Thanks to my "friends" at Generation Rescue and Age of Autism, I've learned of something that is so absolutely appropriate, so perfect in its complete perfection (if you know what I mean), it brought a smile to my face. It turns out that anti-vaccine hero and martyr Andrew Wakefield, who has been so disgraced that he's left speaking at pathetic anti-vaccine rallies with even more pathetic sing-alongs with anti-vaccine music (if you can call it that), is being interviewed again, and the venue could not be more of a perfect match for "Dr. Andy's" unique skill set and place in the anti-vaccine world.
What, you ask, could be such a wonderful fit of interviewee and interviewer, you ask?
Easy, tonight, the anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism informs me, Andrew will be interviewed on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. It looks as though he's the only guest on the show tonight, too!
That's right. Andrew Wakefield has been reduced to interviews with the infamous former home of Art Bell and his overnight conspiracy theory radio, complete with alien abduction stories and UFO crashes; lethal fungi and animal mutilations; the afterlife and channeling; finding Noah's Ark; Bigfoot sightings; and ancient alien visitations. Fantastic!
I just love the thought that Andrew Wakefield might well become George Noory's new regular guest to go alongside frequent overnight conspiracy theorists like Alex "New World Order" Jones of Prison Planet and Infowars, who has been a frequent guest on CtCAM. It makes me beam about as much as, well, when I first found out that the British General Medical Council had stripped Wakefield of his medical license in the U.K.
I think Wakefield has finally found his calling: Regular guest on late night conspiracy theory/UFO/paranormal radio. He can regale Noory and his listeners with tales of the grand conspiracy to hide the "truth" about vaccines. Maybe he can join forces with some of Noory's other guests and do a bigger, "better" version of Ray Gallup's The Vaccine Aliens.
You know, you just can't make stuff like this up. At least, I can't. I may have to listen to this show tomorrow at work streaming over the Internet. There's no way I can stay up between 1 and 4 AM in my time zone to listen live. But I do thank Noory and Wakefield for their perfect match.
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Gee, that is amazing, he really has dropped so far so fast. Sadly, unlike most of the crazy on that show, people actually listen to Wakefield. Maybe some will realize how crazy he is after hearing he is going to be on there.
Not bloody likely.
...and I thought your last post was funny! This is precious.
well, we'll see if your still beaming when more colleages dare to step up and defend his findings and challenge the GMC decision. p.s. how did you like David Burd's article on Canada and flu statistics? I thought it was pretty interesting. (scary stuff, those chemo drugs for kids with the fucking flu...)
Okay, I'll bite: what reputable researcher is defending Wakefield?
And remember I used the word "reputable."
Who is David Burd?
Oo, I hope Andy Wakefield tells George Noory about all those scientists who agree with him but can't say so publicly, because of the intergalactic conspiracy to silence vaccine critics.
Or maybe aliens abducted his evidence and that's why his journal articles have been retracted.
Should be fun.
Gowachin aphorism. All sentient beings are created unequal. The best society provides each with equal opportunity to float at his own level. - Frank Herbert
Looks like Wakefield just found his.
Jen, I assume you are referring to this piece which has been effectively demolished here. Unless I misunderstand the article, which I read twice, people who were considered more vulnerable to H1N1 flu (and so were given H1N1 shots) were more likely to get seasonal flu. David Burd, who says he is a rocket scientist, claims this means that vaccines cause flu. In the same way that mosquito nets cause malaria I suppose.
I am in no way trying to legitimize CtoCam or defend Mr Wakefield, but other recurring guests to the show include Phil Plait, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku and even Michael Shermer. It is entertaining, to say the least, when a legitimate scientist or skeptic tells it like it is and believe it or not, the host and callers treat them with the respect they deserve.
Simply being on the show does not require one to be a crank. There are indeed plenty of woo practitioners interviewed by George Noory and I'm sure Mr Wakefield will fit in nicely with them.
