The Independent: Italian court rules MMR vaccine did trigger autism

[SunsetDreams]

8. Manufacturing a controversy about the MMR vaccine

Here we go again with the trope that the MMR vaccine causes autism. The Daily Mail, a British middle market tabloid, has published an article, MMR: A mother’s victory: The vast majority of doctors say there is no link between the triple jab and autism, but could an Italian court case reignite this controversial debate?, that is attempting to create a controversy out of thin air about the MMR vaccine for mumps, measles and rubella. The article is referring to an insane Italian court ruling which, despite all evidence to the contrary, blamed a child’s autism on the vaccination.

Because the anti-vaccination lunacy lacks any substantial support for their various tropes about vaccines causing any number of things, including autism, it’s important to be perfectly clear:

The Cochrane Reviews state that MMR vaccine does not cause autism.
There is no scientific or medical controversy about this conclusion.
Medical and scientific experts agree.
It lead to a public health crisis based on a fraud.
Well constructed epidemiological studies also showed no link between MMR vaccine and autism in Denmark, England, Japan, Japan, Japan, Poland, and the United States.
Mr. Andy Wakefield‘s paper alleging a connection between MMR and autism has been retracted by the Lancet.
Despite claims that Wakefield’s findings were reproduced, not one single peer-reviewed paper ever supported the Wakefield’s claims.
Numerous studies actually invalidate his claim.
The Autism Omnibus trials has rejected all three test cases and subsequent appeals claiming that vaccines cause autism.

Much more at link, including hyperlinks to even more
http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/manufacturing-controversy-mmr-vaccine/

Link between MMR Vaccines and Autism conclusively broken

Further studies proved no link between autism and MMR vaccine

There were reservations against the paper’s scientific validity even when it appeared in 1998. Critics pointed that the paper’s research was based on a small sample with no control, linked three common conditions and relied on parent’s biased testimony. The next decade a lot of ensuing studies found no link between the two. By the time the paper was retracted in 2001, there was no doubt in the minds of the scientific community that it was fatally flawed. The General Medical Council held a detailed and long hearing before giving their verdict of no confidence in the study.

Since then, there have been numerous big studies -- including one with 530,000 children and one with 1.8 million children -- and no link was found. As recently as in 2008, a Columbia University study found "no connection" between the vaccine and autism in kids. "Our results are inconsistent with a causal role for MMR vaccine as a trigger or exacerbator of either G.I. difficulties or autism," said one of the Columbia researchers, Mady Hornig, at the time.

....

The alleged link between the vaccinations and autism also took away a great deal of money, attention and energy from research into the actual cause of autism.

The effect of Wakefield’s study was so huge that parents started keeping away from the MMR and a significant rise in Measles and Mumps outbreaks have been regularly reported in the US and Europe. In fact, California in 2010 broke a 55-year-old record for the number of cases of whooping cough reports msnbc.com . That's directly related to parents who haven’t vaccinated their children.
Wakefield found a ready audience in people looking for something to blame for autism.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/98531/20110107/link-between-mmr-vaccines-and-autism-conclusively-broken.htm

Researcher Behind Debunked Autism-Vaccine Study Stood To Make Millions

A week after calling research that first suggested a link between autism and vaccines an “elaborate fraud” a follow-up article in the British Medical Journal now says the researcher behind the study planned to make upwards of $43 million annually selling replacement vaccines and diagnostic products.

In the report published Tuesday, journalist Brian Deer reveals that Andrew Wakefield held a patent for “a ‘safer’ single measles shot.”

Meanwhile, Deer reports that Wakefield was in talks with investors to develop a business that “was to be launched off the back of the vaccine scare, diagnosing a purported — and still unsubstantiated — ‘new syndrome.’” A business plan for the venture indicates that by year three, diagnostic kits alone were anticipated to garner $43 million per year.

...

Deer reports this week that Wakefield was asked by his superiors at the University College London in 1999 to replicate his study using a larger sampling of 150 children after they expressed concerns about a “serious conflict of interest” given his business plans.
But Wakefield did not pursue further study on the matter and ultimately left the institution, with his boss saying, “we paid him to go away.”

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2011/01/12/wakefield-make-millions/11910/

This outlandish claim has been debunked time and time again. It is disheartening to find a judge that goes rogue ignoring all evidence to the contrary. As an RN, I find these allegations against MMR vaccine to be not only bogus without any scientific evidence to back them up, but also to be very disgusting and disturbing to say the least. Measles, Mumps and Rubella can all be very dangerous diseases in young children and pregnant women. In some cases it can even cause death. There is no link between Autism and MMR vaccine.

Here is some general information for anyone interested on the MMR Vaccine and Measles, Mumps, and Rubella.

Measles is a virus that causes a rash, cough, runny nose, eye irritation, and fever in most people. It can also lead to pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death in some cases.

The mumps virus causes fever, headache, and swollen glands. It can also lead to deafness, meningitis, swollen testicles or ovaries, and death in some cases.

Rubella, also known as the German measles, is generally a mild disease. However, it can cause serious birth defects in the child of a woman who becomes infected while pregnant.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002026.htm