Posted on 04/25/2015 6:37:22 AM PDT by george76
A new study this week found no link between vaccines and autism. It instantly made headlines on TV news and popular media everywhere. Many billed it as the final word, “once again,” disproving the notion that vaccines could have anything to do with autism.
What you didn’t learn on the news was that the study was from a consulting firm that lists major vaccine makers among its clients: The Lewin Group.
That potential conflict of interest was not disclosed in the paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine; the study authors simply declare “The Lewin Group operates with editorial independence.”
(As an aside, according to OpenSecrets.org, The Lewin Group’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, is a key government partner in Obamacare. Its subsidiary QSSI was given the contract to build the federal government’s HealthCare.gov website. One of its top executives and his family are top Obama donors.)
Conflicts of interest alone do not invalidate a study. But they serve as important context in the relentless effort by pharmaceutical interests and their government partners to discredit the many scientists and studies that have found possible vaccine-autism links.
...
The supposedly best medical experts in the world who deny vaccines have anything to do with autism remain at an utter loss to explain this generation’s epidemic. To declare the science “settled” and the debate “over” is to defy the plain fact that many scientists worldwide are still sorting through it, and millions of people are still debating it.
The body of evidence on both sides is open to interpretation. People have every right to disbelieve the studies on one side. But it is disingenuous to pretend they do not exist.
(Excerpt) Read more at sharylattkisson.com ...
Then you scream for the mods.
Door's right over there.
Pshaw
What problem is that?
I agree with ms attkisson
People don’t like that.
They use profanity
That is not MY problem. Not at all.
I suppose you did not read the article. You should. It’s what the conversation you butted into is about
>>I would suggest that the least likely group of scientists to be corrupted (as opposed to those in the global warming scam) are the medical/pharmaceutical ones. <<
I didn’t say any of the scientists are corrupt, or corrupted, although there’s a few ringers in the thousands of scientists doing climate research. But the science itself has clearly been corrupted in both instances, although far more so in the case of climate research.
I was addressing the use of the science, i.e., the corruption of the results, not the research itself. Ms. Attkisson shows how badly the science surrounding vaccines has been abused, with both government and industry touting one side and ignoring the other completely. Frankly, I was amazed at what she managed to uncover and I follow the topic as a matter of personal interest.
Yes, the last sentence of your post. The guy was a smooth talking train wreck who would stab any of us in the back if he thought he could move ahead of us at work.
There wasn’t a vaccine during a polio epidemic.
Polio is a tricky one. It’s such a severe worst case, if they live. Sometimes I think I will get my kids that vaccine. Then I research, as I did this week. And my answer is once again, no. Why?
Polio is a name for one enterovirus. It and the others like it which can potentially cause limp limbs, paralysis, have zero symptoms in 95% of the people who get it. In 5% of the people, there will be stomach symptoms (nausea, diarrhea, vomiting), plus headache and feeling sick. In 1 case in 1000, there will be paralysis.
There is evidence that the child’s nutrition determines what symptoms or sequelae the child will have, which in 2015 we can understand to have a lot to do with the child’s intestinal biome. So I know how I feed my kids and their gut bugs, so there is very little chance of them getting the severe reaction.
Then I learn that these enteroviruses seem to “enjoy” for want of a better word injection sites. That vaccine-induced polio starts at the site of the vaccine. I conclude that I don’t want to do it.
When I got the vaccine, way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, it was carcinogenic with some dangerous monkey DNA. I’ve made it this far but a lot of my generation has been hit with one of the cancers this money virus seems to cause.
It’s just not cut and dried VACCINES = good. You have to really read and research.
It is definitely a must read article. Nothing is settled re etiology of autism. And vaccines are not proven safe by Andrew Wakefield being discredited. Hardly. The man still works tirelessly for kids with autism. But he is thrown into every “vaccines are perfectly safe” article, as if someone adding saliva to your cocktail proves the cocktail was absolutely delicious prior.
