Category Archives: Anti-Vaccination Lobby

The antivaccinationist need for an enemy

Posted in Anti-Vaccination Lobby, General, Scam, Science by

At various times I’ve touched on the anti-vaccine lobby manifesting a type of pseudo-neoconservative approach in sustaining an urgency of fear.

Scientific skepticism has proven a ready Enemy Of The People. Rolled out by antivaccinationists as existing to suppress our rights, free choice, free speech and even democracy itself. The rather vacuous notion that the scientific method is a flawed ideology appears a necessary sale. It is an essential component of the uncritical thinking peddled by Meryl Dorey and Co. that ultimately makes up evidence denial.

A certain PhD candidate reaching new heights in vaccine denial at the University of Wollongong is supervised by a professor who is not merely a member of the Australian (anti) Vaccination Network. His depreciation of the scientific method to just another “paradigm”, is embellished by a deft understanding of the devaluation of “targets” and the provocation of outrage and distrust in the eyes of onlookers. This last aspect lends itself splendidly to accusations of oppression, abuse, bullying, threats, censorship and corruption along the lines of Big Pharma and the Pharma Shill.

Apparently once having devalued critics and targets enough you can take risks with simple decency. Take this observation (August 24th) from Meryl Dorey, founder of the AVN Inc. Meryl has this year sought Apprehended Violence Orders from authors who wrote on the Internet what she deemed unacceptable. Hmmm. More on that later.

Love in a brothel

With mass vaccination, evidence supporting not only its efficacy but a thunderous victory in the risk-benefit equation is abundantly clear. To contend that there is a “vaccination debate” surrounding scientific evidence or the relevant disciplines is an exercise in intellectual dishonesty. Worse still, to continue to massage the staple arguments against vaccination is to risk the health of others across the entire community. Faced with the present evidence vacuum and obvious perpetration of such towering immorality, the antivaccinationist would be wise to apply pseudo-neoconservative philosophy.

In March 2004 the Central European University hosted a lecture on terrorism entitled, There shall be no Security without an Enemy: Terrorism, Neo-Conservatism and Modern Governance. Whilst clearly focusing on the danger of terrorism, it is this piece of the synopsis that relates to the ever-present conspiracy theory driving fear and distrust of vaccines:

Against a faceless and stateless enemy, modern powers could find themselves caught up in an uncontrollable spiraling that threatens their founding premises.

In Taking The Fight To The Enemy: Neoconservatism and the age of ideology (Lexington Books, 2012), Adam Fuller underscores the fear of the “Technocracy”. Those familiar with AVN supporter, conspiracy theorist Leon Pittard of Fair Dinkum Radio, will perhaps recognise his use of that term and also of “Scientocracy”.

mp3_mic

You can catch Meryl and Leon chatting here.

Or download MP3 here.

Whilst antivaccinationists may not seek to convince us our way of life is under dire threat from a destructive enemy, the faceless enemy eroding the essence of our freedom, rights and way of life makes up much of their narrative. It is the cultural aspect of neoconservatism that manifests most notably in their conspiracy theories. You may be familiar with Health Fascism. Or Dorey and radio host Tiga Bayles likening Australia to a communist nation, claims of death threats to suppress vaccine truth, vaccines do not work, vaccines kill and injure and so on.

G.M. foods, fluoride in water, other “toxic” processed foods and medicines, hospital births, evidence based medicine and more are all open to a similar cultural slur. These areas are presented as a loss of our right to choose. “Health Choices” are under threat. As I noted above there is no sustainable argument that vaccines are unnecessary or possibly responsible for any of the chronic diseases antivaccinationists attribute to them.

The vast majority of parents can see through this. Yet there is always a case for trying to convince the public that it may be forced to do something – even if it would have chosen to do so anyway. This is ideal for devaluing “targets” and evoking outrage. Enter the ever-present lie of imminent “compulsory vaccination” which Meryl Dorey has been profiting from since February 2007.

A perfectly molded neocon’ fear that the enemy within is waiting to ensure you do what they want. That you do not say “no”. Except of course it is false. When pressed, Dorey defends by claiming it is health workers she is fighting for. But in reality Dorey has targeted the public with this irrational and unnecessary fear for years. Consider these slides from just over 5 years ago.

