Thank You Dan Olmsted

Dan Olmsted began writing his Age of Autism series more than two years ago, and in it he has brought to our attention some of the most fascinating and compelling aspects of the thimerosal/autism story. He has done much of the medical investigating that the CDC should have done, but didn't, and found that the links between autism and thimerosal go back to the first case of autism ever recorded.

If the CDC had any sense they would take their "transgender beauty pageant" budget and instead hire Dan to do their investigating for them. But then again if the CDC had any sense, none of us would be here now, would we.

One of the most significant things that I feel that Dan's work has done is show just how much the CDC et. al. does NOT want to properly investigate this. Dan's revelations, which repeatedly garnered, "Holy Crap!" reactions from autism parents, were met with a collective yawn from health officials. The fact that Julie Gerberding could make statements like, "CDC recognizes that parents want answers. We share their frustration at not having more answers about the causes and possible cure.", while failing to follow up on all that Dan has brought to the topic, is proof positive that CDC does not want to know what is going on in autism. If Julie wanted answers, Dan would not have not had to spend two plus years writing this series. The CDC would have taken his info and run with it and they would have found patient zero long before Dan did.

Dan Olmsted has proved Julie Gerberding a liar.

I am sad to see the series go, but thrilled that Dan is still on the trail. The Age of Autism series should be published in one volume and be required reading for everyone in the autism world. Evelyn Pringle was dead on when she called him, "Autism's Dick Tracy". Some smart publisher needs to give this guy a bucket of cash and send him back out. There is no telling what this hound can sniff out.

Thank you Dan for looking out for our kids.

Update:
More on Dan:

Wade at Injecting Sense
Kim Stagliano at Kim Stagliano
Lisa Blakemore-Brown at Thimerosal Thoughts

Just Say No To Mercury

Say 'No' to Mercury in Flu Shots
Opinion | Editorial
Savannah Morning News
greg powell | Thursday, July 19, 2007 at 12:30 am


Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative used in most flu vaccines in our country.

You are filled with thoughts of joy as you sit down and roll up your sleeve. You want the very best for the new life that's growing inside you.

You want to do everything possible to ensure the health and safety of that precious child.

Then you feel a little stick in your arm. Good, now you've done one more thing to protect your baby.

Or have you?

You have no idea that you were just injected with one of the most toxic substances in the world.

This may sound like a cruel joke or just a science-fiction story, but I can assure you that this is a very real nightmare.

Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative used in most flu vaccines in our country.

When injected into the human body, it quickly converts to a form of organic mercury, known as ethyl-mercury.

This form of mercury, like all forms of mercury, is extremely dangerous.

Numerous animal studies have proven the extreme toxicity of thimerosal.

Some studies have shown that thimerosal dramatically increases fetal deaths in rabbits and rats.

In pigs, ethyl-mercury was shown to cause neurological, urological, and digestive toxicity.

Other rat studies have shown that ethyl-mercury causes pathological lesions of the ovaries, uterus, testes, seminal vesicles, vas deferens and prostate.

In monkeys, injection of thimerosal was shown to cause mercury to deposit in the brain and stay there indefinitely.

Once in the brain, mercury can set in motion a cascade of events leading to a chronic state of inflammation in the brain and resulting in destruction of neurons.

As a pharmacist, I can tell you with absolute certainty that if we had these kinds of animal studies with any other drug, that drug would be recalled by the government immediately because of public safety.

The amount of mercury in one flu shot is 25 micrograms.

According to federal guidelines, a person would have to weigh about 550 pounds for this amount of mercury to be considered safe.

The heavy use of several thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines in the 1990s has been linked by some researchers to the epidemic levels of autism in our country.

I believe, like many parents of autistic children, that the large amounts of mercury these children received, when they were just tiny infants, caused brain damage leading to autism.

I also believe that there is a good chance that mercury from vaccines and other sources is a factor in many various other neurological disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

This information leads one to ask: Why is thimerosal still being used in flu shots, and why hasn't the government removed it?

I don't know the answer to that question.

What I can say is that, in my opinion, thimerosal is an extremely dangerous substance and has absolutely no place in any vaccine or in any other product that is used in or on the human body.

Contrary to this logic, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, being fully aware of the dangers associated with mercury, aggressively promotes flu shots for pregnant women, children, the elderly and people with chronic health conditions.

Ironically, these are the very people who are most vulnerable to mercury toxicity.

Flu shots without mercury are available.

I encourage all people who are planning to get a flu shot, especially pregnant women, to request a flu shot which is free of mercury.

I also encourage health care providers to provide verbal informed consent to all patients to whom they are giving a thimerosal-containing influenza vaccine.

As health-care providers, we have a duty to ensure the safety and well-being of our patients.

Injecting patients with mercury is not a way to do that. This is not a chance we should take.

We should err on the side of caution.

Greg Powell is a Savannah pharmacist.

It Is Time for Julie Gerberding to Step Down

I have no words.

Alliance For Human Research Protection
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
http://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com

America's health care oversight agencies are running amok wasting taxpayer money while undermining the public health instead of protecting it.

Below are the highlights of the 115 page review issued by The United States Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security, Minority Office, Under the Direction of Senator Tom Coburn, Ranking Minority Member, June 2007.

U.S federal healthcare oversight agency, it appears are being run by reckless and irresponsible administrators. Previous reports confirmed this sorry state of affairs at the Food an Drug Administration--which is largely under the control of the pharmaceutical industry that it is mandated to oversee; at the National Institutes of Health financial conflicts of interest and scientist' double dipping has undermined the integrity of science and the safety of human subjects; the Environmental Protection Agency is headed by an administrator who would conduct a pesticide experiment on African American toddlers were it not for the public outcry and the intervention of several senators http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/09/07.php and
http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/11/30.php

The latest indictment is contained in an extraordinary report just published by the US Senate assessing the performance of the Centers for Disease Control: "CDC Off-Center: A review of how an agency tasked with fighting and preventing disease has spent hundreds of millions of tax dollars for failed prevention efforts, international junkets, and lavish facilities, but cannot demonstrate it is controlling disease."

CDC spokesman: "We strive day in and day out to fulfill our commitment to the American taxpayer."

The report, CDC Off-Center is found at: found at:
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?FuseAction=OversightAction.Home&ContentRecord_id=bf7e1789-802a-23ad-42e1-57d542e77901

Dr. Coburn indicated that this is the First in a Series of Oversight Reports on Federal Agencies.

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav 212-595-8974
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?FuseAction=OversightAction.Home&ContentRecord_id=bf7e1789-802a-23ad-42e1-57d542e77901
June 12, 2007

The First in a Series of Oversight Reports on Federal Agencies

"CDC Off Center," a 115-page oversight report authored by the Minority Office of the Federal Financial Management Subcommittee, under the direction of ranking member Senator Tom Coburn, examines how CDC has tilted off center and makes recommendations about how it might get back on track.

The American people expect CDC to spend its $10 billion budget this year treating and preventing diseases and dealing with public safety threats, including the threat of bioterrorism. While CDC will meet some of those expectations, if history is any guide, it will also waste millions of dollars.

As part of his commitment to oversight of how Washington spends taxpayer dollars, Senator Coburn plans to release a series of oversight reports on federal agencies. Senator Coburn's hope is that more and better oversight will assist federal agencies and those in Congress with responsibility for overseeing agency budgets, with reigning in wasteful spending; demanding measurable results from programs and grantees; and with reevaluating current spending before asking politicians and taxpayers to send more scarce tax dollars.

"CDC Off Center" is not an effort to discredit the good work that the CDC and those who work for it have carried out and the good work that will continue in the future. The report will hopefully be seen for what it is: an effort to shine some light on prevention efforts and funding decisions that may be holding the agency back from fulfilling its central mission of fighting and controlling disease.

Some examples in the report of CDC's spending:

$1.7 million - including terrorism funds - on a Hollywood liaison program, which happens to be run by a former employee (pg. 87);

$45 million for conferences, including those featuring prostitutes, protests, and beach parties (pgs. 48 - 60);

$30,000 employee saunas in a new $200,000 fitness center that also includes mood-enhancing light shows and $3,500 worth of zero-gravity chairs (pg. 15);

$5 billion spent over seven years on HIV/AIDS prevention funding, and yet the U.S. still sees 40,000 new cases each year, with no decrease in infection rates for over a decade (pgs. 23-37); Syphilis prevention funds used to feature a porn star's presentation (pg. 44); HIV/AIDS prevention funds spent on a transgender beauty pageant (pg. 45);

$250,000 spent so two former employees could help build staff morale, (pgs. 100 - 101);

$5.1 million on "audio visual integration" in the new Thomas R. Harkin communications and visitor center, including a giant 70-foot-wide by 25-foot-tall video wall of plasma screen TVs showcasing agency vignettes (pg. 8);

110 CDC employees traveled to two international AIDS conferences, when buying retroviral drugs with the trip funds could have prevented mother-to-child AIDS transmission for more than 115,000 infants (pgs. 50 & 52);

New Hawaii office opening soon, announcement made by Senator from Hawaii who oversees agency's funding (pg. 18);

$335 million on ads to fight childhood obesity. kids saw the ads, whether or not the ads affected their behavior is another question (pgs. 69 - 71);

$128,000 in CDC bioterrorism funds spent by L.A. County on trinkets such as letter openers, whistles, magnets, mouse pads, flashlights, pens, and travel toothbrushes (pgs. 106 - 110).

