USA to China, Mothers Repent, If only I had not vaccinated my child !!

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Family with autistic child goes to 'vaccine court' BY CHRISTINA HERNANDEZ http://www.amny.com/news/health/ny-hsauti0722,0,2682347.story July 22, 2007 While his younger sister attended camp this summer, Daniel Safian stayed home in Huntington Station with his mother.His sister can play and socialize with other children. Daniel, 7, lives in a different world.One day last month, Daniel wore a blue T-shirt with "Beautiful Daniel" printed across the chest, but he cannot read those words.As a child with autism, Daniel needs cues from an audio interactive machine to get dressed. And his mother, Rita

Jones-Safian, said if Daniel goes three days without his tutoring, he loses hard-won skills like toilet training.As a baby, Daniel waved and played peek-a-boo. Developing normally, his mother said, he began to speak. Then his health declined, she said, after routine vaccinations when he was 18 months old. Daniel ran a high fever and became lethargic. He stopped responding to his name.When a specialist diagnosed autism a month later, Jones-Safian pointed to what she said was the most likely culprit -- a cocktail of vaccines that included the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination, as well as three injections called IPV, DPT and Prevnar, which protect against diseases including polio."I still feel guilty," Jones-Safian said. "Maybe if I didn't vaccinate my son, he would have been healthy."The Safian family is among 4,800 others nationwide with autistic children whose disabilities they believe were caused by vaccines, something the scientific

community has largely rejected. But these families are seeking an answer to the mystery of their children's autism, and compensation, from a little known "vaccine court" in Washington, D.C.An arm of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the vaccine court consists of judges, called special masters, who determine whether people who say they or their children have been harmed by vaccines deserve compensation.On June 26, three special masters finished listening to the first case in the Omnibus Autism Proceedings, brought by the parents of Michelle Cedillo, 12, of Arizona. In large part, the hearing served as a time for each side -- the families and experts retained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- to present its first argument.The court is expected to hear three tests and then make a ruling on those. If they side with the parents, the court is likely to set up a framework for compensation to the others.Vaccine preservative

blamedUsing Michelle's story, the petitioners sketched out their theory that thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative once included in many vaccines and removed from most in 1999, can combine with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination to damage the immune system. This damage, they said, can lead to autism, a developmental disorder characterized by speech and often severe social impairments.Approximately 76 percent of children, more than 3 million each year, are completely vaccinated by age 2, said Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 92 percent get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination, he said.The Cedillo family argued that Michelle's immune system was unable to clear the measles virus from her body after her vaccinations, said Dr. Marcel Kinsbourne, a child neurologist who testified as an expert witness for the family. According to the family's argument, the measles caused inflammation

in Michelle's brain, which led to the development of autism.While mercury is a known neurotoxin, the Department of Health and Human Services argued before the court that there is not enough scientific evidence to say for certain that vaccinations cause autism. They said the families should not have access to the $2.5-billion Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund established by Congress two decades ago.The respondent's team declined to be interviewed for this story, said Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman.In a written statement to a reporter, however, Miller cited a 2004 report by the Institute of Medicine's Immunization Safety Review Committee, a nonprofit component of the National Academy of Science, to outline the respondent's position. After reviewing several studies, the committee rejected the claim that autism was caused by the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination in combination with thimerosal-containing vaccines.Thomas

Lehner, who heads the Genomic Research Branch of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and who was not involved with the proceedings, said a genetic link to autism is science's best guess. Certain environmental factors, which remain unknown, are also likely to play a role in autism, he said.What makes the situation murkier is that children with autism generally begin to show symptoms around 18 to 24 months, the age they are typically vaccinated.The purpose of the court, established in 1986 by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, is not to determine whether vaccines and autism are linked, said Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center, an advocacy group. Rather, she said, the court's mission is to decide, using a probability standard of 50 percent, whether it is possible the vaccine caused harm.On the final day of the hearing, Special Master George Hastings said he expected to rule in several months. Two

