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The Spanish cod fishing industry: Radical production changes without significant changes in the innovation system
Manuel González-López Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, ICEDE Research Group – Department of Applied Economics, Campus Norte, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia – Spain, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
This paper studies the changes which have occurred in the Spanish cod fishing industry in the last few years. We also aim to understand the dynamics of industrial change and its relation to institutions, understood here as both formal and informal rules and conventions. Our results suggest that sometimes industries, in order to maintain their competitive position, need something more than incremental changes in their products or in the technologies that they use. As we can see with the Spanish cod fishing industry, major changes are needed which affect the institutional set-up of their production system. Nevertheless, even when major changes happen in the production sphere, this does not mean that major alterations happen in the way companies innovate, i.e. in their innovation system.
Keywords: institutions, innovation, innovation systems, cod fishing, change.
This paper studies the changes which have occurred in the Spanish cod fishing industry in the last few years. We also aim to understand the dynamics of industrial change and its relation to institutions, understood here as both formal and informal rules and conventions. Although innovation and change are usually understood to be key factors for economic success for both territories and industries, sometimes to innovate in a narrow sense is not enough. In some cases the survival of a given industry entails the alteration of existing institutions and major routines (David, 1993). Although some authors have already analyzed this issue (Granovetter, 1992; Grabher, 1992; Lindkvist & Sanchez, 2008), more research is needed to understand in depth the relationship between innovation and institutions. Moreover, we also analyze the changes that occurred in the way how this industry organizes its innovation processes, i.e. the changes in its Innovation System (IS). We try to see whether changes at the production level have come together with changes at the IS level.
The paper proceeds as follows. In section two we discuss the relationship between innovation and institutions in order to achieve a better understanding of such a relationship. We also discuss the importance of the systematic and institutional perspective when understanding a firm's innovation process, based on the well-known innovation system approach. In section three we start by presenting the results of field research conducted in the Spanish cod fishing industry continuing with a description of the production changes that have occurred in this industry during recent years. In section four we try to see if the changes in the productive sphere have also been accompanied by changes in the industry's IS. Finally, some conclusions are included at the end of the paper that summarize our main results and considerations.
Innovation, institutions and change
As pointed out by different authors, during the last 25 years the disciplines of economic geography and regional development have experienced important progress (Martin, 1999; Scott, 2000). Part of this resurgence is due to the contribution of a number of schools and authors coming from different traditions. Among these contributions we could mention the Italian School that recovered the Marshallian concept of industrial districts (Becattini, 1987), the Californian School and the flexible specialization paradigm that emphasized the breakdown of Fordist production forms towards more flexible ones (Scott, 1988; Piore and Sabel, 1984) and the Gremi School based on the concept of "milieux innovateurs" (Aydalot, 1986; Crevoisier, 2004). According to Scott (2000) these contributions shared a general discontent with dominant neoclassical economics. Among other reasons, this is related to the fact that they usually pay attention to the development particularities of territories and sectors, instead of aiming at a general theory fitting all. Another common point was the understanding of the process of economic development as a systemic (interactive) process where the behavior of economic agents is shaped by institutions, rules and conventions. Therefore, each territory and industry will show a specific pattern of development marked by historical, technological, social and cultural factors.
Institutions and innovation
Institutions are closely related to the process of economic change. In this regard Edquist and Johnson (1997, 46) define institutions as: "sets of commons habits, routines, established practices, rules, or laws that regulate the relations and interactions between individuals and groups". Institutions, according to the referred authors, can be formal (such as laws and regulations) or informal (like conventions and habits). Taking the previous definition as a basis we could state that a contradictory relationship between institutions and innovation exists. Thus, institutions, both formal and informal, stimulate innovation because they reduce uncertainties, coordinate the use of knowledge, mediate conflicts, and provide incentives (Carlsson and Jacobson, 1997). Nevertheless, to innovate also implies to alter existing routines, habits and even legal frameworks (Nelson and Winter, 1982; Granovetter, 1992; Hayter, 2004). The former applies particularly when dealing with radical innovations or important changes occurring in one industry. Douglas North (1994) has argued about the nature of economic change pointing out that whilst most of the time it is a matter of decisions based on existing routines and institutions, some changes might entail the alteration of such routines. These decisions: "involve altering existing 'contracts' between individual and organizations. Sometimes that re-contracting can be accomplished within the existing structure of property rights and political rules, but sometimes new contracting forms require an alteration in the rules. Equally, norms of behavior that guide exchanges will gradually be modified or wither away. In both instances, institutions are being altered" (North, 1994, p. 361). We could infer from North's words that although some innovations are made within the existing institutional framework, others imply the alteration of such a framework.
David (1993) has also referred to the previous issue indicating that sometimes, in order to survive, industries must change their entire institutional framework upon which they are situated. "Thus, institutional structures, being more rigid and less adept at passively adapting to the pressures of changing environments, create incentives for their members and directors to undertake to alter the external environment. Since there are many circumstances in which the external environment proves intractable, organizations and institutions are subject (in ways that properly designed technologies are not) to pressures and stresses that may cause them to abruptly collapse and dissolve or to be captured, dismembered and ingested by other competing organizations" (David, 1993, p. 218).
Similarly, Lindkvist & Sánchez (2008) have also discussed the relationship between innovation and institutions, although referring to "conventions" (non-formal institutions). The authors referred particularly to natural resource-based industries and they point out that those industries that have been successful usually show an adaptive behavior of their conventions to new contexts. Nevertheless, other industries show less success precisely because of the rigidity of the existing conventions.
Ultimately we can conclude that there are situations where an industry needs to break the existing institutional arrangements (formed by rules, conventions, norms, etc.) in order to survive. This could mean an entire revolution on their production and IS or just partial changes affecting their components and some of their institutions. As we will try to show in this paper, there are reasons to think that the Spanish cod fishing industry has been involved during the last few years in a deep structural change. Such changes go further than simple innovations in products or processes and have implied important changes also from an institutional viewpoint.
Innovation Systems and the innovative strategies of firms
The systemic and institutional perspective shared by the new schools of Economic Geographers and Regional Economists is also found in contributions that focused their interest on the study of innovation and particularly in the so-called Innovation System (IS) approach. This approach focuses on the specificities shown by the innovative process at countries, regions and industries (Lundvall, 1992; Cooke et al., 1998; Howells, 1999; Malerba, 2002). The IS literature stands on two major theoretical frameworks. The first is the post-Schumpeterian perspective known as the evolutionary school (Nelson & Winter, 1982; Dosi, 1982) which emphasizes, like Schumpeter did, the dynamic character of the economy in contrast with the neoclassical focus on equilibrium. Such a dynamic character would be explained by new combinations of the productive factors –innovations that are path-dependent, i.e. they are determined by previous changes in technologies and – in broad terms – in the economic structure. That would explain why each sector or territory follows different innovation trajectories shaping different IS. The other theoretical source of the IS approach is the so-called "interactive learning theories". These theories understand innovation as a ubiquitous phenomenon that is the product of multiple and continuous learning processes where multiple agents participate.
Although the innovation system approach was initially applied at the national level, it was later extended to the regional level (Cooke et al., 1998; Howells, 1998; etc), and also to the sectoral field. In this regard, Malerba (2002) defines a sectoral system of innovation and production as a set of products (new and existing ones) with specific uses as well as a set of agents that carry out market and non-market interactions aimed at creating, producing and selling those products. Thus sectoral systems own a base of knowledge, technologies, inputs and associated demands. Interactions occurring within the system are the origin of innovations and they are based on multiple channels like communication, exchange, cooperation or competition processes. Individual companies may benefit from knowledge sources in their environment by interacting with and learning from other firms, suppliers, customers, universities, knowledge organizations, and other government organizations (Lundvall 1992; Edquist 1997, etc). Likewise an innovation system can itself be understood as an institution or a set of institutions because it refers to the specific way a sector organizes its innovative behavior, therefore made up of formal and informal arrangements among stakeholders.
