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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.

TACA E-Newsletter
August 2009 #1

Here is your update on TACA (Talk About Curing Autism). If you are new to our site... WELCOME! This newsletter is produced two to four times each month.

We are an autism education and support group. We want to make this e-newsletter informative for you. As always, contact us your thoughts and/or questions so we can improve it.

We focus on parent information and support, parent mentoring, dietary intervention, the latest in medical research, special education law, reviews of the latest treatments, and many other topics relating to autism. Our main goal is to build our community so we can connect, share and support each other.

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.

1. Find a TACA Meeting

Come to a TACA Meeting!

TACA holds monthly meetings in many locations throughout the United States that feature educational speakers on important topics and allow family members to connect with one another and stay on top of the latest information in the autism world. Each TACA group maintains a resource library of the latest autism books and tapes that can be checked out by members at no charge.

Check out our group listings: each contains information on TACA meetings and special events as well as a contact form.

Are you wondering what happens at a TACA meeting? Watch our video.

2. Real Help Now Conference

Save the date: Saturday, October 3, 2009

TACA's 8th Annual Real Help Now Conference, Costa Mesa, CA

Two tracks this year: medical and legal rights

Featuring:

• Jerry Kartzinel, MD
• Doris Rapp, MD
• Bob Sears, MD
• Cindy Schneider, MD
• Tim Adams, Esq.
• Lynne Arnold

Registration: $35 per person, $50 a couple (online registration coming soon!)

3. Join Us for Coffee Talk!

Come and receive some extra support or to chat all topics related to autism and meet other TACA families at these informal, monthly get-togethers.

› Fultdondale, AL
› Huntsville, AL
› Bakersfield, CA
› Inland Empire, CA
› Orange County, CA
› Visalia, CA
› Indianapolis, IN
› Glen Burnie, MD
› Gaithersburg, MD
› Hamilton, NJ
› Las Vegas, NV
› Fitchburg, WI

4. Daily Autism Updates for Families

All news related to autism:  

For daily updates to all autism legislative issues: ChangeforAutism.org

AgeofAutism.com

5. Autism Rate Now at One Percent of All US Children?

David Kirby on the Huffington Post

A pair of federally funded studies on autism rates is about to make news -- big news -- and it isn't good: It would appear that somewhere around one percent of all US children currently have an autism spectrum disorder. The rate is even higher among six to 11 year olds and among boys, according to data from at least one of the new studies.

If you are an expectant parent, or planning to have a child soon, you might want to sit down before absorbing these staggering statistics, recently released by the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), which is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

According to data from the 2007 telephone survey of parents of nearly 82,000 US children, the odds of a child receiving an ASD diagnosis are one in 63. If it is a boy, the chances climb to a science fiction-like level of one in 38, or 2.6% of all male children in America.

But there was also some surprisingly good news. Enormous numbers of children originally diagnosed with ASD went on to shed their diagnosis as they got older, parents reported.

Among all children aged two to 17, according to respondents, one in 100 (100-per-10,000) currently have an ASD diagnosis, which is considerably higher than the previously (CDC) estimated rate of 1-in-150, (or 66-per-10,000).

But researchers were also told by parents that 60-per-10,000 children "had autism, Asperger's Disorder etc. at some point, but not currently."

This suggests two rather remarkable things:

1. At some point in their lives, 1-in-63 US children (160-per-10,000) will have an ASD diagnosis and;

2. Out of every 160 children diagnosed with ASD, 60 of them (37.5%) will somehow go on to lose that diagnosis.

Among boys, for every 260-per-10,000 male children originally diagnosed with ASD, 90 of them (34.6%) reportedly do not have the diagnosis now. This still leaves a monumentally high rate of one in 58 boys with ASD today, or 1.7 percent (170-per-10,000).

The percentage of girls who apparently lost their original diagnosis was 44.5%.

There was a big difference among age groups as well. Among those children who still have the diagnosis, the rate of ASD was 40% higher in 6-11 year olds (140-per-10,000, or 1-in-71) than the current rate of 12-17 year olds (100-per-10,000, or 1-in-100).

Interestingly, among the youngest children, two to five years old, the rate was only half that of their six- to 11-year-old siblings, (70-per-10,000 vs.140-per-10,000). Most or all of that may be due to the average age of diagnosis, which is below five years, though it does bear watching to see if these younger kids go on to double their rates and "catch up" with the older ones.

Overall, the 2007 NSCH survey revealed a 100% increase in parent-reported ASD rates compared to the 2003 NSCH survey (which showed a 50-per-10,000 reported rate).

The survey was conducted by the Data Resource Center of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) at the Oregon Health & Science University. And though the survey used what is considered to be sound methodology for estimating ASD percentages, most observers are still anxiously awaiting the release of more and even more reliable statistics -- expected soon from the CDC.

This second autism study, culled from data in the CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring network (ADDM), has been eagerly anticipated for quite some time.

