Dr. Bob Sears on #CDCwhistleblower
By Anne Dachel
It's time to add the views of well-known family pediatrician, Dr. Bob Sears, to the CDC whistleblower scandal discussion.
Age of Autism has covered Dr. Sears in the past.
In 2010, Dr. Sears talked about his alternative vaccination schedule.
In 2010 I wrote the piece, Dr. Bob Sears's The Autism Book Brings Early Detection, Treatment, Recovery and Prevention To Light, for Age of Autism. It was a review of his book on autism. It contained some startling information.
I found more commentary on this question in the section, Preventing Autism. (And when was the last time a doctor wrote on this topic?) Sears starts off telling us, "Prevention is very important for any family that has a child with autism." (p. 328) He then lists his recommendations for parents expecting another child which includes a section titled, "Avoid Mercury." He cautions pregnant women about mercury fillings, fish consumption, and mercury in the flu shot. "If you get a flu shot, make sure you get one without mercury, or at least get one that has only trace amounts of mercury." (p. 331)
With regard to vaccinating siblings of an autistic child, Sears writes, "Your next child might have the same genetic risks that your child with autism has. It's therefore important to limit any factor that may be involved in autism. If vaccines, or the chemicals in them, play a role in autism, then, obviously, limiting vaccines would be smart." (p. 337-338)
Furthermore, Sears adds, "Be aware that your baby will be offered his first vaccine (to protect against hepatitis B, a sexually transmitted disease) the very day he is born in the hospital. Many hospitals administer it without the parents' even knowing. Make sure everyone caring for your baby knows you don't want the hepatitis B vaccine." (p. 338)
What really got my attention was his recommendation to parents concerning vaccinating autistic children:
"I generally recommend that any child diagnosed with autism not receive any more vaccines. Now, this is a very bold statement, considering that the majority of current research does not support a link between vaccines and autism. However, research has not proven there is no link, because no study has ever compared the rate of autism in a large group of unvaccinated children with the rate in a large vaccinated group. This type of placebo-controlled study is the gold standard of medical research." (p. 336)
Sears advocates for vaccines but he also suggests alternative scheduling with delayed vaccines and a reduction in the number of vaccines a child receives. He acknowledges that many parents with an autistic child may not want to vaccinate siblings at all. He writes that "parents should have the right to make this decision for their children." (p. 337
Now we have this great commentary by Dr. Sears published on the website of Talk About Curing Autism (TACA), August 29, 2014.
Sears explained why foul play at the CDC should be cause for an immediate congressional investigation. There are so many terrific statements in this piece and here are several that really got my attention.
According to a CNN report published on August 28, 2014 (2), CDC senior researcher Dr. William Thompson contacted Dr. Brian Hooker last November and informed him of foul play. Dr. Thompson told Brian Hooker that the data initially collected by CDC researchers actually showed that African-Americans who were given the MMR vaccine prior to 36 months of age were significantly more likely to develop autism. This team of CDC researchers then decided to remove the data collected on some of the children which supported this association (claiming they did so because they could not verify their birth certificates), resulting in the data no longer showing a significant connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Then they published their research, claiming that their data did not show a link between the MMR vaccine and the risk of autism. What is important about this paper is that it had an apparent large influence on the Omnibus Autism Proceedings. ...
...This re-analysis indicated a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American children who received the MMR vaccine before the age of three compared to those after the age of three.
...This does leave us with is a whole lot of distrust and uncertainty in an institution which is supposed to be the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This isn't the first instance of malfeasance in autism/vaccine research. Several years ago, Dr. Poul Thorsen was indicted for stealing $1 million of CDC research money during his autism/vaccine research work with the CDC. This called into question the validity of two of the largest studies he was involved in (which showed no vaccine/autism link): Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data, Madsen K, Thorsen P, et al, Pediatrics 2003; and A population-based study of MMR vaccination and autism, Madsen K, Thorsen P, et al, New England Journal of Medicine 2002.
