Protest Federal Autism Committee’s Deceitful Reversal on Vaccine-Autism Research
Mark Blaxill on ABC's Chronicle: Toxic Kids

Feeding the Hungry Lie, Italian Style

Evil eye By J.B. Handley
 
Well, you won't be able to miss it because it's all over the news: another "study" published in Pediatrics proving that vaccines don't cause autism.
 
In case you wonder how the media feels about the whole thing, consider this opening line from the Associated Press article today:
 
"A new study from Italy adds to a mountain of evidence that a mercury-based preservative once used in many vaccines doesn't hurt children, offering more reassurance to parents."
 
Mountain of evidence?
 
Herewith, my guide to reading this new study:
 
1. Re-read my original post, Feeding the Hungry Lie HERE.
 
2. Open the new study from Pediatrics, titled: 
 
Neuropsychological Performance 10 Years After Immunization in Infancy With Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines
 
3. Prepare for Nausea.


 
4. Read the details regarding the two groups that the Italians analyzed:
 
"Therefore, in the first 12 months of life, the cumulative intake of ethylmercury, the mercury metabolite of thimerosal, was 137.5 mcg for the children who were assigned randomly to receive the DTaP vaccine that contained thimerosal ("higher intake group") and 62.5 mcg for those who received the thimerosal-free DTaP vaccine ("lower intake group")."
 
5. Realize that this study is only comparing kids who got 62.5mcgs of Thimerosal to kids who got 137.5mcgs of Thimerosal. They have all been vaccinated, and they've all been vaccinated with mercury-containing vaccines.
 
6. Vomit.
 
7. Read about their sample size of children and prevalence of autism:
 
"We detected, through the telephone interviews with parents and reviews of medical charts, 1 case of autism among the 856 children in the lower thimerosal intake group and no cases among the 848 children in the higher thimerosal intake group."
 
8. Realize that in their sample, the rate of autism of the children analyzed was 1 in 1,704, 15-20 times lower than the US average.
 
9. Vomit.
 
10. Read the acknowledgements section:
 
"The study was supported in part by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through contract 2002-N-00448 with the Istituto Superiore di Sanita."
 
11. Vomit.
 
12.  Read the AP's headline today: Study adds to evidence of vaccine safety

13.  Vomit.
 
14.  Read that the Editor-In-Chief of Pediatrics, Dr. Lewis First, wrote today on his blog  HERE:
 
"Finally, we get to the heart of the immunization controversy with a study by Tozzi et al. on whether or not thimerosal can influence neuropsychological performance ten years after immunization in infancy (475-482). You'll be reassured that the results show essentially no differences between groups who did or did not get thimerosal in their vaccines—and you'll want to know this information when talking with parents of your patients about the safety and benefits of vaccines."
 
15. Realize that the Editor-In-Chief of Pediatrics is either grossly misinformed or lying because you read the Italian study and know every child considered received Thimerosal.
 
16. Vomit one last time.
 
17. Pray that this study, like many of the others that have come and gone, doesn't falsely reassure a family with a young child about how best to approach vaccines.

J.B. Handley is co-founder of Generation Rescue and a contributor to Age of Autism.

Comments

John Stone

Fabio

I cannot now find this study on Pubmed, which is strange (has it been quietly withdrawn?). From memory there was no mercury free group but just a group with a lesser exposure ie 62.5mcg (which is not what they accumulated but what they received), as against 138.5mcg in the higher exposure group, and the study was anyhow too small for purpose. It was an obfuscating and poorly designed piece of work, with only very weak evidence. I think there were probably errors as well in the original publicity for the study.

Jeannette Bishop

@Fabio, thimerosal is an ethylmercury compound. It breaks down into ethylmercury in the body (if not already before injection), and then further can convert to an inorganic form.

The point further is that both groups got OTHER thimerosal (ethylmercury) containing vaccines in addition to whichever DtaP version they received and whatever background mercury exposure is likely to enter into their blood and lymphatic systems.

Fabio

I hope you realize you cant read..... it says clearly in the excerpt that one group received "thimerosal FREE vaccines" the numbers you were reading were ethylmercury, the metabolite of thimerosal, which implies the thimerosal FREE vaccinated group accumulated 62.5mcg of ETHYLMERCURY, not thimerosal, through the environment or other means (accumulation of heavy metals happens in everyone). so maybe if you tell people to "read carefully" the excerpt......you should read and understand it first. the control group received thimerosal FREE vaccines, which was the whole point of the study, and it proved that thimerosal has no noticeable effect on autism rates.

Heidi N

Well, I guess one could say we are in some kind of a war. The vaccine-pushers and the vaccine-victims. Hmmmm. And it appears the victims are gaining ground, by default actually. You see, there are a bunch of victims, and they just keep growing in numbers. Thus, the vaccine-pushers over-did it. They made too many people sick, and now those "too many" are more than they can win against. Stay tuned, as the war continues. At this point, its obvious who will win, but what is still up in the air, is what will happen to the losers. Will they just get fined, fired, etc. or will there be criminal charges filed against them as well. Hmmm. I wonder how long we have to wait to find out.

John Stone

Dyson

Trouble is no one has been able to locate this extremely disabled, demanding and costly adult group (say in the UK >400,000 cases) in the general population. People who confront this problem practically as their children approach adulthood know the adult services are almost clueless about their childrens needs, and it is pathetic to go on pretending their was not a gigantic bulge in incidence between 1987 and 1992.

