Greedy Lawyers + Immoral Scientist + Hollywood Bimbo=

Junk Science + Hundreds Dead or Maimed.

That is the official conclusion by the British medical journal BMJ.

(CNN) -- A now-retracted British study that linked autism to childhood vaccines was an "elaborate fraud" that has done long-lasting damage to public health, a leading medical publication reported Wednesday.

An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.  (Emphasis Mine)

"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," Fiona Godlee, BMJ's editor-in-chief, told CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data."

(Emphasis Mine)

Britain stripped Wakefield of his medical license in May. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday.

"Meanwhile, the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession," BMJ states.

The now-discredited paper panicked many parents and led to a sharp drop in the number of children getting the vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella. Vaccination rates dropped sharply in Britain after its publication, falling as low as 80% by 2004. Measles cases have gone up sharply in the ensuing years.

In the United States, more cases of measles were reported in 2008 than in any other year since 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 90% of those infected had not been vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown, the CDC reported.

(Emphasis Mine)

"But perhaps as important as the scare's effect on infectious disease is the energy, emotion and money that have been diverted away from efforts to understand the real causes of autism and how to help children and families who live with it," the BMJ editorial states.

Wakefield has been unable to reproduce his results in the face of criticism, and other researchers have been unable to match them. Most of his co-authors withdrew their names from the study in 2004 after learning he had had been paid by a law firm that intended to sue vaccine manufacturers -- a serious conflict of interest he failed to disclose. After years on controversy, the Lancet, the prestigious journal that originally published the research, retracted Wakefield's paper last February.

The series of articles launched Wednesday are investigative journalism, not results of a clinical study. The writer, Brian Deer, said Wakefield "chiseled" the data before him, "falsifying medical histories of children and essentially concocting a picture, which was the picture he was contracted to find by lawyers hoping to sue vaccine manufacturers and to create a vaccine scare."

According to BMJ, Wakefield received more than 435,000 pounds ($674,000) from the lawyers. Godlee said the study shows that of the 12 cases Wakefield examined in his paper, five showed developmental problems before receiving the MMR vaccine and three never had autism.

(Emphasis Mine)

"It's always hard to explain fraud and where it affects people to lie in science," Godlee said. "But it does seem a financial motive was underlying this, both in terms of payments by lawyers and through legal aid grants that he received but also through financial schemes that he hoped would benefit him through diagnostic and other tests for autism and MMR-related issues."

Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, said the reporting "represents Wakefield as a person where the ends justified the means." But he said the latest news may have little effect on those families who still blame vaccines for their children's conditions.

"Unfortunately, his core group of supporters is not going to let the facts dissuade their beliefs that MMR causes autism," Wiznitzer said. "They need to be open-minded and examine the information as everybody else."

(Emphasis Mine)

Wakefield's defenders include David Kirby, a journalist who has written extensively on autism. He told CNN that Wakefield not only has denied falsifying data, he has said he had no way to do so.

"I have known him for a number of years. He does not strike me as a charlatan or a liar," Kirby said. If the BMJ allegations are true, then Wakefield "did a terrible thing" -- but he added, "I personally find it hard to believe that he did that."

A group of lawyers ambulance chasers track down Andrew Wakefield, offer him $674,000 and he miraculously arrives at the conclusion they want so to sue the vaccine makers aka Big Pharma. I wonder how many scientists they approached with this scheme to DEFRAUD these companies before stumbling upon Wakefield?

Of course David Kirby will defend Wakefield to the hilt. This so-called journalist is more interested in bringing down BIG PHARMA with his writtings at The Huffington Post and more importantly at Evidence of Harm.  A site devoid of all rational scientific thought.  Just like the #1 poster girl for this fraud: Jenny McCarthy.

Bad Medicine Based On Junk Science.

In 1998 Lancet published an article by Dr. Andrew Wakefield which linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism.  Today Lancet retracted that article in its entirety.

The medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday retracted a controversial 1998 paper that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism.

The study subsequently had been discredited, and last week, the lead author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was found to have acted unethically in conducting the research.

The General Medical Council, which oversees doctors in Britain, said that "there was a biased selection of patients in The Lancet paper" and that his "conduct in this regard was dishonest and irresponsible."

The panel found that Wakefield subjected some children in the study to various invasive medical procedures such as colonoscopies and MRI scans. He also paid children at his son's birthday party to have blood drawn for research purposes, an act that "showed a callous disregard" for the "distress and pain" of the children, the panel said.

After the council's findings last week, The Lancet retracted the study and released this statement.

