How corporations corrupt science at the public expense

Studies have shown… Whatever we want to show you. Holy smoking lava-spewing volcano, am I in for it now!  I have indeed written an article that involves Autism, vaccine safety, and data manipulation in official medical studies.  The Holy Trinity of “don’t EVER talk about these things.”  If you’re still here after that first sentence, and feeling brave, then let’s move on to talk about how corporations corrupt science.. even at the expense of you, the public.

First of all, this is not a vaccine/anti-vaccine subject.  I want to focus on the fact that the Center for Disease Control (CDC), an official government agency that is supposed to be there for our protection, has knowingly falsified data on an important study, and why I think they would do such a thing.

A few weeks ago the story broke that Dr. William Thompson of the CDC admitted his own (and others) wrongdoing in covering up evidence that establishes that vaccines are related to autism.   Apparently, he responded to an email that was supportive of his whistleblowing and exposed him.  Dr. Thompson was a lead researcher and participant in several studies that were used by the CDC to supposedly “prove” that vaccines did not cause autism, but the data didn’t work out that way and they wound up having to cook the books.

Before you start yelling “conspiracy theory!” and throwing epitaphs at Dr. Thompson, consider the fact that this is not the first time that the CDC has been caught with their lab coats down trying to “prove” this point.  And if you disagree with or even question whatever narrative the CDC or the FDA or a pharmaceutical company for that matter has come up with, they will be very happy to immediately crown you with your very own tin-foil tiara.  Here is a man who admits to his own wrongdoing, and yet you are still a “conspiracy theorist” or an “anti-vaxer” or just a plain old “nut job” if you have the temerity to believe his own confession!  Although it is easy to condemn the whistleblowers as crazy people, just think of all the important truths that have come out as a result of their sacrifices.  He has forever ruined not only his career but his life, and is probably in for a good ole Andrew Wakefield-style crucifixion to reward him for his honesty.

Lest you think that this is the first problem the CDC has trying to “prove” this point, consider the Danish Study conducted by Dr. Poul Thorsen.  After not getting the results he wanted on his test group, he went back and completely changed the test group parameters and decided to exclude all the outpatient clinics where four to six times more of their case studies were coming from and where 93% of the autism in Denmark is diagnosed.  Not only was this “study” a complete sham, Dr. Thorsen also decided to abscond with over a million dollars of the research dollars to buy himself a house in Atlanta and a Harley, among other things.  In April of 2011 he was indicted on 13 counts of wire fraud and 9 counts of money laundering, then disappeared.

Let us also remember the entire point of the study was to “prove” that there is no link between the MMR vaccine and Autism.  The whole point.  Can you really think that they would want, or even worse, be willing to report any data that is contrary to that foregone conclusion?

While Dr. Poul Thorsen was acting as an individual, it was at the behest of the corporations to corrupt science as well.

For more on how special interests corrupt public health research, click on the link to check out Bending Science by Thomas McGarity and Wendy Wagner

A great example of someone tossing out data that doesn’t serve them is the 1995 study by Dr. John Gofman.  Gofman estimated that “three-quarters of the current annual incidence of breast cancer in the United States is being caused by earlier ionizing radiation, primarily from medical sources.”

The eminent researcher Dr. Irwin Bross came to the same conclusion about leukemia (in the 1970’s) asserting that the massive increase in the disease was primarily caused from medical radiation.  Interestingly enough, Dr. Bross had been hired and his research was funded by none other than the National Cancer Institute to find out why leukemia rates were skyrocketing.  The folks there didn’t care much for his conclusions and not surprisingly, cut off his funding and never published his results.  Again, a clear case of corporations corrupting science that is not in their financial favor.  Don’t you think that would be great information to have?  Well, we didn’t get it because it doesn’t align with the interests of the National Cancer Institute which is constantly urging more and more “preventative tests” that involve the use of medical radiation.

