►February 22, 2004 - Statement from Dr. Andrew Wakefield - "Health Secretary John Reid has called for a public enquiry. I welcome this since I have already called for a public enquiry that addresses the whole issue in relation vaccines and autism."

►February 21, 2004 - Inquiry demanded over vaccine scandal - http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk - "Its editor Richard Horton told BBC News: 'If we knew then what we know now, we certainly would not have published the part of the paper that related to MMR, although I do believe there was, and remains, validity to the connection between bowel disease and autism, which does need further investigation, but I believe the MMR element of that is invalid.'"

Comment:  It is quite a stretch to go from the possibility that there might have been conflict of interest to believing that a connection between MMR and autism is invalid, particularly given that it is being confirmed by other investigators.  And if the journal editor believes such a conflict is reason to believe the results of a study are invalid, why do they trust even one study which has been paid for or otherwise influenced by vaccine manufacturers?  Yet, despite the fact that virtually all research into the safety of vaccines is so conflicted, there is not one meaningful iota of concern being expressed re: the validity of those studies.  Quite the contrary - when the issue of such conflicts is raised, they are either dismissed as irrelevant or ignored outright.

►February 22, 2004 - Maverick view that sparked panic over the triple vaccine - Despite fellow doctors' doubts, Andrew Wakefield's claims won uncritical media coverage. Jane Fineman asks how - The Observer via The Guardian, UK

►February 22, 2004 - We do enjoy a good health scare - opinion - www.telegraph.co.uk - "The reason that there will be rejoicing at the egg on The Lancet's face is that the tone of its editorial commentary is so unrelentingly sanctimonious that it makes the late Ayatollah Khomeini seem positively broadminded. Its piety is, however, without the excuse of religious belief. Relentlessly castigating the pharmaceutical companies for their venality, lecturing the medical profession upon its duty to the Third World, and adopting as its own every tenet of political correctness while brooking no debate, it has been well and truly caught with its trousers down. The research about MMR and autism that it now wishes it had never published started a health scare that might have done real damage to the public health about which it has been hectoring us poor doctors for years."

►February 22, 2004 - Families defend anti-MMR doctor against 'witch-hunt' - Claims that expert 'cherry picked' cases to support a link between the vaccine and autism have been rejected by parents and colleagues, reports Michael Day - www.telegraph.co.uk

Comment:  What does it mean to cherry-pick in this context?  If there are children with gut issues and autism who had recently received the MMR vaccine, examining those children is not cherry-picking, it is examining those children and attempting to understand what is going on.  The fact that there may be children who do not have autism and/or gut issues and/or recently received the MMR vaccine does not detract from the fact that there may be children who do. 

►February 23, 2004 - Journal repents over vaccine-autism link - Reuters, Washington Post via www.smh.com.au

►February 22, 2004 - 'GMC to investigate MMR doctor' - The doctor at the centre of the furore over "flawed" research linking MMR to autism in children will be investigated by the General Medical Council. - "It has been proposed that my role in this matter should be investigated by the GMC. I not only welcome this, I insist on it" - Dr Andrew Wakefield - www.itv.com

►February 23, 2004 - Lead researcher defends MMR study - The doctor at the centre of research linking autism with the MMR jab has rejected claims the work was "flawed". - BBC

►February 22, 2004 - MMR storm: Wakefield welcomes probe - Health Secretary demands inquiry after doctor who linked triple jab with autism accused of conflict of interest - The Sunday Herald, UK - "Last night, opposition politicians and autism campaigners joined the call for a public inquiry into the safety of the MMR vaccine. In a statement, the Autism Research Campaign for Health, a group of parents pressing for more research, said: 'It is vital that there is a public inquiry into the safety of MMR, and that it examines the growing number of studies showing the presence of measles RNA in the blood, gut and spinal fluid of autistic children.'...It added: 'The government insists MMR is safe. But they will only publish epidemiological research and ignore clinical findings. A public inquiry would address all sides of the debate.'"