Nope. Wrong.
While there is some truth to what you say, that some kids who might have been called ADHD 10 years ago might be given a spectrum dx, you need only to spend time in a preschool to understand that things have changed dramatically since the 1950s-1970s. There is rarely a group of 25 kids without one or more children in it who pay no attention to what is going on around them, and don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. No eye contact, sometimes very limited speech. These are the undiagnosed kids at 3, not the ones who earlier clearly had something wrong, because those kids don’t end up in typical preschools. The more highly functioning often have new parents who just don’t want to believe it. Often their kids are bright, and can read, can play games, etc. They just don’t know how different their child is until he is with a dozen or so other children, and then his lack of ability to be part of the class becomes disturbingly clear to them.
In my child’s class there are two. One is sweet and shy and no trouble in the class, but all he wants to do is open and shut doors and gates. He will sit quietly but if given a chance will go to a door and begin his thing. The other had to get an aide because he was unable to sit quietly and unable to take any direction. He yells, he takes toy cars and perseverates over spinning their wheels, he gets too close to other kids and touches them like they are objects.
Talk to older teachers who have been teaching for thirty years. They will tell you. It’s an epidemic. SOMETHING in our environment is causing this.
You are wrong. See my previous. There really are more kids moderately and severely affected.
Just want to say I love your posts.
It is a spectrum disorder. It could be that the child you think is fine, isn’t. I don’t know, but in cases where the child is highly functioning at some things, he may be clueless in others. There are kids with autism who can do all their homework in an hour, but can’t tie their shoes even after 10 hours of occupational therapy.
It is very cruel to belittle your neighbors and friends who have a kid with autism by not believing them. Of course dx can be wrong, but give these parents the benefit of doubt.
That was the kind of reaction that should mean never vaccinate again. So many stories of people with horrific reactions like yours, that are then vaccinated again, and they have extremely bad sequelae. Glad you came out of it.
Leave YOU alone? I didn’t ask for your crap.
You should not have been abusive. YOU are the problem here, not me.
I have not criticized other posters with the same view on the subject as you, have I? You think that is just a coincidence? That you have been unfairly singled out?
You went off the reservation with your “emotional, aggressive and ignorant” remark and - so sorry - you got called on it.
Grow up.
Huff. I am so glad to see ms attkisson look at this. It’s a reality
And just because Bill got millions in speaking fees, that did not affect Hillary's decisions at The State Department.
I know you have a point to make, but you KNOW that’s not a fair analogy.
Why not? Seems fair to me. If you have two clients with similar needs do you give more attention to the client that pays the least to your enterprise?
So, your position is that since Bill and Hillary have engaged in a decades long conspiracy, then everyone must be doing the same?
And your suggestion that a consultant might devote more time to a client to whom they are billing more hours, well, that’s what called a tautology.
As for the honesty and integrity with which a consultant deal with clients of any size is or ought to be identical. That’s basic.
On the contrary, she makes an extraordinarily weak case. In fact, looking at her recitation of study after study ostensibly linking autism and vaccine use, you see over and over, “results not replicable,” “too small” of a study,” “logical hurdles,” and on and on. Even Atkinson admits that these studies have not demonstrated a causal link between vaccines and autism. Worse, she repeatedly calls scientists who come to different conclusions than she has “propagandists” and “critics,” presupposing an unsupportable or unfair bias. She has utterly failed to demonstrate that any such bias exists in fact. Even Atkinson herself says: "To be clear: no study to date conclusively proves or disproves a causal link between vaccines and autism and—despite the misreporting—none has claimed to do so.” If all this is so, then where’s the beef?
Are some here so wed to ingrained medical could-not-possibly-do-wrong orthodoxy, they are blinded to a host of data that:
1. proved autism is a real epidemic and not a scam.
2. the pharma-medical establishment often chooses profit over ensuring the safety and health of patients.
