Rediscovering “Donald T.”: John Donvan and Caren Zucker Steal a Story

Last Tuesday, John Donvan and Caren Zucker wrote a beautiful article for The Atlantic, entitled, “Autism’s First Child”, accompanied by a video packet that ran on Good Morning America and followed by a lengthy interview on NPR, about the first patient ever diagnosed with autism.  Donald Triplett.  These intrepid reporters, share how they searched and found this man who had been lost to history, and share with the world what a successful life he turned out to have.  Donald was raised in a small town, by parents who stuck by him despite the recommendation of professionals to institutionalize him, and alongside neighbors who loved, accepted and supported him.  He went to college, joined a fraternity, worked at a bank, drives a car and plays golf.  It is a story that, as a mother of an 8 year old boy with autism, gives me hope.

But the problem is that it is not their story, the whole story, and the most newsworthy part of the story.

You see, in 1943, Leo Kanner, a Johns Hopkins Child Psychologist, wrote a paper in which he described a rare disorder he found in 11 children.  The disorder became known as “Autism” and Kanner referred to the first case he found as “Donald T.”, a boy who was indeed lost to history.  And it was intrepid journalistic investigating that found that Donald was still alive and living well in Mississippi.  But it wasn’t ABC’s Donvan and Zucker who found him in 2010.  It was a UPI’s Dan Olmsted who found him in 2005.

That year, Olmsted began a series for UPI called, “The Age of Autism”, which investigated the relationship between vaccines and autism.   While reading Kanner’s paper to look for clues to any toxic exposures or physical symptoms the first children with autism may have had, Olmsted discovered that Kanner’s patient zero lived in an area where a water soluble form of mercury was first used in forestry.  Potentially clinically significant as mercury was the component in vaccines suspected by many of being a causal factor in autism.  So Dan Olmsted decided to try to find Donald T.  And he found him living a full life in Mississippi. 

While Kanner’s other cases had poor outcomes, Donald did not.  It turns out Donald received a medical treatment that Kanner never recorded when, as a boy, he fell victim to crippling juvenile arthritis. Donald was treated with gold salts and his brother reported that as a result, Donald not only recovered from the arthritis, but "The proclivity to excitability and extreme nervousness had all but cleared up”. 

Donald began to recover from “autism”.

This is highly relevant to the autism debate because gold has an extreme affinity for mercury and pulls it from the body.  It is also significant because arthritis links his “nervous disorder” to his autoimmune disorder.  It is historical evidence that the claims that parents have been making, that their children with autism had regressed after their mercury containing vaccines, and that treating them for their autoimmune symptoms makes their “autism” better, are on the money.

In 2005 Dan Olmsted published a series of articles on Donald, the most explosive being, “The Age of Autism: Case 1 Revisited”, which poured gasoline on the fiery debate on whether or not autism is a result of medical poisoning and is treatable. 

Everyone in the debate has known about Donald T. for five years, and although Olmsted did not publish his full name, it was known by many.  Googling – “Donald T.” autism – returns more than 8,000 pages.

Olmsted wrote the “Age of Autism” series until 2007, when he left UPI and started a blog called, “Age of Autism”, where thousands a day come to comment and debate.

This past Tuesday, Olmsted published a book, written with autism parent Mark Blaxill, called “The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Manmade Epidemic”.  Chapter 6 is where you will find Donald Triplett, who decided to come out of his self-imposed anonymity to be interviewed in May of 2009 by Olmsted and Blaxill to expand on the public understanding of his story for the book.

As an autism blogger whose commentary on the initial Age of Autism series eventually became an installment in the series itself, I was given an advanced copy last May.  I was so floored by the book that I built them the web site for it, gratis.

Galley copies also went to The Atlantic, NPR and ABC, but the outlets didn’t tell Olmsted’s story, instead they carried Donvan and Zucker’s puff piece.  Given that Donvan is a correspondent on Nightline, that Zucker is a producer for ABC in New York as well as an autism parent, and that this team has been reporting on autism for over a decade, it is impossible to fathom that they would not have known about the book (and Olmsted’s reporting) if a little autism blogger, tucked away on the coast of Maine, had one in her hands last spring.

