Trade-Off: Vaccine Maker Profits - Autism

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Vaccine maker profits 03/05/05

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 19:50:41 -0000

 

 

 

Independent Media TV

Under Reported

March 04, 2005

 

 

 

 

Trade-Off: Vaccine Maker Profits - Autism

By: Evelyn Pringle

Independent Media TV

 

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In 1997, Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act, which required

the FDA to review all drugs that contained mercury and determine

their adverse effects on humans. For many years, Thimerosal, a

mercury-based preservative, was added to childhood vaccines in multi-

dose bottles, basically to increase profits for vaccine makers.

Its important to know that Thimerosal is not a necessary component

for vaccines. If they are packaged in single dose vials, the

preservative is not needed. There is mounting evidence, that shows

our government knew about the dangers of adding Thimerosal to

vaccines. Research by WFAA-TV revealed that the FDA began asking

questions about the dangers as far back as 1972. By 1992, the

preservative had been removed from dog vaccines and contact lens

solutions because of its risks. And yet the government refused to

order its removal from childhood vaccines for 10 more years.

 

In 2000, the FDA determined that infants were receiving much more

mercury than was considered safe under EPA guidelines. A twelve-to-

fourteen month old child, receiving the mandated vaccines under the

Immunization Schedule, often received four to six shots during one

doctor visit. Consequently over time, the child would be injected

with as much as 40 times the amount of mercury considered safe.

 

Twenty years ago, autism only affected one in 10,000 children.

However, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, by January

2004, the incidence of autism rose to one in every 166 children. The

Autism Autoimmunity Project reports that the disorder strikes 1 in

150 (or 1 in 68 families) today.

 

During the 1990s, some 40 million children were vaccinated and the

number of Thimerosal containing vaccines given to children nearly

tripled, and the financial rewards to drug companies as a result of

the drastic increase were enormous. However, as the number of

vaccines increased, autism rates inexplicably increased tenfold,

according to the Spring issue of Mother Jones in 2004.

 

State by state statistics produced by the Department of Education,

for the number of children aged 6-21 who have autism, compared the

increase in cases over the 12-year period between 1992-93 and 2003-

04, and the results were horrendous. In my home state of Ohio, in

1992-93 there were 22 cases of autism, in 2003-04 there were 5146

cases, or a 23,291% increase. In Illinois, there were only 5 cases

12 years ago, while there were 6005 in 2003-04. Mississippi had no

cases of autism 12 years ago, but had 622 in 2003-04. Wisconsin had

18 cases in 1992-93 and 3259 cases in 2003-04.

 

Eli Lilly introduced Thimerosal in the 1930s with very little safety

testing. According to a congressional report, a 1935 Eli Lilly

internal document noted that Thimerosal was considered

unsatisfactory as a serum for use on dogs. The product has been on

California's Proposition 65 list of known reproductive and

developmental toxins for over a decade.

 

Its difficult to believe that anyone would by now even try to say

there is no correlation between autism and the bombardment of

mercury into the brains of children through their vaccinations in

the 1990s.

 

Profits Over Safety

 

Autism is a source of devastation for the entire families. For some

reason, it is 4 times more common in males than females, according

to the Cure Autism Now Foundation. It involves a wide range of mild

to severe symptoms, but each case seems to have 3 common symptoms:

communication problems, impaired social relationships, and unusual

patterns of behavior.

 

Autistic children develop unusual behaviors, such as twitching their

fingers repeatedly, rocking, spinning, or rolling their eyes. A

child may be progressing normally, but then begin to regress, losing

speech, social skills and physical abilities.

 

Over the 1990s, parents and doctors began to notice that the onset

of autism often followed the injection of vaccines with Thimerosal.

At the turn of the century, Congress got involved in the debate. A

House Government Reform Committee discovered a lack of research into

the link between the increase in autism and childhood vaccines.

 

At that time, Republican committee chairman, Dan Burton of Indiana,

noted that there were numerous conflicts of interest between federal

research teams, policy-makers, regulators, health care agencies, and

the vaccine makers who seemingly had the ability to influence

decisions made by the FDA and CDC, regarding vaccines.

 

A four-month investigation by United Press International, determined

that many members of the CDC's Vaccine Advisory Committee had

obvious conflicts of interest with vaccine makers through

relationships that included: sharing a vaccine patent; owning stock

in a vaccine company; payments for research; getting money to

monitor manufacturer vaccine tests; and funding academic

departments. UPI also found that the CDC had 28 licensing agreements

with drug companies, and one university, for vaccines or vaccine-

related products, and had eight on-going projects to collaborate on

new vaccines.

 

Burton's committee specifically zeroed in on the increasing numbers

of vaccines children had been given over the past 15 years and the

correlating rise in autism all over the country. During a hearing on

June 20, 2002, Burton repeatedly asked FDA and CDC officials what

they knew and when they knew it. And when their memories appeared

lost, Burton produced agency memos to refresh them.

