Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Wakefield is a Fraud

It isn't exactly news to those of us who frequent blogs where Brian Deer posts but it's now official. This evening, CNN reported on the first instalment in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) of Mr. Deer's exposé of how Andrew Wakefield falsified medical records of the 12 children reported in the now retracted, 1998 Lancet study. CNN's first report by Parker and Spitzer caused notorious anti-vaxxer, J.B. Handley of Generation Rescue and a contributor to Age of Autism to squirm in his seat and dodge the hard, albeit straightforward questions posed to him.

The second was by Anderson Cooper who interviewed Andy Wakefield about the BMJ editorial on AC360°. Wakefield was clearly unnerved and uncharacteristically frenzied by Mr. Cooper's direct questioning about his fraud, conflicts of interest and associations with the legal aid supporting the Lancet study. True to form, Wakefield lied and stated he declared his conflicts of interest, did not receive any money from the MMR litigation team and that his work, "has been replicated in five countries around the world".

Brian Deer's feature article was followed up by another scathing editorial by the editors of BMJ.
In a series of articles starting this week, and seven years after first looking into the MMR scare, journalist Brian Deer now shows the extent of Wakefield’s fraud and how it was perpetrated (doi:10.1136/bmj.c5347). Drawing on interviews, documents, and data made public at the GMC hearings, Deer shows how Wakefield altered numerous facts about the patients’ medical histories in order to support his claim to have identified a new syndrome; how his institution, the Royal Free Hospital and Medical School in London, supported him as he sought to exploit the ensuing MMR scare for financial gain; and how key players failed to investigate thoroughly in the public interest when Deer first raised his concerns.11
Wakefield altered medical records of the 'Lancet 12' to the extent that none of the children's reported results were concordant with their medical records as summed up here:

How the link was fixed

The Lancet paper was a case series of 12 child patients; it reported a proposed “new syndrome” of enterocolitis and regressive autism and associated this with MMR as an “apparent precipitating event.” But in fact:

  • Three of nine children reported with regressive autism did not have autism diagnosed at all. Only one child clearly had regressive autism

  • Despite the paper claiming that all 12 children were “previously normal,” five had documented pre-existing developmental concerns

  • Some children were reported to have experienced first behavioural symptoms within days of MMR, but the records documented these as starting some months after vaccination

  • In nine cases, unremarkable colonic histopathology results—noting no or minimal fluctuations in inflammatory cell populations—were changed after a medical school “research review” to “non-specific colitis”

  • The parents of eight children were reported as blaming MMR, but 11 families made this allegation at the hospital. The exclusion of three allegations—all giving times to onset of problems in months—helped to create the appearance of a 14 day temporal link

  • Patients were recruited through anti-MMR campaigners, and the study was commissioned and funded for planned litigation

It is refreshing to witness that the very media who fueled Wakefield's MMR-autism scare and help to create a manufactroversy by providing false balance with appearances by vaccine-autism cranks, are now doing some due diligence by investigating the claim a bit more thoroughly and positing incisive questions to those making the outrageous claims. Sadly, there will always be some media types that will continue to give the vaccine-autism cranks some air-time in the name of 'balance' but it definitely appears as though they will be far and few between and not particularly important from an ethical journalistic point of view.

The MMR-autism scare is based upon verifiable, scientific fraud. Millions of dollars and countless hours have been consumed to investigate this claim and none has been found. Then again, it's rather difficult to find evidence of causation when the original claim was completely and utterly falsified for personal and financial gain. Any practitioner who would still perpetuate Wakefield's claim and support him should be viewed as dubious, at best and a charlatan, at worst.

20 comments:

  1. How sad mainstream media have dragged their feet on this issue. Wonder if Oprah will get Anderson on to talk about this before she winds up? Pft, yeh right!

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  2. So I guess the payouts that the US government is giving for autism being caused by vaccines are just for giggles right? Look up Hannah Poling ...

    Oh that's right she had a pre-existing condition that go worse right? Her neurologist father and video evidence show that this is untrue, there was no condition... There are other payouts happening as well.

