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Vaccine gestapo song lyrics–fact or fiction?

18 May

I don’t do polls as a rule, but it’s time to test some boundaries. Below are song lyrics. I’d like honest answers:

a) Sullivan made these up
b) Someone else made them up as a spoof on vaccine-refusers
c) These are serious lyrics and will be used in an upcoming vaccine choice rally

They have swastikas on their shoulders
They’re such patriotic soldiers
They’re like a militia in Montana
They’re a government agency in Atlanta

Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!
Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!

They’re a medical military priesthood
Just like Adolf they preach the greater good
Consciencious objectors are just little snot
Why don’t you quit complaining and go get your shots

Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!
Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!

can we see your papers
Have you had all your shots?
your papers please, your papers please
Have you had all your shots?
They’re got a one track mind of domination
They say vaccines are your obligation
If a bad reaction turns you into a vegetable,
They’ll sneer and tell you you’re expendable

Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!
Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!
Vaccine gestapo!

Prevalence Rates of Autism Spectrum Disorders Among the Old Order Amish

17 May

One of the topics that comes up over and over online is “The Amish don’t vaccinate” and “the Amish don’t have autism”. Both statements are incorrect. The Amish have no religious prohibition against vaccination and they do have autism.

The question of autism amongst the Amish has been studied and is being presented at the IMFAR autism conference this week. The paper,
Prevalence Rates of Autism Spectrum Disorders Among the Old Order Amish, demonstrates a preliminary prevalence of 1 in 271 as the prevalence of autism amongst Amish children in two Amish communities: Holmes County, Ohio and Elkhart-Lagrange County, Indiana.

J. L. Robinson , Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
L. Nations , Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
N. Suslowitz , Center for Human Genetics Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
M. L. Cuccaro , Human Genetics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL
J. Haines , Center for Human Genetics Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
M. Pericak-Vance , Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Background:

The prevalence rate of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) appears to be steadily increasing. The latest report from the Center for Disease Control estimates the rate of ASD is 1 in 91 children (Kogan, 2009), up from 1 in 150 in 2007. Understanding the seeming changes in ASD prevalence require careful exploration of genetic and environmental factors. A method that has proven useful in dissecting the etiology of complex diseases is the study of isolated populations. One population isolate that has been studied extensively is the Amish, with well over 250 genetic studies. Expanding studies of autism to the Amish may provide important information about etiology. A crucial first step in this process is a feasibility study to determine ASD prevalence rates in this population.

Objectives:

This study presents preliminary data on the estimated prevalence of ASD among the Amish in two Amish dominant counties as part of a larger epidemiological study. All children between ages 3 to 21 in those counties will be screened for the presence of an ASD.

Methods:

Screening occurred in, two of the largest Amish communities in the United States. Trained clinicians ascertained door to door using a published Amish Directory as a guide. Families were approached and asked to participate in a brief interview regarding their children. Two primary screening instruments were used: the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and the DSM-IV-TR Checklist (a tool created by the authors). A Vaccination History and a brief family history including questions specific to the ASD phenotype were also taken. Children screening positive on either the SCQ or DSM-IV-TR Checklist were seen for a more comprehensive clinical evaluation by two licensed psychologists. This evaluation included the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule (ADOS) and Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI).

Results:

From September 2008 to October 2009, 1899 Amish children were screened in the two Amish communities. A total of 25 children screened positive for ASD on either the SCQ or the DSM-IV-TR checklist. A total of 14 screened positive for ASD on both screeners. Of those 25 children, 14 were evaluated and seven children were confirmed as having a diagnosis of ASD using the ADI and/or ADOS, and clinical judgment. Interestingly, four of the seven only met ASD criteria on the ADOS but not the ADI. Three of the four who were not diagnosed by the ADI only missed criteria on the Behavioral Domain, which may be attributable to the reporting style of Amish caregivers.

Conclusions:

Preliminary data have identified the presence of ASD in the Amish community at a rate of approximately 1 in 271 children using standard ASD screening and diagnostic tools although some modifications may be in order. Further studies are underway to address the cultural norms and customs that may be playing a role in the reporting style of caregivers, as observed by the ADI. Accurate determination of the ASD phenotype in the Amish is a first step in the design of genetic studies of ASD in this population.

Storm in a teacup

15 May

A piece from the Philadelphia Inquirer demonstrates how various vaccine scares begin.

Using powerful new DNA technology, Delwart’s San Francisco team detected fragments of a pig virus in GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix, which protects babies from a diarrhea-causing infection. The pig virus is common in pork products and is not known to cause disease in animals or humans.

…

We expected to reassure; we ended up not reassuring,” Delwart, a virologist with the Blood Systems Research Institute, said this week. “We ended up creating quite a bit of a storm.