The systemic nature of IS does not mean that individual behavior (agency) is not important. On the contrary, a major factor to understand the direction of changes at the industrial level concerns the strategies of firms when confronting market changes (Schamp, 2005). Therefore the decision making by firms related to their internal learning processes or to their responses to external changes will also explain alterations at the IS level. A large literature exists when dealing with different innovative strategies of firms both at an individual and aggregate level (Freeman, 1974, Pavitt, 1984, etc). As pointed out by Freeman (1974), in line with the Evolutionary Theory of firms, organizations differ in part due to their innovation strategies. The author suggested that whilst some companies follow traditional, dependent or imitative strategies and hardly get involved in R&D activities (apart from adaptive R&D), others present a more active behavior regarding innovation (defensive or offensive strategies). A relationship can be found between Freeman's classification and Pavitt´s well-known taxonomy where, based on the analysis of firms' strategies, different sectoral patterns of innovation are identified (Pavitt, 1984). While some sectors, like primary activities or traditional industries, are characterized as "supplier dominated" from the technology viewpoint, others would be more prone to carry on their own innovative activities ("science based" sectors or "specialized suppliers" sectors). We could hence say that the response to technological change varies according to the type of firms and sectors.
The previous contributions, focused on the technological profile of firms and industries, have somehow been challenged by more recent perspectives on innovation. In this sense it is worthwhile to include here the differentiation made by authors like Jensen et al, (2007) between the STI (science-technology) mode of innovation and the DUI (doing, using and interacting) mode. Both modes refer to the channels used by firms (or sectors) to incorporate knowledge in such a way that the STI mode rests more on scientific (explicit) knowledge, while the DUI mode is rather related to implicit or tacit knowledge. The concept of knowledge transfer is substituted here by the concept of learning by doing, using, and interacting. Thus, while the STI is narrowly linked to formal processes such as carrying out R&D activities, formal collaboration with universities and research centers and so on, the DUI mode of innovation rests more on informal contacts between users, producers and providers of products and technologies. Of course both modes might (and do) appear combined in the same sector and even in the same firm, nevertheless the status quo among both modes could be altered by a firm's or the entire sector's strategies when they react to changes in the competitive environment. One of these strategies (usually promoted by public policies), refers to the systematization of the innovation function in order to undertake changes in the production system. When such strategy is extended to the sector level then we could say that an important change in the Sectorial Innovation System is going on.
In this paper we will also try to see whether the changes that have happened in the Spanish cod fishing industry during the last years have been accompanied or not by changes in its system of innovation.
Production changes in the Spanish cod fishing industry
In order to collect the information needed for our research, we designed a questionnaire that was used for the interviews carried out with the companies' managers. The industry is currently formed by five companies, although we finally obtained direct information from four companies since one refused to provide any information. Four interviews were carried out at the companies' headquarters, three interviews took place in San Sebastián (Basque country) and one in Vigo (Galicia). The interviews were carried out between the 23 November and 5 December 2009. In addition, we captured relevant opinions and views from the persons interviewed. On top of the interviews, during the processing of information and in order to clarify some aspects and validate the results, a number of phone calls were made to the companies. Finally, since the sector is very small and all companies know each other, we gained information not only related to each company but to the whole fleet and industry as well.
The Spanish cod fishing industry: Presentation and historical review
The Spanish cod fishing industry is currently composed of five companies that manage a fleet of nine trawlers actively dedicated to cod fishing. At the beginning of 2009, there were six companies but one decided to stop its activities and transfer their fishing rights to another Spanish company. Traditionally, the cod fishing industry was located in two regions: Galicia and the Basque Country. Nowadays, two companies locate their headquarters in Vigo (Galicia), while three are in San Sebastián (Basque Country). Nevertheless, only three vessels are based in San Sebastián (Pasaia port), while the other six have their base in the Port of Vigo.
Total revenues of this industry have varied between €20 and €25m in the last 10 years, where a clear trend (decreasing or increasing) is not observed. Average revenues by firm have varied between €3.3 and €4.5m during that period. Regarding employment, a much clearer declining trend is observed. Total employment has moved from 158 employees in 1998 to 79 employees in 2007. An increase in productivity (revenue by employee) has taken place in the period and this is most probably related to production changes and innovations.
Table 1. General information of the Spanish codfish trawler fleet firms
Location of headquarters
Codfish quote share
Number of vessels actively dedicated to cod fishing
Pesquera LaurakBat S.A. Pasaia – San Sebastián (Basque Country) 9.0% 1
Velaspex S.L. Pasaia – San Sebastián (Basque Country) 14.8% 2
Pesquera Rodríguez S.A. (Pescafria) San Sebastián (Basque Country) 27.4% 2
Pesquera Ancora S.L. (FormerTranspesca S.A.). Vigo (Galicia) 24.1% 2
Pesquera Ancora S.L. (FormerTranspesca S.A.). Vigo (Galicia) 24.4% (*) 2
(*) Valiela has recently bought the quota share of León Marco S.A, the company which stopped its activities in 2009.
The Spanish cod fishing industry has a long tradition and is narrowly linked with the Spanish long-distance fishing history. In 1924, a Galician trawler based in Vigo initiated its cod fishing activities in the waters of Newfoundland. Five years before, in 1919, the Basque company PYSBE (Pesquerías y Secaderos de Bacalao en España S.A.) had been established; nevertheless this company did not start its fishing activities until 1927. In 1929 fishing in Icelandic and Northern European waters took place for the first time. It must be pointed out that in the beginning the Spanish fleet used a single trawler system and the incorporation of the traditional "pair trawling" system did not take place until 1949 (Oya, 1974).
On a global level, the Spanish fishing fleet became the third largest at the end of the 1960s with 15 single and 64 pair trawlers. Catches reached 300,000 tons at that time, basically from the Northwest Atlantic fisheries. As it is widely known, both changes in the International Law of the Sea and stock declines due to over-exploitation forced the reduction of captures (Zeller and Pauly, 2004). Since the establishment in 1977 of the Economic Exclusive Zones (EEZs) in the European Community (EC), Canada, United States and Norway, Spanish codfish quotes have progressively decreased; and at the end of that decade catches had declined to less than 30,000 Tn.
The entrance of Spain in the EC in 1986 marked another relevant point in the recent history of the cod fishing fleet. The EC established important limitations to cod fishing which in practice meant the closing of all community fishing grounds (Baltic Sea, North Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrak) to the Spanish fleet. Meanwhile, the NAFO fisheries suffered a strong crisis at the beginning of 1990s deriving from the ban of cod fishing in those fisheries (Hilborn and Walters, 1992). Since then, the Spanish fleet has developed its activity in the Norwegian EEZ (based on the agreements between this country and the EC) and at the Svalbard fishing ground. The Spanish quota reached around 12,000 tons in 2008 and it was distributed among six companies that, as we mentioned previously, became five at the end of 2009.
Figure 1. Volume of production, codfish, Spain (Tn). 1950–2006
Source: Own elaboration based on FAOSTAT. Global Production Statistics 1950-2007
Codfish production: Traditional systems and recent changes
The traditional method of codfish production of the Spanish trawler fleet was to salt it on-board. This method for salting cod is also known as dry salting or kench curing where solid salt is rubbed into the fish meat, the fish is then pile-stacked in the trawler with alternate layers of fish and salt. The pile salting method results in the dehydration of much of the salted fish because of the increasing pressure from the overburden on the fish in the lowest part of the batch. The salted fish was then landed in the Basque or Galician ports and usually dried again at inner Spanish regions with an appropriate dry climate[6]. Lindkvist et al, (2008) have suggested that this method arose to optimize the vessels' stock capacity since the space on board schooners is limited. This aspect is indeed crucial when dealing with long-distance fishing, as is the case of the Spanish cod fishing fleet.
The technological process described above could be considered a part of a whole production system that also encompassed specific market relationships and conventions. For instance, there were specific commercializing channels for the Spanish fleet to use to sell their "bacalao verde"(traditional denomination of the codfish processed by Spanish trawlers) to Spanish dealers or industrial processers that were in charge of distributing the product to retailers (supermarkets, restaurants, etc). The links between the companies and their clients were in most cases based on long term and well-established relationships founded on mutual trust. In many cases the fishing companies receive purchase commitments in advance (i.e. for fish yet to be caught). Moreover, this particular product achieved a dominant position in the Spanish market during the boom of the Spanish cod fishing industry. It showed a particular appearance (split or butterfly shaped) color (yellow-green) and taste. It also required a specific procedure prior to being cooked consisting of desalting and dehydrating the salted fish over a couple of days. As pointed out by Lindkvist et al, (2008) these conventions and rules were also followed by foreign producers who exported salted fish to the Spanish market.
