Autism and What the Experts are Saying, Part Two: Dawson, Zahorodny, and Amaral
By Anne Dachel
If you’re like me, you’re sick to death of reporters telling you that all the science shows no link between vaccines and autism. Members of the press don’t hesitate to remind the public on a daily basis that only misguided parents believe vaccinations can cause autism. It’s usually a one sentence dismissal in a news report--more evidence that no one really wants to look into a controversy that could implicate the government and the medical community in an unprecedented health care scandal.
There are some huge chinks in the armor of the no link claim, however. I’m referring to the public acknowledgement by some top medical experts that yes, vaccinations do sometimes cause children to become autistic.
There are more and more independent doctors out there saying there is a link, but I’m talking about doctors who are often cited in news stories denying any causal relationship, yet who will also admit that, yes, sometimes vaccines are responsible.
One of them is a well-know autism expert, Dr. Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for Autism Speaks. She is cited everywhere by the press as one of the top doctors when it comes to autism.
During an interview on NPR in Boston on April 2, 2012, Dawson had this to say about the link between vaccines and autism:
“There is no evidence that the increase in prevalence that we’re seeing in Autism Spectrum Disorder is linked to the MMR vaccine. If vaccines play a role, and there has not been any evidence thus far to show that it has, it would be with a very small minority of individuals who have an underlying medical condition where the vaccine may be have triggered an onset of symptoms for an already existing condition or vulnerability. So we do not believe that vaccines are an explanation for the increase and we strongly encourage parents to get their children vaccinated.”
This is hardly going to convince worried parents that vaccines have been exonerated. While still in denial, Dawson leaves the door open to the possibility that for some, vaccines are the trigger that leaves them disabled for life with autism.
There are other high profile experts making similar comments about the link between vaccines and autism.
April 2, 2012, the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC radio featured Dr. Walter Zahorodny talking about the latest autism rate jump. Zahorondny is important because he’s an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark and he was the lead researcher on the New Jersey portion of the new CDC rate study.
During the interview, the host brought up research on the possible causes for autism and he made this comment: “I guess we know what they aren’t, for instance, childhood vaccines, right?”
This was Zahorodny’s stunning response: “Vaccines don’t play a significant role in autism increasing. Some small number of children probably do have autism because of an adverse vaccine reaction, but they don’t make for the overall rise. Similarly, thimerosal, the additive in vaccines which was almost entirely out of the picture by 2000, which was when our children in the ’08 study were born. So these kids, which would have seen declining autism prevalence if thimerosal was an important risk factor, not increasing prevalence. So I rule those two things out. There are other factors that would be more likely at play—demographical factors related to parents’ age and other factors linked to that.”
While Zahorondny’s claim that thimerosal was removed by 2000 is clearly wrong, his admission that yes, some kids really do become autistic after vaccinations, is alarming.
In April, 2011, Dr. David Amaral, Director of Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC Davis MIND Institute, was interviewed for PBS by Robert MacNeil.
He was asked if vaccines can cause autism and he said this: “I think it's pretty clear that, in general, vaccines are not the culprit. There has been enough epidemiological evidence showing that if you look at children that receive the standard childhood vaccines that, if anything, those children are at slightly less risk of having autism than children that aren't immunized.
“And so, you know, I think it probably is a waste of effort at this time to try and understand vaccines as a major culprit for, or a major cause of, autism. It's not to say, however, that there isn't a small subset of children who may be particularly vulnerable to vaccines.
“And in their case, having the vaccines, or particular vaccines, particularly in certain kinds of situations -- if the child was ill, if the child had a precondition, like a mitochondrial defect. Vaccinations for those children actually may be the environmental factor that tipped them over the edge of autism. And I think it is incredibly important, still, to try and figure out what, if any, vulnerabilities, in a small subset of children, might make them at risk for having certain vaccinations."
