 | | | | by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick |
Hear the Silence, a UK documentary drama that portrays the flawed case against the MMR vaccine in a sympathetic light, has sparked controversy. A number of senior doctors have argued that the film is partial and misleading, and decided to boycott a discussion about MMR to be shown immediately afterwards on Channel Five. Dr Michael Fitzpatrick explains why he will not be joining the boycott:
| Hear the Silence is a scientifically dishonest and emotionally manipulative film which can only compound the distress already experienced by families affected by autism as a result of the anti-MMR campaign. This campaign has made parents feel guilty that, by giving their children the MMR vaccine, they may have contributed to the development of autism - a notion for which there is, after more than five years, still not a shred of scientific evidence. It has also dragged more than 1000 families into a prolonged process of litigation (now halted by the Legal Services Commission), which could only lead to disappointment and disillusionment.
| The campaign has also generated enormous anxiety among parents facing the decision over whether to give their children MMR - one of the most effective and safest vaccines in history - with the result that outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella are now threatened. As a drama, Hear the Silence makes Wife Swap look sophisticated.
| I can well understand why several leading authorities in the field of vaccines and child health have decided not to participate in the debate scheduled by Channel 5 to follow the broadcast of Hear the Silence. But I believe that the stakes in this debate are too high to allow the anti-MMR case to go unchallenged. As the parent of an autistic child and as a GP involved on a daily basis with families affected by this scare, I have been too directly affected by it to forgo the opportunity for our voice to be heard.
| | Viewers of Hear the Silence should know that the pro-MMR experts have refused to participate in the debate because they are outraged that such an utterly groundless scare is being given still more publicity. I would like to make it clear that I have decided to participate in this discussion as a parent of an autistic child and as a GP - not as a specialist in this area.
| I also want to say that, just because we as parents have experienced this tragedy in our lives, this does not mean that we have been given a licence to be irresponsible in our reactions, and thereby to visit tragedy on other families. We have a duty to listen to the unanimous opinion of the real experts in this field.
| Dr Michael Fitzpatrick is the author of MMR and Autism, Routledge, 2004 (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)); and The Tyranny of Health: Doctors and the Regulation of Lifestyle, Routledge, 2000 (buy this book from Amazon UK or Amazon USA). He is also a contributor to Alternative Medicine: Should We Swallow It? Hodder Murray, 2002 (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).
Read on:
MMR: Fact and fiction, by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick
Hear the Silence, by Dr Michael Fitzpatrick, in the British Medical Journal
TV UK, 18 December, by Dolan Cummings
spiked-issue: MMR vaccine
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