Posted on 12/14/2017 7:55:21 AM PST by azkathy
It has been more than four years since I received that first phone call from Dr. William Thompson, a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who is now under whistleblower protection. During these years, I was in direct contact with Dr. Thompson. We probably had more than 40 phone conversations and exchanged more than 10,000 pages of documents. All of the information was then shared with Rep. William J. Posey (R-8-Fla.) The phone conversations including both audio and written transcripts are available at the website: http://fearlessparent.org/whyis-thimerosal-still-in-vaccines-recording-1/. Dr. Thompson’s story has now been told in two books, Vaccine Whistleblower by Kevin Barry1 and Inoculated by Kent Heckenlively,2 and has also been the subject of the movie Vaxxed directed by Dr. Andrew Wakefield.
I will not repeat the details laid out in these works, but I want to highlight the “opportunity missed” by CDC and the federal government in light of Dr. Thompson’s revelations.
Dr. Thompson revealed to me the gross bias of CDC leadership in covering up for vaccines at all costs. One CDC official worked especially hard in the background to dilute Dr. Thompson’s strong and statistically significant finding in his 2007 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine3 that thimerosal exposure via infant vaccines causes tics in boys. In addition, she supervised numerous efforts within CDC’s Immunization Safety Office to cover up the relationship between vaccines and autism, among many other childhood developmental disorders.
Two other CDC officials were central figures in hiding the relationship between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism in African-American boys. A CDC official ordered that all documents showing this relationship be destroyed, as was done in a September 2002 meeting, prior to the publication of the now discredited 2004 paper by DeStefano et al. in the journal Pediatrics. 4 Further, a CDC official was complicit in the whole debacle involving Dr. Poul Thorsen, in which data showing that autism rates went down in Denmark after the removal of thimerosal from vaccines were omitted from the now thoroughly debunked 2003 Pediatrics paper by Madsen et al.5
Yet, these individuals remain in place in their comfortable leadership jobs at CDC, despite the revelation of data manipulation. This destroys confidence in the CDC’s assurances of the safety of the now-bloated vaccine schedule and instead shows its leaders’ dedication to protecting their institution at all costs.
In light of their information concerning MMR vaccine in black boys and its relationship to “isolated autism,” now more commonly referred to as regressive autism, which was shown in numerous documents Dr. Thompson provided, has CDC revisited this subject? The answer is a resounding NO! There has been no additional study. In fact, my own paper,6 in which these data were re-analyzed correctly, was retracted, without any scientific rationale, by the journal Translational Neurodegeneration. This presumably occurred after CDC leadership complained to the journal of an undisclosed conflict of interest on my part, a patently false assertion. More importantly, the many children denied vaccine injury claims based on the fatally flawed 2004 paper by Destefano et al.4 were never allowed to have their cases reopened in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in light of the whistleblower’s revelations.
Regarding Dr. Thompson’s earlier work, he asked me to start a campaign to publicize the fact that multiple CDCsanctioned publications show that thimerosal causes tics.3, 7-9 This issue has never been addressed by CDC. Instead, CDC’s website falsely states: “There is no evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site.” Soon after the revelations of the CDC whistleblower went public in August 2014, I filed a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Research Integrity (ORI) regarding the data manipulation associated with the 2004 Destefano paper.4 The ORI handed the complaint over to CDC to “investigate itself.” Obviously, this type of self-review inspires no confidence, especially given CDC’s very poor track record.
When the CDC team responsible for the paper by Destefano et al.4 originally completed the analysis regarding MMR timing and autism in black male children, an odds ratio of 2.56 was obtained when comparing those children receiving the MMR vaccine before 36 months of age with those who didn’t receive MMR until after 36 months of age. This result was statistically significant, with a p-value less than 0.01. This result alarmed Dr. Thompson’s co-authors on the paper, especially those who were in leadership positions at CDC.
In order to dilute this association, Dr. Thompson was asked to eliminate any children in the sample who did not possess a valid State of Georgia birth certificate. This eliminated children living in the Atlanta area but not born in Georgia— about 40 percent of the sample. When this was done, the odds ratio was reduced to 1.68 but more importantly, statistical significance was obviated (i.e., p > 0.05). In the final paper, only the result for the “birth certificate” sampling was reported. In addition, according to Dr. Thompson, all data showing the original effect for African-Americans were destroyed in the September 2002 meeting, despite the fact that the original analysis plan for the study4 explicitly stated: “The only variable available to be assessed as a potential confounder using the entire sample is child’s race.” DeStefano et al. deviated from the original analysis plan, expressly to avoid reporting the statistically significant finding.