Dr. Sears actually talked about the conflicts of interests that abound at the CDC:
The issue of conflict of interest in CDC vaccine research is not new. In June 2000, the U.S. House of Representatives released results on an investigation revealing that the rules employed by the FDA and CDC were weak, enforcement was lax, and committee members with substantial ties to vaccine manufacturers had been allowed to participate in committee meetings. The report also found that:
The CDC routinely granted waivers from the conflict-of-interest rules to every member of the ACIP (the board that approves vaccines)
Members who were not allowed to vote on a vaccine due to financial conflicts were still allowed to deliberate and advocate for that vaccine during meetings from which they should have been banned
The chairman of the ACIP at that time owned 600 shares of stock in Merck (a maker of vaccines, including the MMR vaccine)
The ACIP members did not always provide accurate financial disclosure statements.
He also mentioned former CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding's move to head of the vaccine division at Merck after leaving the agency. She was the person in charge when the MMR study was done.
Sears also called for unbiased research comparing large groups of vaccinated and unvaccinated children.
My favorite part came at the end.
Some may be reading this article and think - what should happen next? We should request a complete investigation of this new information and a congressional hearing immediately. When small pox was recently found in an FDA laboratory, a congressional hearing occurred within 3 weeks (9). Isn't the safety of our children and a possible link between autism and vaccination worthy of an immediate congressional investigation?
Linda,
David Anderson's article at Janeknowsitall on the Thompson confession said that the mere mention of Dr. Wakefield's name was poison, and caused everyone who read it to discount the news as worthless since the "charlatan's" name had been mentioned. I agree with you, these people, if they choose to shrug their shoulders and go on their merry way because they have been conditioned like Pavlov's dog to do so, choosing to ignore the extremely concrete admission of criminally concealing a crime against humanity of the greatest magnitude, are colluding in and enabling this crime.
Posted by: cia parker | September 04, 2014 at 02:30 PM
Dr. Gordon,
I read the article you linked, but am not sure why you thought it was particularly significant. It's not just vaccines received in combination that are the problem. My daughter reacted to just the first hep-B vaccine with vaccine encephalitis, and to the DTaP booster given at 18 months with no other (I refused the MMR and varicella vaccines offered at that time) with losing her only two words and being diagnosed with autism two months later. Early intervention? In most cases it does little or no good. It's just offered to make parents feel they're doing something, and as a lucrative industry. I saw Hannah Poling on the Today Show in 2008, and she was SEVERELY impaired. I can't say how much worse she might have been without early intervention, but I have a feeling that it didn't do any good at all. Biomedical intervention is said to have helped many, and I believe it, but it is not available to most parents, including me.
Of course it's good that you respect the choice of parents in your practice, but do you recommend that they read the most important books on the issue before making the vaccine decision? Most parents don't make a truly informed decision because they're unaware of just how much damning evidence there is.
Posted by: cia parker | September 04, 2014 at 01:17 PM
Dr. Gordon,
If William Thompson chose to come to you instead of Brian Hooker to confess that the CDC falsified research thereby putting a generation of children at risk and also, in conflict with the CDC's official stance, he said that he believes that thimerosol in flu shots given to pregnant women causes tics and "autism-like features", what would you have done?
Posted by: Linda1 | September 04, 2014 at 01:15 PM
"In my opinion, the value is limited."
Well, you know, the truth can only remedy lies if people are willing to accept it and make the necessary changes and demand accountability. Those of us who know the truth, are given hard won evidence of a heinous crime, who shrug our shoulders and go on our merry way, are just as guilty as the media and the liars within the CDC.
That goes especially for those carrying out the CDC's directives.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 04, 2014 at 12:59 PM
Linda--
I have spent 35 years educating myself, making my own decisions, encouraging parents to make theirs. And I have always distrusted the CDC.
This incident reminds me of the line in "Casablanca"--
"Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"
A scientist participated in a study and was complicit in its omission of valuable data. He was then secretly taped by someone whose views and agenda are very well known. (Mine are, too)
How valuable a piece is this in our puzzle and our struggle to bring sanity to vaccination policies and attitudes? In my opinion, the value is limited.
Best,
Jay
Posted by: Jay Gordon | September 04, 2014 at 12:09 PM
Dr. Gordon,
I hope that you educate yourself regarding the CDC's fraud which casts doubt about any research or recommendations that has come from them. This directly affects all information given to physicians and parents about all vaccines, not just the MMR, undermining the integrity of the practice of medicine and informed consent, even in your practice.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 04, 2014 at 04:47 AM
I'm not sure about the whistleblower issue but I always look back to this as one of the more interesting commentaries about vaccine combinations.
http://www.child-autism-parent-cafe.com/autism-vaccines-and-early-intervention-hannah-poling-case.html
Like Bob, I give vaccines but have never given them according to the recommended schedule and support parents' right to choose when, how and if they vaccinate their children.
