The Panic Virus

by Seth Mnookin; Dan B. Miller

  107 The next step in Wakefield’s hypothesis: Wakefield et al., “Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder,” 640.

  107 The opioid excess theory: Jaak Panskepp, “A Neurochemical Theory of Autism,” Trends in Neurosciences 1979;2: 174–77.

  107 the five experts who addressed the media: Jeremy Laurance, “I Was There When He Dropped His Bombshell,” The Independent (London), January 29, 2010.

  107 “With the debate over MMR that has started”: Jo Revill, “Scientists Warning Prompts Fears over Measles Vaccine,” The Evening Standard (London), February 26, 1998, 1.

  108 the press conference descended: Laurance, “I Was There When He Dropped His Bombshell.”

  108 “If this were to precipitate a scare”: Ian Murray, “Measles Vaccine’s Link with Autism Studied,” The Times (London), February 27, 1998.

  108 As scientists around the world already knew: Michael Fitzpatrick, MMR and Autism: What Parents Need to Know (London: Routledge, 2004), 119–20.

  108 After an initial peer review: Richard Horton, Second Opinion: Doctors, Diseases, and Decisions in Modern Medicine (London: Granta, 2003), 207–8.

  108 “Usually, when they publish a commentary”: Frank DeStefano, interview with author, July 2, 2009.

  108 Only two years had passed: Jeremy Laurance, “Second Opinion: Doctors, Diseases and Decisions in Modern Medicine by Richard Horton,” The Independent, July 3, 2003, 15.

  109 The Lancet conspicuously declined: Laurance, “Not Immune to How Research Can Hurt.”

  109 “Reported adverse events”: Richard Horton, “Correspondence: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998;351(9106): 908–09.

  110 As Chen and DeStefano demonstrated: Robert T. Chen and Frank DeStefano, “Vaccine Adverse Events: Causal or Coincidental?,” The Lancet 1998;351(9103): 611–12.

  111 Several years later, when the dean of research: Transcript of record, Hazelhurst v. Sec’y Health and Human Services, 634.

  111 While his detractors were explaining: Peter Richmond and David Goldblatt, “Correspondence: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998;351(9112): 1355–56.

  112 He condemned his critics: Laurance, “Not Immune to How Research Can Hurt.”

  112 And Wakefield had answers: “Helpline Puts GPs in the Firing Line,” Pulse, March 14, 1998, 3.

  112 Even when Wakefield was called on to defend: Andrew Wakefield, “Correspondence: Author’s reply: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998; 351(9106): 908.

  113 a Guardian feature on Karen Prosser: Sarah Boseley, “Undetected Bowel Illness Led to Baby’s Misery,” The Guardian (London), February 27, 1998, 5.

  114 It, too, found his research lacking: “Group Concluded No Reason for Change in MMR vaccine Policy,” Medical Research Council, March 24, 1998.

  114 One of the few voices of support: Barbara Loe Fisher, “Correspondence: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998;351(9112): 1357–58.

  114 Ten co-signers: Helen Bedford et al., “Correspondence: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998;351(9106): 907.

  114 three more from the Barnsley Health Authority’s: David Black et al., “Correspondence: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998;351(9106): 905–06.

  114 “Ban Three-In-One jab”: Jenny Hope, “Ban Three-in-One Jab Urge Doctors After New Fears,” The Daily Mail (London), February 27, 1998, 13.

  114 “Doctors Link Autism to MMR Vaccination”: Jeremy Laurance, “Doctors Link Autism to MMR Vaccination,” The Independent (London), February 27, 1998, 1.

  114 “Research Rejects Autism Link with Vaccine”: Jennifer Trueland, “Research Rejects Autism Link with Vaccine,” The Scotsman, May 1, 1998, 10.

  114 “Triple Jab Is Safe”: “Triple Jab Is Safe, Says Medical Chief,” The Daily Mail (London), March 13, 1998, 25.

  115 a letter that was sent to The Lancet: Andrew Rouse, “Correspondence: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998;351(9112): 1356.

  115 The first public hints of the answer: Andrew Wakefield, “Correspondence: Author’s reply: Autism, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and MMR vaccine,” The Lancet 1998;351(9112): 1357.

  115 the Dawbarns pamphlet, which recommended: “JABS Briefing Note 9th April 2008,” Justice, Awareness and Basic Support, April 9, 2008.

  116 On November 27, 1996, The Independent ran: Langdon-Down, “Law: A Shot in the Dark.”

  116 planning on suing the manufacturers: “Fitness to Practise Panel Hearing,” General Medical Council (U.K.), January 20, 2010, 6.

