Seth Mnookin: The New Kid in Town

[Update: Good Grief... Seth Mnookin is a mess. I posted this piece less than two hours ago on Seth's claim on his blog that David Kirby might be out at the Huffington Post, and I JUST got this email in my inbox because I subscribe to Kirby's posts there:



I don't know what is worse for Mnookin, that Kirby had a post immediately on HuffPo, that it was on vaccines or that it was entitled, "Government and Many Scientists Agree: Vaccine-Autism Research Should Continue." How exactly is this guy a credible journalist!?

I emailed Kirby on Mnookin's speculation and he just replied: "I believe there may have been a bit of a backlog on the Health Page after the AOL merger, when other editors came on board to oversee the review process for medical pieces."

Mr. Kirby, If you are walking around NYC whatever you do, don't sit down, not even on a subway... Seth Mnookin might come along and pronounce you dead!]

Initial post:

... and by kid, I mean teenager.

In 2009, after five years of trying to have earnest discussions with people with a history of bad faith dealings on the vaccine issue, I gave up. I wrote a lengthy piece called, "Chris Mooney, Sheril Kirshenbaum, Lori Kozlowski, Rosie Mestel, Thomas Maugh, David Gorski, Virginia Hughes, Science Journalists, The Dying of the LA Times and an Angry Autism Mom," the thrust of which was that the grown ups that had retreated and that the only new blood that could be found to go out and defend the current disaster of a vaccine program were immature, teeny boppers (of varying chronological ages) whose underlying MO seemed to be wanting to be seen as cool and "sciency and stuff" to quote one of them. Consider this (and my next post) to be adjuncts to that one.

Well the jury is in and Seth Mnookin clearly qualifies for the brat pack. I think we were pretty clear on that when he called parents who might be concerned with the tripling of the vaccine schedule and giving a baby 8 vaccines at once at only two months of age, "Total Assholes."

Part of this rite of passage into this gang of Mean Girls posing as "science journalists" is of course to take a swipe or two at David Kirby, someone who actually practices science journalism... and get this... does it like a grown up.

So Mr. Mnookin writes a piece I guess announcing that David Kirby is no longer welcome on The Huffington Post. I have no idea if that is true or not (and if so, how does Mnookin know this), as he was posting there as of two weeks ago, but might make sense since AOL/TW has purchased it and the mainstream media has been asked by Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama Administration (and probably their Pharma advertisers) to censor criticism on the vaccine program, no matter how legit it is.

But of course, this would be a dumb move for HuffPo if they actually care about circulation as Kirby's columns on vaccination garner hundreds of comments and generate traffic, so if such a decision has been made, then it is not in order to make its readers happy, it is to make the entrenched powers that be happy. Which of course is why the main stream media is dying and the Huffington Post became popular in the first place, which I guess means that we can begin to see the decline of this and other successful online outlets and Big Journalism's money rushes in to corrupt it? We will watch and see.

But in the mean time, Mnookin is happy, yes happy, that censorship is taking place on vaccine issues.

But then again, he is a censor himself...

Yeah... I can't get him to post my comments on his blog unless I post them some where else, and that apparently embarrasses him into posting them, but with some sort of face saving thing... I don't know... Not a grown up... read on.

Long story short... Mnookin launched personal attacks Harvard's Dr. Martha Herbert and PBS's Robert MacNeil after they had a real discussion on vaccine causation that didn't stick to Offit's approved talking points. So JB Handley launched an attack on Seth Mnookin, pointing out that while Herbert and MacNeil were busy earning their world class credentials, Mnookin was honing his skills as a thief and a heroin addict. Rather than learning that people in glass houses should not throw stones, Mnookin, being the entitled adolescent that he is, shook his finger at JB for hurting his feelings and played the victim.

Mnookin wears his past as a heroin addict/thief like a beauty queen wears her sash. As I read his own accounts of his more than decade long hard core NY heroin addict life, I kept waiting for the part where he regrets it and is broken over what his actions did to those who loved him and tried for so many years to help him, but I just can't find it. (You know that humble softness that recovering addicts have, where they know that they are broken and accept the brokenness of others? That place where the are in that their ego has kinda melted away and they are healing to those around them because of it? I don't see that at all in Seth Mnookin. Quite the contrary.) One of his pieces actually ends with a bitter stab at his own mother for not trusting him any more after all that he did to his family. The guy clearly thinks he is entitled to display horrible, selfish and anti-social behavior for half his life, and use that past addict life to gain street cred with the NY journalism scene and mount a writing career, but somehow not reap any of the natural adverse consequences of said life of drugs and crime.