 

One 1999 internal FDA memo stated that the FDA had an " interim

plan ... already in place for many years " to get rid of Thimerosal.

Wording in the same memo revealed the FDA's fear that it will be

accused of being " asleep at the switch for decades, by allowing a

dangerous compound to remain in childhood vaccines. "

 

In 2001, the CDC commissioned the Institute of Medicine to examine

the Thimerosal-autism connection. The IOM's first analysis found the

hypothesis " biologically plausible " and called for further research.

But a reanalysis by the IOM in 2004 rejected any link.

 

According to nomercury.org's Lujene Clark, IOM committee meeting

transcripts were leaked to outside parties and suggest that CDC

officials pressured committee members to issue a finding rejecting

any link.

 

" The CDC contracted and paid for this series of reports from the

IOM, " says Clark. " They made it very clear that they wanted the IOM

to give the nod, to say that 'We see no problems.' That's very, very

frightening, " according to Illinois Times on Feb 24, 2005.

 

Burton has even gone so far as to hint at bringing criminal charges

if it turns out that government agencies were complicit with the

drug companies in a cover-up. " Look, I don't think it makes any

difference whether it's a private company or a government agency, "

Burton said. " If they know they're harming somebody and they

continue to let it happen, then they should be held accountable. "

 

There's no doubt that the drug companies knew of the dangers. The LA

Times recently released a 1991 internal memo from the pharmaceutical

company, Merck, that proves the company knew back then that the

overuse of mercury in vaccines posed a dangerous health threat to

children. The memo noted that 6-month-old children who received

their shots on schedule would get a mercury dose up to 87 times

higher than guidelines for the maximum daily consumption of mercury

from fish.

 

In a 2003 committee report titled Mercury in Medicine, Burton

concluded: " It should be crystal-clear by now that mercury is a

toxic substance that does not belong in pediatric vaccines, " based

on expert testimony and research from leading universities.

 

Bush Could Issue An Executive Order

 

Prior to the election, the advocacy group, Unlocking Autism, asked

President Bush to state his position on Thimerosal. On Feb 25, 2005,

the group issued an open letter to Bush reminding him that he

expressed full support for the removal of mercury from childhood

vaccines in a written response from the Republican National

Committee dated September 22, 2004. The group requested that Bush

issue an Executive Order completely banning the use mercury for

pregnant women and children under the age of 18.

 

The group maintains that Bush has a duty to communicate his position

on the removal of mercury from vaccines to other Republicans in

Congress now that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has

introduced Senate Bill 3, which would immunize drug companies from

all liability for vaccine-related autism caused by mercury

poisoning.

 

" The fact that President Bush stated before the election that

mercury should be removed childhood vaccines means he believes

thimerosal could, in fact, cause harm. If the President ... supports

the removal of mercury from childhood vaccines, then surely he

cannot support legislation that protects drug companies from

accountability for the injuries caused by mercury, " said Shelley

Reynolds, President of Unlocking Autism.

 

SafeMinds is a leading autism advocacy organization fighting to ban

mercury from all medicines and to promote treatment research for

those who have already been injured.

 

On Feb 28, 2005, SafeMinds announced its opposition to the bill HR

650, " The Vaccine Accessibility for Children and Seniors Act of

2005. " The group maintains that the title of the bill is deceptive

in that it imposes barriers to legal remedies for the vaccine-

injured.

 

According to Lyn Redwood, President of Safe Minds, " Each time

legislation is introduced to protect the vaccine industry from

product liability it is hidden behind a nice title or buried inside

legislative minutia, " she said " In 2002 legislators attempted a

comparable end run on our civil rights by inserting similar language

in the Homeland Security Bill, literally in the dark of night. Only

when the American people spoke up in outrage was the move repealed.

 

" When faulty tyres on SUVs were rampant, legislators didn't

recommend that the tire or automotive manufacturers be protected

from litigation, " Redwood said, " it is beyond comprehension that

when there are increased questions about vaccine injury that

legislators would introduce legislation to take away American's

rights. "

 

Evelyn Pringle e.pringle

 

Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Independent Media TV and an

investigative journalist focused on exposing government corruption.

 

Original Link: http://www.independent-media.tv

 

© Copyright 2005 Independent Media TV

 

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Croft Woodruff

infoline

Tuesday, March 08, 2005 6:05 PM

Merck Misled on Vaccines

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-merck7mar07,0,156305.story?coll=la-hom

e-business

Los Angeles Times

March 7, 2005

 

Merck Misled on Vaccines, Some Say

The firm supplied shots containing a mercury compound after saying it had

halted its use.

By Myron Levin

Times Staff Writer

 

 

Drug maker Merck & Co. continued to supply infant vaccine containing a

mercury-based preservative for two years after declaring that it had

eliminated the chemical.

 

In September 1999, amid rising concern about the risks of mercury in

childhood vaccines, Merck announced that the Food and Drug Administration

had approved a preservative-free version of its hepatitis B vaccine.

