July 15th 06, 09:15 AM
To:
Dr Anbumani Ramadoss,
Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare,
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
New Delhi.
Dt: 07.04.06
Respected Sir,
I have been studying the subject of vaccinations very closely since
many years. I seek your clarification over ethylmercury, a component of
Thimerosal, that is used in all vaccines that are given to children in
India, mercury being the most dangerous neurotoxin known to mankind.
Also it is being felt that the mass vaccination procedures need a
safety belt. As per recent research people with eczema and psoriasis
should not take vaccines for eruptive diseases like small pox and
measles. Experts also say that sick and malnourished children,
immunodeficient persons, and children with low body mass index should
not be subjected to vaccinations.
Mercury, a component of the vaccine additive Thimerosal, is not the
only harmful ingredient in vaccines. Aluminium hydroxide is another
heavy metal that causes harm and also boosts the damage causing ability
of ethylmercury. Vaccines also contain a slew of carcinogens like
ethanol, glycol, formaldehyde and glutamic acid. The risk from
contaminated serum in vaccines from cows, horses, pigs, monkeys and
aborted human fetuses, is also very great. It is openly acknowledged
that vaccines have changed the genetic makeup of humans through genetic
contamination.
It is a fallacy to assume that vaccines have caused a fall in epidemic
diseases. Better hygiene has led to that. Also vaccines have been
introduced when the epidemics were already on a downward trend, and
would have disappeared without vaccines being introduced.
Please see the link:
http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/vaccine_awareness/vaccination_inefficacy.html
It is also a fact that vaccines containing live viruses have caused the
very disease in victims which they were expected to prevent. According
to medical experts, the battery of viruses introduced into the body via
vaccines can interact with the viruses already present to create
unknown dangers. They also warn against the use of genetically modified
viruses in vaccines as the study of genetics is still in its infancy
and side effects can be devastating.
The vaccination industry does not bother about the lives of people. It
perpetuates the vaccine myth to preserve its own existence and boost
profits. The industry spends millions of dollars in lobbying every
year. It has on its list of shareholders the most powerful politicians
of the world.
The arguement that mercury in vaccines is within the safe limits is a
farce. By the time 24 vaccine shots are injected to a child, the level
of mercury in the unfortunate toddlers blood is 48 to 120, sometimes
200 times higher than normal. This mercury lodges itself in the fat
cells of the brain to cause irreversible damage. This has been proved
by a recent study on mice by the scientists of a Californian medical
institute.
The vaccine industry in the USA is now scared at the apparition of
having to face innumberable law suits as vaccine damage is pegged at $
20.00 lacs per victim by legal experts. Considering that there is an
upward of one million vaccine injured children in the US, It is no
wonder that the industry improperly induced an American politician to
seek immunity from law suits.
The CDC has been aware of the dangers of vaccinations since 1938 as
uncovered by the concerned parents of vaccine damaged American
children. Thimerosal was introduced as a decontaminant in vaccines in
1930. Vaccine injury, due to other causes, has been a subject for
discussion among scientists since 1909.
Recently Dan Olmstead, the senior editor of the UPI dubbed the
vaccination process as the "recruitment tactics" of the drug industry
as vaccines cause diseases that the drug makers profit from by the sale
of their medicines. Besides autism, vaccines may be behind attention
deficit disorders, increased stress levels, meningitis, encephalitis,
neuromuscular ailments, irritable bowel, diabetes, arthritis,
Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and even AIDS. It is not unknown that the
Simian Virus SV 40, as well as SV 20, was introduced into humans via
the polio vaccine. These are not figments of the imagination but the
statements of vaccine experts who are associated with the process of
vaccine making.
The entire vaccine process is untested. Vaccines are tested for only 48
hours though it is widely known that vaccine effects can occur after
weeks, months or even years. Autism, for example, occurs after three
years. There has been no effort to test the combined effect of the
various metal, chemical and serum contents. Even ethylmercury is
untested, we can know of its dangers only from methylmercury, its close
cousin, which is a highly dangerous neurotoxin. Each component is a
potential danger, the combined effect may be worse as they interact
among themselves in unknown ways.
The effects of vaccines on the weak, the pregnant, the undernourished
and the sick has NEVER BEEN STUDIED.The effects of multiple
vaccinations has also never been studied. The effects of vaccination
stays for life and also passes into the next generation, an aspect that
too has never been studied. As we vaccinate each subsequent generation
we add to the vaccine dyscrasia. This is the "foolproof" science that
we all talk about. Here the consideration is not science but
"economics".
