The newspaper hardly changed a word I wrote. However, by judicious removal of large chunks of my words, they managed to make ‘me’ say the opposite instead - that vaccines do NOT cause autism. You gotta love Malaysian editors. They have mastered the art of putting words in people’s mouths.
Here is my original letter in full. With the truth they censored. Why? Cos should people know the truth and refuse the government’s “free” vaccines, they can no longer purchase so many vaccines at overinflated prices from the pharma companies that they and their cronies own.
The UK government is exactly the same. Well, you decide who’s telling the truth in this story. Your child’s life depends on it.
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I am writing in response to your article, “Dispelling Fear of Vaccinations (14 October, 2012)”. Your article contains several factual errors.
You quoted paediatrician Dr. Sanjay Woodhull, who said, “Parents are generally concerned about the risk or side-effects of vaccinations, with some fearing that they cause autism. This came about as a result of a fraudulent study published in a reputable medical journal in 2004 suggesting a possible link between autism and the MMR vaccine. This led to many parents around the world opting not to vaccinate their children.”
The said study, by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and Dr. John Walker-Smith was published in the Lancet in 1998, certainly not 2004. (Free full text here.) Dr. John Walker-Smith was the #1 paediatric gastroenterologist IN THE WORLD, and the head of the department of Paediatric Gastroenterology at the Royal Free Hospital in the UK at that time. The Royal Free is a “last-stop” hospital, the most expert of experts that you go to after all other doctors have failed.
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| Dr. Andrew Wakefield |
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| Dr. John Walker-Smith |
These top specialists examined 12 very ill children who were referred to them with severe bowel disease. Their mothers reported that they regressed into autism within 24 hours to 1 month of receiving their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.
After performing the necessary examinations, the doctors found chronic inflammation and damage to the intestinal walls of the children. They wrote, “Measles virus and measles vaccination have both been implicated as risk factors for Crohn’s disease [chronic inflammation of the intestines] and persistent measles vaccine-strain virus infection has been found in children with autoimmune hepatitis.” They also found “abnormal intestinal permeability” in 43% of a group of autistic children with no gastrointestinal symptoms, but not in matched controls. These studies... including evidence of anaemia and IgA deficiency in some children, would support the hypothesis that the consequences of an inflamed or dysfunctional intestine may play a part in behavioural changes in some children.”
Another study explains it thus: “Right behind the gut epithelium [inner lining of the gut], lie cells of the intestinal immune system, the biggest immune system of the body. It detects the invading bacteria or viruses and generates a strong immune response to fight off the invaders. In the process, the immune cells secrete a cocktail of signals that bring about the symptoms of inflammation. Inflammatory signals reach the epithelial cells that are very sensitive to them and die. The death of more epithelial cells creates bigger gaps in the gut lining so that more bacteria can enter. The result is a constant immune response and a chronic inflammation.”
Live-virus vaccines like the MMR can damage the bowels by causing the body to create chronic inflammation (where the immune system is not strong enough to eliminate the virus), and thus the body ends up destroying itself.
Wakefield cites other studies that have been done before his: “In the context of susceptibility to infection, a genetic association with autism... 24C4B-gene products are crucial for the activation of the complement pathway and protection against infection: individuals inheriting one or two C4B null alleles may not handle certain viruses appropriately, possibly including attenuated strains.” Translation: People with certain genetic defects cannot handle even the weak viruses in vaccines and will succumb to the virus in the vaccine.
“Childhood Disintegrative Disorder [otherwise known as regressive autism, where a child develops normally, then suddenly loses all previously gained skills such as the ability to talk, walk, and control of bowels] is recognised as a sequel to measles encephalitis [brain inflammation from measles], although in most cases, no cause is ever identified. Viral encephalitis can give rise to autistic disorders, particularly when it occurs early in life. Rubella virus is associated with autism, and the combined MMR vaccine (rather than single measles vaccine) has also been implicated. Fudenberg noted that for 15 of 20 autistic children, the first symptoms developed within a week of vaccination. Gupta commented on the striking association between the MMR vaccination and the onset of behavioural symptoms in all the children that he had investigated for regressive autism.”
