At the center of the fifteen-year controversy is Dr. Andrew Wakefield of Austin, Texas. It was Dr. Wakefield that first publicized the link between stomach disorders and autism, and taking the findings one step further, the link between stomach disorders, autism and the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine.
For that discovery way back in 1996, and a subsequent research paper published by the doctor in 1998, Andrew Wakefield has found himself the victim of a world-wide smear campaign by drug corporations, governments and media companies.
And while Dr. Wakefield has been persecuted and prosecuted to the extent of being unable to legally practice medicine because of his discovery, he has instead become a best-selling author, the founder of the Strategic Autism Initiative, and the Director of the Autism Media Channel.
But in recent months, courts, governments and vaccine manufacturers have quietly conceded the fact that the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine most likely does cause autism and stomach diseases. Pharmaceutical companies have even gone so far as to pay out massive monetary awards, totaling in the millions, to the victims in an attempt to compensate them for damages and to buy their silence.
The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful, is the cause of half their errors. - John Stuart Mill, 1859Fear. It's a natural and primal human emotion. While human instinct is exceptional in evaluating and reacting to a natural personal risk, as in facing a predator, humans are terrible at assessing modern risks. According to Psychology Today1 this is because our ancestors were programmed to quickly react and respond to a situation before it is even consciously perceived. Our reactions aren't based in logic and statistics, but in lightning fast primitive responses. Threats such as venomous spiders and snakes2 cause an out-of-proportion fear compared with the more likely threat of being killed in a car crash.3 The low risk of a being killed in a shark attack4 evokes more terror than the much greater chance of dying from a prescription drug.5 (Spider and snake bites kill approximately 13 people a year and shark attacks kill 1 person every 2 years in the United States; there were 32,719 deaths in motor vehicle crashes in 2013 and 38,329 people died from a drug overdose in 2010 in the United States.)
Majorities are never a proof of the truth. - Dr. Walter R. Hadwen, 1896
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933
Comment: It's about time the military caught on to the impressive results achievable with the ketogenic diet. Given the reported problem the military are having with obese recruits, and the failure of standard low-calorie interventions, it seemed inevitable that they'd give keto a try eventually.
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