A Statement from Jenny McCarthy & Jim Carrey: Andrew Wakefield, Scientific Censorship, and Fourteen Monkeys

Los Angeles, February 5, 2010

Dr. Andrew Wakefield is being discredited to prevent an historic study from being published that for the first time looks at vaccinated versus unvaccinated primates and compares health outcomes, with potentially devastating consequences for vaccine makers and public health officials.

It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers reporting on the retraction of a paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues. 

The retraction from The Lancet was a response to a ruling from England’s General Medical Council, a kangaroo court where public health officials in the pocket of vaccine makers served as judge and jury. Dr. Wakefield strenuously denies all the findings of the GMC and plans a vigorous appeal.

Despite rampant misreporting, Dr. Wakefield’s original paper regarding 12 children with severe bowel disease and autism never rendered any judgment whatsoever on whether or not vaccines cause autism, and The Lancet’s retraction gets us no closer to understanding this complex issue.

Dr. Wakefield is one of the world’s most respected and well-published gastroenterologists. He has published dozens of papers since 1998 in well-regarded peer-reviewed journals all over the world. His work documenting the bowel disease of children with autism and his exploration of novel ways to treat bowel disease has helped relieve the pain and suffering of thousands of children with autism.

For the past decade, parents in our community have been clamoring for a relatively simple scientific study that could settle the debate over the possible role of vaccines in the autism epidemic once and for all: compare children who have been vaccinated with children who have never received any vaccines and see if the rate of autism is different or the same.

Few people are aware that this extremely important work has not only begun, but that a study using an animal model has already been completed exploring this topic in great detail.

Dr. Wakefield is the co-author, along with eight other distinguished scientists from institutions like the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Washington, of a set of studies that explore the topic of vaccinated versus unvaccinated neurological outcomes using monkeys.

The first phase of this monkey study was published three months ago in the prestigious medical journal Neurotoxicology, and focused on the first two weeks of life when the vaccinated monkeys received a single vaccine for Hepatitis B, mimicking the U.S. vaccine schedule. The results, which you can read for yourself HERE, were disturbing. Vaccinated monkeys, unlike their unvaccinated peers, suffered the loss of many reflexes that are critical for survival.

Dr. Wakefield and his scientific colleagues are on the brink of publishing their entire study, which followed the monkeys through the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule over a multi-year period. It is our understanding that the difference in outcome for the vaccinated monkeys versus the unvaccinated controls is both stark and devastating.

There is no question that the publication of the monkey study will lend substantial credibility to the theory that over-vaccination of young children is leading to neurological damage, including autism. The fallout from the study for vaccine makers and public health officials could be severe. Having denied the possibility of the vaccine-autism connection for so long while profiting immensely from a recent boom in vaccine sales around the world, it’s no surprise that they would seek to repress this important work.

Behind the scenes, the pressure to keep the work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues from being published is immense, and growing every day. Medical journals take extreme risk of backlash in publishing any studies that question the safety of the vaccination program, no matter how well-designed and thorough the research might be. Neurotoxicology, a highly-respected medical journal, deserves great credit for courageously publishing the first phase of this vaccinated monkey study.

The press has been deeply misled in the way The Lancet retraction, and Dr. Wakefield’s mock trial, have been characterized. Led by the pharmaceutical companies and their well-compensated spokespeople, Dr. Wakefield is being vilified through a well-orchestrated smear campaign designed to prevent this important new work from seeing the light of day.

What medical journal would want to step in front of this freight train? Moreover, why now, after 12 years of inaction, did The Lancet and GMC suddenly act? Is it coincidence that the monkey study is currently being submitted to medical journals for review and publication?

We urge the media to take a close look at the first phase of the monkey study discussed above and to start asking a very simple question: What was the final outcome of the 14 primates that were vaccinated using the U.S. vaccine schedule and how did that compare to the unvaccinated controls?

The U.S. vaccine schedule has grown from 10 vaccines given to our children in the 1980s to 36 today, perfectly matching the dramatic rise in autism. The work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues deserves to be shared with the world to further, rather than censor, scientific progress. 

Comments

[Walter]

Has anyone ever spoken with Evan's Dad or paternal grandparents about the child they saw growing up ? I just wondered if their view is the same as Evan's mother.

[Christine]

I am a mother of a child with autism in metro DC. I think it would be prudent for anyone who wants to explore this issue to read "Autism's False Prophets" b y Offit - particularly the young girl who is doing her persuasive essay.

