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3 General News

3. Article A: California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) Release 3 rd Quarter Autism Numbers

According to data just released by the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS), during the 3rd. Quarter of 2006 (August through September), California added 841 new cases of autism to it's developmental services system, a number that represents the second highest quarterly reported number of new cases in the system's 37 year history.

In 1987 there were 2,778 cases in the system, by the end of 2002 the number had increased to 20,377, and today there are 31,853 persons with autism in the system.

Over 84% of all persons with autism in California's system are between the age of 3 and 21.

88% of the autism population currently live at home.

INCREASING RATE SLOWS DRAMATICALLY

In 1999, DDS released it's now famous and historic autism caseload report that documented a 273% increase in the number of new cases of autism entering California's developmental services system from 1987 through 1998.

In 2003, DDS followed up with an updated report that documented a 97% increase in the autism caseload over the 48 month period from December 1998 through December 2002.

ACCORDING TO DDS, DURING THE MOST RECENT 45 MONTH REPORTING PERIOD FROM JANUARY 2003 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2006, THERE HAS BEEN A 50% INCREASE IN THE AUTISM CASELOAD. THE RATE OF INCREASE HAS DECLINED BY NEARLY HALF OVER THE PREVIOUS LIKE REPORTING PERIOD. THE RATE OF INCREASE HAS SLOWED BY CLOSE TO HALF FROM 97% TO 50% DURING THE PAST 45 MONTHS.

LESS YOUNGER, MORE OLDER CHILDREN ENTERING SYSTEM

During the four year reporting period between October 2002 and October 2006 there has been a large increase in the 10-21 year old population in the system, while the younger, 3-9 year old cohort reflects the substantial, declining rate of increase as noted above. The largest increase has been in the 14-17 year olds (127%), while the smallest increase has been in the 22 year olds and older (35%). SEE CHART BELOW.

Reasons for this phenomenon could include the lessening burden of mercury in vaccines slowing the numbers of new young children entering the system, a tightening of eligibility criteria that took effect in July 2003 (see last paragraph), and Regional Centers responding to the pressure to qualify more older persons with higher functioning autism spectrum conditions.

One thing is for sure, the hidden hordes of adults with autism that needs to be accounted for in order to discredit the existence of an autism epidemic and an increasing incidence of autism have yet to come forward or be discovered.

                    TOTAL AGE BREAKDOWN 10/02 AND 10/06

                      October 2002                     October 2006

                   3-5       3932                        3-5      6188      57%

                   6-9       5697                       6-9      8528      50%

                  10-13     3531                      10-13     6157     74%

                  14-17     1732                      14-17     3934     127%

                  18-21     1047                      18-21     2021      93%

                  22>       3696                        22>      4994      35%

In the 1960's through the 1970's, autism accounted for roughly 3% of the total number of new cases entering the system. Beginning in the late 1970's (1978-79) and early 1980's, the autism epidemic began, and the increase grew from 3% to 40% by July 2003. In July 2003 eligibility criteria was made more difficult for all categories of consumers, with subsequent devastating impacts on the numbers of persons with mental retardation, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy entering the system. By October 2003, autism accounted for 47% of all new intakes, and according to the latest DDS Report for the 3rd. Quarter of 2006, autism now accounts for an astonishing 76% of the intakes now entering California's developmental services system.

COMMENTARY:
Good news- even with record numbers- the overall rate of increase steadily decreases! AND many new cases are older children identified at school age. This means fewer cases in very young children despite major efforts to improve screening and diagnose early. Maybe this really is the beginning of the end of this epidemic.

Cheers!
Cherri Cary

3. Article B:

Confounding autism counts

By Lidia Wasowicz
UPI Senior Science Writer October 18, 2006

One of the confounding factors that make it difficult to get to the bottom of autism's causes, counts and consequences is the high rate of co-existing conditions in children with the disorder.

Government records show only 38 percent of students receiving special services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have a single autistic disorder, while the other 62 percent also are affected by additional developmental disabilities, says Dr. Jose Cordero, director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

"That's something to keep in mind because it has implications both for intervention and for treatment in general," he said.

It also has implications for discrediting notions of an autism epidemic, those who don't believe there is one contend.

They say recently expanded criteria now include the large number of children who commingle autism with such other medical or genetic disabilities as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disturbance characterized by involuntary "tics" and uncontrollable speech.

Children with autism also are vulnerable to sensory abnormalities that may make them acutely sensitive to certain smells, sounds, tastes or textures; they are prone to seizures, which occur in about 25 percent of cases; tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic disorder that sprouts benign tumors in the brain and other organs; and fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of mental retardation.

Others contend increased detection of autism may result from "the deliberate efforts to identify (the disorder) in younger and younger children, and the speculation that many individuals who would meet present-day criteria were previously mis- or undiagnosed."

California officials have noted a striking shift toward younger children with autism entering the state's Developmental Services System. By December 2002, 84 percent of that entire population was
under 25, with 70 percent younger than 14.

