AGE OF AUTISM

HOW I GOT INTERESTED IN AUTISM: THE SAME SAD REFRAIN

By Dan Olmsted

Sooner or later many people ask me why I'm interested in the autism epidemic, and the short answer is the same one David Kirby gives -- it's a great story. The longer answer has to do with a memorial gathering I'm attending tonight for a woman who jumped to her death from the observation tower of a national park.

This was a vibrant woman from Maryland who had gone to South Africa to coach athletes. She took two -- count 'em, two -- malaria pills recommended by the CDC and went completely psychotic.

THE CDC RESPONDS: LISTENING TO DR. WHARTON

By Anne Dachel, Media Editor

Late Tuesday night a news story came out on the Internet from WXIA TV in Atlanta called  Autism Controversy: The CDC Responds.  Just the title was intriguing since I've heard from a number of reporters that officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention don't do on camera interviews about the vaccine-autism controversy.  They usually just refer members of the press to the CDC website for answers.  There reporters are resoundingly told that exhaustive studies show no link between the vaccines our children receive and autism.

(From Kim: Hey! How about a contest! Write a caption for this photo in CDC style. In the movie, Dr. Evil is saying, "La-ser" in a manner that connotes "big fat lie."  So have at it!)

MICHELE GILLEN, CBS4: TO VACCINATE OR NOT?

The purpose of the media is to ask hard questions, whether politically and fiscally expedient or not. Michele Gillen, from CBS4 in Florida does a terrific job HERE.  You can send Michele an email HERE.  Thank you, Michele.

Here's a taste:

"When asked if the decision to vaccinate or not could put a child in danger, (Dr.) Ryndland responded, "Absolutely. The vaccines sometimes are the straw that breaks the camel's back. The question is if the immune system is overloaded with too many vaccines over too short a period of time, or sometimes, in some cases where children are very susceptible, even one vaccine might cause a problem."

Rydland says there are many theories of why the mercury based preservative thimerisol captured headlines and was, according to the CDC, removed at their request from most childhood vaccines. Ryndland says it might not be the mercury but injections of multiple viruses into young children who may have compromised immune systems that could present a possible risk of triggering a variety of neurological problems."

THE ATLANTA MANIFESTO PART 3

By Mark Blaxill and Barbara Loe Fisher

Editor's Note: Today's third installment in our serialization of this important White Paper on children's health and vaccine safety is titled  "FROM EXPANSION OF VACCINE INTERVENTIONS TO A COMMITMENT TO A TOTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVE." Mark Blaxill,  Age of Autism's Editor at Large, and Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center were invited to be on a CDC Blue Ribbon Panel in 2004 to consider the issue. Dissatisfied with the official report's conclusions, they wrote their own detailed response, which has never before been published. Age of Autism is running the entire document in eight parts through the end of the year; earlier installments can be found under Mark's name on our Home Page. Given the debate over the ever-increasing number of mandatory vaccinations and their possible link to autism and other health problems, the series is especially timely today.
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The Blue Ribbon Panel was convened to consider a proposal to separate vaccine risk management from risk assessment [at the CDC]. We concur with the spirit of this proposal and believe that independence in vaccine safety assessment is overdue. The National Immunization Program has long confused vaccine safety with vaccine promotion. But we also see a deeper force driving the problems with vaccine safety, a force that goes beyond simple questions of organization and governance. The longstanding commitment of our public health leadership to expansion of the mandatory vaccination programs places pressure on the watchdogs of safety to make vaccine risk assessment friendly not just for current programs, but also for new vaccines. Dr. Robert Chen, the official most responsible for vaccine safety over the last decade has openly confessed to this bias in print.

"Given the current increasingly "anti-vaccine" milieu, it is hard to imagine that the full potential of new vaccines will be harnessed. To avoid this impending tragedy, we need to critically examine the factors influencing this change in public sentiments."

- Dr. Robert Chen, Vaccine Safety and Development Branch, National Immunization   Program, CDC, "Vaccine Risks: real, perceived and unknown", Vaccine, 1999.

DRUG COMPANY TRIAL RESULTS? MMM, TASTY!

By Kim Stagliano

Reuters reports that drug company sponsorship of randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses results in data skewed in their own favor.

Gosh, I hope you didn't bump your head when you fell over in disbelief! In other breaking, yet unrelated news, bear excrement was found in the woods.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Studies have shown that randomized controlled trials funded by drug companies are more likely to generate results and conclusions that favor the sponsor's drug. New research suggests that this is also the case for meta-analyses.

