Dr Elliman is WRONG 14 December 2003
Kathleen F. Yazbak, Director of a Nonprofit Organisation Boston, MA 02114, David Elliman, Helen
Bedford Send response to journal: Re: Dr Elliman is WRONG Email Kathleen F. Yazbak, et al.
"Hear the Silence" is a Channel 5 drama due to be aired on Monday, 15 December. The content of this
programme has been widely discussed in newspapers and airwaves across Britain. I am utterly dismayed
at the personal attacks being launched against Dr Andrew Wakefield, and am writing to publicly
support his crucial research. The obvious defensiveness of the public health authorities and
government officials who have aimed their vitriol at Dr Wakefield speaks for itself. If there were
no credence to a potential MMR-Autism link, why would they even give Dr. Wakefield the time of day?
I'd like to mention that many of the public health authorities who are bemoaning this programme are
the very same ones to whom I have personally written incessantly over the last 6 years, and from
whom I have never received a single response, not even to say, "I'm sorry you believe this happened
to your child." There have been 2 articles published this week in The Guardian that mention
"inaccuracies " in the script written by Timothy Prager. The source of these accusations hasn't been
publicly revealed. But the result is that we have a national British daily that has published
unattributed quotes, and hasn't even checked out the supposed inaccuracies. This is simply
unethical, immoral and irresponsible. Timothy Prager wrote "Hear the Silence" after meeting many
families like mine. Juliet Stevenson's character, Christine Shields, is an amalgam of the hundreds
and thousands of us who have witnessed, with horror, our previously normally-developing child
regress into autism. "Hear the Silence" has a strong message: Why is the medical research simply not
being allowed? So I ask, why aren't the authorities concerned that the incidence of autism is sky-
rocketing? The Scotsman published the following quote just this week, on 6 December, 20003: "One
primary age child in 49 has been diagnosed with, or is awaiting diagnosis of, autistic spectrum
disorder in the Inverness area, according to the survey carried out by the authority's education
department." This statistic is staggering. I also wish that the authorities would stop saying that
regressive autism is not a new phenomenon. Dr. Bernard Rimland, who runs the Autism Research
Institute in San Diego, CA, and who has been compiling statistics on autism for over 40 years, said
on July 14, 2002, "Late onset autism, (starting in the 2nd year), was almost unheard of in the '50s,
'60s, and '70s; today such cases outnumber early onset cases 5 to 1, the increase paralleling the
increase in required vaccines." And if it isn't MMR, then what is causing this epidemic? I can tell
you that the answer is not to be found in the epidemiological, or "statistically" based studies that
those in authority purport as the final word. Parents need to be interviewed and children need to be
examined. In my son's case, when the team at the Royal Free Hospital conducted biopsies during a
colonoscopy, they found something sinister: measles genomic RNA in the walls of his intestine. Why
aren'Competing interests: I am the mother of a 10 year old boy who suffers from regressive autism
and bowel disease, and has measles genomic RNA in his gut tissue
bmj.bmjjournals.com1411 aOpen ↗
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Dear Sir/Madam:
I'm glad that you are doing the "Hear the Silence" TV show on Monday, December 15th. I and the other
parents of The Autism Autoimmunity Project support you. autismautoimmunityproject.orgautismautoimmunityproject.orgOpen ↗
Below is my response on the BMJ:
As a parent of an adult that was born normal and regressed into autism after receiving the measles-mumps-
rubella (MMR) vaccine on April 28, 1986 (when he was a year and 3 months old), I'm glad that Hear
the Silence will be aired on Channel 5 TV. I know Andrew Wakefield, MD personally and he is a
terrific doctor as well as a terrific human being. He has risked his career to do the right thing
for our children. He is a hero and those who oppose him show their lack of knowledge about real
science and also a lack of integrity by putting the interest of the vaccine companies before that of
our children.
Our son, Eric, has colitis, elevated measles antibody titers, tested positive for myelin basic
protein antibodies and T-cell abnormalities indicating an autoimmune disorder. James Oleske, MD of
UMDNJ, Newark, NJ (world famous AIDS pediatric immunologist) and Vijendra Singh, PhD. of Utah State
University both found the elevated measles antibody titers in Eric. Arthur Krigsman, MD of New York,
who is replicating Dr. Wakefield's work found colitis in Eric.
It says quite a bit when the Andrew Wakefield was sacked at the Royal Free Hospital in London,
England and that Arthur Krigsman was prevented from doing his pathology work at hospitals in New
York. It says that the people that are against the science that Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Krigsman are
producing, do not want the truth to come out. It seems apparent that vaccine companies with their
deep pockets control the medical community to the point that real science and children are
sacrificed for the good of corporate profits. Also, those that oppose the science do not have an
explanation for why children with autism have measles in the gut and/or elevated measles antibody
titers in the blood.
Competing interests: I have an adult with autism that tested for elevated measles antibody titers
and colitis. Also, I'm Founder of The Autism Autoimmunity Project that funded Dr. Andrew Wakefield's
independent research.
Ray Gallup, Founder The Autism Autoimmunity Project 45 Iroquois Avenue Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034 Tel
973-299-9162