Dr. Andrew Wakefield
Personal as well as notes from a colleague Nikki Norberg
Dr. Wakefield is a gastroenterologist. He saw a number of children with gastrointestinal problems who also happened to be diagnosed with autism. Dr. Wakefield reported his observations. He never claimed that the MMR “caused” autism. He merely reported that a number of children he had seen had BOTH gastrointestinal problems AND autism, and according to parental report, these issues developed within a short time of when the children received the MMR vaccine.
Again… Why is Dr. Wakefield such a threat to the pharmaceutical industry?
Dr. Wakefield is the rare physician (and a hero to many) who has listened to his parents’ reports of their children’s dramatic health decline into autism following the MMR vaccine. Wakefield has researched and found treatments for the resulting unique inflammatory bowel disease which has resulted.
Ok well first of all, Dr. Thompson didn’t agree to the use of his voice. He didn’t know he was being recorded. He had no idea, which is WHY he was so candid about what is going on at the CDC. He has not testified because he is not able to UNLESS he is subpoenaed by Congress which hasn’t happened yet…. because well, obvious reasons. RFK is in court right now with a little boy in Tennessee who is attempting to sue over his vaccine injury and he actually subpoenaed William Thompson and the current head of the CDC blocked that (which I’m not even sure is legal) stating that Dr Thompson’s testimony would be detrimental to the agenda of the CDC and HHS- no shit it would be. Thompson was not concerned over whether it was statistically significant or not. IT WAS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. That was his position- he was a statistician. He was the one crunching the numbers of the study. He is the one who determines all of that. It was also recruched by Brian Hooker and I believe Congresman Posey had people look at it too. I believe investigative journalist Ben Swann ALSO had scientists look at it before he did his story.
Also, the whole Andrew Wakefield issue is sooo complicated…. but there were 12 other authors on that Lancet paper, all top of their field. One other author lost his license, Dr John Walker-Smith, who is literally the worlds top pediatric gastroenterologist. His charges were the same ones that Wakefield was charged with. Walker-smith’s malpractice insurance covered the cost of appealing the ruling. Wakefield’s did not. Walker-smith stayed in the U.K. and fought the ruling and it was overturned by the British High Court, and they basically said the GMC had no right or reason to do what they did. This was all started because a tabloid journalist who has links to Rupert Murdock decided to make false claims against Wakefield and rework all of the information and spin it. The parents of all of these children have come forward and defended Wakefield for years. It’s so complicated but he is no fraud or liar. He’s the exact opposite. I would ask this person what their understanding is of the Lancet paper- because I’m guessing they will say “he said the MMR vaccine causes autism”- which is not what his paper said. They haven’t read it. Most people haven’t, and would be shocked to find out that he was not looking at the relationship between vaccines and autism. He was looking at inflammatory bowel issues in children that HAPPENED to have autism. I could go on and on… the second anyone brings up Andrew Wakefield and “fraud” it’s apparent they’ve done exactly zero research into what really happened to him and they are just repeating sound bites they have heard.
Suggestion go watch the movie “Vaxxed” yourself
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Research Papers Supports Wakefield’s Initial Work
Tremendous research supports Dr. Wakefield’s initial study connecting autism with bowel disorders. The following are peer-reviewed papers supporting his work:
- Furlano R, Anthony A, Day R, Brown A, Mc Garvey L, Thomson M, et al. “Colonic CD8 and T cell filtration with epithelial damage in children with autism.” J Pediatr, 2001;138:366-72.
- Sabra S, Bellanti JA, Colon AR. “Ileal lymphoid hyperplasia, non-specific colitis and pervasive developmental disorder in children.” The Lancet, 1998;352:234-5.
- Torrente F., Machado N., Perez-Machado M., Furlano R., Thomson M., Davies S., Wakefield AJ, Walker-Smith JA, Murch SH. “Enteropathy with T cell infiltration and epithelial IgG deposition in autism.” Molecular Psychiatry, 2002;7:375-382.
- Wakefield AJ, Anthony A, Murch SH, Thomson M, Montgomery SM, Davies S, Walker-Smith JA. “Enterocolitis in children with developmental disorder.” American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2000;95:2285-2295.
- Ashwood P, Anthony A, Pellicer AA, Torrente F, Wakefield AJ. “Intestinal lymphocyte populations in children with regressive autism: evidence for extensive mucosal immunopathology.” Journal of Clinical Immunology, 2003;23:504-517.
The following peer-reviewed papers replicate Dr. Wakefield’s original findings:
- Gonzalez, L. et al., “Endoscopic and Histological Characteristics of the Digestive Mucosa in Autistic Children with gastro-Intestinal Symptoms.” Arch Venez Pueric Pediatr, 2005;69:19-25.
- Balzola, F., et al., “Panenteric IBD-like disease in a patient with regressive autism shown for the first time by wireless capsule enteroscopy: Another piece in the jig-saw of the gut-brain syndrome?” American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2005. 100(4): p. 979- 981.
- Balzola F et al . “Autistic enterocolitis: confirmation of a new inflammatory bowel disease in an Italian cohort of patients.” Gastroenterology, 2005;128(Suppl. 2);A-303.