Inverell slide1

Whos next iverell

Inverell_YouandYourFamily

FROM MARCH 2008 – INVERELL FORUM

By Meryl Dorey

A typical example of this outright deception occurred courtesy of the AVN Inc., on the heels of Meryl Dorey losing her second vexatious AVO case this year. The first loss was on April 26th this year. On August 24th, Dan Buzzard defendant in the most recent case wrote:

The end result?

Case dismissed, costs application against Ms Dorey for just over $11,000. The system works.

Pleas for financial donations on Meryl’s behalf were predicted within social media. Yesterday this post appeared on the AVN Facebook page. See Update below:

AVN misrepresent Di NataleNow, that isn’t signed by Meryl Dorey (the AVN president is Gregg Beattie) but a reply 20 minutes later is:

DoreyReply_DiNatale postAstonishing. The claim that Dr. Di Natale had claimed the Green’s policy and that of both major parties was for compulsory vaccination. Then a call for donations and membership. Immediately after that a call to write to local members to voice your outrage at this impending policy, because “we may be a minority but we will not be silent!”.

What I’d read in late June about Dr. Di Natale’s involvement in passing a Senate motion for the AVN to disband did not suggest he was a bloke careless enough to be passing headline secrets to members of the public. I tweeted yesterday with this link and the Facebook screenshot above, to which Dr. Di Natale replied earlier today.

DiNatale_mandatoryvaxThey are shameless. Of course there’s no truth.

Indeed. Dorey is now in need of money and the above indicates the lengths she is prepared to go to. Deceiving members – check. Deceiving the public – check. Dishonest raising of donation funds – check. Lying about an Australian Senator – check. Urging readers to waste time and annoy their local members – check. Advertising subscriptions for a defunct magazine – check.

One thing seems sure. There may well be no security in the pursuit of anti-vaccine ideology without an enemy.

That doesn’t bode well for public health.

August 27 UPDATE: Yesterday Stop The Australian (anti) Vaccination Network posted this revelation:

It has been brought to our attention that the following response from Senator Richard Di Natale was sent to AVN President Gregg Beattie in regards to the latest AVN grab for cash to fight the non-existent push for compulsory vaccination:

Dear Mr Beattie,
I am writing to you regarding recent claims by the AVN about my position on compulsory vaccination.
As I have made abundantly clear with the AVN in the past, neither the Greens nor I support compulsory vaccination.
The AVN’s recent claims about my views are merely the latest in a long and shameful history of malicious falsehoods. Your attempt to raise funds off the back of these claims is another low and desperate act by an organisation rightly condemned across the political spectrum and the wider community.
Yours sincerely,
Richard

UPDATE 2: news.com.au – AVN Campaigner ordered to pay $11,000 in costs:

Greens health spokesman and doctor Senator Richard Di Natale has condemned a blog post by Dorey in which she claims he supports making vaccination compulsory and then appeals for donations.
The Senator has written to complain and told News Corporation “I take issue with the fact she has misrepresented my position and used to try and make money from the lie to fill the coffers of the AVN,” he says.
“Our policy is that vaccination is one of the most effective public health measures ever introduced, but in the end people have a choice whether to vaccinate their children but that choice should be based on accurate information,” Senator Di Natale says.
Ms Dorey declined an opportunity to comment on her loss in court yesterday.

Of chiropractic tripe and the odd zebra stripe

Posted in Alternative "medicine" scams, Anti-Vaccination Lobby, Big Placebo, Chiropractic, Health, Scam, Science by

When we think of chiropractic and Equidae, it’s usually unicorns that come to mind.

The search for the chiropractic subluxation has been as fruitful as the search for the unicorn. In fact perhaps less fruitful, as we know with a high degree of accuracy what the unicorn looks like. Yet with the chiropractic subluxation our fairy tale is limited to conjuring mystical malaise or blaming dastardly disease as the work of this elusive evil.

chiro face palm

Do not be alarmed. This man has not seen a unicorn.

Rather, he had just been told that chiropractic subluxations

involve some type of “static” in the spinal cord.

Doctors (real doctors) report that he made a full recovery

after his palm was removed from his face.

Interestingly enough, whilst chiropractic teaches that areas of subluxation are invisible and can be “detected” only by the presence of symptoms, Simon Floreani, erstwhile president of the Chiropractors Association of Australia, has other ideas.