But what is also very insulting is that we are being asked to pretend for the alleged public good that certain events to which we were witness never happened. Of course, it is recall bias because the events were neither recorded or reported at the time. That's how we do science these days.

Kathy Blanco

There are probably many causes of autism, and in my opinion, they may either cause autism, initiate it, worsen it, etc. I do believe there are congenital /toxins that cause/initiate/worsen autism, not limited to measles, syphilis, lyme disease, toxo, and even the flu virus (this is proven in Schizophrenia) and all the toxic sludge our world can hand out . The larger question would be what if toxins + infections cause this. As you know, many auotimmune journals state an infection + a toxin can initiate an autoimmune situation-they are synergistic...one lowers cell mediated immunity/hampers it, and the other infects it. That's pretty much a vaccine to me? But, that can also mean, mothers amalgam fillings, or toxic fluoride, and so on and so forth. The point being, how can predict what child can "take" a vaccine? Even in the biological code of ethics, it states rather boldly, that no biologic medicine, should be given someone as a "guessing game", one should know, that they are able to handle it. Is this done in our vaccine program? NOT. They didn't take into account MY three autoimmune diseases, nor my chaulk full mouthfull of amalgams that MY KIDS CHELATED ME OF, my exposures to chemicals, if I had a pathogenic silent but deadly infection, or my children had an infection at the time of vaccinations? Of course, did I know this as a young mother, did I have an internet? NOT. THIS IS WHY I SAY, how can anyone, in their right scientific mind, PREDICT, what vaccine will turn to adverse? AND, how do we know that vaccines, in a long haul of life, has not initated other diseases in adulthood/replaced them for chronic illnesses? What of oncogenic viruses in them, or mycoplasma contaminations which alters the oncogenic genes? We all tested positive for SV-40...you tout as safe...right, tell that to my dead myeloma mother (said to be the one precipitating cancer from SV-40). Point being, I am totally anti vaccine, because they did not think of ME, and my kids, nor did they QUESTION, PREDICT, and or INTERPRET our problems, as "do not touch"...NO, they wanted to shoot us up, literally and build defences without question if I had a defence problem already. And let's get this straight, the polio vaccine has CAUSED many cases of polio, and some say, the virus is quite innocuous, and the real problems are TOXINS (READ THE REAL FDR story). AGAIN, what if the vaccine has TOXINS in it, plus a VIRUS? I think we need to think, sit back and ponder, what we have done to our generation of children, and adults. Some of the adults in our population are still harboring their own vaccine series obviously, and now that is incorporated into their genome. This is possible, I have seen the science on it. So, what if we give them a new vaccine, into their children, how can we predict this genomic experiment then heh? If there are point mutations in parents, is that because they have DNA changing viruses and toxins in them? NO DUH!~ Do they have methylation defects, and glutathione block, DUH. Point being, I am not willing to put my body in this experiment ANY MORE (already have, thanks guys). My grandchidlren are FREE of autism, because they did not vaccinate...if autism is SOOO genetic...you tell me, wouldn't there be an X linked disorder showing up in ALL MALE CHILDREN? Give me a freaking break. It is obvious, we have a mess on our hands, and denials may loom large, and pinnochio noses...as well as pharmaceutical plants on this forum. I don't believe in the so called science of artificial immunity, simply because EVERYONE's CELL/IMMUNE/METABOLIC COMPTENCE is different. I am not moowing cow in a giant cesspool of humanity...for God's sake. I am a human, a toxic human, and a human trying to crawl out of the mess of what MANKINDS kind (not) and generous (NOT), believing and trusting (not) system has done to me, and my children.

That said, you can have a right to stick yourself in the bum all you want, as for me and my health and house, it won't be the case, so help me God.

THERE IS NO GREEN VACCINE, THERE IS NO SAFE VACCINE, THERE IS NO SAFE SCHEDULE, THERE IS NO WAY TO PREDICT IF YOUR CHILD WILL REACT, and THERE ARE NO BIOMARKERS/TESTS to DATE that would identify, (except my study on Hyper IgE on cord blood, plug plug), that would identify a child prone to anaphylaxis and immune problems. Until then, I will trust in my instincts, my scientific examination, and say, anyone trusting a vaccine, ought to have their heads examined.

One time, we did a MELISA test on me, before deciding what kind of material we should use, to replace my DAMN amalgams. The test said the number one thing my body is allergic to, IS,....drum roll.....THIMEROSOL!!!!!! Gee, I wonder why my kids did so badly with their vaccine series heh?

Enough said...

Dyson

JB Handley, you said: "But, autism is approaching 1 in 100, at a minimum its 20x worse than polio, and we have no plausible explanation for cause."

There are several logical fallacies in this statement. Firstly, why choose to put in information on the supposed autism prevalence? This is not relevant to the issue of deaths from infection/polio. It's not a case of comparing one against the other, as much as you would like to pretend it is. The way you phrase your claim would make someone think one vaccine shot in 100 causes autism. Of course this is quite untrue. You are deliberately "poisoning the well" by calling attention to an irrelevant, scary-sounding association. The prevalence is 1:100 for boys, not all kids, and encompasses all ASDs including aspies and high functioning spectrum variants.

