Brian Hooker: "DeStefano et al Autism Vaccine Study is to Science What Ishtar was to Cinema"
The CDC released a “new” study on “Good Friday” just before the Easter holiday weekend that supposedly showed there was no connection between vaccines and autism. One has to wonder on the timing of the announcement of this study, considering the fact that the CDC just released statistics about two weeks ago stating that the rate of autism among school children in the U.S. has now risen to one out of 50.
So I contacted Dr. Brian Hooker and asked him to respond to this “new” study that the mainstream media is reporting has ended the vaccine-autism debate. According to Dr. Hooker, the study is not so new, as it is based on data from 2010 and is basically a rehash of a “fraudulent” study published then.Why did we ask Dr. Hooker to comment? There are probably very few people in the world who have spent as much time looking at CDC studies related to vaccines and autism as Dr. Hooker. Dr. Brian Hooker, a PhD scientist, has been fighting the CDC since 2004 in trying to get them to comply with Freedom of Information Acts to see the CDC research that supposedly shows there is no link between mercury in vaccines and autism. The CDC apparently believes they are above the law regarding the Freedom of Information Act, and have fought to withhold most of the information Dr. Hooker has requested. But as you will see from Dr. Hooker’s critique below, even what the CDC does publish and make public doesn’t amount to much of anything that will help us understand the problem of the rising rates of autism, let alone solve it.
Here are Dr. Hooker’s comments on the CDC study just published in The Journal of Pediatrics.Critique of Destefano et al. 2013 J Peds. Study
By Brian S. Hooker, Ph.D., P.E.
The recent CDC study “Increasing Exposure to Antibody-Stimulating Proteins and Polysaccharides in Vaccines Is Not Associated with Risk of Autism” by Destefano et al. 2013 was released in the Journal of Pediatrics last week. This study purports that “increasing exposure to antibody-stimulating proteins and polysaccharides in vaccines during the first 2 years of life was not related to the risk of developing an ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).” Of all of the papers I have reviewed over my 26-year career as a research scientist, this is perhaps the most flawed and disingenuous study I have encountered. The Destefano et al. 2013 study is to science what the movie Ishtar was to cinema. Read the full story at Health Impact News.
Thank you so much for this excellent review! I'm wondering if the age of the 25% controls w/neurodevelopmental issues would be a factor? if SCQ scores can change over time? These kids have a diagnosis of speech delay, ADD, etc., is it possible that by age 6-13, they've received therapy that would reduce their Q score? So, even tho they had Q scores under 15, it's not a true representation of the effects of vaccines b/c those effects are counteracted by therapy?
Posted by: Monica Kay | April 20, 2013 at 03:48 AM
Brian, thank you for the critique.
Nhokkanen, thank you for the link for the December 17, 1999 email from Dr. Verstraeten (CDC) to Dr. DeStafano (CDC). Look at what these industrial scientists reported shortly after that email.
Dr. Verstraeten: "As you'll see some of the RRs increase over the categories and I haven't yet found an alternative explanation ... Please let me know if you can think of one. [RRs are the relative risks for neurological disorders in children based on a straight line correlation to dose of mercury by those children in the Thimerosal preserved vaccines.]
See http://www.putchildrenfirst.org/media/2.7.pdf
“We focused our analyses on the cumulative exposure levels at one and three months of age because as this age the central nervous system is still immature and more susceptible to mercury.”
See Thomas Verstraeten, Robert Davis, Frank DeStefano, “Thimerosal VSD study - Phase I - Update,” February 29, 2000, page 6. Accessed at http://www.autismhelpforyou.com/EXPERT%20PAPER%20-%20Thimerosal%20VSD%20study001%20-%20Internet%20File.pdf
Dr. Verstraeten: “For the overall category of neurologic developmental disorders, the point estimates of the categorized estimates suggest potential trends, and the test for trends is also statistically significant above one, with a P value below 0.01. The way to interpret this point estimate which seems very low is as follows. That's an increase of .7% for each additional microgram of ethylmercury. For an example, if we would go from zero to 50 micrograms of ethyl mercury, we would have to multiple these estimate by 50, so that would give us an additional increase of about 35 %, which is pretty close to the point estimate for this category. Or for the overall, we would have to multiple 75 micrograms to .7 and that would give us about one and a half for the relative risk.” [1.5 relative risk for “neurologic developmental disorders” in children based on a straight line correlation to dose of mercury by those children in the Thimerosal preserved vaccines.]
See “Scientific Review of Vaccine Safety Datalink Information, June 7-8, 2000, Simpsonwood Retreat Center, Norcross, Georgia,” pp. 41-42. http://www.safeminds.org/government-affairs/foia/Simpsonwood_Transcript.pdf
Posted by: Jim Thompson | April 04, 2013 at 09:04 AM
Lou:
It is like Liz said in another comment -- things just disappear.
Your link is going to page not found.
Posted by: Benedetta | April 03, 2013 at 07:40 PM
"It deliberately did not look at the actual concerns of "too much, too soon."
Well we recently did have an honest study that did look at the too much. In an honest world it would be followed up by confirming studies and the UNTESTED practice of multiple "vaccinations" on a single day would be ended FOREVER. Too bad we do not live in an honest world.
"Upon analysis, the team found that the more vaccines a child receives during a single doctor visit, the more likely he or she is to suffer a severe reaction or even die. According to Heidi Stevenson from Gaia Health, for each additional vaccine a child receives, his or her chance of death increases by an astounding 50 percent — and with each additional vaccine dose, chances of having to be hospitalized for severe complications increase two-fold. To sum it all up, the overall size of the vaccine load was found to be directly associated with hospitalization and death risk, illustrating the incredible dangers of administering multiple vaccines at once." Relative trends in hospitalizations and mortality among infants by the number of vaccine doses and age, based on the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), 1990–2010
http://healthyprotocols.com/2_vaccine.htm
Posted by: Lou | April 03, 2013 at 06:15 PM
This "study" does absolutely nothing to address the concept of "too much, too soon." Oh, sure, it looks at the "too much" by measuring the antigen load and comparing between the groups, but it does not actually address my true concerns. The problem is that we have no data on the dangers of antigenic load to *some* children when the vaccines are given in large numbers within a short period of time (the "too soon").
