Dr. Andy Wakefield on trial

Excerpt from 'I wish the GMC could live a day in my life and see what I have seen'

It has been nine years since Dr Andrew Wakefield raised doubts about MMR, suggesting it may be linked to bowel disease and – by extension – autism. His paper in The Lancet medical journal caused a media firestorm and triggered one of the greatest public-health controversies of modern times. Who should parents believe? The experts and officials who insist Dr Wakefield was scaremongering? Or the lone doctor who said the needle might destroy their baby's chance of a healthy life?

Dr Wakefield, now based at the non-profit Thoughtful House centre in Austin, Texas, has chosen not to discuss the accusations ahead of the hearing but said last week: "My motivation is the suffering of children I've seen and the determination of devoted, articulate, rational parents to find out why part of them has been destroyed, why their child has been ruined." He could not be sure that MMR caused autism, "but the Department of Health can tell you with 100 per cent certainty that it doesn't ... and that concerns me greatly."

John Fletcher, founder of JABS, the parental support group in the U.K., claims there may be as many as 2,000 children affected by MMR. "If Dr. Wakefield is struck off, it will discourage any doctor from asking questions about the safety of vaccines and it will leave the policy making to the government and the pharmaceutical industry. Parents who complain will be disregarded, and the research on better treatment for these children will stop. That is unthinkable."

COMMENT: And perhaps that is exactly the plan of the GMC, Merck and global governments who insist on vaccinations: Make a public spectacle of doctors supporting the claims of parents so that no doctor will dare challenge the vaccine industry again.