A Bitter Victory?

Many of you have probably seen the recent media attention regarding the fraudulent evidence linking the MMR vaccine to autism. After reading the recent editorials as well as Paul Offit's book, Autism's False Profits, I can't help but think, what took so long? It took over 12 years to uncover the truth buried beneath a single 12 subject case series study. The key author in said paper being, Andrew Wakefield MD, aka the poster child of the MMR theory. What might seem like a drop in the bucket, as is the case with many case series papers, this one had major implications on public health. How could this happen? How could a poorly designed study have such an impact? Of course, there are other factors, one of the largest being the mystery of autism. As the rates of autism increased, parents were frantic to find answers and Wakefield et al. capitalized on this by offering an explanation. They blamed big pharma for turning a profit at the cost of children's developmental status. However, big pharma was not to blame in this case, it turned out to be Wakefield who was profiting. The recent series of editorials published in the British Medical Journal by Brian Deer, investigates Andrew Wakefield and his "monumental" study. It's disconcerting how the checks and balances that dictate medical practice and public awareness severely failed in this case and caused the tragic loss of 4 children's lives.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three