I think what is missing in the autism picture besides the cause and cure is the developmental pattern. Studies are showing things such as gross motor delays in the first 6-9 months as well as formation of the mouth/nose can be indicators. The latter is important as it points to a genetic in utero cause to autism. I don't doubt that some environmental factor is at play with autism, but I think it is what PARENTS (and their gametes) were exposed to that is where the answer lies.

Secondly, we have to be very careful about the successes of "therapies". Developmentally delayed children are notorious for explosive development - not having a skill and then "instantly" acquiring it. It is impossible to ever really verify what helps when we do so much for these kids and time does march on in their own developmental pattern. As rotten as age 2-5 is for many of these kids, many high functioning ones have a "honeymoon" of progress ages 5-10. So it is hard to say if therapies are working or if a delayed neuro circuit has just found its switch.

EVERY child should be fed well - something this country doesn't do with processed foods - and supplemented where needed. It improves the functioning of every child - not just those with autism.

Again, thanks for letting me post. I don't think autism is in our kids vaccines. I think it is in something that Jim Kerry, Jenny McCarthy, me and a whole host of other people ate, drank, wore, breathed or something. It has caused an epigenetic change - and even if we don't have that environmental factor anymore - the gene pool may very well be altered for good.

[Dr Viera Scheibner PhD]

Dear friends, I think you have some agent provocateurs among those posting their comments.

Sincerely, Viera Scheibner.

[JenB]

Dana,

Maybe obvious, but I would add David Kirby's book, Evidence of Harm for research, technical facts, and political history, www.NVIC.org for vaccine schedule timelines and other history, and Dan Olmsted's reporting for the Washington Times and here (AoA) regarding the Amish, patients at Homefirst Medical Services in Chicago, and Leo Kanner's early cases of autism.

[Theresa O]

Hi, Dana--

I'm so impressed with your daughter's decision. Bryan Jepson's *Changing the Course of Autism* and Jenny McCarthy & Jerry Kartzinel's *Healing and Preventing Autism* come to mind right away. You might also search PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) for articles on autism, like the Hannah Poling case (in Journal of Child Neurology, written up, I believe, by Andrew Zimmerman).

I think your daughter will want to talk about the biological plausibility of vaccine-induced autism, as well as looking at the numbers (to show that there has been an increase) and at the vaccine schedule itself (which you can probably find online, or in Deirdre Imus's book *Growing Up Green*).

Some other articles you should be able to find online (either through PubMed or otherwise): (1) Mady Hornig of Columbia University gave mercury to mice, which then developed autism. (2) Catherine DeSoto and Robert Hitlan of the University of Northern Iowa analyzed a data set involving hair and blood levels of mercury in autistic and neurotypical children, and found a statistically significant relationship between blood levels of mercury and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder. (3) Research firm SurveyUSA undertook a telephone survey at the behest of advocacy group Generation Rescue, and found vaccinated boys born from 1990 to 1996 to be more than twice as likely to have autism as their never-vaccinated counterparts.

Best of luck to you and your daughter.

[Dana Serpico]

My 13 year old daughter convinced her English teacher why she should allow her to choose her Persausive Speech project of her own free will instead of from a prepared list of politically correct subjects. The project bears a weighted grade for an entire quarter. Her project, titled Are US Gov't mandated vaccines contributing to the rise of Autism?, was finally approved. However, she must provide 10 resources for her research, 4 of which must be books. So my question to all is, what books do you recommend and what advice can you offer her as she journey's through this research. My daughter chose this subject because we firmly believe there is a direct relationship. More importantly, we believe that the best way we can make a difference is to educate others through truth and integrity.

[JessicaF]

@Maggie - Yep :-)

Does it make any sense that some parent would vaccinate their first child out the wazoo, and then "just happen" to NOT vaccinate their second child?

I love "keep in mind getting one of the vaccine-preventable diseases could kill a child..." bullshit. Oh really? Gosh, how irresponsible you were supposedly not vaccinating your second child, right? What was the logic there?

Ridiculous, made-up nonsense. People that pose as autism parents are the lowest form.

[Cllr Jeremy Zeid (Con) London Borough of Harrow, England]

And it's not just autism, there is the metoeric rise in allergies, asthma, eczema. anaphalapsis and all at a time when we are obsessed with cleanliness, sterilizing all and sundry and of course the shock to the immature immune system of young children in of huge multiple invaccinations. This is no coincidence.

I am conviced that the concentrayed vaccination programme is why our sone has aspergers.

[Maggie]

I like it when shills pose as parents and claim vaccines didn't harm their kids. It's much more effective than name calling. But, still obvious to most of us.

[Melissa]

Thanks J.B. and Donna.

