CDC Whistleblower Links MMR Vaccine to Autism; Story Promptly Censored

[F.I.S.T.]

CDC Whistleblower Links MMR Vaccine to Autism; Story Promptly Censored
Truthstream Media



“…it’s the lowest point in my career, that I went along with that paper.”
— CDC Whistleblower William Thompson, PhD

Shocking revelations about alleged CDC misconduct in a study investigating the link between autism and vaccines has been made even worse by an active campaign to censor and silence the issue in the media.

CDC Whistleblower Links MMR Vaccine to Autism; Story Promptly Censored - YouTube


A CDC whistleblower involved in a pivotal study defending official assurances of vaccine safety broke his silence to expose how the study he was involved in massaged the data to cover-up a 340% increase in autism risk for African American children under age three who received the MMR vaccine. William W. Thompson, PhD. was escorted out of CDC headquarters a few days ago, and presumably fired from his position, after being identified as the whistleblower.

For his part, Thompson told the Autism Media Channel, who released a video on his revelations, that he was tired of lying.

CDC Whistleblower Revealed - YouTube

Since that report was released, the Autism Media Channel website has gone offline, CNN has pulled two viral iReports summarizing the facts of Thompson’s statements as a whistleblower, and very few other mainstream reports have covered the issue at all. Thank you to the Autism Media Channel, Jon Rappoport and Mike Adams of Natural News and others in the alternative media for bringing this one out of the shadows. It should be splashed all over every front page in every magazine, news website, and mainstream media channel on TVs across the nation; instead, we’re getting the crickets from a Looney Tunes cartoon. The silence, in the wake of potentially millions of children damaged by these vaccines, is deafening.

[F.I.S.T.]

CDC whistleblower, watch out; here come the mothers


I have it on good authority that over 200 mothers of autistic children are readying a class-action suit. They already have an attorney.

They will sue, at the very least, the authors of the 2004 DeStefano study that claimed there was no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

CDC whistleblower William Thompson, who was one of the authors of that study—and then exposed it as a fraud—should take notice.

He can become a witness for these mothers, or if he goes into seclusion and refuses to make a clear, complete, and definitive public statement, he could wind up being sued.

CDC whistleblower Thompson has a lawyer, Rick Morgan.

Like any lawyer, Morgan has one and only one objective: protect his client.

This is Morgan’s current position: His client Thompson is satisfied that, with accurate data on the 2004 study now finally available, the scientific community will be able to assess it and come to a conclusion about it…and Thompson has no plans to make a public statement or enter into a discussion on these matters.

We’ll see if this remains true.

Anyone who thinks “the scientific community” will expose the true dangers of the MMR vaccine and tie it to autism is dreaming.

If Thompson isn’t going to step before cameras and say, “Here I am, I’m William Thompson, I was part of a massive fraud, here’s what we did, here’s how we did it, here is who knew about it…” then he could end up as a defendant in a class-action suit.

There is no way to come to a fully formed assessment of whistleblower Thompson, if he chooses to stay silent.

Since the beginning, I’ve warned that we need to have Thompson make a complete and definitive statement about this whole business.

We don’t know him. In the parlance of the intelligence community—and medical politics often run along similar lines—this could be a covert op. Thompson could have been used to plant misleading information—or at the very least, now that he has apparently gone into seclusion, he could be used, as part of a waiting game, to stall and deflate the whole controversy and scandal.

William, don’t do a tease. Don’t come out half-way and then go back.

William, if as you say, scientists who wrote that 2004 paper, including you, cooked the data and committed fraud, the gloves are off.

There are no ladies and gentlemen in the room. There are only liars and thieves, who are willing to stand by and watch thousands and thousands of children succumb to vaccine-induced brain damage—because their parents have been falsely led to believe a vaccine is safe.

These liars and thieves and heartless criminals are the people, William, who will dominate the process of “coming to an accurate conclusion” about the MMR vaccine and autism.
You know that.

You’re not stupid. And neither are we.

What are you going to do, William?

[Scrumhalf]

Please.

This tired old argument has been trotted out numerous times. Extensive studies in both the US and the EU have shown no link whatsoever between the MMR vaccine and autism. And these tests have been done by disinterested third parties.

Antivaxxers are doing a profound disservice to the cause they purport to support, the health of their children, as well as to public health in general. We have had a recent outbreak of whooping cough in California precisely because there was a group of people who didn't vaccinate their kids. The geographical analysis showed a remarkable relationship between the town these people lived and the epicenter of the outbreak. Several diseases that had been beaten back by regular vaccinations are now making a comeback because we are losing herd immunity. The anti-vaccine movement is a disgrace and a real danger to public health. It has no place in a rational, science-based society.

