Families will make case for vaccine link to autism

[Guest guest]

I am not one to usually ask for prayer but these people need as much

positive support / prayer as possible because these people have had

their families turned upside down by something promoted as keeping

their children safe. All they have been left with so far are cover

ups and lies.

 

How do the pro vax drs, the idiots with financial ties to big pharma,

and the people who make this poison sleep at night? I don't get it.

 

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051200174_\

pf.html

 

Families will make case for vaccine link to autism

 

By KEVIN FREKING

The Associated Press

Monday, May 12, 2008; 4:36 AM

 

WASHINGTON -- The Institute of Medicine said in 2004 there was no

credible evidence to show that vaccines containing the preservative

thimerosal led to autism in children. But thousands of families have a

different take based on personal experience.

 

Some of them are going to court Monday as attorneys will attempt to

show that the mercury-based preservative triggers symptoms of autism.

 

Two 10-year-old boys from Portland, Ore., will serve as test cases to

determine whether many of the children and their families should be

compensated. Attorneys for the boys will attempt to show the boys were

happy, healthy and developing normally _ but, after being exposed to

vaccines with thimerosal, they began to regress.

 

Thimerosal has been removed in recent years from standard childhood

vaccines, except flu vaccines that are not packaged in single-doses.

The CDC says single-dose flu shots currently are available only in

limited quantities. In 2004, a committee with the Institute of

Medicine concluded there was no credible evidence that vaccines

containing thimerosal caused autism.

 

Overall, nearly 4,900 families have filed claims with the U.S. Court

of Claims alleging that vaccines caused autism and other neurological

problems in their children. Lawyers for the families are presenting

three different theories of how vaccines caused autism.

 

The Office of Special Masters of the claims court has instructed the

plaintiffs to designate three test cases for each of the three

theories _ nine cases in all _ and has assigned three special masters

to handle the cases. Three cases in the first category were heard last

year, but no decisions have been reached.

 

The two cases beginning Monday are among the three that focus on the

second theory of causation: that thimerosal-containing vaccines alone

cause autism. The plaintiff in the third case originally scheduled for

hearing this month has withdrawn and lawyers and court officials are

working to agree on substitute case.

 

Hearings in the test cases for the third theory of causation are

scheduled in mid-September.

 

Lawyers for the petitioning families in the cases being heard this

month say they will present evidence that injections with thimerosal

deposit a form of mercury in the brain. That mercury excites certain

brain cells that stay chronically activated trying to get rid of the

intrusion.

 

" In some kids, there's enough of it that it sets off this chronic

neuroinflammatory pattern that can lead to regressive autism, " said

attorney Mike Williams.

 

In the end, the families' attorneys hope to convince the special

master hearing their case that thimerosal belongs on the list of

causes for the inflammation that leads to regressive autism.

 

To win, the attorneys for the two boys, William Mead and Jordan King,

will have to show that it's more likely than not that the vaccine

actually caused the injury.

 

Many members of the medical community are skeptical of the families'

claims. They worry that the claims about the dangers of vaccines could

cause some people to forgo vaccines that prevent illness.

 

" I think that what's so endearing to me about the anti-vaccine people,

is they're perfectly willing to go from one hypothesis to the next

without a backward glance, " said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the

Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

 

Autism is a developmental disability that typically appears during the

first three years of life and affects a person's ability to

communicate and interact with others. Dr. Andrew Gerber, a

psychiatrist, said that medical experts don't have a comprehensive

understanding of what causes autism, but they do know there is a

strong hereditary component.

 

Toxins from the environment could play a role, but currently, data

does not support that they do, Gerber said.

 

Arguments are scheduled to go on throughout the month. A final

decision could take several more months. Claims that are successful

would result in compensation taking into account lost earnings after

age 18 and up to $250,000 for pain and suffering.

 

The families or the federal government can also appeal the decision of

the special master to the Court of Federal Claims or to a federal

appeals court.

 

The court Web site says more than 12,500 claims have been filed since

creation of the program in 1987, including more than 5,300 autism

cases, and more than $1.7 billion has been paid in claims. It says

there is now more than $2.7 billion in a trust fund supported by an

excise tax on each dose of vaccine covered by the program.

 

____

 

On the Net:

 

Background on thimerosal trial: http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/node/4428

 

© 2008 The Associated Press

 

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