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The Age of Autism: Pay no attention

By Dan Olmsted UPI Senior Editor - Mar. 2, 2006 at 2:07PM
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20060302-111157-7494r.htm

There's a Steely Dan album called Pretzel Logic that could be the theme song of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it struggles with concerns over vaccines and autism.
      At least in our view, it is a bit twisted -- logically speaking -- to simultaneously spend taxpayer money to keep studying whether a mercury preservative causes autism, yet recommend that pregnant women and children get vaccines containing that preservative. Especially so when alternatives are available that are free of the preservative, called thimerosal.
      It is puzzling to urge, as the CDC did in 1999, that thimerosal ought to be phased out as soon as possible from all childhood vaccines used in the United States -- yet successfully fight efforts this year by state legislatures to codify a ban.
      It is peculiar to issue an "Autism Alarm," as the CDC did in 2004 -- then publish a 72-page annual report in 2005 that mentions the perils of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, cryptosporidiosis, leprosy and the four people "killed by rabies transmitted through transplanted organs or tissues in 2004," yet never use the word autism, not once. (Check it out at www.cdc.gov/cdc.pdf)
      Perhaps the oddest, though subtlest, anomaly is the seeming resistance by the CDC to the idea that the autism rate might be declining.
      Our last column reported a new study that suggests it could well be. The study's authors are firmly convinced a drop in autism cases in two separate government databases -- one run by the CDC, the other by the state of California -- proves thimerosal is the big culprit in autism. That's a step we're not ready to take, to the consternation of some in the anti-thimerosal movement.
      But wouldn't even tentative signs of a decrease, for whatever conceivable reason, be welcome and hopeful?
      Instead, the CDC seems keen to clobber any suggestion that autism might be declining. In Thursday's Boston-area Herald News Tribune, reporter Jon Brodkin quotes Dr. Robert Davis, director of the immunization safety group at the CDC, as saying: "I don't think this study can really be taken to provide any evidence one way or another."
      Davis also said one of the databases the study authors used -- the CDC's own Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System -- is unreliable because anyone can report any health problem as a possible vaccine side effect.
      Fair enough, but new cases in that database seem to be declining in tandem with new cases in California's special education system. And those California numbers are widely regarded as the most reliable count of full-syndrome, professionally diagnosed autism cases in the United States. P.S.: The most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Education also dropped.
      But so what, say the CDC and others who are on record (and, let's face it, on the line) backing thimerosal to the hilt and asserting there is no connection between vaccines and autism.
      "The Department of Education numbers are skewed, another official said, because the DOE did not make autism a separate diagnosis until the 1990s," Brodkin reported. "That led to an artificial increase because children who previously had different diagnoses were then considered autistic, said Dr. Marie McCormick, a Harvard professor who chaired an Institute of Medicine committee that dismissed any link between vaccines and autism."
      What's intriguing is how all this dovetails with comments made last summer by Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, at a press conference in Washington set up to defend vaccine safety. Here is the question she was asked: "Can you address the ... California study that basically showed that there was an increase in autism in direct relation to the 1990s when the series of vaccines were increased, and now since thimerosal has been taken out there is a slight decrease in autistic cases?"
      Responded Gerberding:
      "The California study, as you know, is an ongoing study and they are addressing the estimates of autism prevalence on a quarterly basis, sort of like the stock market bounces around a little bit. The most recent reading from that study is in fact that the rates are increasing, they have not shown a decline."
      That's one way to look at it. Here's another, from reporter Thomas Maugh II in The Los Angeles Times on July 13: "The number of newly diagnosed cases of autism in California, which had been skyrocketing for more than a decade, has leveled off and may even be declining, according to new data compiled by the state Department of Developmental Services."
      Some parents who listened in on Gerberding's comments did not like comparing the autism rate to the stock market. But the bigger issue is the odd, official resistance to the idea that any autism rate anywhere in the United States might be going down, however slightly, however inconclusively, however briefly.
      So the VAERS data don't count, the California numbers are bouncing, the Department of Education stats are unreliable. Is any of this starting to sound like, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain?" And do we all remember who said that?
      --
      E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com

The Age of Autism: Less is beautiful

By Dan Olmsted UPI Senior Editor

Whatever the reason, a big decline in autism diagnoses would be welcome news to anyone who cares about the nightmarish prevalence of the disorder.

The latest signal that something may be going on comes from the father-and-son research team of Dr. Mark R. Geier and David A. Geier. They report in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons that "significant decreasing trends in newly diagnosed NDs (neurodevelopmental disorders) were observed ... from mid-2002 through 2005" in two separate databases.

The first is kept by the California Department of Developmental Services and is widely regarded as the most accurate barometer of full-syndrome, professionally diagnosed cases of autism. Those qualifiers are important because autism spectrum disorders run the gamut from severe (full-syndrome) to milder (Asperger's disorder) to hard to define (the awfully named PDD-NOS, or pervasive developmental disorders, not otherwise specified).

So focusing on the full-syndrome cases -- the most easily identified and indisputable -- is a smart way to go.

The other database is the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System maintained by the federal government, to which health professionals, parents and anyone else can report what they believe are side effects of vaccines.

That's much less consistent and credible, of course, but the Geiers see the VAERS information as an informal confirmation of the California data --companion graphs printed side by side in the study show remarkably similar rise-and-falls in autism.

"The consistency of the effects observed for the spectrum of NDs, including autism and speech disorders, and the agreement between the observations from two separate databases, support the conclusion that the effect is real and not a chance observation. The magnitude of the change in the trend lines is substantial," the Geiers write.

