Courtesy of Alan Rees (rees@pp.sbbs.se) on Dr. Elizabeth Miller of the UK

Dr. Elizabeth Miller

The following involvements by Dr. Miller with the MMR controversy have been identified:

(A) a 1989 paper co-authored by Elizabeth Miller, revealing that the
Communicable Diseases Surveillance Centre only did a three-week
follow-up of the UK-trial 10,000 cohort of children back in 1987 in the
three trial areas (The phrase "post-vaccination period" in the study is
revealing - where is the evidence that potential adverse reactions are
confined to three weeks after?)

(B) a 1993 Lancet paper was co-authored by Dr. Miller, assessing the
risk of aseptic meningitis after MMR.

(C) a 1995 Lancet paper was co-authored by Elizabeth Miller, describing
her new method of post-marketing adverse event surveillance.

(D) a 1998 reference to Elizabeth Miller's joint authorship of a 1998
Lancet paper entitled "Impact of Anti-Vaccine Movements on Pertussis
Control - The Untold Story". The title implies she campaigns against
people who question vaccine safety. It is also interesting that her
co-author is Dr. Chen, who co-wrote the peer-review criticisms of Dr.
Andrew Wakefield's "Early Report" Lancet paper.

(E) the June 1999 North London study article in the Lancet, allegedly
"proving" no link, was co-authored by Dr. Miller, and the study was
actually designed by her.

(F) the Dept of Health press release of June 1999 refers to
"independent" studies by the Public Health Laboratory Service (the North
London study). This was the same study that was designed and co-authored
by Dr. Miller.

(G) references to papers on "MMR and Autism" in September 1999 published
in the Lancet by Dr. Miller, and a further paper on the same topic in
the Lancet in January 2000, also by Dr. Miller.

(H) the July 2000 notes of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Primary
Care and Public Health (Chairman, Stephen Hesford, Member of
Parliament), state that the review of evidence on the safety of MMR in
July 2000 was given by Dr. Miller. In the notes of this presentation,
the Taylor, Miller study is carefully referred to as the Taylor et al study.

(I) a list of who attended the re-launch of MMR in January 2001 has been
obtained, and this too included Dr. Miller.

(J) Dr. Miller is on the MMR advisory committee to the Committee on
Safety of Medicines.

(K) on 17th June 2001, the Sunday Times carried a report that an inquiry
was to be launched into a possible link between vaccines that contain
mercury and a rise in the incidence of autism. The ST report
hypothesized than an accumulation of mercury might damage the brain,
central nervous system and GI tract, and compromise the child's immune
system so it could not cope with MMR, which might then trigger autism.
The research is to be led by Dr. Elizabeth Miller.

To summarize, Dr. Miller was involved in giving MMR the green light at
the outset. She writes papers that address the "problem" of people who
question vaccine safety. She "proves" there's no link between MMR and
autism (she designs an "independent" study to do this). She tells the
MPs that the MMR is safe. She then helps Yvette Cooper, the Junior
Health Minister, to re-launch the vaccine. Now she is to head-up an
investigation for the WHO into thimerosal in vaccines and any potential
link with autism.


Ray Gallup