Posted by: Jay Gordon | September 04, 2014 at 12:08 AM
Reading over what I wrote earlier, I thought I should add the following, for honesty's sake. If we stop giving the vaccines (as we should), then a certain, presently unknown, number of people will die or be disabled from the VPDs. Not everyone is going to eat nutritiously themselves or give their children a healthy diet. Not everyone is going to be healthy enough to bounce back from usually mild VPDs. No one is immune to severe or fatal damage if they get serious diseases like tetanus or meningitis. Not everyone is going to nurse their children appropriately when they are sick. I think we should admit that now, and then keep going. A few people will die of measles, probably more from meningitis, if they aren't vaccinated. Most people will be in no danger if they catch measles, and most would recover with antibiotic treatment even if they got meningitis. It would be good if we told people that, and told them how in many cases what they do makes an important difference: good nutrition in health and appropriate nursing and remedies when sick. But living without vaccines requires more personal responsibility. However, the benefits from saving any more children from being lost to autism and autoimmune disease, for most people, will be greater than the dangers of the diseases in the absence of vaccines.
Posted by: cia parker | September 03, 2014 at 10:14 PM
Cherry,
What did you mean by saying that reality has to change so that doctors like Dr. Sears can practice without fear? Many naturopaths, anthroposophcial physicians, and some pediatricians (like Dr. Eisenstein, Dr. Randall Neustaedter, and Dr. Philip Incao) have successful careers even though they give few or no vaccines. Dr. Sears has always had that option. He has made a name for himself as the middle-of-the-road doctor, who promotes a reduced, but still very dangerous, vaccine schedule, and he says in his book that he has been having the "autism" conversation more and more often with his patients' parents. I think he is comfortable with recommending the schedule he has developed, but that's the reason he has to have the "autism" conversation so often.
Did you mean that if everyone accepts that vaccines are too dangerous to use routinely (maybe eventually ever), then Dr. Sears will be able to comfortably not give or recommend them? I would imagine he'd continue to have a comfortable practice regardless, but he might find a new position if he introduced homeopathic and herbal remediea into his practice, took courses in anthroposophic medicine, for example. Gave lectures on why he decided to give up vaccines altogether. It is a hard question, as we said last week about Dr. Thompson with his mortgage to pay and family to support, but it still eventually goes back to the same thing. Do you cruise along with blinkers on to avoid having to see the many lives your actions are destroying? Or do you change?
Posted by: cia parker | September 03, 2014 at 09:07 PM
Cherry,
I disagree that we need to tell parents it's safe to give children vaccines if they follow Dr. Sears' somewhat reduced schedule for some vaccines. Whether or not parents are ready to hear it, we need to tell them, over and over, that the vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases. Direct them to books like Aviva Jill Romm's Vaccinations on how to care for children with the milder VPDs at home, to books on homeopathic treatment of them as well. Sensible advice on fevers, the need to not give Tylenol etc., the need for bed rest for weeks in the case of measles.
Dr. Sears said at the TACA website that the 2004 study did NOT necessarily show that vaccines caused autism, but actually, it necessarily did, with an extremely minute possibility of not having shown exactly that. YES, it is going to be very difficult for EVERYONE with an investment in the status quo to break away from it, but come on, this is thousands of babies' lives we're talking about ruined forever by vaccines. We were HAPPY and HEALTHY in the sixties before all the vaccines but the DPT (deadly and disabling in many instances, however) and the polio vaccine (and smallpox till about 1970, another deadly, useless one). We continued to be happy and healthy in the '70s after the MMR was added needlessly, since we had been happy and healthy before it when we all just got measles, mumps, and rubella. We're only talking about what doctors and we have gotten accustomed to and comfortable with. But that means being comfortable with sweeping all the damaged ones under the carpet as acceptable collateral damage necessitated by the said comfortable lifestyle. We can't do better than that?
Posted by: cia parker | September 03, 2014 at 08:50 PM
There is absolutely no evidence to support a delayed, spread out, or reduced vaccination schedule as NO vaccine, and no vaccination schedule, has ever been proven safe or effective, at any age, for any person.
