autism epidemic and vaccines

[Guest guest]

InnerLight Biological Research

& Health Education Foundation

 

 

 

 

Research Article

Aticle Title Date Posted

Update on the Autism Epidemic and Vaccines 2002-08-07

18:09:55

 

Opening Statement

Chairman Dan Burton

Committee on Government Reform

The Status of Research into Vaccine Safety and Autism

In April the Committee conducted a hearing reviewing

the epidemic of autism and the Department of Health

and Human Service's (HHS) response. Ten years ago,

autism was thought to affect 1 in 10,000 individuals

in the United States. When the Committee began its

oversight investigation in 1999, autism was thought to

affect 1 in 500 children. Today, the National

Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that autism

affects 1 in 250 children.

 

In April we looked at the investment our Government

has made into autism as compared to other epidemics.

We showed in that hearing that the CDC and NIH have

not provided adequate funding to address the issues in

the manner that our Public Health Service agencies

have used to address other epidemics.

 

We have learned that a majority of parents whose

children have late-onset or acquired autism believe it

is vaccine-related. They deserve answers. We have also

learned that the parents have been our best

investigators in looking for both causes of autism and

for treatments.

 

I might have been like many of the officials within

the public health community - denying a connection -

had I not witnessed this tragedy in my own family. I

might have been like so many pediatricians who

discounted the correlation between vaccination and the

onset of fever, crying, and behavioral changes.

Because both of my grandchildren suffered adverse

reactions to vaccines, I could not ignore the parent's

plea for help. I could not ignore their evidence.

 

My only grandson became autistic right before my eyes

- shortly after receiving his federally recommended

and state-mandated vaccines. Without a full

explanation of what was in the shots being given, my

talkative, playful, outgoing healthy grandson

Christian was subjected to very high levels of mercury

through his vaccines. He also received the MMR

vaccine. Within a few days he was showing signs of

autism.

 

Through a Congressional mandate to review thimerosal

content in medicines, the FDA learned that childhood

vaccines, when given according to the CDC's

recommendations exposed over 8,000 children a day in

the United States to levels of mercury that exceeded

Federal guidelines. Is there a connection between this

toxic exposure to mercury and the autism epidemic?

 

We have twice received testimony from Dr. Andrew

Wakefield regarding his clinical research into

autistic entercolitis. We will learn today that not

only has he continued to conduct clinical research,

but that this research is confirming the presence of

vaccine-related measles RNA in the biopsies from

autistic children. Dr. Wakefield - like many

scientists who blaze new trails - has been attacked by

his own profession.

 

He has been forced out of his position at the Royal

Free Hospital in England. He and his colleagues have

fought an uphill battle to continue the research that

has been a lone ray of hope for parents whose children

have autistic entercolitis.

 

Unfortunately, rather than considering the preliminary

clinical findings of Dr. Wakefield as a newly

documented adverse reaction to a vaccine, the CDC

attempted to refute these clinical findings through an

epidemiological review. While epidemiological research

is very important, it cannot be used to disprove

laboratory and clinical findings. Valuable time was

lost in replicating this research and determining

whether the hypothesis was accurate.

 

Officials at HHS have aggressively denied any possible

connection between vaccines and autism. They have

waged an information campaign endorsing one conclusion

on an issue where the science is still out.

 

This has significantly undermined public confidence in

the career public service professionals who are

charged with balancing the dual roles of assuring the

safety of vaccines and increasing immunization rates.

Increasingly, parents come to us with concerns that

integrity and an honest public health response to a

crisis have been left by the wayside in lieu of

protecting the public health agenda to fully immunize

children.

 

Parents are increasingly concerned that the Department

may be inherently conflicted in its multiple roles of

promoting immunization, regulating manufacturers,

looking for adverse events, managing the vaccine

injury compensation program, and developing new

vaccines. Families share my concern that vaccine

manufacturers have too much influence as well.

 

Access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD)

 

One of the primary topics to be discussed at this

hearing is access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink.

(VSD). To help fill scientific gaps, the CDC formed

partnerships with eight large health maintenance

organizations through an agreement with the American

Association of Health Plans to continually evaluate

vaccine safety.

 

This project is known as the Vaccine Safety Datalink

(VSD) and includes medical records on millions of

children and adults. Up until this year, access to

data from the VSD has been limited to researchers

affiliated with the CDC and a few of their handpicked

friends. This 'good old boy's network " practice has

predictably led to questions about the objectivity of

the research and the fairness of the results.

 

The VSD data should be made available to all

legitimate scientific researchers so that independent

studies can be conducted and results verified. This

database contains a wealth of data involving millions

of patients over a ten-year period. If properly

utilized, it can help researchers study vitally

important questions about the safety of vaccines, the

effects of mercury-based preservatives in childhood

vaccines, and many other questions.

 

As representatives of the people, we have a

responsibility to ensure that our public health

officials are adequately and honestly addressing this

epidemic and its possible links to vaccine injury.

 

White House June 19, 2002 Submitted By Dawn Richardson

 

 

 

 

 

 

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