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The 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference (officially entitled Scientific Review of Vaccine Safety Datalink Information) was a meeting convened in June, 2000, by the Centers for Disease Control, held at the Simpsonwood [1] Methodist retreat and conference center in Norcross, Atlanta, Georgia. Events at the session included a presentation, reviewing data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink, by Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, and a comment on the biologic plausibility and consistency of a possible link between thimerosal and autism from Dr. Loren Koller. In addition to specialists involved in vaccine research, approximately half a dozen public health organisations and pharmaceutical interests were represented, as well as eleven consultants to the CDC, a rapporteur (Dr. Paul Stehr-Green), and a statistician, Dr. Phil Rhodes, who was to provide a half hour summary review of the proceedings at the end of the second day.
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Discussion of Dr. Verstraeten's vaccine research
In 1997, the Congress of the United States passed a resolution requiring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review mercury in drugs and biologics. The Simpsonwood conference served the purpose of reviewing findings that resulted from that mandate. Fifty-two representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, the CDC and the FDA gathered at the retreat for two days of discussions, with the main topic of discussion revolving around a presentation regarding statistical research, on reported adverse side effects of vaccines derived from the Vaccine Safety Datalink, that had been conducted by Dr. Thomas Verstraeten.
Three vaccines of primary interest were to be discussed, because they are given early in life. These included the hepatitis B vaccine, the DPT vaccine, and the Haemophilus influenza type B vaccine.
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
The meeting also served as a prelude to high level government vaccine policy-making meetings, held by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which sets vaccine policy within the US for the CDC. The session was also to serve as the initial meeting of the ACIP work group on thimerosal and immunization. Dr. John Modlin, a faculty member at Dartmouth Medical School, was the chair of the ACIP at the time of the CDC's Simpsonwood conference.citation needed
On January 12, 2001, members of ACIP's vaccine policymaking committee met to discuss claims that children given mercury in vaccines had a much higher rate of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other neurodevelopmental disorders.[2]
Embargo
Proceedings were embargoed until June 21, prior to planned publication at ACIP. After the conference, Verstraeten carried out a planned second phase to further analyze and clarify the study's preliminary findings. A revised publication was released in 2003.[3]
Criticism of report delays
By the time Verstraeten published the amended study results in 2003, he had gone to work for GlaxoSmithKline.[4] Critics contend that the delay in publication was to afford Verstraeten sufficient time fix the data around what they allege to be the CDC's objective of obscuring the link between thimerosal and autism.[5] Dr. Verstraeten denies the allegations, and has published a substantial account of the matter in the journal Pediatrics.[6] In September 2007, a report of the US Senate's committee on health, education, labor and pensions rejected allegations of impropriety [7].
External links
- MSNBC.msn.com - 'A coverup for a cause of Autism? RFK Jr. explains how ingredient in vaccines may have contributed to spread' (transcript of interview by Joe Scarborough), MSNBC June 22, 2005
- RollingStone.com - 'Deadly immunity: When a study revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids, the government rushed to conceal the data -- and to prevent parents from suing drug companies for their role in the epidemic', Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Salon.com, Rolling Stone (June 20, 2005)
- Pediatrics - 'Thimerosal, the Centers for Disease Control and Pevention, and GlaxoSmithKline', Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, (2004)
- Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of the US Senate - 'Thimerosal and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Alleged Misconduct by Government Agencies and Private Entities' (September 2007)
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