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PROVE] Former Science Chief MMR Fears Coming True
[PROVE Note: We can only hope and pray that the actions and
conscience
of this British Health Officer might rub off on some people at our FDA
to come clean and step up to plate to tell the truth too! The future of
our children's generation is depending on it!]
02/05/06 - Health section
Former science chief: 'MMR fears coming true'
By SUE CORRIGAN, Mail on Sunday
A former Government medical officer responsible for deciding whether
medicines are safe has accused the Government of "utterly inexplicable
complacency" over the MMR triple vaccine for children.
Dr Peter Fletcher, who was Chief Scientific Officer at the Department
of Health, said if it is proven that the jab causes autism, "the refusal
by governments to evaluate the risks properly will make this one of the
greatest scandals in medical history".
He added that after agreeing to be an expert witness on drug-safety
trials for parents' lawyers, he had received and studied thousands of
documents relating to the case which he believed the public had a right to
see.
He said he has seen a "steady accumulation of evidence" from scientists
worldwide that the measles, mumps and rubella jab is causing brain
damage in certain children.
But he added: "There are very powerful people in positions of great
authority in Britain and elsewhere who have staked their reputations and
careers on the safety of MMR and they are willing to do almost anything
to protect themselves."
His warning follows reports that the Government is this week planning
to announce the addition of a jab against pneumococcal meningitis for
babies, probably from next April. It is also considering flu jabs for
under-twos - not to protect the children, but adults they may infect.
In the late Seventies, Dr Fletcher served as Chief Scientific Officer
at the DoH and Medical Assessor to the Committee on Safety of Medicines,
meaning he was responsible for deciding if new vaccines were safe.
He first expressed concerns about MMR in 2001, saying safety trials
before the vaccine's introduction in Britain were inadequate.
Now he says the theoretical fears he raised appear to be becoming
reality.
He said the rising tide of autism cases and growing scientific
understanding of autism-related bowel disease have convinced him the MMR
vaccine may be to blame.
"Clinical and scientific data is steadily accumulating that the live
measles virus in MMR can cause brain, gut and immune system damage in a
subset of vulnerable children," he said. "There's no one conclusive
piece of scientific evidence, no 'smoking gun', because there very rarely
is when adverse drug reactions are first suspected. When vaccine damage
in very young children is involved, it is harder to prove the links.
"But it is the steady accumulation of evidence, from a number of
respected universities, teaching hospitals and laboratories around the world,
that matters here. There's far too much to ignore. Yet government
health authorities are, it seems, more than happy to do so."
'Why isn't the Government taking this massive public health problem
more seriously?'
Dr Fletcher said he found "this official complacency utterly
inexplicable" in the light of an explosive worldwide increase in regressive
autism and inflammatory bowel disease in children, which was first linked to
the live measles virus in the MMR jab by clinical researcher Dr Andrew
Wakefield in 1998.
"When scientists first raised fears of a possible link between mad cow
disease and an apparently new, variant form of CJD they had detected in
just 20 or 30 patients, everybody panicked and millions of cows were
slaughtered," said Dr Fletcher.
"Yet there has been a tenfold increase in autism and related forms of
brain damage over the past 15 years, roughly coinciding with MMR's
introduction, and an extremely worrying increase in childhood inflammatory
bowel diseases and immune disorders such as diabetes, and no one in
authority will even admit it's happening, let alone try to investigate the
causes."
He said there was "no way" the tenfold leap in autistic children could
be the result of better recognition and definitional changes, as
claimed by health authorities.
"It is highly likely that at least part of this increase is a
vaccinerelated problem." he said. "But whatever it is, why isn't the Government
taking this massive public health problem more seriously?"
His outspokenness will infuriate health authorities, who have spent
millions of pounds shoring up confidence in MMR since Dr Wakefield's 1998
statement.
But Dr Fletcher said the Government is undermining public confidence in
vaccine safety by refusing to do in-depth clinical research to rule out
fears of MMR damage to children.
He added that the risks of brain and gut damage from MMR injections
seem to be much higher in children where a brother or sister has diabetes,
an immune disorder.
"That is a very strong clinical signal that some children are
immunologically at risk from MMR," he said. "Why is the Government not
investigating it further - diverting some of the millions of pounds spent on
advertising and PR campaigns to promote MMR uptake into detailed clinical
research instead?"
Now retired after a distinguished 40-year career in science and
medicine in Britain, Europe and the US, Dr Fletcher said that without such
research, health authorities could not possibly rule out fears about MMR.
He said: "It is entirely possible that the immune systems of a small
minority simply cannot cope with the challenge of the three live viruses
in the MMR jab, and the ever-increasing vaccine load in general."
He said he had decided to speak out because of his deep concern at the
lack of treatment for autistic children with bowel disease, as revealed
in The Mail on Sunday two weeks ago.
He called the sudden termination of legal aid to parents of allegedly
vaccine-damaged children in late 2003 "a monstrous injustice". After
agreeing to be a witness for the parents, he received thousands of
documents relating to the case.
"Now, it seems, unless the parents force the Government to restore
legal aid, much of this revealing evidence may never come out," he said.
The Department of Health said: "MMR remains the best protection against
measles, mumps and rubella. It is recognised by the World Health
Organisation as having an outstanding safety record and there is a wealth of
evidence showing children who receive the MMR vaccine are no more at
risk of autism than those who don't."
Find this story at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=376203&in_page_id=1774
©2006 Associated New Media
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Dawn Richardson
PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)
prove@vaccineinfo.net (email)
http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)
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