Katie Wright Reviews Dr. Andrew Wakefield in New York City
By Katie Wright
Congratulations to the New York City chapter of the NAA on a terrific night featuring Dr. Andrew Wakefield! The room was packed beyond capacity. It was so gratifying to see the word about the meeting had really gotten out. The diversity in our community is one of our biggest resources. Attendees included doctors, nurses, Wall Street parents, homeopaths, corporate lawyers, chefs, stay at home parents, professional autism advocates, parents from the Orthodox Jewish community, Pakistani grandparents physicians/ NAA directors, journalists, vaccine injured adults, skeptics, teachers, researchers, authors, ABA therapists…So much for the conjecture that we are all a group of dumb like minded automatons takings orders from our new age, anti-government conspiracy theorist leaders. Aside from autism, the people in that room don’t have much in common or time for conspiracies, they are too busy struggling to make their kids healthier.
Dr. Wakefield was terrific, happy to answer any question. No one knows the subject of GI disorders and autism better. He took no umbrage at skeptical questions and responded respectfully and patiently. What a contrast to groupthink plaguing IMFAR scientists! So many professional academics avoid parent groups like the plague (maybe they can develop a vaccine for that?), terrified of the questions they will be asked, preferring to stay in their safe, hermetically sealed academic world. When I made a challenging study design enquiry at IMFAR the response was a blank nervous look and the announcement we were just about out of time for questions.
Wakefield spent some time discussing the emerging and frightening macaque monkey research undertaken by Dr. Hewitson. The study was published earlier this week. It is the ONLY study on vaccinated and unvaccinated primate groups. The results are devastating. The combination of adjuvants, live and preserved viruses and our very aggressive infant and child schedule is causing GI disease and brain damage and autism- like symptoms in the monkeys. Unlike previous vaccine studies, this study was NOT financed by a vaccine company, no one from the Hewitson team sits on a vaccine company board, no one will be earning money in relation to the study’s outcome and no one who holds vaccine patents or determines our immunization schedule from the CDC or NIH played a role in this research. The Hewitson paper is exceedingly impactful because it is very rare example of truly independent, unbiased vaccine safety research. So thank you so much for to Dr. Hewitson, her courageous collegeages and all the donors.
As we viewed the slides the audience did not look surprised, only sad. Seeing the vivid PET scans of a vaccinated monkey’s brain vs. an unvaccinated monkey’ brain tells us what we already know, yet is still devastating to see. The brains of the exposed monkeys exhibit a clear pattern of maturational decline. The lights in the house are literally dimming, similar to Alzheimer’s.
As always, in our community of families, the Q &A period included a raucous debate.
Naturally there were skeptics in the group, which is normal and expected. Diversity is a beautiful thing. A young journalist asked, “What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?” Any child dying is a terrible tragedy and I cannot even imagine such pain. The question, however, is a common one and represents a great opportunity to respond to the false choice: if we question the safety of our immunization schedule everyone dies!
Please, don’t we all have enough drama in our lives already? The best way to protect our children from infectious diseases is to perform truly rigorous, independent safety trials on both the adjuvant combinations and the effects live and preserved viruses on an infant’s developing central nervous system. Amazingly, this has NEVER been done. How about regaining the public’s confidence by making safer products, rather than bullying consumers to buy them! A novel concept I know, but common in the world in which one’s products are not protected from indemnity. We all want our children protected for horrible diseases but an increasing number of parents are unwilling to risk brain damage for such protection.
Sadly, if a vaccinated child gets the measles we need to take up that failure with the vaccine makers. Parents of autistic kids are not privy to the inter workings of vaccine companies.
That question reminds me of the argument against talking to teens about birth control. Some people fear that a consequence of learning this information teens will immediately have sex, contract venereal disease, get pregnant, possibly get AIDS and die. That is a false choice. The real danger is in ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away. And guess what, we have the industrialized world’s highest rate of teen pregnancy.
Dr. Wakefield empathasized the important role vaccines play in our health care system. Wakefield, like the majority of American parents just want to see comprehensive, independent vaccine safety research. Would the undertaking of such research really result in death for us all and the end of civilization, as we know it? Surely not, but why does the AAP and the CDC behave as if that is the case? Shouldn’t safety be more important than fear of the truth?
