OAP: Contested Expertise & A New Test Case · Sep 8, 08:30 PM

A browse through the calendar of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims reveals a recent flurry of activity in Cedillo v. Department of Health and Human Services, the first case to be heard in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding (OAP), which consolidates approximately 4,750 vaccine-injury claims.

Hearings in Cedillo were conducted in Washington, D.C., from June 11 through June 26, 2007; audio recordings and transcripts of testimony are available on the court website.

The testimony of molecular biologist Professor Stephen Bustin was particularly injurious to the plaintiffs’ case. Prof. Bustin is an expert in polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the basis of assays used to identify DNA and RNA in biological samples. In 2003 and 2004, Prof. Bustin had conducted a comprehensive inspection of Unigenetics, the Dublin laboratory which purported to confirm the presence of “persistent measles virus” in autistic plaintiffs in the now-discontinued U.K. MMR litigation; Unigenetics reports have also been submitted as evidence by the Cedillo family and by other OAP plaintiffs. Due to confidentiality concerns, Prof. Bustin’s reports were not made publicly available until June 6, 2007 — five days before the commencement of hearings in the OAP. On that date, Mr. Justice Keith of the London High Court approved the request of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to obtain copies, since the U.K. litigation had been terminated and the parties involved had withdrawn their previous objections to release of the material, which was essential to a fully-informed adjudication of issues raised in the OAP. Special Master George Hastings allowed the reports to be entered into the record of Cedillo v. HHS over the plaintiffs’ objections.

Speaking from the stand at the Cedillo hearing, Prof. Bustin offered a detailed explanation of PCR and described numerous problems with Unigenetics laboratory procedures that increased the likelihood of inaccurate and questionable readings. These included inconsistent temperature regulation; contamination and degradation of samples; inconsistency in test procedures; and retroactive changes made to laboratory records. (Arthur Allen, Autism Diva, Kevin Leitch, Orac, and Michael Fitzpatrick have all published reports and commentary on Prof. Bustin’s testimony.)

The significance of Prof. Bustin’s critique of Unigenetics is underscored by the August 8, 2007 submission by the Cedillo plaintiffs of a motion to strike his expert report and testimony from the case record. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed an opposition to the motion on September 7. (The motion and opposition documents are not publicly available; in Vaccine Court cases, access to documents is restricted to attorneys of record.)

A motion to strike Prof. Bustin’s testimony was also filed on September 4, 2007 in Hazelhurst v. HHS (Case 1:03-vv-00654-UNJ). Plaintiff Rolf Hazlehurst is an Assistant District Attorney General in Tennessee’s 26th District; co-plaintiff Angela Hazlehurst is 1998 winner of the Mrs. Tennessee America beauty pageant and a member of the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities. Their autistic son was born in February 2000. (Their surname appears to have been misspelled in the case docket.) Curtis Webb, a Twin Falls, Idaho attorney specializing in vaccine injury cases, serves as counsel to the plaintiffs.

Hazelhurst v. HHS was filed in March 2003. The case was originally assigned to Special Master George Hastings; in June 2007 it was reassigned to Special Master Patricia Campbell-Smith as part of the court’s move to expedite autism case processing by dividing the burgeoning caseload between three Special Masters. On July 18, Special Master Campbell-Smith issued a scheduling order in which she described Hazelhurst v. HHS as “the second test case on the causation theory of OAP.”

Also on July 18, the Hazelhurst plaintiffs filed an expert report by Dr. Jean-Ronel Corbier of Concord, North Carolina, one-time Defeat Autism Now! practitioner and reportedly father of an autistic child. On his website Dr. Corbier describes himself as a board certified child neurologist. Dr. Corbier’s recommendations for patients with autism and other conditions include comprehensive assessment by medical specialists, evaluation of sensory disturbances, dietary modification and supplementation, “detoxification of toxins, heavy metals, etc.” and “spiritual detoxification.” Parent reports indicate that he has recommended DMSA, DMPS and TTFD chelation for autistic children as well as products from the multilevel marketing corporation Mannatech. Dr. Corbier describes his “Restoration Model” of autism treatment in a self-published book, Optimal Treatment for Children with Autism and other Neuropsychiatric Conditions, and has given public lectures on the subject of autism and vaccines.

Hearings in Hazelhurst v. HHS will be conducted in Charlotte, North Carolina in October 2007; the exact date has not yet been published by the court.

Comments


  1. I wonder how it must feel to be scrambling to exclude the testimony of an internationally recognized expert simply because you don’t like what he says? It truly isn’t about the facts for the plaintiffs.

    — Bartholomew Cubbins    Sep 8, 09:22 PM    #

  2. Multilevel marketing and self-published books…what would autism quackery be without them?

    — isles    Sep 8, 11:39 PM    #

  3. Dr. Corbier said: “Some individuals with ‘refractory’ or ‘intractable’ illnesses may have a ‘spiritual vitamin deficiency’ or may be in need of ‘spiritual detoxification’.”
    So does one buy the spiritual vitamins from a mannatech dealer?

