MAGICAL MEDICINE: HOW TO MAKE AN ILLNESS ... - Invest in ME

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Editors of broadsheet newspapers have confirmed that editorial policy will permit them only to publish
items about ME/CFS that come from the SMC.
Other tactics used by the Wessely School to ensure dissemination of their own views have been
unambiguously set out by Dr Tony Johnson (see Appendix I): “Our influence on policy‐makers has largely been
indirect, through scientists’ work on advisory committees, in leading editorials, in personal correspondence with
Ministers, Chairs or Chief Executives (such as the Healthcare Commission or NICE), Chief Medical Officers and Chief
Scientific Advisors, or through public dissemination when the media picks up on…issues”.
It is public knowledge (and was announced at an International Research Conference – see above) that the
Wessely School psychiatrists control the MRC; it is certainly the case that many of them sit on MRC Boards.
In addition, the Wessely School travel the world giving presentations about “CFS/ME”, for example, on the
very day of the ME Research UK (MERUK) International Research Conference (25 th May 2007) in Edinburgh
(which not a single member of the Wessely School attended), Trudie Chalder delivered a lecture at St Olav
Hospital, Trondheim, Norway, on Cognitive Behavioural Treatment for CFS/ME, which she extolled. As
customary, Miss Chalder’s views remain uninfluenced by the biomedical evidence that shows her beliefs
about the nature of ME/CFS to be seriously misinformed. Wessely himself is apparently always available to
the media: in its Notes for Editors, the online magazine ”spiked” (which is militantly opposed to ME/CFS
being accorded the status of an organic disorder) says that Professor Wessely is available for comment or
interview and can be contacted through Sandy Starr at “spiked” (0207‐269‐9234).
The extremely effective network coverage by the Wessely School has thus filled the gap between bench and
bed, but not with evidence‐based knowledge.
In contrast to the Wessely School beliefs, Dr Vernon stated that ME/CFS is “ultimately described as immune
dysregulation and neuroendocrine disturbance” and that “infection is the key to initiating/triggering ME/CFS
and the immune system is central to sustaining (it). Hormones are critical in modulating the immune
response. A unifying theme is disturbed cell signalling and cell metabolism. We know that low cortisol occurs
in some patients with ME/CFS. Cortisol is a critical molecule for regulating the HPA axis and is essential for
modulating the immune response” (http://www.prohealth.com/library/showArticle.cfm?libid=14167 ).
For the last four years the charity Invest in ME (IiME) has invited members of Her Majesty’s Government
and representatives of agencies of the State to attend their international Research Conference on ME/CFS
held in Westminster. No‐one has done so. The 2009 IiME Conference was held on 29 th May but it was not
until 1 st July that IiME received a perfunctory response from the Prime Minister’s Office in relation to a
petition organised by IiME; the response provides further confirmation that the UK Government has no
interest in the plight of ME/CFS sufferers.
Responding to the reply from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Chairman and Trustees of IiME sent the
following open letter to the Prime Minister (http://tinyurl.com/kvvhux ).
“The petition was a genuine attempt to engage your government and the organisations / officials which you fund with
public money. It was an endeavour to provoke some understanding of the issues involved in the current policies
towards ME research. The reply from your office is insulting in its complete lack of engagement of the proposal and of
the underlying issues.
“The MRC is a publicly‐funded organisation ‘dedicated to improving human health’. It should be accountable to the
public. It is entirely appropriate for the Prime Minister to intervene when there is deliberate bias being operated by this
‘independent’ body which is, nevertheless, supposedly accountable to a government department.
“Both (the PACE and FINE Trials) are considered meaningless by ME patients and are ridiculed for their lack of
scientific rigour in identifying true ME patients. Even those who have participated have criticised these trials.