There is no "ongoing debate."
The guy who "discovered" the link has been thoroughly proven a fraud. He was
stripped of his medical license, and his paper formally retracted!
(e.g.http://www.google.com/search?&q=vaccine+autism+fraud) But it not Fox's interest to present a balanced view. Its interest lies in generating controversy where there is none. One way to do that is to encourage disbelief in rationalism. A misinformed, irrational, inflamed public is much, much easier to influence.
Fox sucks.
Posted via email from Fred's posterous
Actually the guy who was stripped of his license only said that more research was needed. The pharmaceutical companies communications and marketing people did the rest.
ReplyDeleteBefore you perpetuate this myth you really need to read Wakefield's original article.
If a researcher was stripped of his MD for saying "we need more research," that would be a scandal.
ReplyDeleteThat's not, not, not what happened.
Are you also a birther/deather/9-11 conspiracy theorist/climate change denier/creationist? Fox is equally execreable its slanted coverage of those topics, too.
If you watch Fox, you are consciously, deliberately, and with malice aforethought being misinformed. That is a proven fact.
Make your own choice.
Thankfully I cannot receive Fox news and even if I could I wouldn't watch it any more than I would read the trash Sunday papers.
ReplyDeleteI'm none of the things you list except a creationist. But I am more than happy to believe in evolution as well because there is ample proof that it is real. In the absence of scientific proof of the source of pre-big bang primordial matter I'm happy to believe that that matter was created. And a divine hand on evolution isn't so hard to accept for me, although I'm sure it is an anathema to many people. That doesn't worry me, freedom of choice and all that.
Did you really read Wakefield's original article? And the subsequent, and sustained, campaign against him. A campaign that was, and is, spearheaded by journalist?
The fact is that not all vaccines are safe. Gardasil is a good example of a vaccine that is not safe and not well researched before release. There are others, among them most of the vaccines that have thimerosal in them as an adjuvent. Mercury is not safe for injection in any concentration.
Consumer and shareholder action are the only things that will motivate pharmaceutical companies to change their practices. Those changes will cost the pharmaceutical companies money and they will resist change by any means they can as long as the cost/benefit equation favors resisting change. One of their primary tools is discrediting anyone in the sciences who exposes their unsafe practices.
I'm also very certain that the pharmaceutical companies are genuine in their desire to bring good, safe, products to the market. They, like any other company, are ultimately answerable to their shareholders and that is a responsibility that they all diligently carry out.