Jeff Bradstreet

Jeff Bradstreet
Born (1954-07-06)July 6, 1954
Died June 19, 2015(2015-06-19) (aged 60)
Rutherford County, North Carolina
Nationality American
Fields Autism therapies
Institutions International Child Development Resource Center
Alma mater University of South Florida, Wilford Hall Medical Center
Children Matthew Bradstreet (born 1994)[1]
Website
www.drbradstreet.org

James Jeffrey "Jeff" Bradstreet (July 6, 1954 – June 19, 2015), was an American doctor, alternative medicine practitioner, and a former preacher[2] who ran the International Child Development Resource Center in Melbourne, Florida,[3] a medical practice in Buford, Georgia[4] and in Arizona, where he practiced homeopathy.[5][6]

Education and career

Bradstreet has held a Florida medical license since 1984. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Florida in 1976 in Natural Sciences, where he also went to medical school beginning three years later. His postgraduate research focused on aerospace medicine, and he received his training in this field from Wilford Hall Medical Center. He was an adjunct professor of child development and neuroscience at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona.[7]

Vaccines and autism

Bradstreet has published some autism research, which implicates vaccines in the causation thereof, in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is not indexed by PubMed. This research has concluded that autistic children have a higher body burden of mercury,[8] and that three autistic children have measles virus RNA in their cerebrospinal fluid.[9] This research was originally presented to the Institute of Medicine before they published their report concluding that the evidence favors rejection of a relationship between vaccines and autism.[10]

Bradstreet treated an autistic child named Colten Snyder (who was one of the test cases in the autism omnibus trial) with chelation therapy. This he did in spite of the fact that, according to Denise Vowell, "The April 29, 2000 hair test for mercury demonstrated a low level of mercury in Colten’s hair, but one within the reference range of normal for the laboratory, and one well below the 90th percentile for U.S. children ages six to eight." In addition, Vowell stated, "The more disturbing question is why chelation was performed at all, in view of the normal levels of mercury found in the hair, blood and urine, its apparent lack of efficacy in treating Colten's symptoms, and the adverse side effects it apparently caused."[11] Over an eight-year period, Colten visited Bradstreet's office 160 times.[12] Stephen Barrett has stated, "It appears to me that Bradstreet decides which of his nonstandard theories to apply and records diagnoses that embody them," and describes Bradstreet's mercury provoked tests as "phony".[11] Peter Hotez has characterized Bradstreet's proposal to treat autism with chelation therapy in order to remove metals like mercury as "dangerous."[6]

Alternative autism therapies

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Bradstreet defended the use of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) as an autism treatment, saying, "Every kid with autism should have a trial of IVIG if money was not an option and IVIG was abundant."[13] Bradstreet also published some research regarding the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for autism,[14] some of which has concluded that it is ineffective,[15] as well as a paper arguing that autistic children have an increased vulnerability to oxidative stress.[16] Further treatments Bradstreet frequently used on autistic children included the controversial use of GcMAF, with which he claimed to have treated 600 children. [17] In an article in Autism Science Digest, Bradstreet endorsed stem cell therapy as an autism treatment, writing, "By natural design, the purpose of stem cells in the brain is regulation, healing, and repair. Biologically, therefore, stem cells appear to be better suited to heal the brain than any other current therapy. No matter how challenging the task of repairing the brain may appear to be, case reports have built an argument for supporting the reversibility of autism using immunological interventions."[18]

Personal life and death

Bradstreet's body was found dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the Broad River in Rutherford County, North Carolina, in June 2015, after his Buford, Georgia, medical office was raided by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in connection with an investigation into GcMAF treatments.[4][19][20] At the time of his death, he lived in Braselton, Georgia and ran his medical practice in Buford.[4] While the police concluded that Bradstreet had committed suicide, family members and supporters advanced conspiracy theories that he was murdered in connection with his criticism of vaccines.[21]

Bradstreet's son is autistic, which Bradstreet attributed to a vaccination his son received at age 15 months.[22]

