A top researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr William Thompson, admits he played a key role in helping uncover data manipulation by the CDC. This fraud obscured a higher incidence of autism in African-American boys due to the MMR vaccine. The whistleblower, Dr. William Thompson, came forward after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for original data on an autism study was filed and these highly sensitive documents were received with the assistance of U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The CDC documents and discussions with the whistleblower reveal widespread manipulation of scientific data and top-down pressure on CDC scientists to suppress a causal link between the MMR vaccine and later autism diagnosis, particularly in a subset of African-American males who received their immunization "on-time" in accordance with the recommended CDC schedule.
The received documents from the CDC show that in 2003 a 340% risk of autism in African American boys related to the MMR vaccine was discovered and then hidden due to pressure from senior officials. The CDC researchers then recalculated their results by removing a population to get the results that were desired. Even with the recalculated data from the original report a significant risk of autism due to the MMR is found and can be seen in the IOM presentation of the original study, highlighted on page 29 and 31 [PDF].
William Thompson has worked for the government agency for over a decade and confirmed that "the CDC knew about the relationship between the age of first MMR vaccine and autism incidence in African-American boys as early as 2003, but chose to cover it up." He remarked "we've missed ten years of research because the CDC is so paralyzed right now by anything related to autism. They're not doing what they should be doing because they're afraid to look for things that might be associated." He alleges criminal wrongdoing by his supervisors, and he expressed deep regret about his role in helping the CDC hide data.
This increase in the rate of regressive autism in African Americans has also been found. Autism Speaks reports that "Regressive Autism Reported Twice as Often among African American Children"
It would seem to be directly connected to the recent release of documents CDC documents and admissions by CDC Government researcher William Thompson.
Thompson's revelations call into question the nine other studies cited by the CDC as evidence denying a link between vaccines and autism. They also have spurred a change.org petition to have the fraudulent study retracted from the Journal of Pediatrics, which published it in 2004.
A recently released memo from 2004 of Dr. Thompson expressing concerns to Dr. Gerberding, the head of the CDC at the time, about this problematic study has citizens upset. Does this mean Dr. Gerberding could have committed perjury during a congressional hearing? More investigation will be needed to know. A copy of the letter obtained under FOIA can be found here.
Regardless many citizens view this as a deliberate malfeasance at the taxpayers' expense have begun a social media blitz to inform others of this story as it unfolds. Using the Twitter hashtags #CDCwhistleblower and #CDCfraud. Parents are hoping to have the agency held accountable for its role in any cover-up and are demanding an investigation on whether Dr. Coleen Boyle also perjured herself in testimony before Congress when addressing concerns of a potential vaccine-autism link.
The US Department of Health Resources and Services Administration has already recognized autism as a secondary cause of vaccine injury as documented in the Update to the Vaccine Injury Table following the 2011 IOM report [PDF]. They did reject Autism as a direct adverse effect of the MMR specifically, but in view of these revelations that may be revisited.
The CDC responded to these claims stating that they recognize this study showed an increased risk of autism from the MMR:
"findings revealed that vaccination between 24 and 36 months was slightly more common among children with autism, and that association was strongest among children 3-5 years of age."They dismissed this with an assumption that parents with children that have autism rushed to get vaccinated for school.
"most likely a result of immunization requirements for preschool special education program attendance in children with autism."This raises questions as there are immunization requirements for all children attending public school and they already excluded children that had a vaccine exemption, so this should not have differed from the controls.
An addition the CDC states they excluded the population in question due not having a Georgia birth certificate.
"Access to the information on the birth certificates allowed researchers to assess more complete information on race as well as other important characteristics, including possible risk factors for autism such as the child's birth weight, mother's age, and education. This information was not available for the children without birth certificates;"There is a problem with this statement as the CDC could have still gotten the needed data from out-of-state birth certificates, They would have had those in the school records as with the kids born in Georgia. So saying they could not get the data on mothers occupation and birth weight is false in and of itself.
The CDC also states that:
"Additional studies and a more recent rigorous review by the Institute of Medicine have found that MMR vaccine does not increase the risk of autism".The Studies that the CDC uses to confirm no link between the MMR and autism are 4 that they list on their website. A quick look at these 4 studies raises several questions.
- One is the study talked about in this article showing a significant connection
- A second was done by the infamous Dr. Thorsen who is awaiting extradition to the US on Fraud and is listed on the CDC's most wanted list putting any of his work into question and this is outside of other potential problems with the study that have been brought up.
- A third is an exploratory study of very small sample sizes, 28 children total, making this unreliable.
- The last one also used a small control sample size of only 31 children and relied on parent interviews to provide medical and behavioral information. Beyond that they did find that over half (50%) of children with autism did regress shortly after the MMR vaccine (<5 months) even though they then concluded there was no connection [PDF].
The full CDC statement can be seen here
A recent release of another document shows that William Thompson was so concerned with the report, in light of a 2002 Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation, that he considered removing his name from the paper. In light of his recent statements and released documents could all of the lawyers involved have been trying to prevent information release?
Comment: The MMR vaccine - Autism controversy has been ongoing for years, William Thompson is just the most recent whistleblower to shed light on the truly inhumane policies, regarding vaccinations, at the CDC. Read the following links to learn more: