Consider a Few Things about Dr. Wakefield, the GMC and the Autism-Vaccine Link Posted on March 11th, 2010
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The news has been full of headlines trumpeting the discrediting of Dr. Andrew Wakefield`s 1998 study on vaccines (specifically MMR, measles-mumps-rubella) and childhood autism. While the news outlets in the main stream wax poetic about their belief that this discredits all autism-vaccine links, they ignore several fundamental things about the study, Dr. Wakefield, and the General Medical Council (GMC) which gave him a guilty verdict.
First, Wakefield`s study was only five pages long1 and was a case study, not a double-blind test drawing conclusive results. It studied 12 children and made no claims, only hypotheses. Thousands of these kinds of reports and studies are published every year and generally are ignored, as they are usually merely springboards towards more scientific research. It should also be mentioned that Wakefield`s observational research in this study has been duplicated by 2 other research institutions, one in Japan and the other in the U.S.2
Dr. Wakefield has published 32 peer-reviewed papers since 1998 and none of those have been mentioned, retracted, or challenged. The 1998 study was, however, the beginnings of an instrumental line of inquiry that would, eventually, lead to a study which will be published inNeurotoxicology, the advance first-phase having published last year.3
In fact, Dr. Wakefield has never been against vaccination and has, instead, been a proponent of single antigen vaccines. In other words, Wakefield is hardly “anti-vaccine” and instead urges pediatricians and vaccine makers to use single-dose vaccines formulated for only one pathogen.
The findings of the GMC had nothing to do with his research or his methodology, but only with his failure to disclose financial links they saw as potentially conflicting and with his alleged treatment of test subjects. The panel went so far as to specifically state that their decision had nothing to do with a vaccine-MMR-autism link.4
The findings of the GMC hinged on the supposed treatment of the children in the study`s control group, all of whom were friends of the Wakefield family. During Dr. Kumar`s (GMC panel chair) reading of the findings in this regard, all five of those parents stood and interrupted at various intervals to call the panel liars and unethical miscreants.5
That same Dr. S Kumar, who chaired the Fitness to Practice Panel and read the guilty verdicts to Dr. Wakefield and others, is a shareholder in a well-known pharmaceutical company. His predecessor was outed after it was found that Professor Dennis McDevitt was a research fellow for the same pharmaceutical giant.
The entire trial began because a man named Brian Deer brought complaint against Dr. Wakefield, with the help of funding and assistance from Medico-Legal Investigations. MLI is a private inquiry company funded solely by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.
The suit began in 2007 and trudged on for two years. During that time, parents of the children in question attempted to bring their case to court, to force the GMC panel to allow them to testify, but the judge refused. That judge, Sir Nigel Davis, has a brother who was on the board of (again) the same big pharma company.
If you`re not seeing a pattern here, you aren`t paying attention.
Resources:
1 - Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and
pervasive developmental disorder in children by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, et al
2 - Detection and sequencing of measles virus from peripheral mononuclear cells from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and autism by H. Kawashima, T. Mori, et al
2a - Dysregulated innate immune responses in young children with autism spectrum disorders: their relationship to gastrointestinal symptoms and dietary intervention
by H. Jyonouchi, L. Geng, et al
3 - Infant Primate Study Links Vaccination with Autism by Aaron Turpen, NaturalNews.com
3a - Infant Hepatitis B Vaccine Triples Risk of Autism in Boys, Study Says by Aaron Turpen, NaturalNews.com
4 - Fitness to Practice Panel Hearing, January 28, 2010 General Medical Council
5 - Eye Witness Report from the UK GMC Wakefield, Walker-Smith, Murch Hearing by Martin Walker, Age of Autism
Coalition for Vaccine Safety Calls for Congressional Hearings Posted on March 11th, 2010
In a letter dated February 23 and addressed to the members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Coalition for Vaccine Safety (CVS) calls for congressional hearings to investigate and review the role of the Health and Human Services (HHS) department and its constituent agencies and to evaluate their performance in ensuring vaccine safety.1
“Congress should review the claims of HHS and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that vaccines are safe with a jaundiced eye. The existing evidence on vaccine safety is grossly insufficient and fails to meet the requirements of public confidence.”
The CVS goes on to point out that the HHS has not complied with mandates from Congress in a 1986 law titled The 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act. That law, now codified as 42 United States Code: 300aa-1 to 300aa-34, reduced the potential liability of vaccine makers from vaccine injury claims.2 This law created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).
As the CVS letter further points out, the requirements given the HHS under that law state that the agency must conduct testing and research to reduce vaccine-related injuries and that it has failed to do so. So far, no tests or studies which include both vaccinated and unvaccinated children have been done; little field surveillance and adverse reaction reporting is happening; and overall the HHS is ignoring their duty.