    — anomatech    Sep 9, 01:16 AM    #

  4. The Sept. 8 disparaging comment against those questioning the cause of autism by citing multilevel marketing is a joke of epic proportions. Merck bullied Virginia legislators, including the women’s caucus, into passing mandatory vaccination of 12 year old girls and the headline the day after the vote recited Merck’s decision to invest millions in their Elkton, VA facility. Drug money talks, and they’re the first to admit there are statistical risks. They just don’t want to take care of their own mistakes. And a mistake with a human child is far more damaging to a country’s mental and economic health than a laboratory error that might cost a corporation financial loss. Read White Lies; A Tale of Babies, Vaccines, and Deception to learn how the drug manufacturers have insulated themselves. Compensation fund awards are paid for by parents with a surcharge at each vaccine. It’s like saying give me the poison and send me the bill. If parents and doctors who admit the risks don’t speak out, who will protect our children??

    — Sarah Collins Honenberger    Sep 10, 09:33 AM    #

  5. Ms. Honenberger,

    Nice plug for your book!

    Assuming that your assertions about drug companies and politicians are correct, what exactly is your reason for belief that vaccines cause autism? If you have data that is not generally available, perhaps you would be good enough to share it, since the published data strongly suggests that vaccines are not a significant cause of autism (and may not cause any autism).

    Also, exactly how did Merck “bully” legislators? Death threats? Threats of violence? Your post was rather vague on that detail.

    If – as you seem to imply – Merck threatened to withhold millions of dollars in investment money, I fail to see that as “bullying”. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to direct your anger at the legislators who let such a threat/promise distract them from what you feel is a matter of children’s health.

    Prometheus

    — Prometheus    Sep 10, 04:15 PM    #

  6. I took my child to see Dr. Corbier in Alabama, and funny, just like the email on chelatingkids2 he found our son had a “seizure disorder”, and even funnier 3 other pediatric neurologists didn’t find it. He told many parents he could “cure” their children, he told me my son would talk, I guess he’s psychic too. He left Alabama rather abruptly about a year ago and his website had a rather interesting message for a while saying he had left but did not say where he had gone. (But if you need your medical records just send him $15 and you can have them.) Nobody here in Alabama seemed to know why he left. My suspicion is that his patient caseload dropped drastically after parents realized he didn’t deliver as promised, also the Mannatech pushing disgusted many parents. Oh and if you need help “overcoming obesity” he can help you out there too.

    — Been Wondering what happened to Corbier    Sep 10, 09:51 PM    #

  7. I hope that the parents of Yates Hazlehurst are reading this. I saw the picture of your beautiful family on page 2 of this church newsletter.

    You should be very proud of your beautiful family, and in particular, proud of your son Yates who will be entered on the church preparatory roll. With best wishes!

    — You should be proud    Sep 13, 10:13 PM    #

  8. Why do the proponents of mandatory vaccines resort to sarcasm when the medical field and vaccine manufacturers ought to be concerned about children’s lives. They’ve offered no other reason for the astronomic increase in autism, as they offered no explanation to parents in the seventies and eighties whose children suffered seizures and permanent brain damage. Parents are not trying to be difficult just to be difficult. Their children are being injured. They agreed to the government’s vaccine schedule and yet, the government and the drug manufacturers don’t want to stand behind their promises to give the safest possible vaccine and to take care of the statistical risks. They knew the safer acellular version of the DPT vaccine existed in 1972. Sweden and Japan were giving it (they have the lowest infant mortality rates in the world). When Philadelphia doctor was quoted in March (during the Merck controversy) as saying, what’s the big deal, the FDA approved the safe DaPT shot in 1992, he omitted (on purpose?) the fact that it wasn’t required until 1998 by Congress AND it had been given for a decade in other countries SAFELY, but the reason the US government didn’t require it as part of the Compensation Fund (a way to protect manufacturers from pending and future lawsuits, expressed in the legislative history). Why didn’t they require it in 1988 Because it cost $12. more per shot and the government didn’t want to pay for all the Medicaid babies. It usually comes down to dollars, but we are talking about the lives of children.

    More discussion and investigation, rather than less, would seem to be appropriate. My book is based on one mother’s story, but I have heard hundreds of others that are almost identical. The government said for years, cold turkey, no discussion, that Agent Orange didn’t cause birth defects. Then after all those years of flat denial, they said they would pay the claims of veterans who had injured children. Why should anyone accept representations that affect their children, their health, without investigation? When chelation therapy is giving children back skills they’ve lost, and parents see that, why isn’t it logical to assume that the materials being withdrawn from their bodies are affecting their development?? This study touted by the New England Journal of Medicine studied infants under the age of 10 months. The autism injuries usually occur substantially later, when development has been on target and then there is a regression after vaccination, often after multiple vaccinations. Misinformation is as dangerous a deception as false information, the point in the title of my book. White Lies, told for the greater good, not necessarily free of danger.

    — Sarah Collins Honenberger    Oct 4, 11:33 AM    #

  9. Sarah,

    after sifting through your long post, the part that is missing is a connection between autism and vaccines.

    Yep, the government has made some big blunders, but that doesn’t connect the dots in your main argument.

    — Matt    Oct 16, 03:18 PM    #