You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more
Continuing thread to @auscandoc et al re the Lancet paper and L'Affaire Wakefield. #vaccine #autism
36. A third big problem is BMJ also had significant conflicts of interest but didn’t disclose them until much later, and then only when pushed to do so.
37. For example, here is a 2008 news release announcing a deal between BMJ & MSK (Merck, Sharp and Dhome), marketers and manufacturers of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine. https://web.archive.org/web/20140723140926/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/MSD+Signs+Partnership+With+BMJ+Group.-a0180213953 …)pic.twitter.com/AqiVl4tpiB
38. And BMJ editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee later admitted conflicts of interest w Merck & another major manufacturer/marketer of MMR vaccine, GlaxoSmithKline. Here’s the info in the AHRP paper.pic.twitter.com/drOjr7R8zf
39. But Godlee claimed, among other things, that it didn’t occur to her to declare those conflicts of interest. Her quotes shown in the last tweet are from 33:53 and 35:20 in this video: https://videocast.nih.gov/Summary.asp?File=16828&bhcp=1 …
40. Also of note is that it is usually patients or their parents who submit complaints to the GMC. However no parents complained.
41. In fact parents of 8 of the children included in the paper wrote an open letter supporting the team of clinician-researchers including Wakefield.https://www.ageofautism.com/2010/02/no-parent-ever-complained-to-gmc-public-statement-from-lancet-families-Supports-the-mmr3.html …
42. Here’s the first part of that open letter. The parents write that the accusations against the doctors are baseless.pic.twitter.com/tGozLn86ct
43. Among their supportive words: “We were all treated with utmost professionalism and respect by all three of these doctors [Drs. Wakefield, Walker-Smith and Murch].”pic.twitter.com/Nn2RXmh5Jb
44. They also said, "we were kept fully informed about the investigations recommended and the treatment plans which evolved"pic.twitter.com/SVQvYMbK3m
45. The parents also write, “We have been following the GMC hearings with distress as we, the parents, have had no opportunity to refute these allegations [against the doctors].”pic.twitter.com/NlBU24136S
46. They also write, “the complaint that is being brought against these three caring and compassionate physicians does not in any way reflect our perception of the treatment offered our sick children at the Royal Free [where the doctors practiced].”pic.twitter.com/Pocn5oZ1xX
47. You also stated, @auscandoc, that: “Justice Mitting’s findings [the High Court judge who ruled that the GMC’s findings were incorrect against Dr. Walker-Smith] are not instantly translatable to the case against AW”
48. It’s not clear at all that this is true. The High Court Justice’s findings throw out most of the GMC’s conclusions; in the process they cast doubt about Wakefield’s guilt http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2012/503.html&query=Walker-Smith+and+GMC&method=boolean …
49. You can read the High Court’s decision for yourself. Here’s the first paragraph of the Conclusion section.pic.twitter.com/ElVisol3OV
50. You assert state that: “To me the essence of the case against AW is: Did he have ethical approval: no. Did he mislead the Lancet into believing he had approval: yes. Did he perform tests without consent: yes....”
52. You also haven’t read the parents’ open letter which state, as shown in my tweets earlier in this thread about the letter, that everything was above board and that the parents were appalled at the treatment of the doctors in the GMC hearings.
53. Note that the GMC didn’t appeal the High Court’s decision. Here’s that statement from the AHRP article. There’s lots more to say but Twitter is a challenging place to present all of it.pic.twitter.com/vj4rYY0ZzG
54. So: did Andrew Wakefield make some minor missteps? Yes. Did Andrew Wakefield commit fraud - e.g. by fabricating pathology results? No! Did the parents complain to the GMC? No! Were there big undeclared conflicts of interest on the part of Brian Deer and the BMJ? Yes! /END
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.
