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GRAPHS OF MEASLES AND MMR RATES 2008



Brian Deer: the Lancet scandal

 
Following a Sunday Times investigation by Brian Deer, researchers at Britain's Royal Free hospital retracted claims that are causing a worldwide health crisis by linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine with autism


Click here for MMR part 2: The Channel 4 Television investigation



   
Click here for a summary: In February 1998, the Lancet medical journal triggered a global alarm with research proposing a link between the measles, mumps and rubella triple vaccine and autism. The researchers' leader, Andrew Wakefield called for the vaccine to be "suspended". Six years later, Brian Deer investigated for The Sunday Times of London and Channel 4 television
   
Research scandal revealed: When 13 doctors from London's Royal Free hospital, including Andrew Wakefield (below), announced the research in the Lancet at a heavily-promoted press conference in February 1998, it triggered a slump in immunizations and a rise in outbreaks of infectious diseases. But the key finding was a sham: laundering anonymized allegations against MMR by claimants in a lawsuit against the vaccine's makers - which Wakefield had been paid huge sums to back. The Sunday Times, February 22 2004
Fatal interests: On February 22 2004, the London Sunday Times splashed on Brian Deer's investigation, with two more pages inside
What they didn't tell you: Brian Deer continued his investigation in a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, revealing more extraordinary findings about the Royal Free and Andrew Wakefield. One discovery was a string of patent applications - for a vaccine and products that could only have succeeded if MMR's reputation was damaged. Criticism of MMR shots was tracked to a bizarre professor, Hugh Fudenberg, who claims to cure autism in his kitchen. And unreported results from Wakefield's own lab were found that rebutted his theories
   
         
         
 
MMR - the truth: The global scare rested on claims by the parents of only eight children. But most of them were lawyers' clients - countering assertions that the study was based on routine referrals - and Andrew Wakefield had been funded through an undisclosed deal to help them sue drug companies. The Sunday Times, February 22 2004, with vastly more money revealed on December 31 2006
Running scared: With the Lancet responsible for publishing the sham scientific finding, the journal's editor, Dr Richard Horton - a former Royal Free hospital doctor who had worked under Wakefield's mentor, Professor Roy Pounder - now rushed out "regret" for the "fatally flawed" research that he had championed for the previous six years. He even wrote two books justifying this. BBC Online News
Vehement denials: Although Wakefield refused repeated requests from Brian Deer to discuss the vital issues at stake for children's safety, he issued a string of statements entirely rejecting every criticism. Later, he sued Deer for libel, but in January 2007 abandoned his claim and paid Deer compensation
   
Tony Blair joins calls: The day after Brian Deer's investigation was published, the British prime minister spoke out against a six-year attack on MMR which had spun off the Lancet paper's publication. Blair said he hoped people would now see that there was no link shown between the MMR vaccine and autism, and urged an end to the controversy. The Guardian
Authors retract finding: Since the Thalidomide scandal of the 1970s, journalism had scored few such clear hits on medicine as on March 3 2004 - ten days after Brian Deer's Sunday Times investigation was published - when 10 of the 13 authors of the Lancet paper formally withdrew their finding of a link between the vaccine and autism. Associated Press
Children at risk: Even before Brian Deer's report hit the streets, a war of words between the reporter and the medical journal had broken out over what the investigation had discovered. Although the Lancet confirmed error, it shrugged off critical issues raised, both at the Royal Free hospital, and for parents who had shunned MMR after publicity. PA News
Royal Free ethics doubts: Confidential documents obtained during Brian Deer's inquiries reveal that the hospital's ethics committee was told that a battery of tests on vulnerable children was "clinically indicated" and so not needing ethical approval. But, as reported in The Times, this was challenged. A chart at this site asks visitors to make up their own minds
Lancet study "not ethically approved": Despite claims by the Lancet to be at the forefront of moves to raise ethical standards, the research as published by Wakefield et al was challenged as not approved by any ethics committee. The page at this link compares the Royal Free ethical submission with what was actually published in the journal
"So serious": In the week after The Sunday Times investigation was published, many newspapers noted the seriousness of the allegations left unresolved by the Lancet's abrupt dismissal of key material. Some tried to reconstruct key events in the affair, which focused on two ex-Royal Free doctors: Andrew Wakefield and Richard Horton. The Independent
MMR mail: Readers' emails came in fast following the Sunday Times reports on February 22 2004, and continue to be received. Many are abusive, as litigant-parents blame Brian Deer for Wakefield's betrayal of trust. Among a spattering of crank mailers was "expert witness" Carol Stott, also hired by lawyers, for £100,000, to back the anti-MMR campaign
Measles outbreaks: In the years after Wakefield's claims, measles outbreaks returned to the UK, including the first death in 14 years. Meanwhile, parents of many autistic children suffered guilt, blaming themselves, wrongly believing Wakefield
THE JOURNALIST & THE JOURNAL
Brian Deer: Described by The Sunday Times as "one of Britain's top investigative journalists". He was assigned by the paper to investigate the story in September 2003
Dr Richard Horton: The Lancet editor's decision to publish junk science from his former colleague has damaged the journal
For journalism by Brian Deer on other topics, click here
 