►February 22, 2004 - Defiant Doctor Demands Probe into MMR Claims - PA News via The Scotsman

►February 22, 2004 - Focus: MMR: The truth behind the crisis (requires subscription) - The Times, UK

►February 21, 2004 - Anthrax vaccine serious side-effects kept from soldiers who were vaccinated - Medical News Today

►February 22, 2004 - Bird flu in China comes under gradual control: official - Xinhuanet via China View

►February 22, 2004 - Asia urged to step up bird flu fight - One News via www.nzoom.com

►February 21, 2004 - Eastern US Poultry Industry Worries About Avian Influenza Outbreak - Voice of America

►February 22, 2004 - Killer flu: Could the world cope? - It is only a matter of time before a major outbreak of potentially deadly flu, according to scientists. Could the world cope? - BBC

►February 22, 2004 - Australian troops slipped dangerous vaccinations - New Zealand National Business Review - "According to The Australian, so many Afghanistan-bound personnel suffered temporary reactions to the vaccine that the anthrax vaccination program was suspended for two months in November 2001."

►February 22, 2004 - Aus troops in dark about anthrax - One News via http://onenews.nzoom.com

►February 22, 2004 - Many factors in that deadly itch - As a country develops, so does the incidence of allergies grow. A conference opening today will examine this problem. - New Straits Times

►February 22, 2004 - Bird flu in cats poses no risk for humans: WHO - Daily Times

►February 22, 2004 - Public health campaigns 'are a waste of money' - The Independent, UK - "The Department of Health is spending millions of pounds on public health campaigns without any evidence they actually work, an official report will conclude this week."

►February 22, 2004 - The next big threat: killer influenza - The Times of India

►February 20, 2004 - New Lung Cancer Treatment Shows Promise - Injection Kills Disease In Some Patients - SeattleInsider via www.kirotv.com

►February 20, 2004 - Vaccine ban linked to polio revival - AP via St. Petersburg Times - "The World Health Organization will launch a huge immunization campaign Monday targeting 63-million children in 10 African countries as a polio outbreak spreads from Muslim northern Nigeria...Islamic leaders in the region at the heart of the Nigerian outbreak say they will uphold their ban on the polio vaccine, calling it part of a U.S. plot to spread infertility or AIDS among Muslims."

►February 20, 2004 - Fatal Case Of Unsuspected Pertussis Diagnosed From A Blood Culture - Consumer Product Safety Commission via www.intelihealth.com - "A recent case of pertussis (whooping cough) in an elderly Minnesota woman who later died and identification of 3 additional cases in other adults in the community underline the importance of clinicians being aware that adults can get the highly contagious cough illness and they should request laboratory testing to confirm a diagnosis of pertussis."

►February 21, 2004 - In the shadow of white death - Pollution and global warming are devastating the world's coral reefs, reports Tim Radford. - www.theage.com.au

►February 20, 2004 - International Conference on Women and Infectious Diseases Feb. 27-28 - CDC via U.S. Newswire - conference alert

►February 21, 2004 - Interferon can represses SARS in apes - The Japan Times

►February 20, 2004 - Predators And Human Health: Exploring The Role Of Predators In Keeping Pathogens At Bay - Ecological Society Of America via www.sciencedaily.com

►February 23, 2004 - Autism; New research suggests link between vaccine ingredients and autism, ADHD - Health & Medicine Week via www.newsrx.com and www.newsrx.net via www.mhnet.org - "According to new research from Northeastern University pharmacy professor Richard Deth and colleagues from the University of Nebraska, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins University, there is an apparent link between exposure to certain neurodevelopmental toxins and an increased possibility of developing neurological disorders including autism and attention deficiti hyperactivity disorder...The research - the first to offer an explanation for possible causes of two increasingly common childhood neurological disorders - will be published the April 2004 issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry."

►February 2004 - Does the huamn mnid raed wrods as a wlohe? (requires registration or subscription) - A recent email message about a purported experiment run at Cambridge University provides a useful illustration of some fundamental mechanisms involved in reading. The message demonstrates that a text composed of words whose inner letters have been re-arranged can be raed wtih qutie anazimg esae! Although some of the readability of this email message is probably due to top-down factors made possible by the fact that almost 50% of the words are not mixed up, we suggest that a significant part of this 'jumbled word effect' is due to the special way in which the human brain encodes the positions of letters in printed words. Recent research using the masked-priming technique has helped to elucidate the mechanisms involved in letter-position coding. Masked primes are briefly presented, pattern-masked letter strings, whose effects on target processing are thought to reflect fast, automatic processing. We will briefly describe two phenomena, relative-position priming and transposition priming, that have been observed with this paradigm and that are particularly relevant for understanding letter-position coding. - Trends in Cognitive Sciences via BioMedNet

