Jeff Bradstreet

Jeff Bradstreet
Born(1954-07-06)July 6, 1954
DiedJune 19, 2015(2015-06-19) (aged 60)
Rutherford County, North Carolina
Alma materUniversity of South Florida, Wilford Hall Medical Center
Known forAutism-related pseudoscience Anti-vaccine activism
ChildrenMatthew Bradstreet (born 1994)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsAutism therapies
InstitutionsInternational Child Development Resource Center

James Jeffrey "Jeff" Bradstreet (July 6, 1954 – June 19, 2015), was an American doctor, alternative medicine practitioner and preacher,[2] who ran the International Child Development Resource Center in Melbourne, Florida,[3] as well as homeopathic medical practices in Buford, Georgia[4] and Arizona.[5][6] He also founded the Good News Doctor Foundation, which aimed to combine Christian beliefs with medicine.[7] Bradstreet is best known for promoting the false claim that vaccines cause autism, as well as various discredited or unproven alternative treatments for autism.

Education and career

Bradstreet obtained a Florida medical license in 1984. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Florida 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. He was an adjunct professor of child development and neuroscience at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona.[8]

Autism claims and treatments

Bradstreet published autism research, which he claimed indicated vaccines as a cause, in the fringe partisan Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, which is not indexed by PubMed. This research claimed that autistic children had a higher body burden of mercury,[9] and that three autistic children had measles RNA in their cerebrospinal fluid.[10] It is scientific consensus that there is no link, causal or otherwise, between vaccines and autism.[11][12][13][14]

Bradstreet treated autistic child Colten Benevento (one of the test cases in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding) with chelation therapy, hoping to remove excess 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.[15] Over an eight-year period, Benevento visited Bradstreet's office 160 times.[16] Quackwatch founder Stephen Barrett stated, "It appears to me that Bradstreet decides which of his nonstandard theories to apply and records diagnoses that embody them." Barrett also labeled the tests used by Bradstreet to search for excess mercury in the body "phony."[15] Pediatrician Peter Hotez characterized Bradstreet's proposal to treat autism with chelation therapy as "dangerous."[6] Chelation therapy has never been proven effective to treat autism and has sometimes resulted in death or other serious complications when improperly administered to autistic children.[17][18][19]

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."[20] Bradstreet also published research regarding the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for autism,[21] some of which concluded it was ineffective,[22] as well as a paper arguing that autistic children have an increased vulnerability to oxidative stress.[23] Further treatments Bradstreet used on autistic children included the controversial protein GcMAF, with which he claimed to have treated 600 children.[24] In an article for an anti-vaccine magazine, Bradstreet endorsed stem cell therapy as an autism treatment.[25]

Personal life and death

Bradstreet was found dead from a gunshot wound to the chest 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 in connection with an investigation into GcMAF treatments.[4][26][27] At the time of his death, he lived in Braselton and ran his medical practice in Buford.[4] While the police declared Bradstreet's death a suicide, a conspiracy theory has spread holding that Bradstreet was murdered for his use of a "holistic" therapy.[28]

Bradstreet's son has been diagnosed with autism, which Bradstreet attributed to a vaccination his son received at 15 months of age.[29]

Selected publications

  • Siniscalco, D.; Sapone, A.; Giordano, C.; Cirillo, A.; Magistris, L.; Rossi, F.; Fasano, A.; Bradstreet, J. J.; Maione, S.; Antonucci, N. (2013). "Cannabinoid Receptor Type 2, but not Type 1, is Up-Regulated in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Children Affected by Autistic Disorders". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 43 (11): 2686–95. doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1824-9. PMID 23585028. S2CID 4849916.
  • Siniscalco, D.; Bradstreet, J. J.; Antonucci, N. (2013). "Therapeutic Role of Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Autism Spectrum Disorder-Related Inflammation". Frontiers in Immunology. 4: 140. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2013.00140. PMC 3677147. PMID 23772227.
  • Adams, J. B.; Baral, M.; Geis, E.; Mitchell, J.; Ingram, J.; Hensley, A.; Zappia, I.; Newmark, S.; Gehn, E.; Rubin, R. A.; Mitchell, K.; Bradstreet, J.; El-Dahr, J. (2009). "Safety and efficacy of oral DMSA therapy for children with autism spectrum disorders: Part A - Medical results". BMC Clinical Pharmacology. 9 16. doi:10.1186/1472-6904-9-16. PMC 2774660. PMID 19852789.
  • 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. 9 (2). Association of American Physicians and Surgeons: 38–45. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.

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. ^ a b c Alastair Jamieson (27 June 2015). "Anti-Vaccine Doctor Jeff Bradstreet Dead in Apparent Suicide". NBC News. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  5. ^ ""Autism Specialist"Blasted by Omnibus Special Master". Quackwatch. 27 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  6. ^ a b 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. ^ Fitzpatrick, Michael (2008-10-27). Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion. Routledge. p. 61. ISBN 9781134058983.
  8. ^ "Jeff Bradstreet Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-08-24. Retrieved 2015-04-14.
  9. ^ 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-08-16. Retrieved 2013-08-25.
  10. ^ 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. 9 (2). Association of American Physicians and Surgeons: 38–45. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  11. ^ "The Evidence on Vaccines and Autism | Johns Hopkins | Bloomberg School of Public Health". Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2025-03-19. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  12. ^ "Vaccines and Autism | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia". Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  13. ^ "Autism and Vaccines". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2024-12-30. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  14. ^ "Autism | immunizecanada". Immunize Canada. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  15. ^ a b Barrett, Stephen (15 March 2009). ""Autism Specialist" Blasted by Omnibus Special Master". Quackwatch. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  16. ^ Offit, Paul (2011). Deadly Choices. Basic Books. pp. 102. ISBN 9780465021499. Retrieved 28 August 2013. jeff bradstreet.
  17. ^ "What Is Chelation Therapy & What Does It Treat?". Cleveland Clinic. Archived from the original on 2025-08-15. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  18. ^ "Be Aware of Potentially Dangerous Products and Therapies that Claim to Treat Autism". Food and Drug Administration. 2023-11-06. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  19. ^ Lagan, Niamh C.; Balfe, Joanne (2018-07-14). "Question 2: Does heavy metal chelation therapy improve the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder". Archives of Disease in Childhood. 103 (9): 910–911. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2018-315338. ISSN 1468-2044. PMID 30007948.
  20. ^ Tsouderos, Trine; Callahan, Patricia (23 November 2009). "Autism treatment: Science hijacked to support alternative therapies". Chicago Tribune. p. 2. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  21. ^ 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 3472266. PMID 22703610.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ 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): 947–956. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.30366. PMC 2610366. PMID 16917939.
  24. ^ "GcMAF – the beginning of the end for autism". PRWeb. 8 September 2012. Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  25. ^ "Stem cells and autism: one year later" (PDF). Autism Science Digest. Autism One. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  26. ^ Joshua Sharpe (June 26, 2015). "Controversial autism researcher, Jeff Bradstreet, is found dead after FDA raid in Buford, authorities say". Gwinnett Daily Post. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. 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.
  27. ^ Heather Carpenter (23 June 2015). "Body located in Rocky Broad River in Chimney Rock identified". FOX Carolina. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  28. ^ Gorski DH (2019). "Cancer Quackery and Fake News: Targeting the Most Vulnerable". In Bernicker EH (ed.). Cancer and Society. Springer. pp. 95–112. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-05855-5_7. ISBN 978-3-030-05855-5. S2CID 133344385.
  29. ^ Olmsted, Dan (28 June 2005). "The Age of Autism: Homeschooled". UPI. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
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