Faking your data:
The doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.
Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.
The research was published in February 1998 in an article in The Lancet medical journal. It claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children’s conditions.
However, our investigation, confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council (GMC), reveals that: In most of the 12 cases, the children’s ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated. Hospital pathologists, looking for inflammatory bowel disease, reported in the majority of cases that the gut was normal. This was then reviewed and the Lancet paper showed them as abnormal.
Hopefully Tim F. will have some time to elaborate on what this means, and although it should be enough to reset the autism/vaccine debate back to 1998 and be enough to trigger a fresh analysis by those who feel there is a link, I have my doubts that will happen. If nothing else, this has been a grave disservice to those with autistic children.
Laura W
(disservice to those with autistic children.)
Good morning.
SGEW
The Lancet certainly seems to have risked permanently damaging their professional reputation by publishing these controversial reports based on bunkum data (see, also, the Iraqi civilian casualty uproar). I wonder if their editorial staff will learn that sensationalism, while helpful to short term sales and publicity, is not a very good legacy-building strategy.
So saying, this will hopefully help to put a kibosh on the whole anti-vax folderol, though P.Z. Myers is less than optimistic.
Atanarjuat
SGEW is right. The trustworthiness of The Lancet has plummeted into the sub-basement of leftist credibility, especially due to the politically exaggerated Iraqi civilian casualty report.
The MMR vaccine scare is just one more nail in the coffin, without a doubt.
-Country First.
R-Jud
Not just a disservice to those with autistic children:
It’s a disservice to anyone with children at all if it compromises herd immunity. Measles is not chicken pox. It can lead to encephalitis, severe pneumonia, and death. If it were up to me, Wakefield would go to prison.
calling all toasters
The operative expression is "zombie lies never die."
southpaw
More than a grave disservice. His lies killed people.
SGEW
@Atanarjuat:
Blargh! Atanarjuatical agreeing with me! This is the worst thing evar evar. What have I done to deserve this?!
Laura W
@R-Jud: Speaking of children, aren’t you due like tomorrow? (2/14?)
smiley
People have a need to blame something, anything for their misfortune. Parents of autistic children want to blame something for their child’s disorder. Given that some people still believe aspartame is bad, despite all evidence to the contrary, some parents of autistic children will continue to believe their child was damaged by a vaccine despite all evidence to the contrary.
Laura W
@SGEW:
Managed to steer clear of last night’s mud wrestling debacle?
You’re up!
SGEW
Wait, how do you know what my nightlife is like?!
(pauses to think)
Oh. You mean here?
Eric U.
My brother is autistic. My mother blamed vaccinations long before this study came out. I think there is a non-causal relationship between when you realize a child is autistic and when they get vaccinated.
R-Jud
@Laura W: Yes, and I am sooooooooooo over being pregnant. The kid seems cosy though, and first babies are notorious for hanging out a week or more beyond the estimated due date.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to eat these seven pineapples.
Laura W
@R-Jud: I commend you for your commitment to research.
I’d go the curry/acupuncture route if it were me (fortunately, it is not). I am very fond of both.
I would stay far away from cohosh. I hear that and hear: "ABORT", regardless of that site’s claims that it is safe in later days.
Jason F
There has been ample evidence for years that there is no link between vaccinations and autism. Those who, for whatever reason, want to believe there is such a link will not be detered by the evidence.
Fwiffo
This has been like the one study that the anti-vax loons had been hanging their hat on. Is it too much to hope that they’ll stop murdering children and start funding research into the actual causes of autism?
Punchy
Tim F. aint the only Beaker on the blog. My $0.02 — this doesn’t matter one bit to the non-believers. Angry/guilt-ridden parents of autistic children have bought so deeply into this cause that there’s nothing that will convince them otherwise. They’re unable to come to grips that "shit happens" (more scientifically, it’s the parents’ genes fault, which they REALLY refuse to accept). Therefore they’ll simply stop quoting this paper and continue to hold up Kennedy’s book and a handful of other quack papers that appear to show this link.
R-Jud
@Laura W: No results yet from last night’s lamb vindaloo. We are asking around to see if anyone knows a place that will do phaal. If nothing else I could use the theraputic sweating.
