EBD Blog

While we’re on the subject of Autism, what should one say when confronted with the idea that expert witnesses championing the purported link between thimerosal and Autism have received hefty fees for their work? Brian Deer of the London (GB) Sunday Times has dug through the records and found that one physician receive approximate $860K for his testimony.

ANDREW WAKEFIELD, the former surgeon whose campaign linking the MMR vaccine with autism caused a collapse in immunisation rates, was paid more than £400,000 by lawyers trying to prove that the vaccine was unsafe.
The payments, unearthed by The Sunday Times, were part of £3.4m distributed from the legal aid fund to doctors and scientists who had been recruited to support a now failed lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers.

Mr. Deer reported that Dr. Wakefield said he had charged standard fees and given those fees to charity.

An irony here, also noted by Mr. Deer, is that many of the advocates of the Autism-thimerosal connection often dismiss other researchers’ work because it was funded by companies that stood to benefit from sales of thimerosal-containing vaccines.

Link to Mr. Deer’s story.

Relevant disclosure: I was contacted in the 1990s by a law firm representing a pharmaceutical company that manufactured thimerosal. I met with an attorney for a few hours to go over my expertise (which I do not consider relevant to the causes of Autism). I received no fees and I have not heard from the firm since.