"Once you recognize what is happening, you have a
moral obligation to become involved."
Stanley Monteith, M.D.
The
Science
January 2006
Open
Letter to Legislators and Physicians:
The
foregoing information is to assist you in making an informed
decision regarding the urgent need to eliminate mercury from
vaccines. Scientific documentation is provided below this letteras local documents, media files or Internet links as indicated by
color coding. Other statements which are opinions will be clearly
marked as such.
From the perspective of a policy maker or a
physician, you will want to be certain that:
1) Mercury (Thimerosal) is indeed a real problem and
that there is sufficient scientific data to support this.
2) Mercury-free vaccines or those with only trace
amounts are now available that would not disrupt a
physician's ability to administer scheduled doses to children or
adults.
The term "Autism Spectrum Disorder" is confusing in
that these disorders (which include ADHD, Asperger's, PDD-NOS, and
Autism) are not psychiatric problems per se, they are medical
problems (toxic insults) with psychiatric (behavior)
manifestations. As one can easily understand based on the
presentation below, the toxic insult in most cases of Autism
Spectrum Disorders is undoubtedly mercury toxicity secondary to
thimerosal. Other neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood (ie.
Tourettes, mental retardation, etc) and
adults may have their foundations from this same insult,
since mercury poisoning can have a plethora of clinical
manifestations.
It is the purpose of this presentation to prove these
points.
The medical profession, State Legislators and
Congress must stand together and demand accountability from its
peers and policy-makers. If we fail to police our own profession, we
cannot reasonably complain when the crimes of a few taint the
reputations of all.
Respectfully submitted, Alan D. Clark, M.D. Lujene G. Clark
Addendum:
It
is with deep sadness that we announce Dr. Alan
Clark passed away on February 7, 2006 from cancer. One of his final
wishes was to see his work and the work of NoMercury continue. It is in his
honor, and as his legacy, that we will continue this endeavor on
behalf of children worldwide.
The Alan D. Clark, M.D. Memorial
Research Fund was established by his family to provide grants to
physicians and researchers striving to prevent, protect and reverse
the devastating effects of mercury, particularly when used in
medicine.
Donations may be made to The Alan D. Clark, M.D. Memorial Research
Fund, c/o US Bank,
2208 S. Grand Avenue, Carthage, Missouri 64836. The fund is a
private endowment and not associated with NoMercury.
Vaccines can be important to the overall health and
well-being of children. Our stance is not "anti-vaccine". The aim
is to reinforce the need for safe vaccines--and we are
not alone. In fact, as early as July 1999, the US Public Health
Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics released a
joint policy statement
regarding Thimerosal
declaring:
"thimerosal containing vaccines should be removed as soon as
possible".
"The committee recommends the use of the thimerosal-free DTaP, Hib,
hepatitis B vaccines in the United States,
despite the fact that there might be remaining supplies of
thimerosal-containing vaccine available."
They went even further by stating:
"The committee recommends that full consideration be given by
appropriate professional societies and government agencies
to removing thimerosal from vaccines administered to infants, children, or
pregnant women in the United States."
So why is thimerosal still used in vaccines? In our
personal opinion, money and politics. Both are pitiful reasons to
expose children to a known neurotoxin. That is why we think it is
time for clearer heads and purer motives to prevail. Once you
review the evidence, we believe you will concur.
Mercury is Dangerous!
Is mercury dangerous? Is it toxic? Is it harmful to
children and adults? Yes, according to the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) located in Atlanta,
Georgia. They are one of the most respected authorities on toxic
substances in the world and operates under the auspices of the
Centers for Disease Control.
"The nervous system is very sensitive to all forms of mercury."
" ... mercury can permanently
damage the brain, kidneys, and developing fetus."
"Effects on brain functioning may
result in irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or
hearing, and memory problems."
"Very young children are more sensitive to mercury than adults."
"Mercury in the mother's body
passes to the fetus and may accumulate there."
"Mercury's harmful effects that
may be passed from the mother to the fetus include brain damage,
mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and
inability to speak."
"Children poisoned by mercury may
develop problems of their nervous and digestive systems, and kidney
damage."
"Properly dispose of older medicines that contain mercury."
"Keep all mercury-containing
medicines away from children."
We concur with their assessment and the policy
recommendations of the various entities as outlined above;
Thimerosal should not be in vaccines. Unfortunately, it is still in
vaccines despite the numerous recommendations since 1999. Because
our federal regulatory agencies and Congress have failed to protect
citizens, particularly pregnant women, infants, children and the
elderly from this toxic substance, the job falls to our state
elected officials to insure that vaccines do not include mercury or
mercury derivatives.
After years of medical practice, many physicians and
other health professionals were indeed shocked to learn the
preservative, known as Thimerosal used in most vaccines over the
years actually contained up to 25 micrograms of mercury.
Thimerosal, also known as thiomersal or
merthiolate, is 49.6% ethyl mercury by weight. Despite what
some have professed, it has a very similar toxicological profile as
the dreaded methyl mercury found in water, fish, and soil.
As a physician, I was recently shocked by the comments of a
neighboring state's chief epidemiologist who informed a state
legislator who was considering a bill to ban Thimerosal that ethyl
mercury, compared to methyl mercury, was safe because ethyl alcohol
was safe and methyl alcohol wasn't. Of course, any high school
chemistry student knows better. Would this same epidemiologist take
an injection of ethyl plutonium? Of course, not.
In fact, there have been many peer-reviewed studies
that addressed Thimerosal specifically. Here are just a few
highlights:
"There was little difference in the neurotoxicities of methylmercury
and ethylmercury
when effects on the dorsal root ganglia or coordination disorders
were compared."
and further:
"The neurological signs and symptoms of methyl- and ethyl mercury
intoxication are identical..."
David S. Baskin, M.D., and his colleagues at Baylor
College of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery published their
findings regarding the
Toxicity
of Thimerosal
inToxicological Sciences,
2003 74 : 361-368. They concluded:
"We found that thimerosal in micromolar concentrations rapidly
decreased cellular viability."
"Results
indicate that thimerosal exerts some cytotoxic actions on cerebellar
granule neurons
dissociated from 2-week-old rats and its potency is almost similar
to that of methylmercury."
"The results showed
that thiomersal can induce blood and organ levels of organic mercury
which
are well in excess of the minimum toxic level in adults and
fetuses."
"The pathology of
the nervous system presented certain peculiarities by comparison
with the early period."
"In evidence were
changes in the sympatico-adrenal system function, vascular lesions
of the brain after the type of transient derangements of the
cerebral circulation in the vertebro-basilar basin and angiospasms,
diffuse changes in the nervous system with the predominant
involvement of the hypothalamic cerebral structures and in some
cases psychic disturbances were on record."
“…thimerosal….has been found not only to render its primary toxic
effect, but also capable of changing the properties of cells.
This fact suggests that the use of thimerosal for the preservation
of medical biological preparations,
especially those intended for children, is inadmissible.”
"...merthiolate in admissible concentrations show the highest degree
of CTA [cytotoxic action]."
But were those results seen at levels comparable to
mercury-containing vaccines used in the United States? Yes!
The study found:
"...merthiolate is toxic in a dose of 0.8 micrograms/ml"
Notice the Russian studies pre-date the 1999 concerns
of the United States by more than a decade. One glaring observation
is how the IOM, CDC, FDA, AAP and others are careful to craft the
wording of their documents, presentations and public statements to
say their assessment of "no conclusive evidence" relies on “studies”
in ENGLISH. Why only English? The Japanese, through their
experiences at Minamata, and the Russians have been studying and
publishing, in their native languages, about the acute toxicity of
mercury compounds, particularly thimerosal, for DECADES prior to our
struggle with this toxic substance in the US and Europe. Given
their knowledge of the scientific evidence as shown above, it is not
surprising to learn it has been banned in those two countries, as
well as Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. It is no longer
being used in the United Kingdom as of September 2004.
An interesting sidebar, the English abstracts and/or citations of
these Russian and Japanese articles are published and readily
available in PubMed which is part of the
National Library of Medicine. Therefore, it is highly unlikely the
FDA, CDC, ATSDR, IOM, AAP and others did not know the studies
existed. They apparently used semantics to differentiate between
“English printed studies” and abstracts (i.e. the abstracts and/or
citations were in English but the full text “study” was in the
native language). We strongly suspect the June 9, 1999 Draft
report of Leslie Ball, M.D. of the EPA will confirm that in their
initial discussions of Thimerosal, she revealed the Japanese and
Russian studies, or in the very least the existence of the
abstracts. This could explain why the FDA or the CDC have refused
to release, even through FOIA, this initial version of her report
and why its private release to a few select individuals caused the
frantic meetings at Virginia American Academy of Pediatrics office,
located away from a government location to avoid the open meetings
law, just prior to the joint statement of July 7, 1999 (see
Hepatitis Control Report Fall 1999 )
More recently, in the year 2000, FDA scientist
William Slikker states in the journal
Neurotoxicolcogy:
“Thimerosal crosses the blood-brain and placental barriers and
results in appreciable mercury content in tissues including brain.”
