While most mainstream news covers presidential campaigns or economic conditions, the feds are going under the radar and your skin – literally – with something that could be detrimental to your children's and your health. And news just broke about the cover-up, but few, if any, agencies passed along the wire.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, one in 110 children have autism spectrum disorders, or ASDs, which is strikingly higher than ratios just two decades ago. (ASDs are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause communication, behavioral and social challenges.) The National Autism Association, or NAA, calls the 644 percent increase of ASDs among all U.S. children since the early 1990s "a tragic epidemic of autism."

Many attribute the increase in numbers of ASDs to children being exposed to significant quantities of thimerosal, a mercury-based compound that has been used since the 1930s as a preservative in certain vaccines and pharmaceutical products to prevent bacterial and fungal contamination.

According to its own website, however, the CDC stands by its conclusions that, "To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with ASDs" (emphasis on "CDC's" conclusions). CDC added, "The most recent and rigorous scientific research does not support the argument that thimerosal–containing vaccines are harmful. … Is thimerosal in vaccines safe? Yes."

But last week a PRNewswire release reported that the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs, or CoMeD, exposed a federal cover-up between the CDC and vaccine researchers. Despite that the CDC possessed a 2002 communication that revealed a causal relationship between the removal of thimerosal from vaccines and a decline in autism rates, the CDC published a 2003 cornerstone article in Pediatrics that ignored the Danish data and misled the medical community and public by insinuating that thimerosal in vaccines does not increase the risks of autism.

Almost inconceivable, the Pediatrics article actually purported that autism rates increased after thimerosal was removed. And to add insult to injury, the PRNewswire report noted, "One coauthor, from Aarhus University, Denmark, was aware of the omission and alerted CDC officials in a 2002 email, stating, 'Attached I send you the short and long manuscript about Thimerosal and autism in Denmark … I need to tell you that the figures do not include the latest data from 2001 … but the incidence and prevalence are still decreasing in 2001.'"

The deliberate avoidance and falsification of scientific medical data to support CDC bias is heinous enough, but the fact that such information is manipulated to practice medicine on our nation's children is monstrous malpractice and even premeditated malevolence. I agree wholeheartedly with Lisa Sykes, president of CoMeD, on her summary of the CDC cover-up: "This type of malfeasance should not be tolerated by those who are entrusted with our children's health and well-being."

The Alliance for Natural Health commented that this is not the first shady behavior to be exposed in the CDC. ANH explained, "This is not the first scandal to hit the CDC in recent years. Earlier this year, Dr. Poul Thorsen, one of the co-authors of the Pediatrics article and "scientist-in-residence" at the CDC from 2000 to 2002, was indicted in Atlanta for fraud and money laundering in relation to his $11 million grant from the CDC. And just last week, Dr. Kimberly Quinlan Lindsey, a top CDC official, was arrested and charged with two counts of child molestation and one count of bestiality."

And just when you think vaccination news couldn't get any worse, last week the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the National Biodefense Science Board, which advises the federal government on bioterrorism issues, voted 12-1 to recommend that the Health and Human Services Department endorse and sponsor a study to test the anthrax vaccine in children! (Do these advisory panels not think 36 federally recommended vaccinations for children by age two are enough to add anthrax to them?)

To regress, the latest correlation revelation between vaccines and autism will fly in the face (or at least may cause some confusion) because of a 2011 August report from the Institute of Medicine, the nation's bastion of authoritative health and medicine advice, just cleared children vaccines as autism culprits.

But the truth is, as the NAA reports, "There are over 1,500 studies and papers documenting the hypoallergenicity and toxicity of thimerosal (ethylmercury) have existed for decades," with most recent research revealing commonness of speech delays and tics. The NAA added, "Recent studies have confirmed the association between the use of thimerosal and autism has moved from 'biologically plausible' [in 2001] to a 'biological certainty.'"

Hence, justification for thimerosal's inclusion in any product is unwarranted at best and dangerous at worst. Or, as the NAA categorically states in its series of warnings about thimerosal, "Mercury is hazardous to humans. The use of a toxic poison as a preservative is undesirable, unnecessary and should be eliminated entirely."

That is why the United Nations Environmental Programme is proposing a global treaty ban on mercury in vaccines, something SafeMinds.org, the parental advocacy group, applauds based upon its longevity in trumpeting the dangers and links of thimerosal.

But the facts are, according to a recent PRNewswire report, despite that thimerosal is not used in vaccines for measles, mumps, oral polio, yellow fever or tuberculosis, it is still found in in many diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and influenza (or flu) vaccines, especially in Third-World countries.

Since 2001 in the U.S., no new vaccine licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for use in children has contained thimerosal (except influenza). Nevertheless, the CDC continues to recommend some routine vaccines for children younger than 6 years of age with "trace amounts of thimerosal."

The FDA has approved many seasonal flu vaccines, which come in both multi-dose vials and single-dose units. Those that are produced in large quantities and are in multi-dose vials contain thimerosal, while the single-dose units (including nasal spray) do not contain thimerosal because they are opened immediately and used only once. (So if you or yours insist on seasonal influenza shots, ensure it is a single dose.)

But do we really want to swap the flu bug for thimerosal? And isn't "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" a total misnomer when it allows "trace amounts of thimerosal" in our children's soup of medicines? Are we really going to allow our children to be mercury-laced vaccinated guinea pigs? At the very least, shouldn't we avoid all thimerosal-containing products solely because of precautionary measures?

Dr. Jose Dorea, professor of nutritional sciences from the Universidad de Brasilia, hit the health nail right on the head when he recently said, "The evidence continues to mount that mercury in vaccines is not safe, that negative effects happen even with vaccine levels of exposure. We must end the use of thimerosal as soon as possible. No pregnant mother or child should have to trade getting mercury injected into them for the prevention of an infectious disease."

So buyer, beware! Or should I say, booster, beware! Don't check your brain in at the door of your family's health, nutrition or medical care. And don't ever be afraid to ask the hard questions of your health practitioners, like, "What are the exact ingredients in that syringe?"

It is your health, and they are your children, entrusted to you by God, so be bold in ensuring their safety and welfare. You still have the constitutional right to refuse any health care you deem unnecessary.