Then you say autism is "20x worse" than polio. Very poor choice of words, this. Do you possibly mean 20x more frequent? If you do you should say so (even though this still makes no sense as the comparison is invalid, since you don't have a frequency for autism following vaccination only a general prevalence). All you do is confuse people with terminology that suggests being on the ASD spectrum is 20x worse than suffering polio, a paralysing and often fatal infection.

You then finally cobble on a non-sequitur, saying there is no plausible cause for autism (and therefore linking in people's minds the suggestion that vaccines might fit the bill). Don't the studies on the congenital or genetic causes of it have any sway in your book? While this may account for only the minority of cases, it means that not all cases of autism could be caused by vaccines.

So, if vaccines DO cause autism, how often would that be, calculated per vaccinated child, or per vaccine? Go on, tell us please.

Cassandra

Vaccines contribute to many chronic conditions.
There is evidence of that. It is not voodo science.
There is science to prove that children have severe reactions to vaccines that include regressing in to autism. Unfortunately some people that refuse to believe this are still floating in the river called denial.

The facts are there if you choose to believe them are not.

MDCVC
www.mdvaccinechoice.wordpress.com


Stagmom

Francesco, grazie - why don't you write your comment in Italian? I'll have it translated for you.

Your English is far better than my Italian - all I know are swear words!

Kim Rossi Stagliano, Managing Editor.

Francesco Lucarelli

I'm Italian, my english is very poor, but I hope you will understand me.

My son was vaccinated (in postmarketing phase) with the thimerosal containing vaccine of the mentioned pertussis clinical trial and now he suffered from an autistic disorder.

That vaccine would have been sell in USA as 'Pertugen' (brand name), but the manufacturer withdrew a PLA from FDA at 'last minute'. EMEA (the European Agency) authorized it, but it was never marketed in Europe an it was withdrew in Italy after five years of marketing only (the vaccine was the first recombinant DTaP in the world, that was an innovative product).

It's an interesting story, but it would be too long to tell (and now I'm in trouble with my english...).

Anyway, there is some rotten in Denmark, and in Italy too...

Tozzi, that now is working at Bambin Gesù hospital, in the '90 worked at Istituto Superiore di Sanità, with Stefania Salmaso (another author of the Pediatric's publication).

Both were member of 'Progetto Pertosse Working Group', the working group of the mentioned DTaP clinical trial: they administered the vaccines more than ten years ago!

An they was also funded by NIH (billion of US dollar, in 1991)...

Did they tell us now that the TcV was'nt safe?

Vomit again...

Ciao

jruch

"None of us want to bring back deadly diseases. When we say we want safe vaccines, you immediately say that we are trying to get rid of them entirely. ... Using your logic; the only safe vaccine, then, is NO vaccine. I'm not saying that; YOU nitwits are."

I agree - well said Craig

If they can't accuse of being hysterically antivax, then they are left with us being merely rationally cautious and pragmatic. Can't have that.

Julie Swenson

Pru,

A modern, sanitary society will have healthy, well-nourished children who will be able to overcome these ‘diseases’ for which we (over)vaccinate. 200,000 deaths a year from measles? I think not. Try 200K deaths a year from malnutrition and extremely unsanitary conditions (the same reason polio is coming back around, thanks to improper sanitation and the overused, over-appreciated polio vaccine).

The unethical mass-vaccinating of children to eradicate disease that could, would and should be controlled via sanitary conditions is eroding the immunity of generations of children to come. We are one sick herd, my dear.

Twyla

Thanks, Craig -- we needed that.

Twyla

To clarify the very first comment by Diane, I believe she copied the comment "This is so sad. It's scary to think how quickly an infection can kill... Just a reminder to get your kids vaccinated," and posted it here with her own comment "Wanna vomit again?"

Since she didn't put the copied comment in quotes, some readers thought those were her words, but actually she was scoffing at that comment.

Theresa

I had to laugh when I read Pru's comment about "absurd conspiracy theories" ... kind of like the doctors who told my grandparents that they would never have children because they both had the mumps during their teen years. They have twelve children and (at present) thirty grandchildren.

I also think it's interesting that Pru and the pro-pharma crowd seem only capable of mentioning polio when they want to scare us. I guess that's because we've all had the chickenpox and the flu, and because we know that responsible sexual practices (and not vaccines) are all that it takes not to be a "vector for disease" when it comes to HPV, Hep B, and other STDs.

...and while I'm at it, why don't we be honest with ourselves and talk about what would really improve the health of people in (for example) Nigeria: access to clean water, modern plumbing, and good nutrition--the same things that have helped Americans' health to improve. The beauty of clean water, modern plumbing, and good nutrition is that they help prevent the spread of many diseases (not just the diseases for which vaccines exist) and help people survive the diseases they do catch (after which they have real immunity that doesn't need a booster shot). Bringing real change to developing nations wouldn't boost Big Pharma's revenues, though, so why bother, right?

Julie Swenson

"You'll be reassured that the results show essentially no differences between groups who did or did not get thimerosal in their vaccines—and you'll want to know this information when talking with parents of your patients about the safety and benefits of vaccines."

