This happens all the time in science. You think you know something. You test it and you learn that you were wrong. So you think again.
The problem with TACA, NAA, Generation Rescue and SafeMinds is that they have convinced themselves that they already have the answer. If the science does not validate their beliefs they do not think again. Instead they reject the science and often malign the motives of the scientists.
On a recent US talk show a caller came out and said there was nothing that science could say or do to persuade her to alter her beliefs about vaccines and autism. She is another of Jenny McCarthy’s acolytes. McCarthy is not to blame for all this. She came late to a party that was already well established. They lionize her because of her celebrity and celebrity endorsements are all they have left.
Unfortunately celebrity seems to count for a lot more than science in a lot of the media. McCarthy is due to launch another book with another apearance on Oprah. Her endorsement prolongs the life of a movement that no longer commands any scientific support. Doubtless her presence will recruit a few more parents to the cause and further threaten vaccination rates. When vaccine preventable diseases then make an inevitable comeback she will attract an equally inevitable opprobrium.
But she is just a mum like most of the foot soldiers in this charade. Jenny McCarthy may be foolish and misguided, but misguided by whom? The doctors and scientists who have abandoned all professional standards in order to perpetuate the vaccine-autism hoax are the culpable ones. Who will call them to account?
Comment by Sullivan | September 6th, 2008
It’s pretty amazing what they put in these press releases. Thanks for taking the time to analyze this one.
Thoughtful House has one that stretches reality even more.
Comment by David Andrews M. Ed. (Distinction) | September 6th, 2008
“Thoughtful House has one that stretches reality even more.”
Why am I not surprised?
Comment by María Luján | September 6th, 2008
You think you know something. You test it and you learn that you were wrong. So you think again.
Exactly, who is analyzing the questions done from 1998 to 2008 in the MMR/autism field?
For example
A) Is Edmonton vaccinal Strain sequences the right measles to test as primers for checking of persistence, years after injection?
And B)Do we need measles or other neurothropic virus presence/replication to produce an immune permanent change that may be related to some inflammatory /other situation in gut that affects brain?
As the mom of an autistic child who was fully vaccinated being an unknwon at that point IgA atypical defficient, and badly affected by the MMR between many other things- the oversimplification-once and again-from those who make the questions, and answer them and analyzed/analyze them and from the media is beyond my understanding
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[...] rebukes through their advocacy organizations - Safe Minds and National Autism Association (NAA). I discussed this yesterday. But what of the British [...]
Comment by alyric | September 7th, 2008
Maria
A vague memory surfaced re Ig A deficiency. They react quite badly to soem very weird things, like blood transfusions - the plasma component actually as I recall. I assume that you’ve looked all this up. If your child reacts to vaccines, what component is he reacting to?
Comment by alyric | September 7th, 2008
Sorry, meant to add that in the event of a transfusion reaction, a bad one where there was no evidence of haemolysis, the first thing we would look for is IgA deficiency - not the only thing, naturally, but definitely the first thing.
Comment by Fitz | October 8th, 2008
Actually, a link to an article on the study did on the UC Davis MIND Institute Page:
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/MINDInstitute/
But the Washington Post article quotes the institute’s co-founder, Rick Rollens, a die hard vaccines-caused-my-son’s-autism proponent. Rollens seemed to indicate that the study was sound, but when on to declare that the matter is not settled…
I actually put the MIND Institute’s director of research on the spot in front of a parent support group a few years ago. Thoughout his presentation on current theories and research, he kept using vaccination as an example of ‘environmental factor’ or ‘possible trigger’. So, in the Q&A session, I asked him, point blank, if he could point me to a single study he, himself, found credible which might suggest a vaccine/autism link. The answer, “no”. He even acknowledged that, in internal disucssions amoung the research staff, that many believed (at least at that time) that the matter may be “settled”.
But he immediately followed this with a lecture on how there was something “intimate” and “intrussive” about vaccination… Basically giving some red meat to the parents in the room. So I cornered him about Omega-3. He had been particularly dismissive of it in his presentation and had mentioned that it, itself, could carry some health risks. So I asked him if one of those risks was mercury. He answered that it was the primary risk. So my last question was, “when did we start vaccinating fish?”
I understand the emotional intensity that drives many parents. I may cringe when Jenny McCarthy goes on Oprah, but at least I figure she is sincere. But I am starting to truly detest folks I consider to be the ‘panderers’ or ‘enablers’ for this.