As per the homeopaths, raw and unprocessed mercury has the capability
of affecting people at the emotional level and boost criminal
tendencies besides inducing people to lead degenerate lives. That it
causes severe emotional flare ups has been observed in autistic
children. Homeopaths have also warned against the dangers of injecting
human and animal serum directly into the bloodstream. They say it
causes an effect very similar to suppressed veneral diseases.
There is another aspect that needs to be looked into, what if certain
childhood diseases are a result of the body's effort to eliminate the
toxins of the growing process? Are we not doing a great disservice by
not allowing the body to grow naturally? And what about vaccine induced
diseases for which we may be injecting more vaccines? According to the
CDC, meningitis and encephalitis are two vaccine induced conditions
that merit vaccine injury compensation.
In the land of the vaccines, the USA, there is a Vaccine Adverse Event
Reporting System database which is maintained to know of vaccine
dangers. The vaccine industry pays upwards of $80 million every year as
vaccine injury compensation from a fund set up by the US government.
The CDC also warns parents of vaccine allergies on its website. Seven
states in the US have banned the use of mercury containing Thimerosal
in vaccines and 20 other states have legislation lined up for the same.
Old stock of these banned vaccines still continue to be shipped to
third world countries like India as per American anti-vaccine
activists. It is very difficult for the third world countries to do
away with the mercury as large multi-use vials are used here for
multiple use and the mercury is used in liberal doses as a
decontaminant.
In India the public is blissfully unaware of the dangers involved.
Vaccine injuries, even if reported, are denied vehemently let alone
compensated. This is just not done in a democracy. When we are forcibly
injected something we should have the right to know both of its
composition and the dangers. The government should make public this
information as well as study the various implications of the
vaccination process as detailed above. Vaccine camps are no parties
where parents should be invited to in a festive spirit so that poisons
can be injected into their children without their knowledge.
Sir, I believe you are not entirely ignorant of what I have expressed
in my letter to you. No one is. It seems everyone knows the dangerous
implications of the vaccination system except the hapless people on
whom the vaccines are forcibly injected. I have met many Health
Officials who have preferred to remain silent against my arguements.
They say that they are helpless against government orders and that the
government is helpless against the WHO guidelines. It is also well
known that certain very powerful political powers wish to utilise the
vaccination procedure to foster bio terrorism and forcible population
control.
I would request you to kindly look into this very grave issue,
ascertain the facts, and try to find a way to introduce preventive
measures which are humane and sensible. Diseases can be very well
prevented by better hygiene and nutrition and also by the use of the
homeopathic vegge vaccines. Such alternatives need to be urgently
looked into. Modern medicine is purely profit oriented and will not
mend its murderous ways to benefit humanity.
I have been intending to write to you on this matter for a long time.
Today I came across an article in an American newspaper, copy enclosed,
which speaks of public anger and American Congress diaspproval of the
vaccination procedure and highlights the callous and criminal
negligence of the CDC. I could contain myself no longer.
Please do as you deem fit. The future of India's health will depend
upon your decision.
Respectfully yours,
Jagannath Chatterjee,
Health Reforms & anti-GM Activist.
encl: Article in AJC.
CC: Director General, Health Services.
Director, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy,
Director, Department of AYUSH,
Director, Consumer Education and Research Centre,
Dr Leo Rebello, Director, Natural Health Centre, Mumbai,
PSecy to Health & Family Welfare Minister.
Subsequently forwarded to the following eminent personalities by Dr Leo
Rebello:
Hon'ble President of India,
Respected Prime Minister,
Madam Sonia Gandhi,
Sri Sharad Pawar,
Sri Oscar Fernandes
TV and print media.
Controversy over autism eats at credibility of CDC
Alison Young - Staff
Thursday, April 6, 2006
http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epaper/editions/today/news_44437aaa906db0c7003f.html
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rarely the subject of
public controversy, is facing an emerging credibility crisis on the
emotional issue of whether old-style vaccines containing a mercury
preservative caused autism in thousands of children.
The agency is being accused of cover-ups and scientific manipulations
by vocal advocates of autism awareness. It also is facing questions
from some high-profile members of Congress.
