A disgraced former British surgeon’s new documentary about the discredited link between autism and childhood vaccination has put Robert De Niro at the centre of a medical row that threatens the reputation of his prestigious film festival in New York.
De Niro, the father of an autistic child and co-founder of the Tribeca film festival, is standing by the decision to premiere Vaxxed: from Cover-Up to Catastrophe, which has been directed by the controversial Andrew Wakefield. To the dismay of a number of doctors, health campaigners and filmmakers, De Niro conceded it was not usual for him to be so directly involved with programming the festival. But he said the issue was “very personal to me and my family”.
The trailer for Wakefield’s film opens with ominous music as the words “Are our children safe?” appear through a spiral of billowing smoke seeping from a syringe.
A key element of the documentary, the trailer claims, will be the testimony of a whistleblower from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US public health body, who is to allege fraud inside an organisation that “knew that vaccines were actually causing autism”. Wakefield then appears saying, in a reference to the MMR vaccine: “Wow, the CDC had known all along there was this MMR autism risk!”
The Tribeca website promises “revealing and emotional interviews with pharmaceutical insiders, doctors, politicians, parents” filmed in an effort to “understand what’s behind the skyrocketing increase of autism diagnoses today”.
Wakefield gained notoriety in Britain in 1998 with a research paper, later discredited, that argued the joint measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was a potential cause of autism and bowel disorders. Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register in 2010 when a statutory tribunal held by the General Medical Council found him guilty of “dishonesty” and said he had subjected children to invasive medical procedures they did not need.
Now, in support of his debunked theory, Wakefield interviews Dr Jim Sears, the son of the American doctor who developed an “adjusted” vaccination schedule still favoured by parents who distrust national recommendations on protecting their children.
But the suggestion that vaccination can be harmful remains a dangerous area of speculation, according to American doctors who have criticised the screening.
“Unless the Tribeca film festival plans to definitively unmask Andrew Wakefield, it will be yet another disheartening chapter where a scientific fraud continues to occupy a spotlight and overshadows the damage he has left behind in the important story of vaccine safety and success,” said Dr Mary Anne Jackson, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The award-winning documentary maker Penny Lane has published an open letter accusing festival programmers of making “a very serious mistake” with a screening that “threatens the credibility of not just the other film-makers in your doc slate, but the field in general”.
Lane recently made the documentary film Nuts! about Dr John Romulus Brinkley, an eccentric who built an empire up during the Depression era with an impotence cure. She describes herself as “a documentary filmmaker concerned about quackery”.
While she admits the ethics behind documentary making can be complex, Lane argues that “this one should have been easy” for Tribeca to rule upon. “The anti-vaccination hoax has been completely discredited by now ... Very possibly, some people will walk away from your festival having been convinced, in part because of your good name and the excellence and integrity of your documentary programming, not to vaccinate their children. And very possibly people will die as a result,” she argued.
De Niro and his wife, Grace Hightower, issued a statement on Friday, defending the screening. “Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. In the 15 years since the Tribeca film festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming.
“However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening Vaxxed. I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.”
The Tribeca film festival defended its right to screen contentious material. “Tribeca, as are most film festivals, is about dialogue and discussion. Over the years we have presented many films from opposing sides of an issue. We are a forum, not a judge,” it said in a statement.
Wakefield’s film is due to premiere at Tribeca on 24 April, and is to be followed by a panel debate.