"Central Figure in CDC Vaccine Cover-Up Absconds With $2M"

Central Figure in CDC Vaccine Cover-Up Absconds With $2M

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Chairman, Waterkeeper Alliance; Professor, Pace University
Posted: March 11, 2010 11:25 AM

A central figure behind the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) claims disputing the link between vaccines and autism and other neurological disorders has disappeared after officials discovered massive fraud involving the theft of millions in taxpayer dollars. Danish police are investigating Dr. Poul Thorsen, who has vanished along with almost $2 million that he had supposedly spent on research.

Thorsen was a leading member of a Danish research group that wrote several key studies supporting CDC's claims that the MMR vaccine and mercury-laden vaccines were safe for children. Thorsen's 2003 Danish study reported a 20-fold increase in autism in Denmark after that country banned mercury based preservatives in its vaccines. His study concluded that mercury could therefore not be the culprit behind the autism epidemic.

His study has long been criticized as fraudulent since it failed to disclose that the increase was an artifact of new mandates requiring, for the first time, that autism cases be reported on the national registry. This new law and the opening of a clinic dedicated to autism treatment in Copenhagen accounted for the sudden rise in reported cases rather than, as Thorsen seemed to suggest, the removal of mercury from vaccines. Despite this obvious chicanery, CDC has long touted the study as the principal proof that mercury-laced vaccines are safe for infants and young children. Mainstream media, particularly the New York Times, has relied on this study as the basis for its public assurances that it is safe to inject young children with mercury -- a potent neurotoxin -- at concentrations hundreds of times over the U.S. safety limits.

Thorsen, who was a psychiatrist and not a research scientist or toxicologist, parlayed that study into a long-term relationship with CDC. He built a research empire called the North Atlantic Epidemiology Alliances (NANEA) that advertised its close association with the CDC autism team, a relationship that had the agency paying Thorsen and his research staff millions of dollars to churn out research papers, many of them assuring the public on the issue of vaccine safety.

The discovery of Thorsen's fraud came as the result of an investigation by Aarhus University and CDC which discovered that Thorsen had falsified documents and, in violation of university rules, was accepting salaries from both the Danish university and Emory University in Atlanta -- near CDC headquarters -- where he led research efforts to defend the role of vaccines in causing autism and other brain disorders. Thorsen's center has received $14.6 million from CDC since 2002.

Thorsen's partner Kreesten Madsen recently came under fierce criticism after damning e-mails surfaced showing Madsen in cahoots with CDC officials intent on fraudulently cherry picking facts to prove vaccine safety.

Leading independent scientists have accused CDC of concealing the clear link between the dramatic increases in mercury-laced child vaccinations beginning in 1989 and the epidemic of autism, neurological disorders and other illnesses affecting every generation of American children since. Questions about Thorsens's scientific integrity may finally force CDC to rethink the vaccine protocols since most of the other key pro vaccine studies cited by CDC rely on the findings of Thorsen's research group. These include oft referenced research articles published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the New England Journal of Medicine and others. The validity of all these studies is now in question.

Citations
1. http://www.cphpost.dk/news/internat...-accused-of-cheating-uni-out-of-millions.html
2. http://www.safeminds.org/news/pressroom/press_releases/20040518_AutismAuthorsNetwork.pdf
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/opinion/06sat3.html
4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/time-for-cdc-to-come-clea_b_16550.html
5. http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/03/poul-thorsens-mutating-resume.html
6. http://www.rescuepost.com/files/thorsen-aarhus.pdf
7. http://www.cphpost.dk/news/internat...-accused-of-cheating-uni-out-of-millions.html

OMG!

This is huge!

It opens the door for our CDC malfeasance story which had some eerily similar talking points!

Somebody in our community must be six degrees of separation from the Kennedys.

This is huge!

Thanks MUCH If! You are our very own wire service!

Wow! That's big!---Rich

I think that is really going to stir the pot! Especially when put together with the recently published primate study showing that the vaccine schedule used for kids impacted the monkeys negatively.

Thanks for posting this, Islandfinn!

Rich

Thank You! Islandfinn! I know lots of people who have lost hope that will be verrry interested in this news!

"Madsen in cahoots with CDC officials intent on fraudulently cherry picking facts to prove vaccine safety." - -- Wow.

Thanks for posting this.

Rich, do you mean the one recently published in Toxicology? if so, well... it has been "unpublished" last week. Lo and behold, Elsevier decided to "unpublish" it. A week after the journal editor decided to stand by the decision to publish, a corporate meeting is called and her decision is reversed... Hope we are talking about the same study?

"Delayed acquisition of neonatal reflexes in newborn primates receiving a thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine: Influence of gestational age and birth weight

that study has now vanished without a trace
http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/03/...d-the-suppression-of-autism-science.html#more

This is very upsetting but I should have realized this would happen. I love the publishers last line about removing the study, “The publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause”. Well….it’s just a little inconvenient for every child that will be harmed and every family that will have to spend the rest of their life trying to undo the damage. The highs….the lows……I still think it is only a matter of time before the science catches up and there will be no way to hide it. There are a lot of people talking about vaccines and environment causing disease now. This was not the case in the recent past.

Just thought I would add a link to a recently published paper on how levels of mercury may contribute to ASD pathogeneis.
http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/7/1/20

<Thorsen, who was a psychiatrist and not a research scientist or toxicologist, parlayed that study into a long-term relationship with CDC. He built a research empire called the North Atlantic Epidemiology Alliances (NANEA) that advertised its close association with the CDC autism team, a relationship that had the agency paying Thorsen and his research staff millions of dollars to churn out research papers, many of them assuring the public on the issue of vaccine safety.>

Hmmm, now I wonder why that sounds a bit familiar.....

