A Big Defeat for the Anti-Vax Crowd

Health • Views: 2,303

This week, Jenny McCarthy and the anti-vaccination “movement” were definitively shut down by a special branch of the US Court of Federal claims: Court says thimerosal did not cause autism.

WASHINGTON – The vaccine additive thimerosal is not to blame for autism, a special federal court ruled Friday in a long-running battle by parents convinced there is a connection.

While expressing sympathy for the parents involved in the emotionally charged cases, the court concluded they had failed to show a connection between the mercury-containing preservative and autism. “Such families must cope every day with tremendous challenges in caring for their autistic children, and all are deserving of sympathy and admiration,” special master George Hastings Jr., wrote.

But, he added, Congress designed the victim compensation program only for families whose injuries or deaths can be shown to be linked to a vaccine and that has not been done in this case. …

Friday’s decision that autism is not caused by thimerosal alone follows a parallel ruling in 2009 that autism is not caused by the combination of vaccines with thimerosal and other vaccines.

The cases had been divided into three theories about a vaccine-autism relationship for the court to consider. The 2009 ruling covered one theory, and a second was dropped after that. Friday’s decision covers the last of the three theories. …

The new ruling was welcomed by Dr. Paul Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who said the autism theory had “already had its day in science court and failed to hold up.” But the controversy has cast a pall over vaccines, causing some parents to avoid them, he noted, “it’s very hard to unscare people after you have scared them.”

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34 comments
1 Silvergirl  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:39:38am
“… it’s very hard to unscare people after you have scared them.”

Some were already prone to believe the scare, and for those folks and others, they are permanently anti. Damage done.

2 NJDhockeyfan  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:39:45am

Oprah was unavailable for comment.

3 Cannadian Club Akbar  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:40:09am

Jenny may be hot, but there is a time when anyone with a brain stops looking at her. Geez..

4 Obdicut  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:41:53am

One small victory for science. But that the battle occurred at all is a loss.

5 Cannadian Club Akbar  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:42:42am

Personally, I am so over this debate, argument, what have you.

6 Kronocide  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:43:15am

Just release the court documents!

The court data was manipulated!

What do they have to hide!

7 Varek Raith  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:44:10am

Another new thread?! Too fast~
/

8 Jadespring  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:46:26am

Activist judges! Activist judges!! In the pocket of big pharma!!! eleventy!!!


//

9 Silvergirl  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:46:49am

re: #7 Varek Raith

Another new thread?! Too fast~
/

Breakfast is passing me by while the threads pile up. Later!

10 Kronocide  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:51:50am

All your memes are belong to us.

11 The Sanity Inspector  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:00:31am

re: #7 Varek Raith

Another new thread?! Too fast~
/

Suck it up, maggot!
/

12 Batman  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:06:27am

Once again Jim Carrey fails me. I don’t know what to believe anymore.

//

13 The Sanity Inspector  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:09:04am

Coincidentally, on this day in 1942 the first patient was successfully treated with the new wonder drug, penicillin.

14 Batman  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:14:12am

re: #13 The Sanity Inspector

Coincidentally, on this day in 1942 the first patient was successfully treated with the new wonder drug, penicillin.

And bacteria has been fighting back ever since. Thus the Cold War arms race officially began.

15 Teh Flowah  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:32:18am

Too bad that much like creationist and AGW deniers, facts mean very little to these people.

Brace for cries of “COVER UP” “CONSPIRACY” “THINGS THOSE GOVERNMENT FAT CATS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW” in

3…
2…
1…

16 butterick  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:37:12am

re: #14 nonsense

And bacteria has been fighting back ever since. Thus the Cold War arms race officially began.

Norway has made great strides in reducing resistant bacterial infections by cutting its use of antibiotics way back. Not that there’s anything wrong with antibiotics - just that prescribing them willy nilly is irresponsible and problematic.

17 SixDegrees  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:44:46am

re: #16 butterick

Norway has made great strides in reducing resistant bacterial infections by cutting its use of antibiotics way back. Not that there’s anything wrong with antibiotics - just that prescribing them willy nilly is irresponsible and problematic.

Completely agree.

One of the most reckless uses of antibiotics is the administration of sub-clinical doses to livestock over their entire lifetime, as a preventive measure aimed at reducing opportunistic infections that occur as a result of modern herd management practices, like the use of corn as feed for cattle, which aren’t designed to digest corn, and the stomach ulcerations the practice produces. You really couldn’t design a better environment for producing antibiotic resistance, and in the case of certain animals - pigs, in particular - which share a lot of pathogens with humans, the possibility of trans-species jumps is worrisome, to say the least. Europe has banned this practice. The US ought to follow suit.

18 cenotaphium  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:51:17am

I’m under the distinct impression that anti-vaccine sentiments breed most effectively in societies and among people who haven’t lived to see a time or a place in which they aren’t commonly available.

There have always been risks with vaccines, but they are nothing compared to the situation without them.

Now, if only there were a way to convince conspiracy-prone individuals to actually “look into it”, as they themselves so often demand others do..

19 Teh Flowah  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 9:55:56am

re: #18 cenotaphium

Why? So they can say that the mountain of evidence from credible sources is all part of the conspiracy and untrustworthy and only they and certain others who have their eyes and minds wide open know the truth?

20 SixDegrees  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 10:01:21am

re: #18 cenotaphium

I’m under the distinct impression that anti-vaccine sentiments breed most effectively in societies and among people who haven’t lived to see a time or a place in which they aren’t commonly available.

