Friday, November 11, 2005
MMR: WILL WE EVER BE TOLD THE TRUTH?
DOES THE MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine cause autism or not? According to the UK government and its health agencies, the debate is over - there's overwhelming evidence that establishes there is no link.
The latest 'final word' has been supplied by the reputable Cochrane Collaboration, which provides a scientific analysis of previously published studies. Having assessed around 3,500 papers, it has concluded that it can find no evidence of an association.
It's a conclusion that has made the headlines - but, like all headlines, the 'small print' is overlooked. And the small print, in this case at least, is significant.
That small print failed to tell the public that the Cochrane Collaboration could find just FIVE papers that related to the vaccine and autism, and only two of those were scientifically valid.
Those few valid studies were very small, and involved only a handful of children - and so the categorical assurance given by government health agencies to the public was based on flimsy evidence.
It is the second time the Cochrane Collaboration has tried to provide the definitive last word on a topic that just won't go away. Again, in the previous study, carried out three years earlier, its researchers were at pains to find enough suitable studies in order to make a meaningful conclusion, and again they failed.
The PR machine has been in overdrive since 1998 when Andrew Wakefield, then of the Royal Free Hospital, first announced a possible link, based on measles viruses he found in the gut of his autistic patients.
Although Wakefield has only ever contended that there is a 'possible' link, it has been enough for him to lose his post at the hospital, and to face a cross-examination by the medical council. So much for science. He now works in Texas where he continues his research.
But something extraordinary occurred in 2001, something that has never been explained - and has never received much publicity. Prof John O'Leary independently found the measles virus in 24 of 25 of Wakefield's autistic patients.
DOES THE MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine cause autism or not? According to the UK government and its health agencies, the debate is over - there's overwhelming evidence that establishes there is no link.
The latest 'final word' has been supplied by the reputable Cochrane Collaboration, which provides a scientific analysis of previously published studies. Having assessed around 3,500 papers, it has concluded that it can find no evidence of an association.
It's a conclusion that has made the headlines - but, like all headlines, the 'small print' is overlooked. And the small print, in this case at least, is significant.
That small print failed to tell the public that the Cochrane Collaboration could find just FIVE papers that related to the vaccine and autism, and only two of those were scientifically valid.
Those few valid studies were very small, and involved only a handful of children - and so the categorical assurance given by government health agencies to the public was based on flimsy evidence.
It is the second time the Cochrane Collaboration has tried to provide the definitive last word on a topic that just won't go away. Again, in the previous study, carried out three years earlier, its researchers were at pains to find enough suitable studies in order to make a meaningful conclusion, and again they failed.
The PR machine has been in overdrive since 1998 when Andrew Wakefield, then of the Royal Free Hospital, first announced a possible link, based on measles viruses he found in the gut of his autistic patients.
Although Wakefield has only ever contended that there is a 'possible' link, it has been enough for him to lose his post at the hospital, and to face a cross-examination by the medical council. So much for science. He now works in Texas where he continues his research.
But something extraordinary occurred in 2001, something that has never been explained - and has never received much publicity. Prof John O'Leary independently found the measles virus in 24 of 25 of Wakefield's autistic patients.
// posted by Linda Weissinger Lupowitz @ 11:11 PM 