Nescio and Chris: no, this piece.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/06/canada-knocks-out-flu-as-public-kept…
sorry, I realize the link does not work. Just go to Age of Autism and it's the second article down (if you want)by David Burd.
Stan @ #7 wrote:
This is true. However, please keep in mind that Mr. Noory is the same intellectual giant who "interviewed" Gordon Freeman from the video game Half-Life 2.
Maybe Wakefield will reveal a Gravity Gun that provides safe vaccines.
Okay, jen, it is an AoA article. I shall not bother. I prefer reputable writers.
True, but what is the ratio of cranks to skeptics on the show? Pretty darned high.
I've always suspected that Noory provides the occasional skeptic just for a change of pace. Maybe he gets tired of the same alien abduction stories and New World Order conspiracy theories from time to time and needs a change.
Just published on WebMD, a study linking genetics to autism. The closing paragraph still tries to link environment (read vaccines) to CNV issues but the final comment says no studies show that.
Finally some emerging work on the real causes of autism. Late, no doubt due to Wakefield's lies and deceit.
Of course, Jen. The reason that Canada has a lower incidence of pediatric flu deaths is due to drugs or vaccines. It would have nothing to do with record-keeping, quality of health care, or any other of a myriad of factors. That couldn't be it.
Of course, controlling for those factors or at least acknowledging them would be intellectually honest. I think intellectual honesty is banned at AoA. Along with dissent.
But of course intellectual honesty and Jen are mutually exclusive.
Back to the original theme of the post. At some point - and you know it'll happen - Andrew Wakefield will appear on the Jeff Rense Program. If that hasn't happened already.
It's Limbo Time for Wakefield.
How low can he go?
@4:
David Burd first came to my attention last year in an AoA "contribution" where he claimed Australia had no swine flu vaccine and no flu epidemic. They did have a vaccine, and the health authorities reported 50 new deaths in one week. I declared the story a "hoax", albeit one that might be rooted more in delusion than knowing deception.
In short, consider the source...
David Burd is also an HIV?AIDS doubter:
http://www.aras.ab.ca/rethinkers.php
After browsing a few of his articles, I am of the opinion that he is a nut.
Noory did to his credit report on the north Korean sub that destroyed the deepwater horizon
You'd think Australia would be far enough away to lie about safely, eh? Damn these interwebz!
I got my H1N1 shot last month. Last year a lot of my friends got the swine flu, as it got spread around at a music festival. Most were OK, a couple needed hospital treatment. And the cases were written up for a med journal; it was definitely swine not ordinary flu.
@ MikeMA
The CNV notion is not new though the study is and seems pretty solid. A couple of things on it, given it converges with some other genetics research certainly gives it some strength. Second, it is not necessarily that the CNVs are a cause of autism. It could be the case that the cause is what produces the CNVs. Nonetheless, interesting work. Too bad so much money has been wasted on stupid ideas (i.e., vaccines as causing autism) and less on sound notions and way too little on providing clinical and educational intervention.
Phil Plait has been on with George Noory a couple of times.
Yeah, I see he claims to be one of the first "rocket scientists" out of Northwestern Univ. in 1965. Wow... I am impressed, not. The aero engineering department I graduated from started in 1929 (as aeronautics, "astronautics" added in 1961). It is not a coincidence that its building is named "Guggenheim."
This obviously means he knows as much about medicine and bio statistics as me. Very little. And I know that my knowledge is limited.
Why is it that it seems that it is always engineers who claim they know more than they do? Like Andrew Cutler (chemical engineer) and Andrew Schlafly (electrical engineer and lawyer)? Then there is the Salem Hypothesis that more often than not a "scientist" who supports creationism is an engineer!
It almost makes me embarrassed.
Cath,
I take a moderate personal interest in Australia: I have a long-standing interest in marsupials and monotremes. I also decided on it as the homeland of my longest-running character, Carlos Wrzniewski. Comparing Burd's post to legitimate reports, I was struck by the fact that it was widely noted that H1N1 had a disproportionate effect on Australian Aborigines. Which makes one wonder: Was Burd thinking that poor black bastards don't count?
