{Disarmed} Re: NAA flip-flopped, too (was: Safeminds statement on CAA- Bernard Rimland)

[Guest guest]

I attended the IOM hearing, the hair on the back of my neck still stands up. This is what I wrote at the time. Sorry for the length.

Janice and I also attended the February 9th, 2004 meeting of the Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review Committee Meeting 9: Vaccines and Autism. It was quite honestly the hardest and most difficult forty-eight hours of travel that we had ever experienced. It was the beginning of February, the weather was cold and rainy and the meeting was scheduled without much time to prepare. We had three layovers. It took us nine hours each way to get from Detroit to Washington D.C. and back; Janice lost an emerald earring on the plane; our hotel only had one bed; and the meeting venue was changed at the last minute that required several taxi rides to find.

The meeting was not without controversy; there were email death treats made by parents to the presenter of the Study of the Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism in Denmark: Anders Hviid, MSc, Department of Epidemiology Research, State Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark. Hot accusations of whom to blame swam amongst rumors that the US National Academy of Sciences nearly canceled their hearing because of these threats. Two week prior to the meeting Rep. Dave Weldon released a letter to the IOM strongly requesting that they postpone the February 9th meeting. Weldon cited unethical behavior on the part of vaccine researchers, manipulated data, refusal to hand over information, and political bias.

The letter from Rep. Weldon, M.D. (R-FL) to the Director of the IOM, released January 21, 2004:

Dear Dr. Gerberding:

I am writing to ask that you postpone the February 9, 2004, Institute of Medicine (IOM) Immunization Safety Review Committee meeting. Pressing forward with this meeting at this time, I believe, will further undermine the credibility of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on matters of vaccine safety and do damage to the reputation of the IOM. I believe the proposed date of this meeting, which you have the ability to change, is in the best interests of no one who is seeking the truth about a possible association between vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.

Recent actions and statements by officials within the CDC’s National Immunization Program (NIP) office, the timing of the IOM meeting, and the agenda for the IOM meeting raise serious questions about the purpose, value and objectives of this meeting.

Presently, the NIP is engaged in what amounts to an investigation of their own actions, which does not create an air of confidence.

The actions of the CDC regarding their November 3, 2003, article in Pediatrics raise serious concerns about the objectivity of the CDC’s top vaccine safety officials and the value of their input on this issue. They are the very ones driving the IOM meeting and agenda.

On the day the Pediatrics study was released, a top CDC researcher and a coauthor of the study was quick to declare in news articles that appeared across this nation, "The final results of the study show no statistical association between thimerosal vaccines and harmful health outcomes in children, in particular autism and attention-deficit disorder." Unfortunately, the study does nothing of the sort, and when called to account eight weeks later, this CDC official was forced to recant. When asked if the children in the study were too young to have received an autism diagnosis, this coauthor stated that yes they were too young. He went on to admit that the study also likely mislabeled young autistic children as having other disabilities thus masking the number of children with autism. There are a host of other flaws in the study that are raised in the attached articles and letters to Pediatrics, which I urge you to personally review.

The CDC’s top vaccine officials spent four years developing this study, and it is a seriously flawed study by their own admission. The fact that the CDC’s top vaccine safety research officials produced such a seriously flawed study does not build confidence in the ability of the CDC to conduct proper vaccine safety monitoring or investigations of past decisions. Even worse, some critics have leveled serious charges that perhaps officials within the NIP manipulated data to "disprove" a theory they find objectionable. A review of the NIP’s July 2000 Simpsonwood meeting, the various iterations of the Pediatrics study, and internal e-mails appear to give support to this claim.

In his December 17, 2003, letter to Pediatrics, Dr. Neal Halsey outlined a number of concerns about the study. Furthermore, in extensive discussions my staff has held with the CDC, your staff made it clear that the CDC will not hand over - to already approved independent researchers - the raw data used by CDC in developing the Pediatrics study. CDC is providing only limited access to the altered data. The NIP’s failure to provide the raw data for reviewing only raises further suspicions.

It appears to me not only as a Member of Congress but also as a physician that some officials within the CDC’s NIP may be more interested in a public relations campaign than getting to the truth about thimerosal. At present, I have lost confidence in the ability of officials at the CDC to give an honest evaluation of the matters at hand. It is not just me raising these concerns about public confidence, but also Dr. Neal Halsey who in his letter conveys his concerns about loss of confidence in the NIP.

Further eroding the CDC’s objectivity is the apparent bias in the information shared with the public on the CDC’s NIP website. A review of the information on the website regarding possible associations between thimerosal and autism and the MMR and autism demonstrates a clear bias towards building confidence in the safety of vaccines rather than providing an objective presentation of the data. The CDC’s website presents a very selective reporting of the science. The information provided to the public generally ignores and discounts studies raising safety concerns while focusing instead on highlighting epidemiology studies favoring their position.

Given these concerns, the CDC’s contributions to the IOM discussion would be viewed as suspect and non-objective. Furthermore, the fact that this meeting is being held at this time and according to the parameters put forth by the NIP officials is disturbing. I have already heard concerns expressed by those in the general public that the timing of this meeting is being driven by a desire to short-circuit important research and draw premature conclusions. If the purpose of this meeting is to seriously consider and address these concerns, then this will not be accomplished.

I have reviewed the research recommendations set forth in the IOM’s earlier reports on these issues. The federal government has invested very few resources into examining these areas of research. Furthermore, the research that has been conducted to date by the NIP seems to be tainted by a desire to disprove a theory that they find objectionable.

Additionally, I am concerned that the agenda set forth in the meeting is inadequate and incomplete. With respect to the MMR/autism concerns, the IOM is dedicating one hour. Two witnesses are woefully inadequate to update the committee on the research to date. The time set aside for a discussion of epidemiology relating to thimerosal and autism is heavily biased against

those who have raised these concerns and will not allow for a fair and balanced discussion of the literature. The time set aside for a discussion of the biological mechanisms of thimerosal and autism is inadequate to allow a full discussion of the issue. To consider two issues of such significance in only seven hours does not serve the public interest. To the outside observer it does not appear to be a serious effort to examine these critical issues. Any conclusions drawn from this meeting, including any report issued will be viewed as suspect given the very limited time dedicated to examining very incomplete information.

Again, I am very concerned that the drive to conduct this meeting at this time and force a report by this summer may not only further undermine confidence in the CDC, but it may also harm the IOM’s very good reputation.

I ask that you give these concerns your highest consideration and that you postpone the meeting until after additional research has been conducted. Given the slow pace of research and lack of federal support for this research, conducting this meeting prior to late 2004 to early 2005 is premature. The value of any such report at this time would be very limited. We must give the research time to progress if the report is to give meaningful insight into this matter.

Weldon, M.D.

The IOM refused, however, Rep. Weldon's request to postpone its meeting. Dr. Gerberding responded that she had shared Dr. Weldon’s concerns with Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg but the meeting will be held as planned. She wrote: “My own view is that it is extremely important to have the IOM conduct an objective review of emerging data when it has a bearing on vaccine safety as quickly as possible. In addition, the process should be ongoing at regular intervals, to keep up with this science of vaccine safety as new information becomes available. We intend to renew our agreement with the IOM to ensure continuation of the safety review process.”

Janice and I arrived at the IOM Meeting, a little late and flustered, because of the change of venue. We sat in the audience that consisted of a virtual plethora of powerful interests, included media, journalists, world acclaimed experts, congressional representatives, representatives of the FDA, CDC, NIH, ADA, corporate pharmaceutical executives, a diverse infusion of the dental community and parents of autistic children, some of them physicians themselves. (As Kirby has coined them, “the Mercury Moms”.) National Academy of Sciences (NAS) staff carefully heeled media cameramen and a daylong pressure cooker of expert testimony began. The Immunization Safety Review Committee, (ISRC), for the National Institute of Medicine, (NOM), under the US National Academy of Sciences, (NAS), heard testimony from 15 experts in a day long "Safety Review" on mercury levels in vaccines/dental amalgam and links to epidemic levels of autism that include:

Welcome and Opening Remarks: Marie McCormick, M.D., ScD, Committee Chair;

Etiologic factors and pathogenesis of autism: evidence from clinical studies and animal models: Mady Hornig, M.D., Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health;

Association of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and MMR Vaccine: A Systematic Review of current Epidemiological Evidence: Kumanan , M.D., MSc, Division of Clinical Decision Making and Health Care, Toronto General Research Institute, Canada;

Age at First Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination in Children with Autism and School-Matched Control Subjects: DeStefano, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;

Exposure to Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines in UK Children and Autism: Dr. , Head, Immunisation Division, Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre,London, UK;

Vaccine Safety Datalink Study: Autism Outcome: L. , M.D., M.P.H., University of Washington Group Health, ative Depts. of Pediatrics Center for Health Studies and Epidemiology;

Study of the Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism in Denmark: Anders Hviid, MSc, Department of Epidemiology Research, State Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark;

Autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines: analysis of the VaccineAdverse Events Reporting System (VAERS): Mark R. Geier, M.D., Ph.D., President, The Genetic Centers of America and Geier, President of MedCon;

A Toxicologist's View of Thimerosal and Autism: H. Vasken Aposhian, Ph.D., Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona;

Relation of Neurotoxic Effects of Thimerosal to Autism: Baskin, M.D., Professor of Neurosurgery and Anesthesiology, Baylor College of Medicine;

Thimerosal Exposure From Vaccines and Ethylmercury Accumulation in Non-human Primates: Dr. Polly Sager, Assistant Director for International Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases;

Reduced Levels of Mercury in First Baby Haircuts of Autistic Children: Boyd Haley, Ph.D., Chairman and Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky;

A Case-control Study of Mercury Burden in Children with Autistic Disorders and Measles Virus Genomic RNA in Cerebrospinal Fluid in Children with Regressive Autism: Jeff Bradstreet, M.D., FAAFP, Adjunct Professor, Neurosciences, Stetson University, Director of Clinical Programs, International Child Development Resource Center, Florida; and

Autism, Vaccines, and Immune Reactions: Vijendra K. Singh, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, Utah State University.

http://tinyurl.com/zzq94 The overall mood of the hearing was quite tense. Marie McCormick was the moderator. However unprofessional the name-calling of “Church Lady” (re: Kirby) may be, being a SNL fan I see the parallels. Mark Geier told the committee, "This society is going to be in big trouble - we cannot have a whole generation of people damaged the way this is happening." Geier went on to say vaccine manufacturers have begun to mislabel vaccines so that the thimerosal cannot be tracked. He went on to say "I'm a little bit embarrassed to stand here and listen to Verstraeten's work being presented after what they said at Simpsonwood," (referring to an ad hoc meeting at the Simpsonwood Meeting Center in Atlanta in 2000 discussing what to do about Verstraeten's original and alarming findings). " This is NOT a scientific issue. This is about as proven issue as we're ever going to see. What's occurring here is a cover-up under the guise of protecting the vaccine program." During much or the day, a hostile spent an unusual amount of time defending her position that thimerosal was safe during the Q & A of experts who did not subscribe to her position. Referring to Boyd Haley’s statement that he is “baffled” how there can be “such different results from people using the same database,” one IRS committee member asked, “Are you implying the epidemiologists lied?” Haley responded (I’m pretty sure refereeing to the Vaccine Safety Datalink Study: Autism Outcome: L. , M.D., M.P.H., University of Washington Group Health, ative Depts. of Pediatrics Center for Health Studies and Epidemiology presentation), “I’m implying that some epidemiologists lied, yes.”

It is very important, though, that these proceedings did happen in relative secrecy as they have in past years, namely due to lack of interest by the media. This is where the public may be able to change this "tradition", and bring the "suspicious" (Weldon's term) actions of the CDC, NIP and IOM out into daylight. Steve , an Emmy Award-winning, and well-salted local Investigative Reporter form Detroit’s WXYZ-TV News was recording the IOM Meeting. Steve had aired an excellent three-part series on thimerosal and autism after Dr. Verstraeten and colleagues’ Vaccine Safety Datalink study that was published in Pediatrics Magazine. http://tinyurl.com/gdade I went over and introduced myself as a researcher from Eastern Michigan University (Eastern is located 45 minute from Detroit), he shook my hand and said great “I’d love to interview you about your President’s House.” When Steve’s thimerosal and autism report came out on our locate TV news station I was thrilled; local recognition that supported my research, fantastic. The thrill was short lived; Steve did a very extensive exposé on the building and financing of the EMU Presidents house that subsequently resulted in the resignation of our President Kirkpatrick. http://tinyurl.com/kcw74 I presented him with my card, and told him that if he ever wanted to discuss our autism/mercury research this is where to find me.” Talking to Steve as a University employee would have been political suicide, and although I had grown up all of my life in Ypsilaniti and held opinions about the local good ol’ boy network, my professional response to this particular subject was and always will be “no comment”. My boss’s boss would have…well let’s just say I wouldn’t have…there would have been a wrath that would have affected my usefulness in autism research.

I left Washington with the belief that anyone listening to these presentations and reviewing the science could only come to one conclusion; that 187 micrograms of ethlymercury injected into the bloodstream into an infant in the first six months of life could indeed induced neurological degeneration and autism. I thought now, more than ever, with 1 in 166 children diagnosed with autism and 1 in 6 with neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders, people would finally hear the truth about this country's disastrous vaccination policy and the iatrogenic epidemic it is causing. http://tinyurl.com/hzt74 With one American family in 68 is now impacted by autism. The implications are staggering. The cost to these families in terms of financial devastation and human misery is incalculable. Future care for these children is predicted to cost in the trillions of dollars. Who will pay for it? And why would legislators and the media aid in exonerating those who are culpable? Campaign Contributions? Advertising? http://tinyurl.com/zbdo9 http://tinyurl.com/jm6yr That wouldn’t make sense, surely they had children of their own.

None of the experts that presented in that hearing could explicitly deny the fact that, incredibly, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that children in the U.S. now receive up to 51 injected vaccines by the age of 7 months, 73 by 18 months, and 95 by 4-6 years. That was fact. http://tinyurl.com/k3pgb I thought this meeting of the very impartial and scientific body, the Institute of Medical, might be the first to make the general public aware of these numbers. That they would surely give the U.S. parents informed consent, as described in the 1947 Nuremberg Code, to the fact that some of these injections combine up to eight vaccines in one "shot", and obscuring the fact that there are such a large number of actual vaccines. The hearing made perfectly clear that up until 1999, children were in fact receiving, via vaccinations, more than 100 times the amount of mercury that EPA would consider "a level not likely to cause harm". (It never says "safe".). http://tinyurl.com/kb273 And although the levels of mercury have been reduced, it still remains in many vaccines and no agency has established that the current levels are safe. The industry claims it is filtering mercury out of some vaccines, but with the testimony of experts like Dr. Boyd Haley, the public would finally hear the truth about facts like: when thimerosal breaks down into ethyl-mercury which binds to the antigenic proteins in the vaccine vial and is, therefore, impossible to remove.

In Steve’s coverage of the IOM’s Meeting: VACCINE UPDATE FEBRUARY 2004: Part 2, February 12, 2004 he reports, “Many in so-called mainstream medicine are upset that Action News is even reporting this controversy. As we have shown, some of the most respected health care professionals have decided there is no problem with any vaccines, even though they’ve never read studies which strongly suggest there is.

Steve when on to report, “Although it’s recently been reduced or eliminated in some vaccines, thimerosal was used for years as a preservative or sterilizing agent in all kinds of immunization serums repeatedly shot into youngsters. Now some of the newest research by Dr. Deth at Northeastern University and his colleagues at s Hopkins, Tufts and the University of Nebraska supports what many parents have been saying, "There are children out there already, no doubt, in my opinion, have been affected and there will be children in the future who will be affected by these levels in these vaccines and it’s now a question of numbers”. Steve concluded with “no matter what anybody may tell you, the truth is the science about the safety of mercury in vaccines is not yet settled.”

But instead, in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on autism, released May 17, 2004, the IOM recognized that although autism is a serious condition and strides have been made in understanding the disease in many areas, significant gaps remain, particularly regarding its etiology and risk factors. These gaps include “uncertainty about prevalence and incidence trend. . . and no current bases for identifying possible subtypes of autism with different pathogeneses related to genetic and environmental interaction.

“This eighth and final report of the Immunization Safety Review Committee examines the hypothesis that vaccines, specifically the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and thimerosal-containing vaccines, are causally associated with autism. The committee reviewed the extant published and unpublished epidemiological studies regarding causality and studies of potential biologic mechanisms by which these immunizations might cause autism.

The committee concludes that the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. The committee also concludes that the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. The committee further finds that potential biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced autism that have been generated to date are theoretical only.

The committee does not recommend a policy review of the current schedule and recommendations for the administration of either the MMR vaccine or thimerosal-containing vaccines. The committee recommends a public health response that fully supports an array of vaccine safety activities.

The committee concludes that much more research must be conducted on autism. However, research should be directed towards those lines of inquiry most supported by the current state of knowledge. The vaccine hypotheses are not currently supported by the evidence. Much remains unknown about the etiology or etiologies of autism. Furthermore, there have not been many studies on treatments for autism. Research should be directed towards better understanding the etiology or etiologies of autism and on treatments for autism.

While the committee strongly supports targeted research that focuses on better understanding the disease of autism, from a public health perspective the committee does not consider a significant investment in studies of the theoretical vaccine-autism connection to be useful at this time. (OUCH!)

The nature of the debate about vaccine safety now includes the theory by some that genetic susceptibility makes vaccinations risky for some people, which calls into question the appropriateness of a public health, or universal, vaccination strategy. However, the benefits of vaccination are proven and the hypothesis of susceptible populations is presently speculative. Using an unsubstantiated hypothesis to question the safety of vaccination and the ethical behavior of those governmental agencies and scientists who advocate for vaccination could lead to widespread rejection of vaccines and inevitable increases in incidences of serious infectious diseases like measles, whooping cough, and Hib bacterial meningitis.

The committee encourages that research on autism focus more broadly on the disorders’ causes of and treatments for it. Thus, the committee recommends a public health response that fully supports an array of vaccine safety activities. In addition the committee recommends that available funding for autism research be channeled to the most promising areas.”

-----Original Message-----From: EOHarm [mailto:EOHarm ]On Behalf Of schaferatsprynetSent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 7:55 PMEOHarm Subject: {Disarmed} Re: NAA flip-flopped, too (was: Safeminds statement on CAA- Bernard Rimland)

> > >> > > Bob,> > > > > > Here is a statement from Bernie Rimland on CAA. > > > > > -snip-> >>

Connect with

others on the web.

..