"It has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Wakefield et al. are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation. In particular, the claims in the original paper that children were 'consecutively referred' and that investigations were 'approved' by the local ethics committee have been proven to be false. Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record."

The retraction of a previously published paper is practically unheard of. It just isn't done, doesn't happen, and such an uncommon occurrence, that it is the medical equivalent of Hell Freezing Over.

For over a decade Hollywood starlet floozy Jenny McCarthy, has convinced the stupid, the gullible, the lame-brained parents of the world not to vaccinate their children.  And a good percentage of them did so.  So many listened to her that there have been major outbreaks of all three diseases.  So much for bimbos out of Hollywood.

Generation Rescue, an advocacy and support group founded by actress Jenny McCarthy, whose son has autism, expressed support for Wakefield. A co-founder of the group, JB Handley, called him "a courageous honest doctor who told an inconvenient truth." McCarthy is a high-profile proponent of the belief that childhood vaccinations may play a part in the condition.

Generation Rescue criticized the General Medical Council's judgment on Wakefield with this statement: "The sole purpose of the GMC's ruling this week is to try and quell the growing concern of parents that the expanding vaccine schedule and the remarkable rise in autism are correlated."

It also advised parents to do their own research before deciding to give their child the MMR vaccine.

Cases in which U.S. families have sued alleging a vaccine-autism link have had mixed outcomes.

In 2007, a U.S. federal program intended to compensate victims of injuries caused by vaccines concluded that a 9-year-old girl's underlying illness had predisposed her to symptoms of autism and was "significantly aggravated" by the vaccinations.

Two years later, three American families sought compensation from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, but the panel ruled that they had not presented sufficient evidence to prove that the vaccines caused autism in their children.

Why is it that a whore and bimbo like Jenny McCarthy says that vaccines cause autism the people of the world listen, but when  reputable scientists publish studies based on scientific methods and authentic research, they are ignored?

Jenny McCarthy should now get in touch with Dr. Faten Abdel-Rahman Khorshid, another purveyor of Snake Oil.  Between the 2 of them who knows how many children they can further harm?

From Generation To Generation.

There are rites of passage that every religion has. In Catholicism it is First Communion and Confirmation. For all Christians (regardless of their denomination) it is Baptism. In Judaism it is the Bar/Bat Mitzva. Yet for some Jewish parents with special needs children, this is not allowed in some synagogues.

By Loren Sykes

In so many ways, this was a celebration like any other synagogue celebration. There was the passing of the Torah, aliyot, blessings, the presenting of certificates and gift prayer books. Parents and friends smiled as they watched their children take the Torah and make it their own. There were "mazal tovs" and "yasher koahs" and abundant joy.

And yet nothing could be less ordinary or more special than this group of bar and bat mitzva boys and girls and their families. This is Thursday morning at Camp Yofi: Family Camp for Jewish Families with Children with Autism, and for many of these families, this ceremony marks something that some thought was impossible: public celebration of the life of a child with autism in the Jewish community.


SEVERAL YEARS ago, at the first Camp Yofi, one family told us about being asked by their rabbi not to return to the synagogue anymore. Why? Their child liked to be too close to the Torah! Can you imagine that? Isn't it the dream of every Jewish educator and leader that a child will want to be close to the Torah, physically and spiritually? And yet, this child's desire was too much for the rabbi.

The family left the synagogue. I don't know if they ever found another regular shul, but for at least that one summer they had Camp Yofi, where their child could be close to the Torah and nobody would push him away. All that the congregants would do was smile and cry.

On Thursday, multiple b'nai mitzva were celebrated and each child took the Torah, held it for a minute and then passed it on to the next child. They didn't hold a stuffed Torah or a toy Torah, and nobody gasped at the idea that a child with a special need would be given a Torah.

Some of the children not only held the Torah, they hugged the Torah - tight, loving, protective hugs - and they knew what they were doing. They cared. Two of the Yofi campers had the most incredible smiles on their faces - angelic - as though God's divine presence was hugging and loving them back.

As it was Rosh Hodesh, the celebration of the new month of Elul, there were four aliyot for the Torah reading. Four Yofi campers had aliyot. They held the tzitzit, they held the atzei haim, they said the brachot and they listened intently while one of the parents read the Torah. One of the campers led the first two lines of Shema in Hebrew and another camper sang the translation of Shema in English with the traditional melody. Finally, one camper came up to the front, standing tall, and opened the ark to reveal the Torah to the community.