Becky, see Orac's comment.
It'll either be Jeff Rense or Alex Jones, probably both within the next year.
I think he has the legitimate people on so that he has some tenuous link to reality. Most of the guests and a huge majority of callers are totally loony. But listening to Phil Plait on George Noory led me to reading Phil's book, learning more about science and becoming a science junkie and an atheist. Over a few years. So George isn't all bad.
I noticed one of the "scientists" on that list of HIV denialists that T Bruce McNeely supplied @18 has "a unique theory of electromagnetism". No doubt it has something to do with crank magnetism.
How long until Wakefield embraces HIV denialism? Any predictions.
Hm.. Will Wako-Wakefield later show up on History International, the way David Icke has ? yes.. you read right... David "Reptillians" Icke. It was a show on secret societies, which I think had been on before. They interviewed him and a couple others, and only one decent historian in the bunch.
I was already thinking of HIV/AIDS Denialists before the name David Burd was mentioned.
Peter Duesberg has fallen to appearing on Robert Scott Bell's radio show. Bell is a homeopath who denies the germ theory of disease and who is into various conspiracy theories.
Various HIV Denialists also recently appeared on Gary Null's radio show. Null seems to have partially recovered after almost killing himself with his own supplements.
Andrew Wakefield knows his target audience. It isn't the scientific community.
The same goes for HIV/AIDS denialists.
Nearly as good as discovering that in two separate incidents, pastors of two failed churches that I was involved with each - when it was time to get a job in the real world - became used car salesmen.
Hey here is some great news for AOA and GR. Sick Kids hospital has proven that MMR causes autism....sorry that would be that autism is a complex genetic disorder. I can't wait to see Jenny and Co. argue this!
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/06/09/autism-genetics.html
Hardly "proof that autism is a complex genetic disorder", but it's good news nonetheless for people who can get genetic counselling early. Much better than treating them with chelation or other methods that are based on a gross fabrication of the etiology of autism.
gingerbeard, it's called epigenetics. The study referred to many mutations. No real clear genetic patterns.
Chris,
Lots of Guggenheim Aero buildings out there:
â¢California Institute of Technology
â¢Massachusetts Institute of Technology
â¢Georgia Institute of Technology
â¢University of Michigan
â¢New York University
â¢Stanford University
â¢University of Washington
My aero department is on that list, your's too I'm guessing.
Aero-geeks of the world unite!
Not on Space Ghost Coast to Coast? Awwwwwww...
The Gregarious Misanthrope, thanks! I was looking for the list of the seven programs and failed. And yes, my school is on that list. One of the criteria I read was that the schools already had a form of an aero program.
Which included my school, it still uses the wind tunnel built in 1917 as a lab. I went on a campus art tour a few years ago and had to correct the tour guide. He claimed the little wooden building was not used and was still there because it was a historical building. I told him it is still used by students for lab assignments and research, it was a functioning wind tunnel (he was confused because it was small, thought it was bigger than the supersonic tunnel we used for lab... which is now gone!).
I know it's kind of old hat to say this, but I actually enjoyed the show when Bell was hosting. He was just so much more fun to listen to than Noory, just for the sake of entertainment.
I am disappointed now. When I saw the title on our blog roll, I thought he was in jail.
If all else fails, I'm sure the 9/11 truthers will find a role for Wakefield. They're another rag-tag bunch of nutty conspiracy theorists!
Sadly, David Brown, nearly all health problems disproportionately affect our indigenous population. It's shocking, their health situation. Some of us are trying to make things better, but it won't be easy. http://www.closethegap.com.au/
Priceless, jen defends Ex-Dr. Andrew Wakefield by making reference to an article by a guy who is Meryl Dorey crazy.
What next, Ex-Dr. Andrew Wakefield will be compared with the Westboro church?
@NZ Sceptic:
Respectfully, I disagree. It will probably be the Global Warming Denialists or the Birthers that might pick him up, not the 9/11 truthers.