For Pete’s sake Viagra was almost recalled because of rare adverse side effects. Viagra is literally a gratuitous, nonessential drug taken by fully consenting grown men. Viagra prevents no diseases and is in no way required by any place of work.
Nevertheless, the FDA almost recalled the drug until all possible adverse side effects were re-studied clearly marked. Meanwhile we continue to throw the dice by giving newborn babies shots for sexually transmitted diseases with no regard to how these viruses are affecting babies’ brains. This is the United States of America, not sub-Saharan Africa. We need not continue injecting our children with copious grandfathered toxic adjuvants at a breakneck pace as if the plague was just around the corner. We need to get vaccine safety research done, and done well done.
I am frequently told that science moves slowly and that it would take too long to get these answers. Science seems to move slowly because there is little will to move quickly. Yet when scientific institutions spend our money, wow do they shift into high gear! You might get whiplash watching those checks get cashed!
Doctors, nurses and parents all asked Dr. Wakefield about their patients or their children’s colitis like GI disease. Why was it so hard to find help? Why did so many doctors refuse to scope their children despite the obvious evidence something was very wrong. Why were their kids prescribed anti-psychotics in lieu of medical help? Why didn’t the medical community want to help these children? Why weren’t autism researchers, advocacy organizations and autism treatment centers here?
I think fear is the obvious answer. After witnessing the nightmare Dr. Wakefield endured for daring to treat these very sick children at their parents’ behest, this field literally went underground. Now the AAP and other organizations are finally encouraging doctors to take GI complaints seriously and treat them. The problem is no one, outside of DAN!, is telling doctors how to do that. So most pediatric GIs are still in the dark, they do not know what to look for and if they do not find celiac disease nothing is wrong, they advise patients not to try “crazy diets” and might prescribe a reflux drug. We have to do a lot better.
As parent after parent spoke about their child’s heartbreaking symptoms I kept thinking where are all the autism specialists and researchers who have been spending our money? Why aren’t they here? If parents were talking about the genome the place would have been packed with area hospital professionals. If researchers disagree with Dr. Wakefield all the more reason to come! Ask questions, met these families, learn more about identifying and treating GI conditions, get ideas for research, identifying subgroup, exchange information with other health professionals. If I can spend $475 to go to IMFAR, surely NYC autism researchers can come to an ASD/GI lecture. Our event is even free!
Just where were all those autism professionals who receive our hard won NIH autism grants? Why is learning about GI disorders and meeting with parents who have not been handpicked (as with the ATN meeting) so scary or unimportant? Where was Dr. Joseph Buxbaum from Mt. Sinai? Where was anyone from the Simons Foundation? Simons has a huge organization that seems to place little emphasis on here and now issues. Why not prove me wrong and show up? Where was Cold Spring Harbor? They certainly receive their fair share of autism research monies have such a minuscule involvement with the autism community. Where was Dr. Susan Epstein of the Einstein School of Medicine? Epstein also works at CHOP’s Center for Autism Treatment. Where were the Autism Speaks scientists? Our meeting was about 5 blocks north of their offices. Where were the clinicians and researchers from Columbia? Where were their Autism Treatment Center doctors from Columbia? Obviously I could go on and on but I will get into NYC’s autism failings in another post.
It is these same scientists who decry the work of Dr. Wakefield, yet have met none of his patients, are unable or unwilling to debate him and express no interest in learning about or helping this giant subpopulation of kids. Guess what guys; you cannot have it both ways.
At the end of the Q & A I often approach parents who asked a question that relates to my child and learn a great deal from their experiences. We also reconnect with families we might have met at a conference and talk about how things are going. I am frequently approached by therapists and health professionals regarding area resources (it is a short list!) or useful books. NAA board members get direct feedback from attendees about what was useful and what topics they would like to see addressed in future meetings. Great clinicians like Dr. Bock, Dr. Nancy O’Hara, Dr. Elice are frequent guests and spend a lot of time talking with families about their child’s progress. So to area autism professionals : this is not so off the wall or scary, don’t be a stranger, come and check us out!
