Gerry McCann and his involvement with Government Quango COMARE in 2007.

[John]

At the time of Madeleine's disappearance and in addition to being a cardiologist, Gerry McCann was a medical advisor to COMARE, a government committee which monitors radiation in the environment.  He was listed as a member of the Medical Practices Sub Committee.

His involvement is recorded in the COMARE 12th Report, a pdf copy of which is attached.

COMARE > Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment.

COMARE is an independent expert advisory committee with members chosen for their medical and scientific expertise and recruited from Universities, Research and Medical Institutes. Members have never been drawn from the Nuclear or Electrical Power Supply Industries.

The Committee offers independent advice to all Government Departments and Devolved Authorities, not just the Health Departments, and is responsible for assessing and advising them on the health effects of natural and man-made radiation. It is also asked to assess the adequacy of the available data and advise on the need for further research.

COMARE's terms of reference are "to assess and advise Government and the devolved authorities on the health effects of natural and man-made radiation and to assess the adequacy of the available data and the need for further research".

www.comare.org.uk/index.htm

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[John]

To put the events into simple language, COMARE was set up by the Labour Government to look into claims about radiation emanating from nuclear power stations and electricity pylons.  It was also tasked with investigation medical scans and radiation. These issues were controversial so it was in the Governments interest to have reports which were sympathetic to their policies.

Gordon Brown became UK Prime Minister a few weeks after Madeleine's disappearance. In 2004 his younger brother Andrew joined French energy firm EDF Energy, as head of media relations, where as of 2011 he held the position of director of corporate communications. EDF were lobbying to build nuclear power stations in Britain (Hinkley Point) and Gordon Brown wanted to restart the nuclear power plant building programme in Britain. Brown's brother Andrew was associated with Gerry McCann through COMARE

Bell Pottinger represented both the McCanns and the Portuguese holiday village they were staying in. Bell Pottinger also provide PR for the nuclear power industry, have close connections with New Labour (Tony Blair gave Tim bell his peerage), have helped sell New labours unique vision of democracy in Iraq and and have been heavily involved with several of New labours disastrous IT schemes.

These facts alone raise some interesting issues.

[John]

There has been much written about the involvement of the British Government in the Madeleine McCann case with direct comparisons being made to other similar cases of British children who have disappeared while abroad.  Various reasons have been suggested for that involvement.

Was Gerry McCann's involvement with COMARE in the weeks before Madeleine's disappearance purely coincidental or was there a connection?

Was and is the British Government's unprecedented involvement in this case driven by issues other than those of simply investigating the case of a missing child?

Why was Brown and now Cameron so willing to spend £millions on this case while others such as Ben Needham get little support?

[Serendipity]

I wrote this regarding Gerry McCann and COMARE in September 2012 but it was reposted on someone's blog the latter part of last year.

'In late 2006 and early 2007 two reports were produced which looked at the effects of nuclear research and nuclear power facilities on childhood cancers and in particular leukaemia. One report was produced in the UK (2006) and the other in Germany (2007). The German report found that the incidence of childhood leukemia in the regions surrounding their nuclear facilities were significantly higher than the childhood leukemia incidence rate for Germany as a whole. The findings of the UK claimed no such higher levels and where there were clusters the report pretty much blamed infections and environmental reasons other than nuclear factors on the rates of such cancers in the UK.

Odd that two reports should contain such wide contradictions in their findings. If the German report is correct then the UK report surely suggests a whitewash and a covering up of the dangers to our children.

German report: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892150/

UK report: http://www.comare.org.uk/press_releases/documents/COMARE11thReport.pdf

I wonder how many people are aware that Gerry McCann was on the COMARE medical subcommittee which researched the safety of nuclear power and published those findings in it's 11th report in 2006

Subcommittee members 2006: From archive http://web.archive.org/web/20061006232338/http://www.comare.org.uk/comare_members.htm

Gerry McCann no longer appears as an advisor on nuclear safety to any COMARE committees, with his last appearance on the members list being in 2008. This is from 2009 http://web.archive.org/web/20090521091530/http://www.comare.org.uk/comare_members.htm and this is the current member listing http://www.comare.org.uk/comare_members.htm

Being a curious soul I am left wondering why the two reports are so very different in their findings, what exactly Gerry McCann really knows about nuclear effects on childhood cancers and if there is a connection between this and the unprecedented government support in the case of a 'missing' child in 2007...'

[Carana]

What's odd about an input from a cardiologist into medical aspects of radiation on a sub-committee looking into such issues? Without having read the whole document, the medical sub-committee seems to have concerned the potential effects of radiation via medical examinations (CT scans, etc.)

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/66760633/MEDICAL-PRACTICES-SUBCOMMITTEE-Dr-G-McCann-BSc-MB-ChB-MRCP-MD-Glenfield-General-Hospital-Leicester-pages7879

[jassi]

None at all.
 His name was probably known to someone already on the committee. That's how these things work and I suspect there is nothing devious behind his inclusion.

[John]

Readers might find this FOI request and what followed of interest...



Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

23 October 2012

Dear [Name Removed]

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2012090002985

I respond in connection with your request for information which was
 received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 25/09/2012.  I note
 you seek access to the following information:

The Met is being funded £M's for a Maddie #McCann case     review!
 Mentioned in UK Parliament, by the Prime Minister himself     David
 Cameron! Thames Valley Police did conduct Operation Mason for     David
 Kelly, but YOU, hold ALL the information on Maddie McCann and     hence,
 you would hold the information on her parents and hence on     Dr Gerry
 McCann.       

 1. I want to know if Dr Gerry McCann or his wife, Kate McCann were in   
 ANY WAY linked to Dr David Kelly, his family or his work ? I am   
 particularly interested to find out if there is a work related   
 link, before or after Kelly's death.
  2. Was Gerry McCann consulted in     any way over Dr David kelly? .