Yet of course the usual suspects used this total non-entity of a story to further their own anti-vaccine agenda:

This “is an important wake-up call for industry and government,” said Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center.

How exactly isn’t explained. This is after all a story where a vaccine carries a component that *is not known to cause disease* . Neither the FDA or the European Health Agency said the vaccines containing the component shouldn’t be used. As Paul Offit said:

“You could apply this new technology to things gummed by a 6-month-old – a Cheeto, a piece of apple – and find much worse” microbes than the pig virus, Offit said. “How does it help to find things that are not known to be harmful? It’s like taking thimerosal out of vaccines. Has that made vaccines safer? No.”

Or more dangerous.

We *have* to start getting over our collective heebie-jeebies every time something perfectly safe is found in a vaccine and start realising that the people who are advocating that we _do_ have an attack of the heebie-jeebies are those who have a single item agenda – promoting anti-vaccineism.

US Court of Appeals denies vaccine court case

14 May

The first of the vaccine court autism cases has been denied by the United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit. The Vaccine court (or, more accurately, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims) grouped the autism claims into an “Omnibus”, something like a class action case, where evidence to prove vaccines cause autism was presented in a few “test cases”, rather than hearing all the cases individually. The Omnibus Autism Proceeding heard six test cases, three on the theory that the MMR vaccine causes autism and three on the theory that thimerosal (a mercury containing perservative) causes autism.

The appeals decision is for the test case of Yates Hazelhurst, one of the MMR test cases. The case was summarized by the Special Master who decided the case:

[P]etitioners assert that the measles component of the MMR vaccine causes an immune dysfunction that impairs the vaccinee’s ability to clear the measles virus. Unable to properly clear the measles virus from the body, the vaccinee experiences measles virus persistence which leads to chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal system and, in turn, chronic inflammation in the brain. Petitioners argue that the inflammation in the brain causes neurological damage that manifests as autism.

The Special Master (essentially the Judge in the vaccine court) denied the claim. The family appealed to the Court of Federal Claims, who upheld the decision. The recent decision is from the United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit, making this the second appeal affirming the original decision.

The family appealed on the basis, as the appeals judge put it:

On appeal to this court, the Hazlehursts argue that the special master improperly relied on certain evidence that should have been excluded and disregarded other evidence that should have been considered.

The MMR theory for autism causation relies on the notion that the measles virus from the vaccine persists in the guts of children. This, in turn relies on research by Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s team and in particular, the Unigenetics laboratory. The government brought in a witness, Dr. Stephen Bustin, to refute the validity of the results from the Unigenetics lab. Dr. Bustin’s testimony and level of expertise were very clear in showing that the Unigenetics results were faulty.

The special master found that Dr. Wakefield’s work had been largely discredited within the scientific community and that none of the studies indicating the presence of measles virus in autistic children had been successfully replicated by an accredited laboratory independent of Dr. Wakefield or Unigenetics. In particular, the special master found that Dr. Wakefield’s early 1990s research on persistent measles infections was reviewed by the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom and found to lack important controls and sufficiently specific reagents for detecting measles virus. She also found that Dr. Wakefield’s subsequent research was dismissed by the scientific community as methodologically unsound. In that regard, she noted that 10 of 12 co-authors on Dr. Wakefield’s controversial 1998 article in the medical journal The Lancet subsequently retracted their support for the article’s conclusion that there is a potential causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

The Special Masters allowed the petititioners (including the Hazelhursts) time to rebut Dr. Bustin’s testimony, through cross examination and through documentation from the UK MMR litigation. The petitioners did not avail themselves of this opportunity.

Over objection, the government sought to introduce Dr. Bustin’s reports and testimony regarding the Unigenetics laboratory, which, by that time, had gone out of business.[ 2 ] The special master in the Cedillo case provisionally admitted the evidence. The three special masters in the omnibus proceeding then deferred decision on whether to rely on that evidence and stated that they would “favorably consider joining in a request” by the petitioners “for the release of relevant reports” from the UK litigation. The record remained open for more than a year following the Cedillo hearing to afford the petitioners sufficient time to present rebuttal evidence, to conduct additional cross-examination of Dr. Bustin, and to obtain documents from the British court. However, none of the petitioners recalled Dr. Bustin for further questioning or applied for access to any of the materials from the UK litigation.

The Hazelhurst’s argued that evidence should have been allowed that was not. In particular, they argued that some unpublished results demonstrate the persistent measles theory.

The special master further concluded that the unpublished and preliminary findings of the Walker group should not be accorded significant weight. She observed that Dr. Hepner had declined to “draw any conclusions about the biological significance” of the investigators’ findings and had testified that negative controls were not included with each experimental run. The special master also noted that the petitioners’ experts based their opinions on the characteristics of the “wild-type” measles virus, as opposed to the vaccine-strain measles virus, which is far less virulent and replicates poorly in the human body.

