Read the entire entry at David's Animal Factory Site.  David notes (below) that the CDC has altered one of the pages - removing references to mercury and vaccines.

The vaccine-autism debate is far from over. If anything, it is just getting started.

As the following comments, funding decisions, research priorites and published papers suggest, the US government and many scientists will be researching and discussing this topic for years to come. Here are some reasons why:

I) FEDERAL HEALTH AGENCIES ENDORSE MORE RESEARCH

The federal government’s four leading health entitites dealing with vaccines and/or autism have all reached consensus: More vaccine safety research is required to fill gaps in knowledge, especially in the context of susceptible subpopulations, mitochondrial impairment, long-tern effects of vaccine-induced fever, seizures and brain injury, and other factors. Millions of dollars will be spent investigating these factors, and not because health officials somehow caved to parental pressure. Mercury in vaccines, for example, was designated as one of the CDC’s “high priority” vaccine safety issues, following an “extensive review of the literature, based on how strongly they seemed to be associated with ASD.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of Immunization Saftey

The CDC will study autism “as a possible clinical outcome of immunization” as part of its 5-year research plan. It will also study mitochondrial dysfunction and the risk for “post-vaccine neurological deterioration,” and will convene an expert panel on the feasibility of studying health outcomes, including autism, among vaccinated and unvaccinated children.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Study to Explore Early Development

NOTE - THIS WEBPAGE WAS RECENTLY ALTERED BY CDC TO REMOVE REFERENCES TO VACCINES AND MERCURY - HERE IS THE ARCHIVED PAGE:

Archived CDC Page HERE

The CDC is currently looking at environmental, genetic and socioeconomic risk factors for ASD, including vaccines and mercury. “We chose to look at vaccines and other types of medical procedures that may have mercury exposure,” the CDC says. The agency “designated these factors as high priority” following “an extensive review of the literature, based on how strongly they seemed to be associated with ASD.” Selected mercury exposures include “vaccines that the mom received during pregnancy, the child’s vaccine exposures after birth and specific other factors such as RhoGAM treatment in pregnancy if the mom has developed an immune response against the fetus that can harm it.”

Read the entire entry at David's Animal Factory Site.

By J.B. Handley

“Understand what is being alleged here: That Thorsen stole taxpayer dollars intended for medical research, then pocketed them in his own private bank accounts and used the money to buy luxury items for his personal use. This is a man with a history of strong ties to the CDC, research universities and medical journals. This is a person whose research has been widely quoted by the vaccine apologists who say vaccines are safe. And now, in the midst of all this, how many mainstream newspapers do you see covering Thorsen's indictment and his ties to the CDC? Virtually none.”

-                Natural News, April 28, 2011

It’s great to see another media outlet cover the Poul Thorsen scandal, and provide both original research and opinion, so I highly recommend you jump over and read the article at Natural News and check out the awesome web of influence chart HERE.

Most journalists have no historical perspective on the importance of Denmark’s data in exonerating the role of vaccines in the autism epidemic, nor do they understand the desperation with which the CDC pursued data from other countries during a time when the Institute of Medicine was starting to explore the link between thimerosal and autism. Perhaps if they did, they, too, would wonder if a “pay to play” deal was hatched to save the CDC.

For the benefit of AoA readers, and hopefully an honest journalist or two, herewith is a pretty thorough history, replete with emails from many of the key players in what we can only hope will be a growing scandal.

It all started with Diane Simpson, circa 2001

Without Dr. Diane Simpson, a CDC employee, Dr. Poul Thorsen would likely be a person none of us would have ever heard of.

CDC's effort, beginning in the summer of 2001, was in anticipation of the IOM's report coming out in the October 2001. They knew what it was going to say and they knew it was going to be trouble.

The CDC's subsequent worldwide effort was an attempt to find corroborative data showing no link between autism and thimerosal and get it to the IOM or release it at the same time as the IOM report was released. As Dr. Diane Simpson says in this August 7, 2001 email :

"I don't have any new data at the moment and am frantically trying to see what is available and how best to get it in time for the expected IOM report release (we have given up trying to submit it in time for the report as they are in the process of writing it)."

Dr. Simpson's actions beginning in June of 2001, require some context. The Deputy Director of the NIP, Dr. Simpson, was given the task of finding data on autism and thimerosal in other countries. And not just any data, she was looking for data that would support the idea that there was no relationship between mercury and autism, despite the fact that she had seen the Generation Zero data and attended Simpsonwood.

Further, you have the division of the CDC that is responsible for keeping vaccination rates high, the division that would be held most responsible for creating the autism epidemic, and one of the leaders of that division, Dr. Robert Chen, who had the most to lose, directly involved in a process to find data about the relationship between thimerosal and autism.

Would CDC be "frantic" to find data that would corroborate the conclusion coming from IOM, that the thimerosal-autism relationship was "biologically plausible"? No, she was frantic to find data to disprove it. 

In the same month, she tells a Swedish researcher in this email that they could fly to Sweden immediately to look at data, "because our IOM committee's work is in process and we expect them to issue their report in the next several weeks, we expect increased public concern and questions in the near future."

In an email an email with another CDC employee, referring to data she may have unearthed in Denmark, she writes, "it is also possible that the data won't help us at all, but we won't know until we see it."

How won't it help? It won't help  unless it can be used to exonerate Thimerosal and the CDC.

As an example, Dr. Simpson's communication with the State of California (where autism data is the best in the country) produced a stunning data set, and one quickly buried. In this email , we see data provided by Dr. Loring Dales from the California Dept of Health showing the relationship between the vaccination rates of DTP by second birthdays, and the number of autism cases in California. One of Dr. Simpson's colleagues mentions "this looks like material for a graph." The graph is created, page 3 of the email, and there is a clear, linear relationship between the increase in vaccination rates (from 50.9% to 75.7%) and the number of autism cases per year (from 176 to 1182, a 6.7x increase) between 1980-1994. Needless to say, California was not the source of additional follow-up.

By J.B. Handley
 
5 months late, Matt Carey, a research staff member at Hitachi GST, with a PhD in physics from UCSD, has revealed himself to be the notorious blogger “Sullivan.”
 
In a previous post, I speculated that Sullivan was actually Bonnie Offit, wife of a not-to-be-mentioned vaccine millionaire. Mr. Carey’s personal outing of himself renders my speculation incorrect.
 
As many ravenous members of the dark side I’m sure have mentioned, I also made a simple promise that if Sullivan was NOT Bonnie Offit, I would not utter said name of said leader of the Dark Side.
 
I also offered to give up the website www.pauloffit.com
 
Apparently, Mr. Carey is a parent of a child with autism. Matt, if you’re reading this, note that I really have no interest in writing about or attacking other parents, and you can expect similar treatment. My enemies are the AAP, CDC, and the vaccine makers themselves, as well as their well-paid minions. Since you don’t appear to be in any of those camps and have a kid just like me, I don’t have the heart.
 
If I live 5 lifetimes, I will never understand where your reverence for not to be named profiteer of vaccines comes from, or why you choose to use your precious time to defend him.
 
I’m also pleased to see you now blogging in your own name, as all AoA writers and parents do. I think it’s a simple way to demonstrate courage, conviction, and integrity in the things you write.
 
‘Nuff said, in the world I live in, a deal’s a deal, even if you took five months to get here. Just email me, plenty on the dark side know how to find me, and we can work out the details.

 
By Julie Obradovic

In a slap yourself on the forehead, jaw-dropping, eye-popping, breath-taking, head-shaking, make-you-laugh-in-disgust hypocritical move, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a press release (HERE) accusing the U.S. of being too lax with managing and identifying the dangers of hazardous chemicals for children. 

Yes. The AAP. 

The same organization that I blogged about (HERE) that shared an internal email (HERE) among their leadership about how to handle the fact that they didn't realize there was more mercury being injected into kids than they thought (their words) (or how it manifested as poisoning, or how much of it actually caused poisoning, or how much of it could even be called "safe"), and rather than screaming from the roof-tops for an urgent recall and assessment of damage to the children overly exposed because of their oversight, decided to go along with the PHS (Public Health Service) and quietly try to get themselves out of the mess without hurting themselves, their doctors, or the vaccination program.

Yes. Them. That AAP. The people who put themselves and the vaccination program at more of a priority than the very children they serve. First, they threw them under the bus. Then they left them there. Then they failed to call an ambulance. Then they blamed more and more parents for not teaching their kids how to cross the street. And now they want the US Government to put up better road signs.

Are you kidding me?

If I weren't so disgusted by this hypocrisy, I would be thrilled. It is a good thing after all, that they find the toxic world in which are children are being raised a problem. It is a good thing after all, that they would like those with the authority to do something about it to do something. I suppose I should applaud.

But I can't. Because I think it takes a hell of a lot of nerve to accuse the US Government of failing to protect children from hazardous chemicals when they haven't even bothered yet to do the same thing themselves. (Chemicals, mind you, that they INJECT into children every day.) And given their track record of how they handled the situation when they had the opportunity to, they ought to be ashamed. 

Now, don't get me wrong; I don't have the US government's back on this either. They failed and continue to fail our children equally. But perhaps the AAP would be better served by first assessing their own failure to protect our kids and take their own advice about how to do that. A bite of humble pie might serve them well.

For example, when they suggest to the US Government...

"The regulation of chemicals must be based on evidence, but decisions to ban chemicals should be based on reasonable levels of concern rather than demonstrated harm."... I'm curious. Why doesn't that apply to Thimerosal? Because to date, no one has banned this chemical for children or pregnant women, and there's a very reasonable level of concern that they should. See, it's poison. It's a neurotoxin. And no amount of it has ever been found safe. And the studies you site to try and tell us it is; they're all over the place. Some say it's good. Some say it's bad. Some say it makes you smart. Some imply it prevents Autism. (And now, some were done by a man indicted by the US Department of Justice for fraud (HERE.) Go ahead anyone reading this and look for yourselves (HERE). They're ridiculous! And yet, you still inject it into kids every day in combination with aluminum, the one thing it's not supposed to be combined with HERE (HERE). 