It’s shocking to listen to well-credentialed experts deny any link at the same time they also casually talk about the possibility vaccines are a factors in autism. That was never supposed to happen. Dawson’s “very small minority of individuals," Zahorondny’s “some small number of children,” and Amaral’s “small subset of children” might include my child. And how big is “small”? And where is the proof that the vulnerable group of children is “small”? There isn’t a single study that has looked at the children who regressed into autism following routine vaccinations.
It was the late Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the National Institutes of Health, who was on CBS News in 2008 calling for such a study. She said, “This is the time when we do have the opportunity to understand whether or not there are susceptible children … that makes them more susceptible to vaccines plural, to one particular vaccine, or to components of a vaccine, like mercury. …We have to take another look at that hypothesis, not deny it….”
CBS reporter, Sharyl Attkisson: “Do you think the government was too quick to dismiss out of hand that there was this possibility of a link between vaccines and autism?”
Healy: “I think the government or certain health officials in the government have been too quick to dismiss the concerns of these families without studying the population that got sick. I haven’t seen major studies that focus on 300 kids who got autistic symptoms within a period of a few weeks of a vaccine. I think that public health officials have been too quick to dismiss the hypothesis as irrational without sufficient studies of causation.”
Healy’s words are chilling. The science really isn’t there to back the claims of those who flatly deny any connection between vaccines and autism. The science isn’t there to prove that only a small subset of children might be harmed by vaccines either.
Dawson, Zahorodny, and Amaral are basically telling parents to play Russian roulette with their children’s health. Acknowledging that vaccines can trigger autism in a system where neither the doctor nor the vaccine makers is liable, is a really frightening gamble.
Experts who admit there’s a link but also claim that studies show no link, have absolutely no credibility. These people have no right to tell us anything when it comes to the health care decisions affecting our children.
This only adds to the confusion in the minds of parents. Whom can they trust when at the same time mainstream medicine denies a link between vaccines and autism, there’s Hannah Poling, the young Georgia girl whose vaccine injury case was conceded by HHS and she received compensation for damage that included autism? See CBS News:
T here’s the news from last year that the federal government compensated 83 vaccine injury cases where the child was left with autism.
There’s the new movie, The Greater Good, which presents experts on both sides of the vaccine safety debate and a lot of serious questions that need to be asked and answered.
There’s also the mounting independent science challenging “the studies” that show no link, like this one from the University of British Columbia, Do aluminum vaccine adjuvants contribute to the rising prevalence of autism?
And on May 26, 2012, Age of Autism had the story, Comment on IOM Study Designs for the Safety Evaluation of Different Childhood Immunization Schedules.
It's seems that the Committee on Assessment of Studies of Health Outcomes Related to the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule at the Institute of Medicine, an independent, nonprofit organization that works outside of government to provide unbiased and authoritative advice to decision makers and the public, is going to look into the cumulative effect of so many vaccines, so soon, on the health of a child.
We were told:
"To date, much of the debate on vaccine safety in the context of autism has focused on the safety of individual vaccines, the adjuvants used (e.g. mercury, aluminum) etc. The childhood vaccine schedule currently followed by the CDC requires that vaccinations start at birth and calls for ~48 doses of 14 vaccines prior to the age of six. Some people believe that the rate of increase in autism is directly correlated to the vaccine schedule, and changes made in this schedule over the last few decades. In other words, some people believe that the autism epidemic is caused by the vaccine SCHEDULE and the neuro-immunological consequences of giving many vaccines at once, with the first one given at birth. Their contention is that the current vaccine schedule has not been adequately evaluated for risks due to the age at which vaccines are given, the effect of giving several vaccines at once etc.
"To understand whether this is true or not, the vaccine schedules as well as vaccine-vaccine interactions will have to be studied. The IOM is inviting public comment on a study on the safety of various vaccine schedules through May 31st."
"Most post-marketing studies evaluate the general question as to whether or not a vaccine causes an adverse event among the majority of children receiving the vaccine. Very few post-marketing studies have evaluated whether the risk of adverse events depends on the scheduling of the vaccines. For example, very few post-marketing studies have evaluated whether the risk of adverse events depends on the age at which a vaccine is given; on the relative timing of two different vaccines; or on a combined cumulative effect generated by the timing of dozens of different vaccines."
