"Seven academics at Cambridge University, six of them from its renowned Autism Research Centre, undertook the research by studying children at local primary schools. Two of the academics, leaders in their field, privately believe that the surprisingly high figure may be linked to the use of the controversial MMR vaccine. That view is rejected by the rest of the team, including its leader, the renowned autism expert, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen. The team found that one in 58 [British] children has either autism or a related autistic spectrum disorder. Nationwide, that could be as many as 210,000 children under 16. The research is significant because that figure is well above the existing estimate of one in 100, which specialist bodies such as the National Autistic Society have until now accepted as correct. It is also significantly more than the previous highest estimate of one in 86, which was reported in research published last year in the Lancet." - Denis Campbell, The Observer - UK
"The results of the study, which was purely statistical and did not examine the possible medical causes of autism, so worried Professor Baron-Cohen that he contacted health officials in Cambridgeshire. However, the professor - who is a first cousin of the comedian Sasha Baron-Cohen - stressed he did not believe the MMR vaccine was behind the apparent increase. Professor Baron-Cohen said: "As for MMR, at this point one can conclude that evidence does not support the idea that the MMR causes autism." He said he believed a better understanding of autism and environmental factors such as exposure to chemicals and hormones were more likely to be behind the recorded increase." - Stephen Adams, The Telegraph - UK
"As Vaclav Havel once said: "Follow the man who seeks the truth; run from the man who has found it." I can't tell you that we know that the MMR vaccine causes autism. But the Department of Health can tell you with 100 per cent certainty that it doesn't, and they believe that, and that concerns me greatly....... it's biologically plausible that the MMR vaccine causes or contributes to the disease in many children, and nothing in the science so far dissuades me from the continued need to pursue that question', Wakefield said. 'The trend in autism has gone up sharply in many countries. It's interesting that that increase coincides in many places with the introduction of the MMR vaccine. That doesn't make it the cause. But it's an observation that needs to be explained, because there was clearly some environmental change at that time that led to growing numbers of children becoming autistic. It's a legitimate question if MMR is one of those factors. I fear that it may be..... 'The hypothesis that we have been pursuing for some years is that the vaccines in some way may interact to increase the risk of the measles element in the MMR jab damaging the intestine, and possibly the brain directly, or alternatively that the intestinal disease leads to secondary immune injury to the developing brain." - Andrew Wakefield quoted by Denis Campbell, The Observer - UK , I told the truth all along, says doctor at heart of autism row. In his only interview before he appears in front of the General Medical Council to face serious charges of malpractice, the campaigner against the MMR vaccine tells Denis Campbell that he has no regrets
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
The CDC acknowledges that 1 in 150 children in the U.S. is autistic. British autism researchers this week confirmed that the rate of autism in Great Britain has risen to 1 in 58 children. Assuming that the child populations studied in the U.S. and Brtiain are comparable, it suggests that autism is either three times more prevalent in Britain than in the U.S. or that the prevalence of autism among American children is grossly underestimated.
Although much of the focus about vaccine risks in the U.S. during the past six years has centered on the mercury preservative, thimerosal, in Britain the vaccine safety debate has focused on children who have regressed after receiving MMR vaccine. With so little basic science research into the biological mechanisms of vaccine injury and death or genetic co- factors, there are large gaps in scientific knowledge about the way vaccines act singly or in combination in the human body to cause brain and immune system dysfunction in young children. It is still too early to conclude that one vaccine ingredient or one combination of live virus vaccines are solely responsible for autism increases among children.
With so many unanswered scientific questions about why and how vaccines cause harm to certain children, all scientific inquiries should be welcomed and no hypothesis should be dismissed before it is thoroughly explored. Andrew Wakefield is essentially being tried by his peers in Britain for daring to explore the politically incorrect hypothesis that the MMR vaccine may be associated with the development of regressive autism in some children. His refusal and the refusal of two of his colleagues to recant their scientific findings in order to save their license to practice medicine should be cherished by all who believe in freedom of thought and speech.
The spectacle that this British Medical Inquisition is creating for the world to see will have repercussions far beyond the three martyrs it will make. The people are not stupid and they will not soon forget that medical doctors inside and outside of the British government so feared one man's scientific discovery about vaccination that they felt they had no choice but to destroy him and anyone who stands with him.
