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Contents:

1. AutismConnect discussion forum opens on “MMR vaccine and the Media.”

Key addresses

1. www.autismconnect.org

2. www.autismcymru.org

In the light of last night’s controversial TV drama on the MMR vaccine on

Britain’s Channel Five, I have decided to open a new Discussion forum

called “The MMR and the Media.” As I have reported in the AutismConnect

news section in recent days, many doctors refused to take part in the live

debate following the screening of the programme because they said the film

– based on Dr Wakefield’s claim of a link between the triple jab and

autism – was far too biased in favour of the anti-MMR argument.

For those who did not see the programme – either because of the timing or

because you live in another country - the drama, called " Hear My Silence, "

starred t son as the mother of a child with autism who is

convinced that his condition was brought on by the measles, mumps and

rubella vaccine. Hugh Bonneville played the British gastroenterologist, Dr

Wakefield. Before the programme was even screened, 11 top British

child health experts wrote an open letter attacking the link made by the

drama between MMR and autism. The letter complained that other doctors were

portrayed as " baddies " who appeared " positively to dislike children, "

adding that " the audience is presented with a piece of fiction that could

not be further from the truth. " No evidence had been found, the letter

said, for the " new " forms of autism as described by Dr Wakefield and the

drama.

Please feel free to comment specifically if you saw last night’s drama and

the debate after it – has it changed your mind, hardened your position,

prompted you to question your position on either side of what seems to be

an increasingly cavernous divide? If you did not see the programme, please

take this opportunity, in any case, to exchange views on how the media in

your country have been reporting the whole MMR issue. Is it objective

journalism, in your opinion? If so, has the research influenced your

vaccine choices with your children, one way or the other?

To access the discussion, simply go to the AutismConnect website

(www.autismconnect.org) and click on Discussions.

Hope to see you there.

Adam Feinstein

Editor