SaggyBalls

I'd have been into it if school weren't a priority.

Documents emerge proving Dr Andrew Wakefield innocent; BMJ and Brian Deer caught misrepresenting the facts

by Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) New documents have emerged that clear Dr Andrew Wakefield of the allegations of fraud recently made by the British Medical Journal and its reporter Brian Deer. This new evidence "completely negates the allegations that I committed scientific

fraud. Brian Deer and Dr. Godlee of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) knew or should

have known about the facts set out below before publishing their false allegations," says Dr Andrew Wakefield (see sources, below).

Newly-revealed documents show that on December 20th, 1996, a meeting of The Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group based at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School featured a presentation by Professor Walker-Smith on seven of the children who would later become part of the group of patients Dr Wakefield wrote about in his 1998 The Lancet paper (which was later retracted by The Lancet).

Remember, Dr Wakefield has been accused of completely fabricating his findings about these same children in his 1998 paper, but these documents reveal that fourteen months before Dr Wakefield's paper was published, two other researchers -- Professor Walker-Smith and Dr Amar Dhillon -- independently documented the same problems in these children, including symptoms of autism.

Thus, Dr Wakefield could not have "fabricated" these findings as alleged by the British Medical Journal, which now finds itself in the position of needing to issue a retraction, or it must now expand its accusations of fraud to include Professor Walker-Smith and Dr Dhillon... essentially, the BMJ must now insist that a "conspiracy of fraud" existed among at least these three researchers, and possibly more, in order to back up its allegation that Dr Wakefield's study results were fabricated.

The smoking-gun evidence

Professor Walker-Smith's 1996 presentation at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School was entitled, "Entero-colitis and Disintegrative Disorder Following MMR - A Review of the First Seven Cases."

His presentation notes began with the following text: "“I wish today, to present some preliminary details concerning seven children, all boys, who appear to have entero-colitis and disintegrative disorder, probably autism, following MMR. I shall now briefly present

their case history [sic]."

He then went on to detail the clinical history of these seven children as derived from his medical team as well as senior pathologist Dr Amar Dhillon. Importantly, Dr Andrew Wakefield was not part of this investigation. This means that Dr Wakefield's findings were independently replicated by another medical research team.

The British Medical Journal's accusations against Dr Wakefield -- that he fabricated his findings -- are therefore false. The mainstream media accusation that Dr Wakefield's findings have "never been replicated" is also blatantly false.

Here are the notes on the seven children, as presented in 1996, 14 months BEFORE Dr Wakefield published his landmark paper in The Lancet:

Child 1. Immediate reaction to MMR with fever at 1 [corrected, illegible]

Rapid deterioration in behaviour - autism

Histology active chronic inflammation in caecum

Treated Asacol

INDETERMINATE COLITIS** (1)

Child 2. MMR at 15 months - head banging 2 weeks later.

Hyperactive from 18 months.

Endoscopy - aphthoid ulcer at hepatic flexure

Caecum: lymphoid nodular hyperplasia with erythematous rim and pale swollen

core.

Histology, Ileum mild inflammation, colon moderate inflammation

Acute and chronic inflammation.

Treated CT3211 [a dietary treatment]

INDETERMINATE COLITIS** ? CROHN’S DISEASE

Child 3. ? dysmorphism - chromosomes and normal development

MMR at 5 months [sic]

Measles at 2.5 years* - 1 month later change in behavior

Hyperactive with food

Colonoscopy - granular rectum, normal colon and lymphoid nodular

hyperplasia.

Histopathology: lymphoid nodular hyperplasia.

Increased eosinophils 5/5 mild increase in inflammatory cells (Dhillon)

Routine normal

LYMPHOID NODULAR HYPERPLASIA

INDETERMINATE COLITIS**

[* correction: he received measles vaccine first at approximately 15 months of

age and MMR at 2.5. years]

Child 4 (2). Reacted to triple vaccine 4 months - screaming and near cot death

(DPT)

MMR at 15 months - behaviour changed after 1 week.