Meanwhile, my sister-in-law is a reflexologist, and although I doubt that most "alternative" treatments do anything more than make you feel pleasantly fussed over, she is going to drop by this evening and work on my feet. I would do it myself but I cannot reach the right areas. In fact, I have been wanting to go for a wee hike for an hour now, but will have to wait until Mr. Jud comes home so he can tie my boots for me. Sigh.
If I hit 41 weeks, I am busting out the castor oil.
R-Jud
@Fwiffo:
Probably. They now have ten years of "literature" and "data" (read: anecdotes) to back up the anti-vax position. After all, if so many people went along with it, there must be something to it, amirite?
Again, I am going to pimp Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science to US readers who may not know about it.
Jeff
Many have already moved on to "mitochondrial disorders." It is a lot of parents with special needs kids grasping at straws who continue this battle against science aided by an uneducated media looking for the next big scare.
South of I-10
@R-Jud: I was pregnant in 2004. I watched Bill Clinton speak on Monday night of the Democratic National Convention and my water broke shortly thereafter. Mr. South and I had a running joke for quite some time that Clinton’s speech was so stimulating that it threw me into labor. So you could always try that.
Shygetz
Anti-vaxxers are a resilient lot. They have mountains of data that they have dismissed as a Big Pharma conspiracy to taint their precious bodily fluids, and this will just be another link the in the conspiracy.
Or, in other words, the accusations that Wakefield falsified data just goes to prove their point.
Grumpy Code Monkey
I think R-Jud is right; the anti-vax forces have gained enough inertia that no amount of evidence to the contrary will convince them. They’ll just claim it’s all part of some vast conspiracy in the medical community to silence alternative views, because there’s so much money1 associated with vaccines.
1. Bolded for irony.
The Other Steve
When you say Autistic, what do you mean?
Ash Can
Speaking as a parent, prison is too good for this shitheel, and hats off to the Times for setting the record straight. From now on, when I see The Lancet cited for anything, I’ll know to take it with a block or two of salt.
@R-Jud: My sympathies. I was induced when I was 6 days past my due date, and while I didn’t actually like them, I honestly did welcome the labor pains. I was not a fun person to be around during the beached-whale stage of pregnancy. Here’s hoping your labor comes soon and goes quickly.
Persia
I’m with the cynics. People love a good conspiracy, and even better one with someone to blame.
It’s also a huge disservice, IMO, to the autistic children themselves. Think of all the time and energy their parents have spent on anti-vaccine activism, that could’ve been spent on, oh hey, their kid, or on funding research that could help their kids in their day-to-day lives.
jibeaux
I agree with the others about the anti-vaccination people. There was a This American Life episode once that kind of got my goat, because in their attempt to be fair-minded about all of it, tended to categorize these people in the same group as what we could call "organic produce – no BpA" parents, which no doubt there is a lot of overlap there. But please. I’m an organic produce parent, once of those annoying types who won’t heat up plastic in the microwave anymore and who reads ingredient lists for HFCS. That’s because there is scientific evidence that pesticides and HFCS and Bpa, etc. can be harmful. Not to mention the fact that, even if they aren’t, there is no harm to my kids or anyone else’s kids in avoiding them. A baby too young to be vaccinated isn’t going to get measles because I don’t feed my kids Go-gurts.
Thinking that your kid is going to get autism from an MMR vaccine has a lot more in common with "you can get AIDS from a toilet seat" than it does "maybe pesticides aren’t the best thing to give my kids." On this particular episode, they discussed how the anti-vax people aren’t even persuaded to change their minds by their kids, and other people’s kids who don’t have retarded parents but just weren’t old enough to have been vaccinated yet ACTUALLY GETTING MEASLES, for heaven’s sakes. Because they happened to be lucky and get through it o.k., that just showed to them, that the risk is overrated. It’s completely and utterly irrational.
El Cid
@R-Jud: Thanks. Goldacre and Bad Science have done great work on this issue.
dr. luba
@SGEW: WRT the Lancet Iraqi casualties study–have there been any serious objections to its methodology and findings for reasons other than political ones?
