Katie Wright Reviews Dr. Andrew Wakefield in New York City

By Katie Wright

Congratulations to the New York City chapter of the NAA on a terrific night featuring Dr. Andrew Wakefield! The room was packed beyond capacity. It was so gratifying to see the word about the meeting had really gotten out. The diversity in our community is one of our biggest resources. Attendees included doctors, nurses, Wall Street parents, homeopaths, corporate lawyers, chefs, stay at home parents, professional autism advocates, parents from the Orthodox Jewish community, Pakistani grandparents physicians/ NAA directors, journalists, vaccine injured adults, skeptics, teachers, researchers, authors, ABA therapists…So much for the conjecture that we are all a group of dumb like minded automatons takings orders from our new age, anti-government conspiracy theorist leaders. Aside from autism, the people in that room don’t have much in common or time for conspiracies, they are too busy struggling to make their kids healthier.

Dr. Wakefield was terrific, happy to answer any question.  No one knows the subject of GI disorders and autism better. He took no umbrage at skeptical questions and responded respectfully and patiently.  What a contrast to groupthink plaguing IMFAR scientists! So many professional academics avoid parent groups like the plague (maybe they can develop a vaccine for that?), terrified of the questions they will be asked, preferring to stay in their safe, hermetically sealed academic world. When I made a challenging study design enquiry at IMFAR the response was a blank nervous look and the announcement we were just about out of time for questions.

Wakefield spent some time discussing the emerging and frightening macaque monkey research undertaken by Dr. Hewitson. The study was published earlier this week. It is the ONLY study on vaccinated and unvaccinated primate groups. The results are devastating. The combination of adjuvants, live and preserved viruses and our very aggressive infant and child schedule is causing GI disease and brain damage and autism- like symptoms in the monkeys. Unlike previous vaccine studies, this study was NOT financed by a vaccine company, no one from the Hewitson team sits on a vaccine company board, no one will be earning money in relation to the study’s outcome and no one who holds vaccine patents or determines our immunization schedule from the CDC or NIH played a role in this research. The Hewitson paper is exceedingly impactful because it is very rare example of truly independent, unbiased vaccine safety research. So thank you so much for to Dr. Hewitson, her courageous collegeages and all the donors.

As we viewed the slides the audience did not look surprised, only sad. Seeing the vivid PET scans of a vaccinated monkey’s brain vs. an unvaccinated monkey’ brain tells us what we already know, yet is still devastating to see. The brains of the exposed monkeys exhibit a clear pattern of maturational decline. The lights in the house are literally dimming, similar to Alzheimer’s.

As always, in our community of families, the Q &A period included a raucous debate.

Everything from the sudden onset of colitis like symptoms to regression, accusations we anti- vaccine, response that we are safe pro vaccine, post vaccination febrile seizures, crippling GI pain, dietary interventions, bad research, the importance of pediatric GIs to scope the terminal ileum, reflux, dealing with chronic immunological problems and esophogitis were discussed. These subjects- are also known as everything that most autism researchers have ignored for the past 20.

Naturally there were skeptics in the group, which is normal and expected.  Diversity is a beautiful thing. A young journalist asked, “What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?” Any child dying is a terrible tragedy and I cannot even imagine such pain. The question, however, is a common one and represents a great opportunity to respond to the false choice: if we question the safety of our immunization schedule everyone dies! 

Please, don’t we all have enough drama in our lives already? The best way to protect our children from infectious diseases is to perform truly rigorous, independent safety trials on both the adjuvant combinations and the effects live and preserved viruses on an infant’s developing central nervous system. Amazingly, this has NEVER been done. How about regaining the public’s confidence by making safer products, rather than bullying consumers to buy them!  A novel concept I know, but common in the world in which one’s products are not protected from indemnity. We all want our children protected for horrible diseases but an increasing number of parents are unwilling to risk brain damage for such protection. 

Sadly, if a vaccinated child gets the measles we need to take up that failure with the vaccine makers. Parents of autistic kids are not privy to the inter workings of vaccine companies.
That question reminds me of the argument against talking to teens about birth control. Some people fear that a consequence of learning this information teens will immediately have sex, contract venereal disease, get pregnant, possibly get AIDS and die.  That is a false choice. The real danger is in ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away. And guess what, we have the industrialized world’s highest rate of teen pregnancy.

