The CDC and FDA are still telling stories about how thimerosal, which contains 50 percent mercury and is a known neurotoxin, is safe for pregnant women in flu vaccines. The reference for this fable is Heinonen, Shapiro, Monson et al from 1973.
"Is it safe for pregnant women to receive
an influenza vaccine that contains
thimerosal? Yes. A study of influenza
vaccination examining over 2,000 pregnant
women demonstrated no adverse fetal effects
associated with influenza vaccine." See CDC
and FDA, 2008 at
(HERE) and
(HERE).
Apparently this fiction was previously
published in 2004 by the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices.
“One study of influenza vaccination of over 2,000 pregnant women demonstrated no adverse fetal effects associated with influenza vaccine.” See (HERE).
“This solitary safety study, by Heinonen et al., has in fact very little to do with the safety of influenza vaccination. The reported outcomes were strictly limited to malignancies, mostly after polio vaccination during pregnancy.” Ibid.
Apparently the bologna was also served in 2006 in a paper by Naleway. The references included Heinonen, Shapiro, Monson et al 1973 and Heinonen, Sloan, and Shapiro et al 1976.
“Over 2,000 pregnant women received inactivated influenza vaccine as part of the Collaborative Perinatal Project, a longitudinal population-based study conducted in the 1960s. Maternal vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with fetal malformations, cognitive or neurologic disabilities, or childhood cancers during 7 years of follow-up with this cohort (30, 31).” See Naleway, 2006 at (HERE) .
And Ayoub and Yazbak exposed this phony claim as well.
“Heinonen et al. (13, 14) recorded birth defects, but not fetal viability, and actually reported an increased risk of several specific birth defects (cleft palate, microcephaly, pyloric stenosis) associated with prenatal influenza vaccine exposure as well as increases in malformations following exposures to the vaccine preservative thimerosal.” See (HERE) .
So CDC and FDA please spare us the tall
tales. The truth is it has not been proven
safe for pregnant women to receive an
influenza vaccine that contains thimerosal!
Jim Thompson is a registered professional
engineer. He and his wife Susan live and
work in rural South Dakota. Their first
granddaughter, Taylor Haug, was diagnosed
with autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy,
verbal apraxia, motor disorder, and sensory
integration disorder. Her loving memory has
influenced his family’s decision to help
protect children from vaccine injuries.
Posted by: Benedetta Stilwell | April 30, 2009 at 06:57 PM
Posted by: Pissed of Parent | April 26, 2009 at 06:39 PM
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | April 26, 2009 at 02:20 PM
Posted by: AnneS | April 26, 2009 at 08:14 AM
Posted by: Lin | April 25, 2009 at 11:45 PM
You did an excellent job of rebuttal and provided a truthful survey of the literature. Yes, not all federal or state agencies are truthful or ethical. And considering all of the deception you exposed—the MDH’s irresponsible approach of just reading the CDC and FDA propaganda, lined with deception and outright lies by nameless and faceless authors, makes a mockery of their responsibility to protect children.
It is vital that more parents write letters to their newspaper editors and their legislators. Tell them that if their state Department of Health officials cannot do the work of locating and reading the literature, using critical thinking skills, giving thoughtful consideration to the information provided by parents, and applying basic science in reviewing, making, and revising their policy decisions—then they should receive an “F” for a job performance and be relieved of their duties.
Posted by: Jim Thompson | April 25, 2009 at 11:44 PM
THIMEROSAL AND VACCINES: WHAT YOUR DOC WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE
http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/06/thimerosal-and.html#more
Here is what the MDH and I had to say about Pregnant women and the flu vaccine:
Is it safe for pregnant women to receive an influenza vaccine that contains thimerosal?
MDH: Reports and studies indicate that pregnancy can increase the risk for serious medical complications of the flu. One study found that healthy women in the third trimester of pregnancy are hospitalized with flu at rates similar to those individuals with a high-risk condition
Two studies have looked at the safety of the flu vaccine during pregnancy and found that there was no negative effect from vaccination Review of VAERS data also support these findings. Additionally, a recent study (2007) looked at the potential impact of thimerosal exposure on the fetus and did not find an association between vaccination and neurological defects.
MNHLRP: This question leads with “Is it safe” yet nowhere does MDH state a clear answer. The MDH curiously avoids the question of clinical safety, instead focusing on the concerns of influenza and epidemiological evidence, which by definition can not rule out association or assess clinical safety.
One of the two studies the MDH refers to showing no negative effect from vaccination did not even study thimerosal, the developing immune system or developmental disorders. The study of “over 2000 pregnant women” (referred to in previous versions of this handout) actually primarily looked at whether the polio vaccine, given to 58,000 women in 1958 thru 1966, caused malignancies in offspring. There was only one sentence that provided any data on influenza vaccination outcome: “Among 2,291 mothers immunized with killed influenza vaccine during pregnancy, one child developed an astrocytoma of the spinal medulla.” The study did not attempt to examine any other adverse effects on the offspring, other than malignancies.
The MSDS from thimerosal manufacturer Gihon states clearly that pregnant women should not be exposed to thimerosal. The package insert from Sanofi Pasteur states that the safety of the flu vaccine on pregnant women has not been established. Lastly, and this can not be repeated enough, any epidemiological study declaring it “did not find an association between vaccination and neurological defects” is, by definition, not able to completely rule out that an association does exist..
Posted by: Tim Kasemodel | April 25, 2009 at 04:55 PM
The abstract for the 1973 paper is at Oxford Journals on the web at http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/2/3/229?maxtoshow=&HITS=&hits=&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=
heinonen&fulltext=vaccine&andorexactfulltext=
and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
If that does not work then do a search using the search words "Immunization During Pregnancy Against Poliomyelitis and Influenza in Relation to Childhood Malignancy" and "ncbi" and using the quotation marks.
The second reference is a book "Birth Defects and Drugs in Pregnancy" by Heinonen et al. This book is available as a used book on the web and also some university libraries carry the book.
Posted by: Jim Thompson | April 25, 2009 at 03:22 PM
And, now they are making scientific things up? EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING can go to the baby. What we eat, what we absorb, WHAT WE INJECT, what we breathe, what we drink. Even your emotions (raising cortisol levels affects development). Bacteria and viruses, no problemo. Vaccine mercury, no problemo.
I think pregnant women need to protest...have your babies at home, forget the doctor/hostpial, make them broke (which frequently asphyxiates baby by ICC cord clamp), and don't vaccinate, assure your next generation they won't get this ill gotten gain disease. Oh, and make sure you don't have amalgams, at least three years before pregnancy, and no work on teeth during. Oh, and get some glutathione and selenium, VIT C and VIT D in you pronto.
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | April 25, 2009 at 01:27 PM
Is there anywhere online that someone could read the Heinonen, Shapiro, Monson et al 1973 and Heinonen, Sloan, and Shapiro et al 1976 studies? These may be some good ones to include or at least reference on the 14 Studies website.
Posted by: Yizzy | April 25, 2009 at 12:38 PM
I guess the Naleway and Heinonen papers can't quite be called research fraud, just fabulously lousy studies. The way the CDC represents them as "proof" of the safey of the flu vax in pregnancy and in any sense hinges vaccine approval on such studies is a form of fraud, even if this couldn't be legally defined in today's justice system.
In looking at each piece of the flimsy vaccine safety argument, a fun exercise is to imagine those responsible forced to make a "back against the wall defense" in a truly unbiased legal setting with a judge who understands the science and a jury which doesn't miss a trick and try to explain why they deemed such papers as "proof of safety and efficacy" (my daydream is their worst nightmare).
How would a CDC representative rationalize the misleading agency approval of these particular studies (the agency holds up the studies as if they prove the safety of thimerosal in pregnancy when they do not)? I think when it all boiled down to brass tacks, in order to keep key figures out of jail, the CDC would plead incompetence. They all would. They would tell a story of how each scientist in health regulation who read this study and others were really too stupid to see that the paper was a poor, incomplete investigation and yet still managed to show serious risks. Or they would say they deemed it proof of safety without ever having read it.
Posted by: Gatogorra | April 25, 2009 at 12:14 PM
The most vivid memory about this experience is when I spoke about receiving seven shots in less than three years of mercury-containing medicine for being RH negative, most of these shots administered while pregnant:
I remember placing both my hands around my lower abdomen and watching committee members squirm and shift in their seats.
Posted by: Alison Davis | April 25, 2009 at 11:15 AM
I continue to be hopeful that the Obama administratin will take that leap from planes and birds to humans and vaccines.
It is not without controversy but only from those who historically have profited. Honest people want honest answers.
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | April 25, 2009 at 10:57 AM
I'm so sorry about your granddaughter. Thank you for being a warrior grandpa!
Posted by: Patti Carroll | April 25, 2009 at 09:47 AM