The traditional process of on-board salting is still in use, although it is being progressively abandoned and substituted with a freezing system. At the moment three companies still maintain the traditional system even though all three combine it with the new one. All in all, in 2009 around 68% of the catches were frozen and only 32% used the traditional on-board salting system. The substituting of the traditional method by the freezing one does not mean that the cod is sold to the final customer as frozen fish since a relevant part of the frozen fish is eventually salted by the processers. This happens particularly with catches landed in Norway (at least two out of five companies land part of their catches in Norway).
Changes in the conservation system were accompanied by other changes related to product characteristics. The Spanish companies of cod fishing currently sell three basic types of products that combine two conservation systems, frozen and salted:
Split cod or "Butterfly". This is sold as the traditional salted fish but in some cases is also landed as frozen cod.
HG (headed and gutted). This is sold mainly as frozen (but part of it is later salted by processers).
Fillets. These are sold by the fishing firms mainly as frozen.
Apart from the previous basic products at least one company has launched other product innovations and is trying to sell little cod loins, "kokotxas" (cod cheeks), etc. Besides, most of the companies have implemented small changes in fillets affecting its appearance (and other aspects) in order to attend to market requirements.
Both product and process innovations have required the incorporation of new technologies. Thus in recent decades, one company has built a new trawler and another has undertaken deep transformation in their fleet. In both cases important changes were made in the processing plants. Innovations here regard the design of more efficient plants, the incorporation of new industrial cold systems, new conservation systems or new packing systems. Related to the previous point we must call attention here to an important issue. Thus, when we asked the company managers about the technologies used in their production process the interviewees indicated that in most cases they have been in use in the fishing sector for a long time. It is just in the last decade that the Spanish fleet has incorporated this already available technology. This means that innovation in the industry did not find technology barriers and therefore the main force for innovation is, very likely, "the market pull" (instead of the "technology push"). (Coombs et al, 1987).
Joseph Schumpeter (1942) used to include the opening of new markets among types of innovation. Relevant changes have occurred in recent years in the Spanish codfish industry also in this field. To some extent the traditional method of commercializing and the associated rules and conventions are still in use. Nevertheless, as in the production sphere, important changes have occurred in recent years.
Firstly, an internationalization process of sales has been taking place. At least two companies are now selling to clients situated in countries other than Spain and one of them (the largest in the industry) sells the majority of its catch abroad. Ultimately, and according to the information obtained from the companies, in 2009 around 59% of total sales took place in the Spanish market, while 41% took place at international markets. An important part of foreign clients are located in Norwegian ports. The cod landed in Norway is usually a frozen cod product that is later salted (and probably a good part of it exported to Spain).
Secondly, some companies have tried to move to other clients apart from dealers and processers. We refer basically to retail chains located not only in Spain but also in countries like the United Kingdom or France. The products sold in these markets are usually fillets (particularly the UK where they are commercialized under the famous dish of "fish and chips").
Generally speaking we can affirm that the launch of new products by the Spanish cod fishing industry has been associated with changes in the market sphere. Thus whilst the traditional "bacalao verde" is sold exclusively to Spanish dealers or industrial processers, the new products are sold mainly to foreign clients, some of them retail branches. Thus the whole production system of the Spanish cod fishing industry seems to have been altered.
Why is the Spanish cod fishing industry changing?
We have seen that the Spanish cod fishing industry is introducing deep changes in its production and commercializing system. The result is the progressive abandoning of the traditional on-board salted fish, the production system that has characterized this industry since the beginning of the last century. The reasons have to do with a strong restructuring occurring in the Spanish salted fish market over recent decades, a process that has been described in depth by Lindkvist et al, (2008). Next we point some factors related to that restructuring:
Social and cultural changes occurring in modern societies have led to a general trend of introducing frozen products into consumer diets. The incorporation of women to the labor market has reduced the time for typical home tasks like daily shopping or cooking in such a way that has made frozen products become very popular. Thus, codfish is increasingly consumed by final consumers as a frozen product, with presentations and tastes that may differ from the traditional salted one. In Figure 2 we can observe how frozen codfish is increasing its relative weight in the Spanish market while salted codfish (included in the category of fresh codfish) has reduced its quota.
Moreover, in the market segment of salted fish (still predominant in countries like Spain and Portugal), traditional on-board salted fish as a product shows some comparative disadvantages. According to the views of Spanish producers this is largely due to the eruption of foreign producers in the Spanish market since the 1980s. This opinion fits reasonably well with the results of the study made by Lindkvist et al, (2008), who highlighted the influence of Icelandic producers' strategies on the dynamics of the Spanish salted fish market. As a result, salted fish produced by a means of alternative salting methods is now dominant in the Spanish market. We refer to methods like direct brining that is more flexible in terms of production time and makes the desalting and dehydrating process unnecessary for consumers (since it is done by the producers). Moreover, a wide variety of salted fish products, like light salted fillets, have been introduced in the market. These products have better acceptance by consumers largely because of their appearance. On-board salting usually gives codfish a yellow appearance that does not attract consumers who associate freshness and quality with a white color. Meanwhile, other methods can salt fish by maintaining the white appearance. Although the Spanish producers insist on the higher quality of their product and maintain that the traditional salted fish does not show cost disadvantages, they are aware of the market changes. One of the interviewees agreed by pointing out that: "it is too late to launch any strategy to maintain the traditional salted fish".
Finally, social, cultural and economic changes have also altered the traditional distribution channels of the Spanish codfish. Large supermarket and retail chains have become the key stakeholder in the Spanish food market, displacing, in the case of salted fish, the traditional dealers and processers that were dominant in the market. According to Lindkvist et al, (2008), this process has also been influenced by the Icelandic producers' strategies that established their own sales network, avoiding the traditional Spanish one: "They (the Icelandic producers) have been able to change Spanish production institutions and distribution systems. With their light salted frozen fillets, they have established innovative and new products that have required a new distribution system and that meet the demands of modern customers in the markets". (Lindkvist et al, 2008, p. 119)
Figure 2.Codfish consumption per capita (Kg/population)
Source: Own elaboration based on the Base de datos de consumo en hogares of Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino.
Changes in the IS of the Spanish cod fishing industry
We have seen how the Spanish cod fishing industry has innovated in different fields but we still do not know if these innovations have been accompanied by changes in the way the industry incorporates knowledge. For this reason we asked the companies about the channels of knowledge incorporation and innovation. By this means we aimed to obtain a simplified picture of the Spanish cod fishing IS.
The results indicate that the companies are rarely involved in explicit innovation activities. Thus, none of the companies undertake internal research and development (R&D) activities, neither do they have specific departments or personnel involved in innovation. The lack of involvement also means an absence of collaboration for innovation with other companies, universities or other institutions. Furthermore, channels for innovation are in general not explicit or formal and show a rather passive innovative role of companies. Thus, all companies use contacts with clients, providers and personnel of other firms to incorporate knowledge. Although the questionnaire did not distinguish between formal and informal contacts, the persons interviewed pointed out that the informal contacts are used most often. All companies use internal learning processes as an innovation channel as well as the attendance of sector fairs or conferences and specialized publications. Finally, the acquisition of machinery is also used by all firms. Other means used, in this case not by all companies, refer to the hiring of specialized personnel or to training activities. The personnel in charge of technological or innovation issues are also employed as a channel for knowledge incorporation although we must indicate here that no company has specific personnel for these tasks but persons who are dedicated just occasionally to this field.
Regarding the importance given to each of the channels used to innovate or incorporate knowledge, the results reinforce the previous ones. Thus, formal and informal contacts together with internal learning processes and the acquisition of machinery and equipment are considered to be the most important channels to innovate. The rest of the channels demonstrate a medium importance, while specialized publications are considered to be of little importance.
Therefore, we are dealing here with an industry that is poorly involved in explicit innovative activities like R&D or formal collaborations for innovation. For this reason, to optimize fishing and processing tasks firms incorporate technology embedded in machinery and equipment bought from world leading manufacturers. This confirms Pavitt's taxonomy where fishing sector was typified a "supplier dominated" sector from the technological viewpoint. Nevertheless the Spanish codfish companies have important advantages that draw on implicit knowledge, most of it coming from informal contacts and internal processes. These advantages draw on the accumulated "know-how" related for instance to the Galician and Basque rich tradition of the distant water fishing fleet. In this regard, even when dealing with the incorporation of new machines and equipment, it is very important to count nearby on world leaders' shipyards. Another advantage regards the established linkages with the Spanish market where "knowing who" (knows the market) and "knowing what" (the market wants) becomes very important. Finally, internal learning processes are also very relevant and, according to some opinions, they draw highly on the role of the captain and the technical inspector who own precise information about all processes happening on-board. All in all, the Spanish cod fishing industry seems to be following the DUI mode for knowledge incorporation and innovation and almost nothing new, as stated by the persons interviewed, has been done in this regard. We could maybe point to a somehow significant change referred to the taking over of a new generation of firms' managers (in most cases the children and grandchildren of the company founders) who is most cases are at higher educational levels than their predecessors.