In the end, the appeals judge ruled that there was no reason to overturn the original decision:

Because we find no error in the special master’s consideration of the evidence, we also find no error in her decision to discount Dr. Corbier’s opinion that the MMR vaccine caused Yates’s autism. By Dr. Corbier’s own admission, his opinion depended heavily on the reliability of the scientific studies purporting to show measles virus persistence in autistic children.

Compensation under the Vaccine Act is limited to those individuals whose injuries or deaths can be linked causally, either by a Table Injury presumption or by a preponderance of “causation-in-fact” evidence, to a listed vaccine. The special master concluded that the Hazlehursts’ evidence failed to demonstrate the necessary causal link, and the petitioners have not identified any reversible error in the special master’s decision reaching that conclusion.

The petitioners now have the choice of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. As noted above, the Supreme Court hears cases which help define laws and this does not appear to be such a case. It would seem unlikely, then, that the Court would agree to hear this case. If so, this is the end of the appeals for the Hazelhurst’s in their case against the U.S. government. The next step would, then, be to take their case to civil court against the vaccine manufacturers. Such cases have not been successful so far. Civil cases require a higher level of evidence and expertise than the vaccine court. Having failed in the Federal Court, where the rules are more favorable to the petitioners, it would seem a difficult battle to win the case in civil court.

Transcripts of the Rashid Buttar hearings–a peek at how alternative medicine treats autistic children

4 May

Dr. Rashid Buttar was recently reprimanded by the North Carolina Medical Board. The reprimand was basically a slap on the wrist. A weak one at that.

The inquiry into Dr. Buttar discussed a number of his patients. One, patient E, was autistic. Dr. Buttar has allowed us to read about his practice by posting the testimony from the hearings.

This, from the opening statements for Dr. Buttar’s hearing:

Patient E is a pattern-in-practice patient. Patient E is an eight-year-old school girl who is severely autistic. Her mother contacted the Board after receiving a solicitation from Dr. Buttar to support him in this matter.
Like the ?- like the cancer patients, Patient E’s mother came across information that Dr. Buttar could help her child’s autism. And without ever seeing the doctor, without ever traveling to North Carolina, Patient E was sent a kit to ?- to basically self-administer a chelation therapy on her own daughter.
And when things started going ?- deteriorating for Patient E, Patient E’s only interaction with Dr. Buttar was through his nurse practitioner or other staff members in his office.
And the nurse practitioner who essentially, from the medical records, as you will see, made all decisions about the treatment and diagnosis of this child’s autism across state lines without personally seeing the patient, has no formal training in autism or oncology, much like Dr. Buttar who does not have any formal training in oncology or autism.
Yet, nonetheless, they convinced Patient E’s mother to take the child off of her medication so that he can apply a transdermal chelation cream on the child. A cream, not so coincidentally, that is developed and invented and sold directly by Dr. Buttar to his patients.
The mother did as instructed and took her daughter off her medication and applied Dr. Buttar’s transdermal chelation cream. Her daughter began to deteriorate. The child began to have violent tantrums. She couldn’t leave the house or attend school. During the weeks and months as the child deteriorated, Dr. Buttar never followed the child.
And when the mother did not get a satisfactory responses to her concerns, she called the office, made an appointment to see Dr. Buttar and drove her family to North Carolina. However, when she got to North Carolina, she did not see Dr. Buttar, only the nurse practitioner.
And the result of that meeting was that the nurse practitioner attempted to convince the patient ?- the patient’s mother that the child needed to be converted to a more aggressive intravenous form of chelation therapy.
The evidence will show that Patient E’s situation mirrors that of the other patients. Little or no physician involvement with the patient. Patients are seen primarily, if not exclusively, by the nurse practitioner. The patients have serious illnesses and Dr. Buttar and his nurse practitioner have no formal training in those illnesses.
The patients are prescribed expensive treatments that come straight out of their pocket because insurance does not pay for the treatments. The treatments are arbitrary, one size fits all. They have no basis or evidence of science. The therapies are ineffective and not been subjected to clinical trials and are potentially unsafe.

Dr. Buttar did not see the patient. She was in a different state, after all. But, her mother drove her to North Carolina to see Dr. Buttar and he still didn’t see her?

Without seeing her, he took her off her other medications and gave her his own–and she became worse.

Here are sections from the actual testimony.

Q And your daughter never made a personal visit to Dr. Buttar’s office prior to these treatments?
A That’s right.
Q When you had these telephone consultations with Dr. Buttar’s office, did ?- was it with Dr. Buttar?
A No.
Q Who was it with?
A With Jane Garcia.
Q And who is Ms. Garcia?
A I understand her to be his nurse.

