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Deetee
30th September 2008, 06:31 AM
Andrew Wakefield, the discredited researcher whose discredited theory that MMR caused autism, left the UK some time ago to set up shop in the US, where he set up Thoughtful House (http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/), a centre for children with autism.
It appears that he is trying to relaunch his clinical career by establishing pediatric autism clinics.
I am sure this is a smart move - there is so much untapped woo in the USA (sorry guys, but it's true) that I reckon he is onto a winner. Let's just hope he has all his capital invested in shares.

Articles here (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1063631/Showbusiness-stars-help-controversial-MMR-jab-doctor-Andrew-Wakefield-relaunch-career-America.html) and here (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article4837798.ece?Submitted=true).

Paul Offit, professor of paediatrics at the University of Penn-sylvania, warned: “Wakefield’s malign influence is spreading across the United States, where we have seen vaccination rates drop and unprecedented chains of measles infections in the last year.”


PS, I have been studying Wakefield's autism "presentation" (http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/0405-conf-awakefield.htm) to check what his current thoughts are on the subject. It is clear this man has drunk long and deep from the anti-vaccine "kool aid". What struck me was Wakefield's use of pictures of children with autism in his lectures (now displayed on the web site), even showing pictures of a child and his sister from the UK whose mother, he says, is under investigation for starving her child. None of the children have their faces blacked out, so they are quite identifiable to anyone who knows them.

If this action does not contravene some confidentiality regulations, I'm a badly shaved monkey. The man clearly has not an ethical bone in his entire body.

learner
30th September 2008, 07:27 AM
I see from the website that one of their advisors is an actor and one a musician, from the Dixie Chicks ( the musician that is) Advice on what? Chords and expressions perhaps, woo knows?

Chris Haynes
30th September 2008, 09:02 AM
Andrew Wakefield, the discredited researcher whose discredited theory that MMR caused autism, left the UK some time ago to set up shop in the US, where he set up Thoughtful House (http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/), a centre for children with autism.
It appears that he is trying to relaunch his clinical career by establishing pediatric autism clinics.
...

This is an essay from a father whose family has had to endure the woo, and how it culminated in divorce:
http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/?p=1443

Ivor the Engineer
30th September 2008, 10:59 AM
How much of what Wakefield says in his presentation is accurate?

For example, what is the correlation between IBD and autism?

ETA: BTW, having ethical bones is not a requirement for making important discoveries.

godless dave
30th September 2008, 12:37 PM
I see from the website that one of their advisors is an actor and one a musician, from the Dixie Chicks ( the musician that is) Advice on what?

Which musician? Please tell me it's not Natalie. Finding out she is a woo would be one additional obstacle in my marriage plans (the other two obstacles being her current husband and the fact that we have never met).

Professor Yaffle
30th September 2008, 12:42 PM
Which musician? Please tell me it's not Natalie. Finding out she is a woo would be one additional obstacle in my marriage plans (the other two obstacles being her current husband and the fact that we have never met).

Martie Maguire. And Emily Robison is on the board.

Professor Yaffle
30th September 2008, 12:51 PM
How much of what Wakefield says in his presentation is accurate?

For example, what is the correlation between IBD and autism?

ETA: BTW, having ethical bones is not a requirement for making important discoveries.

The authors of the recent replication of Wakefield's study supported the idea that there is an increased rate of gastrointestinal problems in children with autism - but showed that it had nothing to do with the measles vaccine.


In 24 of the group of 25 and in 12 of the 13, there was no evidence of viral persistence, leading researchers to conclude the vaccine did not cause autism or gastrointestinal problems.

During a news briefing yesterday, Lipkin said his research showed the sole benefit of Wakefield's study -- it highlighted that children with autism often have disabling gastrointestinal (GI) problems. Researchers now believe such problems afflict 25 percent of children with autism-related conditions.

"We found no relationship between the timing of the MMR vaccine and the onset of either GI complaints or autism," Dr. Mady Hornig, also of Columbia, said yesterday.


http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hsauti0904-nws,0,1534978.story