We can conclude that no important changes have happened in the way the companies incorporate knowledge and finally innovate. While other companies and industries, in order to change their production system, have been forced to undertake an explicit innovative effort and therefore to change the way they articulate their system of innovation, this does not seem to be the case in the Spanish cod fishing industry. On the contrary: the companies rely upon factors that have been "always there" like providers, internal knowledge and so on. For this reason we can affirm that no relevant changes have happened in the IS of this industry.
Figure 3.Use of channels for innovation and introduction of new knowledge into the company
In this paper we have analyzed the changes that have occurred in the Spanish cod fishing industry in recent years. In order to understand such changes we conducted field research to investigate the recent innovative patterns of this industry. Innovations are understood here from a systemic viewpoint, i.e. as the response of a particular industry not only to changes in technologies but also to social or cultural factors. Our results indicate that innovations implemented by the Spanish cod fishing industry go further than simple incremental innovations in products or processes but are accompanied by a deep institutional change. The main driver of such deep changes is the restructuring which has happened in the Spanish salted fish market, the traditional market of the Spanish cod fishing industry. As mentioned, social and cultural changes occurring in Spain during recent decades together with the eruption of the strategies followed by strong foreign competitors have changed the rules of the game in the market.
As a result of the restructuring of the Spanish salted fish market, the tiny Spanish cod fishing industry has been obliged to restructure itself in order to survive. This has been done by different means: a) incorporating the freezing conservation system and progressively abandoning the on-board salting system (process innovation); b) diversifying its product offer by incorporating new products like salted/frozen fillets and others (product innovation); and c) diversifying their market strategies by both internationalizing their sales and selling directly to retailer and supermarket chains.
Nevertheless, in this case changes in the production system do not seem to have been accompanied by significant changes in the IS. The way and channels through which the Spanish cod fishing companies innovate and incorporate knowledge have not changed recently. In order to innovate, the companies basically rely on machinery purchases, internal know-how and informal contacts with clients, providers and other firms of similar industries. The sector fits therefore quite well with the Pavitt (1984) category of "supplier dominated" sector from the technological viewpoint and, from a broader perspective on innovation, it is closer to the DUI than to the STI mode of knowledge incorporation.
Therefore we can conclude that sometimes industries, in order to maintain their competitive position, need something else than incremental changes in their products or in the technologies that they use. Like the Spanish cod fishing industry, major changes are needed which affect the institutional set-up of their production system. Nevertheless, even when major changes happen in the production sphere this does not mean that relevant alterations happen in the way companies innovate, i.e. in their IS.
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Granovetter, M. (1992). The impact of social structure on Economic outcomes. Journal of Economic Outcomes, 19(1), 35-50.
Hayter, R. (2004). Economic geography as dissenting institutionalism: the embeddedness, evolution and differentiation of regions. Geografiska Annaler, 86 (B), 95-115.
Hilborn, R., Walters, C. (1992). Quantitative fisheries stock assessment: Choice, dynamics and uncertainty. New York: Chapman and Hall.
Howells, J. (1999). Regional systems of innovation? In Archibugi, D., Howells, AND Michie, J. (1999). Innovation policy in a global economy. Cambridge University Press, 67-93.
Jensen, M.B., Johnson, B., Lorenz, E., Lundvall, B.A. (2007). Forms of knowledge and modes of innovation. Research Policy, 36 (5), 680-693.
Lindkvist, K. B., Gallart-Jornet, L., Stabell, M.C. (2008). The restructuring of the Spanish salted fish market. The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe Canadien, 52(1), 105- 120.
Lindvist, K.B., Sanchez, J.L. (2008). Conventions and innovation: A comparison of two localized natural resource-based industries. Regional Studies, 42(3), 343-354.
Lundvall, B.-Å. (1988). Innovation as an interactive process: from user–producer interaction to the national system of innovation. In Dosi, G., Freeman, C., Nelson, R., Silverberg, G., Soete, L. (eds.). Technical change and economic theory. London: Pinter, 349.369.
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(Newser) – China's ambassador to Canada accused the country Wednesday of "white supremacy" in calling for the release of two Canadians detained in China last month, while describing the detentions as an "act of self-defense," the AP reports. The arrests were in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a top Chinese tech executive in Canada. But Ambassador Lu Shaye charges in an op-ed in the Ottawa-based Hill Times that Western countries are employing a "double standard" in demanding the immediate release of the Canadians. "The reason why some people are used to arrogantly adopting double standards is due to Western egotism and white supremacy," Lu writes.
"What they have been doing is not showing respect for the rule of law, but mocking and trampling the rule of law." China detained Canadian ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Dec. 10 on vague allegations of "engaging in activities that endanger the national security" of China. In the op-ed, Lu seemed to admit detaining the Canadians was in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, something China has previously denied. Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, called Lu's claims "hogwash." "I don't know what the ambassador was trying to accomplish but his article won't help China's cause. The reference to white supremacy was bizarre and unfortunate," Paris said.
In quite a vague claim, we yet know nothing about the reason for the charges that could hint at what these alluded Canucks were doing.
Grasping at straws...ummmmm, yeah. Talking points...et tu China?


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1. That natural immunity is far superior to artificial immunity.
This is true, but only for a given value of "Better". If you are concerned with antibody production and response to infection over your life time then yes, often immunity acquired via infection by a pathogen can last longer than that stimulated by vaccination. One reason for this is that if you live in an area where vaccine uptake is relatively low (because, you know, they are so harmful) then you will be periodically re-exposed to the pathogen which naturally boosts your immune response. Vaccine induced immunity does tend to wane over the years and if your only contact with antigens (those parts of the pathogen that promote antibody production) is via the Vaccine then the only way to combat this is a booster shot.
Therefore, to benefit from this longer lasting immunity you must actually contract the disease. You must then also suffer through the consequences and complications of that disease. Then you must be periodically re-exposed to the disease to keep antibody production high. Those that survive will have superior immunity to those who don't, I believe it's called "thinning the herd".
2. That breast milk is the best immune stimulator for the baby during the first year of life and that a great deal of immunological protection is provided to the child for as long as breastfeeding continues.
That's fine, I agree that breast feeding has undeniable benefits, but unless you intend to breast feed your child for life, making for the creepiest business lunch ever*, your child will eventually need to acquire immunity in some other fashion. In this instance, see above.
3. That good health, which starts with a balanced diet that includes important vitamins and minerals, is safer, and more effective at preventing many diseases than artificial immunity.
I can't argue that a balanced diet isn't good for you, there is good evidence that ensuring your body has the vitamins it needs does improve your immune response to infection. Beyond this diet is not a replacement for acquired immunity, once again vaccination is the best method of acquiring immunity without actually having to contract and suffer the disease itself.
4. That appropriate allopathic (conventional) and homoeopathic/naturopathic treatment in the event of illness is safer and more effective than trying to prevent illness through artificial immunity.
Homeopathy is not a treatment for anything besides thirst. Apart from that , treating the disease is safer than not contracting the disease in the first place? Are you kidding me? So not only do you have to contract the disease and chance any side effect of the disease itself but also any complications from treating the disease. Seems to me it's better to just sidestep the whole issue and not get sick.
5. That most diseases contracted by a healthy child, at an appropriate age in childhood, provide important challenges to the immune system enabling it to mature and strengthen, and almost always provide lifelong immunity to the disease.
results in severe eye complications and blindness. Measles can lead to longer term brain damage and deafness.
of the immune system, increasing susceptibility to secondary bacterial and viral infections.
But at least we get life long immunity. Surely the purpose of immunity is to prevent us from getting the disease, in that case a wide vaccination policy will do the same thing and also gives us a chance to wipe out the disease altogether.
Then there is the "important challenges" bit, the number of antigens children are exposed to as part of the vaccine schedule is minuscule compared to the number that they are exposed to every day just interacting with their environment. Our normal body flora, those bacteria that call our skin and gut home, outnumber the cells that we would normally think of as "us" by a factor of 10 or more.
