J-Rad, I'm glad you responded, as you always lend a reasoned voice to these issues. I was using the febrile seizures finding, small as it may be, to illustrate that we don't always know as much as we think we do, and this may apply to vaccinations. As I've noted numerous times here, I'm not anti-vax, but I am in favor of pursuing any additional lines of research that will enable our healthcare system, vaccinations included, to be as safe and effective as possible. Being a parent of 2 young children only increases my interest in the topic. It irritates me to hear others state that we already know everything there is to know about vaccine safety and further exploration is a waste of time and resources.
On the Wakefield point, the statement by Dr. Klein in the LA Times article simply jogged my memory as to a similar recommendation of separating vaccines instead of utilizing combo vaccines. It wasn't meant to be an exact parallel.
The issue of statins is somewhat intriguing to me. Indeed my interest was piqued by the kind of looking more deeply into the original sources you suggest. Dr. John Abramson was one author who sort of opened my eyes to what goes on in policy making, particularly with respect to statins. He (and others by now) has gone through the data with a fine toothed comb. Statins are such money-makers that they appear to be immune to criticism to a large degree. Now, as we see in the current isssue of Archives, the evidence appears to be mounting that statins ain't all that. But, because of the heavyweights that back statins and the incredible amounts of profits involved, these critical findings and comments will likely go largely ignored and statins will move closer and closer to being added to the water supply (joking, but you get the point).
Our medical system is clearly flawed, but I agree with you that there is an awful lot of good about it too. But I don't believe that an "alternative" medical system is automatically better. I do, however, believe that non-pharma-centered approaches can be useful, a notion that usually falls on deaf ears given the way our system is designed (i.e., the one's with the money have the most influence, regardless of whether they are right). So, perhaps that subtext is reflected in my comments at times.
