Havin' Trouble with CDC Whistleblower, William Thompson
By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.
I'm having a lot of trouble trying to write an article about MMR/Autism whistleblower, William Thompson.
On the one hand I don't want to waste this opportunity to show the scientific community that our concerns our real, and yet at the same time I don't want to let this guy off for concealing important evidence for more than a decade.
At the outset I have to say I'm really not a punishing kind of guy. In law school I worked for the US Attorney's office in San Francisco, assembling wiretap evidence in a large Oakland drug case. That meant I spent a lot of time listening to tapes of these guys talking.
And I found them not to be the threatening kind of all-powerful criminals you see in police thrillers, but discovered they were really leading pathetic, miserable lives. I also couldn't escape the realization that somebody like me, the top 10% of society, would be prosecuting the bottom 10% of society to make sure that the 80% in the middle remained relatively safe.
It's probably no surprise I ended up in teaching, trying to help students be interested in and excited by science, and also to be individuals who valued honesty. I wanted to help people be good, not punish them when they go bad. I've often thought that the best of science and the best of law share a common aim, as when a person stands to present testimony in a courtroom they swear an oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." The same expectation applies to scientists who work at government institutions when they publish scientific research in major journals.
It's with this in mind I have to detail some of my troubles with Dr. William Thompson.
From an e-mail Dr. Thompson allegedly wrote on October 18, 2002 to Melinda Wharton. "I am writing you once more regarding the recent Department of Justice (DOJ) request for a broad range of documents associated with MMR, thimerosal, and autism. I first spoke with you on September 3rd of 2002 regarding the sensitive results we have been struggling with in the MADDSP MMR/Autism study." I may not be a CDC scientist, but I've been both a lawyer and a science teacher and it seems to me that the phrase "sensitive results" is one probably never uttered by Galileo, Darwin, or Einstein.
Further on in the e-mail Thompson wrote, "I don't think anyone has broken the law but I was extremely uncomfortable when Dr. Coleen Boyle, a coauthor on our paper, was required to testify before Congressman Dan Burton's committee in Aprile of 2002 regarding MMR and autism . . . My level of concern has also caused me to seriously consider removing myself as an author on the draft manuscript." Again, I don't recall Galileo, Darwin or Einstein being concerned about somebody's congressional testimony breaking the law, or that such concerns would lead to them removing their name from a paper.
On February 2, 2004 Thompson wrote a letter to Dr. Jule Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control. It began, "We've not met yet to discuss these matters, but I'm sure you're aware of the Institute of Medicine Meeting regarding vaccines and autism that will take place on February 9th. I will be presenting the summary of our results from the Metropolitan Atlanta Autism Case-Control Study and I will have to present several problematical results relating to statistical associations between the receipt of MMR vaccine and autism." I don't recall Galileo, Darwin, or Einstein ever referring to their findings as "problematical results," even though they did cause significant controversy at the time. All they concerned themselves with was whether their findings were true.
And I can't help but think that Galileo, Darwin, or Einstein would never have found themselves writing as Thompson did in a statement released by his lawyer on August 27, 2014, "I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed."
These are Dr. Thompson's own words.
I want to be supportive of Dr. Thompson, thank him for finally revealing this evidence, and yet, this is taking place ten to twelve years after the events in question. Twelve years ago my daughter was four years old. Today she's sixteen and still can't speak, can barely walk, and is in diapers.
I think of those years in which family, friends, and co-workers have distanced themselves from my wife and I because of our belief that our daughter's problems started with a vaccination. Thompson has been part of the scientific clique which has made so many of us autism parents pariahs among those people we love the most.
And I can't help but think of the good scientists who have been led astray by the deception of Thompson and others at the Centers for Disease Control. It's been my experience that scientists work extraordinarily hard and in the limited time they have to keep up on other news they go to sources they trust, like the CDC. I hope that they will look at this new evidence with an unbiased eye.
I really do want to thank Dr. Thompson for coming forward at this time, although it would have been much better if he'd done it earlier, when his conscience first troubled him. I think of the good scientists, like Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Dr. Brian Hooker, or my co-author, Dr. Judy Mikovits, who held firm to their principles. Wakefield has often said that the MMR controversy has cost him, "His job, his career, and his country." Dr. Mikovits has endured a similar level of torment as have other honest scientists who have presented inconvenient findings. For me, that is the definition of scientific courage. Scientists like Wakefield, Hooker, and Mikovits would NEVER dream of concealing data. For them, that would be the equivalent of a crime against humanity.
As a Christian I believe in redemption, but it must first be preceeded by confession and repentance. There is yet hope that Dr. Thompson may do some good for the autism community, but a great deal more needs to happen. Perhaps the wheels are already in motion. I anxiously await the next moves.
I decided against becoming a prosecutor because I didn't feel like going after the bottom 10% of society. But when I look at somebody like Thompson, I can't help but feel a little different moral calculus. Unlike some poor drug dealer on the streets of Oakland, Thompson had every advantage. It's almost enough to make me want my old job back at the US Attorney's office.
If you would like to call for a retraction of the 2004 MMR study by the Centers for Disease Control and published by the journal Pediatrics, then please go to this web-site and sign a petition.
