« CDC Admission: “Uninformative and Potentially Misleading” | Main | New Device To Help Find Lost Children »
Careful What You Read On The Internet
By Richard | June 22, 2008
Autism News on the Internet: Let the Reader Be Aware
Autism.About.com
A couple of days ago, journalist David Kirby wrote in the Huffington Post of a “potentially explosive” admission by the CDC. CDC Director Julie Gerberding had apparently admitted that the 2003 Vaccine Safety DataLink (VSD), a vast collection of information on which a great many studies have been based, was profoundly flawed. Gerberding’s remarks were in response to a report on the VSD by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
In Kirby’s original article, the suggestion was that the VSD was a fatally flawed “ecological” (meaning statistically-based) study. Gerberding’s statements appeared to be saying that this groundbreaking ecological study was poorly done… and since so much later research was based on the VSD, Gerberding’s comments seemed to call into question many later statements by the CDC about vaccine safety.
As soon as Kirby’s article came out, several bloggers with scientific backgrounds hurried to publish articles showing where Kirby was wrong. Evidently the VSD was not an “ecological study” to begin with, but rather a collection of detailed information about individual children and their health and vaccine histories. As a result, the fact that the study was found to be less than useful as an epidemiological tool was not so much startling as self-evident. Bloggers have raised other issues as well.
Mr. Kirby has corrected his original article, though he continues to point to what he feels are problems in research protocols by the CDC and other groups (other bloggers continue to disagree on this point):
My original post on this topic mischaracterized the 2003 CDC vaccine investigation as an “Ecological Study,” which it was not. I am reposting this piece to reflect that information accurately… I regret and apologize for the error.
David Kirby has been immersed in these studies and in the vaccine debate for years, and is a bona fide investigative journalist. Yet even for him, finding and describing problems and inaccuracies in studies can be very difficult indeed.
It seems to me that this is a terrific example of how incredibly complicated the autism world can be - and how tough to decipher. At the same time, though, it highlights the efficiency of the process by which, in just 24 hours, an error can be found, analyzed, and corrected.
The key for parents and activists, it seems to me, is to keep your eyes on the blogs - and not to respond too quickly to any one piece of news and analysis. In just a few moments, you may discover a different and more accurate perspective.
Topics: In The News |