March 22, 2003
Dear Senator Hillary Clinton:
We understand that you have been given a copy of our recently published paper in
the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons implicating thimerosal as having
caused neurodevelpmental disorders in children. Dr. Mark Geier has testified before the
Institute of Medicine of the United States’ National Academy of Sciences on four
occasions regarding vaccine policy, as well as before the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Government Reform and has been accepted as an expert witness on
vaccines in Federal, State, Canadian, and English Courts. He is board certified physician
licensed to practice medicine in Maryland and Virginia. He has worked at the National
Institutes of Health for 10 ten years and has been a professor at the Johns Hopkins
University and at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has
published over 70 scientific articles, several of which have received national and
international press coverage. David Geier is currently a graduate student at the National
Institutes of Health, and has been the president of MedCon, Inc for the past 4 years
providing consultation in cases involving vaccines. He has recently authored over 30
scientific articles on vaccine safety, efficacy and policy. We have been told that you seek
our help in determining what should be done with regard to childhood
neurodevelopmental disorders and vaccines as it applies to the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program (NVCIP), and contemplated legislation to improve the Program.
We hope the following will be of help to you in your work on this matter:
In the United States, a tragic and massive autism epidemic is currently underway.
The peer-reviewed scientific/medical literature, (including a recent publication in The
Journal of the American Medical Association), indicates that the prevalence of autism
was approximately 1 per 2,500 children in the mid-1980s, while by the mid-1990s the
prevalence of autism reached as high as 1 per 300 children, and some now have found
that the prevalence of autism in U.S. children may be as high as approximately 1 per 150
children. These statistics are even more troubling considering that autism has been
reported in the scientific/medical literature to effect males at least 5 times higher than
females, therefore, presently, autism may effect as many as 1 in 80 male children. It also
must be kept in mind that autism is only one of the most severe manifestations of autistic
spectrum disorders, which also manifests in other neurodevelopmental disorders such as
speech disorders, attention deficit syndrome, developmental delays, etc. For example, the
2001 U.S. Department of Education statistics showed in children born in 1983 there were
a total of 7,801 cases of speech or language impairment. Among children born in 1994,
this number had risen to 211,984 cases (an approximately 30-fold increase). In children
born in 1983, there were a total of 2,100 cases of autism. Among children born in 1994,
this number had risen to 8,325 cases (an approximately 4-fold increase). Eli Lilly who
has just come out with a new drug (Strattera) for the treatment of autistic spectrum
disorders has estimated its drug will be of use to 5 to 7% of the current U.S. childhood
population! It is ironic to note that this is the same Eli Lilly Company who makes
thimerosal, the mercury preservative found in childhood vaccines, that is the apparent
cause of the majority of childhood autistic spectrum disorders in the first place.
In order to determine the annual number of neurodevelopmental disorders there
were in the United States, we analyzed the United States Department of Education data
from their 2001 Report. This data provides a breakdown on the total number of children
in each age group from 6 to 22 years old in U.S. Public Schools that have various
childhood disorders. In order to determine the number of children with
neurodevelopmental disorders in U.S. Public Schools, we analyzed the total number of
children with speech or language impairments (speech disorders) and autism. We also
believe that those with developmental delays may also provide useful information on
children with neurodevelopmental disorders in U.S. Public Schools, but at the present
time this is a new category and limited reporting among children 6 to 9 years-old has
occurred. In analyzing the U.S. Department of Education data, we analyzed the
prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders within in each childhood cohort analyzed
(i.e. children 6 years-old in this report that was tabulated during the 1999-2000 school
year were assumed to be born in the 1994 birth cohort). The numbers of
neurodevelopmental disorders in this report are as follows for the following birth years:
1989
Autism = 5,223 cases
Speech Disorders = 72,250 cases
1990
Autism = 5,864 cases
Speech Disorders = 110,737 cases
1991
Autism = 7,020 cases
Speech Disorders = 157,790 cases
Developmental Delay = 1,027 cases
1992
Autism = 7,838 cases
Speech Disorders = 191,674 cases
Developmental Delay = 3,103 cases
1993
Autism = 8,769
Speech Disorders = 213,747 cases
Developmental Delay = 5,153 cases
1994
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
This data shows that there has been a remarkable rise in the prevalence of
neurodevelopmental disorders among children born to cohorts since 1989 and even
before that. This data also illustrates the fact that children diagnosed with
neurodevelopmental disorders require a significant period post-vaccination to be
diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders. Therefore, data regarding the more current
prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders is not available, but in order to estimate
more current projections of the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders in U.S.
