More on Evidence of Harm movie

Participant Productions

Evidence of Harm

OVERVIEW

Genre: Drama
Status: In Development

CAST & CREW

Producer: Ross Bell

SYNOPSIS

When their children descend into the frightening world of autism, a group of parents discover a disturbing link between thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative found in vaccines, and the steady rise in autism and developmental-based disorders. One tenacious mother, Lyn Redwood, risks her family to battle the FDA, CDC and the American government to increase transparency within the organizations and to increase funding for research, despite efforts from pharmaceutical companies and government officials to suppress evidence and prevent parents from gaining restitution for their children’s conditions. When a midnight rider is added on to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 indemnifying the pharmaceutical companies from retribution, the fight for answers and restitution intensifies; even as Lyn continues to fight the war at home in trying to rescue her son Will from the grips of autism.

From Publisher’s Weekly:

The first serious journalistic account of a highly controversial topic, Kirby's book addresses the front-page question: has a mercury-containing preservative called thimerosal, commonly used in children's vaccines, caused a national epidemic of juvenile autism? Following the development of the debate through the eyes of a handful of impassioned parents who formed the political action group, Safe Minds, Kirby, an experienced writer for the New York Times, crafts an engrossing David and Goliath story from this controversy, one in which the giant is an amalgamation of big government bureaucrats and corporate pharmaceutical lobbyists. Whether the association between thimerosal and autism is real remains to be seen, as Kirby points out. And though Kirby clearly sympathizes with the parents' tragic experience of autism in their families and their inherent desire for justice, and though he occasionally demonstrates a lack of understanding about the politics of scientific publication and the wording of scientific articles, his book remains one of the most thoroughly researched accounts of the thimerosal controversy thus far. This is the book for medical professionals and concerned parents to read. It's accessible in its handling of medical topics and compelling in its recounting of the parents' fight to advance their agenda in the face of both political and scientific roadblocks.