This is exactly the opposite of reality in evidence-based medicine, where case reports and in vitro studies are considered the least reliable forms of evidence.

Not exactly. One of the problems with evidence-based medicine is that basic science results tend to be under-emphasized. That’s the reason that modalities that are totally ridiculous a priori from a scientific standpoint (homeopathy and “reiki” for example) keep getting tested in clinical trials. This certainly doesn’t mean that in vitro tests are superior for questions like vaccine safety. They aren’t, and David Kirby’s full of crap if he thinks that throwing thimerosal on neurons in cell culture at high concentrations tells us much of anything about how mercury behaves in the body when injected at the concentrations that used to be used in vaccines. It’s just a little bit of a sore point that the EBM paradigm tends to undervalue basic science by a large degree.

“He contrasted this with the case in favour of a vaccine/autism connection being based on “harder” laboratory studies and toxicology, real diagnoses of actual patients instead of any aggragation of statistics.”

In other words, it appears that David Kirby believes case reports and in vitro studies are superior to group studies. This is exactly the opposite of reality in evidence-based medicine, where case reports and in vitro studies are considered the least reliable forms of evidence. They are about at the same level as expert opinion and a notch above anecdotes I believe.

Socrates – JABS is indeed a British group.