"Autism and pervasive developmental disorders have had a revolution in the last 15 years," said Dr. Helen Egger, child psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

"Kids used to be diagnosed with autism at 5 or 6, and now they can be diagnosed as early as 12 months and certainly at 18 months."

While acknowledging the high numbers of autistic children are troubling, those who do not think they portend an epidemic take exception to using certain federal figures as evidence of a genuine increase in autism prevalence.

U.S. Department of Education statistics show the number of autistic children ages 6 to 21 receiving special-education services under IDEA soared from 12,222 in the 1992-1993 school year to 78,717 in 2000-2001.

By 2002 the total neared 120,000 -- a more than 500-percent jump in less than a decade, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress charged with keeping tabs on the receipt and disbursement of public funds.

National records further show the number of children classified as having autism spectrum disorders shot up six-fold between 1994 and 2003, from 22,664 to 141,022.

Such enormous spikes could not stem solely from diagnosticians tuning up their skills and parents and pediatricians tuning in to their children's health problems, critics insist.

But that's just what some researchers contend.

The Education Department didn't even have a reporting category for autism until the 1991-1992 school year, they say. Thus, dramatic increases in this class were to be expected in subsequent years, they add.

In fact, the totals will continue to climb until they catch up to the estimates from more recent and rigorous epidemiological surveys, they conjecture.

"While it is clear that more children are getting special education services for autism than ever before, it is important to remember that this classification was only added in the early 1990s and the growth of children classified may be in part due to the addition of this as a special education category," the government itself cautioned.

A 2005 Mayo Clinic study -- the first to apply the contemporary criteria for autism to a specific population over an extended period -- favored improved awareness, changed diagnostic techniques and greater availability of services over environmental factors or immunizations -- which some parents and scientists hold responsible -- as contributors to the climbing autism caseloads.

The study of 3,000 children in Olmsted County, Minn., with at least one of 80 autism-related diagnoses found the numbers remained stable until 1988 to 1991, when they took off following the implementation of broadened diagnostic standards and new federal special-education laws that included autism as a disability category.

Both events occurred many years after vaccinations were mandated for school entry, the study authors said. However, they did not address the issue of expansions in the vaccine schedule during the same period.

Before revisions were made in diagnostic definitions in 1987, children with autism may have instead been more loosely classified as having "developmental delay" or "mental retardation," and those with milder symptoms may not have been identified at all, the investigators added.

Boston University pediatrician Dr. Eileen Costello tosses two more potential explanations into the mix.

Under the "amplification through the generations" scenario, neurodevelopmental disorders like autism magnify on each branch of the family tree, turning up the "volume" of symptoms as they pass from grandfather to father to son.

"And that probably accounts for some of (the increase)," Costello speculated.

Her favorite suggestion, which she first read about in Wired Magazine, proposes a tie-in between the autism evolution and the digital revolution that provided a fertile field for lonely hearts computer geeks to meet and mate without having to venture too far from the safety of their cubicles.

"They're ... quirky parents having quirky babies," Costello said. "There is ... a lot of suggestion in the technology belts around our major cities that there's probably some element of truth in that."

It would square with what Leo Kanner -- the eminent psychiatrist whose classic paper described the first documented cases of autism in 1943 -- found striking about his young patients' parents: They were without exception successful, affluent, career-oriented professionals and that even many of the mothers had college degrees and careers, a definite anomaly in those days.

Those who hold vaccines responsible for the increases in autism diagnoses buy none of it. If there is no artificially induced epidemic, the autism rates have remained stable, and doctors are simply diagnosing more of the cases, then where are all the adult autistics?

Perhaps misplaced, mislabeled, misunderstood or mistaken for someone else, some scientists suggest.

Even now, when the disorder is on numerous radars, no one is keeping a precise tally of autistic children, they say. It would seem highly unlikely someone would be keeping track of adults born at a time when the disorder did not occupy too many minds, they say.

Even today, it's tough to tell what will become of the autistic young as they age, others say.

"So what happens to quirky kids as they grow up? It's very difficult to prognosticate. There's an enormous range," Costello said. "One thing we do know is that as adults, we are infinitely more tolerant of the quirky people around us than kids are. Medicine is filled with quirky people ... with poor social skills, terrible handwriting, unusual special interests."

In addition, many parents are now being diagnosed for the first time by way of their children, she said.

"We're ... aware of the fact that there's a lot of secondary diagnosis because the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Costello said. "So what were they called when they were in second grade?"

There is also the matter of physicians perfecting their diagnostic skills, others say.

"I'm a geneticist and have seen kids with disabilities for years and years," said Dr. Judith Miles, professor and division director in the medical school at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

"Often, you don't get a diagnosis because these kids don't jump out at you; some do, but the majority of diagnoses come from very exact questioning: 'What do they do with their toys? What do they do with their classmates?'" Miles said. "A lot of us didn't ask the questions and didn't come up with the diagnosis."

When she and her colleagues sent for the medical records of the older siblings of their autistic patients, they found many were never identified as having autism.