“measles rash†week before

Endoscopy - minor abnormalities of vascular pattern

Histology - non-specific proctocolitis**

Treated

INDETERMINTE PROCTOCOLITIS

LYMPHOID NODULAR HYPERPLASIA

Child 5 (3). MMR at 14 months.

Second day after, fever and rash, bangs head and behaviour abnormal

thereafter.

Endoscopy - Lymphoid nodular hyperplasia

Histopathology: Marked increase in IEL’s [intraepithelial lymphocytes] in ileum

with chronic inflammatory cells in reactive follicles. Increase in inflammatory cells in colon and IELs increased.

LYMPHOID NODULAR HYPERPLASIA

INDETERMINATE COLITIS

Child 6 (7). MMR - 16 months - no obvious reaction

2 years behavioral change - 2.5 years

Screaming attacks - / food related

Endoscopy - Lymphoid nodular hyperplasia terminal ileum

Histology - Prominent lymphoid follicles

Dhillon: moderate to marked increase in IEL’s, increase in chronic inflammatory

cells throughout the colon - superficial macrophages not quite granuloma

INDTERMINATE COLITIS

Child 78. MMR 14 months

16 months “growling voiceâ€

18 months - behavioural changes - autism diagnosed at 3 years

Barium [follow through X ray] 5 cm tight stricture [proximal] to insertion of

terminal ileum

Endoscopy- prominent lymphoid follicle in ileum

Mild proctitis with granular mucosa

Histology

Ileum - reactive follicles

Colon - bifid forms, increased IEL’s

Slight increase in inflammatory cells

INDETERMINATE COLITIS

? CROHN’S DISEASE

NOTES:

(1) Inflammation that is not diagnostic of either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis

(2) Child 6 in The Lancet paper. The chronological order was corrected for the final Lancet paper.

(3) Child 3 in The Lancet paper

BMJ caught in its own fraud

These documents reveal that the British Medical Journal has been caught in its own fraud for willfully ignoring this evidence, which was presented to it long before its recent publication of Brian Deer's article calling Dr Wakefield a fraud.

The BMJ willfully ignored this evidence and simply decided to destroy Dr Wakefield's professional reputation by any means necessary. As Dr Wakefield explains:

"In allowing itself to become the vehicle for Brian Deer’s particular brand of journalism; in circumventing the process of due diligence in its enthusiasm to “kill the beastâ€, the BMJ has taken a huge risk. As the document presented above shows, this was a mistake. Medicine, presented with the possibility of an iatrogenic catastrophe, has boarded a dissonant bandwagon and has gone after those who have concerns - genuine concerns - that childhood vaccines may be responsible, at least in part, for the autism epidemic. The relevant science has been grossly misrepresented, crushed beneath the wheels of a Public Relations 16-wheeler that is out of control. In the meantime a relentless tsunami of damaged children claims this land."

Brian Deer caught as a liar

It has also been revealed that journalist Brian Deer, the author of the BMJ article condemning Dr Wakefield as a fraud, is himself a liar. In attempting to gather evidence for his article in the BMJ, he lied about his identity and entered the home of one of the parents of the autism children. Specifically, he claimed he was working for The Sunday Times even though he was never a Sunday Times employee.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the outright deception that has been used by the BMJ and Brian Deer in their attempt to silence a doctor whose only "crime" was publicly expressing concern about the safety of MMR vaccines.

That the BMJ and its writer Brian Deer have now been caught ignoring evidence and engaging in their own fraud gives credence to the idea that MMR vaccines may, indeed, not only be dangerous; but that they may be so dangerous that the top medical journals have to lie about the facts in order to protect them.

What's clear here is that the BMJ has strayed so far from the realm of evidence-based scientific thinking that it can no longer be called a reputable medical journal at all. Its callous disregard for the truth -- and its politically-motivated witch hunt against a researcher who only sought to protect the health of children -- exposes it as a danger to the scientific community and the world of conventional medicine.