Comment by Lynn | December 24th, 2008
One of the recent comments I have read. I have all the proof I need. I’m looking at my six children. The first three were vaccinated and have autism and the second three were not and do not have autism. Do you Idoits all think were making it up, and just looking for someone to blame.The poling family for example, the husband quotes that if he hadn’t watched it happen to his daughter he would not have believed it in a million years. My two beautifull boys were born normal and healthy two years apart. When my first boy had his MMR He started having strange screaming fits that I did not question beyond my own mother of six. when she mentioned questioning our pediatrition about asbergers I didn’t understand or believe because he was smart and I didn’t understand what it was. My lack of belief and understanding condemnded my second child to a world apart from ours. before his one year MMR he had words, and was so intelligent I wondered that he might pass up his older brother. But then tragedy. Coincidence. I think not. He stopped talking, he did not recognize his own family. He could not make eye contact. And stopped learning.
Obviously this has not happened to a lot of you skeptics. Do you Idiots think that there can be this many hipocondriacs. So you all can take your insensitive little comments and theory’s and go …. yourselves
Comment by Mike | December 24th, 2008
Lynn,
nobody is denying that some children appear to develop normally and then regress. We do not accuse you of making it up or of being a hypochondriac. We do question the link between regressive autism and vaccines.
Because many parents relate experiences like your own scientists have looked into this question to see if it is indeed a coincidence. They investigated large numbers of children in epidemiological studies and found that the autism-vaccine link was a coincidence. They have begun to investigate regressive autism and have found that while for some children regression does come out of the blue, for others there are subtle signs in early infancy that are correlated with later regression. But a lot more work is needed in this area. Then there have been studies to establish whether or not measles virus or vaccine is present in autistic children. This is what the Hornig and Lipkin study tried to do. I find their study particularly persuasive because they have been favourably inclined to a link between vaccines and autism in the past. But now they have done the science the results have made them change ther mind.
Parents like you and I cannot possibly be expected to do the science or to properly evalute the science that is out there. We rely on the experts to guide us. Overwhelmingly they agree. Vaccines do not cause autism.
Parents used to be blamed, and blame themselves, for causing their child’s autism by bad parenting according to the discredited ‘refrigerator mother’ theory. The vaccine scare encouraged parents to blame themselves yet again. For ten years now, doctors and scientists have been investigating a possible connection between vaccines and autism and have failed. That is good news. We do not need to blame ourselves any more.
Comment by Lynn | December 24th, 2008
Mike
Are you awhare of the poisons that are in these vaccines, Things like aluminum, formaldihyde, antifreeze, Mercury, And many other strange ingredients. It doesn’t take a scientist to know that these things would not be safe to inject into anyones veins.I have done a lot of resurch and I can’t believe anyone that is not on the vaccine payroll would want to be on board with any of this.Or for that matter be able to live with a clear concience.
Comment by Chris | December 24th, 2008
Lynn, the MMR has never contained thimerosal nor aluminum. There is also no antifreeze in any vaccine, and your blood produces through natural processes more formaldehyde than what is in any vaccine (if formaldehyde scares you, avoid eating any fruit). In fact, the MMR has been used in the USA in other countries since 1971, why would it only be considered a problem in the last decade?
More information:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9
Comment by Lynn | December 25th, 2008
Chris
If you refer back to my comment, I said that These are things that they put in vaccines.I know that they are all different,And why do you only mention the formaldehyde,are you akay with these other things put in some of the vaccines.
And to your last comment about the MMR, and the last decade.
My two boy’s ages 4 and 6 had 20 vaccinations by the time they were 1 year old and you know some of these vaccinations contain more than one virus. I will add it up for you,34 viruses exposed to by one year old on top of all the other crap that they felt the need to expose these poor little babies to.
I had less than 10 vaccines in my whole life,how come I am not putting anyone at risk,(It has been in the last decade that the vaccine schedule has been added to extremely)
I watched both of my kids change dramaticaly with the MMR,that doesn’t necessarily mean that that is the whole culprit,Their systems could have been messed up from all the crap in all the vaccinations that they already had to the point of the straw that broke camels back.
Comment by Chris | December 25th, 2008
The plural of anecdote is not data. The MMR has been used safely for almost 40 years in most of the world.
In your youth many many children per year died from measles (read about Roald Dahl’s oldest child). You need to use a bit better logic and science to convince us.
Comment by Lynn | December 25th, 2008
Chris
why don’t you get on the internet and look up injuries from vaccinations that have been documented and conceeded by the government and then come back and tell me how safe they are,why do you think they have this injury table in the vaccine injury compensation.Its because all these things have happened to people.
