Confidential report on mercury in children's vaccines differs from
public report Per Dalen sends us a Press Release below that refers to a
confidential CDC report, which discusses autism as a potential
neurological injury caused by mercury in children's vaccines, that he
has made available by attachment. As too many people have reservations
about, or trouble with, attachments, I have include Per's email at the
end of this broadcast for those that wish to pursue that document
further. For further information, Per also directs us to SafeMinds
(Sensible Action for Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders):
http://www.safeminds.org/ ; And Dr. Joseph Mercola's Optimal Wellness
Center: http://www.mercola.com/2001/aug/15/cdc.htm
-----------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 07:33:53 -0700
From: "PROVE" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [PROVE] Press release re internal CDC report on thimerosal and
autism
PRESS RELEASE
An announcement was made today by the law firm of Waters & Kraus, the
firmthat filed the first known lawsuit alleging that a mercury
preservative in
children's vaccines caused neurological damage to an infant ultimately
diagnosed with autism. Waters & Kraus is leading a consortium of ten
firms
in as many states that are actively prosecuting cases of this nature
(firms
listed below). Andy Waters, the lead attorney in the cases, announced
that
his firm is now in possession of a previously unreleased confidential
reportauthored by Centers for Disease Control scientists which studied
autism as apotential neurological injury caused by mercury in children's
vaccines.
A different version of the report was made public and has been cited by
the
recent Institute of Medicine study as inconclusive on the issue of
whether
the mercury-based vaccine preservative known as thimerosal has
contributed
to cause a nationwide epidemic of regressive autism and other
neurological
disorders in small children. The confidential version of the study,
however, clearly demonstrated that an exposure to more than 62.5
micrograms
of mercury within the first three months of life significantly increased
a
child's risk of developing autism. Specifically, the study found a 2.48
times increased risk of autism - that is to say, children with the
exposure
were more than twice as likely to develop autism as children not
exposed.
In the United States, courts of law have generally held that a relative
increased risk of 2.0 or higher is sufficient to substantiate that a
given
exposure causes disease. As but one example, in the case of Cook v.
United
States, 545 F.Supp. 306, at 308 (Northern District - California 1982)
the
Court stated that, "in a vaccine case, a relative risk greater than 2.0
establishes that there is a greater than 50% chance that the injury was
caused by the vaccine."
Waters indicated that, in many of the cases his firm has evaluated,
including the case filed in a Texas state court on behalf of the Counter
family, the affected child received more than 62.5 micrograms of mercury
through pediatric vaccines in the first three months of life.
The confidential report, which was obtained by the SAFEMINDS support
andadvocacy group, states: "As for the exposure evaluated at 3 months
of age,we found increasing risks of 'neurological developmental
disorders' with
increasing cumulative exposure to thimerosal ... within the group of
'developmental disorders'... for the sub-group called 'specific delays,'
and
within this sub-group for the specific disorder 'developmental speech
disorder,' and for 'autism,' 'stuttering' and 'attention deficit
disorder.'"
The report also contained the graph depicted below which illustrated the
report's findings of a child's increasing risk of developing the
neurological symptoms of autism after receiving increasing amounts of
thimerosal.
Graph 3: Relative risk - 95 % CI of Autism after different
exposure
levels of thimerosal at 3 months of age, NCK & GHC
(see www.vaccineinfo.net/autismHg.htm to view graph)
Waters pointed out that the confidential study's lead author, Thomas
Verstraeten, has since left the Centers for Disease Control and is now
employed by GlaxoSmithKline, a manufacturer of thimerosal-containing
vaccines for many years that is a defendant in numerous suits pending
nationwide. "We have asked GlaxoSmithKline to provide Mr. Verstraeten's
deposition in order to understand if conflict of interest issues may
have
played a role in the CDC's decision to keep this report confidential,
and
specifically, their failure to reveal it to the Institute of Medicine."
Waters called the report's contents and the fact that it was kept from
the
public as "shocking, but unfortunately not surprising, given the
political
influence of pharmaceutical companies and the tremendous liability they
face
if they are forced to compensate thousands of families for the costs of
care
that these children require." Waters added that "no amount of money can
give
these children back the potential that they were born with, and no
amount of
money will comfort the parents that watched helplessly as their
childrenliterally just slipped away." The purpose of the lawsuits his
firm is
currently prosecuting, said Waters, is "to bring to the surface the
truth on
this issue, a truth that government agencies seem unwilling to admit,
perhaps for fear that parents will stop vaccinating their children, and
to
force the companies that profited from this disastrous mistake to
shoulder
the responsibility that so many families now bear on their own, often
without even the aid of health insurance benefits."
Media inquiries should be directed to Melissa Miles at 214-357-6244.
Client inquiries should be directed to Victoria Gibson at 800-226-9880,
or
to the firms listed below.
Other firms working with Waters & Kraus to prosecute individual cases
involving thimerosal exposure are:
ANDERSON & KRIEGER, APLC
40925 County Center Drive, Suite 210
Temecula, California 92591
Telephone: 909-296-5090
DOGAN & WILKINSON
726 Delmas Avenue
Pascagoula, Mississippi 39567
Telephone: 228-762-2272
DORAN & MURPHY, LLP
1234 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14209
Telephone: 716-884-2000
EVERT & WEATHERSBY, L.L.C.
3405 Piedmont Road, Suite 225
Atlanta, Georgia 30305-1764
Telephone : 404-233-8718
HENDRICKSON & LONG
214 Capital Street
P.O. Box 11070
Charleston, W. VA 25339
Telephone: 304-346-5500
JONES, MARTIN, PARRIS, &
TESSENER LAW OFFICES, PLLC
410 Glenwood Ave., Suite 200
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603
Telephone: 919-821-0005
LEACH, SCHWARZ & STRASSBERG
11 Bala Ave.
Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania 19004
Telephone: 610-668-7964
MARTZELL & BICKFORD
338 Lafayette Street
New Orleans, Louisianna 70130
Telephone: 504-581-9065
WISE & JULIAN, PC
3555 College Avenue
Alton, Illinois 62002
Telephone: 618-462-2600
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Dawn Richardson
PROVE(Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education)
[log in to unmask] (email)
http://vaccineinfo.net/ (web site)
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PROVE provides information on vaccines, and immunization policies and
practices that affect the children and adults of Texas. Our mission is
to prevent vaccine injury and death and to promote and protect the right
of every person to make informed independent vaccination decisions for
themselves and their family.
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Per Dalen <[log in to unmask]>
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