   
MMR in parliament: On March 15 2004, Dr Evan Harris MP called a brief parliamentary debate, during which he took up the ethical issues raised in Brian Deer's investigation: whether a battery of potentially hazardous tests on autistic children were justified. He said he believed the issues could be as serious as how the public had been misled by the discredited Lancet paper's claims. Hansard
GMC inquiry: After the submission of Brian Deer's evidence to the General Medical Council, the British doctors' regulatory body announced that it would hold a formal public inquiry into Wakefield's conduct. The Sunday Times, December 12 2004. Later, the paper revealed the preliminary charges, including dishonesty and intending to mislead. The Sunday Times, September 11 2005
Post perspective: Among the extensive international reportage of the MMR investigation was a long and detailed account in the Washington Post by distiguished journalist Glenn Frankel. Among his findings was a plan by Wakefield to move his crusade to Texas where, according to one source, his "entrepreneurial spirit" will find "fertile ground" in US privatized health care. Washington Post
   
Payments revealed: Late in the investigation by Brian Deer, huge payments to Wakefield were revealed by the Legal Services Commission, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from Deer. In December 2006, the commission released a table, showing fees to Wakefield - never before publicly disclosed - of £435,643 [approximately $780,000 US]. Indeed, Wakefield's supporters repeatedly denied that he was ever paid to conduct his alleged research. Others were also paid huge sums for the attack
   
Road closed: On February 27 2004, the UK's Legal Services Commission - which had paid for the vaccine controversy - announced that a judicial review had rejected a request for reconsideration of a decision to end funding the lawsuit, which had contributing £15m to creating the worldwide MMR scare. Press release
The Lancet panics: Three days before Brian Deer's story ran, he briefed the Lancet's editor, Dr Richard Horton and six Lancet staff. The meeting took five hours, and was attended by Dr Evan Harris MP. Only 48 hours later, Horton press-released the meeting, breaching a confidentiality agreement. Horton denies a breach
Trend reversed: The graph to the right shows how Deer's 2004 MMR investigation reversed the decline in vaccination rates, as parents realised they had been conned by Wakefield's claims. Infections from measles, however, continued to rise, with deaths of children reported in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2008
O'Leary jumps ship: For years, Andrew Wakefield's major ally was said to be Dr John O'Leary of the Coombe Women's Hospital, Dublin, who at a cost of £800,000 to the British taxpayer said he found evidence of measles virus infection in gut and blood samples supplied by Wakefield. But as clouds gathered over O'Leary's work, he denounced his old ally. The Sunday Times, March 7 2004
Data challenged: In an astounding development, the High Court in London made a special request under EU law to force John O'Leary to hand over all raw data from his tests, following claims that some did not tally with critical expert reports submitted for the MMR litigation. Through lawyers, he strenuously denied any problems at his hospital laboratory. The Sunday Times, April 25 2004
Measles not found in tests: In a bid to evaluate Andrew Wakefield's core theory that measles virus causes autism, government laboratories tested blood from autistic children, using methods which included a reconstruction of O'Leary's work - even using the same make of equipment. Early reports said they found no evidence to support the theory. The Sunday Times, March 6 2005
Determined to deceive: As Wakefield faced prosecution by the UK's General Medical Council, a dirty tricks campaign was launched, falsely alleging that Deer was working with the drug industry. One architect of this campaign was a shadowy character from Spain, who latched onto families to publish a string of fabrications meant to discredit Deer. Statement, September 7 2008
22.02.04 Revealed: MMR research scandal
22.02.04 Focus: MMR - the truth behind the crisis
22.02.04 The editor: Dr Richard Horton
22.02.04 The investigator: Brian Deer
07.03.04 Key ally of MMR doctor rejects autism link
25.04.04 Fresh doubts cast on MMR study data
14.11.04 MMR scare doctor planned rival vaccine
12.12.04 Doctors in MMR scare face public inquiry
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|		 06.03.05 MMR jab scare research dealt a 'killer blow'
11.09.05 MMR scare doctor faces list of charges
02.04.06 Schoolboy, 13, dies as measles makes a comeback
31.12.06 MMR doctor given legal aid thousands
21.05.06 Just how much new research can we trust?
18.06.06 How a spurious health scare brought an old killer back
18.06.06 MMR: Countdown to a crisis
15.07.07 Memo warned MMR doctor of research flaw
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