Now that Bush is out of the White House there's less money in being one of the 9/11 truthers.
In case anyone is interested ;) Maybe some local sceptics?
@Broken Link
Why does that blurb remind me of the manner in which Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed was screened? I have a sneaking suspicion that they will "kindly" ask any recognizable critics to leave, much as PZ Myers was expelled from the Minneapolis screening of the movie in which he was interviewed.
As Chris Noble notes above,Null recently hosted a gaggle of HIV/AIDS denialists.Andy himself was a guest the day before his appearance in Chicago(all available on the so-called "progressive" radio network archives).Actually, Null's various shows might be a good home for Andy.Perhaps he could be featured to read "commentaries" in his own inimicable way(Null has replaced his rants with readings of other people's material-some from NaturalNews, some political or economic) or to complement the frequent revelations from trendcaster, Gerald Celente(late of Faux News),predicting fast-approaching economic/political fiasco.When the other two "gentlemen" establish their sustainable, organic, progressive homesteading community,somewhere near Kingston,** NY,Andy might function as medical director and chief educator. **(Schadenfreudes-ville! I know a *lot* about this area!)
jen paraphrased a report of a study thusly:
The report jen summarized said this:
jen, copy number variants are not epigenetics. The report says nothing whatever about epigenetics.
Epigenetics, as I'm sure most of the folks reading this already know, has to do with variations in gene expression stemming from non-genetic causes, while copy number variants are changes in the genetic material itself.
jen has either unknowingly or deliberately conflated something with an underlying genetic cause (copy number variants) with something that could, at least in concept, be affected by vaccines (epigenetic effects).
So you are really so entirely focused on vaccines that when actual evidence which might one day lead to treatments or a cure for autism is found, you prefer to torture it into the Procrustean bed of your preconceptions?
(insert puzzled look here)
Jud - you are just realizing that now?
Pablo writes:
Hey, Pablo - you think it's easy finding places to insert "Procrustean" in blog comments? Gotta get it while you can, man.
[blockquote]jen has [strike]either unknowingly or[/strike] deliberately conflated something with an underlying genetic cause (copy number variants) with something that could, at least in concept, be affected by vaccines (epigenetic effects).[/blockquote]
Fixed it for you.
Slightly OT but: I heard an interview with Penn (of Penn and Teller), and the subject of this year's BullS*** show came up. He said they're going to do one on autism. The money quote from the interview (I think he was half serious) was this:
"Having scientists and doctors repeat the science that autism isn't related to vaccines hasn't been successful in defeating a former Playboy bunny with big boobs saying otherwise. So, we're going to get a former Playboy bunny with bigger boobs to summarize the data, and see if that works."
Pablo: that was awesome. I am totally adding that to my quotefile.
"Having scientists and doctors repeat the science that autism isn't related to vaccines hasn't been successful in defeating a former Playboy bunny with big boobs saying otherwise. So, we're going to get a former Playboy bunny with bigger boobs to summarize the data, and see if that works."
Hey, Dean, make sure you keep us abreast of the situation, for many of us find it rather titillating. Maybe Age of Autism will finally be busted.
It'll either be Jeff Rense or Alex Jones, probably both within the next year.
I heard Alex was Jonesin' to get Wakefield on his show.
This is an impressive study. Check out the news blurb (and the link to the Nature article).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609131637.htm
Last night Noory's show had on a defender of psychic(s) who was arguing that a research study debunking a particular psychic was invalid because its criteria were unfair/too rigid or somesuch.
Wakefield should have been taking notes.
Cath@42,
Looks like a worthy cause. I'll keep an eye on it.
I'm working on a relatively brief reply to Burd that should go up at "Evil Possum" shortly. What I found is that the site he quotes as reporting 16 deaths actually records twenty, half in 09-10 alone. I also plan to draw maximum attention to the fact that he effectively assumes that flu deaths in those with other health problems don't "count".
