ARE SCIENTISTS AND DOCTORS REALLY SO INFALLIBLE ?

Today's news carries an item about a website called 'Babyjabs' which has been ordered to remove certain advice as it is considered to be misleading.

The website claims that the MMR vaccine may be causing "up to 10%" of autism in children in the UK. Someone has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority and they've determiined that the website has breached its rules.

It is the case that controversy about the MMR vaccine has rumbled on for years with most so-called experts claiming that it hs no detrimental side effects; note that I say 'most'. In the past, we have been told many things by eminent scientists and what they've claimed to be incontrovertible 'facts' have been proven to be nothing of the sort on more than one occasion.

We were told to replace sugar with saccharine, only to subsequently been told to ditch saccharine because it was a potential carcinogen. Antibiotics and then steroids were heralded as new 'wonder drugs' only for both to harbour hidden dangers that were discovered only decades later. We've been told that AIDS would kill us all, then it was BSE follwed by SARS, and we have the annual influenza panic.

Today some scientists tell us that global warming is man-made while others vehemently take an opposing view; some even deny it is happening at all. Genetic engineering of our food is a 'must' according to some and is a potential nightmare according to others; some would like to have genetically engineered people. The artificial extension of human life through such means is seen as a potential boon by some, a terrifying vision by others. People are told that they 'must' take the drugs known as statins in order to reduce their cholesterol levels, but does anyone really know what the long term effects of these drugs are ?

Scientific advance is probably inevitable as long as humans exist but what really matters is how that advance is managed. Many scientists seem to believe that if they can do something then they must be allowed to do it. As a consequence, we have women becoming mothers in their 60s, well beyond any natural span of childbearing, and we have vast sums of money being spent in many other ways that may well be to the ultimate detriment of humanity.

I don't know if the MMR vaccine, or any other vaccines or medication, are truly safe or not. I do know that scientists, of which I used to be one, and doctors, of whom I have known many, are far from infallible. We should all be very circumspect about the banning of controversial claims and points of view of which we disapprove.