The report also includes:

*A detailed graph showing CDC's yearly budget from 1995-2007, which has increased by more than 350% (pg. 7); and
*A chart showing yearly CDC's HIV/AIDS funding from 2001-2007, which has more than doubled during that time (pg. 115).
*Do you know of examples of government waste, fraud or abuse? Submit the information to FFM's website tip page, or by mail to:

Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management,
Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

Further Readings:
FFM Report - CDC Off Center (829.5 KBs)
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=0e72b780-363a-4777-b841-20925a304d20

Jun 11, 2007

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News:
Sen. Tom Coburn: Resolute and Right
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?
FuseAction=LatestNews.NewsStories&Con
tentRecord_id=2fa2c86d-802a-23ad-41e9-56c29757ef96

Jun 14, 2007
By John W. Mashek
US News & World Report: A Capital View
Senator's report: CDC wastes millions on perks
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?
FuseAction=LatestNews.NewsStories&Con
tentRecord_id=2562fa32-802a-23ad-45b2-0367f9916815

Jun 13, 2007
By Matt Kelley
USA TODAY
Health Agency Wastes Cash on Consultants, Screens, Report Finds
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?
FuseAction=LatestNews.NewsStories&Con
tentRecord_id=2a9de4c8-802a-23ad-465d-b4a99f022fca

Jun 12, 2007
By John Lauerman
Bloomberg
Report: CDC wastes millions
"The top public health agency spent millions of dollars on a Hollywood consultant, a lavish visitors center, and a 70-foot-by-25 foot ``wall of plasma televisions,'' a senator's report said.
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?
FuseAction=LatestNews.NewsStories&Con
tentRecord_id=2a9de4c8-802a-23ad-465d-b4a99f022fca

Jun 12, 2007
By Alison Young
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://coburn.senate.gov/ffm/index.cfm?
FuseAction=LatestNews.NewsStories&Con
tentRecord_id=2032cd9a-802a-23ad-4dbe-dd6bf54fab43

Julie Gerberding is Doing an Awsome Job

.. or not.

So we are to trust the CDC to tell us the truth about their vaccine schedule injuring our children when they can't be trusted not to steal stuff from their own offices?

Seriously?

Feds probe missing CDC gear Theft suspected in some cases
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/12/07

Federal investigators will look into the disappearance of $22 million worth of scientific equipment, computers and other items from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An audit of procedures and an investigation into allegations of theft at the Atlanta-based agency will be conducted by the Inspector General's office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The inquiry was requested by a congressional oversight committee as a consequence of its "troubling" findings last month.

"A thorough audit will help stop the bleeding of taxpayer-owned property at CDC," said U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) in a prepared statement Wednesday. "In cases of theft, it will also tell us what happened to the thieves."

CDC officials said they have accounted for about $9 million of the $22 million in missing goods in recent weeks as a result of efforts to track down lost items and improve accountability.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce specifically raised concerns about a suspected "insider" burglary of $500,000 in new computers, and millions of dollars worth of other items missing or unaccounted for since the last audit of the agency in 1995.

"The scope of property mismanagement and outright theft at CDC is both astonishing and baffling," said Barton, the ranking Republican on the committee.

Inspector General Daniel Levinson wrote Barton on June 25, "As requested, we will audit CDC's controls over property, such as laptops and scientific equipment, and determine whether CDC has adequately implemented the recommendations in the prior report. We will separately investigate the allegations [you] identified."

The inspector general's office declined to comment further on the inquiries.

Between fiscal 2004 and 2006, there were 61 investigations into the theft or disappearance of agency property. No arrests or disciplinary action resulted from those investigations, said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner on Wednesday. He said several investigations are ongoing.

Skinner said much of the equipment was discovered missing during a major reorganization in the agency. He said staff are using new computer programs to better track items.

He said the CDC faces tough challenges in managing property as an agency with a nearly $9 billion budget and 15,000 employees. "We look forward to what the inspector general has to say, and ... steps we can take to get better at property inventory and management," he said.

"We take security very seriously."

Something Has Happened

Two weeks ago I took a break from blogging to spend time with family who came to visit. Last week was a work catch up week, and I have only begun to catch up with all that has happened in the autism world while I was gone.

As I have been reading, I am seeing things that are surprising me. It is freaking me out a little.

Something has changed around the Cedillo Trial.

I have been following autism news for three years and I have never seen the kind of stories/events that are surfacing.

Dave Weldon and Carolyn Maloney have introduced bipartisan legislation, the Mercury Free Vaccines Act of 2007. Autism Speaks has uncharacteristically decided to back it and oppose AB 16 in Sacramento that would mandate that the State of California automatically adopt any vaccine that the CDC puts on the schedule (and pushed the HPV vaccine). They have never taken a stance on vaccines before. AS is also listing mercury research that was funded by CAN before the merger on their web site, but someone who spends a lot of time on the site said they didn't remember every seeing this page there before. (Anyone know if this is new, or remember seeing it in the past?)

AS has also stepped into the insurance coverage legislation in PA and announced legislative efforts on their web site.

The CDC issued a response to Verstraeten/VSD on their web site with lots of references to thimerosal studies. (I haven't had a chance to read it yet), but how long has it been there? It is not dated and David Kirby, who is a guy who keeps track of these things, didn't even know it was there until a few days ago.

The run up to the Wakefield MMR Trial has reignited doubt in the vaccine in the UK and articles like these are coming out:

At Last They Admit It, This Jab CAN Harm Your Child

The Truth About MMR

DANGERS OF MMR JAB 'COVERED UP'

The Autism Research Institute is now being backed by the giant Autism Society of America, which is now teaming up with Easter Seals who will now make Autism their priority.

Over the last three years, my blog has been visited occasionally by CDC and NIH and a few other government agencies. These visits were few and far between, and always interesting to me when they happened. But now, ramping up with increasing frequency since about April, my blog has been regularly visited by The Powers that Be CDC, NIH, FDA, EPA, HHS, the House and the Senate, The Department of Justice (who are the governments "defendants" in the Cedillo Trial), The Department of Veterans Affairs, The US Forestry Service, The Naval Research Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, The US Census Bureau, dozens of foreign, state and local governments, a slew of Canadian government agencies, dozens of medical centers/health organizations/universities/dental schools including CHOP (Paul Offit's hospital), Johns Hopkins, The Cleavland Clinic, our pharma friends at Johnson & Johnson and Glaxo Smith Klein, Immunize.org, media corporations Tribune and Gannett, The World Health Organization and even one visit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Apparently the Department of Justice is curious to know when and if the Evidence of Harm movie will be coming out.



Here is my blog traffic graph for the last three years.



2005 - nice little blog with decent traffic. 2006 - took a break from blogging for most of the year. 2007 - Started to write again. Feb/March stats broke but I didn't notice. April was Autism Awareness Month (Damn that is a lot of awareness). May - residual autism awareness?? June - suddenly I am twice as fascinating as I have ever been on my best month! July - on track to have 8,000 visitors despite the fact that I have been on vacation most of the time.

As much as I would love to believe that it is my brilliance that people are coming for, it is probably a safer bet that more people (and more people in positions of power to do something) are awakening to the reality that autism is preventable and treatable and are taking valuable time out of their day to investigate for themselves.

Last month I said that the tide had turned. I think I might have been righter than I thought I was and that the tide might start moving faster than I had anticipated.

Even if I had 40 hours a week to sort all this stuff out, I don't think I could do a decent job. I am just going to start posting references to stories with out much comment just so I can get as much out as possible.

CDC: Out of Excuses on the Autism Study that "Should be Done"

CDC: Out of Excuses on the Autism Study that "Should be Done"
Posted June 27, 2007 | 11:01 PM (EST)
HuffPo

A simple study of autism rates among vaccinated and unvaccinated children "could be done and should be done" to help settle the raging debate that has now spilled into the US Federal Courts.

The words of some anti-vaccine zealot? An overwrought parent lashing out at something, anything, to blame? Or perhaps a greedy trial lawyer pining for the big bucks of injured-kiddie tort.

No, these were the measured, thoughtful remarks of CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, at a Washington press conference two years ago.

But Gerberding never ordered the study -- one that could silence this tiresome argument once and for all; a study that any rational person would concur "should be done."

Why not? One reason, the powerful director said, is that "very high levels of vaccination... record immunization levels," make it "very, very difficult to get an effective numerator and denominator to get a reliable diagnosis."

But maybe it's not that difficult to find an "effective numerator" (i.e., unvaccinated children) after all.

It certainly wasn't hard for the respected polling company, Survey USA, to find nearly 1,000 unvaccinated children living in nine counties in California and Oregon. All they had to do was pick up the phone.

Survey USA, commissioned by the anti-thimerosal group Generation Rescue, completed telephone interviews in 11,817 households with one or more children age 4 to 17. Of the 17,674 children inventoried, 991 were described as being completely unvaccinated.

Interestingly, the survey found that, among boys (who have neurodevelopmental disorders at a 4-to-1 ratio over girls) vaccinated children were 155% more likely to have a neurological disorder, 224% more likely to have ADHD, and 61% more likely to have autism. Among boys aged 11-18, the increased autism risk was 112%.

This survey suggests there might be a trend here worthy of further investigation. But is it hard science? Of course not, and that is precisely my point.

We need the CDC, or some other well-funded agency, to conduct a comprehensive health study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, now, using the soundest epidemiological tools available.

And for those who think that phone surveys are a patently ridiculous way to study autism, consider this: The Survey USA methodology was based on the model that the CDC itself has employed in national prevalence studies for ADHD and autism. In fact, Dr. Laura Schieve, co-author of the CDC's two national autism phone surveys said that parent reports demonstrate "high reliability, or reproducibility."

Which brings us back to that numerator. There are clearly enough unvaccinated kids (outside Chicago there is an entire HMO-full) to finally do the study that Dr. Gerberding herself says "could and should be done."