Dr. Buttar was not in contact with the family. His nurse practitioner was handling the case. Remotely. Without seeing the patient.

Q Okay. Did Ms. Garcia ever make any recommendations about what to do with your child’s medication she was presently on?
A Yes. She insisted that we remove my daughter from the medication or they would not pursue the treatment.
Q What medication was your daughter on?
A Lexapro for anxiety ?-
Q And ?- and how long did ?- how long had your daughter been on Lexapro?
A About a period of a year.
Q And who prescribed that Lexapro?
A Her local pediatrician.
Q Did Dr. Buttar’s office consult with your local pediatrician when they recommended that she be taken off Lexapro?
A No, they did not.
Q And at some point what happened to your daughter after she started ?- after you started self-administering this chelation cream?
A Initially, it was uneventful, but she began to deteriorate, regress is how it’s referred to, and the regression was extremely significant. We were unable to even get her to come out of the home when she had previously been very social and happy. She wouldn’t wear clothes. She was no longer sleeping through the night. She wasn’t eating properly and she was extremely restless.
Q Okay. And did you consult Dr. Buttar’s office about these issues?
A Absolutely.
Q And what was the response?
A That we just needed to continue because this was to be expected, that she was moving metal and that we just needed to keep doing what we were doing.
Q Okay. And ?- and did you continue to do that?
A Yes.
Q And at some ?- and how did your daughter respond even after you continued the ?- the treatments?
A She just continued to get worse.
Q And at some point did ?- what did you do after that?
A Well, we had made an appointment to come to the office in person and we had hoped at that point, with an in-person physical examination by the doctor, we would get some remedy and advice for the significant amount of deterioration we were experiencing.

Dr. Buttar’s office pulled the young girl off of her anxiety medication. They had the family apply a trans-dermal chelation cream. The girl started to “deteriorate”

Q And I’ll read to you a note and ask you to comment. It says: Discussed plan with Jane, concur on issue regarding Lexapro, reassess patient that worsening is to be expected due to Herxheimer’s response and due to mobilization. Due to age consider IV challenge for best metal yield.
Is that when you talked ?- is that when you and Dr. Buttar’s office began talking about ?-
A I’m sorry, can you repeat that? My phone calling interrupted.
Q I’m sorry. It says: Discussed plan with Jane, concur on issue regarding Lexapro. Is that when you had a conversation about taking your child off Lexapro?
A Yes, but I hope that’s not referring to me concurring.
Q Okay. And above that there’s a typed note that says: Plan to wean off Lexapro, discussed with Dr. Buttar.
But is ?- were you having conversations with Ms. Garcia to take your child off Lexapro and then start this chelation therapy for your child’s autism?

Dr. Buttar suggested a “challenge” chelation test. Here is what the Americal College of Medical Toxicologists has to say about “challenge” testing:

It is, therefore, the position of the American College of Medical Toxicology that post-challenge urinary metal testing has not been scientifically validated, has no demonstrated benefit, and may be harmful when applied in the assessment and treatment of patients in whom there is concern for metal poisoning.

I guess I am curious as to why Dr. Buttar thought an IV chelation was needed for the challenge. If his trans-dermal cream chelates, shouldn’t that be sufficient?

Q I’m sorry. It says: Discussed plan with Jane, concur on issue regarding Lexapro. Is that when you had a conversation about taking your child off Lexapro?
A Yes, but I hope that’s not referring to me concurring.
Q Okay. And above that there’s a typed note that says: Plan to wean off Lexapro, discussed with Dr. Buttar.
But is ?- were you having conversations with Ms. Garcia to take your child off Lexapro and then start this chelation therapy for your child’s autism?
A Yes, we had discussed it twice.
Q Okay. And ?- and then you began the autism treatments in January, correct?
A Correct.
Q And how did the materials get to you?
A By the mail.
Q And ?- and was there any lab testing involved?
A Yes, routine lab testing was urine, stool, hair.
Q And who did this lab testing?
A Either we did or if it required a blood draw, a local phlebotomy clinic.
Q And all this was occurring in Michigan?
A That’s correct.
Q And when your daughter got the chelation cream, who administers that?
A We did, the parents.
Q And how did you do it? Did you do it pursuant to instructions from Dr. Buttar’s office?
A Yes.
Q And ?- and all this is occurring without you ever coming to North Carolina to see Dr. Buttar or his nurse practitioner?
A That’s correct.
Q Did you have to send money to Dr. Buttar’s office before these materials were sent to you?
A Yes.
Q How much money did you send?
A The initial was right at $3,000.
Q Okay. You talked about your daughter deteriorating and then you said you made an appointment to see Dr. Buttar. Approximately when was that?
A Approximately April.
Q And what happened after you made that appointment?
A We were ?- we did another round of testing that was expected to arrive in the office prior to our visit for a review on that and other than that, we simply prepared for the trip.
Q Okay. When you got to North Carolina what ?- did you go to Dr. Buttar’s office?
A Yes.
Q Was he there?
A No, he was not.
Q Who did you see?
A Ms. Garcia.