"Their pediatricians would be describing autism to a 'T' but would not put the name on it because (autism) was not on people's radar screen," Miles said. "We're diagnosing many more kids that we called developmentally delayed before."

With so many theories, and so much riding on selecting the right one, those looking for a common solution can only hope that time not only heals all wounds but resolves all disputes.

(Note: In this multi-part installment, based on dozens of reports, conferences and interviews, Ped Med is keeping on eye on autism, taking a backward glance at its history and surrounding controversies, facing facts revealed by research and looking forward to treatment enhancements and expansions.)

Next: Waiting for new numbers to come in

3. Article C:

Talk show host Imus levels blasts at Texas congressman

By Maria Recio

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Two weeks of relentless rants against him from radio talk show host Don Imus is making Rep. Joe Barton a household name - but not in a way the Texas Republican wants.

Imus, whose "Imus in the Morning" program is heard on radio stations across much of the country and is seen weekday mornings on MSNBC, has described Barton as "a lying, fat little skunk from Texas," a "pipsqueak," a "coward and a crybaby" and "another congressional dirtbag" for holding up a bill on autism research.

Imus' emotional outbursts, as well as an orchestrated pressure campaign directed at Barton by autism research advocacy groups, stem from frustration that a Senate-passed bill didn't come up for a House of Representatives vote before Congress recessed Sept. 29.

The bill would increase and coordinate National Institutes of Health funding, set up far-ranging clinical studies and direct autism "centers of excellence" to conduct research, especially on environmental factors.

Barton said through his staff that it's possible a compromise will be reached to allow the bill to move ahead.

Autism, a neurological disorder that affects children by age 3 and impairs the development of social interaction and communication, now occurs in 1 of 166 births. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control declared that autism was at epidemic proportions.

Autism research advocates, including one organization headed by Imus' wife, Deirdre, are united behind the Combating Autism Act of 2006, which the Senate passed unanimously in August. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., authored the bill.

They hoped for quick House action on a similar bill introduced by Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif. Bono's bill has 227 co-sponsors, but before getting to the full House, it has to clear the Energy and Commerce Committee, which Barton leads.

Barton's staff members say his position is more complicated than critics portray. They say the congressman supports autism research and is sympathetic to the toll the disease takes on families. Barton was traveling and was unavailable for an interview.

According to committee spokesman Larry Neal, Barton first was committed to passing his legislation to change the NIH, the agency responsible for overseeing the nation's health research. The bill increases NIH funding by 5 percent a year and is intended to improve accountability and information sharing in the agency, among other things.

One of Barton's priorities was to create a "common fund" that the NIH could use for promising research without Congress directing the money's use for specific diseases.

Barton met with autism activists on Sept. 12 and asked them to support his NIH legislation. Autism advocates thought their bill would be next in line to clear Barton's committee.

While the NIH reform bill passed the House 412-2, the separate autism bill hit a snag - Barton didn't like the Senate bill's stipulation that the centers of excellence investigate environmental factors.

The autism bill has yet to make it to the House floor, and the activists say they feel betrayed.

But Barton and his aides say they're working to get a compromise to the floor in the lame-duck session, which begins Nov. 13.

Neal is clearly weary of the pounding and strong-arming Barton is getting from powerful players such as Bob Wright, the president of NBC/Universal who, with his wife, founded Autism Speaks.

"The answer to everyone's concerns is a reasonable compromise that will up the funding for autism research," Neal said.

"We hope and believe that one is possible, and we're working on it. Folks like Don Imus and Bob Wright apparently believe that the intimidation of a daily beating will encourage us to find a solution that leaves politicians and activists instead of scientists in charge at NIH, but that doesn't seem like a good idea."

The issue is emotional, with many activists touched by friends or family with the disorder. Wright, who has been involved in negotiations with Barton, has a grandson who is autistic.

Imus said in an interview that he and his wife weren't directly affected by autism, but that they're close to the Wrights and know others who must cope with the disorder.

"It deserves to be passed," Imus said of the bill. "The NIH has got to be made to spend the money on this."

Imus said his personal campaign on the bill "doesn't help my ratings."

"People aren't tuning in to hear me talk about autism. I can hear the radio dials clicking off every day," he said.

Asked if attacking Barton was the most effective way to get him to act, Imus said, "He's not going to be chairman after November 7, if there's a God." If Democrats win control of the House in the Nov. 7 elections, Barton would no longer be committee chairman next year.

---

FACTS ON AUTISM

What is autism?

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, a spectrum disorder, that usually shows up in the first three years of a child's life. It affects the way a brain functions and changes the way a person interacts and communicates with others.

Some facts on autism:

Autism is estimated to affect roughly 1 in every 166 births.

As many as 1.5 million Americans are believed to have some form of autism, and projections show that as many as 4 million Americans could have some form of autism in the next decade.

Signs of autism include difficulty starting or maintaining a conversation; aggressive behavior; problems communicating needs; crying or laughing for no reason; repeating words or phrases rather than having a conversation; throwing tantrums; preferring to be alone; not wanting eye contact or cuddling; and having no real fear of danger.