►February 20, 2004 - Acambis to Delay Vaccine Release - Financial Times via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►February 20, 2004 - Working Up a Strategy to Vaccinate the World - Washington Post via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►February 19, 2004 - British Team Develops 'Black Death' Vaccine - Times, UK via www.immunizationinfo.org (abstract)

►February 19, 2004 - Artificial Blood Tested Without Consent - AP via The Herald-Sun - "Paramedics are testing an experimental blood substitute on severely injured patients without their consent in an unusual study under way or proposed at 20 hospitals around the country...The study was launched last month in Denver and follows similar research that was halted in 1998, when more than 20 patients died after getting a different experimental blood substitute...Supporters say the current product, PolyHeme, made by Northfield Laboratories of Evanston, Ill., is safer and could save many of the nearly 100,000 people who die of bleeding injuries each year nationwide."

►February 19, 2004 - Researchers: New Vaccine Can Stop Lung Cancer (requires registration) - Washington Post 

►February 19, 2004 - Panel Weighs Toxic Research on Humans - AP via The Miami Herald - "Exposing human volunteers to toxic pesticides and pollutants for scientific purposes is justified only under strict conditions and with careful review, a National Academy of Sciences panel said Thursday...The Environmental Protection Agency should establish a special review board to evaluate any studies that involve intentionally giving people toxic chemicals, the committee said."

►February 20, 2004 - FluMist failure makes MedImmune rethink the vaccine business - Maryland Gazette - "The research chief of MedImmune told a House committee last week that the company may get out of the flu vaccine-production business, following disappointing sales of its nasal-spray vaccine this flu season...The Gaithersburg company, one of only three in the nation that manufacture flu vaccines, plans to destroy nearly 4 million of its 5 million doses of FluMist, said James Young, president of research and development for MedImmune. Young said it took the company 30 years and $1 billion in research and development to produce the spray...'It's hard to justify staying in the business, if we are hemorrhaging left to right,' Young said...He noted that the company even tried giving away up to 1 million doses to local jurisdictions, but there were no takers."

Comment:  I wonder if they did pre-development market research to see if there was demand for a product like this?

►February 19, 2004 - NIH Conflict of Interest Panel to Meet in Early March - National Institutes of Health 

►February 19, 2004 - Science Panel OKs Pesticide Tests on Humans (requires registration) - Los Angeles Times - "A National Academy of Sciences panel said today that human test subjects could be intentionally dosed with pesticides and other toxic substances as long as the companies or government agencies conducting the tests meet high ethical and scientific standards...The Bush administration sought the advice from the esteemed group of scientists after it sparked a controversy by reversing a Clinton-era moratorium on the use of human subjects in tests that are used by Environmental Protection Agency officials as they decide safe exposure levels for pesticides."

►February 20, 2004 - Childhood Vaccine Controversy -  www.ksbh.com - "There is growing controversy over the safety of childhood vaccines...Some say there is a link between a substance in the vaccines and the mental disorder known as autism...NBC Action News reporter Kevin Petrehn took a closer look at the facts surrounding the vaccine controversy."

►February 19, 2004 - Letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman concerning false or misleading government reassurances on mad cow disease (HRG Publication #1690) - Public Citizen’s Health Research Group 

►February 12, 2004 - Medicare for lobbyists - editorial - Palm Beach Post - "Rep. Billy Tauzin delivered a $540 billion prescription-drug benefit for Medicare. Now, the Louisiana Republican is leaving Congress for a $2 million-a-year job in the drug industry. When it comes to exposing your principles, Rep. Tauzin makes Janet Jackson look coy."

►February 18, 2004 - Wrong diagnoses are killing patients - New Scientist - "Many patients in intensive care units are being wrongly diagnosed, according to a study in a UK hospital. Some are dying because doctors fail to spot major conditions such as heart attacks, cancer and pulmonary embolism. The reason, experts say, is not incompetence but that so few post-mortems are now performed that doctors cannot learn from their mistakes."

►February 4, 2004 - Amendment to immigration Bill 'could bar people with autism from entering Ireland' - Autism Cymru via www.awares.org

►February 18, 2004 - Autism claims attention at schools - Educators respond to increased cases among students - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Gwinnett County Public Schools has seen an unexplained explosion in the number of students like Danny, now an eighth-grader at Shiloh Middle School in Snellville...In the early 1990s, fewer than 50 students with autism were enrolled in county schools. This year, 689 are receiving services here — a more than tenfold increase in 10 years. Teachers are serving 150 more students with autism than they did last year, which makes these students one of the fastest-growing segments of the district's booming special education population."

