CBCD Raises Doubts
This study was funded by Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil. Many scientific papers argue that the public should not trust any industry funded research.
Rochester, NY (PRWEB) February 08, 2012
The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD) has learned that Merck recently funded a study conducted by Dr. Chun Chao from Kaiser Permanente. USA Today reported: “Study: No link between HPV vaccine and autoimmune disorders” on January 28, 2012. In the opening paragraph, the story says that “The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil does not trigger autoimmune disorders.”
Should the reader believe the report? Is it possible that the researchers, who conducted the study, are biased?
According to USA Today, this study was funded by Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil. Many scientific papers argue that the public should not trust any industry funded research.
For instance, a paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics says that, “Empirical research indicates that much of the evidence required for the practice of evidence-based medicine cannot be trusted. The research agenda has been hijacked by those with vested interests within industry and academia, determining what research is funded and how it is done and reported.” It went on to say, “Many well-reported randomized controlled trials are designed to deceive by their choice of comparators and outcomes….”
Another paper published in the American Journal of Orthopedics says, “…industry-sponsored clinical trials have traditionally been associated with more positive results.”
Yet another paper published in Science and Engineering Ethics says, “Pharmaceutical companies fund the bulk of clinical research that is carried out on medications. Poor outcomes from these studies can have negative effects on sales of medicines. Previous research has shown that company funded research is much more likely to yield positive outcomes than research with any other sponsorship.”
Finally, a paper in PLoS ONE quotes Dr. Daniele Fanelli as writing, "about 2% of scientists admitted to have fabricated, falsified or modified data or results at least once –a serious form of misconduct by any standard– and up to one third admitted a variety of other questionable research practices including “dropping data points based on a gut feeling”, and “changing the design, methodology or results of a study in response to pressures from a funding source”.
What do these papers say in simple terms?
When a company pays for the study, beware. The results usually show what the company wants them to show. In other words, those who have the gold, somehow, determine the results.
In this case, the company with the gold is Merck, and the product is Gardasil. It is certainly within Merck’s interests to disprove any connection between their vaccine and autoimmune disorders. And lo and behold! The results promote Merck's interest.
Merck’s funded study relies on correlation, a weak approach at best. The CBCD would like to suggest another method for answering the question about Gardasil and disease. It is called the mechanistic approach. In simple terms it is answering the following question, "If Gardasil causes disease, what is the biological mechanism that leads from getting the Gardasil shot to becoming ill?"
Dr. Hanan Polansky’s discovery of “Microcompetition with Foreign DNA” provides such a biological mechanism. Microcompetition explains how the DNA fragments found in the Gardasil vaccine can cause major diseases, including autoimmune disorders.
Dr. Hanan Polansky is the author of the highly acclaimed "Purple" book, entitled Microcompetition with Foreign DNA and the Origin of Chronic Disease. In his book he explains how foreign DNA fragments can cause many major diseases without damaging (mutating) the human DNA.
"Not only does the book present a strong theory to unify the cause of many diverse disease states, the book itself represents an aspect lacking in the field of medical science, an attempt to unify observations into coherent theories." - Q. Ping Dou, PhD - Co-Leader, Prevention Program, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Professor, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Wayne State University
The book has been read by more than 5,000 scientists around the world, and has been reviewed in more than 20 leading scientific journals such as the Archives of Virology and the European Journal of Cancer.
The CBCD encourages biologists, virologists, geneticists, scientists and the general public to obtain a copy of Dr. Hanan Polansky's book and read it. The book is available as a free download from the CBCD website.
The CBCD endorses Dr. Polansky’s theory, and invites the media, scientists, and the general public to contact us on this issue.
For more information on the Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease, or to schedule an interview with Dr. Polansky, please visit http://www.cbcd.net or call 585-250-9999.
References:
Tharyan P. “Evidence-based medicine: can the evidence be trusted?” Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, Oct., 2011
Lexchin J. “Those Who Have the Gold Make the Evidence: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Biases the Outcomes of Clinical Trials of Medications.” Science and Engineering Ethics, February 15, 2011
Fanelli D. "How many scientists fabricate and falsify research? A systematic review and meta-analysis of survey data."PLoS ONE, May 29, 2009
Khan SN, Mermer MJ, Myers E, Sandhu HS. “The roles of funding source, clinical trial outcome, and quality of reporting in orthopedic surgery literature.” American Journal of Orthopedics (Belle Meade N.J.) Dec., 2008
The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD, http://www.cbcd.net) is a research center recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit organization. The mission of the CBCD is to advance the research on the biology of chronic diseases, and to accelerate the discovery of treatments for these diseases.
The CBCD published the “Purple” book entitled “Microcompetition with Foreign DNA and the Origin of Chronic Disease” written by Dr. Hanan Polansky. The book presents Dr. Polansky’s highly acclaimed scientific theory on the relationship between the DNA of latent (chronic) viruses and the onset of chronic diseases. Dr. Polansky’s book is available as a free download from the CBCD website.
We invite biologists, virologists, and scientists everywhere to download Dr. Polansky's book here: http://cbcd.net/.