James Jeffrey "Jeff" Bradstreet (July 6, 1954 – June 19, 2015), was an American doctor, alternative medicine practitioner, and a former preacher who ran the International Child Development Resource Center in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, a medical practice in

Buford Buford may refer to: Places United States *Buford, Arkansas *Buford, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Buford, Georgia *Buford Highway corridor, in Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties in Georgia * Buford, North Dakota *Buford, Ohio *Bufo ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, where he practiced

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

. He also founded the Good News Doctor Foundation, which aimed to combine

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

beliefs with his medical practice.

Education and career

Bradstreet obtained a

medical license A medical license is an occupational license that permits a person to legally practice medicine. In most countries, a person must have a medical license bestowed either by a specified government-approved professional association or a governme ...

in 1984. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

in 1976, 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 Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, formerly known as Wilford Hall Medical Center, is a U.S. Air Force medical treatment facility located on the grounds of San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base. Operated by the 59th Medical Wing The 59th ...

. He was an adjunct professor of child development and neuroscience at the

Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine Sonoran University of Health Sciences, formerly Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, is a Private university, private naturopathic medical school in Tempe, Arizona. Founded in 1993, Sonoran University is one of seven accredited naturopathi ...

in Tempe,

Autism claims and treatments

Bradstreet published

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

research, which he claimed indicated vaccines as a cause, in the fringe partizan ''

Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a politically conservative non-profit association that promotes conspiracy theories and medical misinformation, such as HIV/AIDS denialism, the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis, a ...

'', which is not indexed by

PubMed PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...

. This research claimed that autistic children had a higher body burden of

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

, and that three autistic children had

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

in their

cerebrospinal fluid Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialised ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the bra ...

. The

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

has rejected any relationship between vaccines and autism. Bradstreet treated Colten Benevento a child diagnosed with autism (one of the test cases in the

autism omnibus trial ''Michelle Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services'', also known as ''Cedillo'', was a court case involving the family of Michelle Cedillo, an autistic girl whose parents sued the United States government because they believed that ...

) with

chelation therapy Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of Chelation, chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very sp ...

on the premise of removing mercury from his body, in spite of the fact that hair, blood, and urine tests had failed to show he exhibited abnormal levels of mercury. Over an eight-year period, Colten visited Bradstreet's office 160 times.

Stephen Barrett Stephen Joel Barrett (; born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health frau ...

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".

Peter Hotez Peter Jay Hotez (born May 5, 1958) is an American scientist, pediatrician, and advocate in the fields of global health, vaccinology, and neglected tropical disease control. He serves as founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, P ...

characterized Bradstreet's proposal to treat autism with chelation therapy as "dangerous." In an interview with the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', Bradstreet defended the use of

intravenous immunoglobulin Immunoglobulin therapy is the use of a mixture of antibodies (normal human immunoglobulin or NHIG) to treat several health conditions. These conditions include primary immunodeficiency, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, chronic inflammatory dem ...

(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." Bradstreet also published research regarding the use of

hyperbaric oxygen therapy Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an ambient pressure greater than sea level atmospheric pressure is a necessary component. The treatment comprises hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the medical use of oxygen at an ambient pressure ...

for autism, some of which concluded it was ineffective, as well as a paper arguing that autistic children have an increased vulnerability to

oxidative stress Oxidative stress reflects an imbalance between the systemic manifestation of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily Detoxification, detoxify the reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage. Disturbances ...

. Further treatments Bradstreet used on autistic children included the controversial protein

GcMAF GcMAF (or Gc protein-derived macrophage activating factor) is a protein produced by modification of vitamin D-binding protein. Biochemically, GcMAF results from sequential deglycosylation of the vitamin D-binding protein (the Gc protein), which ...

, with which he claimed to have treated 600 children. In an article for an anti-vaccine magazine, Bradstreet endorsed

stem cell therapy Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. , the only established therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of a bone-marrow transplantation, but ...

as an autism treatment.

Personal life and death

Bradstreet was found dead from a gunshot wound to the chest in the Broad River in Rutherford County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in June 2015, after his

medical office was raided by the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food s ...

in connection with an investigation into GcMAF treatments. At the time of his death, he lived in

Braselton Braselton ( ) is a town in Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall, and Jackson counties in the U.S. state of Georgia, approximately northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 7,511, and in 2018 the estimated population was 11,652. ...

and ran his medical practice in Buford. While the police declared Bradstreet's death a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

, a

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...

has spread holding that Bradstreet was murdered for his use of a "holistic" therapy. Bradstreet's son has been diagnosed with autism, which Bradstreet attributed to a vaccination his son received at age 15 months.

Selected publications

* * * *

References

External links

Questions Still Surround Autism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradstreet, Jeff 1954 births 2015 deaths American anti-vaccination activists Autism researchers People from Buford, Georgia People from Melbourne, Florida Physicians from Florida Suicides by firearm in North Carolina University of South Florida alumni 2015 suicides