Brian Deer
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Brian Deer is a British investigative reporter, best known for inquiries into the drug industry, medicine and social issues for ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
''. Deer's investigative nonfiction book, ''The Doctor Who Fooled the World,'' was published in September 2020 by Johns Hopkins University Press.


Career

After graduating in philosophy from the
University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020 ...
, he became editor and press officer for the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...
, and was a member of ''
The Leveller ''The Leveller'' was a British political magazine, collectively produced in London from 1976 to 1982 by a shifting coalition of radicals, socialists, marxists, feminists, and others of the British left and progressive movements. It was published ...
'' magazine collective. Subsequently, he joined ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', then ''The Sunday Times'', first as a business news subeditor and then as a staff news reporter and feature writer. In the 1980s, under then ''Sunday Times'' editor
Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a Scottish former journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of ''The Spectator'' and presenter of '' The Andrew Neil Show'' on Channel 4. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He f ...
, Deer was the UK's first social affairs correspondent, and between 1990 and 1992 reported from the United States.


Investigations

In 1986, one of Deer's early investigations exposed research by British scientist Michael Briggs at
Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...
, Australia into the safety of the
contraceptive pill Oral contraceptives, abbreviated OCPs, also known as birth control pills, are medications taken by mouth for the purpose of birth control. Female Two types of female oral contraceptive pill, taken once per day, are widely available: * The combin ...
. Deer's reports revealed that several of Briggs's studies were fabricated so as to give a positive profile for the products' cardiovascular safety. The research was largely financed by the German drug company
Schering AG Schering AG was a research-centered German multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Wedding, Berlin, which operated as an independent company from 1851 to 2006. In 2006, it was bought by Bayer AG and merged to form the Bayer subs ...
. In 1994, his investigation of the
Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...
led to the withdrawal in the UK of the antibiotic, Septrin (also sold under the name Bactrim) and the sale by the Wellcome Trust of its drug company subsidiary. In 2005, the withdrawal of the painkiller
Vioxx Rofecoxib is a COX-2 selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain conditions, migraine, and dysmenorrhea. Rofecoxib ...
was followed by an investigation by Deer into the people responsible for the drug's introduction. In 2006, Deer's '' Dispatches'' documentary, "The drug trial that went wrong", investigated the experimental monoclonal antibody
TGN1412 Theralizumab (also known as TGN1412, CD28-SuperMAB, and TAB08) is an immunomodulatory drug developed by Thomas Hünig of the University of Würzburg. It was withdrawn from development after inducing severe inflammatory reactions as well as chroni ...
. It was nominated for a Royal Television Society journalism award. In 2008, the media psychiatrist Raj Persaud was suspended from practicing medicine and resigned his academic position after being found guilty of plagiarism following an investigation by Deer.


MMR vaccine controversy

In a series of reportsNick Miller
"Debunking the link between vaccination and autism,"
''Sydney Morning Herald'' 4 February 2010
between 2004 and 2010, for ''The Sunday Times,'' Deer investigated concerns over the MMR vaccine that arose with the publication in 1998 of a research paper in the medical journal ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...
'' written by
Andrew Wakefield Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (born September 3, 1956) is a British anti-vaccine activist, former physician, and discredited academic who was struck off the medical register for his involvement in ''The Lancet'' MMR autism fraud, a 1998 study that ...
, and his colleagues. Deer revealed that Wakefield had multiple undeclared
conflicts of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, finance, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, t ...
,''The Sunday Times'' 2004: * * 2004 BBC documentary: * * had manipulated evidence, and was responsible for what the '' BMJ'' later called "an elaborate fraud". Deer's investigation led to the longest-ever inquiry by the UK General Medical Council (GMC), lasting 217 days. In January 2010, the GMC judged Wakefield to be "dishonest", "unethical" and "callous", and on 24 May 2010, Wakefield was removed ("struck off") from the UK medical register. Responding to Deer's findings, ''The Lancet'' partially retracted Wakefield's research in February 2004, and fully retracted it in February 2010 following the GMC findings. In January 2011, Deer published his findings in the ''BMJ'' which in a signed editorial stated of the journalist, "It has taken the diligent scepticism of one man, standing outside medicine and science, to show that the paper was in fact an elaborate fraud." On 18 November 2004, UK Channel 4's ''Dispatches'' series broadcast Deer's television documentary: "MMR: What they didn't tell you". Television critic
Nancy Banks-Smith Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British television and radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for ''The Guardian''. Life and career Born in Manchester and raised in a pub, she was educated at Roedean School. Banks-Smith began her ...
wrote in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'': "After a year of rebuffs, Deer ran Dr Wakefield to ground at an Indianapolis conference on autism. The camera took a bit of a buffet and Dr Wakefield left with Deer following, shouting: 'We have very important questions to ask you about your research and your commercial ambitions, sir! Will you stand your ground and answer?' If this was hounding, and it was, Dr Wakefield had only himself to blame for running away". In response to the documentary, Wakefield initiated a libel suit against Deer. The case was later dropped and Wakefield became liable for the costs incurred by Deer and the other defendants. In January 2012, Wakefield sued Deer and the ''British Medical Journal'', this time in Texas, but the case was thrown out in both district and appeals courts, with Wakefield again ordered to pay costs. In October 2014, in an article published in ''The Sunday Times'', Deer reported on a ruling from the Court of Protection, then recently made public but with the identities of the parties redacted. In the ruling, Justice Baker wrote, "The critical facts established in this case can be summarised as follows. M has autistic disorder. There is no evidence that his autism was caused by the MMR vaccination. His parents' account of an adverse reaction to that vaccination is fabricated." In July 2015, Deer gave a lecture at
The Amazing Meeting The Amazing Meeting (TAM), stylized as The Amaz!ng Meeting, was an annual conference that focused on science, skepticism, and critical thinking; it was held for twelve years. The conference started in 2003 and was sponsored by the James Randi Edu ...
titled "Vaccines: The Vanishing Victims".


