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H5074 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 23, 2005 As Thomas Jefferson once said, MERCURY AND them while at the same time changing Whenever people are well informed, The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a the Injury Compensation Fund they can be trusted with their own gov- previous order of the House, the gen- in a way that will protect these fami- ernment. tleman from Indiana (Mr. BURTON) is lies and help those who have been dam- Maintaining our commitment to pub- recognized for 5 minutes. aged, but so far we have gotten abso- lic broadcasting will help keep the very Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speak- lutely nowhere with them; and it is people who elect us well informed, and er, I have been down here a lot talking something I think we need to continue in doing so, help to promote the integ- about autism over the years and my to work on. rity and proper functioning of this very committee had many hearings on the Just recently, there was an article body itself. issue of autism. My grandson became that was published in a magazine I nor- I applaud the Members of this body autistic after receiving 9 shots in one mally do not read. It is called Rolling who rose to the defense of public broad- day, 7 of which contained mercury, in a Stone, but this article was brought to casting earlier today by voting to re- product called thimerosal. And he is my attention, and I think everybody in store funding to a cherished American doing better but it has been a very dif- this body ought to read that article. It institution. ficult time for me and my family. was written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., f I strongly believe that there is a link somebody who I normally do not read, between the mercury that is in the thi- but I have to tell my colleagues it is a HONORING ARMY SPECIALIST merosal in the and children very well-written article. It goes into STANLEY ‘‘STOSH’’ LAPINSKI developing neurological disorders such great detail and scientific research (Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Flor- as autism. In fact, according to a re- studies on mercury-connected mental ida asked and was given permission to cent study released by collaboration of disorders caused by the thimerosal in address the House for 1 minute and to U.S. medical researchers from Johns the mercury in these . revise and extend her remarks.) Hopkins University, Northeastern Uni- I would submit to all my colleagues Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Flor- versity in Boston, and the University they really need to read this article. I ida. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy of Nebraska and that am going to send a Dear Colleague out heart that I rise today to express con- was published in the Vancouver Sun in to all of my colleagues in the House dolences of a grateful Nation. February of last year and was officially and the Senate over the next couple of I rise to honor the life of Army Spe- released in the April 2004 edition of the days. It is a fairly lengthy article, but cialist Stanley, also known as Stosh, scientific journal Molecular Psychi- it goes into how government officials Lapinski. Specialist Lapinski was a re- atry, ‘‘A recent review of vaccine-re- met with pharmaceutical company of- cent victim of a terrorist roadside lated adverse events in the U.S. found ficials and deliberately covered up the bomb. a significant correlation between shots connection, deliberately covered up the During his last conversation before containing thimerosal,’’ i.e. mercury connection between the thimerosal in he was killed, Sergeant Lapinski told ‘‘and autism.’’ vaccines and the problems that are The study further concluded that the his parents not to worry about him and being created, neurological problems use of thimerosal-containing shots he would be fine. that have been created in these chil- could account for the rising rates of While Stosh did not make it home dren, including autism. autism since the early 1980s when more from Iraq, I am honored to join the All of my colleagues ought to read thimerosal-containing vaccinations Lapinski family for his burial at Ar- this and realize that we have had a col- were added to the government-man- lington National Cemetery next week. laboration between health officials in dated childhood schedule. A grateful Nation has brought him our government and the pharma- Scientific evidence aside, we have ceutical industry to protect themselves home to the honors and accolades he seen an increase from 1 in 10,000 chil- well deserves. from class action lawsuits at the ex- dren who are autistic to 1 in 166 since pense of these young kids and families Nothing I could say today would heal they started using thimerosal in many, the wounds of the Lapinski family. who have been damaged by neuro- many vaccines in the early eighties logical disorders, including autism. After speaking to them, however, I can and children started getting more of tell you that they want their son’s sac- So I submit to my colleagues who these shots. may be