The Quackometer

I have now added a counter to the front page of the Quackometer to show how many weeks it has been since the Observer has failed to print a proper correction of its glaring errors about MMR and autism and to offer an apology for misleading its readers.

Others have fully documented and made available to all the problems with the article about MMR by Denis Campbell. The Observer web site version of the story has been removed - it looks like it may contain a legal problem. But this story was so bad it needs a full print correction and apology.

Follow the story here:

Bad Science
http://www.badscience.net/?cat=21

HolfordWatch
http://holfordwatch.info/tag/mmr/

BreathSpa
http://breathspakids.blogspot.com/search/label/MMR

Quackometer
http://www.quackometer.net/blog/labels/MMR.html

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Labels: MMR

 

Denis Campbell, the sports journalist, who raked up MMR fears in the Observer and got it all horribly wrong, is now back on the health theme debunking various health fears that crop up in the papers.

I spat out my coffee when I saw this in the Observer. My contempt for the paper is growing.

Denis says,

It kills you; no, it does you good. Hang on, here's another report that says ...

Denis Campbell looks at the muddled world of medical research. Office printers are as likely to give you cancer as smoking. Men who eat cauliflower or broccoli once a week have less chance of prostate problems. The biggest female binge drinkers are women in their forties, not teenagers and twentysomethings - at least in Cardiff.
And it was reported that sunshine is actually good for preventing breast cancer, then the common perception was that too much sun gave you skin cancer.

These were among many media reports last week detailing new medical or scientific research on key health issues. Some involve real breakthroughs, others are more questionable.

Poacher turned gamekeeper.

Campbell goes on to list a whole host of modern worries including mobiles, wifi, coffee, vitamin C and so on. He gets some stuff wrong, but let's not worry about the minor details, when Campbell is quite capable of generating real howlers.

Of course, what is most conspicuous by its absence is the press role in generating false fears about MMR and autism, and particularly this sports writer's role in those fears. This article is just barefaced cheek, hypocrisy and cowardice.

Campbell quotes,

'The public ends up very confused,' says Professor Jack Winkler, a sociologist of science at London Metropolitan University. 'Every week we are told about some new wonder ingredient in our diet that's different to the one we read about a year ago.'

Why not discuss your own role in this and the role of the press who consistently print 'leaked reports', do not care if a result has been peer reviewed, or is just a marketing press release? Why not discuss the way you distorted unpublished autism figures?

Campbell, isn't it about time you and your paper apologised for your own contribution to health scares? Its been a month now and your blatant mistakes have not yet seen an appropriate correction and apology.

Labels: MMR

 

The absence of the Bad Science column in yesterday's Guardian has all the makings of a bigger story than had there actually been a column. Ben Goldacre, writer of the column, has been one of the few voices in the British press that has reliably and careful pointed out the evidence against the assertion that the MMR vaccine causes autism in children. Last Sunday's appalling story in the Guardian's sister paper, the Observer, and the non-appearance of Ben yesterday, cannot be a coincidence.

• reporting unpublished research that has not gone through a proper peer-review and scientific analysis and promoting such reports as if it was reliable and important.


• feeling the need to report 'balance' by giving undue prominence to fringe views and small numbers of dissenting voices


• failing to properly report careful and sound science that could settle the issues and instead continue to look for a sensationalist angle.

Newspapers appears to misunderstand that good science reporting is intrinsically different from reporting financial issues, politics, fashion and sport. Science is not democratic. It is not about the fair counterpointing of opinions. It is not 'pluralistic'. It cannot be selective. Science reporting should not focus on the motives of researchers as its primary analysis. It should not be about conspiracies and shenanigan's as a matter of course.

And the reason is that science is the the best way, indeed the only way, that we know of finding out the truth about the world. And it is a truth that is deeper than the 'truths' of politics and the love lives of celebrities. Our wishes, aspirations, prejudices and world views make no impact on scientific reality, no matter what the post-modern educations of our media masters may have told them. Does MMR cause autism? This is a question that cannot be answered by readers' polls, a show of hands and an editorial in a paper. It is a question about the nature of reality; a scientific question that can be, and has been, answered by the meticulous collection of relevant evidence.

Understanding science is about understanding the evidence: about how that evidence has been collected, analysed and criticised. It is about the best conclusions we can draw from that evidence and how we might improve on that evidence to gain deeper insights. Reporting that concentrates on fringe views, that are in contradiction to reliably established facts, might do when we discuss base-rate changes, Spice Girl reunions or the size of Tony Blair's manhood, but cannot make the mainstay of scientific reporting. The end result is just a total distortion of what science knows and just adds to public mistrust of the reliability of science.

