Evelyn Pringle
The American Academy of Pediatrics announced the submission of an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court on July 30, 2010, “joined by 21 partnering health organizations,” in the vaccine injury case of Bruesewitz v Wyeth, to support the powerful vaccine maker against a lone family.
Oral arguments in the case took place on October 12, 2010, but a final decision won’t be known for months. The most recent drug injury preemption case decided by the Court was also against Wyeth and the ruling came down in favor of plaintiff, Diane Levine.
The Court took the Bruesewitz case to determine whether 18-year-old Hannah, disabled by injuries she received from Wyeth’s diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DPT) vaccine at 6-months-old in 1992, has the right to bring a lawsuit against Wyeth after the Vaccine Court, set up by the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, refused compensation even though she will require life-long care and her vaccine was traced to a lot that had 65 adverse reactions including two deaths, 39 emergency room visits, and 6 hospitalizations.
After compensation was denied, the family filed suit against Wyeth in Pennsylvania and argued that the vaccine Hannah received was defectively designed and had a known safer vaccine been used her injuries could have been avoided.
Wyeth filed for summary judgment and the lower court dismissed the case holding that the 1986 vaccine law preempted all design defect claims. In March 2009, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling and the family filed a petition for review in the Supreme Court.
“Amici—all of whom support the routine vaccination of children against a host of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases—urge this Court to affirm the judgment of the Third Circuit below,” the brief filed by the 22 groups states.
The term “host” inadequately describes the number of “routine” shots kids get today, along with the increased risk of injury. Before 1986, children’s vaccines included diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella and inactivated poliovirus. Since the Vaccine Injury Act was passed, nine new vaccines have been added, including hepatitis B, rotavirus, haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcal, influenza, varicella, hepatitis A, meningococcal, human papillomavirus (for girls), or an additional 46 doses for girls and 43 for boys, the CDC’s 2009 Recommended Immunization Schedule shows.
Amici Anything But Impartial
JB Handley, co-founder of Generation Rescue, as well as co-founder and contributor to Age of Autism, says whenever he meets pediatricians he asks what percentage of their revenue comes from vaccine administration. “The number always astounds me,” he said on Age of Autism. “The answers I get are that anywhere from 50-80% of their revenue comes from giving vaccines.”
In addition to their individual income from giving shots, Wyeth is now owned by Pfizer and over the past few years, the grant reports of the two companies show millions of dollars pouring into the American Academy of Pediatrics and many of the “partnering health organizations” that signed off on the brief.
For instance, Pfizer 2009 report lists two grants to the Academy totaling $56,000 and Wyeth donated $630,000 to benefit the group in 2009. Wyeth also gave the Academy $345,919 in 2008. The group received $524,080 from Pfizer in the first two quarters of 2010 alone.
In 2009, the Academy presented the “President’s Certificate for Outstanding Service” award to Dr Paul Offit, whose least offensive nickname, of many, is “Dr Proffit.”
Offit was also called the “poster child” for the term “biostitute,” by Robert Kennedy Jr at a green vaccine rally in Washington in 2008, for making himself the spokesperson for the vaccine industry and pretending to be an independent scientist without disclosing his ties to and the millions of dollars he’s made off the vaccine industry.
“The AAP is honoring Dr. Offit in recognition of his ongoing commitment to promote immunization,” the Academy’s October 16, 2009 announcement stated, without mentioning the financial windfalls he received due to his “commitment to promote immunization.”
On December 9, 2009, a report on Offit was published on Age of Autism with the headline, “Counting Offit’s Millions: More on How Merck’s Rotateq Vaccine Made Paul Offit Wealthy,” by Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill, authors of the new book, “Age of Autism: Mercury Medicine and A Manmade Epidemic.”
The report points out that Paul Offit, “vaccine entrepreneur and public health spokesperson, has earned approximately $10 million in income from Rotateq® royalties through 2009 and stands to earn a total of between $13-35 million over the life of his rotavirus vaccine patents.”
The analysis by Blaxill and Olmsted found that Offit’s future royalty income is tied to the vaccine’s future sales in the US and international markets, which gives him a strong financial stake in both the specific success of the rotavirus vaccine category and the global reputation of vaccines in general.
The American Academy of Family Physicians also signed off on the amicus brief. This group, along with its state chapters and Foundation, received a combined total of more than $5 million from Pfizer in 2009, and another $856,772 from Wyeth. In the first half of 2010, Pfizer gave the Family Physician groups $1,334,165.
Another signer, the American Medical Association, received grants worth $751,500 from Pfizer and a $5,000 grant from Wyeth in 2009. The Association received $447,400 from Pfizer in the first two quarters of 2010.
Several other members of the group that ganged up on Hannah in the brief also received plenty from the vaccine makers. Pfizer gave $55,000 to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases in 2009, and Wyeth gave $45,000. In 2008, the Foundation received $2,153,500 Wyeth, and Pfizer gave it $58,500 in the first half of 2010.
In 2009, the Infectious Diseases Society of America received $15,000 from Wyeth and $65,000 in 2008.
The American Public Health Association received three grants totaling $200,000 from Pfizer in 2009.
The March of Dimes and its Foundation combined got $4,500 from Wyeth in both 2008 and 2009. Pfizer gave the groups $14,500 in the first half of 2010.
In 2009, Wyeth gave the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners Foundation four grants totaling $175,150 and three worth $70,000 in 2008.
Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases received $75,000 from Wyeth in 2009.
The Immunization Action Coalition was paid $95,000 by Wyeth in 2009 and $136,743 in 2008.
Every Child By Two received nearly a million dollars, or $950,000, from Wyeth in 2009, and $350,000 in 2008.
In the August 4, 2008 report, “Every Child By Two: A Front Group for Wyeth,” JB Handley points out that Craig Engesser, an employee of Wyeth with a title of Senior Director, Professional Affairs, was on the Board of Every Child By Two for as far back as he could track. In fact, Engesser had even served as the group’s treasurer.
Handley also noted that Paul Offit had recently joined the group’s Board.
For the year 2006, Handley found IRS filings showed Wyeth gave Every Child By Two $350,769 and page 23 of the filing read: “Wyeth Vaccine: Ensure all children from birth to Age 2 are fully immunized.”
The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition received $200,000 from Pfizer in 2009, and Wyeth gave the Georgia chapter $500 in 2008. Other corporate sponsors listed on the group’s website in 2009 included Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi-Pasteur.
Amici for Hannah
Amicus briefs were also submitted in support of the Bruesewitz family in September 2009 and June 2010, by attorneys from the state of New York, Mary Holland and Robert Krakow, on behalf of the National Vaccine Information Center and its cofounders, parent advocates who helped draft the 1986 legislation, the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccine Choice, No Mercury, Truth About Gardasil, Age of Autism, National Autism Association, Autism One, SafeMinds, Autism United, US Autism and Asperger Association, Talk About Curing Autism, Generation Rescue, and the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy.
It would require too much space to list every organization, but all together more than 25 signed off on the briefs - none of which receive money from vaccine makers. Basically the question to be answered by the Supreme Court is: Does § 22(b)(1) preclude all vaccine design-defect claims even if the vaccine’s side effects were avoidable?
“The legislative history suggests that all the stakeholders – Congress, parents, manufacturers and physicians – understood that victims preserved the right to take design defect claims to court,” the June brief says. “Respondent and its amici appear to be trying to achieve through the judiciary what they failed to obtain through Congress.”
In fact, the brief includes several statements made at the time the Act was passed that suggest that Congress recognized that victims, who duly filed for compensation in the Vaccine Program, could take design defect claims to court under Section 22(b).
For instance, when presenting the Act to the full House of Representatives for a vote, Rep Henry Waxman, the chief sponsor of the Act, stated that civil claims for “inadequately researched” vaccines would be preserved under Section 22. Waxman’s description of this claim, that a vaccine’s design did not take adequate account of avoidable safety risks, would likely be a design defect, the brief notes.
“Furthermore, the Committee explicitly rejected the opportunity to create a broad exemption for all design defect claims when it considered the Act,” it says. “Proposals were considered by the Committee that would have explicitly preempted all design defect claims, but the final version did not contain those provisions.”
“By rejecting language that would have barred all design defect claims,” the attorneys wrote, “Congress showed its intent to permit courts to decide on a case-by-case which side effects were genuinely ‘unavoidable.’”
“The Act and its legislative history simply do not make sense without the understanding that the tort system remains an available alternative for such cases,” the brief says. “And Congress’ intent to keep the courthouse doors open is even more important today than it was in 1986.”
“The significance of the Bruesewitz case relates to all vaccine injury – it goes to the heart of whether Vaccine Court is fulfilling the role Congress set for it, and whether it is possible to challenge the design safety of a vaccine in any court in the United States,” Holland explained in a March 10, 2010 commentary on Age of Autism.
“For the autism community, the case could not be more central,” she says, “it will determine whether the 5,000 petitioners in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding can continue their claims in state and federal courts if Vaccine Court ultimately dismisses their claims.”
Right about now, paranoia in the vaccine industry is no doubt running at an all time high since the announcement of the first award in a vaccine-autism case in September 2010 for another girl named Hannah, with $1.5 million to start and $500,000 a year for life to pay for her care. “Those familiar with the case believe the compensation could easily amount to $20 million over the child's lifetime,” CBS News reported on September 10, 2010.
Hannah was “described as normal, happy and precocious in her first 18 months,” until “she was vaccinated against nine diseases in one doctor's visit,” in July 2000, CBS said.
A government study titled, “The Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder among Children in the United States, 2007,” evaluated the number of children in the US who currently had an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis in 2007, based on data from a national Survey of Children's Health, and found that 1 in 91 children between the ages of 3 and 17 carried an ASD diagnosis.
”Even more alarming, for the subset of children between ages 6 and 14 immunized during the 1990's the prevalence is actually 1 in 71 children with an autism diagnosis,” Age of Autism reported.
”This age group represents children in the U.S. with the highest exposure to thimerosal, the mercury preservative routinely used until CDC, AAP and industry recommended its removal “as soon as possible” from all childhood vaccines,” AoA explained.
It’s obvious that parents no longer trust claims by the government and drug companies about harmless vaccines. On October 17, 2010, in the Huffington Post, Kim Stagliano, managing editor of AoA and author of the new book, “All I Can Handle I’m No Mother Teresa,” reported that a new study from CS Mott Children’s Hospital found 89% of parents think vaccine safety is the most important topic in medical research today.
“That makes sense, since the American pediatric vaccine schedule now includes 48 vaccinations before the age of six,” Stagliano says. “Parents are facing vaccination choice issues at every pediatric visit.”
Fictional Fear Factors
In the brief filed by the groups with all the money from Wyeth and Pfizer, when warning that vaccine makers might flee the market if they have to face the threat of lawsuits and unpredictable litigation costs, they argue that the number of vaccine makers has not greatly increased since 1986 and refer to the “precarious state of the vaccine industry.”
“The preemption of all design defect claims is critical to Congress’s objective of stabilizing the vaccine market and safeguarding the Nation’s vaccine supply,” they claim.
First of all, the vaccine industry is not in dire financial straights, in fact far from it. On June 11, 2009, Kalorama Information issued a press release for the vaccine sales forecast in a market analysis report with the headline, “New Report Forecasts More Than Doubling of Vaccine Sales by 2013.”
“Few areas of pharmaceuticals have seen the fast-moving developments in the marketplace that the vaccine market has,” Kalorama noted. The press release described 2008 as another “stellar year for the world vaccine market,” in which sales “grew 21.5% since 2007 to reach $19.2 billion.”
A year earlier, Kalorama reported that stronger than anticipated revenues for flu vaccines and the “surprising commercial success” of Merck's Gardasil had led to $16.3 billion in vaccine sales in 2007, “an increase of 38% over 2006 sales of $11.7 billion.”
However: “Vaccine manufacturers face many challenges in bringing new vaccines to market,” the amicus brief points out, with a note to: “See Paul A. Offit, Why Are Pharmaceutical Companies Gradually Abandoning Vaccines?, 24 Health Affairs 622, 623-629 (2005).”
The brief goes on to complain about how much the cost of developing vaccines has increased. “Between 1991 and 2003, for instance, costs for research and development, post licensure clinical studies, and production process improvements grew from $231 million to $802 million,” it said, citing Stanley A Plotkin, et al, Vaccines 38 (5th ed 2008). Plotkin was a co-inventor with Offit on the Rotateq vaccine.
But in any event, the high prices charged for vaccines today wipe out those costs in record time. For instance, Rotateq runs close to $200 for a 3 dose series and when you multiply that by the CDC’s calculation of more than 4 million babies born each year in the US, annual sales come to over $800 million in this country alone. Wyeth’s pneumococcal vaccine “makes $2 billion a year in sales,” according to a July 25, 2008 report by CBS News.
About a year ago, Dr Proffit was shilling for vaccine makers in the October 18, 2009 “Wall Street Journal,” by claiming infants should get 2 regular flu and 2 swine flu vaccines, without mentioning that all 4 contained the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal. “Children ages six months to nine years who have never received a flu vaccine before are recommended to receive two doses of both the H1N1 and seasonal-flu vaccine about a month apart,” Offit said.
With the headline, “Most flu shots contain mercury, but few know it,” on November 13, 2007, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that when using the standards set for methyl mercury consumption, a 22-pound baby getting the flu shot “would get more than 25 times the amount of mercury considered safe.”
In the WSJ article, Offit was identified only as “chief of infectious disease” at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, when in fact he holds a “$1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck,” according to CBS News.
That bit of advice from Offit in the WSJ could potentially drum up over 4,000,000 new customers every year for shot givers and vaccine makers in the US for flu vaccines alone. Last year, the September 14, 2009 Los Angeles Times reported that physician offices usually “charge about $25 to $75 for the seasonal shot, including administration fees.”
“If you are immunizing a child for the first time, the child may need two shots,” the Times said. “Ask the healthcare professional giving the shot if you will have to pay two fees.”
For the sake of simplicity, let’s say doctors threw in both seasonal flu shots for one fee of $75. The total amount made from vaccinating 4,000,000 babies would be $300 million.
The Times said the H1N1 shot would be free, although doctor's offices and clinics may charge an administrative fee. But the swine flu shots were in no way free. Tax payers paid vaccine makers a fortune as a result of the pig flu hoax. However, for the sake of non-argument, let’s say the shot givers only charged $10 per infant to give each of the two swine flu vaccines. They would still make $80 million.
Will Health Care Workers Revolt?
The fact that health care workers have an aversion to flu vaccines is likely the best testament to the lack of benefits and potential harms associated with vaccines including the inability to sue for compensation if injured. It only stands to reason that if vaccines worked so great this group would be the first in line to get them.
But a new policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a paper in the October, 2010 issue of their official journal, “Pediatrics,” gives notice of plan to force health care workers to get flu vaccines with the heading, “Recommendation for Mandatory Influenza Immunization of All Health Care Personnel.”
The Academy claims that “despite the efforts of many organizations to improve influenza immunization rates with the use of voluntary campaigns, influenza coverage among health care personnel remains unacceptably low.”
Mandatory influenza immunization for all health care personnel is “ethically justified, necessary and long overdue to ensure patient safety,” the group said in a statement.
“The influenza vaccine is safe, effective, and cost-effective, so health care organizations must work to assuage common fears and misconceptions about the influenza virus and the vaccine,” the Academy claims.
Their paper reports that in January 2010, the CDC estimated the percentage of health care personnel who received vaccines was only 61.9% for seasonal flu, 37.1% for swine flu, and only 37.1% received both the seasonal and swine flu vaccines.
However, it’s not like the industry is suffering from a lack of flu shot customers even when health care workers refuse to get them. In 2009 alone, multi-national corporations took home profits of $2.8 billion in influenza vaccine sales, according to an October 2010 report by Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center.
By comparison, since the Vaccine Injury Act was passed roughly 25 years ago, the vaccine court has paid out less than $2 billion. Of the more than 13,550 petitions filed covering all vaccines, compensation for injuries was only awarded in about 2,500 cases.
Of course the estimates in the paper, if true at all, would have come from the same CDC that was run for years by Julie Gerberding and has put out the trumped up claim year after year that 36,000 people in the US die of the flu annually, with the death number never changing even when vaccination rates greatly increase.
In a December 21, 2009 Pharmalot Blog, Ed Silverman reported that Gerberding, “who until this year was the director of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was named president of Merck’s vaccine division.”
As the former “top dog” at the CDC, she “has plenty of experience overseeing the selection of recommended immunizations,” FiercePharma noted on December 22, 2009.
“Autism activists, particularly those who believe vaccines are a primary cause of regressive autism, are often derided for conspiratorial comments about the CDC and Big Pharma,” JB Handley pointed out on the Pharmalot blog.
“This one is making us look more sane every day,” he said.
On October 7, 2010, Barbara Loe Fisher reported that doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (Dr Proffit’s Kingdom), are ordering all employees to get a flu shot every year or be sent home for two weeks without pay to “think about it.”
“Anyone, who still refuses to get a flu shot after that, is fired,” she wrote. And that goes for not just doctors and nurses, she says, but every person who has anything to do with the health care facility, including students, volunteers, and contract workers.
“An exception could be made if the doctors in charge approve a “medical exemption” to vaccination, which, today,” Fisher warns, “is about as hard to get as a job.”
(Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Scoop International and an investigative journalist and researcher focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate America)
Showing posts with label thimerosal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thimerosal. Show all posts
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Flu Vaccines - Open Season
Evelyn Pringle December 15, 2006
For all the frantic, unvaccinated citizens fearing the "upcoming" peak of flu season—rest assured, coming down with a flu infection is the least of your worries.
Despite the governments statements urging individuals to vaccinate their children, the threat of an infantile influenza fatality is just about as serious as the dreaded hangnail.
Nonetheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently declared November 27 to December 3 as National Influenza Vaccination Week. The order stems from the governments "concern" that infection rates will soon come to a season high and, as having the flu is such a dire condition within the general population, the well-being of society rests on mass inoculation.
In fact, government agents are so adamant about protecting the nation that new recommendations have been made concerning vaccine administration, which, by the way, only protects against three specific strains of the countless, ever-evolving strains of the virus.
According to a November CDC publication, children less than two years of age are at high risk for infections and therefore, advocate ALL children aged 6 months to 18 years, in addition to pregnant women, be inoculated at least once a year.
Furthermore, if children under 9 years of age are getting injections for the first time, they are advised to receive two shots a month apart. CDC members say vaccinations should be administered in October or November, but since infections can occur as late as April "getting the vaccine in December or later still offers protection in most [I repeat, most] years."
That being said, one has to question why the Health Industry Distributors Association's (HIDA) April publishing states that demands for flu vaccines are highest in September and October "despite the public campaign to stretch flu shot 'season' into January."
Weird...there must be a mistake somewhere; surely these decisions result from valid scientific studies, as well as endless hours of analyses and discussion regarding the best interests of the public.
Comforting maybe, but accurate—not so much.
Despite lack of publicity, programs have been in place for almost 20 years now that acknowledge vaccine injuries; the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was launched in 1988 as a means of "reimbursing" patients' adversely affected by inoculations, as if any amount of money can make up for a lifetime of suffering or more so, the death of a child. In addition, two years subsequent, the CDC and FDA created the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) so affected individuals or their representatives can report negative reactions occurring post-vaccination, which currently contains hundreds of thousands of documented tragedies.
Currently circulating flu vaccines contain the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. As if further explanation is needed, mercury is a horrible neurotoxin with a toxicity level 1000x higher than that of lead. Previously banned from over-the-counter products, animal vaccines, and ironically, in some states every other vaccine given to children, thimerosal remains in full concentration in flu vaccines.
Knowing that mercury levels in drinking water cannot exceed 2 parts per billion (ppb) without being toxic, or more appropriately, since any liquid containing more than 200 ppb of mercury is considered hazardous waste—it's sickening that circulating vials of flu vaccine has 50,000 ppb of mercury, the only exceptions being Sanofi-Pasteur's preservative free vaccines.
With four out of five manufacturers producing thimerosal-containing flu vaccines, over 90% of the 115 million doses distributed in America will contain 25 micrograms (mg) of mercury. This means that once the remaining 10% of mercury-free doses are used up, pregnant women and children will only have access to vials containing toxins measuring 250x the EPA's safety limit.
For a person to safely receive the amount of mercury in one vaccine, he or she would have to weigh over 550 lbs, making the recommendation for pregnant women and children nothing less than an act of brutality.
As told in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (Summer 2006), pregnant women who get inoculated with thimerosal-containing vaccines will be exposed to 3.5x the organic mercury limit set by EPA officials, but since mercury accumulates in fetal tissue, especially those of the central nervous system, concentrations found in the developing fetus can exceed maternal levels by a factor of 4.3.
The results of such an attack are devastating. "...brain damage, mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and inability to speak" are just a few of the fetal reactions found by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
In addition, the team clearly identified mercury, of any form, as posing a threat to the nervous system. Children exposed to mercury experience brain functioning difficulties such as "...irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing, and memory problems", which further explains why American children are riddled with neurodevelopmental disorders ranging from autism and ADHD, to Guillain-Barre syndrome and speech disorders.
Americans will soon see for themselves what the selfish, money-driven vaccine industry has done for society. Not even officials will be able to deny the ever escalating autism epidemic when it stares them square in the eye; human flesh and blood, just as themselves, rather than numbers on a page in their office.
When the country's social security trust depletes due to the cost of special education and assisted living facilities for these disabled children, and there are neither enough patients nor finances remaining to support the vicious "damage-treat" circle created by manufacturers and their loyal elected lapdogs—who will be blamed then? Where will the fingers point when greed isn't paralyzing their conscience?
Time will soon provide the answer; unfortunately.
For those who still cannot seem to grasp the severity of thimerosal-containing vaccines, perhaps this will put things into perspective: if someone spilled a bottle of thimerosal indoors, the entire building would have to be evacuated immediately and remain so until a time when hazard crews thoroughly cleaned and secured the area.
It makes no sense to jeopardize a human life for a theoretical risk, especially not for a condition where, according to the November 30th publishing American's Concern for Skin Infection, Flu, Spreads Across the County, "Proper handwashing is the simplest and most effective way to prevent these infections."
As far as numbers go, the rate of influenza infections leaves something to be desired of the government's national quest for total inoculation. According to the CDC's Weekly Report: Influenza Summary Update (week ending November 18, 2006), World Health Organization (WHO) and National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) laboratories have tested 15,707 samples of suspected influenza viruses, with only 477 testing positive. Of the positive results, 308 were reported from Florida alone.
Now, call it audacity, but that sounds more reassuring than anything. Not only does it show incidence rates to be low throughout the country, it further establishes grounds for the useless vaccine debate. Highly counterproductive on their part, the preceding data shows just how easily misdiagnoses occurs and therefore, shows how ambiguous the reported 36,000 annual flu infections are.
Though that's not all officials have up their sleeves, on top of being uncalled for and dangerous—the vaccines haven't even been proven effective in providing immunity!
Dating back to 1935, a study conducted on thimerosal's antibacterial and antifungal efficiency concluded the dangerous preservative, so to speak, was "35.3 times more toxic for embryonic chick heart tissue than for Staphylococcus aureus", making it, as said by the FDA, "no better than water" in killing bacteria.
Confirming suspicions was the 1948, Journal of the American Medical Association's publishing where authors concluded thimerosal was ineffective as a "disinfectant, germicide, and antiseptic," in addition to stating thimerosal "may not completely kill cultures of ...streptococci... in mice receiving an intraperitoneal injection of the culture-germicide mixture, after ten minutes' [sic] exposure of the organisms to the drugs... usually die [all but one of the 17 mice injected], and hemolytic streptococci can be isolated from the heart's blood after death of the mice."
Subsequently, an American Academy of Pediatrics (1985) study revealed thimerosal to be "...only weakly bactericidal... not an ideal preservative", which explains the FDA's 1980 proposal to ban thimerosal from topical ointments, skin creams, and other over-the-counter products, along with the 1999 decision to exclude the chemical from future vaccine production due to "safety and efficiency" concerns.
Though, perhaps 2004 brought the most irrefutable of evidence when the British-based Chiron factory was found to have serious contamination problems. The company's flu vaccine, Fluvirin, was pulled from distribution due to an unspecified number of lots containing an extremely dangerous microorganism, serratia, which is precisely the kind of threat thimerosal is supposed to eliminate.
Officials see the American public naively accepting whatever is put in front of them (i.e. Hepatitis B vaccines for 12 hour old babies, recent HPV vaccinations, unnecessary flu shots), and with the demolished state of check-and-balance within government bodies, officials are free to do whatever they choose without the fear of consequence.
As long as each scratches the others back, "scientific evidence" favoring the use of flu vaccines, and anything else they can think of, will continue regardless of necessity or safety. Manufacturers' charge between $9.00 to $12.50 for every 10-pack of flu vaccines, so with over 100 million ready for distribution this year its not surprising that every government agency is practically celebrating vaccination.
Though perhaps the true motivation for mass vaccination lies in the Medicare reimbursement rate for flu vaccine administration, which, from 2002 to 2005, increased more that four times from an average of $3.98 to $18.57; or maybe in the five-year, $274 million contract awarded to GlaxoSmithKline in May 2006 to develop cell-based production models for future flu vaccines, but then again, it could be related to the "measly" $429 million reported in Chiron's 2004 fourth quarter Fluvirin revenue, as opposed to the preceding years $555 million.
Whatever the situation, rather than simply accepting what is being pushed on us, its time to use some common sense and question why history is showing us one side of the story, while the government portrays a very different other.
Influenza infections, for the majority of citizens, are not life threatening, and even if they were—the occurrence rates do not justify injecting what both science and history has proven to be POISON into the desperately fragile bodies of infants and children.
For all the frantic, unvaccinated citizens fearing the "upcoming" peak of flu season—rest assured, coming down with a flu infection is the least of your worries.
Despite the governments statements urging individuals to vaccinate their children, the threat of an infantile influenza fatality is just about as serious as the dreaded hangnail.
Nonetheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently declared November 27 to December 3 as National Influenza Vaccination Week. The order stems from the governments "concern" that infection rates will soon come to a season high and, as having the flu is such a dire condition within the general population, the well-being of society rests on mass inoculation.
In fact, government agents are so adamant about protecting the nation that new recommendations have been made concerning vaccine administration, which, by the way, only protects against three specific strains of the countless, ever-evolving strains of the virus.
According to a November CDC publication, children less than two years of age are at high risk for infections and therefore, advocate ALL children aged 6 months to 18 years, in addition to pregnant women, be inoculated at least once a year.
Furthermore, if children under 9 years of age are getting injections for the first time, they are advised to receive two shots a month apart. CDC members say vaccinations should be administered in October or November, but since infections can occur as late as April "getting the vaccine in December or later still offers protection in most [I repeat, most] years."
That being said, one has to question why the Health Industry Distributors Association's (HIDA) April publishing states that demands for flu vaccines are highest in September and October "despite the public campaign to stretch flu shot 'season' into January."
Weird...there must be a mistake somewhere; surely these decisions result from valid scientific studies, as well as endless hours of analyses and discussion regarding the best interests of the public.
Comforting maybe, but accurate—not so much.
Despite lack of publicity, programs have been in place for almost 20 years now that acknowledge vaccine injuries; the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was launched in 1988 as a means of "reimbursing" patients' adversely affected by inoculations, as if any amount of money can make up for a lifetime of suffering or more so, the death of a child. In addition, two years subsequent, the CDC and FDA created the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) so affected individuals or their representatives can report negative reactions occurring post-vaccination, which currently contains hundreds of thousands of documented tragedies.
Currently circulating flu vaccines contain the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. As if further explanation is needed, mercury is a horrible neurotoxin with a toxicity level 1000x higher than that of lead. Previously banned from over-the-counter products, animal vaccines, and ironically, in some states every other vaccine given to children, thimerosal remains in full concentration in flu vaccines.
Knowing that mercury levels in drinking water cannot exceed 2 parts per billion (ppb) without being toxic, or more appropriately, since any liquid containing more than 200 ppb of mercury is considered hazardous waste—it's sickening that circulating vials of flu vaccine has 50,000 ppb of mercury, the only exceptions being Sanofi-Pasteur's preservative free vaccines.
With four out of five manufacturers producing thimerosal-containing flu vaccines, over 90% of the 115 million doses distributed in America will contain 25 micrograms (mg) of mercury. This means that once the remaining 10% of mercury-free doses are used up, pregnant women and children will only have access to vials containing toxins measuring 250x the EPA's safety limit.
For a person to safely receive the amount of mercury in one vaccine, he or she would have to weigh over 550 lbs, making the recommendation for pregnant women and children nothing less than an act of brutality.
As told in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (Summer 2006), pregnant women who get inoculated with thimerosal-containing vaccines will be exposed to 3.5x the organic mercury limit set by EPA officials, but since mercury accumulates in fetal tissue, especially those of the central nervous system, concentrations found in the developing fetus can exceed maternal levels by a factor of 4.3.
The results of such an attack are devastating. "...brain damage, mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and inability to speak" are just a few of the fetal reactions found by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
In addition, the team clearly identified mercury, of any form, as posing a threat to the nervous system. Children exposed to mercury experience brain functioning difficulties such as "...irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or hearing, and memory problems", which further explains why American children are riddled with neurodevelopmental disorders ranging from autism and ADHD, to Guillain-Barre syndrome and speech disorders.
Americans will soon see for themselves what the selfish, money-driven vaccine industry has done for society. Not even officials will be able to deny the ever escalating autism epidemic when it stares them square in the eye; human flesh and blood, just as themselves, rather than numbers on a page in their office.
When the country's social security trust depletes due to the cost of special education and assisted living facilities for these disabled children, and there are neither enough patients nor finances remaining to support the vicious "damage-treat" circle created by manufacturers and their loyal elected lapdogs—who will be blamed then? Where will the fingers point when greed isn't paralyzing their conscience?
Time will soon provide the answer; unfortunately.
For those who still cannot seem to grasp the severity of thimerosal-containing vaccines, perhaps this will put things into perspective: if someone spilled a bottle of thimerosal indoors, the entire building would have to be evacuated immediately and remain so until a time when hazard crews thoroughly cleaned and secured the area.
It makes no sense to jeopardize a human life for a theoretical risk, especially not for a condition where, according to the November 30th publishing American's Concern for Skin Infection, Flu, Spreads Across the County, "Proper handwashing is the simplest and most effective way to prevent these infections."
As far as numbers go, the rate of influenza infections leaves something to be desired of the government's national quest for total inoculation. According to the CDC's Weekly Report: Influenza Summary Update (week ending November 18, 2006), World Health Organization (WHO) and National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) laboratories have tested 15,707 samples of suspected influenza viruses, with only 477 testing positive. Of the positive results, 308 were reported from Florida alone.
Now, call it audacity, but that sounds more reassuring than anything. Not only does it show incidence rates to be low throughout the country, it further establishes grounds for the useless vaccine debate. Highly counterproductive on their part, the preceding data shows just how easily misdiagnoses occurs and therefore, shows how ambiguous the reported 36,000 annual flu infections are.
Though that's not all officials have up their sleeves, on top of being uncalled for and dangerous—the vaccines haven't even been proven effective in providing immunity!
Dating back to 1935, a study conducted on thimerosal's antibacterial and antifungal efficiency concluded the dangerous preservative, so to speak, was "35.3 times more toxic for embryonic chick heart tissue than for Staphylococcus aureus", making it, as said by the FDA, "no better than water" in killing bacteria.
Confirming suspicions was the 1948, Journal of the American Medical Association's publishing where authors concluded thimerosal was ineffective as a "disinfectant, germicide, and antiseptic," in addition to stating thimerosal "may not completely kill cultures of ...streptococci... in mice receiving an intraperitoneal injection of the culture-germicide mixture, after ten minutes' [sic] exposure of the organisms to the drugs... usually die [all but one of the 17 mice injected], and hemolytic streptococci can be isolated from the heart's blood after death of the mice."
Subsequently, an American Academy of Pediatrics (1985) study revealed thimerosal to be "...only weakly bactericidal... not an ideal preservative", which explains the FDA's 1980 proposal to ban thimerosal from topical ointments, skin creams, and other over-the-counter products, along with the 1999 decision to exclude the chemical from future vaccine production due to "safety and efficiency" concerns.
Though, perhaps 2004 brought the most irrefutable of evidence when the British-based Chiron factory was found to have serious contamination problems. The company's flu vaccine, Fluvirin, was pulled from distribution due to an unspecified number of lots containing an extremely dangerous microorganism, serratia, which is precisely the kind of threat thimerosal is supposed to eliminate.
Officials see the American public naively accepting whatever is put in front of them (i.e. Hepatitis B vaccines for 12 hour old babies, recent HPV vaccinations, unnecessary flu shots), and with the demolished state of check-and-balance within government bodies, officials are free to do whatever they choose without the fear of consequence.
As long as each scratches the others back, "scientific evidence" favoring the use of flu vaccines, and anything else they can think of, will continue regardless of necessity or safety. Manufacturers' charge between $9.00 to $12.50 for every 10-pack of flu vaccines, so with over 100 million ready for distribution this year its not surprising that every government agency is practically celebrating vaccination.
Though perhaps the true motivation for mass vaccination lies in the Medicare reimbursement rate for flu vaccine administration, which, from 2002 to 2005, increased more that four times from an average of $3.98 to $18.57; or maybe in the five-year, $274 million contract awarded to GlaxoSmithKline in May 2006 to develop cell-based production models for future flu vaccines, but then again, it could be related to the "measly" $429 million reported in Chiron's 2004 fourth quarter Fluvirin revenue, as opposed to the preceding years $555 million.
Whatever the situation, rather than simply accepting what is being pushed on us, its time to use some common sense and question why history is showing us one side of the story, while the government portrays a very different other.
Influenza infections, for the majority of citizens, are not life threatening, and even if they were—the occurrence rates do not justify injecting what both science and history has proven to be POISON into the desperately fragile bodies of infants and children.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Lawmakers Sever Ties Between CDC and Big Pharma
Evelyn Pringle August 21, 2006
In the wake of overhauling the FDA, lawmakers are also cracking down on conflicts of interest within the Centers for Disease Control.
Last month, Representatives, Dr Dave Weldon (R-FL), and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), held a press conference to announce the introduction of a bill that would give responsibility for vaccine safety to an independent agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, and remove most vaccine safety research from the CDC.
Specifically, they said on July 26, 2006, the "Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2006," will create an independent office to address, investigate, and head off potential safety problems like the use of mercury in vaccines, in an objective and non-conflicted office whose sole purpose is vaccine safety and evaluation.
According to Dr Weldon in a prepared statement, Federal agencies charged with overseeing vaccine safety research have failed. They have failed to provide sufficient resources for vaccine safety research. They have failed to fund extramural research and they have failed to free themselves from conflicts of interest that serve to undermine public confidence in the safety of vaccines, he said.
"The American public deserves better," Dr Weldon stated, "and increasingly parents and the public at large are demanding better."
"There's an enormous inherent conflict of interest within the CDC," he said, "and if we fail to move vaccine safety to a separate independent office, safety issues will remain a low priority and public confidence in vaccines will continue to erode."
He said that similar conflicts have been remedied in other federal agencies, but in the vaccine program the conflicts persist unchecked. "This bill will provide the independence necessary," Dr Weldon said, "to ensure that vaccine safety research is robust, unbiased, and broadly accepted by the public at large."
"Vaccines do wonders for public health, but when the government requires them, it must also ensure that they're safe," Ms Maloney said in her statement. "We need adequate, unbiased research on vaccines, and this legislation would deliver that."
She applauded Dr Weldon for his tremendous commitment and leadership on the issue. "He is truly dedicated," she said, "to protecting our children and the public at large."
While announcing the new bill, Dr Weldon and Ms Maloney were joined by several groups advocating vaccine safety reform, including the National Autism Association, A-Champs, and safeMINDS.
According to the National Autism Association: "This landmark legislation will provide critical government agency oversight and implementation of vaccine safety research, which has not kept pace with the rise in the number of vaccines routinely prescribed to consumers including pregnant women and young children."
Additionally, the Act calls for $80 million in funding to conduct vaccine analysis and safety research.
Currently the CDC oversees vaccine research, safety and promotion, a situation that has been drawing more and more public criticism in recent years. The CDC compiles the list of vaccines that doctors are to give all children in the US, based on the recommendations of an advisory panel, and in many states kids can not attend day care or public schools unless they have received the CDC-endorsed vaccines.
A recommendation by the CDC guarantees a huge market for a vaccine and enables the drug company to use the government as a marketing device for its product. The annual global market for vaccines is expected to be over $10 billion this year.
On July 21, 2003, United Press International published a report based on a four-month investigation that found a pattern of problems linked to vaccines recommended by the CDC, as well as a web of close ties between the agency's advisory panel and the pharmaceutical industry.
By investigating members of an advisory panel of outside experts that make vaccine recommendations, UPI found that members of the panel received money from vaccine makers through relationships that included: sharing a vaccine patent; owning stock in a vaccine company; payments for research; money to monitor vaccine testing; and funding for academic departments.
In fact, according to UPI, the CDC itself is in the vaccine business. Under a 1980 law, UPI found the CDC had 28 licensing agreements with drug companies and one university for vaccines or vaccine-related products and eight ongoing projects to collaborate on new vaccines.
For instance, the CDC and SmithKline Beecham worked together on the Lyme-disease vaccine. A 1992 CDC activity report, obtained by UPI, says the agency had an agreement "with SmithKline Beecham that currently funds three positions at (the CDC) for the purpose of providing information of use in developing advanced test methods and vaccine candidates."
In June 2001, the General Accounting Office delivered a report on the issue to Senator Chris Dodd, (D-Conn), that noted that CDC employees "are listed on two Lyme-disease related patents" including "a 1993 joint patent between CDC and SmithKline Beecham Corporation." The report also said that six of 12 consultants working for the CDC on Lyme vaccines "reported at least one interest related to a vaccine firm."
According to CDC meeting transcripts where the committee weighed its recommendation, 3 had conflicts of interest with SmithKlineBeecham. The LYMERIX lyme-disease vaccine was approved by the CDC on February 18, 1999, and by October of 2000, more than 1.4 million people had received the vaccine.
But 18 months later, according to UPI, in February 2002, SmithKline Beecham pulled the vaccine off the market claiming that sales of LYMERIX were insufficient to justify the continued investment. However, according to UPI, the company also faced hundreds of lawsuits by people who said they suffered side effects from the vaccines.
The government's database at the time, listed possible side effects from LYMERIX as 640 emergency room visits, 34 life-threatening reactions, 77 hospitalizations, 198 disabilities and six deaths after people took the shots since the CDC endorsed it, according to UPI.
UPI also found other cases where vaccines endorsed by the panel were pulled off the market after a number of people suffered devastating side effects, and some died.
Congressman Dan Burton, (R-Ind), had already been investigating the advisory panel for several years, and told UPI that the conflicts of interest were a major problem. "This presents a real paradox," he said, "when the CDC routinely allows scientists with blatant conflicts of interest to serve on influential advisory committees that make recommendations on new vaccines, as well as policy matters."
"All the while these same scientists," Representative Burton said, "have financial ties, academic affiliations, and other vested interests in the products and companies for which they are supposed to be providing unbiased oversight."
An August 2001 report on the investigation by Rep Burton's House Government Reform Committee, stated that "four out of eight CDC advisory committee members who voted to approve guidelines for the rotavirus vaccine in June 1998 had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies that were developing different versions of the vaccine."
Critic say the conflicts of interest of Dr Paul Offit while sitting on the advisory panel could not be more blatant. He was part of the team that mandated the use of the RotaVirus vaccine, even though he received a $350,000 grant from Merck to develop the vaccine, shared the patent, and was paid to go around the country teaching doctors that vaccines were safe, according to the Wall Street Journal.
UPI discovered that Merck also had bought and distributed copies of a book written by Dr Offit titled, "What Every Parent Should Know About Vaccines," to physicians with a Dear Doctor letter that stated:"Merck Vaccine Division is pleased to present you with a copy of the recent publication, 'What Every Parent Should Know About Vaccines.'"
"The authors designed the book," Merck's letter told doctors, "to answer questions parents have about vaccines and to dispel misinformation about vaccines that sometimes appears in the public media."
The book had a list price of $14.95, and Dr Offit told UPI that he did not know how many copies Merck had purchased.
In 2001, Congressman Burton's investigation also found conflicts of interest with the then chairman of the advisory panel, Dr John Modlin, a Professor at Dartmouth Medical School, who owned $26,000 worth of Merck stock.
In a phone interview in 2003, Dr Modlin told UPI that he had sold the Merck stock, but that he had recently agreed to chair a committee to oversee Merck vaccine clinical trials.
"Meeting transcripts over the past decade," UPI says, "showed that at some meetings, half of the members present had potential conflicts with vaccine manufacturers."
For instance, at a June 2002 meeting, four of the 11 members on the panel acknowledged conflicts with Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Aventis Pasteur, and Bayer. Two of the four conducted research or vaccine trials and one member was a co-holder of a patent.
The agency is currently facing a major credibility crisis over the issue of whether vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, are responsible for the epidemic of neurological disorders ranging from ADHD to autism in children all across the country.
The CDC is being accused of research manipulation and cover-ups of vaccine maker culpability by an ever increasing number of activist groups and is also facing tough questions from some of the powerful members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats alike.
The CDC continues to claim that there is no evidence to support a connection between the epidemic and thimerosal, which they say is no longer used in most pediatric vaccines.
It is however, included in the flu vaccine currently recommended for all pregnant women and children more than 6 months old.
Earlier this year, a group of lawmakers initiated a new investigation of the matter and basically directed the CDC to butt out. On February 22, 2006, they stated in a letter: "If the federal government is going to have a study whose results will be broadly accepted, such a study cannot be led by the CDC," in a letter to Dr David Schwartz, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
The letter was signed by Senators, Joe Lieberman (D-Conn) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), and members of the House Representatives including, Dr Dave Weldon, (R-Fla) Chris Smith, (R-NJ), Carolyn Maloney, (D-NY), Dan Burton, (R-Ind), Joseph Crowley, (D-NY), and Maurice Hinchey, (D-NY).
The Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is part of the National Institutes of Health, and was asked to convene a panel to decide how to analyze the CDC database to determine whether autism rates have dropped since thimerosal was removed from most vaccines.
The controversy picked up traction in April, "National Autism Month," when world renowned heavy metal experts, researchers, and physicians traveled to Washington and rallied on Capital Hill moving the debate beyond just the parents of autistic children.
This spring, a full-page ad appeared in USA Today, the most widely-circulated newspaper in the US, and accused the CDC of "causing an epidemic of autism" by recommending that kids receive a series of vaccinations that contained thimerosal at least as late as 2001.
The ad quoted one of the most recent and famous advocates to join the cause, environmental lawyer, Robert F Kennedy Jr, as saying: "It's time for the CDC to come clean with the American public."
The ad was funded by a coalition of advocacy groups led by Generation Rescue, and directed readers to the web site, www.PutChildren First.org, to view internal CDC documents, many of which were obtained under the FOIA, that includes transcripts of meetings and e-mails that the groups contend support their allegations of a CDC cover-up.
Congressman Weldon has a theory about why the CDC continues the charade of denying the link between vaccines and autism. "If it is eventually determined that an entire generation of kids was essentially poisoned," he says, "a class-action suit against the federal government could be on the order of hundreds of billions of dollars, and so there's very good reason for them to try to cover this up."
And Dr Weldon's prediction is proving true. Vaccine injury lawsuits are being filed and won against the vaccine makers and the government. Implemented in 1988, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, established a mandatory, federally administered no-fault claims process for individuals who allege that they were harmed by the administration of childhood vaccines.
The vaccine compensation fund was created to supposedly ensure an adequate supply of vaccines, and to stabilize vaccine costs. A small fee charged on each vaccines funds the program. According to statistics on the vaccine compensation web site, in fiscal year 2006, a total of $38.2 million has been paid out in cases involving 47 awards.
In what is reported to be one of the largest settlements ever, in July 2006, a quadriplegic boy was awarded $43.1 million. The case alleged that now 7-year-old, Mario Rodriguez, became a quadriplegic after receiving a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine on January. 25, 2000.
Under the guidelines of the vaccine compensation fund program, the lawsuit was filed against the Department of Health and Human Services. Kansas City attorney, Leland Dempsey, who represented the child, told the Kansas City Star: "One unusual aspect of the case is that Mario is expected to have a normal lifespan, and therefore will require more years of care that will cost more money."
"He will need round-the-clock care, including extensive medical intervention, throughout his life," Mr Dempsey said.
Many other vaccine related lawsuits have been filed against drug makers. For instance, Eli Lilly, the company that invented thimerosal back in the 1930s, informed its shareholders in its 2005 Annual Report filed with the SEC on April 1, 2006: "We have been named as a defendant in approximately 340 actions in the U.S., involving approximately 1,020 claimants, brought in various state courts and federal district courts on behalf of children with autism or other neurological disorders."
Lilly also stated, we believe that "the majority of the cases should not be prosecuted in the courts in which they have been brought because the underlying claims are subject to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986."
Under the Act, claims must first be brought before the US Court of Claims for an award determination under the guidelines established by the Act. However, as Lilly points out in its filing, "Claimants who are unsatisfied with their awards under the Act may reject the award and seek traditional judicial remedies."
In the wake of overhauling the FDA, lawmakers are also cracking down on conflicts of interest within the Centers for Disease Control.
Last month, Representatives, Dr Dave Weldon (R-FL), and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), held a press conference to announce the introduction of a bill that would give responsibility for vaccine safety to an independent agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, and remove most vaccine safety research from the CDC.
Specifically, they said on July 26, 2006, the "Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2006," will create an independent office to address, investigate, and head off potential safety problems like the use of mercury in vaccines, in an objective and non-conflicted office whose sole purpose is vaccine safety and evaluation.
According to Dr Weldon in a prepared statement, Federal agencies charged with overseeing vaccine safety research have failed. They have failed to provide sufficient resources for vaccine safety research. They have failed to fund extramural research and they have failed to free themselves from conflicts of interest that serve to undermine public confidence in the safety of vaccines, he said.
"The American public deserves better," Dr Weldon stated, "and increasingly parents and the public at large are demanding better."
"There's an enormous inherent conflict of interest within the CDC," he said, "and if we fail to move vaccine safety to a separate independent office, safety issues will remain a low priority and public confidence in vaccines will continue to erode."
He said that similar conflicts have been remedied in other federal agencies, but in the vaccine program the conflicts persist unchecked. "This bill will provide the independence necessary," Dr Weldon said, "to ensure that vaccine safety research is robust, unbiased, and broadly accepted by the public at large."
"Vaccines do wonders for public health, but when the government requires them, it must also ensure that they're safe," Ms Maloney said in her statement. "We need adequate, unbiased research on vaccines, and this legislation would deliver that."
She applauded Dr Weldon for his tremendous commitment and leadership on the issue. "He is truly dedicated," she said, "to protecting our children and the public at large."
While announcing the new bill, Dr Weldon and Ms Maloney were joined by several groups advocating vaccine safety reform, including the National Autism Association, A-Champs, and safeMINDS.
According to the National Autism Association: "This landmark legislation will provide critical government agency oversight and implementation of vaccine safety research, which has not kept pace with the rise in the number of vaccines routinely prescribed to consumers including pregnant women and young children."
Additionally, the Act calls for $80 million in funding to conduct vaccine analysis and safety research.
Currently the CDC oversees vaccine research, safety and promotion, a situation that has been drawing more and more public criticism in recent years. The CDC compiles the list of vaccines that doctors are to give all children in the US, based on the recommendations of an advisory panel, and in many states kids can not attend day care or public schools unless they have received the CDC-endorsed vaccines.
A recommendation by the CDC guarantees a huge market for a vaccine and enables the drug company to use the government as a marketing device for its product. The annual global market for vaccines is expected to be over $10 billion this year.
On July 21, 2003, United Press International published a report based on a four-month investigation that found a pattern of problems linked to vaccines recommended by the CDC, as well as a web of close ties between the agency's advisory panel and the pharmaceutical industry.
By investigating members of an advisory panel of outside experts that make vaccine recommendations, UPI found that members of the panel received money from vaccine makers through relationships that included: sharing a vaccine patent; owning stock in a vaccine company; payments for research; money to monitor vaccine testing; and funding for academic departments.
In fact, according to UPI, the CDC itself is in the vaccine business. Under a 1980 law, UPI found the CDC had 28 licensing agreements with drug companies and one university for vaccines or vaccine-related products and eight ongoing projects to collaborate on new vaccines.
For instance, the CDC and SmithKline Beecham worked together on the Lyme-disease vaccine. A 1992 CDC activity report, obtained by UPI, says the agency had an agreement "with SmithKline Beecham that currently funds three positions at (the CDC) for the purpose of providing information of use in developing advanced test methods and vaccine candidates."
In June 2001, the General Accounting Office delivered a report on the issue to Senator Chris Dodd, (D-Conn), that noted that CDC employees "are listed on two Lyme-disease related patents" including "a 1993 joint patent between CDC and SmithKline Beecham Corporation." The report also said that six of 12 consultants working for the CDC on Lyme vaccines "reported at least one interest related to a vaccine firm."
According to CDC meeting transcripts where the committee weighed its recommendation, 3 had conflicts of interest with SmithKlineBeecham. The LYMERIX lyme-disease vaccine was approved by the CDC on February 18, 1999, and by October of 2000, more than 1.4 million people had received the vaccine.
But 18 months later, according to UPI, in February 2002, SmithKline Beecham pulled the vaccine off the market claiming that sales of LYMERIX were insufficient to justify the continued investment. However, according to UPI, the company also faced hundreds of lawsuits by people who said they suffered side effects from the vaccines.
The government's database at the time, listed possible side effects from LYMERIX as 640 emergency room visits, 34 life-threatening reactions, 77 hospitalizations, 198 disabilities and six deaths after people took the shots since the CDC endorsed it, according to UPI.
UPI also found other cases where vaccines endorsed by the panel were pulled off the market after a number of people suffered devastating side effects, and some died.
Congressman Dan Burton, (R-Ind), had already been investigating the advisory panel for several years, and told UPI that the conflicts of interest were a major problem. "This presents a real paradox," he said, "when the CDC routinely allows scientists with blatant conflicts of interest to serve on influential advisory committees that make recommendations on new vaccines, as well as policy matters."
"All the while these same scientists," Representative Burton said, "have financial ties, academic affiliations, and other vested interests in the products and companies for which they are supposed to be providing unbiased oversight."
An August 2001 report on the investigation by Rep Burton's House Government Reform Committee, stated that "four out of eight CDC advisory committee members who voted to approve guidelines for the rotavirus vaccine in June 1998 had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies that were developing different versions of the vaccine."
Critic say the conflicts of interest of Dr Paul Offit while sitting on the advisory panel could not be more blatant. He was part of the team that mandated the use of the RotaVirus vaccine, even though he received a $350,000 grant from Merck to develop the vaccine, shared the patent, and was paid to go around the country teaching doctors that vaccines were safe, according to the Wall Street Journal.
UPI discovered that Merck also had bought and distributed copies of a book written by Dr Offit titled, "What Every Parent Should Know About Vaccines," to physicians with a Dear Doctor letter that stated:"Merck Vaccine Division is pleased to present you with a copy of the recent publication, 'What Every Parent Should Know About Vaccines.'"
"The authors designed the book," Merck's letter told doctors, "to answer questions parents have about vaccines and to dispel misinformation about vaccines that sometimes appears in the public media."
The book had a list price of $14.95, and Dr Offit told UPI that he did not know how many copies Merck had purchased.