While there is no one cause for autism, many say it's caused by abnormalities in the brain. The actual shape or structure of the brain in an autistic child can be different. Researchers are studying genetics and heredity.

Editor’s note: You gotta love folks like Imus and his wife Deidre for talking about and taking up Autism in a big way. They are true heroes in the movement of change to help families in need.

3. Article D:

Needed U.S. autism study stalled due to politics By Marc M. Harrold

Special to The Clarion-Ledger October 15, 2006

Autism is a complex developmental disability that is estimated to affect 1.5 million children in the United States. A recent estimate is that 1 in 166 children will have some form of autism. It is estimated that autism is growing at an epidemic rate of 10-17 percent per year.

Recently, a glimmer of hope emerged from the hallowed Senate chambers when the U.S. Senate passed the Combating Autism Act by unanimous vote. It is hard to imagine the Senate acting in a unanimous, bi-partisan manner to pass a bill sponsored by Pennsylvania's controversial Sen. Rick Santorum.

In general, the act would double the National Institutes of Health spending on autism research, empower the director of the NIH to act as an "autism czar," create a national screening process for early detection of autism, fund the efforts of the Autism Treatment Network, continue funding of the epidemiological and public education programs on autism at the Centers for Disease Control, and authorize, overall, nearly $1 billion of federal spending on autism in the next five years.

COMMITTEE DELAYS ACTION

In the House of Representatives, the act had 228 co-sponsors (www.combatautism.org). It appeared this important piece of legislation would offer some level of assistance to the families that courageously and tirelessly care for autistic children. Not so fast. Enter Joe Barton and our not-so-democratic system of "business as usual" governance.

U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who chairs the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, had his own agenda. He openly stated on CNN that he would not even consider the Combating Autism Act of 2006 until passage of his own NIH reform bill.

So, he bottled it up in committee and now the legislators have adjourned five weeks early to do what they really do: campaign and raise money.

There is actually something that can be done to keep a chairperson from holding legislation "hostage" like this. It is called a discharge petition, and this is why the blame goes beyond Joe Barton. A discharge petition is a mechanism that allows the House at-large to vote to "discharge" a bill from a committee and bring it to a floor vote before the entire House of Representatives.

In this instance, there were 228 co-sponsors to the act. It takes 218 votes to discharge the bill from committee. It seems that the House would have used this mechanism to avert Barton's pettiness and selfish maneuvering.

Unfortunately, the politics in the nation's capital kept a discharge petition from being utilized though it appears clear that the requisite number of votes existed to discharge the bill from committee and bring it to the floor where it seemed certain to pass.

Now, nothing will happen until the next term as our representatives have adjourned several weeks early to campaign for the crucial mid-term elections.

MORAL COMPASS LACKING

The saddest aspect of this depiction of our democratic system is not only Barton's shameless personal agenda that has hijacked monies that a unanimous Senate and a majority of the House members want to spend to help those affected and their families.

It is that the remaining supporting members of the House didn't discharge this bill and allow it to continue through the legislative process.

The actions that we can applaud in a unanimous Senate and 228 co-sponsoring members of the House have been eclipsed by the unconscionable actions of a single committee chairperson.

That it can or has happened reveals a weakness in any republic that strives to define itself as an example of representative democracy to be spread throughout the world.

That the remaining members did not act to discharge the bill shows that the genuine and well-placed support of this laudable piece of legislation by a majority of the House of Representatives is of secondary importance to the "governance as usual" in Washington. Our national legislative group cannot reveal its own social or moral compass as a democratic body even when a need is so clear or a voting majority so established.

In this instance, we don't even have to judge or weigh the "agendas" that allowed this legislation to languish. It is disgraceful that anyone even had an agenda on an issue like autism - a disability that is growing at an alarming and epidemic rate.

3. Article E:

New Autism Gene Doubles Risk Finding Suggests Autism Is Disease of Brain and Body

By Daniel DeNoon

<http://www.webmd.com/content/biography/7/1756_53105.htm>

WebMD Medical News

Monday, October 16, 2006

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/128/117130?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Oct. 16, 2006 -- A single gene mutation doubles a child's susceptibility to autism, a Vanderbilt-led research team reports.

It's a discovery with far-reaching implications. Why? It isn't specifically a brain gene. In fact, it affects multiple systems in the body, including immune function and gut repair. The gene in question is a variant form of a gene called MET.

This suggests that the complex set of behaviors and mental disabilities we call autism may not, as previously thought, be solely a problem with brain development. It may also be linked to subtle developmental problems throughout the body.

The study, which included Pat Levitt, PhD, of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We hypothesize that the common, functionally disruptive [MET gene variant] can, together with other vulnerability genes and environmental factors, precipitate the onset of autism," Levitt and colleagues suggest.

New Autism Gene Important

Kids with autism usually seem normal at first. Then they seem to backslide, losing abilities they once had and suddenly withdrawing into their own world.

There are many theories about why this happens. Clearly, something goes wrong with normal development.

