FOMBONNE AUTISM STUDY RIDDLED WITH INACCURACIES,

FOMBONNE AUTISM STUDY RIDDLED WITH INACCURACIES, RADICAL CONCLUSIONS, SAYS
NATIONAL AUTISM ASSOCIATION
DRUG-COMPANY PROPONENT DR. ERIC FOMBONNE IGNORES SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE, USES
FRIVOLOUS RESEARCH TO OBTAIN DESIRED FINDINGS

Nixa, MO - Dr. Eric Fombonne's new Quebec study will soon be published in
the July 2006 issue of Pediatrics. Fombonne, a thimerosal litigation expert
witness on behalf of various pharmaceutical companies, will reportedly state
that it is "very clear" there is no relationship between mercury-based
thimerosal and the onset of autism.

According to the research group SafeMinds, Fombonne's research is
dangerously inaccurate:

- The study looked at 27,749 students in grades kindergarten
through 12th grade in a Montreal school district and found 187 cases of
autism.

- The vast majority of these cases (more than 90%) were born in
years in which thimerosal vaccines were widely used for infants in Quebec,
as they were in the US.

- Only a tiny fraction of the autism students were born when
thimerosal-free DTP and Hib vaccines were given, and these students may have
been exposed to thimerosal from the Hepatitis B vaccine newly recommended
for infants of foreign-born parents, which made up over one fourth of the
greater Montreal population.

- Dr. Fombonne wrongfully claims that large-population studies in
the United States, England and Denmark also disprove a link between mercury
and autism.

- Although multiple respected researchers state otherwise, Dr.
Fombonne maintains the radical conclusion "there is no autism epidemic."

- He conveniently ignores the vast body of scientific evidence,
which has shown that environmental factors such as mercury may have caused
the increased number of autism diagnoses in the US and other countries.

- Dr. Fombonne's actions have historically been in the best
interest of various pharmaceutical companies, not families with autism.
Fombonne has also declared himself an expert witness in thimerosal-related
litigation.

SafeMinds states, "Thimerosal is a serious poison that is harmful via
inhalation, ingestion or contact with skin. Furthermore,
thimerosal-containing vaccines elevate mercury levels in the body to a level
where adverse neurological outcomes are known to occur. It is irresponsible
for any pediatric doctor to justify injecting our children with mercury.

"The prevalence of all autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has risen to 1 in
166 children in the past 20 years. Several independent federal agencies and
respected scientists and researchers have received federal funds to
investigate the autism epidemic and the biological plausibility of a link
between mercury and ASDs. Multiple studies have indicated that there is a
connection between childhood vaccines containing thimerosal and the
incidence of autism. No conclusions have been made rejecting a link between
mercury and autism."

The National Autism Association (NAA), along with multiple advocacy groups
and researchers, hope that Fombonne's conflicts of interest will be
disclosed in Pediatrics. "These significantly weak conclusions certainly
work to Dr. Fombonne's benefit. It is only appropriate that his partnership
with pharmaceutical companies be revealed," says Claire Bothwell, Board
Chair of NAA.

For more information, visit www.nationalautism.org or www.safeminds.org.

-30-

Think Autism. Think Cure.

"john" wrote in message
...
FOMBONNE AUTISM STUDY RIDDLED WITH INACCURACIES, RADICAL CONCLUSIONS, SAYS
NATIONAL AUTISM ASSOCIATION
DRUG-COMPANY PROPONENT DR. ERIC FOMBONNE IGNORES SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE, USES
FRIVOLOUS RESEARCH TO OBTAIN DESIRED FINDINGS

Nixa, MO - Dr. Eric Fombonne's new Quebec study will soon be published in
the July 2006 issue of Pediatrics. Fombonne, a thimerosal litigation
expert witness on behalf of various pharmaceutical companies, will
reportedly state that it is "very clear" there is no relationship between
mercury-based thimerosal and the onset of autism.