Dr. Wakefield empathasized the important role vaccines play in our health care system. Wakefield, like the majority of American parents just want to see comprehensive, independent vaccine safety research. Would the undertaking of such research really result in death for us all and the end of civilization, as we know it? Surely not, but why does the  AAP and the CDC behave as if that is the case? Shouldn’t safety be more important than fear of the truth?
For Pete’s sake Viagra was almost recalled because of rare adverse side effects. Viagra is literally a gratuitous, nonessential drug taken by fully consenting grown men. Viagra prevents no diseases and is in no way required by any place of work. 

Nevertheless, the FDA almost recalled the drug until all possible adverse side effects were re-studied clearly marked. Meanwhile we continue to throw the dice by giving newborn babies shots for sexually transmitted diseases with no regard to how these viruses are affecting babies’ brains. This is the United States of America, not sub-Saharan Africa. We need not continue injecting our children with copious grandfathered toxic adjuvants at a breakneck pace as if the plague was just around the corner. We need to get vaccine safety research done, and done well done. 

I am frequently told that science moves slowly and that it would take too long to get these answers. Science seems to move slowly because there is little will to move quickly. Yet when scientific institutions spend our money, wow do they shift into high gear! You might get whiplash watching those checks get cashed!

Doctors, nurses and parents all asked Dr. Wakefield about their patients or their children’s colitis like GI disease. Why was it so hard to find help? Why did so many doctors refuse to scope their children despite the obvious evidence something was very wrong. Why were their kids prescribed anti-psychotics in lieu of medical help? Why didn’t the medical community want to help these children? Why weren’t autism researchers, advocacy organizations and autism treatment centers here?

I think fear is the obvious answer. After witnessing the nightmare Dr. Wakefield endured for daring to treat these very sick children at their parents’ behest, this field literally went underground. Now the AAP and other organizations are finally encouraging doctors to take GI complaints seriously and treat them. The problem is no one, outside of DAN!, is telling doctors how to do that. So most pediatric GIs are still in the dark, they do not know what to look for and if they do not find celiac disease nothing is wrong, they advise patients not to try “crazy diets” and might prescribe a reflux drug. We have to do a lot better.

As parent after parent spoke about their child’s heartbreaking symptoms I kept thinking where are all the autism specialists and researchers who have been spending our money? Why aren’t they here?  If parents were talking about the genome the place would have been packed with area hospital professionals. If researchers disagree with Dr. Wakefield all the more reason to come! Ask questions, met these families, learn more about identifying and treating GI conditions, get ideas for research, identifying subgroup, exchange information with other health professionals. If I can spend $475 to go to IMFAR, surely NYC autism researchers can come to an ASD/GI lecture. Our event is even free!

Just where were all those autism professionals who receive our hard won NIH autism grants? Why is learning about GI disorders and meeting with parents who have not been handpicked (as with the ATN meeting) so scary or unimportant? Where was Dr. Joseph Buxbaum from Mt. Sinai? Where was anyone from the Simons Foundation? Simons has a huge organization that seems to place little emphasis on here and now issues. Why not prove me wrong and show up? Where was Cold Spring Harbor? They certainly receive their fair share of autism research monies have such a minuscule involvement with the autism community. Where was Dr. Susan Epstein of the Einstein School of Medicine?  Epstein also works at CHOP’s Center for Autism Treatment. Where were the Autism Speaks scientists? Our meeting was about 5 blocks north of their offices. Where were the clinicians and researchers from Columbia? Where were their Autism Treatment Center doctors from Columbia? Obviously I could go on and on but I will get into NYC’s autism failings in another post.

It is these same scientists who decry the work of Dr. Wakefield, yet have met none of his patients, are unable or unwilling to debate him and express no interest in learning about or helping this giant subpopulation of kids. Guess what guys; you cannot have it both ways.
At the end of the Q & A I often approach parents who asked a question that relates to my child and learn a great deal from their experiences. We also reconnect with families we might have met at a conference and talk about how things are going. I am frequently approached by therapists and health professionals regarding area resources (it is a short list!) or useful books. NAA board members get direct feedback from attendees about what was useful and what topics they would like to see addressed in future meetings. Great clinicians like Dr. Bock, Dr. Nancy O’Hara, Dr. Elice are frequent guests and spend a lot of time talking with families about their child’s progress. So to area autism professionals : this is not so off the wall or scary, don’t be a stranger, come and check us out!

I know I speak for probably a million parents all over the world when I thank Dr. Wakefield. I wish the dim witted and corrupt GMC had to spend just one day watching before and after videos of our kids: the screaming, the stiffness, the febrile seizures, the terrible GI disease, the loss of speech and skills. No, the GMC wasn’t concerned with any of those ugly details only that Wakefield had the audacity to treat these sick children at their parent’s behest.