The Geiers also cite another confirmation: "(P)rovisional data from the U.S. Department of Education show a recent decrease of 529 in the number of new autism diagnoses recorded among children 3 to 5 years old, after years of annual increases. There were 1,451 new cases in 2001-2002; 1,981 in 2002-2003; 3,707 in 2003-2004; and 3,178 in 2004-2005."

The Geiers attribute the rise and fall to the increasing use of the mercury preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines in the 1990s, followed by the phase-out beginning in 1999. While federal health authorities and mainstream medical groups say concern about thimerosal is not founded on good science, the Geiers think the trends ought to prompt a fresh look at the theory.

The people I talk to who think the preservative may indeed have triggered the rise in autism don't know what to make of all these numbers. While the autism rate may be falling as indicated in these databases, they say it's far too soon to make conclusive claims.

Some, in fact, have told me they think it should be falling further, faster if thimerosal is really behind the autism epidemic. Others suspect the connection is already there to see in exactly those numbers.

Then there's the possible confounding effect of flu shots for children and pregnant women, most of which still contain thimerosal. A number of other vaccines retain "trace" amounts of thimerosal.

And despite the welcome trends in data cited by the Geier, some countervailing reports are troubling. For example, reporter Steven Carter wrote in The Oregonian just last week that "(c)hildren diagnosed with autism, a brain disorder that disrupts a child's communication and social skills, jumped from 5,070 in 2004 to 5,637 in December. Over five years, the number of autistic students rose by 67 percent."

I'm sure someone can reconcile that with figures suggesting autism is on its way down, but I can't.

"We wish we knew exactly what is going on," said an admirably tentative Dr. Bob Nickel, a developmental pediatrician who heads the Autism Training Network at Oregon Health & Science University. He told Carter environmental issues could be at work.

Certainly other neurotoxins -- mercury in fish, just to pick an example often cited -- could harm kids' development whether the mercury in vaccines was ever a problem or not. It doesn't take much imagination to connect fish from the Pacific with mercury-laced plumes wafting over from China with a long history of mercury mines in the northwest -- and voila, rising autism in Oregon.

That's rank speculation. But some areas of the country probably do create more autism than others -- "hotspots," as they're called.

All this should make people cautious, humble and, as the scientists always remind us, evidence-based.

Mark Blaxill, a director of the mercury-out-of-medicine group Safe Minds, told me a couple of years ago: "By the time kids born in 2001 turn 5, we'll have a pretty good picture of the thimerosal effect."

That's soon -- but not quite yet.

--

E-mail: consumer@upi.com

This story is heart warming and perhaps the most emailed to
TACA news in the six year history:

Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams Come True

ROCHESTER , N.Y. , Feb. 23, 2006

Jason McElwain, who's autistic, lets a shot go, on the way to 20 points
in four minutes. (WROC/Rochester)

Quote
"This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded (and could be) proud of himself. I look at autism as the Berlin Wall, and he cracked it."

Jason McElwain's mother, Debbie McElwain

(CBS)  It was the stuff of Hollywood, but it was real.

Senior Jason McElwain had been the manager of the varsity basketball team of Greece Athena High School in Rochester, N.Y.

McElwain, who's autistic, was added to the roster by coach Jim Johnson so he could be given a jersey and get to sit on the bench in the team's last game of the year.

Johnson hoped the situation would even enable him to get McElwain onto the floor a little playing time.

He got the chance, with Greece Athena up by double-digits with four minutes go to.

And, in his first action of the year, McElwain missed his first two shots, but then sank six three-pointers and another shot (video), for a total of 20 points in three minutes.

"My first shot was an air ball (missing the hoop), by a lot, then I missed a lay-up," McElwain recalls. "As the first shot went in, and then the second shot, as soon as that went in, I just started to catch fire."

"I've had a lot of thrills in coaching," Johnson says. "I've coached a lot of wonderful kids. But I've never experienced such a thrill."

The crowd went wild, and his teammates carried the excited McElwain off the court.

"I felt like a celebrity!" he beamed.

McElwain's mother sees it as a milestone for her son.

"This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded (and could be) proud of himself," reflects Debbie McElwain. "I look at autism as the Berlin Wall, and he cracked it."

His teammates couldn't be happier.

"He's a cool kid," says guard Levar Goff. "You just get to know him, get used to being around him. A couple of weeks ago, he missed practice because he was sick. You feel different when he's not around. He brings humor and life to the team."

Jason's next goal: to graduate.

Watch it live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBYPaNc57Ik&search=autistic%20basketball%20player

And the story continues:

Autistic basketball star Jason McElwain's 15 minutes of fame has gone into overtime. Steve Hartman has an update

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml

(Links don’t always work forever! This page changes as the days new comes and goes. Editors note: Why not give this guy the ball ALL THE TIME???! Why the last game?)

By Jon Brodkin
Thursday, March 2, 2006
http://www.dailynewstribune.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=70814&format=text

Autism diagnoses have dropped nationwide since mercury was removed from most childhood vaccines, according to a new study that some say lends credence to charges that vaccinations were responsible for a huge increase in autism cases.

    About 4,700 families -- including ones from Framingham and Waltham -- have pending claims in a federal vaccine court alleging that mercury in vaccines caused their children to develop autism.

    The allegations are controversial and viewed with skepticism by many government officials and medical professionals. But supporters of a vaccine-autism link say a new report in the peer reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons proves that the removal of mercury from vaccines has led to a decrease in autism cases.