 

" Now, Merck's infant vaccine line, " the company's press release said, " is

free of all preservatives. "

 

But Merck continued to distribute vaccine containing the chemical known as

thimerosal, along with the new product, until October 2001, according

to an

FDA letter sent in response to a congressional inquiry.

 

The thimerosal-containing supplies had expiration dates in 2002.

 

Merck executives confirmed the details in the FDA letter but defended the

accuracy of Merck's announcement in 1999, saying the company had indeed

begun to produce preservative-free vaccine.

 

Merck continued to supply the preservative-containing version " during the

transition period to ensure an adequate supply of vaccine to help protect

the nation's children, " said spokeswoman Mary Elizabeth Blake. She said

package labels disclosed which lots of vaccine were preservative-free.

 

Parent groups and a congressional critic of U.S. vaccine policy are crying

foul.

 

" As far as the world knew, the product coming out of Merck had no

thimerosal

in it, " said Sallie Bernard, executive director of Safe Minds, a group

concerned about childhood exposure to mercury, a neurotoxin. Parents and

doctors who wanted a thimerosal-free product " would be totally confused, "

she said.

 

Rep. Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican and a physician, said what

Merck did

was " misleading. "

 

" You had people literally into 2002 getting shots with mercury, having

been

told it was all taken out in 1999, " he said. " There should have been a

much

more cautious announcement that we're going to eliminate the mercury over

time. " The FDA letter was sent to Weldon in June 2003 in response to his

questions about progress in removing mercury from vaccines.

 

Thimerosal, which is nearly 50% ethyl mercury, has largely been eliminated

from most routine childhood vaccines, though it still is present in

most flu

shots. It had been widely used as a sterilizing agent to prevent bacterial

contamination from repeated insertion of needles into multi-dose vials of

vaccine.

 

More than 4,200 claims have been filed in the federal Vaccine Injury

Compensation Program by parents alleging that their children suffered

autism

or other neurological disorders from mercury in their shots.

 

Last year California banned thimerosal in childhood vaccines as of 2006.

 

Vaccine makers and many health officials say there is no credible evidence

of harm from the small doses of mercury once widely present in kids'

shots.

They cite a report last May by the prestigious Institute of Medicine

of the

National Academy of Sciences, which concluded that available evidence

" favors rejection of a causal relationship " between vaccines and autism.

 

Parents have cited contrary findings and say the studies cited by the

institute's panel were flawed.

 

Though they said there was no proof of harm, the U.S. Public Health

Service

and the American Academy of Pediatrics in July 1999 acknowledged that

mercury exposures from a multitude of shots exceeded federal health

guidelines, and they called on manufacturers to voluntarily eliminate

thimerosal from kids' vaccines.

 

Last month The Times disclosed a leaked Merck memo from 1991 showing that

the company was aware at that time of concerns about thimerosal. In the

memo, a former Merck scientist calculated that 6-month-old children who

received their shots on schedule could receive a mercury dose up to 87

times

higher than the guideline for the maximum daily consumption of mercury

from

fish.

 

" When viewed in this way, the mercury load appears rather large, " said the

memo by Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman, an internationally renowned vaccinologist

and a former senior vice president of Merck. " The key issue is whether

thimerosal, in the amount given with the vaccine, does or does not

constitute a safety hazard. "

 

Hilleman and Merck executives have declined to discuss the memo.

 

Merck's announcement of the new thimerosal-free vaccine figured

strongly in

a shift in federal immunization policy.

 

In issuing their 1999 appeal, federal authorities also recommended

that the

first hepatitis B shot, typically given to newborns in their first 12

hours

of life, be postponed except for at-risk infants - those whose mothers had

tested positive or whose hepatitis B status was unknown.

 

But that caveat was lost in confusion over the new policy, and some

hospitals delayed the birth dose even for at-risk children. Fearing that

these babies could contract the serious disease, the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention reinstated the birth dose for all newborn babies,

citing the availability of the new Merck vaccine.

 

The Merck release was issued Sept. 9, 1999, and the CDC announced the

revised policy the next day.

 

The CDC notice cited the introduction of the Merck vaccine and the

expectation that a preservative-free version from a second manufacturer

would be available soon. It called on hospitals and doctors to assure that

they had enough of the new product for newborns before giving it to older

babies.

 

" There was a belief there was enough thimerosal-free hepatitis vaccine, so

they went back to the birth dose, " said Glen Nowak, a spokesman for

the CDC.

 

Dr. Eric Mast, chief of the prevention branch in the CDC's division of

viral

hepatitis, said the agency had not conducted surveys to determine the

percentage of newborns who got mercury-free shots. But he said the CDC had

not received reports " from state health departments or providers that

there

was a problem with access " to preservative-free vaccine.

 

Weldon, however, said that with the old product continuing to flow

into the

market, he was " fairly confident that newborns continued to get

mercury-containing vaccines. "

 

" It would have to be a very well-informed and diligent pediatrician to

make

sure all of the stock he supplied contained no mercury, " he said.

 

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