Kent Heckenlively is a Founding Contributing Editor to Age of Autism and co-author with Dr. Judy Mikovits of Plague: One Scientist's Intrepid Search for the Truth about Human Retroviruses and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Autism, and Other Diseases, being published on October 7, 2014. Visit their website at Plague The Book. You can pre-order the book HERE.
To all the Parents of Children with Autism. You have been wronged beyond any comparison. Your family, your child, YOU deserve better. 50 years from now the Scientific community will look back on Vaccine induced Autism and lower their heads in shame and regret. So many have marched to this beat and forgot the fundamentals of the scientific method, leave no stone unturned!!!!!! QUESTION EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Michael | February 25, 2015 at 12:59 AM
Kque,
Thank you for the video link. I'm suspicious that my daughter is particularly glutamate sensitive, though I'm not sure that completely explains all issues.
Teresa Conrick touched on this and mercury as a possibly trigger a few years back:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/03/autism-and-glutamate-dysfunction-avoid-the-cause-race-to-the-cure.html
I'm concerned that aluminum is also involved in dysregulation of glutamate reception or something related:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24625397
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24874214
Someone more adept at using PubMed may have more insight or understanding if this is the case?
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop for Kque | September 18, 2014 at 12:39 PM
I MISSED ERRORS IN THE FIRST SUBMITTAL PLEASE POST THIS ONE INSTEAD
I'm new to your site, so I'm not sure how to search to see if someone has already posted this information. But I am sure that after 10 years of allowing children to be vaccinated for MMR, knowing it could put them at higher risk for autism, this info is needed more than ever. Dr. Katherine Reid CURED her daughter of autism by eliminating all MSG type products from her diet. She documents their "journey" to victory here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL4SD5f2toQ
The universal applications of her findings are jaw dropping.
Posted by: Kque | September 18, 2014 at 07:37 AM
I thought of a "Civil" suit because I thought it was a more effective way of getting information via "Discovery." If that were true, then one could go on to proceed later to criminal. No? Wouldn't it broaden the net? Wouldn't we be able to discover more about the collusion between the CDC and Pharma, WHO, the Media collusion and the complicity of silence? Learn more about the henchman that discredit parents' experience and certain doctors & scientists. And, disclose the elements of a web that includes and allowed the same modus operendi re. the watering down of the data by Verstraetten and Thorsen? (The later of who though indicted hasn't been extradited.)
But now "Godfrey" says fed employees are "immunized" so to speak from their work-related actions. Tim Bolen says this isn't necessarily so. Yes, what's happened is criminal but what Fed. Attorney General, State Attorney General would take them on?--I don't see any brave soul to do it. Only moral midgets.
Posted by: Julie Penny | September 04, 2014 at 10:31 PM
You are mistaken. "[T]the FTCA [is] the exclusive mode of recovery for the tort of a Government employee even when the FTCA itself precludes Government liability." United States v. Smith, 499 U.S. 160, 166 (1991). The only qualification is that the employee "was acting within the scope of his employment when he committed the alleged tort." Id. Analysis of a data set is plainly within the scope of employment of a CDC employee, regardless of whether one disagrees with the rationale for using the birth-certificate sample.
I would be happy to look at examples of this being "push[ed] aside ... all of the time."
So far, you have advanced criminal fraud. I do not see this as being a colorable claim. I certainly cannot think of a relevant federal statute, and what is alleged does not even conform to the basic elements of the crime.
Posted by: Godfrey Wyl | September 03, 2014 at 03:13 PM
Godfrey,
Thank you.
Tim Bolen,
Definitely criminal, not civil.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 03, 2014 at 09:41 AM
About this below:
"Federal employees have absolute immunity from negligent or intentional torts that arise as a course of their duties."
That is simply NOT true. There are limits to that immunity, and, frankly, they are easy to push aside, and that is done all of the time. Government employees are not gods. Every agency, for instance, has within it, a check and balance system, which encompasses either an Inspector General or an Internal Affairs unit. These units go after bad employees and can, and do, seek prosecution every day of every week.
The whole "Color of Authority" section of law an come into play, and once those standards are met not even God can help the employee.
It is NOT all that hard to Civilly nail a government employee to the wall, so to speak.
But what I am looking for is not Civil remedies but Criminal prosecutions. Big difference.
Posted by: Tim Bolen | September 03, 2014 at 09:25 AM
Shell,
Toxic substances like mercury and aluminum in vaccine can cause many of the conditions you mentioned, but others are caused by the reaction of the immune system just to the invasion of a vaccine, causing encephalitis or autoimmune disease. They can't make a safe vaccine.
Posted by: cia parker | September 02, 2014 at 05:12 PM
The basic idea underlying the FTCA (and, later, FELRTCA) is that government employees need to be able to perform their duties without worrying about being individually haled into civil court anytime someone is displeased with them. This is why the law is set up so that one must seek redress from the government itself.
The topic of sovereign immunity is a complex one--and still contentious--but it goes back to the intent of Article III (this site is very slow to load) and the 11th Amendment.
Posted by: Godfrey Wyl | September 02, 2014 at 04:56 PM
Here is but a humble suggestion. Write the story -then simply retract it the same way that employees of the CDC do. We now have 1 in 6 children who are "Developmentally Disabled" only since immunity was given to all vaccine makers and their troops. That is when in 1986 children began getting up to 80 vaccines instead of the original 7. Pretend that it is a genetic anomaly-that 54% are suddenly chronically ill. This way you can get your message out to all those in the Pharmaceutical and medical posts as well as all the families whose children developed Autism, ADHD, Juvenile Diabetes, Asthma, dangerous peanut and food allergies, cancer by age 3, chronic ear infections (and tubes), seizures, tics, and many other maladies from being shot up with Aluminum, thimerosal and other preservatives that ensured the ability of the vaccines to sit on the shelf as our children fell off the charts.
Posted by: Shell Tzorfas | September 02, 2014 at 04:11 PM
"Federal employees have absolute immunity from negligent or intentional torts that arise as a course of their duties."
So if a government employee's boss issues a directive to hide research data that results in lying to the world's population about a product that is exported from this country and that puts an entire generation of children at risk of brain damage, neither the boss nor the employee can be held accountable.
Isn't that what's done in a dictatorship? Because it sure does sound like the government is set up to protect itself, not the people it is supposed to be serving.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 02, 2014 at 02:47 PM
Leave Dr. Thompson's conscience to him ! He has done us a great favor by coming out now. There is no assurance that his coming out earlier would have been as useful as the current timing.
My fear is that this episode will not go far enough and people will not think things through to their logical conclusion. As of today, the writing is on the wall- TRUST NO ONE WITH YOUR OWN BODY OR YOUR CHILD'S BODY . Can we not do better than that ? Can the CDC change or do we just go on as before with an organisation that wont tell us the truth about childhood diabetes, wont tell the truth about Vitamins and minerals; wont tell the truth about Alzheimers ; wont tell the truth about Kawasaki's disease ; wont tell us the truth about toxins in food water and air. The list is very long. And what about the doctors- yes the doctors- Those arrogant people who thought that they owned our children's bodies. Who wont let you buy a medicine unless they prescribe it? In searching for the truth about autism, we have all been left aghast at what we have discovered about our health system
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | September 02, 2014 at 02:21 PM
Cherry
Yes, we recall that last time Caplan pronounced on anything connected with the vaccine program Dorit Reiss had to be drafted in to cover for him.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/12/dorit-rubinstein-reiss-and-the-weakness-of-vaccine-science.html
Probably, the answer is that the vaccine program is such a noble project that is no piece of deceit and no oppressive measure which is not entirely justified in its support.
John
Posted by: John Stone | September 02, 2014 at 02:08 PM
This is an extremely serious topic, Nevertheless, for a little light relief, I would like to suggest that we all request Mr. Caplan, the renowned bioethicist to weigh in on the ethical questions arising here.
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | September 02, 2014 at 01:53 PM
Federal employees have absolute immunity from negligent or intentional torts that arise as a course of their duties. The Federal Tort Claims Act allows one to proceed against the government, but it has exceptions to the limited waiver of sovereign immunity that it creates, including, to some extent, intentional torts.
Posted by: Godfrey Wyl | September 02, 2014 at 01:31 PM
Kent:
I like your thoughts on this, as explained in your article. And, I like your reader's comments and questions.
But, I have a few questions I've been talking to my attorney friends about. So, I will put them to you. It's this:
What State and Federal crimes can we charge the CDC/DHHS participants with, besides Fraud?
Would we have to use the US Attorney General's Office, or would this be something for the Special Counsel?
Or, since each State in the Union is being saddled with the costs of Autism could a State Attorney General prosecute?
We are picking up momentum.
Tim Bolen
Posted by: Tim Bolen | September 02, 2014 at 12:30 PM
Thompson coming out and talking gives the industry, at the very minimum, could quietly change the future path of the MMR and lead to the return to the option of separate live virus vaccines. This debacle shows that giving multiple live viruses on top of heavy metals is a combination that should and can be stopped right now. And I agree with Dr. Hooker that vaccine safety should be removed from the CDC and any other related agency. It should be moved to an independent toxicology institute and not be allowed to be funded by any pharma related group or gov. health agency. It should be funded by drug arrests / forensic accounting forfeitures or something totally unrelated.
Posted by: Jenny | September 02, 2014 at 07:37 AM
Coyle, Yeargin-Allsop, Stefano, and Geberding have not done anything to earn any forgiveness.
The matter of whether or not Thompson has broken the law could come before a court, but we are not at present judge or jury. What I am saying is that if he is forthcoming with information we should draw upon that. And he deserves kudos for coming forward. Again, I will judge him by his future actions and thus far we don't know how far is he willing to stick out his neck. But to give him only hostility would not encourage him to take our side. I don't "trust" him -- I'm not going to lend him my car or $10,000 or have him babysit for my kids. But I am willing to take a wait-and-see attitude on the information that he apparently has to offer. This could be a dream come true, or not.