Yes, Dr. Buttar charged $3,000 for them to work with his nurse practioner. They made an appointment to travel from Michigan to North Carolina (a distance of over 800 miles) and Dr. Buttar did not see them. His nurse practitioner saw them and did not examine the patient:

Q (By Mr. Jimison) Okay. Did you have a meeting with Ms. Garcia?
A We did.
Q Did Ms. Garcia examine your child during that meeting?
A She was in a room, but she didn’t have an examination, no.
Q Okay. And what was the result of that meeting with Ms. Garcia?
A The large part of the meeting was the — for lack of a better word — sell — to first do IV chelation.
Q And ?- and did you do that?
A No, we did not.
Q And why not?
A My daughter was already significantly deteriorating and appeared to be very sick and there was no way we were going to go get a more aggressive form ?-
Q Okay.
A?- when we haven’t even seen the doctor.
Q And how is your daughter doing now?
A She’s fine, she’s much better.

The young girl is doing much better since leaving Dr. Buttar’s care.

I’ve kept the commentary to a minimum. Take a read. Tell me what you think. Take a look at the actual transcripts and let me know if I’ve been cherry picking.

Frontline’s Vaccine War episode ignites…well, a war of words

3 May

I first heard about the Frontline episode on “The Vaccine War“, it was from supporters of Jenny McCarthy. They were online telling us all about this upcoming episode and even providing links to where we could order the DVD.

Times have changed.

The show aired and it was not about how Jenny McCarthy and the rest are right and that vaccines cause autism. Jim Carrey had made a statement a while back, “We aren’t the problem. The problem is the problem.” Aside from the fact that it is a very strange way to phrase what he wanted to say, Frontline showed that, yes, indeed, you are the problem.

The night that The Vaccine War aired, Dr. Jay Gordon (Jenny McCarthy’s pediatrician) blogged about how his interview was left out. Jenny McCarthy followed shortly afterwards. Both were on the Huffington Post. Dr. Rashid Buttar was also interviewed and not shown. He took to a free press release to express his opinion.

Since then, many people have been claiming that Frontline should have given more time and weight to the vaccine-causation side. I guess representatives from a “Parent Founded, Parent Led” organization are not enough weight. They need the opinions of some doctors. As Kim at the Countering Age of Autism blog points out, the Age of Autism blog put their piece complaining about Frontline twice. AoA just changed the title and a bit of the introduction.

The editors of the Frontline episode have responded to the criticisms that some interviews were not aired:

Many thanks for your feedback on the program. FRONTLINE went to considerable lengths to include a wide range of viewpoints, even in the face of very strong scientific evidence against the hypothesized autism link to MMR and thimerosal. Despite the consistent negative epidemiology and the definitive verdict of the federal vaccine court, we included views from people who wanted more and different studies. The program also gave a great deal of time to the arguments of vaccine hesitant parents who think the CDC schedule is bloated. The companion FRONTLINE website contains full interviews with different stakeholders, including Dr Robert Sears, who promotes an alternative spread out vaccine schedule. The website also hosts a robust public conversation where a full range of viewpoints are being aired and engaged.

When making long form documentaries like FRONTLINE, it often happens that some interviews don’t make it into the finished program. Several interviews failed to make the final cut of “The Vaccine War”–not just yours but also interviews with contributors who support the CDC vaccine schedule.

One interview which did not air was that of Arthur Allen. He has commented on a few blogs. Not complaining about his interview being cut, but about people like Dr. Jay who don’t understand that in journalism these things happen. Interviews get cut.

That all said, let’s consider the argument that Frontline should have aired more of the vaccine-skeptic viewpoint. That people like Rashid Buttar should have been given more air time. Dr. Buttar, who was recently reprimanded by his state’s regulatory agency. Dr. Buttar who has used urine injections on autistic children.

For those who would like to have seen more of the opinions of such doctors, consider if Frontline does another episode entirely. This time, instead of “the Vaccine War”, they consider a show on “Curing Autism”, showing alternative medical practitioners.

I bet at this point many in the biomed community are saying, “yes!”

I put it to them that they didn’t learn their lesson. There is no good evidence behind the alternative medicine used in autism. Just like they thought that “The Vaccine War” was going to finally tell their story, another Frontline episode would not go their way. Yeah, it would tell their story, just as The Vaccine War did.