    "This study is exactly the kind of thing people have been waiting for for three years now," said Richard Deth, a neuropharmacologist at Northeastern University who has testified in front of Congress on this issue. "It was recognized that this type of data would be (necessary) to see whether this theory had validity or not."

    The study by two researchers was criticized by a government vaccination official who said it drew conclusions from unreliable data.

    "I don’t think this study can really be taken to provide any evidence one way or another," said Dr. Robert Davis, director of the immunization safety group at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    But the study was warmly received by Jared Hansen, a Framingham resident with two autistic children who filed a claim in the federal vaccine court.

    "It’s certainly the data we’ve been expecting and waiting for. I’m glad to see it’s been published," Hansen said. "I believe it will swing some people who are sitting on the fence."

    Hansen’s claim is pending in front of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault system that pays financial settlements from a trust fund consisting of vaccine surcharges. The program is considering claims in one omnibus proceeding from Hansen and 4,700 other parents, including Mike Chmura of Waltham.

    Between 1988 and 1992, the federal government more than doubled the amount of mercury injected into babies by recommending additional vaccines that contain thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury.

    Since then, estimated autism prevalence soared from one out of 2,500 births to one in every 166. Federal officials say the increase is at least partly explained by changes in diagnostic guidelines, but some researchers believe mercury in vaccines is to blame.

    Thimerosal is still used in flu shots, but was eliminated from most other childhood vaccines by 2003.

    A father-son research team determined that new diagnoses of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders have dropped since then after analyzing data from the national Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Developmental Services.

    Additional doses of mercury-containing vaccines were associated with a 2- to 8-fold increase in risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, they wrote in the latest issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

    "Significant decreasing trends in newly diagnosed (disorders) were observed ... from mid-2002 through 2005," wrote Dr. Mark Geier and son, David. Mark Geier is president of the Genetic Centers of America and his son is a graduate student in biochemistry at George Washington University.

    Their study was criticized by officials who said the data bases the Geiers analyzed are not reliable. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System can contain reports filed by anyone, including doctors, patients and lawyers, Davis said.

    The Department of Education numbers are skewed, another official said, because the DOE did not make autism a separate diagnosis until the 1990s. That led to an artificial increase because children who previously had different diagnoses were then considered autistic, said Dr. Marie McCormick, a Harvard professor who chaired an Institute of Medicine committee that dismissed any link between vaccines and autism.

(Jon Brodkin can be reached at 508-626-4424 or jbrodkin@cnc.com.)

The Study:

“Early Downward Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines”

http://www.jpands.org/vol11no1/geier.pdf

---------------------------------

Study Shows Decline in Neurodevelopmental Disorders After Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines

Two Unrelated Government Databases Show Same Downward Trend in Autism Cases

A new study published today ( 3/1/06) shows that the rate of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs) in children has decreased following removal of thimerosal, a preservative containing the neurotoxin mercury, from American childhood vaccines. The study, published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, a peer reviewed journal, by Dr. Mark Geier and David Geier examined two independent databases maintained by the government – one national and one state.

The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and the Californian Department of Developmental Services (CDDS) database each showed the same downward trend for the period from 2002 through 2005. According to the study “[t]he results indicate that the trends in newly diagnosed NDs correspond directly with the expansion and subsequent contraction of the cumulative mercury dose to which children were exposed from [thimerosal-containing vaccines] through the U.S. immunization schedule.”

The study examined the trend for cases of autism during the period beginning 1994 and ending 2002 compared with the period from 2002 to June, 2005. The trends for increases and decreases of cases of autism found in the VAERS national database were consistent with the trends found in the CDDC California database. Most significantly, in each database the increasing and decreasing trends correlate with the time that the exposure to thimerosal through the immunization schedule was increased and then decreased after removal of mercury containing vaccines. “The consistency of the effects observed for the spectrum of NDs, including autism and speech disorders, and the agreement between the observations from two separate databases, support the conclusion that the effect is real and not a chance observation.” The study found that the magnitude of the change in the decreasing trend of cases was significant after removal of mercury from vaccines. Data from the U.S.

Department of Education, a

third database, showed a recent decrease of autism diagnoses that is consistent with the findings in the two databases.

The authors show that the biological plausibility of their statistical findings is supported by recent toxicological and molecular studies that reveal the mechanism by which mercury from vaccines can cause damage to the developing brains of children. A recent study by researchers at the University of Washington has shown that ethylmercury from thimerosal in vaccines can cross from the bloodstream into the brain in toxic amounts which can remain in brain tissue for many years. This finding contradicted the untested view about the toxicity of ethylmercury in vaccines that prevailed in public health for 75 years. Other researchers have shown that minute concentrations of mercury, far lower than previously believed and far less than other toxins such as lead, can destroy neurons and damage DNA within hours of exposure. Such low levels of mercury, which likely are reached in infant brains via vaccine thimerosal exposure, can disrupt cell signaling and metabolic pathways necessary for normal brain development. Studies in mice, rabbits, monkeys, rats and other animals support these findings.

Further studies in children have found evidence of mercury toxicity, metabolic disruption and oxidative stress that is consistent with the author’s statistical findings that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism and developmental disorders.

The authors point out that their finding that the VAERS and CDDS databases show strong associations between thimerosal containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders completely contradicts the

2004 findings contained in a report published by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences – which was based on data controlled exclusively by the Center for Disease Control’s National Immunization Program and unavailable to outside researchers. In arguing that their study’s findings justify additional research the authors point out that the handling of vaccine safety data by the Centers for Disease Control has been called into serious question in a 2005 report published by the Institute of Medicine.

