Actor Robert De Niro decided to veto the controversial documentary “Vaxxed: the cover-up to the catastrophe” of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival (New York), which he co-founded.
the film associates the MMR (measles, rubella, mumps) with autism and accuses the Center for control and disease prevention (CDC) know and deliberately hide the alleged risks.
De Niro made the decision after being criticized for offering grandstand to false theories they have been discredited by scientists.
Frustrated issue
the actor, who is father of an autistic child, first championed the decision to issue the documentary and suggested that it had been his decisions.
“in the 15 years since the Tribeca film Festival was founded, have never asked that a movie is displayed nor have I involved in programming” said in a statement.
“However, this is very personal for me and my family, and want there to be a debate.”
Although also he said the decision to issue the documentary did not involve a personal defense of it, and made it clear that he is not against vaccines.
Finally De Niro ended up recanting and announcing that after consultation with the scientific community, had changed his mind.
“we do not contribute or increase the debate that I expected,” he said Saturday.
A leading anti-vaccine
The director and co-writer of the film is the exmédico Andrew Wakefield, controversial British activist anti-vaccine movement .
Wakefield was released after posting a 1998 study linking autism with the MMR vaccine.
the article was published in the prestigious scientific journal the Lancet and, although it was later proved to be a fraud, served rise to a myth that still persists in opposing circles to vaccines.
the Lancet finished removing the article and Wakefield lost his medical license , accused of malpractice, misconduct and conflicts of interest.
despite being ousted by the scientific community, Wakefield moved to the United States and remained one of the premier and leaders of anti-vaccine movement.
Their study and influence are frequently cited as one of the main causes of the decline in coverage rates vaccine, which has led to the emergence of major outbreaks in first world countries, who had managed to eradicate them.
Knowing the decision of the festival, the film’s producer said he was the victim of “a new example of the power of corporate interests that censor freedom of expression, art and truth. “
But organizers denied this. “ The Festival does not want avoid controversy. However, we are concerned about some things about the movie that we believe lead us not present in the program. We decided to eliminate the program “said the festival in a statement on Facebook.
Numerous studies have disproved the existence of a link between vaccines and autism.
One of the largest it was published in 2014 when a group of Australian scientists published a meta-analysis (the most reliable type of study) with data from more than a million children that found no link between vaccines and autism.
No comments:
Post a Comment