Maybe the Survey USA poll is way off base. Maybe an actual scientific investigation, one that controls for bias and other potentially confounding factors, would show the exact opposite. Maybe, as one would hope and intuitively expect, vaccinated children are truly healthier and happier than unvaccinated children.

I hope that the CDC can prove that they are. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? And like I have said before, it would certainly shut up the likes of me.

Now that Dr. Gerberding no longer has the excuse that "record immunization levels" preclude such a study, perhaps she might direct some of the recently appropriated Combating Autism Act funds to studying the two groups of children.

For those that disagree -- and I look forward to your rational comments on why this study should never be done -- I suggest you take up your concerns with the CDC director herself, and not with me.

After all, Dr. Gerberding is the one who said that this study "should be done." And I, for one, could not agree with her more.

PS: This week, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced the "Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Populations Act of 2007" (H.R. 2832). For more information on this legislation, please visit: http://maloney.house.gov

She's Mad As Hell and Not Taking It Any More

Kendra is a mom who apparently got sick and tired of the biased and illogical media coverage and shot back.

Her points were so good that I am posting the original article and her response.

I encourage the Valley Independent to be brave enough to publish it.

I encourage the Media to come to grips with the fact that people don't believe the medical community and the government claims that vaccines have no relationship to Autism, and by choosing to report those claims unchallenged, the public trust in them will ebb right along with their trust of PHARMA sponsored medicine.

[UPDATE: Kendra heard back from the author who is the father of a 16 year old with autism, and has softened a great deal toward him. She may update her remarks here.

This was part of a series. The latest installment, published today, indeed adds balance to the previous column. I had written to the columnist myself yesterday, and his response was, 'wait and see'.

To me, the most interesting part of his column today was this:

My wife was invited to attend a special luncheon held by National Association for Autism Research in Pittsburgh to kick off Walk Far for NAAR. About nine other parents of autistic children sat around the same table and naturally they began to discuss their children's condition. One by one, they expressed the same belief that the MMR shot caused their children to become autistic.

Even supporters of NAAR, who are the most anti autism/vaccine link group in existance, firmly believe that vaccines "caused" their own children's autism.

Stunning.

I saw an online poll a few weeks ago that 89% responded that they believed there was a link between vaccines and autism. So if everyone apparently believes this, even NAAR's own charity event goers, even the authors of articles that are criticized by parents who are actually turn out to be on the same "side" as they are, then what are we arguing about? Why are the authorities allowed to ignore the link?

When is someone going to stand up in public and say that the Emperor has no clothes???

I feel like I am living in the twilight zone.]

Report Addresses Autism Levels
By Chris Buckley
VALLEY INDEPENDENT
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

(Editor's note: This is the second part of a four-day series of informational stories about autism and profiles of people who are afflicted with the condition.)

The results of the study sent shockwaves through the medical community.

The Centers for Disease Control announced earlier this year that it had determined one in every 150 children was afflicted with autism or an autistic spectrum disorder.

But Dr. Nancy Minshew was not surprised by the results.

The findings did not indicate an increase in the number of people with autism, but an increased awareness that autistic children are living in our society, Minshew said.

"No, it's not an epidemic, it's an issue of how well a job we're doing diagnosing these kids," said Minshew, professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh.

"In Pittsburgh, we're doing a pretty good job. But get an hour out of Pittsburgh and we're doing a poor job."

Minshew has spent 22 years studying autism and is director of the National Institutes of Health Collaborative Program's Excellence in Autism at the University of Pittsburgh. She said university-based diagnoses are most effective in identifying autism.

Minshew said recent surveys found similar results to the CDC report. The community of Brick Township, N.J., concluded in 2001 that the rate was one in 150. A cluster of studies done from 2001 to 2005 found results ranging from one in 150 to one in 170. Autism related agencies agreed to use a figure of one in 166

The national numbers are based on two CDC surveys encompassing 22 states, including Pennsylvania.

The Autism Society of Pennsylvania estimates there are about 75,000 people statewide with some form of autism and about 4,000 in the Pittsburgh region.

Still, Minshew said the figure may be even more startling. She said the CDC study could not reach home-schooled children and those in private schools.

Most pediatricians are not trained to diagnose autism, Minshew said. Regional centers for diagnosing and treating autism are needed, she said.

Collecting information on the number of autistic individuals is also hampered because families are not open to discussing their children. Society tends to cut off ties with families with autistic children.

Minshew recalled one parent of an autistic child who noted, "We don't have friends anymore. The only friends we have are the people who have an autistic child. Our old friends cut away."

MMR a cause?

Whether mumps, measles and rubella vaccinations are a cause of autism, especially the spike in autism cases in the past 20 years, has been debated.

In the June 16, 2005, edition of "Rolling Stone" magazine, an article titled "Deadly Immunity," by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., theorized a link between thimerosal in inoculations and autism in children.

Thimerosal is an antiseptic and antifungal agent that has been used as a preservative in vaccines, immune globulin preparations, skin test antigens, anti-venoms, ophthalmic and nasal products, and tattoo inks.

The compound is being phased out of most childhood vaccinations. Packaging the vaccines in single-dose vials eliminates the need for bacteriostatics such as Thimerosol.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield, of the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London, was the lead author of a controversial 1998 research study, published in the Lancet, which reported bowel symptoms in a selected sample of 12 children with autistic spectrum disorders and other disabilities, and alleged a possible connection with MMR vaccination.

Although in the paper the authors stressed no causal connection had been proven, Wakefield called for suspension of the triple MMR vaccine, recommending instead that the three vaccines be administered with one-year gaps.

A controversy surrounding his findings occurred in 2004, when it was reported in The London Times that some children in the study were recruited by an attorney preparing a lawsuit against a vaccine manufacturer.

The interpretation of the possible connection to vaccination, but not the report itself, subsequently was retracted by 10 of the paper's 13 authors.

General Medical Council, the regulator of the medical profession in the United Kingdom, has since investigated the reports' claims and is preparing to conduct hearings.

Currently, the U.S Court of Federal Claims is conducting hearings on whether the vaccines caused autism. More than 4,800 families have filed claims alleging the link.

Parents of autistic children - especially those diagnosed from 1988 to 2000, when Thimerosol was used in the vaccines - believe a connection exists.

Matt Kadash was developing at the same rate as a normal infant, and was even ahead of the curve. He spoke words at 13 months, for example, his mother, Sandy Kadash recalled.

Then, suddenly, his development stopped. He stopped speaking. The Amity woman is sure she knows why.

"I blame it on the MMR shots," Kadash said.

Kelli Tencer, of California, also believes the MMR vaccination is the root of her son's autism. She saw a dramatic change after he received the vaccination at about 16 months.

"I believe there is a direct link," Tencer said. "My son was fine and developing normally until he had that first shot."

Minshew, though, said the connection is purely coincidental. She said children usually show signs of developmental regression consistent with autism from 12 and 22 months of age. MMR shots are routinely given during that period.

She challenged parents who still believe in the link to view videotapes of their child's first birthday to look for signs of early regression.

"They are not oriented to other people," Minshew said. "They do not get the idea of presents, cake, celebration - the interaction with other people."

Chris Buckley can be reached at cbuckley@tribweb.com or (724) 684-2642.

Chris,

Do you ever stop when you hear all this and let the bat of common sense come up aside your head?

Anyone that repeats the "just better diagnosis" mantra cannot live in a reality based world. The story seemed to be about the CDC released data of 1 in every 150 but seemed to leave out the biggest shock that the CDC's study found. The study surprised the CDC by showing that diagnoses nationwide was abysmal. The CDC announced that their study showed that parents concerns and fears were being downplayed, ignorned, and neglected on average of 1 1/2 years after they expressed grave concerns. Does that sound like better diagnosis. No, instead, it sounds like what many of us know, that over 90% of all Autism diagnosis are parent driven. If this is the case then it would not have changed over time. A parent 20 years ago would have demanded just as adamantly "what is wrong with my child" as parents are demanding now.

Autism is not a unique skin rash that could be easily mis-identified as another rash. It is not a subtle condition and the signs and symptoms not easily missed. Missing autism is sort of like missing a grand mal seizure. The majority of those diagnosed will never live independently. They will require constant care for the rest of their typical lifespan. Autism is so devastating, there is no way it was ever missed in the past. When high-funcitoning or Aspergers is mentioned, even most of these individuals, while they may be verbally adept, will not lead an independent life either. Only the lightest affected could possibly "slip through the cracks" and those are probably more the ADD/ADHD area than autism. The criteria required to be met for an autism diagnosis under the DSM IV code are devastating and must incompass a majority of the areas across the Autism spectrum.

These so-called experts quoted in stories such as yours would like the American public to believe that our personal and collective memories are faulty. That we all lived among these people in the same numbers as now and we simply cannot remember them, but they were always there.

Many say other diagnosis are now more properly labeled Autism and were just mis-labeled or misunderstood before. How do they explain every school in America that is going broke from the sheer numbers. How do they explain the 20 year tenured teachers that cannot fathom the explosion in Autism and have never seen the kids in the numbers they are seeing now. Tiny towns with "Autism" classrooms, that never had an autistic student in over 50 years. Tiny towns with classrooms of kids unable to function in typical classrooms, unable to learn in a typical manner, unable to pay attention, sit still, grasp basic concepts, etc. etc. It would not have mattered what these kids were 'labeled' in the past, the schools still would have had to accomodate them, no matter the name that was put to their disability. But we all know that was not the case. Schools lack the facilities, staff, and training to deal with the tsunami of affected children.

