What Doctors Don’t Tell You - E-News Broadcast No. 98 - 17 September 2004

[Guest guest]

WHAT DOCTORS DON'T TELL YOU - E-NEWS BROADCAST No. 98 - 17 September 2004

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CONTENTS

 

News Section

MMR and autism: who's telling the truth?

H Pylori: It's not just from food

Antidepressants: The 'black box warning' looms

 

 

 

 

MMR AND AUTISM: Confused, of everywhere

 

Many E-news readers were very confused to read in last week's

broadcast that a link between the MMR vaccine and autism had

definitely been established when the media was stating the exact opposite.

 

In fact the whole nation should have been perplexed had the media done

its job properly. Our story was based on a study of 537,304 children

in Denmark - which was ignored by the entire media - while the

headline-grabbing study was based on a review of 5,763 children.

 

The later study, which appeared in last Saturday's Lancet, could find

'no convincing evidence' of a link between the vaccine and autism.

They compared the records of 1,294 children who had autism or a PDD

(pervasive development disorder) with 4,469 children who did not have

autism. Overall, 78 per cent of the autism group had received the MMR

injection, while 82 per cent of the non-autism group had been given

the triple jab. The 4 per cent difference was not significant, said

lead researcher Dr Liam Smeeth of the London School of Hygiene and

Tropical Medicine.

 

A Department of Health spokesman, who was also widely quoted, said:

" The study is in full agreement with other international studies

carried out in different ways, by different researchers, in different

countries. "

 

This presumably excludes the significant study we referred to last

time. It's significant because it is based on the largest group of

children ever analysed, and it was the same group used by the Madsen

study team which found no link, and which was used ever after by

government agencies around the world.

 

Madsen's data was reanalyzed, and the age group of the children was

extended to five years and older, the year when autism is first

diagnosed in Denmark. The Madsen team had stopped looking after the

child was older than four years, so it's not surprising that his team

was unable to find many autism cases.

 

All of this leaves a nasty taste, and it feels that we're still

playing propaganda rather than science. Nobody has commented on the

later Danish study, nor has anyone satisfactorily answered other

questions that remain hanging, such as:

 

--The 1992 mass vaccination programme in the UK was followed a year

later by a sudden rise in autism levels. Why?

 

--A further mass vaccination campaign in late-1994 heralded another

sudden and steep rise in autism figures throughout 1995 and 1996. Why?

 

--The second round of MMR vaccinations was carried out in the autumn

of 1996. Again, autism levels rose dramatically in 1997. Why?

 

For us, and for many thinking parents, the latest Lancet study does

not mean 'game over', no matter how many times the media insists that

it is. For us, vital questions remain unanswered. While governments

are fast and loose with the facts just to get patients back in line

for vaccinations, we fear these questions will never be answered

satisfactorily.

 

*MAJOR MMR CONFERENCE: Is the MMR vaccine as safe as they're saying?

WDDTY is organizing a conference to give you the chance to hear the

other side of the story. Speakers include Dr Carol Stott of Cambridge

University and Paul Shattock of Sunderland University. Carol

continues to work closely with Dr Andrew Wakefield and his ongoing

research into a possible link. The conference is on Saturday

afternoon, October 30, at the University of London in Bloomsbury,

London. To book your place and to find out more, please click on this

link: http://www.wddty.co.uk/shop/details.asp?product=405

 

 

 

H PYLORI: You can catch it from people, too

 

That nasty stomach bug H pylori isn't just caught from infected food.

You can also catch it from an infected person.

 

Researchers have found that the bug can be passed from someone

suffering from gastroenteritis, an observation that was not generally

understood by doctors until now.

 

Researchers made the discovery after monitoring 112 children with

neurological problems who were resident at a care centre in France.

They found that those with the distressing symptoms of gastroenteritis

could pass on the bug.

 

So, as was pointed out to doctors back in 1850, always wash your hands

thoroughly. And let's hope the kids catch on quicker than the doctors.

 

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2004; 329: 204-5).

 

ANTIDEPRESSANTS: Now they face the typographical device

 

When a drug is dangerous - it might be known to kill or seriously

injure - the regulators act quickly and decisively. And they don't

pull their punches either. Their most deadly weapon is - a

typographical device. And make no mistake, they're not afraid to use it.

 

The antidepressants such as Prozac are likely to be the latest to

suffer the full force of the typographical device. Children have

committed suicide while on the drugs, and have done since the early

1980s when the antidepressants were first - and inappropriately -

prescribed.

 

Enough is enough, say the regulators, and now they're ready to take

off the gloves, and institute the typographical device. The device in

question is a 'black box', which will appear on all drug-warning

sheets. This means that the warning is in a bold type, and is

enclosed within a box.

 

This is clearly a crushing blow to a pharmaceutical industry that now

knows its products cannot kill with impunity.

 

(Source: AP News, 15 September 2004).

 

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