Compulsory MMR jab a human rights issue
Calls to make MMR jab compulsory
A rash of media coverage hit the headlines and TV in the UK this week with calls from a former chairman of the British Medical Association for the MMR vaccination to be made compulsory for children going to school. His call was echoed by some health ministers all toeing the "party line" that measles is set to reach epidemic levels again given the loss of faith in the MMR vaccine from fears over links to autism—fears which they say are now discredited.
This so-call 'discreditation' refers in no small part to the current UK General Medical Council case against Dr Andrew Wakefield that is set to resume on June 8th. Dr Andrew Wakefield is one of a team of doctors that found a possible link between the MMR vaccine and autism and published a study in the Lancet in 1998. For those that might not be familiar with our previous features on this topic, we recap from our Vaccine Choice campaign page:
"The study was published in one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals, The Lancet in 1998. Dr Andrew Wakefield and colleagues from the Royal Free Hospital in London reported specific bowel symptoms in a prospective case series of twelve consecutive vaccinated children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and other disabilities, and alleged a possible connection with the MMR vaccination. In the wake of the paper’s publication, the doctors faced a massive assault from the media, the vaccine manufacturers, the government, the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) and a large clutch of doctors. They were accused of professional misconduct, booted from their jobs and in March 2004 the GMC announced it was going to instigate an inquiry."
The enquiry has been running for 18 months at the cost of taxpayer's money and is just about to resume for another 3 week sitting on June 8. That the sudden fears of a measles 'epidemic' and the calls for compulsory vaccinations are unrelated to the very well publicised Wakefield case is a little too coincidental in our view.
You can read some of the top headlines below:
Call to make MMR jab compulsory
MMR jab should be compulsory for all children starting school, expert says
Childhood vaccinations should be compulsory, says former head of BMA
Sharp end of new MMR controversy
Comment from the ANH Medical Director, Dr Damien Downing MBBS MIBiol:
The real culprits in the vaccination debate are the governments which have refused to make available single vaccines for mumps, measles and rubella, which the evidence so far indicates will not trigger autism. When parents are threatened with exclusion of their child from school unless vaccinated, it becomes a human rights issue.
On the ‘Today’ show 4 June and on the BBC website, it was reported that Sir Sandy Macara had called for children to be prevented from attending school unless they had been vaccinated. The report referred to "now-discredited link between vaccination and autism"; this is not true.
On ‘Today’, on the 28/11/2008, Professor David Salisbury stated that “Measles rates have risen as a result of the ‘scandal’ about media scares over MMR” “Measles is a dangerous disease” and “The MMR-Autism link has been disproved”
To be fair, what Professor Salisbury actually said was ‘it has not been proved’, which is true; but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It is certainly not discrediting. A reasonable guesstimate of the truth that will no doubt eventually emerge — that is now emerging gradually — is that MMR is a minor factor in precipitating autism, but that toxins, particularly mercury preservatives in vaccines, are a major factor.
More troubling is the government’s attempt to pillory Dr Andrew Wakefield for publishing the conclusion of research and clinical practice that suggested a link between the MMR vaccine, bowel disease and regressive autism in some children. He was ethically bound to do this and the Lancet editor, Richard Horton, said in the GMC hearing that “the science still stands”, and that he “wished, wished, wished that the clock could be turned back and the paper be considered in the light it was first presented.” The MMR-autism link has certainly never been disproved, but the mercury-autism link continues to gather weight, and the epidemic of autism continues unabated.
Martin Walker, investigative writer, wrote “What concerns me about the defence of all three doctors is that no information has been given to Panel members about the prosecution’s motive, shaped by the much larger environment of vaccination, vaccine damage and its denial.”
Read Martin Walker's latest account of the Wakefield court case.
In addition, nearly two years after it was first leaked in The Observer, Professor Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge* have published their survey of the prevalence of autism in that area. The leak said it was running at 1 in 58; the paper now says 1 in 64. This means that comparing Baron-Cohen’s own figures now and when he last examined the question, autism rates appear to have risen by two thirds in a decade. And by 21-fold in 3 decades.
Prevalence of autism over the last 30 years. Rate per 10,000 (Cambridgshire, UK)
No question then of “epidemic denial, the bizarre idea that current autism rates have been with us forever” as a US Institute of Medicine conference described it in 2007? Actually, yes; the authors attributed the rise to improved awareness and detection! I thought that Bernard Rimland and others had put this to rest, not least in a 2000 article in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine.
With regard to the media frenzy on this it is surprising and very disappointing that the BBC in particular, while scrupulous about fairness on most topics, appears consistently to allow only the one "party line" on this issue, which is now set to become a human rights issue.
* Scott F, Baron-Cohen S, Bolton P, Brayne C. Brief Report: Prevalence of autistic spectrum conditions in children aged 5-11 years in Cambridgeshire, UK. Presented at the All-party Parliamentary Group on Autism, London, 15 May 2000.
Addendum: Update email and appeal for funds from Martin Walker
The next round of the GMC hearing begins on June 8th and continues until June 26th. The three weeks of hearing will be taken up with the last two closing speeches on behalf of Professor Simon Murch and Professor Walker-Smith.
My reports of these three weeks will be set against the backdrop of the major changes in vaccine policy announced recently by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that has now taken responsibility for national vaccine policy. And against the background of the campaign being waged by Lancet editor Horton and the friends of David Southall, to award legal and regulatory immunity to all pediatricians.
In the last few weeks, the reason for the interminable foot dragging over this GMC Fitness to Practice hearing has become increasingly clear. The government and the JCVI needed to put into place it's new policies and bring an end to any right that parents might have to argue that their children should not be vaccinated. They have now achieved this by declaring that "all children have a right to vaccination" and therefore no parent has any right on any grounds to deny any vaccination to their children. The final part of this policy is the continued denial, by pediatricians, NHS officials, The Sunday Times, Brian Deer and a good number of ignorant money-grabbing politicians, that there is any such thing as vaccine damage.
My days in attendance at the GMC, have not been the happiest days of my life. But this is undoubtedly an important period in British Medical Politics and I will continue to cover the hearing, especially for the parents of vaccine damaged children who cannot get there themselves.
I would like to remind you that nine of my essays have just been published in the April 2009, two hundred odd page Journal of Medical Truth, Medical Veritas (MV). I realise that MV is an expensive journal and if anyone wants single copies of individual essays, they can email me and obtain complimentary copies. Marco Mamone Capria's very generous introduction to the essays can be downloaded free from the MV site.
Please download the Appeal for funding that I sent out some weeks ago and I would be grateful if everyone could put up the appeal wherever they are able.
Finally let me take this opportunity again to promote Alan Golding's excellent film "Selective Hearing Brian Deer and the GMC", that can be viewed free on the Cryshame website.
Martin Walker
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Updated: 5 Jun 2009
