Wakefield's First Try: Before Wakefield said MMR vaccine caused Autism, he blamed it for Chron's

[Ian David]

Wakefield's First TryBefore the disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield said that the MMR vaccine caused autism, he thought that it led to Crohn's disease.
By Nayanah SivaPosted Wednesday, June 2, 2010, at 12:32 PM ET

Last week, Andrew Wakefield, the man who is associated with proposing the highly controversial link between the MMR vaccine and autism, was struck off the U.K. medical register—essentially, he lost his license. The author of the infamous 1998 Lancet paper retracted earlier this year by the publication, Wakefield is also known for his inappropriate attempts to prove his hypothesis: At one time, he even bragged about subjecting children at his son's birthday party to blood tests and paying them 5 pounds a pop. He is also said to have conducted other invasive procedures on children that he wasn't qualified to perform, without proper ethical approval. The General Medical Council said that he had "callous disregard for the distress and pain the children might suffer."

Over the last decade, Wakefield has been named a hero by several autism groups and endorsed by former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy. But rather than making him a pariah, last week's decision seems only to serve as further fuel for him to plug his conspiracy stories as he travels around the United States promoting his new book Callous Disregard. The man is said to be responsible for a sharp reduction in the number of children being inoculated for MMR, allowing the number of measles cases in the United Kingdom to soar to more than 1,300 in 2008, compared with 56 in 1998. It is deeply troubling that Wakefield's new book rocketed into Amazon's list of best-selling parenting titles.

<snip>

Meanwhile, Wakefield seemed to have become a regular at the patent office. In 1996, he filed for a patent for a method of diagnosing Crohn's or ulcerative colitis by detection of the measles virus—and he applied for the patent under his home address rather than his institute's address. That is just "bizarre behavior," says Tom MacDonald, dean of research and professor of immunology at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

A year later he would patent a "safer" measles vaccine; though this was just a year before his MMR-autism paper was published in the Lancet, he did not declare this patent in his conflicts of interest to the editors of the publication. By this point, Wakefield had begun to propose that the MMR vaccine and its three virus strains put pressure on the body's immune system, which resulted in the development of Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. If the Department of Health listened to him and took MMR off the shelves, his new patent and vaccine could have been very profitable.*

More:
http://www.slate.com/id/2255259/

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/teh_skeptic/status/15323243385

*Like the anti-vaxers USED to say, "Follow the money!"


See prior threads:

Another Wakefield paper retracted
Topic started by HuckleB on Jun-02-10 01:36 AM (5 replies)
Last modified by Ian David on Jun-03-10 09:04 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=222&topic_id=87902

New study: many vaccines at once OK for kids
Topic started by HuckleB on May-24-10 08:12 PM (163 replies)
Last modified by xchrom on Jun-01-10 08:08 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=222&topic_id=87420

The Facts In The Case Of Dr. Andrew Wakefield
Topic started by Orrex on May-24-10 11:34 PM (35 replies)
Last modified by Odin2005 on May-29-10 09:17 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=222&topic_id=87343

[trotsky]

1. Won't change any of the anti-vax minds.

There is simply no amount of evidence (or in the case of Wakefield, profiteering scumbaggery) that can dispel their deeply-held belief that ZOMG BIG PHARMA IS KILLING US ALL AND GIVING KIDS TEH AUTISM ON PURPOSE.

[Ian David]

2. Because kids with Asperger's make the best drone pilots!

We're raising an army of super-powered math geeks for pwnage on the remotely-controlled battlefields of tomorrow!

:sarcasm:

[RZM]

3. Such a jackass . . .

Pandering to one of the worst trends in modern, western culture -- the idea that we are not subject to the vagaries of the natural world and every damn thing that ever happens is somehow the result of human action. For all of their misconceptions of the way the world works, at least the ancients had the good sense to blame this type of thing on forces beyond human control.

[Odin2005]

4. This man is the defnition of QUACK.

[laconicsax]

5. A quack's echo is tiny and hard to find. This quack on the other hand...

has been echoing loudly for years.

[FSogol]

6. Wow, Noted medical expert, Playmate Jenny McCarthy agrees with him? This changes everything!

:eyes:

[xchrom]

7. recommend

[xchrom]

8. kick

[mzmolly]

9. He also believes that Chron's is related to autism, in some cases.

eom.

[HuckleB]

10. kick...

[LeftishBrit]

11. As a sufferer from Crohns since childhood...

I really LOVE having research resources diverted into crap theories :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: