Wakefield and Colleagues Should Be Knighted, Not Persecuted

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field and Colleagues Should Be Knighted, Not Persecuted

U.K. Medical Inquiry Threatens Scientific Inquiry & Progress in Autism

The National Autism Association (NAA), SafeMinds, Unlocking Autism,

Generation Rescue, Autism One and Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) wish

to express support for Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues who are

unjustly facing a fitness to practice hearing by the General Medical

Council (GMC) of the United Kingdom. Dr. Wakefield, a pioneer in

autism research and treatment, begins his historic testimony today.

The undersigned organizations, along with other U.S. families affected

by autism, join in spirit with the U.K. families who are demonstrating

today at the GMC offices in London.

The GMC prosecution is a frontal attack on the health and well-being

of those around the world who have an autism spectrum disorder.

Scientific and medical progress in this field will only be made

through open minded thinking on how best to treat and prevent the

disabling conditions that accompany this complex diagnosis. The GMC's

actions have a chilling effect on the practice of medicine and

suppress honest and open scientific inquiry.

Dr. Wakefield and his team of elite researchers at the Royal Free

Hospital in London did exactly as they were called to do by their

professional curiosity and ethics - find out why so many children have

autism and whether gastrointestinal problems play a role in the

disorder. Their seminal 1998 paper published in The Lancet reported a

series of observations whose common features had coalesced as a new

syndrome, autistic enterocolitis. The parents of many patients noted a

link between the onset of symptoms and receipt of the

measles-mumps-rubella combination vaccine (MMR), but out of an

abundance of caution the Lancet paper claimed that the study did not

prove an association between MMR and autism. Rather, it prudently

called for further research.

The underlying goal of the GMC hearing is to take Dr. Wakefield and

colleagues to task for daring to even hint at a vaccine-autism link.

The " official " reason is to determine if the scientists profited from

their research, but in fact the inquiry is a desperate tactic by

vaccination proponents to quiet those who raise questions about the

safety of current vaccination practices such as combining three live

viruses into the single MMR injection. Recent developments in the U.S.

have vindicated Dr. Wakefield's hypotheses. Gastrointestinal problems

are now known to be present in many autistic children and

gastroenterology has become a standard discipline for autism medical

care. The U.S. court for vaccine injury compensation has found that

vaccination against multiple diseases on one day led to a case of

regression into autism in a child who was developing normally.

Dr. Wakefield should be knighted for his cutting-edge creativity, not

persecuted. He made his hypotheses a decade ago, and the rest of

science is just now catching up. The public health bureaucrats and

their agents - in the U.K. and the U.S. - are more interested in

covering up their own misdeeds, poor judgment, or inaction. These

include a refusal to make the single monovalent measles, mumps, and

rubella vaccines broadly available in response to legitimate concerns

over the safety of the triple MMR injection, a refusal to conduct a

valid study comparing the rate of autism and other health outcomes in

vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, and a refusal to reexamine infant

immunization schedules to increase safety. Autism spectrum disorder

rates in the U.K. may be as high as 1 in 66 and in the U.S. they are

said to be 1 in 150 children, but the public health establishment

refuses to declare autism a health emergency, refuses to apply the

resources to understanding the disorder, and refuses to conduct the

type of unbiased research required.

The U.K. medical establishment has driven Dr. Wakefield from his home,

but his loss is America's gain. We are blessed to have Dr. Wakefield

as Director of the Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin,

Texas. In a few short years, this has become an international mecca

for research, education, and treatment for children with autism. We

look forward to a fair GMC hearing and to further ground-breaking

research from Dr. Wakefield and his team.

For more information about autism and the undersigned organizations,

visit www.autism.org. Details about today's rally in London are

available at http://www.cryshame.com/.

National Autism Association

SafeMinds

Unlocking Autism

Generation Rescue

Autism One

Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)