IOM Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism (2004) Discouraged Investigation of Possible Vaccine Autism Connection

Anyone wishing to read the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism (2004) referenced in the CBS interview with former NIH Head Dr. Bernadine Healy can access it at the National Academies Press site. The document is 214 pages with hundreds of references to autism. Some comments in the Review:

At page 152:

BOX 2
Committee Conclusions and Recommendations

SCIENTIFIC ASSESSMENT

Causality Conclusions

The committee concludes that the evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.

The committee concludes that the evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between MMR vaccine and autism.

Biological Mechanisms Conclusions

In the absence of experimental or human evidence that vaccination (either the MMR vaccine or the preservative thimerosal) affects metabolic, developmental, immune, or other physiological or molecular mechanisms that are causally related to the development of autism, the committee concludes that the hypotheses generated to date are theoretical only.

SIGNIFICANCE ASSESSMENT

The committee concludes that because autism can be such a devastating disease, any speculation that links vaccines and autism means that this is a significant issue.

PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE RECOMMENDATIONS

The committee recommends a public health response that fully supports an array of vaccine safety activities. In addition the committee recommends that available funding for autism research be channeled to the most promising areas.

Policy Review

At this time, the committee does not recommend a policy review of the licensure of MMR vaccine or of the current schedule and recommendations for the administration of the MMR vaccine.

At this time, the committee does not recommend a policy review of the current schedule and recommendations for the administration of routine childhood vaccines based on hypotheses regarding thimerosal and autism.

Given the lack of direct evidence for a biological mechanism and the fact that all well-designed epidemiological studies provide evidence of no association between thimerosal and autism, the committee recommends that cost-benefit assessments regarding the use of thimerosal-containing versus thimerosal-free vaccines and other biological or pharmaceutical products, whether in the United States or other countries, should not include autism as a potential risk.

The above recommendations appear to support Dr. Healy's statements that the IOM expressly discouraged research and investigation of a possible vaccine/thimerosal link to autism and that the IOM report authors did so because of fear of vaccination rejection by the general population. As the above quote indicates the recommendation was based on epidemiological studies.

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Fomer NIH Head Says Question of Whether Vaccines Cause Autism Has Not Been Answered

Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the US National Institutes of Health, has claimed in an interview with CBS News that the question of whether there is a causal connection between vaccines and autism has not yet been answered. There is not yet enough evidence to say that there is no causal connection.

Dr . Healy notes that there have been no major studies of autistic children who developed autistic symptoms shortly after vaccination to see if there is such a connection. Animal Lab tests on mice and primates showing concerns about mercury and vaccine preservatives have been disregarded. Population studies do not test causation the indicate associations. Controlled lab studies are required. Dr. Healy also indicates that an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report in 2004 discouraged investigation of a possible link between susceptibility groups, autism and vaccines. Dr. Healy claims that the IOM report expressed a concern that pursuing the vaccine autism hypothesis would scare the public.

"I think that the public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational," Healy said.

"But public health officials have been saying they know, they've been implying to the public there's enough evidence and they know it's not causal," Attkisson said.

"I think you can't say that," Healy said. "You can't say that."

CBS News has learned the government has paid more than 1,300 brain injury claims in vaccine court since 1988, but is not studying those cases or tracking how many of them resulted in autism.






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Autism and Vaccines - Measles Outbreak in San Diego

The ugly side of the autism and vaccines debate is showing its dangerous face in the San Diego area where 12 children have fallen ill with measles. 3 of the children are too young to have received the measles vaccine but 9 were children whose parents refused to let them be inoculated against the measles. Some parents believe that vaccines are connected to increases in autism rates. The belief is not supported by the scientific and medical communities which maintain that the evidence in support of a vaccine autism connection does not exist. The New York Times News Service reports:

"Measles, almost wholly eradicated in the United States through vaccines, can cause pneumonia and brain swelling, which in rare cases can lead to death. "

...

In 1991, less than 1 percent of children in the states with personal-belief exemptions went without vaccines based on the exemption; by 2004, the most recent year for which data are available, the percentage had increased to 2.54 percent, said Saad B. Omer, an assistant scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.


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Autism and Censorship

I do not subscribe to the vaccine/thimerosal causes autism theory. It is necessary to state that at the outset because of the often heated, sometimes irrational nature of internet discussions of autism issues.

There exists a group of people, often called "neurodiversity" comprised of some high functioning autistic persons, some parents and professionals who share their view, who tend to promote a view of autism as a non-medical disability, a socially created disability which, from their perspective is simply different wiring of the brain. In the neurodiversity belief system autism is just a different way of thinking which, by their self identification with historical geniuses, can even be seen as superior to neurotypical thought. Positive views of autism are promoted. Negative realities of autism are suppressed. And now, in the American Academy of Pediatrics, the neurodiversity movement has a powerful new ally as it seeks to censor a work of fiction - the Eli Stone television series episode which apparently suggests a link between vaccines and autism.

The neurodiversity group is so rigid in its perspective that its adherents react with intense hostility to any negative portrayal of autism disorders such as that shown in the Autism Every Day video or the Ransom Notes campaign. The AED video presented the realities of autism from the perspective of caring parents. The Ransom Notes campaign was an attempt to create public awareness of some of the harsher realities of disabilities includig autism. While they have not been able to silence Autism Speaks, or the parents who created the Autism Every Day video, it is not for want of trying. And the "autism is beautiful" movement was a prime player in the successful effort to censor the Ransom Notes campaign, a campaign which was designed to focus attention on the harsher realities of various disabilities including autism disorders. Even Ph.D's, academics, presumably committed to the free exchange of ideas, bragged on the internet that they were doing "happy dances" over their success in shutting down the Ransom Notes campaign.

The Eli Stone episode is, on the surface, objectionable to the neurodiversity autism censors because it portrays a link between vaccines and autism. The episode features a family attorney who wins a court decision in which he successfully argues that a mercury-containing flu vaccine caused autism in a child. This alleged causal link enjoys little support in the medical and scientific communities and the AAP is presumably acting with good intentions when it seeks to censor the episode in question. But the same can not be said of the neurodiversity censors.

