Doctor faces misconduct charge over MMR-autism link...
July 11 2007 at 2:22 PM No score for this post
Transit (Login Sevenhigh) Forum Owner from IP address 84.69.89.214
Parents rally in support of doctor facing misconduct charge over MMR-autism link
By Judith Duffy, Health Correspondent
PARENTS OF autistic children are planning a demonstration in support of the doctor
at the centre of the MMR controversy, when he is summoned for a disciplinary hearing next month.
The Sunday Herald has learned that Dr Andrew Wakefield - who first suggested a link
between the triple jab for mumps, measles and rubella, and autism and bowel disease -
is due to appear before the General Medical Council (GMC) on July 16.
His research, published in 1998, led to widespread public fears about the safety of
the vaccine and triggered a decline in MMR immunisation levels across the UK.
Prime minister Tony Blair was even drawn into the row after consistently refusing
to reveal whether his son Leo, now seven, received the jab.....
Dr Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who first suggested a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, is facing a string of charges of serious professional misconduct.
It is the latest development in a long and controversial saga over the vaccine...
...Among the crowd was Celia Forest, whose 13-year-old son Adam took part in Dr Wakefield's study after falling ill three months after having the MMR jab.
She said he became withdrawn, experienced dramatic body temperature changes and had severe gut pain. He was eventually diagnosed with autism.
GPs 'scared'
"I think this witch-hunt is a disgrace. It is being conducted by the British medical establishment.
"Because of this many GPs are too scared to acknowledge the fact that a child has a serious bowel disorder and do not make proper treatment available for them.
"They are scared of being victimised like these doctors. It's all about the drug companies and the money. Vaccines are big business. There is a lot of anger here."
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
Transit (Login Sevenhigh) Forum Owner 84.64.193.123
Dangers of MMR Jab 'Covered Up'
No score for this post
July 16 2007, 1:37 PM
By Lucy Johnston
HEALTH officials were yesterday accused of covering up serious risks linked with the controversial MMR jab before it was introduced.
According to a secret dossier, five cases were reported of potentially deadly brain inflammation following the use of MMR in Canada before it became part of standard childhood vaccinations in Britain.
The internal documents from the Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation also reveal reports that another brand of MMR had caused “neurological complications” from the measles component of the vaccine in the US.
Despite this, from 1988 both brands were administered routinely without any warning of serious risk until they were withdrawn four years later – because of health fears....
In one of the most bizarre and preposterous developments in the long running MMR/bowel disease/Autism debate, Dr Andrew Wakefield is to appear before the General Medical Council, UK, with the possibility that he will be 'struck off' and prevented from practising medicine. It is of the utmost importance that anyone who believes that Dr Wakefield was right to publish his research, joins this public protest.
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
Transit (Login Sevenhigh) Forum Owner 81.79.252.227
MMR TAKE-UP 'LOWER AMONG EDUCATED'
No score for this post
March 15 2008, 11:50 AM
MMR TAKE-UP 'LOWER AMONG EDUCATED'
Saturday March 15,2008
Highly educated parents were more prone to stop their children having the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab during the scare over the vaccine, research has indicated.
A report into attitudes towards the joint MMR injection found a lower take-up rate among parents had gone on to further education.
They were also less likely to to have their children immunised against other diseases following the controversy surrounding MMR, authors of the study found.
Claims that the vaccine increased the risk of autism, first made in a 1998 study for The Lancet, kick-started a decade-long debate over the use of the single MMR jab.
A team from Royal Holloway, University of London, examined data from the Millennium Cohort Study to see how attitudes towards the vaccines changed following the allegations - which have since been debunked by much of the scientific community.
Research found that before 1998, highly educated parents were up to 8% more likely to take up the MMR vaccine than parents who did not go into further education.
But by 2002, the trend had been reversed, with highly educated parents less likely to inoculate their offspring using the MMR jab.
Of those who didn't, around half did not use single jabs either to protect their children against measles, mumps and rubella.
Most of the relative decline in the MMR uptake in highly educated parents happened soon after the controversy broke, researchers said.