Furthermore, AAP, not only have you not banned it based on a reasonable level of concern, you have actively fought parents who have tried! You have thwarted every effort on our behalf to do so! You're PREVENTING a mercury-based neurotoxin from being banned! Good God, AAP! Do you not see a problem here?

And when you suggest this to the US Government...

"Any testing of chemicals should include the impact on women and children,  including potential effects on reproduction and development".... I'm also curious. Any chance you want to do those studies on Thimerosal? With BIOLOGICAL tests, not epidemiological ones that look backwards at selective populations and are subject to statistical manipulation?

And when you say,

"Chemicals should meet safety standards similar to those met by pharmaceuticals or pesticide residues on food."... Do you realize there is no safety standard for Thimerosal? That the FDA has never provided one, and that you have never demanded of them that they do?

And do you really mean it when you say,

WHO: UI Wind Orchestra, Dr. Linda R. Moorhouse, Conductor

WHAT:  Special Concert for Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

WHERE: Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center, UI Campus

DATE: Sunday, May 1, 2011

TIME: 6:00-7:00 pm

COST: Free

The University of Illinois Wind Orchestra, under the direction of new faculty member Dr. Linda R. Moorhouse, will present a very special concert on Sunday, May 1, 2011 in the Foellinger Great Hall of the Krannert Center on the UI campus.  This concert is specifically targeted for families, children and adults who have and/or deal with autism spectrum disorders. The concert will be from 6:00-7:00 pm and is free.

This one-hour long concert will feature all types of music from marches to familiar movie themes, in addition to instrument demonstrations given by the students in the Wind Orchestra.  Audience members will be able to move around during the concert and also assist the Wind Orchestra on some of the selections. “This is a very special concert, and may be the first of its kind in this area,” says Moorhouse.   “Hardly any families are able to attend live concerts due to some of the behaviors their children may exhibit in public.  There will be no judgment and no criticism . . . just a warm and friendly environment for all.”  

By Julie Obradovic

Recent events surrounding the US indictment of researcher Poul Thorsen inspired me to revisit the time when he became involved in the effort to examine (and it appears, exonerate) the potential role of vaccines in Autism. An easy place to do so, and one I encourage everyone to visit, is the Put Children First website. It clearly documents the events that took place leading us to where we are today.

While navigating the site, I came across an old email written by  Dr. Ruth Etzel that  I had forgotten about.  (See pdf of email here) It seems more appropriate than ever to share it now, as it accurately and eerily predicts what has happened to the public's confidence in the vaccine program. But to put it in the proper context, let's remind everybody about what was happening right before it was shared. 

The FDA issued a directive called the FDA Modernization Act of 1997 to assess all mercury in food and drugs. This included vaccines, and in December of 1998 and April of 1999, vaccine manufacturers had no choice but to respond to their request for more information. Panic set in as it became obvious there was a serious oversight problem, (even though Merck knew back in 1991 there was a problem) and behind the scenes members of the different agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, such as the FDA and CDC, joined forces with organizations like the AAP and Public Heath Service to come up with a plan. Collectively, however, they couldn't agree. To begin with, there were no specific guidelines for the safety for ethyl mercury (the kind used in vaccines). And as for coordinating a message to calm the American public? Well, there wasn't much agreement there either. 

Think about it. They had to admit they had no idea what the definition of safety was for injected ethyl mercury exposure in children; that they had no idea how much of it was going into children anyway; that they had no idea what health consequences their oversight could have caused; and they had to find a way to still save the immunization program (as if any of them had any right to be in charge of it anymore anyway). Not exactly an easy task. And like I said, there was a lot of debate over how to do it.

As such, the AAP grew impatient, and on July 7, 1999 at 4:15 PM, a summer Friday afternoon when they hoped no one would be watching television or paying attention, a joint health statement between themselves and the Public Health Service was issued. In confusing and calming language that tried to be reassuring, they admitted to a potential problem that no one should worry about. Mercury was bad, but it wasn't. They forgot to assess the health risk, but it was fine. They would take precaution but not make a recall. You should be concerned, but not really. It was a mixed message to say the least, and not everyone behind the scenes thought it was a good idea. One of them was a doctor named Dr. Ruth Etzel.

On July 2, 1999 at 10:36 AM, she wrote these words to her colleagues:

"The Committee on Environmental Health and the Committee on Infectious Diseases may want to look at the way Johnson and Johnson handled the poisoned Tylenol affair in 1982. It followed three basic rules:

1. act quickly to recall the affected product

2. be open with consumers about what went wrong

3. show contrition

Seventeen years ago, when an extortionist tried to wring money out of Johnson & Johnson by lacing capsules of Tylenol with cyanide, 7 people died. While the government was still considering what to do (sound familiar?), and before the media had time to put the company on the defensive, Johnson & Johnson recalled all Tylenol products. That cost about $100-million and it lost short term sales. But it emerged from the episode with consumer confidence at a higher level than ever, and quickly regained its leadership of the painkiller market.

The AAP should be dedicated to promptly providing truthful information about this situation to pediatricians. We must follow the three basic rules:

Managing Editor's Note: Imagine if doctors fought to make sure the pharma drug ads did not have to share the side effects with you, the consumer. Imagine if pediatricians, who have a government mandate to inject dozens of vaccines in your child, fought against your knowing the side effects of those vaccines. Welcome to the AAP in 2011. Can you handle the truth?

 By Barbara Loe Fisher

It is a short 15 second public service message on the CBS Jumbotron on Times Square in New York City that encourages everyone to make informed vaccine choices. The message is sponsored by the nonprofit charity, the National Vaccine Information Center, and made possible by a donation from Mercola.com. It has been shown hourly since March 22, 2011 alongside much bigger ads for a variety of products marketed by large corporations.

AAP Strong Arms CBS

On April 13, the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) sent a letter to CBS containing misinformation about NVIC in an attempt to strong arm the network into taking the vaccine education message down before it is scheduled to end on April 28.

The AAP letter was provided to bloggers, who orchestrated an online smear campaign against NVIC and created a petition drive to increase pressure on CBS. Mainstream media outlets like The Guardian in Great Britain republished the AAP’s attack and added more disinformation.

NuLife Foods "Grandparent Packs" Offer for the AutismOne/Generation Rescue Conference!

For those parents who will be learning about ways to heal their children and help their families while the kids stay home, NuLife Foods is extending a generous and convenient offer exclusive to conference attendees. GRANDPARENT PACKS!   Wholesome and convenient gf/cf/sf food for grandparents to serve while you are at the conference! www.NuLifeFoods.com

 *   FREE SHIPPING (limited to one order only)
 *   Minimum purchase $100 (to at least cover gf/cf/sf food needs while the kids are with Grandma and Grandpa)
 *   Must place order no later than May 20 to get it by May 25 (order by May 17 if you are arriving at the conference Tuesday evening)
 *   Use this code: GP2011 (no other discount codes will be apply during this offer.

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

For many long years I've felt that those of us in the autism community resemble the African-Americans in the 1930s and 1940s who would go to movies filled with white faces and yearn for the moment when one of their own would appear on the screen for even just a fleeting moment.  By and large these actors would do nothing more than utter a sarcastic quip or provide some important piece of information, or simply take somebody's coat.   It would matter because for a brief moment the members of that community would feel they too were part of the American nation.

I couldn't help but feel a bit of solidarity with those audiences as I sat on the sidelines and heard President Obama says this on April 13, 2011 in regards to the Ryan plan.

It's a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit.  Who are these 50 million Americans?  Many are somebody's grandparents, maybe one of yours, who wouldn't be able to afford nursing home care without Medicaid.  Many are poor children.  Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down's syndrome.  Some are kids with disabilities . . . so severe they require 24-hour care.  These are the Americans we'd be telling to fend for themselves.

And yet it all sounds so hollow. 

Does anybody believe this means President Obama is going to do a single helpful thing for this disease which is striking more than 1 in 100 children and is now twenty times more prevalent than polio ever was in the population?

Now I'm not writing this to tell you who to vote for, but to simply point out how useless politicians seem to be about anything in regards to autism.  Remember that kid with autism who scored so many basketball shots in a row and President Bush stopped by to see him?  Nice gesture, but who the hell cares?

Maybe I'm just a little punchy because in the past month I've spent two nights in the hospital with my daughter who was having breakthrough seizures, then she got a yeast flare which caused her to be up for several nights in a row walking around the house, or that the new seizure medication seems to be giving her incredible rages.

Please VOTE for SafeMinds’ Ideas for the NIEHS Strategic Plan

The National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences are conducting an online survey to direct their strategic plan for research.  SafeMinds has entered 12 ideas in the survey and would appreciate your votes.  You can do so at this link:

http://strategicplan.niehs.nih.gov/

There are a number of other worthwhile ideas already listed in the survey, so please feel free to vote for those as well.  You will need to quickly scroll through the list and look for our submissions because their placement on the pages will depend on how many votes they get. You can identify them by our name in the bottom right corner of each box.

Please vote before the deadline of Saturday, April 30^th. 

Autism: Environmental Factors and Individual Susceptibility  CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR THIS IDEA

1)   It is estimated by the CDC that one in every 110 children and one in every 70 boys today is diagnosed with autism, creating an urgent health crisis.  Prior to the 1990's autism was a rare disorder affecting 2-4 per 10,000.  Acknowledgment of this alarming increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism demands a focus away from an exclusively genetic cause to one that acknowledges the role the environment.  Yet, to date, the role of environmental scientists and toxicologists in the investigation of autism has been modest. Environmental research has been identified as an area of need by the NIH-Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC). The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has the expertise to provide critical research that can advance our understanding of the interactions between environmental factors and individual susceptibility in order to determine how these elements interrelate to cause illnesses, such as autism.  The broader category of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) of which autism is the most severe, is estimated to affect one in every six children today in the US.  Therefore, such critical knowledge derived from this research would also provide insights into NDDs in general and go a long way in improving the lives of our children in helping them to reach their full potential.