According to the research group SafeMinds, Fombonne's research is
dangerously inaccurate:
.....

Isn't SafeMinds one of those groups that is fronted by lawyers?

You still haven't answered the question on why lawyer funded is better than
government or medical or pharmaceutical funded is better. Oh, and the
Geiers with their "MedCon" (great name, medical conartists!) are not doing
the best by their litigating masters... it seems that their expertise was
deemed a bit less than stellar:
http://www.neurodiversity.com/court/rhogam_decision.pdf

For those who actually have an open mind see:
http://www.kevinleitch.co.uk/wp/?p=392
and
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/20...s_dont_c_1.php

"HCN" wrote in message
...



Isn't SafeMinds one of those groups that is fronted by lawyers?

You still haven't answered the question on why lawyer funded is better
than government or medical or pharmaceutical funded is better. Oh, and
the Geiers with their "MedCon" (great name, medical conartists!) are not
doing the best by their litigating masters... it seems that their
expertise was deemed a bit less than stellar:
http://www.neurodiversity.com/court/rhogam_decision.pdf

the lawyers are the root of evil argument doesn't hold any water, ask the
parents of vaccine victims, must be 5,000 in the USA court re vaccine
autism.

is that is your best argument?

the lawyer one has to be one of the most pathetic arguments I have come
across, and I have seen a few believe me, I list most of them here
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/rationalization_h.html



For those who actually have an open mind see:
http://www.kevinleitch.co.uk/wp/?p=392
and
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/20...s_dont_c_1.php


blogs are just opinion sites. Leitch refused to look at whale even, so
hardly an open mind, he couldn't even accept measles deaths had delined by
99.4% before vaccination

do you ahve anything sunstantial?

"john" wrote in message
...

....
do you ahve anything sunstantial?


Do you?

And that reads like you are self medicating with something stronger than
homeopathic gin.

john wrote:
"HCN" wrote in message
...

Isn't SafeMinds one of those groups that is fronted by lawyers?

You still haven't answered the question on why lawyer funded is better
than government or medical or pharmaceutical funded is better. Oh, and
the Geiers with their "MedCon" (great name, medical conartists!) are not
doing the best by their litigating masters... it seems that their
expertise was deemed a bit less than stellar:
http://www.neurodiversity.com/court/rhogam_decision.pdf

the lawyers are the root of evil argument doesn't hold any water, ask the
parents of vaccine victims, must be 5,000 in the USA court re vaccine
autism.

is that is your best argument?

the lawyer one has to be one of the most pathetic arguments I have come
across, and I have seen a few believe me, I list most of them here
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/rationalization_h.html


For those who actually have an open mind see:
http://www.kevinleitch.co.uk/wp/?p=392
and
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/20...s_dont_c_1.php


blogs are just opinion sites. Leitch refused to look at whale even, so
hardly an open mind, he couldn't even accept measles deaths had delined by
99.4% before vaccination

do you ahve anything sunstantial?

Does SPF 50 sound right?

"john" wrote in message
...

... blogs are just opinion sites. Leitch refused to look at whale even, so
hardly an open mind, he couldn't even accept measles deaths had delined by
99.4% before vaccination
....

Funny stuff coming from someone who posts one line messages to newsgroups
consisting of links to his own webpage.

By the way this is not a blog opinion piece:
http://www.neurodiversity.com/court/rhogam_decision.pdf ... it is the
opinion of the judge!

I stopped clicking on whale.to links years ago. Right after I came across
some piece that claimed some stupid stuff about American Indians and
disease, only to find out it was written almost 150 years ago. But I did
click on the "black line" stuff, and the Wikipedia stuff. The latter having
this brilliant quote from their administrators: "Baloney. It's not the
criticsm we're suppressing, it's whale.to. all the articles on whale are
not acceptable. Tabeh. "... (by the way folks, at
http://www.whale.to/a/wikipedia.html is the whole shakedown, it is a
wonderful read and Scudamore deserves every word!).

HCN wrote:
"john" wrote in message
...
.. blogs are just opinion sites. Leitch refused to look at whale even, so
hardly an open mind, he couldn't even accept measles deaths had delined by
99.4% before vaccination
...

Funny stuff coming from someone who posts one line messages to newsgroups
consisting of links to his own webpage.

By the way this is not a blog opinion piece:
http://www.neurodiversity.com/court/rhogam_decision.pdf ... it is the
opinion of the judge!

That decision totally destroys any chance of Haley or Geier being used
in future litigation. No attorney in their right mind would waste their
money. The judge said Geier was engaging in "results oriented
testimony". IOW, bought and paid for. OUCH!



I stopped clicking on whale.to links years ago. Right after I came across
some piece that claimed some stupid stuff about American Indians and
disease, only to find out it was written almost 150 years ago. But I did
click on the "black line" stuff, and the Wikipedia stuff. The latter having
this brilliant quote from their administrators: "Baloney. It's not the
criticsm we're suppressing, it's whale.to. all the articles on whale are
not acceptable. Tabeh. "... (by the way folks, at
http://www.whale.to/a/wikipedia.html is the whole shakedown, it is a
wonderful read and Scudamore deserves every word!).

john wrote:
Yet another series of lies about this study. Here is the full text link:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...cetype=HW CIT

Now to break down this commentary point-by-point:

- The study looked at 27,749 students in grades kindergarten
through 12th grade in a Montreal school district and found 187 cases of
autism.


Correct on the first number, wrong on the second. Only 180 children
(rate of 64.9/10,000) were identified. Note that this is a relatively
normal rate in western nations.



- The vast majority of these cases (more than 90%) were born in
years in which thimerosal vaccines were widely used for infants in Quebec,
as they were in the US.


This is false. Data was collected from students in a school board which
provides education for kindergarten through grade 11, and monitored
students born from 1987 through 1998 (10 years). The exact % of people
in each age group was not published, but given that the data was
collected from a school board it is safe to assume that there is
approximately an equal number of people per grade. All mercury was
removed from vaccines during 1995, meaning that 3 years of students who
didn't receive mercury were included. That works out to ~66% of people
with mercury, 33% without.

It's also worth noting that all calculations were done using rate per
10,000 people, which means that corrections were made for the
differences in population size.


- Only a tiny fraction of the autism students were born when
thimerosal-free DTP and Hib vaccines were given, and these students may have
been exposed to thimerosal from the Hepatitis B vaccine newly recommended
for infants of foreign-born parents, which made up over one fourth of the
greater Montreal population.


As you can see in the methods section of the paper this was taken into
account. In addition, assuming 100% of the people in question got the
HepB vaccine, that still doesn't explain the results. If mercury was
the cause of autism there should have been a decrease in autistic rates
among the 75% of people not receiving the HepB vaccine. As such, in
that 75% of the population we should have seen a decrease in autism
rates. That did not occur; rather, autism went up.

Furthermore, the numbers don't hold out. Only 4.1% of Quebecers have
received the full HepB vaccination schedule, and 10% have received at
least one dose. Far from the 25% claimed by safe minds:

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/.../dr2221ea.html


- Dr. Fombonne wrongfully claims that large-population studies in
the United States, England and Denmark also disprove a link between mercury
and autism.


Which is true, and he provides the reference to support his claim.
Here's a couple of them:

Andrews N, Miller E, Grant A, Stowe J, Osborne V, Taylor B.
Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a
retrospective cohort study in the United kingdom does not support a
causal association. Pediatrics. 2004;114 :584 –591

Heron J, Golding J. Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental
disorders: a prospective cohort study in the United kingdom does not
support a causal association. Pediatrics. 2004;114 :577 –583

Hviid A, Stellfeld M, Wohlfahrt J, Melbye M. Association between
thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism. JAMA. 2003;290 :1763 –1766