Further, the HHS has also ignored the spirit and intent of the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (now Public Law No. 109-416).3 The CVS calls on this provision due to the upcoming release of a finding from the Court of Federal Claims on its Omnibus Autism Proceeding. This involves test cases on the possible link between Thimerosal (a preservative containing mercury) and autism.
The letter then goes on to point out several examples of suppressed science, conflicts of interest in hearings and judgments, and more. These include several instances of prominent medical groups and doctors questioning the vaccination regimen and the lack of research into the causes of autism and its possible links to vaccination. Financial conflicts of interest between those charged with ruling on or researching autism-vaccine links are also well-documented.
This includes former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding who is now president of a well-known vaccine maker4 and her statements on CNN in 2008 to the effect that her industry’s knowledge of negative health links and vaccines includes characteristics of autism.
The letter is hard-hitting, full of information, and was copied to the ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well.
Resources:
1 - Letter to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Coalition for Vaccine Safety
2 - National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act at the Louisiana State University Law Center’s Medical and Public Health Law Site
3 - Combating Autism Act, Wikipedia
4 - Former head of CDC lands lucrative job as president of Merck vaccine division by Mike Adams, NaturalNews
The Logarithmic Effect of Carbon Dioxide Posted on March 10th, 2010
by David Archivald, Watts Up With That?
The greenhouse gasses keep the Earth 30° C warmer than it would otherwise be without them in the atmosphere, so instead of the average surface temperature being -15° C, it is 15° C. Carbon dioxide contributes 10% of the effect so that is 3° C. The pre-industrial level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 280 ppm. So roughly, if the heating effect was a linear relationship, each 100 ppm contributes 1° C. With the atmospheric concentration rising by 2 ppm annually, it would go up by 100 ppm every 50 years and we would all fry as per the IPCC predictions.
But the relationship isn’t linear, it is logarithmic. In 2006, Willis Eschenbach posted this graph on Climate Audit showing the logarithmic heating effect of carbon dioxide relative to atmospheric concentration:
And this graphic of his shows carbon dioxide’s contribution to the whole greenhouse effect:
I recast Willis’ first graph as a bar chart to make the concept easier to understand to the layman:
Lo and behold, the first 20 ppm accounts for over half of the heating effect to the pre-industrial level of 280 ppm, by which time carbon dioxide is tuckered out as a greenhouse gas. One thing to bear in mind is that the atmospheric concentration of CO2 got down to 180 ppm during the glacial periods of the ice age the Earth is currently in (the Holocene is an interglacial in the ice age that started three million years ago).
Plant growth shuts down at 150 ppm, so the Earth was within 30 ppm of disaster. Terrestrial life came close to being wiped out by a lack of CO2 in the atmosphere. If plants were doing climate science instead of us humans, they would have a different opinion about what is a dangerous carbon dioxide level.
Some of the IPCC climate models predict that temperature will rise up to 6° C as a consequence of the doubling of the pre-industrial level of 280 ppm. So let’s add that to the graph above and see what it looks like:
The IPCC models water vapour-driven positive feedback as starting from the pre-industrial level. Somehow the carbon dioxide below the pre-industrial level does not cause this water vapour-driven positive feedback. If their water vapour feedback is a linear relationship with carbon dioxide, then we should have seen over 2° C of warming by now.
EVI Takes it to the street with commercial electric vehicles Posted on March 8th, 2010
by Aaron Turpen
LD Specs:
- Type: Commuter
- Class: 2-Seat NEV
- Top Speed: 40mph*
- Vehicle range: 55 miles
- Fuel(s): Electricity
- Battery system: Valence Lithium Phosphate
- Time to full battery recharge:
- Price:
- Availability: Now
*Limited by local law.
MD Specs:
- Type: Medium Duty Class 4, 5, 6 Truck
- Class: Commercial Truck
- Top Speed: 60mph
- Vehicle range: 60 / 80 / 115*
- Fuel(s): Electricity
- Battery system: Lithium-Iron Magnesium Phosphate
- Time to full battery recharge: 3-12 hours*
- Price:
- Availability: Now
*Depending on battery option.
The manufacturer says
EVI currently produces light duty electric trucks in Mexico for the Latin American market and plans to add a further 1,000 vehicles per year built at its all-new Stockton [CA] facility by the end of 2010.
Overview
Both the Light Duty and the Medium Duty vehicles from Electric Vehicles International (EVI) are currently available for purchase. The company recently started work opening its Stockton, California manufacturing facility for U.S. manufacture and sales.
