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  • 2014-08-25 (xsd:date)
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  • Fraud at the CDC Uncovered? (en)
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  • On 24 August 2014 a CNN iReport claiming intentional suppression of data relating to 340% increased risk of autism among specific populations of African-American boys following MMR vaccinations went viral. The story seemed to disappear mysteriously, further fueling the notion that an intentional coverup was underway. The idea that vaccines lead to autism is not a new conspiracy theory, nor is it a particularly uncommon one. A now heavily discredited study published in the medical journal Lancet in 1998 planted a seed of fear about vaccine safety; and despite efforts to counteract the widespread concern among worried parents, public health officials continue to encounter growing public resistance to vaccination. And the CNN iReport in question was based on a video which featured William Thompson, a senior researcher at the CDC, seemly confessing to anti-vaccinationist Brian Hooker about a coverup at the CDC and included material such as a claim by Dr. Andrew Wakefield (who in 1998 published a fraudulent research paper claiming a link between MMR vaccine and the appearance of autism and has since been barred from practicing medicine in the UK) asserting that the results of a study proving a link between autism and MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccinations had been hidden by the CDC: The second iReport published on 22 August 2014 explicitly claimed that the CDC had been involved in an intentional coverup: On 27 August, Thompson released a statement via law firm Morgan Verkamp, LLC, confirming that he had spoken with Dr. Brian Hooker and that he had omitted statistically significant information from his study. Titled STATEMENT OF WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, Ph.D., REGARDING THE 2004 ARTICLE EXAMINING THE POSSIBILITY OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MMR VACCINE AND AUTISM, Thompson's statement began: What got lost in the brouhaha over Dr. Thompson's confession, allegations about a cover-up at the CDC, and threats of whistleblower lawsuits was what should have been the main point: Did collected data actually prove that the MMR vaccine produces a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American boys? The answer is no, it did not. On 27 August 2014, Dr. Hooker's article published in the journal Translational Neurodegeneration that concluded African American males receiving the MMR vaccine prior to 24 months of age or 36 months of age are more likely to receive an autism diagnosis was removed from public domain due to issues of conflict of interest and the questionable validity of its methods: The CDC issued a statement regarding the data in question, with instructions for accessing the study at the center of the controversy. As the CDC noted, the authors of that study suggested that the most likely explanation for the moderate correlation between autism and vaccination in young children was the existence of immunization requirements for autistic children enrolled in special education preschool programs: For a thorough analysis of the flaws and misinformation associated with the current CDC autism cover-up conspiracy theory, we recommend the posts on the subject at ScienceBlogs, which note of the claim at the heart of this matter (i.e, allegedly suppressed proof of a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American boys after MMR vaccination) that: Last updated: 3 February 2015 (en)
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