A review on the use of the preservative thimerosal in vaccines slated to be presented on Thursday to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s outside vaccine committee cites a study that does not exist, according to the scientist listed as the study’s author.
The report, titled “Thimerosal as a Vaccine Preservative” published on the CDC website Tuesday, is to be presented by Lyn Redwood, a former leader of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense.
It makes reference to a study called “Low-level neonatal thimerosal exposure: Long-term consequences in the brain,” published in the journal Neurotoxicology in 2008, and co-authored by University of California, Davis professor emeritus Robert Berman.
But according to Berman, “it’s not making reference to a study I published or carried out.”
Berman said he co-authored a similarly named study in a different journal — Toxicological Sciences — that came to different conclusions than those suggested by Redwood.
“We did not examine the effects of thimerosal in microglia,” he said. “I do not endorse this misrepresentation of the research.”
Slide removed from presentation
Reuters is the first to report on the inaccurate citation from Redwood’s planned presentation. Later on Tuesday, the CDC uploaded a new version of Redwood’s presentation, removing the slide citing the Berman study.
The meeting has become increasingly controversial after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just weeks ago abruptly fired all previous 17 members of the expert panel and named eight new members, half of whom have advocated against vaccines.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed every member of a scientific committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccination. Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch says the move lacks transparency and risks eroding the public’s trust in vaccines.
Kennedy, a long-time anti-vaccine activist, founded Children’s Health Defense.
The summary of the presentation suggested that there are enough thimerosal-free flu vaccines and that all pregnant women, infants and children should receive only those shots. It was not clear if the new advisory panel would be asked to vote on such a move.
Redwood’s presentation was in contrast to a separate report posted on the CDC website Tuesday that says evidence does not support a link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Kennedy has long pushed a link between vaccines and autism, which is contrary to scientific evidence.
Redwood could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesperson for HHS said the study being referenced was the one in Toxicological Sciences, which Berman said was being misrepresented.
Senators push to postpone meeting
Both Republican U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Democratic U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington said the meeting, scheduled for June 25 and 26, should be postponed.
On Monday, Cassidy, who heads the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labour and Pensions (HELP), called for the meeting to be delayed, saying it should not take place with a relatively small panel and without a CDC director in place.
Murray, a senior member and former chair of the HELP committee, has also called for the fired panel members to be reinstated or the meeting be delayed until new members are appropriately vetted.