At the end of the service, one of the Yofi campers with the biggest smiles holding the Torah came up as the ark was closing and asked if he could kiss the Torah one last time. As he leaned into the ark to adorn our Torah with love, tears welled up again in the eyes of everyone.

Over the years, numerous Camp Yofi families have told stories of congregational meetings where they were told that if their child with autism could not do everything that a typical child could do, if they could not "perform" at that level, then they could not have a bar or bat mitzva at that synagogue. The typical explanation was that if an exception was made for this child, then families whose children had soccer practice or ballet practice or "God-only-knows-what-else practice" which made it impossible for them to devote the time necessary to learn about their heritage would request a special exception, citing the child with autism as the basis for their request.

It seems to me that if a family ever did make such a comparison and request, the problem facing the rabbi and the congregation would not be about the exception but about the soccer family - or something far deeper. Either way, citing someone else's soccer practice as a reason to deny a child with autism the opportunity to have a modified ceremony, as though the two are in any way equal, is as abhorrent as it is absurd.

WHEN FAMILIES with autistic children are denied the opportunity to have a bar or bat mitzva modified to meet the needs and abilities of that child, when they are given an all-or-nothing option that is not realistic for a ceremony that marks a halachic transition - that happens whether or not there is a ceremony - it sends a clear message, whether or not that message is intended and explicit or completely unintended: Your child's life is somehow less valuable than the lives of other children in the community.

Moreover, your family does not deserve to publicly celebrate or be recognized by the community because your child is of lesser ability and lesser value. When we are commanded to imitate God, is this what God meant? Clearly not, and yet this message is sent over and over again to Jewish families with children with autism.

Children are being born onto the autism spectrum faster than ever and in higher percentages than any other disorder or disease. The number of Jewish children with autism will only grow, and rapidly, in the years to come. If we, the Jewish community, cannot figure out how to make a place for these incredible, angelic, divine souls in our classrooms, religious school and day school, in our youth groups, in our camps and in our synagogues, we will not only exclude the child but we'll lose the entire family as part of the Jewish people.

At a time when we all fret about the dropping Jewish numbers, when organizations and philanthropists alike are casting about trying to figure out how to interest those who are completely uninterested in Jewish involvement in investing millions of dollars in the effort, we are also actively causing the departure of families who are desperate for community and would give far more than they would receive if we would just open the doors and modify our own expectations of children instead of slamming the doors in their faces.

At the close of our Camp Yofi bnai mitzva celebration, all of the bnai mitzva stood under a hastily made huppa. Protected by the Shechina, we sang together a song by Josh Nelson, "L'dor Vador":

We are gifts and we are blessings
We are history in songs

We are hope and we are healing
We are learning to be strong

We are words we are stories
We are pictures of the past
We are carriers of wisdom, not the first and not the last.

L'dor vador nagid gadlecha, L'dor vador we protect this chain
From generation to generation l'dor vador these lips will praise Your name

Looking back on the journey that we carry in our heart

From the shadow of the mountain to the waters that would part

We are blessed, we are holy, we are children of Your way

And the words that bring us meaning, we will have the strength to say:

L'dor vador nagid gadlecha, l'dor vador we protect this chain
From generation to generation l'dor vador these lips will praise Your name.

ALL OF our children are gifts and blessings. They all deserve and need to be included in and by the Jewish community. This month of Elul is the time for us to wake up and to take a communal reckoning of what kind of people and community we want to be: Will we choose to recognize the blessings that each of our children, typical and with autism or other special needs, are in our lives and in the lives of our people? Will we choose to open our doors and our hearts to these incredible families, to welcome their wisdom and to provide the support they deserve and need? Will we recognize that one size does not fit all, or will we insist on some level of "performance" that excludes children with incredible but different gifts?

Will the houses that we build in God's name truly be for the entire Jewish people, or will they be only for those who meet our definition of typical? If the answers to the above questions are always negative, God help us.

And if the answers are affirmative , then let this year be one where we reach out to Jewish families with children with autism, welcome them and include them, moving us all one step closer to the onset of the messianic era.

The writer, a rabbi, is the founder of Camp Yofi: Family Camp for Jewish Families with Children with Autism. In 2006, he was a recipient of the Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education in part for his work with Camp Yofi. He was the founding director of Camp Ramah Darom and now serves as the director of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.

L'Dor Vador by Josh Nelson




View at YouTube

The month of Elul is the time in which Jews examine their lives. We look back and examine our actions and deeds through out the past year. We look at our spiritual actions and deeds too. And we vow that in the upcoming year to strive to be a better person.

Should we not also examine the actions and deeds of our Rabbi and Shul too? Should we not ask ourselves if our Shul is more concerned with membership, membership dues, building funds, etc... than in the needs of the Jewish community both spiritual and physical? Should we not ask ourselves if the Rabbi and Shul are not more concerned with political drivel and not with the family with the child with special needs? Is the Shul catering to the rich families and neglecting the poorer ones? Does my membership matter to the Rabbi or is it only my membership dues that matter?

If the answer to these questions is that you are not seen as a person but just as another "member", then ask yourself if you should belong to that Shul.

A Synagogue should serve the community, all members, regardless of their physical disabilities. Not just the "Beautiful People" with the "Perfect Children"!

Middle East families shed light on autism genes: study

Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old. Autism has a strong genetic basis. Autism affects many parts of the brain; how this occurs is poorly understood. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. Early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help children gain self-care, social, and communication skills. There is no cure. Few children with autism live independently after reaching adulthood, but some become successful, and an autisic culture has developed, with some seeking a cure and others believing that autism is a condition rather than a disorder.

Many causes has been given for why autism occurs. The latest fad in this is that the mercury used in vaccines causes autism.

As kids got more and more vaccines over the years, more mercury came with them - in amounts way over safety limits. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has long claimed it's not the cause of autism or related disorders, and mercury is still in flu shots recommended for babies this fall.

A half dozen childhood vaccines still have mercury,but the shots most kids get have little to none, so flu shots this fall are the biggest outstanding issue.

Scientists around the world set about to test this theory. And their findings were that there was no association between autism and vaccines.

The Institute of Medicine, a highly influential adviser of the government on scientific matters, said yesterday there is no credible evidence that either the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine or vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal cause autism.

The conclusion came in an 81-page report requested by two federal agencies to address the doubts raised by a small but vocal group of parents who question the safety of childhood vaccines.

But the public isn't buying this. Because a group of Hollywood celebrities, men and women with no scientific training or knowledge, say that vaccines cause autism. And of course the public believes the celebrities.

There is a downside to this. Measles, a disease that for 30 years had been virtually unknown in this nation, is on the rise. And so are deaths from the disease.

Measles has reached its highest level in the U.S. since 2001, with 64 cases confirmed since the beginning of 2008, the CDC reported in an early-release MMWR article. Cases have occurred in nine states, and outbreaks are ongoing in Arizona, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin.

All but one case developed in unvaccinated individuals or those with unknown immunization status, highlighting "the importance of maintaining high levels of vaccination," the CDC says.

Parents so concerned with their child not getting autism, are neglecting to vaccinate their children from Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR). And of course these parents will then find someone to sue.

Now you might wonder why I bring this up. Other than to remind you to vaccinate your children. It's because a study has pinpoint six new genes implicated in autism. Yes real science, not Hollywood baloney.

The research "strongly supports the emerging idea that autism stems from disruptions in the brain's ability to form new connections in response to experience -- consistent with autism's onset during the first year of life when many of these connections are normally made," a team led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and members of the Autism Consortium said.

In traditional Arab societies, cousins commonly wed, making it more likely that rare mutations will be expressed, the team said in study published in Science.

And Middle Eastern families typically have significantly more children than those in the west, which makes them relatively more useful in genetic studies.

A genetic disorder not from an outside source.

In their mapping, Walsh of Children's Hospital Boston, along with geneticist Eric Morrow of Massachusetts General, and Seung-Yun Yoo looked to compare the DNA of relatives with and without autism.

They also looked for recessive mutations, where the disease is seen only when a child has two copies of a particular gene.

"We check each set of chromosomes from beginning to end looking for one place where the child has two identical pieces of DNA on both chromosomes," said Walsh.

"Eventually we find a spot where all affected children have two identical chunks of DNA, and where unaffected children have something different."

Slightly more than six percent of the 88 families had rare inherited deletions in DNA regions linked to autism, the research found.

The 88 families were from eight countries: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

"Interestingly, not all the affected genes were actually deleted, but only prevented from turning on, offering hope that therapies could be developed to reactivate the genes," the researchers added in their statement.

Now there is real hope for a cure. But of course the Hollywood types will scream that this isn't true and keep not vaccinating their children. And those children will keep getting sick.

There is no cure for autism but there is hope now. There is no cure for measles, but there is a vaccine. Taking vaccines will not give your child autism, but it will prevent your child from getting very sick. Sicknesses that kill. The choice is up to you. Do you listen to some actor from Hollywood, or a genetics researcher working on solving the autism mystery?