As the debate and controversy increasingly find their way into
pediatricians' offices, average parents of healthy children are
questioning whether vaccines are safe, sometimes even refusing
inoculations.
The CDC and other public health officials insist such questions lack a
basis in fact or science. Their greatest concern is that the broadening
debate holds the potential to put a new generation of children at
certain risk of deadly diseases if confidence in the safety of vaccines
is lost and they don't receive recommended shots.
"I think it's huge," said Dr. Julia McMillan, a member of the American
Academy of Pediatrics committee that makes vaccine recommendations.
"There's no pediatrician in practice that doesn't confront this on a
weekly basis: families who are questioning the need for --- and in some
cases refusing --- vaccines for their children."
But the academy and the CDC are in agreement. They say there is no
evidence to support a connection between autism and the mercury-based
preservative thimero-sal, which they stress is no longer used in most
pediatric vaccines.
"We simply don't know what the cause of autism is," Dr. Robert Davis,
the CDC's director of immunization safety, said Wednesday. Nonetheless,
the CDC is at the center of criticism.
A full-page ad scheduled to run in today's editions of USA Today, the
nation's largest circulation newspaper, accuses the CDC of "causing an
epidemic of autism" by recommending that children receive a series of
vaccines that until 2001 contained thimerosal.
The ad, placed by various advocacy groups, quotes environmental lawyer
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as saying: "It's time for the CDC to come clean
with the American public."
But what stings public health advocates more is a letter sent Feb. 22
by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and seven other members of Congress.
The bipartisan group asks that the CDC not take the lead on a new study
examining the vaccine-autism issue.
"If the federal government is going to have a study whose results will
be broadly accepted, such a study cannot be led by the CDC," the group
wrote Dr. David Schwartz, new director of the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences. The institute, a part of the National
Institutes of Health, will convene a panel in May to discuss how to
analyze a key CDC database to determine whether autism rates have
dropped since thimerosal was removed from vaccines.
The letter was also signed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rep. Dave
Weldon (R-Fla.), Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-N.Y.), Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y,) and
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.).
Agency officials said Wednesday they are proud of the CDC's work on
thimerosal safety issues and that they have looked hard to find a link
as well as to find any other cause of autism.
"It was an unfortunate choice of language," Davis said of the Lieberman
letter. "They and everyone else are certainly entitled to their
opinion. We stand by all the research we have done."
Public health officials who work with the CDC are more blunt.
"I think it's shocking," said Dr. Martin Myers, executive director of
the National Network for Immunization Information and a professor of
pediatrics at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston.
"The loss of public trust in one of the most extraordinary institutions
in the world. I'm not quite sure how that has occurred, but it has, and
that's one of the unfortunate consequences," Myers said.
The controversy, which erupted as a rally was scheduled on Capitol Hill
today in conjunction with National Autism Month, is gaining political
traction. It is moving well beyond an initial core of autism activists,
the CDC amd public health and congressional officials all agree.
There are many parents of autistic children who believe, as do most
pediatricians and scientists, that there is no scientific evidence that
thimerosal caused autism and other neurological disorders. That issue
was settled for most in a widely publicized 2004 report by an expert
panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of
Medicine.
But the report has been the subject of controversy and intense scrutiny
since it was published.
Parents of many autistic children insist that thimerosal caused the
disorder, because it appeared around the time their children received
vaccinations. Their advocates also point to what they say is intriguing
new research in animal models indicating that some individuals may be
more sensitive to thimerosal than others. Martin Cowen, whose family
lives in Jonesboro, is one such parent.
Cowen is convinced thimerosal-containing vaccines caused his son
Lindsey's autism. Lindsey, who turned 8 last week, does not speak, has
not been toilet trained and cannot be allowed outdoors without being
restrained for fear he'll run into traffic, his father said.
Cowen is highly skeptical of the CDC, a position shared by a cohort of
parents and advocates across the country.
"An enormous effort is being made to deny the connection," he said of
the CDC. "What do I think their motive is? They are very interested in
having the herd vaccinated. . . . They don't think of people as people
suffering individually. It's the greatest good for the greatest
number."
The National Immunization Program, run by the CDC, coordinates
immunization activities across the country. Increasing the rate of
immunization against disease is a cornerstone of public health.
At the same time, the CDC also is charged with monitoring vaccine
safety. It's an inherent conflict of interest, said Weldon, a doctor
before he was elected to Congress.