And while your at it I have done some resurch on what I read about the antifreeze that you claim is not in any vaccines and I have looked at the table of ingredients and you might want to look for yourself at the vericella.Then when you see(Ethylenediamine)look it up for yourself and tell me why in the world anyone knowingly would allow their child or themselves to be injected with something that is considered a major health hazard.(Potentialy fatal if inhaled,harmfull on contact with the skin, respiratory tract burns,skin burns,eye burns,mucous membrane burns,and alergic reactions.
I was so trusting in the system I could never imagine it would ever think it was ok to expose little innocent babies to such harmfull toxins.
Comment by Chris | December 25th, 2008
I have been on the Internet for over ten years. One of the most important places I visit is http://www.pubmed.gov. I would suggest you use it to find the evidence to convince us (and I know you did not click on the link I included since you still are under the delusion that antifreeze is in vaccines, since I am from Panama where antifreeze ingredients in cough syrup killed people, I am insulted at your lack of diligence).
Comment by Lynn | December 26th, 2008
Chris
I went to your website because I am interested in the truth.Your going to have to be more specific on where to go.I found autism resurch from 2005.For one I would like to see something more updated,and exactly what your wanting me to look up.I am curious of what information or proof that these vaccines are safe.
And I am also insulted that you did not address the(Ethylenediamine)Did you even look it up?There is scientific proof that it is a major health hazard!I would like your input on this toxin and the others in the vaccinations and how in your mind that these things are safe to inject into people.I don’t think it takes a scientist to figure out known dangerous toxins can cause harm.I would also like to know what is your driving force to discredit and try to prove wrong so many people that witnessed the same things watching their children spiral following thier vaccinations.
I brought my one year old son home from his vaccinations and when he finally woke up his eye’s were dark,He was having a hard time standing,he kept falling down and crying,following we noticed he wasn’t responding his name or any other noises,he didn’t seem to recognize his family and stopped learning.
when I brought him in for his vaccinations I was nervous about him getting his shots because he had the flu,so I mentioned it to his pediatrition and she documented that he had been sick and in her own documented words that she was looking at a fussy but(ALERT CHILD)You know those words do not describe an autistic child.He met all his mile stones and there was never any question or abnormalities before those vaccinations.directly that day my husband told me something was wrong,at first I thought he was falling down from sore muscles from the shots,And since he continued to be sick following the shots I was hopeing his lack of response was from just not feeling well.But he never got better and some serious medical problems followed,Including inconsolable screaming fits in the night at all hours of the night sometimes lasting for several hours at a time,many trips to the emergency room with severe GI problems and painfull urinary retention,The stress brings out a horrible strange itchy rash where he can’t even get comfortable to sleep.And the docters and specialists are baffled and are not much help.
I can tell you his story but that can’t even come close for you to get the jist of the nightmare.I would sure like to hear from you how this was all just a big sad coincidence.My husband and I both come from large families and there is no history of this on either side,all the blood test come up normal,were still waiting test or mitachondrial disorder that they did after he started having seziers,All the brain scans MRI,and cat scan comes back normal.
He is now 4 1/2 and is still in diapers and shows no sign that that will change,his understanding is under a 1 year old,and he suffers a lot.And I do not at all blame myself,I did every thing the best I knew for my kids and gave birth to two strong normal healthy kids and had faith in a system that let us down.
Comment by Chris | December 26th, 2008
I have a website? That is news to me!
Again, the plural of anecdote is not data.
Comment by Lynn | December 26th, 2008
Chris
look up antifreeze ingredience,there are three different types,I did look into it.Did you?(Ethylene glycol)(Propylen glycol)and(Methanol)Just because you have ten years research does’nt mean you know it all.
Comment by Lynn | December 26th, 2008
Chris
sticking your head in the sand and whistling through your ass doesn’t help you steer around the fact that these are well known toxins in a lot of these vaccines.And I thought I might be having a conversation with an intelligent person that might have some helpfull usefull information.I was wrong.And I’m done with this going no where conversation.
Comment by Chris | December 26th, 2008
There is NO ethylene glycol in vaccines. Someone has made a serious error in their use of chemical names in trying to scare people (possibly in the hope you will buy their very special cure).
You not willing to read anything contrary to your opinion is showing that you have a classic closed mind. The reason I know you did not read the website is because my name is not “David”, hence it is not my website.
