And look into the published--peer-reviewed, published--research about vaccines and autism. Please. Read it. If you don't have time, a good read can be found here. And also read that vaccines have been exonerated again and again by entities as different and far flung as Danish scientists, the US vaccine court, and the CDC. Ask yourself...is it possible, is it humanly possible, for hundreds of thousands of scientists, doctors, drug company researchers, public health officials, and parents to collude in a vast conspiracy to undermine the public health, overlook alleged links with developmental disorders, and "ruin" your child just to funnel money to drug companies? Is that rational? No.
And if you continue to fear vaccines and fear the big, scary-sounding stuff that's in them, I'd suggest you get up off your couch, stop walking on your carpet, and go naked. And stop eating, while you're at it. Because what's probably far scarier than any vaccine is soaked into many things that you wear and sit on and much of what you eat. You're full of this stuff. Could these things I'm talking about be linked to developmental disorders? Why, yes, as a matter of fact. Indeed, one recent study just reported a clear correlation, and there are many other similar studies available. There's abundant research pointing to an influence of these compounds during embryonic development and beyond on neuroendocrine systems. And the list of scary-sounding chemicals is far longer--and demonstrably more threatening--than anything you'll find in a vaccine. And we're exposed to them Every. Single. Day. But hey...why pay attention to those screaming data when you can continue to freak out about vaccines and demand more research when, as I've said before, that horse is dead. Dead. Stop beating on the poor thing.
Once you've done all that reading and digested the information, I bring for your consideration the demigods of the anti-vaccine movement, Wakefield and Krigsman. I once wrote what I thought would be my last post about Andrew Wakefield, but the man is like a hydra and warrants more commentary, especially given the latest news coming from that quarter. Read everything you can about him. Start with the paper that started it all. Please. Consider that the "anti-vaccine" movement has hitched its wagon to a retracted paper based on a "study" of a dozen children who, as it turns out, were largely hand picked and that the entire thing was one long series of ethics violations and lies. So much so that the UK General Medical Council (GMC) produced a report on their investigation of Wakefield in which they scathingly indicted him as having "acted dishonestly" and having been "misleading" and showing a "callous disregard." Should we add the GMC to the list of people involved in a vast conspiracy to undermine public health, overlook alleged links with developmental disorders, and ruin your child just to funnel money to drug companies?
Read it. Read it all. Please. I invite you to imbibe every single word. The record here is wide open. There is nothing to hide.
When you're finished reading everything you can find about Wakefield (he's got a book coming out in which he promises to reveal the "truth"; why he didn't go ahead and do that while testifying before the GMC, I do not know), I invite you to read these documents about Krigsman.
Allow me to quote a bit from the Texas Medical Board document:
"...moved to recommend to the full board that the applicant (NB: Krigsman) be allowed to withdraw the application for licensure, then reapply for licensure and pay a $5,000 fine, due to disciplinary action by Lenox Hill Hospital, falsification of application regarding non-disciplinary citation by Florida, and misrepresentation regarding entitlement to practice medicine. Factors contributing to this recommendation include: one or more violations that involve more than one patient, repeated or recurring acts, attempted concealment of the act constituting a violation (action by Florida Board)."
Two men. A trail that does far more than hint at a pattern of lies, unethical practices, and deceit. There are only two of them. They've left behind nothing that qualifies as evidence of their claims. Nothing. In fact, everything they've tried to claim has been roundly and soundly debunked.
So. Please. Read and consider. Think about what's reasonable, what's rational here. Is it reasonable to believe that your pediatrician, with her or his eight years of post-graduate training and education and everyone else's pediatricians, along with researchers all over the world with a similar abundance of training, folks at the CDC and WHO who see people die every day from preventable disease, public health officials worldwide, drug company researchers (who, I am sure, are the very incubi every anti-vax loudmouth takes them to be)...is it remotely rational to think that these groups, adding up literally to hundreds of thousands of people, are involved in a huge conspiracy to bilk you out of money at risk to your child just for drug companies?
Or, does it make more sense that two people with a clearly demonstrated self interest that, while always fiscal now goes well beyond, might be capable of interacting (with a significant boost from a gullible and desperate news media) to produce one of the greatest sleights of hand ever to threaten global public health? Oh, and by the way, they're planning to join forces and wreak some more of their magic on parents willing to pay for it. Will it be your pocket that they empty? I only hope that the research money that's been funneled into studies based on that tissue of lies can now be targeted to real research based on real hypotheses. Meanwhile, please. Read. And think, too.
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While you're reading and thinking, please go read what Shannon (a.k.a. Squid) has written in What Are You Thinking? Part II: On Autism and Vaccines, contrasting the verbal approaches of Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation and J.B. Handley of Age of Autism. The attitudes and words are striking in contrast. Also, please check out her initial post in that pair, What Are You Thinking?, in which she urges readers to do what we all should do: Be skeptical.
