I'm being driven out says second expert to link autism and
jabs
By Daniel Foggo
(Filed: 02/10/2005)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/02/naut02.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/02/ixhome.html
A former government adviser who has controversially linked infant vaccines
to autism in children claims she is the victim of a disciplinary action
"witch-hunt".
The child psychologist Lisa Blakemore-Brown believes that her outspokenness
has made her enemies in the pharmaceutical business and in the Government.
Ms Blakemore-Brown, 57, has expounded the theory that diphtheria, tetanus
and pertussis innoculations routinely given to babies at two months could be
linked to autism and a range of allergies. She is facing disciplinary
charges after being officially accused by the British Psychological Society
of being potentially unfit to practise and of being paranoid.
She says she is the victim of a "witch-hunt" and believes her situation
echoes that of Dr Andrew Wakefield, the gastroenterologist whose research
linked the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to a national rise in autism.
This resulted in a widespread campaign to discredit his work and culminated
in his being forced out of his job.
Ms Blakemore-Brown has been ordered to attend a confidential hearing later
this month where a panel will decide on her future.
Until last year, the DTP innoculations given to British babies contained a
perservative called thiomersal, which is made of 50 per cent mercury.
Ms Blakemore-Brown has backed the stance of several scientists who claimed
that excess levels of mercury in an infant's body could be a precursor for
autism.
She has also widely criticised the medical establishment for falsely
accusing cot death mothers of murder.
She has denounced what she says is a tendency within health agencies to
label the parents of genuinely autistic children as having Munchausen's
Syndrome By Proxy.
This is a controversial condition widely diagnosed by the now disgraced
professors Roy Meadows and David Southall.
Between 1996 and 2002 Ms Blakemore-Brown repeatedly wrote to Tony Blair, the
prime minister, and ministers warning that miscarriages of justice were
happening to women convicted of killing their babies as a result of having
MSBP, when in fact the fatalities were cot deaths.
A number of women jailed for this have now had their convictions overturned
on appeal.
Now Ms Blakemore-Brown, who has works as an independent educational
psychologist assessing the needs of children and adults with autism and
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, says that a whispering campaign
against her has caused her to lose business.
As a member of the BPS - of which she is also an associated fellow - since
1987, if she is deemed unfit to practise she will be stripped of her
chartered status and will in effect become an outcast within the profession.
"I have made enemies in the past 10 years, of that there is no doubt," she
said last night. "Things have gone on which seem beyond coincidence, such as
people hacking into my e-mail account and some years ago a woman stole
documents from my house and tried to access my bank account."
The decision by the BPS to bring Ms Blakemore-Brown before a "fitness to
practise" hearing stems from a complaint made by a client who alleged that
she failed to liaise properly with her after assessing her son for ADHD.
Last night, the BPS refused to comment.