Secert CDC study: Thimerosal an autism risk

An unreleased confidential report by Center's for Disease Control (CDC) scientists reveals that exposure to significant amounts of mercury during the first months of life significantly increases a child's risk of developing autism, according to an attorney with the law firm of Walters & Kraus. The firm is a part of a coalition of law firms, representing families in at least 25 states, that has filed lawsuits in an attempt to force drug companies to investigate the possible link between mercury and developmental disorders.

Attorney Andy Walters says that the unreleased CDC report, obtained by the SAFEMINDS advocacy group, found a 2.48 times increased risk of autism in children exposed to more then 62.5 micrograms of mercury before they were 3 months of age. In a press release, Walters and Kraus notes that "in the United States, courts of law have generally held that a relative increased risk of 2.0 or higher is sufficient to substantiate that a given exposure causes disease." Walters says that in many of the cases that his firm has evaluated, autistic children have received more than 62.5 micrograms of mercury through pediatric vaccines.

A report made public by the CDC in the fall claimed that the thimerosal, the mercury containing preservative used in many vaccines, could not be linked to autism, while calling on Physicians to avoid thimerosal containing vaccines when possible. However, according to Walters & Kraus, the confidential CDC report states: "As for the exposure evaluated at 3 months of age, we found increasing risks of "neurological developmental disorders" with increasing cumulative exposure to thimerosal... within the group of "developmental disorders"... for the subgroup called "specific delays," and within the this subgroup for the specific disorder "developmental speech disorder," and for "autism" "stuttering" and "attention deficit disorder".

Walters says the report's contents, and the fact that it was kept secret, are "shocking, but unfortunately not surprising, given the political influence of pharmaceutical companies and the tremendous liability they face if they are forced to compensate thousands of families for the costs of care that these children require".

Press Release, Walters & Kraus, 2001

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PRESS RELEASE

An announcement was made today by the law firm of Waters & Kraus, the firm that filed the first known lawsuit alleging that a mercury preservative in children's vaccines caused neurological damage to an infant ultimately diagnosed with autism. Waters & Kraus is leading a consortium of ten firms in as many states that are actively prosecuting cases of this nature (firms listed below).  Andy Waters, the lead attorney in the cases, announced that his firm is now in possession of a previously unreleased confidential report authored by Centers for Disease Control scientists which studied autism as a potential neurological injury caused by mercury in children's vaccines. A different version of the report was made public and has been cited by the recent Institute of Medicine study as inconclusive on the issue of whether the mercury-based vaccine preservative known as Thimerosal has contributed to cause a nationwide epidemic of regressive autism and other neurological disorders in small children.  The confidential version of the study, however, clearly demonstrated that an exposure to more than 62.5 micrograms of mercury within the first three months of life significantly increased a child's risk of developing autism.  Specifically, the study found a 2.48 times increased risk of autism _ that is to say, children with the exposure were more than twice as likely to develop autism as children not exposed. Click here to view the full report. (27 pages formatted in TIFF) In the United States, courts of law have generally held that a relative increased risk of 2.0 or higher is sufficient to substantiate that a given exposure causes disease.  As but one example, in the case of Cook v. United States, 545 F.Supp. 306, at 308 (Northern District _ California 1982) the Court stated that, "in a vaccine case, a relative risk greater than 2.0 establishes that there is a greater than 50% chance that the injury was caused by the vaccine." Waters indicated that, in many of the cases his firm has evaluated, including the case filed in a Texas state court on behalf of the Counter family, the affected child received more than 62.5 micrograms of mercury through pediatric vaccines in the first three months of life. The confidential report, which was obtained by the SAFEMINDS support and advocacy group, states:  "As for the exposure evaluated at 3 months of age, we found increasing risks of 'neurological developmental disorders' with increasing cumulative exposure to thimerosal ... within the group of 'developmental disorders'... for the sub_group called 'specific delays,' and within this sub_group for the specific disorder 'developmental speech disorder,' and for 'autism,' 'stuttering' and 'attention deficit disorder.'" The report also contained the graph depicted below which illustrated the report's findings of a child's increasing risk of developing the neurological symptoms of autism after receiving increasing amounts of thimerosal.Graph 3:      Relative risk 95 % CI  of Autism after different exposure levels of thimerosal at 3 months of age, NCK & GHCWaters pointed out that the confidential study's lead author, Thomas Verstraeten, has since left the Centers for Disease Control and is now employed by GlaxoSmithKline, a manufacturer of thimerosal_containing vaccines for many years that is a defendant in numerous suits pending nationwide.  "We have asked GlaxoSmithKline to provide Mr. Verstraeten's deposition in order to understand if conflict of interest issues may have played a role in the CDC's decision to keep this report confidential, and specifically, their failure to reveal it to the Institute of Medicine."Waters called the report's contents and the fact that it was kept from the public as "shocking, but unfortunately not surprising, given the political influence of pharmaceutical companies and the tremendous liability they face if they are forced to compensate thousands of families for the costs of care that these children require." Waters added that "no amount of money can give these children back the potential that they were born with, and no amount of money will comfort the parents that watched helplessly as their children literally just slipped away."  The purpose of the lawsuits his firm is currently prosecuting, said Waters, is "to bring to the surface the truth on this issue, a truth that government agencies seem unwilling to admit, perhaps for fear that parents will stop vaccinating their children, and to force the companies that profited from this disastrous mistake to shoulder the responsibility that so many families now bear on their own, often without even the aid of health insurance benefits."   Media inquiries should be directed to Melissa Miles at 214-357-6244.Client inquiries should be directed to Victoria Gibson, toll-free at 1-866-829-7529, or to the firms listed below.Other firms working with Waters & Kraus to prosecute individual cases involving thimerosal exposure are:ANDERSON & KRIGER, APLC40925 County Center Drive, Suite 210Temecula, California 92591Telephone: 909.296.5090DOGAN & WILKINSON726 Delmas AvenuePascagoula, Mississippi 39567Telephone: 228.762.2272 DORAN & MURPHY, LLP1234 Delaware AvenueBuffalo, New York 14209Telephone: 716.884.2000EVERT & WEATHERSBY, L.L.C.3405 Piedmont Road, Suite 225Atlanta, Georgia 30305-1764Telephone : 404.233.8718HENDRICKSON & LONG214 Capital StreetP.O. Box 11070Charleston, W. VA 25339Telephone: 304.346.5500JONES, MARTIN, PARRIS, &TESSENER LAW OFFICES, PLLC410 Glenwood Ave., Suite 200Raleigh, North Carolina 27603Telephone: 919.821.0005LEACH, SCHWARZ &STRASSBERG11 Bala Ave.Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania 19004Telephone: 610.668.7964MARTZELL & BICKFORD338 Lafayette StreetNew Orleans, Louisianna 70130Telephone: 504.581.90653555 College AvenueWISE & JULIAN, PC3555 College AvenueAlton, Illinois 62002Telephone: 618.462.2600

To View this CDC Unreleased reportit will be found in the 2nd paragraph: click on the link that states:  Click here to view the full report  (27 pages formatted in TIFF) or click below
Mercury - Autism Links

This story and the link listed above is found here at:
http://www.autismfraud.com/00000121.tiff

Link to the Never Released CDC Report:

http://www.autismfraud.com/00000121.tiff