Will the Real Dr. Pichichero Please Stand Up?

By Anne Dachel

Holly Maynard, reporter at WHAM-13 TV in Rochester, NY, is sounding the alarm over the measles.  Yes, that possibly life-threatening disease is infecting children and it's the fault of noncompliant parents afraid of a link between the MMR and autism. 

In her report, Measles are Back! (HERE) Holly finds "local vaccination expert" Dr. Michael Pichichero of Legacy Pediatrics who puts every mother's fears to rest.

Holly tells us, "Pichichero has researched vaccine safety for over 20 years and is a consultant to the World Health Organization on the topic. He says you won't find a doctor in Rochester who thinks there is a link between vaccines and autism." 

Actually, that's not surprising if his circles of colleagues have the same pharma ties that he does. While "consultant to the World Health Organization" conjures up images of doctors selflessly helping the poorest of the poor in Africa and India, there's a whole lot more to Pichichero than we're told on WHAM.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, within minutes of searching, I found the real Dr. Michael Pichichero.  It's incredible all the drug companies he's connected with.  In fact, I think it would be easier to name the major ones that weren't listed. 
 
In Safe Minds' Assessment of the Pichichero Thimerosal Study, (HERE) we read,
"The author [Dr. Pichichero] has received research grants and/or honoraria from the following pharmaceutical companies: Abbott Laboratories, Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Eli Lilly & Company; Merck & Co.; Pasteur Merieux Connaught; Pfizer Labs; Roche Laboratories; Roussel-Uclaf; Schering Corporation; Smith Kline Beecham Pharmaceuticals; Upjohn Company; and Wyeth-Lederle."

According to the Chicago Trib blog story, Study: Babies quickly excrete vaccine mercury, by Julie Deardorff, (HERE) he's done consulting for GSK Biologicals, Sanofi Pasteur, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and MedImmune.

This doctor is the pharmaceutical industry's ideal researcher.  Not only does Pichichero know that the MMR is safe, but as Julie tells us, he's researched thimerosal, the mercury used in vaccines, at the University of Rochester and he knows it leaves the blood faster than methylmercury.  And if it's not in the blood, it must be excreted.  (Picherichero's work puts him in direct conflict with the research of Thomas Burbacher at the University of Washington, but that doesn't really matter.)

The report from the University of Rochester also said that Pichichero's thimerosal findings worked out well for WHO.  We're told, "His research has held considerable weight in the WHO decision to continue using thimerosal in vaccines administered in nations outside the United States"--with big savings, I'm sure.

All this of course is completely absent from the WHAM report.  The public doesn't get to know that Dr. Pichichero has a lot of incentive to stand up for the MMR and any other vaccine parents are worried about!

Anne Dachel is Media Editor of Age of Autism.

Comments

[Doc Edwards]

Glad to have found this; Journal of Pediatrics just published another study Pichichero was the lead author on. Seeing the same conclusions were stated in a blog that's a year and a half old, I'm beginning to wonder if the article was a rehash of a previous study: http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476%2809%2900370-9/abstract

[Randy]

Interesting how Reid and his colleague Sharyl Attkisson are like matter and anti-matter at CBS when in comes to discussing this issue.

I would like to challenge CBS and Peet to do this same gig in front of the camera, this time with Attkisson.

[Kelli Ann Davis]

We're told, "His research has held considerable weight in the WHO decision to continue using thimerosal in vaccines administered in nations outside the United States"--with big savings, I'm sure.

WHAM! BAM! Holy Merckatroid Batman. Do ya think we oughta go after this Joker??

As Jim Carrey said so eloquently: "Just how STUPID do they think we are?"

[nhokkanen]

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive..." (Thanks, Sir Walter Scott.)

Unless we untangle the incestuous enmeshment that is our nation's public health administration, children will continue to get injured by vaccines and other poorly regulated medical products. People like Pichichero are seemingly oblivious to how their conflicts of interest are causing harm in the real world.

[Pat]

Not sure if anyone else saw this but Amanda Peet was on the CBS morning show today and when asked about her statements regarding the vaccine issue she once again stated that parents should look to the CDC, AAP and their doctors because vaccines are not a medical controversy. Harry Reid (the interviewer) seemed to support her by just sitting there like an idiot and smiling. This woman is a disgusting parrot for someone. In addition, she came across as a complete moron just in general during the interview.

I never usually watch this piece of garbage CBS show and now never will again. I say write to CBS and clue these fools in on the truth.

[John Stone]

Anne,

Yes, in the UK we have seen the farce of the media pack turn on Andrew Wakefield over spurious allegations of undisclosed interests, while completely lazy and indifferent to the background of the medics who brief them daily:

http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/documents/vaccines/MMR%20and%20the%20doctors%20-%20taking%20us%20all%20for%20dummies.pdf

When the Lancet's editor, Richard Horton, made his allegations against Wakefield in February 2004 it was the main story in the UK media for about 4 days. When it all came apart at the GMC on 7 April this year, absolutely no one reported.

http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/documents/vaccines/JABS%20Briefing%20Note,%209%20April%202008.pdf

I had a row with head of BBC news which had led the original onslaught on Wakefield's integrity, but instead they just brought ou more buckets of innuendo founded on earlier misreporting, when the prosecution case started 4 days later.

These people ar completely shameless.

Horton, of course, never mentioned that his own boss, Sir Crispin Davis, was a director of MMR defendants GlaxoSmithKline.

http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=918706