(5 points from Kim if you can tell me in the comments why I ran that photo....)

FIRING BACK AT MICHAEL FUMENTO

By Anne Dachel, Media Editor

Sometimes when people report in the news that there isn't an increase in autism, that all the children called autistic overwhelming our schools have always been here, I know it's because that's the official explanation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   And when these reporters tell us that the cause of autism is still unknown, but studies show that there's no link to the vaccines children received, I realize that's also the information that's out there from federal health authorities.  It's a complex subject and a reporter taking a brief look into autism goes to the CDC for answers because they get billions of dollars to run health care in the U.S.

Michael Fumento doesn't have this excuse. Looking through his writing over the last several years, it's obvious he's familiar with those who are sounding an alarm over the autism epidemic and who believe that vaccines are the cause.  To Fumento, scientists like Dr. Mark Geier and his son David, along with Dr. Boyd Haley of the University of Kentucky are "anti-vaccinationists."  Others who are writing on the subject like Robert Kennedy Jr., Jenny McCarthy, and David Kirby are also grouped together under the heading "vaccine conspirators."

Why Age of Autism Exists -- Exhibit A: Merck and Reuters

By Dan Olmsted

If you want to know why those concerned about autism deserve an alternative to the mainstream media, look no further than the announcement today that the CEO of Reuters Group PLC, Thomas Glocer, has joined the board of Merck. Many of us who believe autism is an environmental illness -- and vaccines likely play an unacknowledged role -- have long commented on the seeming sheepishness of Big Media. When you look at the amount of pharma advertising propping up the newsweeklies and the evening news, and notice how credulous their coverage of this issue is, it's hard not to suspect the worst.

Now we KNOW the worst. Reuters is best known as a financial news service, but it covers a wide range of topics, including health. According to the company, Reuters is "the largest provider of medical and healthcare news in the world." Merck, of course, is one of the largest providers of prescription drugs in the world -- some of them quite controversial. A settlement over Vioxx recently cost the company several billion dollars.

BOTTOM LINE FUELS YOUR CHILD'S HEALTHCARE

By Kim Stagliano

Our Media Editor Anne Dachel circulated this article from DrugResearcher.com (HERE) that talks about how QUADRUPLING the number of new vaccines for children will "boost" the bottom lines of drug companies.  If you think your child's health comes before Pharma profit you might need a vaccine for naivete.

The report is from the UK. Can you imagine the free for all here in America where health care is begrudgingly doled out even to the financially stable like the last five jelly beans on Easter Monday?  The hunger to vaccinate our kids in order to "meet the numbers" will go from the pharmaceutical companies, to the physicians and the government, then the schools and finally the legal system faster than you can rush to the commode with a stomach bug. 

IT'S HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP

Day Thirteen of the Autism Omnibus Proceeding – Hazlehurst v. the Secretary of Health and Human Services

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

A few years back there was a song called “It’s Hard out here for a Pimp” which was nominated for an Academy Award.  As I read through the first of four days in the second test case for the Autism Omnibus Proceeding, Hazlehurst v. the Secretary of Health and Human Services, all I could think was that there must be some days when it’s equally hard to be a government attorney defending the current vaccination program. 

C'mon, Dr. Gupta!

By Dan Olmsted

Dr. Sanjay Gupta seems like a good guy to me -- CNN's handsome doctor
in residence does a fine job of explaining medical matters to the
masses. But there must be something about autism that turns even the
best mainstream experts into fuzzy thinkers.

HILLARY CLINTON MAKES PROMISES TO AUTISM COMMUNITY

So autism is finally on the Presidential politics radar screen...  Read Hillary Clinton's campaign pledge for autism in The New York Times. 

''Driven by their love and devotion, mothers and fathers across the country have raised awareness, demanded funding, and opened our eyes to the needs of so many children,'' she told a crowd of hundreds gathered at the Jesse E. Marshall Boys Club of Sioux City. ''It's up to us to reclaim the future for our children, and ensure that every child can live up to his or her God-given potential.''

(She also talks about insurance "premiums" and autism. Hasn't anyone told her most of us HAVE insurance. It simply excludes autism treatments altogether?)

If Clinton talks seriously about funding true environmental research, we'll pay close attention. But pledging millions of dollars for government funded studies on anything but the most intimate environment possible (the bloodstream) doesn't make us wave our little flags and run to the voting booth.  The government and largest autism organizations have shown no inclination to really look into the causes of autism to date. Many of us don't trust their study outcomes, which can be manipulated to express the desired results. And funding often means researchers and pharma companies rake in the money while our kids get absolutely nothing.

We're not convinced by you yet, Hillary. But we're listening. And watching.

BERNIE RIMLAND: THE MAN WHO ICED THE REFRIGERATOR MOM THEORY

By Kim Stagliano

Bernard Rimland, founder of the Autism Society of America and The Autism Research Institute passed away one year ago on November 21st. Dr. Rimland is the person you have to thank for putting the "refrigerator mother" theory of autism to rest.

Thank you, Dr. Rimland. And thank you to Stan Kurtz, Executive Director of the Children's Corner School and father of a recovered son for the video.

CLICK HERE for the video. Dr. Rimland dispels the fridge theory in the first 4 minutes of the 29 minute tribute.

FEVER DREAM

by Cathy Jameson

I’ve often heard that children on the spectrum who come down with a fever actually act more “normal” than when there is no fever. Normal to me means someone who is happy, cooperative, responsive, and basically doing what they used to do before they succumbed to their autistic traits.  I have wondered if I would ever witness this behavior in my own son.  Happily, I got to see Ronan normal again.  It was a treasure to behold.  I had my kid back if only briefly.

TAKE ME AWAY!

By Sargent L. Goodchild, Jr.

The kids have gone to bed and now it is time to get some things done around the house.  There is laundry that needs to be folded, dishes to be cleaned, GFCF lunches to prepare, and you have a deadline to meet for work.  The little stressors in life are mounting up and you feel as though you cannot hold it all together for much longer.  More than anything you wish that ad you remember from years ago was true and you could simply have Calgon take you away.  You realize that you need to manage your stress, but how?  You don’t have the time, money or inclination to join a gym and having a martini and settling down in front of the television doesn’t seem like a regular routine that would make anyone truly happy.  You talked to your medical doctor and he suggested something for anxiety, but how different is that from a martini anyway?

Now imagine that you have the ability to restore and rejuvenate yourself from an entire day of stress in 22 minutes.

WE GIVE THANKS

We received a lovely email from a parent who wanted to thank many people for their dedication to treating children with autism. That gave us an idea. We're opening up the comments section of this post to stories of gratitude. 

You can read the first story below. Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

THE ATLANTA MANIFESTO PART 2

Editor's Note: This is the second of eight installments by Mark Blaxill, Age of Autism's Editor at Large, and Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center, who were invited in 2004 to participate in a Blue Ribbon Panel at the CDC on vaccine safety. (Part 1 can be found under Mark's name on our home page.) In light of recent events -- including the threat to jail parents in Maryland who do not get their kids vaccinated -- their alternative vision seems especially timely. This segment is titled: From Waging a War on Disease to Securing Childhood Health:

For those who join high level discussions of vaccine policy for the first time, it is quite surprising to see many CDC officials wearing uniforms. By embracing a military identity, these officials emphasize their unique prerogatives.   That they possess the authority: to deploy the coercive powers of the state as they see fit; to deprive citizens of their liberty in the name of the greater good; and to enforce what they consider to be necessary human sacrifices as they do battle with dangerous microbes and viruses. The language of conflict —  the "war on disease," "combating the causes of epidemic," "fighting emerging infections" — is closely connected to the language of military power and, of course, "Disease Control." History teaches us that when government officials are determined to fight a war, any war, truth can be the first casualty.

THE WEEK THAT WAS: FIRST SKIRMISH IN THE FORCED-VACCINATION WAR

By Anne Dachel, Media Editor

The events of the past week put vaccines in the spotlight.  It seemed the line was being drawn and the sides are clearly shown. 

The New York Times piece, Study Indicates Benefit of Vaccines on Tuesday, gave us the results of another new CDC vaccine study.  We were told, "The agency has never before searched historical records going back to 1900 to compile estimates of cases, hospitalizations and deaths for all the diseases that children are routinely vaccinated against."   

The article couldn't say enough good things about the success of the vaccine program: "Death rates for 13 diseases that can be prevented by childhood vaccination s are at all-time lows in the United States, according to a study released yesterday."

