Anti-Vaxxers Pay Scientists $250K To Show Autism Link, Scientists Take Money And Prove Them Wrong
JAMESON PARKER OCTOBER 8, 2015
File this one under “scientists putting integrity ahead of idiots with money.”
Recently, SafeMinds, an anti-vaccination organization, raised $250,000 to help fund a study they hoped would prove that childhood vaccinations cause autism. It would be a major win for the embattled movement, which has been repeatedly shown to use bunk science and misinformation to support their theory. Nearly all medical doctors and researchers have found that there is no link between a child getting her, say, measles shot, and developing autism. In fact, a massive meta-analysis of major studies on vaccinations with a combined subject pool of over one million children found absolutely no evidence that there was harm in receiving childhood vaccinations.
Desperate for an answer that confirmed their beliefs, SafeMinds tried to buy a science study proving themselves right. It didn’t go as planned. Actually, it backfired in spectacular fashion.
Over a ten year period, SafeMinds funneled money into research done at the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine, the University of Washington, and several premiere medical research institutions. The resultant paper, born out of a decade of anti-vaxxer paid-for research, was published this year in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It revealed that there was no link between autism and vaccinations.
Things get even worse for the anti-vaxxer group. Much of the movement is based around the faulty premise that vaccines contain mercury-based ingredients that damage the brain. In actuality, nearly every vaccine now on the market contains zero mercury. However, the scientists ran a version of the study that used vaccines that included mercury, just to see what would happen. The answer was: Nothing. The vaccines with the mercury-based antifungal preservative caused no more harm than the ones without it – absolutely none.
As you may imagine, SafeMinds is not thrilled that they blew $250,000 on science that proved their detractors right. As Newsweek noted, the group is desperately trying to debunk its own study:
SafeMinds, the nonprofit that funded the research, is not happy with the results. Representatives from the group say the findings contradict both an earlier pilot study and interim progress reports the organization received from the researchers.
In other words, SafeMinds is upset that scientists didn’t fully explain to them that the research they were paying for was leading to conclusions they didn’t like and they never would have kept paying for it if they had known. Perhaps most ironically, however, SafeMinds is accusing the scientists of “cherry-picking” the data to disprove an autism link:
SafeMinds also believes that the research team behind the new PNAS study may have cherry-picked their data. SafeMinds Director Lyn Redwood, a registered nurse, says she received an email in 2013 from the researchers reporting a “statistically significant” 11 percent reduction in certain types of hippocampal cells in the vaccine groups. But she says the authors did not include these findings in the new paper.
There are any number of reasons the scientists may have excluded that particular sample (corrupted data, poor methodology, etc.). It doesn’t mean the scientists are involved in a cover-up. On the other hand, SafeMinds absolutely knows a thing or two about cherry-picking data. To argue that vaccines cause autism despite the mountain of data saying otherwise inherently means ignoring everything that doesn’t conform to one’s preconceived beliefs. Organizations like SafeMinds give us the very definition of “cherry-picking.”
For their part, the scientists seemed to have done great science. They didn’t let outside biases or pressures sway their judgment. They simply gathered the data and reported the conclusions as they found them. It’s the kind of science we should applaud. Many people may have been tempted to just tell the check-writers at SafeMinds what they wanted to hear, instead, they gave us vital science that the medical community can build upon.
SafeMinds can take comfort in one thing, though. At least they didn’t lose $100,000 on a bet with scientists over whether the Measles really exists, like this particularly bone-headed anti-vaxxer.
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If only that would stop them.