SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the once-more-for-those-who-haven't-been-paying-attention dept.
The Center for American Progress reports:
A large new study--which was published just in time for National Infant Immunization Week--is being hailed as the final "nail in the coffin" of the persistent conspiracy theory that [the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) is] linked to autism.
[...]In the years since [disgraced British doctor Andrew] Wakefield's [completely discredited] research on the topic, several different studies have reaffirmed the safety of the recommended childhood vaccination schedule. No credible evidence has emerged that vaccines have any effect on autism rates.
Now, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has ruled out a potential vaccine-autism link even among a small group of children who are more at risk for the disorder. The review of nearly 100,000 children found (paywall) that even when toddlers have an older sibling who has been placed on the autism spectrum--which means they could have a greater chance of developing autism themselves--getting the MMR shot does nothing to increase that risk.
This still doesn't solve the Jenny McCarthy (bimbo) problem:
A lie can go around the world while the truth is lacing up its boots.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday May 08 2015, @04:30PM
It's more than that, because, as a sibling points out, the idea that vaccines lead to autism is indeed testable.
A scientific theory is an idea that accurately explains a lot of testable and proven facts. The real test of a theory is when a new set of facts are discovered that have a corresponding set of predictions based on the theory, that the theory still matches the facts.
For example, when genetics came along, evolution was challenged with a set of possibly non-matching facts, since they both relate to inheritance of organism traits. But, of course, genetics didn't disprove evolution, and indeed provided a mechanism for the exact phenomenon that Darwin had observed a century earlier.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.