Prof Brent Taylor
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MMR cover-ups
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[2009 The GMC Thursday 15th, Friday 16th, Monday 19th January.] The Worm in the Bread by Martin J Walker
[June 2006]
Elliman MMR Letter
The Royal Free Hospital - Pond Street - Hampstead -
London - NW3 2QG
Tel 020 7794 0500 Fax 020 7830 2468
| Paediatrics & Child Health - Royal Free | Prof Brent Taylor | b.taylor@rfc.ucl.ac.uk | 292 4929 http://www.rfc.ucl.ac.uk/ |
Taylor study [2001]
Independent on Sunday 10 Feb 2001 Dr Brent Taylor & Dr Peter Mansfield
"It is clear that the study was commissioned to dismiss the hypothesis that there
may exist a relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. In reality the study is
fatally flawed and statistically inadequate. Despite clear findings supporting the
relationship hypothesis, the authors discard their own clearly unexpected, statistical
findings and manipulating the results to ‘prove’ their own pre-existing
hypothesis.
This approach, coming from the Medicines Control Agency, is an
outrageous attempt to pervert public perception of the potential relationship between the
MMR vaccination and autism.
In the continuing interests of the children and adults represented by
our organisation, AiA calls for the resignation of all key members of the Study Group, on
the grounds that they are prepared to place a skewed and feeble study into the public
arena in an attempt to defend the MMR vaccination."---Allergy Induced Autism organisation press release
" The Taylor study is seriously flawed in many ways, as had been noted in a number of letters to the editor of The Lancet and in a number of additional letters on the subject which have been posted on the internet. It was subject to strong attack at a recent meeting of the British Statistical Society. I have been a full-time researcher my entire professional life, for almost 50 years, and I respectfully asked Dr. Taylor for a copy of the data so that I could reanalyze them. He refused this ordinary professional courtesy, and I have subsequently written to the editor of The Lancet requesting that an impartial committee be asked to reexamine Dr. Taylor’s statistical methods. If he refuses again, I urged The Lancet to retract his paper."--Dr Rimland
[Bit of junk science for the
change in diagnosis lie, which
Steven Novella used in his
The Increase in Autism Diagnoses: Two Hypotheses piece.]
Taylor B. Vaccines and the changing epidemiology of autism. Child Care Health
Dev. 2006 Sep;32(5):511-9.
Community Child Health, Royal Free and University College Medical School,
UCL Hampstead Campus, London, UK. brent.taylor@medschool.ucl.ac.uk
BACKGROUND: The epidemiology of autism has been rather confusing, with very
variable published prevalence figures and no clear incidence data. The cause of
autism is unclear; vaccines have been incriminated. METHODS: Literature review
and interpretation. RESULTS: The recorded prevalence of autism has increased
considerably in recent years. This reflects greater recognition, with changes in
diagnostic practice associated with more trained diagnosticians; broadening of
diagnostic criteria to include a spectrum of disorder; a greater willingness by
parents and educationalists to accept the label (in part because of entitlement
to services); and better recording systems, among other factors. The cause(s) of
autism remains unclear. There is a strong genetic component which, along with
prenatally determined neuro-anatomical/biochemical changes, makes any post-natal
'cause' unlikely. CONCLUSIONS: There has (probably) been no real increase in the
incidence of autism. There is no scientific evidence that the measles, mumps and
rubella (MMR) vaccine or the mercury preservative used in some vaccines plays
any part in the aetiology or triggering of autism, even in a subgroup of
children with the condition.
"Without hesitation, everyone except Dr Taylor said yes. Dr Taylor refused. You would think that if he was as certain as the others that his science was absolutely rock solid, there would have been no hesitation. But with this issue, we are not talking about medicine or children’s lives – we are talking about politics. And I would go further and say that in my opinion those vehemently denying any association between MMR and autism have scant regard for the children involved – they seem to fixate solely on the percentages vaccinated, and their own self-defence – the impact of negative articles on their reputation, prestige, and validity of previously published comments, and Wall Street shares."--Hilary Butler