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  3. Okay, here is some research on Hannah Poling, "The Appalling Poling Saga". She does not have autism, and she has a genetic mitochondrial disorder that was part of her reaction to the vaccines (which she was being caught up on because of her frequent illnesses). Plus her father is just as guilty as Wakefield in not disclosing conflicts of interest, from the linked article:In spite of their carefully worded conflict of interest statement, it remains unclear whether Drs. Frye, Zimmerman or Shoffner learned of Dr. Poling’s VICP claim during the months between the report’s original submission and final publication — that is, soon enough to retract and amend the explicit assertion that the authors of Developmental Regression and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Child with Autism “[had] no conflicts of interest to disclose” before it found its way into print. Their statement nonetheless indicates that Dr. Poling withheld information about a highly relevant potential source of bias while collaborating with his child’s doctors on her case report. Although Dr. Poling’s co-authors have been appropriately circumspect in their references to their young patient, a recent Scientific American article quotes the opinion of Dr. Shoffner — a leading authority on mitochondrial disorders — that Dr. Poling has “mudd[ied] the waters” with unsupported public speculations about the percentage of children who might be susceptible to mitochondrial dysfunction, and the likelihood that vaccines might trigger such dysfunction.

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  4. Hannah Poling has nothing to do with the fact that Andrew Wakefield apparently made up virtually all details of his paper in The Lancet that he used as a fire starter (and income generator) for anti-vaccine lawyers and private doctors selling single vaccines.

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  5. So why did the CDC start pulling thimeresol out of vaccines again? Because of the wakefield study with 12 kids? Or perhaps it was a cdc study with 230,000 people, and they did find a link between heavy metal exposure (from vaccines) and autism..

    And you do realize that Wakefields findings have been verified in no less than 28 studies around the world that support his study...

    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/10/wakefield-interview.aspx

    I guess all 28 of those studies are all fraud as well.

    Scroll to the bottom.. Oh, and did you see the study that showed the flu vaccine is useless?

    http://preventdisease.com/news/10/121010_no_value_flu_vaccines.shtml

    And the icing on the cake - did you actually read wakefields study? He doesn't even say he found a link between mmr and autism, just that more studies need to be done. Why do you and others repeat that he said he found a link?

    Follow the money lady.

    Of course not every child vaccinated gets injured... But many do.

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  6. Anon - thimerosal has nothing to do with Andrew Wakefield and his fraudulent story either. There was never any thimerosal in the MMR. Mercola is a sales website - he finds another "cause" of autism every month to frame his nutritional supplements - I do not consider him a reliable source.

    Not one independent study has "verified" Wakefield's findings. They are not "fraudulent", these studies just don't say what Wakefield and his buddies claim they say - see here:

    http://justthevax.blogspot.com/2010/02/independent-wakefield-way-really.html

    Flu vaccine has nothing to do with Wakefield's fraudulent study (ies) either, can you stay on topic?

    yupp, read the Lancet study and a lot of his previous and later papers. Wakefield warned against the MMR on the day the Lancet study was released. He did so by press conference, later in studies.

    I did follow the money - it landed me in the anti-vaccine camp.

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  7. So I guess the payouts that the US government is giving for autism being caused by vaccines are just for giggles right? Look up Hannah Poling ...

    This is nothing but a strawman to try and distract from the real issue of Wakefield falsifying medical records to produce pre-ordained results. What does this have to do with the topic of Wakefield's fraud?

    So why did the CDC start pulling thimeresol out of vaccines again? Because of the wakefield study with 12 kids? Or perhaps it was a cdc study with 230,000 people, and they did find a link between heavy metal exposure (from vaccines) and autism..

    It's called a precautionary principle and there was no link between heavy metal exposure and autism. You just made that up.

    And you do realize that Wakefields findings have been verified in no less than 28 studies around the world that support his study...

    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/10/wakefield-interview.aspx

    I guess all 28 of those studies are all fraud as well.


    Fraud? Some of them but none have replicated Wakefield's results. That's hard to do when his results were completely falsified wouldn't you say? Catherina already provided the link for her evidence that Waker's desperate claim of 'studies from 5 different countries' replicate his findings independently are not replications at all, nor independent. We also took a look at Mercola's Gish Gallup several months ago and none of those replicate Waker's work either. But pick one, any one and you can explain how it does and I will explain why it doesn't. It will be fun.

