Autism Parents take on AAP in DC - October 7-8
by Evelyn Pringle
(Email: epringle05@yahoo.com)

During the same time frame that the number of the mercury-based thimerosal-containing vaccines nearly tripled on the childhood immunization schedule, a corresponding epidemic of autism erupted. The increasingly common disorder is now forcing public schools to build more special education classrooms and scramble to train specialists to accommodate the needs of autistic children who are enrolling in the nation's already overwhelmed public school system in record numbers.

Because some vaccines must be given more than once, a child can get as many as 23 shots by age 2, according to the March 7, 2004 LA Times. In fact, a child might receive as many as six shots during a single doctor's visit, the Times reports.

So what does this mean?

It means that a person born in the 1950s or 60s got a total of 3 vaccines in childhood over a period of years, and only received 25 micrograms of mercury in each shot spread out over time and if no autism developed, the person's body was apparently able to rid itself of the mercury.

In contrast, an infant in 1990s got a dose of 150 micrograms of mercury in one shot during one doctor's visit. If the infant's body was not able to rid itself of that mercury, with each additional vaccination, more and more mercury accumulated in the body and the
child developed  autism, or some less extreme disorder or developmental disability.

A person really does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand this process.

Although it took years to gain access to the government records needed to confirm this theory, famed researchers Dr Mark Geier and David Geier, were finally able to obtain access to the CDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink, to conduct an independent study on the link between thimerosal and autism.

Their study revealed that the risk of autism in children increased significantly with each additional 25 micrograms of mercury the child received. "When they finally calculated the relative risk for autism at each exposure level, the Geiers were shocked to find that children who received three mercury-containing DTaP shots had an increased risk of autism nearly 27 times that of children who got three preservative-free vaccines," according to David Kirby, in the book, "Evidence of Harm."

Think about that for a minute. The children who received thimerosal, were 27 times more likely to develop autism than children who received no thimerosal. Coincidence? 27 times? I think not. There are now hundreds of studies that have identified thimerosal as the culprit responsible for the autism epidemic. Do a google search by typing in "thimerosal" "autism" "studies" and see what you come up with.

The mercury-based preservative is still used during the manufacturing process of vaccines and trace amounts have been found in those products. A full dose of thimerosal is still added to flu vaccines recommended for use in pregnant women and 6-month-old babies.

On October 7 and 8, parents of autistic children from over the country will be in Washington DC to rally support with lawmakers for a complete ban on mercury in vaccines and to make their voices heard at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Convention.

Back in July 2001, the American Academy of Pediatric's policy statement on mercury exposure was: "Mercury in all of its forms is toxic to the fetus and children, and efforts should be made to reduce exposure to the extent possible to pregnant women and children as well as the general population." PEDIATRICS Vol. 108 No 1 July 2001, pp 197-205.

However, the organization has apparently had a change of heart because in 2005, in attempt to thwart the passage of legislation in New York and other states, that would ban thimerosal from all vaccines given to pregnant women and children, the AAP sent out letters to state law makers with comments similar to the following: "Passing such legislation sends the wrong message to New York parents and pregnant women, and in fact all New Yorkers, The legislation makes the legislature appear to be complicit in 'Junk
Science.'"

The next question is logically why would they do this? Why would they deny the undeniable? By now there are a number of reasons. First off, many members of this group are financially indebted to the pharmaceutical industry. Some own stock in a company or share patents in a vaccine. Some were paid to develop the vaccines and some were paid to conduct clinical trials on vaccines. And some were even financially rewarded over the years if the number of vaccines administered in their office increased.

Others don't want the public to get it because they know they will face not only outrage, but huge law suits for their involvement in developing or approving the mercury-laced vaccines to begin with. APP members wear all kinds of hats. For instance, some are also
members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the CDC on whether a vaccine is safe enough to be added to the immunization schedule.

The results of an investigation of this committee conducted by United Press International, published on July 21, 203, revealed that at the June 2002 committee meeting, the last meeting for which minutes are available, four of the 11 members acknowledged conflicts
with Wyeth, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Bayer and Aventis Pasteur. Two of the four did research or vaccine trials for manufacturers. One of the four was a co-holder of a vaccine patent as well as a consultant to Merck.

Junk Science huh? You decide.

Below are the latest state by state statistics on the autism epidemic. I encourage anyone who is still doubting the vaccine- thimerosal-autism connection, to scroll down and check out the numbers for your state.