The scare also had a knock-on effect on other childhood vaccines. After 1998, highly educated parents also reduced their relative uptake of other "non controversial" immunisations, according to the study.
Transit (Login Sevenhigh) Forum Owner 84.64.10.101
MMR Scare Doctor: How I Made Link With Autism
No score for this post
March 27 2008, 3:19 PM
MMR scare doctor: How I made link with autism
By OLINKA KOSTER
Last updated at 22:07pm on 27th March 2008
The doctor behind worldwide concern over the MMR jab yesterday insisted he was right to seek answers for parents whose children had developed autism.
Dr Andrew Wakefield, 51, who linked the condition to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, said he was simply doing his duty "as a physician and a human being" when mothers came to him for help.
But the consultant now fighting to save his career told a disciplinary hearing he had not ordered invasive tests on children, as has been alleged.
He said he had listened to the firsthand accounts of parents and advised them to seek a referral to his expert colleague because it could have "helped ultimately in treatment or prevention" of medical conditions.
Dozens of campaigners turned up to support Dr Wakefield as he arrived for the first day of his defence case at the General Medical Council in London.
Some had placards proclaiming there had been a "witchhunt" against him, while others held posters of children declaring: "Vaccines took his health - who will take his side?".....
Transit (Login Sevenhigh) Forum Owner 84.66.215.44
Children not able to start school 'without MMR jabs'?
No score for this post
May 11 2008, 2:57 PM
Children will not be able to start school 'without MMR jabs', according to controversial Labour plan
By REBECCA CAMBER
Last updated at 21:52pm on 11th May 2008
Children could be banned from school if they have not had the MMR jab.
Under Labour plans, primary schools will have to demand proof from parents that their children have had the triple vaccine before they are allowed to register.
The proposal, drawn up by the MP in charge of the party's health manifesto for the next election, has outraged doctors' leaders, who call it "Stalinist" and counterproductive.....
Your article reminded me of the words of Carol Caplin in this newspaper in 2004:
"Ever since concerns about a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism first surfaced more than seven years ago, it's been crystal clear that extremely powerful forces would like nothing better than to suppress public debate about the issue and discredit anyone questioning MMR.
"These forces consist of very senior Government health bureaucrats, who advise our politicians, and leading figures in the British medical establishment, who advise the bureaucrats.
"Senior civil servants and doctors are people who do not like their authority challenged in any way.
"They're not interested in listening to mere mothers, whom they would undoubtedly dismiss, with a patronising wave of the hand, as 'hysterical females'.
"So when a courageous lone voice, such as Dr Andrew Wakefield, emerges from within their own ranks, the medical and health establishment see him as a traitor who must be crushed."
And just two year later a former chief scientist, Peter Fletcher, at the Department of Health spoke in almost identical terms (again in this newspaper):
"He said he has seen a "steady accumulation of evidence" from scientists worldwide that the measles, mumps and rubella jab is causing brain damage in certain children.
"But he added: "There are very powerful people in positions of great authority in Britain and elsewhere who have staked their reputations and careers on the safety of MMR and they are willing to do almost anything to protect themselves.""
These are not merely opinions, but the views of two people close to the heart of events. Caplin also warned:
"...the rest of us need to think about the timing of this attack. Strangely, it comes as the parents of 1,000 autistic children are waiting to hear if their claim against the vaccine's makers will be halted by the withdrawal of their legal aid, or whether their appeal against the withdrawal will be successful."
Caplin did not actually tell us that the a brother of the judge presiding in this case was both a director of defendant company Glaxo SmithKline and proprietor of the Lancet, whose editor had just publicly repudiated the MMR hypothesis, and denounced Andrew Wakefield, but it is at least a remarkable coincidence.
Judge Davis was cleared of any failing by the Office for Judicial Complaints last October, a ruling presently being reviewed by the Judicial Ombudsman - a report is expected next month. We await with baited breath.
John Stone
Posted by: John Stone | 18 May 2008 at 10:04 PM
Scoring disabled. You must be logged in to score posts.