There have always been risks with vaccines, but they are nothing compared to the situation without them.

Now, if only there were a way to convince conspiracy-prone individuals to actually “look into it”, as they themselves so often demand others do..

They could be sent somewhere routine vaccination isn’t practiced; there are still large swaths of Africa, the Middle East and other regions where this is the case, where birth defects, lifetime maiming and deaths still occur from diseases the vaccinated simply never contract. Have ‘em take their kids along with ‘em. What could possibly go wrong?

21 mr. hammer  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 10:07:04am

I just feel for these parents, and I wonder what in the world is actually going on. That same article indicates: “…that recent data suggest a 10-fold increase in autism rates over the past decade, although it’s unclear how much of the surge reflects better diagnosis….”

Dunno. Maybe it is nothing more than just better diagnosis. But it is sad, and so many people are affected and looking for answers. My sister in law has two kids. Both autistic.

22 SixDegrees  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 10:14:46am

re: #21 mr. hammer

I just feel for these parents, and I wonder what in the world is actually going on. That same article indicates: “…that recent data suggest a 10-fold increase in autism rates over the past decade, although it’s unclear how much of the surge reflects better diagnosis…”

Dunno. Maybe it is nothing more than just better diagnosis. But it is sad, and so many people are affected and looking for answers. My sister in law has two kids. Both autistic.

Agree, and I can see how any parent would be inclined to latch on to anything that looked like an explanation. But the thimerosal linkage fell apart years ago, and the anti-vaxers just keep on blindly promoting it, without so much as a quanta of supporting evidence.

I’m inclined to believe that autism’s apparent rise is due entirely to increased diagnosis - even to the point of over-diagnosis, as the definition of the disorder continues to broaden. I believe that McCarthy’s own kid has been found to suffer, not from autism, but from some other neurological disorder, yet has been treated otherwise for years.

23 Tigger2005  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 10:34:10am

How can this be??? Everyone knows Jenny McCarthy is a genius. I mean, she keeps her extra brains in her boobs!

24 Liberally Conservative  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 10:52:41am

re: #22 SixDegrees

Agree, and I can see how any parent would be inclined to latch on to anything that looked like an explanation. But the thimerosal linkage fell apart years ago, and the anti-vaxers just keep on blindly promoting it, without so much as a quanta of supporting evidence.

I’m inclined to believe that autism’s apparent rise is due entirely to increased diagnosis - even to the point of over-diagnosis, as the definition of the disorder continues to broaden. I believe that McCarthy’s own kid has been found to suffer, not from autism, but from some other neurological disorder, yet has been treated otherwise for years.

I can sympathize with wanting an explanation, any explanation for what is going wrong, but it’d be better if that explanation didn’t compromise their child’s health and our herd immunity to these diseases as a species.

25 SixDegrees  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 11:11:30am

re: #24 Liberally Conservative

I can sympathize with wanting an explanation, any explanation for what is going wrong, but it’d be better if that explanation didn’t compromise their child’s health and our herd immunity to these diseases as a species.

Oh, I agree; I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. And when the link with thimerosal was first proposed, I can certainly understand the hesitation of parents to vaccinate until more information was forthcoming.

But that information came forth long ago, and completely exonerated thimerosal in particular, and vaccines in general, from any sort of causal connection to autism.

26 _RememberTonyC  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 11:18:34am

I’ll start paying attention to Jenny again when she returns to the communications skills that made us notice her in the first place.

27 Jaerik  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 1:14:26pm

You can’t “defeat” the anti-vax crowd, just like you’ll never be able to defeat the moon landing hoax crowd. Conspiracy theories are immune to reason and evidence.

28 Areozol  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 3:11:59pm

B…B…But they are activists judges!!!

/random wingnut

29 Pythagoras  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 6:05:34pm

The evidence is clear — Thimerisol doesn’t correlate with autism. It is good that the courts are closing the door on this wrongheadedness.

That said, I just can’t blame the parents. Their pain is so off the charts that they could fall for just about anything. The lawyers and other profiteers get all the opprobrium.

30 Dancing along the light of day  Sun, Mar 14, 2010 8:45:54pm

While I feel nothing but sympathy for the parents of an autistic child, I am glad to see the science win, in a court of law.
WOO HOO!

31 Mr. Hammer  Mon, Mar 15, 2010 7:30:56am

I realize this is a (nearly) dead thread, but if anyone who follows this issue closely is still watching, can you point us to some of the definitive research on this subject?

32 Beany  Mon, Mar 15, 2010 10:16:48am

“it’s very hard to unscare people after you have scared them.”
A good point for the AGW true-believers to contemplate.

33 badger1  Tue, Mar 16, 2010 11:34:46am

Thank god that this has finally been put to bed.

Measles have been on the rise in my hometown and there are really a surprising number of parents who have been scared into not vaccinating their children.

34 Fortitudine  Tue, Mar 16, 2010 6:58:36pm

re: #18 cenotaphium

I’m under the distinct impression that anti-vaccine sentiments breed most effectively in societies and among people who haven’t lived to see a time or a place in which they aren’t commonly available.

There have always been risks with vaccines, but they are nothing compared to the situation without them…

I’m afraid the only way to effectively shut down McCarthy would be to super-glue her lips closed.

Yes, I’m cranky; but I’m also recovering from shingles, which I would not have if the chicken-pox vaccine had been around in 1963….


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