I grew up in a town of less than 1,000 people. In my 12 years of education I never knew one kid with autism, or anyone I can remember that would have come close to meeting the criteria. I knew one child a few years older than me who was mentally retarded. 1 child many years older who was blind, and one a few years younger who died of cancer. My same home town now has Autism classrooms bulging at the seams. After coaching there for five years, four former athletes have informed me they have children diagnosed with severe Autism. Including myself, the former coach, that gives us five children with autism from 47 different mothers. But here in Oregon the rate state-wide is 1 in every 98. Of course this does not include ADD/ADHD, nor does it include the huge numbers of children now with life-threatening food allergies, the 1 in 5 with asthma, the 5000% increase in kids with diabetes, arthritis, cancer, etc.

Those like Dr. Paul Offit, owner of a vaccine patent, like to attempt to scare the American public with threats that if autism or other serious immune system diseases are connected to vaccines that people will stop vaccinating their children and serious childhood diseases will return. Just talking about vaccines and Autism, he speculated could destroy the health of American children. UH, Hello. It seems Dr. Offit is a little out of touch with reality. He is assuming we have some gold standard of health in our children today that merits protection. Yet new studies just today from Offit's very hospital and designed and run by Harvard University say our children are sicker than in any generation. Perhaps Americans aren't buying it anymore. Parents see their children's classrooms with Medicine "cubbies" where nearly half of all student have regular medication including the devastating numbers of children on anti-psychots, risperdal, ritalin, and more. Children with ANA kits, inhalers, and insulin injection kits. When you look at the life-shortening devastating lifelong illnesses children are now suffering from it sure makes a week with the measles look like a picnic. If Dr. Offit was more of the same, protect the great health of American children, no thank you. If he is proud of the ranking of 37th in the world of infant mortality...no thank you.

I saw a mainstream media poll the other day in which 89% of respondents replied that they believed in a link between vaccines and autism. Maybe all of us parents aren't such fringe whackos after all. The pharmaceutical companies have proven their motivation with lies and falsifications of drug trials and Americans are rightfully sceptical of all their claims now.

Just like global warming, the debate is over. In fact, besides government denials, there never was a debate. Injecting mercury into childrens' bodies is criminal, no debate. Mercury is a known neurotoxin, no debate. Mercury causes neurological damage, especially in fetuses and children, no debate. Only in corporate America can there even be a debate over injecting babies with the 2nd most toxic substance on earth. There is no debate, only corporate greed and self-preserving denials. An Autism Mom said the other day, "Autism spilled on a school room floor is a toxic event, the schools are shut down, the hazmat team called in, young people decontaminated, health screenings are done, and a major long term clean-up occurs. But, inject mercury into an infant and it's called a well baby visit".

The medias refusal to use common sense, to ask the tough hard questions is only making them look as bad as the now professional liars, protecting their own collective butts. I don't know how you can even write this stuff anymore without laughing or crying, but you have to have lost all common sense to not question even the most basic tenets of the crap now being spewed forth by the self-protectionists. Can you even have two neurons left to rub together and not see the truth? Apparently not.

Kendra Pettengill

Roseburg, Oregon

Mother of a recovered child, formerly diagnosed with Autism

Another Call for Julie Gerberding's Resignation

Commentary: CDC Off Center; A Call for CDC's Dr. Gerberding's resignation
by Mark R. Geier, MD
US Autism & Asperger Association Newsletter

A report just out from the US Senate Subcommittee on Financial Management under the direction of Senator Tom Coburn, a physician himself, states “A review of how an agency tasked with fighting and preventing disease has spent hundreds of millions of tax dollars for failed prevention efforts, international junkets, and lavish facilities, but cannot demonstrate it is controlling disease.”
I think it is now time we demand the resignation of Dr. Gerberding and other high officials at CDC.

CDC has spent large amounts of money in the worthy cause of AIDS prevention. The Senate report states that to CDC “HIV/AIDS prevention equals international trips, fraud, & widespread deficiencies.” The report sites a CDC 2004 Thailand conference that featured Brazilian dresses made of condoms, a drag show, art shows and fashion parades. A 2006 Toronto CDC conference featured an exhibit with 3 prostitutes lying on a satin covered bed, while one prostitute was described as standing amid pillows and sex toys in the conference lounge. The conference featured a workshop on finding a woman's erotic zone, one on how to apply condoms through sex stunts and a display of explicit artwork. The report points out that the CDC money spent on these conferences could have been better used to treat 150,000 newborns with medicine to prevent them from getting HIV.

CDC in 2004 announced that obesity was the nations number two killer only behind cigarettes in that obesity causes 400,000 deaths a year…. their own data indicated the true average is a little over 1200 per year.

The CDC spent 2.6 billion in HIV/AIDS prevention grants that had no objectives, are “abysmal” and have significant problems but are funded anyway. The CDC did no background checks and noted that 10 of 13 grants had significant deficiencies but renewed them anyway. Additionally, Inspector General audits have consistently found that CDC doctored the accomplishments of the grants. CDC claimed lack of resources to better monitor the grants despite spending $74 million dollars supposedly to oversee them. Additional CDC sponsored events in this area included a conference on how to have relations with male prostitutes, a conference on how to flirt, date and score, and zoo trips for HIV positive people. In 2001, CDC funded a drag contest, in 2002 CDC sponsored an event in Memphis featuring a male porno-star appearing in a towel and cowboy boots, and in 2005 in Utah the CDC sponsored a drug legalization conference. In Barcelona in 2002 the CDC spent a million dollars in travel expense alone to go to an International AIDS conference at which HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson was shouted down by protesters who resented the US treatment of people with AIDS. Despite spending billions over decades on HIV/AIDS programs the findings by Office of Budget Management audits rated the programs as non-performing, which the report calls unconscionable.

The CDC spent 2.6 billion in HIV/AIDS prevention grants that had no objectives, are “abysmal” and have significant problems but are funded anyway.
CDC has spent $269 million on syphilis since 1998 only to see a large rise in the rate of the disease to 58,116 new cases. According to CDC, syphilis elimination efforts meet with distrust in the African American community because of the federal governments involvement in the ethically unjustified Tuskegee human experiments in which unknown to them curative penicillin was withheld from African Americans so they could serve as a control group to determine the effects of untreated syphilis. A comment of a CDC employee was that such an incident could happen again if blacks do not take their share of responsibility for the Tuskegee experiments. Other areas that CDC has commanded CDC attention and funding include land development, bike paths, and gun control.

CDC has spent $269 million on syphilis since 1998 only to see a large rise in the rate of the disease to 58,116 new cases.

The Senate report has a section on “CDC's statistical problems and fraud.” The CDC in 2004 announced that obesity was the nations number two killer only behind cigarettes in that obesity causes 400,000 deaths a year. But in 2005, a JAMA study found only 25,814 obesity deaths a year putting obesity in seventh place of preventable deaths behind car crashes and gun shot wounds. To me this sounds very familiar as CDC maintains that influenza kills an average of 36,000 Americans a year when their own data indicated the true average is a little over 1200 per year. Another very questionable area of activities is the use of CDC tax dollars terrorism funds to insure that when Hollywood makes up a character in a fictitious TV show who talks about a health topic, he or she talks about it accurately and in doing so CDC has influenced such shows as “ER”, “House”, “Grey's Anatomy”, “Young and Restless” and “General Hospital”. CDC also does video game consulting. The report also tells of three top CD officers who recently took home over $250,000 in bonuses. Since the appointment of Dr. Gerberding, bonuses have drastically increased from $30,000 in 2000, under the previous director, to 60 premium bonuses totaling $515,075 in 2005. A former CDC employee, Jack Johnson, after retiring as CFO of CDC was hired by two private companies whom he helped get 79 contacts from CDC, 67 of which did not even have competitive bidding when before hiring Mr. Johnson the companies had only one CDC contract. The CDC leases private jets to the tune of $3.8 million a year. The CDC funds advocacy groups which help the CDC, including lobbying to trying to increase CDC funding. For example, The Campaign for Public Heath seeks to increase the CDC budget to $15 billion annually from its current level of $10 billion by 2012. The Campaign's website fails to mention that 21 of the 40 groups on its advisory council supporting the effort to increase CDC funding actually get over $300 million in CDC funding themselves. I could go on and on quoting from this incredible report of over 100 pages but I would rather recommend that everyone read it in detail for themselves to enjoy the color pictures of the strippers and the cartoons about Dr. Gerberding. See link below for full text of the report.

CDC maintains that influenza kills an average of 36,000 Americans a year when their own data indicated the true average is a little over 1200 per year.
In summary, we now have a US House report saying the autism epidemic was caused by Thimerosal in the vaccines and that the federal agencies involved are guilty of “institutional malfeasance” in covering it up (see attached report especially the last page) and we have this US Senate report accusing CDC of fraud and totally inaccurate reporting and general malfeasance while the CDC tells us to believe them that Thimerosal in vaccines did not contribute to the autism epidemic or maybe there is no autism epidemic when the vast majority of the science says otherwise. I think it is now time we demand the resignation of Dr. Gerberding and other high officials at CDC. Additionally, the entire CDC and FDA need to be placed entirely in civilian hands and removed from the quasi military Public Health Service. Public health needs to be totally reorganized and must not receive any money from the pharmaceutical industries or any other special interest groups so as to insure that they serve and protect the people who hire them rather than serving themselves and the industries whom they are supposed to carefully regulate to protect us from harm.

….it is time for truth, transparency including open access to any vaccine or drug study data and real informed consent.

With regard to the vaccine program, which I still certainly support, it is time for truth, transparency including open access to any vaccine or drug study data and real informed consent. It is time to insist on a rational vaccine schedule with adequate testing to assure good levels of efficacy while insuring safety as well. At the very least it is time to show contrition, admit the giant blunder that has been made, try to treat and compensate as best we can those unfortunate and blameless among us who were damaged by the blunder so that we can again resume the course of the greatest and most compassionate nation on earth.