Posted by: Twyla | September 02, 2014 at 04:57 AM
Is it wrong that I am still waiting/wanting more info and light shed/investigations into Simpsonwood?
Posted by: Angie Proud Mom to Ethan, Alex, and Megan | September 02, 2014 at 01:24 AM
Prison Planet thinks Thompson's personal safety is in danger from the superiors he made a pledge of silence to. They have several unsettling recommendations for measures he'd better take to come out of this in one piece. Certainly another wrinkle on the whole affair.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cdc-whistleblowers-confession-his-personal-safety-is-still-an-issue.html
Posted by: cia parker | September 01, 2014 at 09:37 PM
Totally awesome summary, Linda1, thank you!
Posted by: cia parker | September 01, 2014 at 09:28 PM
If parents personally sued (those parents who have "standing" re. Dr. Thompson's admittance of fraudulent research about the Atlanta population of black children, and, his admission of high amounts of "tics" in kids with autism from flu shots in pregnant women) Gerberding, Destefano, Boyle, Yeargin-Allsopp, Thorsen, the Simpsonwood gang et. al, for "damages," they & the CDC would have to turn over everything to said parents' lawyers in "Discovery"--emails, phone records, the iterations of the morphing data, vaccine injury data they've buried, etc.
It seems a civil suit is the only way to go because our depraved government will never let this go to criminal court--though criminals they surely are for what they've done and continue to do to our kids.
Thompson could be a witness for the parents--either a cooperating witness, or, if by subpoena, a hostile witness. no?
Can the lawyers among you please comment. Thanks.
Posted by: Julie Penny | September 01, 2014 at 08:32 PM
Here's a little sobering perspective on what justice means in our society. In today's news, some actresses computers have been hacked and their nude photos put online. The guy got 10 years behind bars plus had to pay $76,000 to each person. Definitely not a nice thing to do. He should be punished, but 10 years in prison for THAT?
Meanwhile, on the absurdity meter, the comparison to the CDC's crime is off the charts.
Crimes against an officer of the law or a teacher (and maybe other public servants, not sure) are prosecuted more vigorously and with much harsher penalties than if those crimes are committed against "ordinary" citizens. Not sure I agree with that - the punishment should fit the crime no matter who it is against, with one exception - crimes committed against the public by public servants should be prosecuted more harshly than citizens who have not taken an oath of office or are being employed in public service and entrusted with the public's well being. This was not only research fraud. This was research fraud where the tremendous risks to the children that they were entrusted to protect was known by the researchers and they pressed on with the fraud anyway, then going on to proclaim to our nation and to the world, day after day, month after month, year after year, ever since, that vaccines do not cause autism and standing by while citizens were turned away in kangaroo vaccine court while they knew the cause. They did nothing to help them. They STILL are attempting to stand behind the LIE!
Why the hell are these people not behind bars for that alone is what I want to know?
Nude pictures of a handful of adult women hacked and put online - 10 years
Knowing that MMR before 36 months causes autism (and having no evidence of it being safe after 36 months) and then telling the public repeatedly for more than a decade in a sophisticated coordinated campaign that the MMR does not cause autism given early or late or anytime in anyone, while the autism epidemic soars into the stratosphere crippling children, families, schools, while the IACC is formed and conducts its own dog and pony show accomplishing nothing except for spending a fortune of the public's money on useless research that leads nowhere, while they knew that THEY BURIED THE ANSWER in research going back at least to 2004 - ?
Posted by: Linda1 | September 01, 2014 at 06:12 PM
I could barely stomach reading through this article. Empathizing with one of the mastermind brain killers of our children? Whats next? Holding his hand while he cries his croc tears on Oprah? Please, please spare me.
The reason why the anti-vaxers have fallen into a slow evolution of this movement instead of the revolution we'd prefer is perhaps we are not organized enough on the level of Martin Luther Kings civil rights movement, to laser in and focus on litigation en masse against the people responsible for this govt sanctioned eugenics program. Im not trusting that we will win anything in a court of law, but I am trusting that litigation against high profile targets would spur more awareness via mainstream media, especially if the drama of the autism parent accompanied those within the professional legal field, ala a one two punch.
We think we know the reasons why Dr. Thompson came forward but trust it wasnt simply an ephiphany of moral consciousness. My suspicion is hes taking the fallout for the benefit of his colleagues as red herring to satisfy the thirst of those seeking punishment to fit the crime..
Fortune favors the bold. Until this movement decides to win by any means necessary, we will continued to be ridiculed and our children sacrificed still for profit.
Posted by: mgw | September 01, 2014 at 05:59 PM
"I'll argue that the lesson about true strength and courage and nobility is patently YET to be learned."
Yes, on many levels, and for some individuals 'later' versus 'never.'
Posted by: Bayareamom | September 01, 2014 at 05:43 PM
Thompson seems very bothered by this episode but the reality is that the CDC authored or sponsored vaccine autism studies are all like this - all have these little kinks. The difference only with this one is co-author, Thompson, and lead author, DeStefano, have now admitted it. But the same problems or ones like them are internal to a myriad of papers, and the evidence is there without the confessions. They are no more than rubber-stamped lies.
