By Kenneth P. Stoller, MD, FAAP
President of the International Hyperbaric Medical Association
Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, UNM School of Medicine

The rate of autism decades ago was 1 in 10,000. A dramatic nationwide increase in autism followed directly on the heels of the abrupt rise in exposure to thimerosal. Rates rose from 6 in 10,000 children in the 1980s to 60 in 10,000 today (American Academy of Pediatrics 2004). In 2003, the Autism Society of America estimated the cost of treating and caring for 1.5 million autistic children at $90 billion per year (Autism Society of America 2003). CDC research indicates that 1 in 150 children are autistic today and they have known why for five years, but still won't come clean.

Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative developed by Eli Lilly back in the 1930 and has been used in as many as 50 vaccines. In the Federal Register 1982, an expert panel at the FDA reviewed thimerosal and found it toxic, caused cell death and called for its removal in over the counter products. The panel reported that thimerosal was "toxic, caused cell damage, was not effective in killing bacteria or halting their replication" and that thimerosal is "not generally recognized as being safe or effective" (1982 Vol 47, No. 2 Federal Register).

It took 16 years for the FDA to issue the 1998 rule that required thimerosal to be removed from over the counter products (OTC) products, but gave the industry another 16 years to phase out thimerosal's presence. Between 1990 and 1998 the FDA received 47 adverse events reported through the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) regarding mercury or thimerosal. From 1998 to July 2000 another 15 reports were received. In 1999, the FDA stated that mercury exposure from vaccines exceeded Federal Safety Guidelines.

The dramatic rise in autism rates correlates directly with the increase in mercury doses - this is fact. Thimerosal was first marketed in the mid 1930's and autism was first described as a new never before seen disorder in 1943. Thousands of families have subsequently reported their normally-developing children changed after receiving mercury containing vaccines and began displaying symptoms that lead to a diagnosis of autism. The symptoms of autism not only mimic those of mercury poisoning, but children with autism have been found to have 500% the amount of mercury in their bodies compared to typically-developing children.

It has been six years since the Public Health Service (PHS) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) first announced that thimerosal should be removed from vaccines:

"...because any potential risk is of concern, the Public Health Service (PHS), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and vaccine manufacturers agree that thimerosal-containing vaccines should be removed as soon as possible. Similar conclusions were reached this year in a meeting attended by European regulatory agencies, European vaccine manufacturers, and FDA, which examined the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines produced or sold in European countries."(Thimerosal in Vaccines: A Joint Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Public Health Service, July 09, 1999)

Don't Eat the Fish?

In March, 2001, the FDA issued a statement warning pregnant women and young children not to eat fish containing high levels of mercury for fear of causing neurological problems in children. Yet, the CDC's National Immunization Program (NIP) has continued to allow these same sensitive populations to be exposed to mercury from routinely administered flu shots which contain more mercury than seafood. Why?

In 2001, the CDC and its Office of the NIP contracted with the Institute of Medicine to create the Immunization Safety Review Committee in order to examine the scientific evidence regarding a number of vaccine injury hypotheses including the correlation between reception of thimerosal containing vaccines and the onset of neurodevelopmental disorders including autism.

The IOM's first report on thimerosal was issued in October, 2001 (Immunization Safety Review: Thimerosal - Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (2001) Institute of Medicine) and addressed the question if exposure to thimerosal containing vaccines could be associated with adverse neurodevelopmental disorders. The committee stated they found the hypothesis "biologically plausible." The committee recommends that infants, children and pregnant women should not be exposed to thimerosal containing vaccines.

A recommendation that fell on deaf ears at HHS

The CDC called the IOM committee to meet again in 2004 where they discounted the very research they had requested in their 2001 report. Rather than reprimand HHS for its failures to adequately address the research recommendations in the 2001 report, the IOM would base its final conclusions on epidemiological research already proven flawed.

On May 18th, the IOM's Immunization Safety Review Committee issued its final report which found the body of epidemiological evidence favors a rejection of a causal relationship between vaccine thimerosal exposure and autism.

A month earlier in the April 2004 issue of Molecular Psychiatry, neuropharmacologist Richard Deth of Northeastern University in Boston and colleagues described a biochemical pathway that may be the avenue by which thimerosal and other Mercury contaminants cause neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. Thimerosal, is 49 percent ethylmercury, was a major source of mercury exposure from 1988 through 2002 when it was removed from childhood immunizations (except for Flu vaccine).

When these researchers exposed human neuronal cells to low doses of thimerosal, the chemical activity called methylation dropped significantly. Deth said, "it is no wonder that capable of interfering with DNA methylation could cause developmental disorders such as autism."

Research by Clarkson, Magos and Meyers (Thomas W. Clarkson, Ph.D., Laszlo Magos, M.D., and Gary J. Myers, M.D., The Toxicology of Mercury -Current Exposures and Clinical Manifestations, N Engl J Med 2003;349:1731-7.) and Gossel and Bricker ( Gossel TA, Bricker JD. Principles of clinical toxicology. 2nd ed. New York: Raven Press, 1990) determined that ethyl mercury (thimerosal) has the capacity to attack and injure various neurodevelopment centers.