In 2001, Congressman Burton's investigation also found conflicts of interest with the then chairman of the advisory panel, Dr John Modlin, a Professor at Dartmouth Medical School, who owned $26,000 worth of Merck stock.
In a phone interview in 2003, Dr Modlin told UPI that he had sold the Merck stock, but that he had recently agreed to chair a committee to oversee Merck vaccine clinical trials.
"Meeting transcripts over the past decade," UPI says, "showed that at some meetings, half of the members present had potential conflicts with vaccine manufacturers."
For instance, at a June 2002 meeting, four of the 11 members on the panel acknowledged conflicts with Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Aventis Pasteur, and Bayer. Two of the four conducted research or vaccine trials and one member was a co-holder of a patent.
The agency is currently facing a major credibility crisis over the issue of whether vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, are responsible for the epidemic of neurological disorders ranging from ADHD to autism in children all across the country.
The CDC is being accused of research manipulation and cover-ups of vaccine maker culpability by an ever increasing number of activist groups and is also facing tough questions from some of the powerful members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats alike.
The CDC continues to claim that there is no evidence to support a connection between the epidemic and thimerosal, which they say is no longer used in most pediatric vaccines.
It is however, included in the flu vaccine currently recommended for all pregnant women and children more than 6 months old.
Earlier this year, a group of lawmakers initiated a new investigation of the matter and basically directed the CDC to butt out. On February 22, 2006, they stated in a letter: "If the federal government is going to have a study whose results will be broadly accepted, such a study cannot be led by the CDC," in a letter to Dr David Schwartz, Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
The letter was signed by Senators, Joe Lieberman (D-Conn) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich), and members of the House Representatives including, Dr Dave Weldon, (R-Fla) Chris Smith, (R-NJ), Carolyn Maloney, (D-NY), Dan Burton, (R-Ind), Joseph Crowley, (D-NY), and Maurice Hinchey, (D-NY).
The Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is part of the National Institutes of Health, and was asked to convene a panel to decide how to analyze the CDC database to determine whether autism rates have dropped since thimerosal was removed from most vaccines.
The controversy picked up traction in April, "National Autism Month," when world renowned heavy metal experts, researchers, and physicians traveled to Washington and rallied on Capital Hill moving the debate beyond just the parents of autistic children.
This spring, a full-page ad appeared in USA Today, the most widely-circulated newspaper in the US, and accused the CDC of "causing an epidemic of autism" by recommending that kids receive a series of vaccinations that contained thimerosal at least as late as 2001.
The ad quoted one of the most recent and famous advocates to join the cause, environmental lawyer, Robert F Kennedy Jr, as saying: "It's time for the CDC to come clean with the American public."
The ad was funded by a coalition of advocacy groups led by Generation Rescue, and directed readers to the web site, www.PutChildren First.org, to view internal CDC documents, many of which were obtained under the FOIA, that includes transcripts of meetings and e-mails that the groups contend support their allegations of a CDC cover-up.
Congressman Weldon has a theory about why the CDC continues the charade of denying the link between vaccines and autism. "If it is eventually determined that an entire generation of kids was essentially poisoned," he says, "a class-action suit against the federal government could be on the order of hundreds of billions of dollars, and so there's very good reason for them to try to cover this up."
And Dr Weldon's prediction is proving true. Vaccine injury lawsuits are being filed and won against the vaccine makers and the government. Implemented in 1988, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, established a mandatory, federally administered no-fault claims process for individuals who allege that they were harmed by the administration of childhood vaccines.
The vaccine compensation fund was created to supposedly ensure an adequate supply of vaccines, and to stabilize vaccine costs. A small fee charged on each vaccines funds the program. According to statistics on the vaccine compensation web site, in fiscal year 2006, a total of $38.2 million has been paid out in cases involving 47 awards.
In what is reported to be one of the largest settlements ever, in July 2006, a quadriplegic boy was awarded $43.1 million. The case alleged that now 7-year-old, Mario Rodriguez, became a quadriplegic after receiving a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine on January. 25, 2000.
Under the guidelines of the vaccine compensation fund program, the lawsuit was filed against the Department of Health and Human Services. Kansas City attorney, Leland Dempsey, who represented the child, told the Kansas City Star: "One unusual aspect of the case is that Mario is expected to have a normal lifespan, and therefore will require more years of care that will cost more money."
"He will need round-the-clock care, including extensive medical intervention, throughout his life," Mr Dempsey said.
Many other vaccine related lawsuits have been filed against drug makers. For instance, Eli Lilly, the company that invented thimerosal back in the 1930s, informed its shareholders in its 2005 Annual Report filed with the SEC on April 1, 2006: "We have been named as a defendant in approximately 340 actions in the U.S., involving approximately 1,020 claimants, brought in various state courts and federal district courts on behalf of children with autism or other neurological disorders."
Lilly also stated, we believe that "the majority of the cases should not be prosecuted in the courts in which they have been brought because the underlying claims are subject to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986."
Under the Act, claims must first be brought before the US Court of Claims for an award determination under the guidelines established by the Act. However, as Lilly points out in its filing, "Claimants who are unsatisfied with their awards under the Act may reject the award and seek traditional judicial remedies."
Monday, August 2, 2010
Profit Drive Swine Flu Propaganda - Pump Up the Volume - Part 2
Evelyn Pringle October 2009
Back on May 9, 2009, Robin Robinson, a director at the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees pandemic responses, told the Washington Post that even as officials take steps to develop a swine flu vaccine with sufficient doses for every "man, woman and child," those plans would be dialed back if the pandemic "fizzles out."
The pandemic has fizzled out but the gravy train toward vaccine profits is still rolling. On September 16, 2009, Reuters reported that the death rate from the pandemic H1N1 swine flu was likely lower than earlier estimates.
"Barring any changes in the virus, I think we can say we are in a category 1 pandemic. This has not become clear until fairly recently," said Dr Marc Lipsitch of Harvard, an expert in infectious diseases, told a meeting of flu experts convened by the US Institute of Medicine.
"The news is certainly better than it was in May and even better than it was at the beginning of August," he noted.
The US government's Pandemic Severity Index has five categories, with a category 1 comparable to a seasonal flu epidemic. Seasonal flu has a death rate of less than 0.1 percent, Reuters reports. A category 5 would compare to the 1918 flu pandemic, which had an estimated death rate of 2% or more.
Lipsitch gathered information on how many people had reported influenza-like illness around the world, which may or may not actually be influenza; government reports of actual hospitalizations and confirmed deaths, and "came up with a range of mortality from swine flu from 0.007 percent to 0.045 percent," Reuters advises.
Having new information about how many people were infected and did not become severely ill or die makes the pandemic look very mild, Lipsitch said.
Minimal Swine Flu Deaths
The CIA World Factbook estimates the world population to be close to 6. 8 billion and the US population a little over 307 million. At the beginning of the swine flu propaganda campaign, it was predicted that the strength of the pandemic could be measured by watching statistics from the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season runs from May to September, the southern autumn and winter months.
The Southern Hemisphere holds between 10 and 12% of the world's population, meaning the Southern Hemisphere population would be roughly 760 million people, at 11% of the world's total.
According to population numbers for 2008 from Nation Master.com, and statistics from the FluCount.org website, the total number of swine flu deaths, as of September 30, 2009, was only 2,386, for thirteen countries in the Southern Hemisphere, and three countries that are mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a total population of 628.3 million people who would have received no vaccine against the swine flu.
India's population of approximately 1.17 billion people amounts to about one-sixth of the world's population, according to the World Factbook. As of October 11, 2009, India's swine flu death toll was a mere 385, according to the Times of India.
On October 6, 2009, the Associated Press reported that the "CDC doesn't have an exact count of swine flu deaths and hospitalizations, but existing reports suggest the infection has caused more than 600 deaths and more than 9,000 hospitalizations since the virus was first identified in April."
But yet the article further notes that "U.S. health authorities hope to give swine flu vaccinations to more than half the 300 million-plus population in just a few months."
The first swine death in the army, the largest military branch with 552,425 soldiers, did not occur until September 10, 2009, according to the Associated Press on October 1, 2009. It was reported to be the only death among the 1.4 million men and women in uniform at that time.
Yet all military personnel are required to receive the new swine flu vaccine. "The Pentagon has bought 2.7 million doses of vaccine, and 1.4 million of those will go to active-duty military personnel," the AP reported on September 29, 2009.
"National Guard troops on active duty are also required to receive the vaccine, as are civilian Defense Department employees who are in critical jobs," the article noted.
In 2007, people under 20 years of age made up 27.6% of the US population, according to the US Census Bureau, meaning roughly 82.8 million people were under 20. At the end of September, the CDC was reporting only 76 deaths from swine flu among children in the US.
Dr Anne Schuchat, director of the agency's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters that the number of pediatric deaths ranged from 46 to 88 during the past three flu seasons, which is hard to reckon with the fact that the CDC is always claiming that 36,000 people die of the seasonal flu each year in the US.
But then experts say the CDC's 36,000 flu death statistic, echoed by the media each year, is greatly distorted. In a 2006 paper in the "Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons,} Dr David Ayoub and Dr F Edward Yazbak report that a review of the mortality data from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) reveals "these estimates are grossly exaggerated."
The NVSS reports preliminary mortality statistics and distinguishes between influenza-related deaths and pneumonia-related mortality, they explain.
"When the final report is issued, influenza mortalities are combined with the far more frequent pneumonia deaths, yielding an exaggerated representation of "influenza" deaths," they report.
"Pneumonia related mortality due to immunosuppression, AIDS, malnutrition, and a variety of other predisposing medical conditions is therefore combined with seasonal influenza deaths," the doctors point out.
"The actual influenza related deaths for the years 1997 to 2002 ranged from 257 to 1,765 annually," they advise.
"These values are further overestimated by combining deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza infections with cases lacking laboratory confirmation," they say. "There were fewer than 100 annual cases of viral-confirmed deaths during this same period."
"Deaths occurring in women of reproductive ages were rare, approximately one per year," they note.
On the CDC's main flu page they state that about 36,000 people die from the flu in the US each year. But if you search a little harder, he says, you find the actual number of people who died from the flu in 2005 was 1,805, the most recent data available.
"In 2004, there were just 1,100 actual flu deaths," Dr Mercola reports on his website.
"The statistics the CDC gives are skewed partly because they classify those dying from pneumonia as dying from the flu, which is inaccurate," he says.
As of October 2, 2009, the World Health Organization was reporting only 4,108 swine flue deaths globally, five months into the pandemic, without any vaccines.
To put these numbers in perspective, consider that in 2005, more than 43,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents in the US, according to the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Risks Outweigh Benefits
Studies also show flu vaccines do not work, and especially with children. On May 19, 2009, researchers at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego, presented a study that found children who received the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine [TIV] had a three times greater risk of hospitalization for the flu than kids who were not vaccinated.
To determine whether the flu vaccine was effective in reducing the number of hospitalizations over consecutive flu seasons for 8 years, the researchers conducted a study of 263 children between the ages of 6 months and 18, evaluated at the Mayo Clinic between 1996 and 2006, with laboratory-confirmed influenza and reviewed records to determine which kids had received a flu shot before the illness and hospitalization.
According to the study, not only did the vaccine not prevent the flu, the children who received it got sicker than those who did not. Which means that for the 8 year period studied, health insurance companies, government programs and parents paid the cost of useless vaccines, doctors office calls and three times more flu-related hospitalizations, with the children suffering the harshest consequences.
On the "Healthy Skepticism" website, in a September 21, 2009 paper titled, "In the Face of Swine Flu, Common Sense and Science," Juan Gérvas, Honorary Professor, Public Health, School of Medicine, Autonomous University, in Madrid, Spain, reports that the "seasonal flu vaccine is relatively ineffective in children and adolescents, with a success rate of 33%, and is absolutely useless for children under 2 years."
"There are doubts about how effective it is in preventing flu in adults and the elderly," he added.
"We don't know anything about the effectiveness and safety of the swine flu vaccine which is ready to be marketed," Professor Gervas points out.
On April 29, 2008, Psychorg.com ran the headline, "Flu shot does not reduce risk of death," and reported that the "widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the elderly does not withstand careful scrutiny," according to researchers in Alberta, Canada.
The study, published in the September, 2008, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society, included more than 700 matched elderly subjects, half of whom had taken the vaccine and half of whom had not.
"After controlling for a wealth of variables that were largely not considered or simply not available in previous studies that reported the mortality benefit, the researchers concluded that any such benefit 'if present at all, was very small and statistically non-significant and may simply be a healthy-user artifact that they were unable to identify.'," the report said.
"Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15 to 65 percent, there has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality," said Dean Eurich, PhD, clinical epidemiologist and assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta.
"Further, only about 10 percent of winter-time deaths in the United States are attributable to influenza, thus to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion," he advised.
On May 2, 2006, the National Post reported that, "Canada's first experiment in universal, free flu vaccine has cost Ontario taxpayers more than $200-million, but appears to have done nothing to cut the spread of influenza," a new study suggests.
"The Ontario initiative, the world's first universal flu campaign, distributes about five million vaccine doses a year at a current cost of $50- to $55-million, including promotion," the Post said, citing the Health Ministry.
The highly publicized offer of free flu shots to all 12 million Ontarians was launched in 2000 to try to ease pressure on emergency wards from flu patients, and cut the incidence and severity of the illness, the Post noted.
"Per-capita flu rates in the province have not fallen at all since the program was introduced in 2000, concluded the University of Ottawa research, published in the journal Vaccine," the Post reported.
"In fact," the Post said, "the average monthly incidence of the virus jumped over the first five years of the program, though researchers say it is too early to say that numbers are really on the rise."
"All we do know is rates haven't decreased, and there has been a lot of money spent," said Dianne Groll, the University of Ottawa professor who led the study. "The program was designed to reduce the incidence of flu, and this hasn't yet happened."
Dr Groll looked at the number of cases of laboratory-diagnosed flu reported to Health Canada between 1990 and 2005, and found that the rate between 1990 and 2000, when the program started, was 109 per 100,000 Ontarians. Since the launch of the campaign, "it jumped to 164." the Post said.
It's worth noting that the study also found the Ontario flu rates did not change relative to other provinces.
Back on May 9, 2009, Robin Robinson, a director at the Department of Health and Human Services who oversees pandemic responses, told the Washington Post that even as officials take steps to develop a swine flu vaccine with sufficient doses for every "man, woman and child," those plans would be dialed back if the pandemic "fizzles out."
The pandemic has fizzled out but the gravy train toward vaccine profits is still rolling. On September 16, 2009, Reuters reported that the death rate from the pandemic H1N1 swine flu was likely lower than earlier estimates.
"Barring any changes in the virus, I think we can say we are in a category 1 pandemic. This has not become clear until fairly recently," said Dr Marc Lipsitch of Harvard, an expert in infectious diseases, told a meeting of flu experts convened by the US Institute of Medicine.
"The news is certainly better than it was in May and even better than it was at the beginning of August," he noted.
The US government's Pandemic Severity Index has five categories, with a category 1 comparable to a seasonal flu epidemic. Seasonal flu has a death rate of less than 0.1 percent, Reuters reports. A category 5 would compare to the 1918 flu pandemic, which had an estimated death rate of 2% or more.
Lipsitch gathered information on how many people had reported influenza-like illness around the world, which may or may not actually be influenza; government reports of actual hospitalizations and confirmed deaths, and "came up with a range of mortality from swine flu from 0.007 percent to 0.045 percent," Reuters advises.
Having new information about how many people were infected and did not become severely ill or die makes the pandemic look very mild, Lipsitch said.
Minimal Swine Flu Deaths
The CIA World Factbook estimates the world population to be close to 6. 8 billion and the US population a little over 307 million. At the beginning of the swine flu propaganda campaign, it was predicted that the strength of the pandemic could be measured by watching statistics from the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season runs from May to September, the southern autumn and winter months.
The Southern Hemisphere holds between 10 and 12% of the world's population, meaning the Southern Hemisphere population would be roughly 760 million people, at 11% of the world's total.
According to population numbers for 2008 from Nation Master.com, and statistics from the FluCount.org website, the total number of swine flu deaths, as of September 30, 2009, was only 2,386, for thirteen countries in the Southern Hemisphere, and three countries that are mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a total population of 628.3 million people who would have received no vaccine against the swine flu.
India's population of approximately 1.17 billion people amounts to about one-sixth of the world's population, according to the World Factbook. As of October 11, 2009, India's swine flu death toll was a mere 385, according to the Times of India.
On October 6, 2009, the Associated Press reported that the "CDC doesn't have an exact count of swine flu deaths and hospitalizations, but existing reports suggest the infection has caused more than 600 deaths and more than 9,000 hospitalizations since the virus was first identified in April."
But yet the article further notes that "U.S. health authorities hope to give swine flu vaccinations to more than half the 300 million-plus population in just a few months."
The first swine death in the army, the largest military branch with 552,425 soldiers, did not occur until September 10, 2009, according to the Associated Press on October 1, 2009. It was reported to be the only death among the 1.4 million men and women in uniform at that time.
Yet all military personnel are required to receive the new swine flu vaccine. "The Pentagon has bought 2.7 million doses of vaccine, and 1.4 million of those will go to active-duty military personnel," the AP reported on September 29, 2009.
"National Guard troops on active duty are also required to receive the vaccine, as are civilian Defense Department employees who are in critical jobs," the article noted.
In 2007, people under 20 years of age made up 27.6% of the US population, according to the US Census Bureau, meaning roughly 82.8 million people were under 20. At the end of September, the CDC was reporting only 76 deaths from swine flu among children in the US.
