Dear VRAN Members & Friends,
Just a year ago Dr. Andrew Wakefield was crucified in the international press and broadcast media when the
British Medical Journal (BMJ) charged him with scientific fraud for allegedly altering data in an investigation of 12 children with intestinal abnormalities and behavioural disorders. The children were evaluated by a team of pediatric experts at a London hospital in the mid-1990s and their findings published in the
Lancet in 1998 as a small "case series."
Wakefield and his team described a novel bowel syndrome that developed in these children. Onset of behavioural symptoms in the previously normal children was reported by the parents to have followed measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination in 8 of the children, with measles infection in one child and otitis media in another.
Accused of having falsified the study findings, Wakefield found himself discredited as a medical researcher, the target of a vicious character assassination, and blamed for the decline in MMR uptake and sporadic measles outbreaks in Europe and North America.
Earlier last year, conflict of interest disclosures revealed that the BMJ Group receives funding from the two manufacturers of the MMR vaccine, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline.
It's a new year and Andrew Wakefield is fighting back. On January 3, 2012, Dr. Wakefield filed a lawsuit in Travis County, Texas against the
British Medical Journal, its editor Dr. Fiona Godlee and tabloid reporter Brian Deer who authored the factually distorted and defamatory article and editorial. Details of the lawsuit can be read here:
http://www.drwakefieldjusticefund.org/
The 1998
Lancet publication of the case series brought global attention to a link many parents and physicians believe exists between autism and children who suffered adverse reactions from MMR vaccine. While the paper humbly admits that, "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps and rubella and the syndrome described", it does draw attention to known medical references that implicate measles virus in the following disorders: "Disintegrative psychosis is recognized as a sequel to measles encephalitis, although in most cases no cause is ever identified. Viral encephalitis can give rise to autistic disorders, particularly when it occurs early in life. Rubella virus is associated with autism and the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (rather than the monovalent measles vaccine) has also been implicated......Gupta commented on the striking association between measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and the onset of behavioural symptoms in all the children he had investigated for regressive autism. Measles virus and measles vaccination have both been implicated as risk factors for Chron's disease and persistent measles-vaccine strain virus infection has been found in children with autoimmune hepatitis."
http://www.vaccinesafetyfirst.com/pdf/LANCET%20pdf.p...
The
Lancet paper raised a shrill uproar in the medical community who saw it fuelling an already suspicious public psyche that was fast losing confidence in MMR vaccine safety. Rather than listen to the real life experiences of affected families, rather than engage in meaningful studies of the growing numbers of affected children who regress into autism following the current aggressive vaccine schedule which includes two doses of MMR vaccine, rather than do credible safety studies, the medical community chooses instead to shoot the messenger, brand Wakefield as a charlatan and carry on business as usual.
But things that affect the health and lives of our children are not merely "business as usual". Today everyone knows someone with a child who is either learning disabled, or autistic, has a behavioural disorder, a neurological disorder or autoimmune disease or suffers a complex combination of these syndromes. As Judy Converse says referring to the pediatric profession seemingly asleep at the wheel, "A generation of children has slipped through their fingers, fallen victim to chronic disabilities and diseases, and they aren't doing anything about it."(VRAN Newsletter - fall 2011)
The damning "fraud" allegations leveled against Wakefield were used by the British medical establishment to cover up the neurological damage suffered by thousands of British children who were injected in the late 80's and early 90's with a newly licensed measles, mumps & rubella (MMR) vaccine known to be highly reactive by health officials. They injected it into their children despite knowing that Canada had stopped using the vaccine because of its propensity to cause meningitis.
As a whole, the vaccine establishment practices the very deceit they are accusing Wakefield of. They are guilty of shoddy vaccine safety science that has NEVER proven the safety of the triple live virus measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. They have never undertaken the long term studies to look at all health outcomes in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children to insure that they are not seeding the population with a legacy of chronic diseases. The vaccine establishment has relished using false allegations against Wakefield as clearcut evidence disproving a link between MMR vaccine and autism when it is nothing of the sort as the evidence is based on a provable pack of lies.
The demand letter sent by Dr. Wakefield's legal team to the
British Medical Journal and Brian Deer lists the malicious, false and defamatory statements published by the BMJ and Brian Deer and refutes them systematically, showing clearly how the BMJ & Deer distorted and manipulated the information. For those interested in this case, the demand letter is a clear and concise rebuttal to every false accusation made against Wakefield. It juxtaposes the lies and distortions promulgated by BMJ and Deer with the irrefutable facts about specific circumstances and facts related to patient records and diagnoses given to the children involved in the
Lancet paper:
http://www.drwakefieldjusticefund.org/images/wakefie...
Bill Parish, Wakefield's attorney, said, "The legal team looks forward to proving the falsity of the claims made by Mr. Deer, Dr. Godlee, and the
British Medical Journal in a court of law. Unfortunately," Parish continued, "many Texas residents were misled by the allegations. We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight."
"It's a great day," said Ed Arranga, director of the Dr. Wakefield Justice Fund. "We look with resolve to the future and stand united in our moral duty to correct this terrible wrong and prove Dr. Andrew Wakefield innocent of the allegations made by the BMJ, Fiona Godlee, and Brian Deer." "I know him to be a man of honor and integrity," said Jennifer Larson, a mother-advocate and Wakefield supporter. "It has been a tough year watching Dr. Wakefield be falsely accused of research fraud and there comes a time when we must stand together for the truth." Larson continued, "That time has come."
The DR. WAKEFIELD JUSTICE FUND was established by friends and supporters to fund the legal fees and related expenses in order to respond to false claims made against Dr. Wakefield; expose the corrupting influence of special interest groups behind these allegations and protect Dr. Wakefield's work from both profit-and politically-motivated censorship and retribution. Read more about these efforts here:
http://www.drwakefieldjusticefund.org/
In a January 9th press release, internationally renowned whistleblower and expert on institutional fraud, Dr. David Lewis accused the
British Medical Journal of institutional research misconduct. David Lewis is a former senior-level research microbiologist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He is an expert in the collection and examination of colonic biopsy samples. He has devoted the past year to meticulously reviewing all of Dr. Wakefield's research records to verify their accuracy.
Dr. Lewis is a respected expert on institutional fraud, is a member of the National Whistleblower Center (NWC)Board of Directors and Director of its Research Misconduct Project, and is a former senior-level research microbiologist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He writes, "Increasingly, important areas of scientific research are being manipulated by government agencies, large corporations and leading universities to promote and protect their own interests. Suppressing independent research that threatens their interests is key to their success."
Dr. Lewis is calling for a formal investigation into the practices of the
British Medical Journal (BMJ), the actions of its editor, Dr. Fiona Godlee, and Brian Deer, who accused Dr. Wakefield of fraud. Dr. Lewis writes, "Apparently scientists who question certain government policies and industry practices can be destroyed for a price. If so, this kind of tabloid science poses a genuine threat to public health."
Read Dr. Lewis's press release and access his detailed report,
Apparent Egregious Ethical Misconduct by British Medical Journal, Brian Deer here:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2012/01/whistleblower-sci...
Another worthwhile read is Dr. Lewis's analysis of the original research done by Wakefields's team of experts at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
In the next few days, check out the our In The News column on the main page of the VRAN website for another view on the Wakefield case by VRAN science researcher Susan Fletcher.
Last September, Columbia University published a major study supporting the link Dr. Wakefield established between autism and enterocolitis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3174969/
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