Well...thanks for that, CDC and Italian-study-people. I guess now I must be finally convinced that all my son's tests (showing mercury poisoning), his drop-seizures (mercury poisoning), his tremors, inability to walk or talk well (mercury poisoning) CLEARLY cannot be a result of (mercury poisoning) because mercury has been totally exonerated thanks to this insane study.

Thanks mercury, for fucking up my son’s life for the last 4 years and probably the next 40, too. Oh wait, that’s right…it was my and/or my husband’s crappy genes. Hell, let’s throw mercury a big party, since it’s cool to be mercury again. You know, since it doesn’t cause autism. This study says so. Can't we all just admit it now? Bleh.

Julie Swenson

Can't comment....vomiting...

dismayed

JB,
Thank you for exposing this lie - one of the most contemptible yet. It's so egregious, I encourage readers to write Pediatrics and demand a retraction and a correction to the blog.

Here is the e-mail contact link:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/feedback

In his blog in Pediatrics, the Editor-In-Chief calls the following a "valentine" to his readers...

"Finally, we get to the heart of the immunization controversy with a study by Tozzi et al. on whether or not thimerosal can influence neuropsychological performance ten years after immunization in infancy (475-482). You’ll be reassured that the results show essentially no differences between groups who did or did not get thimerosal in their vaccines—and you’ll want to know this information when talking with parents of your patients about the safety and benefits of vaccines."

As you pointed out, every child in the study was vaccinated with Thimerosal-containing vaccines.

I also intend to follow up in my local newspaper. Our pediatricians need to know they are being lied to, and they need to see evidence of the lies.


Note to Craig: Good rant. It was necessary.

Amy

Please don't forget to rehydrate yourself.

hera

Just saw this on youtube; what mercury does to brain cells from the university of calgary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5WNLOjmAiw
How did they think a study that involved only 1400 kids,had no control group, and was not representative of the population (ie only 1 case of autism ) could tell them anything?
It would have cost much much less to run the ICD 9 codes for asthma/autism and correlate them with the vaccination codes through the insurance company records that pays the doctors group at Homefirst.( I think that is the name of the doctors group who provide services for many unvaccinated children,and report minimal autism?)
Insurance companies do ICD 9 code reviews and look at traits all the time.In fact, I think it was because they ran a trait analysis that showed low asthma inpatient admissions that the insurance company first started looking at the homefirst practice.Any takers to get permission from the Insurance company, and then do a fairly simple piece of programmming?

samaxtics

For Pru,

Maybe it has something to do with how these programs are implemented:

“Early this year, it was reported that some children between eight and 10 years had been recruited to administer polio vaccine drops, but instead of using ice boxes, the children were using their own pockets to store the temperature-sensitive vaccines.” http://tinyurl.com/bkgy53

Maybe the parents have good reason to be skeptical:

“The one-year-old, as per state health department records, has so far had nine doses of the vaccine — two under the routine immunisation programme and seven booster doses under the pulse polio programme. Yet, earlier this month, Jannat, daughter of Jameel Akhtar, a tailor from Bihar, was diagnosed with the debilitating disease” ******************************************************************
“Saniya’s mother, Noorjahen, is furious. “She is having polio drops ever since she was four days old. She has had over a dozen doses of the polio drops. We came to know about her polio when she got a high fever. She could barely manage to stand, could not walk at all, after the fever. We took her to the local hospital where they did a stool test. We were later told that she has polio,” she recounts. “There must be some thing wrong with the polio drops if even after so many doses my child has contracted polio. The government should test medicines before they are used. Pata nahin bachchoo ko kya pila rahin hain!” (Don’t know what they are making my child drink), she adds.” http://tinyurl.com/ywmag9

And just FYI, my grandmother and my best friend’s brother had polio.

Craig Willoughby

Ok, Pru?

I've said this before and I'll say it again, but I am getting sick and f-ing tired of having to explain this to you rude and brainless twits.

Most of the people you are talking to on this board HAVE VACCINATED THEIR CHILDREN.

How can that not be clear? We vaccinated our kids, which is why we're in this mess. For f&%$'s sake, you people claim to be doctors and scientists, but you are some of the stupidest people I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. And you can tell your chief idiot over at your hateful Quackosphere site I said that, too.

If you want to blame someone for the "spread in disease because of parents not vaccinating," take a quick look at that site that is so full of rampant hypocrisy and blind idiocy. Parents are worried about vaccines, and they should be. The reason why they don't vaccinate? Because of doctors treating them like idiots.

None of us want to bring back deadly diseases. When we say we want safe vaccines, you immediately say that we are trying to get rid of them entirely. Bullshit! Using your logic; the only safe vaccine, then, is NO vaccine. I'm not saying that; YOU nitwits are.

And the reason why Polio has come back in these 3rd world nations is NOT because of "antivaccination lunacy," but because the Live Polio vaccine brought it back. Do some frikkin reading before you come on here spewing your brainless propaganda.

Kim and AoA, I apologize for the rant, but there is only so much I can take of their hypocrisy before I have to say something. If you don't want to post this, I understand, but I hope you do. I am sick and tired, though, of being called an idiot, and I HAVE to fight back.

ElizaCassandra

From "across the pond":- In the early 90s I remember being warned to be careful about washing my hands after nappy changes after my children were given their polio vaccines. Sorry, I don't know what type/brand it was - anyone got any ideas?