    Follow the money lady.

    Sure, it's in Waker's, Mercola's and all the other charlatans pockets. Pharma is a profit venture, they don't make a secret of that.

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  8. I'll try to stay on topic with Ms. Anon:

    1) Most of those vaulted studies are mostly case studies of autistic people (many are adults) who have gastrointestinal problems. They don't really address the MMR vaccine. Also the replications need to be independent, which mean none of the ones with himself or a associate (Krigsman) can be used. Mady Hornig, who wrote the autistic mice paper a few years ago, did repeat Wakefield's research, why isn't her results on that list (I suggest you read the link)?

    2) The withdrawn Lancet paper did not have evidence linking MMR to autism, but in a video conference Wakefield recommended that single vaccines be used instead of the MMR. What evidence did he use for that statement if his research did not support it?

    3) There were two separate MMR vaccines used in the UK between 1988 and 1998. Which MMR vaccine was Wakefield's research on, the one used in the UK before or after 1992?

    4) Do you think getting money for one's efforts are bad what do you think about Wakefield's relationship with the lawyer, Richard Barr? Wakefield received about $760,000 from the Legal Trust. Then he also had a patent out for a transfer factor that was apparently both a vaccine and cure for something. Do you think he was going to give it away?

    5) Was Child 11 accurately described in the Lancet paper? Did it match his medical records that his father shared with Mr. Deer?

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  9. Not so nice thing about a link to a Mercola page is the big pop-up that will only let you view the page if you sign up for the newsletter. Aargh and ;-p !

    You will notice that one paper did not make it to the list on Mercola's page, the one by Dr. Mady Hornig.

    Great summary, and really not a surprise to those of us who have been following for the past several years.

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  10. Science Mom -
    Maybe debate Dr Mercola about the 28 studies he cites. You read them all? Yeah right. You are just repeating what you have heard on the news saying his studies haven't been replicated. It's a pathetic sound bite.

    And yeah, what a lame argument that he sells stuff on his site. Every body needs an income, including yourself I am sure. That argument means nothing. You think Wakefield apparently making 750 grand is a big deal? That isn't even a squirt in the bucket. I bet there is at least a 1000 people on Mercks payroll that make twice that, many probably make that every month.

    Why would you people even worry about us parents that are concerned enough for our kids safety not to vaccinate? I have heard several times from other parents - well keep your child away from mine - HAHA! They just admitted the vaccine doesn't work. If it did, you have nothing to worry about.

    Ever think that disease rates went down in the 20th century because of better sanitation, and water supplies? Polio was eliminated from the western world by vaccines right? How come the eastern bloc countries (that didn't use the vaccine) saw a decline in polio in their populations too, around the same time?

    Look, if I had a business where I could convince the governments of the world to buy my product every year, multiple times, for every citizen, well that is a damn good cash cow. Now over the last few years less vaccines are being consumed, due to parental enlightenment, well the establishment is just protecting their cash cow. That is why this is all coming out now, and that is why every single news outlet is running the same story. That is where the money is.

    You don't think a pharma company would lie about it's products and skew test results in their favor? Ever heard of vioxx? Ever wonder why it got eventually pulled. It is because it is blamed for no less than 27000! deaths in the US alone (and up to 80,000 around the world). ANd Merck (the same company that makes the mmr vax) KNEW there were problems in clinical trials and they hid it. But they rammed it through anyways, because they made 2 billion a year from that drug until enough doctors recommended it be pulled and the fda finally did. Didn't know about that did ya?

    And we are supposed to trust these same profit hungry scumbags with the brains and bodies of our precious children. Give me break.

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  11. Science Mom -

    So you heard of Hanna Poling right - who the US paid millions to right ? Why?

    Her vaccine caused her autism! Well, that is not right!

    Look it up.

    (bla bla pre-exising mitochondrial bla - she didn't have the disease symptoms before her shot, she does now and is permanently disabled... even if a few people are predisposed to injury from vaccine, like some kids are allergic to peanut butter, that should be good enough to work more on safety.

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  12. Anon, you are not fooling anyone here -

    Maybe debate Dr Mercola about the 28 studies he cites. You read them all? Yeah right. You are just repeating what you have heard on the news saying his studies haven't been replicated. It's a pathetic sound bite.