Verstraeten T, Davis RL, DeStefano F, et al. Safety of
thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of computerized
health maintenance organization databases. Pediatrics. 2003;112 :1039 –1048

Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, et al. Thimerosal and the
occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish
population-based data. Pediatrics. 2003;112 :604 –606

Stehr-Green P, Tull P, Stellfeld M, Mortenson PB, Simpson D. Autism
and thimerosal-containing vaccines: lack of consistent evidence for an
association. Am J Prev Med. 2003;25 :101 –106

Jick H, Kaye JA. Autism and DPT vaccination in the United Kingdom. N
Engl J Med. 2004;350 :2722 –2723


- Although multiple respected researchers state otherwise, Dr.
Fombonne maintains the radical conclusion "there is no autism epidemic."


I notice they were unable to name a single of these "respected
researchers". Fombonne, on the other had, referenced several studies to
support his claim:

Gernsbacher MA, Dawson M, Goldsmith HH. Three reasons not to believe
in an autism epidemic. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2005;14 :55 –58

Kirby D. Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism
Epidemic—A Medical Controversy. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press; 2005



- He conveniently ignores the vast body of scientific evidence,
which has shown that environmental factors such as mercury may have caused
the increased number of autism diagnoses in the US and other countries.


As he pointed out in his study, the scientific literature disagrees. He
cited at least six studies which show the opposite - that there is no
link. He did reference one of the studies which originally suggested
the link, and also provided links to the studies which demonstrated that
the original study was incorrect.

And once again, I notice that your source failed to reference any
studies supporting their position. Just uncited claims.


- Dr. Fombonne's actions have historically been in the best
interest of various pharmaceutical companies, not families with autism.
Fombonne has also declared himself an expert witness in thimerosal-related
litigation.


Point being? He IS an expert; he studies the epidemiology of autism.
He is trained as an epidemiologist. He works in one of the most
prestigious and well regarded autism research groups in Canada. I'm not
exactly sure what more you need to be an expert, but his educational
credentials alone would be enough for most people. As for "in the
interest of pharma", that is a matter of opinion. Afterall, his study
suggests that there is no reason for governments to spend the extra
money on mercury-free vaccines (and they cost a lot more). That's less
money in the pockets of pharma.


SafeMinds states, "Thimerosal is a serious poison that is harmful via
inhalation, ingestion or contact with skin. Furthermore,
thimerosal-containing vaccines elevate mercury levels in the body to a level
where adverse neurological outcomes are known to occur. It is irresponsible
for any pediatric doctor to justify injecting our children with mercury.


Luckily, for the paranoids at safe minds, mercury has been removed from
nearly all childhood vaccines. A such their statement that
"thimerosal-containing vaccines elevate mercury levels in the body to a
level where adverse neurological outcomes are known to occur" is not
correct; children no longer receive those levels of mercury.

Not that their statement is correct to start with; the levels hit by
vaccination were never shown to cause neural disease in the duration
they are in the brain. Only much higher concentrations caused
detectable damage over an exposure period equivalent to those
experienced during vaccination. And even then, it required direct
injection into the brain.


"The prevalence of all autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has risen to 1 in
166 children in the past 20 years.


Mostly due to changes is diagnostic criteria and reporting:

Fombonne E. Epidemiological studies of autism and pervasive
developmental disorders. In: Volkmar F, ed. Handbook of Autism and
Pervasive Developmental Disorders. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Wiley & Sons;
2005:42–69

Gernsbacher MA, Dawson M, Goldsmith HH. Three reasons not to believe
in an autism epidemic. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2005;14 :55 –58

Barbaresi WJ, Katusic SK, Colligan RC, Weaver AL, Jacobsen SJ. The
incidence of autism in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976–1997: results
from a population-based study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159 :37 –44

Gurney JG, Fritz MS, Ness KK, Sievers P, Newschaffer CJ, Shapiro EG.
Analysis of prevalence trends of autism spectrum disorder in Minnesota.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157 :622–627


Newschaffer CJ, Falb MD, Gurney JG. National autism prevalence trends
from United States special education data. Pediatrics. 2005;115 (3).