The MET gene, Levitt and colleagues note, encodes an important enzyme called the MET receptor. Among other things, the MET receptor sends out signals important for brain growth, brain maturation, immune function, and gut repair.

Many parents of children with autism report that their kids have digestive problems and haywire immune responses. It's never been clear whether this is directly or indirectly linked to their autism.

Linking the MET gene to autism opens the door to exciting new research, notes Matthew W. State, MD, PhD, director of the neurogenetics program at Yale University. State's editorial accompanies the Levitt team's report.

"The possibility that a MET variant might lead to immune dysfunction and gastrointestinal disturbance along with autism-spectrum disorders is an important question to pursue and one that will likely lead to some debate," State writes.

That's because the first theory to link autism, gut problems, and immune dysfunction blamed these symptoms on childhood immunization with the measlesmeasles/mumpsmumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine.

That theory -- now rejected by all but one of the researchers who first proposed it -- holds that kids who develop autism are particularly sensitive to the toxic effects of thimerosal, a form of mercury used as a vaccine preservative.

The thimerosal theory was rejected by an Institute of Medicine panel of experts. Now the MET gene may reopen investigation into the link between autism and other developmental problems.

"The very important question of whether and how gut disturbance, regression, and immunological issues may be related has been, in part, obscured by this controversy," State writes.

"Hopefully, the present study will lead to additional rigorous investigations of these questions without fueling unnecessary concern regarding MMR."

Editors note: Some interesting news from the front lines of traditional western medicine that perhaps a paradigm shift may be in the works. Lets wait and see………..

3. Article F:

CDC Announces New Study on Autism – and related commentary

CDC Funds Largest-Ever Study on Autism
By MIKE STOBBE, 10.06.2006

The largest federal study to date into the causes of autism was announced Friday - a multi-state investigation that will involve 2,700 young children.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and five other research centers will study the youngsters over five years. The research is designed to ferret out any genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to autism.

"The CDC hasn't funded a study like this (before)," said Diana Schendel, the CDC lead health scientist who is overseeing the Georgia research.

But some parents of autistic children say the CDC - which promotes childhood vaccinations - is not interested in fully exploring vaccinations as a potential cause.

"We don't want the CDC to do anything. We don't trust them," said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association.

Autism is a complex disorder usually not diagnosed in children until after age 3. Symptoms can include repetitive behaviors such as head-banging, avoiding physical or eye contact with others, and communicating with gestures rather than words.

In 2000, Congress directed federal health officials to increase research into autism. The law prompted a series of CDC studies, including prevalence research released in May that found 300,000 U.S. children have been diagnosed with autism.

The new study will recruit 900 children diagnosed with autism, 900 with undefined or other developmental problems, and 900 randomly selected youngsters.

Those studied will be ages 2 to 5, in part because health records and memories will be more complete, Schendel said.

That decision will limit the study's ability to assess the past impact of vaccinations that contain the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, she acknowledged. Since 2001, thimerosal has been removed from shots recommended for young children.

Fournier's group suspects that ingredient is a leading cause of the disorder, although past research suggests it is not.

Researchers will examine the medical records of the children and their parents, and will take cheek swabs and blood and hair samples, Schendel said.

The CDC awarded the other participating institutions $5.9 million for the study. They are the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute in California, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Pennsylvania.

Until Friday's announcement, the largest federal study to focus specifically on autism's causes was research sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, looking at 1,000 California children ages 2 to 5. That study is still in progress.

Lawmakers Express Distrust of CDC on Vaccine Studies

Tuesday , October 10, 2006
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

WASHINGTON — For years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has maintained that no direct link exists between early vaccinations and developmental disorders in children, but not everyone wants to give the last word on the subject to the government public health agency.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill — responding to a growing clamor from parents and advocacy groups who argue the rise in the number of autistic children is linked to childhood vaccines — say they want the CDC out of the business of vaccine safety. Their argument is that the agency is tainted by conflicts of interest because it is also the chief promoter for vaccinations.

Congress was too busy wrestling with a host of issues, including the war on terror, high gas prices and appropriations bills to turn its attention toward the health issue before it recessed on Sept. 29. The 109th Congress will return after the Nov. 7 election to wrap up unfinished business, but it's unlikely to touch on any legislation relating to the matter.

Rep. Dave Weldon of Florida, one of a dwindling number of Republicans with safe seats this year, said he will reintroduce his bill — the Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2006 — when the 110th Congress convenes next year.

"It's an important issue. As a physician, I've been surprised and frankly embarrassed about the overall lack of good research into vaccine safety," Weldon told FOXNews.com.

Weldon introduced the bill with Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., over the summer. It now sits in a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The legislation would create a separate agency outside of the CDC to oversee vaccine safety issues, including research. Other legislation introduced by other House and Senate sponsors addresses linkages between vaccines and autism-related disorders.

While the CDC says recent studies indicate no link between autism and childhood vaccinations, even one that contained mercury, the opposite position is supported by many in the medical establishment, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.