Check out the Catalyst video below at 1min, 45sec. Using the apparently magical Activator – or the “stick that goes click” – on an infant, Floreani announces:

Areas of subluxation that I can feel there, that are immediately improved after you adjust it like that…

You can read more about the Sonic Screwdriver-like Activator here in The Medical Observer. Just be prepared for some tongue in cheek observations. In September 2011 it was reported in Australian Doctor that the Federal Government had been asked to investigate both the Activator and “the Nervoscope” as they had been reported as having, “no biomechanical or physiological effect and cannot diagnose or treat any health condition”.

Fortunately, whilst new-age chiropractors continue to push their ineffective devices, practices and claims onto an unsuspecting public, genuinely motivated supporters of evidence based medicine are busy exposing their scams.

Check out the videos below to see just how devoid of facts claims made by the resurgent followers of Daniel David Palmer, really are. And keep an eye out for Simon and his zebra.

Catalyst – July 11th 2013

Floreani’s penchant for cutting his own path may help explain why he has chosen the zebra over the unicorn.

zebra floreaniFloreani positions a young subluxee on his treatment table cunningly disguised as a zebra

Lateline – July 6th 2009

Zebra floreani2

Floreani seems to be watched over by a zebra

Today Tonight – December 2011

Today Tonight – March 14th 2013

Anti-vaccinationists: “The dirty tactics are unbelievable”

Posted in Anti-Vaccination Lobby, Denialism, Health, Scam by

If my family had known about vaccinations, my brother would still be here today

♦ Matthew, whose brother Michael died from Chicken Pox ♦

But not long after Michael’s death, his family got a cruel phone call from anti-vaccine campaigners telling them it was natures way of weeding out the weak in the herd

♦ Neil Doorley: Today Tonight reporter ♦

I don’t believe that any vaccination is effective

♦ Meryl Dorey (Founder of anti-vaccine lobby, the Australian Vaccination Network Inc.) ♦

The month of June 2013 continued with a high turnover of media articles and internet publications of all types examining the antics and lack of evidence presented by Australia’s anti-vaccination lobby.

The No Jab, No Play campaign was launched by The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Telegraph on May 5th, 2013. It places pressure on parents who deny their own and other children the protection of vaccine induced immunity and herd immunity, to accept the community consequences of their decision.

By May 29th it was announced that NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner had amended the Public Health Act to make the checking of vaccine records compulsory and giving day-care centres the right to refuse access to unvaccinated children. Admitting children not vaccinated, could result in a $4,000 fine.

On June 25th, Victorian Greens Senator Dr. Richard Di Natale reinforced how important it is to speak to a G.P. about vaccination.

Talk to a G.P. about vaccination

On June 14th, Neil Doorley on Today Tonight examined the potential tragedy of the tactics of Meryl Dorey and the deceptively named Australian Vaccination Network.

Helen Kapalos opens the segment in part with, “The dirty tactics are unbelievable”.

Today Tonight and the importance of reputable information

Back in May on Monday 20th The Project ran a piece with plenty of facts. Referring to the many proclaimed links between diseases, certain disabling reactions, outcomes worse than the disease or vaccines overwhelming immune systems it was reported:

Rest assured all of those theories have been scientifically investigated and not one of them is true.

The Project

The most infamous, blatant and callous fraudulent abuse of ignorance, doubt and understandable parental fear was committed by No-Longer-A-Doctor Andrew Wakefield back in 1998. Apart from filing for patents for monovalent (single shot) Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccines he also stood to profit from two immunodiagnostic ventures. He remains an individual of iconic status for anti-vaccinationists, particularly Meryl Dorey.

This deserves notice presently because the Wakefield fraud has recently come home to roost in Wales in the UK. This was the subject of an article on ABC Lateline last April 22nd.

Wakefield MMR fraud comes home to roost in Wales

In response to the No Jab, No Play campaign Meryl Dorey and the AVN were urging vaccine refusers to exploit a loophole and join the Church of Conscious Living. This would permit those refusing vaccination to still receive family benefits. One month ago The Daily Telegraph reported, Anti-vaccine Zealots Form Sham Church:

The Church of Conscious Living was founded by Jane Leonforte and Adriano Regano in Queensland in 2008, with the express purpose of creating a front for vaccination exemptions. In a letter sent by the “church” to their followers, Ms Leonforte and Mr Regano admit “we have decided to create a ‘religion’, so, amongst other things, we can claim ‘religious exemption’, if the need ever arises, for ourselves and our children.”