And regardless of the criticisms they may level at Fombonne, they still
haven't explained away the lack of a decrease in autism rates after
mercury was removed form all childhood vaccines in Quebec. They can
whine about perceived flaws in the methodology, and question Fombonne's
credential all they want. But that data came from public sources. It
is easily verified. And yet they couldn't even provide one iota of
evidence the DATA is wrong. All they could do is slander the author.

Bryan

Bryan Heit wrote:
john wrote:
Yet another series of lies about this study. Here is the full text link:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...cetype=HW CIT


Now to break down this commentary point-by-point:

- The study looked at 27,749 students in grades kindergarten
through 12th grade in a Montreal school district and found 187 cases
of autism.


Correct on the first number, wrong on the second. Only 180 children
(rate of 64.9/10,000) were identified. Note that this is a relatively
normal rate in western nations.



- The vast majority of these cases (more than 90%) were born
in years in which thimerosal vaccines were widely used for infants in
Quebec, as they were in the US.


This is false. Data was collected from students in a school board which
provides education for kindergarten through grade 11, and monitored
students born from 1987 through 1998 (10 years). The exact % of people
in each age group was not published, but given that the data was
collected from a school board it is safe to assume that there is
approximately an equal number of people per grade. All mercury was
removed from vaccines during 1995, meaning that 3 years of students who
didn't receive mercury were included. That works out to ~66% of people
with mercury, 33% without.

It's also worth noting that all calculations were done using rate per
10,000 people, which means that corrections were made for the
differences in population size.


- Only a tiny fraction of the autism students were born when
thimerosal-free DTP and Hib vaccines were given, and these students
may have been exposed to thimerosal from the Hepatitis B vaccine newly
recommended for infants of foreign-born parents, which made up over
one fourth of the greater Montreal population.


As you can see in the methods section of the paper this was taken into
account. In addition, assuming 100% of the people in question got the
HepB vaccine, that still doesn't explain the results. If mercury was
the cause of autism there should have been a decrease in autistic rates
among the 75% of people not receiving the HepB vaccine. As such, in
that 75% of the population we should have seen a decrease in autism
rates. That did not occur; rather, autism went up.

Furthermore, the numbers don't hold out. Only 4.1% of Quebecers have
received the full HepB vaccination schedule, and 10% have received at
least one dose. Far from the 25% claimed by safe minds:

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/.../dr2221ea.html


- Dr. Fombonne wrongfully claims that large-population
studies in the United States, England and Denmark also disprove a link
between mercury and autism.


Which is true, and he provides the reference to support his claim.
Here's a couple of them:

Andrews N, Miller E, Grant A, Stowe J, Osborne V, Taylor B. Thimerosal
exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a retrospective cohort
study in the United kingdom does not support a causal association.
Pediatrics. 2004;114 :584 –591

Heron J, Golding J. Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental
disorders: a prospective cohort study in the United kingdom does not
support a causal association. Pediatrics. 2004;114 :577 –583

Hviid A, Stellfeld M, Wohlfahrt J, Melbye M. Association between
thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism. JAMA. 2003;290 :1763 –1766

Verstraeten T, Davis RL, DeStefano F, et al. Safety of
thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of computerized
health maintenance organization databases. Pediatrics. 2003;112 :1039 –1048

Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, et al. Thimerosal and the
occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish
population-based data. Pediatrics. 2003;112 :604 –606

Stehr-Green P, Tull P, Stellfeld M, Mortenson PB, Simpson D. Autism and
thimerosal-containing vaccines: lack of consistent evidence for an
association. Am J Prev Med. 2003;25 :101 –106

Jick H, Kaye JA. Autism and DPT vaccination in the United Kingdom. N
Engl J Med. 2004;350 :2722 –2723


- Although multiple respected researchers state otherwise,
Dr. Fombonne maintains the radical conclusion "there is no autism
epidemic."


