A dose of reality on vaccines and autism

[cosmik debris]

L.A. Times Editorial on Vaccines and Autism

The unsubstantiated belief that vaccines are to blame for increasing rates of autism has diverted too much attention from the quest to find the causes of this complex syndrome. Sadly, a decision by the nation's vaccine court won't make much difference to the very vocal parents who refuse to let this theory die.

The court, which was set up to consider claims of harm caused by vaccines, ruled this month that inoculations did not cause the autism of three children, as their parents alleged. The cases were considered among the strongest of 5,000 autism claims before the panel, which determined that a convincing body of research has found no significant link between the two.

More at link

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-autism25-2009feb25,0,1407432.story

[elleng]

1. I believe the decision was

that there was not enough causation to justify govt paying. Courts don't make scientific decisions; science does.

And there are PLENTY of researchers around on the issue.

[cosmik debris]

3. The court ruled that there was not enough evidence

to show causation. They only had to prove it by a preponderance of the evidence. That's "50% + a feather." But the lawyers could not reach that standard of proof.

There have been plenty of other studies that have found no link at all between autism and vaccines.

There is really no point in going over the same failed theory again.

It is time to learn to live with the fact that there is no link between autism and vaccination.

You had your day in court. You lost. Get over it. Move on.

[elleng]

5. 'YOU?' who is this 'YOU?'

I'm an attorney, my children are studying education, and have already learned a lot about teaching 'handicapped' students.

YOU get over it.

[cosmik debris]

7. Your personal story doesn't change the fact

That there is no link between vaccine and autism.

[pnwmom]

8. Those cases didn't prove that. All that happened was that the judge

ruled that there wasn't enough proof to show there was a direct link between the vaccines they received and the autism that later developed.

That would be similar to proving that there was a direct link between someone's exposure to second hand smoke and developing cancer down the road.

[cosmik debris]

9. The best lawyers they could afford

And the best scientific evidence they could produce could not tip the scales.

Congress designed the Program to compensate only the families of those individuals whose injuries or deaths can be linked causally, either by a Table Injury presumption or by a preponderance of causation-infact evidence, to a listed vaccination. In this case the evidence advanced by the petitioners has fallen far short of demonstrating such a link. Accordingly, I conclude that the petitioners in this case are not entitled to a Program award on Michelle’s behalf.

Having carefully and fully considered the evidence, the undersigned concludes that the combination of the thimerosal-containing vaccines and the MMR vaccine are not causal factors in the development of autism and therefore, could not have contributed to the development of Yates’ autism. The weight of the presented evidence that is scientifically reliable and methodologically sound does not support petitioners’ claim. Petitioners have failed to establish entitlement to compensation under the Vaccine Act.

Petitioners have not demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that
Colten’s condition was either caused or significantly aggravated by his vaccinations Thus, they have failed to establish entitlement to compensation and the petition for compensation is therefore DENIED.

[pnwmom]

12. I will be more impressed with these judgments when the CDC vaccine

database is freely available to all reputable scientific researchers.

[cosmik debris]

13. Are you saying that the lawyers that presented this case

did NOT have access to that data?

You do know that they had the opportunity to subpoena that data if they thought it was useful, right?

[pnwmom]

19. The lawyers aren't scientific researchers. Raw data won't help them.

Independent scientific researchers have been prevented from accessing the database. They should be granted free access to the database that all of US own.

[Orrex]

21. Lawyers aren't ballistics experts either; that's why they subpoena ballistics experts

If the lawyers thought the data relevant in this case, they'd have subpoenaed it, and then they'd have hired experts to analyze it.

The fact that they did not tells us one of two things. Either:

1. They knew that the data wouldn't be relevant, so they chose not to subpoena it.

or

2. They knew that the data would harm their case, so they chose not ot subpoena it.


Which do you think is more likely?

[elleng]

15. You got it; thanks.

.

[Orrex]

22. But antivaxers point to the Hannah Poling case as proof positive

Why the double standard?

[elleng]

14. And you're a scientist, right?

Enough.

[cosmik debris]

17. Tell it to the judge.

...the evidence ... has fallen far short of demonstrating such a link.

The weight of the presented evidence that is scientifically reliable and methodologically sound does not support petitioners’ claim.

Petitioners have not demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that
Colten’s condition was either caused or significantly aggravated by his vaccinations

[pnwmom]

20. But scientists have been prevented from having free access to the database

that all our our tax dollars paid for. If the government wants its own studies to have more credibility, it will allow independent qualified researchers access to the database.

[cosmik debris]

23. You are just making that up, aren't you? n/t

[pnwmom]

26. No. RFK Jr. must have made it up,

by your reasoning.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7395411/deadly_immunity/

[Orrex]

28. There is no scientist but RFK Jr

And Andrew Wakefield reaps his profit.

[pnwmom]

29. RFK's expertise is politics, and the decisions at this meeting reeked of politics.

A scientific approach would have opened the database to all qualified researchers.

[Orrex]

31. Praise be to RFK Jr.

[semillama]

30. Orac just caught RFK Jr. making stuff up, actually.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/02/stupid_cubed_david_kirby_rfk_jr_and_gene.php#more

In regard to RFK's latest screed at huffpost:

"Wow. It sure looks like ol' RFK's got all those nasty pharma shills there by the short hairs, doesn't it? I mean, it sure looks like a slam dunk, doesn't it? PDD-NOS is indeed one of the conditions that fall under the category of disorders known as autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) and is thus considered an ASD. The ruling concluded that, in the case of Bailey Banks, the MMR had caused a condition known as acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). Here is the passage that RFK, Jr. quotes:

'The Court found that Bailey's ADEM was both caused-in-fact and proximately caused by his vaccination. It is well-understood that the vaccination at issue can cause ADEM, and the Court found, based upon a full reading and hearing of the pertinent facts in this case, that it did actually cause the ADEM. Furthermore, Bailey's ADEM was severe enough to cause lasting, residual damage, and retarded his developmental progress, which fits under the generalized heading of Pervasive Developmental Delay, or PDD . The Court found that Bailey would not have suffered this delay but for the administration of the MMR vaccine, and that this chain of causation was... a proximate sequence of cause and effect leading inexorably from vaccination to Pervasive Developmental Delay.'