Also in 2003, Holmes et al (Reduced Levels of Mercury in First Baby Haircuts of Autistic Children, International Journal of Toxicology,22:277–285, 2003) published a paper showing there was a lower overall rate of (excreted) mercury in the infants' hair for children diagnosed with autism. This finding strongly supported the hypothesis connecting autistic children's inability for excreting mercury, and as a precursor to mercury induced neurotoxicity and subsequent development disorders. Non-autistic children were found to have substantially higher mercury levels in their first cuts, purporting that their excretion capacity for mercury is less hindered, at least in comparison to the capacity of autistic children.

Dr. H. Vasken Aposhian, provided a similar perspective to the IOM in February 2004: He put forward the possibility that there is an efflux impairment to which thimerosal is introduced into an unfavorable environment. Thimerosal would then be a final insult or "trigger" leading to autism. (Immunization Safety Review: Meeting : Aposhian Presentation)

"This postulate provides that the thimerosal exacerbates pre and post expected environmental exposure, putting the mercury burden over the threshold to neurotoxicity.

Furthermore, thimerosal pharmacokinetics obtained using non-autistic children are not the same as those expected for autistic children." ( Immunization Safety Review: Meeting : Aposhian Presentation)

Remember, this all came from the same IOM meeting that rejected a causal relationship between vaccine thimerosal exposure and autism.

Slight of Hand at Congressional Hearing

On October 5th (2004) Deth, testifying in front of the Congressional Labor and HHS subcommittee, said thimerosal interferes with the conversion of dietary forms of B12 into the active form and so impedes DNA methylation and disrupts some normal gene actions.

This was the Subcommittee Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations Hearing on the "Influenza vaccine."

On December 13th 2004, the independent Environmental Working Group reported on the research of S. Jill James, a professor of biochemistry and pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who identified a signature metabolic impairment or "biomarker" in children with autism (www.ewg.org/reports/autism). The impairment manifests as a severe imbalance in the ratio of active to inactive glutathione, the body's most important tool for detoxifying and excreting heavy metals.

Glutathione works as an antioxidant, keeping in check the potentially destructive process of oxidative stress caused both by normal metabolism and environmental contaminants.

Autistic children showed a significant impairment in every one of five measurements of the body's ability to maintain a healthy glutathione defense.

It is of interest that Boyd Haley, Professor and Chair Dept. of ChemistryUniversity of Kentucky, published an article (1992) showing that the brain enzyme (glutamine synthetase or GS) was specifically elevated in the CSF of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) subjects when compared to age matched controls and some other neurological diseases. This has been confirmed by two other research groups (see www.SynXpharma.com). His observations were expanded as the SynXpharma group also detected GS in the serum and found it elevated in ALS (Lou Gerhig's disease) subjects as well as in AD subjects but not in other neurological diseases. GS is found in the astrocytes that surround the synaptic cleft where the neurotransmitter "glutamate" is released, and where this glutamate has to be converted to glutamine to prevent an excito-toxic nerve death. GS is the enzyme that does this conversion and for some reason, elevated amounts are released in both AD and ALS subjects and can be detected in their serum, but only when using a very sensitive antibody based assay such as a radioimmunoassay (RIA).
But this data was presented to the IOM as well. What researchers like James have accomplished is the initial recognition and mapping to the trigger mechanism(s) involved between the thimerosal (mercury) exposure and the end stage resultant disease.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, received a "spontaneous" phone call during the October 5th hearing letting him "know" that the flu vaccine was going to be 1/2 of its normal supply. He walked into the hallway to reporters who said, "Tell us about mercury in vaccines." No, that is not the story today; we are only going to get 1/2 of the flu vaccine...." And the rest of the story was headlines all the way until after the election.

So, the news media didn't run stories of the insanity of putting mercury in flu vaccine that was going to be given to infants as young as 6 months old, no, they ran a scamy story about a flu vaccine shortage which resulted in a national panic. Fauci had actually known for six weeks, by the beginning of October, that the flu vaccine from one supplier would not be available – he just didn't tell the press about it until it served his purposes or was that just a coincidence?

PART TWO

What Don't We Know Will Give Us Alzheimer's Disease

We don't know why our regulatory bodies refuse to act on the information at hand. The answer to that question may be that our regulatory bodies are simply not what the public seems to think they are. The Vioxx incident finally exposed the FDA as being a government funded professional association for the pharmaceutical companies. The FDA apparently feels its primary mission is to service its clients, the big pharma houses. This needs to be taken into consideration when one asks why the FDA has steadfastly refused to test or evaluate dental amalgam safety for the past 40 years even though amalgams are 50% mercury.

Consider, both the EPA and NAS agree that about 8 to 10% of American women have such high blood levels of mercury as to put any child they gave birth to at risk for neurological impairment. All research studying mercury body burden shows that dental amalgams account for the major exposure, sometimes over 80% (unless you ask the FDA Dental Branch, or the NIH's NIDCR). So when we gave infants vaccines laden with mercury while their bodies were already burdened from the mercury their mother's gave them something bad happened.

The CDC and the AAP released a statement saying 1 in 6 children in the USA has a nerodevelopmental problem. The Medco Health Solutions Group reported in 2004 that the cost of drugs to treat childhood neurological disorders has increased 71% in the same time period that antibiotics used to treat children only increased 4.3%. Could there be an economic incentive to keep the mercury flowing into our bodies? Poison with one hand and treat with the other while avoiding liability?

