Teresa
Binstock
Researcher in Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy
March 15, 2010
"Vaccine Court" documents resemble typical court processes wherein
hired guns testify in accord with the position they're paid to endorse.
Thimerosal-related Vaccine Court decrees announced on March 12, 2010,
can be viewed here,
here,
and here.
When perusing such documents, truth remains elusive unless a person
reads (a) actual studies such as those by James and Deth (1-8), whose
research groups describe mechanisms of thimerosal injury, and also
reads (b) critiquesof thimerosal-autism studies favored by the Vaccine Court and
various hired experts.
Reading critiques of Madsen et al 2002, Madsen et al 2003, and Hviid
2003 is an important task so long as Special Masters and hired-gun
experts continue to hide or belittle inculpatory evidence of
thimerosal's adverse effects.
A goodly number of vaccinology's establishmentarians including Vaccine
Court special masters refer to several Denmark studies as proof that
autism rates continued to increase even after thimerosal was removed
and that MMR was irrelevant as a causal factor in a subgroup of
children who regressed into autism. However, those Denmark studies may
be seriously flawed. Indeed, autism rate increases may have been
affected by the removal of thimerosal.
Most of the Denmark studies favored by the Vaccine Court are free
online, as are critiques of those studies. Since recent Vaccine Court
decrees rely upon the flawed studies in creating a rhetoric of
judgment, reading not only the flawed studies but also their
corresponding critiques is important for understanding vaccine adverse
effects and their relevance to autism. Here's a list of studies with
orthodox findings, with links to the studies and to the critiques:
Thimerosal: Madsen 2003
critiqued here
& here,
see also here.
Thimerosal: Hviid 2003
critiqued here.
MMR: Madsen 2002
critiqued here, see
also here and
here.
Findings disparaged by experts hired by HHS
(1-8)
Important studies ignored by Vaccine Court(9-16)
Additional critiques merit
attention:
Analysis and Critique
of the CDC's Handling of the Thimerosal Exposure Assessment Based on
VSD Information
Safeminds, October 2003; here
Generation Zero Full
Analysis with Charts
[Analysis of CDC's 1999 thimerosal findings and their dilution
subsequently published as Verstraeten et al
2003]
SafeMinds, 2004; here
& here.
Something is rotten in Denmark
[Analysis of interlocking authorships and a pharmaceutical company in
re: vaccination safety studies]
Safeminds
http://www.safeminds.org/news/pressroom/press_releases/20040518_AutismAuthorsNetwork.pdf
The Fallacy of Thimerosal Removal & Autism Increase: A Failure of
Science, A Bigger Failure to Children
Worldwide
Jake Crosby, March 13, 2010; here.
A review of
Thimerosal (Merthiolate) and its ethylmercury breakdown product:
specific historical considerations regarding safety and
effectiveness.
Geier DA, Sykes LK, Geier MR.
[excellent review, free online]
J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev. 2007 Dec;10(8):575-96. here
References:
1. Thimerosal
neurotoxicity is associated with glutathione depletion: protection with
glutathione precursors.
James SJ, Slikker W 3rd, Melnyk S, New E, Pogribna M, Jernigan S.
Neurotoxicology. 2005 Jan;26(1):1-8.
2. Metabolic
biomarkers of increased oxidative stress and impaired methylation
capacity in children with autism.
James SJ, Cutler P, Melnyk S, Jernigan S, Janak L, Gaylor DW,
Neubrander JA.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6):1611-7.
3. Metabolic
endophenotype and related genotypes are associated with oxidative
stress in children with autism.
James SJ, Melnyk S, Jernigan S, Cleves MA, Halsted CH, Wong DH, Cutler
P, Bock K, Boris M, Bradstreet JJ, Baker SM, Gaylor DW.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2006 Dec 5;141B(8):947-56.
4. Abnormal
transmethylation/transsulfuration metabolism and DNA hypomethylation
among parents of children with autism.
James SJ, Melnyk S, Jernigan S, Hubanks A, Rose S, Gaylor DW.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2008 Nov;38(10):1966-75.
5. Efficacy of
methylcobalamin and folinic acid treatment on glutathione redox status
in children with autism.
James SJ, Melnyk S,
Fuchs G, Reid T, Jernigan S, Pavliv O, Hubanks A, Gaylor DW.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jan;89(1):425-30.
6. Cellular and
mitochondrial glutathione redox imbalance in lymphoblastoid cells
derived from children with autism.
James SJ, Rose S, Melnyk S, Jernigan S, Blossom S, Pavliv O, Gaylor
DW.
FASEB J. 2009 Aug;23(8):2374-83.
7. Activation of
methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1 and dopamine: a
target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal.
Waly M, Olteanu H, Banerjee R, Choi SW, Mason JB, Parker BS, Sukumar S,
Shim S, Sharma A, Benzecry JM, Power-Charnitsky VA, Deth RC.
Mol Psychiatry. 2004 Apr;9(4):358-70.
8. How
environmental and genetic factors combine to cause autism: A
redox/methylation hypothesis.
Deth R, Muratore C, Benzecry J, Power-Charnitsky VA, Waly M.
Neurotoxicology. 2008 Jan;29(1):190-201.
9. Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental
disability in US children aged 1-9 years
Gallagher C, Goodman M. Toxicol Environ Chem 2008
90(5):997-1008.
{free online}
http://fourteenstudies.org/pdf/hep_b.pdf
10. Biochemical and
molecular basis of thimerosal-induced apoptosis in T cells: a major
role of mitochondrial pathway.
Makani S, Gollapudi S, Yel L, Chiplunkar S, Gupta
S.
Genes Immun. 2002 Aug;3(5):270-8.
11. Thimerosal induces
TH2 responses via influencing cytokine secretion by human dendritic
cells.
Agrawal A, Kaushal P, Agrawal S, Gollapudi S, Gupta
S.
J Leukoc Biol. 2007 Feb;81(2):474-82. Epub 2006 Nov
1.
12. Thimerosal induces
neuronal cell apoptosis by causing cytochrome c and apoptosis-inducing
factor release from mitochondria.
Yel L, Brown LE, Su K, Gollapudi S, Gupta S.
Int J Mol Med. 2005 Dec;16(6):971-7.
13. Homozygous gene
deletions of the glutathione S-transferases M1 and T1 are associated
with thimerosal sensitization.
Westphal GA, Schnuch A, Schulz TG, Reich K, Aberer W,
Brasch J, Koch P, Wessbecher R, Szliska C, Bauer A, Hallier
E.
Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2000
Aug;73(6):384-8.
14. Thimerosal induces
micronuclei in the cytochalasin B block micronucleus test with human
lymphocytes.
Westphal GA, Asgari S, Schulz TG, Bünger J, Müller M,
Hallier E.
Arch Toxicol. 2003 Jan;77(1):50-5. Epub 2002 Nov
6.
15. Inhibition of the
human erythrocytic glutathione-S-transferase T1 (GST T1) by
thimerosal.
Müller M, Westphal G, Vesper A, Bünger J, Hallier
E.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2001
Jul;203(5-6):479-81.
16. Mitochondrial
mediated thimerosal-induced apoptosis in a human neuroblastoma cell
line (SK-N-SH).
Humphrey ML, Cole MP, Pendergrass JC, Kiningham
KK.
Neurotoxicology. 2005 Jun;26(3):407-16.
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