Protest Federal Autism Committee’s Deceitful Reversal on Vaccine-Autism Research

Autism Action Alert: Click HERE to send your letter!

The inexcusable actions of the Federal members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) in retracting vaccine-autism studies must be stopped. Sound science must move forward, not thwarted by Federal agencies with vested interests in on-going vaccine-autism injury litigation.

The autism advocacy organizations listed below implore parents of children with autism - and all those who care about the burgeoning rate of autism and its toll on the health of our children - to take immediate action.

We are asking you to write a letter of disapproval to key government decision-makers on autism. Your letter will be sent to President Obama, your Senators and Representatives,  HHS Secretary Tom Daschle, the Senate HELP Committee, Senators Christopher Dodd, Joe Lieberman, and Edward Kennedy, and Congressmen Chris Smith and Joe Barton.

Your letters are needed NOW.  The next IACC meeting is Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - less than two weeks away!

Autism Action Alert: Click HERE to send your letter!

Here is what happened. Click  (SafeMinds Press)  and here (Age of Autism report) for more details.
 
In a highly unusual departure from procedure, government representatives to the IACC voted on January 14th against conducting studies on vaccine-autism research despite approval of the same studies at their prior meeting on December 12, 2008.  The research was supported by numerous autism organizations and requested by IACC’s scientific work groups and Congress.  The maneuver to re-vote was initiated by the IACC’s representative from the CDC and pushed through by the IACC Chair, Dr. Tom Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health of NIH. Review of the studies was not listed on the committee’s official agenda, in violation of normal committee practice.

Unlike most Federal advisory committees, the IACC is dominated by government representatives occupying 12 of the 18 seats.  Dr. Insel admitted at the meeting that HHS agencies (which includes NIH and CDC) have a conflict of interest in conducting vaccine-autism research due to “Vaccine Court” litigation in which HHS is the defendant.  Of the 6 non-government (public) members, 5 voted to retain the vaccine research at the January meeting.  The lone dissenting public member resigned from her organization, Autism Speaks, the night before the meeting.  Autism Speaks has issued a statement denouncing her vote.

The Federal members of the IACC must know that the autism community objects to their manipulation of committee procedures to block unbiased research on the possible link between vaccines and autism.

They must hear that parents demand reinstatement by the IACC of the vaccine studies that were already part of the IACC’s Autism Research Strategic Plan, and to restore the funding already allocated to this research.

They must acknowledge the inherent conflict of interest of the NIH/CDC in conducting research on vaccine safety. Research initiatives MUST be coordinated by an independent committee that includes equal numbers of representatives from the autism-vaccine injured community and conducted by independent and non-biased entities.

We also urge parents to attend the February 4th IACC meeting in Washington DC if they are able to. Click here for the IACC website http://iacc.hhs.gov/events/ to register.  We encourage you to sign up to make a public comment at the meeting.

Autism Action Alert: Click HERE to send your letter!

Autism Action Network (AAN)
Autism One
Autism Research Institute
Generation Rescue
National Autism Association (NAA)
SafeMinds
Schafer Report
Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)
U.S. Autism & Asperger Association
Unlocking Autism
 

Comments

[Kathy Blanco]

All should assume this again is one of those scare tactic studies, that suggests, that vaccines HAVE NOTHING to do with brain inflammation, the NUMBER ONE SYMPTOM IN AUTISM FOLKS....plueez. Not the language, simply a coincidence. PLUEEZ again....

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Unlike chickenpox itself, the vaccine against chickenpox does not increase the risk of stroke or brain inflammation in children, according to a large US study reported in the journal Pediatrics.

Stroke is a known complication of chickenpox, a viral disease also called varicella, the study team points out. Although there have been case reports of stroke after varicella vaccination, "the existence and magnitude of any vaccine-associated risk has not been determined."

To shed light on this subject, Dr. James G. Donahue of the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Wisconsin and colleagues analyzed data for the period 1991 through 2004 from the Vaccine Safety DataLink on 3.2 million children, 35.3 percent of whom received the varicella vaccine.