With such conflict, the debate is raging over how limited current research really is and whether the government is doing enough to fund better studies.

"Parents deserve answers," Maloney said when the bill was introduced. "As the most scientifically advanced country in the world, we should be able to conduct a comprehensive study of the health effects of vaccines to restore absolute trust in the nation's vaccine program."

Allegations of a conflict of interest are flatly denied by the CDC.

"We do take our role here very seriously and we empathize with the parents of children with autism," said Curtis Allen, spokesman for the CDC, who said he could not comment directly on any specific legislation.

"(The) CDC is sensitive to concerns about potential conflicts of interest by employees, particularly given CDC research and recommendations can have substantial implications for vaccine manufacturers," Allen said. "The integrity of CDC's vaccine safety research and its reputation for excellence are among the most valued assets of our agency."

As for the CDC's focus on vaccine safety, Allen said, "We carefully evaluate allegations of harmful vaccine effects and are prepared to adjust our policies if allegations prove scientifically valid."

In 2005, Dr. Frank DeStefano, acting chief of immunization safety for the CDC told FOXNews.com, "Autism is a serious developmental disability and has a great effect on the individual and their families, and there is great impetus of need among families and society and the government to find out what is causing autism and what can be done to prevent it."

However, he said, the current body of evidence on the safety of vaccinations is strong.

"Our judgment is that vaccines are safe and the evidence today indicates that vaccines are not linked to autism," said DeStefano.

Still, Weldon questions whether the CDC's conclusions are based on enough sound, objective research, particularly in the area of mercury. Up until 2000, mercury-based thimerosal was used in all childhood vaccines as a preservative. Many blamed it for an increase in emerging autism cases.

Pharmaceutical companies stopped using thimerosal six years ago upon the recommendation of the federal government, even though the government never gave official acknowledgement that mercury levels in vaccines could cause developmental problems in children.

Government officials said that infants had not been exposed to high enough levels of mercury through the thimerosal, but its removal was done as "a precaution."

An independent study conducted by Drs. Mark and David Geier in 2003 concluded that a link does exist between thimerosal and autism. But the Institutes of Medicine, contracted by the CDC to study the possible linkage, released findings in 2004 that found no connection. That study is still used by the agency today as the official position on the issue.

Nevertheless, Wendy Fournier, a spokeswoman for the National Autism Association, contends that the CDC's lack of independence from industry influence, has contributed to a conflict of interest on its key panel for safety oversight. Most of the conflicts cited are attributed to members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices with financial ties to pharmaceutical companies making vaccines.

"We're hoping Congress does the right thing and sees the conflict here," said Wendy Fournier, spokeswoman for the National Autism Association.

Supporters deny that oversight panelists are clouded by conflicts of interest.

"As a current member of the Committee on Infectious Diseases of AAP (the American Academy of Pediatrics), I have attended many sessions where possible vaccine-associated adverse effects, either immediate or delayed, were discussed," said Dr. Lorry Rubin, chief of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Schneider Children's Hospital, Long Island.

"It has been my observation that all valid scientific information has been presented and discussed," Rubin said, adding, "My personal opinion of the studies of which I am aware, of possible vaccine adverse events performed by CDC, is that they were sound studies."

He said the AAP had no comment on the Weldon bill that would create a separate agency for vaccine safety.

Meanwhile, parents are struggling to understand how the number of autistic children ages 6 through 21 served by special education programs in the U.S. has increased 500 percent over the last decade, reaching more than 140,000 in 2004. Experts now estimate that one in every 166 children in the United States has been diagnosed with autism.

"I always thought these people raising concerns (about vaccines) were wackos," said Vicky Debold, a nurse and mother of an autistic child, and also director of the Coalition for SafeMinds.

Debold said she began intense research after her son was diagnosed, and started doubting the levels of mercury in the vaccines. But the body of evidence is woefully inadequate and needs to be increased.

"I think Rep. Weldon's bill is right on the mark," she said. "If the public understood that the government was trying to improve vaccines and addressing vaccine concerns, then the public would be more inclined to vaccinate with confidence."

CDC Announces New Autism Study as Advocacy Organizations Challenge Agency’s Motivations
Concern among parents over past CDC handling of autism data casts a shadow on future studies

Nixa, MO – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new study last week regarding the autism epidemic currently plaguing one in 166 children in the U.S. While the CDC has never officially declared autism an epidemic, the agency and the American Academy of Pediatrics released a joint “Autism A.L.A.R.M.” in 2004 which stated that one in six children now suffers from a developmental disorder and/or behavioral problem. This study comes following mounting concerns from parents and scientists that the CDC manipulated relevant vaccine safety data and that the agency may be concealing a connection between vaccines and the huge rise in autism and related disorders in recent years.

“Many parents get nervous when they see ‘autism’ and ‘CDC’ in the same sentence, and for good reason,” commented Claire Bothwell, National Autism Association (NAA) board chair and parent of a vaccine-injured child diagnosed with autism. “The transcripts from the Simpsonwood meeting clearly show that the CDC was well aware of a relationship between mercury in vaccines and neurological disorders in children, yet they did all they could to see that this crucial information remained buried. How can parents ever trust this agency to conduct honest autism research given its past deceit?”

