Re: action: McCandless letters to IOM, to Calif legislature - parent letters to Congress people

[Guest guest]

> Very poignant, important letters have been written by Jaquelyn

> McCandless, MD:

> McCandless to IOM - Aug 19 2004 with Calif addendum.pdf

> <http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdx

> Z2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20A

> ug%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf>

>

>

> aka (ending in .pdf):

>

> http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdxZ

> 2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20Au

> g%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf

The links don't work for me. Did anyone else have any luck?

Lynne

[Guest guest]

You may have to be an autism-mercury member. I'll send you the pdf offlist.

Lynne Arnold wrote:

>>Very poignant, important letters have been written by Jaquelyn

>>McCandless, MD:

>>

>>

>

>

>

>>McCandless to IOM - Aug 19 2004 with Calif addendum.pdf

>><http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdx

>>Z2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20A

>>ug%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf>

>>

>>

>>aka (ending in .pdf):

>>

>>http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdxZ

>>2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20Au

>>g%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf

>>

>>

>

>The links don't work for me. Did anyone else have any luck?

>

>Lynne

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> You may have to be an autism-mercury member. I'll send you the pdf offlist.

Thanks for sending it off-list. I am a a-m member, so I don't know why the

link didn't work for me. Here's the text from the PDF:

JAQUELYN McCANDLESS, M.D.

August 19, 2004 Letter to Institute of Medicine¹s Board on Health Promotion

& Disease Prevention for its hearing August 23, 2004 Open Access to VAERS

data Ending CDC¹s Conflict of Interest This document includes two letters.

The first letter is to the IOM regarding its hearing about who shall have

access to VAERS data and how shall conclusions therefrom be controlled. The

second letter is to the California legislature, delineates why thimerosal

should be removed from vaccines. Including this coversheet, the letters to

CDC and IOM are presented on nine pages.

JAQUELYN McCANDLESS, M.D. Certified by American Board of Psychiatry &

Neurology 21800 lee St. #48, Woodland Hills CA 91367 Phone:

Fax: August 19, 2004

to: Institute of Medicine Board on Health Promotion & Disease Prevention

Keck Center, 819 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Phone

202/334-1361 e-mail: nipdatasharing@... Vaccine Safety & Conflict of

Interest in VAERS Data Analysis

re: IOM¹s Statement of Task for Aug 23, 2004

This letter addresses the IOM¹s Statement of Task (1) and related issues. My

recent letter to Legislators of the State of California is included herewith

as an addendum. My recommendation is that the VAERS and VSD data should be

open to all qualified researchers and that granting access to those

databases should not be decided by the CDC or any CDC-affiliated

organizations.

The CDC¹s original thimerosal findings described a significant association

between infant thimerosal- injections and a range of adverse neurologic

sequelae, including adhd, tics, language delays, and autism (2). These

findings have been confirmed by Geier and Geier (3-6), who summarize as

follows:

Based upon examination of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)

database and the United States¹ Department of Education database, the

findings show a statistically significantly increasing risks of

neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, following additional doses

of mercury from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines. (7)

A problem has arisen: Pursuant to the CDC¹s original findings (2), the CDC

group who produced that study proceeded to dilute their own data by means of

adding an HMO whose policies promulgated underascertainment of autism. The

diluted-data revision of the original study was published in Pediatrics (8).

At this point, the CDC¹s and IOM¹s endorsement of diluted data makes me feel

as if I¹m Alice visiting Wonderland. At most institutions, were a graduate

student or senior researcher to dilute data deliberately so as to alter the

data¹s ramifications, he or she would be considered to have committed

scientific fraud. In contrast, the journal ³Pediatrics² hastened to publish

a diluted-data version of the CDC¹s original findings on its website (RL

et al abstract, 2001) and to publish a more thorough diluted-data

version in the printed journal (8). Furthermore, when in 2004 the IOM issued

its various conclusions, recommendations, and decrees (9), the diluted-data

version of the CDC¹s original findings (8) was honored as if valid.