They identified a total of 203 new stroke cases, including 8 that occurred within 12 months of varicella vaccination. However, the timing of each case did not suggest that vaccination caused the strokes.

Stroke was strongly associated with known risk factors such as sickle cell disease and heart disease, they found.

Donahue and colleagues also identified 243 cases of brain inflammation or encephalitis. None of these cases occurred during the first 30 days after vaccination and there was no association between encephalitis and varicella vaccination at any time in the 12 months after vaccination.

"Complementing two recent reviews that found serious adverse events to be rare after varicella vaccination, this study offers reassurance that the rare complication of stroke seen after varicella infection" is simply a coincidence, not a cause and effect relationship, the team concludes.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, February 2009.

[Pamela]

Done and sent to 25 family and friends.

[Terri Lewis]

Done.

[Kub Marshman]

Done

[meg]

Done!

[Twyla]

Done.

[CamJam]

Signed and added a bit of my 2 cents at the end before I sent it off.

And Kathy! I LOVE WHAT YOU WROTE! It's powerful, compassionate, professional and perfect! And I'm not just saying that because I am a fellow Oregonian either. I know this isn't much but THANK YOU for taking the time to write that letter and sending it.

[Dave]

Done, can,t type that fast.

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

Done. And I sent a copy of my e-mail to like minded friends in the community.

[K Fuller Yuba City]

Done, as well as the email.
Again, without bad words.

[Garbo]

Done!

[Andrea for Kathy Blanco]

Kathy,

You are AWESOME! I have tried to e-mail you on two occasions through your website and both e-mails bounced back to me as undeliverable.

Kathy- please never ever shut up and suck it up!

Thank you for your extremely passionate and well articulated letter.

And thank you AAC for keeping us collectively organized.

I hope some parents will be able to attend the next meeting of the IACC. It's great to be "seen" as well as heard.

Andrea

[Jeanne]

Let's just hope everyone here can say the same as you Kim!

Come on people, get those emails out!

[Kathy Blanco]

Here is my copied letter to them, enjoy..

Dear Sirs

You are asking the general public about their thoughts on the current vaccine program. Here are my thoughts and my distress.

I was a vaccine believing mother, I did my duty, for the call of eradicating diseases thought to be dangerous and life threatening. Now I am faced with the fight of my life, trying to convince YOU professionals, that vaccines have caused, initiated, worsened the autism epidemic. I have two counted in that epidemic. They were born in the early eighties, to later eighties. I witnessed horrifying reactions, one with a DPT shot (VAERS listed as one of the hot lotts for highest deaths and maimings), in my son, who raged with fever of 105, convulsions, high pitch screaming with disorientation for many days. Within weeks, his language was lost, and he began to have within a year, seizures/leg tetany. Because I thought that P was the problem in DPT, I took out that part of the vaccine component, and continued to vaccinated my subsequent children, still believing, that YOU professionals, knew what you were talking about, and fully disclosed to ME, that they were safe and effective. Unfortunately, this advice led to my last child having an extreme MMR reaction, with rashy bottom, diahrreah, fevers of unknown origins, resulting in loss of language, even muscle tone, by the time she was one and a half. This also resulted in autism. My other two children, though not autistic, have numerous autoimmune problems, and one child has severe ADHD.

We have done scopes into their gut, and retrieved tissue, that they both still have the Measles STRAIN vaccine on peyers patches. This resulted in extreme wasting, diahrreah to intermittent constipation-a true IBD disease. We have done neuroinflammation markers (IL-B10), and their brains to be extremely inflammated. They both have marginal to extreme mitochondrial issues (OXPHOS/LACTACE PYRUVATE RATIOS), not unlike HANNAH POLING, who just won in vaccine court, which suggested that an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction or disorder, may predispose children to vaccine reactions, which further damages the brain by oxidative stress. Both of my children, also have Complement C4B anulle, meaning, they don't have the means to deal with injectable viruses or bacteria, on a correct level. And on that note, many ACIP members have recommended the use of antipyretics during vaccine fevers. IS THIS CAUSING AUTISM? (www.rollingdigital.com/autism )? Certainly, most mothers I talked to, used this drug even before the vaccine hit their child's skin.