Let me put it another way. Think of two short words….Trine Tsuderos. I could have just as easily said Pat Callahan, as she worked with Ms. Tsuderos on the articles at the Chicago Tribune, but somehow it is Trine who gets the attention. It is her name that calls up the memories.

For those asking “Trine who?”, Ms. Tsuderos and Ms. Callahan wrote a series of articles for the Chicago Tribune. One article should give you an idea of how that series went: Autism treatments: Risky alternative therapies have little basis in science.

You see, the team of Callahan and Tsuderos took a look at alternative therapies and gave some balance–they asked the experts in areas such as neuroinflammation in autistics whether the alt-med practitioners were correctly applying the science. They weren’t.

So imagine if you will, Fronline putting Dr. Jay, Dr. Bob, Dr. Buttar’s interviews on the air. Together with Dr. Geier and his “lupron protocol”. Together with Prof. Boyd Haley and his industrial chelator turned nutritional supplement. Together with people “treating” neuroinflammation before they know whether it is harmful or beneficial.

Consider that team. Then consider the responses from experts in medical toxicology. Experts in neuroinflammation. Experts in hormones and autism.

Consider how that would play out before the American public.

It would not go well for the alternative medical community. Not because of any bias, but because their “science” is woefully poor.

Review of Frontline’s The Vaccine War

29 Apr

The Vaccine War has aired. Judging by the responses, one might consider it a success. Pro vaccine groups like Every Child By Two were telling people to watch it. The Autism Science Foundation “highly recommends” watching it. On the other side, the organizations represented by the Age of Autism blog (Generation Rescue, the National Autism Association, SafeMinds, the Autism Research Institute and TACA) are very upset. Jenny McCarthy has gone to the Huffington Post with her side of the story, as has Dr. Jay Gordon, whose entire interview was cut from the program.


An unofficial (and incomplete) transcript is here.

That all said, I both appreciated the program and had my fears realized. In this case, my fears were that people would be given a platform to spread misinformation. And it happened. Jenny McCarthy and others made statements that were, in my view, misinformation. But, I appreciated the fact that Frontline took the time to counter much of the misinformation with actual experts discussing real science.

Frontline describes the show as:

In The Vaccine War, FRONTLINE lays bare the science of vaccine safety and examines the increasingly bitter debate between the public health establishment and a formidable populist coalition of parents, celebrities, politicians and activists who are armed with the latest social media tools — including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter — and are determined to resist pressure from the medical and public health establishments to vaccinate, despite established scientific consensus about vaccine safety.

I think the show accomplished this. There was some cost in terms of allowing Generation Rescue’s misinformation message in TV once again. But, this time, this time they are the problem.

If you watch the introductory 2 minutes of this video, you will get some idea of how the show is presented

Parents, both pro vaccine and not, activists, public health workers and researchers like Dr. Offit telling various sides of the story, with the narrator tying it together.

Narrator: Tonight on Frontline: They’re hailed as medicine’s greatest triumph: conquering smallpox, diphtheria, polio and more. But today, some Americans question if all those vaccines are worth the risk.

The show is in four segments. The titles for these segments should, again, give you an idea of the tone of the show.

1. A visit to Ashland, Oregon. In some American communities like this one, parents are hesitating to vaccinate their children, despite their doctor’s advice.

2. Eroding faith in vaccines. Skeptics target Paul Offit, inventor of the rotavirus vaccine. And many parents are wary of vaccines because they no longer see the diseases.

3. Fearing vaccine risks, especially autism.. Vaccine skeptics like celebrity Jenny McCarthy have organized a community of parents concerned about a vaccine-autism link.

4. The science that launched the movement. A British doctors ’98 study theorized that the measles vaccine causes autism. Soon vaccine critics began questioning other additives in vaccines.

5. What epidemiological studies reveal. No link is found between autism and the MMR shot or thimerosal. And the British doctor’s ’98 study is discredited, but critics demand more studies.

6. Vaccines, what’s at stake. The debate goes beyond the medical risks-benefits: it involves parents’ rights to make choices v. the needs of the community.

In the first segment, they interview a pro-vaccine mother in Ashland. She notes that if there is an outbreak, the response may get contentious. It may get ugly.

Beyond the direct human cost, one of my worries: how much blowback will there be to the autism communities? How much blame will be applied and what will it cost?

As part of the introduction, The Vaccine War discusses the story of Desiree Jennings. She was a Washington Redskins cheerleader who claimed dystonia as an adverse reaction to her vaccine. Her story broke out not through the TV news show that covered her story, but through YouTube. Jenny McCarthy is quoted about how Generation Rescue took Ms. Jennings to see Dr. Rashid Buttar and how chelation and HBOT cured her.