Mark R. Geier, MD

Click here for the PDF file on CDC OFF CENTER, THE UNITED STATES SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY MINORITY OFFICE UNDER THE DIRECTION OF SENATOR TOM COBURN RANKING MINORITY MEMBER JUNE 2007

Click here for the PDF file on MERCURY IN MEDICINE REPORT, HON. DAN BURTON OF INDIANA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 20, 2003

Dr. Mark R. Geier has an MD., with a PhD in genetics. Dr. Geier is president of the Genetic Centers of America, president of the Institute of Chronic Illnesses and has been in clinical practice for more than 25 years. He was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health for 10 years. Dr. Geier was also a professor at the Johns Hopkins University and at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has addressed the Institute of Medicine of the United States' National Academy of Sciences, the United States' State Department, the Government Reform Committee of the United States' House of Representatives, and numerous other professional meetings. Dr. Geier has authored almost 100 peer-reviewed scientific/medical publications, and most recently, he has co-authored about 40 peer-reviewed scientific/medical publications on vaccine safety, efficacy and policy.

Dr. Geier and his son David will present "Epidemiology and other evidence on what caused the autism epidemic and new treatment protocol for autism," as a Keynote Presentation at the USAAA 2007 International Conference in Denver, Saturday, August 11, 9:00am - 10:30am. Click here for a bio of Dr. Geier.

Simpsonwood Remembered

From the National Autism Association and Mom's Against Mercury:

The Simpsonwood Remembered Rally is getting close!

Join us on June 8th, at the CDC in Atlanta Georgia, in remembrance of the anniversary of the infamous CDC meetings at Simpsonwood and to celebrate and support the United Methodist Women's Division.

Also join us for a poolside meet and greet at the Emory Inn on Thursday June 7th at 7pm (straight through the front doors and outside to the courtyard). T-shirts and magnetic car ribbons will be sold there. T-shirts are $15.00 and the magnetic car ribbons $7.50. We will be raffling off some T-shirts and ribbons at 8pm. Both T-shirts and ribbons are of limited quantity.

Just a reminder that we will be meeting the morning of June 8th at 6:15am in the Emory Inn parking lot (1641 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA).

Thank you all for your continued support and hope to see you there!

For more rally information: http://www.momsagainstmercury.org/rally-simpsonwood.htm

For more information about the infamous Simpsonwood meetings held June 7-8, 2000 please go to:
www.PutChildrenFirst.org and www.NoMercury.org

Dr. Stoller on His Autism Journey and the CDC

Stoller was a pediatrician that saw only two cases of autism in his first decade and a half of practice, and came to the realization with the problems with the CDC and vaccines around the same time as I did in 2004 when he was testifying before the Senate on another medical matter. He highlights the ridiculous position of the CDC:

If we were talking about children going blind read how obscene this would sound:

“The number of children diagnosed with blindness is rapidly increasing. According to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in every 150 U.S. children is blind. These numbers are startling and this disability is affecting more and more families. Twenty years ago blindness was a very rare case. Today blindness is becoming a frightening statistic in every community. April is Blindness Awareness Month and I encourage everyone to take this opportunity to learn more about this disability…”

It would be absurd to relate this information about blindness without giving any explanation about what was causing it. Everyone would be demanding answers, and I dare say there would be protests in the streets to say the least...

...No other disease in history has been subjected to the spin that has been put on autism....

...It seems the scientific world isn't concerned that more children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes and pediatric cancer combined.

It is a long article. Read the whole thing.

Throwing children into oncoming traffic: The truth about Autism
By: Kenneth Stoller, MD, FAAP with Anne McElroy Dachel
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

I have been a practicing pediatrician for over 20 years. I saw my first child with autism in the early 90’s – before that I had never seen an autistic child, and I never saw an autistic child in all my years at school. The boy was 4 years old and you could see the frustration in his face as he wanted to speak but nothing intelligible would come from his mouth except shrieks of anguish.

As I studied his tortured face, it was as if there was an old time telephone switchboard operator inside his head trying to plug in the correct phone cables but not being able to complete the call. This family had known me from an old practice I worked at in another city, but they had traveled to see me because they trusted me and were looking for answers that no one seemed to have for them, but I too had no answers and I could see the mom was greatly disappointed. After the family left my office I poured over a few dusty textbooks and wondered if I had just seen a very rare disorder, a disorder that affected one child in 10,000 children…autism.

I had been involved in pediatrics for a decade by the time I saw this boy and it wasn’t as if I had no experience working with rare disorders. I had been able to identify a boy with Fragile-X syndrome and his mom ending up starting the Fragile-X support group at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

I had noticed there was a strange upswing in children with attention disorders and impulsivity problems. I wasn’t a neurologist, but had studied with one of the finest at UCLA. While I was still a pediatric resident I spent time in his office where he helped me study the parade of unusual maladies that was starting to afflict children. I considered myself a closet neurologist, because that was what I had really wanted to specialize in – not pediatrics, but during my neurology rotation in medical school I learned some discouraging news. The attending neurologist, whom I greatly admired, had taken me on rounds for the first time and I watched him brilliantly explain to the family of a stroke patient how he had figured out where in the brain the blood clot had lodged. Then he stood up and walked out of the room and I asked him what therapy he was going to prescribe for the patient so he could recover from his stroke, “therapy?” he said, “there is no therapy.”

Well, I scratched neurology off my list…diagnosis was only meaningful if you could offer a treatment and it seemed neurology had few treatments to offer.

My second patient with autism came to me in the mid 1990’s, but to my relief the purpose of the visit was only to treat worms. I dutifully prescribed the medicine for pinworms and went on to my next patient. Later that afternoon I received a call from the autistic boy’s mom who wanted to know what was that medicine I had given her son for pinworms….her boy was starting to make eye contact, show affection and communicate with his family. She said it was amazing! I told her I didn’t really didn’t know what was in the pinworm pill but immediately prescribed enough pills for her son to take everyday for a month (normally you only take one or two pills to treat pinworms).

I called up the pharmaceutical company that manufactured the pinworm pill and spoke to one of their technical staff. They told me the pill worked by blocking the transport of molecules of a certain size from crossing cell membranes, so in the case of the hapless pinworms they were unable to absorb the sugars they feed upon in the lower intestines of their victims.

What did that have to do with this boy’s newly found improved behavior? Either one of two things were going on: 1) the drug was either blocking a molecule that shouldn’t be passing across the gut to the blood and then the brain and that molecule was having a drug-like affect on the brain, or; 2) the drug was blocking a molecule that normally crossed from the gut into the blood but in certain children these molecules had a strange drug-like affect.

I made several calls across the country to find a researcher who might be interested in this serendipitous finding which could be an important clue into this disease, because no where had I found anything saying that the guts of these children were involved in their disease. Unfortunately, no one I talked to was interested.

Testifying to Congress...

In May 2004, I had been invited to testify in front of the Government Reform Committee to discuss new developments in treating children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I had been invited because of the work I was doing with hyperbaric oxygen in treating brain injured children, including fetal alcohol syndrome. Hyperbaric oxygen is where oxygen is given under pressure in chambers that are used to treat scuba divers who get the bends. I and several other physicians had found that hyperbaric oxygen was returning functionality to the brains of affected children.

Sitting next to me was a physician who told the story of his son who had become autistic after receiving vaccine and how he discovered his son was retaining toxic heavy metals, specifically mercury. Over the course of a year this physician had given his son a chemical to pull out the mercury and his son began speaking again and in fact jumped on his dad’s lap and addressed the Committee members having been restored to be a healthy boy without any signs of his autism.

In the 1990’s I had known there was a problem with many of the vaccines because they contained the preservative Thimerosal (50% mercury) and I had discouraged many parents from getting vaccine containing Thimerosal – there is no safe level of mercury, and it didn’t make sense to inject the most toxic non-radioactive element on the planet into children, but I never made the connection between autism and mercury. I knew what Thimerosal was because while I was in college my brother had a very bad reaction to the Thimerosal that used to be used in contact lens solution.

I was taken aback that something so obvious had not registered with me, but I didn’t realize that I and my physician colleagues had been subjected to a disinformation campaign to make us think there was no connection between mercury and autism. It has been known for sometime that mercury was causing autism, but someone was running interference. The question was who was running interference?

In February 2007, the watchdog agency on America's health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), made the official announcement that a breath-taking one in 150 kids is autistic in the U.S. If you go to the CDC website on autism (http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism) you’d see lots of pictures of smiling happy children with autism and we’d be told that autism spectrum disorders are “a group of developmental disabilities defined by significant impairments in social interaction and communication and the presence of unusual behaviors and interests.”

You won’t be told that for many parents autism is a nightmare from which they never wake up. “Significant impairments” can mean that a child is violent and self-abusive, non-verbal, and physically sick. You won’t be told that this is a medical disease where most autistic children have significant inflammation in both gut and brain including colitis, super-infections and severe food allergies.

Even though autism affects one in 90 boys (four boys affected for every girl) in the U.S., the CDC can’t seem to tell us exactly why. The CDC states, “We still don’t know a lot about the causes of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Scientists think that both genes and the environment play a role, and there might be many causes that lead to ASDs.”

The site also doesn’t mention that only one in 10,000 children in the 1970s, and one in 2,500 in the 1980s were autistic.

The CDC site also doesn’t tell us about a secret meeting that was held in June of 2000 where over 50 individuals from the CDC, WHO, NIH, American Academy of Pediatrics, and many representatives from pharmaceutical interests discussed data from the CDC Vaccine Data Sets showing that the increase in mercury exposure from the stepped-up vaccine schedule in the 1990’s caused an 11 fold increase in neurobehavioral disorders (www.autismhelpforyou.com/Simpsonwood_And_Puerto%20%20Rico.htm). What you will see on the CDC website is “Several studies have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and autism. The weight of the evidence indicates that vaccines are not associated with autism.”