"They really do have a credibility problem," said Weldon, who serves on
the committee that decides the CDC's budget. "Part of the credibility
problem is it's asking them to investigate a problem that they may have
created."
Weldon became involved in the thimerosal issue seven years ago.
"Honestly, at first I was very dubious," he said. "As I looked at it
more and more, I began to feel there is some validity to this."
Weldon said the recent interest by Lieberman and others on Capitol Hill
is a sign the issue is gaining currency. Lieberman was unavailable for
comment.
The controversy and public debate is likely to be further fueled by the
full-page ad being paid for by a coalition of the autism activist
groups led by Generation Rescue. The ad promotes a sophisticated Web
site, www.PutChildren First.org, which includes links to CDC documents,
e-mails and transcripts the groups say support their contention of an
agency cover-up.
CDC spokesman Glen Nowak said many of the documents on the site have
been in the public domain for years, and are presented out of context
and in ways that may "look quite ominous" when they're not.
"It's a very challenging issue," he said. The CDC is bracing for a
spike in calls today from parents with questions and is increasing
staffing at its public help line, 1-800-232-4636.
This advertisement, scheduled to run in today's USA Today newspaper,
complains that the CDC has covered up the connection between childhood
vaccines and autism.
JUST THE FACTS
Autism
> A neurological disorder that causes problems with communication skills and the ability to have normal social interactions. Autism and related autism spectrum disorders (ASD) cover a range of symptoms that can vary from mild to severe.
> The cause is unknown, affecting more boys than girls.
> There is no count of how many people have autism in the United States. Estimates range from 1 in 500 to 1 in 166 children who have autism or an autism spectrum disorder, roughly 24,000 children each year.
Thimerosal
> A preservative widely used to prevent bacterial growth in vaccines until the late 1990s. It contains mercury.
> Mercury, at high levels, is known to damage the nervous system. But its effect at low levels is unclear.
> In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of Family Physicians issued a joint statement concluding that while there was no evidence of harm from the use of thimerosal in vaccines, it should be removed from pediatric vaccines as a precaution.
> Except for some influenza vaccines, thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines routinely given to children age 6 and younger.
Sources: CDC, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National
Toxicology Program, and the Autism Society of America.
Dr Anbumani Ramadoss,
Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare,
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
New Delhi.
Dt: 07.04.06
Respected Sir,
I have been studying the subject of vaccinations very closely since
many years. I seek your clarification over ethylmercury, a component of
Thimerosal, that is used in all vaccines that are given to children in
India, mercury being the most dangerous neurotoxin known to mankind.
Also it is being felt that the mass vaccination procedures need a
safety belt. As per recent research people with eczema and psoriasis
should not take vaccines for eruptive diseases like small pox and
measles. Experts also say that sick and malnourished children,
immunodeficient persons, and children with low body mass index should
not be subjected to vaccinations.
Mercury, a component of the vaccine additive Thimerosal, is not the
only harmful ingredient in vaccines. Aluminium hydroxide is another
heavy metal that causes harm and also boosts the damage causing ability
of ethylmercury. Vaccines also contain a slew of carcinogens like
ethanol, glycol, formaldehyde and glutamic acid. The risk from
contaminated serum in vaccines from cows, horses, pigs, monkeys and
aborted human fetuses, is also very great. It is openly acknowledged
that vaccines have changed the genetic makeup of humans through genetic
contamination.
It is a fallacy to assume that vaccines have caused a fall in epidemic
diseases. Better hygiene has led to that. Also vaccines have been
introduced when the epidemics were already on a downward trend, and
would have disappeared without vaccines being introduced.
Please see the link:
http://www.tetrahedron.org/articles/vaccine_awareness/vaccination_inefficacy.html
It is also a fact that vaccines containing live viruses have caused the
very disease in victims which they were expected to prevent. According
to medical experts, the battery of viruses introduced into the body via
vaccines can interact with the viruses already present to create
unknown dangers. They also warn against the use of genetically modified
viruses in vaccines as the study of genetics is still in its infancy
and side effects can be devastating.
The vaccination industry does not bother about the lives of people. It
perpetuates the vaccine myth to preserve its own existence and boost
profits. The industry spends millions of dollars in lobbying every
year. It has on its list of shareholders the most powerful politicians
of the world.