The logic that is thrust upon us is insanity. In the face of overwhelming data, the FDA, the NIH and the CDC say that as long as there is absence (in their apparently vested interest compromised minds) of absolute proof we are to blindly accept this as proof of absence. Where is the concept of "do no harm" or of protecting children by just removing all overtly preventable toxic exposures?

The ADA has a big vested interest in keeping the perception that dental amalgams are safe so they can avoid lawsuits. They have completely brainwashed generations of dentists in the process and have never been held culpable. Adding obfuscation to the mix, the current crop of Alzheimer's Disease researchers, that get funded to study the amyloid/neurofibril theory for Alzheimer's disease, have been on a gravy train of money that would be shut down if it were exposed that a heavy metal was the cause of the problem – they too have a vested interest in shutting out the truth or those that would attempt to research the truth. However, mercury and only mercury can cause the production of neurofibillary tangles, the hyperphosphorylation of Tau, and increases in the production of beta-amyloid protein – the diagnostic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Has this all been about money and liability issues but never about science or public safety?

One often has to turn to Europe to read non-biased research on this issue. Again in October of 2004, researchers from Institute for Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Freiburg, and the Samueli Institute (European Office, Freiburg, GERMANY) published a study finding the most important genetic risk factor for sporadic Alzheimer's disease is the presence of a specific gene, the apolipoprotein Ee4 allele whereas the apolipoprotein Ee2 allele reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The apolipoprotein Ee4 has a reduced ability to bind metals like mercury and therefore explains the higher risk for Alzheimer's disease. Examining findings from epidemiological and demographical studies, the frequency of amalgam application in industrialized countries, clinical studies, experimental studies and the dental state of Alzheimer's Disease patients in comparison to controls, these European researchers have found and published the smoking gun of Alzheimer's Disease - inorganic mercury plays the decisive role in the etiology of Alzheimer's Disease (Joachim Mutter et al.Alzheimer Disease: Mercury as pathogenetic factor and apolipoprotein E as a moderator (Neuroendocrinol Lett 2004; 25(5):275–283 NEL250504R01 www.nel.edu).

The youngsters currently diagnosed with autism may in fact be the same population subset as the oldsters who now have Alzheimer's disease (AD). The current crop of AD patients would have developed autism if they too had received thimerasol laden vaccines as youths, or been born from mother's whose mouths were replete with amalgam fillings, and don't ignore the fact that the ambient level of ubiquitous mercury in the environment has been on a steady raise as well from other human activity and coal burning power plants.

It is time for decisive action to be taken, but the very agencies that are mandated to protect the public do just the opposite.

CDC Launching Sham Autism Campaign in February 2005

Feigning no knowledge of what causes autism, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has announced it will begin an early intervention campaign in February 2005 called "Learn the Signs. Act Early". The CDC published a study in late 2003, repudiating any possible link between thimerosal and developmental problems such as autism, but the CDC did have data supporting such a link which it secretively kept from the public.

Documents released through the Freedom of Information Act detail the transcript of a meeting held in June of 2000 between members of the CDC, the FDA, and representatives from the vaccine industry. The transcript is titled "Scientific Review of Vaccine Safety Datalink Information. June 7-8, 2000, Simpsonwood Retreat Center, Norcross, Georgia), but it was also the first official meeting of the ACIP(Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices which sets CDC policy) work group on thimerosal and immunization. In attendance was Walter Orenstein, Director of the National Immunization Program (NIP) at the CDC, John Modlin, Chair of the ACIP and on the faculty at Dartmouth Medical School, and 50 other distinguished members of the government (11 consultants from the CDC), academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Vaccine industry: Harry Guess, M.D., Merck, Chief of Epidemiology Jo White, M.D., North American Vaccine, Clinical Dev. & Research Barbara Howe, M.D., Smith, Kline-Beecham, Clinical Research Group Mike Blum, M.D., Wyeth, Safety and Surveillance for Vaccine Development.

Now, it should be obvious that this conference is concerned with the effects of mercury in the form of thimerosal on infant brain development, yet throughout this conference these supposed experts seem to know little about mercury. None of the well known experts were invited, such as Dr. Ascher from Bowman Grey School of Medicine or Dr. Boyd Haley, who has done extensive work on the toxic effects of low concentrations on the CNS. But there was a reason they were not at this conference - the true objective of this conference was to find a way to mitigate the fall-out from a study showing that mercury in vaccines caused neurodevelopmental problems, this meeting was as much about cover-up than anything else and it was all recorded for posterity.

The following are in context excerpts of this 260 page transcript:

Dr. Orenstein pg 1-2 "(For) those who don't know, initial concerns were raised last summer that mercury, as methylmercury (thimerosal) in vaccines, might exceed safe levels. As a result of these concerns, CDC undertook, in collaboration with investigators in the Vaccine safety Datalink, an effort to evaluate whether there were any health risks from mercury on any of these vaccines. Analysis to date raise some concerns of possible dose-response effect of increasing levels of mehylmercury in vaccines and certain neurologic diagnosis. Therefore, the purpose of this meeting is to have a careful scientific review of the data."

Dr. Bernier pg 8 : (Associate Director for Science in the NIP) "There was a Congressional Action in 1997 requiring the FDA to review Mercury in drugs and biologics...in October of 1999 the ACIP looked this situation over again and... said the vaccines could be continued to be used."