You can view and download a PDF file containing the new study, “Early Downward Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines” by clicking here.

http://www.jpands.org/vol11no1/geier.pdf

It is being published today in Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 2006 of the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

National Autism Association Calls for Senate Investigation of CDC Malfeasance in Extending Use of Mercury in Kids’ Vaccines

Nixa , MO - The National Autism Association (NAA) today joined other advocacy organizations in calling for Senate investigations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding its failure to remove thimerosal (mercury) from pediatric vaccines when given the opportunity in 1999.  This comes following a study released this week showing reduced autism diagnoses coincide with the reduction of mercury-containing vaccines given to children.

The study, conducted by Mark Geier, M.D. and David Geier and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, shows reduced autism rates since the removal of mercury from most childhood vaccines.  These findings bolster voluminous studies and data confirming that increased use of mercury-containing vaccines in the 1980’s and 1990’s led to an epidemic of neurological disorders among American children.

In July of 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a joint statement advising mercury be removed from childhood vaccines “as soon as possible.” Newly uncovered documents reveal that just weeks after the PHS/AAP recommendation, vaccine maker Smith Kline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) wrote to the CDC suggesting a significant reduction of mercury exposure to children through use of the thimerosal-free DTaP vaccine, Infanrix, which could meet the U.S. demand at least until mid-2000. The CDC’s refusal to accept this offer has left many in the autism community outraged.

“Hundreds of thousands of children were denied access to thimerosal-free shots because of the CDC’s inexplicable decision to leave the mercury in,” stated NAA President Wendy Fournier. “This dereliction of responsibility to our children’s health is unacceptable. Congress must ensure this agency is held accountable for its role in the autism epidemic.”

Joining the call for Senate hearings regarding CDC’s handling of the issue, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stated in an article this week, “It's time for the CDC to come clean with the American public. Its tactics of deception and obfuscation are jeopardizing the credibility of the entire vaccine program, and therefore posing an enormous danger to public health.”

For more information, go to www.nationalautism.org

Evidence is mounting that vaccinations may have played a part in the skyrocketing autism rate
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:79267

PUBLISHED ON MARCH 2, 2006:
By RENÉE DOWNING

What is autism? What causes it? These are hot questions these days, in part because cognitive science keeps turning up new clues about the nature of a disease that's both incurable and deeply strange. The recent discovery of "mirror neurons," for example--brain cells that fire when we do a particular thing and also when we see someone else do it--promises to throw light on how we learn, and therefore, on the nature of autism.

The big news about autism, though, is that it seems to have become much more common during the last two decades.

The Pima County branch of the state Division of Developmental Disabilities addresses four disabilities: autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and epilepsy. In terms of the number of causes, autism used to be fourth. It's now third--and closing in on second.

This naturally raises questions about what could be causing so many apparently normal infant brains to go haywire after a year or two, and these are questions that young families are asking with some urgency. Nothing about autism, though, is clear or simple, and some experts even doubt that the apparent increase reflects anything more than improved diagnosis and reporting.

Researcher James Adams, professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at Arizona State University, is an expert on heavy-metal toxicity and the co-author of several studies on the biomedicine of autism. He's also the father of a 13-year-old autistic daughter, and he has strong private opinions on the subject--but he's careful to lay out the facts impartially.

"There is no doubt that the number of reported cases has dramatically increased, from three or four cases per 10,000 20 years ago to one in 166. And according to the best data we have, which is from California, where there's a fixed set of diagnostic criteria and a good reporting system, cases have increased every year that they've been counting--until last year, when there was a slight decrease," says Adams.

"That could be a statistical blip, but coming after an unbroken string of increases, it may be significant."

The numbers from California may provide an argument against increased awareness and reporting as the sole cause of the jump in autism cases: If the trend in California holds, that will seem to support the theory that increased vaccination, and specifically increased childhood inoculations with vaccines containing mercury, is at least partly responsible for the reported rise in autism and other neurological disorders (including ADD, ticking and hyperactivity) and in immune disorders in American children since 1989. The vaccination argument, which is waged with intense conviction on both sides, was made in some detail by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in an article jointly published last June in Rolling Stone and at Slate.com.

Suspicion about vaccination as a cause of autism probably began with the stories, including that of one family interviewed for this story, of children who developed immune-system problems and regressed into autism after an immunization made them sick. (The family in question asked not to be identified, because talking about their experience in the past has provoked hate mail and angry phone calls. Anger against immunization opponents seems to run as hot in the medical community as anti-vaccination feelings do among the parents of autistic children. As one observer at a recent national scientific meeting on autism observed, "We're in a sort of frenzied period right now.")

Then there's the coincidence of the timing of a jump in childhood immunizations and the onset of what some people call the autism epidemic. Autism has increased 15-fold in the U.S. since 1991. That was the year the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration recommended that three additional vaccines, all preserved with thimerosal, a known neurotoxin, be given to young babies. (One of these vaccinations is administered within 24 hours of birth.) In addition, the overall vaccination schedule doubled during roughly the same period. American preschoolers received 11 vaccinations each before 1989; in 1999, they received a total of 22.

