REVIEWS:
Michael Fitzpatrick

George and Sam
BMJ 2004; 328: 1571 [Full text]

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Re: Accepting nothing
 

I would like to read about George and Sam.

It is a shame that Michael Fitzpatrick’s autistic son has not brought out the best in his father. A greater deftness in stepping round the MMR controversy would have made this review much better.

While it was good to appreciate the ‘incorruptible innocence’ of those two autistic boys and their mother’s lack of pity for herself, it was unnecessary to denigrate those parents who seek answers to the challenge that is autism.

If the cause of autism is not known then the role of vaccination in some children is unknown too. It is natural to want an answer and self- pity does not have to drive the search, nor anger at those who seem so certain either way. Sitting on the fence is distinctly uncomfortable for such as me - a GP - when public trust in politicians and doctors shakes it so. I certainly feel sorry for myself on this and pity for those challenged by autism. I want some understanding on all sides of that challenge. I don’t want to remain agnostic for ever.

Competing interests: None declared

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Re: Re: Accepting nothing
 

Dr Mike Fitzpatrick ascribes bad motives to people, but they could have many other motivations. Nor as a matter of fact - even if he is the parent of a severely disabled autistic child - has he had all the experiences of other parents or seen all the things that they have witnessed (non-litgant Carol Johnston who has recently contributing to 'Watts:The new MMR?'[1] correspondence for example).

But the real point is that all the ascription of motive is irrelevant to the scientific issues. Where Fitzpatrick is notably absent from the scene is when anyone challenges the science. So he quotes epidemiological survey after epidemiological survey, with all the credulity of the mmrthefacts website. But when anyone points to flaws in their compilation, he is notably absent from the conversation. Nor is he capable of ackowledging the extent to which the drug companies and the state have frustrated the medical invstigation of children with autism through legal and institutional means [2]. It is very unclear that we live in a world in which justice is always done and money doesn't always speak, but it is all good enough for Mike: we should accept institutional reality as scientific reality, and it dosn't matter what happens to our children, or anyone else's.

The new LM creed seems to owe more to Catholicism than Karl Marx: it preaches contrition and acceptance before before the new secular transcendental order of Big Science [3]. Everything which opposes the juggernaut is dismissed as junk science, and when you actually get round to discussing the scientific detail it will simply be swept away before the cruching rhetoric. So, I don't expect that Fitzpatrick will ever answer about Jick and Kaye, Lingam et al, Hviid. I don't suppose he will address the problem that the state simply refuses to consider cases of possible vaccine damage, and that in most instances bad vaccine reactions are not recorded [4].

Well, perhaps I don't share his love and awe of the new order, but I will tell you what motivates me - the possiblity that in part through my efforts other families and other children will not suffer our fate.

[1] Http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/328/7442/773.

[2] Robert Sandall, MMR RIP, Sunday Times Magazine 14 December 2004.

[3]Mike Fitzpatrick, The price of precaution, Spiked-online 4 April 2001.

[4] Watts above passim.

Competing interests: Parent of an autistic child

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Re: Re: Accepting nothing
 

I agree totally with Mark Struthers, GP. Our organization, The Autism Autoimmunity Project has funded the research of Andrew Wakefield, MD, Vijendra Singh, PhD. and Dr. James Oleske (see pages 22-24 of

http://www.umdnj.edu/homeweb/research/research_web.pdf).

We found that Eric has colitis and tested positive for myelin basic protein antibodies and elevated measles antibody titers. Now, if Eric didn't get the elevated measles antibody titers from the MMR vaccine, I would like someone to explain to me where did it come from?

I constantly hear that the autism epidemic is a mystery and that they can't find a cause for autism, but yet there are people like Michael Fitzpatrick who say there is no relationship between vaccine-induced autism. Shame on these people for saying that when they can't back up their argument with clinical science proving their position. I'm a parent and I can see through these people, so can people that have medical expertise like Dr. Struthers who are open-minded.