NSW Health Minister, Jillian Skinner informed State Parliament the Health Care Complaints Commission would launch an investigation, This was after the Opposition raised concerns that the AVN was using it’s Facebook page in this regard as a recruitment vehicle.

More so according to The ABC, during Question Time on May 29th the Opposition’s Shadow Minister for Health, Dr. Andrew McDonald, asked Jillian Skinner:

Minister, what steps will you take to close this loophole?” he said.

After her initial answer, The Health Minister Jillian Skinner later returned to give this update.

“I’m advised that the Health Care Complaints Commission will be launching an investigation into the AVN,” she said.

If passed, the new vaccination laws come into effect next January.

Dorey herself has attempted to use the option of Apprehended Violence Orders to silence and potentially seriously irritate her critics.

This was covered in May in the Telegraph by Peter Bodkin. An article at Diluted Thinking goes into this and the potential consequences quite thoroughly.

The AVN continues to fight an order from the NSW Department of Fair Trading to change its name to something appropriate. That is, to one that represents it’s anti-vaccine stance.

From Anthony Roberts MP, May 9th 2013:

Holding the Australian Vaccination Network to Account

Also, as has been much anticipated, the AVN – involving a time of high activity attributed to Meryl Dorey – are being investigated for fraud.

On June 25th, the ABC reported that the NSW Senate has passed a motion calling for the AVN to disband and cease it’s “unscientific scare campaign against vaccines”.

Finally the month began to close with the AVN itself reinforcing the initial HCCC warning from July 2010. Proving yet again that they specialise in censoring and suppressing accurate information on both vaccines and the diseases they prevent, the so-called health group deleted material, and then blocked any further input from intensive care specialist, Dr. Rachael Heap.

The AVN presented via their Facebook page that tetanus infection could be prevented by using tea tree oil on wounds, and that active bleeding would also prevent infection at a given site.

Non-smokers, diabetics – even the non-elderly would also be afforded protection. Jane Hansen wrote today:

But when intensive care specialist Dr Rachael Heap tried to post information about tetanus to balance the misinformation, the AVN first removed her posts and then blocked her.

Tetanus is a bacterial disease that kills three out of every 100 people who catch it.

It causes muscle spasms in the face, chest and neck, eventually progressing to the abdomen and back, causing the whole body to arch. Sometimes the spasms affect muscles that help with breathing, or can cause fractures and muscle tears. It can be avoided with a simple vaccination.

“Tetanus is horrific, there is no cure if you get it, you end up in intensive care and then all you can do is support the patient and hope they heal,” Dr Heap said.

“I made three posts, trying to give some clear, scientific, medical explanations about tetanus, both the mechanism of disease, some basic wound care tips, and information on just how devastating a disease it can be. I now find myself banned from their site and all my posts deleted.”

One of the deleted posts outlined what tetanus actually does. “I have cared for a patient with tetanus in Australia. It is agonising, and relentless. It can be fatal,” she said.

Dr. Heap has made a complaint about this matter to The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission.

Fortunately the AVN is now being held to account more often, with their tactics more regularly exposed.

Every Vaccine Is A Little Victory

Posted in Anti-Vaccination Lobby, Health, Human Rights, Science by

Vaccination is now recognised as one of the most successful and effective public health interventions for saving lives and promoting good health.
Prevention is a key goal in healthcare and the ability of vaccines to prevent illness and death associated with many serious diseases is one of the success stories of scientific innovation

♦♦ Dr. James Reilly, Minister for Health, Ireland ♦♦
Still from "vaccination victory" video

Last month, during European Immunisation Week (April 21st – April 27th), Ireland launched a rather clever campaign to help remind the public of how crucial national immunisation programmes are. More importantly it included how vital it is to complete a vaccine schedule. A schedule may be one or a varied series of vaccinations, immunisations, shots and/or doses.