Dr. Johnston, pg. 14-15 & 19-20: (Chair of the meeting and a pediatrician-immunologist at the University of Colorado): "Thimerosal is cleaved (in the body) into ethylmercury and thiosalicylate which is inactive... The data on its toxicity (shows) it can cause neurologic and renal toxicity, including death."

"It is particularly a concern in multi-dose vials because of the issue of re-entry multiple times in the vials, and it is also important in the manufacturing process for a number of vaccine including inactivated influenza and some of the earlier DPT vaccine, and is a constituent of all DPT vaccines, but not all DTAP vaccines."

"There are three licensed preservative in the United States, Thimerosal, ethyl and phenol. We won't talk about the other two today, but I thought I should mention them. Thimerosal is the most active and it has been utilized in vaccines since the 1930's."

"Acutely, it can cause neurologic and renal toxicity, including death, from overdose..."

"Dr. Halsey made a very impassioned plea that we do carefully controlled studies to in fact address the issues specifically, and that such studies be conducted by neurodevelopmentalists and environmental scientists employing specific endpoints of their study..."

"We just recently had another meeting that some of you were able to attend dealing with aluminum in vaccines. I would like to just say one or two words about that before I conclude."

"We learned at that meeting a number of important things about aluminum, and I think they also are important in our considerations today. "Aluminum salts are important in the formulating process of vaccines, both in antigen stabilization and absorption of endotoxin."

"Aluminum and mercury are often simultaneously administered to infants, both at the same site and at different sites."

"However, we also learned that there is absolutely no data, including animal data, about the potential for synergy, additively or antagonism, all of which can occur in binary metal mixtures that relate and allow us to draw any conclusions from the simultaneous exposure to these two salts in vaccines..."

Dr. Weil, pg. 24: "I think it's clear to me anyway that we are talking about a problem that is probably more related to bolus acute exposures, and we also need to know that the migration problems and some of the other developmental problems in the central nervous system go on for quite a period after birth. But from all of the other studies of toxic substances, the earlier you work with the central nervous system, the more likely you are to run into a sensitive period for one of these effects, so that moving from one month or one day of birth to six months of birth changes enormously the potential for toxicity. There are just a host of neurodevelopmental data that would suggest that we've got a serious problem. The earlier we go, the more serious the problem."

"The second point I could make is that in relationship to aluminum, being a nephrologist for a long time, the potential for aluminum and central nervous system toxicity was established by dialysis data. To think there isn't some possible problem here is unreal."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 31: "It is sort of interesting that when I first came to the CDC as a NIS officer a year ago only, I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but one of the things I knew I didn't want to do was studies that had to do with toxicology or environmental health. Now it turns out that other people also thought that this study was not the right thing to do, so what I will present to you is the study that nobody thought we should do."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 40: "...we have found statistically significant relationships between the exposure and outcomes for these different exposures and outcomes. First, for two months of age, an unspecified developmental delay, which has its own specific ICD9 code. Exposure at three months of age, Tics. Exposure at six months of age, an attention deficit disorder. Exposure at one, three and six months of age, language and speech delays which are two separate ICD9 codes. Exposures at one, three and six months of age, the entire category of neurodevelopmental delays, which includes all of these plus a number of other disorders."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 42: "But for one thing that is for sure, there is certainly an under-ascertainment of all of these because some of the children are just not old enough to be diagnosed. So the crude incidence rates are probably much lower that what you would expect because the cohort is still very young."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 44: "Now for speech delays, which is the largest single disorder in this category of neurologic delays. The results are a suggestion of a trend with a small dip. The overall test for trend is highly statistically significant above one."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 45: "What this represents is the overall category of developmental delays, of which I have excluded speech delays because of the impression we had was some of the calculations were driven by this speech group, which was making up about half of this category. After excluding this speech group, the trend is also apparent in this group and the test for trend is also significant for this category excluding speech."

Dr. Weil, pg. 75: "I think that what you are saying is in term of chronic exposure. I think that the alternative scenario is that this repeated acute exposures, and like many repeated acute exposures, if you consider a dose of 25 micrograms on one day, then you are above threshold. At least we think you are, and then you do that over and over to a series of neurons where the toxic effect may be the same set of neurons or the same set of neurologic processes; it is conceivable that the more mercury you get, the more effect you are going to get."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 76: "What I have done here, I am putting into the model instead of mercury, a number of antigens that the children received, and what do we get? Not surprisingly, we get very similar estimates as what we got for Thimerosal because every vaccine put in the equation has Thimerosal. So for speech and the other ones maybe it's not so significant, but for the overall group it is also significant....Here we have the same thing, but instead of number of antigens, number of shots. Just the number of vaccinations given to a child, which is also for nearly all of them significantly related."

Dr. Guess, pg. 77: "So this essentially is a 7% risk per antigen, an antigen is like in DPT you've got three antigens."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 77: "Correct."

Dr. Egan, pg. 77: "Could you do this calculation for aluminum?"

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 77: "I did it for aluminum...Actually the results were almost identical to ethylmercury because the amount of aluminum goes along almost exactly with the mercury one."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 78-79: "Then the last slide I wanted to show, there was a question of it there was any way from this data that we could estimate what would happen in the future if there is Thimerosal-free Hep B and Thimerosal-free haemophilus influenza vaccine and only DTP has Thimerosal"

"The second column would be the same scenario but now at six months. Assuming they have received two additional DPTs, so between three and six months of age they have increased their ethylmercury amounts by 50 micrograms. If I do in this current cohort with all its limitations, because there is also the Hep B that exists in the cohort*, I can't really take it out. It is significant for this one disorder which is language delay and is a combination of these two disorders, also becomes significant."

