A controversial US anti-vaccine campaigner has cancelled her Australian tour, saying she couldn't guarantee the safety of attendees following multiple threats.
Dr Sherri Tenpenny had planned to hold numerous seminars to promote her belief that vaccines are linked to autism, asthma and auto-immune diseases.
But threats by "anti-free speech terrorists", and criticism directed towards host venues, have allegedly forced Dr Tenpenny to cancel the tour.
"We can no longer guarantee the safety of those attending the seminar...some people were planning to bring babies," spokeswoman Stephanie Messenger said in a statement.
"The anti-free-speech terrorists have ... threatened violence against venue owners and their families in some cities originally scheduled for the healthy living seminars."
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At least five venues cancelled events earlier this month following a backlash against the anti-vaccine campaigner.
Dennis Skinner, manager of the Kareela Golf and Social Club in southern Sydney, said he had been inundated with protest emails and Facebook messages.
"We don't have a position for or against (vaccination)," he said.
"We just decided that it was so controversial we decided to back away from it."
Brian Moreton, chairman of the Australian Medical Association's council of general practice, denounced the anti-vaccination movement as "nonsense".
On her US website, osteopath Dr Tenpenny describes herself as "one of the country's most knowledgeable and outspoken physicians regarding the impact of vaccines on health".
Before her career in alternative medicine, she served as director of an emergency department at a regional hospital in Ohio for 12 years.