[Mr I]

Good post

[FitnessBrat]

Please. This tired old argument has been trotted out numerous times. Extensive studies in both the US and the EU have shown no link whatsoever between the MMR vaccine and autism. And these tests have been done by disinterested third parties. Antivaxxers are doing a profound disservice to the cause they purport to support, the health of their children, as well as to public health in general. We have had a recent outbreak of whooping cough in California precisely because there was a group of people who didn't vaccinate their kids. The geographical analysis showed a remarkable relationship between the town these people lived and the epicenter of the outbreak. Several diseases that had been beaten back by regular vaccinations are now making a comeback because we are losing herd immunity. The anti-vaccine movement is a disgrace and a real danger to public health. It has no place in a rational, science-based society.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!

[blm]

Please.

This tired old argument has been trotted out numerous times. Extensive studies in both the US and the EU have shown no link whatsoever between the MMR vaccine and autism. And these tests have been done by disinterested third parties.

Antivaxxers are doing a profound disservice to the cause they purport to support, the health of their children, as well as to public health in general. We have had a recent outbreak of whooping cough in California precisely because there was a group of people who didn't vaccinate their kids. The geographical analysis showed a remarkable relationship between the town these people lived and the epicenter of the outbreak. Several diseases that had been beaten back by regular vaccinations are now making a comeback because we are losing herd immunity. The anti-vaccine movement is a disgrace and a real danger to public health. It has no place in a rational, science-based society.

I do agree completely. Well said scrum. I have this argument all too often with other parents who are anti vaccine.

[Bouncer]

Wow, scrum, fb, blm... what a bunch of sheep. ;)

If only we had a Ronin Hood type character to break it down for us and show us the "REAL TRUTH"

[blm]

[TKD]

I can't tell you how tired I am of people passing along this crap with no understanding of it themselves. Not to mention everyone knows anything can be connected to something with enough string, but will deny that fact because of the naive belief that there is an explainable reason for everything.

[TKD]

Let's post more links

snopes.com: Fraud at the CDC Uncovered?

Bad Medicine



Claim: The CDC has intentionally suppressed proof of vaccine-related cases of autism in African-American boys from reaching the public.


FALSE


Example: [Collected via e-mail, August 2014]

Is the following true: Fraud at the CDC uncovered, 340% increased risk of autism hidden from public.


Origins: On 24 August 2014 a CNN iReport claiming intentional suppression of data relating to rates of autism among specific populations of African-American boys following MMR vaccinations went viral. The story seemed to disappear mysteriously, further fueling the notion that an intentional coverup was underway.

The idea that vaccines lead to autism is not a new conspiracy theory, nor is it a particularly uncommon one. A now heavily discredited study published in the medical



journal Lancet in 1998 planted a seed of fear about vaccine safety; and despite efforts to counteract the widespread concern among worried parents, public health officials continue to encounter growing public resistance to vaccination. And the CNN iReport in question was based on a video which featured William Thompson, a senior researcher at the CDC, seemly "confessing" to anti-vaccinationist Brian Hooker about a coverup at the CDC, and included material such as a claim by Dr. Andrew Wakefield (who in 1998 published a fraudulent research paper claiming a link between MMR vaccine and the appearance of autism and has since been barred from practicing medicine in the UK) asserting that the results of a study proving a link between autism and MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccinations had been "hidden" by the CDC:

Dr. Andrew Wakefield: "This is a real story of a real fraud. Deliberate. High-level deception of the American people with disastrous consequences for its children's health."

"Over a decade ago, Dr. Scott Montgomery and I put forward a hypothesis for MMR vaccine and autism: the age you receive the vaccine influences the risk. We shared this hypothesis with vaccine officials, members of the Centers for Disease Control, at meetings in Washington, D.C. and Cold Spring Harbor. A group of senior vaccine safety people at the CDC studied it. It panned out. We were right — at least partly.

"By Nov 9, 2001, nearly thirteen years ago, senior CDC scientists knew that the younger age exposure to MMR was associated with an increased risk of autism. In 2004 they published, but they hid the results. "MMR was declared safe."