After that, I challenge readers to try to come up with an alternative theory to justify this epidemic, other than the official government mantra that these autistic kids have been out there all the long but they simply were not diagnosed correctly.

Before you even think about buying that line take a little trip down to the nearest public school and drop in on the special education classrooms and have a look at the behaviors of an autistic child and see whether you believe hundreds of thousands of these kids could have been out here and we just never noticed.

People don't see these children because aside from going to school, parents seldom take them out in public because of the problem of trying to control them outside of the routine environment of their home.

After checking out the statistic below, get your check book out and accept the fact that your local taxes are going to skyrocket to cover the expense of the special ed schooling for these kids, and don't lose sight of the fact that there's plenty more where these came from.

Mark my word, this is going to be the biggest man-made medical catastrophe in the history of this country, and probably the world. If we don't find a cure, we're talking $$ trillions for life-time care.

And if the Bush administration, and its puppets in Congress, succeed in granting immunity against lawsuits to their largest campaign contributors, also known as the pharmaceutical industry, get ready to pick up the tab for the whole damn mess. The numbers below are taken from official statistics produced by the Department of Education, on the number of children aged 6-21 with autism currently being schooled in special education classes under the Individuals With Disabilities Discrimination Act.

The statistics compare the increase in cases of autism over the 12-year period between 1992-93 and 2003-04: State 1992-1993 2003-2004

%Increase
Alabama 68 1,319 1,840
Alaska 8 291 3,538
Arizona 199 2,131 971
Arkansas 30 1,040 3,367
California 1,605 19,034 1,086
Colorado 14 879 6,179
Connecticut 164 2,041 1,145
Delaware 15 387 2,480
Florida 582 5,915 916
Georgia 262 3,956 1,410
Hawaii 52 618 1,088
Idaho 39 571 1,364
Illinois 5 6,005 120,000
Indiana 273 4,755 1,642
Iowa 67 1,224 1,727
Kansas 74 993 1,242
Kentucky 38 1,358 3,474
Louisiana 409 1,640 301
Maine 37 815 2,103
Maryland 28 3,536 12,529
Massachusetts 493 4,007 719
Michigan 288 6,341 2,102
Minnesota 296 5,076 1,615
Mississippi 0 622 -
Missouri 336 2,664 693
Montana 20 247 1,135
Nebraska 4 557 13,825
Nevada 5 891 17,720
New Hampshire 0 585 -
New Jersey 446 4,933 1,006
New Mexico 16 359 2,144
New York 1,648 9,486 476
North Carolina 786 4,074 418
North Dakota 9 220 2,344
Ohio 22 5,146 23,291
Oklahoma 31 959 2,994
Oregon 37 3,759 10,059
Pennsylvania 346 5,805 1,578
Puerto Rico 266 666 2,404
Rhode Island 19 568 2,889
South Carolina 141 1,303 824
South Dakota 36 328 811
Tennessee 304 1,659 446
Texas 1,444 10,354 617
Utah 105 1,030 881
Vermont 6 280 4,567
Virginia 539 3,533 555
Washington 476 2,824 493
West Virginia 101 507 402
Wisconsin 18 3,259 18,006
Wyoming 15 162 980
Total 12,222 140,920 + 1,055 overall

Note: Where increases are from a very low base figure, these have been expressed as "almost infinite".

Evelyn Pringle
epringle05@yahoo.com

(Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Independent Media TV and an investigative journalist focused on corruption in government) 

 

This is the chemical that has been used as a preservative and injected into animals in their vaccines.

This is the chemical that has been used as a preservative and injected into children in their vaccines. It is also commonly found in flu vaccines that many seniors and other member of the general population receive as well.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main23.asp?filename=Ne120906Autism_could.asp

EXCERPT: (Please go to the link and read the full article)

There is no conclusive scientific evidence yet, but many parents are convinced that the presence of mercury in vaccines administered to infants is responsible for their children’s autism. Mercury acts as a poison in the human body. The controversy over mercury content in vaccines first arose in the West 25 years ago. Multi-dose vaccines contain Thimerosal — a potent neurotoxin with 50 percent mercury content used to stem fungi and bacterial growth in vaccines. These multi-dose vaccines are still being administered in India. Multi-dose vaccine vials are 10 times cheaper than single-dose vials — which do not contain any mercury — and hence preferred by the international agencies for vaccination programmes in developing countries.

