Goes number 13; Taylor number 13
Poling JS, Frye RE, Shoffner J, Zimmerman AW. Developmental regression and mitochondrial dysfunction in a child with autism. J Child Neurol. 2006 Feb;21(2):170-2.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16566887
This is the infamous Poling paper, which was published without Poling's disclosure of conflict of interest.
Kathleen Seidell:
It is simply incredible that a doctor who convenes a press conference to announce the favorable outcome of his child’s legal case, and internationally broadcasts her photograph and story — including in a two-page spread in People Magazine — would suggest that he sought to “protect” her by failing to disclose his relevant personal relationship and financial interests in a report submitted to a specialist scientific journal. Equally incredible is his suggestion that he should be excused for his failure to disclose an unquestionably relevant legal claim — a claim with a potential value exceeding $1 million — because it had not yet reached the hearing stage, and because his attorney was navigating the slowly-moving procedural waters for him. Most incredible of all is his suggestion that neither he nor anyone acting as his agent — such as his attorney, who represents hundreds of other VICP petitioners — consented to the disclosure of legal documents which could only have been obtained from parties to the case.
With "Developmental Regression and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Child with Autism", Dr. Jon Poling takes his place with Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Dr. Mark Geier and Laura Hewitson, Ph.D. in the ranks of researchers who have concealed relevant legal and financial interests in studies purporting to confirm a causal relationship between vaccines and autism.
Timeline
- July 2000 Hannah Poling vaccinated w/ 5 shots against 9 diseases.
- October 25, 2002 Poling family files with Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)
- February 2006 Poling and colleagues publish case study referenced above.
- February 25 2008 David Kirby on Poling ruling in Vaccine Court
- February 28 2008 Steven Novella MD at Neurologica: Has the Government Conceded That Vaccines Cause Autism?
- February 28 2008 Orac at Respectful Insolence: David Kirby and the government “concession that vaccines cause autism”: The incredible shrinking causation claim
- March 6, 2008 Poling press conference
- March 11 2008 Kathleen Seidell at Neurodiversity: A Not-so-Hidden History (previous awards to "autism-like" injuries).
- April ll 2008 Jon S. Poling in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Child's case shifts autism debate"
- April 22 2008 Nikhil Swaminathan in Scientific American Vaccine Injury Case Offers a Clue to the Causes of Autism
- April 27, 2008 David Kirby on Poling case relevance
- May 15 2008 Offit P Vaccines and Autism Revisited — The Hannah Poling Case N Engl J Med 2008; 358:2089-2091
- August 7 2008 LBRB: Jon Poling on Paul Offit in NEJM
- Jon S. Poling Correspondence on “Developmental Regression and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Child with Autism” J Child Neurol September 2008 23: 1089, doi:10.1177/0883073808322330
- Richard E. Frye, Andrew W. Zimmerman, and John M. Shoffner Conflict of Interest Statement Concerning “Developmental Regression and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in a Child With Autism”J Child Neurol September 2008 23: 1089-1090, doi:10.1177/0883073808322336
- Roger A. Brumback, The Appalling Poling Saga, J Child Neurol September 2008 23: 1090-1091, doi:10.1177/0883073808322333
- October 3 2008 The Appaling Poling Saga: Summary by Kathleen Seidell at Neurodiversity Blog
- October 4 2008 Kev at LBRB Jon Poling: No Such Thing As Bad Publicity
In short: Dr. Poling behaved in an appalling manner. There is no question that Hannah Poling has a mitochondrial disorder; in such cases neurological symptoms often develop after 12 months and before 24 months. The "autistic like" symptoms demonstrated by Hannah Poling were part of a global encephalopathy caused by a mitochondrial enzyme deficit.
So: Does this case or this paper "demonstrate that vaccines can cause autism"? No.
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