One very important aspect of this current rumor is the conflation of CNN's news brand with its iReport, the latter being a platform under which anyone may submit content. Confusion about CNN's role in the reporting of this claim is now referenced at the top of the restored post; but earlier versions of the story did not clearly designate the report's crowdsourced nature, and many readers were incorrectly led to believe CNN was doing the reporting as a news network.

Currently, a few links are circulating from CNN iReport concerning a CDC whistleblower coverup. One is titled "Fraud at the CDC uncovered, 340% increased risk of autism hidden from public," and another is titled "CDC Autism Whistleblower Admits Vaccine Study Fraud."

The second link was published on 22 August 2014, and the iReport post claims explicitly that the CDC was involved in an intentional coverup:

William W. Thompson, PhD, Senior Scientist with the CDC has stepped forward and admitted the 2004 paper entitled "Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in children with autism and school-matched control subjects: a population-based study in metropolitan Atlanta," which has been used repeatedly by the CDC to deny the MMR-autism connection, was a fraud.

Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in... [Pediatrics. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI

Dr. Thompson has admitted the 340% increase in boys receiving the MMR vaccine "on time," as opposed to delayed, was buried by himself, Dr. DeStefano, Dr. Bhasin, Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp, and Dr. Boyle ... Dr. Thompson first called and spoke with Dr. Brian Hooker, who then revealed the information to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and the Autism Media Channel.


One factor driving the conspiratorial narrative was the disappearance of the CNN iReports in question, leading many to assume that the CDC colluded with CNN to suppress the information:


However, the allegedly-suppressed reports are currently readily available on the CNN iReport site, now with a disclaimer appended to them:

CNN PRODUCER NOTE: CNN iReport is the network's user-generated news community. This story was initially pulled for further review after it was flagged by the community. CNN has reached out to the CDC for comment and is working to confirm the claims in this iReport.


A number of claims relating "CDC whistleblower" allegations are currently circulating the social web, particularly on pages and sites that favor medical conspiracy theories. Despite the volume of posts on the subject, no credible verification of these claims has emerged amid intensifying levels of rhetoric. The context of Thompson's remarks as presented in the video footage (seen in the above tweet) has not been made clear, but as ScienceBlogs noted of that video, it appears to be highly manipulated and misleading:

Somehow, some way, a senior CDC scientist has made the massive mistake of speaking with Brian Hooker. That CDC scientist is William Thompson, well-respected (until, possibly, now) scientist and co-author of Destefano et al, as well as first author on a widely cited NEJM study showing no correlation between thimerosal in vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, among other studies. The first thing I noticed listening to Thompson in Wakefield's video is just how little he is quoted. Instead he's paraphrased by Hooker, who portrays himself as Thompson’s "confessor" to whom Thompson is "confessing." The parts with Thompson's voice appear highly edited, brief sound bites. They sound, at least the way they are presented, highly damning on first listen. It seems very odd on first listen. Heck, it sounds very odd on second listen. So what really happened? Again, who knows? You’ll excuse me if I reserve judgment until more information comes in from sources other than Andrew Wakefield and Brian Hooker because I suspect that what we're seeing is a highly one-sided presentation of cherry picked information.


The CDC has since issued a statement regarding the data in question, with instructions for accessing the study at the center of the controversy. As the CDC noted, the authors of that study suggested the most likely explanation for the moderate correlation between autism and vaccination in young children was the existence of immunization requirements for autistic children enrolled in special education preschool programs:

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; hence CDC study did not present data by race on black, white, or other race children from the whole study sample. It presented the results on black and white/other race children from the group with birth certificates.

The study looked at different age groups: children vaccinated by 18 months, 24 months, and 36 months. The 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. The authors reported this finding was most likely a result of immunization requirements for preschool special education program attendance in children with autism.


On 27 August, Thompson released a statement via law firm Morgan Verkamp, LLC, confirming that he had spoken with Dr. Brian Hooker. Titled "STATEMENT OF WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, Ph.D., REGARDING THE 2004 ARTICLE EXAMINING THE POSSIBILITY OF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MMR VACCINE AND AUTISM," Thompson's statement was released here and it begins:

I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed.

I want to be absolutely clear that I believe vaccines have saved and continue to save countless lives. I would never suggest that any parent avoid vaccinating children of any race. Vaccines prevent serious diseases, and the risks associated with their administration are vastly outweighed by their individual and societal benefits.


