Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy Jump Back Into Vaccination Debate

Couple speak out on behalf of scientist's monkey study, which they say will lend "substantial credibility" to autism-vaccine link

By Natalie Finn Feb 06, 2010 1:02 AMTags
Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthyDave M. Benett/Getty Images

Remember when Jim Carrey was just funny?

The French knight and ladylove Jenny McCarthy are speaking out again on behalf of their pet cause, the continuing quest to prove a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, an incredibly controversial issue that has scared many and polarized many more.

The latest thorn in their collective side is what they perceive to be the virulent smear on the character and work of British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, who authored a landmark paper in 1998 about the possibility that 12 patients with autism and bowel disease were affected by their MMR vaccines.

According to Carrey and McCarthy, Wakefield is now having an awful time getting his current work published, for no good reason other than corporate treachery.

"Dr. Andrew Wakefield is being discredited to prevent a historic study from being published that for the first time looks at vaccinated versus unvaccinated primates and compares health outcomes, with potentially devastating consequences for vaccine makers and public health officials," read part of a long, detailed statement issued Friday by the couple.

Wakefield and his colleagues are "on the brink of publishing their entire study," they wrote. "It is our understanding that the difference in outcome for the vaccinated monkeys versus the unvaccinated controls is both stark and devastating."

"Having denied the possibility of the vaccine-autism connection for so long while profiting immensely from a recent boom in vaccine sales around the world, it's no surprise that [vaccine makers] would seek to repress this important work," the statement continued.

Britain's General Medical Council ruled last month that Wakefield had been "dishonest, irresponsibile and showed callous disregard for the distress and pain of children" while conducting his research in the 1990s.

In 2004, 10 of the 13 authors of the 1998 paper disassociated themselves from the article and the editor of the journal it was published in called it "fatally flawed," according to London's Telegraph.

Meanwhile, there are others, like the 40,000 people who subscribe to The Autism File, which grew from Wakefield's study—as well as Carrey and McCarthy, apparently—who consider the doc a hero.

So obviously they're not alone. But is it encouraging or irritating that McCarthy, whose son suffers from autism, and Carrey are issuing their own epic statements on these complex scientific issues?

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Love or hate her politics, Jenny McCarthy's still part of one of Hollywood's most Famous Families.