Posted by: John Stone | September 01, 2014 at 05:39 PM
Wait a minute....
Hasn't he already made his position clear? Continue vaccinating; I received a performance award; they have been very civil to me.....
Are you expecting him to dime on every single one of his evil, mad scientist, co-conspirators after 10+ year of colluding with them?
Seriously??????
Posted by: Handthatrocksthecradle | September 01, 2014 at 04:54 PM
I am grateful to William Thompson for even coming forward and verbally admitting to the chicanery at the CDC and his role in it, though his written "statement" shows the contortions of someone under great pressure.
I am grateful to Brian Hooker on behalf of all our suffering kids and grandkids WHO CAN'T EVEN SPEAK for recording William's admission and his guilty feelings for without them his written statement would have been even more contorted. Perhaps, even repudiating his admission.
I ask you William Thompson--though it's a difficult and scary position your in--to keep on SPEAKING...and to meditate on the 24/7 horrors that so many of these children endure. Their bodies are co-morbid train wrecks. Come speak with us. Come see our children. GIVE OUR CHILDREN VOICE. Deliver the truth the CDC has been hiding. You are now a change-agent. Your conscience has put you there. Follow through. You have given us hope that true research can now take place, and, that other kids will not have to be damaged by skewed data.
Posted by: Julie Penny | September 01, 2014 at 04:28 PM
Demoralizing and insulting to realize that the highest levels of public health management are so heavily populated with suck-ups doing the bidding of their ethically devoid masters.
Posted by: nhokkanen | September 01, 2014 at 04:17 PM
Also, any attempts to forge an alliance with Thompson, given his gonna-cover-my-ass-at-the-expense-of-children history, can only succeed in forging an unholy alliance at best.
Any future act of redemption subsequent to this unveiling of fraud of malfeasance should only be taken into account with respect to punishment for these wrongdoings under the law, not his culpability.
Taking a little bit of license with Christian teachings:
DO NOT forgive them for they DO KNOW what they do.
(And for how much they stood to gain for doing it)
I think it would be a big mistake to try to appeal to his conscience or good nature.
It's naïve and makes us appear very soft.
Posted by: Handthatrocksthecradle | September 01, 2014 at 04:06 PM
The matter of whether or not Thompson, Coyle, Yeargin-Allsop, Stefano, Geberding, et al are worthy of our "forgiveness" is a personal religious quandary. That should be left up to each individual and their God.
However, malfeasance is malfeasance. Under rule of law, as I understand it, every citizen should be held accountable for their wrongdoings.
If Thompson had been an ordinary criminal off the street that had confessed to harming thousands of children, irrespective of remorse, there would be no question whether the heinous acts would warrant criminal charges or grand jury. Ten years is a mighty long time to continue to perpetrate a crime or irresponsible act and expect leniency simply because you may have been agonizing over your choices the whole time. Who cares? He did it anyway.
I'll argue that the lesson about true strength and courage and nobility is patently YET to be learned.
Many of us adversely affected by vax injury can probably teach a class recognizing the above mentioned virtues when we see it. Thompson lacks it. I doubt he was forced to co-author such a study due to threats against his life and to suggest or believe that would be even more out there than the most radical of conspiracy theories.
Posted by: Handthatrocksthecradle | September 01, 2014 at 03:02 PM
The science around MMR and mercury has been missing for a long time, I would say for at least 50 years. Mercury toxicology is not studied by medical doctors. Medical doctors shut their eyes to pathology. When David Kirby gave a book talk in Berkeley about his book Evidence of Harm, there was a student asking about his prospects of studying mercury toxicity in graduate school. His advisor told him if he went into that field he would never get funding which is so essential in graduate school.
Going from there I would say the science around mercury and vaccines in general has only one direction. That direction is towards the indemnification of anything that points toward harm. The lawyer who did Brueswitz v. GSK is a celebrated litigator with powerful interest in her pocket.
My tack on the whole thing is to give Thompson some slack and make it easy for him to testify in a court of law similar to the way jailhouse informants are given slack when they testify to get someone from the mafia convicted. It's extremely important to have an insider to help the mercury and MMR affected community. I hope Thompson doesn't clam up. The priority is to get the powers that be to change their ways.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | September 01, 2014 at 02:57 PM
..."We are in a fallen world, and genuine repentance counts for a lot."
Agreed.
It does remain to be seen what, if any, steps Dr. Thompson may take to redeem himself now that the cat's out of the bag. There may or may not be a full Congressional inquiry into this issue, but my gut instinct says this isn't going to happen.
We have a Supreme Court come down with the statement, if memory serves, that vaccines are 'unavoidably unsafe,' and now we've got a scientist who is now owning up to the FACT that research has been cooked, leading the public to believe that vaccines are scientifically 'proven' to be safe.
A bit of a paradox, here. It'll be interesting to see where the mass conscience level of scientists working on these issues, will travel. One has to wonder just how many of these scientists who work at the CDC have their OWN familial issues with vaccine injury, such as autism.
How many of these scientists are suffering with this knowledge, but yet because of their own fear based issues, are hunkering down because of personal issues at stake?