In addition, on May 29, 2012, the Committee on the Assessment of Studies of Health Outcomes Related to the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule put out this announcement:
“The IOM will conduct an independent assessment surrounding the feasibility of studying health outcomes in children who were vaccinated according to the CDC recommended schedule and those who were not (e.g. children who were unvaccinated or vaccinated with an alternate schedule). The IOM will review scientific findings and stakeholder concerns related to the safety of the recommended childhood immunization schedule. Further, the IOM will identify potential research approaches, methodologies, and study designs that could inform this question, including an assessment of the potential strengths and limitations of each approach, methodology and design, as well as the financial and ethical feasibility of doing them. A report will be issued in mid-2012 summarizing the IOM's findings and conclusions.”
After years of demands from the public that there be a study comparing the health of never-vaccinated and fully-vaccinated children, the government is finally looking into the possibility of doing this research. Public confidence in the ever-expanding vaccination schedule has eroded to the point where this is urgently needed. If one in every 88 never-vaccinated children also has an autism diagnosis, the proof of no link would be there for all to see. Until such a study is done, the question remains open.
Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism. Subscribe to her newsfeed at AnneDachel.com.
I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to write this.
I also wanted to thank you for working so hard at all this too.
Benedetta
Posted by: For Raymond | June 11, 2012 at 10:01 PM
Raymond:
You are right to put your son above everything.
Taking a break from all this, will help you and him.
Get your breath, then dive back in because you are a leader.
Let us put things in perspective here:
Please compare and take comfort
I deface vaccine postures in doctor's offices
and you ---
start up autism organizations that even though are gone; at one time -- TAAC funded rallies in Washington and supported men like Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Singh!
You are also right - it is not just a mercury issue - getting too much mercury from the environment and then more from the shots - it is a deeper rabbit hole than that.
I bet Katie Wright feels the same about Autism Speaks, if that is any comfort to you?
She is another mover and shaker, like you! She still attends meetings, and she still writes.
Raymond I have read your blogs and you are a very good writer. You have not finished this race yet - do not despair.
However; even movers and shakers needs a ground swell when going up againest the government.
I know what you are thinking - we have someone like Eric London - a leader in the autism world denying vaccine involvment and it is going on forever. But he has got himself vested (is that the right word) - Merck cannot invest in the whole population though - and the Vaccine Court is as hateful as can be - and not paying either.
Meanwhile people are waking up; The first of the DPT shots victims are in thier 20s, and early 30s. The piecies to this puzzle are coming together for a lot of folks (the mass population are not idiots --forever). If it is the immune system (and it is) then it leads us back to vaccines being very much involved. That-- and with the help of the internet we are catching on.
And if you don't think so here:
Example:
My sister-in-law (only three years ago) with four grown sons in their mid 20s, - after a life time of health problems - it has all come together for her, something I thought would never happen! She even had twins with autism/hayfever/105 temps. Another with bad ADHD-- that was really bipolar. She herself had to have a series of IVIGs becaus her immune system stopped working except to give her aquired mytheis gravis.
But I should not be aggravated at how slow she was for I too was so very slow. I did not realize that my now 30 year old daughter's Kawasakis as a child was immune induced by her vaccines untill 5 years ago. I should have done better because I saw vaccine reaction within hours of their DPT shots - I just didn't think a reaction could also be slow and take 8 weeks.
It was not that I did not have the internet in the ninties it was just that the only place to go was National Vaccine Information Center and it was not that good back then either - and hunting and hunting I finally found a group (about 10 only) of parents that banned together claiming vaccine injuries but we still did not have all the piecies to the puzzle, either.
* We wondered if tourettes was part of all this, or
* what did it mean when one had seizures from eating a candy bars - and Cinn. Children Hospital finally told this mother it was an allergy to corn syrup, or
*was the diabeties that one child had after a vaccine was really caused by the vaccine -
Now - it is an easy search on the internet, it is more than 10 parents. It has been 40 years do you really think it will be another decade? I don't think it will be.
I just hope---- CDC gets their funding cut - they all lose their jobs.
Raymond don't despair! Please!
Benedetta
Posted by: For Raymond | June 11, 2012 at 01:38 PM
Anne,
Thank you for this article. I certainly agree! If scientists can say vaccine injury is the cause of autism in a subset of children....how can they dismiss this saying the number will be small? How can we say that without appropriate testing the numbers are small...especially when it had been dismissed by scientists in the past alltogether? I agree! Would it even matter how small the numbers are? LOOK! Real people are suffering damage. My family knows. My son IS vaccine damaged! He had underlying issues already. Six vaccines administered while he was sick severely damaged my son...we are still trying to get help for him. This evening my husband sugessted we have a veterinarian act as our new peds doc....and let me tell you what led up to that!
We have a severely autistic son named Fintan. He is seven and nonverbal with no receptive language. He has started to show interest in animals so we have been looking into a puppy that would be an appropriate match. After looking we decided on a weimeraner. We spoke with the breeder and drove the three hours prepared to take this baby home.
Then this wonderful owner pulled out a binder of how this dog MUST be cared for if we are allowed to buy it. I won't get in to all of it. However at one point during the talk I saw all dreams of taking this dog home go straight out the window. THE VACCINE AND POSSIBLE AUTOIMMUNITY DISCUSSION! Apparently it is well-known that there is a subset of this dog breed that has autoimmune reactions to vaccines. Link is below.
http://www.weim.net/emberweims/health.htm
She educated us about safe vaccination and vigilant care after to look for reactions. What we would do if reactions were observed. These babies should never be vaccinated at an age too young for them to handle it. What vaccinations should not be given....EVER....because the consequences could be Far more severe than recovering from the actual illness. Never vaccinate when they are sick. Never give too many at one time. Watch out for certain manufacturers and never use them. She would find the vet we would go to for an appropriate and safe protocol.
My husband got up from the table and I knew he was terrified. He told her...we can't take him home today. Our son is really sick. He told her he was too concerned that the dog could get in trouble and we could not take care of it. The two of us know all to well what the insult of Fintan's last round of vaccines did. Everything she was saying was all to real and a lot of care and responsability!
When we got in the car my husband said he was too afraid that that kind of dog was just too sickly. I told him that was not the case, but that we were just appropriately educated about vaccines. Wow....can you believe that those looking after dogs realize that vaccines are not one size fits all? They think we should be careful about administration and look for and treat reactions? Not all immune systems are the same??!! What a concept.
A few minutes ago I told my husband it would have been great if that much education and concern had gone into educating us prior to vaccinating our kids. That is when he told me that perhaps we should look into having a veterinarian give safe and considerate medical care to ou kids! Not a bad idea.
Posted by: Jackie | June 11, 2012 at 12:15 AM
Benedetta,
Here goes then. I will mention some organizations that people are familiar with but will not mention people's names or present day organizations (other than Autism Speaks). Also I will suggest what parents/organizations can do to improve things, if so inclined.
I started the Autism Autoimmunity Project (TAAP) in 1998 since I had been a member of Cure Autism Now (CAN) and had a bad experience with them. I was on their email list at the time and a NJ parent told me not to criticize Merck since they wanted to get funding from them. I promptly quit and started TAAP. Before that I had talked to Eric London of NAAR and found out he was pro-vaccine and thought immunology research and the vaccine issue was bogus (subsequently, I found out a relative of Eric London had suggested to Mr. London that his son had an adverse reaction from the MMR...the relative became persona non grata or the black sheep of the family). Also, my documented online visit to the NIH in September 1997 with Bernie Rimland, Vijendra Singh, Tina Zecca and Donnatella Graffino for NIH funding led nowhere.
After I formed TAAP, I went to many autism rallies in DC and in the April 2000 vaccine/autism hearing by Dan Burton, Congressman Waxman equated TAAP's funding for Dr. Wakefield to Merck's funding of Paul Offit.
Around this time on the Internet, 3 parents from NJ CAN asked me to send them all the emails I had from someone's list on adverse reactions to vaccines including research articles. I was glad to help but eventually it was used for an autism organization that ignored the autoimmune link to autism but strictly went with mercury only. These 3 parents also were involved with the NJ Governor's Council on Autism. TAAP was involved as a representative but these parents didn't help join with me to get autoimmune funding for autism at UMDNJ, Newark, NJ. In fairness neither did the NAAR and other representatives (later it became Autism Speaks, same non cooperation).
Eventually as President and Founder of TAAP, I turned over the President position to a parent in Florida, April Oakes. She was successful in having fundraisers for Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Singh and in 2003 there was a rally on the mercury/thimerosal issue in Washington, DC. Other organizations outside of TAAP were involved but TAAP bore all the costs. In the end, two parents broke from TAAP and formed their own autism organization but criticized April Oakes. I realized that April didn't follow finances (she wasn't an accountant, like myself) that much but was successful in raising a lot of money during the fundraisers. At this time I was having problems with our son's aggressions so I wasn't as involved as I was before with TAAP. Over this time we got a lot of flack from parents and organizations that felt mercury/thimerosal in the vaccines was THE ISSUE and that our stand, as parents on autoimmunity and being anti-vaccine was wrong. Eventually in 2005, because the money wasn't there and people were no longer involved in our organization, TAAP was dissolved. At that time I was having lots of problems with our son and could no longer be involved.
Over the years I found that the large organizations like CAN, NAAR and now Autism Speaks were useless as well as the NIH and the CDC. They treat autism research as a WPA project and when I started my objective was to find a cure and/or treatments that would stop the autism epidemic through immunology research. Unfortunately, there were only a few small autism organizations that had the same thing in mind and I knew Berbie Rimland at the Autism Research Institute (ARI) as a great ally. ARI with Bernie's passing is still a great autism organization.
My suggestion which probably will be ignored is that the small autism organizations should unite and try to fund independent immunology research into autism rather than just concentrate on the mercury/thimerosal issue alone. Organizations should be open to parents stressing their anti-vaccine views, after all they aren't MDs and I realize MDs have to be careful in that respect. But parents have that right since they have paid a heavy price and know their kids better than anybody else does.
So that is the long and the short of it. Looking back I did what I could do but it wasn't meant to be regarding finding the answer. The way things are going now in the autism community it may never happen. I hope not but I observe no unity as I mentioned above. Criticizing the NIH, CDC and Autism Speaks is everyone's prerogative but it won't change things. In the case of the NIH and CDC, it would be better to cut their funding for autism research because they waste taxpayer money. Autism Speaks is a private organization that doesn't use taxpayer money obviously but not contributing to them is very important. Especially since they abuse the money they raise with large administration costs that enrich the executives there.
Better that organizations unite and do the funding on autism immunology research rather than wait for the NIH, CDC and Autism Speaks to do the funding. It will never happen with them and the autism epidemic will go on for decades to come with no answer/solution in sight.
Posted by: Raymond Gallup | June 07, 2012 at 12:38 PM
Raymond;
I am just one little person out in the boonies. I go to the doctors all over - all the time to take h my father, my mother, my husband, my son, my daughter. I spend my time in all these different doctor's offices and hosptials and labs defacing stuff -- but I do it with a light pen so no one will notice.
Today it was a poster with a dark headed mother sitting between her handsome son and pretty daughter - Gardisil - it is not just for girls- it was titled. AND In the same waiting room And today I got to write my take in the MD magazine under an article that said that ADHD is linked to other mental problems as well. .
So the email would reach one -- just one.
Kim, Dan, Mark has let people write stuff before on here - then it would reach more people.
Think about it - it sounds like something we would all like to hear.
Posted by: Benedetta | June 06, 2012 at 08:29 PM
Benedetta,
You and anybody else can contact me at [email protected] and I can document it for you via email.
Posted by: Raymond Gallup | June 06, 2012 at 08:51 AM
Raymond
I would be interested in reading it.
I would like to know what walls you hit to get our kids treated for auto immine diseases.