Dr. Slikker was by no means the first to make such an
assessment about ethyl mercury. Perhaps the most recognized
reference book found in many emergency rooms and poison control
centers is The Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products
by Gosselin, Smith and Hodge, and in fact is part of our personal
medical library. In their 5th edition (1984), they made the
following observations:
“...ethyl mercury derivatives are virulent neurotoxins on either
acute or chronic exposure."
"They are especially hazardous because of their volatility, their
ability to penetrate epithelial & blood-brain barriers & their persistence in vivo."
“...thimerosal is rapidly taken up in organs as C2H5Hg+
[ethyl mercury] after oral treatment...In general, C2H5Hg+{ethyl
mercury] is considered to be converted to Hg2+ [inorganic
mercury] more rapidly than CH3Hg+ [methyl
mercury]."
One reason, according to the authors, is that the
ethyl mercury carbon bond is less stable than that of methyl
mercury. This is good evidence of the enhanced toxicity of ethyl
mercury (in thimerosal) as opposed to methyl mercury (found in fish,
soil and water sources).
Thimerosal damages DNA. This fact has been well
documented in lab samples (in vitro) and in animals (in
vivo). A very good source which compiles much of this research
can be seen in a study by Dr. Westphal and colleagues done in
Göttingen Germany titled Thimerosal induces micronuclei in the cytochalasin
B block micronucleus test with human lymphocytes.
This study published in 2003 in the
Archives of Toxicology studied whether or not the known genotoxic
(DNA damaging) effects of thimerosal were dependent upon any
protective effect of individuals with higher levels of glutathione
S-transferase (GST) which is one of the body's defenses against
thimerosal. Some individuals with genetic changes (polymorphisms)
do not make as much GST and might be more susceptible to DNA damage
from thimerosal. However, this study concluded that:
"...thimerosal induced strong [DNA damaging] effects in...human
lymphocytes. Since thimerosal was repeatedly shown to be genotoxic
in vitro and in vivo, there is reason for concern about its
widespread use."
Since vaccines with thimerosal have been known to
contain up to 50 micrograms/ml, genotoxic effects could be seen at
the injection sites.
Westphal found toxicity to DNA occurs at 0.6
micrograms/ml.
This should be sufficient reason to ban its use in
vaccines.
"...compounds
present in vaccines such as thiomersal ...can trigger autoimmune
reactions through bystander effects."
One of the most respected researchers in Europe
studying metal allergies and individual susceptibility to metals is
Dr. Vera Stejskal, Associate Professor of Immunology in the
Department of Clinical Chemistry at Danderyd Hospital and Karolinska
Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Professor Vera Stejskal
has developed MELISA®, a
scientifically-proven blood test which can diagnose metal allergy.
She has also published extensively on the adverse effects of metals
on the human body. The MELISA®
test is available in the United States. In Dr.
Stejskal's 1999 paper published in Neuroendocrinology Letters titled
The role of metals in autoimmunity and the link to
neuroendocrinology she stated:
“In contrast to the toxic effects of metals, the concentration of
the metal in a sensitized individual is of minor importance.”
“Minute concentrations of an
allergen can induce systemic reactions in sensitized individuals.”
”In such a situation, metal
induced inflammatory reactions in the brain or elsewhere could be
triggered despite low concentrations detected in body fluids or
locally.”
In Dr. Stejskal's 1994 paper, titled MELISA - An In Vitro Tool For The Study Of Metal
Allergy
she describes how to diagnose allergy to
various mercury compounds such as thimerosal, phenyl mercury and
inorganic mercury. Since these mercurials are immunologically
non-cross reacting, it is possible by MELISA® not only to determine
the existence of mercury allergy but also the source of
sensitization. The study concludes in part:
“…mercury-based bactericidal agents…should be replaced with
non-mercury preservatives.”
Havarinsasab and
colleagues recently investigated this curious ability of Thimerosal
to induce autoimmunity. In this study,
Immunosuppressive and autoimmune effects of
Thimerosal in mice,
they looked at the effect of Thimerosal on autoimmunity in the
immune compromised mouse model (similar to genetically susceptible
children in the autistic population), using Thimerosal laden
drinking water. In contrast to methyl mercury, Thimerosal intake in
this group of genetically susceptible mice leads to a phase of
strong immunostimulation and autoimmunity (anti-nuclear antibody
formation). Equally important, the authors stated:
“Our
study clearly indicates that EtHg [ethyl mercury – a component of
Thimerosal in vaccines] is similar to MeHg [methyl mercury – found
in fish, coal burning power plant emissions] with respect to the immunosuppressive
effect on the immune system in vivo.”
In their paper, they further
stated that their previous study (Havarinasab
et al., 2004),
showed that a sufficient dose of thimerosal could induce all
features of the mercury-induced autoimmune disease described after
treatment with inorganic mercury in genetically susceptible mice (Pollard
and Hultman, 1997). Their present study
concerns effects of thimerosal on cellular and humoral immunity,
including cytokine expression, during development of autoimmune
disease in such mice. They concluded:
"... thimerosal treatment
subsequently leads to strong immunostimulation and autoimmunity,
which is at variance with only a weak autoimmune response after MeHg
[methyl mercury] treatment."
Although there are several thousand articles in the
medical literature documenting the toxicity of mercury and
Thimerosal (49.6% ethyl mercury), the study that set off warning
bells for public health officials at the CDC's National Immunization
Program was first presented at the North American Congress of
Toxicology in September 1998 by Dr. Gregory V. Stajich,
a pharmacologist at Mercer University in Atlanta. His study was
finally published in the Journal of Pediatrics in May 2000 to
the dismay of vaccine officials because this peer-reviewed paper
titled Iatrogenic exposure to mercury after hepatitis B vaccination in
preterm infants, was an eye-opening study which showed
post-vaccination mercury levels were significantly higher in preterm
infants as compared with term infants in regard to the Hepatitis B
injections at birth.
While public health officials and high ranking
vaccine policy-makers were disturbed by Dr. Stajich's findings,
their primary concern seem to focus not on the impact mercury could
have on newborns but on the impact it could have on the vaccination
compliance rates. They feared this study would cause pediatricians
and parents to decline the birth dose of Hepatitis B vaccine. The
birth dose of this vaccine was the cornerstone of the CDC's National
Immunization Schedule which began a rapid expansion in 1991.
These officials knew they had to mitigate the impact
of the Stajich study. Internal CDC documents indicate they
contracted with Dr. Pichichero at the University of Rochester to
undertake a study similar to Dr. Stajich but with very different
results. The funding was channeled through the National Institutes
of Health to give the appearance of study independence from the CDC
National Immunization Program (NIP). The results of this alliance
between the CDC/NIP officials and Dr. Pichichero resulted in the
paper titled
Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines
containing thiomersal: a descriptive study in what they
hoped would be the benchmark Thimerosal "toxicology" study. In
fact, the CDC, FDA, IOM, AMA, AAP and others continually refer to
this study to "prove" that Thimerosal is "not toxic" in amounts
found in childhood vaccines.
It must be noted that Dr. Pichichero is a pediatric
immunologist and is not a toxicologist by training. In December
2002 during an interview with Dr. Pichichero, he admitted the following:
"...Our study did not examine toxicity, but we measured blood levels
of free mercury, not of ethyl mercury."
According to this study, administration of vaccines
containing Thimerosal did not seem to raise blood concentrations of
mercury above assumed safe values in infants. They concluded that
ethyl mercury seems to be eliminated from blood rapidly via the
stools after parenteral administration of Thimerosal in vaccines.
Unfortunately, the half life studies in this report
are totally invalid based upon standard toxicological analysis. A
stunning review of the flaws in the Pichichero study has been outlined by
SafeMinds. Also, keep in mind that a short half life does not mean
a substance is safe (e.g., cyanide has a very short half-life).
Missouri State Representative Roy Holand, M.D., chairman of the
House Heath Care Policy Committee in 2004, gave perhaps the best
summation of a primary weakness in the Pichichero study during the
committee hearing held on February 4, 2004 by pointing out the
damage to the neurofibrils occurs within the first 30 minutes after
the introduction of mercury to the brain cells as evidenced by The University of Calgary
video.
Dr. David Baskin, a highly respected neurosurgeon,
along with his colleagues at the Baylor College of Medicine,
Department of Neurosurgery, published a very important peer-reviewed
paper in late May of 2003 detailing the toxic effects of Thimerosal against neuronal and
fibroblastic tissue.
Jeff Bradstreet, M.D., a family physician in Florida,
has published and researched extensively on the causal link between
Thimerosal and neurodevelopmental disorders.
This paper, published Summer 2003 in the Journal of
Physicians and Surgeons, is an excellent overview of the current
research on this relationship.