The Simpsonwood transcripts are from a June, 2000 meeting of CDC scientists in Norcross, Georgia. The meeting was held to discuss the results of a study using the CDC’s vaccine safety data base to determine whether thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative, might be causing injury to young children. The transcripts were obtained by the nonprofit organization SafeMinds through the Freedom of Information Act and are now widely available to concerned parents seeking answers for once-healthy children who regressed into autism following exposure to mercury in vaccines.

Compounding the mistrust of the CDC is the secretive manner in which data for other autism studies has been collected. Last year, parents in Colorado and Arkansas became aware that the CDC had collected medical and school records of their children without obtaining parental consent. “It’s an outrage that this agency has complete access to any information they want on our children, and parents have no say in the matter whatsoever,” observed Bothwell.

The CDC’s release on the new study doesn’t mention vaccines or mercury, fueling concerns of yet another
smokescreen, steering attention from what many parents consider the most critical factor in the development of autism. “In my opinion, the study will muddy the waters further as they spend millions on anything other than the mercury portion of the equation,” noted NAA board member Laura Bono.

The study includes data collection from cheek swabs and blood and hair sampling. “Even if mercury detection was a research objective, these methods would only be useful for recent exposures. Mercury clears the blood rapidly, settling in the brain and other target organs,” said Bono. “Additionally, the two to five year age range of the children in the study is of concern as the largest mercury exposures are among the older kids. The CDC knows this. Their unwillingness to explore the most plausible causation factor is very telling.”

For more information on autism, go to www.nationalautism.org.

4	Vaccine News

4. Article A:

VILIFIED by the MMR zealots

http://www.whale.to/vaccines/wakefield9.html

In a powerful first ever interview the wife of persecuted MMR doctor Andrew Wakefield fires back at those who tried to ruin her husband’s reputation

By Sue Corrigan

There can’t be many married couples who spend hours on the phone, thousands of miles apart, earnestly discussing inflammatory bowel disease, medical research in Venezuela or laboratory studies on rats’ brains. But Andrew and Carmel Wakefield do. Carmel’s defiance is the only reason why the British Government and medical authorities have so far failed to silence her husband despite driving him into professional exile in America, separating him from his family in London and destroying his reputation.

A doctor herself, 49-year-old Carmel is the secret weapon of Andrew, the man many in Britain’s medical establishment regard as Public Enemy No 1; the villain or hero, depending on your point of view, of the eight year controversy over whether the MMR triple jab, given to toddlers to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, is capable of causing autism, other types of brain damage and a painful new form of gut disease. Since the story broke in 1998, Carmel has kept out of sight, refusing repeated interview requests and declining to be photographed. Only now, with her family preparing a permanent move to America, does she finally feel ready to open fire on her husband’s enemies. ‘Something is causing an appalling worldwide epidemic of autism and the new form of inflammatory bowel disease which Andy and his colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital in London first identified about ten years ago. Yet all that we ever hear from the authorities is, “It’s not MMR,”’ she says, packing up the last of her belongings in her West London home.

‘Oddly, though, they don’t seem in the least concerned about finding out what the actual causes might be. It is impossible for the authorities to rule out fears of a link between this vaccine, autistic disorders and bowel disease because they have not yet done the detailed clinical studies that Andy and others have, for many years, been pleading for. ‘Why have they not, when, obviously, that is the only way to settle this controversy once and for all?’ Andrew and Carmel met in the late Seventies while training at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. Medicine ran in both families: both have parents who were doctors and brothers who later went into the profession.

‘Andy was training to be a surgeon and I pursued a career in general medicine, but later went into clinical negligence litigation,’ says Carmel.

‘Andy loved being a surgeon but after we had our children [three boys and a girl], he decided he would go into clinical research, because he thought it meant he could spend more time with his family.’ She sighs: ‘How ironic is that?’ Carmel says her husband first began privately expressing fears about the impact of the measles virus on the gut years before he made his concerns public.

‘Andy is a very talented researcher,’ she says proudly. ‘He has an ability to think outside the box. In the early Nineties he made some important discoveries about the causes of inflammatory bowel disease and it was this that led him to look at the measles virus, which is known to linger in the bowel. ‘That was how he first became interested in measles in general, and then to worry about its impact on the gut, particularly when injected into young children as part of a triple vaccine of three live viruses. ‘He started voicing his concerns to the Department of Health in 1992, assuming they’d order urgent clinical research. He assumed public safety would be of paramount concern to health officials. ‘He thought they’d want to rule out any possibility that MMR could cause gut damage, particularly as worrying evidence was starting to emerge that the live mumps and measles viruses in the vaccine could interact to suppress the body’s natural immune response.

