Please distribute far and wide.
For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Laura Bono, 919-403-9443
Lori McIlwain, 919-272-8192
Moms on a
ORIGINAL CDC STUDY FOUND “INCREASING
RISKS OF NEUROLOGIC DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS WITH INCREASING CUMULATIVE EXPOSURE
TO THIMEROSAL...” NOW, THIRD REVISION OF SAME STUDY FINDS NO LINK
Today’s Washington Times reports that U.S.
Congressman Dave Weldon (R-FL), a physician, said in a letter to Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC, “I have reviewed the
article and have serious reservations about the four-year evolution and
conclusions of this study.” And, “I found a disturbing pattern which merits a
thorough, open, timely, and independent review by researchers outside of the
CDC, HHS, the vaccine industry, and others with a conflict of interest in
vaccine related issues.”
Dr. Tom Verstraeten,
the lead investigator in the original study and author of the current article,
is employed by vaccine-manufacturer giant GlaxoSmithKline,
although the current article fails to disclose the clear conflict of interest.
The original February 2000 version of the
VSD study, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), found that
exposure to just three mercury-containing vaccines within the first three
months of life could make children nearly two and one half times more likely to
develop autism than children not exposed. The symptoms of autism mimic those of
mercury poisoning.
A CDC meeting was held in June 2000 to
discuss the original study’s findings. Transcripts, also obtained through FOIA,
reveal CDC researchers and others conspiring to deliberately deceive the
American people by minimizing the ill-affects of thimerosal.
• Dr. Robert Brent, of
• Dr. Tom Verstraeten
said, “...we have found statistically significant relationships between the
exposures and outcomes for these different exposures and outcomes...” Also,
“But one thing that is for sure, there is certainly an under-ascertainment of
all of these because some of the children are just not old enough to be
diagnosed.”
• Bill Weil, M.D., representing the
• When discussing data manipulation, Dr.
Philip Rhodes, a statistician at the CDC and co-author of both
studies said, “So you can push, I can pull. But there has been
substantial movement from this very highly significant result down to a fairly
marginal result.”
Dr. Mark Geier and
MedCon, Inc. President, David Geier,
are independent researchers, who at the behest of the U.S. Congress have
analyzed the VSD data. They found an overwhelming epidemiological confirmation
of a direct link between thimerosal and autism. In fact, the researchers found
that the risk is comparable to smoking and lung cancer. Their study will be published
in December in the peer-reviewed journal, Expert Review of Vaccines.
A study published this summer in a
peer-reviewed journal by Dr. Jeff Bradstreet found mercury concentrations were
significantly higher in children with autism vs. normal controls.
Another recent study published by
independent researchers analyzed the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
(VAERS,) a cooperative program of the CDC and FDA. This study found children
were six times more likely to have autism after thimerosal-containing vaccines
than children not exposed.
A July 2003 UPI Report found, after a
four-month investigation, a web of close ties between the agency and the
companies that make vaccines.
For copies of studies, data manipulation analysis, and CDC Meeting transcripts, visit www.momsonamissionforautism.org