This petition asks People Magazine to correct several inaccuracies in its 9/27/04 article about autism entitled "Desperate Measures". It seeks to educate the editors and authors by supplying links to many independent sources of information about vaccine dangers.
To: The Editors of People Magazine
We the undersigned, many of whom are parents of autistic children, wish to dispute your inaccurate, misleading article of Sept. 27, 2004 entitled "Desperate Measures". Rather than simply complain about the injustice, we choose to offer verifiable information about vaccinations, asking that your reporters become thoroughly educated about these facts and set the record straight in a follow up article.
The accurate number of U.S. children with autism is now 1 in 166, not 1 in 500 as you reported. (1) One in 68 families in our nation is now impacted. The cost to these families in terms of financial devastation and human misery is incalculable. Future care for these children is predicted to cost in the trillions of dollars. Who will pay for it? And, why would legislators and the media aid in exonerating those who are culpable? Campaign contributions? Advertising? (2) (3)
You indicate that there is no real science behind the mercury/autism link, when just the opposite is true. You dismiss a significant study on mice as "far from conclusive", while failing to report on conclusive evidence about real children, such as that found by researchers Mark Geier, M.D. and David Geier. They clearly showed an increased risk of autism following thimerosal-containing vaccines by reviewing the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database. Geier, D.A. and Geier, M.R.: An assessment of the impact of thimerosal on childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. Pediatric Rehabilitation, 6:97-102, 2003. (4) Other independent researchers report evidence of the mercury/autism link. (5) (6) Many physicians, like Stephanie Cave, M.D., help to detoxify mercury damaged autistic children. (7)
Neurological damage from mercury is real, not "theoretical", as your choice of sources of information mistakenly led you to believe. There are many independent sources that will give you solid information about this, such as neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. (8) Researchers at the University of Calgary have visually demonstrated that mercury destroys brain neurons. (9) Boyd Haley, PhD, professor and chair of the Dept. of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky, is the nation's leading expert on mercury poisoning. See his affidavit of August 13, 2002 entitled "Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopment Outcomes". (10) (11)
Your comparison of the mercury in a flu vaccine to mercury in a can of tuna shows remarkable ignorance and is dangerously misleading. The form of mercury in vaccines is ethyl-mercury. It is injected into infants, crossing the blood-brain barrier. There is no safety guideline for ethyl-mercury. Incredibly, the only guidelines that exist pertain to methyl-mercury, less toxic than ethyl-mercury, and not used in vaccines. Further, these guidelines, as set by FDA and EPA: (a) differ markedly from one agency to the other; (b) do not pertain to exposure by injection; and (c) are based solely on ingestion of fish. A flu vaccine can contain up to 25 micrograms of mercury. According to EPA's guidelines (.1mcg/kg of body weight per day), you would need to weigh 551 pounds to ingest 25 micrograms of mercury at "a level not likely to cause harm". (Neither FDA nor EPA say at "a level that is safe".) (12) (13) There is currently not enough mercury free flu vaccine for everyone in the US; therefore, many will get up to 25 micrograms of mercury via their flu shot. A recent study by the world-renowned immunologist Dr. H. Hugh Fudenberg found that adults vaccinated yearly for five years in a row with the flu vaccine had a 10-fold increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. He attributes this to the mercury and aluminum in the vaccine. (14)
Up until 1999, children were receiving, via vaccinations, more than 100 times the amount of mercury that EPA would consider "a level not likely to cause harm". However, the EPA's guidelines pertain to methyl-mercury that, again, is less toxic than the ethyl-mercury in vaccines. Ethyl-mercury is preferentially taken up by the brain. Though the levels of mercury have been reduced, mercury still remains in many vaccines and no agency has established that the current levels are safe. Children often receive more than one vaccine at a time, increasing the cumulative amount of mercury in their bodies and brains. This is mercury, a known neurotoxin and the second most toxic substance on earth after plutonium. The material safety data sheet (MSDS) for thimerosal says: DANGER! POISON! MAY BE FATAL IF INHALED ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN OR SWALLOWED... MAY CAUSE DAMAGE TO CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. Anyone writing about autism should first read the thimerosal MSDS. (15)
Incredibly, children in the U.S. now receive 45 injected vaccines by the age of 6 months, 64 by 18 months and 74 by 4-6 years. (16) The general public is unaware of these numbers because some of these injections combine up to eight vaccines in one "shot", obscuring the fact that there are such a large number of actual vaccines. These multiple doses are some of the most dangerous.
Pharmaceutical companies have more than 200 vaccines in the pipeline, and government agencies, such as CDC, are only too eager to assist in recommending them since these agencies are little more than mouthpieces and revolving doors for industry, promoting pharmaceutical-sponsored studies as "science". (17) Independent researcher Dr. Sherri Tenpenny has studied CDC's own data, exposing insufficient vaccine testing and unsupported safety claims. (18) (19) (20) A common tactic, to assure vaccine compliance and more profits, is to frighten parents with inaccurate figures on the incidence and severity of childhood diseases. (21) (22) (23) (24)
Vaccines contain many toxic additives besides mercury. These include aluminum (enhances the toxicity of mercury), formaldehyde, beta-propiolactone (known to cause cancer), phenoxyethanol (used as anti-freeze) ammonium sulfate, monosodium glutamate, and many more, as well as animal cells and human cells from aborted fetal tissue. (25) See the MSDS for beta-propiolactone. (26)
You used the label "activists" to describe the critics of vaccine policies. That is a very narrow and negative brush with which to paint parents of vaccine damaged and dead children, vaccine damaged adults, nurses, physicians, researchers, scientists, elected officials, teachers, and others. What label did you use for those supporting, promoting, and profiting from vaccine policies? Please think about this.
We are convinced that once you become fully aware of the data that is not sponsored by the pharmaceutical-medical-industrial complex, you will be equipped to publish an article that does not do a disservice to the hundreds of thousands of unfortunate victims of the vaccine industry, an annual multi-billion dollar business. We implore you to revisit this issue as soon as possible for the sake of these victims and the uninformed potential victims. The public deserves to hear the full story of the true cause of this iatrogenic epidemic. And the affected children deserve to be accurately represented.