4,321 autism lawsuits ....& the results are ?

[Guest guest]

Has anyone any idea of the results of these suits ..........was Wakefields evidence ever presented in court & tested?

extract -

"Despite Wakefield's lack of proof and his track record of dubious assertions and unverified lab results, they began churning out stories about how a maverick doctor was trying to protect innocent children from corrupt politicians and a rapacious pharmaceutical industry," writes Mnookin. "Within months, vaccination rates across Western Europe began to fall."

And the court actions began to pile up. By 2004, a total of 4,321 autism lawsuits had been filed in the United States alone.

There was just one problem.

The proposed link between vaccines and autism didn't exist. It didn't then. It doesn't now.

>> A medical conspiracy that wasn't Published On Fri Jan 21 2011> * Email </email/926374>> * Print </printarticle/926374>> *> * Share41> <http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2Fnew\> s%2Finsight%2Farticle%2F926374--a-medical-conspiracy-that-wasn-t & t=A%20m\> edical%20conspiracy%20that%20wasn't%20-%20thestar.com & src=sp> > <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250 & winname=addthis & pub=thestar & s\> ource=tbx-250 & lng=en-gb & s=digg & url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2Fnews%2\> Finsight%2Farticle%2F926374--a-medical-conspiracy-that-wasn-t & title=A%20\> medical%20conspiracy%20that%20wasn't%20-%20thestar.com & ate=AT-thestar/-/\> -/4d45e08822499be6/1 & sms_ss=1 & at_xt=1 & ui_cobrand=thestar.com & ui_header_c\> olor=%23FFF & ui_header_background=%23152539 & CXNID=2000001.521545608054043\> 9074NXC & pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2Furl%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww\> .thestar.com%2Fnews%2Finsight%2Farticle%2F926374--a-medical-conspiracy-t\> hat-wasn-t%26rct%3Dj%26sa%3DX%26ei%3DeOBFTZ_VE4aXhQeg3IiOAg%26ved%3D0CEU\> Q-AsoAjAC%26q%3Dandrew%2Bwakefield%26usg%3DAFQjCNGxCxF6GZLW08Z5DADwDgAyH\> xhSAg & tt=0> > <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250 & winname=addthis & pub=thestar & s\> ource=tbx-250 & lng=en-gb & s=delicious & url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2Fn\> ews%2Finsight%2Farticle%2F926374--a-medical-conspiracy-that-wasn-t & title\> =A%20medical%20conspiracy%20that%20wasn't%20-%20thestar.com & ate=AT-thest\> ar/-/-/4d45e08822499be6/2 & sms_ss=1 & at_xt=1 & ui_cobrand=thestar.com & ui_hea\> der_color=%23FFF & ui_header_background=%23152539 & CXNID=2000001.5215456080\> 540439074NXC & pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2Furl%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%\> 2Fwww.thestar.com%2Fnews%2Finsight%2Farticle%2F926374--a-medical-conspir\> acy-that-wasn-t%26rct%3Dj%26sa%3DX%26ei%3DeOBFTZ_VE4aXhQeg3IiOAg%26ved%3\> D0CEUQ-AsoAjAC%26q%3Dandrew%2Bwakefield%26usg%3DAFQjCNGxCxF6GZLW08Z5DADw\> DgAyHxhSAg & tt=0> > <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250 & pub=thestar> Rss> </rss?categories=news>> > * Article <#article>> [seth Mnookin]> Seth Mnookin> [image] </unassigned/columnists/202938--ross-oakland> By Oakland> Ross </unassigned/columnists/202938--ross-oakland> Feature Writer> You can't really blame the parents, and you surely cannot blame the> kids.> > But that still leaves more than enough guilt to go around for just about> everybody else involved in the long, disturbing and deadly scandal that> New York author and journalist Seth Mnookin explores in his new book,> The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear.> > The story centres on a grand illusion — a nefarious international> medical conspiracy that wasn't — and it charts a discouraging course> of human misbehaviour and folly, a luckless road littered with deception> and fraud, hucksterism and helplessness, not to mention pain, tragedy> and grief.> > "You're going to be hard-pressed to pitch anyone on a story about> people fighting against drug companies in which the drug companies turn> out to be right," Mnookin says, speaking on the phone from Brooklyn.> > But that's exactly the story Mnookin sets out to tell, and it's a hell> of a chronicle — or, to be more precise, a purgatory.> > By the time his book is done, the contributing editor at Vanity Fair> magazine has skewered a teeming menagerie of culprits, including some of> the most illustrious names in the mainstream media — The New York> Times, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Don Imus, Larry King, and> even Oprah Winfrey — as well as a rogues' gallery of unscrupulous or> misguided medical practitioners, sundry professional celebrities,> diverse opportunists, and one or two influential enablers, among them> F. Kennedy, Jr.> > But, at the very centre of the tale, stands just one man — > Wakefield.> > You may have heard of him.> > He's the British-born, Canadian-trained medical researcher and surgeon> who, in 1998, suggested a causal link between a three-way vaccine —> the so-called MMR jab, for measles, mumps, and rubella — and the> onset of inflammatory bowel disease and autism in some children.> > Wakefield was the lead author of a paper, prosaically entitled> Ileal-Lymphoid Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive> Developmental Disorder in Children, that appeared in no less august a> publication than the British medical weekly The Lancet in February 1998.> > To judge by the title, the article might have been just one more> mishmash of incomprehensible medical jargon, but it was far more than> that, at least in the long-suffering circles where its remarkable> findings were most deeply felt.> > Almost at once, the parents of autistic children in Britain and beyond> converged upon the article's central galvanizing claim.