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Thomas Sowell: Vaccine phobia and the autism ‘epidemic’
http://nypost.com/2015/02/10/vaccine-phobia-and-the-autism-epidemic/ ^ | February 10, 2015 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 02/11/2015 9:10:08 AM PST by iowamark

The current controversy over whether parents should be forced to have their children vaccinated for measles is one of the painful signs of our times.

Measles was virtually wiped out in the United States, years ago. Why the resurgence of this disease now?

The short answer is that false claims, based on other false claims, led many parents to stop getting their children vaccinated against measles.

The key false claim was that the vaccine for measles caused an increase in autism. This claim was made in 1998 by a doctor writing in a distinguished British medical journal, so it is understandable that many parents took it seriously, and did not want to run the risk of having their child become autistic.

Fortunately, others took the claim seriously in a very different sense. They did massive studies involving half a million children in Denmark and 2 million children in Sweden.

These studies showed that there was no higher incidence of autism among children who had been vaccinated than among children who had not been vaccinated.

Incidentally, the “evidence” on which the original claim that vaccines caused autism was based was just 12 children....

Unfortunately, it takes time to run careful scientific studies, involving vast numbers of children in different countries. That allowed the propaganda against vaccines to go on for years...

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: measles; thomassowell; vaccine; vaccines
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1 posted on 02/11/2015 9:10:08 AM PST by iowamark
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To: iowamark

“The key false claim was that the vaccine for measles caused an increase in autism. This claim was made in 1998 by a doctor writing in a distinguished British medical journal, so it is understandable that many parents took it seriously, and did not want to run the risk of having their child become autistic.”

Investigations by Sunday Times journalist Brian Deer reported that Andrew Wakefield, the author of the original research paper, had multiple undeclared conflicts of interest,[2][3] had manipulated evidence,[4] and had broken other ethical codes. The Lancet paper was partially retracted in 2004, and fully retracted in 2010, when The Lancet’s editor-in-chief Richard Horton described it as “utterly false” and said that the journal had been “deceived.”[5] Wakefield was found guilty by the General Medical Council of serious professional misconduct in May 2010 and was struck off the Medical Register, meaning he could no longer practice as a doctor in the UK.[6] In 2011, Deer provided further information on Wakefield’s improper research practices to the British medical journal, BMJ, which in a signed editorial described the original paper as fraudulent.[7][8] The scientific consensus is that no evidence links the MMR vaccine to the development of autism, and that this vaccine’s benefits greatly outweigh its risks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy


2 posted on 02/11/2015 9:13:18 AM PST by TexasGator
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To: iowamark

“Fortunately, others took the claim seriously in a very different sense. They did massive studies involving half a million children in Denmark and 2 million children in Sweden.”

It’s called “mopping up” and is one of the reasons the “settled science” paradigm is hard to break. In our time of apathy + stupidity + drugged up + spiritual illiteracy + political manipulation through media and education paradigms are probably unassailable. I know three kids who were fine before vaccinations and became autistic after. That tells me a lot more than this socially motivated/situated research. Before anyone tries to tell me how stupid and unscientific I am, read Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.


3 posted on 02/11/2015 9:19:00 AM PST by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: iowamark
The moral of the story is do what YOU think is right and live with the consequences of YOUR decisions, not of some anonymous bureaucrat’s decision.
4 posted on 02/11/2015 9:19:19 AM PST by immadashell (The inmates are running the asylum.)
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To: TexasGator

Right. And Vioxx was perfectly safe until it was proven to cause heart attacks. I don’t believe the mainstream medical press any more than the MSM. Vaccines are a goldmine for Big Pharma.


5 posted on 02/11/2015 9:19:41 AM PST by Dr. Thorne ("Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads." - Luke 21:28)
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To: iowamark

Hey, giving birth the natural way 100 years ago meant a very high mortality rate for both mother and child. But it was the “natural” thing to do.

Some parents to be are still choosing natural child birth and sometimes the results are tragic.


6 posted on 02/11/2015 9:20:20 AM PST by dhs12345
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To: iowamark
And the Imam Obama's CDC wants us to believe the US measles outbreak originated from US citizens returning from overseas who later visited Disneyland.

“The only way it can come is from other countries, usually from U.S. travelers who travel abroad and who are not protected through vaccinations, who get infected overseas and bring it back,” Jane Seward, deputy director of the CDC’s viral disease division, told me during one of the outbreaks last year.


7 posted on 02/11/2015 9:21:54 AM PST by TexasCajun
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To: Dr. Thorne
Yeah...measles vaccine is a gold mine.
8 posted on 02/11/2015 9:22:55 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: iowamark

It was junk science that the doctor based his “study” on. As a result, millions of kids are at risk.


9 posted on 02/11/2015 9:24:06 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (True followers of Christ emulate Christ. True followers of Mohammed emulate Mohammed.)
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To: TexasGator

I’m really surprised by how uncritical people are of science.