What makes the Desiree Jennings story even more interesting is the possibility that the vaccine-injury/dystonia story may not be real. As noted on LeftBrainRightBrain, Ms. Jennings was later followed by cameras from a TV program and shown to be driving and walking normally.

The possibility that Generation Rescue is using the story even though it may not be true was probed by Frontline. Here is a part of an interview from Frontline with one of Generation Rescue’s founders:

[Frontline]Talk about the viral spread of an image over the Internet, like [Redskins cheerleader] Desiree Jennings’ flu shot story, for example.

It’s remarkably powerful what an image or an idea can do in today’s day and age, and for a group of parents who feel completely outmatched — because think for a moment about who our enemy is; our enemies are the largest pharmaceutical companies on the planet, making billions of dollars in net profit a year — you’d think that we could never compete with that. But an idea can transmit itself powerfully and very cheaply for millions to see.

So in the case of Desiree, here you have an image of this beautiful woman who’s been severely disabled that literally tens of millions of people view overnight, and imagine the chilling effect that has on a flu vaccine that she attributes as the cause of her condition. It’s remarkably powerful.

[Frontline] Does it matter whether it’s true or not?

Truth always bears out in the end, so I’m a firm believer in that. Are there moments in time where truth is exaggerated or expanded? Absolutely. But truth bears out in the end. …

Perhaps I missed it, but it appears to this reader that Frontline’s question was completely dodged. Does it matter whether the Desiree Jennings story is true or not? I think so. But what seems important to Generation Rescue is not the truth of the story, but the fact that it is a gripping narrative that sells their message.

The Vaccine War has a rather large cast, if I may call them that. Parents both pro and anti vaccine, a writer from Ashland who is anti-vaccine, Paul Offit, bioethicist (and polio survivor) Arthur Caplan, Jenny McCarthy, Anthony S. Fauci (immunologist from NIAID), Cynthia Cristofani (pediatric intensivist), Alvaro and Myrian Fontan (a family who almost lost their daughter to whooping cough) and J.B. Handley, Barbara Loe Fisher–plus more.

In some ways, “The Vaccine War” takes the same approach that Dr. Offit uses in books like “Autism’s False Prophets”. Let the skeptics make their points, ask their questions, then respond. Sometimes this is quite jarring.It is tough to sit back and listen to someone spread information and wait for the response.

The Vaccine War is well researched. Even though people like Jenny McCarthy got some air time for their ideas, they are quite upset about the Frontline episode.

Perhaps I am the only one who will find this ironic. In response to this episode, one which discusses how groups like Generation Rescue use social networking on the internet to get their message out, they are taking to social networking. Twitter, blogging…

As noted above Jenny McCarthy and Dr. Jay Gordon have taken to the Huffington Post to respond to the show. the Age of Autism is being very critical. They are attempting to “poll mob” the Frontline website. (humorous aside–they haven’t figured out that the survey doesn’t record their answers. It only shows you how your responses compare to the actual survey.)

If you have friends, family who are wondering about the vaccine/autism “controversy”, this is a good show to refer them to. It gives both sides. It allows people like Jenny McCarthy to give her viewpoint–and it gives the response.

Watch Frontline’s Vaccine War online

28 Apr

I’ve only been able to watch the first few minutes so far, but I wanted to make this available.

(I’ve emailed asking if there is a captioned version)

If you want to read–written interviews:

Jenny McCarthy
She’s an actress, celebrity and activist. Her son was diagnosed with autism following a series of vaccinations, and she’s helped organize a movement of parents concerned about a vaccine-autism link.

Cynthia Cristofani, M.D.
A pediatric intensivist who takes care of children who need critical care, Cristofani decided to start documenting the rare cases of vaccine-preventable illness that turned up in her Portland, Oregon ICU.

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
He is an immunologist and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID].

Alvaro and Myrian Fontan
They watched in anguish as their 40 day-old baby Vanessa — not yet old enough for the pertussis vaccination — fought for her life.

J.B. Handley
A businessman whose son was diagnosed with autism, Handley co-founded with his wife the autism advocacy site Generation Rescue.

Paul Offit, M.D.
Co-developer of a vaccine for rotavirus, the leading cause of severe diarrhea in children, Offit is chief of the infectious diseases division at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Frontline Vaccine War episode on in the US tonight

27 Apr

I’ve written about the upcoming Frontline episode, The Vaccine War, a few times already.

Reviews are in the press already. It looks to be an interesting show. Jenny McCarthy, Generation Rescue, the (self-named) National Vaccine Information Center will get some air time. But, they are there to demonstrate the current problem. It is not a program about how they are fighting the good fight.

That said, don’t expect a full body slam. Don’t expect a Respectfully Insolent takedown of those who oppose vaccines.

