nuthinbutpink
January 10th, 2011, 06:17 PM
Dr. Lisa Dana
1/6/2011
The BMJ (British Medical Journal) released a story yesterday that the MMR study, first published in the Lancet in 1998, was not only unethical, it was fraudulent.
Mr. Wakefield, a physician stripped of his medical license last year, claimed that his research related the MMR vaccine to autism. His study was based on only twelve children. Investigative reporter, Brian Deer of London, found that in fact only one child in the study had a diagnosis of regressive autism, and that 5 children in the study had pre-existing developmental concerns. The study claimed that the children were all previously healthy.
Mr. Wakefield also had financial gain from his irresponsible reporting. According to Medscape, he received consulting fees from attorneys as they filed lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers.
Unfortunately, the population most affected by Mr. Wakefield’s scam is our children. Parents, afraid for the safety of their children, have chosen not to vaccinate. It is hard to separate fact from fiction, and twelve years later, I am still having to discuss vaccine safety with my parents. Just yesterday, I had a well-educated parent refuse the MMR for her now two year old. She admitted that she is not sure why she is afraid of the vaccine…but she is.
Today I was interviewed on 7Live regarding this issue. The host was appropriately concerned about the oversight of medical publishing. Another big issue is the lack of vaccination & the fall out from this fraudulence. We have a pertussis epidemic in California, children in Europe and the U.S. are coming down with the measles. These are real diseases and children die from these diseases.
Not only that, this scam has diluted the real attention that autism needs. Another guest on the show had a child with autism. He devotes his volunteer hours to AutismSpeaks. He lives with autism every day, and knows that only credible research is going to help his son.
Autism is an overwhelming disease for a family. It consumes them full time. Families are not only trying to raise their child and set them up for success, but are also trying to maintain family normalcy which includes working, school and paying bills.
I hope now we can give autism the real attention it deserves
1/6/2011
The BMJ (British Medical Journal) released a story yesterday that the MMR study, first published in the Lancet in 1998, was not only unethical, it was fraudulent.
Mr. Wakefield, a physician stripped of his medical license last year, claimed that his research related the MMR vaccine to autism. His study was based on only twelve children. Investigative reporter, Brian Deer of London, found that in fact only one child in the study had a diagnosis of regressive autism, and that 5 children in the study had pre-existing developmental concerns. The study claimed that the children were all previously healthy.
Mr. Wakefield also had financial gain from his irresponsible reporting. According to Medscape, he received consulting fees from attorneys as they filed lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers.
Unfortunately, the population most affected by Mr. Wakefield’s scam is our children. Parents, afraid for the safety of their children, have chosen not to vaccinate. It is hard to separate fact from fiction, and twelve years later, I am still having to discuss vaccine safety with my parents. Just yesterday, I had a well-educated parent refuse the MMR for her now two year old. She admitted that she is not sure why she is afraid of the vaccine…but she is.
Today I was interviewed on 7Live regarding this issue. The host was appropriately concerned about the oversight of medical publishing. Another big issue is the lack of vaccination & the fall out from this fraudulence. We have a pertussis epidemic in California, children in Europe and the U.S. are coming down with the measles. These are real diseases and children die from these diseases.
Not only that, this scam has diluted the real attention that autism needs. Another guest on the show had a child with autism. He devotes his volunteer hours to AutismSpeaks. He lives with autism every day, and knows that only credible research is going to help his son.
Autism is an overwhelming disease for a family. It consumes them full time. Families are not only trying to raise their child and set them up for success, but are also trying to maintain family normalcy which includes working, school and paying bills.
I hope now we can give autism the real attention it deserves