..."
There’s no record of Verstraeten publicly presenting a relative risk of 11.35. Instead, the number appears in a 2004
presentation from
SafeMinds, an autism-focused anti-vaccine group that
helped bring thimerosal concerns to prominence in the first place.'
Post #86
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More from your Factcheck article;
..
.SafeMinds says in the presentation that it obtained statistical tables from Verstraeten’s early analyses via a Freedom of Information Act request. The group claims the data showed a relative risk of autism of 7.62 to 11.35 in children with the highest exposures to thimerosal versus those who weren’t exposed in their first month of life.
The presentation does not include the actual documents the group says it obtained via the FOIA request, and the presentation does not include details like confidence intervals. (We reached out to SafeMinds about
getting the original documents but did not get a reply.)
It is unclear on what Kennedy bases his assertion that a relative risk of 11.35 corresponds to risk from the hepatitis B vaccine. SafeMinds suggests that achieving the highest category of thimerosal in a child’s first month “required an unusual pattern of exposure,” consisting, for instance, of a hepatitis B vaccine plus another vaccine given early.
Even if Verstraeten did come up with a relative risk of 11.35 at some point — a fact that is not established — it would have been incorrect to conclude based on such a preliminary analysis that vaccines were behind “the autism epidemic.” And of course, much more rigorous studies have since been performed, rendering any of these early findings entirely moot.
In fact, Verstraeten wrote in 2004: “Continuing the debate of the validity of the screening study is a waste of scientific energy and not to the benefit of the safety of US children or of all children worldwide that have the privilege of being vaccinated.”...
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Junior is an out-and-out liar. That trump empowered this dishonest anti-vaxxer highlights the current President's complete contempt for all Americans - including our children.
