Come hear the critics discuss vaccine injury, autism, ingredients and contaminants
University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium
January 24, 2015, 10am to 5pm
10 Authors on Vaccines, Science, Politics & Media
Science for Sale / Dr. David Lewis
Vaccine Injuries / Louis Conte
Plague / Kent Heckenlively & Dr. Judy Mikoitz
Vaccines 2.0 / Mark Blaxill & Dan Olmsted
The Vaccine Court / Wayne Rohde
The Autism War / Louis Conte
Vaccine Injuries/ Louis Conte
The Big Autism Cover-Up / Anne Dachel
Vaccine Epidemic / Mary Holland & Kim Mack Rosenberg
Author Presentations, Meet & Greets, Signings, Panel Discussions and more!
Science for Sale: How the US Government Uses Powerful Corporations and Leading Universities to Support Government Policies, Silence Top Scientists, Jeopardize Our Health, and Protect Corporate Profits Hardcover – June 3, 2014by David L. Lewis PhD (Author) When Speaker Newt Gingrich greeted Dr. David Lewis in his office overlooking the National Mall, he looked at Dr. Lewis and said: “You know you’re going to be fired for this, don’t you?” “I know,” Dr. Lewis replied, “I just hope to stay out of prison.” Gingrich had just read Dr. Lewis’s commentary inNature, titled “EPA Science: Casualty of Election Politics.” Three years later, and thirty years after Dr. Lewis began working at EPA, he was back in Washington to receive a Science Achievement Award from Administrator Carol Browner for his second article in Nature. By then, EPA had transferred Dr. Lewis to the University of Georgia to await termination—the Agency’s only scientist to ever be lead author on papers published in Nature and Lancet.The government hires scientists to support its policies; industry hires them to support its business; and universities hire them to bring in grants that are handed out to support government policies and industry practices. Organizations dealing with scientific integrity are designed only to weed out those who commit fraud behind the backs of the institutions where they work. The greatest threat of all is the purposeful corruption of the scientific enterprise by the institutions themselves. The science they create is often only an illusion, designed to deceive; and the scientists they destroy to protect that illusion are often our best. This book is about both, beginning with Dr. Lewis’s experience, and ending with the story of Dr. Andrew Wakefield. | |
| David L. Lewis, PhD, changed dentistry to a heat-sterilization standard worldwide in 1992 when his research at the University of Georgia showed that germicides recommended by the CDC and FDA could not prevent common dental devices from causing sporadic cases of HIV infection. As a veteran microbiologist in EPA’s Office of Research & Development, his medical and environmental research and commentaries on the politics of science have been covered in news articles and documentaries by every major media outlet, from Reader’s Digest to National Geographic. |
Plague: One Scientist’s Intrepid Search for the Truth about Human Retroviruses and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Autism, and Other Diseases Hardcover – November 18, 2014by Kent Heckenlively (Author), Judy Mikovits (Author) On July 22, 2009, a special meeting was held with twenty-four leading scientists at the National Institutes of Health to discuss early findings that a newly discovered retrovirus was linked to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), prostate cancer, lymphoma, and eventually neurodevelopmental disorders in children. When Dr. Judy Mikovits finished her presentation the room was silent for a moment, then one of the scientists said, “Oh my God!” The resulting investigation would be like no other in science.For Dr. Mikovits, a twenty-year veteran of the National Cancer Institute, this was the midpoint of a five-year journey that would start with the founding of the Whittemore-Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease at the University of Nevada, Reno, and end with her as a witness for the federal government against her former employer, Harvey Whittemore, for illegal campaign contributions to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On this journey Dr. Mikovits would face the scientific prejudices against CFS, wander into the minefield that is autism, and through it all struggle to maintain her faith in God and the profession to which she had dedicated her life. This is a story for anybody interested in the peril and promise of science at the very highest levels in our country. | |
Kent Heckenlively is a former attorney, a founding editor of Age of Autism, and a science teacher. During college Heckenlively worked for US Senator Pete Wilson, and in law school he was a writer and an editor of the school’s law review and spent his summers working for the US Attorney’s Office in San Francisco. Kent and his wife Linda live in Northern California with their two children, Jacqueline and Ben. | |