I notice they were unable to name a single of these "respected
researchers". Fombonne, on the other had, referenced several studies to
support his claim:

Gernsbacher MA, Dawson M, Goldsmith HH. Three reasons not to believe in
an autism epidemic. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2005;14 :55 –58

Kirby D. Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism
Epidemic—A Medical Controversy. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press; 2005



- He conveniently ignores the vast body of scientific
evidence, which has shown that environmental factors such as mercury
may have caused the increased number of autism diagnoses in the US and
other countries.


As he pointed out in his study, the scientific literature disagrees. He
cited at least six studies which show the opposite - that there is no
link. He did reference one of the studies which originally suggested
the link, and also provided links to the studies which demonstrated that
the original study was incorrect.

And once again, I notice that your source failed to reference any
studies supporting their position. Just uncited claims.


- Dr. Fombonne's actions have historically been in the best
interest of various pharmaceutical companies, not families with
autism. Fombonne has also declared himself an expert witness in
thimerosal-related litigation.


Point being? He IS an expert; he studies the epidemiology of autism. He
is trained as an epidemiologist. He works in one of the most
prestigious and well regarded autism research groups in Canada. I'm not
exactly sure what more you need to be an expert, but his educational
credentials alone would be enough for most people. As for "in the
interest of pharma", that is a matter of opinion. Afterall, his study
suggests that there is no reason for governments to spend the extra
money on mercury-free vaccines (and they cost a lot more). That's less
money in the pockets of pharma.


SafeMinds states, "Thimerosal is a serious poison that is harmful via
inhalation, ingestion or contact with skin. Furthermore,
thimerosal-containing vaccines elevate mercury levels in the body to a
level where adverse neurological outcomes are known to occur. It is
irresponsible for any pediatric doctor to justify injecting our
children with mercury.


Luckily, for the paranoids at safe minds, mercury has been removed from
nearly all childhood vaccines. A such their statement that
"thimerosal-containing vaccines elevate mercury levels in the body to a
level where adverse neurological outcomes are known to occur" is not
correct; children no longer receive those levels of mercury.

Not that their statement is correct to start with; the levels hit by
vaccination were never shown to cause neural disease in the duration
they are in the brain. Only much higher concentrations caused
detectable damage over an exposure period equivalent to those
experienced during vaccination. And even then, it required direct
injection into the brain.


"The prevalence of all autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has risen to 1
in 166 children in the past 20 years.


Mostly due to changes is diagnostic criteria and reporting:

Fombonne E. Epidemiological studies of autism and pervasive
developmental disorders. In: Volkmar F, ed. Handbook of Autism and
Pervasive Developmental Disorders. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Wiley & Sons;
2005:42–69

Gernsbacher MA, Dawson M, Goldsmith HH. Three reasons not to believe
in an autism epidemic. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2005;14 :55 –58

Barbaresi WJ, Katusic SK, Colligan RC, Weaver AL, Jacobsen SJ. The
incidence of autism in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976–1997: results
from a population-based study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159 :37 –44

Gurney JG, Fritz MS, Ness KK, Sievers P, Newschaffer CJ, Shapiro EG.
Analysis of prevalence trends of autism spectrum disorder in Minnesota.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157 :622–627


Newschaffer CJ, Falb MD, Gurney JG. National autism prevalence trends
from United States special education data. Pediatrics. 2005;115 (3).



And regardless of the criticisms they may level at Fombonne, they still
haven't explained away the lack of a decrease in autism rates after
mercury was removed form all childhood vaccines in Quebec. They can
whine about perceived flaws in the methodology, and question Fombonne's
credential all they want. But that data came from public sources. It
is easily verified. And yet they couldn't even provide one iota of
evidence the DATA is wrong. All they could do is slander the author.

Superb analysis of the study and refutation of the feeble, pathetic
attempt to discredit the study.