Drug addicts are interesting and amusing, but they are not trustworthy people. One has to get really good at lying to maintain that life. It takes a lot of years and a lot of work to show that they should be trusted. I don't see evidence of that kind of work in Mr. Mnookin. I do not see him as a trust worthy person.

As I have said, I am thrilled for the guy that he quit using and built a life. That is not the norm with his level of addiction, and good for him. Not even a little bit of sarcasm in my statements on that. But the expectation that he should then be trusted by moms across America with medical advice for their children? (When he has made clear that his own mother does not even trust him?) That suggests that there has clearly been some arrested development as one would expect during a time of prolonged drug use. (...and perhaps a bit of grandiosity? He is setting himself up as having more credibility on this than David Kirby, Robert MacNeil and Dr. Martha Herbert?)

But now back to the censorship thing... so on that post on how JB upset Seth, I posted a comment:

"I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd driven by charity and good will.” – Seth Mnookin
Parents who want to make their own vaccine decisions are “total assholes.” – Seth Mnookin, American University, “Communicating to the Public”

Mr. Mnookin, the idea that you have entered into a good faith relationship, as an objective journalist, to the public and to the biomedical autism/vaccine injury community, for which you can expect that you will be treated with generosity and be given the benefit of the doubt…. well that is just silly.

The expectation that your very long history of serious IV drug addiction and accompanying anti-social and illegal behavior will not cut into your credibility on any topic, (much less one on the safety of injectables) is frankly, unreasonable.

I began my counseling career doing outpatient drug counseling in the psychology department of Johns Hopkins and I have seen more than a few tragic stories. So please believe me when I say that I am very, very happy for you that you kicked your habit, that you have had some restoration with your family, and that you now have a career and a family of your own.

But as a recovering addict, surely you have to understand that actions have consequences. Your formative years were spent… well… not forming a man of good judgement and good character. That is lost time that is difficult to win back. And while you may have kicked your habit, your judgment on these matters remains in question. Starting with the expectation that no one is going to hold against you severe drug use, which spans around half your life, when making judgments about your good judgement.

Long term drug addiction causes a stunting of emotional maturation. I see it in you, as do many in our community.

It may hurt to be called out for this difficult part of your life, but your contempt for these families you criticize has been evident from the time you began misrepresenting yourself to parents while you researched your book, up until today.

If you want to be treated respectfully, you have to treat people with respect. Calling a significant percentage of parents in this country “total assholes” for trying to work in the best interests of their own children in light of an under researched and indiscriminate vaccine program (which all sides admit will kill some and injure others) betrays your contempt for them. Expect then to be treated likewise.”

To the point and respectful, I thought, but apparently not one that Mr. Mnookin wanted on his blog. He declined to post the comment. But I had also posted it on JB's column on AoA, with the following preface:

Mnookin is complaing aboout this post. Says it is hurtful to him. I posted a comment, but don’t know if he will allow it, so I am posting it here too:

Well several hours later Seth apparently discovered that my comment was public and put it up at the end of his comment stream with the following note:

Note: This comment was sent in by Ginger Taylor at approximately the same time I said I was shutting down the comments. Since she was unaware that comments were being closed when she was writing it, I will post it here.

Except that I had posted this hours before he "closed the comments" (something that I don't think I have ever done here, what is with that?) right after JB, and should have been half way through the comment thread. Further, the copy he published was copied off of AoA, as it has my AoA comment and even the date signature at the bottom. So he moderated my comment out, found out it was public, and lied and said I got it in at the last minute. Nice.

So yesterday I commented on Seth's post about David Kirby and his celebration of censorship with the following comment:

Following JB's line of questioning, I am interested in your thoughts on the admission of David Bowman at HRSA (who runs VICP) that vaccines can cause encephalopathy that causes autism as reported by David Kirby.