Another important thing to remember about the agencies which are there to protect us is that they are fallible.  Every drug that has ever been recalled by the FDA for our safety was first approved by the FDA as safe.  Another famous whistleblower, Dr. David Graham of the FDA, exposed how the test groups for Vioxx (an arthritis drug) were doctored by substituting in younger and younger people in the studies until they got a group that was young enough to stop having all those pesky heart attacks that the drug was causing.  Finally removed in September of 2004, it is thought that Vioxx caused somewhere between 88,000 and 139,000 cardiac incidences with a 30% – 40% fatality rate before they pulled it.  How many more would it have been without Dr. Graham’s bravery?  Despite his integrity, Dr. Graham was another physician thoroughly tarred and feathered.

Part of the problem is that being the decent people that most of us are, we have a very hard time believing that the CDC or anyone else would not want to know if there was damage being caused.  If maybe there was just something we could do that could slow or stop this tsunami of autism?  Why would the CDC cover it up if there were?

Three simple words we’re all sick of:  Follow. The. Money.

We all know that vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs are big money, topping out at over $36 billion in 2013.  When you start talking about profits in the billions of dollars, well, some people’s ethics can get a bit … blurry.  Just to give you a handle on the rise of the vaccine machine,  the cost of yearly vaccines per child were $10 in 1975 for children between the ages of 0-6 years old. Now,  according to public health research, in 2001 this had risen to $385 per child, and are estimated to be $1,225 by 2020.  $1,225 per child!

There are new vaccines coming out every day and many more in the pipeline, and they want us to have them all.  I’m not saying that you should never vaccinate you or child, I’m just telling you to do your research first and make your own informed choice.  Weigh the risks of the disease it is supposed to prevent against the possible side effects.  This is very easy to do now with excellent resources like nvic.org and rxlist.com.  Make sure it’s something YOU think you need, and not just something someone else thinks you need.  Think for yourself. This cannot be overstated.  Do not relinquish your right to choose by blindly following the advice of someone who is financially interested or being bombarded by propaganda from those that are.

Yet another icky, nasty truth which needs to be addressed is that autism is a massive gravy train.  When you follow the money with regard to autism than the waters really get murky.  JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Pediatrics states that Autism is “one of the costliest disabilities you can have.”  Their estimate is that, excluding regular medical costs, an autistic person with intellectual disabilities will have an additional $2.4M dollars in medical fees in his/her lifetime.  $2.4 million.  Each.  With 1 in 68 kids now being diagnosed on the autism spectrum.  Yikes.  And that cost estimate doesn’t include things like supplements, special foods, and autism spectrum therapies and protocols (like light, sound, neurodevelopment programs, special education, horseback riding camps, etc.) designed to help autism.

Even the societies and charities which are supposed to help autism are taking their piece of the pie.  The largest of these charities (by their own public records) takes in millions of dollars in donations a year, $50 million in 2010 alone, but spends only 4% of their annual funds on “family services.”  A whopping 43% goes to “fundraising” and “awareness” (advertising).  Almost half of their budget goes to raising more money but not doing anything with it but raising even more money.  This isn’t the same as a corporation directly corrupting science, but a corporation that is corrupt and not acting in the interest of science.  It’s no surprise that some of their top-level executives make salaries in the mid-six figure range as directors of a charity.  It must be exhausting organizing all those 10k walks.

Just because a “study” has been done, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true.  In order to reach the goal of the study, the parameters and results are prone to data manipulation.  Grant money rarely goes to those who say “sorry I spent that 3 million bucks and we were wrong.”  If you are Paleo you’ll understand this even better due to the plethora of “studies” that have “proved” how fantastic “healthy whole grains” are for you and how bad saturated fat is.  ALWAYS review the goal of the study and look at who funded it before you assign it any credibility.

Shauna Young, Ph.D, author of  If Naturopaths are “Quacks”… Then I Guess I’m a Duck: Confessions of a Naturopath

I also urge you to not take anything I say as gospel either.  Extend caution to all sources of such vital information.  Always do your own research, put on your big-boy or big-girl pants, and then reach your own conclusions and decisions.  If you refuse to exercise such autonomy over your own life, we have a long and ever-growing list of corporations and government agencies which will happily do it for you.

Comments

comments