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

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

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

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

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

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

Before:

After:

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

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

Thorsen (2003)

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

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

The Poul Thorsen Indictment is Out

You can read them here, here and here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned folks.

My Gratitude to David Kirby

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

PBS Newshour: Robert MacNeil Shares his Grandson's Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

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

Update: MacNeil/Lehrer discuss autism and the series.



Update:

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

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



Questions from the Audience

Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice on Maine Informed Consent Bills

Marching orders on supporting the Maine bill.

U.S Attorney General Issues Press Release on Poul Thorsen

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

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

Can-O-Worms.

Here is the DOJ's statement:

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

AUTISM RESEARCHER INDICTED FOR STEALING GRANT MONEY

Thorsen Allegedly Absconded With Over $1 Million

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please repost everywhere.

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

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

A Time to Lead

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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

Dane indicted for defrauding CDC | Atlanta Business Chronicle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maine HHS Committee Votes Against Informed Consent in Vaccination

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

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

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

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

Original post:

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

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

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

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

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

The Vaccine Program is Self-Policing.

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

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

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


Deborah J. Sanderson, Republican from Chelsea, Maine


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


Heather W. Sirocki, Republican from Scarborough, Maine

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

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

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

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

It doesn't have to be this way.

The Godboldo Case: How Mainstream Med Continues to Self Immolate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Supporting arguments:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The First Amendment is Good

Attempts at stifling free discussion are bad.