Mercury has some devastating effects on many organ
systems, particularly the brain, where it has been shown
conclusively to destroy neurotubulin in the axons. Some individuals
are genetically predisposed to greater toxicity due to their
inability to excrete the accumulating mercury via several metabolic
pathways (metallothionein, glutathione reduction, and Apo-e protein
removal). The testimony of Dr. Jeff
Bradstreet at the February 2004 IOM Immunization
Safety Review Committee
hearing, pointed out that polymorphisms in the gene which produces
the enzyme methyltetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) have been shown
to produce abnormally low generation of reduced folate, which, along
with B12 is necessary for proper brain neurotransmitter function.
Defects in this gene would predispose a subgroup of children to the
neurodevelopmental disorders now called "autism spectrum
disorders." To see a
graphical overview of these two defects in the biochemical pathway,
click here.Parts of this same biochemical pathway can also
be damaged directly by mercury due to direct effects on methionine
synthase as shown in the next study discussed below.
In February 2004, Dr. Richard Deth of Northeastern
University and his colleagues at University of Nebraska, Tufts and
Johns Hopkins University published a study in the Journal of
Molecular Psychiatrytitled Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1
and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal.
They outlined a novel growth factor signaling pathway that regulates
methionine synthase activity and thereby modulates methylation
reactions, including DNA methylation. The potent inhibition of this
pathway by ethanol, lead, mercury, aluminum and particularly
Thimerosal suggests that it may be an important target of
neurodevelopmental toxins.
The work of Dr. Deth dovetails into the work of Dr.
Jill James, a pediatric biochemist at the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences and her colleague, Dr. William Slikker, III, a
senior research scientist at Division of Biochemical Toxicology,
National Center for Toxicological Research. They found that:
"Thimerosal-induced
cytotoxicity was associated with depletion of intracellular GSH in
both cell lines."
Any one or a combination of these genetic
deficiencies can spell disaster for children resulting is mercury
poisoning that manifests as neurodevelopmental disorders in children
and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,
ALS or "Lou Gerhig's disease", and MS in adults. This information
is contained in
Professor Boyd Haley's
video
on this website.
Another good source of information regarding the
comparison of ethyl and methyl mercury is found in the 2001 IOM
Immunization Safety Review Committee presentation by George Lucier, Ph.D.,
a well-known toxicologist and former Director of the Environmental
Toxicology Program at the National Institute for Environmental
Health Sciences. The audio of this presentation can be heard online
here
(requires
Real Player Plug-in). A quick graphic showing an overview of
Thimerosal toxicity studies can be viewed here.
This
slide came from a paper presented by the
National Toxicology Program (NTP) on Thimerosal's nomination
as a potentially toxic substance in April of 2001.
Ironically, Thimerosal is not the best choice for a
vaccine preservative because it often does not work. Remember the
2004 Chiron flu vaccine debacle? If you will recall, 50 millions
doses of influenza vaccine had to be destroyed because of bacterial
contamination by Serratia marscens, even though they
contained Thimerosal. The disaster was completely predictable given
published science.
"At currently used concentrations, Thimerosal is not an ideal
preservative.”
“However, because Thimerosal is an organic mercurial compound,
higher concentrations
might reduce vaccine potency or pose a health hazard to
recipients.”
It is interesting to note that Dr. Orenstein served
as Director of the National Immunization Program from 1993 to March
2004 and has also served as Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S.
Public Health Service. He now works at Emory University where the
vaccine program is largely funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
The "revolving door" between the CDC, universities and industry
is common.
So why is Thimerosal still being used in vaccines?
The answer can be found in Dr. Orenstein's 1985 paper where it states:
“Single-unit
packaging would approximately double the cost of DTP per dose. For
example, one manufacturer charges $5.12 for a 15-dose vial of DTP
vaccine or $0.34, per dose. If the $0.20 cost of a disposable
syringe and needle are added, the total cost per dose to the
physician would be about $0.54. The same manufacturer charges $10.40
for a package of ten single DTP doses (needle and syringe
pre-packed) or $1.04 per dose."
"Even though the
actual incidence rate of such occurrences is not known, they are
clearly quite rare. If we assume that there are as many as 100
cases per year, costing $678 per abscess, the cost of these
theoretical occurrences would be approximately $68,000. Given the
prices mentioned above and the fact that approximately 18 million
doses of DTP are administered each year, the cost of switching to
single-dose packaging might be approximately $9 million.”
While we realize financial aspects have to be
considered in public policy-making, money should not take precedence
over safety. To place a child's life at risk for a difference of
$0.54 is inexcusable.
Why does mercury toxicity at levels found in vaccines
seem to only affect a subgroup of children, predominantly males?
History provides the answer. The same target subgroup was noted in
the early 20th Century during the epidemic of Pink's Disease
(Acrodynia) that was determined to be caused by mercury in teething
powders given to children. About 1 in 500 children were afflicted,
and some died as a result of this toxic insult.
Pink's Disease is still seen today, albeit less well
recognized. We suspect the clinical symptoms such as pink,
desquamating rash on the hands and feet is not even thought of by
most clinicians, much less considered a result of mercury exposure.
I can vouch that in the early 70's it was never taught in pathology
or clinical pediatrics; I suspect it would be difficult to even find
a clinician who would place the diagnosis on a roster of suspects
(the "differential diagnosis"). When Pink's Disease is finally
recognized clinically, it makes it into a case report in a medical journal. It is our belief that
during the last decade, the concerned parents of a child with pink
rash on the hands and feet after a Thimerosal-laden vaccine were
most likely given phone advice (Tylenol, “reassurance”, or "see a
dermatologist").
“It is interesting that not a single case of Acrodynia has been
reported from exposure to vaccines despite the propensity of
thimerosal to produce this syndrome when given in sufficient
amounts.”
That remark is quite interesting in the face of many parental
reports of just such a rash occurring in their child after a bolus
of Thimerosal-laden vaccines in the 1990's. Perhaps the real
clue in Clarkson's observation of "not a single case of Acrodynia
has been reported from exposure to vaccines" is due primarily to
physician's lack of training to recognize the true etiology and in the
rush to lump these children into psychiatric DSM-IV Autistic
Spectrum Disorders - a no-man's land where biochemical and
toxicological causation has been set adrift in the sea of ignorance
and/or expediency. According to the foreword by Dr. Leo Kanner, in
the book , Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and its Implications
for a Neural Theory of Behavior by Dr. Bernard Rimland, he seems
to agree...and has since 1963. Dr. Kanner is considered the most
recognized expert in "autism" yet he wrote the following:
“The concept of early infantile autism (I could not think of a
better name) was diluted by some to deprive it of its specificity,
so that the term was used as a pseudo-diagnostic wastebasket for a
variety of unrelated conditions, and a nothing-but psychodynamic
etiology was decreed by some as the only valid explanation, so that
further curiosity was stifled or even scorned.” Leo Kanner, M.D., November 24,
1963
Dr. Leo Kanner was a professor of Child Psychiatry at
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore when he first described
"autism" in 1943. It is interesting to note the oldest "autistic"
child described by Dr. Kanner in his land-mark paper was born in
September of 1931. The first use of Thimerosal in vaccines was in
1931. What a coincidence...or perhaps not. Others have theorized
about the connection between the psychiatric symptoms that are often
associated with mercury poisoning and their close correlation to the
diagnosis of autism.
Acrodynia is probably the most widely recognized form
of mercury poisoning. Its symptoms have been documented as early as
1931 by Bancroft, Grant, Tanner, et al (Journal Lancet 71:56, 1931)
and studied more extensively in the 1950's by Warkany and Hubbard. In fact, a statement in some of their earlier work is almost eerily
predictive of the symptoms we are seeing today since the iatrogenic
exposure to mercury was increased significantly by the rapidly
expanded immunization schedule beginning around the early 1990's.
Have their words from 1953 come back to haunt the medical community
because mercury was left in vaccines?
"In several children of our series and in some recently reported,
various immunization procedures
preceded the onset of acrodynia in addition to mercurial exposure."
Acrodynia is the model of mercury poisoning which
closely mimics the changes seen in autism and autism spectrum
disorders. Indeed, Bernard, Enayati, Redwood, Roger, and Binstock
published a review article,
Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning
in Medical
Hypothesis in 2001 detailing the similarities between classical
mercury poisoning and regressive autism. While this review article
is a compelling glance into the mercury/autism correlation, it pales
in comparison to their
comprehensive
report, Autism: A Unique Type of Mercury Poisoning examining this
hypothesis. The conclude:
“The history of
acrodynia illustrates that a severe disorder, afflicting a small but
significant percentage of children, can arise from a seemingly
benign application of low doses of mercury.”
“This review establishes the
likelihood that Hg [mercury] may likewise be etiologically
significant in ASD,
with the Hg [mercury] derived from thimerosal in vaccines rather
than teething powders.”
“Due to the extensive parallels
between autism and HgP [mercury poisoning], the likelihood of a causal relationship is great.”
Current media pundits write prolifically about
the safety of ethyl mercury, but none of the industry sponsored
"scientists" will admit to a recent study by Burbacher et al .