I don't see the difficulty in finding ways to fit Procrustean into a comment about people of the irrational/anti-science/denialist/et cetera persuasion. Quite the opposite. When do the reality-impaired not distort the facts to fit their beliefs?
Maybe we should describe them as modern incarnations of Procrustes with all of the same solicitude and compassion. Not that this was ever out of style
or Jud, it just might be that when so many "genetic variations" to autism that it really just isn't fucking genetics.
Or, Jen, it could be that there are so many variations of how Autism manifests that maybe it's not actually one thing with The One Cause To Rule Them All?
I'm just wondering which AntiVax camp jen belongs to. Is it the Thimerosal camp? The aluminum camp? The 'too many, too soon' camp? Considering her defense of ex-Dr. Andy, my money goes on the MMR camp.
It's the D list for Andy. Keep an eye out for his unmercifully brief stint on UFC, followed by a whole lot of voiceovers for pretentious soft porn.
jen @ 60:
Wow...that one sentence is completely internally self-contradicting. Fascinating.
jen, if it wasn't genetic then there wouldn't be a genetic variation to be measured by the study. Remember autism is a "spectrum" of disorders, that's why not everyone that has autism is the same.
It's why some autistic become independent adults, and others don't. Do you really think that with a complex spectrum of disorders that there would only be a few genes involved?
There is no "hair color gene" there are a family of genes that control it. There is apparently no "intelligence gene" either, again it's affected by many genes. Why should the spectrum of disorders that we currently label as "autism" be any different?
What would have surprised me would have been to find that there was only a few genes involved.
George "paranoid heaven" Noory believes autism is caused by certain vaccines, or maybe all vaccines. Wakefield holds a similar view, in saying all vaccines aren't bad, only certain ones. While introducing Wakefield at the start of the show, and during the rejoins, Noory was implicit to rehash the same old lies about Wakefield; of him finding a link between autism and vaccines. We, of course, know that's 100% horse poop, and dried poop at that. There is no definite and scientifically proven link between vaccines or anything else, for that matter. That's why it's a mystery and is why the antivaxxers get away with what they do. People feel insecure with doubt and the mind doesn't like confusion, while they feel secure in the assertions made by the antivaxxers, even if those assertions have no basis in the facts of science and reality.
My psychic prediction is that Wakefield will be one of Noory's semi-regular loony homies, there by design (a couple of minutes spot or longer) to support whatever Noory happens to believe or whatever topic he feels a desire to lead his listeners astray on.
What got me was immediately after Wakefield was done, they had some weatherman on to attack Al Gore's divorce, his nice home, and basically call that "global warming sham" another global conspiracy, strangely it's just like all the other conspiracies that require unfathomable numbers of people impossibly working in secret and tandem to execute. For the deniers it's a piece of cake, evidently. It's also a logical progression of thought, from one denial straight to another.
Normally I'd recommend the listener not to judge the program's guest (many bright, skeptical, and scientifically minded people have appeared as guests) by the host, but in this particular circumstance, be my guest.
Edison,
" We, of course, know that's 100% horse poop, and dried poop at that."
Petrified guano (aka coprolite) is more like it.
jen writes:
"[S]o many"? Just how many is that? Please provide the number found by the study. Is it more or fewer variations than are involved with schizophrenia, a neurological disorder in which, as with autism, parental age has been found to be a significant factor? (Yet another neurological disorder, Down's syndrome, is caused by a specific copy number variation associated with parental age.)
After all, if you are basing your conclusions on this premise, then you've got to be knowledgeable about the premise, right?
There are effective treatments for schizophrenia now. Shockingly, they were found by scientific research, and do not involve either chelation or abstinence from vaccines.
I just recently found out that a friend of mine named Jen is anti-vaccine. I assume it's just casual anti-vax (part and parcel of her whole vegan/natural thing), but I'd be pretty bummed if it was this Jen.
"Jen is in the 'vaccines cause autism no matter what any steenkin science says' camp. Of course she is also in the camp that couldn't parse a scientific study properly if it came up and bit her in the arse. Let's just say, Camp Woe-is-me.