This represents hundreds of different species of organisms, add to that the numbers of bacteria we might come into contact with due to food, dirt, household and public surfaces etc. and the number of antigens represented by the organisms prevented by the vaccine schedule can be seen in their proper context – insignificant. Not just insignificant but not even worth mentioning.
6. That the vast majority of childhood infections are benign and self limiting in a healthy, well-nourished, well cared for child with a healthy immune system.
Pertussis is fatal in an estimated one in 100 infants under 6 months, and fatal in one in 200 infants aged 2 to 12 months. Infants under one are also more likely to develop complications (eg pneumonia (20%), encephalopathy, seizures (1%), failure to thrive, and death (0.2%)). Pertussis can cause severe paroxysm-induced cerebral hypoxia and apnea.
Well it's only 0.5-1% of children who die. Tell that to the parents. The best way to prevent this disease is vaccination, not just of the individual child but of all who come into contact with her. Herd immunity is the barrier between potentially fatal diseases and those who are too young to have received the vaccine and those whose immune system is compromised and the vaccine is not as effective.
Diphtheria – The bacterial toxin can lead to nerve paralysis and heart failure. Between 2—10 infected people in 100 die.
Tetanus – The bacteria produce toxins which cause painful muscle spasms and lockjaw. Hospital intensive care treatment is needed. About one in 10 patients dies. The risk is greatest for the very young or old.
Whooping Cough – Covered above.
Polio – About one in 20 hospitalised patients dies and 0.1—2 in 100 patients who survive is permanently paralysed. The overall risk of paralysis is about one in 100. This increases with age, ie, one in 75 adults. There are 2—10 fatalities in 100 cases from paralytic poliomyelitis. Post-polio syndrome may occur 30—40 years after poliomyelitis (ie, muscle pain and worsening of existing muscle weakness).
Hepatitis B – The virus causes liver infection and acute illness. Severe illness is rare in children. Fatalities are rare and are more likely in adults. Some people become carriers of the virus, especially children (six in 100). Liver cirrhosis occurs in one in 20 carriers (half of these will die). Liver cancer occurs in one in 10 male carriers and one in 20 female carriers and usually leads to death.
Pneumococcal – About one in 10 children with pneumococcal meningitis die and one in six survivors will have permanent brain damage. About one in three children will be left with a hearing impairment after pneumococcal meningitis. Pneumonia and septicaemia (blood poisoning) leads to hospitalisation. Less severe illness, such as ear infections, may lead to deafness. Children with medical conditions such as congenital heart disease, some chronic lung diseases, kidney diseases, HIV infection, and children whose immune system is lowered through chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or organ transplant are at higher risk of pneumococcal disease. Children with spinal fluid shunts and with cochlear implants are also at higher risk of pneumococcal disease.
Mumps – In about one in ten people it causes meningitis, but it is usually relatively mild. It causes encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in about one in 6000 people, of whom one in 100 will die, and nerve deafness in one in 15,000 people. If infected after puberty, one in 5 males gets testicle inflammation and one in 20 females gets ovary inflammation. In rare cases this leads to infertility.
Rubella – For women in early pregnancy, 85% of babies infected during the first eight weeks after conception will have a major congenital abnormality such as deafness, blindness, brain damage, or a heart defect. This declines to about 10—20% by 16 weeks of the pregnancy. About one in 3000 patients gets thrombocytopaenia (low platelets causing bruising or bleeding). One in 6000 develops encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). This usually occurs in young adults. This may result in death.
Well, they all sound like a barrel of laughs, and perfectly safe. Seriously, the complications from these diseases are serious while the vaccines are relatively safe**.
That's it for the IAS "philosophies", while there are good recommendations mixed in (healthy diet, breast feeding) mostly it's a collection of misinformation, misunderstanding and distortions. I am of two minds about this organisation as a whole, on the one hand I'm a proponent of free speech and that includes topics that I don't agree with. On the other hand organisations like these have the potential to do great harm, both to individuals and greater society. Balancing these two things can be tricky and where to draw the line between them is not always clear.
On a related note, the Australian based anti-vaccination group the Australian Vaccination Network – has had it's charitable status revoked. Part of this decision was based on the group's failure to place a disclaimer on their website stating that it's purpose was anti-vaccination and that it's information should not be considered medical advice.
Given that the information distributed is often incorrect or presented in such a way as to misrepresent the facts I consider this organisation to fail both the "educational" and "beneficial" aspects of this definition. As such I would question the validity of it's charitable status, but that's for the law to decide not an irritable blogger***.
Finally, for accurate information on vaccines you should head on over to the Immunisation Advisory Centre, which also has a handy list of websites for both Parents and Health professionals.
*Although This can't be far behind.
**No active intervention is 100% safe, no-one is claiming that.
***Similar to irritable bowel only more annoying.
To make a stat truly meaningful you need to state also the number of people who get infected in the first place. For example if in a room of 100 only 2 people get infected then only 1 per 100 of those has a chance of death thats a low illness with low death rate. If 70 out of the 100 get sick and 1 per 100 dies then the amount of death goes up.
First, we should be clear about the incidence rate we are taking about. We should use the rate in non-vaccinated populations as this is the state that anti-vaxxers would like to return to. For Measles the rate has been estimated as 99% infection rate by age 20. Here is a reference to a study conducted in the Netherlands early in their vaccination program which recorded a rate of 91% among susceptible individuals.
But lets assume that the rate is are, say 0.01% of the population. Using simple numbers and not trying to account for age of infection, reservoir populations etc. that gives a number or infected at current world population of (rounded up to the nearest 10 million) 70,000,000. if say one in 1000 die that's about 700,000 deaths.
Now you are actually telling only half of the story. Yes incidence rate is important but so is the risk/benefit calculation. In this case, what is the risk of the vaccine in relation to the benefit? If the risk of the vaccine is lower than that of the disease (it is), then is is worth giving.
We are not taking here about diseases that occur in only a few tens of individuals world wide and a medication that costs thousands of dollars. These are relatively common illnesses (in unvaccinated populations) and a vaccine that is relatively cheap to produce and distribute. Or are these deaths not worth averting if we have the capability?
A few minutes after being vaccinated my child had a full blown siezure tyhen became unconscious and could not be roused. We went immediately back to the doctors and about one half hour later our son come out of his coma. We were refered to a pediatrician who informe us it was nothing. He then was diagnosed as autistic. When applying for ACC we got to view our child's medical records. The nurse had lied and said he was easily roused and it was the equivalent of a burp. The pediatrician we saw had written in words to the effect that he thought he had sucessfully blown us off. We don't trust medical personal now.
"First do no harm." You imply that the Hypocratic oath should be broken because it is more important for man to prove his superiority to nature than for man to not brain damage and cripple children. That is what they are doing and it is criminal. It is criminal to assault children and permanently injure them. And there is a criminal conspiricy operating within our society to injure our most vulnerable. My son is living proof. Save the medical experiments for the death camps. Keep your hands off our children.
I thought everyone was supposed towait in the doctors office for 20 minutes after a vaccination? Or is it different with child vaccinations?
This is a complete misrepresentation of the argument on this blog. While what happened to your son is terrible, that is no reason to twist the points made in this post.
Michael, indeed it is advised that you wait. We had to wait after my son's vaccinations but I don't know it that is enforced if you insist on leaving.
Anthony, first let me say you have my sympathies for the situation with your son.
That said, you have made an argument that rests on the assumption that the vaccine and subsequent seizure are causally related to the autism diagnosis. This is simply not borne out by the many studies performed in this area.
Second I do not in any way imply that the Hippocratic oath should be broken. You ignore the fact that taking no action also has risks. The consideration is not "give the vaccine and risk the side effects or do nothing and everything will be fine" it is between the side effects of the vaccine (which are known to be rare) and the consequences of contracting the diseases and the complications which can arise from this.
Your appeal to conspiracy is over dramatic and serves the dual purpose of giving you someone to blame for you son's conditions and a convenient way to sweep discomfirming evidence under the rug. If it goes against your convictions it's simply part of the conspiracy.
Finally, using your son's medical condition and appealing to his medical files to support you case is completely legitimate but I would point out that it is simply a rhetorical device if no-one else can view the file and confirm your version of events.
As you seem willing to use the files in this way I'm sure you won't mind making the records public so they may be examined by both sides.
But you have. And you have no need of confirmation of the events but mere logic to see that you have indeed implied that the Hippocratic oath should be violated for what you deem to be the greater good.
As for me twisting the point, it rather the other way around. All I see is excuse making so a fellow human being can destroy another fellow human being because s/he is convinced it is for the greater good. Where have we seen that before?
