SICK MONKEYS: RESEARCH VACCINE LOAD, AUTISM SIGNS

[Guest guest]

SICK MONKEYS: RESEARCH LINKS VACCINE LOAD, AUTISM SIGNS

_http://www.ageofaut ism.com/2008/ 05/sick-monkeys- st.html_

(http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/05/sick-monkeys-st.html)

BY DAN OLMSTED

 

 

The first research project to examine effects of the total vaccine load

received by children in the 1990s has found autism-like signs and symptoms in

infant monkeys vaccinated the same way. The study's principal investigator,

Laura Hewitson from the University of Pittsburgh, reports developmental delays,

behavior problems and brain changes in macaque monkeys that mimic " certain

neurological abnormalities of autism. "

 

The findings are being reported Friday and Saturday at a major international

autism conference in London.

 

Although couched in scientific language, Hewitson's findings are explosive.

They suggest, for the first time, that our closest animal cousins develop

characteristics of autism when subjected to the same immunizations - such as

the

MMR shot -- and vaccine formulations - such as the mercury preservative

thimerosal -- that American children received when autism diagnoses exploded in

the 1990s.

 

The first publicly reported results of this research project come in both

oral and poster presentations on Friday and Saturday at the International

Meeting For Autism Research in London. Poster presentations must go through a

form

of peer review before they are presented at the conference; the papers have

not yet appeared in a scientific journal.

 

In addition to Hewitson's oral presentation today, on Saturday in one of two

related poster presentations, the researchers also are reporting in their

abstract that " vaccinated animals exhibited progressively severe chronic active

inflammation [in gastrointestinal tissue] whereas unexposed animals did not.

We have found many significant differences in the GI tissue gene expression

profiles between vaccinated and unvaccinated animals. " Numerous scientific

studies, as well as many parents, report severe GI ailments in children with

regressive autism.

 

The results are sure to be controversial, in part because they lend credence

to studies first published in 1998 by British pediatric gastroenterologist

Andrew Wakefield, one of Hewitson's co-authors on these findings. He described

an unusual inflammatory bowel condition in children who had regressed into

autism after they received the measles-mumps- rubella (MMR) vaccination.

Wakefield is currently fighting charges of medical misconduct in Britain over

allegations of conflict-of- interest and improper procedures related to that

paper. He denies the charges.

 

In the program for the conference, the 7th Annual International Meeting for

Autism Research (IMFAR), there are three separate presentations listed that

report results from the overall research program. The first, an oral

presentation entitled " Pediatric Vaccines Influence Primate Behavior, and

Amygdala

Growth and Opioid Ligand Binding " (the " amygdala abstract " ) was led by Dr.

Hewitson and lists 12 co-authors, including five of her colleagues from the

University of Pittsburgh and Dr. Wakefield. Other authors are chemists,

pathologists and psychologists from the universities of Kentucky,

California-Irvine, and

Washington.

 

Hewitson's introductory presentation will be followed by two poster

presentations on Saturday; one of the two, " Pediatric Vaccines Influence

Primate

Behavior, and Brain Stem Volume and Opioid Ligand Binding " , was led by

Wakefield

and includes six additional co-authors.

 

It focuses on the developmental effect of vaccine exposures on brain growth

during infancy. The second, " Microarray Analysis of GI Tissue in a Macaque

Model of the Effects of Infant Vaccination, " was led by Steven Walker of Wake

Forest University and performed gene array analysis on the intestinal tissues

of the vaccinated and unvaccinated monkeys.

 

The studies address - albeit in animals, not children -- one of the major

criticisms by parents and scientists concerned about a possible link between

the greatly stepped-up immunization schedule in the 1990s, including higher

exposure to the mercury preservative, and autism. While the Food and Drug

Administration approves individual vaccines as safe and effective, and an

advisory

committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the

childhood immunization schedule adopted by the states, the overall health

outcomes from the total vaccine load, versus no vaccinations at all, have never

been compared, the authors said.

 

A bill requiring the government to conduct a study of autism rates in

unvaccinated American children is pending in the U.S. House of Representatives,

co-sponsored by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Tom Osborne (R.-Neb.). Just

this week, former National Institutes of Health Director Bernadine Healy

called for more research into a possible vaccine link to autism and said the

question had not been settled, despite repeated assertions to that effect by

the

CDC, the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 

In the abstract for today's oral presentation, the authors noted that

macaques, the type of monkey used in the study, " are commonly used in

pre-clinical

vaccine safety testing, but the combined childhood vaccine regimen, rather

than individual vaccines, has not been studied. Childhood vaccines are a

possible causal factor in autism, and abnormal behaviors and anomalous amygdala

growth are potentially inter-related features of this condition. "

 

The study found evidence of both behavioral and biological changes after the

13 macaque monkey infants were administered proportional doses, adjusted for

age, of the vaccines recommended between 1994 and 1999. Three monkeys were

not given any vaccines.

 

" Primate development, cognition and social behavior were assessed for both

vaccinated and unvaccinated infants using standardized tests developed at the

Washington National Primate Research Center. " MRI and PET scans looked for

brain changes after administration of the MMR.

 

" Compared with unexposed animals, significant neurodevelopmental deficits

were evident for exposed animals in survival reflexes, tests of color

discrimination and reversal, and learning sets, " the authors reported.

" Differences in

behaviors were observed between exposed and unexposed animals and within the

exposed group before and after MMR vaccination. Compared with unexposed

animals, exposed animals showed attenuation of amygdala growth and differences

in

the amygdala binding of [11C]diprenorphine. Interaction models identified

significant associations between specific aberrant social and non-social

behaviors, isotope binding, and vaccine exposure. "

 

One of the Saturday abstracts makes the further point that the research

" revealed significant differences between exposed and unexposed animals " in the

kinds of developmental behaviors a mother might be able to observe, " with

delayed acquisition of root, suck, clasp hand, and clasp foot reflexes. " They

conclude by noting that " This animal model examines the neurological

consequences of the childhood vaccine regimen, Functional and . brainstem

anomalies were

evident in vaccinated animals that may be relevant to some aspects of

autism. The findings raise important safety issues while providing a potential

animal model for examining aspects of causation and disease pathogenesis in

acquired neurodevelopmental disorders. "

 

Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Interesting article - many thanks for that.

 

Here are some further references about mercury in vaccines....

 

Geier DA, Geier MR (2003) Neurodevelopmental disorders after

thimerosal-containing vaccines: a brief communication. Exp Biol Med.

228(6): 660-4.

 

Geier D, Geier MR (2004) Neurodevelopmental disorders following

thimerosal-containing childhood immunizations: a follow-up analysis.

Int J Toxicol. 23(6): 369-76.

 

Geier DA, Geier MR (2006) An assessment of downward trends in

neurodevelopmental disorders in the United States following removal of

Thimerosal from childhood vaccines. Med Sci Monit. 12(6): CR231-9.

 

 

http://www.jpands.org/vol8no1/geier.pdf

 

 

Hope these are of interest too.

 

Blessings,

Sharon

[Guest guest]

         Thanks Sharon. Have added it to my links on vaccines and mercury.

               blessings. Shan

Posted by: " sharonstrahan " sharonstrahan   sharonstrahan

Mon May 19, 2008 7:25 am (PDT)

Interesting article - many thanks for that.

 

Here are some further references about mercury in vaccines....

 

Geier DA, Geier MR (2003) Neurodevelopmental disorders after

thimerosal-containi ng vaccines: a brief communication. Exp Biol Med.

228(6): 660-4.

 

Geier D, Geier MR (2004) Neurodevelopmental disorders following

thimerosal-containi ng childhood immunizations: a follow-up analysis.

Int J Toxicol. 23(6): 369-76.

 

Geier DA, Geier MR (2006) An assessment of downward trends in

neurodevelopmental disorders in the United States following removal of

Thimerosal from childhood vaccines. Med Sci Monit. 12(6): CR231-9.

 

http://www.jpands. org/vol8no1/ geier.pdf