To be sure their criticisms of the vaccine autism link are consistent with accepted medical and scientific opinion but they want the episode and such discussion censored for another reason. They are offended by a medical model of autism disability. To them autism is a disability only because society imposes conditions on autistic persons which make it a disability. Even discussion of potential environmental bases for autism, anything other than a purely genetic model, is met with intense hostility by neurodiversity bloggers.

I have never been a fan of David Kirby, or his promotion of the vaccine causes autism theories. But I would not want to silence his voice, his opinion on this or any other subject. And I believe he has a point when he expresses alarm about the attempt to censor a television series episode in Scarier Than Fiction: Pediatricians Try To Censor ABC.

Autism Disorder is a medical disorder. Censorship is a severe social disorder which poses a threat to the health of a democratic society.

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Autism & Vaccines -A Doctor & Autism Mother Rebuts Dr. Rahul Parikh

Medical doctor, and mother of an autistic child, Dr. Lynne Mielke, in a comment on the Contra Costa Times online, has challenged Dr. Parikh's view of the science in the "autism trial", and the medical establishment view, that vaccines and thimerosal are safe and do not contribute to autism. She makes some interesting points.

LYNNE MIELKE From the community

Ties between autism, mercury are clear

Contra Costa Times

Article Launched: 08/11/2007 03:03:30 AM PDT

AS A physician who specializes in treating autism and the mother of an autistic child, I would like to express my opposition to the viewpoint in Dr. Rahul Parikh's editorial, "Junk science vs. real thing in autism trial."

Parikh implies that the research showing a link between autism and vaccines is wrong and that the vaccine preservative Thimerisol (which is about 50 percent mercury) is safe.

It is no surprise that pediatricians as a group have been slow to acknowledge the evidence that vaccines may play a role in the causation of autism in some children.

After all, it is pediatricians who administer those vaccines. Many vaccines still contain Thimerisol, although it is less now than in the peak mercury years -- the decade of the '90s.

No one questions that pregnant and nursing women should avoid mercury pollution, mercury-containing seafood and should not have dental work involving amalgam silver-colored fillings, which are also about 50 percent mercury.

But some doctors still say that injecting a pregnant woman or a newborn baby with a mercury-containing vaccine is OK.

Many toxins are implicated in the causation of autism, not just mercury, but it is certainly one of the worst.

Veterinarians realized how toxic Thimerisol is and removed it from animal vaccines years ago.

There are significant differences in how people react to the same toxin. A good example is cigarette smoking.

Some people who smoke get lung cancer, but others will get emphysema or heart disease. Not everyone who is exposed to mercury and other toxins will become autistic.

Genetic predisposition, timing of exposure, amount of exposure and type of exposure all interact to produce a unique symptom complex.

Toxins also have been implicated in the causation of ADD, sensory integration problems, and language and learning disorders, among other things.

One in six children now has some sort of neurologic problem. If that is not an epidemic, I don't know what is.

Most of the studies claiming that vaccines are not related to autism were done by researchers with financial ties to vaccine manufacturers -- a clear conflict of interest.

Most of those studies are epidemiological studies done on large populations that could easily miss an issue that affects about 1 in 150 children.

Epidemiological studies are retrospective and are the easiest type of research to manipulate statistics to get the outcome you want.

The designs of those studies were extremely flawed, as the group SafeMinds has clearly shown.

The science showing direct harm on a cellular level from Thimerisol is biological, prospective science and has been done by many fine upstanding clinicians and scientists who have risked their careers to publish unpopular findings.

The link between toxic exposure and autism is clear, not only from the science that shows it, but also because the treatments that address that exposure and its many consequences improve the level of functioning of autistic children.

Unfortunately, families of autistic children are victimized twice -- first from the poisonings that damaged their child, and then from the doctors who misinform their patients that there is no science behind treatments that work.

There are huge financial and political forces against this truth because the liability and the stakes are so high. What gets lost are the needs of the affected families who struggle with heartbreak every day under incredibly difficult circumstances, with very little help from the government and insurance industry, and often even their doctors.

Mielke is a physician in Pleasanton.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/columns/ci_6600802

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Autism Vaccine Link Raised Again by Richard Halvorsen

Another medical doctor has raised questions about a possible autism vaccine link. Dr. Richard Halvorsen is a British GP who spent 5 years researching the subject after being asked to write an article on the MMR vaccination.

Dr. Halvorsen questions the truthfulness of the government in addressing parental questions and states that all too often parents' understandable concerns are met with unacceptable reactions and hostility by health authorities and doctors.

"Until then I had no particular opinion on vaccines and routinely gave them to my patients' children and my own, and felt secure in the knowledge that they were safe.

"Yet when I researched and tried to get the Government's side of the story on MMR, instead of being reassured, which I expected, I was dismayed to find that evidence showing it was safe was simply not there. It had been introduced with virtually no safety controls at all."

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/

Dr. Halvorsen states that he is not anti-vaccination and recognizes the importance of vaccines in protecting children. But he recounts discussing vaccines with a vaccine expert who said that it is may never be possible to test the safety of vaccines because so many are bundled together it is virtually impossible to distinguish the side effects of one from another. Dr. Halvorsen favors some vaccines but suggests the evidence of efficacy of some others is lacking. He advocates for the right of parents to have a truthful open discussion on the issue.

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Autism Surging but Why? The Jury is Still Out

Lost in the hoopla over the Wakefield hearing in the UK and the "Vaccine trials" in the US are the increases in reported cases of autism in various parts of the world. The US reports have increased to 1 in 150 and the UK reports, by no less an authority than Simon Baron-Cohen himself, a 1 in 100 incidence of autism. Obviously some of those numbers are attributable to the changes in the DSM and in better awareness, diagnosis and reporting. But while everyone is aware of those factors no serious study or report actually attributes the entire increases in the incidence in autism to these factors alone, Baron-Cohen's opinion, and that of Neurodiversity bloggers notwithstanding.

