Does Brian Deer Have Aspergers?

If he does have Aspergers, kind of an important disclosure that he should make, right?

(from Deer's own blog)

This week Toni Lapp interviewed Deer for an article called "Autism in Journalism." Deer dropped that bomb as if it was a throw away comment:

"When I told him I had a unique interest in the issue – as a journalist, and as the mother of son with Asperger’s) Deer seemed genuinely interested and asked after my son’s “special interests.” I told him how Ryan at one time had memorized the terms of U.S. presidents, and he dryly remarked how that is not exactly a skill one can build a career on. And, he told me he thought he had a touch of Asperger’s himself as an adolescent, and probably outgrew it. (Can one outgrow Asperger’s?)"

No... one cannot outgrow Asperger's.

So by admission, Deer began his assault on Wakefield being supported by Pharma (for up to four years from what I can discern) he has continued this assault, claiming not to be paid by pharma, but has done so for years with no visible means of financial support, and now he might have Aspergers?

He has already demonstrated his ignorance on the basics of environmental causation theory in autism, how compromised does he have to be as a source? Good grief.

Doses 71 and 72 Soon to be Added to the Childhood Vaccine Schedule

So dose number 70 was added last December, and four months later we are headed for the addition of two more infant doses.

The FDA has approved Sanofi's Menactra for use in two doses at 9 and 15 months.

The ACIP has not yet added it to CDCs recommended schedule, but does anyone really think that they are not going to? No.

FDA Approvals Meningococcal Vaccine For Children
Jamie Peter | Web Producer
Posted: 8:01 pm EDT April 22, 2011
Updated: 8:29 pm EDT April 22, 2011


A local drug maker has been granted approval for a vaccine to protect infants against a potentially deadly disease.

Sanofi Pasteur announced Friday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it's two-dose schedule for Menactra, a meningococcal conjugate vaccine, for children 9 months through 23 months.

It is the first U.S. approval of a meningococcal vaccine for this age group.

"Licensure of Menactra vaccine for infants as young as 9 months of age gives the opportunity to help protect infants against this potentially deadly disease when the likelihood of exposure supports a need for early protection," said Stephen I. Pelton, MD. Pelton is a professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at Boston University Schools of Medicine and is the Public Health and Chief for Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Boston Medical Center.

Meningococcal disease is rare but it can be deadly.

It is caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis and can progress so quickly it can claim the life of a child within 24 hours.

FDA studies also showed that measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine (MMRV) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) can be administered with the Menactra vaccine in children.

Vaccine related reactions included swelling, tenderness at injection site, and irritability.

Merck's Pnumovax Pulled in Australia with 82 Severe Reactions Since January

Drug watchdog halts injections after adverse reaction in patients
Adam Cresswell From: The Australian April 19, 2011 12:00AM

THE drug regulator has told GPs to stop giving patients a second dose of a vaccine that protects against pneumococcal disease, after more than 80 Australians suffered severe reactions, including severe swelling and abcesses.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration said it was investigating what could have caused 178 reports of reactions to the Pneumovax 23 vaccine, which is meant to protect against a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection that can cause meningitis and death and is mainly given to adults.

Of the 178 reaction reports made from January 1 to April 14, 169 related to reactions at the injection site, of which 82 were deemed severe, and included the skin inflammation cellulitis, swelling from the shoulder to the elbow and abcesses.

In a statement, the TGA said that although such reactions were specifically mentioned as possible side-effects in the information provided with the vaccine, the sheer number had triggered the agency's concern.

The total number of reaction reports is nearly three times the 63 adverse reactions that were reported to the end of April last year, and more than five times the 34 reactions reported in 2009.

The vaccine, made by Merck Sharp and Dohme, is provided free once every five years for adults over 65, indigenous people over 50, tobacco smokers, and people aged 10 and over who are predisposed to invasive pneumococcal disease.

The latest scare follows an earlier incident with the same vaccine in March, when the TGA ordered a recall of one specific batch after a cluster of seven patients reported similar reactions.

Of the 178 reaction reports overall, 57 were among people who received the suspect N3336 batch involved in the earlier NSW incident.

The TGA said in a statement that, out of the 82 severe reactions, 44 were among people receiving their second dose. Another 22 were in people receiving the vaccine for the first time, while it was unclear whether the remainder were first or second shots.

"Analysis of these adverse reactions suggests that the largest number of reactions is occurring in people receiving their second five-yearly dose of Pneumovax," the statement said.

"Further detailed analysis . . . is required and will be undertaken by the TGA and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation. Until this analysis is complete, the TGA is recommending as a precautionary measure that patients do not receive a second dose."

Merck Sharp and Dohme said the company was not involved in the TGA's alert and could not "elaborate on the reasons" for the warning.

PBS Newshour: Autism's Causes: How Close Are We to Solving the Puzzle?

It is so crazy to me when we get these normal windows of real discussion on autism causation. I attended the Maine CDC Autism Conference in 2009 and I sat there in the audience next to Harry Tembennis, listening to these discussions that should have been the discussions all along (had not the preservation of the vaccine program necessitated the suppression of science and free expression), and just marveled. Harry kept turning to me and saying, "I can't believe this is a CDC conference!"

That is how watching this episode is. It is like stepping into an alternate universe where science is progressing normally with out the Offits and Mnookins and Oracs and Novella's of the world.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

I take issue with the statements that there is no research that there is a vaccine link, of course, but note that they are largely qualifying that statement to apply to epidemiology. (The Stony Brook, Heb B autism study finds a link for example, but lets give them a pass on the mis characterization.) Because frankly, I am shocked at the statements on environmental causation by a rep from the Simons Foundation.

They are admitting (as IOM did in their 2004 report) that epidemiology won't find our kids with susceptibility to vaccine regression. But unlike IOM, they are saying in on camera on PBS.

And I am not sure where Dr. Amaral is getting his info on fully vaccinated children having lower autism rates, no such research that I know of exists, but everything else he is saying warms my heart. Worth a phone call to find out from whence he has drawn that opinion.

But again... It is amazing to see earnest researchers coming out of the closet, on camera, to back our belief that our little ones were different and the one size fits all vaccine program did not fit them.

I really pray that this leads to screening BEFORE vaccination to find our little subgroups before they regress. And soon.

Posting Martha Herbert's talk from the Maine CDC Autism conference. He got a standing ovation and the CDC director was in tears when she was done talking.

Maine CDC Autism Conference 2009
Genes and Environment, Developmental and Chronic: An Inclusive Approach to Autism Science, followed by Q&A
Martha Herbert, MD, PhD
Pediatric Neurologist
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School



(I hear Seth Mnookin is already trying to rip her to shreds. It must be hard for him that he joined the Vaccine Program Protection Squad after the glory days. Coming late to the party is not fun. Seth still has time to cut and run though. He can go write another book about baseball or drugs or something he knows a little better.)

Offit Called Out For Lying AGAIN!

Why does this man still get published!

In 2008 CBS ran this piece:



(My blog on in here.)

Paul Offit responded to the piece in the OC Register here.

Note the comments section... everyone knew the man was not telling the truth.

Now, three years later, the OC Register has retracted the article, because they had to come to grips with what we have learned the hard way, that the man is a big fat liar.

"An OC Register article dated Aug. 4, 2008 entitled “Dr. Paul Offit Responds” contained several disparaging statements that Dr. Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia made about CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and her report. Upon further review, it appears that a number of Dr. Offit’s statements, as quoted in the OC Register article, were unsubstantiated and/or false. Attkisson had previously reported on the vaccine industry ties of Dr. Offit and others in a CBS Evening News report “How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?” July 25, 2008.

Unsubstantiated statements include: Offit’s claim that Attkisson “lied”; and Offit’s claim that CBS News sent a “mean spirited and vituperative” email “over the signature of Sharyl Attkisson” stating “You’re clearly hiding something.” In fact, the OC Register has no evidence to support those claims. Further, Offit told the OC Register that he provided CBS News “the details of his relationship, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s relationship, with pharmaceutical company Merck.” However, documents provided by CBS News indicate Offit did not disclose his financial relationships with Merck, including a $1.5 million Hilleman chair he sits in that is co-sponsored by Merck. According to the CBS News’ documentation recently reviewed by the OC Register, the network requested (but Offit did not disclose) the entire profile of his professional financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies including: The amount of compensation he’d received from which companies in speaking fees; and pharmaceutical consulting relationships and fees. The CBS News documentation indicates Offit also did not disclose his share of past and future royalties for the Merck vaccine he co-invented. To the extent that unsubstantiated and/or false claims appeared in the OC Register and have been repeated by other organizations and individuals, the OC Register wishes to express this clarification for their reference and for the record."

PBS Newshour: Robert MacNeil Looks At Autism Prevalance

Another good report from MacNeil on the diversity seen in our kids and showing that the speculation that autism has always been with us is speculation (Grinker) and that those with experience know that what is happening is new.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Robert MacNeil Will Be On CNN will be on CNN at 7:50am Tomorrow

Just a heads up.