One other note. There has never been one long-term, independent safety study done on the MMR vaccine, or for that fact, any vaccine. All safety studies on vaccines have been short term and funded by the pharmaceutical companies or organizations promoting vaccines. Our children are allowed to be experimented on in essence when it comes to vaccine safety.

Competing interests: Founder of The Autism Autoimmunity Project and father to Eric Gallup who was born normal and regressed into autism after getting the MMR vaccine

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Re: Blame seeking parents
 

Dear Sir

Is this the same Dr Michael Fitzpatrick who wrote The Price of Precaution; Article 4 April 200? In the article Dr Fitzpatrick states: 'The importance of precautionary measures should not be played down on the grounds that the risk is unproved.'

Well, in the case of vaccine reaction monitoring and reporting of vaccine reactions, this "precautionary" measure is woefully indequate. Many reactions are dismissed or denied by medical practicationers as having anything to do with vaccine. Is Dr Fitzpatrick in fact saying that there is no such thing as vaccine reaction and in fact vaccines are 100 per cent. safe? Its just in the minds of some poor unfortunate misguided parents.

He further states on the subject of BSE:

'The official recognition of the families of victims reflects public acknowledgement of the particularly distressing effects of CJD, their involvement in the wider aspects of the inquiry implicitly devalues scientific, clinical - and even political - expertise. - Yet the involvement of families of victims or sufferers themselves, not only in public inquiries, but in the formulation of public policy and decisions over research priorities, has become a key theme of government policy. So relatives' groups have played a major role in the inquiries into the Bristol children's heart surgery unit and the scandal over retained organs at Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool. In all of these cases, the government presents public involvement as a democratic and empowering development. But how democratic is this much-vaunted process of dialogue and involvement?

The object of medical research is to discover something about the cause of a disease, not to feel the pain of disease sufferers.'

The needs of families of victims or victims themselves have no place in any inquiry into possible malpractice or flawed research or injury or diesase, or indeed should not even be considered according to Dr Michael Fitzpatrick .

He would do well to re-read and reconsider the words: Moore's observation that "the people who get on best with autists are those who can put their own ego to one side."

Also he says his wife often says that his autistic son "brings out the best in people." Could he please let me know where this haven of acceptance is? I will bring my kids over to join him in this haven on earth! Sadly autistic people and children are not understood by society as a whole. I find it difficult to take my son out because of the tuts, stares and even muffed mummerings of "shut up" because he is kicking, screaming, biting! You state Moore accepts the ASD in her children. I accept and love my children ASD warts and all! The difference is I knew my children before their autism. I remember my son putting his arms around my neck on his first birthday giggling and laughing looking in my eyes and saying "love mummy" - I remember playing peek-a-boo games. Both my children smiled with their eyes, a crinkle and and a sparkle. Their eyes are now blank. My son is totally non-verbal now at 5 years old. My daughter has the mental development of a child half her chronological age. I saw developmental regression 3 times in my children. Twice for my daughter and once for my son. I witnessed this regression first hand, and until Dr Fitzpatrick can explain exactly what it was happened to my children, why three times it followed MMR then I continue to point to MMR as the trigger for my children's autism.

I am not involved in the UK litigation but I wish those parents the best of luck.

I do not indulge in self-pity. But yes, I am angry at what I saw happen to my children - as would any parent be. I do not want compensation - I want answers and help for my children. My children's life choices are severely affected and limited by their autism. Ask me do I want a cure for autism. Answer - Yes I do! We need a study to look at these children whose parents are pointing to vaccination to determine exactly what happened to them.

Of course it is terrible this culture of these misguided parents demanding compensation for the woes of their children and blame searching. Of course having an autistic son gives one certain authority especially when publishing a book entitled MMR and Autism by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick. Of course, its terrible how some parents exploit the conditions of their children! Opps, I am sorry - the book is probably written purely a medical background and has no personal bias whatsoever and probably no mention of having an autistic child either! Apologies if in fact you are not the same Dr Michael Fitzpatrick author of said book!