The graph from the California Department of Developmental Services shows that reported incidence of autism increased by five times in the ten year period from 94 to 04. Undoubtedly the DSM change would be a substantial factor in that startling increase along with better awareness, diagnosis and reporting. But do environmental factors contribute to the increasing incidence of autism and if so to what extent? This is a serious question which is not answered by self assured opinions from Baron-Cohen. The medical tribunal will soon report its verdict on Mr. Wakefield and the US "Vaccine Court" may offer some insight on vaccines and thimerosal but as to environmental factors generally the jury may well be out for some time to come.

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Autism Surging - Baron-Cohen's Big and Dangerous Assumption

The Times has reacted quickly to the recent reports of an autism surge in the UK with an article attempting to quell parental fears about vaccination. In itself a sound idea. In support of this objective the article quotes Simon Baron-Cohen as saying “I don’t believe that the MMR vaccine causes autism". On that point Mr Baron-Cohen's belief can be backed up by a number of epidemiological studies and by a lack of accepted scientific evidence to support a causal relationship between vaccines and autism.

Where Baron-Cohen strays is when he goes on to say "I don’t believe that there are hidden environmental reasons for any rise in cases. For the moment, we should assume [any rise] is more to do with diagnostic practice.”
To my knowledge there are no mega studies or studies of any kind which rule out any role for any type of environmental factors in incidents of autism. When he goes that far the Professor is really stating his own unsubstantiated belief and he is essentially saying don't waste time on further research into environmental agents that might be causal factors in autism. That is his big and dangerous assumption.

The changes in diagnosis and standards for detecting autism have been in place now for at least a decade. It becomes less credible to simply blame any dramatic increase on these changes without considering the possibility of environmental factors.

Mr Baron-Cohen was commenting only on the draft report of which he was a leading team member and on UK figures. He made no comment on recent information from Massachusetts which reports an almost doubling or autism cases reported - in the last five years. Again, long after diagnostic changes began.

Vaccines as causes of autism? At this point the evidence does not support a causal connection. Ruling out all other possible environmental causes or factors for autism? Unfounded belief by the good professor. As with the original fears about vaccines causing autism, science should decide, through proper research and investigation, whether other environmental factors might be involved, not unfounded belief even the unfounded belief of a learned authority.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article2060575.ece

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Autism Surge & Vaccines - It Ain't Over Til It's Over

"It ain't over til it's over"" - Yogi Berra

Even as the mercury autism proceedings unfold in the US and long after I had thought the issue of vaccines and autism was no longer a serious issue comes word of another big surge in autism cases and more expressions of belief by health care professionals that the surge is linked to vaccines. The UK autism figures are surprising. The 1 in 150 figure from the CDC in the US has given way in the UK to 1 in 100, with some sources reporting 1 in 86, and now one report indicating 1 in 58. Why is the UK rate so much different from that reported by the CDC? IF there is a real difference between the American and UK figures, and not just differences in reporting or diagnosis, what could explain the differences other than environmental factors? Some medical professionals in the UK are again pointing to vaccines. The scientific and professional debate might be refueled by this news but will pale in comparison to the inter-net wars between the mercury causes autism believers and the Neurodiversity camp. Fasten your seat belts folks we will soon be experiencing more autism turbulence.

Whatever the explanation for the UK surge in autism figures it is clear that the world still has much to learn about autism, rates of autism and the big question what causes, or what group of factors, cause autism? As the great sage Yogi Berra said "it ain't over til its over".


New health fears over big surge in autism

· Experts 'concerned' by dramatic rise
· Questions over triple jab for children

Denis Campbell, health correspondent
Sunday July 8, 2007
The Observer

The number of children in Britain with autism is far higher than previously thought, according to dramatic new evidence by the country's leading experts in the field.

A study, as yet unpublished, shows that as many as one in 58 children may have some form of the condition, a lifelong disability that leads to many sufferers becoming isolated because they have trouble making friends and often display obsessional behaviour.

Seven academics at Cambridge University, six of them from its renowned Autism Research Centre, undertook the research by studying children at local primary schools. Two of the academics, leaders in their field, privately believe that the surprisingly high figure may be linked to the use of the controversial MMR vaccine. That view is rejected by the rest of the team, including its leader, the renowned autism expert, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen.

The team found that one in 58 children has either autism or a related autistic spectrum disorder. Nationwide, that could be as many as 210,000 children under 16. The research is significant because that figure is well above the existing estimate of one in 100, which specialist bodies such as the National Autistic Society have until now accepted as correct. It is also significantly more than the previous highest estimate of one in 86, which was reported in research published last year in the Lancet.

Some experts who previously explained the rise in autism as the result of better diagnosis and a broader definition of the condition now believe the upward trend revealed by studies such as this indicates that there has been a real rise in the numbers of children who are affected by it. Although the new research is purely statistical and does not examine possible explanations for the rise, two of the authors believe that the MMR jab, which babies receive at 12 to 15 months, might be partly to blame. Dr Fiona Scott and Dr Carol Stott both say it could be a factor in small numbers of children.

Professor Baron-Cohen, director of the centre and the country's foremost authority on the condition, said he did not believe there was any link between the three-in-one vaccination and autism. Genetics, better recognition of the condition, environmental factors such as chemicals and children's exposure to hormones in the womb, especially testosterone, were more likely to be the cause, he commented. 'As for MMR, at this point one can conclude that evidence does not support the idea that the MMR causes autism.'

Baron-Cohen and his team studied the incidence of autism and autistic spectrum disorders among some 12,000 children at primary school in Cambridgeshire between 2001 and 2004. He was so concerned by the one in 58 figure that last year he proposed informing public health officials in the county.