An extremely important point has been made by Congressman Weldon,

M.D., RFLA, who calls attention to the CDC¹s conflict of interest in both

superintending vaccine promotion and monitoring efficacy and safety. As

revealed by the process of data dilution and publishings thereof, the CDC¹s

conflict of interest is very real. Furthermore, that conflict extends to the

IOM because the CDC itself has subsidized the IOM¹s hearings about

thimerosal.

Let me make clear. I am a proponent of safe vaccinations even as I have come

to realize (a) that evaluations of vaccine safety must be enacted by

individuals not beholden to the CDC or IOM, and ( that better screening is

needed for infants and toddlers with increased susceptibility for adverse

sequelae from vaccinations.

As of August 2004, the evidence against the CDC and the IOM are damning.

Thimerosal is causing a range of neurologic problems (2-7). Yet the CDC,

IOM, and editors of Pediatrics are willing to suppress those findings (eg,

8-9). Furthermore, during the Geiers¹ most recent analysis of the VAERS

data, they were prevented from taking findings from the building. This

pattern by the IOM and CDC leads to an important questions: What is being

covered up by restricting access to VAERS and VSD? How much neurologic

damage is documented in VAERS and VSD? Are epidemics like those ADHD and

autism largely due to unsafe vaccines?

Given the importance of findings about vaccinations¹ neurologic damage (2-7)

and the subsequent blocking of Geiers¹ research, the IOM¹s hearing¹s

Statement of Task (1) takes on profound significance. Consider items 2b and

2c: (2b) consider whether, when, and how preliminary data about potential

vaccinerelated risks obtained from the Vaccine Safety Datalink system should

be shared with other scientists, communicated to the public, and used to

make policy or recommendations to CDC and (2c) make recommendations to the

National Immunization Program on the release of such preliminary data in the

future.

There should be no debate regarding ³whether² adverse findings should be

released to other scientists and to the public. No one should hide those

data. Furthermore, (i) such findings should be released without the CDC-

like data-dilution or other forms of scientific fraud intended to promote

pre-approved conclusions ; and (ii) the CDC¹s and IOM¹s track record in

these matters emphasize Dr. Weldon¹s concern about the CDC¹s conflict of

interest regarding vaccine promotion and vaccine safety evaluations.

For the good of the National Immunization Program (NIP) and for the greatest

benefit to the American public, VAERS and VSD data and access thereto need

be taken away from the CDC and its affiliated organizations, and ­ so as to

strengthen the NIP - those data need be made available to a diverse group of

researchers not pre-censored by the CDC.

Sincerely Yours, Jaquelyn McCandless, M.D.

References: 1. Statement of Task www.iom.edu/project.asp?id=21144

The committee will: (1a) review the design and the implementation to date of

the new Vaccine Safety Datalink Data Sharing Program to assess compliance

with the current standards of practice for data sharing in the scientific

community and,

(1b) make recommendations to the National Immunization Program for any

needed modifications that would facilitate use, ensure appropriate

utilization, and protect confidentiality; and

(2a) review the iterative approaches to conducting analysis that are

characteristics of studies using the complex, automated Vaccine Safety

Datalink system. Examples of recent studies to be examined are a completed

screening study on thimerosal and vaccines (Verstraeten et al) and cohort

studies on asthma. The committee will use that review to

(2b) consider whether, when, and how preliminary data about potential

vaccine-related risks obtained from the Vaccine Safety Datalink system

should be shared with other scientists, communicated to the public, and used

to make policy or recommendations to CDC and

(2c) make recommendations to the National Immunization Program on the

release of such preliminary data in the future. A brief report with

conclusions and recommendations will be issued for each of these two topics.

2. Verstraeten et al 2000, CDC unpublished study, obtained via FOIA.

3. Geier MR, Geier DA. Neurodevelopmental disorders after

thimerosal-containing vaccines: a brief communication. Exp Biol Med

2003;228:660-664.

4. Geier MR, Geier DA. Thimerosal in childhood vaccines, neurodevelopment

disorders, and heart disease in the United States. J Am Phys Surg

2003;8:6-11.

5. Geier DA, Geier MR. An assessment of the impact of thimerosal on

neurodevelopmental disorders. Pediatr Rehabil 2003;6:97-102.

6. Geier DA, Geier MR. A comparative evaluation of the effects of MMR

immunization and mercury doses from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines

on the population prevalence of autism. Med Sci Monit 2004;10(3):PI33-PI39.

7. Mark R. Geier, M.D., Ph.D., personal communication, August 2004.

8. Verstraeten T et al. Safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a

two-phased study of computerized health maintenance organization databases.

Pediatrics. 2003 Nov;112(5):1039-48.

9. IOM thimerosal decree ­ May 17, 2004

JAQUELYN McCANDLESS, M.D. Certified by American Board of Psychiatry &

Neurology 21800 lee St. #48, Woodland Hills CA 91367 Phone:

Fax:

I am a California physician certified by the American Board of Psychiatry

and Neurology and the author of ³Children With Starving Brains, A Medical

Treatment Guide for Autism Spectrum Disorder.² I am currently the medical

director of the physician training program conducted all over the U.S. (and

soon other countries as well) by the DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) group of the

Autism Research Institute. I was called into this work by my grandchild with

autism and by a burgeoning epidemic of these children, as brought into my

awareness around 1996.

I have a large clientele of autistic children who are evaluated

physiologically with lab tests and who are treated in accordance with

results of those tests. My experience and that of hundreds of other

physicians in the DAN! Group plus those I have now trained in this work

indicate that most autistic children have acquired and/or genetic problems

with detoxification and immunity. In almost all cases, these impairments are

reflected in gastrointestinal pathologies and impaired nutritional status

along with the characteristic cognitive deficits. Often, case histories

include prolonged colic, excessively chronic otitis, or persistent diarrhea

or constipation during infancy and the toddler period. In summary, with

symptoms often beginning as neonates or during infancy, these children did

not need and should have avoided injections with thimerosal, which is 49.6%

ethylmercury by weight.

Medical literature makes clear that mercury, methylmercury, and ethylmercury

are neurotoxic. In fact, all the traits defining or associated with autism

can be found in peerreviewed studies about mercury (1). Although Pichichero

et al claimed that thimerosal injected ethylmercury was cleared by infants

(2), Waly et al found that at the levels of ethylmercury in humans infants

described by Pichichero et al were sufficient to impair function of

endogenous enzymes important for human development (3). More recently,

Hornig et al found that a genetic predisposition ensures that adverse

neurologic sequelae will be induced by thimerosal (4). Furthermore, my

clinical experience and that of many other physicians makes clear that many

autistic children make significant cognitive and behavioral improvements as

their gut is healed, their nutritional status is optimized, and their body

is chelated so as to remove toxic metals.

During the last several years, findings in thimerosal research have become

controversial. The CDC¹s original study found a significant association

between thimerosal injections and a range of neurologic sequelae, including

ADHD, tics, language problems, and autism (5). These findings have been

replicated and thus confirmed by Geier and Geier (please see important

addendum provided by Mark Geier, M.D, Ph.D, 6).

However, after realizing the significance of its findings (5), the CDC

researchers diluted their data and thereby made the autism-thimerosal

association to appear less significant. A diluted-data revision of the

original findings has been published (7). Subsequently, the

CDC hired the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to enact a hearing about

thimerosal. The IOM heard testimony from physicians and researchers who are

documenting the thimerosal/autism connection and its molecular mechanisms

(eg, 3-4, 8-9) and also received presentations derived from the CDC¹s data

diluters and their colleagues. Surprisingly, the IOM gave one-sided credence

to data consistent with the altered-data conclusions first created and

distributed by the CDC; and, despite a growing amount of data implicating

thimerosal in neurologic damage, the IOM recommended that no more research

was necessary (10).

I strongly disagree with the IOM¹s conclusions and recommendations (10) and

call your attention to the IOM¹s conflict of interest in that the IOM¹s

thimerosal hearing was contracted by the CDC, whose own group had

deliberately diluted data which had documented injected thimerosal¹s adverse

neurologic effects (5). When the CDC¹s data aren¹t altered, the implications

are clear: thimerosal is neurotoxic in humans.

According to research physicians and to pharmaceutical companies that

produce vaccines, there is no need for ethylmercury to be used as a vaccine

preservative because single-dose vials can be produced at only slightly

increased cost. That increased cost is prudent in comparison to the

inestimable emotional and financial costs to families and society of

children neurologically injured by thimerosal.

For these reasons, I strongly urge the California legislature to ban

thimerosal injections from humans of all ages.

Sincerely Yours,

Jaquelyn McCandless, M.D.

1. Bernard S et al. Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning. Med

Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):462-71.

2. Pichichero ME et al. Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants

receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study. Lancet. 2002

Nov 30;360(9347):1737-41.

3. Waly M et al. Activation of methionine synthase by insulin- like growth

factor-1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and

thimerosal. Mol Psychiatry. 2004 Apr;9(4):358-70.

4. Hornig M et al. Neurotoxic effects of postnatal thimerosal are mouse

strain dependent. Mol Psychiatry. 2004 Jun 8 [Epub ahead of print]

5. Verstraeten et al 2000, CDC unpublished study, obtained via FOIA.

6. Geier DA, Geier MR. An assessment of the impact of thimerosal on

childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. (Please see attached addendum of

reports and publications of the Geiers)

7. Verstraeten T et al. Safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a

two-phased study of computerized health maintenance organization databases.

Pediatrics. 2003 Nov;112(5):1039-48.

8. Baskin DS, Ngo H, Didenko VV. Thimerosal induces DNA breaks, caspase-3

activation, membrane damage, and cell death in cultured human neurons and

fibroblasts. Toxicol Sci. 2003 Aug;74(2):361-8.

9. Boyd Haley, Ph.D. IOM presentation, February 2004.

10. IOM thimerosal decree ­ May 17, 2004

McCandless letter Addenda provided by Mark Geier, M.D., Ph.D.

1. A report prepared by the staff of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and

Wellness, Committee on Government Reform of the United States¹ House of

Representatives, concluded following a three-year investigation: ²However,

the Committee, upon a through review of the scientific literature and

internal documents from government and industry,did find evidence that

thimerosal did pose a risk. Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines is

likely related to the autism epidemic. This epidemic in all probability may

have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not been asleep at the switch

regarding the lack of safety data regarding injected thimerosal and the

sharp rise of infant exposure to this known neurotoxin. Our public health

agencies¹ failure to act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for

self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry.²

2. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an independent federal agency,

has issued a letter to Congress stating: ³I have recently received hundreds

of disclosures from private citizens alleging a widespread danger to the

public health, specifically to infants and toddlers, caused by childhood

vaccines which include thimerosal, a mercurycontaining preservative...The

disclosures allege that thimerosal/mercury is still present in childhood

vaccines, contrary to statements made by HHS agencies, HHS Office of

Investigations and the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to the

information provided, vaccines containing 25 micrograms of mercury and

carrying expiration dates of 2005, continue to be produced and administered.

In addition, the disclosures allege, among other things, that some datasets

showing a relationship between thimerosal/mercury and neurological disorders

no longer exist, that independent researchers have been arbitrarily denied

access to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) databases,

and that government-sponsored studies have not assessed the genetic

vulnerabilities of subpopulations. Due to their heightened concern that

additional datasets may be destroyed, these citizens urge the immediate

safeguarding of the Vaccine Safety Datalink database, and other relevant CDC

information, so that critical data are not lost. The disclosures also allege

that the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration colluded with

pharmaceutical companies at a conference in Norcross, Georgia, in June 2000,

to prevent the release of a study which showed a statistical correlation

between thimerosal/mercury exposure through pediatric vaccines and

neurological disorders, including autism, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity

Disorder, stuttering, tics, and speech and language delays. Instead of

releasing the data presented at the conference, the author of the study, Dr.

Verstraeten, later published a different version of the study in the

November 2003 issue of Pediatrics, which did not show a statistical

correlation. No explanation has been provided for this discrepancy. Finally,

the disclosures allege that there is an increasing body of clinical evidence

on the connection of thimerosal/mercury exposure to neurolo gical disorders

which is being ignored by government public health agencies...I believe that

these allegations raise serious continuing concerns about the administration

of the nation¹s vaccine program and the government¹s possibly inadequate

response to the growing body of scientific research on the public health

danger of mercury in vaccines. The allegations also present troubling

information regarding children¹s cumulative exposure to mercury and the

connection of that exposure to the increase in neurological disorders such

as autism and autism-related conditions among children in the US.²

3. The United Kingdom shall discontinue vaccines containing thimerosal:

³Vaccine Scrapped Over Autism Fear²

4. Bradstreet et al found that autistic children have ³approximately 6-times

statistically significantly higher mercury body-burdens than neurotypical

children following three days of oral chelation with DMSA.² Bradstreet J et

al. A case-control study of mercury burden in children with autistic

spectrum disorders. J Am Physicians Surg 2003;8:76-79.

5. Gassett et al. administered thimerosal to animals, and found a

substantial concentration of mercury present in blood and tissues (including

the brain) of the treated animals and their offspring. The authors concluded

that thimerosal crosses the bloodbrain barrier and placental barriers.

Gasset AR et al. Teratogenicities of ophthalmic drugs. II. Teratogenicities

and tissue accumulation of thimerosal. Arch Ophthalmol 1975;93:52-55.

6. Slikker from the FDA has confirmed that thimerosal crosses the

blood-brain barrier and placental barriers and results in appreciable

mercury content in tissues including the brain. Slikker W. Developmental

neurotoxicology of therapeutics: survey of novel recent findings.

Neurotoxicology 2000;21:250.

[Guest guest]

I don't think that's it because it did not work for me and I am an a-m member.

Joyce M. Davila

Mamá de Verónica Marie

Puerto Rico

Re: action: McCandless letters to IOM, to Calif

legislature - parent letters to Congress people

You may have to be an autism-mercury member. I'll send you the pdf offlist.

Lynne Arnold wrote:

>>Very poignant, important letters have been written by Jaquelyn

>>McCandless, MD:

>>

>>

>

>

>

>>McCandless to IOM - Aug 19 2004 with Calif addendum.pdf

>><http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdx

>>Z2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20A

>>ug%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf>

>>

>>

>>aka (ending in .pdf):

>>

>>http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdxZ

>>2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20Au

>>g%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf

>>

>>

>

>The links don't work for me. Did anyone else have any luck?

>

>Lynne

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I went to

groups.yahoo.com

selected

files

Found the file. It is quickly downloaded.

Joyce Davila wrote:

>I don't think that's it because it did not work for me and I am an a-m member.

>

> Joyce M. Davila

>Mamá de Verónica Marie

> Puerto Rico

> Re: action: McCandless letters to IOM, to Calif

legislature - parent letters to Congress people

>

>

> You may have to be an autism-mercury member. I'll send you the pdf offlist.

>

>

>

> Lynne Arnold wrote:

>

> >>Very poignant, important letters have been written by Jaquelyn

> >>McCandless, MD:

> >>

> >>

> >

> >

> >

> >>McCandless to IOM - Aug 19 2004 with Calif addendum.pdf

>

>><http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdx

>

>>Z2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20A

> >>ug%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf>

> >>

> >>

> >>aka (ending in .pdf):

> >>

>

>>http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/4AMmQQO0Qick7Ltw8zc3MMA3bZlV33hpimPtPKV9vOZarGdxZ

>

>>2UdC4v6_dapoa9StYRCndENKUj7vKxpBTbkA3TgnBgZ9V-Q/McCandless%20to%20IOM%20-%20Au

> >>g%2019%202004%20with%20Calif%20addendum.pdf

> >>

> >>

> >

> >The links don't work for me. Did anyone else have any luck?

> >

> >Lynne

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

>

>