ADDM researchers examine the education and (when possible) medical records of all eight-year-old children in selected US cities and states. They look only at eight-year-old cohorts to allow time for all diagnoses to be made, reported and counted.

So far, ADDM has published data from just two birth cohorts: children born in 1992 (eight-year-olds in 2000) and those born in 1994 (eight-year-olds in 2002). The 1992 cohort revealed an estimated ASD rate of one in 166, or 60-per-10,000.

For the 1994 cohort, the estimate was revised upward to one in 150, or 10% higher, at 66-per-10,000.

CDC officials have been analyzing the 1996 birth cohort (2004 data on 8-year-olds) for years. I asked the agency a few months ago about the slow progress in releasing the numbers and was told that the data were currently "under review." No response was given to written questions about data collected from the 1998 or 2000 cohorts (in 2006 and 2008, respectively).

I also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the CDC for the raw data it had collected to date. That request is still pending.

But just the other day, the Adventures in Autism blog reported that CDC was about to release its 1996 birth cohort data, and that those data would also show ASD prevalence rates along the lines of 100-per-10,000, or a whopping one percent of US children.

The blogger, Ginger Taylor, reported that the CDC's new one in 100 figure had been mentioned at a recent national meeting of the Autism Society of America. So I called ASA President and CEO Lee Grossman to ask him about it.

It was Grossman himself who brought up the new studies, while introducing the keynote panel at the ASA meeting in St Charles, IL the week of July 20.

"I told people we were about to get hit by two separate studies that will be published in the near future," he said. The National Survey of Children's Health data will be published in September and the CDC's 1996 birth cohort data will also appear in print -- in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report -- "probably before the end of summer, although that is not yet official," he told me.

Grossman said his sources were "good people" that he trusts, working within the CDC's ADDM network, which he termed the "gold standard" of US autism epidemiology.

According to his sources, the 1996 birth cohort will reveal ASD prevalence rates that are "consistent with other national large-scale study figures, and I assume that includes a study from the UK," Grossman said. That study put the UK rate at 1-in-83.

The CDC researchers also told Grossman that there were "some similarities" to what was found in the NSCH survey, even though NSCH and ADDM are "two extremely different instruments."

Assuming that the new CDC figures show a significant increase in diagnoses between the 1994 and 1996 cohorts, the overarching question, of course, will be, "why?"

"Did the numbers really go up, or is it better data collection? I don't know the answer," Grossman told me. "Are we monitoring it better and finding more kids? I suspect we are, though it is hard to say." He added that ASA was working with a few school districts that provide statistics on ASD rates, "and their numbers are closing in on one in 100 as well."

One possible explanation for at least some of the increase is that ADDM researchers became more proficient at obtaining the necessary records across their analyses of the 1992, 1994 and 1996 birth cohorts. For example, in the 1994 cohort, the ASD rate in New Jersey (where access to both medical and school records was possible) was 93-per-10,000, while in Alabama (where access to school records was not available) the rate was about one-third of that, at just 33-per-10,000.

Is it possible that CDC researchers somehow gained access to school records for, say, Alabama children born in 1996 that they did not have for kids born there in 1994, thus driving up the numbers? Of course it is, though we must wait for the published report to find out.

Another plausible explanation for some, if not all of the increase, is the expansion of the ASD classification within the public schools to include not only full-blown autism, but also milder forms of ASD such as Pervasive Developmental Disorder -- Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger's Syndrome.

This has long been the argument of those who do not believe that the real number of ASD cases has increased -- they insist that the rise is simply an artifact of wider diagnostic criteria, greater awareness and/or more ASD services on offer.

I am certain that the expansion of ASD criteria in the early 1990's contributed to the increase in reported diagnoses during that time, though I am not personally convinced that this can account for the entire growth of cases.

And I do not believe that autism rates have always been one in 100, or one in 71, as currently reported by parents of six- to 11-year-olds in the NCHS study.

So, what else could help explain at least part of the ASD increase? I believe that environmental factors are at play. And rising levels of toxic exposures among pregnant women, unborn children and young infants must be fully examined.

Which leads us to vaccines: Could they be responsible, at least in part, for contributing to the rising ASD numbers?

"A person with an autism spectrum disorder has a number of underlying and seemingly unnoticed immunological, inflammatory or mitochondrial issues happening, and there could be any number of factors that trigger this," Lee Grossman told me, reflecting a growing consensus among autism groups and researchers. "And it is certainly plausible that vaccines are one of those triggers."

The whole debate over why the numbers are going up, Grossman added, "is sad." He lamented the fact that "people are trying to limit the debate and the science. But until we know what is going on, we should treat everything as a plausible factor, and study it to the point where we have a much better understanding. For example, why do some people have a severe reaction to vaccines and why do some not have that reaction? To me, it is appalling that those studies have not happened."

If there is an environmental component to autism, hopefully scientists will want to know which exposures might have increased between, say, 1992 and 1996.

One possible answer is the Hepatitis B vaccine, (which also contained 25 micrograms of mercury containing thimerosal).

Introduced in 1991, it was the first vaccine ever given on a population basis to newborn babies (within the first three hours after delivery) in human history.

But according to the CDC's National Immunization Survey (which also includes parental telephone interviews), only 8% of infant children received the Hep B vaccine in 1992, when that birth cohort showed an ASD rate of 60-per-10,000.

By 1994, the number of children receiving Hep B vaccine had reached just 27% -- and the cohort showed an ASD rate of 66-per-10,000.

But the Hep B coverage rate had risen to 82% by 1996, when that cohort's ASD rate exploded to around 100-per-10,000.

Correlation, obviously, does not equal causation. And no one is suggesting that Hepatitis B vaccine is the singular "cause" of autism. But the uptake rate of that particular immunization is at least one environmental factor that did demonstrably change during the period in question.

In addition, some recent studies and Vaccine Court decisions have supported the contention that Hepatitis B vaccine can damage myelin -- the nervous system's main insulating component -- at least in certain genetically susceptible adults and infants.

A study published last October in the journal Neurology found that children who received the Hepatitis B vaccine series were 50% more likely to develop "central nervous system inflammatory demyelination" than children who did not receive the vaccine.

Most of this increase was due to the Engerix B brand of the vaccine, manufactured by the UK's GlaxoSmithKline. That brand increased the risk of demyelination by 74%, and patients with confirmed multiple sclerosis were nearly three times more likely to develop the disorder.

"Hepatitis B vaccination does not generally increase the risk of CNS inflammatory demyelination in childhood," the authors concluded. "However, the Engerix B vaccine appears to increase this risk, particularly for confirmed multiple sclerosis, in the longer term. Our results require confirmation in future studies."

In another Vaccine Court Case, Banks v HHS, the Special Master ruled that a young boy named Bailey Banks suffered from a similar demyelinating disease called "acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) following the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, which "led inexorably" to his development of PDD-NOS, an autism spectrum disorder.

In Bailey's case, the myelin repaired itself, but the CNS damage was permanent. Most children with ASD do not show current signs of myelin damage, though many of them test positive for antibodies to myelin basic protein, suggesting that demyelination may have played a role at one point, as it did in the Bailey Banks case.

Another item that will surely spark fiery debate is the reason why so many previously diagnosed children with ASD are currently not holding that diagnosis.

There are three main possible explanations:

1) Many children never had an ASD to begin with, and were simply "misdiagnosed."

2) Some children naturally "recovered" from ASD on their own without treatment, (though Lee Grossman and many others told me they have never seen this happen).

3) Interventions including behavioral therapy, dietary changes and biomedical treatments actually work, and it is possible to recover a child from the grips of ASD.

One thing is certain however: No matter what the explanations for the increase -- and for the extraordinary "recovery" rate of children diagnosed with ASD -- the current US ASD level is still somewhere around 1% -- and 1.4% (140-per-10,000) among kids aged six to 11, if the NCHS study is to be believed.

Let's assume that the 140-per-10,000 rate is the most accurate: This would make the "autism is genetic and has always been with us at these levels" crowd appear to be pathetic, if not downright laughable.

Why? Because reputable studies from the 1980s showed that the actual rate of autism was about two per 10,000 children, not 140 per 10,000. If those studies were wrong, and if the rate was the same then as it is now (as many scientists contend), that would mean that doctors, educators and statisticians are now 7,000 percent more proficient at diagnosing and counting autism than they were before.

According to this logic, out of every 140 children who had an ASD in the 1980s, 138 of them went (and continue to go) undiagnosed, uncounted and untreated by medical and educational professionals.

If I were a medical or public health professional, that is a fact that I would not be keen on broadcasting.

And if the actual rate of autism in America is truly 1%- or 1.4% - then as ASA's Grossman said: "People ain't seen nothing yet."

"Everyone is going to cover this story, and the reality is that nobody is doing anything about the increase in autism," Grossman commented. "But when you get to a figure of 1% of the population, hopefully you'll get attention, and have people begin to act to help those with autism today with funding of services and support, and to get a better handle on how to spend research money."

Grossman said it was "terrible" that research into the causes of autism has been so heavily weighted towards genetics, at the expense of studying environmental factors.

"But now, many people believe that autism is associated with environmental triggers," he told me. "And my message is: 'Wake up.' But if this doesn't wake people up, then I don't know what will."

I, for one, concur with Lee Grossman.

"I'm hopeful that this unfortunate statistic, and the terrible growth in autism, will finally get people to act to do something about autism," he said. "And by that, I mean the fine folks in government who are not responding in the ways that they should."

6. New CDC Recommendation: All Children Should Receive Annual Seasonal Flu Vaccines

July 24, 2009 — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, is changing its recommendation for annual seasonal influenza vaccination for children aged 6 months to 18 years to a "full recommendation," Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, announced today.