''The Doctor Who Fooled the World''

In September 2020 Johns Hopkins University Press published in North America Deer's investigation of Andrew Wakefield and the origins of the anti-vaccine movement in his book, ''The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Science, Deception, and the War on Vaccines.'' This was simultaneously published in the United Kingdom and Australasia by Scribe. Reviews included ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' Book of the Week where columnist
David Aaronovitch David Morris Aaronovitch (born 8 July 1954) is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He is a regular columnist for ''The Times'' and the author of ''Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country'' (2000), ''Voodoo ...
wrote, "This is a remarkable story and this is a remarkable book… helping to explain the political and social predicament that now afflicts so many of us — the crisis in truth and its exploitation by people without scruple." Reviewing for the leading science journal ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
'', Saad Omer praised the book as "riveting… a compelling portrait of hubris and the terrible dark shadow it can cast." Among other reviews,
Michael Shermer Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of ''Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientifi ...
in ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' wrote, "Exposing researchers who lie, cheat and fake their data often requires the work of courageous whistleblowers or tenacious investigative journalists. Enter Brian Deer, an award-winning reporter for
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
of London." ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' also described the book as "riveting," and the
Big Think Big Think is a multimedia web portal founded in 2007 by Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins. The website is a collection of interviews, presentations, and round table discussions with experts from a wide range of fields. Victoria Brown is the acting ...
website said, "Every chapter drops your jaw". According to ''
Foreword Reviews A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...
'', "This stunning work sounds an urgent message and demonstrates the essential role of investigative journalism in uncovering the truth."


Honours

Working for ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'', Deer received several awards, including two
British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of United Kingdom, British journalism. History Established in 1962 by ''The Sunday People, The People'' and ''Campaign (magazine), World's Press ...
for his ''Sunday Times'' investigations. Following his first British Press Award in 1999, in February 2011 he was nominated for two more, in the categories of news reporter of the year and specialist journalist of the year, the latter of which he won on 5 April 2011. In October 2011, Deer won the annual
HealthWatch HealthWatch is a UK charity which promotes evidence-based medicine. Its formal aims are: # The assessment and testing of treatments, whether “orthodox” or “alternative”; # Consumer protection of all forms of health care, both by thorou ...
award, previously awarded to Sir
Iain Chalmers Sir Iain Geoffrey Chalmers (born 3 June 1943) is a British health services researcher, one of the founders of the Cochrane Collaboration,David Colquhoun David Colquhoun (born 19 July 1936) is a British pharmacologist at University College London (UCL). He has contributed to the general theory of receptor and synaptic mechanisms, and in particular the theory and practice of single ion channel ...
, and other prominent British medical campaigners. Deer was the 2009 Susan B Meister lecturer in child health policy at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, and the 2012 Distinguished Lecturer in Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. On 17 November 2016, Deer was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D Litt Hon) by
York St John University , mottoeng = They may have life and have it more abundantly , established = , type = Public , administrative_staff = 618 , chancellor = Reeta Chakrabarti , vice_chancellor = Professor Karen Bryan , student ...
. In May 2021, Deer's book, ''The Doctor Who Fooled the World'', won the
Eric Hoffer Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1902 – May 21, 1983) was an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, '' The True Believer'' (1951), was wide ...
Award for nonfiction, and a gold medal in the
Independent Publisher Book Awards The Independent Publisher Book Awards, also styled the IPPY Awards, are a set of annual book awards for independently published titles. They are the longest-running unaffiliated contest open exclusively to independent presses. The IPPY Awards ar ...
(IPPYs).Independent Publishers Book Awards , date= May 2021
/ref>


References


External links


Official site


with Brian Deer on the
MMR vaccine controversy Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 ''Lancet'' MMR autism frau ...
from
CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
's '' The Sunday Edition'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Deer, Brian 1950s births Living people British investigative journalists Alumni of the University of Warwick Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) The Sunday Times people University of Michigan people Medical journalists MMR vaccine and autism