Parents like myself want answers. We want clinical studies into the group of children parents claim have suffered vaccine reaction and what can be done to help these children.

I do not make money from my child's autism.

As to Professor Liam Donaldson, saying More dinner parties, barbecues and picnics have been spoiled by rows over MMR than even over the war in Iraq - never mind the European constitution' - errrh as a parent of an autistic child I tend not to get invited on any social events as it is impossible to find babysitters, respite care and noone wants my children at their barbeque or dinner party!

This is the reality of autism - social isolation and lack of understanding. The MMR triggered my children's autism. I am angry that parents are not informed of the known risks of vaccination (as acknowledged by the manufacturers of the vaccine) - even if evidence suggests there is no link - "lack of evidence" does not constitute proof that autism is not caused by vaccination!

I have not even touched on the subject of mecury in vaccinations, which of course is a subject which has great relevance alongside the MMR debate.

Perhaps next time Dr Fitzpatrick is thinking of having a dinner party of barbeque, I and my kids will get an invite!

Look forward to invitation - just email me!

Yours sincerely

Carol Johnston

Competing interests: Parent of 2 children who developed ASD following vaccination with MMR

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Re: more review would have been nice
 

I have been an avid reader of Charlotte Moore's writings about her children for some time. Her sympathetic, thoughtful and often amusing work makes wonderful reading - who else could write a column about the unpleasant fate of a batch of cat vomit that makes one laugh!

I enjoy most the day-to-day tales of life and coping. Her views on management and education are less interesting to me as they are in part shaped by the services available where she lives. They are also much more complex than can be presented in any one review or newspaper article, which makes their emphasis in such a brief item unfortunate and misleading. Still I would say that all her work gives me cause for reflection.

Unfortunately Michael Fitzpatrick has chosen to use much of an all too brief review to vent his spleen against parents whose views differ from his. This is doubly unfortunate since Charlotte Moore's writings are remarkable in their freedom from rancour and mean-spiritedness. She states her beliefs unhesitatingly but without denigrating other parents.

I would have liked a review of Charlotte Moore's work, not a diatribe. Perhaps somebody like Nick Hornsby, who has referred to her writings on occasion, could oblige.

Competing interests: parent & health professional

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Re: Dr Michael Fitzpatrick and friends
 

Dr Michael Fitzpatrick is a trustee of the science lobby organisation Sense about Science. Sense about Science is funded amongst others by Glaxo Smith Kline one of the defendents in the MMR/Autism litigation [1]. A notable adviser to Sense about Science is Dr Stephen Ladyman [1], erstwhile chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Autism, and Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Security who notably has admitted the Andrew Wakefield's patients have measles antigen in their gut but denies any connection with MMR [2] (Dr Ladyman has also been in the news recently for apparently failing to intervene effectively in the case of Asperger Syndrome adults wrongly held in secure units for the insane and criminally insane and being subjected to inappropriate drug treatments [3]).

Don't get angry!

[1] www.senseaboutscience.org.uk

[2] Epolitix 14 October 2003.

[3] Private Eye 11-24 June 2004.

Competing interests: Parent of an autistic child

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Re: Fairness in research is required
 

An individual who developed cancer from an occupational exposure to a toxic level of a carcinogen would never be told "it was your genes".

Certainly medical science by now has proven that environmental triggers influence genetic expression. Certainly medical science by now has proven that certain individuals have weaknesses in methylation and sulfation pathways that are critical for toxin tolerance. Certainly medical science by now has proven that toxic exposure further breaks down these pathways especially if the individual has a concurrent immune challenge or is deficient in key nutrients. Certainly medical science by now has proven that certain viruses can become chronic infections and are associated with autoimmune conditions, such as autism.

Quite obviously when the proclamation that vaccines are infalable is being made without exception something is amiss.

Who is to "blame" for the growing controversy? The individuals who refuse to acknowledge the importance of susceptible children to vaccine reactions (let us not forget these are developing children), refuse to research how to identify them beforehand, refuse to develop standardization of assessment following vaccine reaction, refuse to educate pediatricians on known risk factors, refuse to acknowledge there are ways to reduce risk factors and often reap quite a benefit from "medicating" the very children in question.