So imagine my shock as I watched the video of Donvan and Zucker entitled, “Finding Donald”, where they describe the process of tracking down who “Donald T.” actually was, pronounce to the world that Kanner’s first autism case was sill alive, write extensively about his life, and fail to mention that he is evidence that blanket government health care mandates and FDA corruption and/or incompetence may be causing widespread neurological and immune system damage to more than one percent of children in this country.

Donvan/Zucker hit three major outlets with their Donald T. revelation at the same time that the book Olmsted has been researching for six years hit the shelves.  Olmsted, his reporting, his book and Donald’s connection to the mercury/autoimmunity aspects of autism, which Donvan and Zucker even touched on in their article, are never mentioned. 

It raises the question, why would these news outlets make an end around “The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Manmade Epidemic”, and try to bury this book?

Please catch my next article.  I tell the world about a talented new singer I have discovered.  She goes by the name of… get this…“Lady GaGa”.

Update:

NYT and WaPo publish fawning articles on The Atlantic piece.  Both NYT and WaPo also got advanced copies of The Age of Autism.

Update: Olmsted and Blaxill discuss the book on Fox Business:

Is Autism Man Made?



Is There a Vaccine-Autism Link?

Julie Gerberding Now Officially a Paid Pharma Shill Withholding her Conflicts of Interest

Your favorite CDC director and mine, Julie Gerberding, is back to help ABC news scare you into vaccinating with the rushed and poorly tested H1N1 flu shot by using the now tried and true, "On no... there's gonna be a vaccine shortage, get yours now", offense in their piece:


"Swine Flu: Should We Be Worried?
Possible 'Global Grab' for Swine Flu Vaccine If Faced With Shortages"

(UPDATE: After getting some criticism for scare mongering, ABC changed the title of the piece to, "CDC Downplays Swine Flu Vaccine Fears: Goverment Health Officials Say U.S. Preparations Should Preclude Risk of Shortage")

A few years back, there was an actual seasonal flu shot shortage because of a failure in manufacturing, and the news reported on it. To everyone's surprise, people RAN to get shots, even waiting in long lines. More people got flu shots that year than ever.

So now, they do it every year just before the fall. Get your flu shots before they run out! So of course the are using this tactic with swine flu (FYI, I listened in on the HHS National Biodefense Science Board meeting today on the Swine Flu and they are expecting to have tens of millions of vaccines available by September 15th [or sooner] and more than 190 million available by October, that is most of the US just in the first two months of flu season)

After the scare piece, Dr. Gerberding is introduced to us for a short interview thusly:

"Joining us now from Atlanta, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Julie Gerberding. ... do you have an update on when that vaccine might be available?

Dr. Gerberding shares with us:

Well if everything goes well, we should have vaccine early in the fall. But we've never had the luxury of being able to count on vaccine as the magic bullet in the early months. We know there is not going to be enough globally, and it will be many months before we can even cover our own population under the best scenario...

I am sure the public feels reassured about the vaccine by seeing the familiar face of a public health official talking about "magic" vaccines.

Except that Dr. Gerberding is not a public health official any more. She is now a PR consultant.

Gerberding left CDC in January at the request of the Obama administration and subsequently went to work for the global giant PR firm Edelman as an "adviser on global health strategy".

And Edelman represents PHARMA. And AstraZeneca, Novartis, Pfizer, Abbott Laboratories, and Johnson & Johnson.

And Merck.

Edelman gave us the "One Less" campaign.



From PR Watch:

"The PR genius behind all stages of Merck's HPV and Gardasil campaigns is the PR giant Edelman. The world's largest independent PR firm, Edelman boasts more than 2,100 employees working in 46 wholly owned offices worldwide, plus the additional resources of more than 50 affiliates. They report $299 million in revenues for FY 2006. In addition to Merck, Edelman works on behalf of the industry lobby group PhRMA, as well as some of the largest pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Novartis, Pfizer, Abbott Laboratories, and Johnson & Johnson. They proudly promote their health-related expertise as being adept in pioneering "health relationships with health care companies, advocacy organizations, foundations, NGOs and academic institutions." Co-optation, anyone?"