I know I speak for probably a million parents all over the world when I thank Dr. Wakefield. I wish the dim witted and corrupt GMC had to spend just one day watching before and after videos of our kids: the screaming, the stiffness, the febrile seizures, the terrible GI disease, the loss of speech and skills. No, the GMC wasn’t concerned with any of those ugly details only that Wakefield had the audacity to treat these sick children at their parent’s behest.
Truly a crime against humanity! By the way, the GMC still cannot find one patient who complained or would not talk their child to see Dr. Wakefield again. That may be his biggest “crime”, listening to parents and studying their child’s symptoms. So thank you Dr. Wakefield for standing up for the truth, helping our kids and refusing to dismiss or minimize their suffering although I imagine you were under tremendous pressure to do so. Thank you as well to all the families and donors who supported his important work, without whom would not have the scientific literature replicating Wakefield’s findings. If only this team was in charge of autism research! The epidemic would be over.
Katie Wright is a Contributing Editor to Age of Autism.
Patrons99 wrote:
"The decision whether or not to vaccinate is our choice to make, and no one else's. This is a God-given right."
I couldn't agree more.
Posted by: Beth | July 22, 2010 at 09:17 PM
@ Randy -
For an eye-opening, gut-wrenching, review of vaccine “madness”, see the video titled “Vaccine Nation Movie by Gary Null” in July 11, 2008.
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1100525/Vaccine_Nation_Movie_by_Gary_Null
Posted by: patrons99 | July 22, 2010 at 07:46 PM
@ Carol - Very interesting case report. Sounds like more evidence in support of the portal theory of vaccine-associated disease.
Let's analyze the construction of this sentence:
"“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”
The sentence artfully incorporates several false assumptions with an attribution of blame. The sentence insinuates that those opting-out from vaccines have no compassion for the surviving relatives of the deceased. This is UTTERLY FALSE. The sentence tacitly assumes that vaccines work with NOT A SHRED OF PROOF THAT VACCINES PREVENT DISEASE. The sentence attributes blame for death to anyone who exercises their freedom to abstain from vaccination.
The decision whether or not to vaccinate is our choice to make, and no one else's. This is a God-given right.
The sentence is a microcosm of pharma's vaccine agenda and their ongoing false flag operation against the public. See the links at this website:
http://www.falseflagflu.com/
http://falseflagflu.com/DR_CHRIS_SHAW,PhD-VACCINE_DAMAGE_CONFIRMED.html
"...diseases occur in 95% vaccinated communities and in outbreaks, the majority of those affected are already vaccinated."
"So in actual fact, the vaccinated are the ones who carry the disease and risk infecting the unvaccinated, rather than the other way around."
http://www.vaccineriskawareness.com/The-Herd-Immunity-Theory-Treating-Our-Children-Like-Cattle
Posted by: patrons99 | July 22, 2010 at 06:14 PM
And I worry about biological contaminants in vaccines. SV40, once a polio vaccine contaminant, is probably transmissible from a vaccinated person infected with it to anybody and everybody. What are the long-term effects of being the unwilling owner of this simian virus?
And that's just one contaminant.
Posted by: Carol | July 22, 2010 at 05:18 PM
“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”
I might say, "At least I won't catch a vaccine preventable illness from your vaccinated child."
"Unvaccinated U.S. Adult Traveling Abroad Contracts Vaccine-Associated Paralytic Polio Through Contact with a Child Vaccinated with OPV"
http://www.immunize.org/reports/report082.pdf
But of course I wouldn't say that.
If parents of vaccinated children need to worry about contact with the unvaccinated, does it mean that vaccines don't work all that well?
Posted by: Carol | July 22, 2010 at 04:46 PM
“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”
I might say to the parents - I'm appalled that this person has the audacity - especially in your time of tragedy - to use you and your suffering to promote an agenda.
For this person, I have a few questions of my own:
- what kind of car do you drive? Is it the most fuel efficient vehicle available? What do you say to parents of kids who suffer from smog related respiratory illness because of you?
- when's that last time you donated blood? What do you say to parents of kids with blood disorders who languish in a state of high risk for injury or death because of you?
