Subject: [farmtalking] RE: Censorship
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 11:50:29 +0000 (GMT)

This will help

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg18524895.300

Autism rises despite MMR ban in Japan
05 March 2005

MMR and AutismPARENTS need have no more fears about the triple vaccine
against measles, mumps and rubella. A study of more than 30,000 children in
Japan should put the final nail in the coffin of the claim that the MMR
vaccine is responsible for the apparent rise in autism in recent years.

The study shows that in the city of Yokohama the number of children with
autism continued to rise after the MMR vaccine was replaced with single
vaccines. "The findings... are resoundingly negative," says Hideo Honda of
the Yokohama Rehabilitation Center.

In the UK, parents panicked and vaccination rates plummeted after
gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield claimed in a 1998 study that MMR might
trigger autism, although the study was based on just 12 children and later
retracted by most of its co-authors. Soon the vaccine was being blamed for
the apparent rise in autism, with Wakefield citing data from California
(see Graph). In some parts of the UK, the proportion of children receiving
both doses of the MMR vaccine has dropped to 60 per cent. This has led to a
rise in measles outbreaks and fears of an epidemic.

Not one epidemiological study has revealed a link between the vaccine and
autism. But until now they have all concentrated on what happened after MMR
vaccination for children was introduced. Honda's is the first to look at
the autism rate after the MMR vaccine has been withdrawn. Japan withdrew it
in April 1993 following reports that the anti-mumps component was causing
meningitis (it plans to introduce another version).

With his colleagues Yasuo Shimizu and Michael Rutter of the Institute of
Psychiatry in London, Honda looked at the records of 31,426 children born
in one district of Yokohama between 1988 and 1996. The team counted
children diagnosed as autistic by the age of 7. They found the cases
continued to multiply after the vaccine withdrawal, ranging from 48 to 86
cases per 10,000 children before withdrawal to 97 to 161 per 10,000
afterwards. The same pattern was seen with a particular form of autism in
which children appear to develop normally and then suddenly regress – the
form linked to MMR by Wakefield.

The study cannot rule out the possibility that MMR triggers autism in a
tiny number of children, as some claim, but it does show there is no
large-scale effect. The vaccine "cannot have caused autism in the many
children with autism spectrum disorders in Japan who were born and grew up
in the era when MMR was not available", Honda concludes. His team's
findings appear in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (DOI:
10.1111.j.1469–7610.2005.01425.x).

So if the vaccine is not responsible for the rising rates of autism, what
is? "Clearly some environmental factors are causing the increases," says
Irva Hertz-Picciotto of the University of California at Davis. Other
experts disagree, saying the apparent rise could be the result of changing
diagnostic criteria and the rising profile of the disorder (New Scientist,
17 February 2001, p 17).

Regards
Pat Gardiner

Author wrote:
A step further than spin is true censorship, not just putting the best

gloss on a situation but supressing certain key(and important) facts.

There has been some reports of new research into the MMR, 3in 1 jag for

infant immunisation against certain childhood diseases. The uptake of the
MMR has fallen due to an alleged connection with increasing levels of
autism. Some parents did not wish to take that risk and wanted to opt for
single injections, spread over a longer period. This option was denied to
them (What freedom of choice do we see in action here ?)

The new research originated from Japan. The MMR vaccination

has been banned in Japan since the early 1990's. The Japanese
government believes there is a possible link to meningitis.

If this part of the reporting is ommitted, parents would be forgiven if

they were to regard this as proof that the MMR is safe. This is not only
irresponsible but, surely, possibly criminally negligent ?

Frances
--
Whatever you Wanadoo:
http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/time/
This email has been checked for most known viruses – find out more at:

http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/help/id/7098.htm

--
If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote
visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/farmtalking

To leave the group, email: ...

Report abuse
http://www.smartgroups.com/text/abusereport.cfm?gid%3D774210&mid%3D10282