New Internal Documents Reveal Deception by the Centers for Disease Control about Vaccines Role in Autism

New Web Site Displays Documents Acquired through Freedom of Information Act by Parents of Autistic Children

Full-page Ad in USA Today Alleging a Cover Up
Runs as Parents of Autistic Children March on Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 5, 2006

Generation Rescue, a national organization of parents of autistic
children, today launched a Web site ( www.PutChildrenFirst.org  ) and
full-page ad detailing newly-released internal documents about the
Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) efforts to minimize or cover up
the connection between child vaccines and autism.

The ad is also supported by the non-profit groups The National
Autism Association, NoMercury, Moms Against Mercury, AutismOne, and
ACHAMP.

Many parents and scientists believe that autism and other
developmental disorders are caused by the toxic metal mercury, a key
ingredient in a vaccine preservative called Thimerosal.

Tomorrow, autism organizations and parents will march to the Capitol
in Washington, D.C., in the Mercury Generation March to demand
answers. The controversy has been recently fueled by high-profile
figures publicly calling for similar answers from the CDC, such as
Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and John Kerry (D-MA); Representatives
Dave Weldon (R-FL), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Dan Burton (R-IN);
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; and radio and television host Don Imus of
MSNBC.

The CDC is the agency responsible for the National Immunization
Program. In the 1990s, the CDC dramatically increased the number of
immunizations for children, which nearly tripled the amount of
mercury injected into children, exceeding Federal safety standards
by as much as 125-times. Rates of autism also greatly
increased during this period.

The CDC estimates that more than 1 in 166 children are diagnosed
with autism, up from 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s.  According
to the CDC, autism is a life-long disorder that is not treatable.

"Autism is a devastating disorder that affects millions of
families," said J.B. Handley, one of Generation Rescue's founding
parents and father of an autistic son. "To help children with autism
and to prevent others from acquiring it, we need the CDC to stand up
for our children. Sadly, the CDC would rather protect its own skin
than our kids."

The full-page advertisement running in tomorrow's (Thursday 4/6) USA
Today delivers a similarly blunt message: "If you caused a 6,000%
increase in autism, wouldn't you try to cover it up, too?"

To view the ad, visit:  www.PutChildrenFirst.org

Through the Freedom of Information Act, parents of autistic children
acquired numerous emails, memos, transcripts and reports from the
CDC, Food and Drug Administration, Institute of Medicine, and U.S.
Congress.

Some findings from the documents include

- A private memo from an FDA official lamenting that the revelation
that children were receiving up to 125x the safe level of mercury
would create a perception that CDC and FDA were "asleep at the
switch".

- A private email and spreadsheet from a CDC epidemiologists showing
an extremely high correlation between mercury received through
vaccines and autism, with the researcher writing the
correlation "just won't go away".

- A secret transcript from an emergency meeting held by the CDC
where health officials say "the number of dose-related relationships
[between thimerosal and autism] are linear and statistically
significant" and the CDC's data should be kept out of "less
responsible hands".

- A contract from CDC, paying a lobbying firm $190 million to
maintain the Vaccine Safety Datalink data, in order to insulate the
data from the Freedom of Information Act.

- Emails from the CDC frantically searching for evidence to exonerate
Thimerosal. California data ends up being incriminating and is
buried, data from Denmark has a fatal flaw, which a Danish
researcher highlights, but the data is pursued anyway.

- An email from the CDC rejecting British data because the mercury
received by British children is too low, despite this being the same
issue in Denmark, where studies written by CDC employees are
ultimately produced.

- A letter from a Director of the CDC recommending publication of a
Danish study exonerating Thimerosal (and the CDC) for publication to
the American Academy of Pediatrics' medical journal, Pediatrics.

- Transcripts from Committee proceedings of the Institute of
Medicine (which in 2004 would exonerate Thimerosal), where committee
members note that CDC, who is paying for the study, "wants us to
declare these things are pretty safe on a population basis."