  116 Wakefield’s lab had been paid £50,000: Ibid., 4.

  116 the initial research proposal: Andrew Wakefield, “Submission to the UK Press Complaints Commission,” n.d., http://www.cryshame.co.uk//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135.

  116 Wakefield received £435,643: Brian Deer, “MMR Scare Doctor Got Legal Aid Fortune,” The Sunday Times (London), December 31, 2006, 12.

  116 Wakefield had filed a patent: Brian Deer, “MMR Scare Doctor Planning Rival Vaccine,” The Sunday Times (London), November 14, 2004, 8; “Patent Application Number 9711663.6,” The Patent Office, the Department of Trade and Industry (U.K.), June 6, 1997, http://briandeer.com/wakefield/vaccine-patent.htm.

  117 “Measles Turned My Son into an Autistic Child”: Ken Oxley, “Measles Turned My Son into an Autistic Child,” The Daily Record (Glasgow), March 4, 1998, 2.

  117 “I Want Justice for My James”: James Wildman, “I Want Justice for My James—Study Boosts Mum’s Battle,” Gloucestershire Echo, February 28, 1998, 1.

  CHAPTER 10: THIMEROSAL AND THE MYSTERY OF MINAMATA’S DANCING CATS

  PAGE

  118 On the morning of January 28, 1928: Claire Hooker, “Diptheria, Immunisation and the Bundaberg Tragedy,” Health and History 2000;2(1): 52–78.

  120 That spring, a five-year-old girl: Timothy George, Minamata (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2002), 5.

  120 Residents spoke of a “cat dancing disease”: Akio Mishima, Bitter Sea: The Human Cost of Minamata Disease (Toyko: Kosei, 1992), 43.

  120 floating fish corpses: Ibid., 40.

  120 Birds dropped from the sky: Ibid., 152.

  121 The level of mercury consumed by residents: Masazumi Harada, Minamata Disease (Kunamoto, Japan: Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbun Culture and Information Center, 2004), 50.

  121 In 1971, nearly five hundred Iraqis: F. Bakir, “Methylmercury Poisoning in Iraq,” Science 1973;181(4096): 231.

  121 Labels marked “DANGER” and “POISON”: Jane Hightower, Diagnosis Mercury (Washington, D.C.: Island, 2008), 148.

  121 field studies in the Faroe Islands: Philippe Grandjean et al., “Cognitive Deficit in 7-Year-Old Children with Prenatal Exposure to Methylmercury,” Neurotoxicology and Teratology 1997;19(6): 417–28.

  121 and in the Seychelles: Philip Davidson et al., “Effects of Prenatal and Postnatal Methylmercury Exposure from Fish,” Journal of the American Medical Association 1998;280(8): 701–7.

  121 in the Faroe Islands study: Grandjean, “Cognitive Deficit in 7-Year-Old Children with Prenatal Exposure to Methylmercury,” 417.

  121 All the while, the number of childhood vaccines: “History of Vaccine Schedule,” The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, n.d., http://www.chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-schedule/history-of-vaccine-schedule.html. See also: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Notice to Readers: Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule—United States, January 1995,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report January 6, 1995;43(51): 959–60; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Notice to Readers: Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule—United States, January 15, 1999,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1999;48(01): 8–16.

  122 Vaccinologists also knew that ethylmercury: Michael Shannon, “Methylmercury and Ethy
lmercury: Different Sources, Properties and Concerns,” AAP News 2004;25(1): 23.

  122 In the fall of 1997, a Democratic congressman: United States Congress House of Representatives, “Mercury Environmental Risk and Comprehensive Utilization Reduction Initiative,” 105th Cong., 1st Sess. H.R. 2910 (Washington, D.C., GPO, 1997).

  123 The use of the preservative had never: Freed et al., “The Process of Public Policy Formulation: The Case of Thimerosal in Vaccines,” 1153.

  123 In December 1998, it asked: Food and Drug Administration, “Notice: Mercury Compounds in Drugs and Foods; Request for New Information,” Federal Register 1998;63(239): 68775–77.

  123 By the following April: Freed et al., “The Process of Public Policy Formulation: The Case of Thimerosal in Vaccines,” 1154.

  123 The confusion was heightened: Ibid.

  124 There was considerably less consensus: Ibid.

  124 Included among those was Neal Halsey: Neal Halsey, interviews and e-mails with author, April–June 2010.

  124 “There was no safety data”: Neal Halsey, interview with author, April 26, 2010.

  124 From the outset, Halsey: Neal Halsey, interviews and e-mails with author, April–June 2010.

  125 In a series of meetings: Freed et al., “The Process of Public Policy Formulation: The Case of Thimerosal in Vaccines,” 1155.

