29 ms·

Explain

yakshaving_jgt 7y ago
Andrew Wakefield[0] is a disgraced and discredited former doctor who authored a fraudulent research paper in prestigious medical journal The Lancet which claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Wakefield's "study" led to a decline in vaccination rates in the US, the UK, and likely several other countries, and has resulted in serious illnesses and deaths. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield
- LeonM 7y ago
  What was his motive to publish such paper?
  - johnhenry 7y ago
    Money. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/01/12/132857528/journal-claims-profit-motive-helped-fuel-autism-vaccine-scare https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/01/12/1328575...
- yohann305 7y ago
  I'm having a hard time understanding what Andrew Wakefield has to do with the CYFIP1's role. The wikipedia post does not mention it at all. Can someone explain what Wakefield has to do with it?
  - yakshaving_jgt 7y ago
    As far as I understand, he doesn’t. The point being that the aforementioned gene might be confirmed as the cause of autism, and this would remind the general population that the link claimed by Wakefield between MMR vaccines and autism was completely fraudulent, and that people died as a result.
- lifeisstillgood 7y ago
  I am guessing that naming the gene after him is a sort of sarcastic rejoinder - a bit like naming a line of meridian after a flat earther? I get it but there are dozens of not hundreds of people who have put in decades of work each to discover and enhance our understanding of this gene and its medical links - they would be better candidates. Or perhaps they could choose to name it. But celebrating a fraud and "fake news" founder ... even sarcastically does not sit right with me. Happily I saw a dog turd on the street a while back - we could name that after Wakefield. Perhaps put it on Google maps.
  - senectus1 7y ago
    It would be more than that. Wakefield is a guiding light name in the anti-vacc community. This would severely water down the effectiveness of his name... And especially in todays search engine driven world of "self education" that could be amazingly effective.
  - yakshaving_jgt 7y ago
    That was the angle I was going for, yes. And I agree, it’s not great to name the finding after something negative, but I don’t know how better to keep that kind of evil in the minds of the general population. I want to illuminate this like I want to illuminate other historical evils such as Fascism and Communism.
heyiforgotmypwd 7y ago
tl;dr - antivaxx paper author
anovikov 7y ago
That's the guy who "discovered" that vaccines were causing autism.

Explain

Andrew Wakefield[0] is a disgraced and discredited former doctor who authored a fraudulent research paper in prestigious medical journal The Lancet which claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Wakefield's "study" led to a decline in vaccination rates in the US, the UK, and likely several other countries, and has resulted in serious illnesses and deaths. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield

LeonM 7y ago
What was his motive to publish such paper?
- johnhenry 7y ago
  Money. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/01/12/132857528/journal-claims-profit-motive-helped-fuel-autism-vaccine-scare https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/01/12/1328575...
yohann305 7y ago
I'm having a hard time understanding what Andrew Wakefield has to do with the CYFIP1's role. The wikipedia post does not mention it at all. Can someone explain what Wakefield has to do with it?
- yakshaving_jgt 7y ago
  As far as I understand, he doesn’t. The point being that the aforementioned gene might be confirmed as the cause of autism, and this would remind the general population that the link claimed by Wakefield between MMR vaccines and autism was completely fraudulent, and that people died as a result.
lifeisstillgood 7y ago
I am guessing that naming the gene after him is a sort of sarcastic rejoinder - a bit like naming a line of meridian after a flat earther? I get it but there are dozens of not hundreds of people who have put in decades of work each to discover and enhance our understanding of this gene and its medical links - they would be better candidates. Or perhaps they could choose to name it. But celebrating a fraud and "fake news" founder ... even sarcastically does not sit right with me. Happily I saw a dog turd on the street a while back - we could name that after Wakefield. Perhaps put it on Google maps.
- senectus1 7y ago
  It would be more than that. Wakefield is a guiding light name in the anti-vacc community. This would severely water down the effectiveness of his name... And especially in todays search engine driven world of "self education" that could be amazingly effective.
- yakshaving_jgt 7y ago
  That was the angle I was going for, yes. And I agree, it’s not great to name the finding after something negative, but I don’t know how better to keep that kind of evil in the minds of the general population. I want to illuminate this like I want to illuminate other historical evils such as Fascism and Communism.

heyiforgotmypwd 7y ago

tl;dr - antivaxx paper author

anovikov 7y ago

That's the guy who "discovered" that vaccines were causing autism.