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| The children’s symptoms and diagnoses |
This study was certainly not the first (nor the last) to note a regression into autism after an MMR vaccination. However, no-one had a problem with ALL the other previous studies. By the end of the paper, the authors had examined 40 patients, 39 of whom had autism. While they hinted that the MMR vaccine caused gut disease which then caused autism, they also clearly stated, “We did NOT prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described.”
[Rightly so, because this is not a study. A study is an experiment in which one group is given the vaccine and the other is given a saline injection, and then the results are compared to determine causation. This is merely an observational paper in which two events were observed to occur together. You cannot infer that one caused the other because there was no control group to compare it with. So the authors were absolutely right in saying that it did not PROVE anything - because no study was conducted. Observational papers are written because the cases were interesting.]
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| Brian Deer |
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| This is what Dr. Wakefield and Walker-Smith found. This child’s terminal ileum (the last section of the small intestine) was covered in nodules big and small (pictures A and B), compared to a normal one (C). This is the first time that any gastroenterologist had scoped this far down into the colon -- all previous doctors that the children had seen had missed this and were thus unable to determine the cause of the children’s pain. This is why Dr. Walker-Smith is #1 in the world. Freelance writer Brian Deer said this procedure was unnecessary. |
Brian Deer failed to disclose that he was being paid to write this by the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries (Source).
He also failed to declare another conflict of interest--that the Lancet (the journal that the study was published in) was owned by the publishing company, Reed Elsevier. In 2003, the CEO of Reed Elsevier, Sir Crispin Davis, was appointed a director in GlaxoSmithKline, seller of the MMR vaccine. Just a few months later, Brian Deer wrote his accusations. Coincidence?
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| Crispin Davis |
Elsevier instructed the editor of the Lancet to announce a partial retraction, but the editor said no and that he stood by the integrity of the journal’s peer-review process. Under pressure, ten of the paper’s 13 authors signed retractions on the interpretation but stood by the science. Get that - they stated that their METHODS WERE CORRECT, which was a huge middle finger to Brian Deer.
But what was most interesting in all of this was that the very parents who supposedly got ripped off by unnecessary procedures did not have any complaints whatsoever. On the contrary, they stood firmly behind the doctors and had nothing but high praise for them, thanking them profusely for doing what they needed to do to reach the correct diagnosis that finally saved their children’s lives when all other doctors had failed. Do they sound like disgruntled customers? They had no complaints, but Brian Deer (who was paid by the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industries) did.
As a result of Deer’s complaint, the GMC (General Medical Council) convened a panel in 2010 to judge this case. Who were the experts called on to pass judgement? Fellow paediatric gastroenterologists who might know whether colonoscopies were necessary for examining colons? No... Two laypersons (like you and me), a general practitioner (have you ever heard of a GP who does colonoscopies? No, they are not qualified), an adult psychiatrist (not a child psychiatrist), and a geriatrician (not a paediatrician). Is this a joke?? Unfortunately, it’s not.
This bunch of clowns then judged that the examinations that Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Walker-Smith carried out were unnecessary, and so the GMC revoked their licences. The chairman of the General Medical Council panel, Dr. Surendra Kumar, struck them off the medical register. But Dr. Kumar also failed to disclose his own conflict of interest - that he too was also a shareholder of GlaxoSmithKline, a pharma company that sells the MMR vaccine (Source).
So the owner of the Lancet journal and the one who took away the doctors’ medical licenses are both owners of the company that suffered a loss from the sale of MMR vaccines because of the paper that Wakefield and Walker-Smith wrote. Stinking much?
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| Dr. Surendra Kumar, GMC chairman + shareholder of GSK |
Following the GMC’s ruling, the Lancet fully retracted their article. The paper was never fraudulent - the writers allegedly were (for performing “unnecessary colonoscopies”).