- have you signed your organ donor card? What do you say to parents of kids who suffer and die while waiting for a suitable donor?
- do you live in a small house? Is it air conditioned? Do you turn the dial a couple degrees to save some juice? What do you say to parents of kids who suffer the toxic spew of heavy metals from the coal fired power plants needed to supply the extra power you need to keep you cool?
- do you buy your small appliances and other goods from local / regional manufacturers or go for the better deals on imports? What do you say to parents who lost their jobs in the in the mfg sector to China and elsewhere, who can't afford to send a decent lunch to school with their kids now because of you?
- do you sponsor an impoverished 3rd world child? What do you say to parents of kids who die of malnutrition because of you?
- do you use eco friendly products? What do you say to the parents of kids with cancer about the mix of untested chemicals you pour down your drains at home every day?
- have you ever:
-- planted a tree? maybe 2? spent time in an inner city garden working for cleaner air?
-- picked up someone else's trash on a walk thru the park?
-- skipped the morning Starbucks and dropped a dollar in some poor soul's tin cup on the way by instead?
-- left the car at home and rode a bike or walked? In the rain? When it was kinda cold outside?
All these really easy, incredibly simple, virtually RISK FREE and NON INVASIVE things - and probably a hundred more - that most of us don't do every day. Some with good reason, but many, if not most, by choice - nobody walks on water on this planet. Apparently there sure are a lot of child killers around here.
As far as obligation is concerned, all those people lining up recently for a flu shot - sometimes for hours - are they there for my sake or yours? Or just because they're scared sh$tless? Seriously. It's the latter. And they aren't showing up in the numbers expected - not my a long shot. So keep adding hypocrisy and emotional blackmail to the fear mongering, exaggerated benefit, and "ethical' arguments around unknown risk, and you'll keep driving reasonable people away from the very thing you're trying to protect and promote. If a child dies then from a vaccine preventable disease, what does that make you?
Posted by: Randy | July 22, 2010 at 03:04 PM
At the risk of straying off-topic briefly, understanding the pathophysiology of SIDS, SUID, the so-called SBS, and temporal relationship to the pediatric vaccine schedule is important.
A useful initial starting point in reviewing this literature might be an article titled “Vaccination and the Dynamics of Critical Days” by Viera Scheibner, PhD in 2004.
http://www.whale.to/v/scheibner.html
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/shakenbabysyndrome.htm
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/vaccines_phillips_criminal2.htm
http://infowars.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/shaken-baby-syndrome-the-vaccination-link/
http://www.whale.to/vaccines/sbs.html
http://www.whale.to/vaccines/sbs1.html
http://www.thenhf.com/vaccinations_18.htm
http://www.nvic.org/Doctors-Corner/Shaken-Baby-Syndrome.aspx
http://vactruth.com/2010/01/23/shaken-baby-syndrome-and-lethal-minor-falls-analysis-of-causes-of-death-of-amanda-m-sadowshy/
Posted by: patrons99 | July 22, 2010 at 02:06 PM
I've been reading _Biohazard_ by Ken Alibek, a major player in the Soviet biowarfare establishment until his defection in 1992. In his work he learned a thing or two about vaccines:
"....Vaccines made of live but weakened microorganisms are generally more effective than those made of nonliving cellular or subcellular components. Both types are usually benign, but in rare cases they can trigger significant changes in the blood and endocrine systems. Some have been known to affect the functioning of the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs. It is not medically advisable to combine too many different courses of vaccination....
Repeated vaccinations have been known to trigger or aggravate allergies. Thirty minutes after I received my last vaccination against anthrax in 1987, my face became swollen, and I developed a rash and had trouble breathing. I took Dimidrol, a powerful anti-allergy medication available in Russia (though not in the United states) and felt better again in a few hours. For the next ten days I received intravenous preparations in a hospital--a form of allergy treatment we called desensibilization therapy. Several colleagues had been forbidden from anthrax work after similar reactions. I knew this was a sign that I was genetically susceptible to large quantities of specific foreign proteins, and that my immune system had been stretched to its limit. I received my first anthrax vaccination in 1979 and began a course of annual vaccinations in 1982. I was also vaccinated against smallpox once, twice agains tularemia, and four times against plague. The chronic allergies I have suffered throughout my adult life are a direct consequence of repeated exposure to live vaccines, and to other biological substances I worked with."