And I would be interested in anything that Carol has to say too.
Posted by: Benedetta | June 05, 2012 at 02:22 PM
Carol,
Per.........
"Elsewhere you quote Dr. Oleske as saying that your son had the highest measles antibody titers he had ever encountered."
Yes, that was what Dr. Oleske said to me and it was written in a letter by him which I still have copies of. Subsequently, he told me that other children he saw, had higher measles antibody titers than Eric.
Per......
"If you're not up for writing a book, maybe you could write an article for AoA about how your organization, TAAP, was sabotaged."
I doubt AoA is interested in an article by me about what happened to TAAP. In a nutshell, our organization wasn't liked because of our anti-vaccine message and the fact that we were mentioning the MMR vaccine. We had a lot of flack from the usual pro-vaccine people/organizations but I was surprised at parents in various autism organizations that turned their back on us or sabotaged us financially. That's politics for you. I'm sure if parents wanted to start a new autism organization funding autoimmune research on autism, I would bet they would get the same treatment. In fact, I would be willing to guarantee it would happen. Sadly, that is the landscape that is out there and frankly, I'm glad for myself and my family that I'm no longer involved. I don't miss it and during that time, it didn't help our son who now lives in an out of state residential center for autism....and his severe aggressions.
Posted by: Raymond Gallup | June 05, 2012 at 12:14 PM
This is my lastest finding...I wish someone would research this; perhaps test the children and parents to see if they carry this gene mutation (I have enherited it from both of my parents)...it is associated with Autism, Parkinson, Altzhemiers...we can't detox, enzyme issues, B vitamin issues, etc...check it out...when you read...things will ring familiar to you...(sounds mito too) I believe this is the genetic link; perhaps if parents/babies received a blood test they would know if they were at a higher risk beforehand and then ultimately decided how to proceed from there.
http://mthfr.net/mthfr-a1298c-mutation-some-information-on-a1298c-mthfr-mutations/2011/11/30/
Posted by: Diane Gavin Renna | June 05, 2012 at 09:00 AM
Raymond Gallup,
Elsewhere you quote Dr. Oleske as saying that your son had the highest measles antibody titers he had ever encountered.
If you're not up for writing a book, maybe you could write an article for AoA about how your organization, TAAP, was sabotaged.
Posted by: Carol | June 05, 2012 at 08:45 AM
Dear Cherry Sperlin Misra,
With Eric and other children with autism there were immune panel blood tests that showed that kids with autism had elevated measles antibody titers. Something you don't find with normal kids, they have no elevated measles antibody titers. Dr. Vijendra Singh did a blood test to see if a child with autism tested positive for myelin basic protein antibodies. He no longer has a lab since his research is no longer funded, even though he still tries to help families.
I don't believe it is just mercury laden vaccines or the MMR vaccine alone. I believe any vaccine can cause autism. There have been cases where families have documented the hepatitis B vaccine alone damaged their children, others with the MMR and/or DPT. I believe like Singh and Wakefield that autism is an autoimmune issue and the culprit is the vaccines that do autoimmune/neurological damage.
There are lots of articles by Singh, Wakefield, Fudenberg, Gupta, etc. to support what I'm saying about autoimmunity and autism. Just a matter of finding that information online (easier and quicker) or in your local library.
Ray
Posted by: Raymond Gallup | June 05, 2012 at 08:25 AM
To Ray Gallup, I began my interest in autism with an article by you and I love to read your comments. I only disagree on one point- From my location in California, where mercury -laden vaccines are banned since 2006, I notice that whenever I go into public places I see wonderful, neurotypical children in the 7 and under group. If we can just get parents to refuse the 6 month of age flu vaccines, things will improve still more. It must also be remembered that the mercury hypothesis for autism does not imply that the MMR is safe. The combo of MMR and mercury is obviously a very dangerous one- so much so as to make one despair for the medical profession. It brings to mind the Blood-letting-is-a-great-Protocol award.
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | June 05, 2012 at 05:34 AM
A little history about Walter Zahorodny and my knowledge of him.