WHEN SMART SCIENTISTS MAKE STUPID MISTAKES

By Mark Blaxill, Editor-at-Large

In the Orwellian language of industry-funded research, the world has only two kinds of science: "sound science" and "junk science." So whenever you hear someone attack a piece of work as "junk science" it's time to put your bullshit filters on. Like a political campaign, financially-involved partisans in a scientific controversy have learned that negative campaigning is an effective tactic.

Instead of dealing with facts, analysis and data, the tried and true partisan approach is to launch an ad hominem attack on the character, motivations, the sanity or even the home décor of the targeted analyst. Facts and data are awfully boring after all and most journalists have been conditioned not to actually read the science they cover. Instead, they kowtow to "experts" who filter research for them. And if a fancy-sounding expert denounces troubling work as "junk" or is willing to don his white coat and intone for the camera that "science has spoken" on a controversial topic, well then that's how it is, right?

THE HARVARD GANG

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

“You can always tell a Harvard guy,” my dad would say, beginning one of the innumerable jokes he told during my youth.

“How?” my brother and I would respond, knowing we were being set up.

“Because he has to tell you he went to Harvard within the first five minutes you meet him,” came the answer.

If earlier generations of the crimson and black were known for trumpeting their credentials, I have to admit that the current crop now impresses me with their research into solving some of the mysteries of autism. 

Dr. Martha Herbert of Harvard Medical School first caught my attention back in 2005 with her article, “Large Brains in Autism: The Challenge of Pervasive Abnormality.”  Dr. Herbert was investigating the most replicated finding in autism neuroanatomy, namely that autistics seem to have unusually large brains.  In her review of autism research, she noted that the picture which was emerging suggested inflammation as a reason for the large brains observed in autistic children.

UN WANTS MERCURY OUT. EXCEPT WHEN IT WANTS IT IN.

By Dan Olmsted

Could anything be more self-evidently nutty than the fact that a UN panel is calling for the urgent phase-out of mercury usage around the globe -- even as the UN's World Health Organization is injecting its most toxic formulation into hundreds of millions of kids? THIS STORY from AFP, "UN demands deal to phase-out use of mercury," begins: "The United Nations Monday urged governments to reach a deal on phasing-out the use of mercury, a toxic pollutant harmful to human health and the environment."

But, er, what about the rising use of deadly ethyl mercury (known in polite circles as thimerosal) in vaccines given to kids in developing countries under the auspices of WHO?

US AUTISM AND ASPERGER ASSOC. NAMES NEW CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER

Salt Lake City, UT – US Autism and Asperger Association (USAAA), one of the largest voluntary autism and Asperger organizations in the United States and a world leader in providing education for interventional treatment options, today announced the appointment of Phillip C. DeMio, M.D. as Chief Medical Officer.

This position is the Association's most senior clinical advisor, providing management oversight of the organization's research, surveillance, epidemiology and international programs. The Chief Medical Officer frequently serves as chief spokesperson regarding medical and scientific policy issues for this global nonprofit association.

HANDS OFF OUR KIDS

By Anne McElroy Dachel

The American Association of Physicians and Surgeons has put out an alert to their members about the tactics being used to force parents to vaccinate their children in MD.  In the principles of this medical organization it states, "A physician's first professional obligation is to his patient, then to his profession"  and the AAPS is living up to their claim.

The AAPS announced, "IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED TODAY FROM HANDS OFF OUR KIDS COALITION Stop Imprisonment of more than 1600 Maryland parents In vaccine roundup."

Jenny McCarthy Bares All in CDC Call!

By Kim Stagliano

I knew that headline would encourage you to read the article....

The beautiful, funny, autism Mom/best selling author/actress named Jenny McCarthy called the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) LIVE during her presentation at the National Autism Association Conference last weekend in Atlanta.

Age of Autism has the five minute phone call on videotape! CLICK HERE! 

You'll need the free Apple Quicktime software to watch the clip.The clip takes a few seconds to download and the audio synch is a bit off, but you'll get the jist of her call. 

Jenny is NOT letting the CDC off the hook when it comes to vaccines and the autism epidemic.  She has the brains, the beauty and a platform that's even higher than her heels to get her message out. 

A couple of weeks ago, an autism Mom sort of rolled her eyes when I mentioned Jenny's book Louder Than Words and asked me, "Do you think she's the real deal?" Yes I do. She spent three days at the conference, meeting parents, signing books and DVD's and made time for the many kids with autism who were there with their parents.

