It’s Time for Some Chatter – CDC Style

Managing Editor's Note: Scroll to the end of this post to learn how you can follow Kelli Ann's lead and leave a comment on the CDC blog.

By Kelli Ann Davis

As most of you know, a letter was issued to Secretary Leavitt by the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology on July 14th. (Read the Age of Autism Post about it HERE.)

The letter asked the Secretary to ensure that the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee “promote a balanced research portfolio when examining the underlying causes for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” and specifically pressed for research into “environmental exposures” citing two vaccine references.

The Subcommittee is currently investigating CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on several fronts including the recent Beryllium toxic exposure incident.  See the CBS Investigative Report here HERE, and the Subcommittee’s Press Release here: HERE.

An excerpt from the press release states that “documents obtained by the Subcommittee raise serious concerns regarding ATSDR’s involvement in the Elmore beryllium investigation and whether political pressure led to the agency scaling down or canceling its beryllium tests.   These documents, and past investigations by the subcommittee, raise serious questions about ATSDR’s ability or willingness to protect the public from potential health hazards in the face of outside pressure.”

In an effort to spread the word among CDC employees regarding the Subcommittee’s interest in our issue, I posted a comment on CDC Chatter – a blog dedicated to CDC personnel and open to outsiders -- referencing the July 14th letter.  In addition, we need to draw traffic to the specific comment which references the letter by visiting the site and posting replies.
 
And that, my Age of Autism friends, is where you come in: Please help us by visiting:
The CDC blog HERE.

• Scroll to “NCPHI Reorganization” thread.
 
• Click on the title.
 
• A Display box will appear on top of the screen.  Use the drop down box to select “Nested” and then hit the “Refresh” key.
 
• You should see all the comments.  Scroll to the third comment and hit “Reply”.

• Type in your comment.

Hopefully the additional comments will draw attention to the letter and help us in our on-going efforts with the Subcommittee.

Thanks!

Kelli Ann Davis is the DC Political Liaison for Generation Rescue.

Comments

[Garbo]

I posted on the thread but also found interesting the other thread attracting more attention from CDC employees about downsizing in the office of the director; many of the posters seem quite irritated that the director's office staff is so bloated, and that this buyout offer is in preparation for Gerberding's imminent departure, as if it's conventional wisdom already that she's a goner. Unclear to me whether this is because she's being forced out now, or will be as soon as the administration in D.C. changes. Sounds like many there will be as glad to see her go as we will be.

[Craig Willoughby]

Kelli Ann,
The vaccine thigs hate for us to have an opinion or to speak up.

[Kelli Ann Davis]

Epi Wonk:

FYI: I tried to get it posted as it's own thread and that failed, so I went to plan B which was to *attach it* to the most current thread (the NCPHI) because it would get the most reads considering it got posted that same morning.

It doesn't matter if it's the same subject matter, the *point* was to get the letter out there for the *employees* of the CDC to read and draw attention to it.

Even if *you* never read CDC Chatter, that doesn't mean others aren't reading it and passing the information on.

With all due respect, how could you *possibly know* whether it's a *waste of time* or not considering you don't know the *background* surrounding the reason for the post in the first place?

The *leadership* and individuals in *power* at the CDC (and other agencies) ALREADY know about the letter, (trust me -- they know) so that, along with the fact that you aren't in discussions with the Subcommittee, renders your suggestion above counterproductive to what we're trying to accomplish.

To AoA readers: Continue to go to CDC Chatter and leave a comment. It is *not* a waste of time -- you need to trust me on that -- and please disregard Epi Wonk's advice.

Thanks.

[Epi Wonk]

Kelli,
The NCPHI is the National Center for Public Health Informatics (http://www.cdc.gov/ncphi/). The NCPHI has almost nothing to do with research or policy on autism, mercury, vaccines, environmental toxins, beryllium, or the ATSDR. Posting comments on the “NCPHI Reorganization” thread is a complete waste of time. I know this pretty definitively, since I'm a retired employee of the CDC. (In fact, CDC Chatter isn't read by people in power at CDC. Frankly, my advice is that for AofA to post messages anywhere at CDC Chatter is pretty much a waste of time.)
Just trying to be helpful,
Epi Wonk

[Tanners Dad]

While you are on the site check out the daily polls. I was surprised that they let us see the results for past polls. Attitudes, control, morale, and insight into the CDC are all on display. It is not pretty.