In addition, the CDC is advising a seasonal flu vaccine for anyone who feels they need one.

"While we are focusing a lot of attention on the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, we do expect seasonal strains to emerge, and we are issuing updates of which strains to expect," Dr. Schuchat said. These include the A-H1N1, A-H3N2, and B strains, "which are available in this year's vaccine," she noted. "This past year's recommendations encouraged annual vaccination [of children].... This year, [the CDC] is no longer just advising vaccination whenever feasible but is [issuing] a full-out recommendation" of the seasonal flu vaccine.

Only about 40% of the US population received a flu vaccine last year. The CDC is recommending and emphasizing "an intensification of use" of the vaccine.

The CDC has specifically recommended that healthcare workers be immunized, as well as that campers at sleepover summer camps and attendees of military academies where there have been notable outbreaks of influenza receive the flu vaccine and antiviral agents, but only if appropriate.

"I don't think antiviral prophylaxis is a good idea," Dr. Schuchat said, noting that oseltamivir-resistant influenza strains have been reported.

Dr. Schuchat said that the latest laboratory-confirmed case count for the H1N1 influenza virus is 43,771 cases and 302 deaths, "but this is the last time we will be reporting cases in this way." Instead, the CDC will have a FluView Weekly Surveillance Report, updated every Friday, on its Web site.

The National Institutes of Health announced yesterday that clinical trials will begin as early as next week of 2 H1N1 influenza vaccine candidates in adults, either alone or in conjunction with the seasonal flu vaccine and, if safe, in children.

Sanofi Aventis and CSL Biotherapies, manufacturers of the 2 candidate vaccines, told a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee yesterday that they expect to have a vaccine available by October. Dr. Schuchat said that she is concerned that the flu season could be well underway by that time, because the school year begins within weeks in many areas.

The virus is unpredictable, she said, "skipping entire communities, while hitting others really hard." In addition, the virus can cause a wide spectrum of illness, from mild symptoms to respiratory arrest and neurological problems, including seizures. "That is why we are taking the virus so seriously." H1N1 often affects young, apparently healthy individuals, as well as those at high risk, and it could affect more than 40% of the population.

"We are preparing for the worst-case scenario of 60% of the population being affected," Dr. Schuchat said. "The value of worst-case scenario planning is that it allows for continuity planning."

The FDA's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is set to meet July 29 to propose H1N1 vaccine recommendations. Children aged 0 to 4 years will likely be the top priority, followed by school-age children, healthcare workers, pregnant women, and adults with chronic diseases.

Today, the FDA announced it had issued an emergency use authorization for a third diagnostic test for the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus because a public health emergency involving H1N1 was declared on April 26, 2009. It is the Focus Diagnostics Influenza H1N1 (2009) Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction diagnostic test.

The emergency use authorization allows Focus Diagnostics to distribute the test to laboratories certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments to perform high-complexity tests. This test is intended for use in the detection of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in patients with symptoms of respiratory infection.

The test does not indicate the stage of infection, nor does a negative result preclude influenza virus infection, FDA officials emphasize.

7. Squalene: The Swine Flu Vaccine’s Dirty Little Secret Exposed

By Dr. Mercola

According to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, your children should be the first target for mass swine flu vaccinations when school starts this fall.[i]

This is a ridiculous assumption for many reasons, not to mention extremely high risk.

In Australia, where the winter season has begun, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon is reassuring parents the swine flu is no more dangerous than regular seasonal flu. "Most people, including children, will experience very mild symptoms and recover without any medical intervention," she said.[ii]

Sydney-based immunization specialist Robert Booy predicts swine flu might be fatal to about twice as many children in the coming year as regular influenza. Booy estimates 10-12 children could die from the H1N1 virus, compared with the five or six regular flu deaths seen among children in an average year in Australia.[iii]

“Cure the Disease, Kill the Patient”

Less than 100 children in the U.S. die each year from seasonal flu viruses.[iv] If we use Australia’s math, a very rough estimate would be another 100 children could potentially die of swine flu in the United States in the coming year.

If children are the first target group in the U.S. per Sebelius, that means we’re about to inject around 75 million children with a fast tracked vaccine containing novel adjuvants, including dangerous squalene, to prevent perhaps 100 deaths.

I’m not overlooking the tragedy of the loss of even one child to an illness like the H1N1 flu virus. But there can be no argument that unnecessary mass injection of millions of children with a vaccine containing an adjuvant known to cause a host of debilitating autoimmune diseases is a reckless, dangerous plan.

Why are Vaccinations Dangerous?

The presumed intent of a vaccination is to help you build immunity to potentially harmful organisms that cause illness and disease. However, your body’s immune system is already designed to do this in response to organisms which invade your body naturally.

Most disease-causing organisms enter your body through the mucous membranes of your nose, mouth, pulmonary system or your digestive tract – not through an injection.

These mucous membranes have their own immune system, called the IgA immune system. It is a different system from the one activated when a vaccine is injected into your body.

Your IgA immune system is your body’s first line of defense. Its job is to fight off invading organisms at their entry points, reducing or even eliminating the need for activation of your body’s immune system.

When a virus is injected into your body in a vaccine, and especially when combined with an immune adjuvant like squalene, your IgA immune system is bypassed and your body’s immune system kicks into high gear in response to the vaccination.

Injecting organisms into your body to provoke immunity is contrary to nature, and vaccination carries enormous potential to do serious damage to your health.

And as if Vaccines Weren’t Dangerous Enough on Their Own …

… imagine them turbocharged.

The main ingredient in a vaccine is either killed viruses or live ones that have been attenuated (weakened and made less harmful).

Flu vaccines can also contain a number of chemical toxins, including ethylene glycol (antifreeze), formaldehyde, phenol (carbolic acid) and even antibiotics like Neomycin and streptomycin.

In addition to the viruses and other additives, many vaccines also contain immune adjuvants like aluminum and squalene.

The purpose of an immune adjuvant added to a vaccine is to enhance (turbo charge) your immune response to the vaccination. Adjuvants cause your immune system to overreact to the introduction of the organism you’re being vaccinated against.

Adjuvants are supposed to get the job done faster (but certainly not more safely), which reduces the amount of vaccine required per dose, and the number of doses given per individual.

Less vaccine required per person means more individual doses available for mass vaccination campaigns. Coincidentally, this is exactly the goal of government and the pharmaceutical companies who stand to make millions from their vaccines.

Will There Be Immune Adjuvants in Swine Flu Vaccines?

The U.S. government has contracts with several drug companies to develop and produce swine flu vaccines. At least two of those companies, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, are using an adjuvant in their H1N1 vaccines.

The adjuvant? Squalene.

According to Meryl Nass, M.D., an authority on the anthrax vaccine,

“A novel feature of the two H1N1 vaccines being developed by companies Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline is the addition of squalene-containing adjuvants to boost immunogenicity and dramatically reduce the amount of viral antigen needed. This translates to much faster production of desired vaccine quantities.”[v]

Novartis’s proprietary squalene adjuvant for their H1N1 vaccine is MF59. Glaxo’s is ASO3. MF59 has yet to be approved by the FDA for use in any U.S. vaccine, despite its history of use in other countries.

Per Dr. Nass, there are only three vaccines in existence using an approved squalene adjuvant. None of the three are approved for use in the U.S.

What Squalene Does to Rats

Oil-based vaccination adjuvants like squalene have been proved to generate concentrated, unremitting immune responses over long periods of time.[vi]

A 2000 study published in the American Journal of Pathology demonstrated a single injection of the adjuvant squalene into rats triggered “chronic, immune-mediated joint-specific inflammation,” also known as rheumatoid arthritis.[vii]

The researchers concluded the study raised questions about the role of adjuvants in chronic inflammatory diseases.

What Squalene Does to Humans

Your immune system recognizes squalene as an oil molecule native to your body. It is found throughout your nervous system and brain. In fact, you can consume squalene in olive oil and not only will your immune system recognize it, you will also reap the benefits of its antioxidant properties.

The difference between “good” and “bad” squalene is the route by which it enters your body. Injection is an abnormal route of entry which incites your immune system to attack all the squalene in your body, not just the vaccine adjuvant.

Your immune system will attempt to destroy the molecule wherever it finds it, including in places where it occurs naturally, and where it is vital to the health of your nervous system.[viii]

Gulf War veterans with Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) received anthrax vaccines which contained squalene.[ix] MF59 (the Novartis squalene adjuvant) was an unapproved ingredient in experimental anthrax vaccines and has since been linked to the devastating autoimmune diseases suffered by countless Gulf War vets.[x]

The Department of Defense made every attempt to deny that squalene was indeed an added contaminant in the anthrax vaccine administered to Persian Gulf war military personnel – deployed and non-deployed – as well as participants in the more recent Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program (AVIP).

However, the FDA discovered the presence of squalene in certain lots of AVIP product. A test was developed to detect anti-squalene antibodies in GWS patients, and a clear link was established between the contaminated product and all the GWS sufferers who had been injected with the vaccine containing squalene.

A study conducted at Tulane Medical School and published in the February 2000 issue of Experimental Molecular Pathology included these stunning statistics:

“ … the substantial majority (95%) of overtly ill deployed GWS patients had antibodies to squalene. All (100%) GWS patients immunized for service in Desert Shield/Desert Storm who did not deploy, but had the same signs and symptoms as those who did deploy, had antibodies to squalene.

In contrast, none (0%) of the deployed Persian Gulf veterans not showing signs and symptoms of GWS have antibodies to squalene. Neither patients with idiopathic autoimmune disease nor healthy controls had detectable serum antibodies to squalene. The majority of symptomatic GWS patients had serum antibodies to squalene.”[xi]

According to Dr. Viera Scheibner, Ph.D., a retired principle research scientist for the government of Australia:

“… this adjuvant [squalene] contributed to the cascade of reactions called "Gulf War Syndrome," documented in the soldiers involved in the Gulf War.