But no one wanted to know. He met with a complete brick wall.’ MMR was hastily introduced in Britain in late 1988, after only the most cursory UK safety trials, at the personal urging of the Conservative Health Minister Edwina Currie. Until then, British health officials were content to continue offering all children a single measles jab, with the rubella vaccine given only to pre-pubescent girls to prevent damage to unborn children, and mumps considered not worth vaccinating against. But after a visit to America, where she was shown data on MMR’s effectiveness in reducing measles over the previous decade, Mrs. Currie says she ‘insisted’

departmental officials introduce the triple vaccine without delay. She still counts it as her proudest achievement as Health Minister.

‘I told them to stop dragging their feet and get on with it,’ Mrs. Currie told The Mail on Sunday. ‘They didn’t need to conduct lengthy UK safety trials. The vaccine’s safety record had been clearly demonstrated by North American experience, as far as I was concerned. ‘Before MMR, children were dying from measles in the UK at the rate of around one a month. We introduced financial incentives for GPs to encourage its uptake, and the death rate from measles subsequently fell to zero. That Andrew Wakefield is a wicked, wicked man for attempting to undermine public confidence in MMR.

If any child dies from measles, he will have blood on his hands. MMR has been used in various countries for around 30 years, its safety has been exhaustively researched, and its record is exemplary.’

Not everyone shared her confidence – Carmel Wakefield, for one. She remembers very clearly the day in 1997 her husband warned her, shortly before the Lancet medical journal published one of the hundreds of academic papers to his name, that ‘there could be a bit of a problem with this one.

This could be rather unpopular’. Familiar with the paper’s content, she thought he was being melodramatic. ‘I said to Andy,” Why would there be any problem? All you’re doing is reporting medical histories and clinical findings in a group of children. I know some parents are raising concerns about a vaccine, but you’re just saying more research is needed. What’s the problem with that?” ‘Obviously,’ she says now, ‘I was very naive.’

Published in February 1998, the paper sparked worldwide alarm by reporting parents’ claims that, soon after being injected with MMR – the triple vaccine introduced in the UK ten years previously – their children developed serious gut problems and then signs of brain damage. The problem, as the Wakefields were quickly to learn, was that only the very bravest or most foolhardy of medical researchers would ever dare publicly express doubts about any childhood vaccine, let alone raise the spectre that it might cause something as serious as autism. Presented as an ‘early case report’, the paper primarily described an apparently new form of bowel disease in 12 previously healthy children who had all subsequently, and puzzlingly, developed signs of brain damage, including autism. It speculated that the bowel disease appeared to be the result of some form of viral infection. And, mentioning that the parents of several children ascribed their children’s problems to MMR, it called for further urgent research.

But Wakefield’s critics responded furiously that the Lancet paper was highly irresponsible to even mention the claims of a few ‘mere’ parents, without any proof of a causal link. Autism, they say, is a genetic disorder, present from birth but often not picked up until children are about 18 months old. And the bowel disease named by Wakefield as ‘autistic enterocolitis’ simply did not even exist. Only recently, in the light of a number of overseas studies confirming this new disease, have they grudgingly begun to concede that actually, it may. They still vehemently deny any link with MMR though, pointing to numerous large scale studies that conclude there is none. Wakefield’s supporters retort such studies are not sensitive enough to pick up damage in a relatively small percentage of children, and continue to beg British medical authorities to investigate individuals who have allegedly been damaged – so far without success.

Indeed, hundreds of parents across Britain now say that the mere mention of bowel disease in their autistic children guarantees they’ll be immediately turned away by doctors and refused any help or treatment.

‘It is as though any kind of association with Andy’s work causes doctors here to run a mile’, says Carmel. ‘Andy has photographs of children that would make anyone who saw them cry. Children black and blue from banging their heads on furniture and walls to distract themselves from their chronic gut pain. And then, photos of the same children, after proper investigation and treatment, happy and smiling. It is absolutely heartbreaking that British children cannot expect the same treatment autistic children now receive in other countries. It horrifies us both.’ Carmel says her husband was aware of the political sensitivities from the beginning and, anxious not to provoke an official backlash, wrote to senior hospital colleagues in advance of the Lancet publication. ‘Andy warned that if he were to be asked his opinion, he’d be morally obliged to state his personal view that parents should revert to single, separate vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella, pending the further research he assumed would follow,’ she says. And, after giving that opinion at a Press conference, all hell broke loose.

Since then, Wakefield has been vilified by the international medical establishment, government leaders and the powerful pharmaceutical industry.

But he has also been hailed as a hero by thousands of parents in Britain, America and elsewhere who believe their children to have been grievously damaged by MMR, and by a small but increasing number of doctors, researchers and other supporters who share their fears. ‘My husband has been persecuted by extremely powerful forces for asking questions that his research findings made it morally and ethically essential for him to ask,’ Carmel says angrily.

‘The spotlight really fell on Andy after that news conference, but that wasn’t the beginning of his work. If he’d just voiced concerns based on nothing other than a preliminary study of 12 children, in an off-the-cuff way, of course that would have been unacceptable.’ And that is exactly how the Government propaganda machine and drug company apologists have ch