Dr Anne Schuchat, director of the agency's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters that the number of pediatric deaths ranged from 46 to 88 during the past three flu seasons, which is hard to reckon with the fact that the CDC is always claiming that 36,000 people die of the seasonal flu each year in the US.
But then experts say the CDC's 36,000 flu death statistic, echoed by the media each year, is greatly distorted. In a 2006 paper in the "Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons,} Dr David Ayoub and Dr F Edward Yazbak report that a review of the mortality data from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) reveals "these estimates are grossly exaggerated."
The NVSS reports preliminary mortality statistics and distinguishes between influenza-related deaths and pneumonia-related mortality, they explain.
"When the final report is issued, influenza mortalities are combined with the far more frequent pneumonia deaths, yielding an exaggerated representation of "influenza" deaths," they report.
"Pneumonia related mortality due to immunosuppression, AIDS, malnutrition, and a variety of other predisposing medical conditions is therefore combined with seasonal influenza deaths," the doctors point out.
"The actual influenza related deaths for the years 1997 to 2002 ranged from 257 to 1,765 annually," they advise.
"These values are further overestimated by combining deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza infections with cases lacking laboratory confirmation," they say. "There were fewer than 100 annual cases of viral-confirmed deaths during this same period."
"Deaths occurring in women of reproductive ages were rare, approximately one per year," they note.
On the CDC's main flu page they state that about 36,000 people die from the flu in the US each year. But if you search a little harder, he says, you find the actual number of people who died from the flu in 2005 was 1,805, the most recent data available.
"In 2004, there were just 1,100 actual flu deaths," Dr Mercola reports on his website.
"The statistics the CDC gives are skewed partly because they classify those dying from pneumonia as dying from the flu, which is inaccurate," he says.
As of October 2, 2009, the World Health Organization was reporting only 4,108 swine flue deaths globally, five months into the pandemic, without any vaccines.
To put these numbers in perspective, consider that in 2005, more than 43,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents in the US, according to the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Risks Outweigh Benefits
Studies also show flu vaccines do not work, and especially with children. On May 19, 2009, researchers at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego, presented a study that found children who received the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine [TIV] had a three times greater risk of hospitalization for the flu than kids who were not vaccinated.
To determine whether the flu vaccine was effective in reducing the number of hospitalizations over consecutive flu seasons for 8 years, the researchers conducted a study of 263 children between the ages of 6 months and 18, evaluated at the Mayo Clinic between 1996 and 2006, with laboratory-confirmed influenza and reviewed records to determine which kids had received a flu shot before the illness and hospitalization.
According to the study, not only did the vaccine not prevent the flu, the children who received it got sicker than those who did not. Which means that for the 8 year period studied, health insurance companies, government programs and parents paid the cost of useless vaccines, doctors office calls and three times more flu-related hospitalizations, with the children suffering the harshest consequences.
On the "Healthy Skepticism" website, in a September 21, 2009 paper titled, "In the Face of Swine Flu, Common Sense and Science," Juan Gérvas, Honorary Professor, Public Health, School of Medicine, Autonomous University, in Madrid, Spain, reports that the "seasonal flu vaccine is relatively ineffective in children and adolescents, with a success rate of 33%, and is absolutely useless for children under 2 years."
"There are doubts about how effective it is in preventing flu in adults and the elderly," he added.
"We don't know anything about the effectiveness and safety of the swine flu vaccine which is ready to be marketed," Professor Gervas points out.
On April 29, 2008, Psychorg.com ran the headline, "Flu shot does not reduce risk of death," and reported that the "widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the elderly does not withstand careful scrutiny," according to researchers in Alberta, Canada.
The study, published in the September, 2008, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society, included more than 700 matched elderly subjects, half of whom had taken the vaccine and half of whom had not.
"After controlling for a wealth of variables that were largely not considered or simply not available in previous studies that reported the mortality benefit, the researchers concluded that any such benefit 'if present at all, was very small and statistically non-significant and may simply be a healthy-user artifact that they were unable to identify.'," the report said.
"Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15 to 65 percent, there has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality," said Dean Eurich, PhD, clinical epidemiologist and assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta.
"Further, only about 10 percent of winter-time deaths in the United States are attributable to influenza, thus to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion," he advised.
On May 2, 2006, the National Post reported that, "Canada's first experiment in universal, free flu vaccine has cost Ontario taxpayers more than $200-million, but appears to have done nothing to cut the spread of influenza," a new study suggests.
"The Ontario initiative, the world's first universal flu campaign, distributes about five million vaccine doses a year at a current cost of $50- to $55-million, including promotion," the Post said, citing the Health Ministry.
The highly publicized offer of free flu shots to all 12 million Ontarians was launched in 2000 to try to ease pressure on emergency wards from flu patients, and cut the incidence and severity of the illness, the Post noted.
"Per-capita flu rates in the province have not fallen at all since the program was introduced in 2000, concluded the University of Ottawa research, published in the journal Vaccine," the Post reported.
"In fact," the Post said, "the average monthly incidence of the virus jumped over the first five years of the program, though researchers say it is too early to say that numbers are really on the rise."
"All we do know is rates haven't decreased, and there has been a lot of money spent," said Dianne Groll, the University of Ottawa professor who led the study. "The program was designed to reduce the incidence of flu, and this hasn't yet happened."
Dr Groll looked at the number of cases of laboratory-diagnosed flu reported to Health Canada between 1990 and 2005, and found that the rate between 1990 and 2000, when the program started, was 109 per 100,000 Ontarians. Since the launch of the campaign, "it jumped to 164." the Post said.
It's worth noting that the study also found the Ontario flu rates did not change relative to other provinces.
Profit Driven Swine Flu Propaganda - Pump Up the Volume - Part Four
Evelyn Pringle October 2009
Those in control of the mainstream media have joined together with public health officials to provide the pharmaceutical industry with the best swine flu promotional campaign that money can buy.
In an October 7, 2009, OpEd News article titled, "The Centers for Disease Control: The Best Vaccination PR Firm Taxes Can Buy," the makers of the documentaries, "Vaccine Nation," and "Autism: Made in the USA," Richard Gale and Dr Gary Null wrote:
"If the flu season goes according to schedule, the vaccine industrial complex will be poised to join Wall Street for record year rip-off profits. We will also likely witness huge Pharma executive bonuses and perhaps gold-plated toilets.
"Even if the CDC statisticians' crystal ball used to forecast rampant swine flu infections turns into a complete bust -- which would only be one more added to many other failed flu predictions back to 1976 -- it will nevertheless be a very profitable failure as was the economic collapse for the banking cartel."
"In the US, such profits could never be accomplished without a dynamic, marketing initiative to convince Americans that vaccines will keep them protected and alive," they point out.
"And what better public relations machine for the vaccine complex, and all its supporters in health insurance and professional medical institutions, than our very own Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services?" they wrote.
The CDC is "formulating a $4.8 million multimedia campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated and help alleviate concerns and confusion, including radio and television public service announcements, print ads, and messages delivered via Twitter, RSS feeds and video podcasts on YouTube," according to the August 22, 2009 Washington Post.
Government health officials "are mobilizing to launch a massive swine flu vaccination campaign this fall that is unprecedented in its scope -- and in the potential for complications," the Post reported. "The campaign aims to vaccinate at least half the country's population within months."
The federal government "has spent close to $2 billion to buy up to 195 million doses of vaccine and adjuvant," according to the Post.
"The government is prepared to buy enough to vaccinate every person -- 600 million doses all together -- if the pandemic or demand warrants it," the report said. "That could increase the cost to $5 billion for the vaccine alone."
"It would cost at least $9 billion to administer the vaccine to the entire population, according to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials," the Post advised.
There is nothing free about the flu vaccination campaigns in the US. Americans will end up footing the bill in one way or another, along with the medical care for persons injured by the vaccine.
"As always with pandemic flus, taxpayers are footing the $1.5 billion check for the 250 million swine flu vaccines that the government has ordered so far and will be distributing free to doctors, pharmacies and schools," ABC News pointed out on October 14, 2009.
"In addition," the report said, "Congress has set aside more than $10 billion this year to research flu viruses, monitor H1N1's progress and educate the public about prevention."
On October 5, 2009, the Associated Press advised that the H1N1 vaccine itself is free because the government bought it with your tax dollars. "But providers can charge a small fee for administering it, usually about $20. Regular flu shots tend to cost up to $35," the AP said.
Doctors are also set to profit greatly from administering the vaccines. The American Medical Association, which publishes Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), has even revised one CPT code and issued another for use in billing for H1N1 vaccines.
The changes "will streamline the reporting and reimbursement procedure for physicians and healthcare providers who are expected to administer nearly 200 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine in the U.S.," the AMA said in a statement.
Media as a PR Firm
"In too many ways, the mainstream media has become little more than a corporate mouthpiece, whoring itself out to the highest bidder / advertiser," warns Mike Adams, in the September 18, 2009, Natural News report titled, "Ten Swine Flu Lies Told by the Mainstream Media."
The "distorted reporting on the swine flu vaccine has been one of the greatest media frauds ever perpetrated," he says.
"The media has in every way contributed to the widespread ignorance of the American people on the subject of vitamin D and natural immune-boosting defenses that could reduce swine flu fatalities," Adams points out.
"Rather than informing readers," he says, "the MSM has made it a point to keep the people stupid, and in doing so, the media has failed its only mission and betrayed the very audience it claims to serve."
Vested Interest in Spreading Swine Flu Propaganda
The media moguls controlling the MSM world-wide have a vested interest in hyping the swine flu epidemic to boost sales of vaccines and funding for the vaccine research industry.
Rupert Murdoch is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation. News Corp was the world's second largest media conglomerate, behind Walt Disney Company, as of 2008, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.
In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34 percent stake in Hughes Electronics, the operator of Direct TV, the largest American satellite TV system. In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corp's headquarters from Australia to the US.
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, News Corp owns Fox Broadcasting Company and 27 Fox Television Stations in major cities all over the country, in addition to many cable channels, including the Fox News channel, and 20th Century Fox film companies and studios. News Corp also owns the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
On February 2, 2009, GlaxoSmithKline announced the appointment of James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, as a non-executive director. Murdoch joined the company on May 20, 2009 and will also be a member of Glaxo's Corporate Responsibility Committee.
Murdoch is Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation, Europe and Asia, and "has direct responsibility for the strategic and operational development of News Corporation's television, newspaper and related digital assets in Europe, Asia and the Middle East," Glaxo noted.
Murdoch is in charge of "News International, owner of four British newspapers -- the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World," according to an article titled, "The Invisible Mogul: Meeting James Murdoch," by Sophie Barker, in the spring 2009 issue of "Intelligent Life Magazine."
"His TV channels reach 200m people across 60-odd countries," Barker reports.
The Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) is the largest research Institute in Australia specialising in child and adolescent health. "Located on the campus of the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, it is affiliated with the University of Melbourne," its website states.
Rupert Murdoch's mother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, is the widow of Australian newspaper publisher, Sir Keith Murdoch. She married Keith Murdoch, 23 years her senior, in 1928 and inherited the bulk of his fortune when he died in 1952. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1963.
"It was through seed funding provided by Dame Elisabeth" in 1984, that the MCRI went on "to become the largest and most prestigious child health research centre in Australia," according to the February 7, 2009, Frankston Standard Leader.
Elisabeth is a life-governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and a Patron of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, according to the Australian Women's Register.
In 2009, MCRI has "over 1100 researchers," the Leader reports. Rupert Murdoch's daughter-in-law, Sarah Murdoch, has been the ambassador for the MCRI and a member of the development board since 2000.
The MCRI has six research themes, including one for "Infection, immunity and environment," with research conducted at the "Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Child and Adolescent Immunisation."
The CCRE is a joint MCRI, Melbourne University, and Menzies School of Health Research collaboration whose secretariat is located in the Department of General Medicine at the Royal Children's Hospital campus.
"Research focuses on clinical trials of new vaccines in healthy infants, children and adolescents, the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) and evaluation of the impact of population-delivered vaccine programs, and mathematical modelling of vaccine-preventable diseases," the MCRI website advises.
Under "Collaborations," the site lists: "Promotion of collaborations with Australian and overseas immunisation researchers, policy-makers, service providers and the vaccine industry."
Under a heading titled, "Commercialisation," the website states: "The Murdoch Children's Research Institute invites interested parties to take up the opportunity to invest in its wide portfolio of commercial biotechnologies."
In a July 27, 2009 press release, MCRI announced that children "are being recruited for a pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine trial set to begin in Melbourne next week."
"About 100 Victorian children aged between 6 months to eight years are needed for the study, which will be run by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the University of Melbourne from as early as next week," the press release stated.
"They will be among 400 children recruited across five states for the Federal Government required trials of the vaccine, produced by Australian biopharmaceutical company CSL," it advised.
Four years ago, on October 4, 2005, the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute issued a similar press release stating: "Bird flu vaccine trial to begin."
"TRIALS of a bird flu vaccine are set to begin in Melbourne this week as researchers prepare against the threat of an influenza pandemic," MCRI advised.
"The study, a collaborative project between the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and University of Melbourne, is being sponsored by Australian pharmaceutical company CSL Limited," the press release stated.
Media mogul, Mortimer Zuckerman, also has a research center named after him. On May 10, 2009, the New York Times reported that Zuckerman had "pledged $100 million to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the largest donation in the hospital's history and one of the largest ever given to an American medical center."
"Sloan-Kettering will name its new research center on the Upper East Side for Mr. Zuckerman, the real estate developer and owner of The Daily News and U.S. News & World Report," the Times noted.
"Zuckerman advances vaccine research and development at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Research Center in association with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Rockefeller University," according to Dr Leonard Horowitz, a Harvard-trained authority in vaccinations and emerging diseases with a masters degree in public health, in a September 30, 2009, report by Sherri Kane.
Zuckerman is also a leading financier of the American Lyme Disease Foundation that heavily promoted GlaxoSmithKline's disastrous Lymerix vaccine, Horowitz says.
"This vaccine was pulled from the market following hundreds-of-thousands of reported cases of recipients suffering post-vaccination symptoms of Lyme disease," he reports.
The great bird flu hoax serves as an excellent example of use of the MSM to pump out fear mongering propaganda. On June 20, 2005, Zuckerman wrote a commentary in US News and World Report titled, "A Nightmare Scenario – H5N1 Pandemic," and stated:
"Should it develop certain genetic changes, international health experts warn, bird flu could spark a global pandemic, infecting as much of a quarter of the world's population and killing as many as 180 million to 360 million people--at least seven times the number of AIDS deaths, all within a matter of weeks."
"In the worst previous catastrophic pandemic, in 1918, more than 20 million died from the Spanish flu," Zuckerman wrote.
"We must prioritize research money to develop a vaccine, expand the production of flu vaccine, and stockpile antiviral medications," he advised.
On December 8, 2005, Bloomberg ran an article with the headline, "Bird Flu Pandemic May Cost U.S. Economy $675 Billion," in which Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was quoted as saying, "A pandemic of bird flu in humans may cost the U.S. economy $675 billion, including lost work time and disruptions in supply chains."
This time around, on October 14, 2009, ABC News reported that "the Trust for America's Health, a Washington-based non-profit organization, estimates that a severe pandemic could push down GDP by more than 5 percent and cost Americans $683 billion."
"We're not seeing a pandemic that's this severe," says Jeff Levi, director of the group. "We've dodged a lot of bullets."
Last but not least, Thomas H Glocer is the Chief Executive Officer of the Thomson Reuters Corporation. On November 26, 2007, Merck announced that Thomas Glocer, Chief Executive Officer, Reuters Group PLC, "will join the Company's Board of Directors effective Nov. 27."
"Merck currently discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs," the press release stated.
As shown above, the mainstream media cannot be objective when reporting on the swine flu because it is riddled with conflicts of interest involving the vaccine industry.
Those in control of the mainstream media have joined together with public health officials to provide the pharmaceutical industry with the best swine flu promotional campaign that money can buy.
In an October 7, 2009, OpEd News article titled, "The Centers for Disease Control: The Best Vaccination PR Firm Taxes Can Buy," the makers of the documentaries, "Vaccine Nation," and "Autism: Made in the USA," Richard Gale and Dr Gary Null wrote:
"If the flu season goes according to schedule, the vaccine industrial complex will be poised to join Wall Street for record year rip-off profits. We will also likely witness huge Pharma executive bonuses and perhaps gold-plated toilets.
"Even if the CDC statisticians' crystal ball used to forecast rampant swine flu infections turns into a complete bust -- which would only be one more added to many other failed flu predictions back to 1976 -- it will nevertheless be a very profitable failure as was the economic collapse for the banking cartel."
"In the US, such profits could never be accomplished without a dynamic, marketing initiative to convince Americans that vaccines will keep them protected and alive," they point out.
"And what better public relations machine for the vaccine complex, and all its supporters in health insurance and professional medical institutions, than our very own Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services?" they wrote.
The CDC is "formulating a $4.8 million multimedia campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated and help alleviate concerns and confusion, including radio and television public service announcements, print ads, and messages delivered via Twitter, RSS feeds and video podcasts on YouTube," according to the August 22, 2009 Washington Post.
Government health officials "are mobilizing to launch a massive swine flu vaccination campaign this fall that is unprecedented in its scope -- and in the potential for complications," the Post reported. "The campaign aims to vaccinate at least half the country's population within months."