  125 And then, in the course of a handful of days: Ibid., 1155–56.

  125 At the last minute, Surgeon General: Ibid.

  126 The CDC’s read as follows: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Notice to Readers: Thimerosal in Vaccines: A Joint Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Public Health Service.”

  127 The AAP’s statement echoed: Paul Offit, “Thimerosal and Vaccines—A Cautionary Tale,” New England Journal of Medicine 2007;357(13): 1278–79.

  127 Pediatricians were given no guidance: Freed et al., “The Process of Public Policy Formulation: The Case of Thimerosal in Vaccines,” 1158–59.

  127 at least one death, of a three-month-old: The American Medical Association, “Impact of the 1999 AAP/USPHS Joint Statement on Thimerosal in Vaccines on Infant Hepatitis B Vaccination Practices,” Journal of the American Medical Association 2001;285: 1568–70.

  128 One Los Angeles Times article: Jane Allen, “Shots in the Dark,” Los Angeles Times, October 18, 1999, S1.

  128 A Denver Post story quoted at length: Al Knight, “Pinning Down the Risks of Vaccinations,” Denver Post, August 5, 1999, B9.

  128 The most outspoken proponent of this view: Paul Offit, interview with author, February 3, 2009.

  128 In support of his argument Offit pointed: Ibid.

  129 Halsey was among those who thought Offit: Neal Halsey, interview with author, April 26, 2010.

  129 That fall, Halsey published an editorial: Neal A. Halsey, “Limiting Infant Exposure to Thimerosal in Vaccines and Other Sources of Mercury,” Journal of the American Medical Association 1999;282: 1763–66.

  129 Offit responded with a letter: P. A. Offit, “Letters: Preventing Harm from Thimerosal in Vaccines,” Journal of the American Medical Association 2000;283: 2104.

  129 Stanley Plotkin, a colleague of Offit’s: S. A. Plotkin, “Letters: Preventing Harm from Thimerosal in Vaccines,” Journal of the American Medical Association 2000;283: 2104–5.

  130 In 1997, he staged a backyard demonstration: Mary Ann Akers, “Dan Burton, Protecting the House from Terrorists (Alone),” washingtonpost.com, June 19, 2009, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2009/

  06/_rep_dan_burton_r–ind.html.

  130 a demonstration that prompted Calvin Trillin: Calvin Trillin, “The Trouble with Transcripts,” Time, May 18, 1998.

  130 a Washington Post reporter wrote: Akers, “Dan Burton, Protecting the House From Terrorists (Alone).”

  130 prompted Republican leader Newt Gingrich: George Lardner and Juliet Eilperin, “Burton Apologizes to GOP,” The Washington Post, May 7, 1998, A1.

  130 He was so terrified of catching AIDS: Frank Pellegrini, “Fool on the Hill,” Time, May 8, 1998.

  130 When Burton began committee hearings: Huntly Collins, “Life Giver or Life Taker?,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 3, 1999, A1.

  131 “There has never been”: Saad Omer, interview with author, April 2, 2009.

  131 In 1991, Maurice Hilleman: Maurice R. Hilleman, “Vaccine Task Force Assignment Thimerosal (Merthiolate) Preservative—Problems, Analysis, Suggestions for Resolution,” Memo to Gordon Douglas, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, 1991.

  131 Merck never told health officials: Meyer Levin, “’91 Memo Warned of Mercury in Shots,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2005.

  132 “If only we had done this”: Neal Halsey, interview with author, April 26, 2010.

  CHAPTER 11: THE MERCURY MOMS

  PAGE

  133 She was a thirty-year-old nursing student: David Kirby, Evidence of Harm (New York: St. Martin’s, 2005), 9–10.

  133 Finally, her husband: Ibid., 10.

  133 Suddenly, he was constantly sick: Elizabeth McBreen, “Spectrum’s Person of the Year 2009,” Spectrum, February/March 2010, http://www.spectrumpublications.com/index.php/

  magazine/spectrums_person_of_the_year_2009/. See also: Kirby, Evidence of Harm, 11–15.

  134 That November, Lyn met with a group: Kirby, Evidence of Harm, 16.

  134 She was going to determine exactly: McBreen, “Spectrum’s Person of the Year 2009.”

  134 Tom landed at the powerhouse Wall Street: Kirby, Evidence of Harm, 17–18.

  135 At just barely three pounds: Ibid., 18.

  135 what’s referred to as Very Low Birth Weight: K. N. Siva Subramanian et al., “Extremely Low Birth Weight Infant,” eMedicine for WebMD, June 18, 2009; “Very Low Birth Weight,” Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, n.d.