Evidence? Someone at the CDC was ‘cooking the books’ and what they told the public was not what they knew to be the case. You see, the CDC was put in the untenable position of helping to develop vaccines, mandate the vaccines, promote the vaccines, pay for their administration and be responsible for their safety – Ye olde fox watching the hen house scenario with the inevitable untoward result. There will always be a problem with vaccine safety until this responsibility is moved out of the CDC. Today, the CDC and its vaccine public-relation front group’s answer to any criticism is that the motivations of those that are critical of any part of the vaccine program are because they really want to destroy the vaccine program.

The truth is that the CDC has been very effective in laying the foundation to destroy the vaccine program all by themselves and their double speak is analogous to someone saying you can’t be against war and support the troops at the same time, you’re either for us or against us, etc. It is actually illegal for a federal agency to propagandize the American public, but that is exactly what the vaccine division of the CDC does. It has used the tactic of generating fear and it has earned billions of dollars for this agency.

Once the public loses trust in public health programs it can take many years to regain that trust. I am reminded of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments that are still a cause of distrust of public health programs amongst Black Americans.

Losing the Public Trust...

The cover-up at the CDC surrounding the mercury preservative found in so many vaccines (up until about 2003) has had very serious far-reaching implications. The children whose lives were forever changed by being injected with Thimerosal preservative were giving us a global ‘heads-up.’ They were showing us that the background level of mercury pollution has increased to the point that it is beginning to take its toll on the human species, but the CDC turned its head away from this crisis because it conflicted with what they were promoting in the vaccine program.

As I said before, mercury is the deadliest non-radioactive element on Earth, and 1000s of tons are spewed into the environment every year. With each coal-fire power plant that comes on line we are one step closer to exterminating human life on this planet. However, mercury is politically protected because of its connection with the fossil-fuel industry, dentistry (amalgam dental filings), and vaccine.

Thimerosal is still in the flu vaccine for children above the age of 3 and they are receiving as much as half of the dose of mercury that the child in the ‘90’s received. Thimerosal was not removed from vaccine in 1999. That was when the promise was made, but promises weren’t kept. Thimerosal is also in the meningitis vaccine.

Lower IQ levels linked to mercury exposure in the womb cost the USA $8.7 billion a year in lost-earnings potential according to a study done by the Mount Sinai Center for Children's Health and the Environment (http://fusion.mssm.edu/media/content.cfm?storynum=252). If it were publicly acknowledged that mercury pollution was the trigger for the autism epidemic this number would be in the trillions of dollars. One in six children is born to mothers with dangerous levels of mercury in their blood – perhaps the same one in six that the CDC admits have a neurobehavioral disorder.

Our regulatory agencies, such as the FDA and the EPA, have been taken over by the very industries they were mandated to regulate and the revolving door between industry and top-level appointees at these regulatory agencies has eliminated many of the normal safeguards we have relied on for our protection.

There is no disputing the numbers. Last month the Tonawanda News in New York reported “cases of autism in the state jumped from fewer than 2,000 in 1992 to 9,500 in 2003.” Even worse was the number of affected children in New York schools in 2005-2006 according to the Dept. of Education. New York’s autism total had increased to 12,257.

Maybe what we really need to be made aware of is what the eventual cost of autism will be to the U.S. The Autism Society of America tells us that autism is growing by 10-17% a year. They also say that it currently costs $90 billion a year and it's projected to increase to $200-400 billion annually in ten more years. A Harvard study out last year put the cost of lifetime support conservatively at $3.2 million per individual.

April was Autism Awareness month, but why are we only asking for awareness and not for answers? This is a glaring omission when we’re talking about so many affected children. Awareness, treatment, and identification are critical but so is preventing autism.

If we were talking about children going blind read how obscene this would sound:

“The number of children diagnosed with blindness is rapidly increasing. According to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in every 150 U.S. children is blind. These numbers are startling and this disability is affecting more and more families. Twenty years ago blindness was a very rare case. Today blindness is becoming a frightening statistic in every community. April is Blindness Awareness Month and I encourage everyone to take this opportunity to learn more about this disability…”

It would be absurd to relate this information about blindness without giving any explanation about what was causing it. Everyone would be demanding answers, and I dare say there would be protests in the streets to say the least.

The CDC and Autism...

CDC director Julie Gerberding announced the new autism rate of one in every 150 children with a flourish. She said that while there were more kids being diagnosed with autism, it doesn't mean the autism was necessarily on the rise. No one in the press seemed concerned that the CDC has been counting kids with autism for years and still can't tell us if there are actually more of them. After all, it’s just "better diagnosing by doctors" and "better statistics by the Centers for Disease Control." And now we learn that the Autism Genome Project (AGP) recently uncovered evidence shows that autism is caused by "genetic flaws.”

Common sense would tell us that pushing children onto a busy street, observing that some of them were injured, and then looking for a genetic reason why some of them were hit defies credulity.

No other disease in history has been subjected to the spin that has been put on autism.

Dr. Ezra Susser, chairman of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York indicated that he believed the new genetic findings would help scientists to understand how "the environment might lead to autism by causing genetic changes."

Susser said, "It shows us that we need to think about many environmental factors that might influence autism."

The new genetic findings on autism got a lot of coverage from major news outlets and reports made it look like we're on the cutting edge of a major autism breakthrough. But let’s do a reality check here, genes don't just spontaneously and randomly mutate all by themselves. There has to be an environmental agent affecting these genes.

Some will have you believe that autism is some medical mystery that's always been around but we just haven't been able to get a handle on. So, show me the 30 year olds with autism, the 40 year olds with autism, and the 50 year olds with autism. Guess what? They aren’t there for the most part. The explosion in the number of children with autism is real but most of the scientific community has ignored this. Let’s face it they have been encouraged to ignore it, and anyone getting close to the truth finds that they get their NIH research grants pulled.

That’s right…science is being manipulated so that a big lie can stay alive and those culpable can remain unaccountable.

It seems the scientific world isn't concerned that more children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes and pediatric cancer combined. News stories about autistic kids are now beginning to reveal the duplicity of CDC officials. These reports clearly show that this isn't something we have all the time in the world to theorize and ponder about.

All the experts searching diligently for those elusive genetic mutations seem blissfully unaware of the impact of autism on our schools and the impending disaster, as these autistic children become autistic adults. Anyone looking at the graphs and charts based on Department of Education statistics showing the soaring autism numbers has got to be worried. The dramatic increase in children in our schools disabled with autism is a scary preview of the impact they will have on the Social Security System in the next five to ten years.

Michael Ganz's Harvard study last year conservatively put the lifetime care cost for one autistic individual at $3.2 million dollars.

Robert Krakow from Lifespire gives us estimates that put the lifespan cost at $10.125 million per autistic individual. This figure is based on an annual rate for each person of $225,000 with a life expectancy of 66 years. It doesn't include the cost for the period up to age 21.

One of the many questions we need to ask ourselves is if the very integrity of the biosphere on this planet is in jeopardy unless there is an immediate curtailment of manmade mercury pollution. Coal miners don’t look at a dead canary and blow it off or say they have just “gotten better at diagnosing dead canaries,” or “that dead canary just had a genetic defect so pay no heed.” Yet that is exactly analogous to the situation we find ourselves. We continue to pollute the planet and ourselves (there is no separation), yet the very governmental agency that would normally be taking the lead in sounding this 5 alarm alert has been compromised and remains less than silent. Mercury pollution should be considered a global crime against humanity, against mammalian life on this planet and there should be zero tolerance.

If you want to know why more isn’t being done for autistic children, why there has been a strange cover-up of the facts, then simply follow the mercury and those that benefit from its use.

Kenneth Stoller, MD, FAAP is medical director of the Hyperbaric Medical Center of New Mexico (www.hbotnm.com) and the Hyperbaric Oxygen Clinic of Sacramento (www.hbot.info). He is President of the International Hyperbaric Medical Association. He can be reached at: info@hbotnm.com

Anne McElroy Dachel of Chippewa Falls, WI is a member of A-CHAMP (Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning) and the National Autism Association (NAA). She can be reached at: amdachel@msn.com.

Julie Gerberding: Getting out the BIG shovel

I sit here trying to come up with a post on this that does not contain any offensive synonyms for animal leavings, but I am hard pressed to do it. When I signed onto this debate almost three years ago, we heard the same thing from the CDC yet they have done NOTHING to get us any closer to finding answers to the questions that parents have been screaming at them. It is completely absurd.

The statements Gerberding makes in this "hearing" are laughable.

CDC chief: Autism not overlooked

By JEFF NESMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/18/07

Washington — Autism is an "urgent" concern of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its director, Dr. Julie Gerberding, told senators Tuesday.

Although the CDC has been criticized by some autism activists and members of Congress, Gerberding said the Atlanta-based agency is best equipped to do the surveillance and research needed to understand and respond to the disorder.

THEN DO IT!!!!!!

GIVE US A VALID, REPLACEABLE, TRANSPARENT VACCINE/AUTISM STUDY!

YOU HAVE THE MONEY, YOU HAVE ALL THE DATA, DO IT!

STOP PRETENDING THAT DENMARK AND VERSTRAETEN ACTUALLY SUPPORT THE CLAIM THAT VACCINES ARE SAFE FOR OUR KIDS!

GIVE US THE AMISH STUDY THAT YOU WERE CHARGED WITH DOING IN 1982!