Posted by: Carol | July 22, 2010 at 01:38 PM
Hi Katie,
Gut issues were certainly front and center in presentations on the non-ASD side at the umdf conference. The similarities with what our kids endure was striking. Richard Boles had an excellent slide presentation on this. Sorry to say the gut/regression pattern we are seeing in our kids was not really addressed by the opening ASD/mito panel. As a matter of fact, it was glossed over or lumped into the behavioral/genetics garbage can *except* by a few docs there like Richard Haas, who believes mitochondrial autism is real. The big question, what percentage of mito/ASD's are we talking about here? With so few mito experts, who will see and treat all of these kids if the known numbers grow?
There were many good people in attendance; the folks from Cleveland Clinic, J.Vockley, S. DiMauro, C.Pardo (who's new data finds mito dysfunction in brain tissue and a viral connection prenatal thru age one), and DAN's like Nancy O'Hara. It would just have been brilliant to inlude a panel of parents to present as well. I was thankful for the excellent questions posed by the Polings.
Posted by: Rain | July 22, 2010 at 01:28 PM
OMG! Thanks David, for pointing this out - I don't think even a spell check or grammar check would pick this one up.
inciteful vs insightful...big difference! I hope you know which one I meant.
Posted by: patrons99 | July 22, 2010 at 11:29 AM
holy sh!T. I have to say it again. Wouldn't you just assume as a parent that these kind of studies had been done as part of the safety research before even giving a vaccine to a child? It is very heartening to hear of Dr. Wakefield giving talks like this. I recently saw a Dr. Oz where they were talking about hpv and he actually kind of disagreed with a guest expert who recommended the lovely Gardasil vaccine. He said something like, " well you have to be careful with vaccines, they're not all safe either." So refreshing. He actually said he would talk to his kids about the vaccine safety/efficacy and let them decide on it.
Posted by: jen | July 22, 2010 at 10:54 AM
patrons99, Well - to have a dedicated team soliciting and obtaining a couple thousand SIDS/SUID records from parents and medicos, then analyze them for vaccinated vs. vaccinated, temporal association, etc., would take funding from such as Bill/Melinda Gates - Oooops! Not a chance there!
Or have the American Academy of Pediatrics fund and endorse you and me and others to approach parents -- Oooops! Not a chance there!
Yes, shaken baby syndrome is (most all) caused by vaccines, I certainly agree. Did you mean my earlier post was 'insightful' or 'inciteful'? No worries, either on works
Posted by: davidburd | July 22, 2010 at 10:51 AM
Very inciteful comment davidburd. I’m preaching to the choir with most of you.
“What is unavailable from my medical searching is what percentage of these SIDS/SUID deaths are of vaccinated or unvaccinated infants. This would be easy to find if the Medical Industry actually wanted to look for it, as one has to have access to actual autopsy and vaccine-history reports of each child. Chances are slim and none for this to take place.”
It might take place if WE take it upon ourselves to revisit as many of the autopsy reports and histopathology specimens as possible. The victims (parents) of SIDS and SUIDS death might be willing to provide detailed vaccination records - the temporal relationship and whether there was fever will be important. We should start a protected, secure, self-reported public database. FDA and VAERS is completely ineffectual in this regard.
I would suggest that many of the so-called “shaken baby syndrome” (SBS) deaths are really vaccine-related deaths. I suspect that there are quite a few loving parents who have been wrongfully accused and convicted of SBS child abuse. This is too horrible to contemplate. Loving parents, wrongfully accused of child abuse, when the moral entrepeneurs, those really responsible for the SIDS and SUIDS deaths (e.g. Offit, et al) are living large off their ill-gotten gains.
Posted by: patrons99 | July 22, 2010 at 10:07 AM
No matter what, there will be a rare death linked to a common disease such as chicken pox or mumps or measles happening in both vaccinated and unvaccinated kids. As is well known, vaccines actually fail to protect a significant percentage of kids (they just don't work).
