April 09, 2005 October is Koufax Pledge Drive month
Evidence of Harm
One could, if one were so inclined, follow the lead of the oddly industry inclinded CDC, and assert a priori, that there can not be a biologically plausible pathway between thimerosal (a vaccine adulterant manufactured by Eli Lilly that is 50% mercury by weight, and metabolized or degraded to ethylmercury and thiosalicylate) and autism, and if there is, the data and researchers that prove merely that a biologically plausible pathway exists will be withdrawn and defunded, respectively.
The solid rocket booster O-rings were not defective by design, and Morton Thiokol couldn't be liable for the Challenger disaster. Hint: What does 31°F mean to citrus farmers and O-ring riders? That was good for a hoot. Every time no one is looking Bill Frist tries to pull the vaccine adulterant manufacturer (Eli Lilly) under the umbrella of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, and at the same time, loot the fund. Because the notion that there might be a biologically plausible pathway between thimerosal and autism is utterly implausible, and that much money could be put to better use than compensating children who couldn't, by assertion, have been injured.
Or one could ask, if something used to kill or maime one person in ten thousand, and now gets one boy out of every eighty or ninty, and one girl out of every 250 or so, and the ramp-up has been both non-linear, and confined to the last 10 to 15 years, and hasn't been shown to have slowed its rate of growth, if being institutionally stupid about diagnostics is the better course of action.
We haven't yet read David Kirby's Evidence of Harm, but we intend to. You can order a copy from Amazon, Borders, Powell's, or just ring up your usual dealer and ask them to order a copy from a wholesaler. The price should be between $15 and $20, or about twice a Grisham novel about toxic torts, plaintiff's attorneys, and megapolluters (in paper). Kirby's work has one feature not present in Grisham's novels ... it is reality based.
Posted by EBW at April 9, 2005 06:22 AM | TrackBackI just got my copy. Good point about the O rings.
I believe it, that the rate hasn't slowed at all - I'm actually more surprised that it hasn't tripled or more.
They don't care. That's the bottom line. They really don't care.
Posted by: Moi at April 13, 2005 10:30 PMI have a 5 year old with autism. I don't even care anymore about trtying to sue Eli-Lilly or others. I just want the government and the big pharmaceutical companies to admit it was the thimerasol so we can move on with our own insurance companies. Once autism is shown to be biologic in nature, then insurance companies cannot hide behind the pyschiatric DSM-IV criteria. Only then will we receive the help we need.
Posted by: Steven Bowman M.D. at April 25, 2005 01:42 PM