STUDY THE CHILDREN THAT ARE LOOSING THEIR AUTISM DIAGNOSIS AFTER DAN! TREATMENT!

DO IT ALREADY!!!!

IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DO IT THEN STOP TALKING ABOUT AUTISM!

AND PLEASE... PLEASE... STOP SAYING THAT YOU CARE WHAT IS GOING ON WITH OUR CHILDREN!

YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS!

"The profound lifelong impact of autism spectrum disorders, tremendous costs to the affected individuals and their families, the lack of known causes or cures and concerns about the increased rates of diagnosis all make autism spectrum disorders one of our urgent realities," she told a Senate appropriations subcommittee.

She said "CDC recognizes that parents want answers," adding, "We share their frustration at not having more answers about the causes and possible cure."

This statement is just a lie. No other way to say it. She is lying.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), whose Appropriations subcommittee on the departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services held the hearing, said that "millions of families are grappling with the profound difficulties of understanding and coping with this disease."

"We've got to do something about this," Harkin said.

Testifying with Gerberding were the director of the National Institute of Mental Health and a generally supportive group representing families and advocacy organizations.

Not represented at the hearing were autism activist groups that have accused the CDC of concealing evidence of a link between childhood vaccinations and the disorder.

I am sure that our invitation was lost in the mail. Again.

However, while the Senate committee hearing was under way, two members of the House announced that they will reintroduce legislation to end what they called "a conflict of interest whereby CDC is responsible for both vaccine promotion and vaccine safety."

Reps. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), and Carolyn Maloney, (D-N.Y.,) said they will introduce the bill Thursday. Their bill last year that would remove the CDC's responsibility for vaccine safety did not pass.

UPDATE:

My good friend Wade responds to my post with a What What, and like me, far less civility than those who read his blog are used to.

UPDATE:
From John Gilmore of A-CHAMP:

If you were to deliberately design a plan to not find the cause of a disease, or even accurately count how many people are affected with a disorder, you couldn't have done better than the CDC management under Dr. Gerberding. She has not brought us an inch closer to finding the cause of autism or any treatments. She has destroyed confidence in the CDC and much of the federal public health apparatus.

It is time for her to go. And I think all autism organizations should give serious thought to calling for her resignation.

John Gilmore

Sneaky Senate

The politics of Autism just gets odder and odder. It seems to be about being able to say that things are being done with out doing anything, and that open conversation is taking place when the conversation is being strictly controlled. The voices that would ask the right questions are not allowed into the room.

From A-CHAMP:

Surprise Senate Hearing on Combating Autism - Community Not Notified

We learned for the first time Thursday that the Senate has scheduled a hearing Tuesday, April 17, 2007 entitled "Combating Autism: Undertaking a Coordinated Response". There was no notice of this hearing to the many autism organizations other than Autism Speaks and possibly ASA. We learned of it only because one of our CAA Watch A-CHAMP District Leaders inadvertently heard of the hearing from a highly placed source.

Many of us have placed calls to Subcommittee Chair Sen. Harkin's staff, including members of our strong Iowa contingent. None of us have had the courtesy of a return phone call.

The list of witnesses is pasted below.

On the second panel are two representatives of Autism Speaks and Dr. Judy Favell, former President of the American Psychological Association, Division 33. Dr. Favell is a behaviorist who received a large Dept of Education grant to research the provision of services to children with autism by interactive video. The program, called "telehealth" involves installing a video camera in one's home so that families may engage in therapy sessions at long distrance by video.

Dr. Favell appears to be closely associated with three for-profit ventures. One is Advoserv (www.advoserv.com), a Florida corporation that provides residential and other services in Florida, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. The second is Cnow, billed as committed to being the "nation's premier telehealth solutions provider." (http://www.cnowinc.com/) The third venture is the National Institute of Telehealth, which develops the behavioral treatment plan that is implemented via video. Telehealth and telemedicine research is being funded by NIMH, headed by Dr. Insel, one of the witnesses at the hearing. (http://tinyurl.com/2uzyje)

No stakeholders are participating in this hearing.
Welcome to the BRAVE NEW WORLD of autism.

Senate Committee on Appropriations
Hearing Schedule for the Week of April 13, 2007

For more information, media should contact (202) 224-3904.

Tuesday April 17, 2007
2:00 p.m. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education SD-124
Agenda: Combating Autism: Undertaking a Coordinated Response

Witnesses: Panel I:
Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Thomas R. Insel, Director
National Institute of Mental Health
Bethesda, Maryland

Panel II:
Robert C. Wright
Vice Chairman and Executive Officer
General Electric Foundation
Fairfield, Connecticut
Dr. Judith E. Favell
Chief Executive Officer, AdvoServ
Executive Director, The Celeste Foundation
Mount Dora, Florida
Bradley Whitford
Volunteer Spokesperson
for Autism Speaks Organization
New York, New York

CDC To Have Open Meeting On Thimerosal

Go.

Seriously. Go to the meeting.

From NAA:

CONTROVERSIAL VACCINE PRESERVATIVE TO BE DISCUSSED AT UPCOMING CDC MEETING, SAYS NATIONAL AUTISM ASSOCIATION

Parents and Advocacy Groups request flu shots recommended for pregnant women, infants and children be mercury-free

Nixa, MO – The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet in two weeks at the CDC in Atlanta. Thimerosal, a controversial mercury-based vaccine preservative still used in flu shots, is scheduled to be discussed on the morning of February 21st.

While thimerosal has been phased out of some vaccines, it is still present in flu shots recommended for pregnant women, infants and young children. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines indicate that the 25 micrograms of mercury contained in flu shots is unsafe for anyone weighing less than 550 pounds.

Earlier this week, the CDC released a report citing 1 in 150 children are now diagnosed with autism—up from 1 in 166 just two years prior. Many parents and scientists believe the increased use of mercury-containing vaccines starting in the late 1980’s has led to the rise in cases.

“Children and fetuses are still being exposed unnecessarily to this neurotoxin,” says father Christian McIlwain of Cary, North Carolina. “With the recently added recommendations that influenza vaccines be given to women during any stage of pregnancy and children from age six months and up, the amount of early-age thimerosal exposure through recommended vaccines has increased drastically in the last two years—it’s simply time for the committee to advise that only thimerosal-free vaccines be used for pregnant women and young children.”

Despite multiple requests by the research group SafeMinds and the National Autism Association, this is the first time ACIP has put thimerosal on the agenda in several years. Advocacy groups were told by the CDC that thimerosal would be discussed at the October 2006 ACIP meeting, but it was never officially assigned.

ACIP consists of 15 experts in fields associated with immunization that have been selected by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide advice on immunizations. It develops written recommendations for the routine administration of vaccines to the pediatric and adult populations, and is the only entity in the federal government that makes such recommendations.

Parents are urged to attend the ACIP meeting, or send letters to the committee via e-mail to naa@nationalautism.org

Parents can also register to attend the meeting by visiting www.cdc.gov/nip/acip/dates.htm.

To learn more about autism, visit www.nationalautism.org.

The Mercury Moms (and Dads) Head Back to Atlanta

From COMED/Mom's Against Mercury/ACHAMP/United Methodists Women:

We're Headed Back To Atlanta!

To Mark the 7 Year Anniversary of the CDC Simpsonwood Meetings, Moms Against Mercury and CoMeD, Ask You to Save the Dates of
June 7th & 8th, 2007!

On June 7th leaders of the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church, an organization a million strong, will gather the faith community at Simpsonwood, to redress the deeds done there, seven years ago. The two day event is known as, "The Truth Is Coming To Light".

In support of "The Truth Is Coming To Light" event, we will be holding the "Simpsonwood Remembered" Rally on June 8, 2007.

To read about the efforts of the United Methodists Women's Division to protect children from mercury containing vaccines, please go to
http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/ (scroll down)

Hang on.....more information and details will be available in February 2007 via SAR, EOH Yahoo Board, Moms Against Mercury email list and A-CHAMP email list.

Until then....just remember...save the dates June 7th and 8th!

PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO OTHER BOARDS

Time: Troubles at the CDC

What Ails The CDC: Staff turnover, morale problems and charges of mismanagement couldn't have come at a worse time for the guardians of U.S. public health
By CHRISTINE GORMAN
Time Magazine
Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006

Julie Gerberding was still a deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2001 when someone started mailing anthrax spores to newsrooms and politicians' offices around the country. A telegenic personality who connected easily with journalists, Gerberding quickly became the public face of the CDC--a rare cool head among a parade of increasingly confused health bureaucrats. The fumbling she witnessed behind the scenes convinced her that the CDC's troubles extended beyond the need for better communications. She made her case to Tommy Thompson, then Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and within a year was appointed director of the agency--the first woman to hold that job--with a mandate to radically reshape the CDC.

Five years later, Gerberding finds herself in the public eye once again, but this time she's under attack. The massive reorganization she ordered--combined with painful budget cuts in key divisions--seems to be tearing the agency apart. Six directors of the CDC's eight primary scientific centers have left. Researchers are sniping at one another in public and on the Internet. The agency has been targeted by three different congressional probes. And a blistering report, leaked last week, by an outside consultant who studied the agency's response to Hurricane Katrina found chaos and mismanagement at the very top.

Nobody is claiming that the CDC has become another governmental basket case like FEMA--at least not yet. Indeed, the speed with which this past summer's outbreak of lethal food poisoning was traced to spinach tainted by runoff from a particular herd of cows in California is testimony to the CDC's continuing expertise. But the bad publicity comes at the worst possible time for the agency and its director. Congress is wrapping up its final budget for 2007, and the Administration is starting to draw up a preliminary budget for 2008. If lawmakers believe that Gerberding is floundering, her institution's budget will suffer.

