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I'm being driven out says second expert to link autism and jabs
By Daniel Foggo
(Filed: 02/10/2005)
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 BSP - 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.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/
02/naut02.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/02/ixhome.html
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