And INFOTAB, Big Tobacco's marketing group:

Edelman has made a name for itself outside of the pharmaceutical realm as well. A key chapter in Edelman's long and sordid history is their work on behalf of Big Tobacco. For example, in 1978, Edelman, working on behalf of R.J. Reynolds, produced a document titled Taking the Initiative on the Smoking Issue: A Total Program. The introduction states "The public mind-set against cigarettes is so firm that one cannot conscientiously promise miracles from the campaign suggested here. But we believe this program, executed effectively, can begin to slow or reverse the growing negative trends in public opinion regarding smoking; can stimulate a more balanced media coverage of smoking; and can generate a more congenial dialogue between smokers and non-smokers.... (Read that whole article.)"

Nice eh?

(Especially considering Gerberding was trying to end smoking at CDC, but then went to work for a PR firm that promotes smoking.)

In fact Richard Edelman, Dr. Gerberding's boss, is quite open about the fact that he makes his living by lying to the public creative truthing.

“In this era of exploding media technologies there is no truth except the truth you create for yourself.” – Richard Edelman

Edelman put his skills to work in praising Gerberding:

"Just prior to Dr. Julie Gerberding’s January 2009 resignation as Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, advertising industry mogul Richard Edelman praised her as a “selfless crusader, a throw-back to a time when public service was the highest calling.” Edelman cited Gerberding’s ability in “humanizing communications” and “the need to tell stories to buttress traditional CDC reliance on science and facts.”

So there you have it. Today Dr. Gerberding has come full circle from a public health official making ridiculous statements that shilled for PHARMA, to a PHARMA shill posing as a public health official.

Same schtick, just someone else signing a bigger check to her.

Watching this again, how could we have not just assumed that she would go into public relations.




UPDATE: Apparently the good doctor has begun making the rounds offering up a 'live healthy' message, that begins with slipping in a subtle message that is in the interests of PHARMA.

The day after the ABC interview, this opinion piece surfaced:

Gerberding: Will health reform make us healthier?

Robert Reich reported that Pharma was trying to kill part of the health reform bill that would drive down drug prices.

Julie is as entitled to her opinion as I am to mine, however she is not disclosing her conflicts of interest.

What are my conflicts of interest, you ask? Well in five years of blogging I have received about $1,850 in donations from individuals and ad sales from Lee Silsby (I discontinued ads cause I don't wanna mess with it). That works out to about $1.71 per blog post, as I have written 1082 of them.

My child is not in the Vaccine Injury Compensation pipeline and we are not suing anyone over anything.

Another Update: Another day, another new Gerberding article. Nothing since she left CDC in January, and now three in three days.

This one is her in Forbes praising NYC for its trans-fat ban.

I didn't see any conflicts of interest there. But I thought surely they woman would not just be talking about good health for the sake of her health.

Then tonight I realized that her successor at CDC, Thomas R. Frieden, was the NYC Health Commissioner who put the trans-fat ban in place. Well no conflict of interest there, just praising her successor.

But then I did another search on Edelman and Source Watch says that Edelman has some government PR contracts. I wonder if CDC is one of those government contracts.

Edelman and Gerberding met working together at a CDC Foundation where he was on the board. I wonder if that won him a contract.

I wonder if Edelman and co. were responsible for her "Pretty in Pink" makeover for the CNN interview? The change in her look was dramatic.

I will see if I can find out if there is a formal relationship between CDC and Edelman PR.

Update: On January 25th 2010, after a legally mandated one year waiting period, Julie Gerberding took her new position as the head of the vaccine division of Merck.

Julie Gerberding Named Head of Merck Vaccines


Addendum:

Recently I watched the BBC Documentary, "The Century of the Self", which details how Sigmund Freud's theories on the human psyche were used by his nephew to give birth to the PR industry. It was truly astonishing to see how we have been abused for a hundred years.

I am tacking it on to the end of this post as it is relevant.

Take the time to watch this four hour series. It is quite the wake up call to start thinking for yourself.

I have considered my self psych and media savvy, but I had no idea how many of my decisions had been made for me.

“We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things even before the old have been entirely consumed. We must shape a new mentality in America. Man’s desires must over shadow his needs.”

- Paul Mazer, Public Relations, Lehman Brothers in the 1930’s

GMA Confirms Jenkins Comments Were About Autism

Last week GMA ran a piece on vaccines and autism that included a quote by Rene Jenkins of the AAP.