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within the MPS
 to locate information relevant to your request.

EXTENT OF SEARCHES TO LOCATE INFORMATION

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted
 within Specialist Crime and Operations (SCO) at Homicide and Serious Crime
 Command (SCO1).

RESULT OF SEARCHES

The searches failed to locate any information relevant to your request as
 the MPS were not involved in the investigation into the death of Dr David
 Kelly.

It is publicly acknowledged that Thames Valley Police set up an
 investigation into the initial disappearance of Doctor Kelly.  The missing
 person investigation was given the name Operation Mason which was retained
 for the subsequent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Doctor
 Kelly's death, see below link:
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/aboutu...


Read the entire FOI background here.

[Carana]

None at all.
 His name was probably known to someone already on the committee. That's how these things work and I suspect there is nothing devious behind his inclusion.

If you were replying to me, jassi, I don't see anything odd at all. A very old myth was that Gerry was somehow extremely important to the government in terms of controlling the nuclear energy industry or whatever was invented at the time and that the government had to protect Gerry at all costs and that therefore somehow explained a governmental cover up for the disappearance.

Reality seems somewhat more mundane: a cardiologist commenting on x-rays. *yawn*.

[jassi]

If you were replying to me, jassi, I don't see anything odd at all. A very old myth was that Gerry was somehow extremely important to the government in terms of controlling the nuclear energy industry or whatever was invented at the time and that the government had to protect Gerry at all costs and that therefore somehow explained a governmental cover up for the disappearance.

Reality seems somewhat more mundane: a cardiologist commenting on x-rays. *yawn*.

I was and I was agreeing. I imagine he was there merely by chance of knowing somebody else involved..

[Carana]

I was and I was agreeing. I imagine he was there merely by chance of knowing somebody else involved..

I didn't think that you were disagreeing. Imaging was his speciality among cardiologists (some seem to be specialised in other practices... but that is his, a specialisation within a specialisation, presumably).

It would seem perfectly normal to me that he could be invited to a sub-committee discussing these issues.


Some people keep hinting at conspiracies when there is no evidence (I'm not aware that you have supported this, jassi).

I thought that this particular myth had been put to bed 6 years ago. Apparently not.

Reality is a far cry from Gerry being a major player in the nuclear energy industry....

http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/cardiovascular-sciences/people/mccann

[Mr Gray]

I wrote this regarding Gerry McCann and COMARE in September 2012 but it was reposted on someone's blog the latter part of last year.

'In late 2006 and early 2007 two reports were produced which looked at the effects of nuclear research and nuclear power facilities on childhood cancers and in particular leukaemia. One report was produced in the UK (2006) and the other in Germany (2007). The German report found that the incidence of childhood leukemia in the regions surrounding their nuclear facilities were significantly higher than the childhood leukemia incidence rate for Germany as a whole. The findings of the UK claimed no such higher levels and where there were clusters the report pretty much blamed infections and environmental reasons other than nuclear factors on the rates of such cancers in the UK.

Odd that two reports should contain such wide contradictions in their findings. If the German report is correct then the UK report surely suggests a whitewash and a covering up of the dangers to our children.

German report: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892150/

UK report: http://www.comare.org.uk/press_releases/documents/COMARE11thReport.pdf

I wonder how many people are aware that Gerry McCann was on the COMARE medical subcommittee which researched the safety of nuclear power and published those findings in it's 11th report in 2006

Subcommittee members 2006: From archive http://web.archive.org/web/20061006232338/http://www.comare.org.uk/comare_members.htm

Gerry McCann no longer appears as an advisor on nuclear safety to any COMARE committees, with his last appearance on the members list being in 2008. This is from 2009 http://web.archive.org/web/20090521091530/http://www.comare.org.uk/comare_members.htm and this is the current member listing http://www.comare.org.uk/comare_members.htm

Being a curious soul I am left wondering why the two reports are so very different in their findings, what exactly Gerry McCann really knows about nuclear effects on childhood cancers and if there is a connection between this and the unprecedented government support in the case of a 'missing' child in 2007...'

from what I can see Gerry was not involved in the 11th report re childhood cancers...he isn't listed as contributing to the report on the PDF..its not his field

he was involved in the 12 th report which was nothing to do with radiation in the environment but ct sacns in hospitals where they are used in the early detection of heart disease


Your attempt to find some govt conspiracy is laughable

[Alfred R Jones]

So McCann was involved in Comare, his daughter took an accidental overdose of hayfever medication whilst on holiday and the government decided that his subsequent actions and those of his wife and friends had to be protected at any cost - is that Seredipity's theory in a nutshell?  Or is there any other more prosaic reason for mentioning the Comare link?   

[ferryman]

So McCann was involved in Comare, his daughter took an accidental overdose of hayfever medication whilst on holiday and the government decided that his subsequent actions and those of his wife and friends had to be protected at any cost - is that Seredipity's theory in a nutshell?  Or is there any other more prosaic reason for mentioning the Comare link?

Gordon Brown.

You musn't forget Gordon Brown!

[Alfred R Jones]

Gordon Brown.

You musn't forget Gordon Brown!

Since Madeleine went missing we've had numerous incredibly damaging cases of MPs and High-Ups being uncovered as swindlers (expenses scandal), prosecutions for rape and paedophilia and all sorts.  Yet some people think all of these potentially disastrous (to the govt) cases pale into insignificance when compared to the supposed cover-up of a child's death by some previously unknown doctor from Leicestershire.   Why?

[stephen25000]

Gordon Brown.

You musn't forget Gordon Brown!

Ah yes, the best P.M. we have ever had.