Now, of course there are very important human interest stories in the MMR controversy. Science is a human process too. But the process of science is different from the established conclusions of science. In science there are deceptions, intrigue, anguish and politics. These issues too need reporting. The charges that Andrew Wakefield will face need covering to counter the arguments in the mad press that this is just the 'establishment' hitting back. There are thousands of confused parents and many who are convince that MMR caused their children's problems, despite their beliefs being due simplistic and faulty reasoning. There are the quacks that seek to exploit the fear of MMR and offer their own self-serving money making schemes. But the science is different from the human ping-pong. The non-MMR/Autism link is as settled as any scientific question can be now. This ought to be the starting point of the stories, not something that can be played with like antics of Paris Hilton.

So, will the Guardian let Ben write what needs to be written? What is more important, can the Guardian and the Observer cover the GMC disciplinary hearings for Andrew Wakefield in a way that can start putting the whole sorry mess to bed? We desperately need newspapers that can do this. We do not need more sensationalist rags. I shall not be buying a paper this week. A small step, I know.

These things are important. As a society, we have forgotten how bad childhood illnesses can be. We have forgotten how they were feared by our grandparents. Instead we just just get idiots in the Daily Mail saying how we should not be too worried about immunising our children, because there are no cases of measles about.

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Labels: Ben Goldacre, journalists, MMR

 

Maybe we are witnessing the death throes of the MMR controversy. The arguments that autism is caused by the triple-jab have been shown to be without merit and only the foaming go on about mercury in vaccines anymore (MMR never had any mercury in it). Andrew Wakefield is scrabbling with his last gasp of PR before his GMC disciplinary meeting. Undoubtley, the die-hard campaigners will see a cover up and conspiracy, but there is evidence now that other autism cuplrits are being sought.

Enter the electrosensivity lobby. I have stated my worry before that the organisations that supposedly support people who claim to be electrosensitive are doing their supporters a disservice by not being open minded to the causes of the problem. Ignoring science, or being selective about it, will open a multi-dimensional portal into an evil world of quackery. We have seen innocent Independent journalists already succumbing to fraudsters and quacks. Next up, is electrosensitivity regular Sarah Dacre.

Sarah has found meaning in her illnesses by blaming electromagnetic radiation. She was told that radio waves are the cause of her suffering by an 'expert' in flower esscences. She has been ably supported in that conclusion by Rod Read of electrosensitivity.org.uk. Rod goes a bit potty if you suggest that Sarah's illness has to do with anything other than radio waves. The delusions are re-inforced.

And now Sarah is reporting on Rod Read's pages that a new 'Pilot Treatment' has been found for her illness.

Dr George Carlo and Tamara Mariea are preparing to conduct a one month pilot ES/EHS treatment for 3/4 EHS in late October/November 2007. The Internal Balance clinic is located in Franklin, Tennessee.

The treatment protocol working on the degree of membrane sensitivity syndrome exhibited by each individual, is being written up currently and will be circulated to any interested participants. The costs will include accommodation, travel and clinicians and tests.

Dr George Carlo is well known in this field. He is prominent in supporting organisations that push the idea that mobile phones and Wi-Fi cause ill health. See him with some MPs here.

Dr. George Carlo, Ph.D, M.S., J.D, is a public health scientist, epidemiologist, lawyer, and the founder of the Science and Public Policy Institute.

A scientist and a lawyer! An interesting combination when litigation starts. You may remember him when he got angry at Ben 'Andrew' Goldacre's comments on the electrosensitivity lobby.

Anyway. Tamara Mariea CCN, CERCA (picture above) is new to us. Her web site shows she is working with Dr Carlo on a (as yet unpublished) paper on links between electromagnetic radiation and autism. Her ideas are as follows:

Although Mariea believes that autism is a complicated condition that must have several factors at play for a child to fall to this diagnosis, she does believe that the three largest factors at play are:

• Genetically determined detoxification capacity,
• Early insult to immune system via contaminated vaccines and
• Being born with high levels of toxic burden and into a technologically advanced society riddled with ever increasing levels of radiation.

These are the key areas for research regarding the cause and etiology of autism spectrum disorders. Perhaps the genetic mutations that are being discovered in autism research are created through the DNA damage from radiation emitting devices used by families and in the households of ever member of our global society.

So there you have it. MMR is not enough anymore. You have to have some 'vaccine damage' plus DNA damage from mobiles and Wi-Fi, and a poor ability to 'detoxify'.

Tamara is a nutritionist. That is what her certifcates say, proudly displayed on the web. Athought, the certifying body of her certificates (Clinical Nutrition Certification Board (CNCB))has been described as 'questionable' and 'promoters of highly dubious practices' by QuackWatch.