Robert MacNeil Will Be On CNN will be on CNN at 7:50am Tomorrow, Monday, April 18th

And a reminder that the full series starts tomorrow. We know it will all not be peaches and cream, but the line up looks like PBS is taking this somewhat seriously and having at least a fair hearing on the issues.

Let's see how it goes.

Thorsen's NANEA, the Enron of Research Facilities?

This article from Information.dk is a rough translation, but you can get the gist of it. Poul Thorsen managed his North Atlantic Neuro-Epidemiology Alliances in the vein of The Smartest Guys in the Room and pulled an Inside Job.

"One trait separates Nanea from the rest of the university, and it springs to mind immediately. In the first year employees live in a world of glitz and pampering. "We are running in a huge Mercedes!" Is the watchword, and it is true. Every time a scientist travels into the country to collect data, place the trip on business class, "says Anja. Lisa says that the Danes are visiting Atlanta, where they duperes when a limousine rolls up in front of the hotel door to take them to meetings with the CDC . Delicious dinners, liquor with expensive labels and staying at luxurious get-aways as Denmark's castles are on the program when the traffic goes the other way and the money men from the USA visiting Denmark.

While keeping the group together in a rare degree. Nanea celebrations. Summer festivals, winter festivals, Christmas celebrations, there is always a reason, otherwise there seminars. Anja call them energy meetings. Toke and Lisa remembers their formal name, off-site. Here take employees away a few days. They go in groups and make presentations where they share their work with each other. But first and foremost share the vision of Nanea."

Remember, this is all money that is supposed to be serving the needs of our children. While you were awake with your child until 4 in the morning while he writhed in pain, Thorsen, his team and CDC employees were living the high life on your tax dollars. You got robbed twice.

I have already heard vaccine injury denialists claiming that this was just a money problem, but that the research that has come out of this was solid. We knew it was junk when it came out. But let's pretend we had not already read it and knew that it was junk. Where in the world have you ever seen this kind of fraud going on, and the product or service that said criminals were selling NOT be junk. You have seen The Smartest Guys in the Room and Inside Job, right? Would this not be the first time in history that massive financial fraud was taking place and the products being sold were actually serving the population that was supposed to be being served?

Do you, for one minute, knowing that Thorsen was all about the money and glory, and knowing that he cared so little about integrity or ethics, think that he would even consider producing a study that implicated vaccines in autism? He would never hear from CDC again and the money train would stop running.

The vaccine program is so damn corrupt... the corruption is busing out everywhere and it is astonishing to me that CDC et. al. have had so many chances to save face and pull a, "well in light of recent events we need to re-evaluate the relationship between vaccines and autism...." and back out of this cascading disaster... but no. They still trudge on. Destroying the faith between doctors and patients, between government and citizens, between pharma and customers, between us and them... When will it end? How bad will they let things get?

How many children have to be injured and killed to serve their egos and their bottom lines?

This crap with Thorsen goes back a DECADE! Are we supposed to deal with another decade of this?

Will DOJ actually investigate this and unravel this whole mess or will it do as little as possible and sweep the rest under the rug?

There has to be an earnest man out there somewhere who will stop this madness. Someone who will say, "Enough. It is time to clean up the mess and start over."

Where is our Eliot Ness?

As the agitators came to the University
Research Nanea should have been the world best. Today, the slogans died, the group is dissolved, and the head of it all stung by the U.S. dogged by suspicions of fraud for millions. And funkisvillaen that housed the dream, stands empty and deserted

Abandoned. A little clutter in an abandoned villa in Aarhus West is the last physical remnants that remain of what was to be the world's best research Photo: Sigrid Nygaard

By: SANNE MAJA FUNCH
12. March 2010 | Information.dk

"I am ready to kill to get there."


Enlarge
The phrase strikes a nerve in Anja when she hears his boss tell about the ambition that drives his career. For probably he speaks in jest, but jest and earnest is known complementary, and Anja have seen and heard it all before. For many months she has worked in the research Nanea at Aarhus University. During that time she has seen his boss when he explains that he would sacrifice a friendship for a position and that he also does not care whether there are better candidates if he comes first. Anja has seen what happens when a new article ready for publication, and the researchers noted on the order of names in the article byline.

Gradually, by Anja also that she did not thrive in that game and that her career should have a new twist. However she does not know that even the whole Nanea heading for doom.

The adventure begins long before the year 2000. Here are launching a lecturer, a research project with a range that matches any vision for the new millennium. For several years, researchers in North Atlantic Neuro-Epidemiology Alliances explore data in large files and thousands of kids to discover relationships between pregnant women's lifestyle and children's abilities in later life. The data is probably the world's largest, and several other innovative projects are underway around the first. The same format has the projects create. Poul Thorsen's him with the high laughter. This is him with millions of United States that make research possible and life at a luxury travel for employees. That's him with the plans and panels that describe how Nanea take world domination and it is he who causes the unit to dance to his tune, even when they feel that something is wrong.

Poul Thorsen is also the contractor. A few months after the interview with Anja, he directs the University of Aarhus into what looks like a historical scandal fraud investigation for more than 10 million dollars, which he himself takes the lead role as the academic response to business Stein Bagger or Tvind cult Amdi.

On the border for spring 2009 are growing suspicions in the upper layers of the administration at the university: Something is wrong with the unit at the Department of Public Health. Nanea do not have the funds available as the project manager creates the impression. Poul Thorsen raised. The year before he went to Atlanta, where he manages the research. But in March, exactly a year since release exile assistant finally caught on his device. While university digs into the murky circumstances surrounding discovery no, he says his position up. In May, University of Aarhus lodges a notification to the police, but only in February this year jumps scandal in the Danish media: missing millions in the box at the university, and it looks like a case of fraud. Someone has been forged signatures on statements on the funding for a research unit at the university. Maybe there is money that has disappeared, and the unit's star has received double pay as full-time employee at both AU and a university in Atlanta.

Poul Thorsen has not yet been charged with the false signatures and black holes. But the suspicion clings to the man who was Nanea father, leader and self-willed ruler. In the center of Århus East Jutland Police prepare a criminal case. And while police gather material and interrogating witnesses, a similar soul-searching process started elsewhere in the city:

"We started in Nanea. On this promising research. And now there is something called Nanea more. It is one man's profit that came something really good research and stand. But it is also with him, the house of cards falls, because he has the burst, as he has. Why do we not react? "

It's Lisa, who ponders. Like Anja, she was on the trip from greatness to decline. Along with another employee, Toke, they agreed to tell their version of the shipwreck at the university and the way thither. They will be available, because the story of Nanea like other good parables beyond themselves and the funkisvilla at Paludan Müllersvej in from north of town where the enclave lived. It is also the story of an academic world where competition for money, prestige and the right to investigate strengthened year by year.

The golden child
Anja remembers his first day at Nanea. High and low, from secretaries to senior scientist, the group lined up in a row, sharing hugs out to the new girl when she starts a few years into the project life. Lisa also remembers the mood. With jelly at the knees she stands up in front of his boss to point out a few poorly thought-out details. But all nervousness will be proved wrong, because his arms are just as open when it comes to new ideas and new employees.

"We should see opportunities! It was Paul Thorsen's slogan, and I can see that he created an alternative research. It built on the principle that everyone was equal worth and had something to offer here, "she says.

One thing is certain, Nanea is unique from the start. This is due to two factors that both enable a device status, most academic environments only dream about. Firstly Nanea gilt. The project's name is on an appropriation of nearly eight million dollars. Guldåren is the U.S. healthcare institution, the CDC from Atlanta, and in years to come, float another eight million dollars to Nanea. The second factor is the scale. Denmark is a register-country. We sit on a knowledge not found in money men over there, and the knowledge, Poul Thorsen access. Based on the databases are full of records of the pregnant woman's lifestyle, work Nanea researchers to map how even tiny amounts of alcohol affect children's intelligence later in life. They examine the reasons for including autism and cerebral palsy in the light of the figures in other registers. The total material is so extensive that several Nanea projects is the most thorough in the world of their kind.

The size also makes the group grows beyond the scope of the parent department of Epidemiology at University Park in Aarhus. It will have its own headquarters in a large square and a small villa kilometers away. From headquarters at Paludan Müllersvej continues device to distance itself from the rest of the academic environment.

Family
One trait separates Nanea from the rest of the university, and it springs to mind immediately. In the first year employees live in a world of glitz and pampering. "We are running in a huge Mercedes!" Is the watchword, and it is true. Every time a scientist travels into the country to collect data, place the trip on business class, "says Anja. Lisa says that the Danes are visiting Atlanta, where they duperes when a limousine rolls up in front of the hotel door to take them to meetings with the CDC . Delicious dinners, liquor with expensive labels and staying at luxurious get-aways as Denmark's castles are on the program when the traffic goes the other way and the money men from the USA visiting Denmark.

