FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER      Sacramento, California       http://www.feat.org
          "Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet"
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January 15, 2001                       Search   www.feat.org/search/news.asp


Challenged 'Finnish Study' Proves Nothing About MMR Vax Except Spin


      [We are reprinting the following from the FEAT Newsletter of May 22,
1999 as it reports the publication of the "Finnish Study" which has been
proclaimed to prove the MMR vaccine safe.  In rebuttal are the words of Dr.
Andrew Wakefield given to an audience in Sacramento May 20, 1999.]

First, the Report of the Finnish Study

Autism, Bowel Disease And MMR Vaccine

      [From the World Health Network Friday, 1 May 1998]
      http://www.healix.net/news/01051998-1.htm

      Concern about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was raised
by a recent paper published by Dr Andrew Wakefield and colleagues from the
Royal Free Hospital in London, that suggested a causal association between
the vaccine and a new syndrome of chronic inflammatory bowel disease and
autism.
      The National Board of Health and National Public Health Institute of
Finland launched a long-term vaccination project in 1982 (led by Professor
Heikki Peltola) which aimed at the elimination of MMR diseases from Finland.
All children are vaccinated twice, at age 14-18 months and six years. By the
end of 1996, around three million MMR vaccine doses had been given.
      The researchers found:
      · 31 children developed gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, all except one
after the first vaccine dose
      ·  Diarrhoea, frequently with vomiting was the most common symptom
(55% ,  n=17), followed by gingivostomatitis (23%, n=7), vomiting only (16%,
n=5)  and abdominal pains (6%, n=2)
      ·  The time from MMR vaccine to onset of symptoms varied from 20 hours
to 15 days
      ·  Generally, symptoms subsided within a week, the exception being a
one year old boy whose diarrhoea persisted for six weeks. The child
recovered and was healthy when checked almost six years later.

      Most symptoms and signs of the central nervous system were those one
would expect in conjunction with acute GI. No child developed autistic
spectrum disorder.
      It is noteworthy that, besides GI complaints, many children had
similar symptoms (fever, rash, seizure) as those in London.
      Professor Peltola and colleagues conclude that '...over a decade's
effort to  detect all severe adverse events associated with MMR vaccine
could find no  data supporting the hypothesis that it would cause pervasive
developmental  disorder or inflammatory bowel disease.'
      REF: Peltola H et al. No evidence for measles, mumps and rubella
vaccine-associated inflammatory bowel disease or autism in a 14-year
prospective study. Lancet 1998; 351: 1327-8

The Rebuttal:

Friday, May 21, 1999

      Speaking to an auditorium of medical professionals yesterday in
Sacramento, California at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, Dr. Andrew
Wakefield addressed the Finnish study, a summary "Autism, bowel disease and
(PRO) MMR vaccine".
      Dr. Wakefield pointed out that three million people were not studied,
but rather *only* the 31 who came down with GI symptoms within the first 15
days.  He indicated that this criteria was meaningless as "no one ever said
that such immediate GI symptoms were any kind of indication of anything to
do with autism."
      Since the premise for selecting the 31 cases was in error, it is not
surprising to find the results they came up with: no autism.
      Wakefield further said that such dubious short-term studies of
vaccines are typical of the types of studies carried out to assess their
toxicity in combination.
      Alarmed, Wakefield also warned that the CDC was planning to compound
their errors in lumping measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations into same
time administration by adding a chicken pox vaccine to the MMR mix in the
near future.