The Children's Medical Safety Research Institute (CMSRI) is an anti-vaccine organization that also demonizes autism.
Claire Dwoskin and her husband Albert J. Dwoskin founded CMSRI, and lead its board of directors. Prior to founding CMSRI, Mrs. Dwoskin served on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), another anti=vaccine organization. She continued to serve on its board through 2015 (the last year reported).
CMSRI was founded in 2013, in two parts: the organization itself, and the Childrens' Medical Safety Research Institute Endowment Fund (founded 2014). The latter exists to "Hold and manage the Children's Medical Safety Research Institute's endowment and make research grants from the endowment. Also, the endowment will serve as a long-term financial reserve for the institute by way of providing funds to the institute."
The Dwoskins explained the decision to found CMSRI this way:
As a private foundation, the Dwoskin Family Foundation was limited to how it could raise and use donated funds. Laws governing tax-exempt organizations made it difficult to dedicate 100% of all donations to philanthropic causes. In many situations, especially when dealing with international research organizations, donations were heavily taxed. This lessened the amount of foundation-funded research and prolonged the arrival of important evidence and potential solutions.
Evidence of anti-vaccine philosophy:
On October 29, 2010, John Stossel aired a segment on his daughter's struggle with pertussis (whooping cough), which Mrs. Dwoskin took issue with:
I just saw the show and am so sorry to hear that other than what Chris had to say, not a word of truth was spoken by Stossel or Offitt. What a travesty – I hope someday he will recognize the error of his ways and realize the fear and damage that he is contributing to by allowing falsehoods to rule the air. At least his daughter is alive, smiling, educated and enjoying life. That cannot be said for the hundreds of thousands of vaccine injured children in the US. What his daughter went through is NOTHING compared to what the families of autistic children go through every day of their lives. No disease can match this record of human devastation. Vaccines are a holocaust of poison on our children’s brains and immune systems. Shame on you all.
In January 2011, The Dwoskin Family Foundation put on a "Vaccine Safety Conference" at a luxury resort in Jamaica. Matt Carey had this thought:
Next time I hear or read about Big Pharma buying off doctors with exotic junkets I’ll be thinking of Andrew Wakefield, talking via Skype from the Tryall Club in Jamaica.
In August, 2013, the blog Harpocrates Speaks published A Snapshot of the Deep Pockets of the Anti-Vaccine Movement:
If a study is funded by Merck, I will take its results with a bit of a grain of salt, especially if the results favor a Merck product. Likewise, if a study is funded by the Dwoskin Family Foundation, the Katlyn Fox Foundation or a similar group (e..g, NVIC), and the results favor the anti-vaccine stance, I won't just accept the results at face value. Knowing the motivations of the funding organization can serve as a signal to look for potential bias in the results. When a researcher appears to rely on funding from an organization or group with a very clear mission, they might design their study in such a way that they will find whatever results are favorable to their patron. The stronger the funder's convictions, the more likely it becomes a potential source of bias. It's not a sure thing, and it certainly is not a black-or-white metric, but it is a factor to consider and understand.
In February, 2015, CNN Money had a short video on The Money Behind the Vaccine Skeptics.
Matt Carey took a screenshot and fleshed out a bit more background:
I’ve never seen evidence of these groups actually funding work into safer vaccines. I’ve never seen, say, funding for research into a new vaccine or even something simple like improved storage and transportation for vaccines into the developing world to reduce the use of thimerosal, a preservative these groups claim (without good evidence) cause autism and other disabilities.
Recently,Vaxopedia published an explainer: What is the Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute?
Evidence of contempt for autistics:
March 2017: In Brain-Damaged Kids: Sesame Street’s Happy New Normal, The Childrens' Medical Safety Research Institute published this cruel and degrading article on autism:
I’m guessing little Muppet Julia won’t be smearing feces on Sesame Street’s walls then? Or banging her head on the floor like some autistic kids do. Or crying in agony from gut pain – bowel disorders are one of the many “comorbid” conditions of autism. Will she have regular epileptic seizures – they affect one in four autistic children, you know? Does the Muppet develop an autoimmune disease that goes along with autism and is now a leading cause of mortality in girls and young women. Is there going to be a “Self-Injuring Julia” on the market beside “Tickle-Me-Elmo”?
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