And don't bother with the psycho-analysis as logic proves my point and your jugglery can't hide your moral turptitude.
Go a head, knock yourself out. Until then consider me a skeptic. I have experience and you have your beliefs and word twisting. The vaccinations could be done differently but that would cost more.
Moral turpitude? For wanting evidence and thinking that diseases have consequences?
Demonize your opposition if you like but anger and vitriol does not a convincing argument make.
And thanks for the moderation. Ignoring the fact that indeed you imply the nullification of the Hypcratic oath and instead issuing an ad hominem does not a convincing argument make. That should be the sauce not the meat.
So did you not have to wait 20minutes after the injection before leaving the doctor's?
You are completely mispresenting Darcy's argument in a most aggressive manner.
By using the "first do no harm" simplification you are making medicine seem more simple than it really is. For example, if someone uses chest compressions there is a risk of breaking ribs which is "doing harm" by your definition. Does this mean people should not attempt to revive someone who heart has stopped?
Anthony, what I am say regarding the Hippocratic oath is that both action and inaction have consequences. Are you saying that doctors should not perform any action if there is even the remotest possibility of harm? The entire medical profession would be paralysed.
No ad hominem was intended in my remarks, if you received them that way then I'm sorry. But questioning my morality and implying that I would endorse death camps is not appreciated either.
posted over Michael's comment, no duplication intended.
Another article you overlooked in your black and white strawman above. This ain't either, or – this is about our children.
The comment held for moderation due to the links has been approved. Sorry something screwy happening with the notifications. I didn't even know there were new comments on this post until the notification for Michaels comment came through.
Apparently you haven't gotten the memo that Whale.to is not a reliable source.
And I'm afraid neither is personal experience. No judgement implied, it's simply true.
I did find this study regarding autism in vaccinated vs unvaccinated populations. No info on whether the autism was regressive, so you've got me there.
Discrediting of a single scientist does not bring down the consensus I'm afraid. Unless you think all of the scientists working on this are morally bankrupt like myself?
'whale.to' is not exactly a reliable source of sound scientific information.
That's it for me tonight, long day of nefarious deeds you see. I'll look at the last paper tomorrow, but skimming the intro does not give me high hopes for it's veracity.
Yeah… about as I figured.
That is an example of the hippocratic oath in action. Just blindly sticking foreign living beings into people without doing serious personal reserch on the matter, I would suggest, violates it both in word and spirit.
There is also a recent study that reported an inverse relationship between diagnosis of childhood mental illness and autism; it would suggest the shift in diagnosis is the main factor in the apparent rise in autism cases.
Hmm, seems just two links is enough to trigger moderation… Hope you can grab that Darcy.
MMR isn't a "live" vaccine and the live things in the few that are live vaccine aren't "living beings" but weakened viruses.
Vaccine development involves a *lot* research well before they get used.
180 out of how many? And were they doing this on the basis of evidence of harm, or due to philosophical objections to what might be called 'mass medication' (not exactly the same thing)? I would have read the JAMA article (which appears from what you quote to be a letter) except that I can find nothing with that title in volume 9 of JAMA from 1992. If you can provide a more detailed reference I'd be keen to have a look at it.
I see the letter was written in 1992 – where do these same physicians stand now, following a rise in measles morbidity & mortality following on from the publication of Wakefield's fraudulent study?
Scientists would agree that there is a strong genetic component to autism, but not with the author's statement that this arises from the 'overuse' of vaccines. There is no credible evidence, given the very low doses involved, of mercury toxicity arising from vaccine use, for example. I see that the original article has been cited only twice, which indicates that the ideas it promotes don't have any real level of support in the scientific community.
Viruses are not by any definition of the word 'alive', whether attentuated or otherwise.
I know, they tried to get a genetics test for my son, but he would not co-operate (I would, he wouldn't). But then you have the problem that that may only show a genetic propensity for the vaccine to do damage. This as far as I can tell is not considered. The spook in the head is that the vaccines are fine and the problem must lie elsewhere and yet the level of autism is such that it just can't be a case of better diagnosis. So when the researchers go in with a pre-conceived notion they are already working at a disadvantage to find a solution, though it seems to me from my experence they don't want to find a solution. My kid hasn't even been offered a simple mri to check for any brain damage or malfunction.
So, excusing me for being skeptical.
"Viruses exist in two distinct states. When not in contact with a host cell, the virus remains entirely dormant. During this time there are no internal biological activities occurring within the virus, and in essence the virus is no more than a static organic particle. In this simple, clearly non-living state viruses are referred to as 'virions'. Virions can remain in this dormant state for extended periods of time, waiting patiently to come into contact with the appropriate host. When the virion comes into contact with the appropriate host, it becomes active and is then referred to as a virus. It now displays properties typified by living organisms, such as reacting to its environment and directing its efforts toward self-replication".
Yeah and pluto suddenly isn't a planet.
So viri are not alive when they are "weakened"?
I know, I can read. Perhaps you might like to make clear what you mean – it reads many different ways, none of which made sense so I gave you the benefit of the doubt, i.e. in your favour (so I find it bit rich for you to be short to me in reply). You can't dismiss research done by others by insisting that only "personal" research done by you is valid, so I presume it can't be that. Testing on one person wouldn't demonstrate anything conclusive, so it can't be "personal" in that sense. If you mean "personal" in the sense that each doctor has to research it for themselves: in the sense of understanding how and when to use medicine yes, but not in the sense of conducting 'research' that determines how to make them, their proper usage, etc – no. Doctors certainly should (and do) read an understanding of the use of the medicines they prescribe, but the research work to establish how they are made, their safety and usage, etc., is done by scientists and regulatory bodies. So that doesn't fit either.
I know, they tried to get a genetics test for my son, but he would not co-operate (I would, he wouldn't).
There is no genetic test for autism: there is no means for him or you to.
But then you have the problem that that may only show a genetic propensity for the vaccine to do damage.
There is no genetic test for this either, even if it were a meaningful thing to test for.
Obviously you can't read. Where did I say there was a genetics test for autism? Duh. No where. I was discussing with the lady the "strong genetic component to autism" she mentioned.
So a "living being" is not "alive"?
As for all that spurious verbage about the word 'personal', you seem to end up on a note of "argument from authority". On a point of personal acceptance of responsibility that doesn't wash.
I am daily forced to accept my responsibility. It is about time others accepted theirs.
Fine. If your intention is just to be rude, twist my words to make me have said things I didn't—as you did several times in your last two comments—and generally write childish taunts, then I won't bother try help. I try put up with people who are a bit moody or just misguided for whatever reason (life happens) but in the end I have no obligation to help you, and there is only so much rudeness and stupidity I want to put up with.
Basically, if you want people to help you, I suggest you be polite to them.
This cut and paste of my work history seems typical of your arguments – using information you do not understand to make dubious arguments. My work in medicinal chemistry has largely focused on enzyme inhibitors and has been funded by academic and not industry funding. More specifically, most of my work involved looking at potential HIV protease inhibitors.
Even though I have a background in medicinal chemistry my personal view is that medicines should only be used when necessary (years as an asthmatic has convinced me of this).
If you are going to argue at a scientific level perhaps you should learn a little science first. Learn that medicinal chemistry is a very wide field, learn that the plural of virus is viruses not viri. Learn that whaleto is not a reputable resource and that just because you can find something on the internet does not mean it is true.
If you want to continue arguing using insults, pseudoscience, innuendo and emotion then expect to most other bloggers here to counter your arguments with real science.
You still have not explained why, if your child suffered a seizure minutes after receiving the injection, you were not still at the doctors.
Perhaps you should consider that life is not completely controllable and therefore perhaps it is unreasonable for you to "accept your responsibility".
Also perhaps you should consider the consequence of not vaccinating children – how would you feel if you had not and your child had been debilitated by measles, mumps or rubella?
Had a quick look at the paper, like Alison I don't think the statements within are held up by the research.
Just looking at the introduction, the statement "That the occurrence of autism has risen steadily in the last decades is not in dispute." actually is in dispute, there certainly is an increase in diagnosis but whether this reflects a true increase in incidence or can be attributed to other factors is a question that is being researched.
Autism and diagnostic substitution: evidence from a study of adults with a history of developmental language disorder.
Social influence and the Autism Epidemic.
