What is that smell?

Depending on your temperament and how well drugs get blamed and then the blame gets shifted, you might consider Thalidomide a wonder drug or the scourge of Pregnant Europeans and their children in the 50's and 60's. Really, the research goes either way: Yes they knew it was harmful to the unborn or no: they didn't and when they did they pulled it off the market.

It can be given to conspiracy or it can be the catalyst for stricter testing of pharmaceuticals before they are marketed. But, you see, it's failed in both regards.

As a conspiracy: It's back on the market. Thalidomide has it's uses. And it helps wonderfully in those specific instances so: still making money. Safer, and with a bad rep, but still successful in helping people.

As for the poster child for testing: MAJOR fail here. It falls back into the conspiracy arena at this point because, well, they are still releasing products with unknown effects on humans because no one tests on humans and it's impossible to predict how a human being will react. Pigs are close, but humans are too varied.

And that's the rub for the Vaccine - Autism link. Deny what you want, but the truth is: Something stinks in Denmark.

I will not get into the Vaccine - Autism link. People are too emotional about it. I will say: Bug is no longer getting ANY vaccines and Tay is.

From the Huffington Post:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Chairman, Waterkeeper Alliance; Professor, Pace University

Posted: March 11, 2010 11:25 AM

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

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 reliedon 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/international/89-international/48229-researcher-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/international/89-international/48229-researcher-accused-of-cheating-uni-out-of-millions.html

Really

Yes, a blog entry. Oooh. Ahhh.

It seems I write almost everything that goes on in our lives on Bug's Blog or Tay's Blog or this blog or that blog...which is funny coming from someone who was so very ANTI-Blog. Oh well, we all change. 

So, maybe I might just start up this one again. Heaven's knows I don't type enough yet..of course...I wonder how many calories 90 words a minute burns? Hmm?