You know, another big name in autism likes to say, "Autism knocked on the wrong door." But Jenny McCarthy has put her MOUTH where her money is. (And what a mouth it is!) My money (what little is left after caring for my three children with autism) is on Jenny McCarthy.

Go, Jenny, go! And thank you, "Sweetie."

CLICK HERE for weekly updates on Jenny's media tour. You'll want to meet her when she's in your area.

(Thank you to the folks at Life is My Movie Entertainment Company for creating the file for Age of Autism.)

Is Autism an Infection?

By J.B. Handley

During Jenny McCarthy’s historic interview with Larry King, she said something that has stayed with me ever since. Here’s the excerpt:

LARRY KING: What is autism?.

JENNY MCCARTHY: Wow! Well, it differs for a lot of people. But -- or opinions. But I believe that's -- it's an infection and/or toxins and/or funguses on top of vaccines that push children into this neurological downslide which we call autism.

Can someone rewind that? Autism is an infection? What the hell does that mean? Even for a parent like me, deeply steeped in the biomedical approach to autism recovery, this was a paradigm-shifting comment.

Olmsted on Autism: Who Belongs in Jail?

By Dan Olmsted

A few days ago someone handed me a thick binder titled "Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." Stamped on the cover is "Background Materials. Confidential. For Internal Use Only. Do Not Distribute."

Oh well, too late now. The content is not especially Double Super Secret-worthy, despite all the warnings. It's made up of material for members of ACIP to read before their October meeting. ACIP makes vaccine recommendations that filter down to states and then to school districts -- like Prince George's County, Md., which is threatening to jail parents who don't comply.

Schools Policing Vaccination Rates

By Kim Stagliano

Here's my take on the Prince George's County situation.

If you think reproductive healthcare is a hot topic, check out THIS STORY on a court in Prince George's County, Maryland calling in parents of children whose vaccination records are incomplete and who do not have exemption paperwork.

No matter what your opinion on the safety of our national vaccine program, do you want your school district or a judge telling you which medical decisions you must make for your child? 

The school district sent these parents to court. It's rather ironic that the schools, who are so often out of compliance on our children's IEP's and the basic tenets of IDEA, are sending parents to court for being out of compliance on their vaccine policy.

Where is the ACLU? What about Parents' Rights?

  By Anne McElroy Dachel

It truly caught me by surprise yesterday to read this Fox News story and watch the video on FOX 5 News in Washington DC.  The story was titled, "Parents Of Teens Lacking Immunization Called To Court."


The public heard about parents who were getting the required vaccines for their children to attend school.  We were told that officials had done everything to try to get them to have their children immunized; now a judge was ordering them to court where they would have to have their kids vaccinated or face jail time and a fine.

NYT HEARTS CDC

By Dan Olmsted

The New York Times reports today that "Death rates in 13 diseases that can be prevented by childhood vaccinations are at all-time lows in the United States, according to a study released yesterday." The study is from the CDC, whose pronouncements the NYT treats with a reverence usually reserved for utterances from Mount Olympus. Sure, the agency is entitled to trumpet that information -- although the fact that many of these diseases were in precipitous decline due to better hygiene before vaccines were used might have provided useful context.

But must the Times continue to show its bias at every opportunity?

MMR, Chicken Pox, Febrile Seizures, and Weighing the Potential Risks and Benefits of Vaccines

By Twyla Ramos

Seven years ago, my youngest daughter had a febrile seizure, at the age of 15 months.  She had come down with a bit of a cough, and then suddenly her fever rose, and then she began convulsing.  Nobody in our extended family had ever had a seizure.  She had never had such a high fever before, and our first two children had never had such high fevers.  It was quite scary.  We took her to the emergency room.  She was groggy and out of it for quite a while, and still feverish.  For a couple of weeks her fever kept rising, and she had a deep cough which was diagnosed as “croup”.  We were told that croup is caused by a viral infection that irritates the lungs. 

She had just had a “well baby” visit with our pediatrician a few days before the seizure.  When we went back for a follow up appointment after the seizure, I asked our pediatrician jokingly, “What did you do to our baby, anyway?”  Concern flashed across his face, but he smiled when he saw that I was just kidding.

Vioxx and vaccines

By Anne Dachel
Media Editor

Last Friday it was announced that Merck Pharmaceutical Company would pay $4.85 billion to settle the 60,000 personal injury lawsuits involving Vioxx.There were reportedly more than 27,000 stroke and heart attack deaths in the U.S. resulting from the arthritis medicine. This news may not seem to have a connection to the autism epidemic, but I could instantly relate it to the controversy linking vaccines to autism.

