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RE: Vaccines didn't cause GWS (or autism, or ___, or ...)

Comment a comment by Mike Forbes (mikeforbes), published on 08 November 2009
Navigate to the top level to view all replies to the article Is the Door Closed on Squalene and Gulf War Syndrome?
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Ah, you pulled the ol’ switcheroo on me there. Yes, I was referring to the second link—the crazy, paranoid, wingnutty one.

With regard to the report behind the first link, I think that saying “the door is open” (to a link between squalene / other vaccines to GWS) is a slight misstatement of the report’s conclusions. The way I understand it, the report found that only two exposures had “consistent and compelling” cases for a causal association with GWS: use of pyridostigmine bromide (PB) tablets and exposure to pesticides. Everything else was either ruled out more or less conclusively (e.g., depleted uranium), or not ruled out completely, but still generally discounted due to lack of evidence (e.g., anthrax vaccine).

From the report:

Although recent studies have demonstrated that the anthrax vaccine is highly reactogenic, there is no clear evidence from Gulf War studies that links the anthrax vaccine to Gulf War illness. Taken together, limited findings from Gulf War epidemiologic studies, the preferred administration to troops in support locations, and the lack of widespread multisymptom illness resulting from current deployments, combine to indicate that the anthrax vaccine is not a likely cause of Gulf War illness for most ill veterans. However, limited evidence from both animal research and Gulf War epidemiologic studies indicates that an association between Gulf War illness and receipt of a large number of vaccines cannot be ruled out.

I take this to mean “There’s really no reason to think that this vaccine or other vaccines had anything to do with GWS, but technically it has only been about 98% ruled out, so it is included here in the interests of being thorough.”

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RE: Vaccines didn't cause GWS (or autism, or ___, or ...) by Brandon :: NR9

I’m not sure how you can read the conclusions quoted in my original post and think report authors consider the door closed:

The Asa/Tulane studies may have correctly identified excess rates of squalene antibodies in ill veterans, whether or not they were caused by vaccines, by vaccine contamination, or by clandestine use of an unapproved adjuvant. It is important to determine whether the observed association between squalene antibodies and Gulf War illness is supported, or refuted, by more definitive research.

As for the portion you quoted, I agree it frowns on the idea of an association between the anthrax vaccine and GWS. It does, however, specifically claim “an association between Gulf War illness and receipt of a large number of vaccines cannot be ruled out.”

Posted 09 November 2009, Hide, Parent, Reply

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