►February 19, 2004 - Congressmen Question Industry Role in EPA Mercury Rule-Making - www.bushgreenwatch.org - "In a letter sent last week to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt, Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Allen (D-ME) called for an explanation of reports that portions of the EPA's proposal to regulate mercury generated by electric power plants were copied verbatim from industry lobbying materials.[1]"

►February 18, 2004 - Vaccination order criticized - The Baltimore Sun via Fort Worth/Dallas Star-Telegram - "The U.S. Army has sent at least four soldiers to Iraq who refused to be vaccinated against anthrax, despite the Pentagon's long-held insistence that the vaccine is mandatory for all service members assigned to areas of combat or probable terrorism...The deployments by base commanders in Indiana, Kentucky, New York and Wisconsin has led Pentagon critics to question the seriousness of the anthrax threat and the fairness of penalties meted out earlier for scores of service members nationwide who refused the vaccine."

►February 11, 2004 - Induction of lupus autoantibodies by adjuvants - BioMedNet - "The ability to induce lupus autoantibodies is shared by several hydrocarbons and is not unique to pristane. It correlates with stimulation of the production of IL-12 and other cytokines, suggesting a relationship with a hydrocarbon's adjuvanticity. The potential to induce autoimmunity may complicate the use of oil adjuvants in human and veterinary vaccines."

Comment:  Lupus has been reported as a vaccine-associated reaction at least 137 times to VAERS and has been reported in the medical literature as well. (The list of articles in the literature includes only systemic lupus erythematosus, i.e., SLE)

►February 14, 2004 - Schizophrenia link to lead petrol - US scientists say they have found a link between exposure to lead in the womb and schizophrenia in adulthood. - BBC  

►February 12, 2004 - Wyeth Reaffirms Distribution Plan for Prevnar(R) to Optimize Product Availability for Children - PR Newswire-First Call via Yahoo! Finance

►February 21, 2004 - 'Lancet' backs away from MMR controversy - The Independent, UK

►February 21, 2004 - Reid Calls for Inquiry into MMR Claims - PA News via The Scotsman

►February 22, 2004 - Journal admits vaccine report error - AFP via www.abc.net.au

►February 21, 2004 - Controversy swirls around British MMR vaccine study - Reuters AlertNet

►February 21, 2004 - MMR jab: Your views - The journal that sparked the row about the safety of the MMR vaccine has said, with hindsight, that it should not have published the research. - BBC

►February 21, 2004 - New twist in MMR row - www.iccoventry.co.uk

►February 21, 2004 - Research that led to MMR autism link, inquiry called for in UK - Medical News Today

►February 21, 2004 - Inquiry demanded over vaccine scandal - Associated News Media via www.femail.co.uk

►February 21, 2004 - Anthrax Shots Made Australian Troops Sick - Reuters

►February 21, 2004 - Australian troops not told of anthrax vaccine concerns - AP via USA Today

►February 21, 2004 - Australian troops fall ill following anthrax vaccinations - AP via www.newsobserver.com

►February 21, 2004 - Vaccine effects 'kept secret' - AAP via The Australian

►February 22, 2004 - ADF denies keeping anthrax vaccine effects secret - www.abc.net.au

►February 21, 2004 - Mild Avian Flu Strain on Texas Chicken Farm Believed Not Harmful to Humans - The Washington Times via www.miami.com

►February 21, 2004 - Maryland Orders Poultry Farms to Test Chickens for Avian Flu before Processing - The Baltimore Sun via www.miami.com

►February 21, 2004 - Lawmakers push for tougher regulations on mercury - Green Bay Press-Gazette via Post-Crescent via www.wisinfo.com

►February 21, 2004 - Two drugs for autism - Ivanhoe via News 8 Austin

►February 21, 2004 - Marshall program helps autistic children attend college - AP via The Charleston Gazette via www.wvgazette.com

►February 19, 2004 - One in five asthmatics are highly sensitive to aspirin - One in five asthmatics are highly sensitive to aspirin - Systematic review of prevalence of aspirin induced asthma and its implications for clinical practice - BMJ via  www.eurekalert.org

►February 19, 2004 - Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Cystic Fibrosis - Reuters via Yahoo!