As this truth unfolds, these revelations will rock the medical world and expose these science journals as the frauds they truly are. Think about this: While these medical journals are taking money from vaccine manufacturers (who pay their ads), they are ignoring any scientific evidence they don't like in order to vilify anyone who threatens the profits of these very same vaccine companies! And yet, these medical journals never admit that their very existence depends on the financial flow of money from these vaccine manufacturers who are strongly impacted by their editorial decisions!

There is fraud taking place in the vaccine industry today, of course, and the medical journals are the point men who push their distorted disinformation into the minds of doctors, journalists and anyone they can reach with their scientific distortions. At stake is the future of the vaccine industry, which is of course a multi-billion-dollar industry that thrives on misinformation and the ongoing scientific censorship of the facts surrounding the health risks posed by vaccines.

The importance of semantics...

Slick trash.

with all perishables and recyclables gone weekly, what's left? whatever is will keep in the garage without worry from pests.

smart.

maybe they'll use their surplus to hire more bylaw officials to catch the critters that leave all the piles of dogshit everywhere when they are checking the recycling

now if only they made music that was like sex ON drugs I'd buy a case!

they're making room for people that don't recycle.

fuck the fines.

Silverman should have had the decency to remind o'reilly that it was the moon's gravity that makes the tides work

all of that mount olympus crap lost his argument some credibility.

There's a huge differnce between a beating and that ass whoopin'.

that azz whoopin was disciplinary and a beating is more than that - an act of violence rather than an extreme/violent act.

Thanks to all of you black and white 'it's all wrong' people for helping me solidify my opinions.

Physical discipline is not 100% wrong, not is it 100% right but I certainly won't rule it out if the time comes.

Not taken a course, but my issues are with the not-so-rare reactions and the questionable science behind many vaccines that are pumped out without proper testing.

It would be great if they were all tested properly - then i wouldn't be mostly on the fence about this issue. The flu shot - is a gamble, especially with kids. Many parents want to protect their kids and I get that but I would certainly not want to play russian roulette with my kid's heatlth either way and that's precisely the position many parents are finding themselves in.

the 'pretty good chance nothing bad will happen' or 'I hope my kid doesn't get H1N1 cause I'll look like a negligent parent'

It's an awful position to be put in, with a bigger chance that a vaccination will have a complication compared to a possibly dead child.

I hope that some day there's a vaccine for the strep-like viral infection that I beat but led to my late sister's Leukemia. I'd certainly consider that one if it were a cut and dry winner.

Doctors don't want to tell anybody that vaccines should be weighed carefully with their complications. You'll never hear a doctor tell someone to not get the flu shot. You won't hear stories about their complications on any courses they teach either.

Do you REALLY think it's unfortunate to not take lectures about the dark side of vaccines?

Ignorance is bliss sometimes, Hal.

Dissing vaccines is just small minded. Vaccines are the greatest success of science and medicine period.

some vaccines.

the concept is great but not every vaccine is great nor is every approach.

blindly accepting all vaccines as equal is just as small minded as presuming all vaccines are bad for everyone.

I'm still amazed that people vaccinate their kids from the chicken pox when the immunity doesn't last forever. get chicken pox as an adult and it can turn really bad - much worse than a child, while getting it as a kid prevents us from getting it ever again. I'm glad I got it when i was a kid (chicken pox).

i wish that were the same for everything else.

Not going to happen.

Keep in mind, the main point of the study was to show a correlation between gastrointestinal disease and autism, which it had and has been found since.

There is a higher risk for some children to become autistic/have it emerge from some vaccines, but those studies are unrelated to that one.

I look forward to us finding ways to become and remain healthier. Hoping for vaccines isn't cutting it.

According to the BMJ, not one of the 12 study cases tallied fully with the children's official medical records. Some diagnoses had been misrepresented and dates faked in order to draw a convenient link with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) innoculation. It found: Only one child clearly had regressive autism and three did not have autism at all.

Despite the study claiming all 12 children were "previously normal," five had documented pre-existing developmental concerns.