The arguement that mercury in vaccines is within the safe limits is a
farce. By the time 24 vaccine shots are injected to a child, the level
of mercury in the unfortunate toddlers blood is 48 to 120, sometimes
200 times higher than normal. This mercury lodges itself in the fat
cells of the brain to cause irreversible damage. This has been proved
by a recent study on mice by the scientists of a Californian medical
institute.
The vaccine industry in the USA is now scared at the apparition of
having to face innumberable law suits as vaccine damage is pegged at $
20.00 lacs per victim by legal experts. Considering that there is an
upward of one million vaccine injured children in the US, It is no
wonder that the industry improperly induced an American politician to
seek immunity from law suits.
The CDC has been aware of the dangers of vaccinations since 1938 as
uncovered by the concerned parents of vaccine damaged American
children. Thimerosal was introduced as a decontaminant in vaccines in
1930. Vaccine injury, due to other causes, has been a subject for
discussion among scientists since 1909.
Recently Dan Olmstead, the senior editor of the UPI dubbed the
vaccination process as the "recruitment tactics" of the drug industry
as vaccines cause diseases that the drug makers profit from by the sale
of their medicines. Besides autism, vaccines may be behind attention
deficit disorders, increased stress levels, meningitis, encephalitis,
neuromuscular ailments, irritable bowel, diabetes, arthritis,
Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and even AIDS. It is not unknown that the
Simian Virus SV 40, as well as SV 20, was introduced into humans via
the polio vaccine. These are not figments of the imagination but the
statements of vaccine experts who are associated with the process of
vaccine making.
The entire vaccine process is untested. Vaccines are tested for only 48
hours though it is widely known that vaccine effects can occur after
weeks, months or even years. Autism, for example, occurs after three
years. There has been no effort to test the combined effect of the
various metal, chemical and serum contents. Even ethylmercury is
untested, we can know of its dangers only from methylmercury, its close
cousin, which is a highly dangerous neurotoxin. Each component is a
potential danger, the combined effect may be worse as they interact
among themselves in unknown ways.
The effects of vaccines on the weak, the pregnant, the undernourished
and the sick has NEVER BEEN STUDIED.The effects of multiple
vaccinations has also never been studied. The effects of vaccination
stays for life and also passes into the next generation, an aspect that
too has never been studied. As we vaccinate each subsequent generation
we add to the vaccine dyscrasia. This is the "foolproof" science that
we all talk about. Here the consideration is not science but
"economics".
As per the homeopaths, raw and unprocessed mercury has the capability
of affecting people at the emotional level and boost criminal
tendencies besides inducing people to lead degenerate lives. That it
causes severe emotional flare ups has been observed in autistic
children. Homeopaths have also warned against the dangers of injecting
human and animal serum directly into the bloodstream. They say it
causes an effect very similar to suppressed veneral diseases.
There is another aspect that needs to be looked into, what if certain
childhood diseases are a result of the body's effort to eliminate the
toxins of the growing process? Are we not doing a great disservice by
not allowing the body to grow naturally? And what about vaccine induced
diseases for which we may be injecting more vaccines? According to the
CDC, meningitis and encephalitis are two vaccine induced conditions
that merit vaccine injury compensation.
In the land of the vaccines, the USA, there is a Vaccine Adverse Event
Reporting System database which is maintained to know of vaccine
dangers. The vaccine industry pays upwards of $80 million every year as
vaccine injury compensation from a fund set up by the US government.
The CDC also warns parents of vaccine allergies on its website. Seven
states in the US have banned the use of mercury containing Thimerosal
in vaccines and 20 other states have legislation lined up for the same.
Old stock of these banned vaccines still continue to be shipped to
third world countries like India as per American anti-vaccine
activists. It is very difficult for the third world countries to do
away with the mercury as large multi-use vials are used here for
multiple use and the mercury is used in liberal doses as a
decontaminant.
In India the public is blissfully unaware of the dangers involved.
Vaccine injuries, even if reported, are denied vehemently let alone
compensated. This is just not done in a democracy. When we are forcibly
injected something we should have the right to know both of its
composition and the dangers. The government should make public this
information as well as study the various implications of the
vaccination process as detailed above. Vaccine camps are no parties
where parents should be invited to in a festive spirit so that poisons
can be injected into their children without their knowledge.
Sir, I believe you are not entirely ignorant of what I have expressed
in my letter to you. No one is. It seems everyone knows the dangerous
implications of the vaccination system except the hapless people on
whom the vaccines are forcibly injected. I have met many Health
Officials who have preferred to remain silent against my arguements.