Excellent find IS.
Orla

Thorsen investigated by Danish police for fraud

Latest on the guy:

http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/03/copenhagen-police-investigating-autism-vaccine-researcher-dr-poul-thorsen-for-fraud.html

Natasa, thank you so much for this great contribution!

Wow, thanks. And if my kid's school persists in wanting her to get more vaccinations, I'll hand them a copy of this.

add another WOW...

...this is definitely huge. Kudos to Kennedy and Huffpo for getting this news out (and Island Finn!)

Islanfinn

this explains so much why Ben Goldacre, a Wessely poodle appeared on the ITV news to counter a radio discussion about vaccines being linked to autism. He presented himself as a doctor, when in fact he is a psychiatrist, and said that the radio program was immoral and misleading parents who were denying their kids the MMR. He cited the Danish issue/study as proof that mercury does not poison children and cause autism.

He played the poor doctor being denied freedom of speech by LBC radio station he says took out an injunction against him. I have heard it said that he is the new Wessely in training. From a new bread of media savvy and cool Britannia government "docs". I believe he also writes for the Guardian newspaper. He had an article that went on about how dismayed he was that the government invent psychiatric diagnosis, presumably the invention should be left to psychiatrists who can then send the government the bill. He also presents himself as an opponent of bad science which he says is stirs up by the media. Good one that - a psych who dislikes "bad science". He dislikes it so much that he presents himself as a doctor rather than a pseudo babbling quack. Presumably its OK when him and his mates dumb crap into the media like Wessely does through PLoS. He took his opportunity to cite the danish MMR autism issue and miss out the flaws and lack of scientific credibility.

He is also a regular on the BBC The One Show. Interesting the BBC is funded by the public, and we are supplied with Psych propaganda by psychiatrists presenting themselves as doctors. I wonder what Government official got him a job with the BBC.

Here is a youtube link to his ITV news appearance as a "doctor" and evaluator of good science over bad science.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfheO9H8CD4

if my memory serves me :ashamed: Goldacre is part of Science Media Centre, enjoying the merry company of Wessely and other IoP geniuses, like the esteemed professor micheal rutter (autism epidemic denialist it-is-all-in-the-genes bullshitter with lots of conflicts of interest, who surprise suprise testified against wakefield at GMC hearing)

also from what I've heard LBC radio journalist got in trouble for airing those views

this is a great illustration of how bad things have gotten with media censorship and twisting things:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/03/sebelius-asks-media-to-censor-autism-debate.html#more

some amazing comments below the article, esp earlier ones

Flex, I share your outrage. I would just like to point out that, in the US at least, a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who has had further training in psychiatry, generally the more biological aspects of mental illness. So, these psych-os are not actually misleading the public that they are doctors...they are. They just have a bias that explains everything in terms of mental illness, while ignoring or disdaining all the biological evidence for physical abnormalities in ME. They probably don't know anything about virology or vaccination science and don't want to, but it doesn't stop them from accepting the money from the disability insurance companies like Unum, or from big Pharma, to create and spread the propagand. I'm not surprised that bunch has had to come up with some new lobbyists like Goldacre, since Wessely and flock are becoming tarnished.

Thanks IF for posting this. Another WOW from me as well.

Robert Kennedy has written and spoken about the dangers of mercury in the past. He had himself tested for mercury and his levels were SO HIGH, that he was told by his doctor that if he was a pregnant female, he would be certain to have children with birth defects.

I can't even count how many people I know have, and have had, SERIOUS health issues from toxic heavy metals. It's just disgusting how they keep attempting to cover this up.

Oerganix

when I looked into it furthur it was hard to find out what discipline of medicinde he practises. He claims to work in London hospitals but nobody knows where. Anyway, psyches here are medical doctors by training first but they dont really practice medicine once they start with the psych babble stuff. It appears he is a member of the Institute Of Psychiatry (IOP).

Can anyone here clarify where Ben Goldacre works and in what field.

What really bothers me is that scientists and media point out this Danish study as proof that vaccines do not cause autism. In the same breath, I have witnessed these same scientists and media dismiss the Wakefield MMR study NUMEROUS times over the last decade. I do not know how to phrase this but in each step of the process (about every 6 months), there will be an article published or a blurb on TV stating something regarding the Wakefield study and then they follow up with see..... there is no link between autism and vaccinations. If you do not follow this closely, you would really think there is scientific evidence that there is no link. Now this story breaks regarding this Danish thief and I hear nothing but birds chirping from the media and scientists. Oh, I forgot, the vaccine court decided to find no link to autism the day after this story broke. It was ALL over the news. It is all about timing.

Dr Eric Fombonne is the lead author of the other set of "debunking" studies, those that are used as 'proof' that vaccines do not cause neurological damage - whenever health authorities or lazy journalist and science bloggers feel the need to pull something out of thin air, they quote Fombonne "debunking" studies alongside the Danish studies (of which Thorsen is the lead author).

So while Thorsen is being investigated right now by the Danish police for fraud, forgery and theft, on the other side of the Atlantic his 'colleague in arms' Fombonne is being investigated by his employer, McGill University, for serious academic misconduct.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/03/fombonne-lord-leventhal-vs-children-with-autism.html

What goes around comes around, ey.