By Anne Dachel

Dr. Max Wiznitzer: ‘If you can't trust the integrity of the researcher, you   can't trust the research.’ (HERE)

On April 4, Dr. Max Wiznitzer spoke at Marietta College in Marietta Ohio about autism and vaccines.  Wiznitzer is considered an autism expert because he’s a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, OH and he’s got 25 years experience working with autistic children.  He’s also testified a number of times against parents who claimed that vaccines caused autism in their children.

In his speech at Marietta College, his message was clear: Vaccines don’t cause autism and British doctor Andrew Wakefield’s research on the MMR vaccine was a fraud.  Wiznitzer said, ‘If you can't trust the integrity of the researcher, you can't trust the research.’
 
Wiznitzer claimed that “Wakefield's hypothesis was fueled by media attention and peoples' willingness to believe an unscientific study because it was published in a journal.”

Wakefield was the center of huge media storm back in January when British reporter Brian Deer had a lengthy article published in the British Medical Journal.   It was all about how Wakefield had manipulated his patients’ medical records to create a link between vaccines and autism. 

The American media ate it up. Newspapers ran stories and the major TV networks gave it lots of coverage, even bringing in their medical experts for commentary. 

Lost in all of this were the actual people involved in Wakefield’s work.  Not one source talked to any of the parents of the 12 children Wakefield wrote about in his original 1998 Lancet paper.  These were the autistic children he treated as a gastroenterologist.  He found they had a novel form of bowel disease.  Their parents had come to him for help.  These parents reported that their children regressed after receiving the MMR vaccine.  The U.S. press left most of this out of their reporting, alleging only that Wakefield linked vaccines to autism and he did it for personal gain.

Righteous indignation flowed from news anchors and network doctors.  Medical fraud would not to be tolerated by CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and CNN.

Sanjay Gupta went on CBS NEWS and interviewed Wakefield.  Gupta told him, "These charges are a  big deal in the world of science. The most damning evidence of all is that perhaps these numbers, the dates, were all fabricated to sort of make a case.”

George Stephanopoulos at ABC NEWS during an interview of Wakefield said, "Given all this [fraud], why should anyone trust what you have to say about this matter?"

Managing Editor's Note: From our friends at Autism Action Network. Take 2 minutes to sign this action alert please: HERE.

Call the special PBS autism hotline to record your message NOW: 202-630-9354

PBS Autism Series Under Attack

The NewsHour on PBS this week has presented a groundbreaking series of reports from Robin MacNeil, former anchor of the NewsHour who is also the grandfather of a child affected with regressive autism. The series has attempted to be scrupulously fair and has provided serious reporting on the physical symptoms of autism, which is probably a first for American national television. 
 
Ari Neeman, and his organization ASAN, has launched a campaign to discredit MacNeil and his reporting.  If we want more national media of the caliber we saw this week then we need to support MacNeil.
 
Please call PBS and let them know how much you appreciate the reports on autism, and please click on the Take Action link to send an email to PBS in support of MacNeil. 
 
Special Hotline to record your message (202) 630-9354
 
If you read the email below that Neeman has been circulating, it appears that his biggest complaint is that he was not interviewed for the series. None-the-less, a campaign like this may give great support to those at PBS that would have preferred that the series was never broadcast. 
 
Please share this ALERT with friends and family, and please post to Face Book and other social networks. If you support the work of the Autism Action Network please consider making a donation on our website; http://www.autismactionnetwork.org/donate.html. Here is Ari's letter to PBS. 

As man (sic) of you are aware, ASAN and others in the Autistic Community have significant concerns about this week's PBS NewsHour series "Autism Today". The series relies on old stereotypes against Autistic people and uses poor quality science to advance the personal agenda of the journalist, Reboert MacNeil, who put it together. Our concerns are as follows:
 
In interviews leading up to the airing, Robert MacNeil, NewsHour co-founder and reporter, made reference to many crude stereotypes about Autism and Autistic individuals and used rhetoric that dehumanized Autistic people. He stated in his interview, Autistic Americans lack "the most human thing we have, which is our ability to look into each others eyes and feel that other person's existence and what might be going on in their mind, and to empathize with them.";

By Cathy Jameson

This has been a tough weekend despite the Easter celebrating my children are looking forward to on Sunday morning.  My very best friend is going through one of the most traumatic experiences I would never wish upon her. A baby girl was born on April 15^th and was referred to my friend as they were at the top of the list to adopt a child. The family brought the new baby home on Monday, and oh how we rejoiced when we heard the news!  But, today, that baby is in ICU with heart failure preparing for open heart surgery.  My own heart aches for this family as do my arms. I want to take all their pain away, and I long to embrace them. Fortunately, countless friends and family are fervently praying and hoping immediate medical care brings this week-old child to better health. 

In the midst of my frequent phone calls, emails and text messages about the baby, I have learned more medical and technical terms unrelated to anything I’ve every read. The human heart is one very complicated yet amazing organ. In the past so many people have said that I should carry some sort of medical degree or certificate for everything I’ve taught myself and understood as it relates to my son Ronan’s medical problems. I got a schooling in all things pediatric cardiology over the last two days, and I appreciate how intricate the body is. I also appreciate how precious time and life really are. 

Through the worry and fear in my friend’s voice during our phone calls I have felt the strength of her faith at the same time. The baby has been brought to a well regarded cardiologist and his team so new hope resonates as I get updates.  It is clear that the baby is in great hands in the hospital because of the knowledge my friend quickly gained during every procedure and issue that arose. I am humbled that in this very real crisis, the professionals who are walking, talking and guiding my friend and her family are open, honest, sincere and so willingly giving for a tiny baby who only just arrived in the world.

To all of our readers, we wish you a happy Spring, Passover and Easter. Kim had an Easter miracle - Bella said, "on" on command several times. Miss Bella Stagliano has a new word!  What has been your Spring miracle?

I was on the Robert Scott Bell Show on Natural News Network this past week. I had just gotten back from England and was too jet-lagged to couch my comments in the usual niceties -- in other words, I pretty much told the truth. Robert is a good friend of our cause.  

Click HERE to listen.

We have a pdf of the indictment of Dr. Poul Thorsen the Danish researcher held in highest esteem for having "debunked" the autism vaccine connection many years ago. As Dr. Max Wiznitzer said about another doctor recently, "If you can't trust the researcher, you can't trust the research."  The verbiage is below, but a pdf doesn't translate into readable text, so we suggest you click HERE to see the actual indictment.


FILED IN eHAMBERS U.S.D.C. Atlanta ORIGINAL IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

APR 1 8 201'

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CRIMINAL INDICTMENT

v.
NO·1: 11-C R -194

POUL THORSEN

THE GRAND JURY CHARGES THAT:

COUNTS ONE THROUGH THIRTEEN

(Wire Fraud)

1. Beginning on a date unknown, but at least by in or about
February 2004, and continuing until in or about February 2010, in
the Northern District of Georgia and elsewhere the defendant, POUL l
THORSEN1 aided and abetted by others known and unknown to the Grand
Jury, did knowingly devise and intend to devise a scheme and
artifice to defraud, and to obtain money and property by means of
materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and
promises, and by omission of material facts, well knowing and
having reason to know that said pretenses, representations, and
promises were and would be false and fraudulent when made and
caused to be made and that said omissions were and would be
material.

 
I'm pleased to tell you I'm now writing for TodayMoms, a group blog site of from MSNBC, along with a group of talented women from all walks of life.

My first post was about the texting bus driver in CT (HERE) and my fears and dreams for my girls as adults. Please add TodayMoms to your favs and I'll let you know when I post. Thanks!

Kim

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her book from Skyhorse Publishing All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa; A Life Raising Three Daughters with Autism is available now. Visit her website at Kim Stagliano.

By J.B. Handley

During CNN’s lynching of Andy Wakefield, I was talking to one of Anderson Cooper’s producers, and she mentioned Seth Mnookin and his recent book The Panic Virus, and how it seemed to support the worldview that Andy was a bad guy and all of us parents are crazy and looking for someone or something to blame for our child’s autism. The conversation went something like this:

Me: What the hell does Seth Mnookin know? He’s a former garden-variety junkie turned writer with a book that simply repeats all of Paul Offit’s talking points?

Her: Seth has credibility with the New York media because he is really one of us, he’s an insider--so his words carry some weight.

*        *        *

Thinking back to that day and those comments, I have a simple game for you, I’m calling it, “Find the Trustworthy Journalist.” By the end of this game, we’ll have a winner and a loser. Unfortunately for you, I’ve stacked the decks in my favor: You get Seth Mnookin. I’ll take Robert MacNeil. On autism’s cause, we’re going journalist vs. journalist.

Let’s start with Robert MacNeil. Mr. MacNeil, age 80, has been a journalist for more than 50 years, having worked for ITV, Reuters, NBC, the BBC, and, most famously, PBS, where he won an Emmy for his coverage of Watergate. In 1975, he began hosting the Robert MacNeil Report, later renamed the world-famous MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, perhaps the most respected news broaccast in the history of television.

Mr. MacNeil is the author of 11 books. He is also Canadian and in 1997 he received Canada’s highest civilian honor when he became an Officer of the Order of Canada for being, “one of the most respected journalists of our time.”

Seth Mnookin, age 38, has been writing professionally since the age of 26, or roughly 12 years, in which time he has written three books, including one about the Boston Red Sox, one about the Jason Blair scandal at the New York Times, and the aforementioned book about vaccines and autism.

Before becoming a writer, Mr. Mnookin was fired from a “gopher gig” at Office Depot, worked as a day laborer digging ditches, and also worked at a coffee shop, a liquor store, and several bookstores “never lasting at any job for more than a couple of weeks,” according to Mr. Mnookin.

Soon after graduating from Harvard, Mr. Mnookin became a heroin addict, as he recounts:

“It had been three years since I first tried heroin, snorting a bag by myself on a brisk Sunday morning the fall after I graduated from college. I was living in New York City, and within weeks I was using every day. It had been two years since I had moved back to Boston, ran out of money, and began shooting up…Now, after about a dozen hospitalizations, a handful of overdoses, more than $10,000 in credit card cash advances, and thousands of dollars stolen from my friends and lovers and family, I was cashing in my last remaining chip. My parents agreed to front the money for the Renaissance Institute, a hard-core treatment center in Boca Raton that specialized in intractable addicts. I knew it was the last chance I'd get to try to start over and that if I didn't take it, I'd die.”