While keeping the group together in a rare degree. Nanea celebrations. Summer festivals, winter festivals, Christmas celebrations, there is always a reason, otherwise there seminars. Anja call them energy meetings. Toke and Lisa remembers their formal name, off-site. Here take employees away a few days. They go in groups and make presentations where they share their work with each other. But first and foremost share the vision of Nanea.

Anja'm still the head of it. The white canvas is stretched out behind him. Models and strategies are drawn with Nanea colors and logo in the powerpoint slides, he clicks through. Poul Thorsen speaks. He talks about the future that belongs Nanea. He talks about being the world's top research institution, the brightest in his field. And he talks about how Nanea reach the goal together.

"We should be Committed. It was Paul Thorsen's words, and it seemed a long way down the road. I engaged myself in it, "says Lise.

"We should always define who we were. We were naneanere. There stood Nanea on the mailbox to our house. We had our own logo and our own little things. When a PhD was finished, she got a Nanea-belt with a buckle Nanea-and small-Nanea things we could have on the blouse, "remembers Anja.

Nanea is a family. That they call themselves, and the family has a chronicle. Because even though the group has grown out of the Department of Epidemiology, the two now quite different. They are jealous of our resources while we are special because we have them. They are bureaucrats, while we're loose and large. In the midst of the chronicle is Nanea father. Poul Thorsen has created the family, and his charisma Kitter group together.

"He did it all and he could certainly do well for people. He cried and laughed out loud so we could hear him all over. There was a little hop around after him when he was in the house. Poul Thorsen - it is him, we like to dance with, "says Anja.

The entrepreneurial university
A new time has come to the Danish universities and Nanea the example at the time.

In the old days the researchers sat bent over their microscopes or stacks of thick books. Solid walls shielded them against the world's hubbub, while the overall puzzle of nature's mysteries. Often no one knew what the new knowledge would be used. Jens Christian Skou won the latest Nobel Prize in Denmark in 1997, but physiologist published the first knowledge of his discoveries in 1957.

Today, the ivory tower toppled in ruins. Claus Emmeche director of the Centre for Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies at the Niels Bohr Institute. He is also among the forerunners in the debate about how Denmark's intellectual strongholds controlled. Claus Emmeche not know what occurred in the environment around Nanea. In return, he knows what it takes to succeed in a new academic landscape, and running managers as Poul Thorsen quickly from researchers as Jens Christian Skou.

In December, an international expert panel's evaluation of the new University from 2003 and mergers in 2007, making the debate on universities topical. The very last of the two events mark the result Claus Emmeche a milestone in terms of research in Denmark. This year breaks the politicians with the classical division between research types. Until then, research industry for its own money and to earn more. Sector research gets its functions and its funding from the ministries. Only universities are free to do research for research's sake, outside the box slammed in. For 2007, not only year in which Aarhus School of Business and Aarhus University becomes one. Concomitant down universities and a number of sector research institutions.

"Now they have also taken over the government research institutions challenge. They should ensure that ministries will continue to think they bother to fund their research. This means that they spend a large part of working to justify themselves by creating ever new contracts with purchasers of research, "explains Claus Emmeche.

'The entrepreneurial university', he calls a new era when the skillful researcher not only is he there with laborious diligence peel layer upon layer of human ignorance. Here, "winner of the researcher who is good to appear dynamic and good for networking. It is he who can brand themselves and their research and eager to be entrepreneurial and scrape funds to themselves, "says associate professor.

For society will see the benefits of injection and more every year. And while the basic funds for the faltering basic shrink by two percent each time the year changes, increases the risk that competition culture negative side effects really hits out at Denmark's academic community.

Tax evasion
The device Nanea start due to ravage. One day, Anja a letter by mail. It is from SKAT and says that SKAT has received an anonymous tip, among other concerns Anja. She is one of several employees who receive public money, which she is not entitled.

Anja is employed in a wage subsidy scheme. More precisely, given Anja salary and an amount Poul Thorsen down on top of each month, so she ends up at the right salary for his full-time work. It is not legal. In return it is a condition of her employment. The letters are causing concern. There are several who have to pay money back. They confront Poul Thorsen with it.

"It's really hard for you", says the head and sticks Anja a letter, dated back to her employment begins. It says that she will recover expenses for travel and equipment, and it is intended that Anja give the letter to the Tax and get rid of his bill.

Tax case demonstrates two things. One is that the economy is lagging so much in Nanea that several employees are paid illegally. The second is that it is hopeless to talk to the boss about the problem. Poul Thorsen become 'wool in the mouth "when he demanded an answer that explains Toke. All notes that there are firewalls between the man on the floor and Nanea economy. Scientists can not get to know whether it is millions from CDC or funds from other investors who pay their wages. Nobody can get to know where the money is from and whether there is enough to make each project completed.

In return, states Head not swath of the forecast.

"You can say much but he was good to get ideas, and there came more and more," said Anja, who also explains that the rhetoric down a carefully spin to deflect attention from the wool of Poul Thorsen's response and motivates all to keep going.

Poul Thorsen says his unit for talented new colleagues, who can start tomorrow if just naneanerne addresses and helps to raise funds home. He draws in air and on his slides and talk about blood spots and other projects in which research can be upgraded when the tide turns.

'I must put in the pot to the common good. So we draw twice as much next year, "encourages Poul Thorsen, and Lisa finds that Nanea live as Head directs.

"That one does in a family. Mon stretches for each other '.

But power is not in Nanea. In 2008 Poul Thorsen packs his bags and move to Atlanta. Toke perceive it as if he runs away. The head of it all leaves researchers in the big house and in an economic quagmire that only he is responsible. After the New Year says Poul Thorsen her job. Nanea door with his father, while the scandal gathered around him.

Seduced
At Frederiksberg with Danish Magisterforening to. There are a lot of university research scientists organized, and Jens Braa-Jensen is a consultant for a number of them. Fudge Riet at Aarhus University comes as no surprise to him. Economic antics such as Anja creative compensation packages are usually stopped by the local union representatives at the universities before DM ever hears about them. Yet Jens Braa-Jensen faced 10 questions on illegal wage subsidy schemes in recent years and the reason is clear, according to him. It is "reasonably unique on the Danish labor market, employees in the university must come to work with their own salaries in the backpack - and that they go out if the maneuver fails. Last year, said the Natural Sciences in Copenhagen goodbye to 70 employees due to cuts. Layoffs gives a hint with a pole on the properties that characterize the skilled staff at the Danish universities:

"The layoffs affected only those who were funded by permanent appropriations and generally should be the safest employment, while those on the external projects went free. So begins some researchers to look for ways they can improve their economies, "says Jens Braa-Jensen.

The analysis resonate at the Center for Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies. Here striker Claus Emmeche the university system that celebrates fundraiser and entrepreneur rather than the careful fagnørd. The sun shines on it, once you have proven that he can raise large funds and which keeps alive the flame of hope that there will be more. He is allowed to be in peace, and this time the enterprising university 'certain Stein Bagger-types to commit fraud and scams.

Nanea is dead. But the projects will be finalized within a new framework, and another work wriggling in the old unit. Ex-naneanerne struggling to understand what really happened. For Toke matter is clear: He worked under a great manager with an equally incredible morale, but the head was allowed to stretch out in a world that gave way to his inclinations.

"We have created a highly competitive system where large sums spent on individuals with major research groups, under him, and it favors in a way such people. If you can sell yourself, you fling yourself in this system. If you are downright unscrupulous and no clouds criminal acts, can you at least for a time frisk you, then I do not think it is the latter case, we see '.

Poul Thorsen was the new age man. "He wants his gesture," and he "cursing and swearing always all over the bureaucracy," says Lise. But the ideas were good, and therefore Meaning she is not that old tub was rotten before it sank. The surprise will Lise like to save others.

"For me it is a seduction story. An agitator things. The university celebrates Mon meticulous in the research. We should do everything exactly alike, and we had to meet the most stringent research criteria. There is a long time before you think that someone playing on a completely different way. "

PS
The story of Nanea based on conversations with Toke, Lise and Anja on what they have each experienced their time in Nanea. Østjyllands Police, Aarhus University and Research and Innovation has helped with background knowledge. Toke, Lise and Anja are fictitious names. Information knows their real identity.

Information has contacted Poul Thorsen through his Danish lawyer, Jan Schneider. Poul Thorsen did not want to participate in the article, but Jan Schneider maintains that his client is innocent.

Nanea Rise and Fall
2000 Nanea created with a grant of 7.8 million dollars from the U.S. healthcare institutions Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ). The appropriation is administered by the Research and Innovation under the direction of Poul Thorsen.

2007 project is extended for a further grant from the CDC at 8.2 million dollars.

2008 Poul Thorsen moving to Atlanta, but is still scientific and administrative head of Nanea.

Winter 2008-2009 AU discovers that there are funds available for research which Nanea have used. Poul Thorsen insures that there is money coming from the U.S. and provides affirmations of funds as evidence.