Competing interests: None declared

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Re: Autistic disorder, parental concerns and MMR?
 

Sir:

Pervasive developmental disorders, which include autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, disintegrative psychosis and atypical autistic disorder are etiologically caused by a variety of mainly biological factors. If some normally developing children manifest regressive and other symptoms like that of autism immediately following MMR vaccination (i.e, temporal relationship), the common sense and as also taught in clinical pharmacology guides that MMR is the most likely culprit. The parental concerns of autistic children must be addressed properly and there should be a constructive dialogue between parents, health authorities and MMR vaccine manufacturers. Intentionally contaminated vaccines also have longterm devastating effects on growing children.

Health providers should understand that autistic children suffer from a variety of disruptive symptoms, which have not only direct adverse psyhological impact but also financial burdens on their parents. The parents' friends also taste the suffering of autistic children.

The parents should know that all autistic children are not disruptive. Notably, high functioning autistic children without mental subnormality may be highly creative and productive in life. They should also know that the spectrum of autistic disorders are yet to be studied fully, its etiologies, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and outcome. Like a child, child psychiatry is in its developing phase.

Finally, parents of autistic children have rights to raise their genuine concerns and relevant, qualified people should address them seriously without making mockery of the whole issue.

Reference:

Michael Fitzpatrick .George and Sam.BMJ 2004; 328: 1571

Competing interests: None declared

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Re: Re: more review would have been nice
 

Last year a close friend died after being given a drug for a stomach problem. Sudden death was on the adverse reactions list.

Following his tragic death, reactions were varied, and those who dared to suggest that maybe this was something to do with a drug reaction were treated to incandescent rage. To do this was `demeaning` of his memory,it was argued by some.

How much nicer, to ignore such horrid thoughts, and just have fun talking about what a great guy he was.

Of course the latter was much better received by the majority of normal middle class British people, who shunned any explanation that may take them into political and unsavoury waters and who didn't want to be `negative`.

It is our choice, and it is especially a parent's choice.

If they want to understand why their child has become autistic, or died, and think there may be something `unsavoury` but feel they have a duty to their child and other children to raise it, that is their prerogative.

If they cannot tolerate that very thought, and prefer to accentuate the positive, that is also their prerogative.

But for the professionals amongst us - we DO have a duty to do both.

Competing interests: Specialist and Expert in Autistic spectrum and ADHD disorders

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Re: Mike Fitzpatrick: "Hear the Silence"!
 

If someone cannot answer in an academic dispute they generally do not - like as not it means they have conceded the point. It takes on a different perspective in medical disputes when people do not answer: because lives depend on it. It takes on a different perspective when paediatricians involved in SBS refuse to test or look for medical explanations rather than their favoured thesis of foul play, and refuse to acknowledge well documented clinical problems in an open forum. It takes on a different perspective when a prominent proponent of infant vaccine safety in the media cannot or will not answer his critics in an open forum. He can go and tell the media that we are all knaves and rogues, and probably for some time they will go on believing him, but it does not mask the weakness of a case which has been left undefended again and again on these boards.

Competing interests: Parent of an autistic child

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Re: The words of the author
 

Dear Sir,

I wonder how the author Charlotte Moore herself would feel about Dr Fitzpatrick using her book to further his own views and attack parents whose beliefs differ from those of his own.

Below are some extracts, taken from an article written by Charlotte Moore entitled "My autistic sons count" Monday May 13, 2002 in The Guardian[1]

QUOTE:

Is autism on the increase? More than two-thirds of teachers think so, according to a National Autistic Society survey. The number of ASD (autistic spectrum disorder) pupils is three times higher in primary than secondary schools. In special schools, one child in three has an autism- related condition. It is still argued that there is no real rise in incidence, that more widespread diagnosis wholly accounts for the growing numbers....Now, I know of dozens of families with two, and a few with three or more... Could my boys have escaped diagnosis in the past? Possibly... Neither boy is wholly socially isolated, but every single thing they do is different, eccentric. They don't have Kanner's syndrome, but they are both autistic through and through.