They say that they are helpless against government orders and that the
government is helpless against the WHO guidelines. It is also well
known that certain very powerful political powers wish to utilise the
vaccination procedure to foster bio terrorism and forcible population
control.
I would request you to kindly look into this very grave issue,
ascertain the facts, and try to find a way to introduce preventive
measures which are humane and sensible. Diseases can be very well
prevented by better hygiene and nutrition and also by the use of the
homeopathic vegge vaccines. Such alternatives need to be urgently
looked into. Modern medicine is purely profit oriented and will not
mend its murderous ways to benefit humanity.
I have been intending to write to you on this matter for a long time.
Today I came across an article in an American newspaper, copy enclosed,
which speaks of public anger and American Congress diaspproval of the
vaccination procedure and highlights the callous and criminal
negligence of the CDC. I could contain myself no longer.
Please do as you deem fit. The future of India's health will depend
upon your decision.
Respectfully yours,
Jagannath Chatterjee,
Health Reforms & anti-GM Activist.
encl: Article in AJC.
CC: Director General, Health Services.
Director, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy,
Director, Department of AYUSH,
Director, Consumer Education and Research Centre,
Dr Leo Rebello, Director, Natural Health Centre, Mumbai,
PSecy to Health & Family Welfare Minister.
Subsequently forwarded to the following eminent personalities by Dr Leo
Rebello:
Hon'ble President of India,
Respected Prime Minister,
Madam Sonia Gandhi,
Sri Sharad Pawar,
Sri Oscar Fernandes
TV and print media.
Controversy over autism eats at credibility of CDC
Alison Young - Staff
Thursday, April 6, 2006
http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epaper/editions/today/news_44437aaa906db0c7003f.html
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rarely the subject of
public controversy, is facing an emerging credibility crisis on the
emotional issue of whether old-style vaccines containing a mercury
preservative caused autism in thousands of children.
The agency is being accused of cover-ups and scientific manipulations
by vocal advocates of autism awareness. It also is facing questions
from some high-profile members of Congress.
As the debate and controversy increasingly find their way into
pediatricians' offices, average parents of healthy children are
questioning whether vaccines are safe, sometimes even refusing
inoculations.
The CDC and other public health officials insist such questions lack a
basis in fact or science. Their greatest concern is that the broadening
debate holds the potential to put a new generation of children at
certain risk of deadly diseases if confidence in the safety of vaccines
is lost and they don't receive recommended shots.
"I think it's huge," said Dr. Julia McMillan, a member of the American
Academy of Pediatrics committee that makes vaccine recommendations.
"There's no pediatrician in practice that doesn't confront this on a
weekly basis: families who are questioning the need for --- and in some
cases refusing --- vaccines for their children."
But the academy and the CDC are in agreement. They say there is no
evidence to support a connection between autism and the mercury-based
preservative thimero-sal, which they stress is no longer used in most
pediatric vaccines.
"We simply don't know what the cause of autism is," Dr. Robert Davis,
the CDC's director of immunization safety, said Wednesday. Nonetheless,
the CDC is at the center of criticism.
A full-page ad scheduled to run in today's editions of USA Today, the
nation's largest circulation newspaper, accuses the CDC of "causing an
epidemic of autism" by recommending that children receive a series of
vaccines that until 2001 contained thimerosal.
The ad, placed by various advocacy groups, quotes environmental lawyer
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as saying: "It's time for the CDC to come clean
with the American public."
But what stings public health advocates more is a letter sent Feb. 22
by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and seven other members of Congress.
The bipartisan group asks that the CDC not take the lead on a new study
examining the vaccine-autism issue.
"If the federal government is going to have a study whose results will
be broadly accepted, such a study cannot be led by the CDC," the group
wrote Dr. David Schwartz, new director of the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences. The institute, a part of the National
Institutes of Health, will convene a panel in May to discuss how to
analyze a key CDC database to determine whether autism rates have
dropped since thimerosal was removed from vaccines.
The letter was also signed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rep. Dave
Weldon (R-Fla.), Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Rep. Carolyn Maloney
(D-N.Y.), Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y,) and
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.).
Agency officials said Wednesday they are proud of the CDC's work on
thimerosal safety issues and that they have looked hard to find a link
as well as to find any other cause of autism.