Whatever the avenging vaccinologists in Great Britain do to Andrew Wakefield and his brave colleagues will not wipe away the sickening reality that one of the most highly vaccinated child populations in the world is also among the most disabled, with 1 British child in 58 suffering with autism or autism spectrum disorder.
"The results of the study, which was purely statistical and did not examine the possible medical causes of autism, so worried Professor Baron-Cohen that he contacted health officials in Cambridgeshire. However, the professor - who is a first cousin of the comedian Sasha Baron-Cohen - stressed he did not believe the MMR vaccine was behind the apparent increase. Professor Baron-Cohen said: "As for MMR, at this point one can conclude that evidence does not support the idea that the MMR causes autism." He said he believed a better understanding of autism and environmental factors such as exposure to chemicals and hormones were more likely to be behind the recorded increase." - Stephen Adams, The Telegraph - UK
"As Vaclav Havel once said: "Follow the man who seeks the truth; run from the man who has found it." I can't tell you that we know that the MMR vaccine causes autism. But the Department of Health can tell you with 100 per cent certainty that it doesn't, and they believe that, and that concerns me greatly....... it's biologically plausible that the MMR vaccine causes or contributes to the disease in many children, and nothing in the science so far dissuades me from the continued need to pursue that question', Wakefield said. 'The trend in autism has gone up sharply in many countries. It's interesting that that increase coincides in many places with the introduction of the MMR vaccine. That doesn't make it the cause. But it's an observation that needs to be explained, because there was clearly some environmental change at that time that led to growing numbers of children becoming autistic. It's a legitimate question if MMR is one of those factors. I fear that it may be..... 'The hypothesis that we have been pursuing for some years is that the vaccines in some way may interact to increase the risk of the measles element in the MMR jab damaging the intestine, and possibly the brain directly, or alternatively that the intestinal disease leads to secondary immune injury to the developing brain." - Andrew Wakefield quoted by Denis Campbell, The Observer - UK , I told the truth all along, says doctor at heart of autism row. In his only interview before he appears in front of the General Medical Council to face serious charges of malpractice, the campaigner against the MMR vaccine tells Denis Campbell that he has no regrets
Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:
The CDC acknowledges that 1 in 150 children in the U.S. is autistic. British autism researchers this week confirmed that the rate of autism in Great Britain has risen to 1 in 58 children. Assuming that the child populations studied in the U.S. and Brtiain are comparable, it suggests that autism is either three times more prevalent in Britain than in the U.S. or that the prevalence of autism among American children is grossly underestimated.
Although much of the focus about vaccine risks in the U.S. during the past six years has centered on the mercury preservative, thimerosal, in Britain the vaccine safety debate has focused on children who have regressed after receiving MMR vaccine. With so little basic science research into the biological mechanisms of vaccine injury and death or genetic co- factors, there are large gaps in scientific knowledge about the way vaccines act singly or in combination in the human body to cause brain and immune system dysfunction in young children. It is still too early to conclude that one vaccine ingredient or one combination of live virus vaccines are solely responsible for autism increases among children.
With so many unanswered scientific questions about why and how vaccines cause harm to certain children, all scientific inquiries should be welcomed and no hypothesis should be dismissed before it is thoroughly explored. Andrew Wakefield is essentially being tried by his peers in Britain for daring to explore the politically incorrect hypothesis that the MMR vaccine may be associated with the development of regressive autism in some children. His refusal and the refusal of two of his colleagues to recant their scientific findings in order to save their license to practice medicine should be cherished by all who believe in freedom of thought and speech.
The spectacle that this British Medical Inquisition is creating for the world to see will have repercussions far beyond the three martyrs it will make. The people are not stupid and they will not soon forget that medical doctors inside and outside of the British government so feared one man's scientific discovery about vaccination that they felt they had no choice but to destroy him and anyone who stands with him.
Whatever the avenging vaccinologists in Great Britain do to Andrew Wakefield and his brave colleagues will not wipe away the sickening reality that one of the most highly vaccinated child populations in the world is also among the most disabled, with 1 British child in 58 suffering with autism or autism spectrum disorder.
Andrew Wakefield, M.D.