In this NIH sponsored primate study they found that while brain
concentrations of total mercury were lower in the Thimerosal group,
a higher percentage of the total mercury in the brain was in
the form of inorganic mercury (Hg) for the thimerosal-exposed
primate infants (34% vs 7%). The half life of this highly
toxic form of mercury could not be determined because the full
amounts persisted in the brains of the primates 200 days into the
study. Further, this study clearly showed that methyl mercury is not a suitable reference for risk assessment from
exposure to thimerosal derived mercury. Personal communication with
Dr. Burbacher, vis-à-vis the EPA Mercury Symposium in the Spring of
2004, confirmed this finding prior to this study's publication.
Needless to say, this study set off a firestorm of
controversy and created a public relations nightmare for vaccine
program officials and pediatricians. To make matters worse, the October 2001 IOM Immunizations Safety Review Committee agreed the hypothesis
was "biologically plausible" but there was insufficient evidence to
accept or reject a causal connection and recommended further
research.
In an effort to once again, do public relations
damage control, a "commentary" was published by Karin Nelson of the
NIH/NINDS and Margaret Bauman of Boston University in the Journal
Pediatrics in 2002. It is often "cited" as evidence against the
Thimerosal/Autism connection yet it never went through peer-review
and it was submitted as their opinion or comments. An interesting
side note is that NIH gave Bauman's department at Boston University
a $8.4 million dollar grant to study autism in 2003 after her
"commentary" was published. Puts a whole new spin on the old adage
of "publish or perish"...seems it would be more appropriate to say
"publish and flourish" in this instance.
"These findings
support a hypothesis that mercury in vaccines may be a factor in the
pathogenesis of autism."
In our present vaccinated population of children, the
rate of autism is now about 1 in 166 according to the CDC. Indeed,
the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders and behavioral
disorders in children has now been documented in the Autism A.L.A.R.M. by the American Academy of Pediatrics and
the CDC to be at an unprecedented incidence of 1 out of every 6
children.
This recent report was issued by the American Academy
of Pediatrics' National Center of Medical Home Initiatives for Children with
Special Needs in conjunction with the CDC and US Public
Health & Human Services Department. If you clicked on this last
link, you will note that the link to that site no longer
exists. It was taken down after parents began sending the Autism
A.L.A.R.M. to their Congressmen and Senators calling for an
investigation into the possibility of a connection between
Thimerosal and 1 in 6 children having neurodevelopmental
disorders. One can only guess why was it taken down? Here is a cached copy of this page (courtesy of Google) to
prove its existence.
As previously mentioned, the work by Waly, Deth et al
regarding the alteration in methylation pathways in
mercury poisoning details part of the answer to "why only some
children." Furthermore, in the subgroup of children who have a
genetic deficiency in the enzyme MTHFR (methyltetrahydrofolate
reductase), it has been established that they are unable to
regenerate the needed co-factors for methylation reactions. This
was eloquently presented byDr.
Jeff Bradstreet
at the February 9, 2004 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety
Committee hearing in Washington, DC.
In June 2004, a study by
Hornig, Chian and Lipkin
published in the
Journal of Molecular Psychiatryshowed for the first time
that autistic symptoms could be duplicated in the mouse model.
Using a strain of immunologically suppressed mice (much like our
children were after their vaccines containing mercury), Dr. Hornig
duplicated the thimerosal dosing schedule of the 1990s and
reproduced a host of abnormal behaviors in the experimental
animals. The mice showed growth delay, reduced locomotion, and
exaggerated response to novelty, just to name a few. Brain sections
of these animals revealed densely packed, hyperchromic hippocampal
neurons with altered glutamate receptors and transporters. In short - the autistic model was replicated based
upon the premise of mercury-induced neuronal damage!
In December 2004, former Food and Drug Administration
senior research scientist, Dr. Jill James published two landmark
studies regarding the relationship between methylcobalamine,
glutathione and thimerosal.
One of the studies, published in the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition, titled "Metabolic biomarkers
of increased oxidative stress and impaired methylation capacity in
children with autism" detailed the actual levels of these
biochemical deficiencies in autistic children. She and her
colleagues set out to evaluate plasmaconcentrations of
metabolites in the methionine transmethylationand
transsulfuration pathways in children with autism. Not surprisingly,
these children had significantly lower baseline plasma
concentrationsof methionine, SAM, homocysteine,
cystathionine, cysteine, andtotal glutathione and
significantly higher concentrations ofSAH, adenosine,
and oxidized glutathione. In other words, they found a metabolic
profilethat is consistent with impaired capacity for
methylation (shown by the significantlylower ratio of
SAM to SAH) and increased oxidative stress (significantly
lower redox ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione).
Even more interesting was that supplementation with methyl B12 and
folinic acid normalized these biochemical markers. The next step, of
course, is to document the clinical improvement in these children
based upon such intervention. Many parents already know the answer
to this one...the treatment protocol works!
The work of Dr. James along with the rapidly mounting
clinical, toxicological and pharmacokinetic evidence mounting
against Thimerosal prompted the powerful Washington, D.C.
environmental group, EWG to issue a white paper
titled "Overloaded? New science,
new insights about mercury and autism in susceptible children"
and to hold a press conference releasing its findings
and conclusions after an 18 month investigation.
Most of us, when first presented with this
information, are bemused as to how and why such a problem could be
kept from public knowledge. While we cannot speak for their motives,
we can present the actual timeline...and this is where it gets
interesting.
Congress mandated the FDA and other health agencies
under its purview to determine the levels of mercury in
pharmaceutical agents under the 1997 FDA Modernization Act. The FDA
officials were apparently disturbed to learn that children were
receiving mercury in levels that exceeded Federal safety guidelines.
The FDA, along with others held a two day meeting in
August of 1999 to discuss Thimerosal and formulate a plan for
expedited removal. The transcripts of the
Thimerosal Workshop - Day 1 and
Thimerosal Workshop - Day 2 are well-worth reading. One of
those who attended the meeting, Dr. Martin Myers, Director of the
National Vaccine Program Office with the Department of Health and
Human Services offered his insights from the Workshop at a similar
meeting held for aluminum a few months later. He said:
"Perhaps the most important thing that I took away from the last
meeting [Thimerosal Workshop] was that
those of us who deal with vaccines
have really very little applicable background with metals and
toxicological research."
On November 15, 1999 the FDA nominated Thimerosal to
the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction and on
at least two occasions the core Scientific Advisory Board
recommended further evaluation. On March 20, 2000 the
Federal Register Noticeshows
that the
Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction
(CERHR) recommended further study on Thimerosal
Even as recently as August 2002, the Federal Register still had Thimerosal on
its list of recommended products to be studied. It is still a
mystery why this table
from the CERHR website has continued to place
Thimerosal in a deferred category (as of July, 2000) stating
that other chemicals had a higher priority. In our opinion, July
2000 seems to be a significant turning point regarding the actions
(or inactions) taken on Thimerosal. This is also less than one month
after the CDC, FDA and vaccine manufacturers met at Simpsonwood to
review the first analysis on Thimerosal's role in childhood
neurodevelopmental disorders. Simpsonwood is the turning point on
the Thimerosal issue and there is more information included herein.
(See
CDC and Simpsonwood below).
When the FDA alerted CDC officials in early 1999 of their findings
from the pharmaceutical mercury survey, they realized the need to
determine if the increased levels of Thimerosal children received in
the 1990's had caused harm. To their horror, the results were not
good.
During this time period, the CDC began to do an
epidemiological study on Thimerosal toxicity from vaccines
in children.
The
CDC's first written draft (unpublished) analysis by Dr. Thomas Verstraeten
obtained by SafeMinds under the Freedom of
Information Act must have been terribly disturbing to them. It showed a 2.48
relative risk
increase (a 248 percent increase) of autism in children who
had received the mercury laced vaccines (see
graph 3 at the top of page 15
of the above report).
These results were so disquieting to the CDC they
apparently felt the need to revise the data by including younger
infants (not yet diagnosed) and pulled in data from a financially
faltering Massachusetts HMO that dramatically under reported autism
rates (due to a poorly designed database) and used these "new"
calculations in the second and third drafts of this report.
Internal e-mails
from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta,
obtained by SafeMinds under FOIA, appear to confirm this suspicion.
All of these numerical permutations dramatically
decreased the relationship of Thimerosal to the risk of neurodevelopmental
disorders, including autism. Unfortunately for millions of children
around the world, the
published analysis of the VSD (Vaccine Safety Datalink) data
had eliminated the risk, never informing others of their initial
findings that were of great significance. Sadly, this version
would be repeatedly cited by other authors in many medical publications
and news stories over the next
few years, even today. The various manipulations the dataset
went through of the course of 4 years prior to publication is
discussed in detail in the paragraphs below.
Even more troubling than the first written, yet unpublished, analysis
of February 29, 2000 by Dr. Verstraeten and the CDC is the initial
analysis which has been dubbed
"Generation Zero" and was never compiled into a formal
report. In this analysis, done in November and December of 1999,
CDC researchers found a relative risk of 11.35 for autism for
those infants with >25 mcg exposure at one month. In other words,
children exposed to thimerosal levels as low as those found in the
flu vaccine of today were over 11 times more likely to acquire a
neurodevelopmental disorder.