* Dr. Verstraeten could not determine which children got Hep B at birth in some cases so it was difficult to back the birth dose of Hep B out of the data.

Dr. Bernier, pg. 113: "We have asked you to keep this information confidential. We do have a plan for discussing these data at the upcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices on June 21 and June 22. At that time CDC plans to make a public release of this information*, so I think it would serve all of our interests best if we could continue to consider these data. The ACIP work group will be considering also. If we could consider these data in a certain protected environment. So we are asking people who have a great job protecting this information up until now, to continue to do that until the time of the ACIP meeting. So to basically consider this embargoed information. That would help all of us to use the machinery that we have in place for considering these data and for arriving at policy recommendations."

*never happened (SafeMind.org obtained this transcript via the Freedom of Information Act) then the data was later published with the results diluted to insignificance using compromised data from an HMO whose were in shambles.

Dr. Keller, pgs. 116 & 118: "...we know the developing neurologic system is more sensitive than one that is fully developed..."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 142: "But if I can have the next slide, here instead of the proportional hazard model, we did a logistic regression model. I didn't use person time here and it's a bit tough to define exactly the control group. However, if I do it for all ages and not looking at different years, and this is for speech, the outcome is almost identical to the proportional hazard model, which suggests to me that it is not a question of bringing the diagnosis forward, but it is really the overall number that drives this estimate."

Dr. Rapin, pg. 143: "I would like to make a comment. We have been focusing on all these acquired causes including mercury and prematurity, and you had a list of confounding variables that should be considered in future studies. What we know today about all of the developmental disorders is that environmental factors are in fact rather unimportant in the case of these deficits and the major cause is genetic...I find it a little difficult knowing this and putting in autism. The major cause is not environmental, it is genetic and that we are focusing just on these environment events or adventitious events when we haven't considered, and you told us that you don't have data for example on siblings, your study does not lend itself to considering the major variable."

Dr. Johnson, pg 144: "Well, I think the assumption is that those genetic predispositions would be randomly distributed."

Dr. Rapin, pg.144: "But you don't know that."

Dr. Johnson, pg. 144: "No, that's an interesting assumption."

Dr. Rapin, pg. 144: "I understand that, but you don't know that."

Dr. Johnson, pg. 144: "just on principle, Dr. Rapin, it seems to me that the more we learn about genetics or the more we learn about let's say autism, the more we shift towards focusing on genetic causes, but would you rule out the possibility, and let's move away from autism, that some of these are genetic predisposition and then the second hit?"

Dr. Rapin, pg. 144: "Not at all. I think that it is in fact an attractive hypothesis."

Dr. Johnson, pg. 145: "Right, thank you."

Dr. Chen, pg. 151: "One of the reasons that led me personally to not be so quick to dismiss the findings was that on his own Tom independently picked three different outcomes that he did not think could be associated with mercury and three out of three had a different pattern across different exposure levels as compared to the ones that again on a priority basis we picked as biologically plausible to be due to mercury exposure."

Dr. Brent, pg. 161: "Wasn't it true that if you looked at the population that had 25 micrograms you had a certain risk and when you got to 75 micrograms you had a higher risk."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 161: "Yes, absolutely, but these are all at the same time. Measured at the same age at least."

Dr. Brent, pg. 161: I understand that, but they are different exposures."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 161: "Yes."

Dr. Brent, pg. 161: "What is your explanation? What explanations would you give for that?"

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 161: "Personally, I have three hypotheses. My first hypothesis is it is parental bias. The children that are more likely to be vaccinated are more likely to be picked and diagnosed. Second hypothesis, I don't know. There is a bias that I have not recognized, and nobody has yet told me about it. Third hypothesis. It's true, it's Thimerosal. Those are my hypotheses."

Dr. Brent, pg. 161: "If it's true, which or what mechanisms would you explain the finding with?"

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 162: "You are asking for biological plausibility?"

Dr. Brent, pg. 162: "Well, yes."

Dr. Verstraeten, pg. 162: "When I saw this, and I went back through the literature, I was actually stunned by what I saw because I thought it is plausible. First of all there is the Faeroe study, which I think people have dismissed too easily, and there is a new article in the same Journal that was presented here, the Journal of Pediatrics, where they have looked at PCB. They have looked at other contaminants in seafood and they have adjusted for that, and still mercury comes out. That is one point. Another point is that in many of the studies with animals, it turned out that there is quite a different result depending on the dose of mercury. Depending on the route of exposure and depending on the age at which the animals, it turned out that there is quite a different result depending on the dose of mercury. Depending on the route of exposure and depending on the age at which the animals were exposed. Now, I don't know how much you can extrapolate that from animals to humans, but that tells me mercury at one month of age is not the same as mercury at three months, at 12 months, prenatal mercury, later mercury. There is a whole range of plausible outcomes from mercury. On top of that, I think that we cannot so easily compare the U.S. population to Faeroe or Seychelles populations. We have different mean levels of exposure. We are comparing high to high in the Seychelles, high to high in the Faeroe and low to low in the U.S., so I am not sure how easily you can transpose one finding to another one. So basically to me that leaves all the options open, and that means I can not exclude such a possible effect."