As Mr. Mnookin explains about his early career, “I was 25 and had spent the years since I graduated from college focusing all of my desperate energy on my career as an intravenous drug addict…At one point, I gave confused, occasionally incoherent English lessons to Japanese academics visiting Harvard…I hadn't done any real writing in years.”

His stay at the Renaissance Institute? It ended poorly:

By John Stone

“The case we presented against Andrew Wakefield that the 1998 Lancet paper was intended to mislead is not critically reliant on GP records.” So wrote Fiona Godlee (Editor-in-Chief, BMJ) in February, in effect conceding that Brian Deer’s scrutiny of GP notes which had apparently formed the main s basis of his and BMJ’s fraud allegations could not be used to support such a claim.

Back in February Age of Autism and its readers scored a great victory with it letter writing campaign, forcing editor-in-chief of British Medical Journal, Fiona Godlee, to respond to our criticisms both in our columns (HERE) and in the on-line columns of BMJ itself (HERE ).  Remarkable though this was we have perhaps not analysed carefully enough how desperate the defence she presented was.

In both versions of her response we find the sentence:

“The case we presented against Andrew Wakefield that the 1998 Lancet paper was intended to mislead is not critically reliant on GP records.”

So, in fact she conceded then and there that a fraud claim could not be based on GP notes, as originally pointed out by ChildHealthSafety (HERE ) as Andrew Wakefield and the other authors of the paper simply did not have access to them. While, we continue to contend that the data in the notes is entirely reconcilable with data in the paper (as Martin Hewitt began demonstrating yesterday HERE ) it was simply not possible for anyone to alter data from material they could not see.

As we have seen Deer responded with seething contempt on the BBC radio programme ‘Science Betrayed’, broadcast in late March, to the cogent explanation that the records referred to in the paper were the Personal Child Health Records of the children (or so-called red books) (HERE ), but by that stage Godlee  – who also had a cameo appearance on the programme - had already admitted as much.

**********************************************************************

Meanwhile, BMJ have ducked out of publishing my recent letter which bore on several relevant issues including the shifting opinions of doctor-journalist Ben Goldacre, the anomalous and unexplained fusion by Deer and the GMC of the Lancet paper with a protocol for a Legal Aid Board funded study,  and the offensive misrepresentation of myself and this matter by Brian Deer in a comment on Orac’s ‘Respectful Insolence’ blog, which I append for interest:

Mark Struthers raises an interesting question. In November 2010 Goldacre was still telling IrishHealth.com [1]:

"With respect to The Lancet, he said he believed it was a "slightly silly paper" for the journal to have published.

""But you have to remember this paper didn't actually say MMR causes autism, it didn't even speculate on that. It was accompanied by an editorial that said by the way people should be very clear that it doesn't mean that MMR causes autism.

""Also, this was a 12 subject case series report - it was a description of only 12 children's clinical anecdotes, and while this is not good evidence to say MMR causes autism, it is a perfectly legitimate thing to publish.""

Both these statements and the Guardian article cited by Struthers are at variance with the GMC finding that the "Lancet paper" was a poorly executed version of the Legal Aid Board protocol [2]. I note that when I posted on this anomaly in Rapid Responses in February 2010 no one came to set me straight: not Ben Goldacre and not Brian Deer (who did indeed contribute a response to the same thread).

Citing the panel finding:

"The Panel has heard that ethical approval had been sought and granted for other trials and it has been specifically suggested that Project 172-96 was never undertaken and that in fact, the Lancet 12 children's investigations were clinically indicated and the research parts of those clinically justified investigations were covered by Project 162-95. In the light of all the available evidence, the Panel rejected this proposition."

I wrote:

“However, it is my understanding that 162-95 was not a "project" in any normal sense but the ethical approval granted Prof Walker-Smith on his arrival at the Royal Free Hospital in September 1995 - as probably the most senior figure in British paediatric gastroenterology - to retain biopsy samples from colonoscopies for research purposes. If this is the case it would seem a basic criticism of the panel, that in reaching their view, they did not explain why this ethical permission did not obtain in this instance. We are also confronted by the oddity that the panel having concluded that the study was in fact project 172-96 then found the three doctors to be in breach of its terms at every twist and turn, instead of drawing the more obvious inference that it wasn't 172-96 at all, but an"early report" as stated. (And this, incidentally, is why several of us think that Ben Goldacre had it right in the first place.)"

On the other hand, in an atrocious personal attack on me (of which this is just an extract) in the 'Respectful Insolence' blog Deer wrote[3]:

 "The upside of this clown's cavortings was a hilarious incident where he turned up to the conclusion of Wakefield's GMC hearing, and when the chairman read out a paragraph, Mr Stone - literally - ran from the room, screaming "wrong study, wrong study", as though five panel members, five QCs and all their teams had been sitting there for two years and failed to realize they were looking at the wrong document. It was so monstrously stupid that it came round again as hugely value-for-money."

However, it should be pointed out that ridicule (or even "insolence") is not the same as argument, and that three of the QCs had presented just these points in defence evidence. It goes beyond speculation on Mr Deer's part if he thinks that they immediately changed their mind in the light of the panel's findings.

As to my hurry to get out, I didn't wish to be man-handled by the GMC staff.

[1] Niall Hunter 'Sorting the Wheat from the Chaff' 22 Novenber 2010, http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=18246

[2] John Stone 'The unexplained puzzle of the GMC verdict (and reponses to Peter Flegg), http://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c644.full/reply#bmj_el_231147

[3] http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/06/it_appears_mr_stone_doesnt_even_know_wha.php#comment-2587850

John Stone is UK Editor for Age of Autism.

By Dan Olmsted

Isn't it nice to see the hammer of real journalism come down on the fringe lunatic crank ravings of the Three Blind Mice of Autism Epidemic Enablers -- profiteering vaccine-damage denier Paul Offit, cruel and credulous junk science-swallower Seth Mnookin, and sick-child tormentor Brian Deer?

Offit got the worst of it, with the Orange County Register calling out his "Liar! Liar!" accusations against Sheryl Attkisson of CBS. Offit has raked in millions off his totally unnecessary, universally recommended, pig-virus infested rotavirus vaccine. He also called Barbara Loe Fisher a liar; she sued but lost and decided not appeal; this new development ought to make her smile. Meanwhile our own J.B. Handley sued and Offit forked over money; and the British publisher of his most recent book had to shred them and print new copies because he had maligned one of the key players in the MMR saga.

Mnookin has a bad habit of reviling his elders and betters and sticking up for the dim bulbs of autism-vaccine reporting just before they get unscrewed. For instance, he was all about love for fellow feature writer Trine Tsouderos right before a respected independent science-watch group lambasted her coverage of Lyme Disease -- slamming the same snotty bias masquerading as "sound science" she has heaped on parents of vaccine-damaged kids. He also has appeared with Offit and has a callow error-laden misunderstanding of the autism epidemic that he seems to owe mostly to Saint Paul of the Syringe.

Wouldn't you know, just before the Orange County Offit smackdown he attacked Attkisson for picking up a recent study on ways that autism could occur. ONE of those ways was vaccine injury. ("More embarrassing anti-vaccine reporting from CBS News's Sharyl Attkisson.")

Now he's really gone and done it, blasting Robert MacNeil for his autism series on PBS, which included an open-minded segment about his grandson's autism. "An embarrassing, reckless, and irresponsible coda to Robert MacNeil's career" was the title of his first blog post. Seth, my man, you do project too much -- it is your career that will suffer those lasting judgments. Of course, The Mnew York Times liked your book. They also loved Bruno Bettelheim's "The Empty Fortress," the "Mommy is Homicidal and the Kids Know It" explanation for autism. That might make you the Bruno Bettelheim of our day. You say you never criticize parents, only the "moral and scientific bankruptcy of all those who'd encouraged the families of children with autism to blame vaccines." "All those" people are mostly parents! (And apparently grandparents like MacNeil are fair game -- one generation back and you're an irresponsible jerk for even discussing it.)

And speaking of projection, we must not overlook Brian Deer, the king of feces-flinging accusations that mirror his own “festering nastiness, the creepy repetitiveness, the weasly, deceitful, obsessiveness." (That was his description of parents who dared to disagree with him.) He got a nice reception at Johns Hopkins this week, where parent-blaming first came into fashion after they couldn't figure out the environmental clues that Mark Blaxill and I write about in "The Age of Autism -- Mercury, Medicine, and a Man-Made Epidemic." Deer is technically a rat, but for simplicity's sake I include him here.

There is nothing fun about autism, but it will be fun to watch their sinking ship go down.

Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.

Here's a "best of" post for Autism ACTION month. Prevention, don't leave the delivery room without it!

By J.B. Handley

My second child’s autism diagnosis put the plans my wife and I had for at least three kids on potentially permanent hold. Three years later, we are the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, and we feel well-armed with the wisdom of other parents and many doctors to prevent her from the same fate her brother experienced.

What? We’re planning to prevent her from developing autism? The notion of being able to prevent autism is a highly controversial idea, and one sure to make many sentences in this entry blogger-fodder. So be it.

It’s probably worth taking a quick step back. The Generation Rescue  website spells out pretty accurately how we feel about the cause of autism:

We believe these neurological disorders ("NDs") are environmental illnesses caused by an overload of heavy metals, live viruses, and bacteria. Proper treatment of our children, known as "biomedical intervention", is leading to recovery for thousands.

The cause of this epidemic of NDs is extremely controversial. We believe the primary causes include the tripling of vaccines given to children in the last 15 years (mercury, aluminum and live viruses); maternal toxic load and prenatal vaccines; heavy metals like mercury in our air, water, and food; and the overuse of antibiotics.