Both of of my children have seizures, both of them have severe methylation defects, both of them have immune dysregulation and antibodies to myelin basic protein (said to be the target organ for autoimmune mimicry by measles, detected in three labs, SINGH et al), and both have antibodies to NAFP, *(neural axon filament protein), to catecholimines and various neurotransmitters. MRI shows atrophying of cerebellum, something we can chaulk up to inflammation, use of AED's, and severe oxidative stress. They also have thyroid disease, which is also another target organ of vaccine injury. ON SPECT SCANS, their brains are sevrely hypoperfused (loss of blood flow), inflammated, toxic, non functioning in several areas. This includes myself. They both also have lyme disease tick born disease (which is often sexually transmitted)/placentally - see www.liafoundation.org ), which is said to be the predisposition to injury, due to the fact that it creates a high state of oxidative stress and glutathione block, which is necessary for them to deplete metals out of their system. They had no such ability. In fact, their metals were off the charts when prompted by DMPS IV challenges.

A background of injury/illness or concerns of illnesses (ear infections one after another) could have been suggested to me, as a wait and see approach, instead of GUESSING GAMES, of which the the ACIP members think is not necessary, even in chidlren with severe B and T Cell deficiency, Severe IgA deficiency (viruses love people like this) Common Variable Immune Deficiencies (which often kids with autism possess) such as in the case of AIDS. My kids also have Hyper IgE, of which I found out later, is a MARKER, that a child could be unable to handle vaccines. Upon that subject, I made it a point to write a standards at www.voicesofsafety.org in which we called to try to vote on public standards, and the ACIP members had no cooperation. This is the level of concern of this epidemic.

It is evident to me, that the only thing vaccine corporations want, is our money, not our health, not the absence so called of innocuous childhood diseases taken care of handily by mega High VIT A, C, Cod Liver oil, and other adjuncts. I do believe that an unvaccinated population poses NO risk to the vaccinated (else, do the vaccines work?), in fact, it would show purely, that which population has the most autism, ADHD, Allergies, Seizures, Obesity, Autoimmune Thyroid diseases, Asthma and even Diabetis. Throwing the herd immunity card is unscientific. I do believe medical freedom, from this experiment, is a certainty of the level of freedoms we have or don't have still in our possessions. Would this not be a fascinting study? More than a study, a witness, of what vaccines have done commonly to our population? Yet the pseudo concern committes ISAAC, just dropped any mention of studying vaccines in total. Combating autism, I think not....? The rise in autism, along side childhood cancers is staggering. In fact, the MIND institute UC DAVIS, just came out with the proclamation, that autism is due to TOXINS in our environment, and pathogenic viruses and bacteria, not better diagnosing.

The mechanisms of autoimmunity are ill-elucidated, the role of pre-existing risk factors including genetic predisposition and environmental factors is largely accepted however, and one of those studies which suggested this, suggested that an autoimmune favor genetically, added AT THE TIME with a toxin, such as mercury or other neurotoxins in vaccines (formaldehyde, polysorbate, MSG derivatives), could in fact, INITIATE the autoimmune attack against tissues. Certainly, it does not help the TH1 and TH2 balance, nor does it help with other immune markers. When upon further examination, most seizure disoreders are caused by dysregulation of immune cells and inflammation in the brain due to toxins and viruses and bacteria? This is a no duh...