Dr. Walker-Smith was nearing retirement but as the #1 gastroenterologist in the world, he was not going to have his stellar career end on a sour note due to lies from a troll. He filed an appeal, and in March 2012, the British High Court overturned the GMC’s finding of professional misconduct and reinstated Dr. Walker-Smith’s medical license. (Plain English version here.) The judge had some withering words for the GMC’s disgraceful handling of this case: “It would be a misfortune if this were to happen again.” Indeed it was a terrible disgrace that doctors who are also vaccine company shareholders abused their power and position and threw 13 specialists and scientists under the bus to protect their own side incomes.
Dr. Wakefield did not file the appeal with Dr. Walker-Smith due to lack of money (half a million Sterling pounds, to be exact) and also because he had moved to the US and did not wish to return to practise in the UK ever again. He has, however, filed a defamation suit against Brian Deer, Fiona Godlee (editor the British Medical Journal), and the British Medical Journal for publishing Brian Deer’s lies.
So, in conclusion, the study has never been fraudulent and the doctors and pathologists have never been fraudulent. So why was the paper not reinstated then? Because the High Court has no power to dictate what a private publishing company chooses to publish or not publish. They can only reinstate Dr. Walker Smith’s medical license because he was unfairly dismissed. It’s a pity that Dr. Wakefield did not file suit too, to clear his name.
Since 1998, there have been many other studies that have been carried out that confirm the connection between MMR and autism. Here are 28 other journal articles (scroll down on the page) that confirms Wakefield et al’s findings.
But journal articles written and reviewed by medical experts cannot all be believed, you say? Well then, how about a word from the vaccine manufacturers themselves?
In the list of negative side effects printed in the insert of the FluMist H1N1 vaccine from MedImmune (July 2012): “The following events have been spontaneously reported during post-approval use of FluMist: Pericarditis [inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart], exacerbation of symptoms of mitochondrial encephalomyopathy (Leigh syndrome) [brain damage caused by mitochondria damage, or autism in plain English (read more here)], Guillain-Barré syndrome [paralysis due to autoimmune disease that destroys the myelin sheath around nerves], Bell’s Palsy [facial paralysis], meningitis, and vaccine-associated encephalitis [vaccine-associated brain inflammation].”
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| DTaP vaccine insert |
In the Tripedia diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine from Sanofi Pasteur, (Dec 2005): “Adverse events reported during post-approval use of Tripedia vaccine include idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura [low platelet count], SIDS [cot death], anaphylactic reaction, autism, convulsion/grand mal convulsion, encephalopathy [brain damage], hypotonia [low muscle tone], neuropathy [nerve damage], somnolence [sleeping for unusually long periods] and apnea [abnormal stops in breathing].”
You can get a hold of the inserts from a vaccine packaging from your doctor, or look it up on the FDA’s website.
Are negative reactions to vaccines rare occurrences? See the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Reactions database for actual numbers of deaths, hospitalisation and permanent disabilities on their database. Note that these numbers represent less than 1% of reported cases in the US, so to get a more realistic figure, multiply by 100. Question to ask yourself: Are the effects of the vaccine worse than the effects of the disease itself?
What is the incidence of measles in Malaysia? 1 in 18,200 (2011). Deaths? None. The rate of autism in Malaysia? 1 in 110 (2006), and the National Autism Society of Malaysia estimates it increases 30% every year. Sounds about right. If the incidence of childhood cancer increased by 30% every year, would you be concerned? But because it’s autism, no-one cares because it only kills a very small number. In our not-too-distant neighbour, South Korea, autism now averages 1 in 38 children (2011).
Parents, doctors and the Health Ministry of Malaysia would do well to do some research and weigh the pros and cons before deciding whether to vaccinate or not. Whatever you decide, always make a fully informed decision only after having heard both sides of the story.
See also:
• Why Wakefield Had to be Silenced: 14-Monkey Study that Proved the Hepatitis B Vaccine Causes Autism
• Big Pharma Admits that Vaccines Cause Autism