Back in 1996/1997 when I was looking to see if a doctor would do the Transfer Factor for Eric, I came across Dr. James Oleske at UMDNJ, Newark, NJ. He, an immunologist, had fought the CDC about the fact that children were coming down with AIDS, just like families now are fighting the CDC about vaccines and autism. Dr. Oleske had a CBS TV movie based on his story at:
The Littlest Victims
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097760/
Dr. Oleske found out from me after testing Eric with blood tests that autism was an autoimmune disorder. He found that Eric had elevated measles antibody titers. Dr. Oleske suggested that Eric get the IVIG and he did...18 IVIG infusions. Dr. Zahorodny worked along side Dr. Oleske so thereafter I knew both doctors well.
Dr. Tina Zecca and Dr. Donnatella Graffino worked alongside them in 1997/1998 and they did an abstract. The following abstract was presented at an NIH meeting in September
1997 attended by Dr. Vijendra Singh, Dr. Tina Zecca, Dr. Donnatella
Graffino (two associates of Dr. James Oleske), Dr. Bernard Rimland,
and me.
Elevated Rubeola Titers in Autistic Children
T. Zecca, D. Graffino, M. Lania-Howarth, M. Passannante, J. Oleske
NJ Medical school, Children's Hospital of NJ, Newark, NJ September
1997 (presented at meeting with Dr. Marie Bristol at the National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland)
The syndrome of autism is a clinical entity affecting 20 out of 10,000 children. We have evaluated the possible role of MMR in the pathogenesis of autism by comparing rubeola titers in autistic and normal children. Among 16 children diagnosed with autism followed in our clinical practice, we noted these children to have a 3 fold increase in their rubeola titers over expected normal range. A
Wilcoxon Kruskal Wallis test comparing 13 rubeola titers from normal children reveals a statistically significant P-value of 0.0050.
Subjectively, parents have stated that their children's developmental milestones deteriorated following MMR vaccination. Neurological sequelae following MMR are widely reported. MMR therefore may play a role in the pathogenesis of autism. The elevated titers of anti-measles antibodies in autistic children may signify a chronic
activation of the immune system against this neurotropic virus.
In early 1998, Dr. Andy Wakefield met with Dr. Oleske and his team in Newark, NJ after I sent the abstract to Andy. Dr. Wakefield was set to have Dr. Zecca write an article to the Lancet (since Andy's article was at that time ready to be published). For some reason it fell through and Dr. Zecca was never able to publish the article in the Lancet. Politics as usual since after that Dr. Zecca and Dr. Graffino were laid off from UMDNJ. So I'm sure Dr. Oleske and Dr. Zahorodny observed and noted what happened. When I had the Autism Autoimmunity Project and was represented with the Governors Council on Autism in NJ along with various autism organizations like Cure Autism Now, National Alliance for Autism Research and then Autism Speaks, these organizations along with the parents prevented any research studies on the MMR link to autism.
So I'm not surprised that Dr. Zahorodny would say what he said. I could write a book on how autism organizations, the CDC, NIH and the pharmaceutical companies sabotaged my organization, the Autism Autoimmunity Project (TAAP) and myself whenever I and other parents tried to get something done with autoimmunity and the MMR link to autism. If doctors see what happens to parents and an organization like TAAP, why would they want to stick their necks out and get sabotaged or worse??? Also they see the politics played against Dr. Wakefield which again only adds to environment that makes it hard to be open and search for the truth.
This is the reason why I see this issue about the vaccine link to autism dragging on for decades to come and the autism epidemic continuing to get worse. Very unfortunate!!!!
Posted by: Raymond Gallup | June 04, 2012 at 10:20 PM
In the real world, among real people, does anybody still believe there is no link between autism and vaccines any more? New parents are vaccinating their kids because they're scared not to, but they're nervous as hell. And a lot of doctors and nurses are quietly going with a modified schedule. This is what I'm hearing, anyway.
