[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by shell spectrum, Roni Geva Orlina and Babble Strollerderby, Heather Turgeon. Heather Turgeon said: autism-vaccine study wasn't just bad science, but deliberate fraud http://fb.me/N7aMk7vz [...]

[...] The vaccine-autism story laid to rest (at least for now): Earlier this year, the British Medical Journal took the stance [...]

@Laura – I couldn’t agree more! Especially about people complaining about “Big Pharma”. The anti-vaccine movement makes a lot of money, and since they don’t need pesky things like science to back up what they are selling the profits are huge.

Yes, there are some people who will hang onto the idea of a vaccine-autism link no matter how much data piles up against it. In fact, in the LA Times coverage of this, they have a quote from someone saying how Dr. Wakefield keeps getting persecuted for revealing “the truth” about vaccines. argh

Sad and scary. I heard yesterday on NPR news that experts think the only way anti-vaccine parents could understand how important the MMR vaccine is thruough the fear of the disease itself. So, until kids, they know, start dying from measels, they will think how serious it is to vaccinate them.
Another sad part, Wakefield still stands behind his fake findings in the study. It shows that his determination, to believe that the vaccine causes autism, was really the only fact he had to start that anti-vaccine movement.

Let’s remember something that always gets lost in this vaccine issue — the number one way to convince parents that vaccines don’t cause autism would be to figure out what DOES! The number of kids with autism is the main tragedy here, not the relatively small problem of measles, etc. More good science is needed — and more funding — to finally figure out what’s going on. Picking on ant-vax parents may be fun but it is a major distraction. At least their hearts are in the right place.

cindiego: thanks for your feedback. I think that’s definitely the point, that the real focus should be on the causes of autism (as the rest of you said too). the vaccine-autism fraud is important because it could impact public health – and already has, with fewer kids being vaccinated.

but it’s really important to appreciate the incredible complexity of the autism spectrum disorders. there is no “autism” – it’s not one condition, and it’s not even one condition with a spectrum of severity. there are likely hundreds of genes involved, with possible environmental + developmental factors woven in too — all in varying combinations for different kids. and researchers are plugging away at the genetic map (see the link i provided in the post for more explanation of the genetics) but it’s going to be a long time until we have a more comprehensive understanding. i guess my point is that university scientists are working on this, but it’s never going to be the “ah ha” moment we’re hoping for. thanks again for writing!

http://www.babble.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/genetic-cause-of-autism-Aspergers-PDD/

“The number of kids with autism is the main tragedy here, not the relatively small problem of measles, etc.” The major distraction was the science fraud that Wakefield committed, whick KILLED four babies (to you it might sound like a small number but I wonder if numbers are important to those parents that lost their babies).
That science fraud kept some parents from vaccinating their kids, but the number of non-vaccinated kids could have been higher. That could have turned measles in more than a “relatively small problem”.
I believe it is still very important to discover what causes autism but I also think it is very important that science fraud is not committed again so no more kids DIE from it.