National Post (National Edition)
CHIROPRACTOR BOARD MEMBERS POST ANTI-VACCINE VIEWS
Three senior members of the professional organization that regulates Ontario’s chiropractors have espoused or endorsed anti-vaccine views, the National Post has learned.
Doctors Elizabeth Anderson- Peacock, Peter Amlinger and Clifford Hardick, all members of the council of the College of Chiropractors of Ontario (CCO), have each written online posts, endorsed anti-vaccine books and documentaries or have made statements that encourage the notion that vaccination is dangerous.
Anderson-Peacock is the vice- president of the CCO. Both Amlinger and Hardick are past presidents. Their anti- vaccination endorsements, writings and appearances stand in contrast to the CCO’s own position on vaccination, which states that “immunizations and vaccinations are outside the scope of chiropractic practice” and any discussions about them with patients must be “accurate, professional and balanced.”
Chiropractors are one of the largest primary-contact health care professions in the country. About 4.5 million Canadians visit the country’s 9,000 licensed chiropractors each year. A 2018 Health Canada survey found that 84 per cent of parents cited health care professionals as their primary source of information on vaccinations.
In response to questions from the Post, AndersonPeacock denied she endorsed “any ‘anti-vaccination’ position.” Amlinger declined to say whether he believes vaccines are safe and effective, saying only that he believes vaccination is “a public health issue.” Both Amlinger and Anderson-Peacock said their personal opinions were separate from their duties with the CCO. Hardick did not respond to a request for comment.
The revelation comes amid an outbreak of measles in Ontario and B.C. and a renewed vaccination campaign by Ontario’s Ministry of Health. Presented with the information, the ministry told the Post it will take no action as chiropractic is a self-regulated health profession. Ontario NDP health critic France Gélinas, meanwhile, responded to the information with a call for the ministry to launch an immediate investigation of the entire CCO. “The minister has to step in right now,” she said. “The college as a whole has to be held accountable. The college failed in its basic function to protect the public.”
The CCO has never taken an official position against vaccination. When the Post contacted the CCO for comment, it received a response that did not address the specific problems addressed in the story. However, less than 24 hours later the CCO issued an advisory stating: "As part of its role to protect the public interest, the College of Chiropractors of Ontario (CCO) recognizes that vaccinations, as mandated in the Province of Ontario, provide a safe and effective means to protect individuals from infectious diseases.” It also said the council "will be reviewing Standard of Practice S- 001: Chiropractic Scope of Practice and some amendments are anticipated in making the standard more explicit that members not conduct seminars on vaccination or publish information on vaccination on their websites or social media accounts.”
“I would be concerned about any health care professional who is providing their patients with vaccine information that does not align with the peer-reviewed scientific evidence and the recommendations of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization,” said Dr. Julie Bettinger, a professor in the Vaccine Evaluation Centre at the University of British Columbia.
Anderson- Peacock has endorsed an anti- vaccine book, Immunization: History, Ethics, Law and Health by Catherine Diodati. In the book, Diodati writes, “All vaccines are capable of causing disease and death ... some vaccines appear to render people more susceptible to disease.” The appendix references an array of antivaccination groups and organizations.
In a review on Amazon, Anderson- Peacock wrote: “A must read for those who wish to be aware, responsible and informed … especially parents and physicians prior to injection.”
She also offered online praise for the documentary Vaxxed: From Cover- Up to Catastrophe. The film is directed by Andrew Wakefield and is produced by prominent anti-vaccination activist Del Bigtree. Wakefield is a disgraced former British doctor who was the lead author of a fraudulent research paper that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. The documentary claims the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. covered up a purported link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
On Facebook, AndersonPeacock wrote: “It’s an awesome movie. Saw it yesterday in Atlanta with a q and a afterwards with the producer and one mom featured, Polly. They asked the audience please stand if you have anyone in your family, not friends but family who has autism and half the audience stood. The newest projected stat is that if the rates continue as is will be 1 in 2 body will have a DC of autism by 2023.”