The federal government "has spent close to $2 billion to buy up to 195 million doses of vaccine and adjuvant," according to the Post.
"The government is prepared to buy enough to vaccinate every person -- 600 million doses all together -- if the pandemic or demand warrants it," the report said. "That could increase the cost to $5 billion for the vaccine alone."
"It would cost at least $9 billion to administer the vaccine to the entire population, according to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials," the Post advised.
There is nothing free about the flu vaccination campaigns in the US. Americans will end up footing the bill in one way or another, along with the medical care for persons injured by the vaccine.
"As always with pandemic flus, taxpayers are footing the $1.5 billion check for the 250 million swine flu vaccines that the government has ordered so far and will be distributing free to doctors, pharmacies and schools," ABC News pointed out on October 14, 2009.
"In addition," the report said, "Congress has set aside more than $10 billion this year to research flu viruses, monitor H1N1's progress and educate the public about prevention."
On October 5, 2009, the Associated Press advised that the H1N1 vaccine itself is free because the government bought it with your tax dollars. "But providers can charge a small fee for administering it, usually about $20. Regular flu shots tend to cost up to $35," the AP said.
Doctors are also set to profit greatly from administering the vaccines. The American Medical Association, which publishes Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), has even revised one CPT code and issued another for use in billing for H1N1 vaccines.
The changes "will streamline the reporting and reimbursement procedure for physicians and healthcare providers who are expected to administer nearly 200 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine in the U.S.," the AMA said in a statement.
Media as a PR Firm
"In too many ways, the mainstream media has become little more than a corporate mouthpiece, whoring itself out to the highest bidder / advertiser," warns Mike Adams, in the September 18, 2009, Natural News report titled, "Ten Swine Flu Lies Told by the Mainstream Media."
The "distorted reporting on the swine flu vaccine has been one of the greatest media frauds ever perpetrated," he says.
"The media has in every way contributed to the widespread ignorance of the American people on the subject of vitamin D and natural immune-boosting defenses that could reduce swine flu fatalities," Adams points out.
"Rather than informing readers," he says, "the MSM has made it a point to keep the people stupid, and in doing so, the media has failed its only mission and betrayed the very audience it claims to serve."
Vested Interest in Spreading Swine Flu Propaganda
The media moguls controlling the MSM world-wide have a vested interest in hyping the swine flu epidemic to boost sales of vaccines and funding for the vaccine research industry.
Rupert Murdoch is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation. News Corp was the world's second largest media conglomerate, behind Walt Disney Company, as of 2008, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.
In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34 percent stake in Hughes Electronics, the operator of Direct TV, the largest American satellite TV system. In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corp's headquarters from Australia to the US.
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, News Corp owns Fox Broadcasting Company and 27 Fox Television Stations in major cities all over the country, in addition to many cable channels, including the Fox News channel, and 20th Century Fox film companies and studios. News Corp also owns the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
On February 2, 2009, GlaxoSmithKline announced the appointment of James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, as a non-executive director. Murdoch joined the company on May 20, 2009 and will also be a member of Glaxo's Corporate Responsibility Committee.
Murdoch is Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation, Europe and Asia, and "has direct responsibility for the strategic and operational development of News Corporation's television, newspaper and related digital assets in Europe, Asia and the Middle East," Glaxo noted.
Murdoch is in charge of "News International, owner of four British newspapers -- the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World," according to an article titled, "The Invisible Mogul: Meeting James Murdoch," by Sophie Barker, in the spring 2009 issue of "Intelligent Life Magazine."
"His TV channels reach 200m people across 60-odd countries," Barker reports.
The Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) is the largest research Institute in Australia specialising in child and adolescent health. "Located on the campus of the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, it is affiliated with the University of Melbourne," its website states.
Rupert Murdoch's mother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, is the widow of Australian newspaper publisher, Sir Keith Murdoch. She married Keith Murdoch, 23 years her senior, in 1928 and inherited the bulk of his fortune when he died in 1952. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1963.
"It was through seed funding provided by Dame Elisabeth" in 1984, that the MCRI went on "to become the largest and most prestigious child health research centre in Australia," according to the February 7, 2009, Frankston Standard Leader.
Elisabeth is a life-governor of the Royal Women's Hospital and a Patron of the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, according to the Australian Women's Register.
In 2009, MCRI has "over 1100 researchers," the Leader reports. Rupert Murdoch's daughter-in-law, Sarah Murdoch, has been the ambassador for the MCRI and a member of the development board since 2000.
The MCRI has six research themes, including one for "Infection, immunity and environment," with research conducted at the "Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Child and Adolescent Immunisation."
The CCRE is a joint MCRI, Melbourne University, and Menzies School of Health Research collaboration whose secretariat is located in the Department of General Medicine at the Royal Children's Hospital campus.
"Research focuses on clinical trials of new vaccines in healthy infants, children and adolescents, the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) and evaluation of the impact of population-delivered vaccine programs, and mathematical modelling of vaccine-preventable diseases," the MCRI website advises.
Under "Collaborations," the site lists: "Promotion of collaborations with Australian and overseas immunisation researchers, policy-makers, service providers and the vaccine industry."
Under a heading titled, "Commercialisation," the website states: "The Murdoch Children's Research Institute invites interested parties to take up the opportunity to invest in its wide portfolio of commercial biotechnologies."
In a July 27, 2009 press release, MCRI announced that children "are being recruited for a pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine trial set to begin in Melbourne next week."
"About 100 Victorian children aged between 6 months to eight years are needed for the study, which will be run by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the University of Melbourne from as early as next week," the press release stated.
"They will be among 400 children recruited across five states for the Federal Government required trials of the vaccine, produced by Australian biopharmaceutical company CSL," it advised.
Four years ago, on October 4, 2005, the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute issued a similar press release stating: "Bird flu vaccine trial to begin."
"TRIALS of a bird flu vaccine are set to begin in Melbourne this week as researchers prepare against the threat of an influenza pandemic," MCRI advised.
"The study, a collaborative project between the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and University of Melbourne, is being sponsored by Australian pharmaceutical company CSL Limited," the press release stated.
Media mogul, Mortimer Zuckerman, also has a research center named after him. On May 10, 2009, the New York Times reported that Zuckerman had "pledged $100 million to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the largest donation in the hospital's history and one of the largest ever given to an American medical center."
"Sloan-Kettering will name its new research center on the Upper East Side for Mr. Zuckerman, the real estate developer and owner of The Daily News and U.S. News & World Report," the Times noted.
"Zuckerman advances vaccine research and development at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Research Center in association with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Rockefeller University," according to Dr Leonard Horowitz, a Harvard-trained authority in vaccinations and emerging diseases with a masters degree in public health, in a September 30, 2009, report by Sherri Kane.
Zuckerman is also a leading financier of the American Lyme Disease Foundation that heavily promoted GlaxoSmithKline's disastrous Lymerix vaccine, Horowitz says.
"This vaccine was pulled from the market following hundreds-of-thousands of reported cases of recipients suffering post-vaccination symptoms of Lyme disease," he reports.
The great bird flu hoax serves as an excellent example of use of the MSM to pump out fear mongering propaganda. On June 20, 2005, Zuckerman wrote a commentary in US News and World Report titled, "A Nightmare Scenario – H5N1 Pandemic," and stated:
"Should it develop certain genetic changes, international health experts warn, bird flu could spark a global pandemic, infecting as much of a quarter of the world's population and killing as many as 180 million to 360 million people--at least seven times the number of AIDS deaths, all within a matter of weeks."
"In the worst previous catastrophic pandemic, in 1918, more than 20 million died from the Spanish flu," Zuckerman wrote.
"We must prioritize research money to develop a vaccine, expand the production of flu vaccine, and stockpile antiviral medications," he advised.
On December 8, 2005, Bloomberg ran an article with the headline, "Bird Flu Pandemic May Cost U.S. Economy $675 Billion," in which Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was quoted as saying, "A pandemic of bird flu in humans may cost the U.S. economy $675 billion, including lost work time and disruptions in supply chains."
This time around, on October 14, 2009, ABC News reported that "the Trust for America's Health, a Washington-based non-profit organization, estimates that a severe pandemic could push down GDP by more than 5 percent and cost Americans $683 billion."
"We're not seeing a pandemic that's this severe," says Jeff Levi, director of the group. "We've dodged a lot of bullets."
Last but not least, Thomas H Glocer is the Chief Executive Officer of the Thomson Reuters Corporation. On November 26, 2007, Merck announced that Thomas Glocer, Chief Executive Officer, Reuters Group PLC, "will join the Company's Board of Directors effective Nov. 27."
"Merck currently discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs," the press release stated.
As shown above, the mainstream media cannot be objective when reporting on the swine flu because it is riddled with conflicts of interest involving the vaccine industry.
Profit Driven Swine Flu Propaganda - Pump Up the Volume - Part Five
Evelyn Pringle October 2009
In the video commentary titled, Mild Swine Flu & Over-Hyped Vaccine, on the website for the National Vaccine Information Center, the group's co-founder and president, Barbara Loe Fisher, reports:
"We are witnessing a roll-out of the largest, most expensive mass vaccination campaign in the history of our nation. A rollout that is bigger than even the polio vaccine campaigns of the 1950's."
"If you or your child are injured from getting a flu swine flu shot, you are on your own," Fisher warns.
"Because Congress shielded the vaccine manufacturers and any person giving swine flu shots from lawsuits if people get hurt," she says. "There is no funded government vaccine injury compensation program for swine flu vaccine."
"Doctors are telling some children under 10 years old to get 3 to 4 flu shots this year - 2 shots for seasonal flu and one or two more for swine flu," Fisher points out.
"We have never given young children 3 to 4 flu shots in a single year and there is no information about how safe it is to do that," she advises.
On October 18, 2009, the Wall Street Journal advised that: "Children ages six months to nine years who have never received a flu vaccine before are recommended to receive two doses of both the H1N1 and seasonal-flu vaccine about a month apart," citing Paul Offit, chief of infectious disease at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, as the source, without letting readers know how rich he has become profiting off the vaccine industry.
Eight months ago, on February 16, 2009, "Age of Autism" published a report titled, "Voting Himself Rich: CDC Vaccine Adviser Made $29 Million Or More After Using Role to Create Market," by Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxil, for an investigation that found:
"Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) took home a fortune of at least $29 million as part of a $182 million sale by CHOP of its worldwide royalty interest in the Merck Rotateq vaccine to Royalty Pharma in April of last year."
"Based on an analysis of current CHOP administrative policies, the amount of income distributed to Offit could be as high as $46 million," the report noted.
"In a Moody's report dated June 2008, CHOP reported net proceeds from the Rotateq transaction of $153 million, a deal basis that would put the value of Offit's 30% share at $45.9 million," the authors wrote.
"Unlike most other patented products, the market for mandated childhood vaccines is created not by consumer demand, but by the recommendation of an appointed body called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)," the AoA report states. "In a single vote, ACIP can create a commercial market for a new vaccine that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a matter of months.
"For example, after ACIP approved the addition of Merck's (and Offit's) Rotateq vaccine to the childhood vaccination schedule, Merck's Rotateq revenue rose from zero in the beginning of 2006 to $655 million in fiscal year 2008," the authors explain.
"When one multiplies a price of close to $200 per three dose series of Rotateq by a mandated market of four million children per year, it's not hard to see the commercial value to Merck of favorable ACIP votes," the authors point out.
From 1998 to 2003, Offit served as a member of ACIP. As a member of the ACIP, Offit "voted to include the rotavirus vaccine in the Vaccines for Children program, which ultimately made his Rotateq product worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Merck," the National Autism Association reports.
Offit also holds a "$1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck," according to a July 25, 2008 report by CBS News titled, "How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?"
Calling them "the most trusted voices in the defense of vaccine safety," CBS reports that the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and pediatrician Dr Paul Offit, have something else in common - "strong financial ties to the industry whose products they promote and defend."
"The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even helped build their headquarters," CBS found. Totals were secret, but documents cited by CBS reveal the following:
A $342,000 payment from Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine - which makes $2 billion a year in sales.
$433,000 from Merck, the same year the academy endorsed Merck's Gardasil vaccine - which made $1.5 billion a year in sales.
Another top donor was Sanofi Aventis, maker of 17 vaccines and a new five-in-one combo shot added to the childhood vaccine schedule in June 2008, CBS said.
"Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all children, admits the group takes money from the vaccine industry, too - but wouldn't tell us how much," CBS investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.
In April 2009, the AAP even filed a friend of the court brief (amicus) with the US Supreme Court in support of a petition for a writ of certiorari from vaccine makers Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline to overturn a unanimous ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court that decided a civil lawsuit filed by Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari on behalf of their autistic son was not barred by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act.
The Georgia decision noted that recognizing presumptive preemption would "have the perverse effect of granting complete tort immunity from design defect liability to an entire industry."
The Farrari family alleges that the vaccine makers could have manufactured safer childhood vaccines without the mercury-based, thimerosal, that caused their son's autism. The Georgia court's ruling would allow a jury to decide the case.
On September 9, 2009, the National Autism Association issued a press release with a headline: "Offit's Failure to Disclose Jeopardizes Swine Flu Vaccine Program," referring to his recent appearance on a segment of NBC's Dateline.
"As autumn approaches and millions of Americans consider taking an H1N1 Swine Flu vaccination, the integrity of all vaccine developers has been called into question by the financial relationship of a leading vaccine advocate and a pharmaceutical manufacturer," NAA advised.
"If people are to have confidence in the integrity of the Swine Flu vaccination program this fall then we need full disclosure of all financial relationships between proponents and manufacturers on every vaccine on the market," said Jim Moody, attorney for the NAA, in the press release.
"Who has an objective opinion about a company that has made them rich?" he said.
"Offit has zero credibility in matters of vaccine safety," says Wendy Fournier, president of the NAA. "Not only does he advance the absurd suggestion that children could safety get 100,000 vaccines at a time, he opposes any studies of the comparative health of unvaccinated children that could shed light on the extent and nature of vaccine-caused injuries, leading to their prevention."
Beyond Offit's financial conflicts, autism advocates are also dismayed about his credibility on speaking about autism in general, as he does not treat patients with autism.
"It's a mystery how such an inexperienced and financially conflicted man has become the go-to guy for information on autism," Ms Fournier says. "Here's a man with no real knowledge about autism that again and again appears in media coverage."
"Not only is he completely unqualified to address autism from a medical standpoint, his financial conflicts of interest disqualify him as a credible source for vaccine safety commentary as well," she points out.
Too many shots
"Today's immunization schedule now calls for kids to get 55 doses of vaccines by age 6," according to the CBS News report.
The four flu shots recommended this year will be in addition to all the other vaccines children receive in complying with the mandatory childhood vaccine schedule.
On the "Age of Autism" website, Mary Podlesak warns that the flu vaccines still contain mercury. "I was reading the package inserts for the H1N1 vaccines from Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur and CSL last night," she said. "All three state the vaccine contains 25mcg of mercury -- not 25mcg of thimerosal -- 25mcg of mercury."
"When I checked the package inserts for the seasonal flu vaccine, they read the same as the H1N1 description," Podlesak wrote.
The package insert states: "The 5-mL multidose vial formulation contains thimerosal, a mercury derivative, added as a preservative. Each 0.5-mL dose from the multidose vial contains 25 mcg mercury."
Smaller amounts of thimerosal also remain in some other vaccines, even those marketed as "preservative-free," according to Age of Autism.
The H1N1 vaccine insert also states: "Pregnancy Category C: Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with Influenza A"
"(H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine or AFLURIA. It is also not known whether these vaccines can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed. "
Back on May 20, 2003, after a three year investigation of pediatric vaccine safety, initiated in the US House Committee on Government Reform, the "Mercury in Medicine Report," was placed in the Congressional record.
"Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines in likely related to the autism epidemic," the report concluded.
"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," the Committee advised.
"The FDA and the CDC failed in their duty to be vigilant as new vaccines containing thimerosal were approved and added to the immunization schedule," the report pointed out.
"At the same time that the incidence of autism was growing," the Committee said, "the number of childhood vaccines containing thimerosal was growing, increasing the amount of ethylmercury to which infants were exposed threefold."
Vaccine makers and conflicted public health officials are always claiming that studies show vaccines did not cause the autism epidemic. In a February 24, 2009 Huffington Post article, Robert F Kennedy, Jr, pointed out "that for sixty years the tobacco industry successfully defended a product that was killing one out of every five of its customers against thousands of legal actions brought by its victims and their families."
"Big tobacco prevailed for six decades," he said, "even without the help of supportive government agencies deliberately suppressing real science and research."
"In that sense vaccine victims must leap a much higher hurdle," he added.
In the video commentary titled, Mild Swine Flu & Over-Hyped Vaccine, on the website for the National Vaccine Information Center, the group's co-founder and president, Barbara Loe Fisher, reports:
"We are witnessing a roll-out of the largest, most expensive mass vaccination campaign in the history of our nation. A rollout that is bigger than even the polio vaccine campaigns of the 1950's."
"If you or your child are injured from getting a flu swine flu shot, you are on your own," Fisher warns.
"Because Congress shielded the vaccine manufacturers and any person giving swine flu shots from lawsuits if people get hurt," she says. "There is no funded government vaccine injury compensation program for swine flu vaccine."
"Doctors are telling some children under 10 years old to get 3 to 4 flu shots this year - 2 shots for seasonal flu and one or two more for swine flu," Fisher points out.