I cannot imagine for one moment Thompson is the only one faced with this moral dilemma.
Posted by: Bayareamom | September 01, 2014 at 02:54 PM
It remains to be seen how far Dr. Thompson will go with this, how fully he will cooperate with a possible congressional investigation, whether he will be brave or cave. I will judge him more by his future actions than by the ten year delay in coming forward.
Any coalition is build between imperfect people. If we demand perfection there will be no allies.
For years we have wished for insiders to turn whistleblower and tell the truths which we suspected. If Dr. Thompson continues on this road he deserves and needs our support and positive reinforcement.
I'm agnostic, yet Christian metaphors come to mind. We are in a fallen world, and genuine repentance counts for a lot.
Posted by: Twyla | September 01, 2014 at 02:24 PM
The Autism/Vaccine relationship is the tip of the iceberg for the dangers of Vaccines. I am sure they will finally have to admit that most allergies, and cancers are caused by Vaccines as well. You know there is a major risk when the insert in the Flu Vaccine says they have not been evaluated for Carcinogenic, infertility or mutability affects.
There is something more sinister behind all of this.
Posted by: Dave | September 01, 2014 at 02:11 PM
..."But lies and evil have a way of festering so much that the inevitable outcome is for them to be eventually revealed. Such is karma..."
YES. The full truth will be revealed, eventually.
"And each and every one of us Supermen and Wonderwomen have learned, the hard way, to define true courage, nobility and strength."
And maybe that's the lesson to be learned...
Posted by: Bayareamom | September 01, 2014 at 01:55 PM
"Thompson may be suffering from the "regret without repentance" syndrome. He genuinely regrets his actions but is unwilling to pay the full cost by spilling his guts, telling it all and accepting the consequences which would be necessary for true repentance. He wanted to blow the whistle and hide his identity initially, now he is lawyering up and advising everyone to continue vaccinating their children."
Precisely. This man was never a genuine whistleblower, in my own opinion. He was a confessor; his priest, as Dr. Brian Hooker has stated, was Hooker himself. But confessing his misdeeds with Dr. Hooker does not a whistleblower make. No. If he'd been a genuine whistleblower, he wouldn't have gone to someone in the autism community, such as Drs. Hooker/Wakefield. He would have gone to the appropriate authorities who deal with whistleblower laws/issues.
Thompson didn't do this. I've winched every time I see the word 'whistleblower' attached to Thompson's character. As my husband said the other day when discussing this issue, Thompson could have come clean with this entire issue, just as other whistleblowers have done in the past. Russell Tice, James Bamford, William Binney and Sibel Edmonds come to mind, here. They ARE true whistleblowers; they risked everything to go on the record as to what they knew.
Do I believe in forgiveness? OF COURSE!!! It breaks my heart to know Dr. Thompson knew about the cooked research and kept essentially silent, save for a few in-house letters to his superiors detailing his concerns. But the fact is, he still went along with the program, as it was, and countless children (and adults) may very well have been harmed because of the knowledge he kept so close to his vest.
Obviously, there are those within Thompson's ranks in the CDC who, too, know what Thompson knows and have kept silent. I can only imagine what would happen if just perhaps 10 of these scientists spoke up, or 20.
That's all it would take.
My heart DOES go out to Dr. Thompson. FEAR has kept him from going further with this. I don't think for one moment he wanted his name/profile out there for the masses to see, but it's out now and he's hunkering down.
Will others follow his example within the halls of the CDC? Time will tell. Hopefully, and perhaps this is the good that will come out of this mess, the masses will awaken and realize that their trust and faith in this entity called the CDC has been seriously misplaced.
I learned that lesson the hard way myself, years ago. And with that one unveiling of Truth, led me down the path I now find myself on. It's been more than a bit daunting, but nonetheless, it's opened my eyes as to WHO and WHAT to trust out there.
Some surprising answers to that, I must say.
Posted by: Bayareamom | September 01, 2014 at 01:33 PM
Cry me a river. Even if it turns out he was "outed" as opposed to his just having had a sudden epiphany, the choice was his to be a good soldier for the CDC for far too many years.
He should have manned up. Period. While he deserves a small measure of our gratitude, I feel he does not deserve our accolades or our respect.
As a scientist, Thompson is probably well aware of the fact that there will always be a segment of society that are neurologically incapable of feeling empathy. Shrinks call them sociopaths, neurologists call them neurologically dysfunctional, a hard holy roller might just label them demons and try dousing them with holy water, a soft holy roller may consider them "spiritually bereft" and "needing to be saved".
It is estimated that at least 20% of the population are sociopaths. They just can't help themselves.
Thompsons, however, knew fully well what he was doing was wrong, judging by those statements. And while ASD kids were abused, put in cages, mocked, ostracized, raped, molested, allowed to wander off to drown and murdered simply because they were considered a burden or easy, defenseless prey to some in our society, he chose the dark side, enjoying the trappings of privilege.
But lies and evil have a way of festering so much that the inevitable outcome is for them to be eventually revealed. Such is karma.
