Dr. Andrew Wakefield/Autism Epidemic Continues - Totals for 2004-2005

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Dr. Andrew Wakefield/Autism Epidemic Continues - Totals for

2004-2005

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:52:32 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

(See letters and comments below this negative article)

 

September 11, 2005

 

MMR scare doctor faces list of charges

Brian Deer

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1774388,00.html

 

THE doctor who sparked a worldwide scare over the MMR vaccine faces a

six-week hearing before the General Medical Council (GMC) over

allegations of serious professional misconduct, including dishonesty

and intending to mislead.

 

A list of preliminary charges served on Dr Andrew Wakefield alleges

that his research, which purported to find a possible link between MMR

and autism, led to 11 different counts of misconduct.

 

It is claimed in the papers that he acted unethically, in a manner

likely to bring the medical profession into disrepute and against the

best interests of autistic child patients.

 

The GMC's lawyers are halfway through a two-year inquiry into events

surrounding the publication in February 1998 of a paper in The Lancet,

the medical journal, written by Wakefield and 12 other doctors from

the Royal Free hospital in London.

 

The paper triggered what was to become a worldwide alarm among parents

over the safety of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

This was followed by falling immunisation levels and sporadic

outbreaks of infectious diseases.

 

MMR vaccination in Britain had been running at 92% but after

publication of the Lancet article fell to 78.9% in the first half of

2003. The most recent figures show a rise to 81.7%, although the

figure for London, the area with the worst take-up, is only 70.5%.

 

Following a Sunday Times investigation last year, the authors of the

Lancet paper, except Wakefield, retracted the claim of a possible link

with autism. The journal said it regretted publishing the paper.

 

The GMC's inquiry, expected to conclude at a public hearing next June,

is understood to be investigating Wakefield's work with lawyers who

were trying to sue MMR manufacturers while he was apparently acting as

an independent researcher.

 

In the original Lancet paper, the only evidence against MMR were

statements by the parents of eight children who linked the vaccine

with autism. The GMC is now trying to establish how many of them were

lawyers' clients.

 

At the heart of the GMC's allegations is the conduct of research

carried out at the Royal Free following the award of a £55,000

contract from lawyers in August 1996 to perform tests on 10 children

for the Legal Aid Board. Wakefield claimed last year the £55,000

contract was for a " quite separate " study. This is called into

question by confidential Royal Free documents, including letters from

Wakefield himself.

 

These documents indicate that the lawyers' money was initially

rejected by the Royal Free's medical school, but that Wakefield then

arranged for the hospital's management to accept it and to pay it back

to his research interests. The hospital has denied any wrongdoing.

 

The GMC is also understood to have put it to Wakefield that he did not

have approval from the hospital's ethics committee either for

including data on specific children in The Lancet or for soliciting

other doctors to perform potentially hazardous tests, such as lumbar

punctures.

 

" These tests were, however, determined and routinely carried out on

the children who formed part of the study without consideration of the

individual history, diagnosis, symptoms and clinical needs of the

children, and without an adequate evaluation of the necessity of the

tests, " the GMC papers allege.

 

The purpose of the research is alleged to have been to advance a

theory of Wakefield's that live measles virus in MMR damages the gut,

allowing large molecules derived from food to enter the bloodstream

and then damage the brain.

 

Other allegations levelled at the 49-year-old former gut surgeon

include that he called for a boycott of MMR without clear evidence

that the vaccine could cause harm; that he knew children were

recruited to his research through anti-vaccine pressure groups; that

he retained and used human tissues without consent; and that he failed

to answer questions from the government's chief medical officer.

 

Sources indicate that in recent months additional complaints have been

levelled at Wakefield by senior doctors and scientists, questioning

much of his research since the early 1990s. These are understood to

include claims that MMR and related vaccines may be responsible for

the inflammatory bowel disorder Crohn's disease, and other research

papers, in The Lancet and elsewhere, making claims about autism.

 

Since leaving the Royal Free " by mutual agreement " in 2001, Wakefield

has worked mainly in America, where he continues to campaign against

MMR. He has also started a business in Austin, Texas, to carry out

research on autistic children.

 

Wakefield, through his lawyers, declined to comment this weekend on

the GMC's allegations, but it is understood he denies any misconduct

and insists he has acted properly.

 

Earlier this year he said through lawyers that the Lancet paper was " a

report of findings of tests which had been performed solely on the

basis of clinical need " and therefore did not require ethical

approval. He denied any conflict of interest over the legal funding.

 

A statement on the website of his Texan company said this weekend:

" Despite continued misrepresentations in the media on his work, he and

his collaborators continue to focus on evidence-based medicine and the

clinical histories of the children that are affected. "

 

The GMC declined to comment on the documents but said preparation of

the case was continuing.

 

********************************************************************

 

 

Dear Editor:

 

This is a response to your September 11, 2005 article titled

" MMR scare doctor faces list of charges. "

 

My answer to the GMC is that they are on a witch hunt against Andrew

Wakefield, MD when they should be concentrating on stopping the

epidemic of regressive autism.

When children with autism have elevated measles antibody titers in the

blood, measles in the gut and even measles in the spinal fluid, not

found in normal children; then something is radically wrong. This

important and crucial science should be investigated further rather

than having witch hunts done on good researchers/doctors like Andrew

Wakefield, MD.