Just one comment...you ask what the anti-vac/anti-mercury liars would
need to consider Fombonne an expert. The answer is quite simple. If he
agreed with them, sold products from a website, produced studies which
use bad math, inappropriately use datasets, attempt to shore up their
credibility by conducting human studies where the IRB is made of
themselves, their families and their sicko-phants, then, and only then,
would they be considered experts.

"Mark Probert" wrote:
Bryan Heit wrote:
john wrote:
Yet another series of lies about this study. Here is the full text link:

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...cetype=HW CIT
Now to break down this commentary point-by-point:

- The study looked at 27,749 students in grades kindergarten
through 12th grade in a Montreal school district and found 187 cases of
autism.


Correct on the first number, wrong on the second. Only 180 children
(rate of 64.9/10,000) were identified. Note that this is a relatively
normal rate in western nations.



- The vast majority of these cases (more than 90%) were born in
years in which thimerosal vaccines were widely used for infants in
Quebec, as they were in the US.


This is false. Data was collected from students in a school board which
provides education for kindergarten through grade 11, and monitored
students born from 1987 through 1998 (10 years). The exact % of people
in each age group was not published, but given that the data was
collected from a school board it is safe to assume that there is
approximately an equal number of people per grade. All mercury was
removed from vaccines during 1995, meaning that 3 years of students who
didn't receive mercury were included. That works out to ~66% of people
with mercury, 33% without.

It's also worth noting that all calculations were done using rate per
10,000 people, which means that corrections were made for the differences
in population size.


- Only a tiny fraction of the autism students were born when
thimerosal-free DTP and Hib vaccines were given, and these students may
have been exposed to thimerosal from the Hepatitis B vaccine newly
recommended for infants of foreign-born parents, which made up over one
fourth of the greater Montreal population.


As you can see in the methods section of the paper this was taken into
account. In addition, assuming 100% of the people in question got the
HepB vaccine, that still doesn't explain the results. If mercury was the
cause of autism there should have been a decrease in autistic rates among
the 75% of people not receiving the HepB vaccine. As such, in that 75%
of the population we should have seen a decrease in autism rates. That
did not occur; rather, autism went up.

Furthermore, the numbers don't hold out. Only 4.1% of Quebecers have
received the full HepB vaccination schedule, and 10% have received at
least one dose. Far from the 25% claimed by safe minds:

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/.../dr2221ea.html


- Dr. Fombonne wrongfully claims that large-population studies
in the United States, England and Denmark also disprove a link between
mercury and autism.


Which is true, and he provides the reference to support his claim. Here's
a couple of them:

Andrews N, Miller E, Grant A, Stowe J, Osborne V, Taylor B. Thimerosal
exposure in infants and developmental disorders: a retrospective cohort
study in the United kingdom does not support a causal association.
Pediatrics. 2004;114 :584 –591

Heron J, Golding J. Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental
disorders: a prospective cohort study in the United kingdom does not
support a causal association. Pediatrics. 2004;114 :577 –583

Hviid A, Stellfeld M, Wohlfahrt J, Melbye M. Association between
thimerosal-containing vaccine and autism. JAMA. 2003;290 :1763 –1766

Verstraeten T, Davis RL, DeStefano F, et al. Safety of
thimerosal-containing vaccines: a two-phased study of computerized health
maintenance organization databases. Pediatrics. 2003;112 :1039 –1048

Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, et al. Thimerosal and the
occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish
population-based data. Pediatrics. 2003;112 :604 –606

Stehr-Green P, Tull P, Stellfeld M, Mortenson PB, Simpson D. Autism and
thimerosal-containing vaccines: lack of consistent evidence for an
association. Am J Prev Med. 2003;25 :101 –106

Jick H, Kaye JA. Autism and DPT vaccination in the United Kingdom. N
Engl J Med. 2004;350 :2722 –2723


- Although multiple respected researchers state otherwise, Dr.
Fombonne maintains the radical conclusion "there is no autism epidemic."