  135 Bill remained under constant watch: Kirby, Evidence of Harm, 18.

  135 It would take another two years: Ibid., 22.

  136 The more she thought about it: Ibid.

  136 Rimland’s notion that autism was primarily a neurological condition: Steve Edelson, “The Autism Research Institute and Defeat Autism Now!: Who We Are, and What We Do,” Autism Research Review International 2007;21(3).

  137 “turning their backs on the medical establishment”: Patricia Morris Buckley, “Dr. Bernard Rimland Is Autism’s Worst Enemy,” San Diego Jewish Journal, October 2002.

  137 In 1994, Eric and Karen London: “History of National Alliance for Autism Research,” Autism Speaks, n.d., http://www.autismspeaks.org/naar_history.php.

  137 Hollywood producer Jonathan Shestack and his wife: Sara Solovitch, “The Citizen Scientists,” Wired, September 2001.

  137 When she started CAN: Ibid.

  138 In March 1992, fifty-year-old Lorraine Pace: Bethany Kandel, “Neighborhoods Try to Zero In on ‘Cancer Clusters,’ ” USA Today, December 15, 1992, 2A.

  139 After analyzing its data: Peter Marks, “U.S. to Finance Project to Study Breast Cancer on Long Island,” The New York Times, November 25, 1993.

  139 at a cost to taxpayers of more than $30 million: Dan Fagin, “Tattered Hopes—A $30 Million Federal Study of Breast Cancer and Pollution on LI Has Disappointed Activists and Scientists,” Newsday, July 28, 2002, A3. See also: Dan Fagin, “So Many Things Went Wrong: Costly Search for Links Between Pollution and Breast Cancer Was Hobbled from the Start, Critics Say,” Newsday, July 29, 2002, A6; Dan Fagin, “Still Searching: A Computer Mapping System Was Supposed to Help Unearth Information About Breast Cancer and the Environment,” Newsday, July 30, 2002, A6.

  139 an exhaustive federal study found: D. M. Winn, “Science and Society: The Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project,” Nature Reviews Cancer 2005;5(12): 986–94.

  140 “I started reading about mercury”: Lyn Redwood, interview with author, April 21, 2010.

  141 One of the group’s first coups: Kirby, Evidence of Harm, 87.

  141 In his opening remarks: United States Congress House of Repres
entatives’ House Government Reform Committee, “Autism—Present Challenges, Future Needs—Why the Increased Rates?,” April 6, 2000, Federal News Service.

  141 a Louisiana housewife named Shelley Reynolds: Ibid.

  142 It was through that network: Kirby, Evidence of Harm, 34–35.

  142 In 1999, shortly after he was laid off: Ibid., 75.

  142 they had to speak “their language”: Ibid., 64.

  142 “Autism: A Novel Form of Mercury Poisoning”: S. Bernard et al., “Autism: A Novel form of Mercury Poisoning,” Medical Hypotheses 2001;56(4): 462–71.

  143 “can oblige authors to distort their true views”: “Online Submission and Editorial System,” Medical Hypotheses, n.d., http://ees.elsevier.com/ymehy/.

  143 “predict whether ideas and facts”: “Aims and Scopes,” Medical Hypotheses, n.d., http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/aims.

  143 a table comparing ninety-four traits: Bernard et al., “Autism: A Novel Form of Mercury Poisoning,” 463.

  144 the one published study that had looked: Philip S. Gentile et al., “Trace Elements in the Hair of Autistic and Control Children,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 1983;(12(2): 205–06.

  144 “parental reports of autistic children”: Bernard et al., “Autism: A Novel form of Mercury Poisoning,” 463.

  CHAPTER 12: THE SIMPSONWOOD CONFERENCE AND THE SPEED OF LIGHT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF SCIENCE

  PAGE

  146 it wasn’t until 1955: Douglas Pisano, James G. Kenimer and John J. Jessop, “Biologics,” in FDA Regulatory Affairs, ed., Douglas Pisano and David Mantus (Boca Baton, Florida: CRC Press, 2003), 131.

  146 it wasn’t until 1962: “Milestones in U.S. Food and Drug Law History—Significant Dates in U.S. Food and Drug Law History,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration, n.d., http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History

  /Milestones/ucm128305.htm.

  147 In 1974, when the parents: William Curran, “Public Warnings of the Risk in Oral Polio Vaccine,” Public Health and the Law 1975;65(5): 501–2.

  147 sixteen years had passed: Davies, “2 Polio Victims Win Vaccine Suit but Cutter Is Held Not Negligent.”