As we began to think about child number three, and armed with this general point of view above, my wife and I began to network with other parents who were in similar situations. Specifically, parents with an autistic child who had decided to have an additional child after becoming biomedical experts.

by  Martin Hewitt

Three months after Brian Deer's first BMJ article (HERE) claiming Dr Andrew Wakefield fabricated the findings of the Lancet paper ('Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia', Lancet, 1998; p.351), it is now time to revisit the claims and test them against the record, in particular the UK General Medical Council transcripts of the fitness to practice panel against Dr Andrew Wakefield and Professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch. We can then judge the accuracy, selectivity and interpretive license Deer applies to his evidence against Wakefield.

This is the first of a series of articles examining the sources Deer uses to back his claims. We start by examining Deer’s evidence for claiming that three of the nine children (child 6, 7 and 12) reported with regressive autism did not have an autism diagnosis. Future articles will examine the evidence for what is said about the other eight children.

The BMJ editors who commissioned Deer’s article continue to support the accuracy of his allegations. Do the editors consider that the GMC judgement of Wakefield means he now has no case to answer? If so, we should remember that Deer uses transcript evidence for a charge the GMC did not lay against Wakefield, namely that he fabricated his research findings.

What Deer says about each of the three children is examined. Each of Deer's claims followed by references word for word is placed are quoted. The claims are followed by other extracts from the transcripts and other sources underneath, together with an explanation of their significance. All emphases below are added to the original.

First, a general point about Deer’s evidence. As you see below, Deer uses testimony and documentation from local GPs and consultants that were not in most cases available to the Royal Free team when the Lancet paper was written. In the UK GP referral letters summarise the patient's cases without including documentation. Of  the Lancet 11 (the twelfth was from the US and not included in the GMC case), only GPs for child 1 and 8 enclosed some documentation and child 2’s GP enclosed one letter from a child psychiatrist with the referral letter.

CHILD 6 (born April 1992; MMR 15 June 1993; Royal Free admission: 27 October 1996)

 Deer claims that three – including child 6 – of the nine children described in the Lancet paper as having regressive autism were neither autistic nor regressive.

“But only one—child 2—clearly had regressive autism.(41)  Three of nine so described clearly did not. None of these three (children 6, 7 & 12) even had autism diagnoses, either at admission or on discharge from the Royal Free….Both [brothers 6 & 7] had histories of fits and bowel problems(42)  recorded before their MMR vaccinations.”(43)   (44)

41. Michael Rutter. Evidence to the panel. Day 37. Day 39

42. Dr N. GP records. Day 6.

43. Dr N. GP note. 18 March 1993. Day 6. The record says child 6 received MMR on 15 June 1993.

44. John Trounce. Report. June 1995. Day 6. Child 7 received MMR on 24 November 1995.

From our sponsor SafeMinds: NIMH Autism Webcast Thursday - "Advances in Treatment Research"

This one-hour webcast on Thursday, April 21st from 10:30-11:30 am EDT will be of interest to many of you.  Both Dr. Swedo and Dr. Landa are active autism researchers.  The presentation will be video archived for those who can't watch Thursday morning.
_______________________________________________

The Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC), NIMH is pleased to be co-sponsoring the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Autism Awareness Month Seminar:  "Advances in Treatment Research." This event is open to the public, both in-person and by webcast.
 
The seminar will feature presentations by Dr. Susan Swedo and Dr. Rebecca Landa about their research on innovative drug and behavioral treatments for autism spectrum disorder.  For speaker biosketches, please see below.
 
EVENT DETAILS
 
Date:               Thursday, April 21, 2011
Time:              10:30-11:30 am ET
Location:        The Neuroscience Center
                        Conference Room C
                        6001 Executive Boulevard
                        Rockville, Maryland 20852
 
Webcast Live: http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=10144 (seems this link will not be working until the event.)

By J.B. Handley

It remains remarkable that Paul Offit, a multimillionaire due to a patent he cashed in on for a vaccine (HERE), remains the primary media spokesperson for disputing the vaccine-autism link. As AoA readers know, Paul Offit is also an inveterate liar, and will say just about anything to quell parent’s fears that vaccines are causing all this autism. As you may recall, Offit lied in one of his books about me. I sued him, and Offit was forced to correct his book, write me a letter of apology and acknowledgement, and donate money to Jenny McCarthy’s second-favorite (behind GR!) charity at UCLA.

As a side note, Offit is also a charter member of the dwindling number of doctors and scientists willing to contend that the rise in autism prevalence is “false”, simply the sign of changing and better diagnosis, and that autism has always been here. I think history will reserve a special dungeon for these “epidemic deniers” who are impeding the ability of parents to save the next generation of kids from the same fate as their children.

As many of you know, Sharyl Attkisson is one of the more remarkable mainstream journalists in that she seems perfectly willing, time and again, to tell the truth about what is going on with our kids. That Pharma has not been able to get her fired is a testimony to Sharyl’s courage, and the spine of someone else at CBS who must care more about the kids than the ad dollars Viagra provides them with.

Several years ago (2008), Sharyl did a great piece about Paul Offit, the AAP, and their sources of funding, providing an accurate picture of how tied in all these vaccine defenders were to vaccine makers and their profit machine. The OC Register, in their irresponsible haste, produced a letter from Paul Offit responding to Sharyl Attkisson with what was vintage Offit in that it was filled with ad hominem attacks, innuendo, and, of course, plain old lies.

Wasting no time in sharing the truth, the OC Register has bewilderingly issued a retraction and correction to Offit’s letter, nearly three years late. Below, please find the correction in its entirety, and a link to it HERE.

Correction for April 18

2011-04-18 15:49:24

An OC Register article dated Aug. 4, 2008 entitled “Dr. Paul Offit Responds” contained several disparaging statements that Dr. Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia made about CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and her report. Upon further review, it appears that a number of Dr. Offit’s statements, as quoted in the OC Register article, were unsubstantiated and/or false. Attkisson had previously reported on the vaccine industry ties of Dr. Offit and others in a CBS Evening News report “How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?” July 25, 2008. 

 
OC Register reports HERE: Correction for April 18

• Article

An OC Register article dated Aug. 4, 2008 entitled “Dr. Paul Offit Responds” contained several disparaging statements that Dr. Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia made about CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and her report. Upon further review, it appears that a number of Dr. Offit’s statements, as quoted in the OC Register article, were unsubstantiated and/or false. Attkisson had previously reported on the vaccine industry ties of Dr. Offit and others in a CBS Evening News report “How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?” July 25, 2008. 

Unsubstantiated statements include: Offit’s claim that Attkisson “lied”; and Offit’s claim that CBS News sent a “mean spirited and vituperative” email “over the signature of Sharyl Attkisson” stating “You’re clearly hiding something.” In fact, the OC Register has no evidence to support those claims. Further, Offit told the OC Register that he provided CBS News “the details of his relationship, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s relationship, with pharmaceutical company Merck.” However, documents provided by CBS News indicate Offit did not disclose his financial relationships with Merck, including a $1.5 million Hilleman chair he sits in that is co-sponsored by Merck. According to the CBS News’ documentation recently reviewed by the OC Register, the network requested (but Offit did not disclose) the entire profile of his professional financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies including: The amount of compensation he’d received from which companies in speaking fees; and pharmaceutical consulting relationships and fees. The CBS News documentation indicates Offit also did not disclose his share of past and future royalties for the Merck vaccine he co-invented. To the extent that unsubstantiated and/or false claims appeared in the OC Register and have been repeated by other organizations and individuals, the OC Register wishes to express this clarification for their reference and for the record

You can now watch  the video of the webcast on the IACC website www.iacc.hhs.gov.   Lyn Redwood's comments start at  (Media player here)40:25 and continue to 47:34, including the administration's response.

She plans to follow-up with Mike Strautmanis in person next Monday the 25th and will continue to push for the administration to follow through on their campaign promise to appoint a Federal ASD coordination (attached) to oversee all federal ASD efforts, to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that may be delaying implementation of important ASD measures (like wandering and elopement) and to insure that all federal dollars being spent is done in a manner that prioritizes results.  She will also push for the establishment of a task force within the White House on autism, just like the one they have now for obesity and for the creation of an Office of National Autism Policy (ONAP) under the White House Domestic Policy Council just like they have for AIDS. 

"We need to do more and we need to do it faster".

Managing Editor's Note: Thank you to an AofA reader who sent us this report from  the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health endorsement of/invitation to Brian Deer.  Katie Wright tried her best (see HERE) to convince the school to allow the "other side" to participate -- to no avail. "MotherofPossibility" did a fine job though, see below.

***
 
I attended the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health April 19th, 2011 Brian Deer Lecture "An Elaborate Fraud: Vaccines and Autism" in Sommer Hall, Baltimore, Maryland.

The lecture was what I expected, Brian Deer describing his spin on Andrew Wakefield as an elaborate hoax to connect vaccines to Autism so that Andy could win a "jackpot of money". He showed pictures of Andrew Wakefield and described Wakefield as a charlatan with poker cards at the bottom of his power point presentation. Brian Deer was very proud of his investigative reporting in cracking the code that no one in the medical establishment could ever conceive. Today's fawning crowd at JHU enjoyed his arrogance and cheered and laughed as he made inappropriate comments about Andrew Wakefield's research. No issues were really discussed today at the lecture.

I was pleased that Brian Deer took comments and questions and I was able to say the following before I was interrupted. (And actually I was concerned for the Hopkins sponsor who was jumping up and down waving his arms for me to stop speaking. I did not want to see him have a heart attack.)

"Brian, your work points out that there is a lot of work to be done. I don’t know if you had a chance to catch PBS’s renowned and respected journalist Robert MacNeil who aired a report yesterday titled: Autism Now: Robert MacNeil Shares Grandson Nick's Story. In this story MacNeil talks about his grandson’s developmental regression following vaccination and his grandson’s underlying health problems that include seizures, loss of eye contact & social connection, lack of speech, and gastrointestinal problems. He describes his grandson’s  illness as systemic. Dr. Timothy Buie, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital  found issues in the lower GI tract he called lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia -- inflammation and damage in his small intestine. One percent of our population is now diagnosed with Autism. Dr. Buie, from Mass General, estimates that perhaps 50% of those with Autism suffer systemic intestinal inflammation issues.

