For parents like me, dealing with the severe part of the Autism spectrum, Dr. Wakefield's findings gave us hope and a reason for the chaos that no one else could explain. I have never meet him and probably never will, but nevertheless I will be forever in his debt. This witch hunt against a good doctor is disheartening and unfair. I am so very sad to hear he has resign from Thoughtful House Center for Children.
By Mary Ann Roser, statesman.com is.gd/8KsJK
Council, which regulates doctors in the U.K., found that Wakefield was dishonest and irresponsible in conducting research on children in England a dozen years ago. The panel also said Wakefield showed a "callous disregard" for children at his child's birthday party in 1999 when he had blood taken from them and paid them about $10 each. He later joked at a conference about the children being "paid for their discomfort."
Wakefield's 1998 work, published in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, fueled a worldwide scare over vaccines and autism. The Lancet retracted the study earlier this month.
Thoughtful House would not answer questions about Wakefield's departure. By Thursday morning, he was removed from the center's staff list, and the center issued a statement when asked whether Wakefield had resigned.
"The needs of the children we serve must always come first," it said. "All of us at Thoughtful House are grateful to Dr. Wakefield for the valuable work he has done here. We fully support his decision to leave Thoughtful House in order to make sure that the controversy surrounding the recent findings of the General Medical Council does not interfere with the important work that our dedicated team of clinicians and researchers is doing on behalf of children with autism and their families. All of us at Thoughtful House continue to fight every day for the recovery of children with developmental disorders."
Wakefield, who is in his early 50s, helped draw musicians and other celebrities to the Thoughtful House, where he was said to be in charge of research.
Parents who brought their children to the clinic said they saw him as a persecuted hero whose staff helped their children improve. The parents said they believe in the theory he advanced in the Lancet paper — that some children might develop a form of autism and gastrointestinal disease from exposure to the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.
Other researchers have widely disputed the theory. Mainstream practitioners also oppose many of the alternative treatments at Thoughtful House, including chelation — the use of chemicals to remove metals from the body.
Starting April 7 in England, Wakefield will go to the next level of hearings before the General Medical Council, which will decide whether he is guilty of serious professional misconduct and whether he should be sanctioned, which could include losing his medical license.
Wakefield does not have a U.S. medical license.
Last month, he told reporters outside the medical council's office in London, "The allegations against me and against my colleagues are both unfounded and unjust. I repeat, unfounded and unjust, and I invite anyone to examine the contents of these proceedings and come to their own conclusion."
A Petition to help Dr. Andrew Wakefield
"The Nigel Thomas Petition"
http://www.ipetitions.com/
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5 comments:
Mercury poisoning, like lead poisoning damages the brain plain and simple. It does NOT cause one to be gifted and talented in the areas of memory, patterns, and decoding as individuals with autism so often are. Autism is not merely mental retardation, but often encompasses what is known as uneven development. Vaccines do not cause the brain to rewire itself so that is suddenly has high skills as well as low ones. The notion that vaccines caused autism was moronic. The fact is the rate of autism is slightly higher in children who have NEVER been vaccinated. There will always be those who need someone to blame, and like Holocaust deniers, there will be those that no matter how much scientific evidence you present them, will insist it is a conspiracy or a witch hunt.
There are many more facts that clearly illustrate vaccines have nothing to do with it, including the fact that many father's are diagnosed right along with their children. It is a highly genetic condition. How many children have died or will die from measles because of Wakefield I do not know. But there blood is on his and McCarthy' hands. Correlation does not necessarily prove causation. Get the facts! Read "Denialism" by Michael Specter!
I know what autism is and my son is hardly gifted. He can't speak, wares diapers and he has endured so much pain.
I don't need someone to blame. I am well informed and have nothing to prove and nothing to gain. Why don't you get the facts straight, instead of making inaccurate statements like, "higher rate of Autism in children that have never been vaccinated". Don't insult my intelligence!
There is blood on the CDC and Vaccine Manufactures, but who's keeping track?
Go research yourself vaccine ingredients!
querida Zurama, te dejo este link hacia videos, estan en frances, pero son centros y tecnicas que hemos hablado, un enorme beso a ti y a Mike
http://news.fr.msn.com/m6-actualite/video/default.aspx?cp-documentid=0670e1c6-13f0-41f9-b4d2-591f14dc5854
Hola Chiquita. Gracias, los vi aunque no entiendo Francés. :)
Did you see this?
http://shaneshirleysmith.blogspot.com/2010/02/lancets-andrew-wakefield-mmr-autism.html
BTW, staceydl should perhaos get a little more informed on this topic. For some people, vaccines are the tipping point for not only autism but a myriad of neurological conditions. She should meet my dad who is now in a wheelchair from a Hep B vaccine (compensated by the US gov't Vaccine Compensation Board) or some of the mothers whose kids were normal until 3 days after the MMR vaccine.
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