Garbo

From the study:
Nearly 70% of the invited subjects participated in the neuropsychological assessment (N = 1403). Among the 24 neuropsychological outcomes that were evaluated, only 2 were significantly associated with thimerosal exposure. Girls with higher thimerosal intake had lower mean scores in the finger-tapping test with the dominant hand and in the Boston Naming Test.

So, if I'm reading that right, more than 30% of the "invited test subjects" declined to participate in the IQ test part of the study. They invited a certain portion of test subjects (that selection itself a big question mark -- how many did they invite, and how did they choose whom to invite?) and compliance was voluntary. I wonder how many of that 30% has autism, or ADD, or motor problems, or autoimmune issues? It's a miracle that even one kid with autism made it through to the testing phase! I guess they had to let one in, lest it seem suspicious...at least they managed to make that one fall in the "lower mercury" group. Hey, nice statistics there, Luigi!

Pamela

It's no wonder pediatricians show parents with vaccine concerns no respect. They take what the AAP and CDC dish out to them and ask no further questions. Educated parents know far more about this issue than doctors do.

American pediatricians are completely ignorant to the true nature of the controversy over vaccine safety.

We need a formal communication campaign designed to educated pediatricians.

jruch

Here is the vax schedule in Italy, as far as I can tell. Looks like infants are given a shot on the day of birth only if the mother is infected. Maybe the silver lining in this study is that it justifies looking more closely at comparing our vax schedule to see why the incidence of autism appears lower in this group, Unless we just want to refer to this as the Miracle of Tozzi et al.

http://www.ssi.dk/graphics/euvac/vaccination/italy.html

They can either claim this is a good study or a bad study. Take your pick.

jen

Hey Pru don't be so condescending. Maybe some of us have been to countries such as you describe. It's quite obvious that good nutrition, clean water, good sanitation, good sleep hygiene and medical care has been shown to be effective against most disease. With the vaccination program there are too many questions as so long term, undesirable effects. It seems like a bad trade off to get all these chronic health problems instead of just risking having some of the diseases.
Those people are wise to question vaccination, not stupid, as you seem to be suggesting.
p.s. you flatter yourself to think that they wouldn.t post your comment.

OutoftunePru

Pru makes great music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIR7lWOTI-w

Whoever is calling themselves Pru, nahhhhh
same old song sung out of tune and can't even figure out how to sing the rest of the versus without using the same old worn out words.

The two people who I knew (in the 70's) who had polio got it after they received the polio shots. Guess the risk/benefit ratio wasn't too hot for them.

Italian Guy

I'm Italian.. and I'm vomiting as well.
Sorry folks, the bad guys are here as well. :-(

nhokkanen

"Pru," the cheaper oral polio vaccine used overseas paradoxically spreads the disease via shedding from fecal contamination in unsanitary conditions. Years ago similar but far fewer U.S. cases occurred after infants' diaper changes; you can look that up The New York Times (when it had more honest reporters).

Vaccination does not guarantee immunization. Even vaccinated people have the capacity to be the next Typhoid Mary. There are plenty of diseases for which no vaccines exist, but they've had no arbitrary stigma assigned to them. Yet.

Don't oversimplify the issue, and don't demonize people who vaccinated their children but lost the risk/benefit gamble.

JB Handley

Pru:

On its worst day, polio impacted 1 in 3,000 with a death rate of under 5%. That's really, really bad, and the deaths are horrible and tragic. My grandfather had polio and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

But, autism is approaching 1 in 100, at a minimum its 20x worse than polio, and we have no plausible explanation for cause.

But, we have tens of thousands of parent reports after vaccination. And, treating for vaccine injury is generating recoveries.

There needs to be a middle ground. The middle ground is not "do what the health authorities say."

And, if you think the Italian study is anything but complete trash, you lack objectivity and honesty.

JB Handley

Birgit Calhoun

Thank you Mr. Handley for writing this, I particularly like the many "vomit" interjections. If it doesn't "fit" vo-"mit"

I think a study like this is designed to be a Red Herring. It is pure propaganda. The question is how to stop this. How do you stop a machine that is designed to squelch all reason? Unfortunately, the main stream media (AP etc.) have been either bought or been made to believe that a preservative like Thimerosal is insignificant (so why use it if it insignificant?), or they think it is really a totally different substance. It’s the sand an ostrich sticks his head into.

I have read a British study that appeared to indicate that Thimerosal is good for children (the test results showed that children in that test actually became smarter). Some very "sharp-eyed" individual might even think that this recent Italian study shows that the addition of Thimerosal must be a good thing. "Look, only one autism case, in a group of children receiving the larger dose." That's probably an outlier. One might then conclude that all these children really had no ill effect. The outlier doesn't count.

I am not by choice a polemic writer. I just can't see any other way to work out my frustrations. Sincerely, Birgit Calhoun

Pru

Let's be frank here, there is no proof strong enough to overcome your collective prejudice that vaccines cause autism. Clearly, none of you have ever spent any significant amount of time in a country where vaccination is not widespread-- it is devastating. In places like Nigeria where absurd conspiracy theories (like vaccines make you sterile, etc) are rampant, we have seen terrible outbreaks of polio and other diseases. Polio was supposed to have been eradicated, thanks to the selflessness of Jonas Salk, but children are being crippled by it and dying all the same, and infecting others and crippling and killing them too. Why? Because their parents and communities would rather believe unsubstantiated voodoo over science and reason.

