Comments on: Kirby Moves the Goalpost Again on Vaccines and Autism

By: NeuroLogica Blog » Skeptical Battlegrounds: Part IV - Anti-Vaccine Hysteria

NeuroLogica Blog » Skeptical Battlegrounds: Part IV - Anti-Vaccine Hysteria — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:00:52 +0000

[...] should plummet following the removal of thimerosal from the vaccine schedule, and then subsequently moving the goalpost on his [...]

By: Science-Based Medicine » Dr. Jay Gordon – “Anti-Vaccination”

Science-Based Medicine » Dr. Jay Gordon – “Anti-Vaccination” — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:01:20 +0000

[...] The “mommy” gambit. RFK Jr. and David Kirby have played that card to death as well. Gordon is telling us to listen to his uncontrolled gut [...]

By: NeuroLogica Blog » Has the Government Conceded Vaccines Cause Autism?

NeuroLogica Blog » Has the Government Conceded Vaccines Cause Autism? — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:00:41 +0000

[...] But David Kirby and other anti-vaccinationist ideologues and members of the so-called mercury militia would like you [...]

By: TheProbe

TheProbe — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:05:28 +0000

Arthur says: When examinining the case, the Respondants experts were able to detect that condition.

Exactly. The PSC was trying to pull a fast one by claiming that this ringer is a typical case, when all the time they knew differently. I wish that the DOJ would pick up on this and have the court censure them.

By: _Arthur

_Arthur — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:52:11 +0000

Details are scant so far, but, as I interpret it, the second test case chosen by the respondant suffered from a second, rare, medical condition, not directly related to autism, and one that is known to be associated with adverse reaction to one of the vaccines.

When examinining the case, the Respondants experts were able to detect that condition.
The parents will be compensated for this Table (known) injury. That is one of the purpose of the whole Vaccines Court.

Unfortunately, this make this test case child worthless for the Petitioners purpose, which was to show that his autism was caused by specifically the MMR vaccines.
Very few or none of the 4,800 children seeking compensation (on the basis that their autism is caused by the MMR vaccines, by thimerosal, or both together), suffer from the same rare mitochondrial disease. So he cannot be used as a test case, as to vaccines having a causal role for autism.

Kirby represents this as a victory for the Petitioners, but it is a setback, since they will have to come up with another test case to replace the one they tought they had.

It also begs the question, why was the kid misdiagnosed by their own doctors and expert witnesses ? If they had done their job correctly, they would have detected the anomaly, and decided by themselves not to use this particular case as a representative case for a class of autistic children.
It could also have led to a more proper treatment of the (7 yo) child which apparently suffers from both autism and another medical condition.

By: Mental Nurse / This Week in Mentalists (7)

Mental Nurse / This Week in Mentalists (7) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:33:59 +0000

[...] Also Neurologica accuses the “vaccines cause autism” lobby of shifting the goalposts. [...]

By: HCN

HCN — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:34:59 +0000

DLC: The MMR vaccine never contained thimerosal. The MMR vaccine has been in use in the USA since 1971 (it only became a problem after it was approved for use in the UK in 1988, and then only after a lawyer paid Wakefield to come up with specific “research” results).

Oh, wait… sorry, you were being sarcastic. Sometimes it is hard to tell, especially when peope listen to Jenny McCarthy and her PhD from Google.

By: TheBlackCat

TheBlackCat — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:34:26 +0000

@ DLC: the number of pirates has also been dropping. FSM must have decided that just warming the planet up wasn’t getting through to us. Ramen.

By: DLC

DLC — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:02:50 +0000

Bottled water consumption was also on the increase during the years after Thimerosol was removed from the MMR vaccine.
Clearly this is evidence that bottled drinks (note the change) cause Autism. Or maybe those poor kids just need their Chi adjusted.
Perhaps we should shift to using a Homeopathic vaccine instead ?
[end sarcasm]

By: Jim Shaver

Jim Shaver — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:02:29 +0000

So, following in the footsteps of another of our favorite pseudoscientific arguments, we should soon expect to see a subtle shift in the antivaccine ideologues’ world to the “thvaccinationsol causes autism” hypothesis.