This past Aug 2014, one of the CDC’s research scientists reported that the CDC purposely omitted data suggesting MMR vaccine was implicated in causing autism in three year olds.
There is So Much evidence out there, where other countries have rejected our pharmaceutical-medical establishment’s aggressive vaccine schedule of injecting multiple vaccines into an infant, totaling 49 doses of 16 different vaccines by age six.
Why is it so difficult for some people to consider that unfortunately, pharma-medical community is complicit with yet again placing protect of profit over wellness of patients? This happens All the time. It’s the nature of the beast. Pharma and doctors are usually good people and work for the good of patients. However, they become blinded there own self-righteous beliefs and conflicts of interest.
More treatments / procedures / shots = more money.
Haven’t you noticed them pushing the envelope and been troubled by:
The massive push fo liver-damaging / muscle-wasting Statins on the population to control cholesterol?
*Latest studies indicate controlling cholesterol with statins is not advisable.
Giving Hep-B vaccines to newborns?
Suggesting children should take statins, too?
Trying to make Gardisil mandatory for girls and now boys inspite of it’s safety record / injury / deaths?
SV40 primate cancer virus deliberately ignored in 20 years of Polio vaccine. Pharma-medical CDC does a hushed mea culpa
Honestly, getting some FRiends up to speed here on this topic is a challenge.
August 27, 2014 Press Release, “Statement of William W. Thompson, Ph.D., Regarding the 2004 Article Examining the Possibility of a Relationship Between MMR Vaccine and Autism”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-AUGUST 27,2014
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, Ph.D., REGARDING THE 2004 ARTICLE EXAMINING THE POSSIBILITY OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MMR VACCINE AND AUTISM
My name is William Thompson. I am a Senior Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, where I have worked since 1998.
I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. *”The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed.”
I want to be absolutely clear that I believe vaccines have saved and continue to save countless lives. I would never suggest that any parent avoid vaccinating children of any race. Vaccines prevent serious diseases, and the risks associated with their administration are vastly outweighed by their individual and societal benefits.
*”My concern has been the decision to omit relevant findings in a particular study for a particular sub group for a particular vaccine. There have always been recognized risks for vaccination and I believe it is the responsibility of the CDC to properly convey the risks associated with receipt of those vaccines.”
I have had many discussions with Dr. Brian Hooker over the last 10 months regarding studies the CDC has carried out regarding vaccines and neurodevelopmental outcomes including autism spectrum disorders. I share his belief that CDC decision-making and analyses should be transparent. I was not, however, aware that he was recording any of our conversations, nor was I given any choice regarding whether my name would be made public or my voice would be put on the Internet.
I am grateful for the many supportive e-mails that I have received over the last several days.
I will not be answering further questions at this time. I am providing information to Congressman William Posey, and of course will continue to cooperate with Congress. I have also offered to assist with reanalysis of the study data or development of further studies. For the time being, however, I am focused on my job and my family.
Reasonable scientists can and do differ in their interpretation of information. I will do everything I can to assist any unbiased and objective scientists inside or outside the CDC to analyze data collected by the CDC or other public organizations for the purpose of understanding whether vaccines are associated with an increased risk of autism. There are still more questions than answers, and I appreciate that so many families are looking for answers from the scientific community.
My colleagues and supervisors at the CDC have been entirely professional since this matter became public. In fact, I received a performance-based award after this story came out. I have experienced no pressure or retaliation and certainly was not escorted from the building, as some have stated.
Dr. Thompson is represented by Frederick M. Morgan,Jr., Morgan Verkamp, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio, www.morganverkamp.com.
Points offered below for critical thinking FRiends who are not subject to normalcy bias.
1. Autism rates have been rising to an alarming level.
Its real. Up to 1 in 45 children are affected.
2. Other countries have problems with the MMR vaccine and have recognized it has having caused serious vaccine injury.
3. GSK pharma data sheet for MMR tetanus Hep-B vaccine cocktail admits serious injury and death reported when administered to infants and toddlers.