Following the Poling vaccine concession, Kirby wrote to HRSA and asked if this now meant that the VICP was now paying for vaccine induced autism. This the "official statement" that HRSA sent him:

"From: Bowman, David (HRSA) [mailto:DBowman@hrsa.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:22 PM
To: 'dkirby@nyc.rr.com'
Subject: HRSA Statement

David,

In response to your most recent inquiry, HRSA has the following
statement:

The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to
compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually
caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children
exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy
may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms
including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.

Some children who have been compensated for vaccine injuries may have
shown signs of autism before the decision to compensate, or may
ultimately end up with autism or autistic symptoms, but we do not track
cases on this basis.

Regards,

David Bowman
Office of Communications
Health Resources and Services Administration
301-443-3376" *

Is this not a very significant disclosure by HHS and in conflict with many of their public statements of autism causation? HHS has admitted that vaccines can cause brain damage that becomes "autistic behavior, autism, or seizures". Rather than question HHS on this and ask how they made that determination, and how many autism cases they have compensated, you want David Kirby not to be able to have a public forum to ask questions any more?

How is that journalism? How does this not show that you are simply bias and want those who might punch holes in your high praise of the vaccine program shut down?

And when there are so few voices attempting to keep HHS honest on vaccine injury, do you not think that it is a serious problem when outlets begin to censor those voices? How then will corruption in the vaccine program be prevented from taking hold? Is the vaccine program above suspicious when we know the same companies and public health officials are suspect in other product lines and policies? By what magical process are vaccines exempt from critical review and media scrutiny? Merck lies about Vioxx, is fined more than 400 million dollars for Medicaid fraud, but their MMR and other vaccines is perfect at all times, Merck would never lie about vaccine safety and should not be questioned or reviewed?

CDC employees steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical and computer equipment from their own building, but all their vaccine statements are honest and should never be questioned?

As a journalist, do you support the suppression and censorship of accurate information offered by earnest reporters?

If the vaccine program is truly with out corruption and is somehow exactly flawless in its operation and policy, how long do you think that will last if media outlets [suppress criticism on it?]

There were 24 doses of vaccine on the schedule when we were children, now there are 70 and two more will be added shortly. With no oversight from the courts due to Bruesewitz and with the media unable to question vaccine policy, what prevents multinational corporations from purchasing public health agencies and getting 100 doses of vaccine on the childhood schedule? How many is too many? 150? Are we allowed to talk about this in the media?

And you think it is a GOOD thing if media outlets stop reviewing vaccine policy for potential damage to children?

Vaccines are pharmaceuticals like any other, their production and use are subject to media review like any other. Why do you celebrate the repression of media scrutiny that can only serve to make sure the vaccine program is as safe as possible?

And while other comments (including one praising him for letting "anti-vaccine" voices like JB Handley be heard on his blog) were approved, and Mr. Mnookin has since posted new articles, my comment is no where to be found. (What does JB have that I don't got?)

Seth is fond of dishing it out, taking it like a grown up... not so much.

So... I have to ask the same question of Seth that I have of his fellow play mates... Why exactly would parents turn to you for advice when you are clearly biased, treat parents like crap and behave with less maturity than my ten year old?

How many mothers are sitting at home thinking...

"You know... I hear there are safety concerns about the vaccine program. What is at stake in my vaccine decisions for my child is his very life itself. If I make a bad choice he could die or end up with brain damage or a host of other life long problems either from a disease or from the vaccine for a disease. I need to do some research. Who to turn to for the care of my most precious possession.....

I know! There is this really pretentious, arrogant guy who does't seem to like his mother who spent his teens a twenties stealing cash from loved ones to fuel his heroin chic life style because he though he was Hunter S. Thompson, and who thinks that parents like me are "Total Assholes". So yeah, he rejoices over the idea of vaccine safety advocates being shut out of the discussion on the vaccine program, and sure, he lied to his interview subjects about the book he was writing, but I GOTTA find out what he thinks about vaccine safety. I can think of no more wise human being in whom I can entrust the life, health and welfare of my child!"

I cannot understand what The Powers That Be are thinking. Was "The Situation" not available be their spokes person for vaccine safety?

Louis Cooper and others keep saying that they are SO concerned with the trust in the vaccine program and of AAP in general. If that is so why do they continue to go to fishing in the Pool of Maturationally Challenged Disaffected Youth, clamoring to become "science journalists" to prove something to somebody. Why is Mnookin being promoted if they want parents to trust the vaccine program? It is truly mind boggling.

