Buckle up.....I've been holding this back for several days.
Its hard to believe that Wakefield's horribly unethical conduct is only now being so clearly defined to the public. Its a travesty that he'll probably never be held truly responsible for the children who've suffered, even died by the hand of his fraudulent and grossly negligent propaganda and dare I say "research."
More information on his "research" can be found in a post on sciencebasedmedicine.org that tells the story of this "Doctor" and his antics over the last decade. These antics currently include, as of this very moment in Austin, Texas, forcing repeated enemas, intestinal biopsies, lumbar punctures, laxatives and numerous other invasive therapies on socially voiceless autistic children.
These "therapies" survive in no small part thanks to the likes of super villain
Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey, Oprah, Larry King and many, many others including numerous celebrity physicians. Thanks to these people millions of Americans have made this "ideology" a firm part of their world view. These people and their many, many proponents are all over the media and internet and have a word of mouth and online presence to be envied by the '08 Obama campaign. These proponents of Wakefield's beliefs will not be dissuaded by well powered double blind placebo-controlled trials, they will not halt their relentless assault on scared and emotionally vulnerable families, and they will not stand down as even more and more children and adults get sick or even worse die. And yet in comparison we, the medical community, remain relatively silent.
I think we are quick to dismiss suck quackery as harmless and even if we wanted to, much too pervasive to change. I understand the philosophical simplicity and attractiveness of these beliefs. I myself used to be a supporter of such New Age and Alt-Med nonsense despite an intensely science-based education. Image how easily the average American with no or minimal scientific and critical thinking education can be swayed by this propaganda. And this propaganda is very sophisticated.
And on march the relentless thousands within the anti-vaccine movement who continue to wage their ideological war on the scientific advancements that save lives day after day. The expressed goal of their war is to win the hearts and minds of every man women and child they can reach at any cost as is clearly defined by their most visible and outspoken representative below.
"I do believe sadly it's going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it's their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They're making a product that's s___. If you give us a safe vaccine, we'll use it. It shouldn't be polio versus autism."
--Jenny McCarthy, Time Magazine, April 2009
And in case you haven't noticed.......they are winning.
Without reason and logic what have we but a world of fairy tales and wishful thinking where we would sooner let children die than admit that our most tightly held beliefs just might be wrong.......-skepticoblog
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