Of course, many other things have changed during the last 17 years, but an appearance of concealment on the part of the CDC and FDA hasn't helped reassure parents. In 2001, after reviewing an immediately embargoed 2000 study by the CDC of a possible connection between thimerosal and autism, the FDA "urged" vaccine manufacturers to stop using thimerosal in childhood vaccines, and the mercury compound has been greatly reduced in or eliminated from most vaccines since then (but not in flu vaccines given to pregnant women and young children). Existing stocks of thimerosal-laden vaccines were used in this country through 2003, however. What remained was not destroyed, according to Kennedy, but was sold off for use in the Third World, where there have been scattered reports of "outbreaks" of autism.

Many people who believe that the increase in childhood vaccinations accounts for the increase in autism argue that the drop in reported cases in California is evidence for their position: Autism typically shows itself in the second and third year of life, and so a drop last year is what you'd see several years after thimerosal was largely phased out, if it had been responsible.

California has banned thimerosal from all childhood vaccines, including the flu vaccine, beginning this July. The preservative is not necessary for vaccines that are packaged as single doses, and some vaccines, such as measles-mumps-rubella, have never contained it.

While the CDC and FDA have moved steadily to reduce thimerosal since 2001, they have just as steadily denied seeing any link between it and autism, and some observers, including Kennedy, have accused government agencies of concealing data to protect vaccine manufacturers from possible litigation and to give them time to sell off stockpiles of mercury-laced product. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who has an autistic grandson, has accused the FDA and other public-health agencies of "institutional malfeasance for self-protection" and "misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry."

Other members of Congress have reacted differently. Kennedy reports that the day after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a medical doctor, attached a rider known as the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" to a 2002 homeland security bill, Lilly, a major vaccine manufacturer, "contributed $10,000 to his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism." Congress later repealed the measure, but early last year, Frist attached another provision to an anti-terrorism bill "that would deny compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain disorders." The prospect of thimerosal lawsuits understandably alarms the pharmaceutical industry, and Frist, according to Kennedy, has received more than $800,000 in contributions from pharmaceutical companies.

James Adams, whose daughter was severely autistic when first diagnosed but who has improved with intensive intervention, including biomedical treatments, concentrates on the research.

"The data is mixed, and more work needs to be done, but there are some small studies that suggest a connection between mercury toxicity and autism. We are also trying to determine why some children are more vulnerable than others."

Adams himself has done several studies, one of which measured the amount of mercury in the baby teeth of autistic children compared to those of normal children. He found three times as much mercury, on average, in the teeth of the autistic kids.

In another study, severely autistic children who took a medicine that pulls heavy metals out of the body--an FDA-approved treatment for lead-poisoning--excreted three to six times as much mercury as did neurologically normal children.

"We also have indications that children who are autistic have a decreased normal ability to excrete mercury," says Adams. "They're genetically more susceptible to damage from heavy-metal exposure."

And in the first-ever study of the effects of thimerosal exposure on baby animals, says Adams--incredibly, the study was done at Columbia in 2004, less than two years ago--two strains of mice were unaffected, while a third suffered profound neurological damage from exposure levels consistent with those of an infant receiving vaccine preserved with thimerosal.

"These studies, including my own, need to be replicated," says Adams. "That's what I can say as a scientist. But I have very strong private opinions about heavy-metal toxicity and autism."

Adams points out that other potential sources of mercury exposure for very young children include industrial pollution, amalgam fillings and contaminated seafood. Thimerosal may not be the only culprit.

And yet, as one parent of an autistic child says, "You know, just on the face of it, injecting babies with mercury doesn't seem like a really great idea. Where were the pediatricians?"

Bestselling Book on Mercury and Autism Updated with New Science, Politics and Media Reports; Title Chosen as a “Reading Group Gold” Selection for Winter 2006  

NEW YORK – The New York Times bestseller “Evidence of Harm – Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic, A Medical Controversy” ( St. Martin’s Press, $14.95 ISBN: 0-312-326459-0 ), will be issued in PAPERBACK this February, with a new postscript that updates readers on the growing controversy over the past year.

Evidence of Harm is the story of parents with autistic children who learn that their kids received levels of mercury in their vaccines far in excess of Federal safety limits. They take on Big Business, Big Science and Big Government with a radical new theory on the cause, uncovering compelling evidence that a mercury-based vaccine preservative, Thimerosal, could have played a role in the disease. Today, the parents and their medical, scientific, legal, and political allies are getting closer to establishing their claim.

The paperback edition contains a year’s worth of new information, including:

• Newly LEAKED TRANSCRIPTS suggesting US Government pressure on the
  Institute of Medicine to reject an association between vaccines and autism.
• Evidence showing that some IOM reviewers had unpublicized CONFLICTS OF
  INTEREST with the government and drug industry.
• Calls on Capitol Hill for a thimerosal INVESTIGATION, and new attempts to
  access secretive vaccine safety data.
• Recent thimerosal HEADLINES with news about Don Imus, Robert Kennedy, Jr.,
  Sen. Joe Lieberman, Sen. Chuck Hagel and others.
• Newly published DATA showing that vaccine mercury accumulates in
  the brain, which can cause the same brain swelling found in autistic people.

By most accounts, autism is now epidemic in the United States. In the 1990's, reported autism cases among American children began spiking, from about 1 in 10,000 children in 1987 to a shocking 1 in 166 today.  In this period, new shots containing Thimerosal were added to the nation's already crowded vaccination schedule.In 1999, the FDA announced that children were being exposed to mercury at very young ages at levels far exceeding federal regulations, but the public health establishment failed to take parental concerns about the impact seriously. Evidence of Harm explores both sides of this issue, which has pitted families and their allies against the federal government, public health agencies, medical academies, and powerful pharmaceutical giants. 