From http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9 … “Here’s one example. The aforementioned Jenny McCarthy has been repeating that there is “antifreeze” in vaccines, as she did in the interview linked to earlier. That line is straight off of a number of antivaccination websites. (Amazingly Mr. Heckenlively managed to restrain himself from repeating “the “antifreeze in vaccines” gambit. I can only hope that it is due to intellectual honesty, although I can’t rule out the possibility that he just didn’t know about it.) One website in particular links to an MSDS about Quaker State Antifreeze/Coolant, the principal ingredients of which are ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol. Guess what? There’s no ethylene or diethylene glycol in vaccines. Accurate chemistry or pharmacology never was a major concern among antivaccinationists. After all, Jenny McCarthy also says that there’s “ether” in vaccines, too. The only “ether” I could find in the CDC’s list is polyethylene glycol pisooctylphenyl ether (Triton X-100), a common detergent agent used to make cell membranes permeable. In the past, a compound called Tween-Ether was sometimes used instead of Triton X-100; it’s the same sort of thing, a fairly large organic molecule with an ether chemical group hooked on. I suspect that Jenny and most antivaccinationists are too chemistry-challenged to realize that this is not the same thing as diethyl ether, which was used as an anaesthetic agent before safer volatile agents were developed and is often commonly referred to as just “ether.” Jenny also apparently doesn’t realize that ether is not very soluble in aqueous solution. The only way I could even conceive ether being used in the vaccine manufacturing process is if it’s used for a chemical extraction, in which case, it too would be present in at best trace amounts. Moreover, this may even be one source of the claim that antifreeze is in vaccines as well. Note the first part of the chemical name: “polyethylene glycol.” It just so turns out that a major component of many antifreezes is the chemical ethylene glycol.”
Comment by Mike | December 26th, 2008
Lynn,
My original article referred to fresh research that further undermined the already weakened hypothesis that MMR causes autism. You responded with your own anecdotal evidence. But, as Chris has said, anecdotal evidence is not the same as scientific data and the data shows no link between MMR and autism.
You moved on to invoke various toxins in vaccines and the number of viruses that children are exposed to today. There is no anti-freeze in vaccines. Aluminium is used as an adjuvant. It enhances the effect of the antigens in the vaccine, so less are needed, but has no effect itself apart from causing irritation at the injection site. Mercury has been removed from childhood vaccines and thiomersal levels in vaccines were never high enough to cause harm anyway. Formaldehyde occurs naturally in the human body and exposure in fruit and household products dwarfs any vaccine content. Ethylenediamine is only present in rabies and varicella vaccines and then only in combination with other chemicals to form EDTA. According to the package insert it is present only in trace quantities, suggesting that it is used in the manufacture of the vaccine but is not an active ingredient.
Your point about the number of vaccines is interesting. The number of vaccines has gone up. But the number of antigens in vaccines has gone down. In the 1960s the vaccine schedule consisted of smallpox, diptheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio, which came to a whopping 3,200 antigens. The combined total for the entire childhood vaccine schedule in 2000 in the USA was between 123 and 126 antigens.
Vaccines are more effective and safer than they have ever been. There is no good evidence to connect vaccines to autism. Your beliefs are just that, beliefs. They are not evidenced based and if you think they are you are being seriously misled by your sources of information. For example, where did you learn that vaccines are injected directly into the blood stream? Vaccines are injected either into the muscle or under the skin, never into a vein.
Your other argument is about vaccine injuries. Every medical procedure carries some risk but usually people are already ill and the present danger outweighs any potential risk when they opt for treatment. Vaccines are different. They are administered to healthy children and the potential risk is outweighed by the future benefit. But we have a generation who have grown up with all the benefits of vaccination and have no experience of the diseases they prevent. They see only the risk. They find it unacceptable that a million children are vaccinated and one child dies. But what if no children were vaccinated and thousands died from vaccine preventable diseases? As an example, in the USA in 1920, there were 469,924 cases of measles reported, and 7575 patients died.
Having said all that, there is a difference between treating an illness and vaccinating a well child. No amount of statistical analysis is going to alter the reality for the few who are vaccine injured. That is why the burden of proof is set deliberately low in the vaccine court. All you have to prove is that the injury happened within the appropriate time frame and that it is plausible to blame the vaccine. Circumstantial evidence is enough. This is only right and fair. Vaccination carries immense benefits for most individuals and for society as a whole. But for the tiny minority who may have been vaccine damaged it is only fair to give them the benefit of the doubt. Even if the court decides against them it still pays their legal fees. (This has led to abuse by some lawyers but that is another matter.)
Pingback by blog-thing : RFK, Autism and the Vaccine Court | March 1st, 2009
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