The Vaccine Safety Datalink Project (VSD) was established, in 1990, by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for the study of adverse side effects of vaccines. This article is about the year. ... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta is recognized as the lead United States agency for protecting the public health and safety of people by providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships with state health departments and other organizations. ... Adverse effect, in medicine, is an abnormal, harmful, undesired and/or unintended side-effect, although not necessarily unexpected, which is obtained as the result of a therapy or other medical intervention, such as drug/chemotherapy, physical therapy, surgery, medical procedure, use of a medical device, etc. ...

Four large health maintenance organizations, including Kaiser Permanente, were initially recruited to provide the CDC with medical data on vaccination histories, health outcomes, and subject characteristics. The VSD database comprises data compiled from surveillance on more than seven million Americans, including about 500,000 children from birth through age six years (2% of the U.S. population in this age group). A Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) is a type of Managed Care Organization (MCO) that provides a form of health insurance coverage in the United States that is fulfilled through hospitals, doctors, and other providers with which the HMO has a contract. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Vaccination is a term coined by Edward Jenner for the process of administering live, albeit weakened, microbes to patients, with the intent of conferring immunity against a targeted form of a related disease agent. ... Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior. ...

The VSD data sharing program is now being administered by the National Center for Health Statistics' Research Data Center. The data sharing guidelines have been revised to include comments from interested groups as well as recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. ... The Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, is an American organization whose purpose is to provide national advice on issues relating to biomedical science, medicine, and health (National Academy of Sciences, n. ...

No evidence of harm reported

The CDC has spent four years analyzing data from children who received varying amounts of thimerosal from vaccines. The study was revised several times before being published by the IOM in November, 2003. Early drafts, discussed at the 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference, showed highly elevated, statistically significant increased risks for autism and other disorders among the kids receiving the most mercury. The CDC indicates it has examined the data exhaustively, and pronounced that it found "no evidence of harm." To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For other uses, see November (disambiguation). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference was a meeting convened in June, 2000, by the Centers for Disease Control, held at the isolated Simpsonwood Methodist retreat and conference center in Norcross, Georgia. ... Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. ... Ethylmercury (sometimes ethyl mercury) is a cation that forms organomercury compounds such as ethylmercury chloride and ethylmercury urea. ...

Crisis of vaccine safety confidence

Can mercury in vaccines cause autism in children? This question has at the heart of the vaccine controversy that has escalated in recent years, as more biological evidence has surfaced suggesting a possible link. The possibility that vaccines have contributed to the striking rise in autistic spectrum diagnoses has led to concerns of a possible autism epidemic. The data compiled by the VSD could resolve this debate within weeks, but access has been denied to independent researchers, on the grounds that confidential data might be misused. But rules established by the CDC have made access to the VSD by independent researchers virtually impossible.[1] Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. ... Vaccines are widely credited for reducing the prevalence and damage of several diseases. ... The autistic spectrum, or autism spectrum, is the idea that autism is a developmental and behavioral syndrome that results from certain combinations of traits. ... The advent of a possible autism epidemic was first suggested in the mid-1990s by a handful of healthcare professionals who noticed sharp increases in the numbers being diagnosed and reported to public health agencies. ...

According to autism activist Barbara Loe Fisher, "There is a long history of denial by government health officials that vaccines cause brain injury, immune system dysfunction and death as evidenced by congressional testimony and public statements by federal health officials." Barbara Loe Fisher is a chiropractor and co-founder, in 1982, and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a national, non-profit educational organization - the oldest and largest national organization advocating reformation of the mass vaccination system. ...