Managing Editor's Note: The Department of Marketing and Public Affairs: Politely ask them to reschedule with Katie Wright or another autism/GI parent in the near future rather than give Deer carte blanche for his fallacies and fantasies.

410-955-6878
410-955-7619
410-614-6029

By Katie Wright

Today at 1:30 at the Bloomberg School of Public Health Brian Deer will be paid to speak as part of John Hopkins’ “100 year Celebration.” I wish all of our kids had something to celebrate about.

I called Tina, the director of Marketing and Public Affairs, and asked how much they are paying Mr. Deer. She would not give me an answer. I asked where these funds were coming from, no answer. I asked if she was aware that John Hopkins accepts many millions of public and private dollars a year to research autism, purportedly to help those affected with this disorder/ disease. No answer.

I also tried to contact Tim Parsons of Public Affairs and Natalie Wood-Wright of Hopkins Public Affairs. Tim Parson spoke briefly with me and promised someone would get back to me no one did.

My goal is not to stop Deer from speaking only for Hopkins to reschedule the event and take the ethically appropriately action by inviting a parent from the autism community who has a child with gastrointestinal disease to share the stage with Deer. I explained to Tim and Tina that my son can no longer speak. Christian cannot debate Deer or speak about how his GI disease and regressive autism has caused him years of pain. Deer is not a doctor. Deer is not a parent of an autistic child. Deer is not a clinician or autism specialist in any way, yet he is being paid to speak to an impressionable audience of students and medical professionals about why our children’s’ disease is not real.

No one from Hopkins Dept of Public Affairs cares about our kids and instead exploits them as research ATNS.

By Kevin Barry

Poul Thorsen, indicted last week (HERE)  by US Attorneys for embezzling tax payers money via the Centers for Disease Control, also received $1 Million in funding through an Autism Speaks grant in 2008 (HERE). Now Autism Speaks is trying to hide their Thorsen affiliation. Why is that?

Families across the country work diligently to raise money for Autism Speaks at over 80 walks per year, despite the knowledge that Autism Speaks' research approach has always been to supplement projects currently underway by the CDC and NIH. This arrangement between Autism Speaks and the CDC/NIH amounts to a supplemental federal tax. However, walkers are willing to contribute, and individuals can light their money on fire by contributing at walks if they want.

In May 2000, one week before the infamous Simpsonwood meeting, Poul Thorsen suggested blazing a new trail to the CDC - disguising the role of vaccines in the autism epidemic by using data from Denmark.   He made this suggestion to CDC staffer, NAAR/Autism Speaks scientific adviser and (Bernie) Marcus Institute board member Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp. (See email HERE).   The CDC funded the project; NAAR supplemented.

Poul Thorsen crafted the plan to use Denmark vaccination data despite the fact that CDC, Thorsen and the NAAR board all knew that Denmark's vaccine schedule then, and now, is not remotely similar to the US vaccine schedule. The results of the Denmark studies helped the CDC out of a tough spot and over the past decade, Thorsen's studies were utilized by the CDC repeatedly to falsely reassure the American public about the safety of vaccines. CDC certainly owed Thorsen.

In 2002, NAAR, who later merged with Autism Speaks, provided $105,300 to supplement the CDC project (HERE). NAAR walk money helped Thorsen blaze his trail of using data from Denmark to disguise the potential role of vaccines in the autism epidemic.

Ginger Taylor posted an interesting entry at Adventures in Autism called Autism Speaks is Scrubbing Their Ties to Poul Thorsen From Their Web Site. Here's a preview. Pop over to AinA to read the rest and comment.  Thanks to our commenter who took me back to tenth grade, of course it was Tom Sawyer who had to paint the fence, Huck's good friend.

In 2008, Autism Speaks reported on their epidemiology grants on their web site. They let supporters know that they were funding a one million dollar international autism registry with CDC and several international researchers including:

"Poul Thorsen, MD, PhD, University of Aarhus, Denmark and Emory University, USA.

You can find that information on the AS web site here. Or rather you used to be able to find it there. That sentence is now missing from the page. But that is what the page said on October 21, 2009. Check it out in the Wayback Machine.

 
Seth Mnookin walks away without answering awkward questions on US government concessions regarding autism and vaccine

By John Stone

‘Panic Virus’ author Seth Mnookin closed his blog the other week entitled ‘More embarrassing reporting from CBS News’s Sharyl Attkisson’  (HERE) without responding to fundamental criticisms.  What is at stake is his very credibility as an historian of the vaccine/autism controversy, as someone who failed to recognise the most basic facts.

Mnookin had censured study author Helen Ratajczak (HERE ) and in turn  the report of Sharyl Attkisson of CBS ( HERE) for citing the ChildHealthSafety website (HERE )  but the information from CHS came well documented, and Mnookin ought to have known this as author a popular book on the subject. Mnookin appears to be living in a parallel universe in which the head of Merck’s vaccine division, Julie Gerberding, had not conceded that vaccines cause autism to CNN TV when we she was director of the Centers for Disease Control, and in which the US government had not made important concessions in Vaccine Injury Compensation Programme, and in which significant awards had not been made.

CHS summarised the points on Mnookin’s blog:-

- The US HRSA has confirmed vaccines can cause autistic conditions.

Managing Editor's Note: Dr. Vince Iannelli is an about.com blogger for pediatrics who is trying to deflect the powerful segment in a new PBS program about autism that featured Alison MacNeil, her family and vaccine injured son Nick - who has severe GI problems.  Parents are schooling the good doctor in the comments. Perhaps he will be comforted by his AAP "mention Autism's False Prophets and get a free lollipop" prize. Ginger Taylor is shooting fish in a barrel. With her eyes closed and her hands tied behind her back.   Head over to About.com PEDS to read more and comment yourself. Play nice, I think he has a headache. Here's a bit of his post.

...The fact that Nick's mother thinks that the MMR vaccine was the cause of his autism shouldn't be a surprise to many people, even if they have read Autism's False Prophets and know that the Wakefield report that started much of the talk about a link between MMR and autism was falsified. They don't talk about that in the show, but do mention that 'public health authorities say there is no scientifically valid evidence that vaccines cause autism.'

Part of the show went towards Nick's gastrointestinal problems. Although he had diarrhea and was crying inconsolably, those symptoms were dismissed by his developmental pediatrician as simply being a part of they symptoms of autism. That changed when they went to see Dr. Timothy Buie, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Because this followed the comments about vaccines, some people are associating Dr. Buie's treatment with Wakefield's falsified results, but it is important to note that in an article in Pediatrics, 'Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders in Individuals With ASDs: A Consensus Report,' Dr. Buie was part of a group of doctors that said that 'there are inadequate data to establish a causal role for intestinal inflammation, increased intestinal permeability, immunologic abnormalities, or food allergies in ASDs.'

 
By Lisa Joyce Goes

 "Imagine you are seated at a table among several people. Right beside you, your child is choking helplessly. You are frantic, doing everything in your power to save him. The clock is ticking. He is turning blue and the life is draining out of him. Some of the folks at your table tell you to calm down. Take it a day at a time. The rest? They just look away."

 My goal with this facebook post was to shine a light on the intentional neglect our nation’s thought leaders have bestowed upon the sickest generation of children in American history.  Just a few sentences reflecting the angst I feel as a mom, watching my little boy languish in a malfunctioning body that offers little reprieve from the environmental grenades repeatedly hurled at his brain and gut.  A few sentences illustrating the absolute powerlessness I feel as an American citizen, bearing witness to more and more seemingly "normal" kids, suddenly and inexplicably afflicted with life altering illnesses.

 Ginger Taylor and Autism Mothers picked it up and the comment threads that followed confirmed that I am not alone.  It doesn't surprise me that many instant and lasting friendships occur during wartime.  Like soldiers and veterans, when autism moms tell the truth, we are told we are crazy. It's okay, we're used to it. We stand side by side on a daily basis, actively engaged in a battle against a heinous mental disorder known as PDD-NOS, Pervasive Denial Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified.  It’s a horrid, positively viral affliction that ravages the otherwise sentient minds of those occupying  positions of power in our educational systems, our medical, pharmaceutical, legal, and judicial communities, as well as our congressional seats. It's even affected some people in my very own neighborhood.  On the battle field (a.k.a. our daily lives) autism moms have learned that the medical facts about our children’s conditions are meaningless to those in the mainstream community who have the power to help them.  A rudimentary delving into autism history reveals that these folks have a vested interest in keeping our children's medical problems under wraps.  That's why they embargo data on their clandestine meetings,  relocate scientists, and seal vaccine court decisions.  Sadly, our contemporary thought leaders have the very worst cases of PDD-NOS I have ever documented.  Thankfully, my friends and I are here to help them and the american citizenry they've grossly misinformed. We have developed a vaccine known as the activated-mom-with-common-sense inoculation and we are providing it for free to the American public. You don’t even have to go to your doctor or pharmacy to get it.  Just head on over to your local Starbucks, the library, the grocery store, or your kid’s school. Perhaps just venture a knock on your neighbor’s door.  Too much work? Launch a search on Google and I guarantee one of us will respond.  Anywhere, anytime, an autism mom is on the front lines, ready to tell you the truth about the chronic health care problems affecting our children and the truth behind the PDD-NOS epidemic.

The treatment category is sponsored by Lee Silsby, the leader in quality compounded medications for autism.

See full story and comment at PBS HERE.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

There's much more at the PBS site. Here's an excerpt. Thank you to our good friends Alison and Dave for opening their hearts and their home for the world to see that autism, vaccine injury and the very GI disorder Dr. Andrew Wakefield studied are fully realized in countless kids, including their own son, Nick. 

ROBERT MACNEIL: That worry sent Alison to a developmental pediatrician who confirmed their fears: Nick had autism.

ALISON MACNEIL: Nick was irritable, crying, inconsolable and now is not on track developmentally at all. He's gone backward. So we went from a 15-month appointment where this child was A-OK, supposedly, and given the MMR, the DTaP and the Hib vaccines. People say to me, Alison, it's a coincidence. Alison, how do you know this happened? Well, it's impossible for me to know. But what I will say is this: It was not a coincidence that my child was diagnosed with autism at the same time that his whole system shut down. Something happened to my child.

