Angry parents, Congressmen corner CDC on vaccine issue.

[Guest guest]

Controversy over autism eats at credibility of CDC

Alison Young - Staff

Thursday, April 6, 2006

http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epaper/editions/today/news_44437aaa906db0c7003f\

..html

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rarely the subject of public

controversy, is facing an emerging credibility crisis on the emotional issue of

whether old-style vaccines containing a mercury preservative caused autism in

thousands of children. The agency is being accused of cover-ups and scientific

manipulations by vocal advocates of autism awareness. It also is facing

questions from some high-profile members of Congress. As the debate and

controversy increasingly find their way into pediatricians' offices, average

parents of healthy children are questioning whether vaccines are safe, sometimes

even refusing inoculations. The CDC and other public health officials insist

such questions lack a basis in fact or science. Their greatest concern is that

the broadening debate holds the potential to put a new generation of children at

certain risk of deadly diseases if confidence in the safety of vaccines is lost

and they don't receive recommended shots. " I

think it's huge, " said Dr. Julia McMillan, a member of the American Academy of

Pediatrics committee that makes vaccine recommendations. " There's no

pediatrician in practice that doesn't confront this on a weekly basis: families

who are questioning the need for --- and in some cases refusing --- vaccines for

their children. " But the academy and the CDC are in agreement. They say there

is no evidence to support a connection between autism and the mercury-based

preservative thimero-sal, which they stress is no longer used in most pediatric

vaccines. " We simply don't know what the cause of autism is, " Dr. Robert

Davis, the CDC's director of immunization safety, said Wednesday. Nonetheless,

the CDC is at the center of criticism. A full-page ad scheduled to run in

today's editions of USA Today, the nation's largest circulation newspaper,

accuses the CDC of " causing an epidemic of autism " by recommending that children

receive a series of vaccines that until 2001 contained

thimerosal. The ad, placed by various advocacy groups, quotes environmental

lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as saying: " It's time for the CDC to come clean

with the American public. " But what stings public health advocates more is a

letter sent Feb. 22 by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and seven other members

of Congress. The bipartisan group asks that the CDC not take the lead on a new

study examining the vaccine-autism issue. " If the federal government is going

to have a study whose results will be broadly accepted, such a study cannot be

led by the CDC, " the group wrote Dr. David Schwartz, new director of the

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The institute, a part of

the National Institutes of Health, will convene a panel in May to discuss how to

analyze a key CDC database to determine whether autism rates have dropped since

thimerosal was removed from vaccines. The letter was also signed by Sen.

Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rep. Dave Weldon

(R-Fla.), Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Rep. Dan

Burton (R-Ind.), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y,) and Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.).

Agency officials said Wednesday they are proud of the CDC's work on thimerosal

safety issues and that they have looked hard to find a link as well as to find

any other cause of autism. " It was an unfortunate choice of language, " Davis

said of the Lieberman letter. " They and everyone else are certainly entitled to

their opinion. We stand by all the research we have done. " Public health

officials who work with the CDC are more blunt. " I think it's shocking, " said

Dr. Martin Myers, executive director of the National Network for Immunization

Information and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas medical

branch in Galveston. " The loss of public trust in one of the most

extraordinary institutions in the world. I'm not quite sure how that has

occurred, but it has, and that's one of the unfortunate

consequences, " Myers said. The controversy, which erupted as a rally was

scheduled on Capitol Hill today in conjunction with National Autism Month, is

gaining political traction. It is moving well beyond an initial core of autism

activists, the CDC amd public health and congressional officials all agree.

There are many parents of autistic children who believe, as do most

pediatricians and scientists, that there is no scientific evidence that

thimerosal caused autism and other neurological disorders. That issue was

settled for most in a widely publicized 2004 report by an expert panel convened

by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. But the report has

been the subject of controversy and intense scrutiny since it was published.

Parents of many autistic children insist that thimerosal caused the disorder,

because it appeared around the time their children received vaccinations. Their

advocates also point to what they say is intriguing new research

in animal models indicating that some individuals may be more sensitive to

thimerosal than others. Martin Cowen, whose family lives in Jonesboro, is one

such parent. Cowen is convinced thimerosal-containing vaccines caused his son

Lindsey's autism. Lindsey, who turned 8 last week, does not speak, has not been

toilet trained and cannot be allowed outdoors without being restrained for fear

he'll run into traffic, his father said. Cowen is highly skeptical of the CDC,

a position shared by a cohort of parents and advocates across the country. " An

enormous effort is being made to deny the connection, " he said of the CDC. " What

do I think their motive is? They are very interested in having the herd

vaccinated. . . . They don't think of people as people suffering individually.

It's the greatest good for the greatest number. " The National Immunization

Program, run by the CDC, coordinates immunization activities across the country.

Increasing the rate of immunization

against disease is a cornerstone of public health. At the same time, the CDC

also is charged with monitoring vaccine safety. It's an inherent conflict of

interest, said Weldon, a doctor before he was elected to Congress. " They

really do have a credibility problem, " said Weldon, who serves on the committee

that decides the CDC's budget. " Part of the credibility problem is it's asking

them to investigate a problem that they may have created. " Weldon became

involved in the thimerosal issue seven years ago. " Honestly, at first I was very

dubious, " he said. " As I looked at it more and more, I began to feel there is

some validity to this. " Weldon said the recent interest by Lieberman and

others on Capitol Hill is a sign the issue is gaining currency. Lieberman was

unavailable for comment. The controversy and public debate is likely to be

further fueled by the full-page ad being paid for by a coalition of the autism

activist groups led by Generation Rescue. The ad

promotes a sophisticated Web site, www.PutChildren First.org, which includes

links to CDC documents, e-mails and transcripts the groups say support their

contention of an agency cover-up. CDC spokesman Glen Nowak said many of the

documents on the site have been in the public domain for years, and are

presented out of context and in ways that may " look quite ominous " when they're

not. " It's a very challenging issue, " he said. The CDC is bracing for a spike

in calls today from parents with questions and is increasing staffing at its

public help line, 1-800-232-4636. This advertisement, scheduled to run in

today's USA Today newspaper, complains that the CDC has covered up the

connection between childhood vaccines and autism.

 

JUST THE FACTS

Autism

> A neurological disorder that causes problems with communication skills and the

ability to have normal social interactions. Autism and related autism spectrum

disorders (ASD) cover a range of symptoms that can vary from mild to severe.

> The cause is unknown, affecting more boys than girls.

> There is no count of how many people have autism in the United States.

Estimates range from 1 in 500 to 1 in 166 children who have autism or an autism

spectrum disorder, roughly 24,000 children each year.

Thimerosal

> A preservative widely used to prevent bacterial growth in vaccines until the

late 1990s. It contains mercury.

> Mercury, at high levels, is known to damage the nervous system. But its effect

at low levels is unclear.

> In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service

and the American Academy of Family Physicians issued a joint statement

concluding that while there was no evidence of harm from the use of thimerosal

in vaccines, it should be removed from pediatric vaccines as a precaution.

> Except for some influenza vaccines, thimerosal has been removed from most

vaccines routinely given to children age 6 and younger.

Sources: CDC, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Toxicology

Program, and the Autism Society of America.

 

 

 

 

" Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest

of life by the power of the spirit. " - Aurobindo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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