Media Advisory
News Conference
What:
1) On Wednesday 6
th May 2009 a formal complaint will be filed with the General MedicalCouncil of the UK against four senior doctors, all highly regarded members of the UK
medical establishment. It is alleged, and supported by documentary evidence, that Dr.
Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, Dr. David Salisbury of the Dept. of Health,
Professor Arie Zuckerman, former Dean of the Medical School, Royal Free Hospital,
and Dr. Michael Pegg, Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Royal Free gave false
testimony on oath in the GMC hearings involving Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Professor
John Walker-Smith, and Professor Simon Murch.
2) At the same time parents of 4 children involved in the original Lancet study, on which the
major allegations have been based, will make public statements regarding the GMC
hearings.
When:
Wednesday May 6, 2009Time:
11:30am – 12:30pmWhere:
The Kingsway Hall Hotel, 66 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5BX,www.kingswayhall.co.uk
Who:
U.S. attorney James Moody, director of U.S. charities Safe Minds and the NationalAutistic Association, acting on behalf of 13 American and British autism organisations, states:
“Dr. Richard Horton, Editor of The Lancet, Dr. David Salisbury of the Dept. of Health,
Professor Arie Zuckerman, former Dean of the Medical School at the Royal Free
Hospital, and Dr. Michael Pegg, Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Royal Free, should
be investigated for supplying false testimony. Furthermore, the current GMC hearing
against Drs. Wakefield. Murch and Walker-Smith should be terminated. This
unwarranted attack on scientists and doctors who came to the aid of desperately ill
children has deterred others from helping similarly affected children, and distracted
attention from the public health crisis caused by the substantial rise in autism
diagnoses.”
Three families representing four of the 12 children included in the original Lancet
publication will speak out publicly for the first time about the GMC hearings to clarify the
details of their childrens’ involvement in the case series, and express their families’ support
of the doctors they consider to be wrongly under investigation by the GMC. A letter from
the families to the GMC expressing support of the doctors being investigated will be read
by those who are able to be present.
Contact
: James Moody - autismandvax@aol.com; tel: 001 202-298-4766.