Truly a crime against humanity! By the way, the GMC still cannot find one patient who complained or would not talk their child to see Dr. Wakefield again. That may be his biggest “crime”, listening to parents and studying their child’s symptoms. So thank you Dr. Wakefield for standing up for the truth, helping our kids and refusing to dismiss or minimize their suffering although I imagine you were under tremendous pressure to do so. Thank you as well to all the families and donors who supported his important work, without whom would not have the scientific literature replicating Wakefield’s findings. If only this team was in charge of autism research! The epidemic would be over.

Katie Wright is a Contributing Editor to Age of Autism.

Comments

[Beth]

Patrons99 wrote:

"The decision whether or not to vaccinate is our choice to make, and no one else's. This is a God-given right."

I couldn't agree more.

[patrons99]

@ Randy -

For an eye-opening, gut-wrenching, review of vaccine “madness”, see the video titled “Vaccine Nation Movie by Gary Null” in July 11, 2008.

http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1100525/Vaccine_Nation_Movie_by_Gary_Null

[patrons99]

@ Carol - Very interesting case report. Sounds like more evidence in support of the portal theory of vaccine-associated disease.

Let's analyze the construction of this sentence:

"“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”

The sentence artfully incorporates several false assumptions with an attribution of blame. The sentence insinuates that those opting-out from vaccines have no compassion for the surviving relatives of the deceased. This is UTTERLY FALSE. The sentence tacitly assumes that vaccines work with NOT A SHRED OF PROOF THAT VACCINES PREVENT DISEASE. The sentence attributes blame for death to anyone who exercises their freedom to abstain from vaccination.

The decision whether or not to vaccinate is our choice to make, and no one else's. This is a God-given right.

The sentence is a microcosm of pharma's vaccine agenda and their ongoing false flag operation against the public. See the links at this website:

http://www.falseflagflu.com/

http://falseflagflu.com/DR_CHRIS_SHAW,PhD-VACCINE_DAMAGE_CONFIRMED.html

"...diseases occur in 95% vaccinated communities and in outbreaks, the majority of those affected are already vaccinated."

"So in actual fact, the vaccinated are the ones who carry the disease and risk infecting the unvaccinated, rather than the other way around."

http://www.vaccineriskawareness.com/The-Herd-Immunity-Theory-Treating-Our-Children-Like-Cattle

[Carol]

And I worry about biological contaminants in vaccines. SV40, once a polio vaccine contaminant, is probably transmissible from a vaccinated person infected with it to anybody and everybody. What are the long-term effects of being the unwilling owner of this simian virus?

And that's just one contaminant.

[Carol]

“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”

I might say, "At least I won't catch a vaccine preventable illness from your vaccinated child."

"Unvaccinated U.S. Adult Traveling Abroad Contracts Vaccine-Associated Paralytic Polio Through Contact with a Child Vaccinated with OPV"
http://www.immunize.org/reports/report082.pdf

But of course I wouldn't say that.

If parents of vaccinated children need to worry about contact with the unvaccinated, does it mean that vaccines don't work all that well?

[Randy]

“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”

I might say to the parents - I'm appalled that this person has the audacity - especially in your time of tragedy - to use you and your suffering to promote an agenda.

For this person, I have a few questions of my own:

- what kind of car do you drive? Is it the most fuel efficient vehicle available? What do you say to parents of kids who suffer from smog related respiratory illness because of you?

- when's that last time you donated blood? What do you say to parents of kids with blood disorders who languish in a state of high risk for injury or death because of you?

- have you signed your organ donor card? What do you say to parents of kids who suffer and die while waiting for a suitable donor?

- do you live in a small house? Is it air conditioned? Do you turn the dial a couple degrees to save some juice? What do you say to parents of kids who suffer the toxic spew of heavy metals from the coal fired power plants needed to supply the extra power you need to keep you cool?

- do you buy your small appliances and other goods from local / regional manufacturers or go for the better deals on imports? What do you say to parents who lost their jobs in the in the mfg sector to China and elsewhere, who can't afford to send a decent lunch to school with their kids now because of you?

- do you sponsor an impoverished 3rd world child? What do you say to parents of kids who die of malnutrition because of you?

- do you use eco friendly products? What do you say to the parents of kids with cancer about the mix of untested chemicals you pour down your drains at home every day?

- have you ever:

-- planted a tree? maybe 2? spent time in an inner city garden working for cleaner air?