ROBERT MACNEIL: I understand Alison's suspicion, but public health authorities say there is no scientifically valid evidence that vaccines cause autism. And Alison found little support from the developmental pediatrician.

ALISON MACNEIL: When I said to her this child has not had a formed bowel movement since the 15-month shots, she said children with autism have diarrhea. When I said that he was crying inconsolably, she said this is part of autism. They can't regulate their emotions. So it was all lumped under, "yes, we always see that with autism. It's just autism."

ROBERT MACNEIL: Nick's complex problems demanded a broader view of autism. Some call it a new paradigm, or a systemic illness, or a whole-body experience. One of the leaders of that new thinking is Dr. Timothy Buie, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

DR. TIMOTHY BUIE, Massachusetts General Hospital: Six months ago, he was so lethargic and so out of it that he came into the office and literally laid on the chair for a 30- or 40-minute visit. He never moved. He wouldn't interact. He wouldn't give you any eye contact whatsoever. And at the end of the appointment, Mom picked him up and took him out and went home.

ROBERT MACNEIL: Dr. Buie found changes in the lower GI tract he called lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia -- inflammation and damage in his small intestine. How does that affect the life of a child like Nick? For instance, does it give him pain?.....

See full story and comment at PBS HERE.

From Johns Hopkins University. We know a population that suffers from severe GI problems still mislabeled  "autistic behavior." And we know a few brave doctors trying to help.

March 28, 2011
-Delays in Diagnosis Common

Once a medical rarity in children, inflammatory bowel disease today is increasingly common in kids, but many of them may not be diagnosed in a timely manner, according to experts from the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Johns Hopkins Children’s.

Gastroenterologists there say that many of the hundreds of children they see were referred to them only after months of repeated visits to their primary-care physicians for symptoms mistakenly attributed to common GI ailments like viral gastritis.

“Inflammatory bowel disease is still considered an adult condition and is rarely on pediatricians’ radars,” says Maria Oliva-Hemker, M.D., chief of the Gastroenterology & Nutrition division at Hopkins Children’s and director of the comprehensive IBD center there. “Fifty years ago, IBD was almost exclusively diagnosed in adults. These days, treating children with IBD is business as usual in our clinics.”

The two main forms of IBD are Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). For unknown reasons, Crohn’s disease seems to be rising more rapidly in children than ulcerative colitis, Oliva-Hemker says. Children with CD also tend to be diagnosed later than those with ulcerative colitis because the most common symptom is vague abdominal pain rather than the more suggestive bloody stools seen in ulcerative colitis, she notes.

A Mother's Day Tribute: Celebrate the special mothers in your life 

Celebrate the special mother or grandmother in your life with a beautiful card and a contribution in her honor to SafeMinds to create a safer world for our children with a $20 donation.  

Inside message reads:   "In celebration of Mother's Day a gift has been made to SafeMinds in your honor."

Click here to purchase.

All orders must be placed by Monday May 2 to ensure receipt by Mother's Day.

Does Dr. Max Wiznitzer, "autism expert" from University Hospital in Cleveland have even the slightest knowledge of Dr. Andrew Wakefield's Case Series published in The Lancet over a decade ago. 1) MMR never contained mercury, it is a live virus vaccine. 2) Dr. Wakefield's case series was about about novel GI disorder, not autism. 3) There were no numbers to manipulate in his case series, only a handful of subjects participated. 4) Dr. Wakefield did not have a patent for a single dose vaccine. He was working on a treatment for children who were immuno-compromised (undergoing cancer treatments for instance) and who COULD NOT TAKE the MMR vaccine because it is a live virus vaccine. Dr. Wakefield's project was to provide a "medicine" that would greatly reduce their chances of severe reactions and even death by measles infection for kids who contracted the disease because they could not have the MMR.   A vaccine prevents the disease. Dr. Wakefield's project was to reduce the chance of death as a result of the disease.

Dr. Wiznitzer  is the go to expert witness for pharma/government in the US vaccine court. Yes, he testifies consistently that autism can not be the result of vaccines. Of course, he loses that argument from time to time.

Read this ridiculous article below and add your own comments.  KS

The Marietta Times:

"If you can't trust the integrity of the researcher, you can't trust the research," Dr. Max Wiznitzer told a standing- room only crowd in Marietta College's McDonough Center auditorium Monday night.

An expert on autism spectrum disorder, Wiznitzer was a key witness against claims in a study led by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that trace amounts of mercury in the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was linked to autism.

The study, originally published in the British medical journal Lancet, was retracted by the magazine a year ago after Great Britain's General Medical Council ruled Wakefield had acted unethically.

"His science on autism was not good-it's mythology," Wiznitzer told his audience on Monday.

Hi, friends. Hope to see you at this TACA event - a book signing and Q&A at Border's at 3333 Bear Street in Costa Mesa Saturday evening 4/16 at 6:30pm.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her book from Skyhorse Publishing, All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa; A Life Raising Three Daughters with Autism is available now. Visit her website at Kim Stagliano.

By Anne Dachel

I found a recent story from the Stanford University Medical School called, A national health challenge: How the anti-vaccine movement threatens us all.  It was all about  the wonderful job Dr. Paul Offit is doing defending the vaccine program for America’s doctors. HERE 

Offit was described as “one of the most public faces of the pro-vaccine movement for childhood immunizations. He's a hero to pediatricians around the country for taking on an aggressive anti-vaccine movement that makes erroneous claims that vaccines are dangerous to children's health and can cause autism and brain damage.”

To parents in the autism community of course, Offit is the constant voice out there in the media challenging anyone who dares to propose that the ever-expanding vaccination schedule is responsible for a host of chronic and debilitating conditions affecting our children, most notably autism.

Offit can explain away anything that happens to kids following vaccinations.  I’ve read his books, watched videos, and read countless articles where he’s featured.  His message is always the same.  Studies disprove serious reactions.  Our vaccines are incredibly safe.  The public is being misled by the “anti-vaccine movement” that fuels parents’ fears about what vaccines can do their children.

He’s also very outspoken when it comes to government’s vaccine compensation program.  Offit has a whole chapter in his book, Deadly Choices, simply called, “Justice.”  His idea of justice is anytime government rulings reject the idea that serious side effects can result from the mandated vaccine schedule.  

According to Offit, what can look to parents like direct and immediate vaccine damage, is merely coincidence.  He has this mantra so ingrained in his thinking that the most dramatic and debilitating changes following routine vaccinations are dismissed as happenstance.  The problem is that when you start to look into the claims of vaccine damage, it’s a little hard to believe that thousands of healthy children would have suddenly gotten sick without the common denominator of being vaccinated at the same time.

A Jan 2011 story from CBS News should have set off alarms everywhere, but it didn’t.  Sharyl Attkisson wrote about a bittersweet victory in federal vaccine court involving a little boy named Elias Tembenis. (HERE)

“The tragic death of little Elias Tembenis is yet another vaccine injury case you probably won't hear much about. Yet some medical experts believe it could teach us something about how to make vaccination safer.

“According to court and medical records, Elias was born on Aug. 23, 2000 and appeared healthy until Dec. 26 when he received his second dose of DTaP vaccine. His parents noticed some swelling around the injection site. According to court records:

“Early in the morning on December 27, 2000, Elias's parents found him seizing in his crib and took him to the emergency room ...Within one day, he developed a fever, which led to a complex febrile seizure. Subsequently, Elias developed epilepsy. This fact pattern is commonly seen in the Vaccine Program.’

From Atlanta unfiltered.com

AUTISM RESEARCHER INDICTED FOR STEALING GRANT MONEY

Thorsen Allegedly Absconded With Over $1 Million

ATLANTA, GA -  POUL THORSEN, 49, of Denmark, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money laundering based on a scheme to steal grant money the CDC had awarded to governmental agencies in Denmark for autism research.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of the case, “Grant money for disease research is a precious commodity.  When grant funds are stolen, we lose not only the money, but also the opportunity to better understand and cure debilitating diseases.  This defendant is alleged to have orchestrated a scheme to steal over $1 million in CDC grant money earmarked for autism research.  We will now seek the defendant’s extradition for him to face federal charges in the United States.”

“Stealing research grant money to line his pockets, as Poul Thorsen stands accused of here today, cheats U.S. taxpayers and will simply not be tolerated,” said Derrick L. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Region for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services.  “HHS/OIG will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to bring these criminals to justice.”

Hi, friends. Hope to see you at a Generation Rescue event - a book signing and Q&A at Vroman's Bookstore 695 East Colorado Avenue, Pasadena CA at 7:oopm tonight, April 15th.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her book from Skyhorse Publishing, All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa; A Life Raising Three Daughters with Autism is available now. Visit her website at Kim Stagliano.

The Poul Thorsen story: ‘The CDC finances, writes and helps publish Danish research…’

With Danish CDC researcher Poul Thorsen now charged 13 counts of fraud and 9 of money laundering Age of Autism revisits this fascinating article by Dr F Edward Yazbak, originally published by ‘Red Flags’ in 2005 (Read full article HERE.) The article suggests the central role Thorsen had in the Great Vaccine Whitewash. Below is an email exchange from the paper:

‘Jose

'As we discussed on Friday, we have become aware through Poul Thorsen of an exciting opportunity to study the role of MMR vaccine and autism using several registries/existing studies and the repository of biologic specimens and laboratory capabilities in Denmark. Attached below is a proposal for such a study. Poul will be leaving on Thursday to travel to Denmark where he will be meeting with the PIs for the proposed study on June 6th. We would like to be able to have Poul say whether it is likely that CDC (NIP) can fund the study, if NIP is interested. The proposed budget is included; there may be additional sources of funding (in addition to NIP) but we are not certain at this time. Unfortunately, the DD Branch does not have much (if any) $$ to fund the study, but we do have the expertise that we have developed due to the autism surveillance in Atlanta and the MMR/autism casecontrol study. I will be out of the office tomorrow, but you may contact Diana or Poul if you have questions. Thank you so much for considering this proposal.