Dr. Orenstein, pg. 184: "Well, the second issue is we don't know causality. We don't know about causality, but is this something that really warrants some urgent attention?"

Dr. Clover, pg. 187: "...no one around here is going to say that mercury per say is not a concern."

Dr. Weil, pg. 187 & 188: "Although the data presents a number of uncertainties, there is adequate consistency, biological plausibility, a lack of relationship with phenomenon not expected to be related, and a potential causal role that is as good as any other hypothesized etiology of explanation of the noted associations. In addition, the possibility that the associations could be causal has major significance for public and professional acceptance of Thimerosal containing vaccines. I think that is a critical issue. Finally, lack of further study would be horrendous grist for the anti-vaccination bill. That's why we need to go on, and urgently I would add.*

* On November 15 of that same year - 2000 - Walt Orenstein attended a meeting on the safety of vaccines and when the FDA's Dr. Susan S. Ellenberg proposed conducting larger trials, Orenstein clearly indicated he was not in favor of expanded studies.

Dr. Brent, pg. 188-191: "I am impressed with the fact that some people here have information and believe that like the incidence of learning difficulties, behavior disorders and attention deficit is increasing in our population. I don't know whether it is or it isn't, but that kind of information you just can't throw around and say it's true or isn't true without data. And it is such an important area in our society. I mean it is the thing that makes a human being different from the other species, so it is such an important area of research..."

"...(thimerosal) Causing learning disabilities and behavioral disorders. ADD is a tremendous problem in our society and I think it is one that we should be very concerned about."

"Finally, the thing that concerns me the most, those who know me, I have been a pin stick in the litigation community because of the nonsense of our litigious society. This will be a resource to our very busy plaintiff attorneys in this country when this information becomes available. They want business and this could potentially be a lot of business."

Dr. Koller, pg. 192: "...As you increase the vaccination, you increase effects, but you don't know. You have modified live viruses. You have different antigens. There is a lot of things in those vaccinations other than mercury, and we don't know whether this is a vaccination effect or a mercury effect. But I am almost sure it is not a mercury effect. Positive as a matter of fact, and there are several experts particularly that have reviewed this, the methylmercury aspect who would agree with that due to dose response."

Dr. Johnson, pg. 193: "Are you really comfortable with the way the neurologic function was tested in the Seychelles?"

Dr. Koller, pg. 193: "I have to admit that there were many other tests that could have been conducted...We are talking about very subjective, very sensitive assays and yes, there could have been others done and there should be more done..."

Dr. Johnson, pg. 198: "This association leads me to favor a recommendation that infants up to two years old not be immunized with Thimerosal containing vaccines if suitable alternative preparations are available."

"My gut feeling? It worries me enough. Forgive this personal comment, but I got called out at eight o'clock for an emergency call and my daughter-in-law delivered a son by C-section. Our first male in the line of the next generation, and I do not want that grandson to get a Thimerosal containing vaccine until we know better what is going on. It will probably take a long time. In the meantime, and I know there are probably implications for this internationally, but in the meantime I think I want that grandson to only be given Thimerosal-free vaccines."

(The chairman of the panel himself, which will eventually make policy concerning all of the children in this country, as well as other countries, who is very concerned about his new grandson getting a thimerosal-containing vaccine is not apparently concerned enough about anyone else's child to speak out and try to stop this insanity. He allows a cover-up to take place after this meeting adjourns and remains silent.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American Academy of Family Practice, the AMA, CDC and every other organization will endorse these vaccines and proclaim them to be safe and sane, but Dr, Johnson and the rest of the panel will keep their silence.)

Dr. Bernier, pg 198 "the negative findings need to be pinned down and published." (in other words he wants a paper to be published that says only that nothing was found by the study and his request is eventually granted).

(At the end of this conference Dr. Weil makes sure everyone knows that the results of the study are very positive – meaning there is a clear and significant relationship between the thimerosal-containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental problems....)

Dr. Weil, pg. 207: "The number of dose related relationships are linear and statistically significant. You can play with this all you want. They are linear. They are statistically significant. The positive relationships are those that one might expect from the Faroe Islands studies. They are also related to those data we do have on experimental animal data and similar to the neurodevelopmental tox data on other substances, so that I think you can't accept that this is out of the ordinary. It isn't out of the ordinary."

Dr. Weil, pg. 208: "The rise in the frequency of neurobehavioral disorders whether it is ascertainment or real, is not too bad. It is much too graphic. We don't see that kind of genetic change in 30 years."

Dr. Brent, pg. 229: "The medical/legal findings in this study, causal or not, are horrendous and therefore, it is important that the suggested epidemiological, pharmacokinetic, and animal studies be performed. If an allegation was made that a child's neurobehavioral findings were caused by Thimerosal containing vaccines, you could readily find junk scientist who would support the claim with "a reasonable degree of certainty". But you will not find a scientist with any integrity who would say the reverse with the data that is available. And that is true. So we are in a bad position from the standpoint of defending any lawsuits if they were initiated and I am concerned."

(Dr. Brent is accusing any scientist that testifies against official policy and dogma to be a junk scientist, but it should be clear from reading this transcript who the real junk scientists are!