Each of these studies find that a proportion of the apparent rise in Autism can be explained by factors other than a true increase in incidence. The first two alone may account for 50% of the increase due to diagnostic substitution (Mental Retardation and developmental language disorder respectively). The third looks at social factors in receiving an autism diagnosis and notes that the chances are greater when living in a community with other diagnosed ASD children. This could be due parents communicating and assisting each other to find the help they need.
This does not mean that there is not a true increase but that is exactly what needs to be established before we go looking for something to blame.
I don't have the expertise to comment on the entire paper but skimming further down I do see statements that are correct but irrelevant. Such as "Vaccines are not 100% effective", NO ONE argues this.
One of the statistics cited is that >60% of patients infected with Measles are vaccinated. Well, given that in many countries where vaccination for Measles is performed compliance is generally greater than 80% and often greater than 90% this means that proportionally, vaccinated children are less likely to contract the disease. Exactly as we would expect.
The point of vaccination is to both prevent individual occurrence of disease and to reduce the disease's ability to spread through the population. If this is done consistently and effectively eventually the disease can no longer transmit itself and becomes extinct. Or for individual populations at least no longer endemic and must be brought in from the outside for new outbreaks to occur.
If this is the level of argument used in the entire paper then I'm not impressed.
If this is done consistently and effectively eventually the disease can no longer transmit itself and becomes extinct.
This is only true if we are the only host for the disease organism. Smallpox is the classic example of this.
If humans are the only host, and you wipe it out in humans, then it's gone.
This isn't true for, say, influenza where natural hosts include birds and pigs. Even if you got rid of all human infections, the disease organisms would still be out there and if you stopped vaccinations they'd infect people again.
Yes, of course Grant. Thanks for the clarification.
So a "living being" is not "alive"?
Viruses aren't alive. They are incapable of carrying out any life processes themselves & can only replicate when their DNA is taken up by/inserted into a host cell. At which point expression of that DNA results in the host cell producing a bunch of viral proteins & nucleic acids & assembling them into new virus particles. It's a far stretch to go from that to saying that a virus is itself 'alive'.
I personally know, and have friends who know, of children who became autistic after vaccines. One child died. One child stopped growing for two years and had bone issues. The facts are that there is NO evidence that vaccines perform according to the claims of their manufacturers. The claims on this website about the effectiveness of vaccines is wishful thinking.
@Scott, the problem is with anecdotes such as yours the best you can say (and you do) is the children exhibited symptoms of autism after getting vaccines.
Given that autism starts to exhibit noticeable symptoms around the same time as childhood vaccines this is to be expected. To assert that therefore vaccines caused the autism is to commit the post hoc ergo propter hoc (or after this therefore because of this) fallacy.
I'm sure you can see that for causal relationships the effect must be seen after the cause, but simply because an event occurs prior to another event does not mean they are causally related. For instance I could say that this morning my mail was delivered and right afterwards I was in a car accident, therefore receiving mail causes car accidents.
This could be true, I live rurally and the mail is delivered via a large van turning into our driveway to access the mail box, this could have caused an accident in any number of ways. Is it then prima facie reasonable to simply assert that receiving mail causes car accidents based on my single anecdote though? No, we need to investigate the question using evidence.
Such is the case with vaccines and autism, at one time the vaccines cause autism hypothesis was a reasonable one (at least in so far as it was worth investigating, if only to rule out such a connection) but this time has passed.
The topic has been studied many times from many different angles and it has turned out that vaccines do not seem to raise the risk of developing autism like symptoms. In some cases the risk is actually seen to decline.
Unfortunately certain members of the public have decided that rather than accept the scientific findings and focus their energy on more productive things (support groups, funding research into genetic/other environmental causes etc) that they prefer to vilify the scientific community, surround themselves in a comfortable echo-chamber of reinforcing ideas and basically cut themselves off from evidence because they just "know".
You are welcome to your perspective but simply asserting things without evidence is not welcome.
scroll down to the section "Summary of Key Research about Vaccines & Autism" for specific studies.
Hmmm, my vaccination history is similar.
When I was 3 months old I received a vaccine, 1 week later my doctor reported I had the worst case of tonsillitis he had ever seen in his career. When I was 29 I received a vaccine for hepatitis, 1 week later glandular fever that turned into chronic fatigue, that cost me my job, wife and life.
The web is full of anecdoltal cases of illness after vaccination.
It's not that people turn against science, it's that when their health turns against them suddenly they look for insights.
Look at the numbers of people who put RA into remission with dietry changes .
I'm sorry you've been affected by poor health. Unfortunately while this feels compelling to you all I see is life happened toyou, and you also got vaccinated. A single experience is not supporting data. You may well argue that it's not just you.
But life happens to other people too.
surely that surname ^ is made up?
In response to the assertions you've made – back them up. Data please or it didn't happen.
There are studies showing that in the hands of specialists, autism can be detected very early (i.e. before vaccines are given).
Autism has a strong genetic component and it's generally thought that autism arises very early it's just that parents recognise the symptoms much later and some try associate them with other things going on in the kid's life at that time even though these things aren't the cause of their child's autism.
There are many studies testing for a link between vaccines and autism, and finding none.
Vaccines have to pass testing in order to be approved; they have evidence prior to their public use.
#3 the US government has paid out over three BILLION dollars to families of children who have been injured by vaccines. This was recently disclosed to the US Senate.
At some stage your healthy scepticism needs to look around a bit and recognise that big pharma , politics and PR have more than a minor effect on studies.
Nargarious things happen in big business, agreed.
Of course nefarious things happen in big business, does that mean you should willingly make use of products which are created by questionable companies? I find it difficult to understand why anyone in their right mind would trust these companies given their track records. If a car manufacturer was found to have lied repeatedly about the safety aspects of a vehicle I am sure that most would avoid purchasing said vehicle, and hopefully any vehicle that the company made in the future. Unfortunately, most are not willing to exercise the same caution when it comes to vaccines, and under the weight of media and social pressure they allow them to be injected into their own children without first verifying that the source is trustworthy.
define "trustworthy". Without reference to Illuminati, Big Pharma, or colonialism.


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Just how safe are high-security labs?
Shabdita Pareek | March 13, 2015
A recent lab mishap has raised questions about the overall culture of lab safety in so-called high security labs.
Five rhesus macaque monkeys at the Tulane National Primate Research Center near New Orleans have displayed possible infection from Burkholderia pseudomallei bacteria after it was somehow released from the research facility. A worker at the research center is also believed to have been exposed to the bioterror bacteria, according to USA Today.
Federal and state authorities are looking into how the deadly bacteria escaped the secure biosafety level 3 lab and infected animals that were not a part of the ongoing research. The CDC has denied any danger to public health and has halted the research with the bacteria.
Biosafety level 3 labs are advanced labs where research involving 'select agents' is carried out with the most stringent security to ensure pathogens don't leave the lab or infect the lab workers. Yet, accidental releases like this one are becoming common in such facilities.
The incidence rate of deadly pathogens escaping high security laboratories raises questions about security measures inside the labs. From jeanbaptisteparis.
According to the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, some 395 "potential release events" of "select agents" in U.S. government laboratories have been reported between 2003 and 2009.
Not long ago, 80 workers were exposed to life threatening Anthrax at the Atlanta CDC lab when scientists sent samples of Bacillus Anthracis that was believed to be inactive to a lower security lab.
A similar accident took place when CDC scientists shipped highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu thinking it was a relatively harmless strain of bird flu.
Lax attitude in ensuring tighter safety measures inside labs
In light of growing concerns over safety in biolabs, the European committee for Standardization (CEN) adopted the CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) 15793 in 2008—the first internationally accepted framework to improve safety in facilities handling deadly pathogens.
However, the implementation of this framework is another story altogether. Despite World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations that organizations adopt CWA 15793, the CDC has failed to do so, citing lack of resources as a reason.
The CDC, however, has its own safety guidelines for laboratories handling deadly pathogens, which were released following the accidental release of Anthrax in the Atlanta lab.
Marc Lipsitch, professor of Public Health at Harvard, writes in the New York Times that any experiments with contagious, virulent flu strains carry the risk of spreading the disease. He also asserts that despite the researchers' belief that a lab is very safe, the risk cannot be brought down to zero.
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Fisher-Price issued a warning about use of the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play after 10 infant deaths.
Parents using Fisher-Price's Rock 'n Play Sleeper with their young babies, take note.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Fisher-Price issued a warning Friday "due to reports of death when infants roll over in the product."
Since most infants start rolling over around 3 months, the warning advises consumers to stop using the product by 3 months "or as soon as an infant exhibits rollover capabilities."
