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In reply to the discussion: The legacy of Andrew Wakefield continues [View all]proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)39. This speaks for itself in correcting a few of the misrepresentations on this thread.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/05/brandeis-hoot-letters-to-the-editor-on-dr-wakefield.html?cid=6a00d8357f3f2969e201538e41a516970b
Brandeis Hoot Letters to the Editor: On Dr. Wakefield
By Jake Crosby
April 29, 2011
Jake Crosby organized Dr. Andrew Wakefields Brandeis lecture and is a contributing editor to ageofautism.com.
Posted by Age of Autism at May 01, 2011 at 5:34 AM in Jake Crosby | Permalink | Comments (32)
Brandeis Hoot Letters to the Editor: On Dr. Wakefield
By Jake Crosby
April 29, 2011
Section: Editorials
To the Editor:
While The Hoots article covering Dr. Andrew Wakefields April 13 lecture at Brandeis presented both sides, the accompanying editorial titled, Dont let Wakefield go unchallenged, was completely biased and provided no support for its claims that Wakefields work has been discredited and contains errors and flaws, or that he committed great harm through his research, which is filled with fraud and unethical conduct far more than it is with facts.
In truth, Dr. Wakefields greatest harm is to the bottom line of the pharmaceutical companies when he points out serious risks in the vaccine schedule. One such example is the recommendation to delay the Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis vaccine by a mere two months, which has been shown to halve the risk of developing asthma according to a 2008 Canadian study from the University of Manitoba, as cited by Dr. Wakefield in his lecture.
The Hoot editorial also stated that Dr. Wakefield should have debated a Brandeis health policy or science professor. Thats exactly what Id intended but those who were invited to debate him declined.
A January op-ed in The New York Times written by my former professor, Michael Willrich, criticized Dr. Wakefield. Yet neither Professor Willrich nor anyone from the social or natural science departments who opposes Dr. Wakefield and who was approached with the idea of debating him was willing to do so.
In The Hoots article, Dr. Steven Milesa gerontologist who said Dr. Wakefield scared Minnesotas Somali communityneglected to mention that autism affects a whopping one in 28 Somali children in Minnesota and that Dr. Wakefield was actually invited to speak by the Somali community.
The Somalis had plenty to fear from autism before they were visited by Dr. Wakefield, who advocated an initiative to study why the condition affects their population so profoundly. This is something the state health department and Steven Mileswho was quoted as calling Minnesotas Somali community unsophisticated and desperateare not publicly supporting.
Parents at the event who came from off-campusmany of whose children had been as sick as the children in Dr. Wakefields presentationwere represented as an angry group who had gobbled up atrocious science and statistical fudging in graduate student Zach Feigers statement to The Hoot. Yet he did not question the science or the statistics at the question and answer session. Isnt it atrocious science to continue giving every infant the Hep B shot on the first day of life, which is associated with a three-fold greater prevalence of autism in boys according to a SUNY Stony Brook study cited in Dr. Wakefields presentation?
That there are people who would not debate Dr. Wakefield, ask him questions or even hear what he has to say is their own responsibilitynot that of the speaker, the organizer or anyone else in attendance that night.
I am proud that Dr. Andrew Wakefield had this opportunity to address the allegations against him as well as the science of autism and vaccine risks. He spoke to a diverse audience of students, faculty, staff, parents of children with autism, scientists, a pediatrician and professionals in the field of autism.
Jake Crosby 11
Jake Crosby organized Dr. Andrew Wakefields Brandeis lecture and is a contributing editor to ageofautism.com.
Posted by Age of Autism at May 01, 2011 at 5:34 AM in Jake Crosby | Permalink | Comments (32)
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Amen. My local austism society chapter invited this jerk to speak AFTER his license
Butterbean
May 2013
#17
"Trifles make perfection (or science), but perfection is no trifle." - Michelangelo
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#16
Ignore them, read their links to UK NHS data and reach your own conclusions.
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#21
When your kid is diagnosed with autism, you grasp onto any simple explanation
Canuckistanian
May 2013
#24
Uh, no, straw man fallacies beginning with the unflawed studies paragraph. nt
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#25
Smear away. You still haven't shown even once where I was wrong about the BFEE. Not even once.
Octafish
May 2013
#31
No. I didn't write that. Yet, you insist on associating me with something I did not write.
Octafish
May 2013
#34
I've read the stat that 1 in 8 children of Somali immigrants in Minnesota are diagnosed with autism.
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#38
KARE 11 TV Minneapolis: “1 in 8 kids in the local Somali community are affected” (VIDEO)
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#53
This speaks for itself in correcting a few of the misrepresentations on this thread.
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#39
AOA is an INTERMEDIARY between primary peer-reviewed material and the public vetted by SMART parents
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#43
New study by Dr. Martha Herbert & Dr. Julie Buckley in Journal of Child Neurology on autism and diet
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#44
Absolutely misleading, if true factoid, and the Journal of Child Neurology is peer-reviewed.
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#48
"Nothing of value in terms of original work or trying to interpret results from other places," oh?
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#49
Wakefield lost his medical license for using kids as subjects with "callous disregard"
Hekate
May 2013
#52
In the '60s I knew a girl who'd had mumps encephalitis. She was blind and crippled.
Hekate
May 2013
#54
Check it out, please. Video features GR Executive Director Candace McDonald and her brother.
proverbialwisdom
May 2013
#62