But diagnosis or not, George and Sam would have been noticed.... So where were those children? Special schools were in their infancy. Some must have been "put away" in institutions, but it hardly accounts for one in 100 children, which is today's estimate.

Common sense suggests there is a real increase, as well as underdiagnosis....Nearly every week I get a call about some friend-of-a- friend who's worried about their child. What could account for this trend? I don't have anything useful to add to the MMR debate; I don't think it affected George and Sam, but found myself unable to give it to Jake, my non-autistic four-year-old. To the public MMR is the prime suspect but there are other theories: diet, pollution, allergies, ultrasound scanning... I just don't know. But I do believe there must be something.

UNQUOTE

Charlotte Moore is wonderfully accepting of her children's ASDs but like many other parents she questions just what it is that is causing the rising numbers of autistic children -today's estimate of 1 in 86 (diagnosed) even to the extent of erring on the side of caution and not giving MMR to her youngest child.

I wonder how Charlotte Moore herself would feel about the way in which Dr Fitzpatrick has choosen to review her book.

[1] Article My autistic sons count Charlotte Moore- Monday May 13, 2002 - The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,714461,00.html

Competing interests: Parent of 2 children ASD post MMR

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Re: Re: The words of the author
 

I think it is very interesting that two years ago Charlotte Moore could express these thoughts in a non-rancourous and open way. You really wonder if she expressed herself in this way today whether any national newspaper with the exception of the Daily Mail would publish it. But the reality is that while we may now have an institutional and political answer to the autism/vaccine debate, we do not have a scientific or practical one.

Charlotte Moore is always keen to stress the differences between her two autistic children. If their disability was purely genetically determined would you not expect their characteristics to replicate each other? We now have many examples of siblings affected by ASD - an obvious feature of the present proliferation which contradicts the traditional wisdom - but in my experience their charactistics are seldom particularly similar. This would perhaps argue that the genetic feature which is significant is their vulnerability to environmental damage.

Competing interests: Parent of an autistic child

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Re: Re:The words of the author
 

Dear Sir

I am inclined to agree with John Stone's observation that if a condition in siblings is genetic (particularly in siblings of the same sex) you would expect to see similarities in the way the condition manifests or presents itself. But as parents of autistic children know, there are so many degrees of the condition that one child is as different as can be from another child. Some autists are passive whilst some are aggressive.

My children are very different from each other although both have ASDs. My son is low functioning and non-verbal whilst my daughter is high functioning and verbal. Also my duaghter has auditory sensitivity whilst my son has sensory issues in other areas. Mostly with physical touch and feeling of materials and vibration (ie spinning washing machines).

I could go on forever listing the differences between my children but one overwhelming factor unites them in that they both regressed. One at 12 months and then again at 4.5 years and the other at 16 months.

They both lost skills, ie speech, balance, toilet training skills, became withdrawn, lost eye contact, screaming constantly, bowel problems, tastes in foods also changed etc. If this was a genetic condtion then why did it show itself following vaccination. This suggests to any logical thinking person that MMR was indeed a causal factor. How this affected my children and why it caused their regression is something that still needs to ascertained.

Atypical autism was unheard of or considered to be very rare in the 1970s. It now outnumbers typical cases of autism from birth by 5 to 1. Atypical autism has risen in line with mass vaccination.

A genetic disorder does not present in epidemics. Local educational services are overwhelmed by autistic children. What is even more worrying, that if the birthrate is dropping why are ASD's rising. Surely one would expect to see a drop in the numbers that were originally seen a few decades ago.

There are definite environmental factors at work here. It is in all our interests to work together to try to establish exactly what this "environmental" trigger is.