 "Ninty Seven plus percent of children don't have these defects, so, when you look at what the risk and the benefits to children are, and, you really weigh the risks, then the benefits far outweigh the risks that occur."

I wrote a piece heavily criticizing AAP for throwing away three percent of the population to serious vaccine injury.

Andrea Keller called GMA to see if they would release the rest of the interview.  They said their policy is not to release unused footage, but that the context of the conversation was Autism.

Daivd Kirby called AAP and asked for comment, and they said that Jenkins 'misspoke' and she was talking about minor vaccine reactions like "localized pain and swelling, and/or fever."

I spoke with the producer of the GMA piece this morning who interviewed Jenkins.  She reiterated that they don't release unused interviews, but she was nice enough to read me the question that was asked and Jenkins full response.

The discussion was about autism and not minor vaccine reactions.  The question was a version of 'can you rule out an association between vaccines and autism', and Jenkins answer was something to the effect of 'you can never rule out an association between anything and anything else, but we don't see an association.... but in the case of Hannah Poling...', (the interviewer had not mentioned Hannah).  And that lead into her quote, "Ninty Seven plus percent of children don't have these defects, so, when you look at what the risk and the benefits to children are, and, you really weigh the risks, then the benefits far outweigh the risks that occur."

So ABC DID use the quote correctly and in context.

David Kirby reports:

"I was told [by AAP] that Dr. Jenkins misspoke when she referred to children with “defects.” What she was talking about is the subset of children who have adverse vaccine reactions such as localized pain and swelling, and/or fever."

Jenkins was NOT talking about minor reactions and autism was the subject Autism and Hanna Poling WAS Jenkins reference point.

If Jenkins was misspeaking then that was a pretty out there misstatement.  If someone was asked about about the percentage of people who get brain damage from boxing, how would one rationally include bloody noses in the answer?

I encouraged ABC to follow up on this and help us get a real statement from AAP (or CDC) on what they believe the percentage is for kids who are at risk serious vaccine reaction and autism.

And We Have A Winner!

And the winner of the Mainstream Journalist Who is Paying Attention And Has The Balls To Report The Governments Vaccine Injury Concession goes to... AP reporter Marilyn Marchione!

It took a week, and she plays down the importance of the case, but she didn't spike it either. AND she mentioned McCain and the press conference. She didn't leave any of the big points out.

Congratulations Marilynn. You, unlike Dan Childs of ABC News, and all the other networks, and most of the political bloggers,.. and pretty much every other main stream reporter at any other American news outlet... are an actual reporter.

Now lets see if any of the news outlets are as much of a man as Marilyn is and actually run the story.

UPDATE: And apparently the Atlanta Journal Constitution is the man!

I am actually going to give the AJC a few extra little props for being the first newspaper to run the story, because the CDC is in their back yard, and in the past they have not been super friendly to the vaccine/autism connection.

Good for you AJC. If you had ignored the story, what with Hanna's press conference at your own courthouse tomorrow, you would not have looked so good. Plus, Hanna is your home town girl.

Government Concedes Vaccine Injury Case
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE – 1 hour ago

Government health officials have conceded that childhood vaccines worsened a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms in a Georgia girl, and that she should be paid from a federal vaccine-injury fund.

Medical and legal experts say the narrow wording and circumstances probably make the case an exception — not a precedent for thousands of other pending claims.

The government "has not conceded that vaccines cause autism," said Linda Renzi, the lawyer representing federal officials, who have consistently maintained that childhood shots are safe.

However, parents and advocates for autistic children see the case as a victory that may help certain others. Although the science on this is very limited, the girl's disorder may be more common in autistic children than in healthy ones.

"It's a beginning," said Kevin Conway, a Boston lawyer representing more than 1,200 families with vaccine injury claims. "Each case is going to have to be proved on its individual merits. But it shows to me that the government has conceded that it's biologically plausible for a vaccine to cause these injuries. They've never done it before."

A lawyer for the 9-year-old girl has scheduled a news conference in Atlanta on Thursday. Her parents have declined to comment in the meantime because the case is not final and the payment amount has not been set.