Some of their findings, but not the more troubling findings of the
early datasets were discussed at a meeting
in June 2000 at the Simpsonwood Resort in Norcross, Georgia. The
transcript of the Simpsonwood meeting, obtained by SafeMinds
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a disturbing look
behind the closed door meeting and the subsequent actions of public
health officials colluding with vaccine manufacturers to do public
relations and liability damage control. If you have listened to the WXYZ report
online, you are
already familiar with some of the startling quotes contained within.
While this 259 page transcript is anything but light
reading, the very telling comments reported by the Detroit news
(WXYZ) have been distilled into a
short form here along with other pertinent highlights of
this landmark meeting.
In the November 5, 2003 issue of Pediatrics, Verstraeten, et al published data
based upon the manipulated figures from the VSD study as
discussed at the now infamous Simpsonwood meeting. Ironically, even
Neal Halsey, M.D., a staunch supporter of the National Vaccine
Program, and former Chairman of the CDC Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP), raised credibility issues as
evidenced in his December 17, 2003
letter to Pediatrics.Safe Minds also did an in-depth analysis of this data and all of the "generations"
of this "numerical evolution". Beginning about page 20 of this
critique, one can easily see the progression of how the original
data was altered. The datasets morphed over 4 generations of reports
all based upon the original (and correctly done report) from
Feb 2000 that was presented at the Simpsonwood meeting. The original
autism risk was 2.48 and data "changes" brought it down to 1.69
using a type of numerical "black box" method known as
"Cox Model adjusted".
For an in-depth analysis of these numerical
generations,
click here.
“I am very concerned
about activities that have taken place in the National Immunization
Program (NIP) in the development of this study, and I believe the
issues raised need your personal attention.”
“I found a disturbing pattern
which merits a thorough, open, timely, and independent review by
researchers outside of the CDC, HHS, the vaccine industry, and
others with a conflict of interest
in vaccine related issues (including many in University settings who
may have conflicts).”
“A review of these documents
leaves me very concerned that rather than seeking to understand
whether or not some children were exposed to harmful levels of
mercury in childhood vaccines in the 1990s, there may have been a
selective use of the data to make the associations in the earliest
study disappear.”
To date, there has been no corrective action taken at
the CDC by Dr. Gerberding, in fact, the pattern of behavior
continues to be reflected the their ongoing studies and published
papers.
One example of their ongoing pattern of questionable
data stratifications is by Dr. Paul Stehr-Green of the CDC and
colleagues titled
"Autism
and Thimerosal-containing vaccines: lack of consistent evidence for
an association"
published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in
August of 2003. There are four major defects
in the Stehr-Green analysis.
The authors relied heavily on shifting data sources and an
incomplete time series in their epidemiological analysis. It is our
opinion that primary research is the answer to this question, not
vague epidemiology and statistical permutations.
Unfortunately, much of this published data is simply
a re-statement of the erroneous numbers from the older studies
previously mentioned. In some cases, some information from within
these articles actually makes the anti-thimerosal case stronger. For
example the recent study by Mandell, DeStefano et al in the journal
Psychiatric Services (56;56-65. 2005). They basically were
looking at discharge rates from psychiatric institutions for the
diagnosis codes of autism and ADHD (among others) and came to the
conclusion that the reason for the increase in the numbers of these
disorders was that there have been changes in diagnostic practices
over time, increases in community prevalence of these disorders, and
increased likelihood of hospitalizations for different mental
disorders. We can certainly agree with the increase in community
"presence". But one comment from the study in particular is also
quite telling of the real story. DeStefano and colleagues remark,
"diagnosis of autism and ADHD followed a very different pattern,
with peaks in rates at ages 7 and 12.”
for the study period 1989 to 2000. The dissected
data when presented in graphical form clearly demonstrates a "bump"
in autism rates at ages 7 and 12 (click picture on the right for
a larger view) and the relationship to the routine childhood
immunization schedules. It is interesting to note between the ages
of 4 and 6 and again between the ages of 11 and 12, children
received multiple immunization boosters including
thimerosal-containing vaccines. Similar bumps were seen for ADHD.
How fascinating that these rapid rises in diagnosis tend to coincide
with the immunization schedules.
Special thanks to Dr. Richard Deth for his generosity
in preparing the slide and allowing us to share it with you.
In late 2003, Dr. Mark Geier and his researcher son,
David were allowed (after considerable efforts in time and
paperwork) to view the VSD database in the CDC computers housed in
Maryland. As mentioned by Dr. Geier in the WXYZ report, their analysis
revealed a 27 fold relative risk increase in autism in the
data set that received DTP containing Thimerosal versus a similar
subset of the DTP Thimerosal free version. Their paper on this
analysis is awaiting publication.
However, Dr. Geier has published numerous other
studies showing the positive association of Thimerosal containing
vaccines and autism using the database known as the Vaccine Adverse
Events Reporting System (VAERS). One such study was published in
Experimental Biology and Medicine titled Neurodevelopmental Disorders after Thimerosal-Containing
Vaccines: A Brief Communication and specifically, found that
the VAERS database showed statistical increases in the incidence
rate of autism (relative risk [RR] = 6.0), mental retardation (RR =
6.1), and speech disorders (RR = 2.2) after Thimerosal containing
diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccines in
comparison with Thimerosal-free DTaP vaccines.
The have continued to publish on the the adverse
effects of Thimerosal. A few of their studies are cited below:
"...increasing
relative risks for neurodevelopment disorders and heart disease with
increasing doses of mercury."
"This study provides
strong epidemiological evidence for a link between mercury exposure
from
thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and neurodevelopment
disorders."
Geier & Geier: An assessment of the impact of thimerosal on
neurodevelopmental disorders. Pediatric Rehabilitation 2003; 6:
97-102
"...children exposed
to these greater levels of mercury through Thimerosal in
vaccinations are at a much greater risk of neurodevelopmental
disorders evidenced by analysis of the VAERS database."
When you watch the WXYZ
news videofrom
the links below, you will see Mark Geier, M.D., Ph.D. (an
obstetrical geneticist) and his son, David, who have published
extensively on the dangers of Thimerosal-containing vaccines. They
recently published
this article, evaluating the doses of mercury from
Thimerosal-containing childhood immunizations in comparison to US
Federal Safety Guidelines and the effects of increasing doses of
mercury on the incidence of neurodevelopment disorders and heart
disease.
Dr. Geier showed that children received mercury from
this source in excess of the Federal Safety Guidelines for the oral
ingestion of mercury. Additionally, the analyses showed increasing
relative risks for neurodevelopment disorders and heart disease with
increasing doses of mercury.
In February 2004,
the California Environmental Protection Agency ruled that,
under Proposition 65, Thimerosal was both a reproductive and
developmental toxin.
The World Health Organization initially issued a
policy calling for the reduction and removal of thiomersal (as
spelled in Europe) similar to the joint statement of the US Public
Health Service and American Academy of Pediatrics. However, there
has been a dramatic push since 2002 to rapidly publish data to
exonerate Thimerosal and even the presence of an autism epidemic by
the World Health Organization (WHO), CDC, pharmaceutical industry
and others with a financial stake in vaccines, such as researchers
and universities who are paid to study vaccines and often hold
patents to vaccines. Evidence indicates vaccine manufacturers where
largely behind this dramatic reversal of policy. That impact is
being felt worldwide in medicine and research.
They go so far as to formulate "working groups" such
as Intercluster Vaccine
Research Initiative
(IVR) under the auspices of the World Health
Organization. Their inaugural meeting was held June 16-18, 1999.
One of the missions is settling controversies whereby they
determined that:
“WHO
should coordinate studies to address consumer fears regarding the
safety of vaccines
and assess the risk of adverse events and evaluate risk-benefit
relation”.
Evidence from the June 14, 2001 meeting of
WHO SAGE (Strategic Group
of Experts)
indicates
that in early 2001 vaccine manufacturers began pressuring the World
Health Organization, the United States and others to continue the
use of thimerosal by intimating it could threaten the production and
availability. The quote below is taken directly from that meeting
report.
“WHO was extremely
anxious to preserve the production and availability of vaccines.
Industry was expecting clear signals from WHO on the thiomersal
issue, as had been
confirmed by informal consultations with some manufacturers during
the first half of 2001.”
This meeting was attended by some high ranking United States vaccine
officials:
US Centers for Disease Control(CDC) – Dr. Claire Broome (voting member); Dr. Walter
Orenstein; Dr. Steve Cochi Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices(ACIP/CDC)
– Dr. Myron Levine US Food & Drug Administration (CBER) – Dr. Kathryn Zoon
(voting member) National Institutes of Health (NIAID) – Dr. John LaMontagne
(voting member); Dr. George Curlin; Dr. Mark Miller
By 2002, the vaccine manufacturers had applied enough
pressure to get what they wanted and at an informal meeting with vaccine manufacturers
; high
ranking vaccine officials from WHO, CDC, FDA, EMEA (UK's version of
the FDA) and other countries formalized the intent whereupon they
decided on May 21, 2002, largely for financial reasons to:
"Develop a strong advocacy campaign to support ongoing use of
thiomersal"
Although the WHO memo from May 21, 2002 appears to be
the first time they solidified their intent to have a “strong
advocacy campaign” for thimerosal, obviously the manufacturers had
been pursuing the issue earlier. Some vaccine manufacturing
executives, such as
Dr. Ann-Marie Georges of GlaxoSmithKline, were so proud of
that accomplishment; they were willing to brag about it in trade
magazine interviews. Dr. Georges stated:
"So it was not an easy situation to resolve, but
manufacturers addressed the issue and it has ceased to be a
problem."
