User:Midgley/Peter Fletcher

Peter Fletcher is a former chief scientific officer at the United Kingdom Department of Health (DoH). Now retired from his government position after a distinguished 40-year career in science and medicine, Fletcher has become embroiled in the growing vaccine controversy, expressing concerns that the UK government is undermining public confidence in vaccine safety by refusing to conduct in-depth clinical research into the possibility of serious damage to the health of children caused by vaccines.

Career
In his position as the chief science officer for the DoH, Fletcher also served as the medical assessor to the Committee on Safety of Medicines, which is responsible for deciding if new vaccines are safe to introduce. During his tenure with the DoH, Fletcher reviewed many drug safety trials.

MMR controversy
In early 2006, Fletcher reignited the smoldering MMR vaccine debate in Britain by accusing government health agencies of "utterly inexplicable complacency" over the MMR. Fletcher initially expressed concerns about the MMR came in 2001, when he criticized the inadequacy of the vaccine's safety trials. Despite intense efforts by government and health authorities to reassure parents that the MMR vaccine is safe for their children, controversy over the vaccine has continued unabated since 1998. In that year a study, led by gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was published in the Lancet which concluded with a recommendation for further studies into the possibility that environmental triggers, the MMR in particular, may cause autism. The political firestorm over that study eventually caused ten of Wakefield's co-authors to recant in 1994, leading to a partial 'retraction' published in the Lancet.

Fletcher spoke out again expressing concerns over the lack of treatment for autistic children with bowel disease, a condition described by Wakefield as autistic enterocolitis and in a letter to a clinical periodical, Fletcher criticized "the curious turn of events which has now led to the Department of Health, the Medicines Control Agency, the Committee on Safety of Medicines and other eminent bodies citing negative studies as absolute evidence of safety.". The UK medical establishment including the Department of Health regard Wakefield’s claims as junk science lacking substance and 10 of the co-authors of the paper which Wakefield bases his work on have withdrawn their support for it and his claims. Britain's leading child health authorities remain of the uniform opinion that the use of multiple vaccines for children is beneficial and that claims to the contrary without better scientific basis are irresponsible.

If claims of a causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism are finally proven, Fletcher has said, "the refusal by governments to evaluate the risks properly will make this one of the greatest scandals in medical history," and that without such research, health authorities cannot possibly rule out fears about MMR. "It is entirely possible that the immune systems of a small minority simply cannot cope with the challenge of the three live viruses in the MMR jab, and the ever-increasing vaccine load in general."

According to Fletcher, there has been a tenfold increase in autism and related forms of brain damage in recent years, roughly coinciding with MMR's introduction and a concurrent increase in childhood inflammatory bowel diseases and immune disorders, and that "no one in authority will even admit it's happening, let alone try to investigate the causes."

After agreeing to be an expert witness in litigation over vaccine injuries, Fletcher reviewed thousands of documents relating to the case, and concluded that the documents reveal a "steady accumulation of evidence" from scientists around the globe that the MMR vaccine is causing brain, autoimmune, and digestive system damage in certain children. He is on record as asserting the public has a right to see such evidence. Relevant data is routinely withheld by governments and pharmaceutical companies, which have demurred when pressed for critical evidence, citing concerns about patient and proprietary confidentiality. In 2003, he called the abrupt withdrawal of legal aid to the parents of the children "a monstrous injustice". After agreeing to be a witness for the parents, he received thousands of documents relating to the case. "Now, it seems, unless the parents force the Government to restore legal aid, much of this revealing evidence may never come out," he said.

Quote

 * There are very powerful people in positions of great authority in Britain and elsewhere who have staked their reputations and careers on the safety of MMR and they are willing to do almost anything to protect themselves. Peter Fletcher