"We have never given young children 3 to 4 flu shots in a single year and there is no information about how safe it is to do that," she advises.
On October 18, 2009, the Wall Street Journal advised that: "Children ages six months to nine years who have never received a flu vaccine before are recommended to receive two doses of both the H1N1 and seasonal-flu vaccine about a month apart," citing Paul Offit, chief of infectious disease at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, as the source, without letting readers know how rich he has become profiting off the vaccine industry.
Eight months ago, on February 16, 2009, "Age of Autism" published a report titled, "Voting Himself Rich: CDC Vaccine Adviser Made $29 Million Or More After Using Role to Create Market," by Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxil, for an investigation that found:
"Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) took home a fortune of at least $29 million as part of a $182 million sale by CHOP of its worldwide royalty interest in the Merck Rotateq vaccine to Royalty Pharma in April of last year."
"Based on an analysis of current CHOP administrative policies, the amount of income distributed to Offit could be as high as $46 million," the report noted.
"In a Moody's report dated June 2008, CHOP reported net proceeds from the Rotateq transaction of $153 million, a deal basis that would put the value of Offit's 30% share at $45.9 million," the authors wrote.
"Unlike most other patented products, the market for mandated childhood vaccines is created not by consumer demand, but by the recommendation of an appointed body called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)," the AoA report states. "In a single vote, ACIP can create a commercial market for a new vaccine that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in a matter of months.
"For example, after ACIP approved the addition of Merck's (and Offit's) Rotateq vaccine to the childhood vaccination schedule, Merck's Rotateq revenue rose from zero in the beginning of 2006 to $655 million in fiscal year 2008," the authors explain.
"When one multiplies a price of close to $200 per three dose series of Rotateq by a mandated market of four million children per year, it's not hard to see the commercial value to Merck of favorable ACIP votes," the authors point out.
From 1998 to 2003, Offit served as a member of ACIP. As a member of the ACIP, Offit "voted to include the rotavirus vaccine in the Vaccines for Children program, which ultimately made his Rotateq product worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Merck," the National Autism Association reports.
Offit also holds a "$1.5 million dollar research chair at Children's Hospital, funded by Merck," according to a July 25, 2008 report by CBS News titled, "How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?"
Calling them "the most trusted voices in the defense of vaccine safety," CBS reports that the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and pediatrician Dr Paul Offit, have something else in common - "strong financial ties to the industry whose products they promote and defend."
"The vaccine industry gives millions to the Academy of Pediatrics for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even helped build their headquarters," CBS found. Totals were secret, but documents cited by CBS reveal the following:
A $342,000 payment from Wyeth, maker of the pneumococcal vaccine - which makes $2 billion a year in sales.
$433,000 from Merck, the same year the academy endorsed Merck's Gardasil vaccine - which made $1.5 billion a year in sales.
Another top donor was Sanofi Aventis, maker of 17 vaccines and a new five-in-one combo shot added to the childhood vaccine schedule in June 2008, CBS said.
"Every Child By Two, a group that promotes early immunization for all children, admits the group takes money from the vaccine industry, too - but wouldn't tell us how much," CBS investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.
In April 2009, the AAP even filed a friend of the court brief (amicus) with the US Supreme Court in support of a petition for a writ of certiorari from vaccine makers Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline to overturn a unanimous ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court that decided a civil lawsuit filed by Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari on behalf of their autistic son was not barred by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act.
The Georgia decision noted that recognizing presumptive preemption would "have the perverse effect of granting complete tort immunity from design defect liability to an entire industry."
The Farrari family alleges that the vaccine makers could have manufactured safer childhood vaccines without the mercury-based, thimerosal, that caused their son's autism. The Georgia court's ruling would allow a jury to decide the case.
On September 9, 2009, the National Autism Association issued a press release with a headline: "Offit's Failure to Disclose Jeopardizes Swine Flu Vaccine Program," referring to his recent appearance on a segment of NBC's Dateline.
"As autumn approaches and millions of Americans consider taking an H1N1 Swine Flu vaccination, the integrity of all vaccine developers has been called into question by the financial relationship of a leading vaccine advocate and a pharmaceutical manufacturer," NAA advised.
"If people are to have confidence in the integrity of the Swine Flu vaccination program this fall then we need full disclosure of all financial relationships between proponents and manufacturers on every vaccine on the market," said Jim Moody, attorney for the NAA, in the press release.
"Who has an objective opinion about a company that has made them rich?" he said.
"Offit has zero credibility in matters of vaccine safety," says Wendy Fournier, president of the NAA. "Not only does he advance the absurd suggestion that children could safety get 100,000 vaccines at a time, he opposes any studies of the comparative health of unvaccinated children that could shed light on the extent and nature of vaccine-caused injuries, leading to their prevention."
Beyond Offit's financial conflicts, autism advocates are also dismayed about his credibility on speaking about autism in general, as he does not treat patients with autism.
"It's a mystery how such an inexperienced and financially conflicted man has become the go-to guy for information on autism," Ms Fournier says. "Here's a man with no real knowledge about autism that again and again appears in media coverage."
"Not only is he completely unqualified to address autism from a medical standpoint, his financial conflicts of interest disqualify him as a credible source for vaccine safety commentary as well," she points out.
Too many shots
"Today's immunization schedule now calls for kids to get 55 doses of vaccines by age 6," according to the CBS News report.
The four flu shots recommended this year will be in addition to all the other vaccines children receive in complying with the mandatory childhood vaccine schedule.
On the "Age of Autism" website, Mary Podlesak warns that the flu vaccines still contain mercury. "I was reading the package inserts for the H1N1 vaccines from Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur and CSL last night," she said. "All three state the vaccine contains 25mcg of mercury -- not 25mcg of thimerosal -- 25mcg of mercury."
"When I checked the package inserts for the seasonal flu vaccine, they read the same as the H1N1 description," Podlesak wrote.
The package insert states: "The 5-mL multidose vial formulation contains thimerosal, a mercury derivative, added as a preservative. Each 0.5-mL dose from the multidose vial contains 25 mcg mercury."
Smaller amounts of thimerosal also remain in some other vaccines, even those marketed as "preservative-free," according to Age of Autism.
The H1N1 vaccine insert also states: "Pregnancy Category C: Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with Influenza A"
"(H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine or AFLURIA. It is also not known whether these vaccines can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed. "
Back on May 20, 2003, after a three year investigation of pediatric vaccine safety, initiated in the US House Committee on Government Reform, the "Mercury in Medicine Report," was placed in the Congressional record.
"Thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines in likely related to the autism epidemic," the report concluded.
"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," the Committee advised.
"The FDA and the CDC failed in their duty to be vigilant as new vaccines containing thimerosal were approved and added to the immunization schedule," the report pointed out.
"At the same time that the incidence of autism was growing," the Committee said, "the number of childhood vaccines containing thimerosal was growing, increasing the amount of ethylmercury to which infants were exposed threefold."
Vaccine makers and conflicted public health officials are always claiming that studies show vaccines did not cause the autism epidemic. In a February 24, 2009 Huffington Post article, Robert F Kennedy, Jr, pointed out "that for sixty years the tobacco industry successfully defended a product that was killing one out of every five of its customers against thousands of legal actions brought by its victims and their families."
"Big tobacco prevailed for six decades," he said, "even without the help of supportive government agencies deliberately suppressing real science and research."
"In that sense vaccine victims must leap a much higher hurdle," he added.
Profit Driven Swine Flu Propaganda - Pump Up the Volume - Part VI
Evelyn Pringle October 2009
Most American are unaware that flu vaccines still contain thimerosal and that to avoid mercury, they have to ask for mercury-free shots. On November 13, 2007, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran the headline: "Most flu shots contain mercury, but few know it."
Thimerosal consists of 49.6% ethyl mercury. The Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration have not set an exposure limit for ethyl mercury.
"The federal agencies have, however, set exposure limits for another organic and closely related form of mercury, methyl mercury - the type that comes from coal-fired power plants and is found in fish," the Journal said. "They use that standard when estimating the safety of ethyl mercury."
"A typical 0.5 milliliter flu shot contains 25 micrograms - or 50,000 parts per billion - of mercury," the Journal reported.
"The EPA classifies a liquid with 200 parts per billion of mercury as hazardous waste," it advised. "The limit for drinking water is 2 parts per billion."
Using the standards set for methyl mercury consumption, "an average 130-pound person getting the flu shot would exceed the daily limit by more than four times," the Journal reported.
"A 22-pound baby would get more than 25 times the amount of mercury considered safe," it said.
"Mercury is among the most toxic heavy metals and is known to poison the central nervous system, liver, gastrointestinal tract and other systems in the body," the Journal reported.
When the influenza vaccines "are injected into pregnant woman and infants as young as six months, those vaccines contain 50,000 ppb mercury," warns Deirdre Imus in a November 19, 2007, Huffington Post article titled, "Over Medicated and Over-Vaccinated: The Unintended Consequence of Medicines Meant to Protect."
This amount of mercury is 250 times higher than hazardous waste, she notes, and, according to EPA guidelines, this amount can only be considered safe if a person weighs 550 pounds. "Even trace amounts of mercury in vaccines can be anywhere from 600 to 2000 ppb," she advises.
People need to ask for a thimerosal-free vaccine if they want it, health officials told the Journal. "But many people aren't aware that mercury is in the flu shot," the Journal found.
"I didn't know," said Kate Strzok, a 23-year-old Oak Creek woman, as she walked out of the Piggly Wiggly where she had just gotten the flu shot. "Interesting that they don't tell you."
PutChildrenFirst.org, a parent-led organization advocating for vaccine safety, announced the results of a survey on November 13, 2006, conducted during October 27-30, 2006, by Zogby International of over 9,000 Americans, to learn their plans for getting flu shots, their knowledge of its ingredients, and who they held responsible for making sure vaccines are safe.
The survey showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans were unaware that most flu shots contained mercury. After learning that mercury was an ingredient, 74% of those polled said they were less likely to get a flu shot and 86% of parents said they were less likely to allow their children to get a shot.
"The survey reveals that Americans are overwhelmingly in the dark about what is in most flu shots," said Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN, president of SafeMinds, a nonprofit organization committed to ending mercury-induced neurological disorders, in a press release.
"They do not want a known neurotoxin injected into their children, and they believe Congress and medical professionals must be more vigilant about keeping vaccines safe and mercury-free," she advised.
"With everything we know about the dangers of mercury and the havoc it can wreak on young, developing brains," she said, "there is no excuse for any vaccine to contain mercury."
Lisa Handley is a founding parent of PutChildrenFirst whose son had an adverse reaction to a flu shot with mercury in 2003. "I know firsthand how life-changing a flu shot with mercury can be, since our son began his regression into autism after his flu shot," she stated in the press release.
Damning Reports
On October 5, 2009, the Maternal & Child Health Bureau of Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services released a study evaluating the number of children in the US who currently have a Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, titled, "The Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder among Children in the United States, 2007."
The study evaluated data from a national Survey of Children's Health and found that 1 in 91 children between the ages of 3 and 17 currently carry an ASD diagnosis.
"Even more alarming, for the subset of children between ages 6 and 14 immunized during the 1990's the prevalence is actually 1 in 71 children with an autism diagnosis," Age of Autism reports.
"This age group represents children in the U.S. with the highest exposure to thimerosal, the mercury preservative routinely used until CDC, AAP and industry recommended its removal "as soon as possible" from all childhood vaccines," AoA advises.
"We are especially alarmed by these findings because the seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccines contain mercury well in excess of EPA safe exposure guidelines," said Theresa Wrangham, president of SafeMinds, in a statement to President Obama calling for a ban on mercury in vaccines given to pregnant women and young children.
Another new study found that giving Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn boys may triple the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder. An abstract of the study was published in the September, 2009 "Annals of Epidemiology" journal. "Boys who received the hepatitis B vaccine during the first month of life had 2.94 greater odds for ASD compared to later - or unvaccinated boys," wrote Carolyn Gallagher and Melody Goodman of the graduate program in public health at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York.
On September 30, 2009, Age of Autism Editor-at-Large, Mark Blaxill, reported on a new study in the journal "Neurotoxicology," by a research team led by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and Thoughtful House, that found exposure to a birth dose of a hepatitis B vaccine that included thimerosal caused significant delays in the development of several survival reflexes in male rhesus macaque monkeys.
"In the first safety study of its kind of the hepatitis vaccine birth dose, the researchers showed that male macaques vaccinated at birth with a hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) took more than twice as long as unexposed macaques to acquire three standardized skills typically used to measure infant brain development," Blaxill wrote.
The study showed vaccinated monkeys learned more slowly to (1) turn their head in response to a brush on the cheek (root reflex); (2) open their mouth in response to a brush on the forehead (snout reflex); and (3) suck on a nipple placed in their mouth (suck reflex). The researchers found the unvaccinated monkeys developed normally.
The study is part of a larger research program looking at the safety of the vaccine schedule in children from birth to age four.
Dr Andrew Wakefield, Executive Director of Thoughtful House, and a co-investigator of the project, told Age of Autism that he found it particularly concerning "that in spite of the recommendation to remove thimerosal from vaccines a decade ago, millions of people, many of them children and pregnant mothers, are about to get mercury in their shots."
A 2006 study in the "Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons," by Dr David Ayoub and Dr F Edward Yazback, titled, Influenza Vaccinations During Pregnancy: A Critical Assessment of the Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), states:
"The ACIP policy recommendation of routinely administering influenza vaccine during pregnancy is ill-advised and unsupported by current scientific literature, and it should be withdrawn. Use of thimerosal during pregnancy should be contraindicated."
"Because the benefits of influenza vaccination during pregnancy appear lacking, a safety-benefit analysis should not tolerate any risk to vaccine recipients or their offspring, even at a theoretical level," the doctors conclude.
Back on February 28, 2005, the Associated Press reported that lower "IQ levels linked to mercury exposure in the womb costs the United States $8.7 billion a year in lost earnings potential," citing a study by researchers at New York's Mount Sinai hospital published in the journal, "Environmental Health Perspectives."
The Mount Sinai Center for Children's Health and the Environment combined a number of previous studies to determine hundreds of thousands of babies are born every year with lower IQ associated with mercury exposure.
Lead researcher and pediatician, Leonard Trasande, reported that annually between 316,588 and 637,233 infants are born with umbilical cord blood mercury levels linked to IQ loss.
As an example, Dr Trasande said, each year about 4% of babies are with blood mercury levels between 7.13 and 15 micrograms per liter. That level of mercury causes an IQ loss of 1.6 points, the researchers concluded.
A 1.6 point drop could cost a person more than $31,000 in potential earnings over a lifetime due to missed educational opportunities or jobs, the study calculated. The researchers found the IQ losses linked to mercury ranged from one-fifth of an IQ point to as much as 24 points.
"The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 8 percent of American women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to put a fetus at risk," the Associated Press noted.
Most American are unaware that flu vaccines still contain thimerosal and that to avoid mercury, they have to ask for mercury-free shots. On November 13, 2007, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran the headline: "Most flu shots contain mercury, but few know it."
Thimerosal consists of 49.6% ethyl mercury. The Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration have not set an exposure limit for ethyl mercury.
"The federal agencies have, however, set exposure limits for another organic and closely related form of mercury, methyl mercury - the type that comes from coal-fired power plants and is found in fish," the Journal said. "They use that standard when estimating the safety of ethyl mercury."
"A typical 0.5 milliliter flu shot contains 25 micrograms - or 50,000 parts per billion - of mercury," the Journal reported.
"The EPA classifies a liquid with 200 parts per billion of mercury as hazardous waste," it advised. "The limit for drinking water is 2 parts per billion."
Using the standards set for methyl mercury consumption, "an average 130-pound person getting the flu shot would exceed the daily limit by more than four times," the Journal reported.
"A 22-pound baby would get more than 25 times the amount of mercury considered safe," it said.
"Mercury is among the most toxic heavy metals and is known to poison the central nervous system, liver, gastrointestinal tract and other systems in the body," the Journal reported.
When the influenza vaccines "are injected into pregnant woman and infants as young as six months, those vaccines contain 50,000 ppb mercury," warns Deirdre Imus in a November 19, 2007, Huffington Post article titled, "Over Medicated and Over-Vaccinated: The Unintended Consequence of Medicines Meant to Protect."
This amount of mercury is 250 times higher than hazardous waste, she notes, and, according to EPA guidelines, this amount can only be considered safe if a person weighs 550 pounds. "Even trace amounts of mercury in vaccines can be anywhere from 600 to 2000 ppb," she advises.
People need to ask for a thimerosal-free vaccine if they want it, health officials told the Journal. "But many people aren't aware that mercury is in the flu shot," the Journal found.
"I didn't know," said Kate Strzok, a 23-year-old Oak Creek woman, as she walked out of the Piggly Wiggly where she had just gotten the flu shot. "Interesting that they don't tell you."
PutChildrenFirst.org, a parent-led organization advocating for vaccine safety, announced the results of a survey on November 13, 2006, conducted during October 27-30, 2006, by Zogby International of over 9,000 Americans, to learn their plans for getting flu shots, their knowledge of its ingredients, and who they held responsible for making sure vaccines are safe.
The survey showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans were unaware that most flu shots contained mercury. After learning that mercury was an ingredient, 74% of those polled said they were less likely to get a flu shot and 86% of parents said they were less likely to allow their children to get a shot.
