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Autism Doc claims government led witch hunt against him

Sep 28 2008

by Phil Doherty

Sunday Sun

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-east-news/2008/09/28/autism-doc-claims-government-led-witch-hunt-against-him-79310-21915131/

THE man at the centre of the triple jab controversy has accused the

Government of conducting a witch hunt against him.

Dr Wakefield has been pilloried by the medical establishment

after he voiced fears 10 yeas ago the Measles Mumps and Rubella

inoculation could cause autism in some kids it was given to.

Now working in the USA, he was called back to appear before a General

Medical Council disciplinary hearing earlier this year to answer

charges of serious professional misconduct.

Speaking for the first time since the hearing was adjourned in July, he

said: “What the establishment does is throw stuff at you continuously

and then tie you up for years with things like the GMC.

“It is not a question of not vaccinating. I’m not against vaccinations.

I don’t know for sure vaccines cause autism but I suspect they do. The

opposition just states categorically it does not. But they don’t know

either.”

Dr Wakefield and two other colleagues professor Simon Murch and

Professor -, were summoned to the GMC disciplinary

hearing over allegations that research they conducted on children

breached ethical codes.

If found guilty they face being struck off the medical register.

This follows years of being reviled in parts of the medical world after

they published a scientific paper in the Lancet that said there could

be a link between the MMR vaccine, and autism and bowel disease.

At a Press conference in 1998 Dr Wakefield said while further research

was conducted to see if there was a link, parents should have the

single inoculations instead of the triple jabs. At the time of the

research it was claimed he had been paid to carry out another study to

find out if parents who said their children were damaged by the MMR had

a case.

The Lancet said this was a potential conflict of interest and if they

had known they would have rejected the research paper.

Dr Wakefield said: “I was accused of going beyond the science when I

suggested that parents should have single jabs until the MMR had been

properly assessed for risk.

“I had assessed the data and the safety study relied upon by the

Department of Health and it was derisory. It was no way as good as the

research into the single jabs.

“Bernadine Healy, the former head of the US National Institute for

Health, admitted they had altered evidence on the epidemiological

studies conducted by the US Government to suit the official line. She

admitted the evidence both the US and UK relies on is useless.

“The UK Government has a big dirty secret that it doesn’t want the

public to know . . . they agreed to under write any compensation claims

for the MMR. This is why they can’t and won’t let their position fail.

“It was inevitable I was going to be dragged in front of the GMC

because I dared to question big business. They always come after those

who don’t toe their line.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “We believe that the vaccine has

an excellent safety record and studies have confirmed this belief.

“Neither population-based studies or studies in individual children

have confirmed a link between MMR vaccine and autism.”

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