"the 2001
U.S. Department of Education statistics showed in children born in 1983
there were a total of 7,801 cases of speech or language impairment.
Among children born in 1994, this number had risen to 211,984 cases (an
approximately 30-fold increase). In children born in 1983, there
were a total of 2,100 cases of autism. Among children
born in 1994, this number had risen to 8,325 cases (an approximately
4-fold increase)"
Thimerosal
in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopment Disorders, and Heart Disease in
the U.S.*
by Mark R Geier, MD., PhD and
David Geier Journal Of American Physicians and Surgeons AAPS Spring 2003 Volume 8 Number
1 http://www.jpands.org/vol8no1/geier.pdf
In the United States, a tragic
and massive autism epidemic is currently underway.... along with other
neurodevelopmental disorders such as speech disorders, attention deficit
syndrome, developmental delays, etc. Our best estimates are that thimerosal
has contributed to about 75% of these cases of neurodevelopmental disorders
while the MMR contributed to about 15%.... Yet, in 2003, three manufactures
of childhood vaccines still are being made with full doses of thimerosal.
These are as follows: Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular-Pertussis (DTaP) manufactured
by Aventis-Pasteur in multi-dose vials contains 25 micrograms of mercury,
Haemophilus-influenza-Type b (HibTITTER) in multi-dose vials manufactured
by Wyeth contains 25 micrograms of mercury, and pediatric hepatitis B
vaccine manufactured by Merck contains 12.5 micrograms of mercury. These
vaccines represent approximately half of the childhood vaccines currently
available for use in the United States.... Additionally, influenza vaccines
contain 25 micrograms of mercury preservative.
Letter From Mercury Researchers to Sen. Hillary Clinton
Dear Senator Hillary Clinton:
We understand that you have been given a copy of our recently published
paper in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons implicating thimerosal
as having caused neurodevelpmental disorders in children.
Dr. Mark Geier has testified before
the Institute of Medicine of the United States' National Academy of Sciences
on four occasions regarding vaccine policy, as well as before the U.S.
House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and has been accepted
as an expert witness on vaccines in Federal, State, Canadian, and English
Courts. He is board certified physician licensed to practice medicine
in Maryland and Virginia.
He has worked at the National Institutes
of Health for 10 ten years and has been a professor at the Johns Hopkins
University and at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
He has published over 70 scientific articles, several of which have received
national and international press coverage. David Geier is currently a
graduate student at the National Institutes of Health, and has been the
president of MedCon, Inc for the past 4 years providing consultation in
cases involving vaccines. He has recently authored over 30 scientific
articles on vaccine safety, efficacy and policy. We have been told that
you seek our help in determining what should be done with regard to childhood
neurodevelopmental disorders and vaccines as it applies to the National
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVCIP), and contemplated legislation
to improve the Program.
We hope the following will be of
help to you in your work on this matter: In the United States, a tragic
and massive autism epidemic is currently underway. The peer-reviewed scientific/medical
literature, (including a recent publication in The Journal of the American
Medical Association), indicates that the prevalence of autism was approximately
1 per 2,500 children in the mid-1980s, while by the mid-1990s the prevalence
of autism reached as high as 1 per 300 children, and some now have found
that the prevalence of autism in U.S. children may be as high as approximately
1 per 150 children. These statistics are even more troubling considering
that autism has been reported in the scientific/medical literature to
effect males at least 5 times higher than females, therefore, presently,
autism may effect as many as 1 in 30 male children. It also must be kept
in mind that autism is only one of the most severe manifestations of autistic
spectrum disorders, which also manifests in other neurodevelopmental disorders
such as speech disorders, attention deficit syndrome, developmental delays,
etc. For example, the 2001 U.S. Department of Education statistics showed
in children born in 1983 there were a total of 7,801 cases of speech or
language impairment. Among children born in 1994, this number had risen
to 211,984 cases (an approximately 30-fold increase). In children born
in 1983, there were a total of 2,100 cases of autism. Among children born
in 1994, this number had risen to 8,325 cases (an approximately 4-fold
increase). Eli Lilly who has just come out with a new drug (Strattera)
for the treatment of autistic spectrum disorders has estimated its drug
will be of use to 5 to 7% of the current U.S. childhood population! It
is ironic to note that this is the same Eli Lilly Company who makes thimerosal, the mercury preservative found in childhood vaccines, that
is the apparent cause of the majority of childhood autistic spectrum disorders
in the first place.