Because of that, I expect some groups to claim some level of victory from tonight’s show. I expect to hear how they got their message out to a few more families. How they are that much closer to instilling fear and “bringing the vaccine program to its knees”.

The fact of the matter is this: So far, the U.S. hasn’t seen the large outbreaks of diseases like Measles. But if there are in the future, the “autism community” and, specifically, groups like Generation Rescue will carry some blame. Future editions of shows like “Frontline” will be harsh.

One review in on the Frontline episode is at Entertainment Weekly: Should kids be vaccinated? ‘Frontline’ and science say ‘yes’; Jenny McCarthy and a lot of selfish Gen X’ers say ‘no’.

Intro paragraph:

Tonight on Frontline, “The Vaccine War” presents both sides of the controversy over whether young children should be vaccinated for diseases such as measles and polio, and in a rare display of TV-news common sense and independence, one side is shown to be — sorry — wrong. Frontline‘s documentary will, I hope, leave any sensible viewer feeling that you’d have be deluded or selfish not to have your kids vaccinated.

conclusion:

What makes this Frontline — “The Vaccine War” is written, produced, and directed by Jon Palfreman — so compelling is seeing the smugness of the vaccine-deniers contrasted with the facts and figures of the historical record and current studies being down about the efficacy of things like the MMR triple shot.

Other reviews are not so harsh on the vaccine rejectionists.

But, this is a wake-up call for the army working to “bring the US vaccine program to its knees”. If successful, don’t expect to avoid blame.

It is a wake-up call. I expect they will hit the snooze alarm.

Frontline excerpt: Ashland Oregon

22 Apr

The PBS show Frontline has an upcoming episode called “The Vaccine War”. They recently posted a video excerpt of the episode. In this segment they follow a public health worker in Ashland Oregon, a community with one of the highest vaccine refusal rates in the US.

So, how is that vaccine refusal working out in Ashland? That’s in Jackson County, Oregon. I’m not alone in asking that question. One of the founders of Generation Rescue asked the same question recently

The Centers for Disease Control reports that 15 percent of children in Jackson County, Ore., are unvaccinated, Handley said. Someone needs to find out how these kids look comparatively. “It’s in the pockets of the unvaccinated kids where the first truths may be found,” he said.

Ashland appears to have an even higher vaccine refusal rate than the rest of Jacknson County. From the Frontline press release:

With an estimated quarter of the town’s children entering kindergarten not fully immunized, Ashland is one of the least vaccinated places in America.

So, Jackson County has a refusal rate of about 15% and Ashland about 25%. Let’s see what the Ashland City Council has to say. Here is a proclamation from the City of Ashland proclaiming Autism Awareness month

PROCLAMATION

“AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH”

• Autism is a complex neurobiological condition that appears at birth or typically before age three and occurs in one out of every 150 births each year in the United States.
• Autism affects the areas in the brain that regulate pragmatics of speech and perceptions of others, affecting how people with autism assimilate and express verbal and non-verbal communication, and sensory processing.
• Oregon has one of the highest rates of autism in the United States, with the Oregon Department of Education reporting 1 in 98 students on the autism spectrum, and in Ashland, 1.1 percent of students have been diagnosed which is the highest rate in Jackson County.
• While there is no precisely identified cause and cure for autism, Autism Centers of Excellence and institutions for education such as Oregon Health & Science University, and the Southern Oregon University Masters in Special Education program offer hope for recovery, and treatments to lead a rich and fulfilling life.
• Early Intervention services such as those provided by Asante Early Childhood Development can alter the course for children living with autism and their families in their ability to interact and communicate not only wants and needs, but dreams and aspirations.
• Adults living with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome can find a warm and welcoming home and community in Ashland.

NOW THEREFORE, the City Council and Mayor, on behalf of the citizens of Ashland, hereby proclaim the month of April 2008 as:

“AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH”

and call upon the citizens of the City of Ashland to observe the month by learning about people with autism, their strengths, abilities, and the programs which serve their needs.

Dated this 4th day of March, 2008.

Barbara Christensen, City Recorder
John W. Morrison, Mayor

Keep in mind that the above proclamation involves educational data, which are not the same as real autism prevalence. That is especially problematic in Oregon, which has a very vague criterion for an educational diagnosis. But, that said, Ashland (with a vaccine refusal rate of 25%) had 1.1% of their students with educational diagnoses of autism, the highest in Jackson County and higher than the Statewide average.

Again, education data are fairly weak to begin with, and Oregon has a very loose definition of “autism”. But, that said, there isn’t evidence in the educational data that vaccine refusal is helping Ashland avoid autism.
In other words it looks like vaccine refusal is not protecting Ashland from autism.

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