Page 28 - Summer2015

That Wakefield Potential links between MMR and autism gut barrier. I have personally investigated
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was aware of are probably the second-most common general potential links between autism and MMR, which
perception about vaccine risk. Many people are resulted in a paper published in 2012, based on
the link aware of the “discredited” Lancet paper pub- an analysis of the VAERS database. At the time,
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between lished by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in 1998, which I was frustrated because I did not understand
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autism and gut proposed a link between the measles component which ingredients in the MMR vaccine might
of MMR and gut disease in children with autism. be toxic to the child’s brain, but I believe I now
problems such This paper engendered an intense investigation, understand this much better, as will become clear
a long time which led to its retraction and a campaign to later in this article.
ago is stunning. discredit its author through accusations of fraud. Although it might seem a simple matter
Wakefield is a gastroenterologist, and therefore to compare a vaccinated population with an
The retraction an expert on children with gastrointestinal dis- unvaccinated one to see whether there are
of his article orders. Today it has become very clear that gut differences in the incidence of various health
led to a long dysbiosis is strongly linked to autism, and, fur- issues, this is difficult to do in practice, because
thermore, that gut dysbiosis is rapidly becoming those who choose not to vaccinate are different
delay in our an epidemic. from the general population in important ways.
awareness of That Wakefield was aware of the link For example, parents often arrive at this decision

this link which between autism and gut problems such a long after one of their children has suffered from
time ago is stunning, and what frustrates me is a severe adverse reaction to a vaccine. This
would have the fact that the retraction of his paper has led to likely means that the family’s genetic make-up
helped us to a long delay in our awareness of this link, which predisposes them to increased risk to the very
recognize would have helped us to recognize better how conditions that vaccines are linked to. On the
to treat or prevent autism. Despite his setback, other hand, those who choose not to vaccinate
better how to Wakefield published a follow-on article providing are probably also more likely to avoid other
treat or prevent a strong argument for how gut dysbiosis can lead environmental chemicals, for example, to
autism. to encephalopathy linked to autism through the provide their children with an organic diet. This
release of excitatory peptides through the leaky may bias the distribution towards a perceived risk

FIGURE 1: Sales of hepatitis B (HB) vaccine every year in France; comparison with report of post-
vaccine MS to the national pharmacovigilance agency (ANSM) (1984-2010). Reproduced from Le
Houézec, 2015, with permission.
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28 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2015 Wise Traditions

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