It's also quite telling that the pseudo-skeptics are applauding this pitiful "study" as the "nail in the coffin" for "too much, too soon." The timing of the release of the laughable 1-in-50 study and this deplorable "study" is clearly meant as a pre-emptive strike for April Autism Awareness month.
Of course, Gorski and his drooling dimwits are lapping this up like manna from heaven. But it's clear to those who are reasonable and intelligent that this study was clearly written to *not* find anything because it deliberately did not look at the actual concerns of "too much, too soon." Also, as long as they continue to deliberately avoid looking at children who are reported to have vaccine injuries so that they can look at possible under-lying health issues, they will continue to not ask the right questions and they will continue to avoid the issue.
And I will continue to call them hypocrites and charlatans
Posted by: DavidGorskiIsACrank | April 03, 2013 at 08:39 AM
Thank you Brian for all of your great research and for keeping us informed. Please keep hammering the CDC for the truth! You have done amazing work! I thank you from the botom of my heart and so does my 23 year old non-verbal son.
Posted by: Denise Ferraro | April 03, 2013 at 08:26 AM
Thank you, Dr. Hooker, for explaining science and statistics in a manner that laymen can understand. I hope to see you testifying before Congress some day soon.
I keep thinking of Thomas Verstraeten's 1999 CDC email in which he says, "All the harm is done in the first month." Sends a chill up my spine.
http://www.putchildrenfirst.org/media/2.7.pdf
Posted by: nhokkanen | April 03, 2013 at 12:35 AM
Brian:
But I really liked Ishtar.
Louis
Posted by: Louis Conte | April 03, 2013 at 12:08 AM
To Aussie mum. I think that the Aussie government does know that vaccines cause autism. To assuage the guilt that their public health policies are causing so much damage, they are trying to set up the disability insurance scheme.
It is impossible to get any rational, unbiased response from the government or media about this issue in Australia. Therefore the general public is ignorant about what is really going on.
Posted by: Aussie mum 2 | April 02, 2013 at 08:52 PM
Dear Dr Hooker,
Would you be able to speak up a little louder, the Australian government cannot hear you from over here!
Or, perhaps, they do not want to hear what causes Autism, afterall if the question is asked, I do not think that the government will cope with the response.
Thank-you for your honest comments.
Elizabeth Gillespie
Posted by: AussieMum | April 02, 2013 at 06:00 PM
Robert Scott Bell show (shameless plug...) and further on Thursday on Curt Linderman's show (shameless plug part deux...).
NOOOO nothing Shameless at all --- Keep driving those nails in you Great Man!
Posted by: Benedetta | April 02, 2013 at 05:51 PM
Brian,
Are you going to publish that finding??!?!?
This should also be printed on every flu vaccine bottle. "Warning! The amount of mercury in this flu shot has been shown to increase the risk of autism by 800 % in babies of mothers who received it during pregnancy"
We need a new Journal of Evidence of Government and Pharma Malfeasance
Posted by: Cassandra | April 02, 2013 at 05:23 PM
Thank you, Dr. Hooker, for more helpful explanation and all of the work above. It helps some like me to be able to warn those truly wanting to get a feel for what the truth is to at least be able to point out these kinds of "oversights."
It sounds like an honest U.S. news media should be at least proclaiming something like "Data shows vaccine preservative in pregnancy linked to autism," or "Prenatal vaccine preservative increases autism risk by 800 percent" (I can dream). When you look at the propaganda like this DeStefano et al "study" that they do proclaim far and wide, it's pretty clear they have no investigative reporters interested and allowed to report on this issue.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | April 02, 2013 at 04:09 PM
Hi Jeannette
The Abt Associates report finding of an OR (odds ratio) of 8.73 (regressive ASD) in those infants exposed to thimerosal prenatally (just 16 ug mercury, less than a flu shot) has a p-value of 0.009. The generally accepted cut-off for statistical significance is p<0.05. So yes, this was a highly statistically significant result and was NOT reported. I will be discussing this tomorrow on the Robert Scott Bell show (shameless plug...) and further on Thursday on Curt Linderman's show (shameless plug part deux...).
:)
Brian
Posted by: Brian Hooker | April 02, 2013 at 02:02 PM
I missed this before:
"Not only was this original study fatally flawed due to a statistical error called “overmatching” (which I’ll discuss further below) but also the study authors hid data regarding the only valid part of the study (i.e., prenatal thimerosal exposure) which showed that children exposed to just 16 microgram mercury in thimerosal in utero were up to 8 times more likely to receive a diagnosis of regressive autism (Price C, et al. Thimerosal and Autism. Technical report. Vol I. Bethesda, MD: Abt Associates Inc; 2009). The study authors instead falsely reported no risk of autism associated with prenatal thimerosal exposure."
Did this finding reach statistical significance (not that that should have stopped the researchers from mentioning it and calling urgently for "more study" and halting the criminal flu shot in pregnancy "recommendation")?
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | April 02, 2013 at 01:29 PM
Abt Associates? That's a blast from the past.
Posted by: Carol | April 02, 2013 at 11:17 AM
Brian Hooker's work 'behind the scenes' to expose the truth about the CDC is amazing. I commend him gratefully.
Posted by: Jenny Allan | April 02, 2013 at 06:59 AM