In either case, the actual cause of death is, however, usually from fatal reactions to antibiotics and other drug treatments such as toxic "antiviral" drugs given in hospitals, or from prescribed drugs by a doctor/pediatrician, not the disease itself.
If a child is well cared for at home, a fatality from typical childhood disease is very, very, very rare.
However, those who criticize parents who reject vaccinations for their children are conveniently ignorant of the U.S. annual combined 4,000 SIDS/SUID fatalities each year, a toll certainly directly caused by vaccines' toxic ingredients.
Until 1995, these deaths were all listed as SIDS, but then SUID was created, though it's most probable this was politically manipulated into existence (this is all separate from the Back To Sleep Campaign, and natural non-plastic crib bedding, both indeed reducing a significant number of SIDS deaths).
The present annual 2,000 SIDS deaths means "sudden infant death syndrome" which before 1950 (and the exploding list of vaccinations) was virtually non-existent, whereas the 2,000 SUID deaths broken away since 1995 means "sudden unexpected infant death" and is most often listed accidental suffocation.
What is unavailable from my medical searching is what percentage of these SIDS/SUID deaths are of vaccinated or unvaccinated infants. This would be easy to find if the Medical Industry actually wanted to look for it, as one has to have access to actual autopsy and vaccine-history reports of each child. Chances are slim and none for this to take place.
Posted by: davidburd | July 22, 2010 at 08:37 AM
Yes, Garbo, the VAXER "attitude" is infuriating when they parrot their standard guilt-trip lines.
"“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”
Vaccine-preventable disease? Oh, Really. Our immediate reply should be "prove it".
Moreover, in all areas of preventive health, safety and the Precautionary Principle come first. Our lawmakers have completely forgotten this principle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle
The Social Responsibility Argument is nonsense and the Vaccine Induced Herd Immunity Theory is flawed.
http://www.vaccineriskawareness.com/The-Herd-Immunity-Theory-Treating-Our-Children-Like-Cattle
http://www.vaccineriskawareness.com/Diseases-In-The-Vaccinated
http://www.vaccineriskawareness.com/Diseases-In-The-Vaccinated-Page-2
Pharma has spent millions coining phrases like "vaccine-preventable diseases" so that their shills can regularly spew bilge at the public and to the media's talking heads, many of whom seem unwilling to see through the orchestrated fog and see the truth. Sadly, pharma will never let go of vaccine mythology willingly.
Posted by: patrons99 | July 22, 2010 at 08:15 AM
“What do you say to parents of kids who died of vaccine preventable illnesses because of you?”
Argh! How about, the same thing he says to parents whose kids died from vaccines?
This attitude is infuriating. Pointing out that the emperor has no clothes on doesn't mean one is responsible for him being naked in the first place. The vaccine program is "clothed" in trust and a veneer of altruism. They broke the trust when they put safety last and profits first.
Posted by: Garbo | July 22, 2010 at 06:36 AM
Darn, typo -- I meant to say for describing this event for us.
Posted by: Twyla | July 22, 2010 at 02:00 AM
Yes, another great article! Thanks so much for describing this even for us, and for your advocacy!
Posted by: Twyla | July 22, 2010 at 01:59 AM
Katie, I am just so impressed with you. I totally agree, and frankly, it scares me that "they" avoid looking at the obvious, and what makes me the very most angry, is their lack of asking parents and doctors who have successfully recovered children, what they did. Our governmental regulatory agencies are letting us down, and sadly, I can only wonder how long things have been this way.
Posted by: Heidi N | July 22, 2010 at 12:30 AM
Well said, davidburd.
"it's blind trust in a System ever more bankrupt and murderous with its Immunization Schedule for children."
The vaccine schedules are truly frightening. I'm afraid that they are liable to get much worse. The current vaccine schedules are actually a bit puny, compared to what they have in store for us. They are not hiding their intent.
http://vimeo.com/9945294
Did he or did he not say he intends to use vaccines, healthcare, and reproductive health services to REDUCE the world population by 10-15%? Crimes against humanity? No kidding! On a scale never before contemplated. That’s billions, folks...with a “b”. Philanthropy? It's a pretty "special" brand of philanthropy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VyGDGxktbI
If you haven't already done so, it's a useful exercise to google search "BIO", "GAVI Alliance", and "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" to get a sense as to what these moral entrepeneurs are up to. It's absolutely frightening! We now live in a Brave New Man-made World! Coupled with our fear of disease and pandemics, the vaccine schedules are very efficient means of controlling us.