These may be had once, twice, three or even more times, at different ages, when exact or different time-periods have elapsed, and at which the same or different amounts of vaccine is given. Boosters can be scheduled or even recommended for other members of the family. All this depends almost exclusively on the vaccine under consideration.

So it seems that the development of immunity is remarkably complex. It is not difficult but it’s complexity can be gleaned through the above and use of terms such as “partial immunity”, “fully immune”, “waning immunity”, “herd immunity”, etc. Thus it’s very important to take the advice of your GP, doctor or local health authority rather than try to “research” the topic yourself.

The development of immunity may be complex, but we do know the development of vaccines is perhaps the greatest advance of modern medicine. In fact rather than getting bogged down in the copious amount of information regarding vaccines one could simply observe that Every Vaccine is a Little Victory.

Which brings us to the campaign itself launched last month in Ireland. Check out the video below. Chaps: you’re permitted to chuckle, smile, use words like “cool”, “nice kid”, suggest it’s a “top idea” and so on. Ladies: you may “Squeeee!, use words like “cute”, “gorgeous”, “Awwwwww”, etcetera. Do pass it around, all.

No matter how you react I trust you agree it’s a good idea. There is so much information and misinformation about vaccination, that purporting to “research” the topic and decide against vaccination is likely to involve denial of evidence. Indeed, quite a lot of evidence denial goes into rejecting vaccination.

Similarly, it’s going to prove rather challenging to suavely explain to ones mates and relatives the immunodynamics behind ones child’s third MMR vaccine. One might also look overly ambitious mounting a dinner discussion based on why it is quite safe to “complete the MMR schedule, chaps, in temporal proximity to this seasons influenza vaccine”. 

Or reassure the gang over coffee that Janine can have faith in the immunogenicity of the live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) taken concurrently with the twins’ 56 week MMR dose. Perhaps, what’s really on everybody’s mind is the GMP standards as they apply to the reconstitution of vaccine diluent preparations?

Umm… No. As stated the amount of information out there is truly copious. Only the anti-vaccine lobby can keep a straight face whilst claiming to grasp the entirety of vaccine science and rewrite it’s conclusions at the same time. Perhaps they have drastic inside information on reconstituting vaccine diluent preparations?! Or rather, perhaps their unique way of getting attention is just a unique way of… getting attention.

For the rest of us, given that it’s far better to accept the word of qualified experts who overwhelmingly support vaccination, the word on the street is that Every Vaccine is a Little Victory. Presently it’s vital to remember this. The South of Wales in the UK is in the grip of a measles epidemic. Well over 1,100 cases and a frantic MMR catch-up programme has left the anti-vaccination lobby with all the charm of a malignant Chucky the Court Jester.

Australia has been fighting unacceptably high pertussis levels for years now. Recently, Aussie health authorities have begun to act on inadequate legislation that has well served the deceptively named Australian Vaccination Network Inc. Concurrently the AVN Inc. are fighting the NSW Office of Fair Trading to keep the name that has led to so much sickness, deception and despair.

With rising conscientious objection in the developed world, vaccine preventable diseases once thought all but eradicated are making a firm comeback. In the developing world, communities and parents are risking their lives to access vaccines for their children.

It was with certain purpose last month in Dublin then that Dr. James Reilly the Irish Minister for Health addressed a crowd gathered at the Royal College of Physicians, Trinity College. Health News Ireland reported that, Reilly observed:

“Vaccination is now recognised as one of the most successful and effective public health interventions for saving lives and promoting good health,” he told the gathering in the prestigious Royal College of Physicians, which nestles in the shadow of Trinity College.

“Prevention is a key goal in healthcare and the ability of vaccines to prevent illness and death associated with many serious diseases is one of the success stories of scientific innovation”.

He appeared to have no time for the detractors, the nay-sayers; or the ‘scattered thinking’ brigade, as he dubbed them.

Every vaccination is a little victory

Modern humans do poorly at gauging risk-benefit. A Pfizer booklet titled Vaccines – Protect Your Health at Every Age includes:

The vast majority of side-effects are minor and temporary, such as a sore arm or mild fever and have nothing to do with the infectious disease against which the immunisation is directed. New vaccines go through a rigorous testing in development and approval phases in Europe to make sure they are safe. The European Medicines Agency also monitors any adverse side-effects that might occur after the medicine is licensed.