Judy Mikovits, PhD, spent twenty years at the National Cancer Institute, working with Dr. Frank Ruscetti, one of the founding fathers of human retrovirology, and has coauthored more than forty scientific papers. For five years she was the research director of the Whittemore-Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease. Dr. Mikovits lives in Southern California with her husband, David. | |
Vaccines 2.0: The Careful Parent’s Guide to Making Safe Vaccination Choices for Your Family Paperback – February 3, 2015by Mark Blaxill (Author), Dan Olmsted (Author)The CDC’s bloated vaccine schedule has doubled since 1988, after the federal government gave pharmaceutical companies immunity from lawsuits. Autism and other childhood disorders like asthma, ADHD, juvenile diabetes and digestive ailments have skyrocketed. And parents are understandably nervous, desperate for objective guidance that takes those concerns seriously. Vaccines 2.0 looks at the lengthy roster of today’s recommended injections, the documented risks that accompany them, and helps parents choose a schedule based on unbiased, uncensored, unconflicted science. From whether to get a flu shot during pregnancy–and how to avoid dangerous mercury if you do–to the Hep B shot within hours of birth, to the controversial Gardasil vaccine for preteens, Vaccines 2.0/i> provides the tools to decide for yourself. The three sections cover: Why should you care? What should you know? What can you do? The exclusive Risk-Reward Assessment assigns a numerical score to each of the 14 recommended vaccines. Also included is information on learning to spot, report and treat side effects; talking to your doctor and finding a sympathetic one if you can’t, and comparing alternative schedules if you decide to delay or skip shots. When it comes to your child, it’s your choice. Vaccines 2.0 will give you the information you need to choose wisely. | |
| Mark Blaxill, MBA is the father of a daughter diagnosed with autism, Chairman and co-founder of the Canary Party, Editor-at-Large for Age of Autism, a former director of SafeMinds and a frequent speaker at autism conferences. He writes often on autism, science and public policy issues for Age of Autism and has published a number of articles, letters and commentaries on autism in journals such as Public Health Reports, the International Journal of Toxicology, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Neurotoxicology and Medical Hypotheses. He has also been invited to peer review articles in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Epidemiology, Pediatrics and the International Journal of Toxicology. As part of his advocacy work, he has testified before the Immunization Safety Review of the Institute of Medicine (2001), served on a Blue Ribbon Panel on Vaccine Safety (2004), initiated a symposium sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences entitled “Environmental Factors in Neurodevelopmental Disorders” (2005) and a workshop sponsored by the Institute of Medicine entitled “Autism and the Environment: Challenges and Opportunities for Research” (2007). He was a panelist at a “Meeting on Evaluating Reasons for ASD Trends” co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Autism Speaks (2011) and at a hearing “1 in 88 Children: A Look Into the Federal Response to Rising Rates of Autism” called by the House of Representatives’ Oversight and Government Reform Committee (2012). He received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. In his professional career, he spent 25 years at The Boston Consulting Group, where he was a Senior Vice President. Recently, he co-founded 3LP Advisors, an advisory firm focused on intellectual property transactions, where he is a Managing Partner. He recently co-authored a book on autism, called The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Man-made Epidemic, (Thomas Dunne, September 2010). |
Dan Olmsted is the editor of the web site Age of Autism (ageofautism.com). He has been a journalist for over thirty-five years. He was an original staff member of USA Today and senior editor of USA Weekend and United Press International. He lives in Fall Church City, Virginia, is a member of the National Press Club. | |