Although the casualty estimates were high, I haven’t heard of any serious debunking. My impression was that the study was supported by most statisticians and epidemiologists.
jibeaux
This is the link to the show, if anyone’s interested. Overall, it was o.k., but some of the characterization of the anti-vax people struck me as going too far into the "on the other hand, Mr. Hitler contends" school of journalism. Those parents may have good intentions and they may just be trying to do right by their kids, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are just. flat. wrong.
Persia
@jibeaux:
I thought the story of the woman whose child was sickened was powerful enough to rebut the anti-vaccine nuts, but that may just have been me. That may have been because as a parent who had an ICU kid, ‘sick, feverish miserable kid’ hits lots of emotional panic buttons for me it might not for others.
@R-Jud:
Mine came early so I have no advice, but good luck!
jibeaux
@Persia:
Oh, it was really powerful. Goodness, I felt for that mom. I laughed admiringly when she talked about how she’d let the wackos not vaccinate their kids as long as they agreed to go live on a remote, pox-infested island, away from everyone else and never leaving. If my baby had gotten measles from an infected kid belonging to some idiotic, unapologetic, irrational parents, there would have been a physical confrontation. Which would have made me look really stupid since I would probably lose a fight with Elmo.
It was overall a good piece, and certainly made the case strongly for any normal person that there was no merit to the anti-vax people, I just would have preferred a little more calling a spade a spade.
YellowJournalism
And don’t forget, Jenny McCarthy told them so. That seals it, right there!
demimondian
@dr. luba: There has been extensive complaint. The researcher in question has refused to release the primary data sheets, even when the sheets would be protected during investigation. Other researchers have attempted to replicate his studies, and have been unable to replicate them. (Although Atanutcase will be glad to know that their estimates of Iraqi casualty rates are still a factor of five higher than the official lies the he and his have been spreading for years.)
4tehlulz
The vaccine haet will never end, regardless of how many studies will refute the foundation for it. This fuckhole only gave it legitimacy, and deserves nothing short of hanging.
Hopefully, this will get the thimerosol lawsuit tossed.
Evinfuilt
This is one of the more disappointing things in the world to me. It all comes down to timing, the time that Autism usually shows itself is around the time you’re due for vaccines.
Then you get those people who somehow don’t understand germ theory trying to convince people in some huge mega conspiracy. One of course based on Pharma making very little money from Vaccines instead of the big money in measles treatement. I’ll just never understand how people wrap their minds around ludicrous conspiracies.
Anyways, put me down for "this won’t stop one anti-vaccine nut", I think episodes of House and Grey’s Anatomy have a higher chance at swaying public opinion.
Dork
The blonde Playmate? She’s an epidimeologist? (sp?)
I fight my gf almost every day over the non-necessity and stupidity of buying "anti-bacterial" soap. That’s got to be the most effective marketing ever, b/c that’s really no diff than trying to sell "drinking water, now in liquid form!" or "Paper paper plates!"
rb
From now on, when I see The Lancet cited for anything, I’ll know to take it with a block or two of salt.
The problem isn’t with Lancet or the peer review process. Even if the study was perfect, it simply should not have had the influence that it did.
A case of flat-out fraud cannot normally be detected by peer reviewers; they cannot audit medical records, for instance. That is up to the researchers themselves and the institutions that employ them.
What should the reviewers have said in this case? "This paper seems like a lie to me?" The manuscript was relatively modest in its claims, with plenty of caveats. Given the scale and importance of the autism epidemic, if this paper is accurate then its publication was more than appropriate. We WANT docs to be on the lookout for clues and to share them with the community, rather than hoarding them.
What must be changed is media hysteria and public ignorance with regard to science and publication.
Like it or not, science is a cumulative, collaborative process and many (many, many) dead ends will be tried (and published) before a problem as vexing and complicated as the Autism epidemic is "solved" – if indeed such a thing is possible.
Even if we restrict ourselves to the largest and best studies, there will be many false associations discovered – and published – for every solution revealed.
That is science.
The media and public treating each advance (or apparent mishap) is as a silver bullet (horrible catastrophe) is part of the problem.
Scrupulous scientists’ neglecting their responsibility to speak to the media/public (thus leaving the field wide open for hucksters and hacks) is another part.
Jim Pharo
Not really. I’m not sure why it matters what parents of autistic children think caused it. (It is, as pointed out up-thread, a grave disservice to those who skipped a vaccine who would have otherwise gotten it in the absence of this (and other) false reports.
If you read a couple of posts up, the real disservice to parents of autistic children is the moronic budget cuts imposed by the Democrats and the Three Idiots: Specter, Collins and — help me — Snow? Cutting state and local funding hurts everyone in need, and parents of autistic children generally fit that bill.
We’ve already lost our after-school and Saturday programs. The Saturday one was really a loss since it was the only time we had to focus on our other children.
But Senator Collins knows best, I’m sure.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Dork:
She’s a mommy, and that trumps a medical or science degree.
Krista
Good luck, R-Jud! Keep us posted!
I actually got to hear the wee sprog’s heartbeat for the first time today, so that was really pretty cool. I was at that nerve-wracking stage where I’m not having pregnancy symptoms, and am not showing yet, and I don’t feel any different than I did before I got pregnant, so of course the mind starts running the hamster wheel, wondering if everything is okay. Hearing that strong, steady heartbeat was really reassuring.
smiley
@rb:
Yes. That reminds me of an example I use to explain to my students why it’s a mistake to take any single scientific study as the answer to a particular question (which is what usually goes on in the media).
I was watching Good Morning America one morning and the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine had just published articles that directly contradicted each other about heart health. Charlie Gibson, with a copy of each article in each hand, looked into the camera and, with a completely flummoxed look on his face said, "What are we supposed to believe?" I then answer the question. Both… and neither. Then comes the rest of the lecture about what rb said.
Edit: apparently the end blockquote tag is broken.
Robin G.
I wonder what the liability is on these guys. I smell a class-action.
When my best friend had her baby, it took hours of discussion to convince her to vaccinate. Her (fundie wingnut) parents were pushing her not to, and she was already so sleep-deprived and full of mommy-hormones that she was freaking out constantly. He’s her firstborn son, and she had no experience with children. If it was possible she would have sealed him in a germ-free chamber for his entire life where nothing could harm him (or so she thought for those first few months).
This "OMG UR KILLING UR BABY!!1!" bullshit that comes from everywhere (and not just about vaccines) can be extremely influential on many first time parents who are already afraid every minute of every day that they’re screwing up. The idea that these researchers fueled those fears with crap data is unconscionable.
R-Jud
@Krista:
Thanks, Krista. Glad you got further evidence that it’s actually a fetus and not just some really persistent gas (which is what I kept thinking up until I heard the heartbeat myself). The first sonogram is pretty cool. The second one is even cooler, because you get to check out the heart chambers, brain development, etc. That is, unless you’re Mr. Jud, who was crying the whole time.
Bill Arnold
dr luba,
The Wikipedia article on the Lancet studies has an reasonably broad discussion of criticisms of the studies (the first 2004 study was too small to criticize), plus footnotes to keep a reader busy for months. Bottom line seems to be that the lower bound is probably a more realistic estimate, at least for violent deaths (426,369), but this is still far (factor of 4?) larger than the studies touted by Iraq war cheerleaders.
Glenn
The CDC has admitted that vaccines cause autism or autism-like symptoms. The US government has paid out damages in more than one case, the most prominent being this recent one:
Full articles at:
Vaccines Caused Autism Story
Court Document in Case
Glenn
Here is a YouTube video of the CDC director that includes associated information that suggests that up to 20% of children with autism or autism-like symptoms may have these mitochondrial problems. In which case, the stress put on these at risk children by vaccines may very well be the cause of their autism-like symptoms:
Autism YouTube Video
critical mom
I read through most of the 46 comments so far. Please excuse me if I’m redundant and way too verbose, but…
What I’m writing is based on online research I did last year when I tried to help a local hospital get more funding for year-round low-cost or free social skills groups for children with Asperger’s which is part of the autism-spectrum. I highly suggest that instead of just knee-jerk commenting that you do your own research and really examine the interconnectedness and totally web-like reality of autism-spectrum disorders. Imagine that your child has this disorder. Imagine that you are considering having another child. Put that kind of pressure on yourself and then see what the data reveals.
My conclusion: Wait, Wait, but DO eventually vaccinate! Let me explain.