In Ireland the National Immunisation Advisory Committee advises the “Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health on immunisation-related and vaccine matters”. Their responsibility to the Department of Health is to ensure the ability “to enable evidence-based immunisation related policy decisions”.

Committee Chair is Professor Denis Gill – (interviewed here). He ponders vaccines as a victim of their own success.

A lot of parents don’t realise just how bad the past was. Take measles, for instance: 1-in-1,000 children will die as a result of contracting measles.

Put it another way, one of the reasons we are living longer is because we are surviving childhood.

It is of course, beyond ironic. This theme arises in other areas also – from human rights to consumer rights.

Our health and longevity afford us the opportunity, through ignorance, to sabotage the very means that provide the improvements in the first place.

Every Vaccine Is A Little Victory

——————

Dorey and Dingle’s Vaccine-Autism Doppelgänger

Posted in Anti-Vaccination Lobby, Denialism, Health, Legal, Science by

Back on January 15th Meryl Dorey offered a rather messy tweet designed to sustain her fictitious claim that all vaccines are causally linked to autism.

Dorey_Jan15

I say “messy” because the January 14th Huffington Post article linked to, refers to the Vaccine Compensation Injury Program Court, compensating children that the ‘Post author wrongly insists have autism. Yet suppose this author – anti-vaccine terror-tattler David Kirby – was correct. We are still left with compensation awarded to children with autism. Not because of their autism.

Thus Dorey’s misleading query, “… how many more do we need b4 govt admits vaccines cause autism?”, is rather scurrilous. And that’s only if Kirby’s attempt to mislead the reader is based in fact. As it turns out the heading Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism does not describe the events as they occurred.

In the case of Ryan Mojabi, on page 2 of the Court of Federal Claims Decision Awarding Damages document one reads:

On June 9, 2011, respondent filed a supplemental report pursuant to Vaccine Rule 4(c) stating it was respondent’s view that Ryan suffered a Table injury under the Vaccine Act – namely, an encephalitis within five to fifteen days following receipt of the December 19, 2003 MMR vaccine… and that this case is appropriate for compensation under the terms of the Vaccine Program.

That’s clear. Encephalitis, which is a Table injury under the Vaccine act.

Still, referring to Ryan the family had blamed all vaccines administered between March 25th 2003 to February 22nd 2005 as collectively causing “a severe and debilitating injury to his brain, described as Autism Spectrum Disorder”. Without picking over every detail there is a lack of agreement on exactly when and how persistently ill Ryan became. The family had travelled overseas and whilst the totality of doctor’s visits falls well short of that expected for a child as ill as Ryan’s parents allege, evidence was provided that he had presented with fever and rash in Tehran on January 6th 2004.

In August 2007 Ryan’s parents testified he had (post vaccination) experienced screaming, lethargy, floppiness, fever and shaking hands in 2003, just prior to travelling overseas. Ryan’s doctor has no evidence nor record of these events being reported as claimed. Nor that he had agreed to an overseas trip for Ryan whilst he was in that condition.

On page 15 of an earlier court document, Revised Ruling Regarding Factual Finding (May 2009) Ryan’s performance under Checklist for Autism in Toddlers [CHAT] on two dates well past his MMR vaccination, is discussed.

On May 10, 2004, at Ryan’s sixteen month well-child visit, Dr. Armstrong completed a Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT) screen. Ps’ Ex. 4 At 25. That CHAT screen indicated that Ryan was interested in other children, pretend play, peek-a-boo, points with index finger, makes eye contact, and brings object for show. On January 25, 2005, Dr. Armstrong examined Ryan for his twenty-four month well-baby check. Ps’ Ex. 4 at 31. During the visit, Dr. Armstrong conducted another CHAT screen, and again Ryan positively performed each of the listed behaviors.

The second case involves Emily Lowrie. Emily has a diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder – not otherwise specified and seizure disorder. PDD is not autism, but may be referred to as “atypical autism”. It is a form of ASD. According to Australia’s Raising Children’s Network, symptoms are “usually fewer or less pronounced” than with Autistic disorder or Asperger’s syndrome. There is evidence that Emily did develop a Table injury close to the time of vaccination. Yet there is no evidence that autism resulted and Kirby’s claim is simply false.

