The Origins of the Autism Epidemic - Dr. Andrew Wakefield

[Guest guest]

" Zeus " <info

The Origins of the Autism Epidemic - Dr. Andrew Wakefield

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 20:15:29 -0000

 

 

TAAP

Friday, November 18, 2005

The Origins of the Autism Epidemic - Dr. Andrew Wakefield

11-17-05

 

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

At the invitation of Terry Collins, Professor of Chemistry at Carnegie

Mellon University, Pittsburgh, several colleagues and I presented on

Thursday night on the origins of the autism epidemic. Terry Collins

has won

several major awards for 'green' chemistry and his extraordinary

efforts to

create a sustainable world through the reduction of toxic environmental

exposures. Before and after the lecture he has come under huge pressure

from public health officials and certain academics, none of whom have ever

read the relevant science, and he now faces a meeting with the Provost of

his university on Monday. Please would you write in support of Professor

Collins, to him at tc1u, by the end of the W/E if possible,

emphasizing the urgency with which the science needs to be performed and

commending him on his willigness to promote legitimate and timely

debate on

what is an international emergency.

 

Please would you pass this request on to colleagues and relevant list

serves.

 

Thank you in anticipation.

 

Andy (Wakefield)

___

 

 

For those not able to attend or listen live to, " The Seat of the Soul

- The Origins of the Autism Epidemic " , you can still view this

excellent presentation at the web page.

A Presentation by Andrew Wakefield

Executive Director, Thoughtful House Center for Children

Thursday, November 17, 2005

7:30 p.m.

Mellon Institute Auditorium

 

Dr. Andrew Wakefield discussed his research into autism and the

connection with the MMR vaccine. A moderated panel discussion will

immediately follow the lecture. Panel members include: Vicky Debold,

RN, PhD; Edward Yazbak, MD; Debbie Darnley-Fisch, MD; and Arthur

Krigsman, MD.

 

http://www.chem.cmu.edu/wakefield/

 

The conference was broadcast LIVE.It is expected to be available for

some time:

http://www.fightingautism.org/events/cmu2005/

 

This is an impeccable presentation with valuable information.

 

A special thank you to the professionals who made this presentation

possible.

 

============================================

 

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/331/7525/1148#122053

 

Cochrane, research bias and Dr Wakefield 22 November 2005

_________________________________

 

CDIG Newlsetter 10, p.8:

http://www.cochrane.org/newslett/CDCIG_Mar_2004.pdf

[2]

www.parliament.thestationeryoffice.co.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/42.pdf

 

[3] BBC News, 'Top doctor wades in to MMR

debate': http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3512195.stm

 

_________

 

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters?lookup=by_date & days=21#121551

RAPID RESPONSE to BMJ's - Why can't the Daily Mail eat humble pie over

MMR?

Humble pie? 19 November 2005

Previous Rapid Response Next Rapid Response Top

John P Heptonstall, of the Morley Acupuncture Clinic

Leeds LS27 8EG

 

Send response to journal:

Re: Humble pie?

 

Sir/Madam

 

I am grateful to Michael Fitzpatrick for alerting us to the Cochrane

review

of Demicheli, Jefferson et al into MMR and autism in his BMJ article " Why

can't the Daily Mail eat humble pie over MMR? " ; I say that tongue in cheek

as I note that Dr. Fitzpatrick uses the Cochrane review to attack Melanie

Phillips for writing an article he terms a " symbol of the woe-ful role of

the media in the course of the MMR controversy " , and to claim that " The

recent publication of a Cochrane systematic review concluding that

there is

" no credible evidence " of a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella

(MMR) vaccine and either inflammatory bowel disease or autism provoked

demands that the British tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mail, apologise

for its

role in promoting the MMR-autism scare " as it is not clear whether Dr

Fitzpatrick actually read the Cochrane review since it does not appear to

evidence his claims nor to have " provoked demands " Fitzpatrick speaks of.

 

The Cochrane review is extraordinary in that there are certainly

statements

in that paper which, as Fitzpatrick argues, might lead readers to believe

that the " MMR causes autism " debate can finally be laid to rest and that

MMR is basically a safe intervention; I refer to the authors' " No credible

evidence of an involvement of MMR with either autism or Crohn's

disease was

found " .. " but the impact of mass immunisation on the elimination of the

diseases has been demonstrated worldwide " . " the safety record of MMR is

possibly best attested by its almost universal use " . " given the

existence of

documented elimination of targeted diseases in large population by

means of

mass immunisation campaigns however we have no reason to doubt the

effectiveness of MMR " . Yet the review does not appear to identify any

concrete scientific proof for those statements.

 

The objectives of the review are clearly stated to be " To review the

existing evidence on the absolute effectiveness of the MMR vaccine in

children (by the effect of the vaccine on the incidence of clinical cases

of measles, mumps and rubella). To assess in children worldwide occurrence

of adverse events including those that are common, rare, short and long

term, following exposure to MMR " . The team searched 5000 articles and

pared

them down according to their own criteria until there were only 31 studies

that met the criteria for complete analysis - included in the 'rejected'

4969 studies were all those attributed to Wakefield et al - therefore his

evidence of alleged MMR-induced IBDs and papers of Vijendra Singh et al

with powerful evidence of alleged measles virus (and later measles vaccine

virus) induced autism.