Posted by: patrons99 | July 21, 2010 at 11:39 PM
"The brains of the [vaccinated] monkeys exhibit a clear pattern of maturational decline. The lights in the house are literally dimming, similar to Alzheimer’s."
Maturational decline - Kim's "autism stops the clock" analogy comes to mind here. So sad for the monkeys and for the children.
What a tragedy that this "is the ONLY study on vaccinated and unvaccinated primate groups." Guess the pharma companies were too busy making the big bucks and pumping out more vaccines to perform this most basic vax safety research. Disgraceful.
Posted by: Beth | July 21, 2010 at 10:58 PM
Thank you Katie...
You ask the best questions.
It's wonderful to know Andrew Wakefield has not retreated from his findings.
They can deny deny deny but our children are here to stay. And I don't know a single advocate who will ever stop.
Anne Dachel
Media
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | July 21, 2010 at 10:43 PM
Jeff C., I don't get your criticism of "republicans". My experience is that those believing and having faith in the vaccine system we now have are "democrats" as much as others.
So much for labels, in the world of medical iatrogenic disasters, such as autism, SIDS, allergies, etc., I find it's not a function as to political view.
Instead, it's blind trust in a System ever more bankrupt and murderous with its Immunization Schedule for children.
Here it is, a frightening Chart that speaks for itself:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/2009/09_0-6yrs_schedule_pr.pdf
Posted by: davidburd | July 21, 2010 at 09:21 PM
Thanks, Katie. Keep up the good work!
Posted by: Elaine HIckey | July 21, 2010 at 08:49 PM
Dear Rain,
So glad to hear a parent was at the mito conference. How did they connect mito disorders/ regression and GI disease? Did any parents share that part of the story? Who was there who you liked and who was terrible? Was anyone from Autism Speaks or any other autism organization there?
We have GOT to get a webcam on these conference. The stakeholders are so minimally involved as it is -hiding from the public isn't OK anymore. If we can get IACC to webcam, everyone else needs to as well.
Thanks, Katie
Posted by: Katie Wright | July 21, 2010 at 07:06 PM
Not to forget that the chairman of the GMC panel, Dr Kumar, not only sits on two UK medicines licensing authority committees and owns shares in GSK, he demonstrated his further neutrality at this year's British Medical Association conference by leading a debate calling for MMR vaccination to be made compulsory!
Posted by: John Stone | July 21, 2010 at 06:54 PM
"So many professional academics avoid parent groups like the plague (maybe they can develop a vaccine for that?)"
Yep it figures, they see parent groups as the problem and would want to develop a vaccine against parent groups.
a little tongue with some cheek
Posted by: michael framson | July 21, 2010 at 06:44 PM
As always..another great article.
Posted by: claudine Liss | July 21, 2010 at 06:41 PM
Katie-
Great article, you know I love ya! I wish I had been there.
Honestly, I think the only way we will ever get doctors to those types of things is to promote it as a medical presentation, with the unspoken understanding that it will be open to parents and laypeople. Docs won't come to a talk for parents, or even nurses, for that matter.
The sponsor needs to be a university or medical organization, not a parent organization.
If we had had the same lineup at the Maine CDC conference (Herbert, Poling and Buie), but organized it through a local autism group, I doubt we'd have had ONE doctor there, other than the speakers. Instead we had a full house of over 250 with 1/2 being providers and the other half a mix of parents and educators.
We've got to find ways to bring these talks to their home turf. It's the only way they are ever going to hear this stuff.
Posted by: Becky Grant-Widen | July 21, 2010 at 05:54 PM
The smell of noxious fear was also quite pungent from the scientific side of the recent umdf conference in AZ during it's mito/ASD day.