    Did you see my link? Yes, we have read these studies, even the obscure and foreign language ones and there is not one independent replication of Wakefield's results. Please pick one of the 28 that you want to discuss here. Can't? Have you not read them?

    And yeah, what a lame argument that he sells stuff on his site. Every body needs an income, including yourself I am sure.

    That is true, everyone needs to make a living. However, in order to sell his stuff, Mercola will claim that MMR causes autism, milk causes autism, cell phones cause autism, mercury causes autism, ...you get the picture, or at least everyone else does.

    You think Wakefield apparently making 750 grand is a big deal?

    Actually, it is. If someone is paid that kind of money to forge results, then that is a very very big deal. I don't know about your income, maybe you can make that amount of money "on the side".

    I bet there is at least a 1000 people on Mercks payroll that make twice that, many probably make that every month.

    What does this have to do with Wakefield's fraud?

    Why would you people even worry about us parents that are concerned enough for our kids safety not to vaccinate? I have heard several times from other parents - well keep your child away from mine - HAHA! They just admitted the vaccine doesn't work. If it did, you have nothing to worry about.

    It doesn't bother you that you are turning your children into potential murder weapons? Not very community friendly.

    Ever think that disease rates went down in the 20th century because of better sanitation, and water supplies?

    Actually, they didn't. Disease "rates" as you call it - did not go down. Deaths from disease went down due to better sanitation, nutrition, antibiotics and intensive care.

    Polio was eliminated from the western world by vaccines right? How come the eastern bloc countries (that didn't use the vaccine) saw a decline in polio in their populations too, around the same time?

    Source?

    Look, if I had a business where I could convince the governments of the world to buy my product every year, multiple times, for every citizen, well that is a damn good cash cow.

    Do you have any idea how much it costs to develop a vaccine or a drug?

    Now over the last few years less vaccines are being consumed, due to parental enlightenment, well the establishment is just protecting their cash cow.

    Actually, they are protecting the vulnerable, babies, sick people (particularly the many immuno suppressed), who cannot be vaccinated and are in mortal danger from your kids.

    That is why this is all coming out now, and that is why every single news outlet is running the same story. That is where the money is.

    The money went to Wakefield - and it needs to be spent on preventable outbreaks (see measles in San Diego, for example, treatment costs and loss of income for parents of sick and/or quarantined children were tremendous).

    You don't think a pharma company would lie about it's products and skew test results in their favor?

    I know they do. Do you think that justifies Wakefield's fraud?

    Ever heard of vioxx?

    Yes, of course. And how is that related to Wakefield's fraud? Do you want to say he emulated that behaviour? Is that a good thing, you think?

    Ever wonder why it got eventually pulled. It is because it is blamed for no less than 27000! deaths in the US alone (and up to 80,000 around the world).

    Those figures are debated, but that would be side tracking from the issue at hand, which is Wakefield's fraud.

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  13. ANd Merck (the same company that makes the mmr vax) KNEW there were problems in clinical trials and they hid it. But they rammed it through anyways, because they made 2 billion a year from that drug until enough doctors recommended it be pulled and the fda finally did. Didn't know about that did ya?

    Indeed I did, but again, how is that related to a man forging patient data to fit a preconceived idea that is wrong?

    And we are supposed to trust these same profit hungry scumbags with the brains and bodies of our precious children. Give me break.

    Actually, at the moment, we are discussing whether we should trust Andrew Wakefield and it is pretty clear that we should not, because his initial MMR/autistic enterocolitis paper was fraudulent and no one ever independently reproduced his results.

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  14. Wow. Why is it so important to defend Wakefield so vehemently? Even without the fraud, it was just a series of 12 case studies. Even Wakefield admits it did not prove anything about any MMR vaccine (and the children were give two types of the vaccine).

    So why so much effort to deflect away from his misdeeds, Anonymous?

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  15. @ Anonymous:
    Maybe debate Dr Mercola about the 28 studies he cites. You read them all? Yeah right. You are just repeating what you have heard on the news saying his studies haven't been replicated. It's a pathetic sound bite.

