PRESS RELEASE

Contact:
Laura Bono, 919-403-9443
Lori McIlwain, 919-272-8192
 

For Immediate Release:
October 31, 2003

ORIGINAL UNPUBLISHED CDC STUDY IN 2000 FINDS 2.48 RELATIVE RISK BETWEEN AUTISM AND MERCURY-BASED PRESERVATIVE, MANY SAY NEWEST STUDY CONTAINS MANIPULATED DATA

Raleigh/Durham, NC – A new Vaccine Safety Data-link (VSD) study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control is expected to be published in Pediatrics on Monday, but an online version of the report was released today. The newest study falsely reports no link between neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, and the mercury-based vaccine preservative Thimerosal. The 2000 version of the study did find a connection, but was never published.

Only through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was the research group Safe Minds able to retrieve the original study which found that exposure to more than 62.5 micrograms of mercury in vaccines within the first three months of life could make children more than twice as likely to develop autism than children not exposed.

“We've got an explosion of autism that correlates with the increase in Thimerosal exposure in children, and it appears to me that this new study serves only to mislead the public,” says Laura Bono, parent of a vaccine-injured child. “Through analysis of the new study, we’ve learned that the authors included and excluded data they knew would give them their desired outcome and, in my opinion, that is deliberate deception.”

Dr. Tom Verstraeten was the lead investigator in the original study and one of the authors of the current article. Although he is now employed by vaccine-manufacturer giant GlaxoSmithKlein, the current article fails to disclose the clear conflict of interest.

In 2000, after the original study was released, a group of 48 doctors, among other professionals, discreetly gathered at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center in Georgia to discuss the data that linked mercury in vaccines to autism. Transcripts of the meeting, also retrieved through FOIA, reveal comments from concerned doctors about the original study’s conclusions. One doctor was quoted as saying, “There are just a host of Neurodevelopmental data that would suggest that we’ve got a serious problem.” Another stated, “So we are in a bad position from the standpoint of defending any lawsuits and I am concerned.”

Many feel the original study should have been published and blame the CDC for covering up mercury poisoning that has injured thousands of children only to calm fears and protect drug companies.

“Let's open our eyes here...they cherry-picked the data, they used an HMO known for bad recordkeeping, and they included children least likely to have an autism diagnosis because of their age," says parent Lori McIlwain. "Another VSD study done by independent researchers who have nothing to gain will soon be released and contradict this latest CDC study,” she says.

The new CDC VSD report comes on the heels of the ‘Global Warming’ report recently released by the Environmental Protection Agency which is also said to contain manipulated data and deleted portions.

To see a copy of the original study and transcripts of the Simpsonwood meeting, visit www.safeminds.org or www.factsformedia.com