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.
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