The vaccines-cause-autism devotees excel in labeling PDD-NOS as “autism” and often flesh out large samples by including “autistic like symptoms” where clear diagnoses of encephalitis and encephalopathy exist. As it happens Kirby runs off the tried and true Bailey Banks case. Bailey was diagnosed with PDD – a class of conditions to which autism belongs. Meryl Dorey misled her audience at the Woodford Folk Festival by fudging such diagnoses and for good measure plagiarising part of the Banks’ final ruling document. She added “[Autism]” to misrepresent PDD after lifting a quote directly from page 17 of the Banks v. HHS case file.

Other stunners exploiting the “autism-like” symptoms include the Pace Law School student debacle orchestrated by Mary Holland. This motivated Dorey to inform a commercial radio audience “hundreds, possibly thousands of families had been compensated”, as a result of vaccines causing autism. You can chase more on it up here.

Kirby also mentions Hannah Poling as though it is a foregone conclusion she developed autism from vaccination. Hannah’s mitochondrial enzymatic deficit and many environmental factors may trigger the encephalopathy she was compensated for. Many children with her mitochondrial condition develop encephalopathy in the first two years of life. As is often the case when science meets law, evidence is challenged by other dynamics. In this case it was the tireless efforts of her parents.

Jon Poling a neurologist and his wife Terry Poling a nurse and lawyer unfortunately refer to their victory as a “landmark” in vaccine-autism compensation. Little wonder certain key documents now remain under seal in other cases, providing conspiracy fodder for the likes of Kirby.

Some of Kirby’s conspiratorial nonsense includes:

Some observers will say the vaccine-induced encephalopathy (brain disease) documented in both children is unrelated to their autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Others will say there is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise. […] Whether HHS agreed with Ryan’s parents that his vaccine-induced brain disease led to ASD is unknown. The concession document is under seal.

It looked like the family had a weak case.

But then something changed.

In October, 2010, Ryan’s attorney filed four new exhibits (under seal) and proposed amending the court’s “findings of fact.” […]

Readers are supposed to conclude something dark and dastardly has occurred. Never mind Kirby actually repeats the fact that there is no evidence for his supposition.

Orac does a great job of knocking Kirby off and quite rightly refers to one jaw-dropper as “Grade A conspiracy mongering”. We’re asked to accept that Emily’s mother, Jillian Moller, is relaying a factual account when we read:

After the ASD diagnosis, the judge reportedly became convinced that Emily would prevail. “My attorney said she was angry, she felt forced into a corner with no choice but to find for us,” Moller said. “She said, ‘Emily has autism, and I don’t want to give other families who filed autism claims any hope.'”

One doesn’t expect any different from an attempt to amplify the long disproved, non-existent link between vaccines and autism from Meryl Dorey. Yet even amongst our most radical evidence denialists and defenders of alternatives to medicine, should not a PhD give pause to consult the facts? To at least, say, delineate between autism and PDD-NOS. Maintain a bit of fidelissima integritatum with one’s readers perchance?

Not for Dr. Peter Dingle it seems. He’d tweeted recently and placed the same conclusion in the lap of “the independent court”. Could it be? A fortnight later than Ms. Dorey’s effort the event was repeating itself? Surely there was a new story. But no. Doc Dingle had availed himself of Kirby’s caper and leaped to the same conclusion. With exactly the same HuffPost tweet. It was identical. It was… a dopellgänger!

Dingle_Jan29

On a serious note, the damage done by individuals such as Dingle perpetrating this myth is far from insignificant. It ignores the truth and does little for those in genuine need of compensation.

It is right and proper that children injured by vaccines are compensated. With brain damage rates of one in one million related to MMR of course we will see these cases. Yet for cases of measles infection the rates are one in one thousand. Of course there is no anti-vaccine compensation program.

Although differences are subtle, denying the evidence and etiology peculiar to vaccine injury and disability helps no-one. If we consider similar patients all presenting with Acquired Brain Injury, virtually identical symptoms yet various etiology it is easier to see the importance of this. Road trauma, stroke, near drowning, boxing or other sporting injury may all present identical motor, speech, memory and other lifestyle challenges. False links driven by ideology would rightly appear bizarre.

What we do know in these VCIP cases is that several million dollars have been awarded to each child.

Yet it was not because vaccines cause autism.