Is XMRV the new Thimerosal? Apparently there is a small, but very vocal community of people who will go so far as death threats to defend their belief that the XMRV virus causes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It's somewhat amusing to picture listless, depressed CFS sufferers threatening anybody's life but it's easy to imagine this playing out the same as the disproven link between vaccines and autism.
Chronic fatigue syndrome – also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) – is common and debilitating. A recent BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) feature suggested that as many as one in 250 people in the UK suffers from it. Patients are sometimes unable to move and become bedridden, occasionally having to be fed through a tube. For more than 20 years, scientists have struggled to find the cause, with some pointing to physiological reasons, in particular viral infections, while others have argued that psychological problems are involved.
It is the latter group that has become the subject of extremists' attacks. The antagonists hate any suggestion of a psychological component and insist it is due to external causes, in particular viruses. In the case of McClure, her "crime" was to publish a paper indicating that early studies linking the syndrome to the virus XMRV were wrong and the result of laboratory contamination. So furious was the reaction that she had to withdraw from a US collaboration because she was warned she might be shot.
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"The tragedy is that this tiny group of activists are driving young scientists from working in the field," said Sharpe. "In the end, these campaigns are only going to harm patients."
This point was backed by Fiona Fox, director of the Science Media Centre. "Using threats and intimidation to prevent scientists pursuing specific avenues of research or speaking out is damaging not just science. It harms society," she said.
Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/aug/21/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-myalgic-encephalomyelitisNote: I posted this in Health as well, but I know many of this forum's regulars don't like to wade into those waters so I'm reposting it here.