For Dr. Brent and others in the FDA and CDC, real scientists are those that sheepishly believe what they are told with no data to back up their beliefs, who are so delusional they just know that everything will turn out alright in the end (for themselves). Real scientists say they don't want their grandson to get thimerosal-containing vaccines until the problem is worked out, but that it's okay to tell millions of parents that the vaccines are perfectly safe for their children and grandchildren.)

Dr. Meyers, pg. 231: "Can I go back to the core issue about the research? My own concern, and a couple of you said it, there is an association between vaccines and outcome that worries both parents and pediatricians. We don't really know what that outcome is, but it is one that worries us and there is an association with vaccines. We keep jumping back to Thimerosal, but a number of us are concerned that Thimerosal may be less likely than some of the potential associations that have been made. Some of the potential associations are number of injections, number of antigens, other additives. We mentioned aluminum and I mentioned yesterday aluminum and mercury. Antipyretics and analgesics are better utilized when vaccines are given. And then every body mentioned all of the ones that we can't think about in this quick time period that are a part of this association, and yet all of the questions I hear we are asking have to do with Thimerosal. My concern is we need to ask the questions about the other potential associations, because we are going to the Thimerosal-free vaccine. I f many of us don't think that this is a plausible association because of the levels and so on, then we are missing looking for the association that may be the important one."

Dr. Caserta, pg. 234: "One of the things I learned at the Aluminum Conference in Puerto Rico that was tied into the metal lines in biology and medicine that I never really understood before, is the interactive effect of different metals when they are together in the same organism. It is not the same as when they are alone, and I think it would be foolish for us not to include aluminum as part of our thinking with this."

Dr. Clements, pg 247- 249: "I am really concerned that we have taken off like a boat going down one arm of the mangrove swamp at high speed, when in fact there was not enough discussion really early on about which was the boat should go at all. And I really want to risk offending everyone in the room by saying that perhaps this study should not have been done at all, because the outcome of it could have, to some extent, been predicted, and we have all reached this point now where we are left hanging, even though I hear the majority of consultants say to the Board that they are not convinced there is a causality direct link between Thimerosal and various neurological outcomes."

"I know how we handle it from here is extremely problematic. The ACIP is going to depend on comments from this group in order to move forward into policy, and I have been advised that whatever I say should not move into the policy area because that is not the point of this meeting. But nonetheless, we know from many experiences in history that the pure scientist has done research because of pure science. But that pure science has resulted in splitting the atom or some other process which is completely beyond the power of the scientists who did the research to control it. And what we have here is people who have, for every best reason in the world, pursued a direction of research. But there is not the point at which the research results have to be handled, and even if this committee decides that there is no association and that information gets out, the work that has been done and through the freedom of information that will be taken by others and will be used in ways beyond the control of this group. And I am very concerned about that as I suspect it already too late to do anything regardless of any professional body and what they say."

"My mandate as I sit here in this group is to make sure at the end of the day the 100,000,000 are immunized with DTP, Hepatitis B and if possible Hib, this year, next year and for many years to come, and that will have to be with Thimerosal containing vaccines unless a miracle occurs and an alternative is found quickly and is tried and found to be safe."

"So I leave you with the challenge that I am very concerned that this has gotten this far, and that having got this far, how you present in a concerted voice the information to the ACIP in a way they will be able to handle it and not get exposed to the traps which are out there in public relations. My message would be that any other study, and I like the study that has just been described here very much. I think it makes a lot of sense, but it has to be thought through. What are the potential outcomes and how will you handle it? How will it be presented to a public and media that is hungry for selecting the information they want to use for whatever means they in store for them?"

"...but I wonder how on earth you are going to handle it from here."

Dr. Bernier, pg. 256: "...As difficult as science is, there are two other equally tricky, complex challenges. The policy crafting has to take into consideration some very diverse and complex issues. There is another group that will deal with that, and then we have the communication and how we handle this, which I think I am no expert at, but seems equally daunting to me as the scientific and the policy issue."

"I don't think we can set a rule here because some people have gotten these documents. For example, some of the manufacturers were privileged to receive this information. It has been important for them to share it within the company with the experts there, so they can review it. Some of you may have questions. You may have given a copy, but I think if we will all just consider this embargoed information, if I can use that term, and very highly protected information, I think that was the best I can offer."

Excerpts from:

Roger Bernier, Ph.D., CDC's associate director for science

Robert Brent, M.D., Thomas Jefferson University and Dupont Hospital for Children, developmental biologist and pediatrician

Vito Caserta, M.D., Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Vaccine Injury Compensation Program's chief medical officer

Bob Chen, M.D., CDC's chief of Vaccine Safety and Development, National Immunization Program

Tom Clarkson, M.D., University of Rochester, New York, Mercury program

John Clements, World Health Organization (WHO) representing expanded program on immunization

Bob Davis, M.D., University of Washington, associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology

Bill Egan, Ph.D., FDA's Center for Biologics, Evaluation & Research

David Johnson, M.D., Michigan state public health officer, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)

Dick Johnston, M.D., University of Colorado School of Medicine and National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, immunologist and pediatrician

Loren Koller, D.V.M., Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine, pathologist, immunotoxicologist

Martin Meyers, M.D., CDC's acting director, National Immunization Program

Walter Orenstein, M.D. CDC's director, National Immunization Program

Isabelle Rapin, M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, neurologist for children

Tom Verstraeten, M.D., CDC's National Immunization Program presently employed by Glaxo-Welcome, vaccine company

Bill Weil, M.D., retired pediatrician, representing American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP)

PART THREE

Conclusion

This top secret meeting was held to discuss a study done by Dr. Thomas Verstraeten and his co-workers using Vaccine Safety Datalink data as a project collaboration between the CDC's National Immunization Program (NIP) and four HMOs. The study examined the records of 110,000 children. Within the limits of the data, they did a very thorough job and found theses results:

1) Exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines at one month was associated significantly with the neurobehavioral disorder that was dose related. That is, the higher the child's exposure to thimerosal the higher the incidence of the disorder. This disorder is characterized by a baby that cries uncontrollably and is fretful more so than that seen in normal babies.