"It was an unfortunate choice of language," Davis said of the Lieberman
letter. "They and everyone else are certainly entitled to their
opinion. We stand by all the research we have done."
Public health officials who work with the CDC are more blunt.
"I think it's shocking," said Dr. Martin Myers, executive director of
the National Network for Immunization Information and a professor of
pediatrics at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston.
"The loss of public trust in one of the most extraordinary institutions
in the world. I'm not quite sure how that has occurred, but it has, and
that's one of the unfortunate consequences," Myers said.
The controversy, which erupted as a rally was scheduled on Capitol Hill
today in conjunction with National Autism Month, is gaining political
traction. It is moving well beyond an initial core of autism activists,
the CDC amd public health and congressional officials all agree.
There are many parents of autistic children who believe, as do most
pediatricians and scientists, that there is no scientific evidence that
thimerosal caused autism and other neurological disorders. That issue
was settled for most in a widely publicized 2004 report by an expert
panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of
Medicine.
But the report has been the subject of controversy and intense scrutiny
since it was published.
Parents of many autistic children insist that thimerosal caused the
disorder, because it appeared around the time their children received
vaccinations. Their advocates also point to what they say is intriguing
new research in animal models indicating that some individuals may be
more sensitive to thimerosal than others. Martin Cowen, whose family
lives in Jonesboro, is one such parent.
Cowen is convinced thimerosal-containing vaccines caused his son
Lindsey's autism. Lindsey, who turned 8 last week, does not speak, has
not been toilet trained and cannot be allowed outdoors without being
restrained for fear he'll run into traffic, his father said.
Cowen is highly skeptical of the CDC, a position shared by a cohort of
parents and advocates across the country.
"An enormous effort is being made to deny the connection," he said of
the CDC. "What do I think their motive is? They are very interested in
having the herd vaccinated. . . . They don't think of people as people
suffering individually. It's the greatest good for the greatest
number."
The National Immunization Program, run by the CDC, coordinates
immunization activities across the country. Increasing the rate of
immunization against disease is a cornerstone of public health.
At the same time, the CDC also is charged with monitoring vaccine
safety. It's an inherent conflict of interest, said Weldon, a doctor
before he was elected to Congress.
"They really do have a credibility problem," said Weldon, who serves on
the committee that decides the CDC's budget. "Part of the credibility
problem is it's asking them to investigate a problem that they may have
created."
Weldon became involved in the thimerosal issue seven years ago.
"Honestly, at first I was very dubious," he said. "As I looked at it
more and more, I began to feel there is some validity to this."
Weldon said the recent interest by Lieberman and others on Capitol Hill
is a sign the issue is gaining currency. Lieberman was unavailable for
comment.
The controversy and public debate is likely to be further fueled by the
full-page ad being paid for by a coalition of the autism activist
groups led by Generation Rescue. The ad promotes a sophisticated Web
site, www.PutChildren First.org, which includes links to CDC documents,
e-mails and transcripts the groups say support their contention of an
agency cover-up.
CDC spokesman Glen Nowak said many of the documents on the site have
been in the public domain for years, and are presented out of context
and in ways that may "look quite ominous" when they're not.
"It's a very challenging issue," he said. The CDC is bracing for a
spike in calls today from parents with questions and is increasing
staffing at its public help line, 1-800-232-4636.
This advertisement, scheduled to run in today's USA Today newspaper,
complains that the CDC has covered up the connection between childhood
vaccines and autism.
JUST THE FACTS
Autism
> A neurological disorder that causes problems with communication skills and the ability to have normal social interactions. Autism and related autism spectrum disorders (ASD) cover a range of symptoms that can vary from mild to severe.
> The cause is unknown, affecting more boys than girls.
> There is no count of how many people have autism in the United States. Estimates range from 1 in 500 to 1 in 166 children who have autism or an autism spectrum disorder, roughly 24,000 children each year.
Thimerosal
> A preservative widely used to prevent bacterial growth in vaccines until the late 1990s. It contains mercury.
> Mercury, at high levels, is known to damage the nervous system. But its effect at low levels is unclear.
> In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of Family Physicians issued a joint statement concluding that while there was no evidence of harm from the use of thimerosal in vaccines, it should be removed from pediatric vaccines as a precaution.
> Except for some influenza vaccines, thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines routinely given to children age 6 and younger.
Sources: CDC, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National
Toxicology Program, and the Autism Society of America.