March 2009 Poul Thorsen terminates his duties at the University of Aarhus. Nanea disbanded, but projects continue under the new administration.

Spring 2009 AU discovers that three letters on grants from the CDC apparently forged, like the CDC does not recognize even one letter on an outstanding amount of Nanea first appropriation. In all, the false signatures, an amount of nearly two million dollars.

May 2009 Science and Innovation Council lodges a police report. Notification is not directed at any named person.

Fall 2009 University of Aarhus discovering that Poul Thorsen has maintained a dual appointment as a lecturer in Denmark and professor at Emory University in Atlanta and AU have not approved.

January 2010 University of Aarhus director Jorgen Jorgensen, Poul Thorsen denouncing in a message to Nanea projects partners. The message also mentions fraud case.

February 2010 Aarhus Times takes up the case and the country's other media will follow.

March 2010 Østjyllands Police investigators continue to raise a charge against the key person.

PS
The story of Nanea based on conversations with Toke, Lise and Anja on what they have each experienced their time in Nanea. Østjyllands Police, Aarhus University and Research and Innovation has helped with background knowledge. Toke, Lise and Anja are fictitious names. Information knows their real identity.

Information has contacted Poul Thorsen through his Danish lawyer, Jan Schneider. Poul Thorsen did not want to participate in the article, but Jan Schneider maintains that his client is innocent.

Nanea Rise and Fall
2000: Nanea created with a grant of 7.8 million dollars from the U.S. healthcare institutions Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ). The appropriation is administered by the Research and Innovation under the direction of Poul Thorsen.

2007: Project extended for a further grant from the CDC at 8.2 million dollars.

2008: Poul Thorsen moving to Atlanta, but is still scientific and administrative head of Nanea.

Winter 2008-2009: Aarhus University discovers that there are funds available for research which Nanea have used. Poul Thorsen insures that there is money coming from the U.S. and provides affirmations of funds as evidence.

March 2009: Poul Thorsen terminates his duties at the University of Aarhus. Nanea disbanded, but projects continue under the new administration.

Spring 2009: Aarhus University discovers that three letters on grants from the CDC apparently forged, like the CDC does not recognize even one letter on an outstanding amount of Nanea first appropriation. In all, the false signatures, an amount of nearly two million dollars.

May 2009: Research and Innovation lodge a police report. Notification is not directed at any named person.

Fall 2009: Aarhus University discovers that Poul Thorsen has maintained a dual appointment as a lecturer in Denmark and professor at Emory University in Atlanta and AU have not approved.

January 2010: Aarhus University Director Jorgen Jorgensen, Poul Thorsen denouncing in a message to Nanea projects partners. The message also mentions fraud case.

February 2010: Aarhus Times takes up the case and the country's other media will follow.

March 2010: East Jutland Police investigators continue to raise a charge against the key person.

Autism Speaks is Scrubbing Their Ties to Poul Thorsen From Their Web Site

In 2008, Autism Speaks reported on their epidemiology grants on their web site. They let supporters know that they were funding a one million dollar international autism registry with CDC and several international researchers including:

"Poul Thorsen, MD, PhD, University of Aarhus, Denmark and Emory University, USA"

You can find that information on the AS web site here.

or rather you used to be able to find it there. That sentence is now missing from the page.

But that is what the page said on October 21, 2009. Check it out in the Wayback Machine.

Before:

After:

So AS, why are you hiding your affiliation with Thorsen?

And why didn't you do it for the Thorsen research that was funded under NAAR, before the AS merger?

Thorsen (2003)

Exposure to pharmaceuticals in pregnancy and development of autistic disorder ($118,454)

Retrospective analysis of medical records to determine prenatal factors such as exposure to different pharmaceuticals and relationship to autism. While no reports have been published that links different pharmaceuticals to autism, Dr. Thorsen was able to report that different prenatal environmental events, including breech presentation, low APGAR score and gestational age at birth were associated with elevated risk of autism. Other factors, including season of birth, and number of antenatal visits did not elevate risk of autism. Dr. Thorsen is a participant in the Autism Epidemiology Network.

The Poul Thorsen Indictment is Out

You can read them here, here and here.

Vaccine injury denialists have been trying to paint this as a 'one bad egg' scenario, but it looks like Thorsen had help.  Will his partners in crime be made public?  As always, I remain cynical that real justice will follow (I am shocked it has gotten this far) because discrediting the research facility that Thorsen reigned over kills their own case against the families of children with vaccine induced autism.

"Beginning on a date unknown, but at least by in or about February 2004, and continuing until in or about February 2010, in the Northern District of Georgia and elsewhere the defendant, POUL THORSEN aided and abetted by others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, did knowingly devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and to obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudul ent pretenses, representations, and promises, and by omission of material facts, well knowing and having, reason to know that said pretenses, representations, and promises were and weould be false and fraudulent when made and caused to be made and that said omissions were and would be material."

Some commentary on the indictment from an attorney who is currently reviewing the documents.

"If the fraud involved more than $1million Thorsen faces a sentence under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines of as little as 37 months if pleads guilty. This minimum is advisory only and there is no mandatory minimum sentence for the crimes charged. If he provides substantial assistance to the government ("cooperates") or other circumstances apply he could receive a sentence of probation. The maximum is 20 years on most of the counts but such extreme sentences are rarely imposed, unless severe aggravating circumstances exist (like "scientific" fraud affecting the safey of vaccines and global vaccine policy).

The indictment does refer to Thorsen's having been "aided and abetted by others known and unknown to the Grand Jury" in a scheme to defraud. This language is boilerplate although it is likely that others assisted Thorsen in some way. The indictment reveals little about this except to outline in a summary way the grant process that led to the original CDC grants given to Thorsen. The theft and fraudulent invoices are identified as beginning in 2004.

Even though this is the case (initial grants preceding the 2004 scheme to defraud charged in the indictment), according to accounts from Denmark (not in the indictment - speculation here) the high-flying fiefdom that Thorsen created began earlier when he obtained the first grants from the CDC. In my mind it would be likely that the 2004 and later conduct is connected to the pre-2004 conduct. If I were a prosecutor looking for all the dead bodies I would investigate the origins of the original CDC grant and all transactions and conduct surrounding the grants. The indictment suggests that Thorsen promoted himself to obtain the CDC grants but this does not seem realistic to me, given all the background information we have, including the CDC-WHO-Brighton_GAVI emails and other documents showing how aggressively vaccine authorities were seeking epidemiology to exonerate vaccines of any role in causing NDD's or autism. It seems more likely that individuals at the CDC recruited Thorsen who they knew from his work at Birth Defects (under Cordero?), especially because the coveted data contained in the Danish birth registry was a ready made source to construct the studies they needed to achieve their program and policy goals.

There is a warrant for Thorsen's arrest but bringing him to the US from Denmark may take some time. Denmark and the US does have an extradition treaty."

Stay tuned folks.

My Gratitude to David Kirby

I was putting together a presentation in my head this morning on the bills in Maine... a quick pitch to doctors on how futile their current denial of vaccine injury is in light of all happened right out there in the media where everyone can see it... The Poling press conference on CNN, Gerberdings mito/vaccine/autism admission on CNN, Suchat's statement that we would not screen for mito to prevent vaccine induced brain damage because it was too expensive in the AJC, HHS admission via David Bowman that vaccine encephalopathy causes autism, Gerberdings secret 'retraction' of Verstraeten, and on and on

And I realized that every point I was putting together, all of it, owed its existence to David Kirby. If not for his digging, not one of these would have come to light, and things would be just like they were when Chandler regressed in 2003.

So I wanted formally thank him publicly. Kirby is smart and dedicated and he could have chosen a path that would have brought him public accolades, huge salaries, and lots of rubbing of elbows with the rich and powerful and corrupt. But instead he chose to climb down into the trench with us and serve the interests of a bunch of sick and medically neglected children.

Just like Bernie deserves a Nobel prize that he will never see, David is owed a Pulitzer or two or three.

David, whether or not the world ever recognizes what you have done, you will always have my undying gratitude. We will never know how many children are neurologically whole today because you sounded the alarm and cautioned parents that there is a problem.

Thank you.

PBS Newshour: Robert MacNeil Shares his Grandson's Story

Our community has been savaged by PBS, so when they announced that they were doing a series on autism for autism awareness month, we didn't know what to expect.

Brian Deer, on another blog, was crowing about the upcoming series, while showing his profound lack of understanding of the subject on which he has spent the last seven year writing.

From my post on his clueless comment from a few days back:

Brian Deer
March 31st, 2011
13:48:59

"Looks like the NAS is getting its shit together. It has taken them long enough, if you ask me. But I’m sure everyone will be glad to see them going out to spread their message. Ditto Bob MacNeil coming back for a PBS series of reports.

If those who believe that there may be environmental causes of developmental disorders turn out to be right, people will look back at this interlude caused by Wakefield, Jenny McCarthy, the Age of Hatred site and so forth with burning outrage.

