NEWS AND COMMENT Autism-Vaccine Link Researcher Andrew Wakefield Accused of Faking His Data STEVEN NOVELLA Specifically, Wakefield did not disclose to the General Medical Council (GMC), a large consulting fee he received from reveals that: In most of the twelve cases, Andrew Wakefield, the researcher who attorneys representing clients suing over the children’s ailments as described in in 1998 sparked the public contro- claims that their children’s autism was The Lancet were different from their versy over whether the MMR (mumps caused by MMR. In fact, eleven of the hospital and GP records. Although the measles and rubella) vaccine is linked twelve children in Wakefield’s study research paper claimed that problems to autism, may have faked his data. were part of the litigation. Further, nine came on within days of the jab, in only Wakefield and others published a small months prior to publishing the study, one case did medical records suggest study of only twelve subjects in The Wakefield applied for a patent for a new this was true, and in many of the cases Lancet claiming it was evidence for a medical concerns had been raised before link between the MMR vaccine and the children were vaccinated. Hospital autism (Wakefield 1998). As a result, pathologists, looking for inflammatory compliance with the MMR dropped bowel disease, reported in the majority from 92 percent in the U.K. down to 85 of cases that the gut was normal. This percent, and measles cases soared from was then reviewed and The Lancet paper only fifty-eight cases in 1998 to 1,348 showed them as abnormal” (Deer 2009). cases in 2008. Fears have also spread to Andrew Wakefield remains under the U.S., where measles cases are also investigation by the U.K.’s General starting to increase. Medical Council for ethics violations. Wakefield’s paper has already been He remains unrepentant about his thoroughly discredited, and subsequent claims and has since moved to America, studies have shown convincingly that where he runs the Thoughtful House there is a lack of association between autism center in Austin, Texas. MMR or vaccines in general and autism. For example, one of the key components References of Wakefield’s theory is that autism is Deer, B. 2009. MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield linked to gastrointestinal disorders in fixed data on autism. Times Online, February 8. Available online at www.timesonline. some children, potentially allowing the co.uk /tol/life_and_style/health/article measles virus from the vaccine to enter 5683671.ece. ———.2008. The Wakefield Factor. Available the bloodstream and wreak havoc. A online at http://briandeer.com/wakefield-deer. replication of Wakefield’s experiment by htm. Mady Hornig was published last Sep- Hornig, M, T. Briese, T. Buie, M.L. Bauman, G. Lauwers, U. Siemetzki, K. Hummel, P.A. Rota, tem ber in PLoS ONE (Hornig 2008). W.J. Bellini, J.J. O’Leary, O. Sheils, E. Alden, Hornig found no correlation between Dr. Andrew Wakefield attending the G.M.C. in L. Pickering, W.I. Lipkin. 2008. Lack of MMR and autism and also did not find London, which is investigating him for ethics association between measles virus vaccine and violations. autism with enteropathy: A case-control study. the measles virus in the guts of children PLoS ONE, September. Available online at with autism and GI complaints, directly www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi% contradicting Wakefield. MMR vaccine that he claimed was safer. 2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003140. Editors. 2004. A statement by the editors of The Far larger than the scientific con- He therefore stood to make phenome- Lancet. The Lancet 363 (9411). troversy stirred up by Wakefield, nal profits from scares over the current Wakefield, A.J., S.H. Murch, A. Anthony, J. which has largely been settled, is the Linnell, D.M. Casson, M. Malik, M. Berelo- vaccine’s safety (Deer 2008). witz, A.P. Dhillon, M.A. Thomson, P. storm of ethical concerns regarding his Investigative journalist Brian Deer has Harvey, A. Valentine, S.E. Davies, and J.A. scientific behavior. In 2004, ten of been putting the pieces of the Wakefield Walker-Smith. 1998. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular Wakefield’s co-authors withdrew their puzzle together for several years now. hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and perva- sive developmental disorder in children. The names from the original publication, His investigations recently uncovered evi- Steven Novella, MD, is a clinical neurol- and The Lancet’s editors published a dence that Wakefield may also have faked ogist and president and co-founder of the retraction, citing undisclosed conflicts his original data. He writes: “Our investi- New England Skeptical Society. of interest by Wakefield (Lancet 2004). gation, confirmed by evidence presented SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May / June 2009 5 NEWS AND COMMENT More Studies Reject MMR vaccine causes autism,” conclude virus and the person most responsible Gerber and Offit. “These studies have for proving it causes