UPDATE: Click here to watch Truth in Media: CDC, Vaccines and Autism
Truth In Media has followed the story of scientist Dr. William Thompson since August 2014 when Thompson alleged that a study he worked on “fudged numbers” to lower the number of black children who were adversely affected by a certain type of vaccine. Thompson is a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has been with the agency since 1998.
The statement was released on August 27, 2014 by Dr. Thompson in response to reports that he and co-authors from a 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics did in fact omit important information from a study on the link between vaccines and autism. Below is an excerpt from Thompson’s statement.
Dr. Thompson was originally not intending to be so forthcoming about his involvement until it was revealed that conversations he had with Dr. Brian Hooker had been recorded. Dr. Thompson’s statement claimed that documents had been handed over to Congressman Bill Posey’s office for review. Posey serves on the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Ben Swann later confirmed with Posey’s office that they had indeed received documents from Dr. Thompson.
“According to Congressman Posey’s spokesman, George Cecala, “I can confirm that we have received a very large number of documents and we are going through those documents now. There are a lot of them, so it will take some time.” Cecala could not say exactly how many documents are in possession of the Congressman’s staff though sources tell me that as many as 100,000 documents have been handed over.”
Since that time, however, virtually no media publications have mentioned Dr. Thompson and many were left to wonder if anything would ever come of the whole ordeal. That was until Congressman Bill Posey took to the floor of the House on July 29th to discuss Dr. William Thompson and his documents.
https://youtu.be/jGRjn_gIJw0
Posey started out by reassuring critics that he was for vaccinations. “I am absolutely, resolutely, pro-vaccine. Advancements in medical immunization have saved countless lives and greatly benefited public health,” Congressman Posey stated.
Posey went on to say that parents should have “the best information available to them” when making decisions about their children’s health. “They should be able to count on Federal Agencies to tell them the truth. For these reasons I bring the following matter to The House Floor.”
“In August 2014 Dr. William Thompson a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked with a whistleblower attorney to provide my office with documents related to a 2004 CDC study that examined the possibility of a relationship between mumps, measles, rubella vaccines and autism.”
Congressman Posey goes on to quote a statement from Dr. Thompson that was provided to his office:
“All the authors and I met and decided sometime between August and September ’02 not to report any race effects for the paper. Sometime soon after the meeting we decided to exclude reporting any race effects, the co-authors scheduled a meeting to destroy documents related to the study. The remaining four co-authors all met and brought a big garbage can into the meeting room and reviewed and went through all the hard copy documents that we had thought we should discard and put them in a huge garbage can. However, because I assumed it was illegal and would violate both FOIA and DOJ requests, I kept hard copies of all documents in my office, and I retained all associated computer files. I believe we intentionally withheld controversial findings from the final draft of the Pediatrics paper.”
George Cecala, a spokesperson for Posey’s office, confirmed to Forbes that the source of the quote was indeed the set of documents provided to Posey’s office last August. Forbes reports:
“According to Cecala, “those are Thompson’s words,” quoted from the materials that Thompson’s attorneys provided Posey.
Cecala says that the documents in question will be distributed only to members of Congress and will not be made available otherwise until if and when a hearing is held.”
During Posey’s speech he also mentions the controversial Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
“It’s troubling to me that in a recent Senate hearing on childhood vaccinations, it was never mentioned that our government has paid out over 3 Billion Dollars through a Vaccine Injury Compensation Program for children who have been injured by vaccinations.”
Funds awarded through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program are first processed through a special vaccine court. In December 2014, Truth In Media wrote about a report by the Associated Press which revealed that thousands of families with claims with the vaccine court are left to wait for years, sometimes decades before receiving help.
The AP examined hundreds of court decisions, performed more than 100 interviews, and studied a database containing more than 14,500 cases. The database was last updated in January 2013 with the government refusing to release any new updates.
Officially known as the Office of Special Masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the so-called vaccine court is a little known system that is intended to address claims of Americans who believe their children have been harmed by vaccinations. The court is an established part of the federal judiciary system however the authorities over the cases are not called judges but rather “special masters”.
The AP investigation found several issues with the court. These include tens of millions of taxpayer dollars that has been paid to private attorneys who often practice “churning”, a practice described as filing a large number of claims regardless of the quality of the claims. In the private court attorneys are paid out whether or not they succeed in convincing the court. That fact has lead to questionable billing practices and an increase in court claims.
The AP report also found that “expert” witnesses for the families and the government often have a lack of credibility or conflicts of interest. The report says that some of the experts are also involved in setting up nonprofits that question vaccine safety. Meanwhile doctors hired by the government to testify in defense of vaccines have ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Please watch Ben Swann’s report on the Vaccine Court and Autism.
https://youtu.be/wfqpZqEP6gg
Congressman Posey ended his speech by reminding his colleagues that it was their duty to investigate the documents from Dr. Thompson.
“I believe it’s our duty to ensure that the documents Dr. Thompson provided are not ignored. Therefore, I will provide them to members of Congress, and the House Committees upon request.
Considering the nature of The Whistleblower’s documents, as well as the involvement of The CDC, a hearing and a thorough investigation is warranted.
So I ask, Mr. Speaker, I beg, I implore my colleagues on the appropriations committees, to please, please take such action.”