And I (and many others) have been writing this for YEARS! And we know they read us. Daily! Just glancing at my stats, as I was writing this piece, the State Department visited my web site to watch Dr. Bock's appearance on Fox News.

What are these meetings like?

Kathleen Sebelius: I hear vaccine sales are dropping... brief me.

CDC Number Cruncher: Vaccine rates still dropping.

AAP: Well Offit has been doing yeoman's work, but parents are just to dumb to understand his brilliance. We can't understand why they don't trust us any more.

One Lone Doctor Speaking Softly: Well it may be that our vaccine market is saturated and the public won't buy any more because they are finding diminishing returns at this point. Perhaps we should call Dr. Sears for some kind of partnership? Parents are listening to him. Maybe we can save the vaccine program by customizing it for vulnerable subsets and admitting some of the problems that have been found through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program... even bringing some of our critics onboard to make sure we have things straight... I think that might boost trust in us and confidence in the program.

Merck Goon: Who the hell is that guy?! How did you get in here? What is your name? Where do you practice? (aside) Get him out of here... take his name down... get his state medical board on the phone.

Sebelius: Well then get out there people. Push those talking points!

AAP: Don't look at us... we are not going out there where people can ask us questions!

Sebelius: Frieden... what about you guys.

Thomas Freiden: Hells no! I am not getting outed like Gerberding did. I am gonna bide my time quietly, stay off the radar and then take my Glaxo payday.

Sebelius: Well I am not going out there any more. Last time I got my ass handed to me by Fran Dresher, for cripes sake. We need new cannon fodder. Who can we scrounge up?

AAP: Our MD's just look stupid when they do it. Even Iannelli on About.com looks like a jerk because he puts out our talking points and then can't answer challenges in the comments section. We have to send in the anonymous trolls to try to bail him out. We are out of ideas.

Robert Mnookin: Well, I got this nephew who needs a job. He is kind of a screw up, but I think he got his act together, wrote a book about baseball and he can add two and two.

Sebelius: What's his baggage?

Mnookin: Heroin. Theft. Wanted to be Hunter S. Thompson when he grew up. But he has been clean for years now.

Sebelius: No, no... we need someone to inspire trust... what else we got?

Glaxo: Just Brian Deer.

Sebelius: I need you to be serious... who else is there.

Crickets: Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Mnookin: I think we should give Seth a try. Some of the NY journalists think he is "cool".

Sebelius: Well I guess thats something... let's go with your nephew then. Call him and tell him to take Offit's class and get started. Get him booked on Colbert, etc, but our finger prints cannot be on this.

Mnookin: You won't be sorry.

Sebelius: I'm sure I will be, but I only have to hold my nose for two more years, then I will be at Sanofi taking board meetings in the South of France and won't have to deal with these meddling parents any more."

And the vaccine program continues to go down the drain.

(This is part one in a two part series of ad hominem arguments... second coming soon)

* For more on the Bowman statement.

Update 5/6/2011

Mr. Mnookin updated his post here to reflect that "Unfortunately, it looks like my optimism was misplaced", and written a new one here: to reflect his lament that David Kirby is not being censored.

My comment on his blog that will probably not see the light of day there:

If there was any question that you are not a real journalist, I think this answers it.

When the White House decided it was going to give interviews to CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN, while cutting out Fox News, the other four networks refused to participate in the press event unless Fox was included. Those networks do not like Fox and they are regularly beat in the ratings by Fox, but they backed Fox, which they hate, over a President, who they love, because they understand that censorship is the worst enemy of journalism and a free society. They knew how dangerous the precedent was that the White House was attempting to set, and they did not allow them to do it.

They practiced real journalism.

Mr. Mnookin, while still not posting any of my comments, addressed calling parents "Total Assholes" here. I left yet another comment, but if past behavior is a predictor of future behavior, which it is, the comment will not be posted, so I am posting it here as well:

Along the lines of Dr. Gordon's comments, I too have some trouble with your lamenting of the premature deaths of these children.

While there were 10 deaths last year from pertussis, the CDC Wonder database lists 41 deaths of children associated with pertussis vaccines? And that was one of the lowest numbers of deaths listed in years.