children, we assumed that the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders did not
increase since the 1994 birth cohort, (this is almost certainly an underestimate). The
projected data would be as follows for those that may have had their three-year statute of
limitations run before the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act:
1995
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1996
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1997
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1998
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
1999
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
2000
Autism = 8,325 cases
Speech Disorders = 211,984 cases
Developmental Delay = 10,021 cases
Total Cases Excluded From the NVCIP (1989 through 2000)
Autism = 92,989 cases
Speech Disorders = 2,230,086 cases
Developmental Delay = 79,430 cases
Overall = 2,402,505 cases
Our assumptions as to the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders in children
are fairly reasonable because the amount of mercury that children have received from
thimerosal has at least stayed the same, and perhaps even increased. The amount of
mercury that children receive from thimerosal contained in childhood vaccines is of
importance to this issue because we have had accepted for publication three peer-reviewed
scientific/medical publications showing a direct overall and dose-response
relationship between the amount of mercury from thimerosal children received and the
incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders and we have several more studies on the
subject in various states of submission or preparation. We have concluded in our studies
that a causal relationship exists between mercury from thimerosal in childhood vaccines
and neurodevelopmental disorders. We have also had a peer-reviewed paper accepted for
publication which showed that the MMR live virus vaccine may have also contributed to
the ongoing epidemic of autism. Our best estimates are that the thimerosal contributed to
about 75% of the cases of neurodevelpmental disorders while the MMR contributed to
about 15%. The remaining 10% of the cases were related to mercury in Rhogam, a shot
given to Rh-negative women, and to other sources of neurotoxicity.
In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that thimerosal be
removed from all childhood vaccines. In 2001, the Institute of Medicine also
recommended that all childhood vaccines be made free of thimerosal and they stated that
only a few doses of childhood vaccine containing mercury preservative remained on
physician’s shelves. At a hearing in December of 2002, before Congressman Burton’s
House Committee on Government Reform, government officials testified that thimerosal
had been removed from all childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, this is not the case. A
review of the 2003 Physician’s Desk Reference shows that three manufactures of
childhood vaccines still are being made with full doses of thimerosal. These are as
follows: Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular-Pertussis (DTaP) manufactured by Aventis-Pasteur
in multi-dose vials contains 25 micrograms of mercury, Haemophilus-influenza-Type b
(HibTITTER) in multi-dose vials manufactured by Wyeth contains 25 micrograms of
mercury, and pediatric hepatitis B vaccine manufactured by Merck contains 12.5
micrograms of mercury. These vaccines represent approximately half of the childhood
vaccines currently available for use in the United States. Additionally, influenza vaccines
while not officially part of the childhood vaccine schedule are being recommended for
most children. Influenza vaccines contain 25 micrograms of mercury preservative.
Incidentally, the fact that influenza vaccine is not formally part of the childhood
vaccination schedule prevents those children who have severe adverse reactions from the
vaccine from being able to seek compensation under the Vaccine Compensation Program.
Also, Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) vaccine that is recommended for administration to children
7 years-old and older also still contains 25 micrograms of mercury.
It is our position that all children who have autistic spectrum disorders due to
immunizations should be allowed to seek compensation both from the Vaccine
Compensation Program and, if they so elect, from civil court remedies as well. We think
it is totally unfair that these innocent children should be prevented from seeking either or
both remedies because the public and physicians only recently have begun to become
aware that these children were damage from the thimerosal in childhood vaccines. We
think that the current three year stature of limitations should be waived to allow these
innocent victims to be allowed to seek both governmental and civil remedies for the
debilitating disorder from which they currently suffer, from no-fault of their own. We
also feel that the government should be required to conduct an effective publicity
campaign aimed at physicians and parents so that the families of all victims are made
aware of the remedies available to them. It is obvious from the relatively small number of
thimerosal cases currently filed before the Vaccine Compensation Program, (around
2000-3000 cases) as compared to the much larger number of children who may be
eligible for such compensation, (around 25,000 cases, from the data shown above for
autism alone in the past three years) that most who are eligible even under the currently
restrictive statute of limitations, (three years from the discovery of the injury), are
unaware of the fact that they are eligible under the program.
Finally, we plead with all involved authorities to remove mercury from all
vaccines immediately. The current epidemic of autism may well be the greatest iatrogenic
epidemic in history. The damage already done to our society is already in the trillions of
dollars. The damage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and that of the AIDS epidemic pale
when compared to the current epidemic of autism. All of us alive will have to bear its
effects both in the lifetime care of the damaged children and the loss of what they
otherwise might have contributed to our society.
We are very familiar with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
having served as expert witnesses and consultants in approximately 100 cases before the
program. We have done a lot of work with Congressman Burton’s Committee on these
matters. If we can be of any further help to you in this critical matter, we would be happy
to talk to or meet with you or your staff. Our contact information is as follows:
Work phone = 301-989-0548
Home phone = 301-384-6988
Fax = 301-989-1543
Email = mgeier@erols.com
We appreciate your efforts on behalf of our children in this important matter and
we look forward to the opportunity to be of further help to you.
Sincerely,
Mark R. Geier, MD, Ph.D.
David A. Geier