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| Voice of the Environment's mission is to educate the public regarding the transfer of public trust assets into private, mostly corporate, hands. | ||
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| For two decades, Voice of the Environment has stood up for the people and our communities against the avarice of corporations and the misguided policies of the corporate-dominated state. |
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Print This Article Monday, July 2nd, 2007 The Persecution of Andrew Wakefield, M.D. Barbara Loe Fisher In a few weeks, Andrew Wakefield, M.D., will be defending himself against charges of professional misconduct lodged against him by British physicians running the General Medical Council of England. At the heart of the matter is the medical establishment's fury at Dr. Wakefield for daring to publish an hypothesis in the Lancet in 1998 that provided clinical evidence for an association between MMR vaccine, intestinal bowel disease and autism. Subsequently, Dr. Wakefield suggested that some genetically vulnerable children might be unable to handle being injected with three live attenuated viral vaccines at once, pointing out that children rarely are simultaneously infected with wild type measles, mumps and rubella infections in nature. Andrew Wakefield has steadfastly resisted pressure from government, medicine and the pharmaceutical industry to halt his research into autistic enterocolitis and the possible links between childhood vaccinations, intestinal inflammation and autism. That refusal to stop investigating the potential biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced autistic enterocolitis has made him a target for those determined to make an example out of him. Like individuals who are persecuted for holding different ideological, religious or political beliefs from those in power, Dr. Wakefield is being persecuted for taking a scientific position that does not conform with the majority of those operating or profiting from the global mass vaccination system. It is sad to watch physicians devour one of their own out of ignorance, envy, greed and fear. The people of the world are witnessing this Great Inquisition. They will not forget the martyrdom of a physician, one of the brightest and best, who discovered a link between vaccination and regressive autism and did what he could to heal affected children and prevent others from suffering their fate. Many parents of vaccine injured children - regardless of which biological mechanism was involved in their children's vaccine-associated regression into autism - support the pioneering work of Andrew Wakefield and his right to pursue his scientific investigation without being persecuted. Mark Blaxill, co-founder of SAFEMINDS, said: "I'd like to urge you all to take a moment and to visit the petition site and sign the statement of support for Andy Wakefield. Andy has been a pioneer in autism treatment, leading the way in finding ways to diagnose our children's medical problems and to improve their health and development. Because he had the courage to question the established modalities of current public health programs (suggesting parents split the MMR vaccine and spread out its administration) and the safety of a combination vaccine (the MMR), he has been unfairly attacked, ruthlessly sanctioned, driven from his job and his home and declared a pariah by the scientific and medical establishment of the UK. Looking back on this episode, history will judge this reaction harshly. But in the meantime, things may get worse. Andy has been summoned to appear before the General Medical Council of England. There is a chance he will be struck from the medical register as punishment for his courageous actions. "I can think of no one who deserves such treatment less than Andy Wakefield. Indeed, Andy deserves praise and accolades for his work. He stands for a model of personal conduct to which other clinician/scientists should aspire. He treats his patients with compassion and their parents with respect. He listened to the families of autistic children when no one else did. He led rigorous scientific investigations into the nature of the gastrointestinal inflammation that so many of us have observed in our children. He made the scientific case for the biomedical approach to autism treatment when the field was only just emerging and needed the scientific rigor he brought to the work. He persevered in the face of obstacles that few other scientists would have endured. And he has done all of these things with unfailing good grace, an open and generous spirit and without rancor or bitterness." SOURCE Print This Article |
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Voice of the Environment is a 501 (c-3) not-for-profit Montana-based corporation formed in 1991.
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