As recent events in the news have revealed, the
behavior and decisions of pharmaceutical companies, FDA and CDC
officials are not always in the best interest of the public; rather
the priority for a number of years has been profits and cronyism.
So it is not surprising to learn that medical journals, medical
societies and researchers have been heavily and negatively
influenced by pharmaceutical money as outlined in an article in the UK Telegraph where
testimony in the House of Commons recently revealed the
pharmaceutical industry routinely bribes doctors and "ghostwrites"
articles about drugs in major medical journals. The article went on
to state that Professor David Healy, of the University of Wales,
told the Commons health select committee that as many as half the
articles published in journals such as the British Medical Journal
and The Lancet were written by members of the industry who had a
vested interest in selling the drugs involved. One of the most
distressing comments in the article was by a spokesman for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry by
claiming there was "nothing
wrong" with articles in major medical journals being written up for
a clinician by a company "as long as the person has seen the article
and signed it off".
Many physicians and health care workers are aware of
what has become known as the "Denmark study" published in October 2003 Journal of
American Medical Association (JAMA), which led many to believe the
vaccine-autism association was finally disproved to everyone's
satisfaction. Unfortunately, the study (which incidentally was
funded and produced by a Danish vaccine manufacturer) was severely
flawed. Two
recent letters to the editor
by Dr. Bernard Rimland and Sallie Bernard in the
January 14, 2004 issue of JAMA document these troubling analytical
flaws. Because this study is the one most frequently quoted by
well-meaning physicians and public health officials to allay parents
questions about the mercury-autism association, it is essential to
understand the serious errors:
1) The entire findings of Hviid et al were based on finding fewer
older children (born from 1990-1992) exposed to Thimerosal than
younger children (born 1992-1996).
2) A significant number of autism cases (predominately in older
children) were dropped from this registry every year (e.g.,
twenty-three percent of the autism-diagnosed 1995 cohort were
lost in the 2000 registry analysis).
3) Questions about author bias began to surface when it was
discovered that the authors did not disclose that they worked for a
for-profit company that did about $120 million/year in vaccine
revenues, which included exports of Thimerosal laden vaccines to the
United States and serve as the sole contract vaccine manufacturer
for the Danish government.
While most of us find it disturbing that anyone,
particularly scientists, would manipulate data in an effort to reach
a pre-determined outcome or promote a particular agenda for
financial or professional gain, it is actually quite common.
It is even more disconcerting to realize that many of these data
manipulations are done at the hands of academia and/or government
scientists. Numerous books have been written on this very
subject, such as Science, Money, and Politics : Political
Triumph and Ethical Erosion by Daniel S. Greenberg;
Science in the Private Interest : Has the Lure of Profits Corrupted
Biomedical Research? by Sheldon Krimsky; Hazardous to
Our Health? FDA Regulation of Health Care Products by Robert
Higgs; Bitter Pills : Inside the Hazardous World of Legal
Drugs by Stephen Fried; On The Take: How Medicine's
Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health by
Jerome Kassirer, M.D. or The Truth About the Drug Companies:
How They
Deceive Us and What to Do About It
by Dr. Marcia Angell. It is interesting to note that both Dr.
Kassirer and Dr. Angell are former editors of the prestigious
New England Journal of Medical. Countless articles and
studies appearing in other prestigious medical journals, such as the
British Medical Journal, have bemoaned the numerous financial
conflicts of interest in medical research but little has been done
to rectify the deplorable situation.
Government and Thimerosal
If Thimerosal is ineffective as a antibacterial and
has a questionable safety record, it begs the question: why has the
general public not been better informed? After all, if mercury is a
potential factor in the causation of autism and Alzheimer's disease
(just to name a few neurodegenerative conditions under suspicion),
shouldn't the health care provider or the patient be made aware of
the choice between mercury and non-mercury containing vaccines? Our
attempts to alert local and State health departments on this issue
have been unsuccessful, particularly during the 2003 flu season
where the public was admonished to obtain a vaccine laced with 25
micrograms of mercury and not told of a much safer alternative
containing only 0.5 micrograms of mercury from the same company. In
the 2004-2005 flu season, the CDC was so worried about not having a
record-selling flu vaccine season, they came up with the "Recipe"
for an effective flu campaign. (Note:
The "Recipe" is also
available on
www.NoMercury.org
). An overview of the 2004-2005 flu
season debacle and other
facts about the flu vaccine is available on our website.
Has Congress been asleep at the proverbial switch on
this issue? Not completely. Congressman Dan Burton (R-Indiana),
Chairman of the Committee on Government Reform initiated an
investigation into Federal vaccine policy in August of 1999. The
investigation led to the numerous congressional hearings and a staff
report. The Majority Staff report of August 2000, on the
conflicts of interest in vaccine policy making is quite
informative.
Over the course of three years, the Committee would
hold almost a dozen hearings regarding vaccines and vaccine policy.
We have made available within this document a few of the hearings
dealing with Thimerosal. The following documents are quite
voluminous but well worth the time invested to read them:
Among the statements from the "Mercury in Medicine -
Are We Taking Unnecessary Risks?" hearing held on July 18, 2000 are
these by respected toxicologist Dr. H. Vasken Aposhian:
"There's no question that mercury does not belong in vaccines."
"There are other compounds that could be used as preservatives. "
"Everything we know about childhood susceptibility, neurotoxicity of
mercury at the fetus and at the infant level, points out that we
should not have these fetuses and infants exposed to mercury."
A summary report prepared by the staff of the
Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, Committee on Government
Reform, United States House of Representatives was published in
The Congressional Record of May 21, 2003 detailing the
results of the three year investigation. This report and its
conclusions are most troubling:
"...However, the Committee, upon a thorough review of the scientific
literature and internal documents from government and industry, did find evidence that thimerosal did
pose a risk. Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines in
likely related to the autism epidemic. This epidemic in all
probability may have been prevented or curtailed had the FDA not
been asleep at the switch regarding the lack of safety data
regarding injected thimerosal and the sharp rise of infant exposure
to this known neurotoxin. Our public health agencies’ failure to
act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for
self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical
industry."
Given the number of hearings and depth of the concern
raised by the Congressional Reports as outlined above, one could
reasonably expect Congress to take action and protect citizens or at
least demand that FDA and CDC ensure the safety of vaccines.
Instead one of them, unbeknownst to most members of
Congress and presumably at the direction of the White House,
inserted a
provision in the Homeland Security Bill to provide
protection from litigation for Eli Lilly, makers and patent holders
of Thimerosal. The public and the press were outraged, forcing
Congress to repeal the liability protection provision.
The Government Reform Committee is not the only one
to voice concerns. On May 20, 2004, just two days after the IOM
report was released which supposedly "rejected" a causal
relationship between vaccines and autism, the
Office of Special Counsel, sent a letter to Congress and
issued an unprecedented press release calling for an investigation.
To date, Congress has not responded to the concerns raised by
Congressman Burton, Congressman Weldon or Special Counsel Bloch.
However, some in Washington are quick to respond to
the concerns of the pharmaceutical industry, some of the largest
campaign contributors in the Presidential and Congressional races.
Many suspect this is yet another Gift to Drug Makers, including some at the New York
Times.
The Institute of Medicine report of May 2004
On February 9, 2004, the Institute of Medicine's
Immunization Safety Review Committee held a hearing on the issue of vaccine safety,
specifically in regards to the link between Thimerosal and autism.
The authors of this document attended that meeting and
testified during the public comment period at the end. Some
observations from that meeting:
1) The scientific evidence presented by many
respected physicians, scientists and researchers (biochemical,
clinical, molecular and toxicological) was overwhelming in regards
to the causality of mercury poisoning and autism/neurodevelopmental
disorders.
2) Epidemiological studies presented by Hviid,
DeStefano of the CDC, Kumanan Wilson, M.D. of the Toronto General
Research Institute, Dr. Elizabeth Miller of the UK Immunization
Division, and Robert Davis, M.D. of the University of Washington
were essentially the same ones mentioned above (with the same design
flaws, questionable datasets and conflicts of interest).
3) In our opinion, the bias towards the
pro-Thimerosal forces by several members of the Immunization Safety
Committee was palpable.
4) Several of the press reports (e.g. Wall Street Journal,
Washington Post) made little or no mention of the pro-vaccine safety
research which convincingly linked Thimerosal to neurodevelopmental
disorders in children.
A television news report
of the meeting, and follow-up to his previous
investigation, was done by Steve Wilson at WXYZ.