“One in 68 U.S. children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a 30% increase from 1 in 88 two years ago, according to a new report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This newest estimate is based on the CDC’s evaluation of health and educational records of all 8-year-old children in 11 states: Alabama, Wisconsin, Colorado, Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Maryland, North Carolina, Utah and New Jersey.
The incidence of autism ranged from a low of 1 in 175 children in Alabama to a high of 1 in 45 in New Jersey, according to the CDC.
Children with autism continue to be overwhelmingly male. According to the new report, the CDC estimates 1 in 42 boys has autism, 4.5 times as many as girls (1 in 189).”
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/health/cdc-autism/
Italian court compels Health Ministry to concede autism caused by MMR vaccine and awards two children for damages:
http://www.rescuepost.com/files/vaccine-italia-decision.pdf
http://www.naturalnews.com/048888_vaccine_adverse_events_autism_INFANRIX_Hexa.html
Recent Italian Court Decisions on Vaccines and Autism
Milan__Italy
By Mary S. Holland
Milan: 2014
On September 23, 2014, an Italian court in Milan award compensation to a boy for vaccine-induced autism. (See the Italian document here.) A childhood vaccine against six childhood diseases caused the boy’s permanent autism and brain damage. While the Italian press has devoted considerable attention to this decision and its public health implications, the U.S. press has been silent.
Like the U.S., Italy has a national vaccine injury compensation program to give some financial support to those people who are injured by compulsory and recommended vaccinations. The Italian infant plaintiff received three doses of GlaxoSmithKline’s Infanrix Hexa, a hexavalent vaccine administered in the first year of life. These doses occurred from March to October 2006. The vaccine is to protect children from polio, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, pertussis and Haemophilus influenza type B. In addition to these antigens, however, the vaccine then contained thimerosal, the mercury-containing preservative, aluminum, an adjuvant, as well as other toxic ingredients. The child regressed into autism shortly after receiving the three doses. When the parents presented their claim for compensation first to the Ministry of Health, as they were required to do, the Ministry rejected it. Therefore, the family sued the Ministry in a court of general jurisdiction, an option which does not exist in the same form in the U.S.
Based on expert medical testimony, the court concluded that the child more likely than not suffered autism and brain damage because of the neurotoxic mercury, aluminum and his particular susceptibility from a genetic mutation. The Court also noted that Infanrix Hexa contained thimerosal, now banned in Italy because of its neurotoxicity, “in concentrations greatly exceeding the maximum recommended levels for infants weighing only a few kilograms.”
Presiding Judge Nicola Di Leo considered another piece of damning evidence: a 1271-page confidential GlaxoSmithKline report (now available on the Internet). This industry document provided ample evidence of adverse events from the vaccine, including five known cases of autism resulting from the vaccine’s administration during its clinical trials (see table at page 626, excerpt below).
GSK autism
As in many other developed countries, government, not industry, compensates families in the event of vaccine injury. Thus GSK’s apparent lack of concern for the vaccine’s adverse effects is notable and perhaps not surprising. In the final assessment, the report states that “[t]he benefit/risk profile of Infanrix hexa continues to be favourable,” despite GSK’s acknowledgement that the vaccine causes side effects including “anaemia haemolytic autoimmune,thrombocytopenia, thrombocytopenic purpura, autoimmune thrombocytopenia, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, haemolytic anemia, cyanosis, injection site nodule, abcess and injection site abscess, Kawasaki’s disease, important neurological events (including encephalitis and encephalopathy), Henoch-Schonlein purpura, petechiae, purpura, haematochezia, allergic reactions (including anaphylactic and anaphylactoid reactions),” and death (see page 9).
The Milan decision is sober, informed and well-reasoned. The Ministry of Health has stated that it has appealed the Court’s decision, but that appeal will likely take several years, and its outcome is uncertain.