Some children were reported to have experienced first behavioural symptoms within days of MMR, but the records documented these as starting some months after vaccination. Nine children had normal test results from their bowel but this was changed to "non-specific colitis."

Patients were recruited through anti-MMR campaigners, and the study was commissioned and funded as part of planned litigation against the vaccine's manufacturer.

Shocking the autoimmune system to react rather than supporting it and the body's overall health is lazy and while that unreliable study didn't prove anything it did spark research into vaccination which has led to more knowledge and understanding about it.

Boom the dynamite did not go.

i bet that thing would be a lot of fun to fly: drunk or not.

Awesome.

Bear in mind that if people didn't think they'd get caught the amount of fine would be inconsequential.

So for the rest of you that are reading this, I'm not just making this stuff up. While I can't find the direct quotations, some are in "Measuring Offender Risk' by Dean Champion.

Of course, that's more specifically relating to incarceration but it's still punishment.

Just because I can't absolutely substantiate it doesn't mean that I can't be right.

I'm certainly not swerving.

Velvet, where you're right about behaviour changing not on its own, The DUI numbers suggest that GETTING CAUGHT AND INCONVENIENCED deters people. There is nothing about any data that proves that it's bigger fines. These bigger fines get media attention and talk around the water cooler.

From Bill C-36 to the smart meters from the power company, we're either having unnecessary rules or inconvenient and uncomfortable expenses imposed upon us disguised as necessary or important.

I'm certainly not swerving.

Velvet, where you're right about behaviour changing not on its own, The DUI numbers suggest that GETTING CAUGHT AND INCONVENIENCED deters people. There is nothing about any data that proves that it's bigger fines. These bigger fines get media attention and talk around the water cooler.

From Bill C-36 to the smart meters from the power company, we're either having unnecessary rules or inconvenient and uncomfortable expenses imposed upon us disguised as necessary or important.

I hope that at least some of you can see this happening.

And THAT would bring existing fines. Hefty ones.

We don't need new rules when we actually enforce the existing rules.

It's more efficient to actually use the system that's been created instead of presuming there aren't enough tools in the box to fix the problem.

Judgmental: Inclined to make judgments, especially moral or personal ones

So of the judgmental pricks that have posted here, AD and Velvet are the safe ones?

In my example the asshole was the one that caused the crash and would have also been likely to infect his coworkers with a virus.

Just because I didn't label the lady an inconsiderate idiot that doesn't mean I want her to be my friend.

It's easy to stop investigating when there's something to blame.

Only if you could first define it as such and justfy that.

I'm not without critical judgement on this issue and have looked at it from a number of angles before settling on this one for now.

Certainly not naive.

What else have they to do?

Crime rates are at a near 30 year low.

It's part of their job.

People die in car crashes every day and if one person is within impaired limits Alcohol is always blamed. End of story, lady over there was drunk it must have been her fault - not the asshole that is going to work who has the flu or is trying to get over a cold or underslept.

It's important to have your wits about you while driving I wholly agree, but there are a lot of awful sober drivers on the road too.

Perhaps more people should look at the stats and realize there's a bigger picture than drunk drivers & speeding and look at congestion and mass transit concerns as the big ones to bring more focus to to keep the streets flowing and the roads safer.

With all the drinking over the holidays shouldn't they have found far more people driving drunk?

It's not the fine it's getting caught with some kind of consequence and inconvenience attached. Losing your license temporarily when you'd have to drive to work or get your kids to school perhaps? The increased fines over the years have only served to bring more media attention and notoriety to the fact that people are getting caught. And there is, of course, the increased revenue from those fines.

Now...what if you didn't recycle one week and didn't use your green bin properly and every week your garbage piled up.

Unless you found a dumpster somewhere you could use you'd have to go through that garbage sometime. Wouldn't do it more than twice I'm sure.

This veer into drunk driving reminds me of an article I read recently:

Abolish Drunk Driving Laws

Thanks for the read. I'm tired of the drunk driver example being brought up as a sort of moral high ground in discussions like these and am glad I'm not the only one that doesn't entirely buy it.