There is another very important issue reported in studies that is evidently being largely ignored as regards long-term vaccine effects and safety. There is obvious evidence that in the lab, continuous immortal cell lines react differently between one type of animal species and another. As an example, tissue from one species will allow the immortal cell to induce a cancerous change more quickly, in comparison to tissue from a different species. These results then beg the following questions. How extensively have these continuous cell lines been tested on human tissues, and would the results vary from one type of tissue to another? And what happens over the long term if an immortal cell from a vaccine culture makes its way into the final vaccine product, does it keep dividing in the human body? Another scenario might suggest the tumor-promoting portion of its DNA inserting into a viral genome, which then gets injected
into the bodywhat happens at that point? And so, why do I make this point? Because we also tested positive for SV-40, this includes me and my husband, my children, my mother and father, and my siblings.

The dirth continues, for we also have MYCOPLASMA FERMANTENS in our bodies, everyone of us. It is said, that 6% of our childhood vaccine series, are contaminated. "The current Fed. Regs., Title 21 states that "each pool of virus used in vaccine preparation shall be tested for the presence of Mycoplasmas. Only when the virus pool shows no evidence of Mycoplasmas is the viral pool considered acceptable for vaccine manufacture." Unfortunately the Code for detection of mycoplasma contamination is based on the culturing of viable mycoplasma. This Criteria does not exclude mycoplasma fragments or antigens. Past experience found mycoplasmas remained attached to cells causing frequent failures to isolate viable cultures from tissues. When investigators learn more about mycoplasma properties they will know that it's their combined cellular antigenicity in the host's immune system that in itiates pathogenicity. Later, when adverse reactions to vaccines were being reported, we looked for possible mycoplasma contamination.". End Quote. Are you looking, where are the studies in autistic children that have this? Dr Garth Nicholsen found that 58% of children with autism, have Mycoplasma bacteria in their bodies. SIR, do you believe this is the legacy of our GREAT VACCINE NATION?

Dr Robert Mendelsohn, M.D states "It is a difficult task really to deviate from the ritual just like getting out of the church. There is no definite science at all behind the vaccine propaganda. Every benefit they told you about vaccines are accrued with the doctors while the patient runs the risks. But be very cautious on how they focus their attention on the mercury in vaccines. It is just a smokescreen to hide the enormous horrors of vaccines. Some anti-vaccine groups are actually riding the propaganda to make vaccines "green", which is an utter impossibility and amiss. They cannot make a poison "green". The only way to a healthy body is by creating "health" and not building "defenses". The Medical companies and doctors unfortunately, will allow this to happen until everyone of us is stricken with debilitating or chronic diseases. And what's even more peculiar is that this same group of victims will turn to their doctors for treatment. Having said that, it is just right to get out of this Church of Modern Medicine and never look back"..

Unfortunately, I still look back and beat my chest to raw, for the things I trusted in. I never thought to question, if my child, was going to react favorably, it was assumed. I was never tested, asked questions about our background autoimmune troubles, was never listened to, and now, I am suppose to shut up and suck it up? At minimum, a list of contraindications should be enlarged, biological markers for autism tested before you even dare to put a vaccine into a child. Better than that, how about quit the whole paridigm all together? I would have LOVED measles showing up on my kids, for they would have had lifetime immunity, AND HEALTH.

The VEARS standards to report injury (by the way WRITTEN by the pharmaceutical companies, fox guarding the henhouse)...dont fit. This happened 11 days to two weeks after the vaccine in my children. I am in limbo. I am in the land of what the hell went wrong? I found out, and got real. The realness of injury lives today, and will live on, when I am gone, where the government themsevles, will have to suck it up and take care of my chidlren. This growing list of children, who will become adults, is going to hamper the stability of SSI and support systems-if not already, the evergrowing weak economy. Does anyone see this trouble I have seen? I don't think we can look away from this disaster of 1-68 children. In my own state, Oregon, there is way more than that number. What will it have to take, for our government to listen to the mothers and fathers of this land, who have been robbed of their prescious children?

Sincerely-
Kathy Blanco
Beaverton Oregon

All I am asking, is for some thought to this. I am asking for the entire program to be revamped. That Obama will see through this non transparency, and protectionism, and see for the poignant questions we parents ask. NO, we don't see coincidence, we see evidence. We see evidence of injury.

[Stagmom]

I'm a busy activist today!!!