Rimini: 2012
Two years earlier, on May 23, 2012, Judge Lucio Ardigo of an Italian court in Rimini presided over a similar judgment, finding that a different vaccine, the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine (MMR), had caused a child’s autism. (See: Italian MMR Remini decision 2012) As in the Milan case, the Ministry of Health’s compensation program had denied compensation to the family, yet after a presentation of medical evidence, a court granted compensation. There, too, the Italian press covered the story; the U.S. press did not.
In that case, a 15-month old boy received his MMR vaccine on March 26, 2004. He then immediately developed bowel and eating problems and received an autism diagnosis with cognitive delay within a year. The court found that the boy had “been damaged by irreversible complications due to vaccination (with trivalent MMR).” The decision flew in the face of the conventional mainstream medical wisdom that an MMR-autism link has been “debunked.”
***
Both these Italian court decisions break new ground in the roiling debate over vaccines and autism. These courts, like all courts, are intended to function as impartial, unbiased decision makers. The courts’ decisions are striking because they not only find a vaccine-autism causal link, but they also overrule the decisions of Italy’s Ministry of Health. And taken together, the court decisions found that both the MMR and a hexavalent thimerosal- and aluminum-containing vaccine can trigger autism.
These court decisions flatly contradict the decisions from the so-called U.S. vaccine court, the Court of Federal Claim’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. There, from 2007 to 2010, in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding, three decision makers, called Special Masters, found that vaccines did not cause autism in any of the six test cases, and one Special Master even went so far as to compare the theory of vaccine-induced autism to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The Italian court decisions contrast starkly with these U.S. cases based on similar claims.
How do we reconcile the difference between the U.S. and Italian decisions in similar cases? What’s different about Italy? Well, there may be many differences, but a critical one is that in the U.S., if someone loses in the government vaccine injury compensation program, she cannot sue the government in civil court; she can sue only the manufacturer. In the U.S., her family would have to shoulder legal fees in a David and Goliath mismatch, pitting a global pharmaceutical behemoth against a family likely already suffering financially from serious health costs.
Furthermore, since 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court has foreclosed potential cases and class action lawsuits to contest unreasonably dangerous vaccine designs, such as the use of thimerosal as a preservative or the simultaneous administration of multiple live viruses, such as the MMR. Since the Supreme Court’s 2011 Bruesewitz v. Wyeth decision, no court in the U.S. can entertain vaccine design defect claims, the most likely legal actions to aggregate plaintiffs in similar circumstances against large, pharmaceutical defendants.
Unlike American victims of vaccine injury, the Italian plaintiffs didn’t have to sue GSK; they sued the Ministry of Health. In both the Milan and Rimini decisions, the plaintiffs won compensation based on findings that vaccines caused autism. One might say that these cases achieved nothing more than a small payout for injured children. But arguably the families, lawyers and medical experts behind these cases achieved far more. They took the issue of vaccine-induced autism to impartial courts, and they got clear a clear judicial answer based on the evidence: vaccines cause autism.
Are court decisions science? Of course not. There is a desperate need for more science on autism and the role that vaccines play, flimsy industry, medical and government retorts to the contrary notwithstanding. But in the current absence of the necessary science on vaccines and autism, decisions of impartial judicial tribunals, based on extensive evidence and testimony, may be some of the best sources of information and insight we have.
Mary S. Holland is a Research Scholar at the NYU School of Law and chairs the advisory board of the non-profit organization Health Choice.
Posted by Age of Autism at January 07, 2015 at 5:45 AM in Vaccine Safety
And finally, do many hear bother to read the PDR / data sheet on the medication you’re told to take?
If not, then are you being responsible regarding informed consent?
Here’s the MMR tetanus Hep-B vaccine cocktail that infants and toddlers get.
http://www.gsk.ca/english/docs-pdf/product-monographs/Infanrix-hexa.pdf
Open the document.
Are you comfortable with risking serious neurological injury and death that’s been KNOWN to occur with some of these vaccines?
Not me, or millions of other parents.
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