A professor who links vaccines to autism and funded through the university portal | Society

A British professor who claimed that aluminum in vaccines is linked to autism raised more than £ 22,000 to support his work via an online donation portal of Keele University, the Guardian reveals.

Professor Chris Exley angered health experts for claiming that small amounts of aluminum in inactivated vaccines, such as HPV vaccines and whooping cough, could be at the same time. origin of "the most serious and disabling form of autism".

In 2017, the bioinorganic chemistry professor published an article on aluminum found in the brain tissue of five autistic patients, shared tens of thousands of times by online vaccine skeptics, despite criticism from experts for his lack of control and the small size of his sample. .

The research was funded in part by a grant from the Institute for Research into the Safety of Children in Education, a US-based organization that defies the safety of vaccines.

A Guardian request under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that since October 2015, Exley had received £ 22,173.88 in donations to support her work, ranging from £ 2 to £ 5,000. More than £ 11,000 of contributions were made between January and April 2019. The majority of donations are less than £ 100.

Exley told the Guardian:[The money is used to] Supports the basic running costs of my lab and is not badociated with any specific projects. It is the nature of a donation compared to a grant. "

Exley is group leader of the Birchall Center of Keele University, which studies the role of metals in the biology and materials science. Keele University said it does not support its claims about the links between aluminum in vaccines and autism, adding: "The university strongly supports the NHS vaccination policy by recognizing the importance of current vaccines in protecting the health of children and adults in the UK and around the world ".

In April, the GoFundMe crowdfunding site defeated a campaign launched by Exley supporters to fund its research because it allegedly violated the company's policy against promoting misinformation about vaccines. The teacher has never received any funds from the GoFundMe campaign. Keele University has reviewed its own funding arrangements for Exley and has since created a new grant system offering "a higher degree of transparency".

Asked about the relevance of Exley's research funding portal by Keele University, Paul A Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, said he was not worried. on the nature of the funding of a study, but only on its scientific quality.

Offit added, "If a person makes a hypothesis, for example, if a parent is worried because his child has received an aluminum-containing vaccine and fears that this has caused his child's developmental delay or a delay in development. Autoimmune syndrome, it's a good question to ask. . And it's a question that answers. Public health and academia respond by answering this question.

"What matters is the strength and internal consistency of the study, the robustness and reproducibility of the data. Period."

Offit cited a 2017 study examining the relationship between aluminum levels in the blood and hair of children aged 9 to 13 months, their vaccination history and their cognitive development, without finding a relationship.

Exley's paper on aluminum in the brain tissue of five autistic patients in 2017 has been shared more than 50,000 times on Facebook.

Professor Heidi J Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said social media companies should team up with scientists to combat the misinformation of vaccines online.

"Social media companies have the expertise and access needed to tweak algorithms to mitigate rather than amplify negative information, but the identification of inaccurate and inaccurate content. likely to cause illness or death should be guided by health and scientific experts.

"The key problem is that public health and the scientific community must become more agile and responsive, and be much more present in the social media space. This is where the public lives and we are not there.

In a statement, Keele University said, "Although we have processes to ensure that all academic research is conducted in strict ethical procedures, it does not necessarily mean that the personal views of academics in the course of The interpretation of their research represent those of the institution as a whole. . "