A “READING GROUP GOLD” SELECTION

The paperback edition of Evidence of Harm has been selected as one of four Reading Group Gold titles for Winter 2006. This new program, being launched by St. Martin’s/ Griffin, is designed to make reading group information for books accessible to consumers and booksellers. Each season, a select number of Griffin trade paperbacks will have a medallion on the cover to denote them “Reading Group Gold” titles.

These outstanding titles are selected by an in-house committee of St. Martin’s Press/Griffin as the best reading group books of the season. They will include additional material in the back of the books, including author interviews and reading group questions. More information about the program will soon be available at: www.readinggroupgold.com

MOVIE RIGHTS OPTIONED

Evidence of Harm has also been optioned by a rising MOVIE COMPANY: Los Angeles-based Participant Productions. Formed to produce films on important current topics, Participant has released titles that earned strong buzz in 2005. Its movies were nominated for eight Golden Globe Awards, including Best Drama for “Good Night and Good Luck,” Best Dramatic Actress (Charlize Theron) for “ North Country,” and Best Director (George Clooney) for “Syriana.” Two respected producers have signed onto the Evidence of Harm project: Nick Wechsler, who recently produced “ North Co untry ,” and Ross Bell, producer of “Fight Club.”

Meanwhile, author David Kirby has just been named “PERSON OF THE YEAR” by Spectrum, the nation’s largest and most influential autism magazine. Kirby, who will appear on the cover of the February issue, will be honored by the magazine at a reception in Long Island, NY, this spring.

For more information, please contact:
Elizabeth Coxe , Publicist, St. Martin’s Press: 646-307-5563/ elizabeth.coxe@stmartins.com
Vicki Lame , Publicity Assistant, St. Martin’s Press: 646-307-5553/ vicki.lame@stmartins.com

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wed Mar 1, 12:10 AM ET

Correspondence newly obtained under the Freedom of Information Act raises troubling new questions about CDC's role in the Thimerosal scandal. Thimerosal is the mercury-based vaccine preservative that has been linked to epidemics of neurological disorders, including autism, in American children born after 1989.

Responding to scientific studies linking dangerous levels of mercury to a range of health disorders, the CDC in July 1999 recommended that the nation's vaccine makers eliminate Thimerosal as a preservative, "as soon as possible."

But the newly released documents show that behind the scenes CDC was quietly discouraging Thimerosal's removal. In a July 1999 letter, vaccine producer SmithKline Beecham tells CDC that it is ready to produce non-Thimerosal DTP (Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis) vaccines immediately and has sufficient inventories to supply the entire U.S. market during the remainder of 1999 and the first half of 2000, by which time other vaccine manufacturers would have their Thimerosal-free DTP vaccines on line.

Thimerosal-laden DTP vaccines containing 25 micrograms of mercury apiece were then being administered to American infants at two months, four months and six months -- far exceeding EPA's recommended safe level for mercury. Had CDC accepted SmithKline's offer, it could have immediately reduced the mercury exposures to vaccinated six-month-old children by 40%.

However, in November, CDC mysteriously sent a letter back rejecting SmithKline's offer. Then, on July 14, 2000 CDC published a deceptive press release promising to require that all vaccines be Thimerosal-free as soon as "adequate supplies are available." This was a full 12 months after the agency had denied SmithKline's proposal.

"If CDC were basing its decision on safety alone, it would have taken SmithKline up on its offer. That's a no-brainer," said a federal health official who requested anonymity. "So there were other considerations beside safety that were guiding their decision making."

Among these "other considerations" were CDC's important concerns for the preservation of the vaccine program, a bureaucratic impulse for self-preservation, and protecting the economic interests of its vaccine industry friends.

"Immediate withdrawal would send a strong message; 'We messed up!'" the health official told me. "And I don't think they wanted to send that message to parents, the public or those considering legal action."

"There was also concern," says the federal official, "that an immediate withdrawal might discredit the international vaccine programs for which CDC is an important partner." The World Health Organization has urged CDC against the banning of Thimerosal in U.S. vaccines since that prohibition might discredit WHO's third world inoculation programs. WHO, with U.S. funding, is now injecting children in developing countries with the same amounts of Thimerosal we were giving American kids at their highest exposures, but in a shorter time period. In May 2001, WHO committed to "develop a strong advocacy campaign to support the ongoing use of Thimerosal."

But CDC insiders argue that CDC's primary concern was the economic impacts on its pharmaceutical industry partners. "The big consideration was cost," says the federal health official. "A lot of CDC's friends in the vaccine industry had stockpiled Thimerosal-based vaccines. If they couldn't sell them the costs would total in the tens of millions of dollars."

On July 14, 2000 CDC promised to complete the transition to Thimerosal-free vaccines for children by first quarter 2001. But, probably for the reasons stated above, its commitment sometimes seems half-hearted. CDC continues to promote the use of Thimerosal in vaccines. The agency continues to send its top spokesman Roger Bernier around the country to testify before state legislatures to derail state efforts to ban Thimerosal in vaccines. Last week Bernier was testifying against a proposed Thimerosal ban in Maryland.

CDC continues to exert muscular efforts to derail studies of American cohorts -- the Amish, Christian Scientists, and home-schooled children -- who were not exposed to Thimerosal vaccines. Preliminary studies of these groups indicate very low levels of the neurological disorders, including autism, that have been associated with Thimerosal in vaccinated populations.

It's time for the CDC to come clean with the American public. Its tactics of deception and obfuscation are jeopardizing the credibility of the entire vaccine program, and therefore posing an enormous danger to public health.