-- picked up someone else's trash on a walk thru the park?

-- skipped the morning Starbucks and dropped a dollar in some poor soul's tin cup on the way by instead?

-- left the car at home and rode a bike or walked? In the rain? When it was kinda cold outside?

All these really easy, incredibly simple, virtually RISK FREE and NON INVASIVE things - and probably a hundred more - that most of us don't do every day. Some with good reason, but many, if not most, by choice - nobody walks on water on this planet. Apparently there sure are a lot of child killers around here.

As far as obligation is concerned, all those people lining up recently for a flu shot - sometimes for hours - are they there for my sake or yours? Or just because they're scared sh$tless? Seriously. It's the latter. And they aren't showing up in the numbers expected - not my a long shot. So keep adding hypocrisy and emotional blackmail to the fear mongering, exaggerated benefit, and "ethical' arguments around unknown risk, and you'll keep driving reasonable people away from the very thing you're trying to protect and promote. If a child dies then from a vaccine preventable disease, what does that make you?

[patrons99]

At the risk of straying off-topic briefly, understanding the pathophysiology of SIDS, SUID, the so-called SBS, and temporal relationship to the pediatric vaccine schedule is important.

A useful initial starting point in reviewing this literature might be an article titled “Vaccination and the Dynamics of Critical Days” by Viera Scheibner, PhD in 2004.

http://www.whale.to/v/scheibner.html

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/shakenbabysyndrome.htm

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/vaccines_phillips_criminal2.htm

http://infowars.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/shaken-baby-syndrome-the-vaccination-link/

http://www.whale.to/vaccines/sbs.html

http://www.whale.to/vaccines/sbs1.html

http://www.thenhf.com/vaccinations_18.htm

http://www.nvic.org/Doctors-Corner/Shaken-Baby-Syndrome.aspx

http://vactruth.com/2010/01/23/shaken-baby-syndrome-and-lethal-minor-falls-analysis-of-causes-of-death-of-amanda-m-sadowshy/

[Carol]

I've been reading _Biohazard_ by Ken Alibek, a major player in the Soviet biowarfare establishment until his defection in 1992. In his work he learned a thing or two about vaccines:

"....Vaccines made of live but weakened microorganisms are generally more effective than those made of nonliving cellular or subcellular components. Both types are usually benign, but in rare cases they can trigger significant changes in the blood and endocrine systems. Some have been known to affect the functioning of the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs. It is not medically advisable to combine too many different courses of vaccination....

Repeated vaccinations have been known to trigger or aggravate allergies. Thirty minutes after I received my last vaccination against anthrax in 1987, my face became swollen, and I developed a rash and had trouble breathing. I took Dimidrol, a powerful anti-allergy medication available in Russia (though not in the United states) and felt better again in a few hours. For the next ten days I received intravenous preparations in a hospital--a form of allergy treatment we called desensibilization therapy. Several colleagues had been forbidden from anthrax work after similar reactions. I knew this was a sign that I was genetically susceptible to large quantities of specific foreign proteins, and that my immune system had been stretched to its limit. I received my first anthrax vaccination in 1979 and began a course of annual vaccinations in 1982. I was also vaccinated against smallpox once, twice agains tularemia, and four times against plague. The chronic allergies I have suffered throughout my adult life are a direct consequence of repeated exposure to live vaccines, and to other biological substances I worked with."

[Rain]

Hi Katie,
Gut issues were certainly front and center in presentations on the non-ASD side at the umdf conference. The similarities with what our kids endure was striking. Richard Boles had an excellent slide presentation on this. Sorry to say the gut/regression pattern we are seeing in our kids was not really addressed by the opening ASD/mito panel. As a matter of fact, it was glossed over or lumped into the behavioral/genetics garbage can *except* by a few docs there like Richard Haas, who believes mitochondrial autism is real. The big question, what percentage of mito/ASD's are we talking about here? With so few mito experts, who will see and treat all of these kids if the known numbers grow?
There were many good people in attendance; the folks from Cleveland Clinic, J.Vockley, S. DiMauro, C.Pardo (who's new data finds mito dysfunction in brain tissue and a viral connection prenatal thru age one), and DAN's like Nancy O'Hara. It would just have been brilliant to inlude a panel of parents to present as well. I was thankful for the excellent questions posed by the Polings.

[patrons99]

OMG! Thanks David, for pointing this out - I don't think even a spell check or grammar check would pick this one up.

inciteful vs insightful...big difference! I hope you know which one I meant.