The symptoms they developed included arthritis, fibromyalgia, lymphadenopathy, rashes, photosensitive rashes, malar rashes, chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, abnormal body hair loss, non-healing skin lesions, aphthous ulcers, dizziness, weakness, memory loss, seizures, mood changes, neuropsychiatric problems, anti-thyroid effects, anaemia, elevated ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Raynaud’s phenomenon, Sjorgren’s syndrome, chronic diarrhoea, night sweats and low-grade fevers.”[xii]

Post Vaccination Follow-Up Might as Well Be Non-Existent

There is virtually no science to support the safety of vaccine injections on your long-term health or the health of your children. Follow-up studies last on average about two weeks, and look only for glaring injuries and illnesses.

Autoimmune disorders like those seen in Gulf War Syndrome frequently take years to diagnose due to the vagueness of early symptoms. Complaints like headaches, fatigue and chronic aches and pains are symptoms of many different illnesses and diseases.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for vaccine purveyors and proponents to look seriously at the long-term health consequences of their vaccination campaigns.

What You Can Do to Protect Yourself and Your Family

Visit the National Vaccination Information Center (NVIC) site and join in the fight against mandatory swine flu vaccinations.

Educate yourself about influenza strains, vaccination risks, and the public health laws in your state that may require you or your children to undergo either mandatory vaccination or quarantine.

Take care of your health to reduce or eliminate your risk of contracting the flu. The key is to keep your immune system strong by following these guidelines:

• Eliminate sugar and processed foods from your diet. Sugar consumption has an immediate, debilitating effect on your immune system.
• Take a high quality source of animal-based omega 3 fats like Krill Oil.
• Exercise. Your immune system needs good circulation in order to perform at its best for you.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is the likely cause of seasonal flu viruses. Getting an optimal level of vitamin D will help you fight infections of all kinds.
  Get plenty of good quality sleep.
• Deal with stress effectively. If you feel overwhelmed by stress, your body will not have the reserves it needs to fight infection.
• Wash your hands. But not with an antibacterial soap. Use a pure, chemical-free soap.

[i] USAToday.com, Swine flu shots may go to kids first, Sebelius says, June 16, 2009

[ii] ABC.net.au, Health minister reassures parents over swine flu, July 2, 2009

[iii] Google News, AFP, Australia urges calm after child flu death, July 2, 2009

[iv] Meryl Nass, M.D., July 4, 2009

[v] Meryl Nass, M.D., July 3, 2009

[vi] Rense.com, Vaccines, Autism, and Gulf War Syndrome, August 15, 2005

[vii] The American Journal of Pathology, The Endogenous Adjuvant Squalene Can Induce a Chronic T-Cell-Mediated Arthritis in Rats, 2000

[viii] Vaccination Liberation, Adjuvant Index Page

[ix] Autoimmune Technologies, News Release: SQUALENE FOUND IN ANTHRAX VACCINE

[x] Autoimmune Technologies, Gulf War Syndrome: ANTI-SQUALENE ANTIBODIES LINK GULF WAR SYNDROME TO ANTHRAX VACCINE

[xi] ScienceDirect.com, Experimental and Molecular Pathology, Volume 68, Issue 1, February 2000, Pages 55-64

[xii] Adverse Effects of Adjuvants in Vaccines, by Viera Scheibner, Ph.D., 2000

8. Is it safe? U.S. vaccine experts want to build trust

Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:37pm EDT
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met to discuss a new vaccine against H1N1 swine flu last week, some of the biggest critics of vaccination were not only in the room, but at the table.

Likewise for a meeting on Wednesday of advisers who decide who will be first in line to get the vaccine, which drug companies are racing to make, test and distribute all within the space of a few weeks.

Registered nurse Vicky Debold, on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, which questions vaccine safety, is also a member of the FDA's Vaccine and Related Biological Advisory Committee. The group's founder, Barbara Loe Fisher, asked extensive questions at the meeting.

Lyn Redwood, president of SafeMinds, a group that advocates about potential links between mercury and neurological disorders, asked questions at a meeting on Wednesday of vaccine advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. federal government is more ready than it has ever been for questions, criticisms and fear of vaccines -- a state of preparedness more than 30 years in the making.

"We know that there are some people who are reluctant to vaccinate and they have heard information that concerns them," Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters late on Wednesday.

The concerns:

*Will a vaccine against a swine-like virus cause more adverse reactions than a seasonal flu vaccine?

*Will special additives called adjuvants cause reactions?

*Will the vaccines contain thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that critics say might cause problems?

*Is it dangerous to vaccinate against both seasonal flu and the new H1N1 flu at the same time?