Or Camp Woo-Is-Me.
No, this is where Andrew Wakefield and his followers belong.
Update on the Wakers "audience". More info linked on my 'nym.
____
On Thursday 17th June 2010 The Autism File magazine will present An Audience with Dr Wakefield in London, UK.
Many of you, both in the UK and overseas have expressed regret about not being able to attend, because of distance, family commitments and cost. So the exciting news is
WE ARE NOW STREAMING THE EVENT - LIVE ON THE WEB - AND YOU CAN JOIN IN TOO.
The event will go live at 18.30 UK time (10.30 PDT; 12.30 CDT; 13.30 EDT). Simply go to www.autismfile.com and join us. In addition to viewing the entire event you will be able to ask questions of Dr Wakefield, which will be put to him live at the event. We will also give you an opportunity to give your views on various issues in a number of small polls to run throughout the show. Please pass the news around to all of your FB friends.
This is an EXCLUSIVE opportunity not to be missed. Please join us!
Here'a another link:
http://www.wddtyteleseminars.com/
$71 or £49 to join a teleconference between Andrew Wakefield and a Lynne McTaggart, with half the proceeds going to Wakefield's "ongoing research into autism and vaccines".
Also: "Special guest: Professor Paul Shattuck, formerly of the University of Sunderland, and one of the worldâs leading authorities on autism, will be joining Andrew and Lynne on the call." That's their spelling of Shattock.
Dr Wakefield is actually very credible when you bother to read his actual studies and stop listening to the media/pharma wolf pack. His findings that gut bacteria are very different in autistic children compared to healthy kids is groundbreaking and proven by several other studies.
Disappointed in you Orac, for not being more investigative.
@Nicolette
Please provide citations to the "several other studies" that "prove" his findings were correct. Also, please address the numerous methodological flaws and ethical violations of which Mr. Wakefield is guilty.
Nicolette,
His findings that gut bacteria are very different in autistic children compared to healthy kids
That is really not what Wakefield claimed to have found. The only unique bug he claimed to find is measles virus in the gut, and we know that this was an artefact (some people say fabrication).
Given Chadwick's testimony in the Cedillo hearing, "artefact" is no longer plausible. Deliberate scientific fraud is really the only viable possibility, though it remains conceivable that he didn't initially set out to commit said fraud and opted to do only after Chadwick relayed his sequencing results.
Source: CBS News, September 9, 2010).
A US court has this week awarded a family a payment of up to $20m as compensation for their daughter who suffered autism after she was given multiple vaccines, including the MMR.
Hannah Poling, a 13-year-old girl, was a just another normal and healthy child until she was given five vaccinations, which included the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) shot, in 2000.
Then her health started to decline rapidly and she also developed fevers, stopped eating, wasnât responding to stimulus, and started to display symptoms of autism, her parents said.
Although the government accepted liability in 2007, the settlement figure has only been recently agreed upon
@Sarah: you are a day late and a dollar short (or, many days late and dollars short) since this has been out for several weeks AND the quote has incorrect information. Hannah was NOT a healthy child even before her vaccines. Try really READING the court's decision like most of us have, then you won't make these mistakes in public. CBS news was wrong, as most of us already are aware.
@Sarah
Ah, yes. Hannah Poling. The girl whose mitochondrial disorder worsened due to a vaccine. Yes, the courts correctly awarded her damages for the vaccine-induced fever worsening her underlying condition. What the court did not do was award her damages for supposed vaccine-induced autism. But, what do details matter. It's all about spin and PR, right? Oh, and why are you posting this on such an old thread?
Hey, Sarah! The idiot CBS reporter is taken to task here. Obviously your Google-Fu is a bit off.
Is it just me or has the last three to four weeks been thread necromancy season at Respectful Insolence?
Maybe now that parents have got their kids off to school they can get down to the serious business of reanimating long-dead threads on the 'Net.
"Thread necromancy season." That's awesome. I want to add that to my quotefile.
Calli, here is something handy to include.