    Oh I see, you have suddenly come across some people who don't buy into your Gish Gallups and you are left with a pathetic retort. Understand this, Catherina and I have gone through every single one of those studies on Mercola's list. Catherina has blogged about the 5 used by Wankers during media appearances and posts to his loyal flock. You have been challenged to pick just one to show us how it replicates Waker's fraudulent research. Can you do it or not?

    Why would you people even worry about us parents that are concerned enough for our kids safety not to vaccinate? I have heard several times from other parents - well keep your child away from mine - HAHA! They just admitted the vaccine doesn't work. If it did, you have nothing to worry about.

    No, the only thing admitted here is that you don't have a clue about immunology, vaccine efficacy and herd immunity. Nice passive aggressive stunt to consider yourselves the only ones who could possibly be concerned enough with their child's safety by eschewing vaccines. So why do you even care about vaccinations at all if you are so comfortable with your choices? Why even enter the debate at all?

    Ever think that disease rates went down in the 20th century because of better sanitation, and water supplies? Polio was eliminated from the western world by vaccines right? How come the eastern bloc countries (that didn't use the vaccine) saw a decline in polio in their populations too, around the same time?

    Now who is just regurgitating canards they just heard? Of course improved sanitation and living conditions contributed to some disease declines, like cholera. But guess what they increased? Polio and rubella. Guess what they had no effect on? Measles, Mumps, Pertussis, Hib, Diphtheria, Pneumococcal disease and Chicken Pox.

    Look, if I had a business where I could convince the governments of the world to buy my product every year, multiple times, for every citizen, well that is a damn good cash cow. Now over the last few years less vaccines are being consumed, due to parental enlightenment, well the establishment is just protecting their cash cow. That is why this is all coming out now, and that is why every single news outlet is running the same story. That is where the money is.

    Quite a tin-foil beanie you have on there. Does it have a propeller too to ward off bad juju in the air? Pharma has nothing to do with Wakefield and the stories surrounding him. Wakers is such a stooge on his own, he doesn't need the big guns to bring him down--he did that all on his own. In fact, I would suspect that the big bad leaders of the global pharma cabal are all laughing in their cognacs right now over how they haven't had to lift a single finger to hang Waker's out to dry.

    Continued...

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  16. Anonymous,

    You don't think a pharma company would lie about it's products and skew test results in their favor? Ever heard of vioxx? Ever wonder why it got eventually pulled. It is because it is blamed for no less than 27000! deaths in the US alone (and up to 80,000 around the world). ANd Merck (the same company that makes the mmr vax) KNEW there were problems in clinical trials and they hid it. But they rammed it through anyways, because they made 2 billion a year from that drug until enough doctors recommended it be pulled and the fda finally did. Didn't know about that did ya?

    Do you honestly think that a little sheep like you has provided any kind of revelations here? This blogpost is about Wakefield, not pharmaceutical companies. And here you are whining about the corruption of pharma as though it has anything to do with the fraudulent science of a single pseudo-scientist. Hey Einstein, Vioxx cost Merck dearly as do the increasingly hefty fines levied upon them and other pharmaceutical companies. They aren't getting away with it scott-free either so don't pretend otherwise.

    Hey, keep hitching your wagons to the likes of Wakefield but don't act so shocked when people continue to point and laugh at your credulity.

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  17. Just had to come and see what sort of person called themselves Science Mom, whilst posting misspellings like 'parish' and 'vis de vie' on respectful insolence. Was your whole education science, leaving no room for reading or writing?

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  18. Does boring pedantry troll have anything of substance to add related to the post?

    Didn't think so.

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  19. No, not Wakefield, but BMJ and dishonest journalist Brian Deer (probably paid for by lobbyst) are FRAUD.

    An Elaborate Fraud, Part 8: In Which The British Medical Journal Tries to Debunk a Clear-Cut Case of Regressive Autism - AGE OF AUTISM

    http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/11/an-elaborate-fraud-part-8-in-which-the-british-medical-journal-tries-to-debunk-a-clear-cut-case-of-regressive-autism.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed

    We Support Dr. Andrew Wakefield
    http://www.wesupportandywakefield.com/


    Being myself a scientist, have had a look at this case recently, and now i expect some serious reflection on this issue "Wakefield is fraud" on your blog. Thanks for attention.

    Ray

    ====

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