Access to database

Advocacy groups, including Safe Minds, A-CHAMP and the National Vaccine Information Center, have staged protests, circulated petitions, lobbied congressional representatives in Washington, D.C., and waged media campaigns for the purpose of securing access to the VSD project database by independent researchers.[2] The Coalition for Safe Minds (Sensible Action For Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to investigating the risks of exposure to mercury from medical products. ... Advocates for Childrens Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning (A-CHAMP), is a United States political activism group, founded by parents, which advocates on behalf of children they believe were injured by mercury in thimerosal containing vaccines. ... The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a Vienna, Virginia based non-profit educational and political advocacy organization founded in 1982 by parents of children who were injured or died following vaccine reactions. ... Demonstrators march in the street while protesting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on April 16, 2005. ... Look up Petition in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A petition is a request to an authority, most commonly a government official or public entity. ... Lobbying is the practice of private advocacy with the goal of influencing a governing body, in order to ensure that an individuals or organizations point of view is represented in the government. ... Location in the United States of America Washington, D.C. is the capital city of the United States of America. ...

Only two outside researchers, Mark Geier and David Geier, have thus far gained access to the raw data. They faced formidable obstacles before being allowed into the CDC computer center, and then resistance from staff and software malfunctions once inside. Nevertheless, they reportedly found highly elevated risks for autism among children in the highest mercury exposure group. The Geiers study on the VSD, "A two-phased population epidemiological study of the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines: a follow-up analysis" was published in the Medical Science Monitor in 2004 volume 11(4):CR160-CR170. [3] Mark R. Geier, MD, PhD, (b. ...

The National Immunization Program later alleged that "In summary, during the first visit the researchers conducted unapproved analysis on their datasets and on the second visit attempted to carry out unapproved analyses but did not complete this attempt. This analysis, had it been completed, could have increased the risk of a confidentiality breach. Before leaving, the researchers renamed files for removal which were not allowed to be removed. Had it gone undetected, this would have constituted a breach of the rules about confidentiality."[4] Confidentiality has been defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as ensuring that information is accessible only to those authorized to have access and is one of the cornerstones of Information security. ...

The National Academies has circulated a position paper to government health agencies, stating "Two new oversight groups are needed to ensure that the policies and procedures of the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) and its data sharing program -- which is intended to give researchers access to patient data that will help them study vaccine safety issues -- are implemented as fairly and openly as possible."[5] President Harding and the National Academy of Sciences at the White House, Washington, DC, April 1921 The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. ...

See also

• Controversies in autism

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

External links

• CDC.gov - 'Vaccine Safety Data-Sharing Process', Centers for Disease Control
• ImmunizationInfo.org - 'Vaccine Safety: Vaccine Safety Datalink', National Network for Immunization Information
• JPandS.org (pdf) - : 'Thimerosal in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopment Disorders and Heart Disease in the United States' Mark Geier and David Geier Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Vol 8, No 1, Spring, 2003
• JPandS.org (pdf) - 'A Case-Control Study of Mercury Burden in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders', Jeff Bradstreet, M.D., David A. Geier, B.A., Jerold J. Kartzinel, M.D., James B. Adams, Ph.D, Mark R. Geier, M.D., Ph.D. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Vol 8, No 3, Summer, 2003
• NationalAcademies.org - 'Independent Oversight of Vaccine Safety Data Program Needed To Ensure Greater Transparency and Enhance Public Trust', National Academies (February 17, 2005)
• TheCre.com - /Why Won't the CDC Allow Access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink? Memo to CDC: We're not getting our money's worth', David Kirby (May 23, 2005)
• UniversityOfHealth.net - 'Institute of Medicine Report Stuns Scientific Community and Parents: Report Says No Evidence Mercury In Vaccines Related To Epidemic Levels of Autism' (May 20, 2004)
• WHO.int (pdf) - 'The Vaccine Safety Datalink: immunization research in health maintenance organizations in the USA', R.T. Chen, F. DeStefano, R.L. Davis, L.A. Jackson, R.S. Thompson, J.P. Mullooly, S.B. Black, H.R. Shinefield, C.M. Vadheim, J.I. Ward, S.M. Marcy & the Vaccine Safety Datalink Team, World Health Organization