The Vaccine Court: The Dark Truth of America’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Hardcover – November 11, 2014by Wayne Rohde (Author)A hard look at the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the families desperately trying to navigate their way through it. The Vaccine Court looks at the mysterious and often unknown world of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), the only recourse for seeking compensation for those who have been injured by a vaccine. The NVICP, better known as the ”Vaccine Court,” however, is not without controversy. Established by Congress as a direct result of the passage of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, the NVICP was supposed to offer a no-fault alternative to the traditional injury claims filed in state or federal courts and was to provide quick, efficient, and fair compensation for those who have been injured by vaccines. The reality, however, is that many cases take several years or longer to complete and require tremendous commitment from families already pushed to the brink of bankruptcy caring for the vaccine-injured family member, only to discover that the end result is manipulated by the government in defense of the US vaccine policy. Mr. Rohde looks into the inner workings of the US Federal Claims Court and the NVICP. He interviews families who have filed petitions and won compensation, families who have been denied compensation, and families still waiting for a decision. By highlighting the journeys of these families—their efforts to find attorneys willing to represent them, the filing of their petitions, and the subsequent mountain of paperwork, medical records, and other documents that span years—Mr. Rohde exposes the bitter truth behind the NVICP. Through his thoughtful interviews and fact-finding research, The Vaccine Court sheds light on how the NVICP has evolved into something far more treacherous than what Congress envisioned with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act in 1986. | |
| Wayne Rohde is a co-founder of Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota, Autism Advocacy Coalition of Minnesota, and national advisory member of Health Choice. Wayne has twin sons, age 16, Nicholas and Austin. Nicholas was vaccine injured and later diagnosed with regressive autism. Mr. Rohde has advocated extensively in Minnesota, Oklahoma and nationally for autism health insurance reform, vaccination choice and improved educational, employment and residential services for people with autism. Wayne lives in Woodbury, Minnesota with his wife and twin sons. |
Vaccine Injuries: Documented Adverse Reactions to Vaccines – November 18, 2014by Lou Conte (Author), Tony Lyons (Author) Reveals the truth behind the controversial issue of vaccine-related injuries. Proponents declare that vaccines have saved millions of lives. Critics claim that the success is overstated and that vaccines may even be dangerous. Many consider mandatory vaccinations a violation of individual rights or religious principles. Many in public health argue that vaccine mandates are critical and justified and that antivaccination sentiment has resulted in outbreaks of preventable childhood illnesses. Vaccine critics point to mainstream medicine’s denial of and underreporting of vaccine injury. Vaccine injuries have happened in the past and continue to happen today, and neither the mainstream medical establishment nor the government has ever fully and transparently addressed the issue of vaccine injury. In the 1980s, the United States addressed individual cases of vaccine injury by establishing the NVICP—the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program—a controversial Department of Health and Human Services program. The NVICP was intended to be “non-adversarial, compassionate, and generous” to vaccine-injury victims. However, many vaccine-injury victims and safety advocates believe that the program is not functioning as intended. There are also concerns that the program is keeping the reality of vaccine injury from public inspection. Vaccine Injuries, a groundbreaking book in the field, reveals cases of vaccine injury from the NVICP—something that has never been offered to the public—and lets readers asses vaccine injuries for themselves. | |
The Autism War: A Novel Hardcover – April 1, 2014by Louis Conte (Author)Tony Colletti, a good suburban cop and father of a child with autism, finds himself drawn into the controversy over the apparent but rarely acknowledged connection between childhood vaccines and autism. His quest to uncover the truth forces him to risk all he holds dear while confronting corrupt government officials, the powerful pharmaceutical industry, and disturbing elements of his own past. Even while holding down his job and dealing with family crises, Colletti spearheads the drive to contend with industrial espionage, Russian gangsters, and sexual predators preying upon disabled children. He and his colleagues face powerful government and private factions that manipulate the media, fabricate scientific research, conduct shadowy judicial proceedings, and viciously attack those who question vaccine safety. In this gripping novel, government and industry have formed an unholy alliance that places profit ahead of children’s health, one that compels ordinary Americans to fight back to protect their families and the ideals of justice. In the tradition of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People and echoing the infamous Minamata, Japan, mercury poisoning tragedy, The Autism War reminds us how a handful of dedicated citizens armed with convincing evidence can prevail over a complacent majority and overwhelming odds. | |