RIDE Campaign Continues

Josh Pringle

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The annual OPP Festive RIDE campaign is heading into the final weekend.

A total of 35 motorists have been charged with Impaired Driving at RIDE checkpoints across eastern Ontario since the campaign began at the end of November, including six over the Christmas weekend.

A total of 146-thousand motorists have been stopped at RIDE checkpoints across Eastern Ontario.

The OPP has issued 69 warnings to motorists, 28 90-day suspensions and 979 other criminal charges.

Across Ontario, the OPP has charged 256 motorists with Impaired Driving at RIDE checkpoints, and issued 218 90-day suspensions.

Actually, AD there were over a million across the province

Ontario police wrap up R.I.D.E. campaign

Orillia, Ontario – The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have wrapped up the annual Festive R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) initiative, checking over 1,099,021 vehicles on OPP-patrolled roadways from November 26 to January 2.

The police charged 294 people with impaired driving, over .08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC), or for refusal to comply with a demand to provide a breath sample. An additional 5,011 charges were laid for other offences under the Criminal Code, Highway Traffic Act or Liquor Licence Act.

Officers also issued 256 administrative driver’s licence suspensions for criminal code-related drinking and driving offences, and 605 suspensions for BAC in the “warn range.â€

In 2009, the R.I.D.E. initiative checked 1,199,280 vehicles, resulting in 299 persons charged with criminal code alcohol-related offences, along with 5,195 charges for other Criminal Code, Highway Traffic Act or Liquor Licence Act offences, and 746 warn range suspensions.

Preliminary statistics indicate that during 2010, a total of 330 people were killed on roads patrolled by the OPP, with 68 of them alcohol-related, an increase of 17 alcohol-related deaths from 2009.

less than a half of one percent effective for all charges

And about an eighteenth of that for alcohol-related offences, including refusing to blow.

RIDE programs are all about metrics - how many people are visibly drunk/impaired? How many have broken headlights or taillights, how many need an e-test, who's blatantly smoking weed or acting strangely...when less than half of one percent of people stopped are going to be charged for anything at all it tells me that the roads are certainly safe.

I wonder how many people think about the less than 300 drunk drivers stopped at RIDE programs as a high number.

We're never going to stop people dying on the roads until we outlaw driving and leave it to computers to manage traffic flow.

Say you're driving along and somebody blatantly cuts you off. There's a chance you'll honk your horn, or maybe give the guy a little yell? Now say the guy that cut you off is driving a Harley and sporting a Hells Angels vest. You gonna honk now? Maybe years of harsh punishment (or at least the anecdotal rumours of) will affect your behavior in this situation?

Ah, probably not. What am I saying?

Years of harsh punishment for what? Running him over for getting off his bike to threaten me for yelling at him for cutting me off? I'd probably do it a second time if it meant the guy couldn't walk or ride his bike anymore, prison turning me into a criminal.

Studies show again and again that people don't respond as well to fines and punishment as they do to believing they'll get caught and inconvenienced.

Canada has the second highest rates of incarceration of any industrialized democratic nation and there's been no benefit to our society. It costs too much, doesn't rehabilitate offenders, and does nothing to lower our crime rate year after year. While it's near its lowest point in 30 years, that fact can't be attributed to our incarceration rates. We keep getting 'tough on crime' in response to a safer and safer society. Being tougher on crime actually makes crime more profitable in the long run.

Instead of a fine for recycling just leave their garbage until it's put out properly. Fines should be for leaving trash by the curb for more than 2 days if anything.

The inconvenience of having to go through weeks of rotten or mixed garbage would be far more effective than fines ever will.

Imagine if we spent a solid fraction of what's spent on RIDE programs on extending public transit past 3 AM and making taxi service more affordable and opening the market up to more companies: Fewer people would be impaired on the roads to begin with. Much better than having to 'police' people and the remaining police could actually protect and serve.

I wonder what the Recycling cops are going to cost Gatineau.

I'd seen the numbers released several days ago, AD.