The Associated Press Story "Merck settles Vioxx lawsuits" that I read left me with a question: How could something that brought pain relief to millions of people around the world have had such disastrous side effects? What went wrong? The fact that so many people died or were injured makes us wonder about things like FDA oversight and the ethics of the pharmaceutical industry.

The Merck disaster does relate to the controversy over vaccines and autism. Vaccines are universally praised as lifesaving. Many feel they're the greatest medical achievement in history -- truly the sacred cow of health care. Anyone claiming that vaccines are also doing damage comes under immediate attack. Those of us who call vaccines into question find ourselves up against the medical community and the federal health agencies.

Why We Believe

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

In 1942 Academy Award-winning film director Frank Capra (It’s a Wonderful Life, The Philadelphia Story) began a series of seven documentary films entitled, “Why We Fight” to explain the reason the United States was involved in the Second World War.

As we celebrate Veteran’s Day 2007, I thought I’d honor a similar “good fight”; the one being waged against autism by reviewing the reasons and the research so many parents believe autism and other neurological disorders are caused by a medical system run amuck.

1)  That there is an autism epidemic - Because the numbers from the United States Department of Education show a staggering increase!  In the 1992-1993 school year the Department of Education listed 12, 222 children with autism between the ages of 6-21 years old.  In 2007 that number had skyrocketed to 224, 415, an eighteen-fold increase!

Live from the National Autism Association Conference

Today is the final day of the National Autism Association conference in Atlanta, GA. Jenny McCarthy spent two days here filming footage for her Louder Than Words documentary film. She's like a gorgeous version of Rodney Dangerfield.  As funny as can be and asking, "What do families of kids with autism gotta do to get a little respect?"

More later this week on a "conference call" she created during her talk to a certain large government heath agency nearby.  We think you'll like it.

The Atlanta Manifesto: Safety Last to Children First, Part 1

By Mark Blaxill and Barbara Loe Fisher

Safe Minds and the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) are pleased to have an opportunity to present a case for change in our nation's public health strategy. We are grateful to Dr. Julie Gerberding and her staff for reaching out for a range of views on this subject. As parents and citizens, we have joined this discussion feeling the weight of great responsibility on our shoulders, because we see an urgent need for change in public health policy and practice. The health of the children of our country is deteriorating. Yet rather than facing this reality, our public health leadership has turned away from the challenge in order to defend entrenched practices and controversial policies, some of which may have contributed to these adverse trends. Accordingly, we want to make a strong and clear statement: the public health agenda in our country requires comprehensive reform.

“Congratulations! You’ve Been Named to a Blue Ribbon Panel.”

By Mark Blaxill

On one of those rare days that my wife and I were actually sitting down at our dinner table for a normal dinner, the phone rang. It was a Wednesday night and Elise answered the phone. She got one of those expressions on her face that meant, “This is not your average call.” Her voice turned animated and friendly as she seemed to respond to charm with even more charm. As she turned to hand me the phone, her eyebrows rose.

“It’s for you dear. It’s the CDC.”

I soon found myself speaking to a charming young woman, an aide to CDC Director Julie Gerberding, whose name I can’t remember. She was calling to invite me to serve on a “Blue Ribbon Panel on Vaccine Safety” as a “consumer representative.” I would be joining high-ranking representatives from the CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, various universities and other federal agencies. Dr. Louis Cooper, past President of the American Academy of Pediatrics would be the chairman. I had had a hint that something like this might be in the works, having spent some time in Washington DC in the previous few months. One of our friends in Congress had mentioned that he hoped to secure an invitation for a SafeMinds representative to a vaccine safety meeting and I had raised my hand. “I’d be delighted to attend”, I said to Gerberding’s aide. “When does the meeting start?”

“Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. It’s in Atlanta.”

Barbara Loe Fisher and The Blue Ribbon Panel

By Barbara Loe Fisher

When I received my invitation in the summer of 2004 to participate in a Blue Ribbon Panel on Vaccine Safety, I was curious to see who else would be participating. When I saw that Lou Cooper would be the moderator, I knew we would need to dust off our radar to distinguish between what appeared to be happening and what was really happening because Lou is both a gentleman and a magician. He and I first squared off in a debate on the Regis Philbin Show in 1986 when Kathie Lee was still engaged to Frank Gifford and Lou was still insisting that DPT vaccine was really, really, really safe.