Controversy over the MMR jab erupted in 1998 after Dr Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist at the Royal Free Hospital in north London, said he no longer believed it was safe and might cause autism and inflammatory bowel disease in children. Many parents panicked and MMR take-up fell dramatically. More families opted to have their child immunised privately through three separate injections to avoid the possibility of their immune system being overloaded by the MMR jab, thus leaving them at greater risk of infections.

The medical and scientific establishment denied Wakefield's claim, described research he had co-authored as 'bad science', and sought to reassure the public, with limited success. Wakefield and two former Royal Free colleagues are due to appear before the General Medical Council next week to answer charges relating to the 1998 research. The trio could be struck off.

The doctors' disciplinary body claims that Wakefield acted 'dishonestly and 'irresponsibly' in dealings with the Lancet, was 'misleading' in the way he sought research funding from the Legal Aid Board, and 'acted unethically and abused his position of trust as a medical practitioner' by taking blood from children after offering them money.

A book to be published this month by Dr Richard Halvorsen, a London GP who provides single vaccines privately to babies of parents concerned about MMR, will fuel the controversy. It will present new evidence of children allegedly being damaged by vaccinations and linking increased autism to MMR.

But Dr David Salisbury, national director for vaccines and immunisation at the Department of Health, said last night: 'The evidence is absolutely clear. No published study has ever shown a link between autism and the MMR vaccine. It is absolute nonsense to suggest otherwise.

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Autism: Why The (Vaccine) Debate Rages

Sharyl Attkisson is the Capitol Hill Correspondent for CBS News.



I am not a subscriber to the vaccine causes autism theories. And I am no fan of David Kirby's ham handed presentation of the vaccine theories. But I do not bash parents who believe that there is a causal relationship. Nor do I think rational discussion of the issues surrounding the issues should be forbidden or research prevented. The following CBS article by Sharyl Attkisson is one of the best that I have read at explaining why many parents still believe that vaccines have caused their children's autism.




Autism: Why The Debate Rages

Posted by Sharyl Attkisson

(CBS)
Sharyl Attkisson is the Capitol Hill Correspondent for CBS News.

With the first autism case now being heard in federal vaccine court in Washington D.C., it makes sense to ask: Why is anyone even still debating the possibility of a link between vaccines and autism? After all, for years, many government health officials, advisors and vaccine manufacturers have said there's no association.

Here are a number of reasons why the question remains open:

1. While government scientists, advisors and pharmaceutical companies have been responsible for infinite lifesaving and life improving medical advances, they are not infallible.

• It's the same group that originally thought it was safe to use x-ray machines in shoe stores, gave pregnant women Thalidomide for morning sickness and once allowed mercury in medicines. They assured us Vioxx and Duract were safe painkillers, prescribed Rezulin for diabetics and then denied any of them were responsible for patient deaths. If we never questioned that group, we might not have discovered that Fen-phen and the dietary supplement Ephedra are not safe weight loss products, that antidepressants in kids can lead to suicidality and Viagra can cause blindness. The list goes on.

• When it comes to vaccines, the same group failed to predict that the 1990's rotavirus (diarrhea) vaccine would have to be pulled from the market after infant deaths. They encouraged use of the oral polio vaccine (eventually discontinued after it gave too many children polio). And they allowed the use of a mercury neurotoxin preservative in childhood vaccines, only to admit later that they hadn't thought to calculate the cumulative amount kids were getting as more and more vaccines were added to the childhood immunization schedule.

• Recent history demonstrates that too often, government health officials, mainstream doctors and pharmaceutical companies aren't on the leading edge of alerting us to health risks; they're bringing up the rear. Patients feel left to fend for themselves, seeking independent research and opinions on their own. They and their dogged, relentless determination have often been the catalyst that eventually brings medical dangers to the forefront.

2. Government scientists, advisors and vaccine manufacturers often take an all-or-nothing approach to vaccinations.

• Government officials and infectious disease experts I've spoken with are fearful that if vaccine side effects are better publicized, or if a link between vaccines and autism and ADD were made, the public would overreact and lose faith in the entire vaccination program. The result, they're afraid, would be parents refusing to give their children any vaccines, leading to new, deadly epidemics of preventable diseases. That indeed would be a disaster. However, their fears have resulted in something I call an all-or-nothing approach: they tend to promote nearly all vaccines for nearly all children as equally necessary and equally safe. Yet at the same time, if asked, they agree not all vaccines are equally safe, equally beneficial, equally necessary and equally tolerated by each individual child.

• Through the Internet and other resources, parents are now able to find research on vaccines and read it for themselves. They compare the government's all-or-nothing approach to the research and become skeptical that the government is presenting the whole picture on vaccine safety generally.

3. Government officials and mainstream scientists who dispel any vaccine/autism/ADD link have ties to vaccine makers.

• There's so much overlap among pharmaceutical companies, government scientists and advisors that the information they provide at least has the appearance of a conflict of interest. Government scientists and advisors often do not mention their connections to the vaccine industry when they provide opinions on the vaccine/autism/ADD issue.

• One of the best examples of this is the landmark autism/vaccine study published in Pediatrics. Early in his study, the lead author, CDC's Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, found statistically significant associations between the amount of mercury (thimerosal) exposure kids got from their childhood vaccines, and a wide range of brain disorders. However, the published version of the study (the one the authors say is accurate) found no evidence of a link to autism. Not disclosed was that Dr. Verstraeten had left CDC midstream during the study and had gone to work for Glaxo, a vaccine manufacturer. That failure to disclose was criticized in a later publication of Pediatrics, but it got little mainstream attention. Also getting little attention was a letter from well-respected scientists, also in Pediatrics, who echoed what parents of autistic children had been saying for months: they questioned the use and exclusion of certain data from Dr. Verstraeten's study that eventually reduced the statistical ties between vaccines and neurodisorders.

• University and government researchers and advisors often do research for vaccine companies, help develop vaccines (even profit from them), and/or are paid to consult for them. Often, these researchers do not disclose their industry ties when they publicly dispel the notion of a link between autism or ADD and vaccines.

