Fwd: Vaccinations,autism & public relations--junk science

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arnoldgore

Wed, 8 Oct 2003 07:32:45 EDT

Vaccinations,autism & " public relations--junk science "

 

 

Subj: Of vaccinations, autism, and 'junk science'

 

OCT. 5, 2003

THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz

 

Of vaccinations, autism, and 'junk science'

 

 

Two " mothers yesterday lost their battle to stop their children from being

forced to have the controversial MMR vaccination, in a ruling which branded

their medical expert's evidence 'junk science,' " reported London's daily

Guardian, on July 31.

 

" The case was taken to the high court by the fathers of the two girls, aged 5

and 10, who want their daughters to have the full range of vaccinations. The

judgment will not directly affect the pending compensation fight on behalf of

more than 1,000 children with brain damage whose parents blame the vaccine, but

it raises questions about how easy it will be to muster scientific evidence to

support their claim, " the daily reported.

 

The assertion that immunizations -- either the vaccines themselves, in the case

of the link between the pertussis vaccine and child brain damage (acknowledged

by the U.S. government, which has gone so far as to set up an injury

compensation program) or preservatives used in the vaccines, such as the form of

mercury known as thimerosal -- remain controversial.

 

But finally, some legitimate studies are being done -- and the near-panicked

response of many in the medical and pharmaceutical " establishment " are

instructive.

 

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), headquartered in

Tucson, Arizona, is the free-market alternative to the statist American Medical

Association.

 

In the Spring, 2003 edition of the group's Journal, Mark Geier, M.D., Ph.D.,

president of the Genetic Centers of America (Silver Spring, Md.) and David

Geier, B.A., published " Thimerosal in Childhood Vaccines, Neurodevelopment

Disorders, and Heart Disease in the United States. "

 

" Many sources now confirm an autism epidemic in the United States, " the Geiers

write. " The prevalence of autism has risen from one in about 2,500 children in

the mid-1980s to one in 300 children in 1996. ... Many in the scientific/medical

community have, initially, been highly skeptical that thimerosal, an

ethylmercury preservative, in childhood vaccines could be associated with

neurodevelopment disorders. ...

 

" Thimerosal ... has been present since the 1930s as a preservative in many

vaccines and pharmaceutical products . ... "

 

The paper's finding? " Our analyses showed increasing relative risks for

neurodevelopment disorders and heart disease with increasing doses of mercury.

This study provides strong epidemiological evidence for a link between mercury

exposure from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and neurodevelopment

disorders. ... "

 

" We published the first epidemiological evidence showing a direct association

between thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and neurodevelopment disorders

in children (Geier MR, Geier DA, " Neurodevelopmental disorders following

thimerosal-containing vaccines, " Experimental Biology & Medicine -- in press.)

We showed that there was from a 2 to 6-fold increased incidence of

neurodevelopment disorders following an additional 75-100µg dosage of mercury

from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines in comparison to thimerosal-free

childhood vaccines. ... "

 

" It is clear from our analysis ... that U.S. infants are exposed to mercury

levels from their childhood immunization schedule that far exceed the EPA and

FDA-established maximum permissible levels for the daily oral ingestion of

methylmercury, " the Geiers conclude.

 

" Our previous studies comparing (diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough

vaccines) with and without thimerosal have shown a statistically and clinically

significant increase in neurodevelopment disorders in those vaccinated with

thimerosal-containing vaccines. Our current study not only shows that those

vaccinated with thimerosal-containing (diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough

vaccines) have higher rates of speech disorders, autism, and heart arrest

overall, but also that the relative risk of each of these disorders correlated

with increasing doses of mercury contained in childhood vaccines. ...

 

" We observed that only those events for which causation by thimerosal is

biologically plausible were found to be correlated with the mercury levels

children received in their vaccines. Our analyses of a completely independent

source, the U.S. Department of Education's report on the prevalence of various

childhood diseases among school children of various ages, showed autism and

speech disorders were correlated with increasing mercury from childhood

vaccines. ... "

 

But isn't this all ancient history? Hasn't this mercury preservative already

been removed from all American vaccines?

 

Now our tale gets even more intriguing.

 

" On July 7, 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health

Service issued a joint statement calling for the removal of thimerosal from

vaccines, prompted by a risk assessment from the FDA, " the Geiers report. " The

2001 IOM report stated that technology is available to manufacturers in the US

to allow for the removal of thimerosal from childhood vaccines in a timely

manner and that only a small number of thimerosal-containing vials remain on the

shelf.

 

" We have recently reviewed the 2003 U.S. Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) and

found that some childhood vaccines still contain thimerosal. ...

 

" Therefore, it is indeed possible that children in the U.S. in 2003 may be

exposed to levels of mercury from thimerosal contained in their childhood

vaccinations that are at a higher level than at any time in the past. ... "

 

Six months pass. By the time the AAPS was preparing the Fall, 2003 edition of

its Journal, the schismata had hit the fan.

 

" Some vociferous criticisms have been made of the article concerning possible

adverse effects of thimerosal published in our spring issue, " wrote

editor-in-chief Lawrence R. Huntoon, M.D., Ph.D., in the " Correspondence "

section of the Fall edition of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

 

" To date, however, no one has been willing to send a signed letter for

publication. Because the critique has been widely circulated by Internet ... we

offered the authors an opportunity to respond. "

 

The anonymous criticisms of the Geier's initial study are interesting.

 

Among the Geiers' responses " Our calculation of the instantaneous exposure of

U.S. infants to thimerosal from childhood vaccines in comparison to the Federal

Safety Guidelines has ... been criticized, citing the 2001 Institute of Medicine

(IOM) report, which found that the dose to infants from vaccine was only

slightly in excess of the Guidelines. The IOM calculated exposure in the first

six months (180 days) of life by dividing the dose received in the vaccines by

180. ...

 

" Applying the IOM method to a newborn weighing 3 kg, hepatitis B vaccine

containing 12.5 mcg of mercury gives a dose 39 times the daily permissible oral

intake, and this cannot be hidden by dividing by the child's age (1 day).

 

" We believe the IOM method of calculation to be absolutely erroneous and

extremely misleading. By this method, if a 55-year-old man were given a lethal

dose of ethylmercury today, the dose averaged over the number of days in his

lifetime would not exceed EPA or FDA limits, but he would still be dead. ... "

 

NEXT WEEK Is the mercury still in there, or not?

 

 

 

 

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