This is not an exact quote of what Special Master Richard Abell's ruling. Note the term "an autism spectrum disorder" in brackets. There's just one problem. PDD is not an autistic spectrum disorder. "

Read more at the link. It's long but well worth digesting.

[pnwmom]

33. The NIH uses the two terms interchangeably.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism/complete-index.shtml

The pervasive developmental disorders, or autism spectrum disorders, range from a severe form, called autistic disorder, to a milder form, Asperger syndrome. If a child has symptoms of either of these disorders, but does not meet the specific criteria for either, the diagnosis is called pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Other rare, very severe disorders that are included in the autism spectrum disorders are Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder. This brochure will focus on classic autism, PDD-NOS, and Asperger syndrome, with brief descriptions of Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder below.

[semillama]

34. Actually, PDD-NOS is a subset of PDD.

It is not interchangeable, as even your quotation from NIH demonstrates.

There is a very interesting section of that NIH webpage, though,and I'll share it here:

"Research into the causes of autism spectrum disorders is being fueled by other recent developments. Evidence points to genetic factors playing a prominent role in the causes for ASD. Twin and family studies have suggested an underlying genetic vulnerability to ASD.30 To further research in this field, the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange, a project initiated by the Cure Autism Now Foundation, and aided by an NIMH grant, is recruiting genetic samples from several hundred families. Each family with more than one member diagnosed with ASD is given a 2-hour, in-home screening. With a large number of DNA samples, it is hoped that the most important genes will be found. This will enable scientists to learn what the culprit genes do and how they can go wrong.

Another exciting development is the Autism Tissue Program (http://www.brainbank.org), supported by the Autism Society of America Foundation, the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (M.I.N.D.) Institute at the University of California, Davis, and the National Alliance for Autism Research. The program is aided by a grant to the Harvard Brain and Tissue Resource Center (http://www.brainbank.mclean.org), funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Studies of the postmortem brain with imaging methods will help us learn why some brains are large, how the limbic system develops, and how the brain changes as it ages. Tissue samples can be stained and will show which neurotransmitters are being made in the cells and how they are transported and released to other cells. By focusing on specific brain regions and neurotransmitters, it will become easier to identify susceptibility genes.

Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that a contributing cause for autism may be abnormal brain development beginning in the infant’s first months. This“growth dysregulation hypothesi” holds that the anatomical abnormalities seen in autism are caused by genetic defects in brain growth factors. It is possible that sudden, rapid head growth in an infant may be an early warning signal that will lead to early diagnosis and effective biological intervention or possible prevention of autism.31"

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

27. Yes and the overwhelming majority of scientists don't believe that vaccines cause autism.

[Political_Junkie]

2. Thanks for this, it's really getting ridiculous.

I hadn't heard about the link between fathers over 40 and autism. I have an autistic nephew and I believe his father was in his early forties when he was born. I'll have to check on that.

[Warpy]

4. There are links to older fathers

and there are abnormalities in the cord found in children who later develop autism. They're closing in on several genetic markers.

This is a disease that is present at birth although not manifested enough to be noticeable until the baby is older and not developing socially.

Antivaxers have always confused coincidence with cause and found a ready audience in horrified parents who don't know what to blame, only gee whiz, the kid just had a bunch of shots before they finally noticed.

Autism is a horrible illness in its extreme forms. However, it is being shown more and more to be a congenital one.

Parents who were trying to give their children the best chance possible at surviving childhood did nothing to cause it.

[Political_Junkie]

6. Unfortunately, I'm afraid

no amount of information to the contrary is going to make this hysteria go away anytime soon.

[pnwmom]

10. Why are you so sure there isn't more than one cause of autism?

I agree that there probably is a genetic cause, or at least a genetic susceptibility involved with autism. In some children, such as those with mitochondrial disorders, a vaccine might be the trigger to developing autism symptoms. Other children, because of a congenital condition, might have trouble metabolizing mercury or another ingredient of the vaccine.

And why do you insist on grouping "antivaxer" into a single group? I'm hardly an anti-vaxer. My children received all the usual vaccines, and even some non-mandatory ones -- except for the pertussis vaccine that caused seizures in one of my children and killed my sister.

[elleng]

16. (((pnwmom)))

.

[pnwmom]

18. Thanks , elleng.

That vaccine killed my sister and a cousin of my mother's, and crippled another cousin. Fortunately, we figured out what was happening before any of the cousins in this generation were hurt by it.

[beam me up scottie]

11. Apparently antivaxxers don't count the millions of children who were studied in other countries.

Millions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x54286#54291

Vaccine conspiracists are still raking it in.

[cosmik debris]

24. They only believe the evidence that agrees with them.

Any evidence that disputes their conclusion can't be trusted because they are soooo much smarter than all the other scientists and experts.

[beam me up scottie]

25. Reminds me of the chem-trail conspiracy. "I'm not a scientist but I play one on Alex Jones' program"

Another paranoid conspiracy theory that will never die because ignorant people need to believe in something.

[Orrex]

32. Are you saying that chem-trails cause autism in a certain susceptible subset?

I hadn't thought of that! We must take steps immediately!

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