The Other Autism Debate

Last week we ran a story about Dr. Andrew Wakefield's study on the connection between autism and the MMR vaccine being discredited.

Here is the response from Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey:

Los Angeles, February 5, 2010

Dr. Andrew Wakefield is being discredited to prevent an historic study from being published that for the first time looks at vaccinated versus unvaccinated primates and compares health outcomes, with potentially devastating consequences for vaccine makers and public health officials.

It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers reporting on the retraction of a paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues.

The retraction from The Lancet was a response to a ruling from England's General Medical Council, a kangaroo court where public health officials in the pocket of vaccine makers served as judge and jury. Dr. Wakefield strenuously denies all the findings of the GMC and plans a vigorous appeal.

Despite rampant misreporting, Dr. Wakefield's original paper regarding 12 children with severe bowel disease and autism never rendered any judgment whatsoever on whether or not vaccines cause autism, and The Lancet's retraction gets us no closer to understanding this complex issue.

Dr. Wakefield is one of the world's most respected and well-published gastroenterologists. He has publisheddozens of papers since 1998 in well-regarded peer-reviewed journals all over the world. His work documenting the bowel disease of children with autism and his exploration of novel ways to treat bowel disease has helped relieve the pain and suffering of thousands of children with autism.

For the past decade, parents in our community have been clamoring for a relatively simple scientific study that could settle the debate over the possible role of vaccines in the autism epidemic once and for all: compare children who have been vaccinated with children who have never received any vaccines and see if the rate of autism is different or the same.

Few people are aware that this extremely important work has not only begun, but that a study using an animal model has already been completed exploring this topic in great detail.

Dr. Wakefield is the co-author, along with eight other distinguished scientists from institutions like the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Washington, of a set of studies that explore the topic of vaccinated versus unvaccinated neurological outcomes using monkeys.

The first phase of this monkey study was published three months ago in the prestigious medical journal Neurotoxicology, and focused on the first two weeks of life when the vaccinated monkeys received a single vaccine for Hepatitis B, mimicking the U.S. vaccine schedule. The results, which you can read for yourself HERE, were disturbing. Vaccinated monkeys, unlike their unvaccinated peers, suffered the loss of many reflexes that are critical for survival.

Dr. Wakefield and his scientific colleagues are on the brink of publishing their entire study, which followed the monkeys through the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule over a multi-year period. It is our understanding that the difference in outcome for the vaccinated monkeys versus the unvaccinated controls is both stark and devastating.

There is no question that the publication of the monkey study will lend substantial credibility to the theory that over-vaccination of young children is leading to neurological damage, including autism. The fallout from the study for vaccine makers and public health officials could be severe. Having denied the possibility of the vaccine-autism connection for so long while profiting immensely from a recent boom in vaccine sales around the world, it's no surprise that they would seek to repress this important work.

Behind the scenes, the pressure to keep the work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues from being published is immense, and growing every day. Medical journals take extreme risk of backlash in publishing any studies that question the safety of the vaccination program, no matter how well-designed and thorough the research might be. Neurotoxicology, a highly-respected medical journal, deserves great credit for courageously publishing the first phase of this vaccinated monkey study.

The press has been deeply misled in the way The Lancet retraction, and Dr. Wakefield's mock trial, have been characterized. Led by the pharmaceutical companies and their well-compensated spokespeople, Dr. Wakefield is being vilified through a well-orchestrated smear campaign designed to prevent this important new work from seeing the light of day.

What medical journal would want to step in front of this freight train? Moreover, why now, after 12 years of inaction, did The Lancet and GMC suddenly act? Is it coincidence that the monkey study is currently being submitted to medical journals for review and publication?

We urge the media to take a close look at the first phase of the monkey study discussed above and to start asking a very simple question: What was the final outcome of the 14 primates that were vaccinated using the U.S. vaccine schedule and how did that compare to the unvaccinated controls?

The U.S. vaccine schedule has grown from 10 vaccines given to our children in the 1980s to 36 today, perfectly matching the dramatic rise in autism. The work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues deserves to be shared with the world to further, rather than censor, scientific progress.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen
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Vaccine Fight

Celebrities Jenny McCarthy and Amanda Peet are feuding over the safety of vaccinations. Jenny McCarthy says more research needs to be done to make them safer for all kids. According the Chicago Tribune, Peet said, People who don't vaccinate

their kids because of autism fears are "parasites."

I realize the fact that these two celebrities are feuding isn't exactly newsworthy, but the topic is. The end of the article annoys me. It says "Me-Ow." I hope there are other people who read that line and rolled their eyes too!

Former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy and actress Amanda Peet are publicly feuding over the safety of childhood vaccines. Who says there's nothing sexy about inoculations?Their dispute revolves around the belief among some parents of children with autism—including McCarthy —that certain vaccines may trigger the disorder, although scientific research has shown no evidence of any link.Peet, a mother and advocate for childhood vaccinations, said in a recent magazine interview that parents who don't vaccinate their children because of autism fears are "parasites."That made McCarthy very angry, almost as angry as the people who paid to see her recent movie "Witless Protection," in which she starred alongside Larry the Cable Guy.

In an article published Wednesday in Spectrum Magazine, McCarthy said Peet "has a lot of balls to come forward and be on that side, because there is an angry mob on my side. I like the fact that I can say she's completely wrong."Peet apologized for her word choice but called it irresponsible to suggest that groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics are engaged in a massive coverup of harmful vaccines.McCarthy said in the article released Wednesday that the American Academy of Pediatrics "sucks."Too bad the Wall Street bailout debate is devoid of celebrity combatants. Just imagine how spicy it would be if Heidi Klum was ripping Kate Hudson for her stance on credit default swaps.Me-OW!

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Thanks for sending this one Billy!

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Autism One

Wow! What an intense weekend. I have never seen so many caring parents fighting for their kids in one place. I just sat down at the computer after three days in Chicago going to seminar after seminar on all aspects of autism. This picture is posted on the age of autism blog.

I have some pictures of me and Jenny McCarthy (the keynote speaker) that I will be posting when I go buy a new cord for my digital camera. It disappeared last week so I can't load any photos right this second.

I went to the conference to be part of a journalism panel. I met a lot of great people, got pushed and shoved by a lot of moms and got very skeptical of all the products that are touted as "helps kids with autism." There were a lot of people there trying to make money. Hmmm..

So I have some interesting posts coming up next week on my experience. If you have kids, there is some information you need to know. Whether your kids have autism or not, some of the information given was eye opening.

Here's a hint.. nutrition, nutrition, nutrition...

I will give you all the details soon.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen