Statement on WSJ Editorial

[Guest guest]

STATEMENT BY SAFE MINDS ON THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL OF 12/29/03

THE POLITICS OF AUTISM

Lyn Redwood RN, MSN

President, Safe Minds

The December 29th editorial from the Wall Street Journal The Politics

of Autism: Lawsuits and emotion vs. science and childhood vaccines is a

misrepresentation of the actual facts surrounding the debate concerning

autism and exposure to thimerosal, a mercury preservative used in some

but not all infant vaccines. Instead of this being a story of politics

and lawyers trumping science and medicine as alleged, it would be more

accurately described as a story of how the pharmaceutical industry uses

the media and politics to accomplish its goals. One must ask, Why does

the Wall Street Journal feel it necessary to pick on families of

children with autism and a small research advocacy group, Safe Minds?

The answer is simple, money.

When an FDA official reported that ethyl mercury from thimerosal was

able to cross the blood brain barrier resulting in appreciable mercury

content in the brain and other well respected doctors opined that

exposure to mercury containing vaccines, in addition to already high

levels of exposure to environmental mercury, may result in adverse

neurological outcomes, they began to worry. This, coupled with the

uncovering of internal documents obtained during the process of

discovery from Eli Lilly, who held the patent on thimerosal, that the

product was not safe to administer to dogs, but nonetheless was promoted

for use in childhood vaccines, was enough for them to rush to their

allies in Washington, or should I say largest campaign contribution

recipients, for help. The result, a rider added at the 11th hour to last

years popular Homeland Security Bill giving Eli Lilly immunity from any

product liability related to thimerosal.

Fortunately, many in Congress recognized that the rider had nothing to

do with homeland security and demanded that it be removed until the

issue could be reviewed. The claim that these Senators failed to honor

their side of the agreement to address the issue in the next session of

Congress is wrong. In fact, on April 9, 2003, the Senate Health,

Education Labor and Pensions Committee, chaired by Gregg (R-NH), was

scheduled to meet to work on a compromise bill agreed to by Senate

Majority Leader Frist (R-TN). But before the start of that meeting,

lobbyists from the vaccine manufacturers met with and convinced Senator

Gregg to postpone the meeting indefinitely. Senator Gregg went on the

record admitting that he aborted the committee meeting because of the

concerns of the vaccine manufacturers. To suggest that Senators Snowe,

and Chafee were at fault is a misrepresentation of actual events

and warrants retraction.

Additionally, the editorial wrongly claims that thimerosal has never

been linked to any health problems. A quick literature search finds

hundreds of studies that document numerous incidences of injury from

thimerosal exposure. The few suggested in the editorial as being

evidence disproving such an association have been highly criticized and

when reviewed were actually found to support a link. One such study

published in the November, 2003 issue of Pediatrics contains faulty

methodology and manipulation of data. In fact an earlier version of the

study found statistically significant and dose dependant associations

between exposures to mercury containing vaccines and several adverse

outcomes including neurodevelopmental delays in general, speech and

language delays and ADD/ADHD. Investigators kept the results secret and

changed the data and methodology in order to achieve the results desired

by vaccine manufacturers. This was only revealed when Safe Minds

obtained minutes of a secret meeting on the initial results through the

Freedom of Information Act. One participant even claimed that based on

the results, he would not allow his own baby grandson to receive the

vaccines containing thimerosal. The lead author of the study, an

employee of vaccine manufacturer Glaxo Kline, has refused press

inquiries about these charges.

In addition, independent researchers, at the behest of the U.S.

Congress, have analyzed the same database for the relationship between

mercury from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and adverse

neurodevelopmental disorders, and found an overwhelming epidemiological

confirmation of a direct link related to increasing exposure to mercury

from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines.

The Rochester study as well was highly criticized by three independent

physicians and researchers in the following issue of Lancet. The sample

size of 33 children was too small to establish safety claims and the

mercury levels in the blood were not obtained 3 hours after the exposure

to the vaccine when the levels would be at their highest, but instead

days and weeks later when the levels had now dropped below EPAs level

of concern. One reviewer using pharmacokinetic modeling was able to

extrapolate the data back to peak levels and found that mercury levels

had in fact breeched safety guidelines. This coupled with the fact that

the lead author, in previous publications but not this one, acknowledged

financial ties to a number of vaccine manufacturers including Eli Lilly,

casts further doubt on their research findings.

And lastly the highly touted Denmark study cited in the editorial as

being the best evidence to date that there is no connection between

thimerosal and autism is also highly suspect. The Danish autism registry

allows 10 to 25% of the autism cases to be lost from its records each

year with the net effect being that the older cases which occurred when

thimerosal vaccines were administered in Denmark are lost. Controlling

for this loss of records results in a higher number of autism cases

during the time frame when thimerosal containing vaccines were used,

supporting the thimerosal-autism link. Again, the author of this

investigation failed to acknowledge his employment with the manufacturer

and promoter of vaccines in Denmark.

While the ramifications of damage to a generation of children from the

needless exposure to mercury from infant vaccines and the accompanying

liability is a big pill for the pharmaceutical industry to swallow,

sweeping the facts under the rug and running to Congress for protection

after the fact will only exacerbate the problem. Public confidence in

vaccine safety will only prevail when the pharmaceutical companies, the

media and Congress deal openly and truthfully with American parents.

Congress must address this in a manner that brings justice to injured

children, and ensures that all vaccines, both voluntary as well as those

required by law, are safe and effective. Extending further liability

protections to industry takes away the necessary incentives to

accomplish that goal.