QUICK SPREAD

H1N1 swine flu has swept around the world in weeks, infecting millions and killing more than 800 by official counts. While only a "moderate" pandemic by World Health Organization standards, it could worsen as temperatures cool in the Northern Hemisphere, making conditions better for viruses.

Five companies are making H1N1 vaccine for the U.S. market -- AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit, Australia's CSL Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Novartis AG and Sanofi-Aventis SA.

CSL has started trials of its vaccine in people and the U.S. National Institutes of Health starts trials next month. They will compare vaccines with and without adjuvants -- ingredients that boost the immune system response to a vaccine.

Adjuvants are used in flu vaccines in Europe but not the United States and although it would be possible to get a U.S. license under Emergency Use Authorization, officials have chosen to use vaccines without it for now.

Companies such as Glaxo say they will be ready to start vaccinating people in Europe just as the first data from those trials start emerging at the end of September. Some have questioned this speed.

The FDA's Dr. Hector Izurieta said the agency had set up an exceptionally extensive network for what is known as post-marketing surveillance.

"If something happens after vaccination, the vaccine will be accused," Izurieta told last week's meeting. "There will be many, many reports of things that could be, or not, associated with vaccination."

Vaccine regulators and public health experts are painfully aware of the last swine flu vaccination campaign. In 1976, the U.S. government rushed out a mass immunization against a swine flu virus that never spread off one military base.

Several hundred cases of a rare, paralyzing neurological disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome were reported afterward and although no clear link has ever been found to the vaccine, the incident made many people mistrustful of immunizations.

More recently, fears center on thimerosal, taken out of most vaccines after activists claimed it could cause autism -- a link discredited by many scientific studies but one that some vocal activists say is still valid.

Instead of fighting the perception, Schuchat said the CDC will roll with it. "There will be thimerosal-free formulations available for those people who are interested in that sort of preparation," she said.

9. Swine Flu Shot May Rely on Emergency Use of Additives

By Tom Randall and Gary Matsumoto, Bloomberg.com

July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu vaccine makers may rely on a U.S. emergency declaration to use experimental additives made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG to boost a limited supply of shots that will be available to fight the pandemic.

The ingredients, known as adjuvants, may be added for the first time to flu shots in the U.S. health officials today are meeting to discuss the additives at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and to recommend who should receive the limited amount of vaccines drugmakers say they will begin delivering in September or October.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department declared a public health emergency over swine flu in April, and the Food and Drug Administration has the power to allow the use of unapproved medical products during such a crisis. The U.S. has been slow to approve the use of adjuvants because of safety concerns, and for fear of giving Americans an excuse to avoid getting the shots, said John Treanor, a University of Rochester researcher.

“The question is, do you really feel comfortable throwing this new thing into the mix and do you really need to?” said Treanor, a professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at the school in Rochester, New York. “I myself, if I had to do it, would really wrestle with that decision.”

The CDC agreed to pay London-based Glaxo and Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland, more than $415 million for adjuvants that could be added to the swine flu vaccines, according to a July 13 statement.

Early Production

Adjuvants may not be necessary if enough shots can be produced without them, according to Health and Human Services. That possibility got a boost today from authorities at the CDC, who said 40 million shots of unadjuvanted vaccine may be available in September, earlier than previously reported, with 80 million more doses ready in October.

A safety concern was raised in 2004 when researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville reported that mice injected with oils used in the adjuvants developed conditions of the type that occur when the body’s immune system produces an excessive protective reaction. Similar reactions haven’t been seen in humans.

MF59, made by Novartis and sold in Europe, has been given to more than 40 million people, mostly adults, to prevent seasonal flu, according to the company. Glaxo’s adjuvant has proven safe and effective in clinical trials with 39,000 people, said Lisa Behrens, a spokeswoman for the company, in an e-mail. Glaxo will conduct more studies and continue to monitor safety after the vaccines are in use, she said.

Emergency Authorization

Under the U.S. health emergency, the FDA may authorize the use of unlicensed vaccines, according to Peper Long, an agency spokeswoman. The FDA convened an advisory committee July 23 to consider what trials are necessary for the vaccines’ approval. Advisory committees consist of medical experts who provide guidance to the agency.

Swine flu’s full force may reach the U.S. earlier than the typical flu season, according to the CDC. Vaccine makers are racing to make shots by mid-October, when cases are expected to rise in the northern hemisphere, fueled by cooler temperatures and the return of pupils to close quarters of classrooms.

The World Health Organization, based in Geneva, has said the H1N1 influenza, as the pandemic flu is known, is moving with “unprecedented speed.” The flu spread farther globally in less than six weeks than previous pandemics have in more than six months, the Geneva-based agency said on its Web site on July 17. Global health authorities have stopped counting the number of cases and the CDC says more than 1 million people Americans have been sickened by the virus.