It is important to note that statistically significant relationships were actually observed and reported in the final paper.4 Specifically, the odds ratio for boys in the study was 1.67 (95% CI 1.10–2.53), when comparing those who received the MMR before and after 36 months of age. However, the authors of the paper dismissed these findings by stating: Vaccination before 36 months was more common among case children than control children, especially among children 3 to 5 years of age, likely reflecting immunization requirements for enrollment in early intervention programs. If the authors’ assertion regarding early intervention had indeed been correct, then a significant effect would have been consistent within all gender, race, and demographic categories studied. However, this was not the case as seen in boys versus girls (odds ratio 1.06, 95% CI 0.51–2.20). Ultimately, the statistically significant result here was specific to blacks, and CDC chose to hide the relationship in order to protect the program, rather than protecting children.
CDC’s investigation into itself has dragged on for three years now with no resolution. Unofficially, I have heard that, as a result of the investigation, there may be some type of report released in late 2018. Yet, how many lives of children have been needlessly sacrificed for the good of a profit driven vaccination program over this protracted period during which CDC has failed to resolve the issue long after having been exposed for data manipulation?
Brian S. Hooker, Ph.D., is associate professor of biology, Simpson University, 1095 Hilltop Drive, Suite 404, Redding, Calif. 96003, drbrianhooker@gmail.com. Disclosures: The author is a member of the Advisory Board to the Board of Trustees for Focus For Health. Dr. Hooker has also received grant funds from Focus For Health.
REFERENCES 1. Barry K. Vaccine Whistleblower. New York, N.Y.: Skyhorse Publishers; 2015. 2. Cardiff CA, Heckenlively K. Inoculated: How Science Lost Its Soul in Autism. Waterfront Press; 2016. 3. Thompson W, Price C, Goodson B, et al. Early thimerosal exposure and neuropsychological outcomes at 7 to 10 Years. N Engl J Med 2007:357:1281- 1292. 4. Destefano F, Bhasin T, Thompson W, Yeargin-Allsop M, Boyle C. Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in children with autism and schoolmatched control subjects: a population-based study in metropolitan Atlanta. Pediatrics 2004:113:259-266. 5. Madsen K, Lauritsen M, Pedersen C, et al. Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data. Pediatrics 2003:112:604-606. 6. Hooker B. Measles-mumps-rubella vaccination timing and autism among young African-American boys: a reanalysis of CDC Data. Translational Neurodegeneration 2014:3:16-21. Retracted. 7 Barile J, Kuperminc G, Weintraub E, et al. Thimerosal exposure in early life and neuropsychological outcomes 7-10 years later. J Pediatr Psychol 2011:37:106-118. 8. Verstraeten T, Davis R, Destefano F, et al. Safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of computerized health maintenance organization databases. Pediatrics 2003:112:1039-1048. 9. Andrews N, Miller E, Grant A, et al. Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a retrospective cohort study in the United Kingdom does not support a causal association. Pediatrics 2004:114:584-591
If this topic in new to you, the book INOCULATED: How Science Lost Its Soul in Autism by Kent Heckenlively will catch you up to speed.
Chapter Outline
Chapter One: The Call – Dr. Brian Hooker, a university biology professor was working in his office when he got a call from a senior Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientist, Dr. William Thompson. The two worked together years earlier when parent groups were clamoring for the CDC to conduct research into vaccines and autism. Thompson reveals that the CDC found such evidence, but covered it up. Thompson had retained these documents and eventually turned them over to Congressman William Posey. The most explosive of these allegations is that earlier administration of the MMR vaccine is causing a 3.36-fold increase in autism among African-American males. With Thompson’s guidance, Hooker publishes this information in the summer of 2014.
Chapter Two: The Insanely Good Soul of Dr. Andrew Wakefield – British researcher, Dr. Andrew Wakefield first published his findings suggesting the MMR vaccine was linked to autism in The Lancet in 1997, even going so far as to share these results with the CDC prior to publication. In the ensuing years, Wakefield was subjected to unbelievable persecution and his name was vilified throughout the world. Hooker brings the Thompson documents to Wakefield’s attention. Hooker also initiates contact between Thompson and Wakefield, with Thompson apologizing for participating in the cover-up of research that would have vindicated Wakefield’s research. Wakefield accepts Thompson’s apology.
Chapter Three: The Lipkin-Hornig Team – No two scientists are more frequently quoted in the media regarding vaccine issues then Drs. Ian Lipkin and his collaborator, Mady Hornig of Columbia University. And yet the picture is more complex than painted in media accounts. The author reviews the Lipkin/Hornig publication of 2004 and their Congressional testimony which DID show a link between the mercury in vaccines and autism in laboratory animals. Also reviewed is their “debunking” investigations regarding the XMRV retroviruses and chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, the MMR vaccine and autism, and the simple flaws in their experiments which would be clear to anyone with a passing familiarity in scientific principles.
