Vaccine Debate Refuels

Vaccine Research and the Crook
The work of Danish researcher Dr. Poul Thorsen is frequently cited as proof that the MMR vaccine is not linked to autism. But now, the research is being questioned since the man behind it is believed to be a criminal. He has been indicted by US attorneys on 22 counts of wire fraud and money laundering. Thorsen is accused of diverting about $1 million of grant money from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to his personal bank account and using it to buy himself a home, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, an Audi, and a Honda SUV.

The money was intended to support work on research involving infant disabilities, autism, genetic
disorders, and fetal alcohol syndrome. Thorsen’s research has been used by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the media, public health professionals and the pharmaceutical industry to support their claims that the vaccine is not linked to the thousands of parental reports that their child’s downward spiral into autism began shortly after the MMR shot.  MMRrefers to the combined measles, mumps, rubella injection. ¨

New research supports Dr. Wakefield
Dr. Andrew Wakefield, the British gastroenterologist who found a link between the MMR
vaccine and both bowel disease and autism, has been the target of scathing attacks by vaccine advocates, who say that none of his work has been replicated by other scientists. But now, researchers at New York University School of Medicine and Trinity College in Dublin have replicated Dr. Wakefield’s findings. NYU’s Dr. Arthur Krigsman reported, “Our findings, which are independent of Dr. Wakefield’s, completely support his explanation and his observations of the abnormalities
 in the bowels of these children.” ¨

“Reprinted with permission from Pure Facts, the newsletter of the Feingold Association of the US;www.feingold.org.”