Did you know that unlike when we were kids (I’m in my 40’s) and got vaccinated at 5 when we first went to school—TODAY THEY ARE VACCINATING NEWBORNS?! My son had about 20 vaccinations before his 5th birthday. I’m not kidding. Nowadays they load the majority of vaccinations for the most toxic, dangerous diseases within the first few year of life. Most of them were within the first 3 years of my son’s life. From research I did it appears that human newborns cannot assimilate many alien chemicals because their bodies haven’t developed. Since they can’t break down the alien chemicals (mercury, heavy metals, inert ingredients in vaccines, vaccines themselves) their bodies sequester or hide the alien chemicals wherever they will go. Into tissue, bones, etc.
Based on the research I did it seems to me criminal to give children under 5 any kind of vaccinations.
However, I do think that ALL children over 5 globally should be vaccinated, unless there is a locus of red-flag factors.
Just as there are now well-known risk-factors for AIDS, so too are there certain flags for autism-spectrum disorders. I believe, based on the intensive lit-search I did last Spring, that all the literature points to a locus of genetic inclination from both mother and father, each of whom might be "carriers". If one or both have minor autism-spectrum characteristics it is likely that their child will also be on the spectrum. But even when one or both are hidden, (recessive?) "carriers" (they had a spectrum parent) then it is possible a child will be born on the spectrum. If parents are over 40 then it is more likely. If a child is predisposed genetically or environmentally then it seems that vaccines (maybe it will end up being the actual virus itself), MMR especially, or other inert ingredients, heavy metal or mercury-based toxin overload is at fault. The data suggests that parents with one autism-spectrum child are more likely to have other children on the spectrum if they have more children. Is that genetic? Is it environmental? I don’t know, but if you are over 40, live in a mercury-rich environment, and are an egghead, extra-smart, very focussed, literal, and a specialist with narrow interests, come from that kind of a family history yourself, it appears that you are at risk for having an autism-spectrum child if you live in a country or locale which vaccinates its children at an early age.
From my perspective it seems like for some people the risk of autism-spectrum should outweigh ANY vaccinations, or at least, especially until the child has an immune system capable of handling viruses (and the inert ingredients in which the vaccine is suspended) without shutting down. Google it yourself and see what kinds of stuff they put as "inert" ingredients into vaccines to get them to keep their potency…
Even most "normal" people without the over-40 thing, the genetic thing, the environmental thing, the mercury thing, it seems to me that they should wait until their child is over 5 to get vaccinated, just in case.
Autism-spectrum disorders are lifelong challenges which require huge resources and care from not only specific parents but also the entire society. Google Canada’s autism-spectrum policy and research into the cost for society of individuals with autism-spectrum.
I do not tell you what to think. Do extensive research online yourself. Follow all leads wherever they take you. The burden is upon each of us, as critical thinkers, to make up our own minds. The people with vested interests are always the ones shouting the loudest, today. We’ve gotten to the point where there is enough info out there that if you sift through it critically you begin to see patterns. Patterns of exclusion and emptiness are equally important as the data and publications which exist. I am critical of putting faith exclusively in scientific studies because as a former researcher I see how funding drives research and the pressure to publish drives results. The only research we see is research which someone pays to have done. Whether the study in question was or was not valid does not address the experience of parents. As in the case of studies of the link between food coloring and ADHD, most of the "conclusive" results which do not support a link are funded by the PHARM industry or their many academic minions. Think about it. Think about all the great research studies which SHOULD be done but aren’t because the only people who care are disconnected parents scattered geographically and in different countries whose incomes are reduced by $30,000 per year per child by the burden of an autism-spectrum child, or more than one such child.
In conclusion, for some children there does seem to be a link (whether causal or not) between the onset of Autism-spectrum disorders and vaccinations (MMR might be the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of a susceptible baby’s ability to handle alien substances) but that apparent link might be due to factors which could be totally avoided by simply vaccinating children at an age when their little bodies can actually cope with alien chemical cocktails.
Wait, wait but DO eventually vaccinate!