If you want your children to become vectors for disease and victims themselves, fair enough, but you should not be allowed to live alongside rational adults who want to protect their children from life threatening yet completely avoidable diseases. It is the same nonsense you hear from the 9/11 Truther movement, or the Laetrile "cure" types, UFO spotters, or "chemtrails", or what have you.

I doubt your site will post this, seeing how you treat others who disagree, but write it I must.

Richard

This study was initiated while Goeberding was at the helm of the CDC.I am curious to see if these idiotic studies continue under the new administration.

Kelli Ann Davis Italy Is On A Roll...And I'm Not Talking Italian Roll

Hey wait a minute! Didn't that "other study" (Think: Two Fake Big'Uns) originate with the Italians too??

Wow. Two crap studies coming from Italy in one month. Maybe they should just stick with what they know best: canal boat rides, spaghetti, pizza, etc.

Kathy Blanco

I WAS RIGHT

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119843273/abstract

What this reveals is that they have adequate selenium. This means they can detox mercury folks!

What about doing the same study in OREGON, WASHINGTON and CALIFORNIA, NEW JERSEY, what would they find?

A people who have very low selenium, and high autism, and high mercury burdens.

And excuse me> Is itally full of mercury? OK, the volcanoes, where does the wind shift? The point is...what about thinking that Italy is a perfect study to find out that kids can detox mercury just fine?

And what is the schedule there?

All things we don't know, right>

Cherry Sperlin Misra

Maurine- Very good points and note that we are not told if those kids got Hep B at birth, That has to be one of the most dangerous vaccines. And I am sorry and sad. I know that 99% of our Delhi doctors will read that newspaper piece and dismiss all qualms, if they ever had them about which vaccines they use.

Diane- We really cannot draw any sort of conclusion about this tragic incident because we have absolutely no information about important parameters. Did this lady have a functioning immune system? Seems unlikely. Maybe she was on cortisone for something. Maybe she just had some vaccines containing mercury which damaged her immune system (Hep B , Flu ?) Maybe she tried to keep her weight down by eating lots of fish, grown in rivers contaminated by mercury used in gold extraction. Maybe she just had a lot of dental work to remove mercury amalgams and replace them with bright attractive white fillings. Maybe she had leukemia and didnt know it. Until the day that scientists doctors and health officials really give us the plain truth the average person is just living with a time bomb of ignorance.

Garbo

I think this is great. It's just further evidence that the CDC is out of control in its zeal to promote vaccines at all costs, that every study out there is rife with conflict of interest, and that AAP, via Pediatrics, is complicit. They. Are. Going. Down. Really, they are. They can't keep it up. They might be able to stretch it out for a few years, but when rates continue to rise, and more people are affected, and the demand for answers reaches an even greater crescendo, they won't be able to keep the Big Lie going. A vaxed/unvaxed study is going to happen. When it is finished, so will they be. And maybe we'll all be able to move forward on recovering children and preventing autism.

Kathy Blanco

I wish there was a measurable test for how much aluminum is in their system, MSG, Formaldehydge etc. And or, maybe we have to get off the issue of the actual toxins (which have value as part of the immune collapse), but also think autoimmunity is initiated by a double fold paridigm, that is, VIRUSES + the TOXINS, initiate the autism syndrome. Otherwiwse, we can harp all day long about ONE toxin not cauinsg or causing autism, but the accumlative affect, of the vaccine toxins and viruses, PLUS what the world gives us, is not even measurable, or even studyable (is that a word?)...the point being, how are you going to know the differences in total body burden even before a vaccine hits the fan in a child? And, what if this particular population was known to have higher level of immune competence? For instance...many states that have high selenium soils have less autism...don't you think THEY know this? IF you have low selenium in soils, for instance all of west and east coast which has the highest levels of autism, then, what are you going to find? More autism, more susceptible people. They are also the most toxic parts of the country? See where I am going with this? Are these properly desgined and CONTROLLED studies after al? YOU BETCHA, and because of that, why aren't we contering with our studies, in those highly polluted states? Again, this kind of independent research needs to be funded, but alas, what autism organization is going to have the FUNDS necessary to fund such a thing? And if parents wrap around this message, how much can we ask for change ina world that thinks pollution is good for ya?

Gatogorra

These aren't studies, they're soparifics; conscience-quellers for those already sold on the orthodox view or profiting by it. You know how after people buy a certain model car (a Pinto in this case), they like to see promotional material assuring them of how great their choice was.

Vaccination won't ward off melamine. The Brazillian model had sepsis from kidney failure, which Chinese parent groups now associate with melamine poisoning (the Chinese government suppresses the broader symptom association with melamine-- like rash, eye problems, UTI-- very much the way our government suppresses wider implications for vaccine injury). Brazil is one of the latest countries to set limits on Chinese food imports. Of course this woman could have been in the process of developing kidney stones from another cause but it's tragically coincidental to the mass poisoning. Our cat died from this two years ago after eating only one can of commercial food. It doesn't take much and now Kraft and other global food producers have been under suspicion.

Rosie

When I read this article I thought "Wow, let's prove peanuts are safe for everyone." We'll take a phone survey of parents whose kids eat or have eaten peanut butter. I'm sure we'll be able to kill those pesky rumors that some kids can die from peanuts. Think I could get funding?

KarenAtlanta

Just some mutual vomit here.
What more can be said.
My kid had vaccines doubled twice, Hg in his HIB, Hep B, and DTaP.
Whatever happened to reasonable precautions?

Oh that we were given informed consent and the ability to selectively control his dose so it was not a bolus dose of a toxic chemical.

More rhetoric more vomit.
Comparing vaxed to unvaxed is the only way to settle this once and for all!

Diane F.

I pray for the day the plaintiffs start winning in the Omnibus Autism Proceedings. The authors of these "studies" will look like damn fools, along with many others. There will be a lot of vomiting going on amongst them!

MikeWag

When I discuss this issue now with medical/public health personnel I cut right to the chase.

"This is what your profession is defending. You are injecting newborns and infants with levels of mercury hundreds of times higher than EPA hazardous waste levels. The type of mercury you use is more toxic than methylmercury (sometimes I have to explain why). By using direct injection, you are providing instant access to the bloodstream and thus all target organs. Even you (them) must agree, babies are more vulnerable to mercury." End of discussion!

Anne Dachel

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jp7ZD1RFVm7yOzgaB04Ra4dY_ZuQD95UKPPG0

How long is the media going to be complicit in the CDC cover-up of the vaccine disaster? AP reporter Carla K. Johnson
is not at all concerned that the latest study showing that it's safe to inject mercury into children was funded by the agency with everything at stake in this debate. Halfway through the piece she notes, "The study, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drew praise from outside experts."

She cites Paul Offit who endorses the findings," 'This becomes the fourth study to look for subtle signs of mercury toxicity and show the answer was 'no,' said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the author of a book on autism research and the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine." Does it ever occur to Johnson that a vaccine patent holder is not an unbiased, independent source?

It seems we've gone full circle and have returned to the days when the press was willing to publicize one tobacco industry after another all showing that smoking was safe.

Anne Dachel
Media editor

Twyla

My first thought on reading this article from AP in the L.A. Times was "selection criteria". Only one child with autism? That's about one tenth of what you would expect. Maybe the only children included in their study were the ones who were capable of taking the battery of tests that were part of the study?

And there is absolutely no statistical significance to one child having autism in one group and zero in the other group.

This reminds me of the recent study of 25 kids where measles virus was found in the gut of one child w. autism and one child w. IBD but no autism. People concluded that the MMR doesn't cause autism. But there were too few kids to draw this conclusion. What the study did show is that the measles virus can persist in the gut, and that the lab which Dr. Andrew Wakefield had used gave results consistent with other labs.

jen

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why do they keep doing this?? Why even bother? I wonder what the Italian vaccine schedule is? The only thing that heartens me is what you guys are saying about more nurses and doctors starting to be sympatico about all this pseudo-science that is vaccination.

Vomitfest

Looks to me like we are the only ones out there vomiting. The rest of the world has its eye on making a quick buck or bucks, humanity be damned.

I wonder whose bright idea it was to allow scientists to patent bugs/ pathogens in 1980 so that all medical research went towards what Big Pharma could profit from, rather than towards medical necessity. Maybe its time to re-write that particular law to end the incessant conflicts of interest between government and Big Pharma.

WE SHALL OVERCOME

I completely agree with many of the comments here. There are very few raised eyebrows now after telling nurses and therapists that I will not be vaccinating my soon-to-be-born second son. Even school therapists encouraged me not to vaccinate him before I told them I wouldn't!

There is desperation in the CDC because the tide has clearly turned and they know it. The usual "news" channels won't report it, but the Hanna Poling settlement turned the tide and most people know it. I'm turning into an optimist after seeing first hand that, as usual, society is far ahead of gov't policy and certainly far ahead of our useless mass media.

Juvi

So whats the name of this town where a really high percentage of kids arent vaccinated? Ashland? Ashland, Oregon?

Maybe you guys should perform the exact same
study with its standardized tests comparing vaccinated to unvaccinated or much less vaccinated kids is ashland? Maybe Jenny Mccarthy and jim kerry have enough money for it so you dont need the money from the fucking IACC?

Lisa Sigismondi

I think Diane was saying that the story about the model that died is yet another reminder from the media for all of us to get our kids vaccinated (insert pointed sarcasm here).

And yes, i've done a fair amount of puking over this Italian study myself. What a crock.

sdtech

It appears that the study is silent on autism. According to Carla K. Johnson, Associated Press Writer, the statistical sample base included the number of autistic children as one (n = 1) for the lower exposure and zero (n = 0) for the higher exposure groups. This data is not useful for autism relative risk evaluation. The comparison base (autism versus no autism) is too small or non-existent.

But an important question is how much brain injury the children received from the exposure. So it may be useful for statistical evaluation of other neurological damage base on two different exposure levels. Carla reports that “The girls with higher exposure scored worse on a finger-tapping test with their dominant hands, and on a vocabulary test in which they were asked to name common objects.” See
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-med-vaccine-safety,0,3306064.story .