> > Of course! It was a vaccine, or something in a vaccine, that had caused> such terrible damage to their kids. At long last, these beleaguered> parents had a focus for their desperation, as well as a glimmer of hope,> not to mention someone or something to sue.> > Meanwhile, the story seemed made to measure for what might well be the> quintessential journalistic trope — suffering children, distraught> parents, and a solitary, courageous hero, all united against an> unfeeling, all-powerful bureaucracy. Right on cue, the media abandoned> skepticism and leapt into the fray.> > "Despite Wakefield's lack of proof and his track record of dubious> assertions and unverified lab results, they began churning out stories> about how a maverick doctor was trying to protect innocent children from> corrupt politicians and a rapacious pharmaceutical industry," writes> Mnookin. "Within months, vaccination rates across Western Europe> began to fall."> > And the court actions began to pile up. By 2004, a total of 4,321 autism> lawsuits had been filed in the United States alone.> > There was just one problem.> > The proposed link between vaccines and autism didn't exist. It didn't> then. It doesn't now.> > The original 1998 Lancet article, on which the controversy was based,> turned out to be a bizarre kind of hoax, orchestrated by none other than> Wakefield.> > The truth did not begin to emerge until February 2004, when an> investigative reporter named Deer produced a series of reports in> the Sunday Times of London that raised devastating questions about the> scientific rigour and professional ethics of the study printed in The> Lancet.> > For example, at the time of the article's publication, Wakefield was> being paid handsomely for collecting data on behalf of a planned class> action against three pharmaceutical giants accused of having triggered> autism in a number of children. His research subjects included some of> those same children. And he conducted invasive medical procedures upon a> number of minors without first obtaining proper consent. As if this were> not enough, Wakefield was also seeking to patent a measles vaccine that> might be used as an alternative to the three-way jab his study purported> to discredit.> > In any known language, this spells conflict of interest.> > The doctor, however, had disclosed none of these circumstances to The> Lancet, which now distanced itself from the article and its findings.> > That was a turning point, or so you might have thought, but you would be> underestimating the apparently irresistible power of a compelling tale> — no matter how untrue — as well as the perverse determination> with which a small and like-minded community of bedevilled souls will> cling to a disproven idea.> > Despite the new revelations, media outlets continued to present the> Wakefield story as if the jury were still out. That's like giving equal> play to Creationists — religious fanatics who insist the Earth was> created a few thousand years ago — in an examination of evolution.> > "A lot of the time we in the media fall into the trap of treating> any controversial issue as though it involves just a difference of> opinion," says Mnookin. "And sometimes that's just not> true."> > What's worse, some media superstars — including Oprah Winfrey —> continued to push the vaccination-autism connection, in spite of the> overwhelming preponderance of evidence that it does not exist.> > Such misrepresentations have done more than merely disfigure the facts.> They have inflicted suffering, and they have killed.> > Largely as a result of Wakefield's debunked article, vaccination rates> in Europe and North America continue to fall, with sadly predictable> results.> > Mnookin's book includes a harrowing account of the brief life of Brie> Romaguera, a 4-week-old infant in Louisiana who succumbed to pertussis,> or whooping cough. In the end, her body swelled to roughly eight times> its normal size before she was removed from life-support equipment so> she could perish in her parents' arms> > Until the 1940s, whooping cough was among the world's foremost causes of> infant death, but the introduction of a pertussis vaccine practically> wiped it out in industrialized countries. None of the doctors caring for> Brie Romaguera had ever seen a case before.> > But now the disease is back, along with measles, Hib, mumps, and a> grisly assortment of other maladies.> > No one denies the miseries of autism, but a decline in vaccination rates> does not save children. It kills them.> > And yet, the more Wakefield's medical theories are discredited, the more> fervently his adherents defend him.> > In 2010, British medical authorities withdrew his licence to practise, a> ruling that seems only to have enhanced his stature among his followers.> > This may seem bewildering, but humans are a complex species. Among the> most fascinating aspects of Mnookin's book are his forays into the> mechanics of group psychology and the cognitive fallacies that can lure> people into seeing things that simply are not there.> > As for Wakefield the man, Mnookin declines to commit himself one way or> another on what remains among the most baffling aspects of this long> saga of sorrow: Is he a cold-blooded charlatan or does he truly believe> his claims?> > "I find it impossible to make those guesses about people's actual> beliefs," Mnookin says. "It's hard for me to make a judgment one> way or another."> > This much he will say, and the observation might serve as a caution to> all those who would set themselves up as heroes to others:> > "It is dangerous to surround yourself with people who agree with> you."> > But that's exactly what we seem programmed to do.>