If there are toxic substances out there doing harm to children (and I recall Tom Insel at NIH pretty much saying that there were too many candidates to know where to start) then there’s not one minute of time and not one cent in public money to be wasted over those lying fools."

Deer must be heartbroken today to see the piece, and realize that the grandson of the esteemed MacNeil was diagnosed by the well respected Harvard pediatric neurologist Tim Buie, with "Lymphoid Nodular Hyperplasia"... which Deer claims does not exist. And to see it all airing on PBS.

I think it is probably a bad day in Pharma town.... watch for yourself:

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Can't wait to see the rest of the series.

Update: MacNeil/Lehrer discuss autism and the series.



Update:

Adding in Tim Buie's lecture from the Maine CDC autism conference:

Maine CDC Autism Conference 2009
Gastrointestinal and Nutritional Co-Morbidities in Autism, followed by Q&A
Tim Buie, MD
Pediatric Gastroenterologist
LADDERS Program, MassGeneral Hospital for Children
Harvard Medical School



Questions from the Audience

Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice on Maine Informed Consent Bills

Marching orders on supporting the Maine bill.

U.S Attorney General Issues Press Release on Poul Thorsen

Gotta admit... I truly never thought I would see Thorsen held responsible for this.

So here is the next question... the DOJ lawyers used Thorsen's research in the Autism Omnibus hearings as evidence that vaccines don't cause autism. Now the DOJ is prosecuting him for fraud. Conflict of interest?

Can-O-Worms.

Here is the DOJ's statement:

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

AUTISM RESEARCHER INDICTED FOR STEALING GRANT MONEY

Thorsen Allegedly Absconded With Over $1 Million

ATLANTA, GA - POUL THORSEN, 49, of Denmark, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money laundering based on a scheme to steal grant money the CDC had awarded to governmental agencies in Denmark for autism research.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of the case, “Grant money for disease research is a precious commodity. When grant funds are stolen, we lose not only the money, but also the opportunity to better understand and cure debilitating diseases. This defendant is alleged to have orchestrated a scheme to steal over $1 million in CDC grant money earmarked for autism research. We will now seek the defendant’s extradition for him to face federal charges in the United States.”

“Stealing research grant money to line his pockets, as Poul Thorsen stands accused of here today, cheats U.S. taxpayers and will simply not be tolerated,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Region for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services. “HHS/OIG will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to bring these criminals to justice.”

Reginael D. McDaniel, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Region for Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation said, “Today’s global economy demands a high-level coordinated approach by multiple agencies and authorities in the investigation of financial crimes. While schemes often become more sophisticated over time, fortunately, so do our investigative techniques. IRS Criminal Investigation is proud to have shared its hallmark expertise in following the money trail in the scheme alleged in this indictment.”

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: In the 1990s, THORSEN worked as a visiting scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, when the CDC was soliciting grant applications for research related to infant disabilities. THORSEN successfully promoted the idea of awarding the grant to Denmark and provided input and guidance for the research to be conducted. From 2000 to 2009, the CDC awarded over $11 million to two governmental agencies in Denmark to study the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines, between cerebral palsy and infection during pregnancy, and between childhood development and fetal alcohol exposure. In 2002, THORSEN moved to Denmark and became the principal investigator for the grant, responsible for administering the research money awarded by the CDC.

Once in Denmark, THORSEN allegedly began stealing the grant money by submitting fraudulent documents to have expenses supposedly related to the Danish studies be paid with the grant money. He provided the documents to the Danish government, and to Aarhus University and Odense University Hospital, where scientists performed research under the grant. From February 2004 through June 2008, THORSEN allegedly submitted over a dozen fraudulent invoices, purportedly signed by a laboratory section chief at the CDC, for reimbursement of expenses that THORSEN claimed were incurred in connection with the CDC grant. The invoices falsely claimed that a CDC laboratory had performed work and was owed grant money. Based on these invoices, Aarhus University, where THORSEN also held a faculty position, transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to bank accounts held at the CDC Federal Credit Union in Atlanta, accounts which Aarhus University believed belonged to the CDC. In truth, the CDC Federal Credit Union accounts were personal accounts held by THORSEN. After the money was transferred, THORSEN allegedly withdrew it for his own personal use, buying a home in Atlanta, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and Audi and Honda vehicles, and obtaining numerous cashier’s checks, from the fraud proceeds. THORSEN allegedly absconded with over $1 million from the scheme.

The indictment charges THORSEN with 13 counts of wire fraud and 9 counts of money laundering. The wire fraud counts each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison, and the money laundering counts each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison, with a fine of up to $250,000 for each count. The indictment also contains a forfeiture provision seeking forfeiture of all property derived from the offenses, including an Atlanta residence, two cars, and a Harley Davidson motorcycle. In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.

Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen H. McClain and Michael J. Brown are prosecuting the case.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

My Interview with The Lindermans on the Maine Legislation on Autism One

Linderman Live on Autism One Radio.  They wanted the details on my exchange with Representative Anne Graham.

Mark Blaxill Public Comment to the IACC: A Time to Lead

AoA ran this piece a few days ago. I am reprinting it here to make sure my readers didn't miss it.

Please repost everywhere.

Blaxill has spoken for us, yet again, and landed an eloquent punch.

How ever long they think they can ignore this, they cannot outlast us.

A Time to Lead

My name is Mark Blaxill. I am the father of a 15 year old daughter diagnosed with autism, a Director of SafeMinds and editor-at-large of Age of Autism. I am also a co-author of The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Manmade Epidemic. Since our book was published last September I have had the privilege of traveling across the country to meet with dozens of groups and thousands of families affected by autism. I was deeply impressed by the affected individuals, mothers, fathers and family members I met on our tour. Above all else, I was impressed by how so many families have the same story to tell and by how many of us are asking for the same things. We are asking for bold leadership that unfortunately we have not yet seen.

Most directly, in the midst of the greatest childhood epidemic of all of our lives, we are trapped in an historic failure of the scientific process. Thomas Kuhn taught us how communities of “normal scientists” can prevent progress and trap important field of inquiry in scientific orthodoxy. We have seen this pattern play itself out in autism, first in the idea that parents and especially mothers caused autism because they hated, indeed even wanted to murder their children. More recently we have been trapped in the equally failed search for inherited autism genes. In the meantime, we are investing next to nothing in environmental causation. This is a fundamentally irrational approach, yet the orthodox researchers who benefit from this irrationality have defended their territory while they invoke science in the name of their own interests. Not a single dollar spent in the process has prevented a single case of autism. Worse than that, we are spending millions of dollars to promote denial.

In an environment of increasing budget scarcity, this is more than just a scientific failure; it’s an economic one as well. We are wasting taxpayer resources and approaching the governance process with a lack of urgency that seeps into all aspects of autism science. As a near monopsonistic buyer, NIH has a unique power in setting scientific agendas. The IACC should serve the consumers of autism science. Instead you appear to most of us to serve the medical industry, aiding and abetting the fiction that the controversies over autism research pit “parents vs. science.” In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The real controversy is one between critical consumers of autism science and the orthodox producers whose work has failed us. In the debate between the autism community and the medical industry, your responsibility here should be clear.

This is not an abstract problem. Before 1930, the rate of autism was effectively zero. Before 1990, autism in the United States was exceedingly rare, as low as 1 in 10,000. Today, with roughly 1% of children born in the 1990s, it should be breathtakingly clear that autism is manmade. And that makes the autism epidemic not merely a public health crisis but a crisis of public ethics and morality as well. Hundreds of thousands of children, now growing to adulthood, are victims of preventable injury, a form of invisible violence. It is a form of violence that requires witnesses. Yet because of the nature of the injuries involved those witnesses must typically have scientific, medical or technical training. In large part, this witness pool also has career and economic interest in the medical industry, one of the main suspects. Tragically, but perhaps not surprisingly, we are seeing a moral failure of enormous proportions, as potential witnesses are sanctioned, censored and intimidated while the entrenched power of the orthodoxy has successfully sustained its prerogatives. This is not right. More to the point, it is not good. And it is long past time for a change.

More than any other single group of individuals, you members of the IACC are in a position to lead that change. That requires many things of you. It requires you to pay attention. It requires you to think independently and rationally. It requires you to take personal risk. It requires you to challenge close friends and colleagues who are part of the orthodoxy that perpetuates the problem. Above all, it requires moral courage. The only thing it does not require is that you wade through the complex machinations of denial because the problem is simple and staring you in the face. We are staring you in the face. And because autism is what it is, we will be standing in front of you until we are gone, or until you have done the right thing, whichever comes first.

Poul Thorsen Indicted on 13 Counts of Fraud and 9 Counts of Money Laundering

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Atlanta Business Chronicle
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 3:42pm EDT

Dane indicted for defrauding CDC | Atlanta Business Chronicle

A Danish man was indicted Wednesday on charges of wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly concocting a scheme to steal more than $1 million in autism research money from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The indictment charges Poul Thorsen, 49, with 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering. The wire fraud counts each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison and the money laundering counts each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison, with a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.

