Postures of Crusader and Victim: Spiked on Wakefield

“Charisma,” “postures of crusader and victim,” “egotism, cynicism and irrationality”: These are the words and phrases that Dr.  Michael Fitzpatrick uses to describe Dr. Andrew Wakefield in today’s Spiked Online. Fitzpatrick provides a sort of taxonomy of the “anti-MMR scare story genre” in reference to articles in last week’s Observer in which a “big surge” in autism, the MMR vaccine, and the charges of misconduct against Wakefield were mentioned: There is the “leaked story” (the unpublished paper that is said to suggest a 1 in 58 rate of autism in primary school children in Cambridgeshire); there is the “dubious maverick” (the doctor in this post’s title); the gullible journalist (including the writer—who was recently a sports reporter—of the July 8th Observer article). Mentioned in Fitzpatrick’s post are amounts of the income from anti-MMR litigation that “prominent supporters of the Wakefield campaign” have received; the list includes DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) doctors Dr. Jeffrey Bradstreet and Dr. Arthur Krigsman, as well as “US genetic counsellor, chelator/castrator” Dr. Mark Geier (a full list of MMR litigation-related incomes is found on journalist Brian Deer’s website).

Fitzpatrick’s article is entitled The dark art of the MMR-autism panic, with a perhaps less than veiled reference to Harry Potter and witchcraft, and to the “witchhunt” that Wakefield’s supporters are protesting against. In light of reports about Wakefield in a humorous mood while purchasing blood from children at a birthday party, the dark art of the “MMR-autism scare” is looking very dark indeed.