in their offices or here tonight, rifice to be remembered for the good I am not against vaccinations but I and honorable actions he was doing in please read this article. It is extremely do believe, as many of my colleagues, important. I do not want to hurt the Iraq. including the gentleman from Florida His service showed the true American pharmaceutical industry. I would like (Mr. WELDON) believe, that mercury to protect them from class action law- spirit. While the Lapinskis lost their should be taken out of all childhood son, they know that he died preserving suits; but at the same time, we need to vaccines and in fact all vaccines. change that Vaccine Injury Compensa- and fighting for democracy. We need to ask ourselves one simple tion Fund to take care of these kids Mr. Speaker, I ask all Americans to question: What is right? The answer I that have been damaged and help their join me in honoring a true American think is very clear. Get mercury out of families. hero. all vaccinations. DEADLY IMMUNITY f In reality the answer that is given by far too many officials in our govern- (By Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a JUNE 16, 2005.—In June 2000, a group of top previous order of the House, the gen- ment, health agencies and some Mem- bers of Congress, sorry, we cannot help government scientists and health officials tleman from Minnesota (Mr. GUT- you, and the need to protect the phar- gathered for a meeting at the isolated KNECHT) is recognized for 5 minutes. Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, maceutical industry is so great, we (Mr. GUTKNECHT addressed the Ga. Convened by the Centers for Disease cannot do much about it. House. His remarks will appear here- Control and Prevention, the meeting was after in the Extensions of Remarks.) b 1745 held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoo- f Some in my party keep talking about chee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The changing the law to protect the drug ORDER OF BUSINESS agency had issued no public announcement companies against so-called frivolous of the session—only private invitations to 52 Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speak- lawsuits, and we have to do something attendees. There were high-level officials er, I ask unanimous consent to claim to help these families who had their from the CDC and the Food and Drug Admin- the time of the gentleman from Min- children damaged by the mercury vac- istration, the top vaccine specialist from the nesota (Mr. GUTKNECHT). cines. I am against class action law- World Health Organization in Geneva, and The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. representatives of every major vaccine man- suits in general. I am for tort reform, ufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, MCCAUL of Texas). Is there objection to but we have got to do something to Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the request of the gentleman from Indi- help these families. the scientific data under discussion, CDC of- ana? We have tried to talk to the pharma- ficials repeatedly reminded the participants, There was no objection. ceutical industry about protecting was strictly ‘‘embargoed.’’ There would be no

VerDate Aug 04 2004 01:55 Jun 25, 2005 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00088 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K23JN7.165 H23JNPT1 June 23, 2005 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H5075 making photocopies of documents, no taking 2003, he had gone to work for research and talking with many of the na- papers with them when they left. GlaxoSmithKline and reworked his data to tion’s preeminent authorities on mercury The federal officials and industry rep- bury the link between thimerosal and au- that I became convinced that the link be- resentatives had assembled to discuss a dis- tism. tween thimerosal and the epidemic of child- turbing new study that raised alarming ques- Vaccine manufacturers had already begun hood neurological disorders is real. Five of tions about the safety of a host of common to phase thimerosal out of injections given my own children are members of the Thimer- childhood vaccines administered to infants to American infants—but they continued to osal Generation—those born between 1989 and young children. According to a CDC epi- sell off their mercury-based supplies of vac- and 2003—who received heavy doses of mer- demiologist named Tom Verstraeten, who cines until last year. The CDC and FDA gave cury from vaccines. ‘‘The elementary grades had analyzed the agency’s massive database them a hand, buying up the tainted vaccines are overwhelmed with children who have containing the medical records of 100,000 for export to developing countries and allow- symptoms of neurological or immune-system children, a mercury based preservative in the ing drug companies to continue using the damage,’’ Patti White, a school nurse, told vaccines—thimerosal—appeared to be re- preservative in some American vaccines—in- the House Government Reform Committee in sponsible for a dramatic increase in autism cluding several pediatric flu shots as well as 1999. ‘‘Vaccines are supposed to be making us and a host of other neurological disorders boosters routinely given to 11-year- healthier; however, in 25 years of nursing I among children. ‘‘I was actually stunned by olds. have never seen so many damaged, sick kids. what I saw,’’ Verstraeten told those assem- The drug companies are also getting help Something very, very wrong is happening to bled at Simpsonwood, citing the staggering from powerful lawmakers in . our children.’’ More than 500,000 kids cur- number of earlier studies that indicate a link Senate Majority Leader BILL FRIST, who has rently suffer from autism, and pediatricians between thimerosal and speech delays, atten- received $873,000 in contributions from the diagnose more than 40,000 new cases every tion-deficit disorder, hyperactivity and au- pharmaceutical industry, has been working year. The disease was unknown until 1943, tism. Since 1991, when the CDC and the FDA to immunize vaccine makers from liability when it was identified and diagnosed among had recommended that three additional vac- in 4,200 lawsuits that have been filed by the children born in the months after thimerosal parents of injured children. On five separate cines laced with the preservative be given to was first added to baby vaccines in 1931. extremely young infants—in one case, within occasions, FRIST has tried to seal all of the Some skeptics dispute that the rise in au- hours of birth—the estimated number of government’s vaccine-related documents— tism is caused by thimerosal-tainted vac- including the Simpsonwood transcripts—and cases of autism had increased fifteen fold, cinations. They argue that the increase is a shield Eli Lilly, the developer of thimerosal, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166 result of better diagnosis—a theory that from subpoenas. In 2002, the day after Frist children. seems questionable at best, given that most Even for scientists and doctors accustomed quietly slipped a rider known as the ‘‘Eli of the new cases of autism are clustered Lilly Protection Act’’ into a homeland secu- to confronting issues of life and death, the within a single generation of children. ‘‘If rity bill, the company contributed $10,000 to findings were frightening. ‘‘You can play the epidemic is truly an artifact of poor di- his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his with this all you want,’’ Dr. Bill Weil, a con- agnosis,’’ scoffs Dr. , one of the book on . Congress repealed the sultant for the American Academy of Pediat- world’s authorities on mercury toxicity, measure in 2003—but earlier this year, Frist rics, told the group. The results ‘‘are statis- ‘‘then where are all the 20-year-old slipped another provision into an anti-ter- tically significant.’’ Dr. Richard Johnston, autistics?’’ Other researchers point out that rorism bill that would deny compensation to an immunologist and pediatrician from the Americans are exposed to a greater cumu- children suffering from vaccine-related brain University of Colorado whose grandson had lative ‘‘load’’ of mercury than ever before, disorders. ‘‘The lawsuits are of such mag- been born early on the morning of the meet- from contaminated fish to dental fillings, nitude that they could put vaccine producers ing’s first day, was even more alarmed. ‘‘My and suggest that thimerosal in vaccines may out of business and limit our capacity to gut feeling?’’ he said. ‘‘Forgive this personal be only part of a much larger problem. It’s a deal with a biological attack by terrorists,’’ comment—I do not want my grandson to get concern that certainly deserves far more at- says Andy Olsen, a legislative assistant to a thimerosal-containing vaccine until we tention than it has received—but it over- Frist. know better what is going on.’’ Even many conservatives are shocked by looks the fact that the mercury concentra- But instead of taking immediate steps to the government’s effort to cover up the dan- tions in vaccines dwarf other sources of ex- alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of gers of thimerosal. Rep. Dan Burton, a Re- posure to our children. thimerosal, the officials and executives at What is most striking is the lengths to publican from Indiana, oversaw a three-year Simpsonwood spent most of the next two which many of the leading detectives have investigation of thimerosal after his grand- days discussing how to cover up the dam- gone to ignore—and cover up—the evidence son was diagnosed with autism. ‘‘Thimerosal aging data. According to transcripts ob- against thimerosal. From the very begin- used as a preservative in vaccines is directly tained under the Freedom of Information related to the autism epidemic,’’ his House ning, the scientific case against the mercury Act, many at the meeting were concerned Government Reform Committee concluded in additive has been overwhelming. The pre- about how the damaging revelations about its final report. ‘‘This epidemic in all prob- servative, which is used to stem fungi and thimerosal would affect the vaccine indus- ability may have been prevented or curtailed bacterial growth in vaccines, contains try’s bottom line. had the FDA not been asleep at the switch ethylmercury, a potent neurotoxin. Truck- ‘‘We are in a bad position from the stand- regarding a lack of safety data regarding in- loads of studies have shown that mercury point of defending any lawsuits,’’ said Dr. jected thimerosal, a known neurotoxin.’’ The tends to accumulate in the brains of pri- Robert Brent, a pediatrician at the Alfred I. FDA and other public-health agencies failed mates and other animals after they are in- duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware. to act, the committee added, out of ‘‘institu- jected with vaccines—and that the devel- ‘‘This will be a resource to our very busy tional malfeasance for self protection’’ and oping brains of infants are particularly sus- plaintiff attorneys in this country.’’ Dr. Bob ‘‘misplaced protectionism of the pharma- ceptible. In 1977, a Russian study found that Chen, head of vaccine safety for the CDC, ex- ceutical industry.’’ adults exposed to much lower concentrations pressed relief that’’ given the sensitivity of The story of how government health agen- of ethylmercury than those given to Amer- the information, we have been able to keep it cies colluded with Big Pharmacy to hide the ican children still suffered brain damage out of the hands of, let’s say, less responsible risks of thimerosal from the public is a years later. Russia banned thimerosal from hands.’’ Dr. John Clements, vaccines advisor chilling case study of institutional arro- children’s vaccines 20 years ago, and Den- at the World Health Organization, declared gance, power and greed. I was drawn into the mark, Austria, Japan, Great Britain and all flatly that the study ‘‘should not have been controversy only reluctantly. As an attorney the Scandinavian countries have since fol- done at all’’ and warned that the results and environmentalist who has spent years lowed suit. ‘‘will be taken by others and will be used in working on issues of mercury toxicity, I fre- ‘‘You couldn’t even construct a study that ways beyond the control of this group. The quently met mothers of autistic children shows thimerosal is safe,’’ says Haley, who research results have to be handled.’’ who were absolutely convinced that their heads the chemistry department at the Uni- In fact, the government has proved to be kids had been injured by vaccines. Privately, versity of Kentucky. ‘‘It’s just too darn far more adept at handling the damage than I was skeptical. I doubted that autism could toxic. If you inject thimerosal into an ani- at protecting children’s health. The CDC be blamed on a single source, and I certainly mal, its brain will sicken. If you apply it to paid the Institute of Medicine to conduct a understood the government’s need to reas- living tissue, the cells die. If you put it in a new study to whitewash the risks of thimer- sure parents that vaccinations are safe; the petri dish, the culture dies. Knowing these osal, ordering researchers to ‘‘rule out’’ the eradication of deadly childhood diseases de- things, it would be shocking if one could in- chemical’s link to autism. It withheld pends on it. I tended to agree with skeptics ject it into an infant without causing dam- Verstraeten’s findings, even though they had like Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from age.’’ been slated for immediate publication, and , who criticized his colleagues on Internal documents reveal that Eli Lilly, told other scientists that his original data the House Government Reform Committee which first developed thimerosal, knew from had been ‘‘lost’’ and could not be replicated. for leaping to conclusions about autism and the start that its product could cause dam- And to thwart the Freedom of Information vaccinations. ‘‘Why should we scare people age—and even death—in both animals and Act, it handed its giant database of vaccine about ,’’ Waxman pointed out humans. In 1930, the company tested thimer- records over to a private company, declaring at one hearing, ‘‘until we know the facts?’’ osal by administering it to 22 patients with it off-limits to researchers. By the time It was only after reading the Simpsonwood terminal meningitis, all of whom died within Verstraeten finally published his study in transcripts, studying the leading scientific weeks of being injected—a fact Lilly didn’t

VerDate Aug 04 2004 01:55 Jun 25, 2005 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00089 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 9920 E:\CR\FM\A23JN7.081 H23JNPT1 H5076 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 23, 2005 bother to report in its study declaring thi- of viral products for the agency, asked in an Other vaccine scientists and regulators merosal safe. In 1935, researchers at another e-mail to the CDC in 1999. ‘‘Why didn’t CDC gave me similar assurances. Like Offit, they vaccine manufacturer, Pittman-Moore, and the advisory bodies do these calculations view themselves as enlightened guardians of warned Lilly that its claims about when they rapidly expanded the childhood children’s health, proud of their ‘‘partner- thimerosal’s safety ‘‘did not check with immunization schedule?’’ ships’’ with pharmaceutical companies, im- ours.’’ Half the dogs Pittman injected with But by that time, the damage was done. In- mune to the seductions of personal profit, thimerosal-based vaccines became sick, lead- fants who received all their vaccines, plus besieged by irrational activists whose anti- ing researchers there to declare the preserva- boosters, by the age of six months were being vaccine campaigns are endangering chil- tive ‘‘unsatisfactory as a serum intended for injected with a total of 187 micrograms of dren’s health. They are often resentful of use on dogs.’’ ethylmercury—a level 40 percent greater questioning. ‘‘Science,’’ says Offit, ‘‘is best In the decades that followed, the evidence than the EPA’s limit for daily exposure to left to scientists.’’ against thimerosal continued to mount. Dur- methylmercury, a related neurotoxin. Al- Still, some government officials were ing the Second World War, when the Depart- though the vaccine industry insists that alarmed by the apparent conflicts of inter- ment of Defense used the preservative in vac- ethylmercury poses little danger because it est. In his e-mail to CDC administrators in cines on soldiers, it required Lilly to label it breaks down rapidly and is removed by the 1999, Paul Patriarca of the FDA blasted fed- ‘‘poison.’’ In 1967, a study in Applied Microbi- body, several studies—including one pub- eral regulators for failing to adequately ology found that thimerosal killed mice lished in April by the National Institutes of scrutinize the danger posed by the added when added to injected vaccines. Four years Health—suggest that ethylmercury is actu- baby vaccines. ‘‘I’m not sure there will be an later, Lilly’s own studies discerned that thi- ally more toxic to developing brains and easy way out of the potential perception merosal was ‘‘toxic to tissue cells’’ in con- stays in the brain longer than that the FDA, CDC and immunization-policy centrations as low as one part per million— methylmercury. Under the expanded sched- bodies may have been asleep at the switch 100 times weaker than the concentration in a ule of vaccinations, multiple shots were re: thimerosal until now,’’ Patriarca wrote. typical vaccine. Even so, the company con- often administered on a single day: At two The close ties between regulatory officials tinued to promote thimerosal as ‘‘nontoxic’’ months, when the infant brain is still at a and the pharmaceutical industry, he added, and also incorporated it into topical dis- critical stage of development, children rou- ‘‘will also raise questions about various advi- infectants. In 1977, 10 babies at a Toronto tinely received three that deliv- sory bodies regarding aggressive rec- hospital died when an antiseptic preserved ered 99 times the approved limit of mercury. ommendations for use’’ of thimerosal in with thimerosal was dabbed onto their um- Officials responsible for childhood immuni- child vaccines. bilical cords. zations insist that the additional vaccines If federal regulators and government sci- In 1982, the FDA proposed a ban on over- were necessary to protect infants from dis- entists failed to grasp the potential risks of the-counter products that contained thimer- ease and that thimerosal is still essential in thimerosal over the years, no one could osal, and in 1991 the agency considered ban- developing nations, which, they often claim, claim ignorance after the secret meeting at ning it from animal vaccines. But tragically, cannot afford the single-dose vials that don’t Simpsonwood. But rather than conduct more that same year, the CDC recommended that require a preservative. Dr. , one of studies to test the link to autism and other infants be injected with a series of mercury- CDC’s top vaccine advisors, told me, ‘‘I think forms of brain damage, the CDC placed poli- laced vaccines. Newborns would be vac- if we really have an influenza pandemic—and tics over science. The agency turned its cinated for within 24 hours of certainly we will in the next 20 years, be- database on childhood vaccines—which had birth, and 2-month-old infants would be im- cause we always do—there’s no way on God’s been developed largely at taxpayer expense— munized for haemophilus influenzae B and earth that we immunize 280 million people over to a private agency, America’s Health diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis. with single-dose vials. There has to be Insurance Plans, ensuring that it could not The drug industry knew the additional multidose vials.’’ be used for additional research. It also in- vaccines posed a danger. The same year that But while public-health officials may have structed the Institute of Medicine, an advi- the CDC approved the new vaccines, Dr. been well-intentioned, many of those on the sory organization that is part of the Na- , one of the fathers of CDC advisory committee who backed the ad- tional Academy of Sciences, to produce a Merck’s vaccine programs, warned the com- ditional vaccines had close ties to the indus- study debunking the link between thimer- pany that 6-month-olds who were adminis- try. Dr. Sam Katz, the committee’s chair, osal and brain disorders. The CDC ‘‘wants us tered the shots would suffer dangerous expo- was a paid consultant for most of the major to declare, well, that these things are pretty sure to mercury. He recommended that thi- vaccine makers and shares a patent on a safe,’’ Dr. Marie McCormick, who chaired the merosal be discontinued, ‘‘especially when vaccine with Merck, which also IOM’s Immunization Safety Review Com- used on infants and children,’’ noting that manufactures the . Dr. mittee, told her fellow researchers when the industry knew of nontoxic alternatives. , another committee member, they first met in January 2001. ‘‘We are not ‘‘The best way to go,’’ he added, ‘‘is to switch worked as a researcher for the vaccine com- ever going to come down that [autism] is a to dispensing the actual vaccines without panies and received honoraria from Abbott true side effect’’ of thimerosal exposure. Ac- adding preservatives.’’ Labs for his research on the hepatitis B vac- cording to transcripts of the meeting, the For Merck and other drug companies, how- cine. committee’s chief staffer, Kathleen Strat- ever, the obstacle was money. Thimerosal Indeed, in the tight circle of scientists who ton, predicted that the IOM would conclude enables the pharmaceutical industry to work on vaccines, such conflicts of interest that the evidence was ‘‘inadequate to accept package vaccines in vials that contain mul- are common. Rep. Burton says that the CDC or reject a causal relation’’ between thimer- tiple doses, which require additional protec- ‘‘routinely allows scientists with blatant osal and autism. That, she added, was the re- tion because they are more easily contami- conflicts of interest to serve on intellectual sult ‘‘Walt wants’’—a reference to Dr. Walter nated by multiple needle entries. The larger advisory committees that make rec- Orenstein, director of the National Immuni- vials cost half as much to produce as small- ommendations on new vaccines,’’ even zation Program for the CDC. er, single-dose vials, making it cheaper for though they have ‘‘interests in the products For those who had devoted their lives to international agencies to distribute them to and companies for which they are supposed promoting vaccination, the revelations impoverished regions at risk of epidemics. to be providing unbiased oversight.’’ The about thimerosal threatened to undermine Faced with this ‘‘cost consideration,’’ Merck House Government Reform Committee dis- everything they had worked for. ‘‘We’ve got ignored Hilleman’s warnings, and govern- covered that four of the eight CDC advisors a dragon by the tail here,’’ said Dr. Michael ment officials continued to push more and who approved guidelines for a vac- Kaback, another committee member. ‘‘The more thimerosal-based vaccines for children. cine ‘‘had financial ties to the pharma- more negative that [our] presentation is, the Before 1989, American preschoolers received ceutical companies that were developing dif- less likely people are to use vaccination, im- 11 vaccinations—for , diphtheria-tet- ferent versions of the vaccine.’’ munization—and we know what the results anus-pertussis and measles-mumps-rubella. Offit, who shares a patent on one of the of that will be. We are kind of caught in a A decade later, thanks to federal rec- vaccines, acknowledged to me that he trap. How we work our way out of the trap, ommendations, children were receiving a ‘‘would make money’’ if his vote eventually I think is the charge.’’ total of 22 by the time they leads to a marketable product. But he dis- Even in public, federal officials made it reached first grade. missed my suggestion that a scientist’s di- clear that their primary goal in studying As the number of vaccines increased, the rect financial stake in CDC approval might thimerosal was to dispel doubts about vac- rate of autism among children exploded. bias his judgment. ‘‘It provides no conflict cines. ‘‘Four current studies are taking place During the 1990s, 40 million children were in- for me,’’ he insists. ‘‘I have simply been in- to rule out the proposed link between autism jected with thimerosal-based vaccines, re- formed by the process, not corrupted by it. and thimerosal,’’ Dr. Gordon Douglas, then- ceiving unprecedented levels of mercury dur- When I sat around that table, my sole intent director of strategic planning for vaccine re- ing a period critical for brain development. was trying to make recommendations that search at the National Institutes of Health, Despite the well-documented dangers of thi- best benefited the children in this country. assured a Princeton University gathering in merosal, it appears that no one bothered to It’s offensive to say that physicians and pub- May 2001. ‘‘In order to undo the harmful ef- add up the cumulative dose of mercury that lic-health people are in the pocket of indus- fects of research claiming to link the [mea- children would receive from the mandated try and thus are making decisions that they sles] vaccine to an elevated risk of autism, vaccines. ‘‘What took the FDA so long to do know are unsafe for children. It’s just not we need to conduct and publicize additional the calculations?’’ Peter Patriarca, director the way it works.’’ studies to assure parents of safety.’’ Douglas