• Lastly, the CDC is inextricably tied to vaccine makers through contracts and other business and financial relationships that open the door for the possibility of conflicts.

4. Non-profits which dispel any vaccine/autism/ADD link have ties to vaccine makers.

• Non-profits that promote vaccinations have ties to vaccine makers that they often do not disclose when giving their opinions on vaccine safety. One example is "Every Child By Two." This group contacted CBS News several years ago in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent one of our stories about the vaccine safety from airing. In forms filed for the IRS, the non-profit lists an official from vaccine maker Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as its Treasurer. It lists vaccine maker Chiron as a paid client.

• Another example of a non-profit tied to the industry is "The Vaccine Fund." Its President from 2000-2005 was Jacques-Francois Martin, formerly CEO of vaccine maker Sanofi-Pasteur, CEO of vaccine maker Chiron, and President of the International Federation of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association. While at The Vaccine Fund, his salary was paid by a company that says it "has developed particular strength in the vaccine industry and vaccine development."

5. The dual role of the CDC undermines the appearance of fairness.

• There is a perceived, if not real, conflict of interest with the government's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) heavily promoting vaccines, but also responsible for monitoring adverse events. At least two respected medical journals, the "American Journal of Public Health" and "Pediatrics" have published letters or articles recommending "greater independence in vaccine safety assessments" apart from "the highly successful program to promote immunizations." In short, the CDC's bread and butter is achieving high vaccination rates. But that role is in conflict with the agency's responsibility to fully research and disclose adverse events that could, in theory, bring down vaccination rates.

6. There is no definitive research proving a link between vaccines and autism or ADD, but there is also no definitive research ruling it out.

• Something rarely reported is that while there's no definitive study linking vaccines to autism or ADD, there is also no study definitively disproving a link. And there's a substantial body of peer-reviewed, published science from places like Columbia, Yale and Northeastern suggesting a link, or pointing to the need for further study.

• Many credible voices deny a link. But many other credible voices support the idea of a link. One example of the latter is George Wayne Lucier, formerly a senior official at the National Institutes of Health in Environmental Toxicology, an NIH advisor, member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Toxicity Testing and a scientific advisor for EPA who concludes "...it is highly probably that use of thimerosal as a preservative has caused developmental disorders, including autism, in some children." A lengthy Congressional investigation also concluded that the autism epidemic is likely linked to vaccinations.

7. Those who say autism and ADD are not linked to vaccines do not know what is causing the epidemics.

• The most frightening part of the autism/ADD epidemics is that if, indeed, they're unrelated to vaccinations, that our best, brightest public health experts still have no idea what is causing it. Excluding ADD, one out of every 150 American children are now being diagnosed with autism.

Vaccinations have provided lifesaving miracles in public health. However, it's undisputed that they are also responsible for many serious adverse events including brain disorders and, rarely, deaths. Trying to maximize the potential benefits of vaccines and minimize the harm shouldn't be seen as a threat to the nation's inoculation program, it's merely a logical step forward.

One scientist who testified for the plaintiff this week in The Vaccine Court said there's a way to test children for a hidden hole in their immune make-up that makes them susceptible to bad immune reactions from vaccinations. He said that, ideally, every child should undergo such a test before their first vaccinations. But he also said the test is very expensive and so "not worth it." Many parents might disagree. If they knew such a test was available, they'd find a way to pay for it. But such information has to be disseminated to the public before a first step can even be considered.

Mainstream medicine initially said that autism was caused by mothers who weren't affectionate enough with their children. If that doesn't teach us that we should always seek further knowledge and not necessarily accept what's spoon-fed to us by certain experts…then nothing will.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/06/15/couricandco/entry2934107.shtml

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Autism in Canada - Straight Talk In A Letter to the Editor

With all the heated disputes over vaccines and autism one finds on the internet, and all the neurodiversity neurononsense, it is refreshing to find a letter to the editor of an online paper which gets straight to the point and tells the truth about autism in Canada. Treatment helps autistic children and their families. And our governments have been heartless and cruel in denying access to treatment. Thank you for speaking up and offering some straight talk Penny Berns.

Autism treatment helps

Letter
Published: Sunday, June 17, 2007

In Quebec, parents of autistic children are left out in the cold. The government adamantly refuses to pay for treatment that it claims has not been proven 100 per cent to work.

How heartless and cruel to deny these parents, who already have so much on their plate. Child autism is on the rise, and they and their parents need help.

Some parents and grandparents say they have had to sell their homes and go into debt to give their autistic children/grandchildren early-intervention treatments, since Quebec refuses to pay. The earlier it's treated the better the results - often big, positive changes in children.

It's ironic that some in the U.S. envy Canada's medicare system. Now the shoe is on the other foot. A friend's grandson in New Jersey was diagnosed with autism at 20 months of age and she told me that the state, by law, has to provide - free - every available therapy to autistic children; everything from water exercises to speech therapy to ortho-therapy. The parents are already seeing big strides.

Penny Berns

Dollard des Ormeaux

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Autism, Vaccines & the Spread of Mumps - Eastern Canada

The belief that some vaccines, or mercury based vaccine preservatives, cause or contribute to today's increasing autism rates, now estimated at 1 in 150, persists despite an almost total lack of support in the scientific community for any causal connection. The fear generated by that belief is itself believed to have contributed to higher rates of vaccine refusals with resulting increases in diseases such as measles and mumps. In Atlantic Canada we are currently suffering an outbreak of mumps, with the particular strain of mumps having orginated in the UK where immunization rates dropped from fear that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine caused autism.

Health: ALERT: INFECTIONS

Mumps outbreak spreads

CAROLINE ALPHONSO

May 11, 2007

Nova Scotia's mumps outbreak has spread to Ontario, infecting five people so far and putting public-health officials in the province on alert for even more cases in the weeks to come.

The latest outbreak indicates that many who were vaccinated years ago are now susceptible to catching the disease. Public-health officials are now debating whether they need to administer a booster shot.

Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care confirmed yesterday that the cases, two of which are in Toronto, are linked to the outbreak in Nova Scotia, where more than 200 people have been infected by the disease. The outbreak, which began in late February, has also infected 34 people in New Brunswick and one in Prince Edward Island.

...

Neil Rau, an infectious disease specialist at Halton Healthcare Services in Ontario, said the current strain of mumps originated in Britain, where there was a large outbreak in 2004. Immunization rates had drop significantly in Britain because many people believed the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine caused autism. The vaccine-autism link has since been disproved, he noted.

The disease reached Iowa last year, and Dr. Rau said it has now found its way into Canada.

"It's global travel compounded with vaccine refusal," he said.

http://tinyurl.com/3b49fz

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Autism & Mercury - Wagnitz Challenges Fombonne

The mercury autism debate continues. While not a subscriber to the mercury vaccine/autism link I do not think debate and discussion should be closed on this or any other subject related to autism. Toxicologist Michael Wagnitz seems somewhat more qualified to present information on the "mercury" side of the debate than David Kirby and presents some interesting points in rebuttal of Psychiatrist Dr. Eric Fombonne.


The mercury, autism debacle: How stupid do they think we are?

Michael Wagnitz
May 7, 2007

Last weekend the Sixth International Meeting for Autism Research took place in Seattle. The meeting claimed to draw the top 900 autism researchers and scientists from around the world. One of the key participants was Dr. Eric Fombonne of Montreal Children's Hospital at McGill University. Dr. Fombonne, a psychiatrist, presented his research on mercury. His work involved testing the blood and hair of 147 children. Roughly half of his subjects were diagnosed with autism and half were considered neurologically typical controls. He found no difference in mercury levels in the patients hair or blood.

The first question one might ask is why a psychiatrist is considered qualified to do toxicological work. Most parents are concerned about the mercury exposure that their children received as newborns and infants from mandatory vaccines. The vaccine schedule in Canada, where Dr. Fombonnes study was done, and the United States were quite different in the 1990's. Dr. Fombonne,s patients were not tested after vaccination. If he had talked to any reputable toxicologist, they would have told him that the ethylmercury from vaccines clears the blood in about seven days. Ethylmercury, a short-chain alkyl mercury compound, is rapidly distributed to the brain, kidneys and other tissue. The hair tested would need to be from a first haircut to show this mercury exposure. Even if this was the case, research has shown that autistic kids do not excrete mercury efficiently. The hair would not contain any measurable amounts of mercury. It's to bad that McGill University does not have any toxicologists who could have explained to Dr. Fombonne that his work was a waste of time and money.

If one was really interested in determining the body burden of mercury they would perform the urinary porphyrin profile analysis (UPPA). Porphyrins are precursors to heme, the oxygen carrying component of blood. Mercury inhibits the conversion of specific porphyrins to heme. This test is backed by decades of published research. Recently it was shown in two published, peer-reviewed studies, that mercury inhibited porphyrins were significantly higher in autistic patients when compared to age matched controls (1)(2). The other way to test for mercury in the body is by using a provoking agent and measuring mercury in the urine.

The organizers of this meeting did not reveal that when Dr. Fombonne isn't conducting epidemiological studies or doing heavy metal analysis, he is appearing on behalf of vaccine manufacturers defending the safety of mercury. Dr. Fombonne refers to the amount of mercury in vaccines as "trace". Again, if he were a toxicologist or chemist, he would realize that the concentration of mercury in a multi-dose vaccine vial is 250 times higher than what the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies as hazardous waste.

References:

(1) Nataf R, Lam A, Lathe R, Skorupka, C. 2006. Porphyrinurea in Childhood Autistic Disorders: Implications for Environmental Toxicity. Toxicol. Appl. Pramacol. 214(2):99-108

(2) Geier M, Geier D, 2006. A prospective assessment of porphyrins in autistic disorders: a potential marker for heavy metal exposure. Neurotox Res. Aug;10(1):57-64

About the Author: Michael Wagnitz has over 20 years experience evaluating materials for toxic metals. He currently works as a chemist in the toxicology section of a public health lab evaluating biological samples for lead and mercury.

Michael Wagnitz


http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=26477

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Autism & Thimerosal - Geier & Geier (2007) Study Suggests A Link?

One of the great debates in autism discussions has been between those who believe that mercury based vaccine preservatives cause or contribute to incidents of autism and those who do not subscribe to that theory. The overwhelming consensus from the scientific community has been that there is no evidence to support such a link. Notwithstanding that consensus there are still a large number of parents of autistic children ( I am not one of them ) and one journalist/author (David Kirby) who believe that there is indeed a link. A few of the parents have been very vocal. Some, if internet discussions can be believed, have gone as far as harassing and threatening those who oppose their views. At least those are the allegations advanced by some "neurodiversity" commentators some of whom are equally as hostile and rude to those who disagree with their views as the extremist few among the mercury-thimerosal advocacy groups. Now, another study by Geier & Geier (2007) apparently suggests that there is a causal connection between Thimerosal and autism. Hopefully, this study will be neither rejected nor accepted based solely on prior belief. Hopefully the scientific professionals capable of properly analyzing this study will do so and offer their commentary. Hopefully hostility and hatred between the few extremists in both the mercury-vaccine and the neurodiversity groups will stand aside in favor of reason and proper scientific assessment of this study and any further evidence relevant to this issue which might arise.

The following commentary, however, appears to indicate that the old pattern of jumping to conclusions about issues in the mercury-autism debate, based on ideological pre-disposition will, unfortunately, continue to prevail and that the world autism community will be inflicted with more needless hostility between the mercury and neurodiversity groups. The author's readiness to conclude that the study "leaves little doubt" does not suggest the kind of reasoned professional analysis that will be needed to properly interpret and assess the study.


The Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A: Current Issues, an authoritative journal featuring original toxicological research, has published, "A Case Series of Children with Apparent Mercury Toxic Encephalopathies Manifesting with Clinical Symptoms of Regressive Autistic Disorders," by Geier and Geier (2007).

