AGE OF AUTISM

Action Alert: NY To Mandate Meningitis Vaccine for 7th Graders

From the NY Alliance for Vaccination Choice:

Urgent Calls & Faxes Needed Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 1st to
STOP new meningitis shot mandate for 7th graders in NY and to oppose Assembly Bill 10313 and Senate Bill 7156.
  
Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 1, 2010 you need to get in the car and come to Albany to stop an effort to sneak through yet another mandatory vaccine in New York, this time for the meningitis vaccine, for both seventh graders and college students. If you can't make it to Albany get on the phone, fax, and click on the Take Action link above to send your legislators an email and tell your legislators to fix state government and fix the $9 billion+ deficit and pass decent autism health insurance reform rather than interfere with your families' health decisions.

No other state, or country requires, adolescents to get this shot. Only two states, New Jersey and Connecticut require it for college students, and that's only for students who live in dormitories.

The State Senate may vote on this bill on Tuesday and it is on the agenda for the Assembly health committee. They are trying to push this through before anyone knows what they are doing.

Meningitis is an extremely rare disease affecting about 50 to 60 people per year in NY. And the meningitis vaccine, according to the manufacturer, isn't very effective. Assuming all the claims made by the manufacturer are correct, vaccinating everyone in the state may reduce the number of infections by 10 to 20 cases per year. Yet according to the CDC the vaccine manufacturers 1% of the people who get the vaccines (about 2000 people per year) can expect a serious adverse reaction including serious neurological damage and death.

And study after study has determined that mandatory meningitis vaccines don't make economic sense; the money spent on other health care activities can save more lives and prevent more injuries.
 
JOIN US IN ALBANY, JUNE 1, at 10 am on the State Street steps of the Legislative Office Building. Handouts will be provided and we will help you find your legislators. Carpools are being organized.  

 Please email Rita Palma and Lisa Rudley at nyvaccinechoice@gmail.com  for more information.
 Please call and fax the following legislators.

All the prefixes are 518-455-####
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, PH: 3791 FX: 5459
Assembly Health Chair Richard Gottfried, PH: 4941 FX: 5939
Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, PH: 5005 FX: 5471 (Sponsor of the Assembly bill)
Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, PH: 5585 FX: 5409 (Co-sponsor of the Assembly bill)
 Sen. Tom Duane, PH:  2451 FX: 4846, Chair of the Health Committee
Sen. John Sampson, PH:  2758 FX: 4806, Senate Majority Leader
Sen. Dean Skelos, PH:  3171 FX:  6950, Senate Minority Leader
Sen. Malcolm Smith, PH:  2701  FX: 2816,
Sen. Tom Libous, PH:  2677  FX: 2065
Sem. Velmanette Montgomery, PH: 3451, FX: 6854. (Sponsor of the Senate Bill)

PLEASE RAISE THESE POINTS!
Stop Assembly Bill 10313 and Senate Bill 7156
• Why should New York's seventh graders be the first in the world to be required to get this shot?
• Why the extreme measure with no epidemic/ emergency?
• The shot is available now to those who want it- why the mandate?

Age of Autism Does Lunch at Autism One

Here's some of the AofA team at Autism One. From Left, Kent Heckenlively, Adriana Gamondes, Julie Obradovic, Steve Jameson, Cathy Jameson, Teresa Conrick, Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted.

Public Invited: National Vaccine Advisory Committee Public Meeting June 2-3

The National Vaccine Information Center  is alerting its Vaccine E-news subscribers and organizations of an important meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) on June 2-3, 2010 and the need for public comment. The NVAC's Vaccine Safety Working Group (VSWG) is currently charged with reviewing the current federal vaccine safety system and developing a White Paper describing different options for what can be done to improve the system.

The White Paper will describe criteria for an ideal system, such as characterization of the safety profile of vaccines in a timely manner, reducing adverse events whenever possible, and maintaining and improving public confidence in vaccine safety. Different options for improving effectiveness, accountability and transparency will be discussed, including whether changes in the infrastructure and governance are needed.

The White Paper will be sent to the Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for action.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is on record supporting an independent vaccine safety oversight agency housed within the federal government that reports directly to the President with responsibility for vaccine safety research, vaccine risk evaluation and vaccine safety monitoring systems, such as VAERS. The independent agency should be free from conflicts of interest, including responsibility for making recommendations for or promoting vaccine use or evaluating legal claims related to vaccine-associated injuries. The new agency would value science-based policymaking, personalized medicine, informed consent, transparency in government and responsive public engagement.

Two members of NVIC's team serve on the VSWG. Tawny Buck, NVIC's Director of Government Relations, is a voting member of NVAC and co-chair of the VSWG. Dr. Vicky Debold, NVIC's Director of Research & Patient Safety, is a VSWG member. Ms. Buck is the only consumer representative on the NVAC. Though written comment deadlines specific to this meeting passed yesterday, this work continues beyond the June meeting and the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) has advised NVIC that public comments submitted after the deadline will be forwarded to the committee.

Public comment is urgently needed to reinforce the consumer voices on the Committee. It is important that NVAC receive many public comments during this critical June 2-3 to evaluate whether or not there should be independent oversight of vaccine safety activities.

The June 2-3 meeting will be held in Washington, DC. at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building - Room 800, 200 Independence Ave S.W. from 9-5 PM EST and 9-3 PM EST. Meetings of the NVAC are open to the public and pre-registration is required  REGISTER HERE to physically attend and/or comment and the agenda has been posted.

Hubert H. Humphrey Building - Room 800
200 Independence Ave, SW - Washington DC
June 2-3, 2010

Participants Call-In: 1-888-469-1932 Passcode - 4857366
The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC)

Agenda

Read Dr. Wakefield's Full Story in Callous Disregard from Skyhorse Publishing

If you saw Dr. Andrew Wakefield on Dateline NBC tonight, you know it's a story much larger than what can fit into a single TV program. Read the full story in Callous Disregard (purchase here), available now from Skyhorse Publishing. 

Visit Dr. Wakefield's site, Callous Disregard.  

Dr. Andrew Wakefield on Dateline NBC Tonight

Watch dateline NBC tonight to hear more from Dr. Wakefield, and don't forget to order his book "Callous Disregard" available at Amazon now. Check your local NBC channel for time.

Just saw a comment that Laura and Tim Kasemodel will also be on dateline with their son tonight.

Sorry for the not so pretty post. I'm in a car on the way home after landing in NY.

It was great to meet so many of you at Autism One. See you at the NAA conference in November. KS

Katie Wright: An Autism Mom Goes to IMFAR

By Katie Wright

I know you are thinking one of things is not like other…but I was actually glad to have to have IMFAR and experienced it for myself.

For years, possibly decades, parents have complained that IMFAR was an esoteric brain and gene conference peripherally associated autism…400 presentations on eye gazing, 200 social gazing, 100 on an infant’s grasp of eye gazing, genes, brain and genes, brain, genes and brain. Despite IMFAR’s proclamations of “exciting breakthroughs” few families felt any excitement and fewer children saw any benefit.

There is nothing in sight to stem the rising tide of  ASD cases. Even worse, a greater number of autistic children are suffering from serious medical problems, which have gone both unstudied and untreated.

Parents were pleased by the recent change in IMFAR’s leadership. After David Amaral was elected president many parents contacted him and expressed their frustration that their childrens’ painful and disabling medical needs had by ignored by IMFAR for too long. Imagine a breast cancer research organization spending all their time and money on genetic research and a treatment intervention that succeeded 25% of the time. I’m guessing that other 75% of women would be demonstrably unhappy- especially if they are doing the fundraising.

Dr. Sears, Dr. Wakefield and TACA at Autism One

Here's Dr. Bob Sears, Dr. Andy Wakefield and TACA's Lisa Ackerman at the TACA booth at Autism One.

The Difference Between You and Me

Managing Editor's Note: Meet Julie Obradovic at Autism One this weekend.

By Julie Obradovic

I am growing increasingly tired of the real reasons there is such controversy regarding vaccines and Autism being misconstrued to make me look pathetic. Alison Singer's attempted explanation at Yale earlier this month (HERE) is a perfect example.

Contrary to what she suggests, our differences are not due to the internet. They are not due to desperation or the traumatization of having a child with Autism coupled with the need to blame someone. They are not due the media or the anti-establishment-toxic-earth movement. They are not due to the dismissive attitude of society and physicians who for years believed bad parenting was to blame.They are not due to an inability to simply accept clear science. They are not due to lack of an education or ability to think rationally. They are not due to being taken advantage of. They are not due to the cult of celebrity.

Wrong. Sorry. Not even close.

Turns out, the real difference is not quite so superficial and insulting. It is simply this:

1. You believe the government (the Department of Health and Human Services) has the legally protected right to research, develop, patent, license, supervise, judge, approve, recommend, mandate, and profit from a product (vaccines) that they produce in partnership with a private entity (the pharmaceutical industry). You further believe they have the right to simultaneously oversee the quality, safety and efficacy of this product, and that they objectively do so. You even further believe that they have the right to fund and conduct studies used to defend their product and policy in a court that they serve as judge and jury over in the event you are harmed by it; and moreover, that if they do find in your favor, they have the right to award you compensation at their discretion using money that was secured by a tax you paid on the product when you purchased it and/or were mandated to use it. And finally, you believe this should be protected by law; that neither the government nor the private entity should be held criminally or financially responsible for negligence in the event it maims or kills you.

I don't.

Bloomington Alternative On "Poisoned Profits" By Philip and Alice Shabecoff

Read the full post by Steven Higgs' in the Bloomington Alternative

Poisoned for Profit' -- the truth and nothing but
by Steven Higgs
May 23, 2010

After having endured multiple viewings of the PBS documentary "The Vaccine War" and reconstructive surgery on my right knee in recent weeks, I can't say emphatically enough what a breath of sweet, clean oxygen it was to find a copy of Philip and Alice Shabecoff's book Poisoned for Profit in my P.O. box when I got out of the hospital.

The book, the subtitle of which is How Toxins Are Making Our Children Chronically Ill, is no feel-good read, to be sure. Not by any stretch. But it serves as a reminder that there are honest, truth-telling journalists out there who engage their craft the way it's supposed to be engaged.

The Shabecoffs are not stenographers to power, a role the FRONTLINE documentary on vaccines and autism and the mainstream media play so well and so profitably. They're don't regurgitate what experts or focus groups say and call it journalism. No, they seek out, recognize and tell the truth as they find it, as the facts and common sense dictate, despite the fact that their message is one that few humans understandably can, or want to, wrap their heads around.

Live From Karoake

Teri Arranga, Kim Stagliano and Mark Blaxill at karoake night. Only one of us sang though... Guess who!