"David Wright" <wright@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:lPidnRjO3pJV8f3VnZ2dnUVZ_j-dnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In article
> <a759a193-f1af-41f7-ab45-b0cde09f35ec@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> mainframetech <mainframetech@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>Jeff,
>> I hate ta tell ya, but they haven't stopped using Thimerosal yet.
>>The FDA website says that the FDA allows it in certain situations, and
>>who can trust every doctor and clinic not to use the type of vaccine
>>that contains Thimerosal on children if they have some of it?
>
> None of the standard childhood vaccines contain significant
> thimerosal, so your fearmongering is wasted.
>
> (I'm not including flu vaccine in the "standard" list.)
>
> -- David Wright
http://www.thecre.com/quality/2005/20050825f_quality.html
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Why Won't the CDC Allow Access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink?
Memo to CDC: We're not getting our money's worth
David Kirby
May 23, 2005
Can mercury in vaccines cause autism in children? This hotly disputed
question will only burn brighter as more biological evidence surfaces to
suggest a link. But a definitive answer might take years. Meanwhile, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sitting on a
multi-million-dollar database - paid for by you and me - that could
probably
resolve this contretemps within weeks.
They have the data. We paid for the data. Yet we cannot see the data. The
information is kept under lock and key within the massive health agency --
as jealously guarded as nuclear secrets.
The CDC tells us that they have looked at the data exhaustively and found
"no evidence of harm." They implied that their own scientists are
perfectly
capable of analyzing the data, thank you very much, and outside
researchers
cannot be trusted to independently verify their analyses, nor to protect
the
confidentiality of patients whose numbers they would be crunching.
But, as any high school student can tell you, the replication of a study
is
the hallmark of all good science. Without access to the raw data
originally
used by the CDC researchers, it is impossible to verify their work. All we
can do is trust that they got it right.
The CDC, which has budgeted nearly $200 million to operate the Vaccine
Safety Datalink, spent four years analyzing data from children who
received
varying amounts of thimerosal in their vaccines. The study went through
five
different permutations before being published in November, 2003. Early
study
"generations," which were never meant to see the light of day, showed
highly
elevated, statistically significant increased risks for autism and other
disorders among the kids receiving the most mercury.
But by the time the study was published, most of these associations had
somehow disappeared entirely.
Only two outside researchers, Mark and David Geier, have managed to gain
access to the raw CDC data. They faced daunting hurdles to get into the
CDC
computer center, and nearly crippling software malfunctions once they were
inside. But among the data they did manage to mine, they re****tedly found
highly elevated risks for autism among children in the highest mercury
exposure group.
So we now have two extremely different interpretations of the same data.
It
is way past time that the CDC allow a third team - outside researchers
completely acceptable to all parties involved in this dispute - into the
database to conduct any analyses they see fit. (Patients names are removed
from the data, making it exceedingly hard for researchers to identify
anyone, even if they desired, which is extremely unlikely in itself).
It sounds reasonable, it sounds nice. But don't hold your breath. The CDC
is
hardly issuing engraved invitations to come trawl its mainframes, despite
a
harshly written re****t earlier this year from the Institute of Medicine.
The
IOM complained of CDC foot dragging, and even insolence, on this matter,
and
suggested that vaccine officials at the health agency seek "legal
counsel."
Why? Because the original datasets of children used by the government
have,
as they say, gone missing. (Actually, the official explanation was that
they
"were not archived in a standard fa****on.") The intentional loss or
destruction of taxpayer funded data or datasets is a violation of the
Federal Data Quality Act. It is a felony, and someone could go to jail for
it.
Meanwhile, the data just sit there. Our data, not theirs. CDC officials
insist they have an "open mind" on this issue, and that thimerosal has not
been ruled out as a possible cause of autism and other disorders. But they
also insist that the vaccine safety database yielded no evidence of harm.
If that is true, then why are they so reluctant to let someone else in to
verify this claim? I cannot answer that question, because the CDC is not
talking to me. But I do know that people with nothing to hide are
unen***bered by doubts of what others will find if they rifle through
their
closet.
If the data can prove that injecting a known neurotoxin into infants at
levels up to 125 times over federal safety limits was a safe and sane
thing
to do, then why isn't the CDC having an open house for all researchers
worth
their salt to come on down and have a look-see for themselves?
Without access to the raw data, parents who sup****t the thimerosal theory
-
and their allies in Congress, academia and law - are falling back on other
recent studies that show a possible link between mercury and autism. They
may not have the epidemiology on their side, yet, but the mounting
evidence
emerging from the fields of biology and toxicology is becoming too urgent
to
ignore. Recent published studies have shown:
+ Autistic children retain mercury at much higher rates than non-autistic
kids.
+ Autistic children lack certain sulfur-based proteins that bind to heavy
metals and remove them from the body.
+ Autistic children have a dysfunctional immune profile generally
consistent
with mercury toxicity.
+ The rate of increase in re****ted autism cases peaked between 1987 and
1992, the same years that new mercury-containing vaccines were added to
the
U.S. schedule.
+ Mice with autoimmune disorders react horrifically to mercury exposure
from
vaccines, whereas typical mice of the same species do not.
+ In primates, mercury from vaccines was more likely to become trapped in
the brain than mercury from fish.
+ Children who live near mercury spewing power plants have an elevated
risk
of developing autism.
These are all intriguing, to be sure. But what we really need is to get
our
hands on the raw CDC data - our data.
David Kirby is author of "Evidence of Harm" (St. Martin's Press)
www.evidenceofharm.com
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