Autism Congressional Hearing Transcripts: Dan Burton

Still image of Rep. Dan Burton saved from this video

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Let me start off by saying, contrary to what has been stated in the media over the years, I am not against vaccination. I believe that vaccinations have a very important place in our society and have given us one of the best health regimens in the history of mankind. People live longer, and live better, and have less disease because we have vaccinations. 

What we have always opposed is putting toxic chemicals, or mineral --- metals --- in the vaccinations. 

Thimerosal contains mercury. When I was a boy, we used to have mercury in thermometers, and they said if you break that thermometer and the mercury gets on your hands, as years went by, that was toxic. 

In Indianapolis, we had a school where, in the chemical laboratory, in the health science room, they broke a vial that had some thimerosal in it, they evacuated the school, they burned the clothes of kids that came into contact with it, and the fire department came in with all kinds of equipment to make sure they weren’t exposed to it. 

Women who are pregnant, they say don’t eat fish that has mercury in it, and they caution them that there’s certain kinds of fish you don’t eat. You don’t drink water that has any mercury in it. There’s all kinds of reasons not to be exposed to mercury, and yet we continue to put it in vaccinations as a preservative. 

In 1929, they came up with thimerosal. They tested it on 29 people that had meningitis. They all died of meningitis, but they said the mercury in the vaccinations, or the thimerosal, didn’t cause any problems, it was not a contributing factor. So ever since 1929, it has never been completely tested, and they continue to put it in vaccinations! 

It wasn’t so bad when a child got one vaccination, or two or three. But when they get as many as 28 or 29 before they go into the first grade, it really hurts them. It causes a cumulative effect. The brain tissues do not chelate it, and it stays in there and causes severe, severe problems. 

Now I had, during the chairmanship which I had in this committee, when I was chair, for six years, we had about four years of hearings. We had people from all over the world: scientists from every part of the world, doctors from every part of the United States, who testified. And people from CDC and FDA said, “There’s no evidence that the thimerosal causes any neurological problems in people who are vaccinated.” And then we kept on, kept on, and finally we had some people from FDA and CDC who came and testified and said --- get this word --- there is no conclusive evidence that the mercury in the vaccinations causes neurological disorders. 

No conclusive evidence. 

Now, that word “conclusive” ought to stick in everybody’s mind, because what it means is there’s a possibility. Now my question has always been --- and I’m convinced that the mercury in vaccinations is a contributing factor to neurological diseases such as autism and Alzheimer’s, I’m convinced of it after all those years we had hearings --- but that word “conclusive,” “there’s no conclusive evidence,” creates a doubt. 

And my question to the presidents and CEOs of pharmaceutical companies has always been, if there’s any doubt, if there’s any doubt that the mercury in vaccinations can cause a neurological problem, then get it out. 

You shouldn’t put mercury in any form in the human body, especially in children in vaccinations. Or adults, in my opinion. 

When we get a vaccination for flu --- every year we get a flu vaccination --- we have thimerosal, fellas. I don’t know if you know that. They’re injecting a certain amount of mercury in your body. And over time, I believe it does have an adverse impact on the neurological system. Of adults. I think it’s a contributing factor to other diseases such as Alzheimer’s. 

Let me just say that the thing we need to do is always err on the side of safety. If the pharmaceutical industry were to go to single-shot vials, then you would eliminate the possibility of neurological problems because there wouldn’t be any mercury in them. 

The last thing I want to say real quickly --- I’ve got 20 seconds --- we passed a vaccine injury compensation fund to compensate those people who were injured by vaccinations. And it was supposed to be something that people could work with the government to get that money --- the pharmaceutical companies were putting money into that fund --- but it’s so hard for a person who’s had a damaged child or a damaged adult to get any money out of that fund, it’s unbelievable. We need to reevaluate that fund to make sure that people who are damaged by mercury in vaccinations need to have access to that so they can at least have some compensation to help with the rest of their lives. These people are going to live sixty, seventy years and they’re going to be a burden. Not only on the families, but on society itself.
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You know you're not going to hear anything good when the speaker feels compelled to preface it with, "Now, I'm not against vaccines, but ..."

That's another five minutes of this hearing wasted on the completely fictitious vaccine hypothesis, and it really does not make me feel good about this hearing at all, or about Congress in general and their likelihood of doing anything helpful for autistic people, that this guy, with his thimerosal obsession, was apparently the driving force behind this committee's decision to look into autism. 

On a lighter note, this is the first I've heard anyone suggest that vaccines might be causing Alzheimer's disease, too!