related cases are expected to be heard this fall. In these two cases, the allegations as to what caused the autism are different. In one of them, the petitioners allege that thimerosal-containing vaccines alone caused the autism; in the second case, the petitioners blame the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination for the autism.Access to trust fundIf the court rules for the families, they could gain access to the trust fund that was set up to help victims of vaccines pay for medical bills and treatments. And, Kinsbourne said, the special masters also could devise a framework for determining who else is eligible for compensation.But nothing is definite. "They could decide not to give anybody anything," Kinsbourne said.Jones-Safian estimated that hundreds of local families have a stake in the proceedings.Those include Cheryl Viserto, 36, of Setauket, who said she wants answers for her son, Alex, who she said developed autism after

vaccinations. She said the medical establishment has done little to help families with autistic children. "I can't believe the lack of support from the medical community," she said.Late last month, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) introduced a bill that would require the National Institutes of Health to conduct a study comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated populations in an attempt to determine whether a link exists between vaccination and autism. Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc. Chinese parents take "bad vaccines" case to court Last Updated: 2007-07-26 14:05:43 -0400 (Reuters Health) By Tan Ee Lyn http://tinyurl.com/2fa7co HONG KONG (Reuters)

- Three children who suffered severe brain damage after being vaccinated against Japanese encephalitis had their case heard in a Chinese court on Thursday, casting the spotlight once again on the safety of China's drugs and food. Ordinary citizens suing powerful state companies are rare in China and this case is especially sensitive as it calls into question the standards and safety of Chinese medicines. "Our chances of winning are zero because our opponents are mighty, but we won't back down," said Yu Tongan, father of one of the three. "As victims we have to stand up not only for ourselves but to tell the world such things are happening to us and many, many other children." Passed by mosquitoes, Japanese encephalitis can result in paralysis, seizures, coma and death. It is endemic in most parts of Asia, and countries such as China, India, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand control the disease with vaccines. At the start of the two-day hearing, Tang Jingling, a lawyer representing the children and their families, told the court in Jiangmen city, in southern Guangdong province, how Liang Jiayi, a lively two-year-old, ran a high fever after she was given a vaccine shot in a government clinic in August 2003. She fell into a coma four days later and when she came to, she was paralysed and has remained in a vegetative state. The other two children, Tan Jieyi and Yu Ronghui, were vaccinated in Jiangmen in March 2005. Now 12 and 14 respectively, they can walk but are mentally retarded and have been refused places in school. JUST BAD LUCK? Defendants named in the lawsuit were vaccine manufacturer Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Xinhui district and Jiangmen. "Treatments for all three children are ongoing and they hope to get compensation ... of around 1

million yuan ($132,200) each ... for their medical fees and disabilities," Tang told Reuters later. Parents of the affected children had petitioned authorities in Beijing, southern Guangzhou city and even Hong Kong, but were arrested when they mounted a protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square last year. But now a court has agreed to hear their case, weeks after a senior Chinese official was executed for taking bribes and approving unsafe drugs. The parents say they have asked for an explanation of what happened to their children, only to be told by officials that it was bad luck. China's Health Ministry told Reuters last year that there were no problems with the vaccines. Rare complications happen with any kind of vaccine, especially when recipients have poor immunity or genetic defects. But Tang said is this case there was a fairly large cluster of seven children in Jiangmen who were all injected in March 2005

- raising questions over its quality. Liang, now 6, and her parents were not in court but in Beijing, where she was recuperating from recent brain surgery. "She was getting very frequent seizures and was constantly foaming in the mouth. We had to raise money to bring her here for surgery," her father, Liang Yongli, told Reuters by telephone. "We want the state authorities that are responsible for this to cure her." 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world. What if a “dirty bomb” exploded over a large segment of U.S.population that simultaneously exposed citizens to Hepatitis B,Hepatitis A, tetanus, pertussis, diphtheria, three strains of polio viruses, three strains of influenza, measles, mumps, and rubella viruses, two types of meningitis, four strains of herpes viruses, the chickenpox virus, 7 strains of Streptococcus bacteria, and four strainsof rotavirus. • We would declare a national emergency.• It would be an “extreme act of BIOTERRORISM• The public outcry would be immense and our government would react accordingly.And yet, those are the very organisms we inject into our babies and our small children in multiple doses, with immature, underdeveloped immunesystems, many at the same

time with vaccines. But instead of bioterrorism, we call it “protection.” Reflect on that irony.- Dr Sheri Tenpenny, MD

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