EVI began business in 1989 in California and built its first manufacturing plant in Toluca, Mexico for Latin American sales. It currently produces about 1,000 units per year of its light duty truck for the South American market. The company is also looking to expand into the Asian markets.
At the new Stockton facility, EVI will offer three basic products to the U.S. market: the LD, the MD, and conversions of existing vehicles to all-electric or hybrid electric.
The LD
The Light Duty is a neighborhood electric commuter with a top speed of 40mph, though its road speed may be limited further depending on local laws regarding neighborhood vehicles. The car seats two and is only about 5 feet high and 8 feet long. It uses a 72V/8kW motor and 140Ahr Lithium Phosphate batteries (lead acid available on request). Despite its exemption status as an NEV, the LD has been fully crash tested.
The LD is meant for the urban commuter and commercial fleet markets. It comes in various configurations for parking enforcement, rentals, etc.
Class 6
The MD Chassis
Currently, under its medium-duty truck chassis, EVI is marketing two commercial vehicles: the MD and the WI.
The Medium Duty (MD) is a commercial Class 4-6 delivery truck design that can be configured as a box, refrigerated box, flat bed, utility, or other job-specific vehicle. The body and frame are from Freightliner Custom Chassis.
The Walk-In (WI) is a commercial Class 4 walk-in delivery box truck whose body is also from FCC. It can be customized for parcel delivery, food and beverage, utility, etc.
Both trucks share the same drive train configuration. Each comes with options for battery life of 60, 80, or 115 miles per charge, a 60mph top speed, a 0-60 of 25 seconds, and 132 or 146 horsepower (450 ft-lb torque). They use Eaton’s Ultra-shift HV6 automatic transmission and have a charge time of 3 to 12 hours, depending on battery option and charging type (110v or 220v).
Vaccine Study Shows Higher Rates of Chest Infections Posted on March 7th, 2010
A study published in the January 2010 edition of the journal Pediatrics shows that childhood pneumococcal vaccination may be linked to an increase in serious pneumonia complications. Of course, reportage claims that the benefits of the vaccine, introduced in 2000, far outweigh the risk. Findings from the study’s researchers, based in the University of California, Davis, show only that the vaccine is not lowering rates of empyema-associated hospitalization, which have actually increased during the vaccine’s use.
Su-Ting Li, MD, MPH and Daniel J. Tancredit, PhD, authored the study and their conclusion says that empyema-associated hospitalization rates have actually increased, not by some small sum, but by a whopping 70% for the study’s window:
“Among children 18 years of age, the annual empyema-associated hospitalization rates increased almost 70% between 1997 and 2006, despite decreases in the bacterial pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease rates. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is not decreasing the incidence of empyema.”
This shows a probable unintended consequence of the pneumococcal vaccination regimen (now recommended by the CDC and mandated in several states) to be an increase of empyema. Empyema is a collection of pus in an anatomical cavity, usually in the lungs’ pleura, and is most often associated with serious pneumonia infections.
Pneumococcal disease is a type of pneumonia caused by a virus and the bacteria, pneumococcus, is actually naturally occurring in most people’s bodies. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends vaccinations (called the PCV7 series) in infants and children at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and 12-15 months as well as increased dosage and series for several “at risk” categories.
The study looked at the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) to estimate the number of children (18 years or younger) who were associated with empyema in 1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006. This was correlated with Census data to get annual incidence rates per 100,000 children. These were then compared to see the rate of growth in empyema hospitalizations amongst children.
The result, with a 95% confidence interval, showed that rates of hospitalization for empyema went from 2.2 per 100,000 in 1997 (pre-vaccination) to 3.7 per 100,000 in 2006. That 70% increase was also accompanied by a 44% increase in pneumonia complications requiring intubation (chest tube insertion). All of this was followed by a 13% decrease in pneumonia infections.
So the study found some interesting correlations. Not only did pneumonia decrease (the intended use of the vaccine) by 13%, but it also gained strength, raising the number of people who had serious complications in their pneumonia infection by 70% and the number of people requiring severe medical intervention (intubation) to treat their infection by 44%.
Note that these numbers are not by number infected, but are by population as a whole. So despite the vaccine being credited with lowering pneumonia infections by a few percentage points, the study shows that by population, serious complications of pneumonia are on a dramatic rise.
Resources:
1 - Empyema Hospitalizations Increased in US Children Despite Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, Pediatrics, Jan. 2010, Su-Tin T. Li, MD, MPH and Daniel J. Tancredi, PhD
2 - Pneumococcal Disease In-Short, Centers for Disease Control, Vaccines & Immunizations
3 - Empyema, Wikipedia
4 - Vaccine information on NaturalNews