“At least in the mature sciences, answers (or full substitutes for answers) to questions like these are firmly embedded in the educational initiation that prepares and licenses the student for professional practice.”

“For these men the new theory implies a change in the rules governing the prior practice of normal science. Inevitably, therefore, it reflects upon much scientific work they have already successfully completed. That is why a new theory, however special its range of application, is seldom or never just an increment to what is already known.”

Thomas Kuhn, who is a scientist. Unlike Thomas Sowell.


10 posted on 02/11/2015 9:26:32 AM PST by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: immadashell

Unfortunately, a kid sick with measles will make other kids sick including those who were immunized. The kids who were immunized will be less sick but will be sick just the same. And what about people who have compromised immune systems.

The rule of a true libertarian should be: I can do whatever I want as long as it doesn’t harm you or anyone else. Unfortunately, this rule doesn’t always apply and their actions do end up hurting others.


11 posted on 02/11/2015 9:26:35 AM PST by dhs12345
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To: Dr. Thorne

“And Vioxx was perfectly safe until it was proven to cause heart attacks.”

In 2005, advisory panels in both the U.S. and Canada encouraged the return of rofecoxib to the market, stating that rofecoxib’s benefits outweighed the risks for some patients. The FDA advisory panel voted 17-15 to allow the drug to return to the market despite being found to increase heart risk. The vote in Canada was 12-1, and the Canadian panel noted that the cardiovascular risks from rofecoxib seemed to be no worse than those from ibuprofen—though the panel recommended that further study was needed for all NSAIDs to fully understand their risk profiles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rofecoxib


12 posted on 02/11/2015 9:28:49 AM PST by TexasGator
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To: Dr. Thorne

“Right. And Vioxx was perfectly safe until it was proven to cause heart attacks.”

Not quite, but your point is a good one.

In this case the link between vioxx and increased chance for heart problems was determined in long range large number studies.

And that is exactly how the link between vaccination and autism was shown to not be present. Long term large number studies.


13 posted on 02/11/2015 9:29:35 AM PST by ifinnegan
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To: dhs12345

I have 10 nieces and nephews who were born naturally with no doctors present. Everything went well. Mother, baby, and father were able to sleep in their own beds without a bunch of nurses trying to force this thing and that thing on the parents.


14 posted on 02/11/2015 9:30:50 AM PST by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: iowamark

If the MSM telling me to take. I will not.


15 posted on 02/11/2015 9:31:22 AM PST by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: demshateGod

I would not refer to you as stupid and unscientific.

I hold no medical degree and I gather you do not either.

What you do seem to be doing, though, falls under the logical fallacy of correlation equaling causation.


16 posted on 02/11/2015 9:33:19 AM PST by dmz
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To: TexasGator
That faux "investigative reporter" Brian Deer was exposed as a fraud [ who was paid & hired by the pharmaceutical industry to author that despicable hit piece ] who deliberately misrepresented himself & Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Please I urge everyone to read up about this right here at this informative link. The left wing press is covering up the truth about vaccines since they get a lot of sponsoring by the vaccine industry and are thus corrupt and certainly not honest brokers of information. The studies that Dr. Wakefield conducted were found to be RIGHT years earlier & also since his findings. Whenever the press claims that Dr. Wakefield was "debunked" or "discredited" they never or rarely ever tell who WHO did the so called "debunking" as they never investigate just who ran the hit pieces against Dr. Wakefield. Wakefield for his part has pressed a defamation suit against that lying little punk "Deer" for his willful lies & defamation. Wakefield partner in the studies was EXONERATED earlier & so too will Wakefield in time. The MMR vaccine is not safe contrary to the paid hacks of the press might assert.
17 posted on 02/11/2015 9:33:28 AM PST by Republican1795.
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To: dhs12345

If anyone comes to my house and tries to vaccinate my kids, that’s an assault on my family. I’ll meet it with due resistance.


18 posted on 02/11/2015 9:33:55 AM PST by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: demshateGod

As well you should, given that you have availed yourself of your rights as a citizen in the state in which you reside.

Whether your science is good or bad.

And I suspect, in the case of the measles, that your science is bad. But that’s not the issue in the case of you exercising your rights. You don’t need scientific justification.


19 posted on 02/11/2015 9:38:25 AM PST by dmz
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To: dmz

It’s just common sense. Kid was fine, got the vaccine, the kid has autism. That tells me all I need to know. If I trusted the scientists (you know, the guys who say everything evolved from some big bang somewhere, and that my minivan is causing icecaps to melt), the pharmaceutical companies (the guys who say all bad behavior can be cured by drugs) and the politicians (...), I would not believe my own eyes. None of those guys can compel me to ignore my own experience.


20 posted on 02/11/2015 9:38:58 AM PST by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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