 

Rejection from the final 31 had 4969 articles

discarded by the team's specific criteria; of course one cannot claim that

the 4696 studies were invalidated by rejection, therefore the team cannot

claim for example that evidence for IBD/Crohn's-induced colitis does not

exist, as they ignored specific studies making that claim.

 

The findings of the Cochrane review are therefore founded on careful

analysis of the 31 studies that met criteria for study. Only they provide

evidence for conclusions drawn by the team about their objectives on

" absolute effectiveness " and " worldwide occurrence of adverse events "

for MMR.

 

I was therefore surprised, on analysing this paper for some considerable

time, that it appears to almost exclusively project the inadequacies

of the

31 studies and not their inherent ability to prove or evidence the

objectives set by the authors! In fact the authors make it perfectly clear

that none of the 31 studies can be safely relied upon to evidence their

objectives. Perhaps I can show this most readily by referring readers to a

simple statistical representation derived from the authors' critical

comments on the value of the 31 studies from which they attempt to attain

their objectives: -

 

1. NO study reported complete vaccine identification e.g. lot numbers,

adjuvants etc.

 

2. 39% failed to report ANY vaccine strains

 

3. 10% reported the strain for only one component of MMR

 

4. 84% failed to give complete information on schedule, doses, route of

administration

 

5. 58% failed to report definitions for all possible outcomes; 23% were

single event specific

 

6. 19% had NO definitions for safety outcome measurements beyond a

description of temperature range measurements; only 13% had ONE outcome

with description, and 16% more than one outcome with description

 

7. 48% of those monitoring temperature gave NO further description of

either numerical range or base reading

 

8. 19% reported NO participants missing for ADR monitoring; for 3% it was

NOT POSSIBLE to determine if participants were missing; 55% had 'clearly

missing unintended event data' of which 18% had under 10% missing from all

areas, 24% had between 11 and 20% missing, 47% had between 20 to 60%

missing from all areas and 12% the number of child subjects missing from

all areas COULD NOT BE DETERMINED.

 

9. 26% of the studies had inadequate explanation for missing data and for

12% no explanations were offered

 

10. 6% had discrepancies in reporting denominators

 

11. 3% excluded more than 33% of cases

 

12. 32% had insufficient information on study population and enrolment

 

13. 23% had population descriptions that raised doubts as to the

generalisability of their conclusions to other settings

 

14. 3% had uncertainty about power and generalisability of findings from

single case only design study

 

15. For 2 GPRD-based studies the precise nature of controlled unexposed

subjects to MMR their generalisability was IMPOSSIBLE to determine.

 

When one applies the above error-inducing factors to their respective

studies it is difficult to find one study devoid of sufficient error

likely

to invalidate its findings. Is it any wonder the authors of the Cochrane

review also concluded " external validity of included studies was low " ,

that

" descriptions of the study populations, response rates (particularly

in non

randomised studies), vaccine content and exposure (all important

indicators

of generalisability) were poor and inconsistently reported " , and that

there

was in addition " inadequate and inconsistent descriptions of reported

outcomes, limited observations periods (maximum 42 days) and selective

reporting of results " ?

 

The question must be; why were supportive statements made by the authors

regarding safety and effectiveness of MMR which their detailed dismantling

of the validity of the 31 studies so obviously invalidates? One detects

almost 'bipolar' outpourings when comparing, for example, a statement like

" Existing evidence on safety and effectiveness of MMR vaccine supports

current policies of mass immunisation " with " the design and reporting of

safety outcomes in MMR vaccine studies, both pre- and post-marketing, need

to be improved and standardised definitions of adverse events should be

adopted " .

 

Perhaps the most damning statement for MMR vaccination the team makes

appears in their 'Background'. They state " despite its worldwide use, no

systematic reviews of the effectiveness and safety of MMR are available " .

Clearly, and despite the Cochrane review, the world's children continue to

be afflicted by lack of a review which provides essential evidence of

effectiveness and safety of MMR vaccination..

Regards

John H.

Competing interests: None declared

________

 

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters?lookup=by_date & days=21#121487

RAPID RESPONSE to BMJ's - Why can't the Daily Mail eat humble pie over

MMR? Humble Pie Not on Menu 15 November 2005.

Clifford G. Miller,

Lawyer, graduate physicist, former university examining lecturer in

law. http://www.cliffordmiller.com

________

 

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters?lookup=by_date & days=21#121832

Hilary Butler IN RESPONSE TO: Why can't the Daily Mail eat humble pie

over MMR?

_________

 

http://www.komotv.com/news/printstory.asp?id=40094

KOMO 4 News

Investigation: Death And Denial - Frances Haddon Morgan Center -

institution specializing in autism

__________

 

Elizabeth Horn hornproductions

" Horn created a 60-minute film, " Finding the Words. " The film's financial

sponsor is KTEH San Jose. American Public Television has agreed to submit

the film to PBS for a national broadcast in April, which is national

Autism

Awareness Month. "

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/13/CMG47F9SN91.DTL & hw=E\

lizabeth+Horn & sn=001 & sc=1000

 

http://tinyurl.com/djup2

__________

 

forwarded by

Zeus Information Service

Alternative Views on Health

www.zeusinfoservice.com