Vaccines, Autism and Conflicts of Interest

The Boston Globe was far too subtle in disclosing Paul Offit's conflict of interest in a recent op-ed piece about vaccines, according to Ed Silverman, a New Jersey journalist who blogs about the pharmaceutical industry at Pharmalot. The Globe described Offit as the inventor of a particular vaccine but didn't make it crystal clear that as such, he would stand to lose financially if an upcoming lawsuit that claims a link between vaccines and autism is successful.

Fair enough. But the anti-vaccine crowd have their own conflicts of interest, which typically are never even touched on by the press. After all, if claimants think they can get their hands on some of the money in the federal vaccine compensation fund, doesn't that represent a conflict?

I'm sure there are plenty of other people besides Offit who could have argued in favor of vaccines. Trouble is, sources with financial conflicts are often also in the best position to know something about a particular topic. At any rate, the potential conflict should be made clear.

Meanwhile, the most rigorous scientific studies to date have shown no causative link between vaccines and autism.

Indeed, one of the most careful studies of all, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in 2005, showed that most of the increase in autism cases from the late 1980s onward in the U.S. at least, occurred as a result of a change in the definition of autism. Earlier, doctors tended to say that children exhibiting similar symptoms were "developmentally delayed" rather than suffering from autism.

For the record, I own no pharmaceutical stock and have never invented a vaccine.

Sources:

KM Madsen et al, "A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccination and Autism." New England Journal of Medicine. Volume 347:1477-1482; November 7, 2002.

WJ Barbaresi et al, "The Incidence of Autism in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976-1997." Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159:37-44.