In order to determine the annual
number of neurodevelopmental disorders there were in the United States,
we analyzed the United States Department of Education data from their
2001 Report. This data provides a breakdown on the total number of children
in each age group from 6 to 22 years old in U.S. Public Schools that have
various childhood disorders.
In order to determine the number
of children with neurodevelopmental disorders in U.S. Public Schools,
we analyzed the total number of children with speech or language impairments
(speech disorders) and autism. We also believe that those with developmental
delays may also provide useful information on children with neurodevelopmental
disorders in U.S. Public Schools, but at the present time this is a new
category and limited reporting among children 6 to 9 years-old has occurred.
In analyzing the U.S. Department of Education data, we analyzed the prevalence
of neurodevelopmental disorders within in each childhood cohort analyzed
(i.e. children 6 years-old in this report that was tabulated during the
1999-2000 school year were assumed to be born in the 1994 birth cohort).
The numbers of neurodevelopmental disorders in this report are as follows
for the following birth years:
1989
Autism = 5,223 cases
Speech Disorders = 72,250 cases
1990
Autism = 5,864 cases
Speech Disorders = 110,737 cases
1991
Autism = 7,020 cases
Speech Disorders = 157,790 cases
Developmental Delay = 1,027 cases
1992
Autism = 7,838 cases
Speech Disorders = 191,674 cases
Developmental Delay = 3,103 cases
1993
Autism = 8,769 cases
Speech Disorders = 213,747 cases
Developmental Delay = 5,153 cases
1994
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
This data shows that there has been a remarkable rise in the prevalence
of neurodevelopmental disorders among children born to cohorts since 1989
and even before that. This data also illustrates the fact that children
diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders require a significant period
post-vaccination to be diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Therefore, data regarding the more
current prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders is not available, but
in order to estimate more current projections of the prevalence of neurodevelopmental
disorders in U.S. children, we assumed that the prevalence of neurodevelopmental
disorders did not increase since the 1994 birth cohort, (this is almost
certainly an underestimate). The projected data would be as follows for
those that may have had their three-year statute of limitations run before
the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act:
1995
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1996
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1997
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1998
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1999
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
2000
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
Total Cases Excluded From the NVCIP (1989 through 2000)
Autism = 92,989 cases
Speech Disorders = 2,230,086 cases
Developmental Delay = 79,430 cases
Overall = 2,402,505 cases
Our assumptions as to the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders in
children are fairly reasonable because the amount of mercury that children
have received from thimerosal has at least stayed the same, and perhaps
even increased. The amount of mercury that children receive from thimerosal
contained in childhood vaccines is of importance to this issue because
we have had accepted for publication three peer-reviewed scientific/medical
publications showing a direct overall and dose-response relationship between
the amount of mercury from thimerosal children received and the incidence
of neurodevelopmental disorders and we have several more studies on the
subject in various states of submission or preparation. We have concluded
in our studies that a causal relationship exists between mercury from
thimerosal in childhood vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders.
We have also had a peer-reviewed paper accepted for publication which
showed that the MMR live virus vaccine may have also contributed to the
ongoing epidemic of autism. Our best estimates are that the thimerosal
contributed to about 75% of the cases of neurodevelpmental disorders while
the MMR contributed to about 15%. The remaining 10% of the cases were
related to mercury in Rhogam, a shot given to Rh-negative women, and to
other sources of neurotoxicity. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics
recommended that thimerosal be removed from all childhood vaccines. In
2001, the Institute of Medicine also recommended that all childhood vaccines
be made free of thimerosal and they stated that only a few doses of childhood
vaccine containing mercury preservative remained on physician's shelves.
