Doctor Faked Data Linking Vaccines to Autism
February 12, 2009
It just goes to show: you shouldn’t get your medical information from a woman who ate her own snot on MTV, even if she is blonde and beautiful with large, artificial breasts (Jenny McCarthy, we hardly knew ye).
The Sunday Times of London has the story of Dr. Andrew Wakefield who started the panic over the non-existent link between the childhood MMR (for measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism.
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.
Here in the states a special U.S. court ruled against three families today (2/12/09) who claimed vaccines caused their children’s autism. From Reuters:
“Considering all of the evidence, I found that the petitioners have failed to demonstrate that thimerosal-containing vaccines can contribute to causing immune dysfunction, or that the MMR vaccine can contribute to causing either autism or gastrointestinal dysfunction,” the ruling from Hastings said.
“I further conclude that while Michelle Cedillo has tragically suffered from autism and other severe conditions, the petitioners have also failed to demonstrate that her vaccinations played any role at all in causing those problems.”
Hastings also rejected an argument that some children may be genetically “hypersusceptible” to mercury.
Of course, it’s too much to expect that McCarthy and the people she has duped (Oprah, I’m looking at you) will accept the findings of the courts and science. By scaring people away from routine childhood vaccinations McCarthy has done incredible damage to the health and well being of children in America.
Phil Plait, a wonderful writer (Death from the Skies), astronomer and author of the Bad Astronomy blog had a great piece on McCarthy last October here.
Conclusion: Jenny McCarthy is lovely to look at, but get your medical advice from a real doctor.
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