Dr. William Griffith McBride
Persecuted doctors
[1994] 'Thalidomide' doctor alleges plot to gag him
[2008] Dr Andrew Wakefield On MMR Vaccine In Sunday Express He cites parallels between his story and that of Dr. William McBride, the Australian gynaecologist who first alerted the world to the danger of thalidomide, the morning sickness drug that caused widespread foetal malformation, in 1961 in a letter to The Lancet. Drug manufacturers and European governments resisted the withdrawal of thalidomide until the weight of evidence and media pressure was overwhelming.
In April 1961 Australian Dr W.G. McBride
at Crown Street Women's Hospital, Sydney, notified the representatives of
Distillers in Australia about his suspicions of the link between Distavel
(Thalidomide) and malformations. Distillers in England claim they never
received the written report. Sales promotion of the drug was stepped up and
a quarter of a million leaflets distributed saying Thalidomide is "Harmless
even over a long period of use" and "completely harmless even for
infants".
May 4 1961 Dr McBride reported further
malformations due to Thalidomide and succeeded in convincing his superiors that
the drug must be withdrawn from use in the hospital. In October and November
Dr McBride reported further malformed babies.
November 27 1961 Thalidomide was withdrawn from the British market.
December 16 1961 Dr McBride's observations
were published in the Lancet, and in the Australian Medical Journal
on December 23.
On January 6 and February 3 1962 Prof.
Widijung Lenz who had warned against Thalidomide in Germany published evidence
of deformities in Lancet. Chemie Grunenthal continued prescribing
Thalidomide, stepping up its advertising and intensive marketing despite
criticism of doctors.
March 4 1962 Thalidomide was removed from the shelves in Germany
because of public opinion and against the wishes of Chemie Grunenthal. News
of the dangers of Thalidomide was played down by the media. In many cases
malformed births occurred after the drug was withdrawn as, in possession
of the drug mothers took it never realising the risks involved. At the time of
withdrawl of Thalidomide in Germany thousands of malformed babies had been born,
thousands of women required extensive psychiatric treatment and there were many
suicides. (In some countries Thalidomide continued to be prescribed and was
doled out to pregnant women in Canada until August 1962.)
Animal Research Takes Lives
by Bette Overell
On June 22 1971 Australian Dr William McBride,
internationally respected scientist and gynaecologist was invited to Paris by
the Institut de la Vie where 18 Nobel Prize winners gathered to pay tribute to
the man who alerted the world to the dangers of Thalidomide. In a ceremony
which he described as "the most shimmering moment of glory never to be
forgotten" he was presented with a gold medal and cash prize of $40,000 (with
which he established an institute for study of the first 41 weeks of life). In
1969 he was made a Commander of the British Empire and in 1977 awarded the Order
of Australia. (By the time Thalidomide was withdrawn thousands of babies had
been born with terrible malformations, including 27 in Australia.)
In 1972 after being named Father of the Year, Dr
McBride created another international furore by announcing that Imipramine, a
widely-used anti-depressant, caused birth deformities. (The Australian Drug
Evaluation Committee rejected the evidence.) In 1980 turning his attention
to the Debendox anti-nausea drug produced by Merrel Dow he appeared as an expert
witness for the U.S. women who had
children with birth defects and were sueing the manufacturer. The drug was
subsequently removed from the market. There were many Debendox victims in
Australia and New Zealand. Then McBride said his research showed that
Debendox was also responsible for causing mental retardation. On December 12
1987 McBride was accused of scientific fraud, of manoeuvring the results of the
Debendox experiments. In November 1988 he was found guilty by a committee of
inquiry and appealed against the decision. Dr
McBride says that everyone will eventually realise that he is innocent of the
charges against him. In an interview with Jane Cadzow, senior writer for the
Australian Good Weekend he accused the
N.S.W. Health Department of being a "Gestapo State". "There's big
money behind this", he said: "You know, big business is just as vicious
as the CIA. Because I've
given evidence for the kids in America... The drug companies have been known to
resort to drastic methods to discredit those who appear in court against them."
Dr McBride launched a Supreme Court action in an
attempt to overturn the findings brought against him. (Little wonder doctors
are hesitant to swim against the tide of conventional established thought by
asking for the abolition of vivisection, the cause of drug failures -
Author.)
(Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine, July 15 1989.)
Animal Research Takes Lives
by Bette Overell
Book
Killing the Messenger by William
McBride