The federal government also seeks forfeiture of all property derived from the alleged offenses, including an Atlanta residence, two cars and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court, Thorsen worked in the 1990s as a visiting scientist at the CDC Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, when the CDC was soliciting grant applications for research related to infant disabilities.

Thorsen promoted the idea of awarding the grant to Denmark and provided input and guidance for the research. From 2000 to 2009, the CDC awarded more than $11 million to two governmental agencies in Denmark to study the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines, between cerebral palsy and infection during pregnancy and between childhood development and fetal alcohol exposure.

In 2002, Thorsen moved to Denmark and became the principal investigator for the grant, responsible for administering the research money awarded by the CDC.

Once in Denmark, Thorsen allegedly began stealing the grant money by submitting fraudulent documents to have expenses supposedly related to the Danish studies be paid with the grant money. He provided the documents to the Danish government, Aarhus University and Odense University Hospital, where scientists performed research under the grant.

From February 2004 through June 2008, Thorsen allegedly submitted more than a dozen fraudulent invoices, purportedly signed by a laboratory section chief at the CDC, for reimbursement of expenses that Thorsen claimed were incurred in connection with the CDC grant. The invoices falsely claimed that a CDC laboratory had performed work and was owed grant money.

Based on these invoices, Aarhus University, where Thorsen also held a faculty position, transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to bank accounts held at the CDC Federal Credit Union in Atlanta -- accounts that Aarhus University believed belonged to the CDC. The CDC Federal Credit Union accounts were instead personal accounts held by Thorsen, the federal government said.

After the money was transferred, Thorsen allegedly withdrew the fraud proceeds for his own personal use to buy a home in Atlanta, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and Audi and Honda vehicles, and to get numerous cashier’s checks.

Thorsen allegedly pocketed more than $1 million from the scheme.

My prediction? Another attack will be launched on Wakefield. ;)

Maine HHS Committee Votes Against Informed Consent in Vaccination

UPDATE! Apparently I am a TERRIBLE reporter! I left too soon! (had my boys with me) One other committee member, Representative Richard S. Malaby (Republican from Hancock, Maine, father of three) returned to the room and voted with our three heroes for the bills to move forward. And I was uninformed on procedure. I thought this was a majority vote, but apparently because the vote was divided, it will go to the full legislature to be voted on!

Could not be more happy to be so wrong. (Study your state civics people)

Mainers, call your state Senators and Representatives! Ask for meetings! Educate! Go, go, go!

Go to Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice and get on the mailing list.

Original post:

The highs and lows of trying to prevent vaccine injury...

Today the Maine Legislature's HHS committee voted NOT to allow the two informed consent bills to go to the floor to be voted on.

Much of the discussion again centered around the fact that if you tell parents what is in a vaccine, and then give them a choice, they will say no in greater numbers. And that they will do so out of "unnecessary fear." That doctors operate on the facts and mom's operate on emotion, so the state, therfore must save us parents from putting our children at "unnecessary risk". And of course, the Medical Establishment is to decide for you, what you should think about their practices.

Low point of the hearing... one committee member sharing his decision on why he would be voting the measures down. He shared that the legislature came up against the fears of the public on a regular basis and that he believed that his job as a legislator was to separate the real fears from the unfounded fears. In his estimation, fears of damage from vaccination are unfounded. I do not know the scope of his research into this opinion, but it may be as simple as, docs testified that vaccines are safe, so vaccines are safe. But he also shared that he is in the construction business and comes up against a lot of unfounded fears by people on renovations. He believes that these two situations are analogous.

What he had clearly not factored into his equation is that he, his employees, his company and his material manufacturers can be sued for making false safety claims or hurting their customers when they are wrong, and that when those big lawsuits come, they serve to first keep those in the renovation business honest, and second, the force the industry to reform itself at various stages of its evolution. No such mechanism exists in vaccination.

The Vaccine Program is Self-Policing.

I wanted to ask that committee member, "If your industry had enjoyed liability protection for the last quarter century, would you want to force builders to disclose their materials? Would you EVER renovate your house? Just how corrupt do you think that the construction business would be? Why do you assume that liability protection has not corrupted vaccine safety reporting?"

But, of course, all I could do is sit there and listen. And scream on the inside.

The high point of the proceeding today for me however was the vote, because three smart, conservative mothers, who completely got it and asked all the best questions, voted to allow the bills to continue on. They were:


Deborah J. Sanderson, Republican from Chelsea, Maine


Beth A. O'Connor, Republican from Berwick, Maine


Heather W. Sirocki, Republican from Scarborough, Maine

Between them they have 12 children and 1 grandchild. They seem to know that mom's aren't morons. And they repeatedly made the simple and straight forward case that parents need to know and have the right to decide.

I offer a very public thank you to these women for their service to our families and our children.

I hope you will consider contacting these three women in appreciation for their efforts. We are no Big Pharma, but I would like for us to thank them on behalf of Little Parenting. I am going to send them each a five dollar contribution to their campaign funds. I hope you will consider doing the same and let them know that our community values legislators like this that can think independently and that want to preserve the rights of parents to make informed decisions for their children.

As I was on the way out, the three of them were standing in the hallway together (in the same spot where I took that tongue lashing the week before), and as I passed I thanked them for their support. Like a dork, I started crying. I have gotten so cynical, run up against so much resistance to facts and logic, that just knowing that there were three people who were listening ... well it hit me kinda hard. Made me realize that it does not have to be this way. Made be grieve that we are going to go through another flu season where parents have no idea they they are injecting their 6 month old babies with levels of mercury that the EPA says its not safe for a 200lb man. Another year of parents being told to just love and accept their child, while their baby is suffering an unrecognized neurological emergency in front of them. Another year of children in medical crisis being denied treatment.

It doesn't have to be this way.

The Godboldo Case: How Mainstream Med Continues to Self Immolate

Maryanne Godboldo vaccinated her child and the child suffered a severe neurological regression.

So Maryanne naturally took her child to the doctor to get help.

Doctor prescribed Ripseridal, which did not help, but made the child aggressive.

Mom took child off dangerous/ineffective drug, just as she should have.

Seems like a story you and I have heard a thousand times, right?

But the Mainstream Med is getting more and more touchy about being questioned, and actually thinks that this mother had no right to stop a drug (that has killed dozens of children a year) that was HURTING her child. CPS shows up (with out a warrant as far as we can tell), cops come, escalation, jail, foster care, public outcry and now the end result for Mainstream Medicine...

More earnest parents walking away because they see that it is only growing in its abuse of power and children.

This post on facebook today from a mom captures the sentiment that has become more prevalent and is making a big jump with the publicity in this case:

"Ok, that's it. I'm never going to a mainstream pediatrician again. They can call CPS, say "This woman is not giving her child the meds we prescribed. Take the child away from her"...and they get an emergency order rather than giving this family a hearing. Well, my son was prescribed Flonase for a sinus infection, I wouldn't give it to him. Come and get me."

So I continue to ask the question I have been asking for years....

Hey Mainstream Med... WHAT IS YOUR PLAN? How long will you wring your hands at the lack of trust that parents have for you, before you take a look in the mirror and face the fact that you are not trustworthy?

Individual doctors, do you see that you are being pushed away from being healers to simply becoming drug pushers?  Is that why you went to medical school in the first place?  Of course it wasn't.

And again I make my plea... WISE PEDIATRICIANS... RISE UP AND TAKE BACK YOUR PROFESSION!

My Testimony to the Maine Legislature on Two Informed Consent Vaccine Bills

This week I have written about my experience testifying before the Maine Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services and my exchanges with another State Representative who testified in opposition to the bills that I was supporting.

The bills are:
LD 694 (HP 523) "An Act To Encourage Transparency in Disclosing the Ingredients in Vaccinations for Children to Parents and Guardians" Sponsored by Representative Andrea Boland, that would make doctors tell patients the ingredients of a vaccine before administering it to them, just like food.

And

LD 941 (SP 287) "An Act To Prohibit Mandatory Immunizations" Sponsored by Senator Douglas Thomas, which would simply state that no one could force a Mainer to be vaccinated against their wishes.

I had heard about the hearing some what last minute and was not able to prepare written testimony before hand, but submitted it today.

I am linking to the documents here so that they may be reviewed by the public.

I encourage Mainers to get involved in supporting these common sense measures to protect the human rights of those in our state. You can contact the committee here to offer your support and testimony.

Further, I encourage Mainers who want to be able to know what is in a vaccine, and preserve the right to say no to a vaccine if they so choose, to let their voice be heard over at the Portland Press Herald who has come out in support of removing your right for you to decide what goes into your body and what goes in the body of your children in an op ed piece.

I am posting my cover page to the testimony, and will link to the actual documents in the body of it below. While I submitted two chapters of our book Vaccine Epidemic, I will not be posting those, as I am sure that our publisher would not be pleased, so if you have not done so, please consider buying the book.