| Louis Conte is a law enforcement officer and independent investigator with the Westchester County (NY) Department of Probation. As a leading advocate for people with autism, he has championed their cause in state capitols and Washington, DC. He was the lead investigator for and coauthor of a seminal paper on the autism-vaccine controversy, “Unanswered Questions from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury,” in the Pace Environmental Law Review, which found that the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program compensated many children with autism for vaccine-induced brain damage while declaring no link between vaccines and autism. Conte lives in Pleasantville, New York, with his wife, Andrea, and their three sons, Thomas, Sam, and Louie. |
The Big Autism Cover-Up: How and Why the Media Is Lying to the American Public Hardcover – November 18, 2014by Anne Dachel (Author)An unflinching look at the truth behind the media’s lies about autism. Autism now affects two percent of U.S. children. A once rare disorder is now so common that everyone knows someone with an affected child. Yet neither mainstream doctors nor government officials can tell the American public what is behind the staggering rise in diagnoses. The Big Autism Cover-Up explores how news outlets downplay the impact of autism while backing the official denial of any link between the disorder and vaccines. Despite never honestly and thoroughly investigating the link, mainstream news sources continue to challenge those who question the safety of vaccines and the mounting evidence that an unchecked, unsafe vaccination schedule is behind the exponential increase in autism. Anne Dachel has spent the last ten years monitoring how the press covers autism. She’s seen the media promote the unrelenting message from health officials that autism hasn’t really increased, that it is simply a matter of better diagnosing of a disorder that’s always been around. Meanwhile, autism remains a perpetual mystery and scientists continue to guess at the genetic and environmental triggers. Officially there is no known cause or cure for autism. There’s nothing a new mother can do to prevent a baby that was born healthy and is developing normally from regressing into autism by the age of two. Despite this, officials rarely express concern and adamantly refuse to call autism a crisis. The Big Autism Cover-Up exposes this controversy in searing detail. | |
| Anne Dachel is married and the mother of four, including two who were vaccine injured. She’s a teacher and she monitors how the press covers autism. She’s media editor for the daily online autism news blog, Age of Autism. Anne and her family live in WI. |
Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children Paperback – September 1, 2012by Louise Kuo Habakus (Editor), Mary Holland (Editor), Kim Mack Rosenberg (Editor)Public health officials state that vaccines are safe and effective, but the truth is far more complicated. Vaccination is a serious medical intervention that always carries the potential to injure and cause death as well as to prevent disease. Coercive vaccination policies deprive people of free and informed consent—the hallmark of ethical medicine. Americans are increasingly concerned about vaccine safety and the right to make individual, informed choices together with their healthcare practitioners. Vaccine Epidemic focuses on the searing debate surrounding individual and parental vaccination choice in the United States. Habakus, Holland, and Rosenberg edit and introduce a diverse array of interrelated topics concerning the explosive vaccine controversy, including the ethics of vaccination mandates, corrupting conflicts of interest in the national vaccine program, and personal narratives of parents, children, and soldiers who have suffered vaccine injury. Newly updated with additional chapters focusing on institutional scientific misconduct, mandates for healthcare workers, concerns about HPV vaccine development, and the story behind the Supreme Court’s recent vaccine decision, Vaccine Epidemic remains the essential handbook for the vaccination choice movement and required reading for all people contemplating vaccination for themselves and their children. | |
| Kim Mack Rosenberg is a litigator at a major New York City-based law firm, where her practice focuses on products liability, class actions, insurance coverage and general civil litigation. In 2009 she was recognized by the Legal Aid Society for her pro bono service. In addition to being on the board of EBCALA and the Center for Personal Rights, Kim is the President of the National Autism Association NY Metro Chapter. She is also on the Executive Leadership Team of HealthChoice.org |