March 16, 2010
Sebelius Asks Media to Censor Autism Debate
by Katie Wright
“There are groups out there that insist that vaccines are responsible for a variety of problems, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. We (the office of the President of the Health and Human Services Administration) have reached out to media outlets to try to get them not to give the views of these people equal weight in their reporting.”
That’s right. Kathleen Sebelius, the President of the HHS, has asked
newspapers, magazines, television journalists, who knows who else- specifically
NOT to listen to parents and scientists in the autism community, not to respect
their concerns, not to take seriously the condition of chronically ill children
with autism and to disregard a growing body of evidence questioning the safety
of our infant and toddler’s immunization schedule. If I have got anything wrong
I would love to hear a tape or see a transcripts of these media “outreaches.”
Pretty frightening stuff. Thank you to Jake Crosby who uncovered this frank and
disturbing exchange between Arthur (autism is not so bad and there is no
increase anyway) Allen and Ms. Sebelius.
I am taking Ms. Sebelius at her word. Ms. Sebelius has unilaterally that she
knows that every single American parent who saw their child regress post
vaccination or experience a severe adverse reaction is wrong and she knows
better. Ms. Sebelius has ordered, suggested, beseeched, implored (?) American
journalists NOT “give these people (anyone concerned with vaccine safety) equal
weight in their reporting” because she has decided by informal governmental
decree that the debate is closed?
Sounds like something that would happen in a communist dictatorship, right? Was
there a similar decree when “citizen dissidents” questioned the safety of
hormone replacement therapy for women? Was the media instructed to ignore those
nuisances who were suspicious of a long denied link between hormone therapy and
breast cancer? Did the HHS order a first amendment crackdown of those
trouble-making women who had long complained that Fibromalgia was a real disease
and not a psychosomatic condition. Menaces everywhere who dared to question
medical authorities! They must be silenced! You have got to be kidding.
Sebelius boasts that she holds an H1N1 meeting every single day but cannot
find the time to attend one IACC meeting or meet with any autism organizations.
Well, not exactly, apparently Ms. Sebelius is personal friends with Ms. Alison
Singer, leader a vaccine marketing/ autism org financed in part by Dr. Paul
Offit. Newsflash Ms. Seblius: 1 in 100 American children, and rising, have
autism and this is a much bigger deal than H1N1. One in four American parents do
not think vaccines are safe for their children. At least half of all families
affected by autism believe too many vaccines too soon triggered their child’s
autism. Hundreds of thousands of parents saw their child regress post multiple
vaccinations. Sebelius’ answer to this massive crisis of confidence is media
censorship?
Hmmmm…..Censorship has a long and illustrious history- of not working.
Thankfully, we live in a democracy with a free press. So I don’t know what is
worse, the fact Sebelius asked that journalists censor the autism debate or the
fact that they did.
While I have not read few reasoned, balanced or well written pieces of
journalism on the subject of autism and vaccines I have read a host of spoon fed
press releases masquerading as “news” stories about supposedly important autism
research. Journalists from “Time”, “Newsweek”, “The New York Times”, online
health resources etc. have reported in depth on such “breakthroughs” as a recent
Univ of Florida study concluding that “maternal sensitivity” is a good thing for
autistic children, or Kennedy Krieger’s incredible finding that autistic kids
have bad handwriting (amazing, I know!) or the Children’s Hospital of Boston
study which found that married cousins from the Middle East who marry are more
likely to produce autistic kids. I know, stop the presses, a cure is within
sight!
In this embarrassing interview with Arthur Allen Ms. Sebelius asserts all the
science is a closed book. At the top of the list of the science of vaccine
safety studies are the definitive 2001 and 2003 “Pediatrics” articles. While the
media has kept us front row center in the breaking developments regarding ASD
kids with bad handwriting, journalists have neglected to report on perhaps one
of the most striking recent events concerning the subject of autism research.
The lead author of the two most frequently cited “vaccines do not trigger
autism” articles are Dr. Poul Thorsen. Well, well, well… this week we learned
that Thorsen has absconded with approximately $2 million of CDC research money
and is the target of an international police manhunt. We also learned that the
Univ. of Aarhus, Denmark, where Thorsen was employed when conducting the studies
(naturally in close cooperation w/ the CDC) has released a letter detailing
Thorsen’s recently uncovered crimes. These crimes include but are not limited
to: theft, forgery and assorted serious breaches of ethical norms.
Apparently Thorsen was a very, very busy scientist. He was simultaneously and
secretly employed at the Univ of Aarhus, Emory University, Drexel University and
as a “visiting scientist at the CDC.” Emory and Drexel have, some might say,
inappropriately close relationships with the CDC. There appears to be very
little room for independent or unbiased science at these research centers. All
three are heavily invested in denying any relationships between vaccines and
autism. The CDC owns numerous vaccine patents and Emory and Drexel receive
tremendous financial support from vaccine companies.
Hmmmm…I know some of you might be thinking “Emory University is in the news a
lot lately!” Yes, Emory has been in the news a great deal thanks to the amazing
anti- corruption work of Senator Charles Grassley. Ms. Sebelius should dump
Arthur Allen and have a conversation with someone who is actually doing
something to restore public confidence in our health systems by the fighting the
fraud and greed inherent at places like Emory. Grassley is conducting an
investigation a pervasive pattern of corruption among Emory researchers who fail
to disclose significant financial conflicts of interest in the outcomes of the
research they conduct. Isn’t it interesting that Thorsen found a second home
there?
Thorsen was working hard for everyone’s benefit: him own, his employers,
pharmaceutical companies- everyone’s benefit, that is, except the public’s. The
health and safety of American kids being administered the world’s most
aggressive infant vaccine schedule was last on his list. Thorsen was also
employed as a consultant on the official revisions of the all-important DMS V.
Thorsen was advising how to count and classify autism cases. It is absolutely
frightening that a wanted felon has such an enormous and pervasive influence on
the lives of our children.
So I am trying to get this straight Ms. Sebelius. Help me out here. We should
take lying thieves with no interest in operating in the public’s interest at
their word but the media should ignore parents and legitimate scientists who
question the validity of vaccine science research performed by alleged
criminals? I’m really confused!
Wouldn’t it be great if Sebelius lifted her fatwa on vaccine research reporting
and someone discovered what this creep Thorsen was actually up to at Drexel and
Emory? Why was Thorsen a “visiting scientist at the CDC” at the same time?
Apparently the CDC has known about this theft (of our money) for some time but
has chosen to remain silent. I wonder why? How likely is it that Thorsen was the
only scientist involved in what appears to be a massive and long term scheme to
manipulate and forge scientific documents? Is it true that Madsen, Thorsen’s
co-author of the Danish studies is also under investigation? Most importantly,
why should the public believe that a thief and a liar with no ethical standards
would be honest and scrupulous in his research? I shudder at the thought of
Thorsen recounting “the facts” of his studies to students while asserting, as he
frequently did, that “absolutely no more vaccine/ autism research is warranted.”
Now there’s a guarantee you can take to the bank. Oops, maybe a bank Thorsen
hasn’t robbed.
Katie Wright is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.