Doctor faces probe

PHILADELPHIA -- A Danish scientist involved in two major studies that debunked any linkage of vaccines to autism is suspected of misappropriating $2 million in U.S. grants at his university in Denmark.

Poul Thorsen, a medical doctor, was an adjunct professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health for several months before resigning Tuesday.

On Jan. 22, Aarhus University said it had uncovered a "considerable shortfall" in grant money from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a research program that Thorsen had directed. The university referred the matter to police, who are conducting an investigation.

Anti-vaccine groups have seized on the allegations to contend that scientific studies disproving the vaccine link to autism are wrong. Those groups long have argued that thimerosal, a preservative in some vaccines, can cause autism, as can the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.

"I think it is quite significant," said Dan Olmsted of the Age of Autism. "I think someone allegedly capable of ripping off his own university by forging documents from the CDC is capable of pulling off anything."

The CDC and co-authors of the two studies published in major U.S. medical journals maintain the studies remain valid.

"CDC is aware of the allegations by Aarhus University against Poul Thorsen," agency spokesman Tom Skinner said in a statement. Federal authorities are investigating.

"We have no reason to suspect that there are any issues related to the integrity of the science," Skinner said.

Efforts to reach Thorsen for comment by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful.