*For most of the Wakefield "conflict of interest" articles posted on the site, click here (check periodically for updates)

►February 25, 2004 - Just How Much Water Do We Really Need? The Answer May Depend On Our Age - American Physiological Society via www.intelihealth.com

►February 25, 2004 - Science, policy forum focuses on 'mad cow' and related diseases - Virginia Tech via www.eurekalert.org

►February 25, 2004 - Dealing with autism: A sister's perspective - Children's PressLine via The Albuquerque Tribune

►February 25, 2004 - Geogia: Health Officials Rate TB Cases 'Outbreak' - Atlanta Journal-Constitution via www.aegis.org

►February 25, 2004 - Commercial funds pay for our research - letters to the editor - The Guardian 

►February 25, 2004 - Medication Errors in Children Common - Ivanhoe

►February 25, 2004 - Tough Times for Nasal Flu Vaccines - HealthDay via Palm Beach Post

►February 25, 2004 - U.S. public health chief says emergence of SARS, avian flu the "new normal" - Canadian Press via www.canada.com - "The flurry of exotic infectious diseases that have threatened global health in the past couple of years aren't an aberration - they are the new reality, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said Wednesday...The rapid-fire emergence of diseases like SARS, West Nile virus, monkeypox and avian influenza point to a future where new and serious health threats arise on a regular basis from nature, Dr. Julie Gerberding said in an interview from nearby Hamilton, where she was speaking at McMaster University."

►February 26, 2004 - A Statement by the Editors of The Lancet (pdf) - includes statements by Murch, Walker-Smith and Wakefield, as well as Richard Horton, the editor of The Lancet

Comment: " BL Fisher (of NVIC) Note: The extent to which the forced vaccination proponents have gone to smear Andrew Wakefield and the meticulous biological mechanism research he has conducted into MMR-vaccine associated autism is in direct proportion to the fear they have that his hypothesis is correct: MMR vaccine can cause a persistent vaccine strain measles virus infection in genetically vulnerable children that leads to chronic inflammatory bowel disease and autistic behaviors. It is unfortunate they are so frightened of the scientific truth Dr. Wakefield is pursuing that they find it necessary to behave like a band of thugs out to score a hit...For the past 22 years, NVIC co-founder Kathi Williams and I have watched babies die and be horribly crippled by vaccine reactions while officials in industry, public health agencies and medical organizations have refused to support the kind of biological mechanism research that Dr. Wakefield is doing so that parents and doctors can have more information about children at high risk for suffering vaccine reactions and find ways to spare their lives. Parents around the world are not fooled by the ignorant, inhumane behavior of forced vaccinaton proponents, whose zealous defense of one-size-fits-all vaccine policies injure and kill innocent children...The truth will shine bright and clear in the end."

►February 26, 2004 - Dr Wakefield is just the man to research MMR safety - opinion - The Herald, UK - "There is something just a little too neat about the officially-sanctioned vilification of Dr Andrew Wakefield...Now the Lancet, the medical journal which published Wakefield's original, peer-reviewed, research back in 1998, says he was compromised by a conflict of interest because he was receiving legal aid money at the time, for another study of children whose parents wanted to take court action against the manufacturers of the vaccine. No sooner had the Lancet editor voiced his concerns, but Blair, his health secretary, John Reid, and their chief medical officer, Dr Liam Donaldson, lined up to urge all parents to have their children protected, claiming the Wakefield study was "poor science" and even suggesting he be investigated by the General Medical Council. If the GMC applied the same rules to all academics, it could be very busy. The Lancet has printed a great many articles which are potentially compromised. It was one of 13 leading medical journals which, in 2001, accused the pharmaceutical corporations of distorting the results of published research."

►February 26, 2004 - Social workers 'right to question parents' - This is London - "The row over the MMR "witch-hunt" deepened today as social workers defended their right to interview the mothers of autistic children...They insisted some parents could be harming their children to draw attention to themselves, and admitted subjecting one mother to an eight-week investigation before accepting she had done nothing wrong...It came after the Evening Standard revealed up to 20 parents of autistic children faced accusations that they were suffering from Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy."

Comment:  It's hard to believe this could be happening given that Roy Meadows, who has now been discredited, was the champion of this apparently ill-conceived theory.  How much tragedy and suffering must the parents of autistic children endure?  (And any old excuse in an attempt to detract from the real issue, i.e., does MMR contribute to autism?)

►February 26, 2004 - Study Finds Most Health Care Workers Do Not Get Flu Vaccines (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Only 36 percent of health workers receive influenza vaccinations each year, despite a longstanding federal recommendation that such workers be immunized for their own protection and to prevent the spread of the disease, a leading health organization said here Wednesday."