It is both dangerous and irresponsible to promote vaccines, be it via the CDC's recommended schedule, or via a doctor's proposed alternative schedule.
I keep hoping that Dr. Sears will realize the hypocrisy in simply delaying, spreading out, or reducing something he knows to be dangerous. And, for the record, there is NO safe amount of mercury for a human, not even a "trace" (like anyone is monitoring that in the first place).
Posted by: Laura Hayes | September 03, 2014 at 08:24 PM
..I guess that would make sense if one still considers those unfortunate black children impacted by vax injury sub-human or still legally only 3/5 of a person, like back in the old days....
Would someone tell this doctor that the Confederates lost the Civil War?
Posted by: Handthatrocksthecradle | September 03, 2014 at 07:48 PM
To Cherry...thank you for your comments.
My answer to your question...educate as many as possible, or at least those willing to listen, that vaccines are inherently dangerous, poisonous, and without scientific merit..easier said than done I know, but very possible!--fear dissipates when the truth is exposed...that was my personal experience when I began to study the issue prior to becoming a parent. The truth will inspire others to stand up!
Posted by: Stand Up! | September 03, 2014 at 04:07 PM
I hear people speaking about a congressional hearing . If Im wrong here, please tell me, but "congressional hearing" is sounding to me, more and more like " Go and ask the Wizard of Oz" I doubt that even a thousand hearings could wipe up the mess that is medicine and health in the US today . We absolutely need some new institutions that will be devoted to truth in science. How will that be done?
To Stand Up - You are right , but the reality of the situation is that if Dr. Sears had told parents to reject vaccines, he would long ago have become dead meat - in the Pediatric Fridge. Many parents are terrified not to vaccinate and they must have found a middle ground in Dr. Sears. The reality has to change so that people like Dr. Sears can practise without fear. How will that come about?
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | September 03, 2014 at 02:50 PM
I read Dr. Bob Sears' books on vaccines and autism many times, and also all of those written by his parents. I loved and practiced the attachment parenting they advocated.
Dr. Bob said in The Vaccine Book that if it turned out that vaccines really did cause autism and autoimmune disease, then it would be the case that the vaccines were much more dangerous than the vaccine-preventable diseases would be if they came back. Now that it's clear to everyone paying any attention that vaccines are guilty as charged, the next question is what to do about it. Dr. Sears strongly advocates giving infants the DTaP, Hib, Prevnar, and rotavirus vaccines as per normal schedule, at 2, 4, 6, and 18 months. Since it is clear that many babies react to whichever ones they get with permanent disability or death, I question whether it is enough to wait and see if a child reacts, and then take him and his future siblings out of the vaccine pool. The fact is that, as he said, the vaccines are more dangerous than the VPDs. When Sweden stopped giving the pertussis vaccine for nineteen years starting in 1979, it experienced very few cases of death or disability from natural pertussis, even though it did certainly come back. We're back to the question of whether you want to risk pertussis (only dangerous in newborns in the first months of life) or autism etc. in your baby. Of course it means just breaking away entirely from the status quo, but that is what is called for at this time, to keep from sending any more babies down the drain. Instead we need to educate about the need to keep young infants at home and away from possibly contagious people, treat pertussis with high-dose vitamin C when it occurs. Breastfeeding for protection from meningitis etc. (not pertussis). There is no safe vaccine schedule.
Posted by: cia parker | September 03, 2014 at 01:41 PM
Anne, I take issue with this article promoting Dr. Sears in a positive light in his advocacy for limited or delayed vaccination schedule because he is a walking contradiction...
Question: how does a physician who correctly illuminates the fact that vaccines have never been properly tested for safety nor efficacy continue to advocate for limited (untested) vaccine usage?????...What about the precautionary rule??...that oath he swore to uphold still matters to me as a doctor and should especially matter to a physician who has tremendous influence over his patients' decisions.
..."at least get one (vaccine)that has only trace amounts of mercury"...please!!
He simply hasn't researched the issue well enough and clearly doesn't have a grasp on accurate medical history as represented by Mr. Olmstead's book we all know of--"Age of Autism"...For Dr. Sears it is a settled matter of "benefits (of vaccines) outweighing the risks"---he clearly doesn't understand the risks.
Posted by: Stand Up! | September 03, 2014 at 01:00 PM
Thanks for weighing in Dr. Sears!
Posted by: Jen | September 03, 2014 at 12:04 PM