- Handwritten notes from Committee proceedings outlining explicit
conflicts of interest of Committee members, despite assurances from
the IOM President that members were "free of financial conflicts of
interest".

- A private email from the Chairperson of the 2004 IOM Committee,
after the report was published, saying that Thimerosal can "injure
the nervous system".

- A secret memo summarizing the cover up and a statement of charges
recently shared with the Senate Help Committee and recommending
Senate Hearings.

"These internal documents prove that the CDC knew that its ambitious
vaccine schedule in the 1990s created America's autism epidemic,"
said Handley.  "Every day the CDC denies that mercury from vaccines
causes autism is another day proper treatment is ignored for the
more than one million American children who could be treated."

The parents of Generation Rescue have helped heal their children
through individualized medical treatments that remove mercury and
treat the damages it causes young bodies. Generation Rescue's 300
families also serve as "Rescue Angels" and have helped 7,500 other
families looking for advice on treating autism.

"The worst part about the CDC's deception is that parents are not
hearing about real, medical treatments that can heal their
children," said Lisa Handley, co-founder of Generation Rescue. "In
the last year alone, we have seen the inspiring improvements
treatments can bring to our three-year-old son Jamie. He is talking
more than ever, socializing and even has a best friend- all things
doctors rule out for autistic children."

Thousands of children are recovering from autism through the Defeat
Autism Now! Protocol; safe medical treatments that remove the
mercury and other toxic metals and live viruses that vaccines inject
into our children's bodies.

Mercury, the second most toxic element after plutonium, is estimated
to be 500 to 1,000 times more toxic than lead. The heavy metal
burrows into the cells of the brain and other organs and can lead to
serious central nervous system damage and neurological disorders.

"The symptoms of early infant mercury poisoning and autism are
virtually identical," said Dr. Boyd Haley, chairman of the chemistry
department at the University of Kentucky. "Furthermore, research
indicates that autistic children genetically have a harder time
excreting mercury from their bodies and that many of their
biomedical problems could be caused by mercury."

"In a time when pregnant women are told not to eat fish because it
might contain mercury, why in the world are we still injecting
mercury into our children's bloodstream through vaccines?", asked
Kevin Barry, President of Generation Rescue. "We are completely
mystified about why the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics
are fighting state laws trying to ban mercury in vaccines."

Generation Rescue is calling on Congress to:
- Support the Combating Autism Act
- Ban Thimerosal from all vaccines Nationwide
- Recall any vaccines with Thimerosal in them immediately
- Create a National Task Force of Doctors versed in the biomedical
treatment of autism to establish national priorities for treating as
many children as possible
- Initiate trials immediately, in consultation with the Autism
Research Institute (sponsor of DAN!), on the most promising forms of
biomedical treatment for autism, including the GF/CF diet,
nutritional therapy, B12 therapy, anti-viral therapy, and chelation
therapy
- Enact legislation to provide health insurance for the biomedical
treatment of autism
- Support Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's recently introduced bill
to "conduct or support a comprehensive study comparing total health
outcomes, including risk of autism, in vaccinated populations in the
United States with such outcomes in unvaccinated populations..."
- Issue a Senatorial subpoena to gain access to the Vaccine Safety
Datalink information, still not released after 6 years of requests,
so that it can be reviewed by outside researchers
- Commission a new IOM Committee, paid for by Congress, with input
from the Autism Community on charter and membership
- Hold Senate hearings on the cover-up of the autism epidemic by the
CDC and FDA.



About Generation Rescue

Generation Rescue (www.GenerationRescue.org) is a nonprofit formed
by parents of children diagnosed with autism and other development
disorders. Through thorough research, medical consultation and the
use of medical treatments, the parents of Generation Rescue have
seen tremendous improvements in their children- including complete
recoveries. Generation Rescue's mission is to provide parents the
information and support to understand the cause of autism
and treatment options. The Web site gives background to make
informed decisions about treatment and connects families
with "Rescue Angels", more than 300 families of autistic children
who voluntarily provide support and guidance on
treatment options.

Generation Rescue is a 501(c)(3) founded in 2005.