Marshalyn’

 
We have written several articles about Dr. Poul Thorsen (4th from the left in the back row with his CDC colleagues), whose research known as "The Danish Study" is quoted extensively to "debunk" the autism vaccine connection. The mainstream media was silent when he disappeared. Here are some of the posts we've run on the topic along with today's article in the Atlanta Bizjournals below. Will they give Thorsen "the Wakefield treatment" now, or have they been given their marching orders to look the other way?

Scandal Looms Over Danish Scientist by Mark Blaxill & Dan Olmsted

Danes Charge Thorsen with Tax Evasion

CDC and Thorsen Continue to Collaborate

Poul Thorsen's Mutating Resume by Mark Blaxill (a must read)

First Fraud Dr. Thorsen and The Danish Study by JB Handley

Thorsen Still In Charge of Danish Registries

Danish Scientist Absonds with Millions "Proved" Vaccines do Not Cause Autism

Thorsen and CDC Whitewash by Dr. Ed Yazbak

Breaking News Dane Indicted Today A Danish man was indicted Wednesday on charges of wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly concocting a scheme to steal more than $1 million in autism research money from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The indictment charges Poul Thorsen, 49, with 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering. The wire fraud counts each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison and the money laundering counts each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison, with a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.

The federal government also seeks forfeiture of all property derived from the alleged offenses, including an Atlanta residence, two cars and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court, Thorsen worked in the 1990s as a visiting scientist at the CDC Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, when the CDC was soliciting grant applications for research related to infant disabilities.

Thorsen promoted the idea of awarding the grant to Denmark and provided input and guidance for the research. From 2000 to 2009, the CDC awarded more than $11 million to two governmental agencies in Denmark to study the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines, between cerebral palsy and infection during pregnancy and between childhood development and fetal alcohol exposure.

In 2002, Thorsen moved to Denmark and became the principal investigator for the grant, responsible for administering the research money awarded by the CDC.

By Katie Wright

Last month's  cloying review of “The Panic Virus” HERE reads as if it were written by Seth Mnookin’s Mom.  Truly it is the kind of “review” I give my 7 years old’s work “unbelievable! You are the smartest boy in the world! I love this picture! It should be hanging in a museum!” OK, sometimes I go overboard with praise but I am a Mom and I make no apologies for not being objective.

But why does the NYT’s columnist Dr. Abigail Zuger ‘s review of this book read like a love letter to a precocious child? Zuger’s article is rife with inaccuracies and falsehoods. She is blinded by her adoration for the medical community, fellow doctors and her powerful all encompassing disdain for dumb parents who just don’t get it. Can’t the NYT’s afford a fact checker for Pete’s sake?  Wakefield’s work has been replicated. Why is Zuger so hysterically hyper defensive regarding the public’s demand for adequate vaccine safety research? Why in Zuger’s discussion of this book does she make zero effort to speak with a parent of a vaccine-injured child? Dr. Abigail’s review is not journalism. It is vaccine company advocacy at best and vaccine marketing at worst. It is an advertorial.

So than I thought to myself, “who is Zuger? What is the source of her nutty anti- consumer militancy? Why her serious hostility to ASD parents and why this need to characterize them as stupid saps?”  Zuger’s quotes are priceless. Here she describes why Mnookin is right and millions parents are wrong to express the smallest concern about vaccine safety. “Mnookin explains how scientists are trained to think about causation and how profoundly this measured approach is bound to infuriate a distraught parent.” What is she talking about? It is the parents who want the “measured approach” to research.  ASD families, not doctors, who want independent research done precisely because existing research is so poorly done and or paid for by the vaccine companies themselves.

The treatment category is sponsored by Lee Silsby, the leader in quality compounded medications for autism.

The John Gambling Show, WOR 710  April 12, 2011

Louise Habakus Author of "Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children," will discuss her new book which discusses why parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children – what are the risks?

Listen HERE.

From Janet Grillo: AN EXCITING MOMENT WE HAVE BEEN WORKING TOWARDS FOR YEARS IS NOW HERE!

FLY AWAY by Janet Grillo tells the poignant yet humor filled story of a single mother of a teenager with severe autism, as she is forced to confront her daughter's future. What will sustain her child into adulthood...as well as herself?

Fly Away Trailer from Fly Away on Vimeo.

FLY AWAY was selected as 1 of 8 out of 2000 films submitted for Dramatic Competition in the esteemed SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL in Austin, TX.  We made our premiere there in March.

We have played in several other film festivals over the past month, including winning Best Feature and Special Jury Prize for Ashley Rickards, who plays the role of the daughter, at the ARIZONA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.

On THIS FRIDAY, FLY AWAY will open for commercialtheatrical run in select cities.

As of 4/15, it will open in:

LOS ANGELES (at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills + AMC Covina 3 in Covina)

NEW YORK CITY (at the Village East Cinema in Manhattan)

WASHINGTON, DC (at the West End Cinema)

As of 4/22, it will open in:

NEW HAVEN (at the BowTie Cinema)

Please contact each theater for details. Including which days I will be there for a Q+A after the screening.

Visit the website HERE.

BBC struggles to find answers over ‘Science Betrayed’ programme; British Medical Journal battens down the hatches

By John Stone

My letter to the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit:

I forward correspondence relating to the programme 'Science Betrayed'….

I request that the Editorial Complaints Unit look into this matter in an impartial way. I note that I originally wrote to Adam Rutherford the programme presenter asking whether he knew at the time programme went on air that Prof Pepys was in business partnership with MMR manufacturers GSK. He didn't deign to reply but the issue was plainly whether the programme makers realised that this was not an independent opinion. Either they knew and didn't say, or Prof Pepys did not divulge this relevant information. It is disturbing that neither the programme's producers, or the acting editor of BBC have found any way of replying to that question (that Prof Pepys is entitled to work with GSK is beyond dispute). While Andrew Wakefield is being accused of everything under the sun there is apparently no imperative on his accusers to disclose their competing interests or for the BBC, out of pure objectivity, to report. So (1) the presenter doesn't answer, (2)  the producers won't answer and (3) neither will their on-line manager. The best we can conclude is that they have been embarrassed.

Regarding the second matter, I would point out that it only arose because the CHS blog pointed out (HERE and   HERE ) that Mr Deer's accusations of fraud, such as they were, hinged on the claim that Wakefield altered information from GP notes, which was impossible because neither he nor any of his co-authors had access to the GP notes at the time: they did, however, have the very important red books (or very unimportant red books according to Mr Deer).  So now your producers have shifted the ground to a tenuous and unwarranted reading of the Lancet paper, claiming that it said there that the GP notes had been used. But why would the paper have claimed such a thing which would be so out of the way in UK hospital practice? Which consultants routinely ask for all a patients GP notes to be forwarded? It seems much more likely that people under pressure are now making things up on the hoof.

A Time to Lead

My name is Mark Blaxill. I am the father of a 15 year old daughter diagnosed with autism, a Director of SafeMinds and editor-at-large of Age of Autism. I am also a co-author of The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Manmade Epidemic. Since our book was published last September I have had the privilege of traveling across the country to meet with dozens of groups and thousands of families affected by autism. I was deeply impressed by the affected individuals, mothers, fathers and family members I met on our tour. Above all else, I was impressed by how so many families have the same story to tell and by how many of us are asking for the same things. We are asking for bold leadership that unfortunately we have not yet seen.

Most directly, in the midst of the greatest childhood epidemic of all of our lives, we are trapped in an historic failure of the scientific process. Thomas Kuhn taught us how communities of “normal scientists” can prevent progress and trap important field of inquiry in scientific orthodoxy. We have seen this pattern play itself out in autism, first in the idea that parents and especially mothers caused autism because they hated, indeed even wanted to murder their children. More recently we have been trapped in the equally failed search for inherited autism genes. In the meantime, we are investing next to nothing in environmental causation. This is a fundamentally irrational approach, yet the orthodox researchers who benefit from this irrationality have defended their territory while they invoke science in the name of their own interests. Not a single dollar spent in the process has prevented a single case of autism. Worse than that, we are spending millions of dollars to promote denial.

In an environment of increasing budget scarcity, this is more than just a scientific failure; it’s an economic one as well. We are wasting taxpayer resources and approaching the governance process with a lack of urgency that seeps into all aspects of autism science. As a near monopsonistic buyer, NIH has a unique power in setting scientific agendas. The IACC should serve the consumers of autism science. Instead you appear to most of us to serve the medical industry, aiding and abetting the fiction that the controversies over autism research pit “parents vs. science.” In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The real controversy is one between critical consumers of autism science and the orthodox producers whose work has failed us.  In the debate between the autism community and the medical industry, your responsibility here should be clear.

This is not an abstract problem. Before 1930, the rate of autism was effectively zero. Before 1990, autism in the United States was exceedingly rare, as low as 1 in 10,000. Today, with roughly 1% of children born in the 1990s, it should be breathtakingly clear that autism is manmade. And that makes the autism epidemic not merely a public health crisis but a crisis of public ethics and morality as well. Hundreds of thousands of children, now growing to adulthood, are victims of preventable injury, a form of invisible violence. It is a form of violence that requires witnesses. Yet because of the nature of the injuries involved those witnesses must typically have scientific, medical or technical training. In large part, this witness pool also has career and economic interest in the medical industry, one of the main suspects. Tragically, but perhaps not surprisingly, we are seeing a moral failure of enormous proportions, as potential witnesses are sanctioned, censored and intimidated while the entrenched power of the orthodoxy has successfully sustained its prerogatives. This is not right. More to the point, it is not good. And it is long past time for a change.

More than any other single group of individuals, you members of the IACC are in a position to lead that change. That requires many things of you. It requires you to pay attention. It requires you to think independently and rationally. It requires you to take personal risk. It requires you to challenge close friends and colleagues who are part of the orthodoxy that perpetuates the problem. Above all, it requires moral courage. The only thing it does not require is that you wade through the complex machinations of denial because the problem is simple and staring you in the face. We are staring you in the face. And because autism is what it is, we will be standing in front of you until we are gone, or until you have done the right thing, whichever comes first.