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MMR:
the Royal Free hospital
scandal:
In February
2004, research by Dr
Andrew Wakefield and
other doctors at the
1000-bed Royal Free
hospital, Hampstead,
north London (pictured
above), purporting to
show a link between the
MMR vaccine and autism in
children, was exposed as
a sham.
But
overlooked in a media
storm that greeted the
revelations was the care,
or possibly lack of it,
accorded to first 30,
then at least 170,
autistic children who
were used in the
research.
This page
indexes materials that go
some way to getting to
the bottom of the
question of whether these
children were properly
cared for, or whether
they were subjected to a
battery of invasive and
risky tests without
either ethical approval
or legitimate clinical
justification: in short,
whether or not they were
used by Wakefield and his
colleagues as guinea pigs
in an effort to stand up
the now discredited
MMR-autism theory.
Through lawyers,
Wakefield claims to have
"at all times had
proper ethical approval
for his research to the
extent the same was
required."
The children's treatment
- and claims made about
it since the sham
research finding was
exposed - are expected to
be important issues for a
UK General Medical
Council inquiry into Wakefield's
conduct. Evan Harris,
LibDem MP for Oxford West
and Abingdon, is also
pressing for a statutory
inquiry.
It was announced in The
Sunday Times of December
12 2004 that the GMC had
agreed to hold a public
inquiry
into Wakefield's conduct.
The hearing is expected
in late 2005.
Brian Deer
would be interested to
hear from anyone with
information, insights or
ideas about MMR, the
Wakefield affair,
including its pursuance
in the United States, the
publishing standards at
the Lancet, or the events
at the Royal Free
hospital and its medical
school.
You can contact
Brian Deer via this
website, which updates in
the light of
developments.
Please check back.
A further
index of documents - on Andrew
Wakefield
issues - is available to
view at this website
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