AnneLaurie
Critical, when you & I were young, going to kindergarten at age 5 was the first time most kids spent more than a couple of hours at a time in close contact with a bunch of non-related children. And even *then*, there were a bunch of vaccinations scheduled by a baby’s first birthday (which is why we no longer have babies dying of diptheria on a regular basis, for instance). There were also plenty of "funny" kids with peculiar developmental delays, but since mainstreaming was not a widely accepted concept, those unfortunate kids’ parents were encouraged to keep them away from the normal kids, when they weren’t being advised to institutionalize them. ("Just tell the neighbors it died. You don’t want your other kids to be stigmatized, do you? And if you can find a placement in another state, you won’t waste your energy worrying about whether you should visit more often… " Yep, quotes from medical professionals in the 1960s & even early 1970s.)
Today, most kids are in some form of daycare by the time they’re a few months old, frequently for 10 or 12 hours every weekday. They’ve got vastly more opportunities to pick up illnesses, including potentially fatal illnesses. On the other hand, the medical profession has also introduced a bunch of vaccinations to protect those tiny bodies from diseases you & I would never have had a chance against. And there’s been enormous progress made in ensuring that all kids, even the can’t-be-neatly-pigeonholed "defectives", get to participate in their local communities as best they can… which means that those of us whose unfortunate would-have-been-classmates never got the chance to attend local public schools look around and think, "Gosh, how come there are so many less-than-perfect little kids these days? Someone must be poisoning our precious bodily fluids!"
My heart aches for every autistic child, and for every parent whose dreams are shattered when their child is diagnosed. But imposing an imaginary pattern on the random accidents of genetics-plus-environment only hurts those kids, and those parents. Doctors in the 1970s had all kinds of "scientific research" to "prove" that autism was a psychiatric illness caused by bad parenting. We know now that those doctors were wrong, but they got to ruin a lot of lives before their errors were exposed. Ruining (or ending) more lives today because a handful of badly-done, specious, or plain dishonest studies are supposed to "prove" that vaccines cause autism is not a winning situation for any kid, neurotypical or otherwise.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Glenn:
Glenn
@Grumpy Code Monkey
I’m surprised you would take the word of a journalist who has no science background, especially since the case is still in front of the British medical commission.
Glenn
@Grumpy Code Monkey
Also, please comment on Wakefield’s response to the newspaper charges:
Wakefield Response
Glenn
@Grumpy Code Monkey
Why didn’t you highlight "with features of autism spectrum disorder" in the court ruling? That’s what the diagnosis for most kids with autism is – it’s a placement along a spectrum based on how many features of autism they display.
The court ruled that the vaccinations caused "features of autism spectrum disorder" (along with the other problems you chose to highlight instead) due to underlying genetic conditions. That’s what the ruling says. That’s what people are concerned about – that a percentage of kids, perhaps 1-2%, have the underlying genetic conditions that make them prone to autism when a trigger is present.
The epidemiological studies that claim there’s no statistical correlation are useless because by looking at the entire general population they’re asking the wrong question.
The proper question is to figure out what the at risk population is (mothers over 40, genetic profile, the 2% of children with those characteristics, etc) and then determine what heightens risk within that population. Taking an epidemiological study of an entire population where 98% of the children aren’t even potentially at risk drowns out any statistical correlation that would point to triggers in the at risk population.
That trigger might be vaccinations, it might not be. The point is that nobody knows and the proper science is not being done. There is troubling evidence of the biological causes of autism, but the research money goes into looking into the genetic basis and that has led nowhere.
Now scientists needs to study what the reasons are that vaccinations caused the "features of autism spectrum disorder" and other problems in this little girl. And then scientists need to figure out whether other kids have the same risk factors that this little girl had. That’s called science.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Glenn:
Multiple responses, later ones first:
Because the actual diagnosis was a metabolic disorder leading to encephalopathy, which means degenerative brain injury, which is not autism, even though it can result in symptoms that overlap with autism (hence, "features of autism spectrum disorder"). You can make a case that Terri Schiavo suffered from "features of autism spectrum disorder"; that doesn’t mean she was suffering from autism.
Those underlying genetic conditions were for a mitochondrial disorder, not autism.
But this argument discredits the very idea that MMR vaccines are somehow responsible for the rise in the incidence of autism; you yourself are acknowledging that most kids who get vaccinated will not develop autism.
Finding records of patent applications doesn’t require a science degree. Neither does recognizing obvious discrepancies between two reports.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Crap, missed the edit window.
FWIW, I don’t normally trust journalists when it comes to stuff like this, but I have seen enough cases of fraud to find the accusations credible.