►February 19, 2004 - Blood Test Can Prevent Unneeded Antibiotic Use - HealthDay via Yahoo!

►February 19, 2004 - Biochemical clues to long lifespan revealed - Findings extend longevity research from yeast and worms to mammals - Children's Hospital Boston via www.eurekalert.org

►February 2004 - Differences in antibiotic prescribing patterns for children younger than five years in the three major outpatient settings - journal article (Journal of Pediatrics)

►February 21, 2004 - FAO/WHO meeting warns of contamination of powdered infant formula - journal article (BMJ)

►February 15, 2004 - Practice Guidelines - AAP Releases Policy Statement on the Prevention of RSV Infections - journal article (American Family Physician)

►February 21, 2004 - Govt misled troops about anthrax vaccinations: Opposition - www.abc.net.au - "Senator Evans says dozens of troops were sent home for refusing the anthrax vaccinations and while most agreed to the injections, many did so reluctantly...'Clearly the attitude of some of the troops may have been different if they had known about the severe adverse reactions by earlier troops to the inoculations,' Senator Evans said."

►February 21, 2004 - Australian government keeps mum about side effects of anthrax vaccine - AP via www.whnt19.com - "The Australian government is admitting it kept silent about possible side effects of the anthrax vaccine."

►February 21, 2004 - Calls for Inquiry on 'Flawed' MMR Research - PA News via The Scotsman - "Health Secretary John Reid today called on the General Medical Council to investigate claims that controversial research linking the MMR vaccine to autism in children was 'flawed'...Dr Reid urged the GMC to mount an inquiry 'as a matter of urgency' after the medical journal, The Lancet, admitted that the report should never have been published...However the Liberal Democrats said that an investigation by the GMC was 'insufficient' and called for a full independent inquiry."

►February 22, 2004 - MMR doctor: I stand by my research on autism link - The Telegraph, UK - "The British doctor who claimed to have identified a link between the MMR vaccine and autism last night angrily rejected claims that the research was 'flawed' as parents of children involved in the original study accused his critics of a 'witch-hunt.'...Dr Wakefield spoke out after allegations yesterday that his 1998 study of 12 children was flawed because he had also been working on a separate project to seek evidence to support a legal action by parents claiming that the MMR jab had harmed their children. He said: 'That was a completely separate study. We took children according to clinical need. There was no selective recruitment.'"

►February 21, 2004 - Lancet was wrong to publish MMR paper, says editor - The Telegraph, UK - "A leading medical journal admitted yesterday that it was wrong to publish the paper that started the MMR vaccine scare six years ago...The editor of the Lancet said the British researchers who linked the triple jab to autism and bowel disease in a group of 12 children had 'a fatal conflict of interest'. But Dr Andrew Wakefield, lead author of the study at the Royal Free Hospital, London, repudiated the journal's statement."

Comment:  You know that there is something fishy going on when there has been no similar righteous indignation about all the studies allegedly refuting Wakefield's claims that were funded at least partly by the vaccine manufacturers.

►February 20, 2004 - Journal regrets publishing MMR study - Reuters - "The journal said Wakefield had not told editors he was carrying out a study for the Legal Aid Board on behalf of parents who believed the vaccine had harmed their children...'In my view, if we had known the conflict of interest Dr. Wakefield had in this work, I think that would have strongly affected the peer reviewers about the credibility of this work, and in my judgement it would have been rejected,' Horton told BBC News on Friday...Wakefield told the BBC on Friday he stood behind his findings. 'They have now been confirmed independently by reputable physicians and pathologists,' he said."

►February 20, 2004 - MMR Vaccine: Five Years of Claims and Counterclaims - PA News via The Scotsman

►February 21, 2004 - Canadians ill after bird flu alert - Herald Sun - "FIVE people on a farm in British Columbia on Canada's west coast, where bird flu was discovered this week, had fallen ill with flu-like symptoms, government officials said today...But they stressed the public should not worry because the strain of avian influenza - confirmed to be a low pathogenic H7 strain - was mostly harmless to humans, unlike the H5 strain that has killed 22 people and forced the slaughter of millions of chickens in Asia...'These are five individuals who had intensive exposure to sick chickens. This is not a virus with a propensity to spread from human to human,' said David Patrick, of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control."

►February 20, 2004 - Autism Focus of New Study - University of Alabama at Birmingham via Newswise