Allison

Diane,
I've had 3 hospital experiences in the last 6 months with 2 of my children. One of them was in the hospital after surgery for days. Yes, there is MOST certainly a shift in emergency room Docs, new surgeons and nursing staff. The majority were asking me questions for help as they are concerned for themselves and their children. One of the emergency room Docs told me, "People better not be calling you crazy anymore, there's way to much evidence to the connections". Another nurse told me "I'm surprised you kept vaccinating as long as you did with these issues you've describe" The majority all said "You are doing the right thing". I've seen a major shift in medical personell no longer taking the party line, except where pediatricians are concerned. One other interesting note, many nurses were trained in Reiki and they have an accupuncture specialist available at Children's for those who want it. I've been pleasantly surprised.

Thanks JB, I don't think this study is going to fool anyone.

sorsha

ho-hum...another study comparing kids vaccinated with thimerosal against other kids vaccinated with thimerosal. why no real control group? And love how the study is 'Italian' even though it was commissioned by the CDC 10 years ago. so transparent.

and to add Kim, these bacterial vaccines like HiB and Prevnar are working in a similar way to antibiotics...wiping out certain strains of bacteria on a population level that for 'some reason' human evolution has allowed to proliferate (even though they may sometimes cause serious illness). Maybe the strains we tend to vaccinate for (the more common) are common because they help keep other, more lethal and aggressive strains of bacteria down. that's why even though Hi disease, strain B, has decreased, other Hi invasive diseases are more common than they were before the vaccine. No one is thinking past their next paycheck here, and no one will until we demand to know the real long-term effects of vaccine before we vaccinate. this means a real safety study with a real control group. Doesn't look like the 'Italian' "study" fits the bill here.

WE SHALL OVERCOME

Yet another gross extrapolation from a study comparing two groups of individuals too similar to separate. These studies are clearly designed to find no effect with respect to autism. The AAP and CDC have no intent of finding out if our current vaccination schedule is safe. As for the Associated Press? It's not the first time they falsely report on vaccines and autism, but talk about an orwellian spin. They sound like the "DOW 36,000" people anymore. Does the CDC pay their salaries directly?

I guess we need to keep beating it in their heads. We are not stupid and this is not rocket science. If you want to find out the effects of the current vaccination schedule on children's health the study you need to conduct is really simple and not expensive at all:

We need two groups, one with children that have received the recommended vaccine schedule and the other with kids that have received no vaccines. You could even have a third group of children that have received only a limited number of vaccines. You don't need to start from scratch because there are thousands of these children from all three groups out there. Compare outcomes for number of cases of asthma, autism, diabetes, food allergies. Find possible correlations with vaccines.

Why is it not being done? Because they already know the answer.

How can they live with it? Because they deceive themselves thinking about all the hundreds of thousands of deaths by measles we are avoiding? Or is it because they dug a hole so deep that when the truth blows up it will be far worse than the collapse of the financial industry and there is hell to pay?

I try to review mainstream media as much as possible and make comments whenever I can on their bad reporting of vaccines and autism. The Economix blog of the NY Times recently ran a post about how the vast majority of economists in the world did not see the collapse of the economy coming:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/an-economists-mea-culpa/#comment-26753

The post closed saying that "one can only hope that the medical profession would do better, should America ever be struck by a serious epidemic." I was amazed when I read this last line. I left a comment there to let curious readers know that the serious medical epidemic has been here for quite some time.

AnneS

Conflict of Interest: Dr. Tozzi has a grant from Wyeth for a trial on 13 valent conjugate pneumococcal vaccine

Tim Booton

They are not even trying to pretend that they have a shred of integrity anymore. They appear to be getting more and more desparate. They are actually comparing a group with a rate of autism at 1 in 1700 to American kids. Dicking refuckulous!!

Kevin

Do you have a link to the pediatrics study?

Stagmom

Diane, that's silly. The reason infections are taking over our bodies and killing us is in part due to our having changed our immune systems and strengthened the bugs with antibiotic overuse. There's no parallel to vaccines.

No one would die in car crashes if we all walked.

KIM

bensmyson

Is it a coincidence that the "epidemic" outbreak of Hib, the release of Offit's book and now the Italian study have all been dumped into the herd's lap all at the same time?

BTW, based on that study, are they saying that because only one out of 1,403 became autistic Thimerosal is actual a cure?

Maurine Meleck

There are so many other flaws with this study.
Why did they wait 5 or 6 years to put this study out now?
How did they select this 1,000 or so children to test from the thousands that did the study. Did they call and ask them if they wanted to be in the study. If you had an autistic child, would you let them be tested?
Where are the bio-markers they tested?
How was the amount of thimerosal given at any one time accounted for? Did some have multiple shots;others not. Why not a vaccinted vs unvaccinated study?
Some of it seems to be intelligence testing. There are so many other factors involved in intelligence testing .
I cannot wait to see this study in its entirety and have it dissected.
Maurine

Diane

Wanna vomit again?

Check out this comment on the HuffPost from an article about the Miss World finalist who dies after what started as a urinary tract infection:

This is so sad. It's scary to think how quickly an infection can kill.

Just a reminder to get your kids vaccinated.

(Came from this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/24/mariana-bridi-dies-miss-w_n_160551.html )

That being said, I would like to share that I had a very cool experience recently at the hospital when I had to take my son to the UrgiCenter. The attending doctor was a young woman and asked if his vaccinations were up to date. I explained that we stopped vaccinating after his twin was diagnosed at 2.5 years. The doctor totally got it! There was a nod of recognition and no further questions asked. A breath of fresh air in the medical profession? I think so.


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