At a hearing in December of 2002, before Congressman Burton's House Committee
on Government Reform, government officials testified that thimerosal had
been removed from all childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, this is not the
case.
A review of the 2003 Physician's
Desk Reference shows that three manufactures of childhood vaccines still
are being made with full doses of thimerosal. These are as follows:
Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular-Pertussis (DTaP) manufactured by Aventis-Pasteur
in multi-dose vials contains 25 micrograms of mercury, Haemophilus-influenza-Type
b (HibTITTER) in multi-dose vials manufactured by Wyeth contains 25 micrograms
of mercury, and pediatric hepatitis B vaccine manufactured by Merck contains
12.5 micrograms of mercury. These vaccines represent approximately half
of the childhood vaccines currently available for use in the United States.
Additionally, influenza vaccines while not officially part of the childhood
vaccine schedule are being recommended for most children. Influenza vaccines
contain 25 micrograms of mercury preservative. Incidentally, the fact
that influenza vaccine is not formally part of the childhood vaccination
schedule prevents those children who have severe adverse reactions from
the vaccine from being able to seek compensation under the Vaccine Compensation
Program. Also, Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine that is recommended for
administration to children 7 years-old and older also still contains 25
micrograms of mercury.
It is our position that all children
who have autistic spectrum disorders due to immunizations should be allowed
to seek compensation both from the Vaccine Compensation Program and, if
they so elect, from
civil court remedies as well. We think it is totally unfair that these
innocent children should be prevented from seeking either or both remedies
because the public and physicians only recently have begun to become aware
that these children were damage from the thimerosal in childhood vaccines.
We think that the current three
year stature of limitations should be waived to allow these innocent victims
to be allowed to seek both governmental and civil remedies for the debilitating
disorder from which they currently suffer, from no-fault of their own.
We also feel that the government should be required to conduct an effective
publicity campaign aimed at physicians and parents so that the families
of all victims are made aware of the remedies available to them.
It is obvious from the relatively small number of thimerosal cases currently
filed before the Vaccine Compensation Program, (around 2000-3000 cases)
as compared to the much larger number of children who may be eligible
for such compensation, (around 25,000 cases, from the data shown above
for autism alone in the past three years) that most who are eligible even
under the currently restrictive statute of limitations, (three years from
the discovery of the injury), are unaware of the fact that they are eligible
under the program. Finally, we plead with all involved authorities to
remove mercury from all vaccines immediately.
The current epidemic of autism
may well be the greatest iatrogenic epidemic in history. The damage already
done to our society is already in the trillions of dollars. The damage
of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and that of the AIDS epidemic pale when
compared to the current epidemic of autism. All of us alive will have
to bear its effects both in the lifetime care of the damaged children
and the loss of what they otherwise might have contributed to our society.
We are very familiar with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
having served as expert witnesses and consultants in approximately 100
cases before the program. We have done a lot of work with Congressman
Burton's Committee on these matters. If we can be of any further help
to you in this critical matter, we would be happy to talk to or meet with
you or your staff.
We appreciate your efforts on behalf
of our children in this important matter and we look forward to the opportunity
to be of further help to you.
Sincerely,
Mark R. Geier, MD, Ph.D.
David A. Geier
*Reprinted
with permission April 2003
The Cherab Foundation is a world-wide nonprofit organization working to improve the communication skills and education of all children with speech and language delays and disorders. Our area of emphasis is verbal and oral apraxia, severe neurologically-based speech and language disorders that hinder children's ability to speak.
The Cherab Foundation is committed to assisting with the development of new therapeutic approaches, preventions and cures to neurologically-based speech disorders. We bring together parents and medical, research, and educational professionals. Please join us and help to give our children a smile and a voice.
Cherab Foundation
Communication Help, Education, Research, Apraxia Base
P.O. Box 8524 PSL, Florida 34952-8524
Phone: 772-335-5135
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