Autism

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="039506e1egerbq.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#339900" FACE="Arial" ><B>Post-Polio Syndrome Information and More</B></FONT><B> </B><B> </B><B> </B><B> </B><B> </B><B>|   </B></div> <div> <B>                                                                                                                                                                      </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Index</B></FONT></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#339900" TEXT="#080000"> <div>          <IMG SRC="1ed78780.gif" border=0 width="120" height="120" ALT="Angel sleeping on cloud" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#99CC00" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Autism</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Disability Grapevine Online Newspaper: Issue # 3</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.disabilitygrapevine.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.disabilitygrapevine.com"><U><B>http://www.disabilitygrapevine.com</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Autism: Out Of The Shadows </B></div> <div> <B>Lawsuits Tie Autism Increase To Vaccines </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Author: </B></div> <div> <B>Submitted By: Christina</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Written By: </B></div> <div> <B>Kathie Durbin</B></div> <div> <B>Columbian Staff Writer</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.columbian.com/03202002/front_pa/266263.html " TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.columbian.com/03202002/front_"><U><B>http://www.columbian.com/03202002/front_pa/266263.html</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>Article:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>For the first 18 months of his life, Austin Garcia was a happy, normal baby. </B></div> <div> <B>Then his mother took him to get his scheduled immunizations: four shots, </B></div> <div> <B>including the hepatitis B and measles- mumps-rubella vaccines. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Almost immediately, Austin developed a fever of 103 degrees. Within a </B></div> <div> <B>week, his behavior changed dramatically. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"He became totally distraught," Andrea Garcia said. "He wouldn't even </B></div> <div> <B>look at me. I took him to the doctor, but he said Austin just had the flu. I </B></div> <div> <B>knew something more was wrong." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Soon after, Austin was diagnosed with autism. Searching for answers, </B></div> <div> <B>Andrea Garcia learned that some of the immunizations he had received were packaged with a mercury-containing preservative called thimerosal. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I believe the mercury in the shots made my son autistic," said the </B></div> <div> <B>Vancouver mother of three. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Andrea Garcia, her husband, Arnold, and their children are the lead </B></div> <div> <B>plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court </B></div> <div> <B>against the manufacturers of the vaccines. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Garcia lawsuit, filed last October, is part of a national legal </B></div> <div> <B>campaign that seeks to hold several large drug companies liable for exposing as many as 30 million young children to potentially toxic levels of mercury in the 1990s. Similar lawsuits were filed in eight other states at the same time. In Britain, more than 1,000 families have joined a thimerosal lawsuit. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>To date, medical researchers have found no conclusive evidence of a </B></div> <div> <B>relationship between autism and immunizations. The Institute of Medicine </B></div> <div> <B>concluded last year that the MMR vaccine could not cause most cases of </B></div> <div> <B>autism, though it said a cause-and-effect relationship could not be ruled out </B></div> <div> <B>in a small percentage of cases. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In a separate study of the thimerosal-autism connection, a committee of </B></div> <div> <B>the institute concluded that a link between thimerosal in vaccines and </B></div> <div> <B>neurological damage to small children was unproven though "biologically </B></div> <div> <B>plausible." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Because thimerosal was used in millions of vaccine doses over several </B></div> <div> <B>decades, it is important that additional research be done to understand the </B></div> <div> <B>nature of the risk, if any," the institute said. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>That hasn't stopped the lawsuits. In Oregon, two class action suits are </B></div> <div> <B>pending. One seeks compensation for injuries to children who actually </B></div> <div> <B>suffered neurological damage after receiving the mercury-laced vaccines. The other asks $1,000 for each child who was exposed to mercury in vaccines, whether or not symptoms of neurological damage appeared later. The money would be dedicated to autism research and medical tracking of affected children. The Garcia suit is of that type. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Lawyers for the plaintiffs also will ask the court to clarify who was </B></div> <div> <B>responsible for telling parents that their babies were receiving mercury with </B></div> <div> <B>their vaccines. No one ---- not the vaccine manufacturers nor the Food and </B></div> <div> <B>Drug Administration nor pediatricians ---- ever did. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Most drug companies named in the lawsuits have declined comment. One, </B></div> <div> <B>Aventis Pasteur, released a statement saying, "When the thimerosal theory was raised two years ago, there was no proof of any danger and that statement remains true today." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Portland attorney Kathleen Dailey, who represents the Oregon families, </B></div> <div> <B>says she is confident the truth will come out in court. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"The science has raised a red flag saying that this issue needs to be </B></div> <div> <B>looked at, that these children deserve the monitoring and medical research </B></div> <div> <B>that we're seeking," she said. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A cost-saving strategy</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Thimerosal, a registered pesticide that is 49 percent ethyl mercury, has </B></div> <div> <B>been used as a preservative in vaccines since the 1930s. But children's </B></div> <div> <B>exposure to it increased dramatically in the 1990s, as public health </B></div> <div> <B>officials added more vaccines to the standard childhood immunization schedule and as drug companies began packaging many vaccines in multiple-dose vials to save money. Thimerosal was added to prevent bacterial contamination. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>At the same time, the incidence of autism among young children began c</B></div> <div> <B>limbing sharply. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>By 1999, thimerosal was present in more than 30 vaccines licensed and </B></div> <div> <B>marketed in the United States, including diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B and </B></div> <div> <B>type B influenza. Oral polio and measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines never have been preserved with thimerosal. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Today, a child who is up-to-date on immunizations will have received up </B></div> <div> <B>to 32 doses of vaccines by age 2. State health officials require children to </B></div> <div> <B>be fully immunized before they start school. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mercury is a potent neurotoxin. It is known to damage the brains, nervous </B></div> <div> <B>systems and immune systems of unborn children. Less is known about its </B></div> <div> <B>effects on infants. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets strict limits on mercury </B></div> <div> <B>intake to protect children and other vulnerable populations from eating too </B></div> <div> <B>much mercury-tainted fish. No one knows how much mercury it takes to </B></div> <div> <B>overwhelm a baby's nervous system. However, it's clear that thimerosal </B></div> <div> <B>exceeded the dietary limits. During the 1990s, the hepatitis B vaccine that </B></div> <div> <B>babies received at birth and again at one month of age contained 12.5 </B></div> <div> <B>micrograms of mercury, 100 times the EPA allowable daily exposure. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A warning</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>In July 1999, faced with clear evidence that babies were being exposed to </B></div> <div> <B>potentially unsafe levels of mercury, the U.S. Public Health Service and the </B></div> <div> <B>American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that drug companies provide a thimerosal-free vaccine supply within two years. They also recommended suspending the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine for children born to low-risk mothers until a mercury-free alternative became available. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The independent Institute of Medicine went further, urging that all </B></div> <div> <B>remaining stocks of vaccines containing thimerosal be destroyed immediately and that studies begin at once to determine whether a link existed between the mercury preservative and neurological damage to young children. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Soon after, drug companies stopped packaging vaccines with thimerosal. </B></div> <div> <B>But the mercury-laced vaccines never were recalled. A recent national survey found about 5 percent of vaccine stocks still contained mercury. Last year, the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced that it would allow health care providers to exchange vaccines containing thimerosal for mercury-free vaccines free of charge. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Fear of vaccines</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Concern about vaccine safety has sparked a national anti-immunization </B></div> <div> <B>movement that has public health officials alarmed. And the concern is not </B></div> <div> <B>limited to thimerosal. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Many parents and some doctors speculate that the large number of </B></div> <div> <B>immunizations young children now receive, sometimes on a single day, could overwhelm their immature immune systems and leave them vulnerable to neurological damage. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Questions about the safety of the MMR vaccine were raised in a 1998 study </B></div> <div> <B>published in a British medical journal. The study linked the vaccine to bowel inflammation, decreased absorption of essential vitamins and minerals, and subsequent neurological disorders, including autism. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In April 2000, U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Indiana, held a hearing before the </B></div> <div> <B>House Government Reform Committee to focus attention on what he called "a near epidemic" of autism among young children. A long roster of parents and medical experts testified. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Burton, whose grandson developed autism after receiving multiple </B></div> <div> <B>immunizations in a single day, called for research to determine whether the </B></div> <div> <B>increase is linked to immunizations. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"We must do this now before our health and education systems are </B></div> <div> <B>bankrupted, and before more of our nation's children are locked inside </B></div> <div> <B>themselves with this disease," he said. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In December, hundreds of people packed a hall at the Oregon Convention </B></div> <div> <B>Center to hear Dr. Stephanie Cave of Baton Rouge, La., speak at a conference sponsored by the Oregon Autism Society. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Cave, who has written a book about the vaccine risk, urged parents not to </B></div> <div> <B>let doctors give their babies large numbers of vaccines at one time or </B></div> <div> <B>administer live vaccine to sick children. She said public health officials </B></div> <div> <B>should require drug companies to return to packaging measles, mumps and rubella vaccines in separate shots and require doctors to space the shots further apart. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>No such changes are under consideration by the American Academy of </B></div> <div> <B>Pediatrics. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A breach of trust? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Tory Mead's son William was a normal, talking child until about his </B></div> <div> <B>second birthday, when he received five immunizations in a single day. Four of the shots contained thimerosal. He began regressing immediately. Three months later, his IQ had plummeted to 55. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"We lost William in 12 weeks," she said. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>George and Tory Mead of Portland are plaintiffs in the Oregon class </B></div> <div> <B>action lawsuits. They also filed a separate lawsuit seeking damages for the </B></div> <div> <B>lifetime costs of caring for William, now 3 1/2. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Meads are spending as much as $10,000 a month on intensive therapies and medical treatments for William. He has improved dramatically, his mother says, but the cost has been steep. "We broke our 401(k) and we mortgaged our house." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Meads question whether public health agencies can objectively study </B></div> <div> <B>the safety of childhood vaccines at the same time they are promoting </B></div> <div> <B>universal immunization of children. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"In the autism community, there is a feeling of a terrible breach of </B></div> <div> <B>trust," Tory Mead said. "Unless the pharmaceutical companies are held </B></div> <div> <B>responsible for their failure to conduct safety tests, there will be no </B></div> <div> <B>public recourse when the next wave of vaccine injuries happen. There will be nothing to keep it from happening again." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do not copy any of these articles without the author’s permission.</B></div> <div> ****************************************************</div> <div> <B>Executive Editor: Paul Cannaday</B></div> <div> <B>Managing Editor: Marijo Cannaday</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Advice Columnist</B></div> <div> <B>Just Ask Joe</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Special Columnist</B></div> <div> <B>Rev. 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