"The survey reveals that Americans are overwhelmingly in the dark about what is in most flu shots," said Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN, president of SafeMinds, a nonprofit organization committed to ending mercury-induced neurological disorders, in a press release.
"They do not want a known neurotoxin injected into their children, and they believe Congress and medical professionals must be more vigilant about keeping vaccines safe and mercury-free," she advised.
"With everything we know about the dangers of mercury and the havoc it can wreak on young, developing brains," she said, "there is no excuse for any vaccine to contain mercury."
Lisa Handley is a founding parent of PutChildrenFirst whose son had an adverse reaction to a flu shot with mercury in 2003. "I know firsthand how life-changing a flu shot with mercury can be, since our son began his regression into autism after his flu shot," she stated in the press release.
Damning Reports
On October 5, 2009, the Maternal & Child Health Bureau of Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services released a study evaluating the number of children in the US who currently have a Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, titled, "The Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder among Children in the United States, 2007."
The study evaluated data from a national Survey of Children's Health and found that 1 in 91 children between the ages of 3 and 17 currently carry an ASD diagnosis.
"Even more alarming, for the subset of children between ages 6 and 14 immunized during the 1990's the prevalence is actually 1 in 71 children with an autism diagnosis," Age of Autism reports.
"This age group represents children in the U.S. with the highest exposure to thimerosal, the mercury preservative routinely used until CDC, AAP and industry recommended its removal "as soon as possible" from all childhood vaccines," AoA advises.
"We are especially alarmed by these findings because the seasonal influenza and H1N1 vaccines contain mercury well in excess of EPA safe exposure guidelines," said Theresa Wrangham, president of SafeMinds, in a statement to President Obama calling for a ban on mercury in vaccines given to pregnant women and young children.
Another new study found that giving Hepatitis B vaccine to newborn boys may triple the risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder. An abstract of the study was published in the September, 2009 "Annals of Epidemiology" journal. "Boys who received the hepatitis B vaccine during the first month of life had 2.94 greater odds for ASD compared to later - or unvaccinated boys," wrote Carolyn Gallagher and Melody Goodman of the graduate program in public health at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York.
On September 30, 2009, Age of Autism Editor-at-Large, Mark Blaxill, reported on a new study in the journal "Neurotoxicology," by a research team led by scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and Thoughtful House, that found exposure to a birth dose of a hepatitis B vaccine that included thimerosal caused significant delays in the development of several survival reflexes in male rhesus macaque monkeys.
"In the first safety study of its kind of the hepatitis vaccine birth dose, the researchers showed that male macaques vaccinated at birth with a hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) took more than twice as long as unexposed macaques to acquire three standardized skills typically used to measure infant brain development," Blaxill wrote.
The study showed vaccinated monkeys learned more slowly to (1) turn their head in response to a brush on the cheek (root reflex); (2) open their mouth in response to a brush on the forehead (snout reflex); and (3) suck on a nipple placed in their mouth (suck reflex). The researchers found the unvaccinated monkeys developed normally.
The study is part of a larger research program looking at the safety of the vaccine schedule in children from birth to age four.
Dr Andrew Wakefield, Executive Director of Thoughtful House, and a co-investigator of the project, told Age of Autism that he found it particularly concerning "that in spite of the recommendation to remove thimerosal from vaccines a decade ago, millions of people, many of them children and pregnant mothers, are about to get mercury in their shots."
A 2006 study in the "Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons," by Dr David Ayoub and Dr F Edward Yazback, titled, Influenza Vaccinations During Pregnancy: A Critical Assessment of the Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), states:
"The ACIP policy recommendation of routinely administering influenza vaccine during pregnancy is ill-advised and unsupported by current scientific literature, and it should be withdrawn. Use of thimerosal during pregnancy should be contraindicated."
"Because the benefits of influenza vaccination during pregnancy appear lacking, a safety-benefit analysis should not tolerate any risk to vaccine recipients or their offspring, even at a theoretical level," the doctors conclude.
Back on February 28, 2005, the Associated Press reported that lower "IQ levels linked to mercury exposure in the womb costs the United States $8.7 billion a year in lost earnings potential," citing a study by researchers at New York's Mount Sinai hospital published in the journal, "Environmental Health Perspectives."
The Mount Sinai Center for Children's Health and the Environment combined a number of previous studies to determine hundreds of thousands of babies are born every year with lower IQ associated with mercury exposure.
Lead researcher and pediatician, Leonard Trasande, reported that annually between 316,588 and 637,233 infants are born with umbilical cord blood mercury levels linked to IQ loss.
As an example, Dr Trasande said, each year about 4% of babies are with blood mercury levels between 7.13 and 15 micrograms per liter. That level of mercury causes an IQ loss of 1.6 points, the researchers concluded.
A 1.6 point drop could cost a person more than $31,000 in potential earnings over a lifetime due to missed educational opportunities or jobs, the study calculated. The researchers found the IQ losses linked to mercury ranged from one-fifth of an IQ point to as much as 24 points.
"The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 8 percent of American women of childbearing age have enough mercury in their blood to put a fetus at risk," the Associated Press noted.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Vaccines Did and Do Cause Autism
Evelyn Pringle June 2, 2005
On Feb 9, 2004, the National Autism Association issued a press release that reported on one of the larger studies under review based on the Center for Disease Control's Vaccine Safety Datalink. Under independent investigation, the Association reported, of the CDC's data children were found to be 27-times more likely to develop autism after exposure to three thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs), than those who receive thimerosal-free versions.
Let that sink in. Twenty-seven times more likely to develop autism. Then consider that our government regulatory agencies had this information for years and deliberately kept it hidden from the public. This failure to warn the public was not due to negligence or laziness, it was a deliberate cover-up and it continues today.
How do we know they had it for years? Because the staff for Rep Dan Burton (R-Ill) obtained an FDA internal e-mail written on June 29, 1999, by former FDA scientist Peter Patriarca, that offered a "pros and cons" assessment of the dishonest statement about Thimerosal in vaccines that the FDA was about to release, and described the questions that could be raised upon its release:
(1) FDA being `asleep at the switch' for decades, by allowing a potentially hazardous compound to remain in many childhood vaccines, and not forcing manufacturers to exclude it from new products.
(2) various advisory bodies aggressive recommendations for use.
(3) the dose of ethyl mercury was not generated by `rocket science': conversion of the % of thimerosal to actual ug [micrograms] of mercury involves 9th grade algebra.
(4) What took the FDA so long to do the calculations?
(5) Why didn't CDC and the advisory bodies do these calculations while rapidly expanding the childhood immunization schedule?
The FDA knew.
In 1997, Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act, which required the FDA to review all drugs that contained mercury and determine their adverse effects on humans. For many years, Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, was added to childhood vaccines in multi-dose bottles, basically to increase profits for vaccine makers.
Thimerosal is nearly 50% mercury, which is a known to be extremely harmful to fetuses, infants and children. Beginning in 1987 and throughout the 1990s, it became the main source of mercury in infants and toddlers when the number of vaccines added to the national vaccine schedule nearly tripled.
In 2000, the FDA determined that a twelve-to-fourteen month old child, receiving vaccines required under the Immunization Schedule, often received four to six shots during one doctor visit. Consequently over time, the child would be injected with as much as 40 times the amount of mercury considered safe.
The corresponding increase in autism is concrete evidence of the link between autism and vaccines. Twenty years ago, autism only affected one in 10,000 children. The Autism Autoimmunity Project reports that the disorder strikes 1 in 150 (or 1 in 68 families) today.
During the 1990s, as some 40 million children were vaccinated, drug company profits soared and there's no doubt that the companies knew about the dangers of Thimerosal and put profits over the health of a whole generation of children.
The LA Times obtained a 1991 internal memo from the drug company, Merck, that proves the company knew then that Thimerosal in vaccines posed a serious health threat. The memo noted that 6-month-old children who received their shots on schedule would get a mercury dose up to 87 times higher than guidelines for the maximum daily consumption of mercury from fish.
As the vaccines increased, autism rates skyrocketed and the numbers don't lie. State by state statistics based on data by the Department of Education, show that the increase in the number of children aged 6-21 with autism between 1992-93 and 2003-04, is astronomical:
- In Ohio there were 22 cases of autism in 1992-93, and in 2003-04 there were 5146;
- In Illinois, there were only 5 cases in 1992-1993, while there were 6005 in 2003-04;
- Mississippi had no cases of autism in 1992-1993, but had 622 in 2003-04;
- Wisconsin had 18 cases in 1992-93 and 3259 in 2003-04.
In addition to autism, Thimerosal has now been linked to a host of developmental disorders including Attention Deficit Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and ironically, the pharmaceutical industry is now making money hand over fist off drugs prescribed to treat children with these disorders.
The drug companies can pay doctors, researchers and reporters to write a million articles and reports that say there is no connection between Thimerosal and autism, but that won't change the truth. Thimerosal is the culprit and a million false denials won't change that fact.
Plenty of experts with nothing to gain say so. When asked to what degree of scientific certainty can we prove that current epidemic of autism was caused by the mercury-based preservative, Thimerosal, in childhood vaccines? Dr David Ayoub, MD, said "I can state that the certainty of the science supporting mercury as a major cause of autism is probably more overpowering than the science behind any other disease process that I studied dating back to medical school."
In May 2003 the AAP stated, "All routinely recommended infant vaccines currently sold in the U.S. are free of thimerosal as a preservative and have been for more than two years."
Yet because the FDA maintained it did not have enough evidence to justify a recall of thimerosal vaccines distributed prior to the introduction of thimerosal-free versions and so they were allowed to remain on the market until they became outdated. That means that poisonous vaccines were still administered until November 2002.
"Because the FDA chose not to recall thimerosal-containing vaccines in 1999," the April 2003, House Committee on Government Reform report concludes, "in addition to all of those already injured, 8,000 children a day continued to be placed at risk for overdose for at least an additional two years."
Parents need to know that flu vaccines currently recommended for infants and pregnant women still contain Thimerosal to this very day.
The CDC and FDA policy decisions about matter such as approving vaccines for inclusion on the immunization schedule are made by physician advisory boards whose members very often have strong financial relationships with the very same pharmaceutical companies that they are supposed to regulate.
For example, during a congressional hearing on potential conflicts of interests at the FDA, it was revealed that 60% of the advisory members who voted to approve the poisonous rotavirus vaccine had financial ties to the drug companies manufacturing the vaccine. The committee also found that 50% of the CDC members were tied to the rotavirus makers.
The public needs to rise up and demand accountability from the officials in charge of all regulatory agencies involved in concealing information that could have saved many families from the devastation of these ill-administered vaccines.
In order to enroll in public schools and day care, children must comply with mandatory vaccine schedule, which includes vaccines that have not undergone the scientific testing necessary to guarantee their safety, and have the potential to harm millions of children.
If families are expected to trust the government's vaccine approval process, they have a right to demand that the vaccines are approved based on scientific research, without the undue influence of money passed out to politicians, scientists, and the heads of the regulatory agencies, by the pharmaceutical industry.
The children who were affected by this cover-up will require care and support for a lifetime. The lives of many of these children are destroyed. The costs for their care, left to their families, will reportedly exceed $2 million per child.
The drug companies and the government officials involved in this vaccine marketing scheme and the subsequent cover-up of the damage it caused need to be criminally charged and made to pay for their crimes.
On Feb 9, 2004, the National Autism Association issued a press release that reported on one of the larger studies under review based on the Center for Disease Control's Vaccine Safety Datalink. Under independent investigation, the Association reported, of the CDC's data children were found to be 27-times more likely to develop autism after exposure to three thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs), than those who receive thimerosal-free versions.
Let that sink in. Twenty-seven times more likely to develop autism. Then consider that our government regulatory agencies had this information for years and deliberately kept it hidden from the public. This failure to warn the public was not due to negligence or laziness, it was a deliberate cover-up and it continues today.
How do we know they had it for years? Because the staff for Rep Dan Burton (R-Ill) obtained an FDA internal e-mail written on June 29, 1999, by former FDA scientist Peter Patriarca, that offered a "pros and cons" assessment of the dishonest statement about Thimerosal in vaccines that the FDA was about to release, and described the questions that could be raised upon its release:
(1) FDA being `asleep at the switch' for decades, by allowing a potentially hazardous compound to remain in many childhood vaccines, and not forcing manufacturers to exclude it from new products.
(2) various advisory bodies aggressive recommendations for use.
(3) the dose of ethyl mercury was not generated by `rocket science': conversion of the % of thimerosal to actual ug [micrograms] of mercury involves 9th grade algebra.
(4) What took the FDA so long to do the calculations?
(5) Why didn't CDC and the advisory bodies do these calculations while rapidly expanding the childhood immunization schedule?
The FDA knew.
In 1997, Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act, which required the FDA to review all drugs that contained mercury and determine their adverse effects on humans. For many years, Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, was added to childhood vaccines in multi-dose bottles, basically to increase profits for vaccine makers.
Thimerosal is nearly 50% mercury, which is a known to be extremely harmful to fetuses, infants and children. Beginning in 1987 and throughout the 1990s, it became the main source of mercury in infants and toddlers when the number of vaccines added to the national vaccine schedule nearly tripled.
In 2000, the FDA determined that a twelve-to-fourteen month old child, receiving vaccines required under the Immunization Schedule, often received four to six shots during one doctor visit. Consequently over time, the child would be injected with as much as 40 times the amount of mercury considered safe.
The corresponding increase in autism is concrete evidence of the link between autism and vaccines. Twenty years ago, autism only affected one in 10,000 children. The Autism Autoimmunity Project reports that the disorder strikes 1 in 150 (or 1 in 68 families) today.
During the 1990s, as some 40 million children were vaccinated, drug company profits soared and there's no doubt that the companies knew about the dangers of Thimerosal and put profits over the health of a whole generation of children.
The LA Times obtained a 1991 internal memo from the drug company, Merck, that proves the company knew then that Thimerosal in vaccines posed a serious health threat. The memo noted that 6-month-old children who received their shots on schedule would get a mercury dose up to 87 times higher than guidelines for the maximum daily consumption of mercury from fish.
As the vaccines increased, autism rates skyrocketed and the numbers don't lie. State by state statistics based on data by the Department of Education, show that the increase in the number of children aged 6-21 with autism between 1992-93 and 2003-04, is astronomical:
- In Ohio there were 22 cases of autism in 1992-93, and in 2003-04 there were 5146;
- In Illinois, there were only 5 cases in 1992-1993, while there were 6005 in 2003-04;
- Mississippi had no cases of autism in 1992-1993, but had 622 in 2003-04;
- Wisconsin had 18 cases in 1992-93 and 3259 in 2003-04.
In addition to autism, Thimerosal has now been linked to a host of developmental disorders including Attention Deficit Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and ironically, the pharmaceutical industry is now making money hand over fist off drugs prescribed to treat children with these disorders.
The drug companies can pay doctors, researchers and reporters to write a million articles and reports that say there is no connection between Thimerosal and autism, but that won't change the truth. Thimerosal is the culprit and a million false denials won't change that fact.
Plenty of experts with nothing to gain say so. When asked to what degree of scientific certainty can we prove that current epidemic of autism was caused by the mercury-based preservative, Thimerosal, in childhood vaccines? Dr David Ayoub, MD, said "I can state that the certainty of the science supporting mercury as a major cause of autism is probably more overpowering than the science behind any other disease process that I studied dating back to medical school."
In May 2003 the AAP stated, "All routinely recommended infant vaccines currently sold in the U.S. are free of thimerosal as a preservative and have been for more than two years."
Yet because the FDA maintained it did not have enough evidence to justify a recall of thimerosal vaccines distributed prior to the introduction of thimerosal-free versions and so they were allowed to remain on the market until they became outdated. That means that poisonous vaccines were still administered until November 2002.
"Because the FDA chose not to recall thimerosal-containing vaccines in 1999," the April 2003, House Committee on Government Reform report concludes, "in addition to all of those already injured, 8,000 children a day continued to be placed at risk for overdose for at least an additional two years."
Parents need to know that flu vaccines currently recommended for infants and pregnant women still contain Thimerosal to this very day.
The CDC and FDA policy decisions about matter such as approving vaccines for inclusion on the immunization schedule are made by physician advisory boards whose members very often have strong financial relationships with the very same pharmaceutical companies that they are supposed to regulate.
For example, during a congressional hearing on potential conflicts of interests at the FDA, it was revealed that 60% of the advisory members who voted to approve the poisonous rotavirus vaccine had financial ties to the drug companies manufacturing the vaccine. The committee also found that 50% of the CDC members were tied to the rotavirus makers.
The public needs to rise up and demand accountability from the officials in charge of all regulatory agencies involved in concealing information that could have saved many families from the devastation of these ill-administered vaccines.
In order to enroll in public schools and day care, children must comply with mandatory vaccine schedule, which includes vaccines that have not undergone the scientific testing necessary to guarantee their safety, and have the potential to harm millions of children.
If families are expected to trust the government's vaccine approval process, they have a right to demand that the vaccines are approved based on scientific research, without the undue influence of money passed out to politicians, scientists, and the heads of the regulatory agencies, by the pharmaceutical industry.
The children who were affected by this cover-up will require care and support for a lifetime. The lives of many of these children are destroyed. The costs for their care, left to their families, will reportedly exceed $2 million per child.
The drug companies and the government officials involved in this vaccine marketing scheme and the subsequent cover-up of the damage it caused need to be criminally charged and made to pay for their crimes.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)