Chapter Four: The Documents – On December 22, 2015, science teacher and author Kent Heckenlively applied for and was granted access by the office of Congressman William Posey to the documents turned over by Dr. William Thompson. Heckenlively reviews some of the most damaging documents and also reflects on how his own struggle with his daughter’s autism would have been significantly different if this information had been publicly released in 2001. There would have been no “Vaccine War” or dismissal of autism parents as being “anti-science”, just researchers and parents working together to find solutions for their disabled children.
Chapter Five: The CDC Runs Away to Simpsonwood Retreat Center to Defend Mercury in Vaccines – On June 7-8, 2000 more than fifty scientists from the CDC, private universities, and vaccine makers gathered at Simpsonwood Retreat Center in Norcross, Georgia to discuss findings that suggested thimerosal in vaccines, a mercury derivative, were linked to increasing rates of autism and other neurological disorders. The meeting was supposed to be secret, and the “study” was not published until more than two years later, after a lot of the incriminating information was eliminated. Using the actual transcript of the meeting, Heckenlively shows how the science was twisted by the same individuals who would later prevent Dr. Thompson from honestly reporting his own findings about the MMR vaccine.
Chapter Six: The View from Congress – Heckenlively interviews Beth Clay, a former senior staff member of the House Oversight Committee chaired by Congressman Dan Burton which had looked into the mercury issue and issued a report in 2003 called “Mercury in Medicine: An Unnecessary Burden.” The report concluded that mercury was probably linked to the autism epidemic and made numerous suggestions for change, none of which were adopted. Clay’s memories of the investigation provide a chilling look at scientists who do not want to honestly investigate one of their most cherished practices. The chapter ends with a speech in 2004 by another Congressman, Dave Weldon, a medical doctor, in which he reviews the shameful conduct of the CDC in this investigation. Weldon’s talk got minimal press coverage.
Chapter Seven: The Legal View – Most Americans don’t realize they cannot sue a vaccine manufacturer for injuries. That right was taken away by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which established a special “Vaccine Court” which hears all claims. Injured parties are not allowed to obtain documents from the companies which manufactured the vaccines, or are they allowed to call researchers who worked on those products. Even with all of these obstacles, the court has paid out more than three billion dollars in claims, including to several children whose injuries included autism. This chapter features an interview with a judge who worked in the “Vaccine Court” for twenty-two years as well as a Stanford law professor who conducted an in-depth investigation of the court, ultimately concluding it did not provide a good model for other proposed alternative courts.
Chapter Eight: Those Who Oppose Goliath – Brandy Vaughn was a pharmaceutical sales representative for Merck pharmaceuticals, selling the medication, Vioxx, which was later pulled off the market because it was causing heart attacks among those who took it. The experience forced Vaughn to more deeply consider what she had been a part of, and led her to research vaccine ingredients when she had her own child. Vaughn went on to found the “Council for Vaccine Safety” and has been a leader against efforts in her own state to mandate vaccines for all children. The story of Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, an autism doctor who died under mysterious circumstances is also profiled.
Chapter Nine: Curious Alliances – After publication of his article, Dr. Brian Hooker becomes part of a group of individuals trying to work in concert with other groups trying to get to the bottom of Thompson’s allegations. Most groups turn away, but significant and enthusiastic support is given by three unlikely groups: right-wing Republicans, the Nation of Islam under Louis Farrakhan, and the Church of Scientology.
Chapter Ten: De Niro, Tribeca and the Real Goodfellas – Wakefield and Hooker’s documentary film about CDC whistleblower, Dr. William Thompson, VAXXED: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, is accepted to the Tribeca Film Festival in March of 2016, immediately becoming the subject of controversy. De Niro supports the film at first, then pulls it, then later on The Today Show says he regrets pulling the film and everybody in America should see it and make up their own mind. The film is also pulled from the Houston International Film Festival under pressure from the mayor and a local judge on the grounds that it conflicts with the city’s immunization program. The film is now opening in theaters across the country, attracting record crowds, and provoking a long overdue national conversation.
Chapter Eleven: Can Science End the Autism Epidemic? – Can the autism epidemic be reversed? Can we give those people who currently suffer from this affliction a normal life? Heckenlively sounds a hopeful note by interviewing a leading scientist from the University of California, San Diego, who has been using a century-old drug to reverse autism in animal models, and has had similar success in his initial human trial. Sometimes science can make quantum leaps, and this research holds the promise of not only transcending the current bitterness, but pointing towards treatment for many other diseases. A doctor in private practice who is working with the UC San Diego team also shares his perspective on the difficulties inherent in bringing new approaches to the public.