But the invitation to the Blue Ribbon Panel meeting also came at a time when I was re-evaluating the 20 years I had worked with public health officials and other "vaccine stakeholders" in collaborative efforts. The latest two year effort was floundering badly despite its promising beginning. I found myself wondering if there was any use flying to Atlanta for another one but I wanted to go because Mark Blaxill was going to be there.

When parents of DPT vaccine injured children organized in the early 1980's under the banner of Dissatisfied Parents Together (DPT) one of the first actions that Merck, Lederle, Wyeth and Lederle took was to threaten to leave the nation without any DPT, MMR or polio vaccine unless they got total liability protection from Congress. The drug companies and the American Academy of Pediatrics pushed very hard for an "exclusive remedy" – no more lawsuits against negligent doctors or drug companies for any reason. They said it was necessary "to protect the vaccine supply." Congress believed them and pledged to pass a federal vaccine injury compensation program to do just that.

Olmsted on Autism: I'm not vaclempt!

By Dan Olmsted

If there is one word I'd like to see banished forever from the dictionary of autism cliches, it would be "emotional." You know what I mean -- "Lawsuits and emotion vs. science and childhood vaccines," trumpets a piece in the Wall Street Journal; "confronting the contentious and highly emotional issue of whether early childhood vaccinations might have caused autism in thousands of children," as The New York Times described the recent vaccine court hearing; "officials from federal health agencies and medical societies tried to calm the fears around this emotional issue," said NBC's Robert Bazell.

Anne McElroy Dachel Questions Mike Stobbe

By Anne McElroy Dachel

The story that autism hasn't increased, that the skyrocketing number of children with the disorder are nothing new is getting coverage everywhere in the media.

AP writer Mike Stobbe assures us that "many experts believe these unsociable behaviors were just about as common 30 or 40 years ago. The recent explosion of cases appears to be mostly caused by a surge in special education services for autistic children and by a corresponding shift in what doctors call autism."

I would like to ask Mike Stobbe this question: "If these kids with autism have always been here, but mislabeled as something else, then what did we do with them?"

As a parent and a teacher, I can tell you that it's very hard to miss an autistic child, even a mildly affected one.  We would have had to provide help for their special needs, even if they weren't labeled "autistic."   Why are our schools overwhelmed with so many children with special needs who weren't here twenty years ago?

There IS an Autism Epidemic

I wrote this piece for the general audience at Huffington Post in response to the media claims that there is no autism epidemic. Just better diagnosis. And smarter doctors. I disagree. My three girls with autism disagree.

Please comment at the Huffington Post site.

Thank you.

Kim Stagliano

Vaccines Demonized??? Parents Just Want The Truth!

By: Angela Warner

When I read the Commentary titled “Vaccines and Autism”, by Ari Brown in the October 27, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal, just a short time ago; I came close to blowing my stack!

I should have known… The first two sentences of Ari’s commentary are a feeble attempt to position the medical establishment in the role of the martyr.

Jenny McCarthy has NOT said vaccines are evil. Nor has any other site I’ve been on in the past three years that discusses disease, and the pros and cons of vaccination.

The Lost Sheep

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

“If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?”  Matthew 18:12 – World English Bible

You might think since I write on autism and share the most current research freely with friends and family that the people around me would understand the reasons and the efforts my wife and I are making on behalf of our daughter.

You would be wrong.

A Letter from the Editor

Welcome to Age of Autism, the nation's first daily Web newspaper for the environmental-biomedical community – those who believe the autism epidemic is a health crisis that requires urgent action; that autism is an environmentally induced illness, that it is treatable, and that children can recover.

Slow, Steady Progress as Parents Question Vaccines' Safety

Looks like parents are starting to make a difference in how the media treats the American sacred cow of the AAP vaccine schedule.  The Pittsburgh Tribune Review's Mike Cronin has done an excellent job raising the question, "Is the current vaccine schedule safe."

Here's a snippet: "Fever and rashes afflicted Gina, now 9, each time she received a vaccination, her mother said. But when Gina became reclusive and introverted after five vaccinations in one day when she was about 15 months old, Neil wondered if those treatments were causing her daughter's health problems."

You can read the entire article HERE.

The progress has been at a snail's pace for many years. But we see a change. A willingness to question the drug companies and the doctors who act as their final sales force. The snail's pace is picking up. Is that a cheetah I see on the horizon?