As a parent of child with confirmed mito/ASD, not one question came my way from an MD/researcher attendee about my child's medical history. Just the same old "this is a behavioral disorder" claptrap from panelists who were obviously ignoring the rage on the faces of more than one of us parents sucking it up.
I think the brightest in the medical community are connecting the dots. That explains the fear.
Posted by: Rain | July 21, 2010 at 05:44 PM
love the line hermetically sealed...man what a descrption of what is really going on. As long as they don't have to get their hands dirty, they will deny the epidemic. Today, I had one of those, I can't believe this is happening moments. My gastro person who is soon going to scope my son, actually called Dr Krigsman and got the low down of what is going on. And he kept on repeating to my husband and me, man, you have done your homework. He is going to follow the protocol to a T. I am so glad that people like Wakefield, Krigsman, Buie and others took the chance on discovery and were pioneers and taking away our kids pain. I liken them to pioneers, because often they had to sacrifice their lives for a better place and homeland. I think we should all be thankful that someone was willing to stick their necks on the line as Dr W did. If only I could show them in some way how thankful I am? I guess the biggest thanks I can give them, is to recover my children. Then show the world what "they" did to them.
Posted by: kathy blanco | July 21, 2010 at 05:16 PM
Cryshame.com is a website set up for parents who supported Wakefield, Murch and
Walker -Smith. Over the 3 years we travelled from all over the country to demonstrate and support the 3 doctors. The Autism File magazine has a great article in it by Ali Edwards about the last day of the GMC.
Posted by: Joan Campbell | July 21, 2010 at 04:31 PM
Meanwhile, Republicans with ASD children just tuned the message out because of partisan cheap shots.
Go tell Rep. Dan Burton that his courageous help for our cause was obviously all a diabolical ploy since he is one of those eeeevil Republicans.
Can't we refrain from the shots? I welcome those of all political stripes if their concern is helping and protecting our kids.
Posted by: Jeff C. | July 21, 2010 at 04:22 PM
I saw that headline and well....
"Start telling the news. I'm leaving today. You want to be a part of it! New York! New York!"
That aside, it sounds like a very informative and productive get together. How come all these wonderful things always are so far away from me!! :( lol!!
Posted by: Theodora Trudorn | July 21, 2010 at 04:04 PM
" We need to be very republican about it. "
Spacekitty, that's a keeper!
Katie you wrote about a young journalist's question, the sort of question that needs to get slapped right back into their mouth and I'm curious, did this journalist work for the Chicago Tribune or Wired?
Where I'm from if someone suspects a journalist doesnt seem sincere we confront them, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oqIP9yagkQ
BTW Senator Etheridge lives right down the road. Not bringing it up because I'm proud of it, just saying this is how trouble makers get handled around my neck of the woods, even by democrats.
Posted by: bensmyson | July 21, 2010 at 02:37 PM
Another excellent article with so many important points. Wouldn't it be great if Katie could crash a convention of the Association of Health Care Journalists and provide each participant with a list of on-point questions to ask public health administrators and vaccine manufacturers....
Posted by: nhokkanen | July 21, 2010 at 02:16 PM
Katie, what a great piece of writing. Only wish I were back in new York to attend. I am passing my Callous Disregard around and copies of Lina's Shot in the Dark. It seems every day people are more and more interested and asking a lot of questions about vaccine safety. We have big jobs to do. Thanks.
Maurine
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | July 21, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Katie, also, you are in New York??? Have you gone to see Amy Goodman from Democracy Now to ask her to interview Wakefield. If you haven't seen her show, it is an independent news broadcast for radio and TV. Their sponsors or the people --- Not corperations. www.democracynow.org
Posted by: spacekitty | July 21, 2010 at 11:38 AM
Katie... start a recall on these people who are being negligent of children. Yes, crimes against humanity is the correct label! A constant, daily drumbeat to recall the people who do not have our children's best interest in their daily duties. The drumbeat will start small, and grow and grow. You are in the position to start this. Please do. There are many pissed off parents who would commit to calling the same offices each day. I know similar things have occurred, but nothing that lasted. We need to be very republican about it. The republicans get talking points and never let up.... EVER until what they want happens.
Posted by: spacekitty | July 21, 2010 at 10:02 AM