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Mercury Free Baby responds to NPR’s unbalanced coverage of vaccine safety

Dear NPR,

On January 10, 2017, NPR published an article titled, “Despite The Facts, Trump Once Again Embraces Vaccine Skeptics” written by Domenico Montanaro. To those of us at MercuryFreeBaby.org, this article came across as unbalanced. This NPR article did not mention any of the facts from the “other side” that are important to this issue. Leaving out critical information and facts that raise public vaccine safety concerns from your article leaves the reader with the false impression that there is only one legitimate side to the vaccine safety issue.

So, in this open letter to NPR from Mercury Free Baby, we wish to point out some key facts from the “other side” of the vaccine safety issue that were excluded from your article.

NPR Article’s First (1st) Problematic Contentions regarding vaccine safety

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has categorically stated, ‘There is no link between vaccines and autism.’ As far as thimerosal specifically, the CDC wrote:

“Research shows that thimerosal does not cause ASD [autism spectrum disorder]. In fact, a 2004 scientific review by the IOM concluded that ‘the evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.’ Since 2003, there have been nine CDC-funded or conducted studies that have found no link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD, as well as no link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and ASD in children.

Our Response to Those Contentions

Of the “nine [9] CDC- funded or conducted studies” that “found no link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and ASD”, four (4) did not even look at ASD.
If you look more closely at them, you will see that five (5) of the nine (9) studies overseen by the CDC, 55+ %, found significant harmful outcomes, such as tic disorder, language delay, and memory and motor skill deficits from exposure to Thimerosal (Barile et al., 2012; Tozzi et al., 2009; Verstraeten et al., Thompson et al., 2003; and Stehr-Green et al. 2003).

To date, the majority of relevant published studies ⁽¹⁾ (~74%) support a link between Thimerosal or other Mercury exposures and a child’s subsequent risk of a diagnosis of an ASD. ^{(2, 3)}
In addition, a CDC senior vaccine safety scientist, Dr. William Thompson, has admitted that to a study conducted at the CDC which found a relationship between vaccines and autism and the CDC covered it up.⁽⁴⁾

Significantly, a recent letter to the Chief of Staff at the CDC (Carmen Villar) from a group of scientists at the CDC, who called themselves SPIDER (Scientists Preserving Integrity, Diligence and Ethics in Research) reported a culture of corruption and cover-up at the CDC.^{(5, 6, 7)}

NPR Article’s Second (2nd) Problematic Contentions regarding vaccine safety

“The CDC notes that the removal of thimerosal was done as a precaution and points out that there are flu vaccines without it also available.”

Our Response to Those Contentions

First, as the NPR statement admits, “the removal of thimerosal” has not been “done”.

Each year millions of Americans (more than [>] 150 million) get an influenza-vaccine inoculation. Over half of those influenza-vaccine doses (>75 million] still contain a preservative level of Thimerosal (50 µg of Mercury) per milliliter of vaccine]. Further, the CDC recommends influenza vaccines for pregnant women (at any time during pregnancy); infants (twice in their first year of life); and children, adults and the elderly (yearly).

In addition, a recent study, “Association Between Influenza Infection and Vaccination During Pregnancy and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder” conducted by Kaiser Permanente and published in JAMA Pediatrics found an increased risk of a diagnosis of “autism” among children whose mothers received an influenza vaccination in the first trimester of their mothers’ pregnancy.⁽⁸⁾

It is also important to note that Thimerosal continues to remain in most multi-dose formulations of childhood vaccine recommended for routine administration in the developing world.⁽⁹⁾

NPR Article’s Third (3rd) Problematic Contention regarding vaccine safety

“What’s more, some research suggests that autism develops in the womb. …”

Our Response to This Contention

Although “some research suggests” a prenatal start for “autism”, its onset belongs to a heterogeneous population. Several studies have shown that many children diagnosed with “autism” (~47%), start out life normally, reaching all their developmental milestones, and then start to regress around 15-18 months of age.¹⁰  Even the brain biomarkers associated with a diagnosis of “autism” are different between children who show an early onset and those who regress later. Click this over here now.¹¹

Our Current Realities

Mercury Free Baby is dedicated to promoting a world in which no child, born or unborn, ever receives avoidable Mercury exposure from a product that was supposed to improve their health, visit loftypm.com.
Thimerosal is a neurotoxin and over 200 studies have found it to be harmful ¹² and thus we encourage NPR to take a close look at Thimerosal and vaccine safety issues.

Finally, Thimerosal is not a necessary component in vaccines.

If you would like to interview the founder of Mercury Free Baby, Reverend Lisa Sykes, about Thimerosal or vaccine safety issues, please contact us.

Sincerely,

References

1. http://mercury-freedrugs.org/docs/Excel%20file%20of%20TM%20v65.xlsx [Nota Bene: The reader should open this file in MS EXCEL or a compatible spreadsheet application.]
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20628440
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27473827
4. http://www.ecowatch.com/cdc-vaccines-autism-2051536402.html
5. http://www.ecowatch.com/cdc-corruption-robert-kennedy-jr-2096438139.html
6. http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/301432-the-cdc-is-being-being-influenced-by-corporate-and-political
7. https://usrtk.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CDC_SPIDER_Letter-1.pdf
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27893896
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25101548
10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21784299
11. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21909354
12. http://mercury-freedrugs.org/