Written testimony by Ginger Taylor M.S. to the Maine Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services

In support of: LD 694 (HP 523) "An Act To Encourage Transparency in Disclosing the Ingredients in Vaccinations for Children to Parents and Guardians" Sponsored by Representative Andrea Boland, and LD 941 (SP 287) "An Act To Prohibit Mandatory Immunizations" Sponsored by Senator Douglas Thomas


My name is Ginger Taylor and I am resident of Brunswick. I hold a BS in Psychology with a concentration in child development and an MS in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration if adolescent and family therapy. I am a co-author and contributing editor on the new book, “Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children,” which makes the argument that informed consent in vaccination is a fundamental human right. I served on the steering committee for the 2009 Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism Conference to educate medical professionals on the current state of the research and treatment of Autism. I am the founder of Greater Brunswick Special Families, but most significant to these proceedings, I am the mother of a child who regressed into autism following the simultaneous administration of the DTaP, Hepatitis B, Polio, HIB and Pnumo vaccines. When I discovered that none of the vaccines My son received that day had been studied for their relationship to autism, and that my pediatrician’s opinion that his vaccines did not cause his autism had no basis in science, I began to investigate and document the vaccine-autism causation theory and other vaccine injuries.

My thanks to the committee for indulging my impromptu oral testimony on these bills and for allowing me to submit further written testimony on these matters.

Drastic changes have taken place in the vaccine program since I was a child growing up in the 1970s and 1980s and when vaccination is discussed most people’s frame of reference on vaccination was their own experience growing up. Vaccination has gone from a tool used to protect the health of individuals and to prevent deadly epidemics, to an over aggressive, under researched, one size fits all program to eradicate disease, even at the expense of individual patients. At the heart of this phenomenon is the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act that granted liability protection to everyone involved in vaccination from the manufacturer who makes it to the public health official that recommends or mandates it to the school system that requires it and even to the doctors and nurses who administer any FDA approved vaccine regardless of the damage or death of the child or adult being vaccinated.

Because of this, over the last quarter century the vaccine program has changed drastically. Pharmaceutical companies realized what a cash cow they had on their hands when suddenly they had a product line that the government could require people to buy, and that Pharma could not be sued for. They began pouring funds into vaccine research and development and only a few short years after the act was passed, began adding new and more cheaply made vaccines to the market, and using their considerable political influence to get CDC to recommend these vaccines and states to require their purchase and administration for school entrance.

As a result the vaccine schedule has ballooned to three times its previous size, and vaccines have become a 27 billion dollar a year industry.

Children born between the mid 1960s and the mid 1980s were subject to a childhood vaccine schedule that recommended between 24 and 25 doses of vaccine (depending on whether or not they received the small pox vaccine that was discontinued in the early 1970s.) Children born today are subject to a vaccine schedule that has just had its 70th dose of vaccine added to it as of late 2010.

A child born today, if vaccinated according to the CDC recommended schedule will receive more doses of vaccine by the time he is six months old than his mother did by the time she went to college. Unlike his mother, his vaccines will begin with in hours of his birth, before he has even established a health history which can be used to evaluate whether or not a particular vaccine is safe for him.

Disturbingly, there is not one study to investigate what this aggressive vaccine schedule may do to a child and there is no safety testing of vaccines in the combinations which are recommended on the infant schedule. For example, at two months old babies are vaccinated for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Polio, Rotavirus and Pneumococcal, and there is no study to find out if this is a safe practice or what long term health problems it may lead to.

Further, CDC now has an adult vaccine schedule, and if the schedule is followed to the letter by someone living the average life span of 78 years, they will receive 167 doses of vaccine.

Aggressive insistence from the vaccine injury and vaccine safety community has yielded almost no results in requiring improved safety research and accurate risk information, rather the medical community labels all vaccine safety advocates as “anti-vaccine” and demonizes them in the press. Ironically this includes parents who continue to vaccinate their children, and even doctors who administer and advocate for vaccination, but publicly state that they do cause autism and other adverse reactions. The most recent example of this was Bill Gates appearing on CNN last month and insisting that parents who assert that vaccines can cause autism, as I am asserting to you today, are “child killers.” This is analogous to calling those who advocate for safer infant car seats and accurate product safety information, “baby killers.”

My personal appeals to the Maine CDC under the previous administration to conduct reviews of vaccine safety information and recommendations offered to Maine by the federal government on vaccine policy before adopting them have been rebuffed. As a result, Maine vaccine policy is for all practical purposes, set by a panel of only 16 people at the CDC in Atlanta on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, who bear no burden if the policy they set is errant. Instead, Maine bears almost all the cost of these flawed decisions via medical expenses, HHS, special education programs, Maine Care, law enforcement agencies and individuals and families like mine paying for the consequences of inappropriate vaccination.

There are no checks and balances in the vaccine program, and the costs of damages roll down hill from the CDC to ME to me.

The dangers of adopting the policies of the federal government on vaccine policy are most clearly highlighted during the H1N1 scare generated by Atlanta, who declared an epidemic, declared a state of emergency, activated their emergency powers, rushed an inadequately tested vaccine to market, held out the option to FORCE administration of that vaccine, and spent several billion dollars for what turned out to be the mildest flu season on record. This despite the very low uptake of the flu vaccine, as the public did not buy the hype.

Further, we had ample evidence that the H1N1 flu was no serious threat to the American people, as it was not causing problems in the southern hemisphere during their flu season in their winter (our summer) of 2009. Yet despite the evidence that this flu was actually a very weak one, CDC continued to sound a false alarm for the entire 2009 – 2010 flu season.

Neither Kathleen Sebelius nor any public official involved lost their jobs over the debacle, no investigation was launched and CDC continued to attempt to push the H1N1 scare into the following flu season.

I submit to you that the vaccine program has become a run away train that abuses its power and the trust of the public, asserts safety and efficacy claims that are not supported by the science and that there is no way for the public to challenge bad vaccine policy under current US law.

Because of this it is imperative for the legislature of the State of Maine to protect the rights of Mainers to Informed Consent in vaccination.

We must have the right to all known information about any vaccine that we may be considering for administration, and if we believe that it is not a wise health choice for ourselves and our children, then we must be allowed exercise our fundamental human right to decline a vaccine.

These two measures are reasonable protection of my rights as a citizen and a mother, and I hope you will consider the information that I am presenting to you and support these measures.

Supporting arguments:

1. Why These Laws are Needed
a. The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act
b. Vaccination Choice is a Fundamental Human Right
2. A Review of Vaccine Safety Claims
a. IOM Vaccine Safety Review Bibliography Additions
b. Evidence that vaccines can cause autism
c. The Dangers of Mercury in the H1N1 Vaccine
3. Informed Consent: HHS states that vaccines DO cause autism
a. HHS, HRSA, Vaccine Injury Compensation Table
b. Julie Gerberding Admits on CNN that Vaccines Can Cause Autism
4. An Evaluation of the Trustworthiness of Federal Public Health Assertions
a. The Role of Government and Media
5. Additional Comments

In closing, it is my opinion and experience that the majority of the medical community is employing the Semmelweiss Reflex and in denial about the true incidence of serious vaccine adverse reactions; and it is unwilling to look at the evidence to this effect. I have included a discussion of the Semmelweiss Reflex in my chapter in Vaccine Epidemic on the Role of Government and Media, and hope you will pay particular attention to it.

No doctor gets into this difficult profession in order to harm patients, and facing the fact that a practice that they are employing to make people better is many cases causing more harm than good, is not something that they have demonstrated that they are willing to do.

In light of this, I believe it is the responsibility of this committee to look at this topic in a fresh light, look at testimony of health officials, organizations and physicians with a critical eye, and make them actually prove their case. It is my belief that most of them do not know they are providing false information. Avoidable vaccine damage continues because state and federal legislators are taking the unsupported claims of these parties at face value and not forcing them under oath to address the challenges of vaccine safety and choice advocates.

Further I encourage the committee to consider formal hearings on the evidence that I have in included in my testimony and that we have compiled in Vaccine Epidemic and several other books published on the subject of vaccines and their component parts.

I thank the members of the committee and appreciate the thoughtful way in which these hearings have been carried out thus far. I will be happy to be at your disposal in providing any further information you may need to carry out your responsibilities on these matters.

The First Amendment is Good

Attempts at stifling free discussion are bad.

The Most Dangerous Question in Public Health: "What can you tell me about vaccine encephalopathy?"

So Tuesday a thing happened and on Wednesday I talked about the thing on FB and on this blog.

I had no idea when I talked about that thing, the errors of the testimony of a state representative on bills addressing informed consent in vaccination, and her poor behavior following the hearing when I tried to ask her a simple question, would draw such a strong reaction from my readers. She was wrong and behaved badly, but it is SO common in our struggle just to get correct information into the hands of medical professionals and public health officials, that I honestly thought I would get maybe 10 FB comments from fellow activists rolling their eyes that it happened yet again.

I didn't even consider posting the story on my public facebook page (linked on the top right) or putting it on this blog.

But to my surprise, I got more than 200 responses (and counting) on FB and so I posted the whole exchange there in a "note," then after my last email from the subject of my discussion, I was so disgusted that I posted the whole thing here so everyone could see what it is really like to try to talk to a medical professional/public health official about vaccine injury and then be done with it.

But, apparently that is not the end of it, as someone (I assume that it is the subject of my previous post, but cannot say for certain) has flagged the link to my blog on the matter as "objectionable material." So it can no longer be shared on Facebook.

And the crazy thing is, while I suspect the subject of my previous post has flagged my previous post to shut down the conversation on the matter, I also suspect that the irony is completely lost on her that she has upped the ante by trying to shut down the discussion on the fact that she is trying to shut down a discussion!

Portions of my letters to her from yesterday's article (emphasis added):

...This unwillingness to have an open exchange with me, and your additional pressure on me not to talk about your poor behavior, is exactly why the vaccine rates are dropping in Maine. This happens time and time again. Elected officials, public health officials and medical professionals make untenable vaccine safety statements, members of the public attempt to engage them on the veracity of those statements, and the conversation is shut down, often by bullying those members of the public. This does not inspire confidence in the vaccine program, it alerts the public in a very loud way, that those repeating the mantra, "vaccines are safe" either have something to hide, or know they cannot win a true vaccine safety debate.

When you shut down the debate, you tell the public that you know you are wrong...

...I repeatedly ask the question of public health officials who have chosen the route you are taking the question... "what is your plan?" Refusal to engage vaccine safety advocates and parents of vaccine injured children is not working. Vaccine rates are dropping BECAUSE of the shut down of public debate.

So not only is my personal discussion with this subject shut down, not only does she want the discussion of the fact that she shut down her her personal discussion with me shut down, NOW she apparently also wants the discussion about the fact that all these shut downs are what is driving down vaccination rates SHUT DOWN!

(So with this discussion on attempts to shut down plain old free speech suffer an attempt by her or her agents or random people to be shut down too? Let's see how long this link is able to be shared on Facebook.)

I was sitting here considering all this, kinda stunned that this person and/or anyone acting on what they believe to be her interests keep upping the ante on this.. why keep escalating her bad behavior... why not just ignore it like 90% of public officials do when they are legitimately criticized... and then it hit me.

What she said to me in her first email to me was that she felt "attacked" by me.

Of course if someone says that, you have to stop and go over the whole thing in your mind and make sure you didn't do anything inappropriate, so I reviewed the whole thing, and nope... standard 'asking a question to a public official in a state office hallway' fare. And... I actually have a control group against which to measure the whole kuffeffel.

Because there were three other doctors who testified at the hearing whom I also stopped in the atrium after the hearing and asked them my question, "What can you tell me about vaccine encephalopathy." Holding out my little book to write notes down in just as I had with "The Subject"

They were very nice. All three gave me basic answers, one made her way out then the other two stayed talking to me, answered a few clarifying questions, stood as if they were happy to keep talking, but frankly I was so spooked by my previous encounter, I whipped their answers down in my book and thanked them and left. I should have actually stayed and talked to them.

And one of the doctors, a pediatrician who talked to me the longest and offered me the most input, was one of the people whose testimony I had corrected. She said, "Vaccines are safe," I told the committee that they were legally "Unavoidably Unsafe" and referenced Bruesewitz v. Wyeth and the 1986 vaccine injury law. So if correcting someone's testimony was grounds for getting yelled at after the hearing, then why was she the nicest and most open?

So this is where my epiphany begins...

I think that I got the reaction that I did from that public official, that made her feel "attacked" because I had actually asked her a VERY dangerous question.

"What can you tell me about vaccine encephalopathy?"

Think about it... that is a very frightening question to both people who know the issues in this debate and those who know nothing in this debate, if they are public officials.

If you know nothing about vaccine encephalopathy, you are about to have your ignorance exposed. Not good if you are pretending to know anything about vaccine safety.

If you know everything about vaccine encephalopathy, then you know that HHS says that it develops into autism, and you are not allowing that inconvenient truth to be the basis for a discussion on vaccine/autism causation, then you are about to have your cover blown.

All so much more true if you are a public health official who can be held accountable for your opinions.

But if your understanding of vaccine encephalopathy is somewhere in the middle, if you know the horrid version of it with seizures and coma and massive brain damage, but don't know that HHS defines it as simply as loss of eye contact, not answering when spoken to and not seeming to recognize people they should, then it is much more likely that you will get the reaction that I did from those three earnest doctors.

Because their answers all fit what I understand to be the general notion of the symptoms of vaccine encephalopathy/encephalitis in the medical community. Fevers, vomiting, seizures, coma and altered mental status. But what I was looking for is, have they been educated on the HHS definition, and do they know that a kid acting "spacey" with that autism hallmark, "loss of eye contact" may be suffering vaccine reaction/brain inflammation, or do they see "loss of eye contact" and in the absence of perceivable seizures, and those more pronounced symptoms instead call it "autism, genetic, no known cause or cure, vaccines don't cause it, send to ABA and Speech."

Because frankly, if I had brought my child in and said, "doc... Chandler is just really spaced out since his shots a few days ago.. he is barely interacting with us," I can't imagine the doc would say anything other than, "well kids get a little sick from their shots and that it totally normal. He will probably feel puny for a few days." When in fact what was likely happening was his immune system ramping up, inflammation ramping up in his brain, brain damage beginning to occur, and autistic regression commencing.

The bottom line is that if physicians do not know how MILD the symptoms of vaccine encephalopathy as stated by HHS actually are, and that reaction leads to brain damage that causes autism, then OF COURSE brain damage being caused by vaccines is being missed and called "autism, no cause no cure blah blah blah." Then what is needed is an education campaign for docs telling them how mild the presentation can look, and that it can progress into as common of disorder as ADS's (1% of the population, not 1 in a million)

In fact, I asked the docs about loss of eye contact as a symptom and Nice Lady said, "it would not just be loss of eye contact, there would have to be other symptoms". I asked, "What symptoms?" She said, "Fevers, nausea, vomiting, seizures."

Now I don't know if she meant any of those or all of those, probably any of those, but again, if there is no fever, or fever took place while baby is asleep, if there is no vommitting, if baby can't report nausea and if there are no seizures (or one took place during the 75% of the day baby is sleeping and momma's eyes are not on him), then does she know that the "other symptoms" can simply present as "acting spacey?"

The other doc who stayed, let's call him Quiet Man, did add, "altered mental status," which is pretty close! But again, was in addition to those dramatic symptoms or instead of. Should have stayed and asked. (Apparently I am a bigger coward than I think I am because I am realizing that I was afraid that people I have just described as "Nice Lady" and "Quiet Man" were going to yell at me).

So if I had taken the VICP Table with me and read the symptoms of vax encph to them, and showed them how mild they were, and asked them if they saw kids like this but thought it was "autism," what would their reaction be?

If they didn't know it could present so mildly, an earnest doc would have to at least review their "autism" cases, check their shot records, call the families back in and start asking them more questions about the progression of the disorder. They might even contact public health officials and ask for more guidance on differentiating "VE" from "Autism" and then public health is kinda screwed, since they have already admitted that can be the same thing.

Then we are confronted with the potential for the Semmelweiss Reflex OR being honest with this difficult truth and talking about it in the medical community, and then comes the pressure to shut up and if that is not obeyed they know that the Wakefield treatment is coming and on down the hill things go.

And if you are a public health official, forget it. If vaccine encephalopathy is autism then you have to change ALL the vaccine laws and the end result is that the earth willfall into the sun.

So I think that in this unpleasant experience we have tripped over a powerful truth...

The most dangerous question in public health is:

"What can you tell me about vaccine encephalopathy"?

So no wonder THEY want this conversation shut down.

I think that this may need to become our mantra. I think that this needs to be asked of every doctor and every public health official in the vaccine debate. This is the question that begins the discussion that knocks down all the Pharma fallacies about vaccine/autism causation.

1. What can you tell me about vaccine encephalopathy?
2. Do you know how mildly it can present?
3. Do you know that it is the position of HHS that it causes autism?

That is the basic letter I sent for which I was shut down. I think that initiating this simple discussion will likely either make huge public health awareness breakthroughs, or get us shot.

Who knew advocating for our disabled children would be such dangerous work.

UPDATE at 11:52:

The post you just read... yeah... it has already been tagged as spam and blocked on facebook. It happened in under 34 minutes from the time it was posted.

So... I think that we can start the discussion on public officials attempting to shut down the free speech of critical bloggers.

I request that anyone who considers this article and the previous and who requested that this content be blocked from sharing on facebook, come forward and challenge me publicly for anything that I have said or written and explain their attempt at suppressing this conversation.