I actually saw the specialist today, he actually fought for the rights of parents of autistic children, and is very experienced. We asked him his opinion and he stated that yes, 30 years ago my son would not be considered Autistic. As of now he is considered PDD-NOS. He also said that 30 years ago SOME kids who were labelled mentally handicapped should actually have been labelled Autistic, and now would have been.

I guess to me there are just so many variables, and I, for one, would love a nice big proper study done on kids who have had vaccines and those who were not. :)

[Theresa O]

@Marcia Brown

I'd be happy to buy the book for you. Can you set up a public wish list on Amazon? Call it something obvious, like Marcia's Jenny McCarthy Wish List. I'll search for it using your name (Marcia Brown), and I'll send you the book. That way, you won't have to show your address to a stranger :-) Just post another comment letting me know what you ended up calling the wish list, if that's OK.

Best wishes to you and your son.

[Tracy]

I have 2 children with autism. My daughter received all vaccines on schedule - autism diaganosis was at 27 months. My son did not receive any vaccines. He was diagnosed with autism EARLIER at age 24 months. My son is MORE affected than my daughter. Eventually we gave him the vaccines so he could enter school. The vaccines had no effect on his progress or diagnosis. In my mind it will be very hard to prove that vaccines cause autism. Also, keep in mind that getting one of the diseases that vaccines prevent could kill the child. Autism is not a death sentence.

[marcia brown]

my name is marcia. i have a 10 yr. old boy who has autism. i've heard alot about jennys book. things have not been easy for us the past couple of years. just bad luck i guess. was wondering if anyone might have a used book for cheap?

[Natasa]

Islasands@"I say "blessed" because different mindedness is not an affliction or illness. "

Yes, in this case it is.

[katya]

jim you my favourite actor.Thank you!

[JB Handley]

This is for Melissa, from something else I wrote:

The North Dakota study, the one above that produced 3.3 kids per 10,000 with autism, used the DSM-III criteria for autism. Today, we use the DSM-IV criteria for autism. Is DSM-IV radically more expansive than DSM-III? Let me ask a different question: was DSM-III so narrow as to miss 96.7% of the kids who today have an autism diagnosis?
There’s only one way to know, let’s look at the actual DSM-III criteria for autism:

DSM III (1980): Diagnostic criteria for Infantile Autism

A. Onset before 30 months of age 



B. Pervasive lack of responsiveness to other people (autism) 



C. Gross deficits in language development



D. If speech is present, peculiar speech patterns such as immediate and delayed echolalia, metaphorical language, pronominal reversal.



E. Bizarre responses to various aspects of the environment, e.g., resistance to change, peculiar interest in or attachments to animate or inanimate objects.



F. Absence of delusions, hallucinations, loosening of associations, and incoherence as in Schizophrenia.

That’s it. That’s the DSM-III criteria for autism. Parents, what do you think? Remember, 96.7% of the kids of parents reading this site should NOT meet the criteria above (for the record my son, unfortunately, meets the 1980s criteria for autism, too…)

Anyone? Anyone with a kid with an ASD diagnosis who would have been given a clean bill of health in 1987? Remember, 96.7% of you should be out there! I’m going to take a risk here and say that those criteria sound a hell of a lot like our kids today.

[Donna Kincanon]

Melissa,

The rise in the most disabling form of autism is what is causing most of the uproar, as well, the regressive form of autism coinciding with bowel disease onset has been a fairly recent development (within the past 20 years). Yes, doctors are probably diagnosing patients more often with the higher functioning form, but not with the % increase as the two other forms.

[mom of two]

I´ve read all of jenny´s books and have decided to keep an open mind about it all. I truly feel as though she is on to something. Medically everything she has said makes perfect sense. What I have a hard time understanding is why people are so adiment to SCREAM and run the other way. Most especially when children are involved. We are supposed to protect them from this cruel world. I pray that the truth will be reavealed soon. As a mother of two i worry alot about how they will react to their vaccines....Thanks jenny for giving parents a chance to protect our children.

[Melissa]

I don't understand how the rise of vaccines coincides with the rise of Autism, because 30 years ago my son wouldn't be considered Autistic, but in 2010 he is. He is 2.5 yrs old and is classified under the Autism Spectrum Disorder, but at the higher functioning.

30 yrs ago they would have passed him by, but not now. The doctors have broadened the definition, and now he is included as having Autism.

I'm just saying their is more to the story than the rise of vaccines. The definition for Autism has broadened, which means more kids will be diagnosed as such.

[Dian Marchese]

What Jenny + millions of other mothers know, is their own children, + that many people that r closest 2 the problem know exactly when it began. Don't ever stop fight'g, this study is a giant step in wak'g people up.