42 in 2009, 76 in 2008, 82 in 2007... 126 in 1994, 148 in 1993... Do you lament the more than 1,750 children who have died following this vaccine since 1989? Where is the balance in your reporting on this, if you are the earnest journalist that you claim you seek to be?

Do you not see that under the current vaccine policy that seeks to vaccinate all children with out screening for the known subsets that may be vulnerable to vaccine injury or death, that the cure might actually be worse than the disease at this point?

Further, I have counted 27 premature deaths last year that came as a direct result of autism (seizures, wanderings, drowning, neglect, abuse and even being shot by police for acting strange). Where is your concern for preventing the risk to our children?

Why do the dozen deaths you cite trump the close to 70 deaths last year that I have written about? Were their deaths some how acceptable when the others were not? Did you even know about them? Have you looked?

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

update: I have written ad nausium about this phenom. Overzealous and unwise defender of the vaccine program makes untenable statements and claims in an attempt to get parents to vaccinate with out question. Parents challenge said vaccine program defender. Vaccine program defender can't give a good answer with out a) having to recognize that critics are actual human beings that should be treated with a modicum of dignity b) being forced to actually enter into an earnest discussion with said critic c)having to make corrections on untenable statements.

Still not comments allowed on Seths blog, but I left another comment:

I see your "total assholes" comment as applying to parents who say, "Well, this is my decision."

But lets give you the benefit of the doubt and go with the idea that you ONLY meant that parents who want to make their own decisions, but don't recognize that their child may transmit illnesses.

Then two points:

First:

I am a parent who has decided to make my own vaccine decisions for my children. Am I a "total asshole"?

I recognize that viruses exist and often talk about the fact that when my father was seven and his little brother was five, they and their father contracted Polio. My father had flu like symptoms at home, my uncle was hospitalized for several weeks, and my grandfather died. That death sent a shock wave through my family that is still felt. Which I why I think that we need a vaccine program.

But I absolutely believe the current vaccine program is corrupt to the bone and likely doing more harm than good. I have been documenting it for 7 years. So, am I one of those who is not "worth your time"?

I am having trouble telling if I fit into the category of person or non-person to you. Do I count?

Should the fact that you won't post my comments, while posting the comments of other critics of yours signal that I don't count?

Second point:

If you think that those who deny the disease risk group are "total assholes," then are not your comments the height of hypocracy?

As I mentioned... 10 v. 41 deaths.

We have TWO risk groups in play here. One that is at risk from dying or being injured by the disease, and one that is at risk from dying or being injured from the vaccine, right?

(My grandfather was in one, my vaccine injured son is in the other... two risk groups)

You classify people who want to protect the vaccine risk group at the expense of the disease risk group, "total assholes", while you vociferously advocate for the disease risk group with a 'to hell with the vaccine risk group' attitude. You seem perfectly fine with them being sacrificed for the disease risk group.

Does this make you a "total asshole"? Or not worth the time of readers or the public?

When it looks that FOUR TIMES the number of children are dying from the vaccine than are from the disease in the case you cite?

Update: I emailed Seth directly and he said that my comments are posted on his site now. Except for the comment about the networks. I can't get it to post and he thinks that it is a Word Press problem.

Does Brian Deer Have Aspergers?

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

(from Deer's own blog)

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

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

No... one cannot outgrow Asperger's.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Meningococcal disease is rare but it can be deadly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Offit Called Out For Lying AGAIN!

Why does this man still get published!

In 2008 CBS ran this piece:



(My blog on in here.)

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

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

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

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

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

PBS Newshour: Robert MacNeil Looks At Autism Prevalance

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

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

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

Just a heads up.

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

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

Let's see how it goes.

Thorsen's NANEA, the Enron of Research Facilities?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where is our Eliot Ness?

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

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

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

"I am ready to kill to get there."


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In return, states Head not swath of the forecast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Before:

After:

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

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

Thorsen (2003)

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

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

The Poul Thorsen Indictment is Out

You can read them here, here and here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned folks.

My Gratitude to David Kirby

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

PBS Newshour: Robert MacNeil Shares his Grandson's Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

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

Update: MacNeil/Lehrer discuss autism and the series.



Update:

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

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



Questions from the Audience