While he might have been wringing his hands in guilt, it did not keep his hands from writing that mortgage check or performing at his jobs. He made his choice just as parents made the choice to deplete their savings, interrupt their careers, and forfeit personal time that should have been reserved for our marriages and personal enrichment. Our hopes and aspirations for our children vaporized in the instant it takes to administer one dangerous, CDC sanctioned vaccine.
Excuse me for not standing up to cheer his "courage". If we were to hand out "Courage in Autism" awards, I would nominate the bloggers, journalists, scientists, lawyers putting their asses in slings for children and future generations. I would nominate the ordinary mommy and daddy that holds up half the sky caring for and rehabilitating vax injured children under soul crushing sadness and bone weary fatigue, some of whom may be leading miserable lives of quiet desperation and crushing poverty.
And each and every one of us Supermen and Wonderwomen have learned, the hard way, to define true courage, nobility and strength
Therefore...
take a *(#@!!*( BOW!!!!!!
Posted by: Handthatrocksthecradle | September 01, 2014 at 01:29 PM
Do we all need a little levity at this time? Look at this. From our counterparts at Shot of Prevention.
Emma
August 31, 2014 at 8:10 pm
And people have died and been permanently disabled by the MMR. Just because you think autism is preferable to measles doesn’t mean that all parents agree with you, which I assume is why they didn’t want to let black parents know of the increased risk for their sons.
Gray Falcon
August 31, 2014 at 9:09 pm
Few, if any, died from MMR. Far more have died from measles. Do you have any evidence otherwise? Oh, and no anecdotes, I need real studies. Claiming that autism was caused by a vaccine because the symptoms appears shortly after vaccination is no more convincing than claims that seizures were caused by the “evil eye”.
Also, we have strong evidence that autism existed well before the MMR vaccine was developed. Stories of changelings, for example. To suggest otherwise is utter nonsense. It’s fascinating, the life cycle of the conspiracy theory. At first, it just starts simple, a simple explanation that fits a few small holes in the official story. Then, research is done, the holes are plugged, and the theory grows in complexity. Eventually, it becomes something along the lines of “Of course it’s true! Once we find their time machine and holographic projector, everyone will know the truth!”
Lawrence
September 1, 2014 at 6:51 am
@Emma – another lie? You need to take your anti-vax blinders off……
Emma
September 1, 2014 at 1:00 pm
On the one hand you demand studies, and on the other you claim that autism existed before vaccines based on old stories of fairy babies being left in cradles, the original babies taken to Fairy Land under a hill? That’s strong evidence? While the statistics of the study Dr. Thompson admitted had been manipulated and concealed do not count as strong evidence for you? Is that the best you can do?
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On the one hand you demand studies, and on the other you claim that autism existed before vaccines based on old stories of fairy babies being left in cradles, the original babies taken to Fairy Land under a hill? That's strong evidence? While the statistics of the study Dr. Thompson admitted had been manipulated and concealed do not count as strong evidence for you? Is that the best you can do?
Posted by: cia parker | September 01, 2014 at 01:06 PM
Ted,
That's true. Yesterday the shills were saying Well, he said that everyone should keep getting all the vaccines. I said What about the second paragraph when he talks about his regret (was that the most appropriate word?)supressing the fact that the MMR caused autism in countless black males? Thompson is clearly trying to have his cake and eat it too. I thought this morning that he has been at the CDC for fourteen years. So at the time of the fraudulent cover-up of the results of the study, he had only been there a couple of years. He might not have been able to get another professional-level job if he had been so blunt about the fraud that he have been fired on bitter terms. Since this fraud has pervaded the entire medical landscape, every medicrat at every level, every scientist and researcher, every single doctor in the country, with maybe five exceptions, it would certainly have been very hard to have abandoned it all and made a life for himself in another field. And the time may not have yet been ripe for public acceptance of the truth ten years ago: he might have thrown it all away and gotten nothing in return. Not even the satisfaction of having saved children's lives. Wow, I really do not envy him his comfortable position at the CDC. It was certainly a terrible moral quandary.
Has everyone here read the story "Those Who Leave Omelas"? About the members of that society who cannot accept that one child is fated to live in autistic misery so that the rest of the society may prosper. And they leave, they get up one day and walk out of town, into the mountains, and are never seen again. I don't know, to me revolution, armed resistance seem much the better course. Because what about the child?
Posted by: cia parker | September 01, 2014 at 12:33 PM
Thompson may be suffering from the "regret without repentance" syndrome. He genuinely regrets his actions but is unwilling to pay the full cost by spilling his guts, telling it all and accepting the consequences which would be necessary for true repentance. He wanted to blow the whistle and hide his identity initially, now he is lawyering up and advising everyone to continue vaccinating their children.
Posted by: Ted | September 01, 2014 at 12:04 PM
Dorit actually said the other day that she didn't know why Dr. Thompson had come forward. I said that it was because decent people felt guilty when they had been the cause of even one other person's death or disability, and in this case there were hundreds of thousands. It's mind-boggling how there could be so many in positions of authority who don't appear to have a single qualm when it comes to making a deal with the devil, as long as it yields lots of money, power, and authority for themselves.