On a related note: `Til Death Do Us Part
By JB Handley- www.generationrescue.org
March 2, 2006

I wept when I read RFK Jr's piece yesterday on the Huffington Post. CDC could have had DTP vaccines in the market as early as 1999 or 2000, cutting mercury levels immediately in vaccines by 40% for young children. CDC chose not to.  I wept for my autistic son, born in 2002. And, I wept with rage for the unimaginable skin-saving behavior of a bunch of bureaucrats I've never met who, with their selfishness, completely altered the course of my son and family's life.

It's been a long time since I've cried. When my son was diagnosed with Autism, in July of 2004, I cried for a full month, for hours on end. Then one day, I just stopped. It wasn't helping him, and there was work to do. Months later, to my astonishment, he began to get better. And better. And better. Astonished? Hell, yes! You see, I put the "M" in mainstream. All this garbage about vaccines and autism was Hippy stuff, nothing more. But, every time a test came back it matched what all these DAN! Doctors and Dr. Rimland kept telling us: my son was very, very sick, and he needed medical treatment.

It's hard for any rational person to understand how long the CDC will keep up this charade. I'll tell you what, with friends like Dan Olmsted, David Kirby, Don & Deirdre Imus, Dan Burton, Dave Weldon, Carolyn Maloney, and RFK Jr., I know who I'm betting on. Dr. Offit, you're looking a little lonely these days over there, as you wait to collect your royalty checks from your new vaccine.

I know this is a very public discussion group. I know "moles" read what's here to see how we "anti-vaxers" are organizing ourselves. I thought I'd let you know about who you're up against.

First off, we're parents. And you, in covering your ass, have kidnapped our children's souls. In the wild, the consequence for what you've done is obvious, but being civilized, we will get you with the violence of truth. You see, unlike other body-snatchers, you've made a number of mistakes and left some very clear calling cards. You've left the measles virus in our children' guts, you've left mercury in their brains, and you forgot about the parents who never vaccinated their children who will willingly help us compare autism rates. You also never realized, because it's not your specialty, that autism is not only treatable, its reversible. You didn't take our children's souls, you just buried them. They're still there, waiting to come out.

Our kids are getting better. But, you don't want to know this. You sound an autism ALARM, we're documenting thousands of recoveries, but you don't ever come and see? We're going to show you anyway. We're videotaping our kids, we're documenting the excretion of metals from their delicate little bodies, and we're sharing our stories with every reporter in the free world. And, they're finally listening. You know why? Because you snatched some kids in some very high places. And everyone's a parent first.

The 8 million pound gorilla is awake. We're tens of thousands of parents unified to get our children medical treatment as soon as possible and to make sure every parent understands the truth and understands your treachery. If you sit in your little cubicle, hoping we'll finally go away because you paid for one more study trying to refute our position, you are sorely, sorely mistaken. You will have to kill us all to shut us up. And while you've stood by and tried to take our children away, it's unlikely you could get us all before we get you. With truth.

`til death do us part, CDC, `til death do us part.

TACA is recruiting members for two new committees -- the Parent Advisory Committee and the TACA Fundraising Committee.

TACA Parent Advisory Committee will meet twice a year to review TACA's mission and programs to ensure we are meeting objectives and the needs of the communities. The committee will evaluate current programs and make recommendations to the Board for new programs. This committee will also be responsible for helping review and process applications for a new program, to be launched later this year, called Families in Crisis.

Committee Qualifications: 1) Must have a family member with autism 2) Be willing to commit the time needed for committee meetings and assigned tasks 3) Have regular attendance at TACA meetings (at least 3 per year) and most importantly, 4) really want to help our children and families!

If you are interested in serving on the Parent Advisory Committee, please contact Lisa Ackerman.

TACA Fundraising Committee will meet four times per year and works to raise the funds that supports TACA's missions. The committee will help develop and evaluate the fundraising plan, support fundraising events, help identify prospects, and assist us in creative ways to secure donations that will enable us to do as much as we possibly can for families dealing with autism in California.

Committee Qualifications: 1) Must be enthusiastic!!! 2) Be willing to commit the time needed for committee meetings and assigned tasks 3) Have regular attendance at TACA meetings (at least 3 per year) and most importantly, 4) really want to help our children and families!

If you are interested in serving on the Fundraising Committee, please contact Violette Prentice.

We want to hear from our members as to how we can better serve them. Please let us know if you are interested! Thank you!

In order to provide the seven TACA meeting locations with topics our members want to hear more about, we do annual surveys of interest.

We would like to hear from you. If you would like to participate in this survey you can in two ways:

• at TACA meeting locations, you can pick up a survey form
• Contact us for your own survey form to fill out and mail back to TACA.

Thanks for helping us provide relevant and important meeting topics for our members!

McDonalds French Fries STATUS:

It appears McDonalds has reevaluated their other ingredients as well as trans fat ...

French Fries:
Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavor (beef, wheat and dairy sources), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color). Breading set in vegetable oil. Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil). Contains wheat and milk
ingredients.

Note: Some families have called McDonalds to complain and they have stated they have only changed the ingredients list due to new FDA requirements. Then why are these ingredients listed if they are not in the product? It is important families know the ingredient list – maybe try In-N-Out French fries as alternative.

FRANK’S LO CARB MARKET – has re-opened as LOS ALAMITOS NUTRITION

I'm very excited to let you know I've reopened the store at a new location. We are located in Los Alamitos on the border of Seal Beach. This store carries many of the gluten free, casein free items our kids need.