I notice they were unable to name a single of these "respected
researchers". Fombonne, on the other had, referenced several studies to
support his claim:

Gernsbacher MA, Dawson M, Goldsmith HH. Three reasons not to believe in
an autism epidemic. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2005;14 :55 –58

Kirby D. Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic—A
Medical Controversy. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press; 2005



- He conveniently ignores the vast body of scientific evidence,
which has shown that environmental factors such as mercury may have
caused the increased number of autism diagnoses in the US and other
countries.


As he pointed out in his study, the scientific literature disagrees. He
cited at least six studies which show the opposite - that there is no
link. He did reference one of the studies which originally suggested the
link, and also provided links to the studies which demonstrated that the
original study was incorrect.

And once again, I notice that your source failed to reference any studies
supporting their position. Just uncited claims.


- Dr. Fombonne's actions have historically been in the best
interest of various pharmaceutical companies, not families with autism.
Fombonne has also declared himself an expert witness in
thimerosal-related litigation.


Point being? He IS an expert; he studies the epidemiology of autism. He
is trained as an epidemiologist. He works in one of the most prestigious
and well regarded autism research groups in Canada. I'm not exactly sure
what more you need to be an expert, but his educational credentials alone
would be enough for most people. As for "in the interest of pharma",
that is a matter of opinion. Afterall, his study suggests that there is
no reason for governments to spend the extra money on mercury-free
vaccines (and they cost a lot more). That's less money in the pockets of
pharma.


SafeMinds states, "Thimerosal is a serious poison that is harmful via
inhalation, ingestion or contact with skin. Furthermore,
thimerosal-containing vaccines elevate mercury levels in the body to a
level where adverse neurological outcomes are known to occur. It is
irresponsible for any pediatric doctor to justify injecting our children
with mercury.


Luckily, for the paranoids at safe minds, mercury has been removed from
nearly all childhood vaccines. A such their statement that
"thimerosal-containing vaccines elevate mercury levels in the body to a
level where adverse neurological outcomes are known to occur" is not
correct; children no longer receive those levels of mercury.

Not that their statement is correct to start with; the levels hit by
vaccination were never shown to cause neural disease in the duration they
are in the brain. Only much higher concentrations caused detectable
damage over an exposure period equivalent to those experienced during
vaccination. And even then, it required direct injection into the brain.


"The prevalence of all autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has risen to 1
in 166 children in the past 20 years.


Mostly due to changes is diagnostic criteria and reporting:

Fombonne E. Epidemiological studies of autism and pervasive
developmental disorders. In: Volkmar F, ed. Handbook of Autism and
Pervasive Developmental Disorders. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Wiley & Sons;
2005:42–69

Gernsbacher MA, Dawson M, Goldsmith HH. Three reasons not to believe in
an autism epidemic. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2005;14 :55 –58

Barbaresi WJ, Katusic SK, Colligan RC, Weaver AL, Jacobsen SJ. The
incidence of autism in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976–1997: results from
a population-based study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159 :37 –44

Gurney JG, Fritz MS, Ness KK, Sievers P, Newschaffer CJ, Shapiro EG.
Analysis of prevalence trends of autism spectrum disorder in Minnesota.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157 :622–627


Newschaffer CJ, Falb MD, Gurney JG. National autism prevalence trends
from United States special education data. Pediatrics. 2005;115 (3).



And regardless of the criticisms they may level at Fombonne, they still
haven't explained away the lack of a decrease in autism rates after
mercury was removed form all childhood vaccines in Quebec. They can
whine about perceived flaws in the methodology, and question Fombonne's
credential all they want. But that data came from public sources. It is
easily verified. And yet they couldn't even provide one iota of evidence
the DATA is wrong. All they could do is slander the author.

Superb analysis of the study and refutation of the feeble, pathetic
attempt to discredit the study.

lol. Famous from the *gang*.