When their report was release in May 2004, it was
clear the IOM ignored all the documented clinical and toxicological
evidence against the thimerosal-autism link; and their final
published report remains as an indictment against them. Let's take
a closer look at what really transpired and why the findings in the
report are suspect.
What if the austere Institute of Medicine
Immunization Safety Committee had known about the research of Dr.
Mady Hornig or the research of Dr. David Baskin, Dr. Boyd Haley or
Dr. Vas Aposhian during their February 9, 2004 meeting? Certainly
this would have driven the final nail in the coffin for doubters of
thimerosal toxicity. Well, Dr. Hornig was the first
presenter of that meeting and detailed her soon-to-be published
findings in the preceding paragraph. If you are on-line, click here to view the IOM website
and you will note that Dr. Hornig's presentation is listed (and
linked) in the 8:30 am time slot. And, yes, she did present to the
full committee. As did Dr. Baskin, Dr. Haley, Dr. Aposhian and Dr.
Geier. We were present at that meeting and the evidence was
voluminous and compelling.
How did the IOM explain away Dr. Hornig's findings in
their report or the other toxicological, biochemical and
pharmacokinetic evidence? They stated that the rodent model in this
instance was "theoretical".
In our opinion, "theoretical" is better applied as a descriptive
term for the poorly done and hurriedly published mathematical models
from the hands of the vaccine manufacturers' own researchers.
The epidemiological flaws in the studies the IOM
relied upon, as outlined above, are among the reasons, according to
Dr. David Baskin in his comments at the February 9, 2004 IOM Vaccine
Committee, that the relationship of neural tube defects and folic
acid deficiency were initially missed. Nonetheless, there is ample
good epidemiological data that does show the increased risk of
neurodevelopmental disorders. In February 2004, Geier and Geier
published this article which found there were statistically
significant odds ratios for the development of autism following
increasing doses of mercury from Thimerosal-containing vaccines
(birth cohorts: 1985 and 1990–1995) in comparison to a baseline
measurement (birth cohort: 1984). This article, which appeared in
the
Medical Science Monitor.
We are not the only ones to believe it is not prudent
to reply upon or give due weight to epidemiological studies in
rejecting a causal link between Thimerosal and Autism. Although,
this is exactly what the Immunization Safety Review Committee did in
their
May 2004 IOM report because its conclusions (page 36 of the
report) are based, by their own admission, on epidemiological
studies alone.
"Epidemiological studies examining thimerosal-containing vaccines
and autism, including three controlled observational studies (Hviid
et al., 2003; Verstraeten et al., 2003; Miller, 2004) and two
uncontrolled observational studies
(Madsen et al., 2003; Stehr-Green
et al., 2003), consistently provided evidence of no association
between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism, despite the fact
that these studies utilized different methods and examined different
populations (in Sweden, Denmark, the United States, and the United
Kingdom) …"
"… Thus, based on this body of evidence, the committee concludes
that the evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between
thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism."
Remember, Dr. Verstraeten wrote to Pediatrics to
specifically state that his study could not be used to exonerate
Thimerosal.
Even one of the most ardent supporters of vaccines and defenders of
Thimerosal, such as Dr. John Clements, admit that epidemiology will
not prove that Thimerosal is safe. If you read the Simpsonwood
meeting minutes, you will recall the statements of John Clements,
M.D. and his admonishment to the others that the results of
Verstraeten's early analysis of the Vaccine Safety DataLink
regarding Thimerosal and Neurodevelopmental Disorders could have
been predicted. As you will see in his paper published in
Vaccine 22 (2004) 1854–1861 where he attempts to say
Thimerosal is not dangerous at levels found in vaccines but finally
admits the following:
"It is not possible to prove thiomersal is completely safe –
epidemiology can only quantify a risk, not prove its absence."
1n 1997, the Mercury Review Subcommittee, a
scientific advisory board, made an important report to Congress
known as the "SAB report." In Section 5.6 of this report, found on
page 111,
the reviewers succinctly qualified the problem with doing
epidemiological studies on a population subgroup of affected
individuals with mercury toxicity. The report summarized these
thoughts on
page 114 with this paragraph:
"All of these factors notwithstanding, the data regarding effect
modification in human epidemiologic studies of mercury poisoning are
currently too meager to base separate estimates of human health
risks or establish different RFD’s for various subpopulations."
The current "meager" epidemiological analyses
previously published using the altered Verstraeten dataset would
certainly fall into this category. Perhaps the most accurate
assessment of epidemiological studies was given on December 8, 2004
in the
House of Lords at Parliament by Countess of Mar:
“When the pressure becomes too great, the Government and their
advisers retreat behind the curtain of epidemiological studies. Without concurrent clinical studies, I
have concluded that they are the medico-scientific equivalent of the parliamentary filibuster. ”
The May 2004 IOM report also
condemned as chelation of mercury as dangerous for children with
autism and concomitant elevated body burdens of this toxic metal on
challenge testing, writing that "Chelation is currently indicated
only for high-dose, acute mercury poisoning."
Why would the IOM make such a finding when it is
clearly in conflict with the known standard of care for mercury
intoxification. When pediatricians specializing in Environmental
Medicine and experts in mercury intoxication met at the famous
Bangkok Conference on Environmental Threats to Children in
March of 2002 they felt strongly about the benefits of chelation.
Dr. Stephan Boese-O'Reilly gave a presentation at the Bangkok
Conference titled, Multiple Manifestations of Mercury Intoxication and was
quite clear on this subject:
“With chelating agents it is possible to reduce the body burden of
mercury,
and to improve some of the symptoms of a chronic mercury
intoxication."
"DMPS is an agent simple to use as an oral medication, with few
side effects only.”
It is ludicrous to have the IOM conclude chelation is
dangerous and inappropriate in light of mounting scientific
evidence, such as presented at this conference. The IOM did not
consider this evidence nor the expert opinions of those who
specialized in this field. One must wonder why this evidence was not
considered when this conference took place almost 2 years before the
IOM hearing.
Of course, keep in mind the CDC contracted and
paidthe IOM for the study. The specifications on which the
reports were to rely upon were established by the CDC per Task Order
number 74 of their contract with the Institute of Medicine. The CDC
indicated the IOM should rely solely on epidemiology and not
clinical, toxicological or other studies. But why?
New evidence recently came to light the CDC
apparently pressured the IOM to deny a causal relationship between
vaccines and autism regardless of the evidence in an attempt to
exonerate themselves and the National Immunization Program from the
thimerosal debacle. This
transcript of the January 12, 2001 closed
meeting of the IOM has been turned over to a U.S.
District Court judge in Texas.
In another troubling indication of the bias of the
IOM, listen to a
brief audio exchange between Kathleen Stratton, Ph.D. and Andrew
Wakefield, M.D. from the May 2004 Chicago Autism One
conference. Dr. Stratton is the Study Director of the IOM
Immunization Safety Review Committee and Dr. Wakefield is the
British gastroenterologist who discovered the presence of vaccine
strain measles virus in the guts of many autistic children. This
audio file is a 9 minute and 46 second sound byte but the exchange
becomes quite intense at 3 minutes and 19 seconds into this Windows
Media sound file. It is our opinion this new information will cast
shadows of doubt, deception, delusion over their previous
conclusions for other vaccine issues examined
by the IOM committee.
Dr. Stratton's own words reflect the incongruence
between the Committee's opinions and the final report:
“The Committee never said mercury is good for you…certainly they
don’t believe that.
Mercury is a known neurotoxin.
Mercury can’t be good for the
developing body.
The question was, ‘Is there evidence that the mercury in vaccines
causes autism?’
The committee believes that that remains a theory.”
Even recent news articles indicate that many of the
IOM Immunization Safety Review Committee members are backing away
from the harsh recommendations in the report that call for no
further research into the connection between vaccines and autism.
Such a statement took most of the medical and research community by
surprise for it is the antithesis of all that medicine and research
strives to promote...answers to questions and hypotheses.
Researchers are not the only ones probing into the
possibility of a connection between the preservative and
neurological damage to children. In the January 3, 2004 issue of
the prestigious National Journal,
Neil Munro wrote a telling exposé on this issue titled
"Missing the Mercury Menace"
However, this was certainly not the first
journalistic examination of the potential harmful side effects of
certain vaccines. In 1996, Andrea Rock's article
"The Lethal Dangers of the Billion-Dollar Vaccine
Business"
published in Money Magazine
cast an unflattering shadow over the vaccine
industry. Although there have been numerous articles written
surrounding the Thimerosal controversy in particular, a few
are noteworthy for their in-depth inquiries into the mercury/autism
connection.
By November 2002 when an article by Arthur Allen
appeared in the NY Times Magazine
called
"The Not-So-Crackpot Autism Theory"
some health officials sensed the public relations
nightmare they feared since 1999 was on the horizon . That highly
visible article was followed by "Vaccines
May Fuel Autism"
by Kelly O'Meara in the June 24, 2003 issue of Insight on the News.
