By Teresa Binstock:
Ms. Strassel has admitted (8) that, prior to writing the WSJ's
thimerosal article (1), she had not read the published, peer-reviewed
articles documenting thimerosal's adverse neurologic effects (2-3;
see also 4-7). Her admission of writing ignorantly implicates the
editors who supervised her writing, including but not limited to Paul
Gigot (8).
If, prior to the editorial (1), any of the WSJ's editors knew about
the findings of thimerosal's adverse effects (2-3) and did not inform
Strassel and Gigot, then at least some of the WSJ editors are
standing in league with CDC employees that Congressman David Weldon,
M.D., R-FL, suspects have committed scientific fraud by fudging and
covering up data linking infants' and toddlers' thimerosal injections
with adverse neurologic development in children (9).
WSJ editors are planning more articles about thimerosal (8). Please
ensure that those editors avoid the mistake of perusing only articles
and information (a) by researchers who are suspected of scientific
fraud (9), and/or (b) summarized by their partners in collusion at
several journals (eg, 12-15). Instead, WSJ editors writing about or
creating WSJ-policies about thimerosal ought also peruse the original
CDC findings about thimerosal (7), as well as subsequent thimerosal-
damage articles published in peer-reviewed journals (eg, 2-6; see
also 16-18). Unless heavily invested in stocks of pharmeceutical
companies that manufacture thimerosal or sell thimerosal products,
the WSJ and Dow Jones, Inc, have no vested interest in sustaining the
fraudulent fiction that thimerosal does no harm.
In the very least, thimerosal injections and their adverse effects
have become a major controversy. Most people I know among autism
parents, researchers, and physicians are not anti-vaccination but are
for safer vaccinations and, given the published data, are for
thimerosal-free vaccines. However, despite the FDA's toothless
recommendation that thimerosal vaccines be eliminated, many vaccines -
- including most flu shots -- still contain significant amounts of
thimerosal (10-11).
Now that findings of thimerosal's neurologic damage have been
published, physicians and nurses who continue to inject thimerosal
are placing themselves at risk for prosecution for reckless
endangerment (by injecting thimerosal) and for child abuse (because
some children are damaged by thimerosal; 2-3,7).
Please don't act in collusion with the well credentialed individuals
that Dr., Congressman Weldon suspects of fudging and covering up data
about thimerosal.
Teresa Binstock
Researcher in Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy
P.O. Box 1788
Estes Park CO 80517
[phone number provided in previous email]
1. The Politics of Autism: Lawsuits and emotion vs. science and
childhood vaccines
WSJ Letters <[email hidden]>
Monday, December 29, 2003 12:01 a.m.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004487
2: An assessment of the impact of thimerosal on childhood
neurodevelopmental disorders.
Geier DA, Geier MR.
Pediatr Rehabil. 2003 Apr-Jun;6(2):97-102.
3: Neurodevelopmental disorders after thimerosal-containing vaccines:
a brief communication.
Geier MR, Geier DA.
Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2003 Jun;228(6):660-4.
4: Thimerosal induces DNA breaks, caspase-3 activation, membrane
damage, and cell death in cultured human neurons and fibroblasts.
Baskin DS, Ngo H, Didenko VV.
Toxicol Sci. 2003 Aug;74(2):361-8.
5: Thimerosal induces micronuclei in the cytochalasin B block
micronucleus test with human lymphocytes.
Westphal GA et al.
Arch Toxicol. 2003 Jan;77(1):50-5. Epub 2002 Nov 06.
6: Inhibition of the human erythrocytic glutathione-S-transferase T1
(GST T1) by thimerosal.
Muller M et al.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2001 Jul;203(5-6):479-81.
7: Original CDC thimerosal findings
Verstraeten et al 2000 CDC in-house document obtained via FOIA.
http://www.factsformedia.com/factsformedia/index.map?107,624
8: Pursuant to the WSJ's scientifically inaccurate editorial (2), an
autism-parent talked with editorial writer/reporter Kimberly Strassel
and posted the following summary into a publically archived autism
list ([email hidden])
"Ms. Strassel said she reviewed all the research, and
thimerosal does not cause autism. She added there are no peer-
reviewed articles that say there is a connection. However, she
admitted she neglected to look at the Geier's article...published in
a peer-reviewed journal..."
"Ms. Strassel went on to tell me there will be more
editorials like the two published in the past few weeks. Apparently
they've got a whole board "researching" this topic so they can float
what's called an "opinion" with confidence."
9. Congressman Weldon's letter to the CDC director, available at:
http://momsonamissionforautism.org/Autism_Central/Dr_Weldon_Responds.s
html
10. Which vaccines currently contain ethylmercury and which do not:
http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm
and
http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm#2
11. Which flu shots contain ethylmercury and which do not, enjoy some
CDC-created information at:
Flu Vaccine 2004 Mercury Content
http://www.safeminds.org/NewChart.pdf
re: 12-14: [Study-critiques presented in prior email to WSJ.]
12: Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological
evidence from Danish population-based data.
Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, Thorsen P, Plesner AM, Andersen
PH, Mortensen PB.
Pediatrics. 2003 Sep;112(3 Pt 1):604-6.
13: Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving
vaccines containing thiomersal: a descriptive study.
Pichichero ME, Cernichiari E, Lopreiato J, Treanor J.
Lancet. 2002 Nov 30;360(9347):1737-41.
14: Safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of
computerized health maintenance organization databases.
Verstraeten T, Davis RL, DeStefano F, Lieu TA, Rhodes PH, Black SB,
Shinefield H, Chen RT; Vaccine Safety Datalink Team.
Pediatrics. 2003 Nov;112(5):1039-48.
15: Association between thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism.
Hviid A, Stellfeld M, Wohlfahrt J, Melbye M
JAMA. 2003 Oct 1;290(13):1763-6.
16. Safe Minds Statement on Wall Street Journal Editorial "The
Politics of Autism"
http://www.safeminds.org/wsjfacts/Safe_Minds_Statement_on_WSJ_12-29-
03.pdf
17: Missing the Mercury Menace?
by Neil Munro
National Journal January 3, 2004
http://www.nationaljournal.com
18: CDC Study Raises Level of Suspicion.
O'Meara KP.
http://www.insightmag.com/news/573542.html
eof