MMR payout

[Viper]

http://www.wddty.com/03363800370817441035/...mpensation.html

 

Has anyone seen this? What do you think?

 

Just had a look at some of the other articles on the page, they make interesting reading too.

Edited March 6, 2008 by Viper

[mossgrove]

Sadly this site is very much a combination of conspiracy theories and junk science.

 

For many years people have looked at the rise in autism cases and said it proves a link with anything from mercury to food additives to pollution because they have gone up as well. The only actual eveidence that is cited on the site as 'proof' of a link is that Autism cases have increased in Denmark over the period the MMR vaccine was introduced. They have increased in almost all developed countries overt the last 20 years as awareness of Autism and the various forms it can take have increased. The article also fails to mention that cases of Autism have continued to increase as usage of the vaccine has declined in many countries in response to Andrew Wakefield claims.

 

The court case that 'proved' the link relates to an additive called Thimerosal that was added to some vaccines in the US. The court accepted there may be a liink between Thimerosal and Autism. It did not ruile there was a link between MMR and Autism. All modern MMR vaccines do not contain Thimerosal.

 

I could go on, but I don't feel the suite adds anything meaningful to the debate.

 

 

Simon

[Lucas]

This particular case has also been blogged about extensively the last couple of days on the skeptic blogs.

 

The first thing to remember: the vaccine compensation courts in the US(and in the UK most certainly) do not use a scientific standard of evidence, but a legal one going by balance of probabilities. A claiment only has to prove there is a 50.0001~% chance that a vaccine was responsible for damage to win.

 

The government in this case conceded it without even contesting it, but they didn't concede it based on any arguement put by the claiment's lawyers. The claiment in this case had a Mitochrondrial disorder, which is very rare. Because it's rare, no one knows if vaccines can cause problems for those with Mito and they are generally reccomended to have the full vaccine schedule. Because of the lack of information, the government chose to invoke their right for a quick judgement from the special masters.

 

The condition the claiment has is not Autism. Mitochrondrial disorder is nothing like Autism. The evidence is extremely fuzzy on wether or not Mito has any relation to Autism. It has been claimed that the child claiment supposedly fits the DSM criteria for an Autism diagnosis: but then so do many Deaf and Blind people who are certainly not Autistic. Certain conditions like Schizophrenia and Childhood Degenerative Disorder are specifically mentioned for a reason as diagnoses that would rule out an accurate Autism diagnosis, and they are not an exclusive list. A vaccine reaction is believed to have made a pre-existing condition worse in the claiment.