She was also a guest on the Healthy Alternatives to Vaccination podcast around late 2016 — though her appearance on the podcast is no longer online — and has appeared as a guest speaker at conferences organized by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association ( ICPA). On its website the ICPA claims that current evidence suggests mercury in vaccines causes autism, and past ICPA conferences have featured Wakefield, Bigtree and Barbara Loe Fisher, an anti- vaccine advocate and the co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, which has sponsored ICPA events.
In a statement emailed to the Post, Anderson-Peacock said, “I stand with the poli- cies of our regulatory college in the interest of public health. I stand with public health initiatives. Period."
In a further statement provided via her lawyer, she added: “I do not endorse any 'anti- vaccination’ position. Rather, I personally believe individuals should obtain informed-consent whenever receiving treatment of any kind from the appropriate provider. My personal opinions are completely separate from the professional obligations I uphold as a chiropractor; and completely separate from my chiropractic practice, which is also aligned with my professional obligations."
Anderson-Peacock did not explain her endorsements, appearances or associations.
Amlinger, a former CCO president, has also been outspoken online about vaccination.
A 2015 post on the Amlinger Family Chiropractic Facebook page encouraged patients to get a chiropractic adjustment instead of a flu shot, claiming, mercury and aluminum in the shots may increase the chances of Alzheimer’s. Amlinger also wrote a piece for the Justine Blainey Wellness Centre’s website last year in which he discussed a document that claims pharmaceutical companies are colluding with health authorities to hide the “multiple dangers associated with vaccines.”
Amlinger wrote: "Perhaps it is time more people start taking fewer drugs and start seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis. It is time for humanity to wake up and stop blindly poisoning themselves.”
While the statements are no longer available online, the Post had obtained screenshots and recovered archived versions of them after their disappearance.
Asked about the posts, Amlinger said, “When I became aware of both the Facebook post, which was made by a former associate, I removed it immediately. When I became aware that there was an article with my name on it on another person’s website, I acted to have it removed immediately.
“I believe that vaccination is a public health issue. I believe the public is entitled to a robust informed consent process for any type of care they are entertaining.” Amlinger also said he “was commenting in my personal capacity and not in my capacity as a CCO council member.”
In recent speeches, meanwhile, Hardick has praised a chiropractor who drove around town in a hearse with a sign featuring a hypodermic needle dripping blood and the slogan, “Drugs Kill — Whether Pushed or Prescribed!” Hardick has also been a speaker at the California-based chiropractic conference Cal Jam and has appeared on Cal Jam podcasts. This year Cal Jam features appearances by anti-vaccine advocate Bigtree and Dr. James Chestnut, a B.C.- based chiropractor who questions the legitimacy of the data behind widespread public flu vaccination.
Hardick did not vaccinate his son, B. J. Hardick, himself a high- profile chiropractor who has expressed concern online about mercury in vaccines. Clifford Hardick did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Timothy Caulfield, a University of Alberta professor and author of The Vaccination Picture, said these kinds of postings and comments don’t help the public.
“This is tremendously frustrating — but, unfortunately, not terribly surprising. There is a history of anti-vaxx rhetoric among the chiropractic community. Despite recent efforts to push the profession toward a more science-based approach, this harmful noise persists.”
Dr. Murray Katz, a Montreal- based physician and longtime critic of chiropractic says confusing the public about vaccination must stop. “This is dangerous, irresponsible and clearly shows they and the board which accepted them should all be replaced by the Minister of Health, who should impose a scientific standard on the profession.”
Like opposition critic Gélinas, Caulfield says the situation in the CCO demands that the Ontario government investigate.
“These are individuals involved in the governance of the chiropractic profession,” he said. “Can people who embrace pseudoscience weed out pseudo-science? Nope. Clearly action is needed.”
ALL VACCINES ARE CAPABLE OF CAUSING DISEASE AND DEATH.