2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference
Encyclopedia
The 2000 Simpsonwood CDC conference (officially titled Scientific Review of Vaccine Safety Datalink Information) was a meeting convened in June 2000 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), held at the Simpsonwood Methodist retreat and conference center in Norcross, Georgia
. The key event at the conference was the presentation of data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink
examining the possibility of a link between mercury in vaccines and neurological problems in children who had received those vaccines.
A 2005 article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
, published by Rolling Stone
and Salon.com
, focused on the Simpsonwood meeting as part of a conspiracy to withhold or falsify vaccine-safety information. However, Kennedy's article contained numerous major factual errors and, after a number of corrections, was ultimately retracted by Salon.com. Nonetheless, on the basis of Kennedy's claims, the conference gained notoriety in the anti-vaccination movement, where it formed the basis of various conspiracy theories and allegations.
(FDA) to review the thiomersal
content of approved drugs and biologics. The Simpsonwood conference was held to perform this review. At the conference, representatives from the CDC, the FDA, and the pharmaceutical industry held two days of discussion, focusing on adverse event data
derived from the Vaccine Safety Datalink
. Three vaccines of primary interest were discussed: hepatitis B vaccine
, DPT vaccine
, and the Hib vaccine
.
The attendees included experts in the fields of autism
, pediatrics, toxicology, epidemiology and vaccines. Also in attendance were approximately half a dozen public-health organisations and pharmaceutical companies, as well as eleven consultants to the CDC, a rapporteur
, and a statistician
. The meeting also served as a prelude to vaccine policy meetings held by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
(ACIP), which sets U.S. vaccine policy for the CDC. The session was also to serve as the initial meeting of the ACIP work group on thimerosal and immunization
.
Presentations and supporting documents from the conference were subject to a news embargo
until June 21, 2000, at which point they were published by the ACIP. After the conference, researchers carried out a planned second phase to further analyze and clarify the study's preliminary findings. The results of this second analysis were published in 2003.
contained an article written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
entitled "Deadly Immunity". The article, which was also published on Salon.com
, focused on the Simpsonwood conference and alleged that government and private industry had colluded to "thwart the Freedom of Information Act" and "withhold" vaccine-safety findings from the public. Kennedy claimed that the Simpsonwood data linked thiomersal
in vaccines to the rise in autism, but that the lead researcher later "reworked his data to bury the link between thimerosal and autism." However, Kennedy's article contained numerous significant errors of fact. The article overstated the amount of ethylmercury
in vaccines by several orders of magnitude, erroneously claimed that a researcher held a patent on one of the discussed vaccines, and erroneously claimed that the rotavirus vaccine contained thiomersal, among other errors.
Although Salon.com later admitted that these errors "went far in undermining Kennedy’s exposé", at the time they chose not to retract the piece in the interest of transparency. Instead, the magazine corrected Kennedy's article five times due factual errors, ultimately retracting it in January 2011 because the editors felt that criticisms of the article and clear flaws in the science connecting autism and vaccines undermined the value of the article.
By the time the final study results discussed at Simpsonwood were published in 2003, the lead researcher, Thomas Verstraeten, had gone to work for GlaxoSmithKline
. Kennedy contended that the delay in publication gave Verstraeten sufficient time to fix the data around the CDC's alleged objective of obscuring a link between thimerosal and autism. Verstraeten denied the allegations, and published an account of the matter in the journal Pediatrics
.
In September 2007, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions rejected allegations of impropriety against Verstraeten and the CDC. Addressing the conspiracy alleged by Kennedy and members of the anti-vaccination movement, the Committee found that: "Instead of hiding the [Simpsonwood] data or restricting access to it, CDC distributed it, often to individuals who had never seen it before, and solicited outside opinion regarding how to interpret it. The transcript of these discussions was made available to the public."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
(CDC), held at the Simpsonwood Methodist retreat and conference center in Norcross, Georgia
Norcross, Georgia
As of 2010 Norcross had a population of 9,116. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 40.8% white , 19.8% black or African American , 0.7% Native American, 2.1% Asian Indian, 10.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 21.5% from some other race and 4.3% reporting two or more races...
. The key event at the conference was the presentation of data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink
Vaccine Safety Datalink
The Vaccine Safety Datalink Project was established in 1990 by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the adverse side effects of vaccines....
examining the possibility of a link between mercury in vaccines and neurological problems in children who had received those vaccines.
A 2005 article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. is an American radio host, activist, and attorney specializing in environmental law. He is the third of eleven children born to Ethel Skakel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and is the nephew of John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy...
, published by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
and Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, focused on the Simpsonwood meeting as part of a conspiracy to withhold or falsify vaccine-safety information. However, Kennedy's article contained numerous major factual errors and, after a number of corrections, was ultimately retracted by Salon.com. Nonetheless, on the basis of Kennedy's claims, the conference gained notoriety in the anti-vaccination movement, where it formed the basis of various conspiracy theories and allegations.