Chapter Twelve: Justice – What steps can be taken to punish those responsible for this epidemic and insure that a similar tragedy does not take place in the future? Heckenlively lays out four recommendations to end the autism epidemic, as well as punishment for those who have concealed information and distorted the scientific process.
Immunization ping
Way to much money and political influence to have this be exposed.
Not saying vaccines are the cause of autism, but they do hid the adverse effects from parents.
At the rate Autism is increasing before long all families will be impacted.
Great Article here, https://www.askdrsears.com/topics/autism/autism-rate-jumps-1-36-children-1-28-boys
The Centers for Disease Control just released their latest findings about autism:
In 2014 the rate of autism was 1 in 45 children
In 2015 it rose slightly to 1 in 43
In 2016, the number jumped up to 1 in 36 kids
For boys, the rate is 1 in 28. For girls, it’s 1 in 80.
The survey also found that the number of children diagnosed with any developmental disability increased from 1 in 17 kids to 1 in 14 – about 7% of all children.
Wakefield is precisely the activist ex-doctor who has committed the fraudulent paper linking vaccine to autism. He is a certified fraud and has been banned from the medical profession.
So anything related to him must be taken with a big grain of salt, to remain polite.
bmp
Without taking a position on vaccines and autism, there is a larger issue that this report exposes.
The fallacy - dreamed up by the Marxists and Progressives - of merely appointing OFFICIAL “expert” bodies and panels automatically makes them “the best” and “better” than all other sources; and worse that LAW often makes them the “official source” that MUST be followed in certain cases.
Meanwhile human nature over time instills in these “expert” bodies the same corruption of spirit that infects all human “official” bodies - self preservation and corruption of the institution.
Then with outfits like the CDC you often have peoples lives directly as stake by the actions of the institution.
As a dictator POTUS I would get rid of the “official bodies” - all of them; encouraging the private academic institutions to publish their views, and in compettion with each other, and let individual doctors, civilians and institutions do their own due diligence on matters of health.
I am violently alergic to thimerosal which is a mercury compound. I have a base metal allergy. I discovered it in USAF Basic Training when I had to wear a Military Dog Tag Necklaces. The next morning my skin was scalded with large blisters where the chain touched me. I had to wear combat boot laces for the rest of Basic Training. I have had horrible reactions to thimerosal in eye drops. Within a few minutes of putting drops in my eyes they would be burning and bloodshot.
given the money, politics, power and influence involved on a GLOBAL scale, do not discount the possibility that he was framed.
Scientists are like sheep when it comes to politics. It is real easy to pick off one or two in order to make a colleague look bad.
You do realize your’re not allowed to say anything bad about vaccines around here?
For informational purposes only,
especially for those in the healthcare profession, or
those individuals who are concerned about infectious diseases and disease prevention.
( I take no position on the matter- this article is to keep you informed )
Don’t stop there. CDC and FDA did everything they could to jail a doctor named Burzynsky.
Turns out he discovered a cure for cancer. An actual cure.
They did everything possible to discredit it, and then they tried to steal it from him.
It’s an interesting documentary. David Kessler was in charge of the FDA at the time, and he will end up in his own wing of Hell when he’s done here.
Here is a better link to the recordings Dr. Hooker made with CDC scientist Dr. William Thompson. http://fearlessparent.org/cdc-scientist-connects-vaccines-to-tics-language-delay-recording-4/
With your thimerosal allergy imagine what would happen to you if you inject it.
You hit the nail on the head with this statement and I agree this is what is wrong in so many parts of our government right now. “Meanwhile human nature over time instills in these “expert” bodies the same corruption of spirit that infects all human “official” bodies - self preservation and corruption of the institution.”
Ping
Conclusion to protect the neurological health of your children and grandchildren: Be smart. DO. NOT. VACCINATE INFANTS. At the very least, wait a year. That choice would be by far the most SCIENTIFIC choice to make today. Period.
There is so much actual discovered science about the gut and body bacteria BEING AN ESSENTIAL PART of one’s immune system. Vaccines are created with 1950s recipes that attempt to JACK UP your “immune system” to the max to get the “immunity effect.” This is whynthere are adjuvants in them. Infants don’t have an immune system. They are meant to be carried and fed by their mother and kept well from piggybacking off her immune system.
Do not day care your infant. Keep him close to the mom / dad 24/7 or as much as possible. Minimize huge crowds in Year one. Lots of exposure to nature. Probiotic fermented foods at the end of the year when he’s eating real foods (yogurt, natural pickles, etc).
Decide to be smart. Only give him vaccines once he has developed enough bacteria to function as a great immune system. Make sure it’s during warm weather when no one around him has been sick when you vaccinate him. Stagger them. Only then does he have a chance of exposure to a vaccine without serious sequelae.
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