Even Mark Benjamin, the award-winning investigations editor at
United Press International
conducted a four month investigation which culminated
into the July 21, 2003 article entitled
"UPI Investigates: The Vaccine Conflict"
. Unfortunately
for the CDC and FDA, the public relations nightmare did not end
there because other investigative journalists were also exploring
this issue as seen in
"Autism in a Needle" and
"Eli Lilly and Thimerosal"
by Annette Fuentes published in the November 2003 issue of
In These Times.
This was followed by yet another article by Kelly O'Meara in the
December 23, 2003 issue of Insight on the News
titled
"CDC Study Raises Suspicion".
Just after the Institute of Medicine's Immunization
Safety Committee meeting in Washington, DC in February 2004, Andrea
Rock published another extensively researched exposé in
Mother Jones' magazine
entitled "Toxic Tipping Point"
in
the March/April 2004 issue. The intense scrutiny generated by
Andrea Rock's article was barely waning when Seed Magazine published
"The Rise Against Mercury" by Sarah Bridges. The
devastating impact mercury-containing vaccines have had on children
and their families was poignantly portrayed in an article titled
"A Family's Crusade"by Susan Redden of The Joplin Globe.
Perhaps one of the most troubling articles about Thimerosal was
written by Myron Levin, an investigative journalist with The Los
Angeles Times. In the February 8, 2005 story, which appeared on
the front page, it was revealed that Merck, a major vaccine
manufacturer, admitted children would be exposed to 87 times the EPA
"safe" limit of mercury in a
1991 internal Merck memo by Dr. Maurice Hilleman to
company executives if the recommended childhood vaccine schedule was
rapidly expanded as the CDC had planned. It should be noted
that Merck sought Dr. Hilleman's input and insight on Thimerosal in
1991 more than 6 years after he retired from the
company because he had steered Merck through other scientific and
political landmines on numerous occasions such as
importing AIDS and SV-40
viruses in monkeys. At
Merck, he had gained a reputation for his scientific intellect and
cunning business acumen and it was probably for this reason they
trusted him to understand the political, legal and public relations
implications of Thimerosal. According to an article in Slate
Magazine, one
former Merck employee testified to Congress in 1972 that he had
attended meetings where Dr. Hilleman roared,
"Getting vaccine products
licensed has nothing to do with science; it's politics, not science
that gets products licensed!"
Ironically, in his memo, Dr. Hilleman mischaracterized Thimerosal as
phenyl mercury, instead of ethyl mercury, stating it was less
dangerous than methyl mercury despite having the correct
classification listed elsewhere in the memo. Was this a
mistake or a calculated misstatement? Dr. Hilleman , a world
renown vaccinologist that retired from Merck as a senior Vice
President in 1984, refused to be interviewed about Thimerosal or the
memo. Unfortunately,
Dr. Hilleman died on April 11,
2005 leaving many questions unanswered.
The memo indicates that Merck apparently had serious concerns about
mercury in vaccines for almost a decade before beginning to remove
it from their products. Even after they stop producing
vaccines containing the large levels of Thimerosal, they refused to
recall their mercury-laden products which allowed them to stay in
the market stream for a number of years and be injected into infants
and children.
In fact, in a subsequent article
by Mr. Levin of the Los Angeles Times confirmed that the FDA allowed Merck to
continue to sell/distribute mercury-containing vaccines more than 11
years after the memo acknowledging the dangers to children. A
letter from the FDA to Congressman Dave Weldon
in June 2003 revealed that several childhood vaccines contained up
to 25 micrograms of
mercury long after 1999.
1) Online Investigative Report by WXYZ News in Detroit(click
here for broadband)on
Vaccines and Thimerosal - This 3 part series aired December 2003 and
has received critical acclaim as a well researched investigation
into this problem. An updated report was released on WXYZ on
February 12, 2004 providing an overview of the February 9, 2004 IOM
meeting in Washington. This report can be viewed online here.
2) The University of Calgary
video
- This is a teaching video based upon Leong and
Syed's publication in NeuroReport Volume 12, number 4,
733-737 (Click
here to see online abstract). This seven-minute video
is an incredible instructional tool that is actually a summary of
the article.
3)
Dr. Boyd Haley
is
Chairman and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky
and is one of the world's premier experts on mercury toxicity. When
time is available to you (one hour), please watch Dr. Haley's
online streaming video
lecture
on Mercury and
Autism/Alzheimer's disease. He developed the process of
radio-nucleotide photo affinity labeling some years ago. The
presentation is set up to view in small time allotments if needed.
Slides and video can be navigated by mouse clicks. This lecture will
definitely change your thinking on the relationship of mercury to
autism and our rapidly increasing epidemic of neurodegenerative
disorders in adults.
4) Another excellent investigative news story was by
Melissa Ross of First Coast News, titled CDC Knew of Potential Link Between
Vaccines, Autism which aired in February 2004 on WJXX-TV
& WTLV-TV, Jacksonville, Florida.
As public scrutiny intensifies, we see more parents,
educators and physicians struggle with the alarming rise in children
with neurodevelopmental problems. How embarrassing it must be for
the National Immunization Program officials at the CDC, the FDA, the
American Academy of Pediatrics and other institutions as
child-advocate parents and researchers demonstrate how easy it would
have been to prevent these diseases by removing Thimerosal in the
90's when the FDA discovered they had allowed children to be exposed
to toxic levels of mercury.
It is important to have mercury free (or at most
trace amounts of mercury) alternatives available to the population
in order to comply with any future legislation.
This form will document that there are indeed mercury free
and/or trace mercury vaccines available for the pediatric
population. There are, however, still several adult vaccines that
are not presently mercury free. Obviously, any legislation will need
to consider this reality and simply require that once these adult
vaccines are available in a mercury free or trace mercury
formulation, that they be the preferred injectables for adults
patients. Since not all vaccines are mercury free, some
consideration will need to be included in the bill for a limited
phase-in or short grace period to allow the manufacturers to produce
a mercury free product. A provision to call for their removal when
suitable replacements are available seems to be a prudent action as
well.
Recent statements made by well-meaning state
legislators saying that a bill to ban mercury is not needed because
industry is moving towards its removal are, unfortunately, dead
wrong. One need only to look at history to see why. Asbestos was
banned in 1989 and everyone knows of its severe health consequences;
however, a federal court overturned the ban on a technicality in
1991 and the ban was never re-filed. Consequently, asbestos is now
in over 3,000 products in the US. Is there any reason to think that
industry would treat the profitable compound, Thimerosal, any
differently?
Conclusion
It is disheartening to realize the damage this fiasco will
ultimately inflict on the integrity of many in our public health
profession, especially those in critical policy-making positions.
The loss of credibility in the area of research alone, both to
scientists and institutions will reverberate through the profession
for many years. It will place such an undue burden on a medical
profession already laboring to meet the needs of patients in an era
of cost containment, risk management and pre-certification.
How daunting it seems for a truly dedicated medical
professional to endure a loss of confidence in the very profession
you have devoted so much time and effort while trying to mitigate
the damage caused by the unrelenting efforts of various regulatory
agencies, insurance companies, hospital administrations and others
whose sole purpose in life seems to be to destroy the sacred
physician/patient relationship. To what end…for what purpose?
It is difficult to fathom the reasoning of those
individuals who willingly expose children to a KNOWN neurotoxin,
risking the health and welfare of millions of children while
unrepentantly manipulating data and research that will sacrifice the
integrity of the entire medical profession to further their own
interests. Have they NO moral or social conscience?
If you still have doubts about the
toxicity of Thimerosal, please take a moment to read the Thimerosal Material
Safety Data Sheet from Sigma, a manufacturer of Thimerosal.
Or view
a vial of Thimerosal
which features the international symbol for POISON (the skull and
crossbones).
NoMercury primarily serves as an
educational resource and in a non-compensated advisory capacity to
assist state legislators,
medical professionals and non-profit organizations in
banning mercury in medicine and vaccines.
If you are a state
legislator or medical professional and would like to ban mercury
in your state -
Click Here
Individuals and parent advocates interested in pursuing a mercury
ban in their state are encouraged to contact
A-CHAMP
(Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning).
NoMercury is a
philanthropic based venture whose mission is to educate policy
makers, physicians and the public regarding the dangers of
mercury in vaccines.
NoMercury does
not solicit funds nor do we accept
donations.
NoMercury does
not endorse or sell any products or services.
We are not
“anti-vaccine” rather we advocate for safer vaccines.
The material in this website is made available
without profit for research and educational purposes only. If you
wish to use copyrighted material from this website for purposes that
go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner. For more information regarding
US
Code
TITLE 17 ;
CHAPTER 1
; Sec. 107. also known as
the 'fair use' copyright go to:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html or
http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm.
The information on this site is not meant to provide medical or
legal advice. The information provided herein is believed to be
true and correct in all respects, however, no representations are
made as to information provided by other sources, or information
provided by linked websites. In the event that you have legal or
medical questions related to mercury, mercury exposure and/or injury
caused by mercury exposure, you should contact an attorney or a
qualified medical professional.
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NoMercury primarily serves as an
educational resource and in a non-compensated advisory capacity to
assist state legislators,