AIDS. Vaccine-Autism Link been performed in several countries by The Nobel foundation obliquely As if more scientific support was needed, many different investigators who have acknowledged that situation by saying the a new review of the evidence has again employed a multitude of epidemiologic prize went for the discovery of the virus, shown no link between vaccines and and statistical methods. The large size not for detection of the link between the autism. And a new study from Italy of the studied populations has afforded virus and the AIDS disease (SI News and bolsters the case even further. a level of statistical power sufficient to Comment, January/February 2009). Concerns by some parents have kept detect even rare associations. Biomedical scientists (106 in all) alive the idea of some link, which has not “These studies, in concert with the from seventeen countries have pub- been supported by the scientific litera- biological implausibility that vaccines lished a letter in a prominent scien- ture (see “The Anti-Vaccination Move- overwhelm a child’s immune system, tific journal saying Gallo deserves equal ment,” SI November/December 2007). have effectively dismissed the notion credit. And a major event is planned in Jeffrey S. Gerber and Paul A. Offit that vaccines cause autism. Further May honoring Gallo on the twenty-fifth of the Division of Infectious Diseases at studies on the cause or causes of autism anniversary of his co-discovery. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia pub- should focus on more-promising leads.” lished a review in the February 15 (2009) The new Italian peer-reviewed study Clinical Infectious Diseases (48:456–61) was carried out over a ten-year period of twenty peer-reviewed scientific studies and published in the February issue of published between 1999 and 2004. The Pediatrics. Thousands of healthy Italian studies show no connection. babies in the early 1990s were given two The authors examined three specific different amounts of thimerosal as part claims some have proposed: the com- of their routine vaccinations. Ten years bination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine later, 1,403 of those children were identi- causes autism by damaging the intesti- fied and given a battery of brain-function nal lining; the mercury-containing pre- tests. Researchers found small differences servative thimerosal, formerly in some in only two of twenty-four measure- vaccines, is toxic to the central nervous ments, and “they might be attributable system; and the simultaneous administra- to chance,” they said. Only one case of tion of multiple vaccines overwhelms or autism was found, and that was in the weakens the nervous system. group with the lower thimerosal. They reviewed the relevant epide- “Put together with the evidence of all miological evidence and found no sup- the other studies,” said the study’s lead port for these claims. In one study, author, Alberto Tozzi of Bambino Gesu for instance, researchers in England Hospital in Rome, “this tells us there is no reason to worry about the effect of © Riccardo De Luca evaluated 498 autistic children born U.S. biomedical researcher Robert C. Gallo gives from 1979 through 1992. No change thimerosal in vaccines.” a press conference on World AIDS Day in Rome. in the rates of autism diagnoses after the —Kendrick Frazier 1987 introduction of the MMR vaccine In a letter titled “Unsung Hero was observed. A study in Denmark Robert C. Gallo” (Science, 323: 206, compared the incidence of autism in Scientists Hail Gallo’s 2009), the international group of scien- children who had received two different tists say that while Nobel Prize recipi- levels of thimerosal or no thimerosal at ‘Unsung’ Role in Nobel ents Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc all. There was no relationship between HIV/AIDS Discovery Montagnier “fully deserve the award, thimerosal exposure and autism. On it is equally important to recognize” the third claim, they note that vaccines When the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medi- Gallo’s contributions. “do not overwhelm the immune system cine was awarded to two French virolo- “Gallo definitely proved HIV-1 as . even conservative estimates predict gists for discovering and identifying the the cause of AIDS through the success- the capacity to respond to thousands of HIV virus, a number of scientists ques- ful isolation and long-term cultivation vaccines simultaneously.” tioned why American scientist Robert of HIV-1 and developed a diagnostic kit “Twenty epidemiologic studies have Gallo wasn’t also named. He is generally that prevented new infections and saved shown that neither thimerosal nor credited as a co-discover of the HIV thousands of lives. These contributions 6 VOLUME 33, ISSUE 3 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER NEWS AND COMMENT . warrant equal recognition. .” Cause of AIDS.” The National Cancer This type of selective memory is The letter continues: “Barré-Sinoussi Institute, where Gallo did his research, an important cause of belief in many and Montagnier isolated a virus but .