Posted by: Julie | June 04, 2012 at 05:53 PM
From the FDA website:
"Much progress has been made to date in removing or reducing thimerosal in vaccines. New pediatric formulations of hepatitis B vaccines have been licensed by the FDA, Recombivax-HB (Merck, thimerosal free) in August 1999 and Engerix-B (Glaxo SmithKline, thimerosal free) in January 2007. In March 2001 the FDA approved a second DTaP vaccine formulated without thimerosal as a preservative (Aventis Pasteur's Tripedia, trace thimerosal). Aventis Pasteur, Ltd was also approved to manufacture a thimerosal-free DTaP vaccine, Daptacel, in 2002. In September 2001 Chiron/Evans was approved for manufacturing a preservative-free formulation of their influenza vaccine, Fluvirin, that contained trace thimerosal. In September of 2002, Aventis Pasteur, Inc was approved to manufacture a preservative-free formulation of their influenza vaccine, Fluzone that contained trace thimerosal, and in December 2004, a thimerosal-free formulation of Fluzone was approved."
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/UCM096228
Since the thimerosal-free formulation of Engerix was only approved in the US in 2007, I'm assuming that the Engerix administered before that was the thimerosal-heavy kind. (To be fair, Recombivax also has a hefty dose of associated adverse events.)
Posted by: Carol | June 04, 2012 at 01:14 PM
Lesley:
It may work because the vaccines have screwed the immune system up so bad that our kids can not fight off a thing. Then the treatment of these infectious diseases by other means would help. Nothing like having a wild immune system and still can't fight off a disease.
I really think that was the case or my kids.
We had to tough it out on the viruses, but the antibiotics helped with reoccurring infections.
My 26 year old son, yesterday -declared proudly that he had been well for three whole years.
That is with no vaccines since he was five years old; specical diets and supplements everyday.
My 30 year old daughter however; that just had a Hep B and a flu shot around three years ago - just now barely getting over some bug and yet another sinus infection. Missed three days of work. I have to follow her around like a little child to make sure she takes her vitamins, stays on the diet, and pour out the spoonful of MCT oil and hold it out for her to take.
Posted by: Benedetta | June 04, 2012 at 11:36 AM
It's so simple: vaccines are not linked to autism unless they are!
Posted by: Theodore Van Oosbree | June 04, 2012 at 11:02 AM
I think it is absolutely spot on that a study is done comparing vaccinated with none vaccinated children, and lets hope it is done quickly so that the truth can emerge. I fully believe that autism is viral related, following on from the research of doctors using GcMAF in the treatment of autism. These trials are being undertaken by doctors in the USA, Germany and Italy. Dr Bradstreet in the USA discovered the effectiveness of GcMAF in 2011, after tests showed that most autistic children have elevated nagalese levels, and research by all the doctors puts the success rate at about 80%.
The most common reported improvements concern cognitive abilities, attention and focus, learning and understanding, receptiveness and awareness of the environment; in addition receptive language (understanding new and complex sentences) and expressive language (ability to pronounce the first words, or improvements in speech fluency) and social skills improved. They also reported improvements in behaviour: less hyperactive and more cooperative. Parental anecdotes express joy and amazement at the improvements in their children.
If it was not a viral or pathogen related issue, GcMAF would not be effective.
Posted by: Lesley | June 04, 2012 at 09:26 AM
First of all; well-know autism expert on autism, Dr. Geraldine Dawson-- is not an expert untill she as a doctor can treat and cure and prevent autism. Not an expert-not an expert-not an expert!
Same for the Dr. Burns in California that is an expert on Kawasaki's disease. Not an expert, not an expert, not an expert.
What they have done is make a career on the misery of others.
The are experts snake oil salemen.
Second of all;
A subset of children may be damaged by vaccines if they have a problem with the mitochondria.
Just Children that was just waiting to become ill anyway so no guilt if they got hurt protecting everyone else for the greater good.
My husband at 34 years old subcomed to vaccine damage to his mitochondria. He was a subset at age 34?????-- "acquired" mitochondrial problem.
Posted by: Benedetta | June 04, 2012 at 09:00 AM