CDC DATA LEADS SCIENTISTS TO SHOCKING DISCOVERY

CHILDREN 27-TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DEVELOP AUTISM WITH EXPOSURE TO MERCURY-CONTAINING VACCINES, FINDINGS REVIEWED AT TODAY'S IOM MEETING IN DC

Washington, DC- Today, the Institute of Medicine will hold a one-day meeting to review important new research on the link between thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in vaccines, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. One of the larger studies under review comes from the CDC's own Vaccine Safety Datalink. Under independent investigation, CDC's data concludes children are 27-times more likely to develop autism after exposure to three thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs), than those who receive thimerosal-free versions.

The findings are not only disturbing to government officials like U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-FL), who is also scheduled to speak before the IOM panel, they suggest autism via TCVs has a higher relative risk than that between lung cancer and smoking, which according to the American Cancer Society is only 22 for men and 11 for women. "This absolutely confirms what parents have been saying for years," says Jo Pike, President, National Autism Association. Like Pike, thousands of parents have reported sharp regressions in their children following a TCV and many of those children have gone on to receive a label of autism. An easy mistake to make since the symptoms of autism and mercury poisoning are almost identical.

Dr. Mark Geier is the lead investigator in the discovery. A medical doctor with a Ph.D. in genetics, he, along with fellow researcher, David Geier, will discuss their findings of the CDC data in front of an IOM panel. Among a host of other physicians and researchers presenting will be Dr. Jeff Bradstreet. He will discuss the results from his peer-reviewed study which concluded that urinary mercury concentrations were six times higher in children with autism vs. normal-age/vaccine-matched controls.