This new study leaves little doubt there is a direct causal link between mercury exposure from Thimerosal-preserved biological products (vaccines and Rho(D) products) and mercury poisoning diagnosed as an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Thimerosal (49.55% mercury by weight) is a highly toxic mercury compound used as a preservative in some OTC and prescription drugs, including most flu shots given to pregnant women, infants, children, adults, and the elderly.

On April 19, 2007, Dr. Larry L. Needham, Chief, Organic Analytical Toxicology Branch, CDC, announced to the US National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine that Thimerosal was among the "Chemicals Linked to ASD."

Thus, Geier and Geier (2007) provide the first clinical case-series of ASD patients that confirmed this causal role for Thimerosal-preserved drugs in patients having a regressive ASD diagnosis.

The Geiers describe a case-series of eight patients who had:

-- a regressive ASD diagnosis,

-- elevated levels of androgens,

-- excreted significant amounts of mercury after a chelation challenge,

-- biochemical evidence of decreased function in their glutathione pathways,

-- no known significant mercury exposures except from Thimerosal-preserved vaccines and Rho(D)-immune globulin preparations, and

-- alternative causes for their regressive ASDs ruled out.

This clinical study also found a significant dose-response relationship between the severity of the ASD symptoms and the total mercury dose these children received from Thimerosal-preserved drugs.

Based on differential diagnosis, these patients were exposed to significant mercury amounts from Thimerosal-preserved biologic drugs during their fetal and neonatal development as well as between 12 and 24 months of age. Thus, these initially normally developing children suffered mercury toxic encephalopathies that manifested with clinical symptoms consistent with their regressive ASD diagnosis.

Hence, mercury poisoning should be considered as a cause for those children exhibiting the symptoms of an ASD in any differential diagnosis designed to assess underlying causes.

Today, any parent or other healthcare provider can easily confirm whether, or not, a non-chelated autistic child is mercury poisoned by having urinary porphyrin profile analysis (UPPA) testing run at LabCorp (Test#120980) or Laboratoire Philippe Auguste (Urine Porphyrin Profile).

For additional information on UPPA testing for mercury poisoning, please visit the "UPPA" page on CoMeD's web site, www.Mercury-freeDrugs.org.

Dr. King
www.dr-king.com

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=69427

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Immunologist Responds to Wagnitz Mercury-Autism Link Argument

The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) carried an opinion piece recently by Michael Wagnitz, a chemist with years of experience in trace analysis, who argued that the brains of some deceased autistic persons showed evidence of neuroinflammation which he attributed to mercury poisoning from the vaccine preservative thimerosal. On that basis Mr. Wagnitz argued that thimerosal poisoning is a cause of autism. The Capital Times has now published a passionate response to the Wagnitz argument by Cheryl A. Robinson, R.N., M.S., immunization program manager, public health, Madison and Dane county.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/letters/index.php?ntid=121460&ntpid=2

Ms. Robinson takes particular aim at Wagnitz's dismissal of epidemiological evidence refuting a thimerosal-autism link:

"The real disservice to your readers was Michael Wagnitz's dismissal of a vast body of epidemiological evidence. These studies compared large groups of children who received thimerosal-containing vaccine to large numbers of children who did not get these vaccines. The occurrence of autism in each group was the same. While no one believes that mercury is healthy for children or adults, there is simply no evidence demonstrating that thimerosal in vaccine causes or is linked to autism.

Developmental problems are most often noticed when children reach the age of 1 or 2 years - a time when children also receive a large number of immunizations. I understand how easy it is for families to link the two events."

Ms. Robinson also notes that vaccines in the US are now thimerosal free, with the exception of influenza vaccine for which a thimerosal free version can be requested. She accuses Wagnitz of the kind of alarmism which drives some parents to avoid immunization an unwise decision which poses a genuine threat to public health.

Personally I have not been a subscriber to the mercury-autism link theory and do not think parents should avoid immunizing their children but I thought Mr. Wagnitz argument about neuro-inflammation interesting. Further scientific study and evidence may yet reveal some connection. We certainly should not stop looking at the best available evidence even if it contradicts our own views. I find discussions such as are taking place in the opinion pages of the Madison Capital Times helpful in understanding these issues and the developing state of scientific knowledge surrounding them.

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The Autism Vaccine Link - A Dangerous Urban Myth

The vaccine-autism debate has been raging for years despite a lack of scientific evidence to support the belief in a link between thimerosal, the mercury based preservative once widely used in vaccines, and increased rates of autism. In New Brunswick a couple of years ago I received some very heated responses when I posted on an autism discussion newsgroup a British Medical Journal article which called into question the existence of any vaccine autism link. But the belief continues on in the media fueled by Robert Kennedy Jr. and David Kirby. Arthur Caplan is a bioethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania and he has written an excellent opinion piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer/Centre Daily.Com in which he describes the vaccine causes autism link as an urban myth and also describes the horrible consequences that have ensued from this urban legend. Many parents fearing the autism link refuse to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases putting them and all of us at risk of an outbreak of these diseases.



"Fact: No link of vaccine, autism

Arthur Caplan

is the Emanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he co-directs the Ethics and Vaccines Project

What must it be like to spend a huge amount of time every waking day trying to change public health practice - only to find out that you were wrong?

That is precisely what has happened to the proponents of the theory that mercury in vaccines - contained in the preservative thimerosal, which once was used (and is used no longer) in vaccines - is responsible for a nearly 20-year explosion in autism and other neurological disorders among American children.

This urban legend has had very real - and terrible - consequences. It has led, and continues to lead, many parents to avoid getting their kids and themselves vaccinated against life-threatening diseases. The failure to vaccinate has caused many preventable deaths and avoidable hospitalizations from measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, flu, hepatitis and meningitis. And fear of vaccines puts each one of us at risk that we, our children or grandchildren will become part of a deadly outbreak triggered by someone whose parents avoided getting their child vaccinated for fear of autism.

Recent research on many fronts in medicine and science has nailed the coffin shut on the mercury-in-vaccines-

causes-autism hypothesis. The connection is just not there. Perhaps the key fact, which has garnered little attention, is that thimerosal has been removed from vaccines in this and other countries for many years, with no obvious impact on the incidence of autism. The most recent data point toward a correlation with nothing at all to do with vaccines: the increasing age at which people (particularly men) have children seems to be associated with an increase in autism and other neurological problems.

Still, some of the most fervent anti-vaccine critics cannot let go. They continue to tell devastated parents of children with autism that vaccines are to blame. Others are still out on the lecture circuit peddling books and articles that bash vaccines and invoke mercury as a problem. Still others pepper the Internet with the false message that vaccines and autism do go hand in hand - it is just that the government, or the pharmaceutical companies, or organized medicine, or all of them, are keeping the truth from us all.

Less than two years ago, Robert Kennedy Jr. published an article in Salon.com alleging that the government knew of and covered up the autism-vaccines connection. Thimerosal was, Kennedy told large audiences and many media reporters, to blame.

Kennedy was hardly alone in fingering vaccines as the cause of the epidemic of autism affecting American children. David Kirby's 2005 best-selling book, Evidence of Harm, and many other articles, newsletters and advocacy blogs fanned the flames. Some continue to do so.

Proponents of the thimerosal/mercury-causes-

autism theory have had a powerful impact on public opinion. When one of my students recently conducted a pilot study of attitudes about the new cervical-cancer vaccine, fears about autism were prominent among the reasons many respondents gave for being wary of the vaccine. Friends of mine continue to tell me of parents in Lafayette Hill, Voorhees, Greenville and Downingtown who won't have their children vaccinated because of the risk of autism. States continue to allow parents to opt out of vaccines on "philosophical" grounds - perhaps the only arena in American public life where "secular philosophy" is given legal standing in public policy. And even some young health-care workers report that they don't get important vaccines that would protect them, their families and their vulnerable patients against death because of worries about autism and vaccines.

Science and medicine have not bought the thimerosal/mercury-autism link. For years the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center, the National Academy of Sciences, the Food and Drug Administration, and countless other prestigious organizations and scientists have said the data do not support mercury in vaccines as the cause of autism.

Now, with the mercury long out of vaccines, what is there left to say? Why won't the slandering of vaccines as the cause of autism stop?

There has always been a great deal of antipathy toward vaccines - in part because vaccines do have a tiny chance of causing death or other serious side-effects. Parents who have been through that hell have a hard time hearing or sending any other message other than "vaccines are bad." And those who made careers out of peddling the vaccine-autism link - in the face of a lack of evidence - have really been motivated by a distrust of medicine, science, government and experts, a distrust that has little to do with scientific studies or expert opinions. Even government officials have never really cared enough about public health to do much to counteract the incredible damage the autism-vaccine proponents have done. That is not acceptable.

Our nation is spending a fortune on plans to cope with the prospect of a bioterror attack. State, city and federal agencies are trying to figure a plan if avian flu mutates into a form in which it can start killing people. Hospital officials are worrying over how to cut back on preventable deaths in our hospitals and nursing homes. Those in charge of keeping disease transmission in hospitals, schools and public spaces to a minimum are fretting over what steps to take. The answer to every one of these challenges involves - vaccines.

This nation's future, its national security, the safety of its health-care institutions, and the safety of its citizens depends upon vaccination. It is way past time that message got heard by parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, hospital administrators, the media and politicians. If there has been a more harmful urban legend circulating in our society than the vaccine-autism link, it is hard to know what it might be. At a time when vaccines may be our last best hope in facing some of the greatest challenges we and our children face, this legend needs to be put to rest. Vaccination, not vaccine-bashing, is what this nation needs.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/16630652.htm

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Mayo Clinic - No Evidence to Support Chelation Autism Treatment - Can Be Dangerous

In this comment Dr. Hoecker of the Mayo Clinic states that there is no evidence to support Chelation as an autism treatment. Chelation can be dangerous - even deadly.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/autism-treatment/AN01488


There's no scientific evidence that chelation therapy is an effective autism treatment.

In recent years, some doctors and parents have recommended chelation therapy as a potential treatment for autism. Proponents believe that autism is caused by mercury exposure, such as from childhood vaccines. Chelation therapy supposedly removes mercury from the body, which cures autism.

But extensive studies have revealed no evidence of a link between mercury exposure and autism. In addition, chelation therapy is not approved as an autism treatment and can be associated with serious side effects, including liver and kidney damage that can result in death.

There is no cure for autism. As a result, unproven alternative therapies are often suggested to parents who — frustrated by the lack of effective medical treatment for autism — are desperate to find something that will help their children. However, in clinical studies, these alternative therapies are usually found to be ineffective and sometimes harmful. Talk to your son's doctor before starting any alternative autism treatment.

Although no cure for autism exists, early behavioral and educational interventions can help children with autism improve their communication and social skills.

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Early treatment of autism hinges on genetic discoveries

Much attention has been paid to purported environmental causes of autism. Controversy has raged over both the MMR vaccine itself and the use of thimerosal, a mercury based preservative used in vaccines as a potential cause of autism.

As prominent a figue as Robert Kennedy Jr has pushed the thimerosal theory before the US Congress and the world. There is however precious little scientific support to date for the vaccine/thimerosal theories. Recent environmental theories include Lyme Disease and television as possible causes of autism.

Notwithstanding the focus on potential environmental causes of autism it is heartening to read that research continues on genetic factors. Genetic research is an important element to the early identification and treatment of autism including development of specific treatments for individual autistic persons as discussed in a very readable article by Dr. John Bernard, president of the Children’s Research Institute, published in the Columbus Dispatch:


"Identical twins have identical genes, while fraternal twins are genetically similar, but not identical. When identical twins have autism, both are affected about 60 percent of the time,