Store info:
Los Alamitos Nutrition
4292 Katella Ave.
Los Alamitos Ca 90720
(562)493-4105

BOOK:
Evidence of Harm – by David Kirby - NOW IN PAPERBACK!

Web Link:
FAIR Autism Media has just posted a news clip originally aired Feb. 14, 2005, by Fox 5 News in New York... featuring the vaccine/autism controversy and testimonies on BOTH sides of the issue from Dr. Mark & David Geier, Dr. Mady Hornig... and vaccine advocate Dr. Paul Offit.
This news piece stands out as one of the more excellent examples of autism-related journalism that isn't slanted with an industry bias.
If you would like to see it, visit:  http://www.autismmedia.org/media11.html

BRAVO to Fair Autism Media for their excellent work on Autism and stories to help inspire and educate families affected by autism!

Autism Awareness Night Sunday, March 12, 2006
5PM @ The Arrowhead Pond- Anaheim Mighty Ducks vs. Phoenix Coyotes

Come help the Mighty Ducks raise awareness about autism and raise funds for research into treatments and a cure. There are special ticket prices in three sections. A portion of the proceeds from all tickets purchased through

the phone number and form below, and the silent auction on the concourse that evening, will benefit the fight against autism.

Contact Sam Levitt with Cure Autism Now at (323) 549-0500, ext. 747 for more information.

Tickets are limited, so buy yours today!!!

Partner Organizations:

To order these special tickets over the phone, contact Kadi Sutherlin in the Ducks Ticket Office at (714) 940-2855.
You can also fill out the form below and return it to the Ducks to get your tickets.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Name:___________________________Address:_____________________

City: __________________________________Zip Code:_______________

Phone:__________________________Email Address:_________________

Method of Payment: £ Check (payable to: the Mighty Ducks) £ Visa £ MasterCard £ AMX

Card #:___________________________________ Expiration Date:___________

Please return this portion of order form WITH PAYMENT to:
Mighty Ducks, Attn: Kadi Sutherlin, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA 92806

Thanks to everyone who wrote me a note about the personal update in the last TACA eNews. Many of my TACA friends (members & vendors) wrote me special notes about how the words touched them. Some offered advice and counseling services. I appreciate every last note I received. Thank you.

The personal note referenced can be found at: http://www.tacanow.com/enewsletters_archive/February_2006_1.htm.

What folks need to understand is that often I wonder if my son Jeff and many kids in our TACA group had to go on this autism journey at all. Sometimes I look back at video of my son and hear the dozens and dozens of stories each month about a child regressing into a world called Autism after a period of normal development. Sometimes these feelings get the better of me and last month’s personal note demonstrated those raw emotions and how they rear their ugly head. I appreciate the kind words of encouragement and support. I just wish that sometimes the mall map of life did not say YOU ARE HERE. But I am and so are many of you reading this note.

For my family and many like mine - I love both my children so very much. We all do. They are amazing gifts for which I will be forever grateful. I have learned more from them then I can express in words. I love their gifts and their strengths. I love them even when they are cranky. I love them for who they are, how hard they work, and will what they become. But sometimes I look at Jeff and ask a simple question why him? That often leads to why are there so many children life Jeff? Autism was once a rare disorder; now seen in every classroom and many homes. Many folks who did not even know what autism was now have a personal connection – a nephew or niece, a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend or someone in their family. Something strange is afoot with this epidemic. Hopefully the autism researchers and treatment heroes can help us identify the cause and eventual treatment or cure for the many affected.

Which brings me to the news about the super basketball player put in the game during the last quarter, last game of the year, scoring a record 20 points…and some other sad news which is as an important parallel to this topic. What an incredible story about J ason McElwain out of New York! (Please see the related stories in this eNews under GENERAL news.) His amazing record scoring basketball game was on the cover of many newspapers and top news programs across the country! I celebrated out loud for his family and this incredible teen!! YES!! Many of us crave for success stories like these. But what is sad is that the same day, the story broke about a little 8 year old boy, Jared McGuire, affected with autism. He died just outside Palm Beach, Florida after authorities exhausted a search for this missing little boy – a parent’s worst nightmare. He drowned in a drainage ditch just yards from his home. There is always a story that brings us to tears of happiness to celebrate for families who achieve great success for their beloved children. What always seems to bring me back to reality is the sad stories and the families so lost and looking for answers. Or the incredibly sad stories of an early death of someone affected by autism like Jared. It can be so overwhelming and so tragic. I cannot imagine how the McGuire family feels, all the while the McElwain family is dealing with the new celebrity in their house. This autism journey is one thing for sure -- a roller coaster of emotions.

All I wish is that our kids have the best outcome possible – that they stay safe, they find love, experience friendship and, for the United States, that they become taxpayers and valuable members of our society. The tidal wave of children affected by autism is huge. The fear that keeps me awake at night is what happens when parents of special needs children start aging out and leaving this earth? Who is going to love our kids as much as we do with whatever is left over from our tireless efforts? A question that remains unanswered. One can only hope we don’t have to go there… at least not today.

Hugs, thanks, and BE SAFE
Lisa A Jeff's mom

And Editor: Kim Palmer (thanks Kim!)

Web Page for TACA Group: www.tacanow.com
check it out and let us know your thoughts

Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) provides general information of interest to the autism community. The information comes from a variety of sources and TACA does not independently verify any of it. The views expressed herein are not necessarily TACA’s. TACA does not engage in lobbying or other political activities.IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS, just respond and I will be happy to remove you from the list.

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