Carol Johnston

Competing interests: 2 kids with ASDs post-MMR

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Re: JAIL NEEDED FOR HEALTH OFFICIALS - FITZPATRICK NO LONGER RELEVANT
 

Dear Sirs,

This debate has moved on. What people are now looking to is jail terms for public officials who fail to take action in the public interest. The body of evidence of the harm from vaccinations and other pharmaceuticals is such that Dr Fitzpatrick's views became irrelevant some time ago. Fitzpatrick is in the van, not the vanguard. Whatever Fitzpatrick's problem is, rest assured, it is his problem and not yours. Do not waste your breath debating with those who argue the unarguable. Let him live with it in denial and leave him to grow old believing his truth.

Move on. Children, tiny children, are being killed and seriously injured daily. Yet our public officials hide behind 'science'. That is an untenable position, as demonstrated in 'UNRELIABILITY OF SCIENTIFIC PAPERS AS EVIDENCE' (1).

There are too many warning signals being ignored and even, in the case of direct patient reporting, seemingly being suppressed (2). The consequences of dereliction are too serious for jail terms to be ignored. We need them as a tool to concentrate the minds of Government ministers and regulators from the top down, including the MHRA and those who take the Queen's shilling on the Committee on Safety of Medicines. It is not an argument to say jail will put people off taking up these posts. They will go to jail for criminal behaviour, not for taking honest decisions conscientiously, rightly or wrongly and there is such a world of difference that any jury can handle it.

The SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) scandals are showing us all the tip of the iceberg of fraud and corruption in the pharmaceutical and regulatory industries. This is such that the Attorney- General of New York, USA is prosecuting criminal proceedings where the US FDA and NIH have failed to act. Italy is reported to be taking criminal proceedings against 4000 medical doctors and almost 300 drug company employees for corruption. The scale of corruption worldwide is such that keeping up is a full-time job for the Alliance for Human Research Protection (www.ahrp.org) whose bulletins come thick and fast every week.

The truth is out about SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) but people around the world are still being jailed and having their children taken away because they were the last people in the care of a child that died after a recent vaccination. Then we have the 'medical experts' who have been allowed by the medical profession to propound junk science as the norm. Are we really to believe all of the scientific tosh that is published? Which of the science is junk? How can anyone tell? That the medical profession accepts as the medical gospel? Or that which the courageous and principled are prepared to propound in the teeth of the malevolence the medical heirarchy is willing to unleash against them for doing so?

And quite how cheaply does our Government value our children's lives? There are too many people now affected: all the parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, the prospective parents worried for their future offspring, the teachers seeing autism and food allergies daily, the medical professionals who are also parents of affected children or who treat those affected. You can all do something about this by writing regularly to your MP. Maybe we will be seeing election posters for the next UK general election saying 'WHAT KIND OF GOVERNMENT POISONS ITS OWN KIDS.' How fast will Secretary of State John Reid or Health Minister Melanie Griffiths move if faced with the prospect of jail for a failure to act?

(1) http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/328/7440/602-c#52948

(1) Private Eye - Drug Safety 'Yellow Fever' 28th May 2004

Competing interests: Close relative with life threatening food allergy.

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Re: Re: MMR - JAIL NEEDED FOR HEALTH OFFICIALS - IS IT POSSIBLE?
 

Competing interests: Close relative with life threatening food allergy.

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Re: Who doesn't accept - a hypothesis
 

I pose this purely at a theoretical level. If you were a fierce and public proponent of vaccination - of its efficacy and safety - how might you react if you witnessed your child endure what seemed to be a terrible and irreversible reaction to a jab. Would you be able to accept what had happened? Might you not be terribly angry with people who took a different view?

How would you deal with it psychologically?

Competing interests: Parent of an autistic child

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Re: Re: Who doesn't accept - a hypothesis
 

One likely reaction would be to totally deny it - and to remain in blissful denial forever... however, to keep this denial in place, it may happen that the individual becomes even more confirmed in his prior position.

If they did not - the guilt could have the power to totally destroy the parent.

The alternative - to admit the damage they could not accept, but advocate - would be to admit to destruction of some children including their own by - effectively - their own hand.

Competing interests: Expert in Autism