Selected Publications

References

  1. ↑ Allison, Wes (14 May 2000). "Secretin: miracle drug or a quack remedy?". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Allen, Arthur (1 April 2009). "Treating Autism as if Vaccines Caused It". Slate. Slate.com. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "In Memory of Jeff Bradstreet". CECIL M. BURTON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORY. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Alastair Jamieson. "Anti-Vaccine Doctor Jeff Bradstreet Dead in Apparent Suicide". NBC News. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  5. ↑ ""Autism Specialist"Blasted by Omnibus Special Master". Quackwatch. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  6. 1 2 Michael E. Miller (June 29, 2015). "Anti-vaccine doctor behind 'dangerous' autism therapy found dead. Family cries foul.". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  7. ↑ Jeff Bradstreet Curriculum Vitae
  8. ↑ Bradstreet, Jeff (Summer 2003). "A Case-Control Study of Mercury Burden in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders" (PDF). Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. 8 (3): 76–79.
  9. ↑ Bradstreet, JJ; Dahr, JE (2004). "Detection of Measles Virus Genomic RNA in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Three Children with Regressive Autism: a Report of Three Cases" (PDF). Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. 9 (2): 38–45. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  10. ↑ Immunization Safety Review. Institute of Medicine. 2004. p. 182.
  11. 1 2 Barrett, Stephen (15 March 2009). ""Autism Specialist" Blasted by Omnibus Special Master". Quackwatch. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  12. ↑ Offit, Paul (2011). Deadly Choices. Basic Books. p. 102. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  13. ↑ Tsouderos, Trine; Callahan, Patricia (23 November 2009). "Autism treatment: Science hijacked to support alternative therapies". Chicago Tribune. p. 2. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  14. ↑ Rossignol, D. A.; Bradstreet, J. J.; Van Dyke, K.; Schneider, C.; Freedenfeld, S. H.; O'Hara, N.; Cave, S.; Buckley, J. A.; Mumper, E. A.; Frye, R. E. (2012). "Hyperbaric oxygen treatment in autism spectrum disorders". Medical Gas Research. 2 (1): 16. doi:10.1186/2045-9912-2-16. PMC 3472266Freely accessible. PMID 22703610.
  15. ↑ Granpeesheh, D.; Tarbox, J.; Dixon, D. R.; Wilke, A. E.; Allen, M. S.; Bradstreet, J. J. (2010). "Randomized trial of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for children with autism". Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. 4 (2): 268. doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2009.09.014.
  16. ↑ James, S. J.; Melnyk, S.; Jernigan, S.; Cleves, M. A.; Halsted, C. H.; Wong, D. H.; Cutler, P.; Bock, K.; Boris, M.; Bradstreet, J. J.; Baker, S. M.; Gaylor, D. W. (2006). "Metabolic endophenotype and related genotypes are associated with oxidative stress in children with autism". American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B. 141B (8): 947. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.30366.
  17. ↑ "GcMAF – the beginning of the end for autism". PRWeb. 8 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  18. ↑ "Stem cells and autism: one year later" (PDF). Autism Science Digest. Autism One. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  19. ↑ Joshua Sharpe (June 26, 2015). "Controversial autism researcher, Jeff Bradstreet, is found dead after FDA raid in Buford, authorities say". Gwinnett Daily Post. Retrieved June 27, 2015. BUFORD — Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, an autism researcher hailed as a hero by some, dismissed as a fringe conspiracy theorist by others, is believed to have committed suicide following a visit to his Buford office by federal agents, authorities confirmed Thursday, however, there is no proof at this time. Multiple law enforcement officials said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration searched Bradstreet Wellness Center last week.
  20. ↑ Heather Carpenter (23 June 2015). "Body located in Rocky Broad River in Chimney Rock identified". FOX Carolina. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  21. ↑ Miller, Michael E. (July 16, 2015). "The mysterious death of a doctor who peddled autism 'cures' to thousands". Washington Post. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  22. ↑ Olmsted, Dan (28 June 2005). "The Age of Autism: Homeschooled". UPI. Retrieved 25 November 2014.

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