VerDate Aug 04 2004 01:55 Jun 25, 2005 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00090 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 9920 E:\CR\FM\A23JN7.082 H23JNPT1 June 23, 2005 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H5077 formerly served as president of vaccinations mercury from a power plant. The other The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there for Merck, where he ignored warnings about three—including one child adopted from out- objection to the request of the gen- thimerosal’s risks. side the Amish community—had received tleman from California? In May of last year, the Institute of Medi- their vaccines. There was no objection. cine issued its final report. Its conclusion: At the state level, many officials have also There is no proven link between autism and conducted in-depth reviews of thimerosal. f thimerosal in vaccines. Rather than review- While the Institute of Medicine was busy THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC ing the large body of literature describing whitewashing the risks, the Iowa Legislature BROADCASTING—PROVIDING the toxicity of thimerosal, the report relied was carefully combing through all of the on four disastrously flawed epidemiological available scientific and biological data. INDEPENDENT FAMILY PRO- studies examining European countries, ‘‘After three years of review, I became con- GRAMMING where children received much smaller doses vinced there was sufficient credible research The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a of thimerosal than American kids. It also to show a link between mercury and the in- previous order of the House, the gen- cited a new version of the Verstraeten study, creased incidences in autism,’’ says state published in the journal , that had tleman from California (Mr. SCHIFF) is Sen. Ken Veenstra, a Republican who recognized for 5 minutes. been reworked to reduce the link between oversaw the investigation. ‘‘The fact that thimerosal and autism. The new study in- Iowa’s 700 percent increase in autism began Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise cluded children too young to have been diag- in the 1990s, right after more and more vac- today to express my strong support for nosed with autism and overlooked others cines were added to the children’s vaccine the Corporation for Public Broad- who showed signs of the disease. The IOM de- schedules, is solid evidence alone.’’ Last casting and its contributions to our clared the case closed and—in a startling po- year, Iowa became the first state to ban mer- shared American experience. sition for a scientific body—recommended cury in vaccines, followed by California. On November 7, 1967, President Lyn- that no further research be conducted. Similar bans are now under consideration in The report may have satisfied the CDC, but don Johnson signed into law the Public 32 other states. Broadcasting Act of 1967, creating the it convinced no one. Rep. David Weldon, a But instead of following suit, the FDA con- Republican physician from Florida who tinues to allow manufacturers to include thi- Corporation for Public Broadcasting serves on the House Government Reform merosal in scores of over-the-counter medi- and bringing about the genesis of one Committee, attacked the Institute of Medi- cations as well as steroids and injected col- of our Nation’s most cherished edu- cine, saying it relied on a handful of studies lagen. Even more alarming, the government cational and cultural institutions. that were ‘‘fatally flawed’’ by ‘‘poor design’’ continues to ship vaccines preserved with Before signing the bill, President and failed to represent ‘‘all the available sci- thimerosal to developing countries—some of Johnson presented his vision for this entific and medical research.’’ CDC officials which are now experiencing a sudden explo- new public communications enterprise, are not interested in an honest search for the sion in autism rates. In China, where the dis- truth, Weldon told me, because ‘‘an associa- stating that the ‘‘time had come to en- ease was virtually unknown prior to the in- list the computer and the satellite, as tion between would troduction of thimerosal by U.S. drug manu- force them to admit that their policies irrep- facturers in 1999, news reports indicate that well as the television and the radio, arably damaged thousands of children. Who there are now more than 1.8 million and to enlist them in the cause of edu- would want to make that conclusion about autistics. Although reliable numbers are cation.’’ themselves?’’ hard to come by, autistic disorders also ap- Since Congress created this not-for- Under pressure from Congress, parents and pear to be soaring in India, Argentina, Nica- a few of its own panel members, the Institute profit entity, it has become one of the ragua and other developing countries that of Medicine reluctantly convened a second most relied-upon sources of news and are now using thimerosal-laced vaccines. panel to review the findings of the first. In educational programming for all Amer- The World Health Organization continues to February, the new panel, composed of dif- icans, especially for our children. insist thimerosal is safe, but it promises to ferent scientists, criticized the earlier panel keep the possibility that it is linked to neu- Mr. Speaker, as the father of two for its lack of transparency and urged the rological disorders ‘‘under review.’’ small children, I can speak directly to CDC to make its vaccine database available I devoted time to study this issue because the love that our kids have for edu- to the public. So far, though, only two scientists have I believe that this is a moral crisis that must cational programming, such as Sesame managed to gain access. Dr. , be addressed. If, as the evidence suggests, Street, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Ar- president of the Genetics Center of America, our public-health authorities knowingly al- thur, Clifford the Big Red Dog. They and his son, David, spent a year battling to lowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison have captured the imaginations and obtain the medical records from the CDC. an entire generation of American children, challenged the minds of our children their actions arguably constitute one of the Since August 2002, when members of Con- for decades. In fact, these programs are gress pressured the agency to turn over the biggest scandals in the annals of American medicine. ‘‘The CDC is guilty of incom- also a hit with parents, and often data, the Geiers have completed six studies present the only alternative to inap- that demonstrate a powerful correlation be- petence and gross negligence,’’ says Mark tween thimerosal and neurological damage Blaxill, vice president of Safe Minds, a non- propriate daytime programming that is in children. One study, which compares the profit organization concerned about the role available on network and for-profit tel- cumulative dose of mercury received by chil- of mercury in medicines. ‘‘The damage evision stations. dren born between 1981 and 1985 with those caused by vaccine exposure is massive. It’s The mission of the Public Broad- born between 1990 and 1996, found a ‘‘very bigger than asbestos, bigger than tobacco, casting Act was realized when the Cor- bigger than anything you’ve ever seen.’’ It’s significant relationship’’ between autism and poration for Public Broadcasting, CPB, vaccines. Another study of educational per- hard to calculate the damage to our coun- try—and to the international efforts to created the nonprofit Public Broad- formance found that kids who received high- casting Service in 1969 and the Na- er doses of thimerosal in vaccines were near- eradicate epidemic diseases—if Third World ly three times as likely to be diagnosed with nations come to believe that America’s most tional Public Radio in 1970. American autism and more than three times as likely heralded foreign-aid initiative is poisoning families now had television and radio to suffer from speech disorders and mental their children. It’s not difficult to predict stations they could call their own. retardation. Another soon-to-be-published how this scenario will be interpreted by Much like the Chamber in which we study shows that autism rates are in decline America’s enemies abroad. The scientists stand, the people’s House, these air- following the recent elimination of thimer- and researchers—many of them sincere, even waves and programming supported by osal from most vaccines. idealistic—who are participating in efforts to hide the science on thimerosal claim that the CPB also belong to the individuals As the federal government worked to pre- we have the privilege to represent in vent scientists from studying vaccines, oth- they are trying to advance the lofty goal of ers have stepped in to study the link to au- protecting children in developing nations Congress, and I have heard from hun- tism. In April, reporter of UPI from disease pandemics. They are badly mis- dreds of my constituents who have undertook one of the more interesting stud- guided. Their failure to come clean on thi- shared personal stories of the impact of ies himself. Searching for children who had merosal will come back horribly to haunt PBS and NPR on their lives and the not been exposed to mercury in vaccines— our country and the world’s poorest popu- lives of their children. the kind of population that scientists typi- lations. KPCC, for example, in my district is cally use as a ‘‘control’’ in experiments— f just one of the many superb affiliates Olmsted scoured the Amish of Lancaster of NPR around the Nation. My con- County, Penn., who refuse to immunize their ORDER OF BUSINESS infants. Given the national rate of autism, stituents rely on KPCC, as they do on Olmsted calculated that there should be 130 Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I ask public broadcasting generally for news, autistics among the Amish. He found only unanimous consent to take my time informational programming, and edu- four. One had been exposed to high levels of out of order. cational programming for their kids;

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