She also has the letters CERCA after her name. This stands for 'Certified Electromagnetic Radiation Safety Advisor'. A quick search reveals that in order to gain these prestigious letters after your name you have to answer 45 multiple guess questions set by Dr George Carlo, and get 80% right. I hope George, her collaborator, was not too harsh on her.

So, Sarah Dacre is going over to Tennessee for some detox of toxic heavy metals, nutritional advice no doubt, and other 'therapeutic interventions to detoxify these trapped toxins from the body'.

The Internal Balance, Inc. studio is outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment that opens and detoxifies the body, or pulls the toxins that are negatively affecting people’s health, out of their bodies. Often when children see the studio for the first time they think it looks like a place where astronauts might hang out.

And I thought astronauts hang out in bars like the rest of us. Or at least those without restraining orders.

For Sarah though, she has a problem. Travelling all that way, surrounded by airport Wi-Fi, passenger mobile phones and aircraft electronics could be very debilitating. Luckily, George and Tamara have thought of that one. They say,

The 8 hour journey and airport routine is a challenge but Dr Carlo/ Ms Mariea are to consult NASA for their best recommendations.

The little black duck is speechless. But I too must consult NASA next time I have some tricky travel plans.

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Labels: electromagnetic quackery, MMR, nutritionist

 

Just a few days before Andrew Wakefield appears before the GMC disciplinary body on charges of misconduct, a front page article in the Observer makes fresh claims of links between the MMR vaccine and autism. In a separate interview in the same newspaper, Dr Wakefield says that he 'told the truth all along'.

He rather remarkably compares himself with Vaclav Havel,

'As Vaclav Havel once said: "Follow the man who seeks the truth; run from the man who has found it." I can't tell you that we know that the MMR vaccine causes autism. But the Department of Health can tell you with 100 per cent certainty that it doesn't, and they believe that, and that concerns me greatly.'

Rather ironic really as the vast majority of scientists working on the causes of autism would quite readily admit that they have not really got a good grasp at all on the truth behind the causes of autism. It is Wakefield, who nearly alone in the scientific community, appears to have the answer in the face of a 'reluctant' medical community and 'political establishment'.

He predicts that 'the truth' about MMR will eventually come from America, not the UK.

The truth is apparently out there, just waiting for the vested interests and the government conspiracies to fold.

The problem is that there is not a shred of evidence to support that MMR may have anything to do with autism, despite a lot of work having now been done in this area. The newspaper article reports a new study that may show a link. But this is unpublished and so we have no idea at all what it will say. It supposedly shows that 1 in 58 kids now show signs of the condition. The papers says that,

Two of the academics, leaders in their field, privately believe that the surprisingly high figure may be linked to the use of the controversial MMR vaccine.

But even these two controversial doctors freely admit that MMR cannot explain the huge rise in reported numbers.

Dr Fiona Scott and Dr Carol Stott both say it could be a factor in small numbers of children.

So, even if there was a link then it must be a minor player in the overall story.

So, why am I bothering with this? It is not quackery as such, but anti-MMR campaigners get a lot of support from quack corners. The anti-vaccination brigade are more than welcomed and supported by homeopaths and other quacks as this whole story adds to their delusions that the medical 'establishment' is blind to their own failings and tries to suppress dissenting voices. Their own perceived persecution is made real by the perceived persecution of other dissenters. Andrew Wakefield is being judged by the GMC not in an attempt to silence to him but to see if he has acted with misconduct and unprofessionalism in making his claims, exposing children to unnecessary procedures and not declaring his interests.

This newspaper article appears to have done its trick though. The story has been picked up by many other newspapers now, e.g.

New fear over MMR link with rising autism - The Telegraph, UK
One in 58 British children is autistic, new figures reveal - the Daily Mail, UK
One in 58 British children is autistic, new figures reveal - China Daily, China

So quickly this story has got to China! But like Chinese whispers, these stories get passed around, confused and their sources forgotten. We have MMR being something to do with measels virus, or is it mercury in vaccines? It accounts for the huge rise, or is it just a 'small number if children'? It is an incoherent mess, but the large number of stories, albeit not independent, give the impression that 'there must be something in it'. There is no smoke without fire.

More stories will follow, I am sure. Dr Wakefield will be going into his hearing with a background of 'fresh revelations' when in reality there is absolutely nothing new to report. The Observer, normally a fairly sensible paper, has been duped into a PR campaign for Wakefield. I doubt the GMC will be swayed by this, but the press will be in there reporting the trial in the next few weeks, and will undoubtedly be putting the story in the context of these new revelations. All good grist to the quackery mill.

Well done, Dr Wakefield, on a very impressive PR campaign.

Labels: MMR, newspapers