That's the last thing the U.S. needs. As the nation's premier guardian of public health, the CDC is responsible for researching, tracking and counteracting newly emerging infectious diseases like West Nile and SARS. Doctors rely on it to develop unbiased recommendations on a wide range of medical issues from when to vaccinate children to how best to battle obesity. It also directs funds to individual state and local public agencies to shore up their own community health efforts.

Ironically, it is increased CDC funding mandated by Congress for high-profile threats like bioterrorism and flu pandemics that has drained money from areas of public health that may actually be more pressing. Among the hardest-hit programs: AIDS prevention (down 19%), tuberculosis control (down 16%) and preventive-health block grants for outbreaks of West Nile disease and other unexpected events (down 17%).

But what really troubles the most vocal critics is their sense that the CDC's devotion to pure science--a long-established mandate to follow the trail of medical evidence wherever it leads--has been sabotaged. AIDS specialists today feel that they are being constrained not to say anything positive about condoms, while others complain that more cash bonuses are being given to administrators than to researchers. "It's the policies and the direction of the institute I'm most concerned about," says Dr. Brad Woodruff, an epidemiologist in the organization's Maternal and Child Nutrition Branch. Woodruff is particularly incensed that the agency's new jet, which is supposed to be for medical emergencies, was used by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt to make promotional appearances on behalf of President Bush's Medicare drug plan.

The centerpiece of Gerberding's reorganization was her decision to replace the agency's 11 often insular centers with four coordinating bodies that would, in theory, respond to emergencies with more agility. Closer contact between infectious-disease and environmental experts, Gerberding says, has already resulted in faster tests for detecting botulism.

But some within the agency complain that the main difference they have seen so far is that their work is more likely to be second-guessed. "Scientists feel less empowered to make decisions," says Dr. Stephen Cochi, who has worked at the CDC for 24 years, currently in the Global Immunization Division. "There's more bureaucratic filtering." Decisions that were routinely made in Atlanta, he and others say, must now be approved by higher-ups in Washington. Requests for anything but emergency travel have to be made 90 days in advance.

As in so many other internecine battles, it can be hard to tell where the whining stops and the real problems begin. The CDC was due for a major overhaul, and it's human nature--even among scientists--to resist change. What started off as hallway grumbling, however, has grown into an ugly public ruckus, thanks to an unofficial employee blog www.cdcchatter.net and a few well-directed Freedom of Information requests from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Through it all, Gerberding has stood firm. "The CDC was not broken," she says. "The reason to undergo this [reorganization] is that the world was changing so dramatically." As for charges of political interference, she is unapologetic. "This is a public-health agency, and by its very nature, we're never going to satisfy every single constituency," she says candidly. "I tell [Administration officials] this is the science. This is the recommendation. What they do with it is beyond my control."

Not everybody blames Gerberding for the turmoil. "I don't think anyone denies that there's a morale problem at the CDC," says Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. But he attributes much of the upheaval to government-wide belt tightening rather than to Gerberding's reorganization, noting that core programs at the CDC have been cut 4.5% in each of the past two fiscal years. He and other experts believe that the agency needs at least $15 billion a year to do all the jobs it has been assigned--nearly twice the current budget of $8.5 billion.

Perhaps the most immediate problem is the number of senior-level people who are leaving. Part of that is an unavoidable function of aging--40% of the CDC's 9,000 employees will be eligible to retire in 2008. But there's also speculation that older scientists are being pushed to leave early. Either way, "you don't replace the experts at CDC easily," says Robert Keegan, deputy director of the agency's Global Immunization Division. "Management has said they've enacted better emergency standards, but until there's an emergency, you don't know."

State and local public-health officials are keeping a close eye on all the drama. "The most difficult organization in the world to change is a successful organization [like the CDC]," says Paul Halverson of the Arkansas department of health and human services. "If you're a company that is losing money every month, then it's easy to see the need to make a change." Of course, in this case, it's not just money but lives that are at stake.
With reporting by Greg Fulton / Atlanta, Alice Park / New York

Kirby on HuffPo: The Other Secret Bush Court?

The Other Secret Bush Court?
David Kirby
The Huffington Post

Next year, a "Special Master" in an obscure Federal court known only to a few Americans will preside over a highly sensitive judicial matter of urgent national importance. The Bush Administration wants to hold the hearings in a sealed courtroom, off limits to the press and public, with stiff "sanctions" for any outsider who attempts to gain unauthorized access to the secretive proceedings within.

Terror trials in faraway Gitmo? Good guess. But these are vaccine trials on New York Avenue, in downtown Washington, at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

You may not know it, but there is an official federal "vaccine court," where some 4,750 autism-related cases have been pending for years. Claimants believe the mercury-based vaccine preservative, thimerosal, and/or the MMR vaccine, contributed to their children's autism, and they are seeking compensation from a special vaccine injury fund administered by the federal government.

The long-awaited autism vaccine trial will commence on June 11 in the courtroom of Special Master George Hastings. The plaintiffs and their attorneys have asked for complete transparency in every aspect of the tribunal, including public disclosure of all evidence and unhindered media access to the hearings. The few autism families whose medical records will be scrutinized as legal examples are waiving their right to privacy and confidentiality, so that their stories may finally be told in an open court of law.

But the DOJ (technically, the "defense") has other plans. On November 3rd, the Department wrote to Hastings saying it "would oppose public access to the courtroom and public broadcast of the trial," because such an arrangement. "would pose security and privacy concerns" for those in attendance.

Exactly whose privacy are they trying to protect? It can't be the parents, because they don't want privacy. The only party fretting about privacy is the DOJ itself, and presumably, the vaccine makers. (As for "security" concerns, isn't that why we have court officers?).

The government may call this privacy, but I call it secrecy. In fact, there has been a long and unseemly history of secrecy when it comes to federal data on thimerosal and autism.

And let's face it: People don't hide something unless they have something to hide.

Back in 2002, Health and Human Services lawyers quietly slipped into vaccine court to file a protection order to permanently seal all thimerosal-related documents. They proposed sanctions for any lawyer who shared the secret government information with autism families, the public or the press. All thimerosal data would be banned from use in future civil cases, and any materials already given to plaintiffs would be rounded up by federal agents and destroyed. The motion was withdrawn after appropriate public outcry.

Many of those federal documents pertained to an off-limits database called the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), which tracks the medical records of hundreds of thousands of American children. Lawyers for the families have tried to gain access to the VSD for years, including a 2004 "Motion to Compel" that went nowhere.

In 2005, the Institute of Medicine issued a report slamming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which manages the VSD, for a "lack of transparency" in handling the data. Even more alarming, CDC officials testified that the original datasets they examined had "not been archived in a standard fashion," meaning they were either lost, or destroyed. Take your pick.

If the disappearance of these datasets was intentional, that would be a clear violation of the federal Data Quality Act. No wonder the IOM urged vaccine officials to "seek legal advice" on the status of the missing records.

But those missing datasets could well have been a bonanza to attorneys for the autism parents. Now they are gone.

And, without access to any of the raw data to which government lawyers are privy, the families' cases are woefully, and unconstitutionally, disadvantaged. In what other American court of law are defendants allowed access to evidence that is kept secret from plaintiffs?

Meanwhile, family lawyers have received 216,000 pages of discovery materials, sourced from federal agencies and private companies alike. They might well paint an incriminating portrait of thimerosal's role in autism, and that may be why individuals face a $250,000 penalty for any paper that is leaked.

But some documents have already been leaked, including one published in the Los Angeles Times showing that Merck officials knew of the cumulative and alarmingly high levels of mercury in vaccines way back in 1991, but said nothing about it to anyone.

Are there other incriminating memos from Merck (or Lilly or Glaxo, etc.)? My sources indicate that there are, but we may never get to see them. And now, by barring public access to the trial, we may never get to hear them, either.

If the DOJ has its way, only claimants and their attorneys will be allowed to sit in the courtroom, or receive password-enabled access to a live audio webcast of the trial. The media will be barred, and so will everyone else. And though there will be an official written transcript, such documents are sometimes redacted, or even sealed, after the trial.

As a journalist, I will be subject to "sanctions" if I sit in on a webcast without authorization from the court. In fact, unauthorized access to the proceedings, according to the DOJ proposal, might lead to "termination of the webcast and closing of the courtroom."

What remains unclear is whether journalists will be prosecuted for interviewing families who have access to the webcast, or who attend the trial in person. But if I get arrested for hanging around outside the court with my pen and notepad, don't blame me for trying.

Curiously, a final reason cited for barring reporters and others from vaccine court is that "opening the courtroom to the general public would make it more difficult for claimants themselves to attend." I know plenty of parents who would gladly give up their seat for, say, Wolf Blitzer or Brian Williams, but the DOJ apparently hasn't asked them.

I think it's safe to say that the Bush Administration does not want this trial publicized. That seems curious to me. The entire thimerosal question will likely be left up to just one man: Special Master Hastings. Whether he decides for the parents, or for the DOJ, his ruling will forever be considered within a vacuum, subject to intense criticism from either side, unless he agrees that all thimerosal evidence should at long last be made public.

I hope he rules that his courtroom is not Guantanamo. These parents, and the public at large, deserve no less.

----------

PS: My last post predicted that most autism parents would be voting Democratic this November, without giving proper credit to two members of the House GOP. Dan Burton (R-IN) and Dave Weldon (R-FL) are among the most open minded members when it comes to the mercury-autism hypothesis, and I apologize for the omission.

Meanwhile, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has been hostile, at best, to the theory. I congratulate Rep. Waxman on his ascendancy to the House Government Reform Committee Chairmanship, and respectfully ask him to read "Evidence of Harm," and, if possible and when he has time, to offer a response on the Huffington Post.