Thompson also states that he had not been made aware that conversations he'd had with Hooker had been recorded, nor did he consent to being quoted publicly on the matter of the 2004 Pediatrics study:

I have had many discussions with Dr. Brian Hooker over the last 10 months regarding studies the CDC has carried out regarding vaccines and neurodevelopmental outcomes including autism spectrum disorders. I share his beliefthat CDC decision-making and analyses should be transparent. I was not, however, aware that he was recording any of our conversations, nor was I given any choice regarding whether my name would be made public or my voice would be put on the Internet.


He concludes:

Reasonable scientists can and do differ in their interpretation of information. I will do everything I can to assist any unbiased and objective scientists inside or outside the CDC to analyze data collected by the CDC or other public organizations for the purpose of understanding whether vaccines are associated with an increased risk of autism. There are still more questions than answers, and I appreciate that so many families are looking for answers from the scientific community ... My colleagues and supervisors at the CDC have been entirely professional since this matter became public. In fact, I received a performance-based award after this story came out. I have experienced no pressure or retaliation and certainly was not escorted from the building, as some have stated.


On 27 August, Hooker's study in Translational Neurodegeneration was removed from public domain due to concerns raised about the research's conclusions. The journal stated:

This article has been removed from the public domain because of serious concerns about the validity of its conclusions. The journal and publisher believe that its continued availability may not be in the public interest. Definitive editorial action will be pending further investigation.


For a thorough analysis of the flaws and misinformation associated with the current CDC autism "cover-up" conspiracy theory, we recommend the posts on the subject at ScienceBlogs, which note of the claim at the heart of this matter (i.e, allegedly suppressed proof of a 340% increased risk of autism in African-American boys after MMR vaccination) that:

Vaccination data were abstracted from immunization forms required for school entry, and records of children who were born in Georgia were linked to Georgia birth certificates for information on maternal and birth factors. Basically, no significant associations were found between the age cutoffs examined and the risk of autism. I note that, even in the “reanalysis” by Brian Hooker, there still isn’t any such correlation for children who are not African American boys

Wakefield claims that African American boys were "neglected" [in Thompson's study]. He also claims that this is vindication for him, but, of course, it is not. Notice how he completely neglects to mention that in every other subgroup [examined in the study], even Hooker couldn’t torture the data to make it confess a relationship between age at MMR vaccination and autism in any other population other than a very small population in the study: African-American males. Whenever that happens as you slice epidemiological data finer and finer, you should be alert for the very distinct possibility that what you're really looking at is a spurious correlation. As I pointed out before, Hooker in reality merely confirmed that Wakefield was wrong about everyone except African-American males, and, given how small this subgroup was in the study, almost certainly didn’t find any evidence supporting Wakefield’s hypothesis (such as it is) for even African-American boys. Yet, Wakefield, as deluded as he is, spins it as "vindication." He even thanks Hooker for getting a "senior scientist at the CDC" to come forward and "confirm" that some of those "ideas we put forward" are true. Holy hell! Even if you spin Thompson’s statements in the most unflattering manner possible towards the CDC and his co-investigators, Thompson said nothing of the sort!


Read more at snopes.com: Fraud at the CDC Uncovered?

[Scrumhalf]

Wakefield has gone from incompetence to downright wilful negligence. In my mind, these should be proscecutable offenses, akin to yelling fire in a crowded room. This is far removed from a protected free speech issue.

[Mr I]

I'm staying well out of this haha!

[FitnessBrat]

Growing up unvaccinated: A healthy lifestyle couldn’t prevent many childhood illnesses.

[jack tors]

Please.

This tired old argument has been trotted out numerous times. Extensive studies in both the US and the EU have shown no link whatsoever between the MMR vaccine and autism. And these tests have been done by disinterested third parties.

Antivaxxers are doing a profound disservice to the cause they purport to support, the health of their children, as well as to public health in general. We have had a recent outbreak of whooping cough in California precisely because there was a group of people who didn't vaccinate their kids. The geographical analysis showed a remarkable relationship between the town these people lived and the epicenter of the outbreak. Several diseases that had been beaten back by regular vaccinations are now making a comeback because we are losing herd immunity. The anti-vaccine movement is a disgrace and a real danger to public health. It has no place in a rational, science-based society.

of course your going to say that you work in health care and your brain washed to do so. I know bc I have a similar background. its the American medical model.

The issue or question at hand isn't vaccine or don't vaccine your child ITS why do the vaccines in 1 dosage or shot (MMR)
I think there's a several factors to consider besides vaccine bundles: environment (could explain African American increase), and Autism awareness and better diagnosis practices. (over diagnosis and labeling children as "Asperger's)

[Bouncer]

Scrum works in health care?