Drug Company Knew Dangers - Secret Memo Proves It

It time for the media to inform the public of the reasons why Merck and other drug companies have been trying to hide the damage caused by mercury in childhood vaccines.

The memo cited in the Feb 8, 2005, article substantiates what many people have long known. The drug companies, and later the CDC and FDA, knew mercury caused autism, and decided to put profits ahead of the mental health of an entire generation of children.

Thimerosal is a preservative that contains mercury which was added to childhood vaccines to boost profits for the pharmaceutical companies, by allowing the use of multi-dose bottles of vaccines instead of individually packaged doses.

A study conducted by the CDC in 1999, determined there was a definite link between Thimerosal and autism. But instead of banning the product immediately, the FDA kept the CDC findings secret, and allowed millions more children to be vaccinated with the poisonous vaccines.

In fact, the CDC has now been accused of colluding with drug companies at a meeting in June, 2000, to prevent the release of a report that revealed the link between Thimerosal and disorders including autism, ADD/ADHD, stuttering, and speech and language delays.

This accusation is largely due to the CDC's action of having the study’s author, Thomas Verstraeten, and other CDC employees, publish a different version of the report saying there was no link. The day after Verstraeten presented his finding at the June 2000, CDC meeting, he left his job at the CDC and became employed by the vaccine maker, GlaxoSmithKline, in Belgium.

Conflicts of interest between drug companies and representatives of the FDA and CDC are rampant. Often the very people deciding whether drugs are safe and effective, are on the drug company payrolls in some capacity.

Mark Geier, a doctor with a PhD in genetics, used the same CDC database used for the Verstraeten study, to compare autism rates of more than 85,000 children who received a vaccine containing Thimerosal for diphtheria/tetanus/acellular pertussis, against rates of nearly 70,000 children who received a Thimerosal-free version of the vaccine. The rate of autism in the Thimerosal group was 27 times higher.

Which means autism has a greater connecting risk factor to Thimerosal than the link between smoking and lung cancer, which according to the American Cancer Society is only 22 for men and 11 for women.

For years, the global market for vaccines containing Thimerosal was a goldmine for drug companies, and specifically Merck. It was the sole supplier to UNICEF, the World Health Organization’s parent body, which buys 40% of all vaccines that are used in developing countries.

However, the industry's successful marketing efforts have now turned into a legal liability nightmare and the Merck memo certainly won't help matters. If vaccine makers, the FDA, and CDC, are found liable for damaging the brains of millions of children, the potential litigation of claims will push tobacco and asbestos lawsuits into small claims court.

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