 

In the 1600s we had the Salem witch trials in the U.S. where

unfortunate women were killed over non-scientific accusations based

only on superstition.

It looks like the GMC is following in the tradition of those people

that led these Salem witch trials in the 1600s.

The GMC is not the least interested in what is causing the autism

epidemic. They are only interested in protecting the pharmaceutical

companies.

 

Our own family has suffered because the MMR vaccine has never been

tested regarding it's safety. There has never been any independent,

long-term safety studies done on the MMR vaccine or any other vaccine.

My 16 year old daughter wrote this article with picture titled " From

Here to Delaware. "

See....

http://williamshaffer.org/raygallup/from_here_to_delaware_by_julie_gallup/index.\

htm

I hope this letter will be printed because there are both sides to

this story and it seems only one side is being told at the moment.

 

Raymond Gallup, Founder

TAAP (The Autism Autoimmunity Project)

Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034 USA

http://www.taap.info

Ray

 

*****************************************************************************

 

Brian Deer,(MMR scare doctor faces list of charges,last week)

continues his campaign to try to discredit Dr Andrew Wakefield,his

former colleagues of The Royal Free Hospital and also parents of

previously normal children, who developed a painful bowel disease and

neurological damage following their MMR jab, claiming that they were

drawn from " anti vaccine pressure groups " .All of those children were

given MMR by pro vaccine parents in the first place and the majority,

including my own son, have been given their full course of other vaccines.

Mr Deer omits to mention that it was his allegations that form the

basis of the complaint to the questionably delayed proceedings of the

GMC enquiry, now scheduled for June 2006, following his articles in

the Sunday Times and his Despatches television documentary last year.

These were closely followed by the sudden withdrawal of legal aid for

hundreds of unfortunate children. This left them and their parents,

whose only open recourse for investigation into their acquired

disintegrative condition had been through the courts,abruptly without

legal protection or professional advice to even conclude the fatally

fractured court proceedings. Medical litigation in English law is

presently highly weighted in favour of defendants, effectively on the

basis of absolute proof and the impossible costs involved versus the

vast legal resources of global pharmaceutical giants, protected and

backed from legal redress by government product licences. It is time

that this imbalance was corrected through an independent enquiry on a

level playing pitch.

 

Richard Miles

 

 

******************************************************************************

 

As a British Psychologist, specialist and author on Autism and related

spectrum disorders, I am always interested in media articles which aim

to spin the truth out of existence when drug companies are under the

spotlight. I am just so sorry it is the Sunday Times which I have

always held in high regard.

 

I have evidence of many children reacting to vaccines then developing

illnesses and neurodevelopmental disorders,and what Andrew Wakefield

found from his perspective, helped to form the picture of what has

been happening to vast numbers of children.

 

I struggle to establish how this 'News' item is actually news. Clearly

nothing has emerged recently as the GMC have refused to comment. So

one can only assume that Mr Deer felt this was an appropriate

political moment to re-hash the vilification he started,

 

After reading the Vioxx article he wrote, I naively thought we may see

a better standard of reporting in relation to damage which can

invariably be inflicted by man made vaccines and drugs. Sadly, it

would seem that Mr Deer is making this personal.

 

Sincerely

 

Lisa Blakemore-Brown

Psychologist

 

------------------

 

 

TAAP

I have received the latest totals for autism from the Department of

Education (DOE) for 2004/2005 for the 50 states, Puerto Rico and the

District of Columbia.

 

They are disturbing.

 

Vijendra Singh, PhD has to leave the autism research field because of

the lack of funding and Andrew Wakefield, MD has similiar problems

besides being electronically bugged.

Here are recent articles in the UK and Japan regarding the effects of

the MMR vaccine.

 

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1379771,00.html

 

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030314a7.htm

 

Below are the charts on the Autism Epidemic with the latest

figures..................

http://taap.info/epidemic.asp

 

Children with Autism Ages 6-21 Served Under IDEA

 

 

 

School Year Students Percent Increase

 

1994-95 22,780

1995-96 28,813 26.48

1996-97 34,082 18.28

1997-98 42,487 24.66

1998-99 53,561 26.06

1999-00 65,391 20.86

2000-01 78,717 20.37

2001-02 97,847 20.61

2002-03 118,603 21.21

2003-04 140,920 18.81

2004-05 166,302 18.01

 

 

 

 

 

Children with Autism Ages 3-5 Served Under IDEA

 

 

 

School Year Students Percent Increase

 

2000-01 15,581

2001-02 17,032 9.3

2002-03 19,017 11.6

2003-04 22,724 19.5

2004-05 25,901 14.0

 

 

 

Unfortunately, research into autoimmunity and autism is not a priority

because of the pharmaceutical cartel. Until it is a priority, this

autism epidemic will continue.

 

Very unfortunate for the families and children involved.

_______

 

Raymond Gallup, Founder

The Autism Autoimmunity Project

http://www.taap.info

 

DEFINITION * TREATMENT * PREVENTION

Autism is 1 in 150 children today, 1 in 68 families! TAAP (The Autism

Autoimmunity Project) is a non-profit charity dedicated to obtaining

funding for independent research into the cause, treatment and

prevention of autism and other autoimmune disorders. Please learn

from our mistake and " Educate BEFORE You Vaccinate! " For more

information visit our website at www.TAAP.info and " TAAP into the Truth! "

 

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