Conference details
In 1997, the Congress of the United States passed a resolution requiring the Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) to review the thiomersal
Thiomersal
Thiomersal , and commonly known in the US as thimerosal, is an organomercury compound. This compound is a well established antiseptic and antifungal agent....
content of approved drugs and biologics. The Simpsonwood conference was held to perform this review. At the conference, representatives from the CDC, the FDA, and the pharmaceutical industry held two days of discussion, focusing on adverse event data
Adverse effect (medicine)
In medicine, an adverse effect is a harmful and undesired effect resulting from a medication or other intervention such as surgery.An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. If it results from an unsuitable or incorrect dosage or...
derived from the Vaccine Safety Datalink
Vaccine Safety Datalink
The Vaccine Safety Datalink Project was established in 1990 by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the adverse side effects of vaccines....
. Three vaccines of primary interest were discussed: hepatitis B vaccine
Hepatitis B vaccine
Hepatitis B vaccine is a vaccine developed for the prevention of hepatitis B virus infection. The vaccine contains one of the viral envelope proteins, hepatitis B surface antigen . It is produced by yeast cells, into which the genetic code for HBsAg has been inserted...
, DPT vaccine
DPT vaccine
DPT refers to a class of combination vaccines against three infectious diseases in humans: diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus...
, and the Hib vaccine
Hib vaccine
Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine is a conjugate vaccine developed for the prevention of invasive disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b bacteria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the use of the Hib vaccine. Due to routine use of the Hib vaccine in...
.
The attendees included experts in the fields of autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
, pediatrics, toxicology, epidemiology and vaccines. Also in attendance were approximately half a dozen public-health organisations and pharmaceutical companies, as well as eleven consultants to the CDC, a rapporteur
Rapporteur
Rapporteur is used in international and European legal and political contexts to refer to a person appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue or a situation....
, and a statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
. The meeting also served as a prelude to vaccine policy meetings held by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices provides advice and guidance on effective control of vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. civilian population. The ACIP develops written recommendations for routine administration of vaccines to the pediatric and adult populations, along with...
(ACIP), which sets U.S. vaccine policy for the CDC. The session was also to serve as the initial meeting of the ACIP work group on thimerosal and immunization
Immunization
Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent ....
.
Presentations and supporting documents from the conference were subject to a news embargo
News Embargo
In journalism and public relations, a news embargo or press embargo is a request by a source that the information or news provided by that source not be published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met...
until June 21, 2000, at which point they were published by the ACIP. After the conference, researchers carried out a planned second phase to further analyze and clarify the study's preliminary findings. The results of this second analysis were published in 2003.
In the anti- vaccination movement
The June 20, 2005 issue of Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
contained an article written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. is an American radio host, activist, and attorney specializing in environmental law. He is the third of eleven children born to Ethel Skakel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and is the nephew of John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy...
entitled "Deadly Immunity". The article, which was also published on Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, focused on the Simpsonwood conference and alleged that government and private industry had colluded to "thwart the Freedom of Information Act" and "withhold" vaccine-safety findings from the public. Kennedy claimed that the Simpsonwood data linked thiomersal
Thiomersal
Thiomersal , and commonly known in the US as thimerosal, is an organomercury compound. This compound is a well established antiseptic and antifungal agent....
in vaccines to the rise in autism, but that the lead researcher later "reworked his data to bury the link between thimerosal and autism." However, Kennedy's article contained numerous significant errors of fact. The article overstated the amount of ethylmercury
Ethylmercury
Ethylmercury is a cation composed of an ethyl group bound to a mercury centre; its chemical formula is C2H5Hg+...
in vaccines by several orders of magnitude, erroneously claimed that a researcher held a patent on one of the discussed vaccines, and erroneously claimed that the rotavirus vaccine contained thiomersal, among other errors.
Although Salon.com later admitted that these errors "went far in undermining Kennedy’s exposé", at the time they chose not to retract the piece in the interest of transparency. Instead, the magazine corrected Kennedy's article five times due factual errors, ultimately retracting it in January 2011 because the editors felt that criticisms of the article and clear flaws in the science connecting autism and vaccines undermined the value of the article.
By the time the final study results discussed at Simpsonwood were published in 2003, the lead researcher, Thomas Verstraeten, had gone to work for GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
. Kennedy contended that the delay in publication gave Verstraeten sufficient time to fix the data around the CDC's alleged objective of obscuring a link between thimerosal and autism. Verstraeten denied the allegations, and published an account of the matter in the journal Pediatrics
Pediatrics (journal)
Pediatrics is an official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In the inaugural January 1948 issue, the journal's first editor, Hugh McCulloch, articulated the journal's vision: "The content of the journal is... intended to encompass the needs of the whole child in his...
.
In September 2007, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions rejected allegations of impropriety against Verstraeten and the CDC. Addressing the conspiracy alleged by Kennedy and members of the anti-vaccination movement, the Committee found that: "Instead of hiding the [Simpsonwood] data or restricting access to it, CDC distributed it, often to individuals who had never seen it before, and solicited outside opinion regarding how to interpret it. The transcript of these discussions was made available to the public."