Nearly 5,000 families are seeking compensation for autism or other developmental disabilities they blame on vaccines and a mercury-based preservative, thimerosal. It once was commonly used to prevent bacterial contamination but since 2001 has been used only in certain flu shots. Some cases contend that the cumulative effect of many shots given at once may have caused injuries.

The cases are before a special "vaccine court" that doles out cash from a fund Congress set up to pay people injured by vaccines and to protect makers from damages as a way to help ensure an adequate vaccine supply. The burden of proof is lighter than in a traditional court, and is based on a preponderance of evidence. Since the fund started in 1988, it has paid roughly 950 claims — none for autism.

Studies repeatedly have discounted any link between thimerosal and autism, but legal challenges continue. The issue even cropped up in the presidential campaign, with Republican John McCain asserting on Friday that "there's strong evidence" autism is connected to the preservative.

The girl has a disorder involving her mitochondria, the energy factories of cells. The disorder — which can be present at birth from an inherited gene or acquired later in life — impairs cells' ability to use nutrients, and often causes problems in brain functioning. It can lead to delays in walking and talking.

Federal officials say the law bars them from discussing the case or releasing documents without the family's permission. However, The Associated Press obtained a copy of the concession by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials.

According to the document, five vaccines the girl received on one day in 2000 aggravated her mitochondrial condition, predisposing her to metabolic problems that manifested as worsening brain function "with features of autism spectrum disorder." In the 1990s, the definition of autism was expanded to take in a group of milder, related conditions, which are known as autism spectrum disorders.

The document does not address whether it was the thimerosal — or something else entirely in the vaccines — that was at fault.

A Portuguese study suggested that 7 percent of autistic children might also have the mitochondrial disorder, versus one in 5,000 people — or 0.02 percent — in the general population, said Dr. Marvin Natowicz, a Cleveland Clinic geneticist.

"Even if they're off by a factor of seven" and only 1 percent are afflicted, "it's still a striking statistic," he said.

Others said they doubt the Georgia case will have much effect.

"No link between mitochondrial disorders and autism spectrum disorder has been made in mainstream medicine," said Dr. Michael Pichichero of the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., who has consulted for the government on vaccines and has received speaking fees from vaccine makers.

A decision is expected this spring on the first test case for a larger group of autism-vaccine claims, which are being heard in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Reported cases of autism have been rising in the U.S., even after thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines. However, some experts believe the rise is due to an expansion of the definition of autism and related conditions, and a desire to diagnose children so they qualify for special services and aid.

ABC's Dr. Tim Johnson Tells A Big Mis Truth on TV

Last week on Good Morning America, ABC's medical expert Dr. Tim Johnson said the following when asked about vaccines and autism:

"Well, it's understandable why parents make that connection because their kids get shots and they get Autism at the same ages.

But I have to tell you, Diane, every good study that looks at this has found no increased risk from vaccines. They look at kids who get vaccinated and kids who don't.

THERE'S NO INCREASE IN RISK FOR AUTISM AMONG THOSE WHO GET VACCINES VERSES THOSE WHO DON'T.

The Institute of Medicine, which I think is an impeccably independent body, has looked at all the evidence an said there's no connection. I think that's the truth."

With in 2 minutes autism message boards were running over with, "Wait... did he just lie on national television... any one got TVIO and can back that up and listen to that again?" messages.

Because us parents know good and well, the only vaccinated v. unvaccinated study ever completed was the Generation Rescue survey last year of "over 9,000 boys in California and Oregon and found that vaccinated boys had a 155% greater chance of having a neurological disorder like ADHD or autism than unvaccinated boys".

And the only other vaxed v. unvaxed study that was begun dropped the unvaxxed kids from the study with in weeks because they found to high of a correlation between vaccination and neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically autism. In one case the risk ran as high as 600%! (You guessed it, the study was done by the CDC who didn't want to publish something that would implicate them in the autism epidemic).

That is the OPPOSITE of what Doc Johnson reported.

Autism mom Monica Bice got the message to ABC news pronto pointing out the misinformation and got back a reply from Audrey Grayson at the ABC News Medical Unit, who clearly has never read the studies that she is quoting.

This was my letter to her today:

Dear Ms. Grayson,

I read your response to Monica Bice's request that Dr. Timothy Johnson's errant comment be retracted by ABC.

I wanted to call your attention to a review I wrote of the Denmark and Verstraten studies two years ago so that you can see that these two studies do nothing to disprove the theory that thimerosal containing vaccines trigger autism. It was originally posted here: http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2005/08/heres-why-disdain.html

Both of these studies are fatally flawed and Verstraeten cannot be replicated, and parents and advocacy groups demands that they be retracted have fallen on deaf ears for years.

It is unbelievable that these two studies are STILL being proffered to support vaccine safety, because they do no such thing.

Attached is my review of the two studies and why I do not, as a mother and as a mental health professional, believe that they can be used to inform either my decisions to vaccinate my children, or to make decisions on vaccine policy in this country.

Please... take the time to read them in their entirety, and then go back and read the studies again, yourself, to see if I am right or not.

This medical misinformation has been allowed to continue, year after year, because journalists are not reading these studies for themselves, and the criticisms of them, and using their critical thinking skills to check the claims of the medical establishment that are rife with conflicts of interest.

Before you use these studies to support vaccine safety claims again... investigate them.

It is time for those in medical journalism to get back to being real investigative journalists, not just mimmics for the CDC.

I reiterate Ms. Bice's request that Dr. Johnson's statement be retracted. The only vaccinated v. unvaccinated study every completed (by Generation Rescue last year) found a dramatic correlation between vaccines and autism, and the early versions of the Verstraeten study, when he was still including unvaccinated populations, show a dramatic correlation as well.

Sincerely,
Ginger Taylor, M.S.

Critical Mass: John McCain, Thimerosal, The Government's Vaccine/Autism Consession and ABC News

critical mass
–noun
1. Physics. The amount of a given fissionable material necessary to sustain a nuclear chain reaction at a constant rate.
2. an amount necessary or sufficient to have a significant effect or to achieve a result: a critical mass of popular support.
[Origin: 1940–45]

What do ABC News, John McCain, Thimerosal and The Government concession that autistic Eve deserved compensation for her vaccine injury have in common?

This Article entitled John McCain Enters The Autism Wars.

It may on be an ABC News Blog, but it has reported that John McCain believes that vaccine additives are related to the autism epidemic.

I have been gearing up to write about John McCain and the fact that he emerged months ago as The Autism Candidate, but was still compiling information.

The quick facts are, that at the beginning of the primaries, of the dozen or so candidates for president that autism parents were talking to, one guy listened.

John McCain.

He met Sam and Sam's mom, and listened to their vaccine injury story and listened to the wonderful stories of autism recovery that were taking place via DAN! methods.

And a few weeks later, when Sam and his mom attended another McCain event, Big Mac recognized Sam and his mom in the crowd and gave him a shout out. Then he listed to Sam and his mom some more and introduced them to his staffers.

... and last night at his town hall meeting in Texas, he said, "It’s indisputable that (autism) is on the rise amongst children, the question is what’s causing it. And we go back and forth and there’s strong evidence that indicates that it’s got to do with a preservative in vaccines."

John McCain takes our concerns seriously. He does not yet seem to have a total picture of what is going on with the relationship between vaccines and autism (we are all still working that out really) but this statement proves that he is listening, thinking critically, not swallowing the medical establishment's pr bullshit and that he is taking parents claims seriously.

David Kirby has already warned him: Senator McCain: Watch Out For Incoming!

I will be endorsing an autism candidate, and right now... John McCain is WAY out in front.

ABC News Considers Actually Reporting That The Government Has Admitted That Vaccines Trigger Autism

.... and then chickens out.

Cowards.

Here is the letter sent to Dan Olmsted two days ago:

From: ABC MEDICINE
Sent: Tue Feb 26 12:56:31 2008
Subject: Federal Government May Have Conceded on Vaccine-Autism Case -- ABC News Interest

Good afternoon,

This is Dan Childs, producer of the Health page of ABCNews.com. I hope this message finds you well.

There has been a buzz lately about the possible concession of a vaccine-related case by the government. Much of this talk has surrounded a column posted on the Huffington Post. ...

ABC News is still assessing the validity of this report, but we would like to be ready to responsibly cover this issue if the report does, in fact, prove to be true.

In short, the column suggests that the federal government has chosen to concede to one case in which the plaintiff claims that her child developed features consistent with an autism spectrum disorder after receiving her vaccinations. Based on this case, the column further suggests that something about the vaccines may trigger autism-like illness in children who are susceptible to mitochondrial disorders.

Depending on what we find out, various ABC News platforms may be interested in covering this development. I am also interested in writing a story for ABCNews.com on this topic.

With this in mind, I was hoping that you would be willing to lend your expertise to come of the questions that we have about this possible development. Specifically:

1) With regard to the idea that vaccines may trigger mitochondrial disorders, what evidence are you aware of that would point to this possibility?

2) If it turns out that the federal government did concede in this case, what are your thoughts on this move?

Any other comments you have on this are most appreciated.

Please note that your comments will be considered on the record and available for use in a story on ABCNews.com unless you specifically request that your responses be used for background purposes only. Please also be sure to include your full contact information in case we would like to get in touch with you for further information.

If you receive this message after 10AM on Wednesday, Feb. 27, please disregard it as the deadline for this story will have passed.

Thanks, and I look forward to talking with you soon!

Cheers,
Dan (Childs)

Yet here is their health story for Feb. 27th:

All Kids Need The Flu Shot, CDC Says
By MIKE STOBBE
Feb. 27, 2008

ATLANTA (AP) - Annual flu vaccinations should be given to all children ages 6 months through 18 years of age, a federal advisory panel said Wednesday....

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE MEDIA!!!

They don't just ignore the biggest story out there, they actually publish disinformation!

In honor of Dan Childs dogged investigative journalism, I am republishing my script for my short film. It is my interpretation of what Watergate might have been like had Bob Woodward worked for ABC News in the early 70's. The part of Bob Woodward will now be played by Dan Childs


NONE OF THE PRESIDENTS MEN

Open to interior of Oval Office:

Mr. Childs: Thank you for meeting with me Mr. President. This guy Deep Throat told me that you knew about the break in at the Watergate Building.

Mr. Nixon: Nope. Sorry. Don’t know anything about it. Besides, studies show that Republicans don't commit B&Es.

Mr. Childs: Ok. Thanks for your time.

Fade Out.

Roll Credits

Eli Stone Compares Tobacco Safety Claims With Pharma Safety Claims

With all the vaccine safety claims by Med and Pharma flooding the media to counter the Eli Stone pilot, I thought it would be a good time to repost this from last summer:

Draw Your Own Analogies




Johnson & Johnson Clears Their Own Product of Autism Link

Critique of JnJ's Rhogam Study

If you don't want to find something, look where it is isn't.

Hey Kids, Get Vaxed!

UPDATE:

Scanning You Tube I found these, and these are not from that long ago:

Thank You ABC

Wow.

I just got finished watching Eli Stone, and I can't believe that a show got it so right. I mean not perfect, but damn close.

Even the internal attempted cover up of evidence.

ABC didn't even cave and put in the 'no proven link' BS disclaimer afterward.

Wow. I'm kinda stunned.

And a little speechless. Which is saying a lot for me.

Thank you Greg Berlanti
Thank you Mark Guggenheim
Thank you Ken Olin
Thank you Andrew Ackerman
Thank you Johnny Lee Miller
Thank you Touchstone

And thank you to Laura Benanti for playing a real autism mom.

I mean, she was a real autism mom. Except that her hair and make up was done, of course. She had done all the research, she knew her stuff better than the professionals around her, she was not afraid to speak up, she was more concerned with the safety of rest of the kids that would come behind her son than she was of making money for her own son, and she pushed the people around her to do the right thing no matter what it cost them.

She was not afraid to fight a loosing battle with everything she had, and do it for all the right reasons.

Thank you to everyone involved in this production for telling our story in about as good a way as you could have told in 44 minutes.

I am not used to major networks owned by multinational corporations propped up by bajillions in pharma advertising dollars telling this story so close to right on the nose.

I am not sure what to do with myself.

Must. Lie. Down. Rethink. World. View.

Update: Thanks Hulu

Autism, Vaccines, Biomed and Lisa Sykes on Nightline Tuesday

Our own Lisa Sykes and her son Wesley will be featured on ABC News Nightline, tomorrow Tuesday night.