Egg Yields

The vaccine makers have found it difficult to cultivate the quantities of virus needed for vaccine, as the strain yields 50 percent to 75 percent less antigen, the substance that induces immunity, compared with a typical seasonal flu strain, according to the WHO. The virus didn’t initially grow well in eggs, the principal medium used by the industry, vaccine makers said.

In the last week, scientists have been able to improve yields in eggs for the first time, which should ease pressure on manufacturers, Robin Robinson, chief of the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority, the U.S. agency in charge of buying the vaccine, said today. A decision on adjuvant use hasn’t been made, he said.

Mixing Oil, Water

The adjuvants are mixes of oil and water that -- by stimulating the immune system -- offer a way to boost the body’s response to antigen. Adjuvants, whose effectiveness vary by flu strain, may boost the strength of the antigen as much as 10- fold, as was the case with a bird flu vaccine approved in Europe, said Treanor, of the University of Rochester. By adding an adjuvant the same amount of antigen can be used to treat more people, he said.

“Until GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis can show me it won’t harm a rat or guinea pig, I think it’s a bad idea to give it to humans,” Vicky Debold, a registered nurse with a Ph.D. in public health, who is a member of the FDA’s advisory committee for reviewing vaccines, said July 27 in an interview.

The U.S. never had to consider the risks of an adjuvant because regular flu vaccines were deemed to have “worked so tremendously well,” said Lone Simonsen, research director in the department of global health at George Washington University in Washington.

“We have had a safe experience with the MF59-adjuvanted vaccine in Italy and Spain for many years now,” Simonsen said. “That experience we can lean on. That’s going to be the best data we have in time for using adjuvanted vaccines.”

U.S. Contracts

CSL Ltd., which has a $180 million order to supply bulk H1N1 antigen to the U.S. government, decided against boosting its vaccine with an adjuvant, preferring to use a formulation more closely resembling the seasonal flu shot, said Mary Sontrop general manager of the Melbourne-based company’s biotherapies unit.

The U.S. has contracts with five companies to provide flu shots. Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland, is responsible for 45 percent of the supply, while Sanofi will provide 26 percent and CSL will make 19 percent, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, in an interview last week.

The remaining doses will be made by Glaxo and London-based drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net; Gary Matsumoto in New York at gmatsumoto@bloomberg.net.

10. Medical journal urges caution over swine flu vaccine

RONAN McGREEVY, IrishTimes.com

COUNTRIES NEED to assess carefully the risks and benefits of the rapid approval of a human swine flu vaccine to avoid the repeat of past problems with mass-vaccination, medical journal The Lancet has said.

The publication said the fast- tracking of vaccines could lead to a repeat of the problems surrounding a 1976 H1N1 vaccination programme in the United States.

Three elderly people died on the day the vaccine was introduced in October 1976, causing panic and the eventual abandonment of the vaccine programme. The Lancet said the vaccine might be licensed without the usual safety and efficacy data requirements and all monitoring will have to be done after the vaccine has been administered.

It also pointed out that the disease has so far been mild with most patients making a full recovery and therefore there should be strong post-marketing surveillance in place before the rolling out of a vaccine.

The vaccines, which are still being developed, are likely to be available in Ireland by October and everybody will be in a position to get them.

The chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said they would not be recommending the vaccine to any group unless the balance of risk is in favour of them being vaccinated. Six of the seven foreign students staying on the UCD campus who are suspected of having human swine flu have been released from quarantine.

The other student is being assessed by a GP and has been prescribed paracetamol rather than tamiflu which is usually only given to those who have contracted swine flu. Ten students, who are from Italy and Spain, were also monitored by GPs. They have all been cleared while another student who presented yesterday with flu-like symptoms is being assessed. A spokesman for UCD said the university, the biggest in the country, has a comprehensive plan to prepare for the potential threat which will occur when students and staff return to the college in September.

11. Children, Health Care Workers To Be Vaccinated First

By: NY1 News

Children, pregnant women, and health care workers are at the top of the city's list to be vaccinated against the H1N1/swine flu virus this fall.
Health Department Commissioner Doctor Thomas Farley says the city should have enough of the vaccine when it becomes available, which it is expected to be by mid-October.

Farley also says he would like schools to be used as vaccination sites.

That idea was raised by Education Secretary Arne Duncan last week, when the Centers for Disease Control issued a new set of H1N1 guidelines for schools.

According to the DOH, 47 people in the city died from the virus after the outbreak began in April.

12. H1N1 Video Coverage on CBS News

H1N1 Vaccine and Safety

July 30, 2009 4:31 PM

The preservative Thimerosal was taken out of childhood vaccines because of a fear of causing autism. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius responds to parents' concerns about its use in test batches of the H1N1 vaccine. Watch video

Unplugged: H1N1 Vaccine Dangers

August 12, 2009 11:00 AM
Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton and NVIC's Barbara Loe Fisher discuss the possible dangers with the H1N1 vaccine. Plus, 'Unplugged Under 40' profiles chef and restaurateur Spike Mendelsohn. Watch video

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