The government safety commission said in the statement it is aware of 10 deaths since 2015 "after the infants rolled from their back to their stomach or side, while unrestrained. All 10 infants were 3 months or older."
The warning applies to all models of the Rock 'N Play.
The joint statement says Fisher-Price has warned consumers to stop using the product when infants can roll over, but "the reported deaths show that some consumers are still using the product when infants are capable of rolling and without using the three point harness restraint."
Neither the statement nor a second one on Mattel.com mention any product recalls.
The product "meets all applicable safety standards," Fisher-Price general manager Chuck Scothon said in the statement on Fisher-Price's parent company website.
"A child fatality is an unimaginable tragedy," Scothon said. "Fisher-Price has a long, proud tradition of prioritizing safety as the cornerstone of our mission. Generations of parents have trusted us for almost 90 years to provide safe products for their children."
The joint statement says the commission and Fisher-Price "remind consumers to create a safe sleep environment for infants, whether using a crib, bassinet, play yard, or inclined sleeper. Never add blankets, pillows, stuffed toys, or other items to the environment and always place infants to sleep on their backs."
"To ensure a safe sleep environment for infants, we remind parents and caregivers to follow all safety warnings included with the product," Scothon said, "always use the provided restraints, always place infants on their backs to sleep, and make sure that no pillows, blankets or extra padding are placed in the Rock 'n Play Sleeper."
The government's statement also reminds "consumers to create a safe sleep environment for infants, whether using a crib, bassinet, play yard, or inclined sleeper."


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Silicone injection study in HIV patients shows good results
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — With about 50 percent of HIV patients suffering from facial lipoatrophy and with several possible methods of correction, there is a healthy interest within the aesthetic community as to what works best to treat a rapidly growing problem.
Derek Jones, M.D., has taken part in a four-year open pilot trial to determine the efficacy and safety of highly purified 1000 centistoke silicone oil for HIV-related lipoatrophy. Early results from the study are to be published soon in the Journal of Dermatologic Surgery.
To date, 700 patients have been injected with the silicone oil with an off-label usage; highly purified 1000 centistoke silicone oil has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for intraocular injection for the tamponade of retinal detachment.
Dr. Jones has worked on this study with doctors Alastair Carruthers, M.D., David Orentreich, M.D., and Harold J. Brody, M.D., with Dr. Jones having treated about 400 of the 700 patients involved to date.
So far, Dr. Jones and his group are pleased with the results, but he notes, "We don't know the long-term safety of this treatment, so the patients have to be followed very, very carefully. We do have some patients who have almost four years' follow-up. But we really need to follow patients for five to 10 years before we pass judgment on long-term safety."
Silicone, of course, has been the subject of much debate — in the medical and social realms alike. Dr. Jones acknowledges this, citing its detractors believe that silicone is ultimately too unpredictable.
But, he says, "People who do a lot of this kind of thing, like David Orentreich and others who have a wealth of anec-dotal data to rely on, say that the incidence of serious complications should be rather low, using a very highly purified substance and microdroplet injection technique."
Furthermore, two studies with Dow Corning's injectable silicone MDX-4-4011 were completed in the '70s and '80s. In those studies, the results of liquid injectable silicone injected in 200 patients with facial lipoatrophy not related to HIV suggestsafety and efficacy of highly purified silicone injected correctly, with only a 1 percent severe complication rate.
The current study protocol calls for a strict microdroplet serial puncture technique (0.01 mL microdroplets injected at 2 to 4 mm intervals into the subdermal plane with a 30-gauge needle), with the filler injected in limited amounts (2 ccs per treatment) at monthly or longer intervals. Prior to treatment, Dr. Jones suggests a topical anesthetic such as benzocaine, because injectable anesthetic might alter the pre-treatment facial contours.
Just one complication Thus far, out of 700 patients, the group has only recently encountered a single patient who developed a complication. That patient experienced a hardening of the silicone in the treated areas. The patient had surgical Alloderm implants that had reabsorbed prior to the silicone injections, and Dr. Jones was considering whether that played a possible factor in the current complication. But, either way, the complication has not been disfiguring and is being treated with antibiotics and steroid injections, he says.
Dr. Jones finds highly purified 1000 centistoke silicone oil to be a desirable substance to treat these patients for several reasons. First, the volumes of temporary fillers required for optimal correction are cost-prohibitive.
Secondly, the correction with temporary fillers dissipates within a few months and these patients often demand fillers that are permanent.
Third, liquid silicone is the only permanent filler that can be legally used on an off-label basis in the United States without a formal Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA. With liquid silicone, he believes, the results are good, and more importantly, he says, "It is by far the cheapest filler substance that we have on the market these days, on a volume-per-volume basis.
So it is extremely cost-effective for these individuals who require a fair amount of volume to correct their problem."
And, as a patient's lipoatrophy progresses, he finds that silicone tends to be "more supple, more forgiving, like regular soft tissue," unlike another permanent option, surgically placed rigid implants.
TAGS: Surgical Procedures


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Battleground Bengal: Mamata launches slew of schemes; Nadda to visit state next month
Under the "Duare Duare Paschim Banga Sarkar" (West Bengal government at every doorstep) scheme, the administration will set up camps in blocks, Banerjee said.
Published: 24th November 2020 08:14 AM | Last Updated: 24th November 2020 08:23 AM | A+A A-
BJP National President J.P. Nadda. (Photo | PTI)
BANKURA: Ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced schemes for redressing grievances of people at the block level and providing motorbikes to youths to help them run small businesses.
Banerjee, while speaking at a public distribution programme at Khatra in Bankura district, also claimed that the BJP-led central government was not in favour of giving free treatment to COVID-19 patients.
Under the "Duare Duare Paschim Banga Sarkar" (West Bengal government at every doorstep) scheme, the administration will set up camps in blocks, from which officials will redress grievances of people, she said.
"There will be 'Duare Duare Paschimbanga Sarkar' camps in every block of West Bengal. In these camps, representatives all departments will look into the requirements of people and try to fulfil them, if possible, immediately," the chief minister said.
Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said that such camps will start from December 1.
She also launched the "Karmai Dharma" (Work is worship) scheme under which two lakh youths will be provided with one motorbike each with assistance from cooperative banks.
ALSO READ | AIMIM's key Bengal leader, many functionaries join Trinamool ahead of state polls
"There will be boxes on the back of the bikes (for carrying items to be sold). Youths will be able to sell sarees, or clothes or any other articles. This initiative will help them run a family," the chief minister said.
At the programme held at the Sidhu Kanhu Stadium, Banerjee also said, without elaborating, that the government will be providing 100 per cent scholarship to those in genuine need of it.
The Assembly election in the state is due in April-May 2021.
On the treatment of coronavirus patients, Banerjee said, "They (the central government) will not give us anything throughout the year. They will also not allow us to treat COVID patients free of cost. They have not helped us in any way. They tell lies and threaten officers."
Meanwhile, BJP national president J P Nadda will visit the state in the second week of December to take stock of party organisation before the 2021 assembly polls, party sources said on Monday.
In a late night development it was decided that he will pay a two-day visit between December 7 to 10, state BJP sources said "The dates are not yet finalised. It will be decided within the next few days. The probable dates are between December 7-10" a state BJP leader said.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh had last week said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda will visit the state every month till the end of the West Bengal assembly elections next year.
ALSO READ | Meeting between Trinamool and Suvendu Adhikari inconclusive, another round again
Nadda had paid a day-long visit to north Bengal last month, while Shah was in the state for two days earlier this month.
After having a limited presence in the politically polarised state for decades, the BJP has emerged as the main rival of the ruling Trinamool Congress by winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019 general elections.
With the BJP's strength increasing in the state in the last few years, its leaders are upbeat that the party will be able to end Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's 10-year rule in the state polls.
Election to the 294-member state Assembly is due in April-May next year.
Mamata Banerjee JP Nadda Trinamool Congress BJP Bengal Elections 2021 Bengal Polls 2021 Duare Duare Paschim Banga Sarkar


FTP is another commonly used application. It is the Internet standard for file transfer. We must be careful to differentiate between file transfer, which is what FTP provides, and file access, which is provided by applications such as NFS (Sun's Network File System, Chapter 29). The file transfer provided by FTP copies a complete file from one system to another system. To use FTP we need an account to login to on the server, or we need to use it with a server that allows anonymous FTP (which we show an example of in this chapter).