Autism-vaccine subpeona update

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about Kathleen Seidel, a blogger at neurodiversity.com, who was being intimidated via subpeona by a lawyer for anti-vaccinationists. The lawyer, Clifford Shoemaker, represents plaintiffs in a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers alleging that mercury in their vaccines caused autism in children.

The subpeona filed by Mr. Shoemaker was particularly intrusive, and Seidel filed a motion to quash. The motion to quash has not been responded to yet. Also, Ms. Seidel is now receiving gracious and helpful legal council from the 1st Amendment team at Public Citizen.

There are two updates on this front:

1) No one has heard a word from Mr. Shoemaker about the Seidel subpeona. Could it be that we have slimed your name so horribly that you are afraid to make a stink? Could it be that you realize that your subpeona doesn't have a prayer in open court? Your little scheme didn't work the way you hoped, did it Mr. Shoemaker? That is the happy news.

2) The sad news is that some people have been hearing from Mr. Shoemaker. He has issued another subpeona to Dr. Marie McCormick. Dr. McCormick chaired a committee for the Institute of Medicine that evaluated the safety of vaccines.

Why would Mr. Shoemaker want to subpeona Dr. McCormick? Here's background from Orac:

Why did Shoemaker subpoena Dr. McCormick? From 2001 to 2004, Dr. McCormick was the chair of the Immunization Safety Review Committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). This committee is charged with analyzing and reporting on data relevant to the safety of vaccines and vaccination practices. During her tenure, as Kathleen points out, this particular committee published numerous reports of its findings, many of which are now freely available on the National Academy of Sciences website. Among these reports was one from 2001, Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine and Autism, in which the committee concluded that the then existing studies provided no support for an association on a population level between MMR immunization and autism or autistic spectrum conditions (a conclusion that has only become stronger with time and more studies). Another one of its reports, Vaccines and Autism, which was published in May 2004, concluded that the currently-available evidence at the time favored rejecting the hypothesis of a causal relationship of thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. Again, this finding has stood up and become only stronger with more studies done since then.

The subpeona demands internal documents from the committee deliberations. Further, it demands information related to Dr. McCormick's potential conflicts of interest. This might on first glance seem to be a legitimate subpeona. However, I agree with Orac: the intent of this subpeona is also to engage in a conspiratorial witch-hunt and intimidate academics who don't by the mercury-autism line.

First, Dr. McCormick would never have been allowed on such a committee if she had a conflict of interest. Those things are screened out in advance. Second, Dr. McCormick participated in a committee with the understanding that deliberations would be kept confidential. This allows individuals on the committee to maintain their integrity and speak frankly. It also protects them from the sort of retaliation that Mr. Shoemaker is trying to perpetrate. Third, those documents which are not confidential are already publicly available on the National Academy of Sciences website. Why should Dr. McCormick do Mr. Shoemaker's job?

Fortunately enough, Dr. McCormick -- who has also filed a motion to quash -- has the law amply on her side. The courts have repeated recognized that confidentiality in these committees is in the public interest.

This is another slimy tactic by Mr. Shoemaker, but he isn't going to get away with this one either.

Orac and Liz Ditz have this story covered very, very well. Check there for more information.