2) Found a nearly significant increased risk of ADD with 12.5ug exposure at one month.

3) With exposure at 3 months, they found an increasing risk of neurodevelopmental disorders (including speech disorders) with increasing exposure to thimerosal. This was statistically significant.

4) The control group were not children without thimerosal exposure, but rather those at 12.5ug exposure. Therefore, there is reason to believe that even more neurodevelopmental problems would have been seen had they used a real control population. No one disagreed that these findings were significant and troubling.

When the study was later published in the journal Pediatrics, Dr. Verstraeten and co-workers reported no consistent associations were found between thimerosal-containing vaccine exposure and neurodevelopmental problems (he listed himself as an employee of the CDC, not disclosing that at the time the article was accepted, he worked for GlaxoSmithKline, a vaccine manufacturing company).

Just in case no one noticed, he manipulated the data showing a causal link between immunizations and autism by adding in information from another HMO (Harvard Pilgrimage). This HMO was in receivership by the state of Massachusetts because its records were in shambles and therefore virtually worthless except for the fact that by adding in the numbers from this HMO it statistically made the true data, from his real study, disappear by rendering it all statistically insignificant.

Why would he do this? One can speculate if he revealed the results of his original study he was told he would lose his standing in the scientific community and be attacked and marginalized. The liability issue here is non-trivial, but liability issues can be dealt with legislatively – Senator Bill Frist (R- Tenn) introduces legislation on a regular basis to protect Eli Lilly from any liability from thimerosal. So liability, in and of itself, is not a reason to continue the poisoning of humanity.

Thimerosal has been banned in virtually all first world countries. If the United States were to ban it then the World Health Organization, which has intimate ties to the CDC, would have to ban it and they have already gone on record stating that they would continue to defend its use because they don't want to pay a penny more for vaccines that might actually have an efficacious preservative in them.

So, the Autism pandemic continues in the United States and any hope of mercury free childhood vaccines have been dashed now that the mercury laden flu vaccines have become part of the routine infant immunization schedule. Of course, this will have a cost; this will actually destroy the United States. Just as the Roman Empire was destroyed by the untoward effects of lead plumbing and run-away malaria epidemic, so too will a country of jobless and dependent learning disabled and autistic children destroy the United States as we know it. Fifteen years from now the United States may no longer be a first world country because of this.

On May 20, 2004, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) forwarded to Congress hundreds of disclosures relating to the link between thimerosal and autism. But the OSC requires a federal employee, specifically one from wither the FDA or CDC, to come forward and whistle-blow. The OSC would then have jurisdiction in this matter. "I believe these allegations raise serious continuing concerns about the administration of the nation's vaccine program and the government's possibly inadequate response to the growing body of scientific research on the public health danger of mercury in vaccines..(but) because OSC lacks jurisdiction, we are closing our files on these cases....sincerely (SC) SJ Bloch."

Who does have jurisdiction? The justice department has jurisdiction, but their role is now to defend the HHS against any vaccine injury claim even though the vaccine injury compensation program was intended to be no-fault. Over the years, the HHS has systematically eliminated any vaccine injury category for which a child could seek compensation. It is now virtually impossible for a child to receive compensation for a vaccine injury. Every time HHS paid out a claim, they eliminated off the table whatever the condition was that allowed an injured child to tap into the compensation program.

So, we are clearly being exposed to a disinformation campaign by partisan scientists and government agencies that are mandated to protect the public – So, "Learn the Signs – Act Early!" - is a slogan that has a double meaning in this situation. There is no point in trying to convince the CDC what is causing the autism pandemic in the United States, they already know! By both acts of omission and commission, the CDC and FDA have turned the public into toxic slaves, sacrificing a generation of Americans to protect a corporation, irrational policy and the WHO. At the same time giving the impression that they are here to serve and protect. It is an ironic reality that we now live in - where the dissemination of biasing information is being used against us as if we were the enemies in some military campaign.

Never mind the actual burden of these disabled children, this level of disinformation is the real danger to our very way of life, but where there is danger there is also opportunity; however, the public can only perceive what is shown to them. We have entrusted the public safety to others whose conscience awareness of the common well being often fades in the face of corporatist interest. Need we be reminded again that whenever medical doctors force medical interventions carrying a risk of injury or death upon individuals without their voluntary informed consent, such as infants and children getting thimerosal laced flu vaccine, they are violating the spirit and letter of the Nuremberg Code, which serves as a guideline for the ethical practice of modern medicine. Time has already run out already for many, and for many more that have no idea their fates are already sealed from getting over-exposed to mercury in one form or another.