A friend said last night about the link I put up here to a Catholic channel on which the Mass said yesterday addressed the question of whistleblowers in the homily. The (different) friend sho sent me the link said it had been the topic at her own church as well as the televised one. The (second) friend asked if it could have been the Pope suggesting that as yesterday's homily topic all over the world. It's war in Heaven now, and the moment has come for every person to choose his side. Dorit, Lawrence, Lil, you know you will have to ultimately answer to God for the positions you are taking now. What profiteth it a man...?
I have also been struggling with the question of how to think about Dr. Thompson. I don't think he should get a pension as a whistleblower to honor him for his courage. He should have gone ballistic with the facts ten years ago, and might have saved the lives and minds of hundreds of thousands of children. Of course he has shown courage now and should be commended for it, but what about those countless thousands of permanently damaged, grieving families?
Posted by: cia parker | September 01, 2014 at 12:03 PM
Whatever Thompson's sins in the past, he now seems genuinely repentant, and his recent confession has been a huge boon to our cause. Many whistleblowers have been complicit in the corruption they ultimately expose. It's precisely because they played along with the system (for a while) that they know how rotten it is. I say we should extend charity and forgiveness to such people if they're willing to come clean. If we condemn them, they will be less willing to come forward.
Posted by: JerseyGuy | September 01, 2014 at 11:24 AM
10% of the population has high morals -- as in Dr. Wakefield.
80% are like Dr. Thompson and that is why in the Lord's prayer there is a clause in three that says "Lead me not into temptation".
And then there is the 10% of the population taht are low - low - low. They are the kind of people that can get up in front of 1000s of people and lie without ever breaking down.
Now I can understand the mind set of Dr. Wakefield and I can understand Dr. Thompson (he would have broken down much sooner if put uner the light - he was protected - I do believe by any such pressure)
But I don't understand Tom Insel, Coleen Boyle, James Cherry -- Yerien or what ever her name is --- it seeems that the CDC for some reason had been some kind of ebb in the river that collects scum -- That is our federal agencies - I take it.
Posted by: Benedetta | September 01, 2014 at 10:15 AM
Kent, yes this is CDC "cult science" (see the The Scientific Method and Cult Science below). The impact on children is an atrocity. Congress must act--repeal the legal immunity granted to vaccine makers. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine_court .
The Scientific Method,
“The overall process involves making conjectures (hypotheses), deriving predictions from them as logical consequences, and then carrying out experiments based on those predictions to determine whether the original conjecture was correct…Scientific inquiry is intended to be as objective as possible in order to minimize bias. Another basic expectation is the documentation, archiving and sharing of all data collected or produced and of the methodologies used so they may be available for careful scrutiny and attempts by other scientists to reproduce and verify them. This practice, known as full disclosure, also means that statistical measures of their reliability may be made.” See Scientific Method at Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method .
Cult Science,
"We've learned from experience that the truth will come out. Other experimenters will repeat your experiment and find out whether you were wrong or right. Nature's phenomena will agree or they'll disagree with your theory. And, although you may gain some temporary fame and excitement, you will not gain a good reputation as a scientist if you haven't tried to be very careful in this kind of work. And it's this type of integrity, this kind of care not to fool yourself, that is missing to a large extent in much of the research in Cargo Cult Science."
See Richard Feynman and Cargo Cult Science at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult_science .
and
“Manipulating study designs and research protocols. Rather than relying on standard procedures designed to ensure unbiased research, corporations have employed flawed methodologies biased toward predetermined results. Altering study designs or research methods through, for example, changes in sample sizes or control groups can obscure negative effects and promote desired outcomes.”
See “Heads They Win, Tails We Lose,” pp.14-15, at http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/scientific_integrity/how-corporations-corrupt-science.pdf .
Posted by: Jim Thompson | September 01, 2014 at 07:55 AM
William Thompson has a conscience, he also has a job, mortgage and family. Anyone who tries to tell their SUPERVISORS that something is wrong, and does it in WRITING, is a good egg in my book. He had to weigh his options over the years, between truth and family. Let's face it, autism parents do that every day. We know when and when it is not to our advantage to disclose we have an autistic dependent in the family. It's called survival mode. I give William Thompson great appreciation and kudos for what he did, risking everything, for someone else, our loved ones.
Posted by: aspiesmom | September 01, 2014 at 07:22 AM
Scientists like Wakefield, Hooker, and Mikovits would NEVER dream of concealing data. For them, that would be the equivalent of a crime against humanity."
If these allegations prove undeniable true .. it would not be considered a crime just by "them" .. but .. every person .. especially parents .. who have placed their trust in the CDC .. whose mission statement reads: "24/7 Saving Lives, Protecting People".
Which would demand .. these people be PROSECUTED the same as any CRIMINAL who caused tremendous damage while deliberately betraying their pledge to "save lives, protect people".
If these allegations prove true .. these people will have been proven truly reprehensible .. and .. the damage they have caused will forever contaminate the public's trust in far more than the CDC .. for example .. the AAP, HHS, FDA, etc.
Indeed, who can we trust if these allegations prove true?
Posted by: BoB Moffitt | September 01, 2014 at 07:09 AM