The possible link between mercury in vaccines and the unprecedented growth in the number of autism cases among children in the West caused great concern among parents there. This led to a ban on such vaccines in many developed countries. But millions of children in India every year are still indiscriminately administered these vaccines.

Vaccine manufacturers in developed countries make mercury-free vaccines for the domestic market, but the same companies supply vaccines with thimerosal to developing countries.
In India most vaccines which used in the universal immunisation programme contain mercury. Mercury is present in DPT, Hepatitis B, Haemophililus influenza and combination of vaccines to the extent of 25-50 micro grams per 0.5 ml paediatric dose.

A child who has undergone a full vaccine schedule in India receives a total of about 375 to 450 micrograms of Thimerosal. This is 50,000 times more than the limit prescribed in drinking water by WHO.

On the other hand, WHO is promoting the Hepatitis B vaccine in India, which has high levels of mercury. India is still waiting for a study that would establish the link between mercury-laden vaccines and autism, despite the fact that the toxicity of mercury is a well-known and established fact. Till such time as a definite link is established Indian children just might unknowingly be risking autism every time they are vaccinated.


Vaccination procedures are a politically motivated non-science, whose practitioners are only interested in injecting multitudes of vaccines without much interest or care as to their effects. Data collection on reactions to vaccines is only paid lip service, and the obvious ineffectiveness of vaccines to prevent diseases is glossed over. The fact that natural infectious diseases have beneficial effect on the maturation and development of the immune system is ignored or deliberately suppressed. Consequently, parents of small children and any potential recipients of vaccines and any orthodox medications should be wary of any member of the medical establishment extolling the non-existent virtues of vaccination.
- Viera Scheibner, Ph.D.

 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 5/30/03 ]

Study: Mercury levels too high

By JEFF NESMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Mercury emissions in Georgia
by facility, county & pounds measured

1. Scherer Steam Electric Generating Plant, Monroe, 1,054
2. Bowen Steam Electric Generating Plant, Bartow, 808
3. Olin Corp. (chemicals), Richmond, 719
4. Wansley Steam Electric Generating Plant, Heard, 485
5. Branch Steam Electric Generating Plant, Putnam, 453
6. Yates Steam Electric Generating Plant, Coweta, 384
7. Hammond Steam Electric Generating Plant, Floyd, 180
8. PQ Corp. (chemicals), Richmond, 155
9. McDonough/Atkinson Steam Electric Generating Plant, Cobb, 90
10. Quebecor World (USA) Inc.(printing), Columbia, 79

Source: EPA's 2000 Toxics Release Inventory
All power plants are owned by Georgia Power Co., a Southern Co. subsidiary.
---------------------------------
Related:
• More science news

WASHINGTON -- Mercury in the rainwater of several Southeastern and Gulf Coast states exceeds the safe level for lake water, as established by the Environmental Protection Agency, by as much as 96 times, an environmental group reported Thursday.

The National Wildlife Federation said EPA sampling stations in Georgia and seven other Southern states showed mercury levels that would make fish toxic to humans who ate them. Mercury found in contaminated fish destroys nerve cells and easily crosses the placenta into unborn babies, researchers say. The National Academy of Sciences has warned that consumption of contaminated fish by pregnant women can lead to children with learning disabilities.

The National Wildlife Federation, the largest environmental organization in the United States, called on the EPA to crack down on the sources of mercury in the atmosphere, especially coal-burning electric power plants.

The EPA does not set safety limits for mercury in rainwater, but it does for lakes and streams. Rain samples collected in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in South Georgia had concentrations as high as 275 parts per trillion -- 78 times higher than the safe level for lake water, the report said. More than 93 percent of the Okefenokee samples collected between 1998 and 2002 exceeded the safe lake level, the federation reported.

One sampling site in Louisiana showed levels 96 times the safe level.

An author of the National Wildlife Federation report acknowledged in an interview that not all of the mercury that contaminates rainwater finds its way into rivers or lakes. Much is left behind in soil as rainwater runoff makes its way into the nearest stream, said Felice Stadler, a mercury specialist with the organization.

Even so, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has identified 2,247 miles of river and 26,051 acres of lakes that are so contaminated with mercury that people should restrict the quantity of fish they consume from those waters. Lake Lanier, Lake Allatoona and parts of the Chattahoochee River are on the warning list.

"Sixty percent of all the mercury that deposits into lakes and streams comes from domestic sources, and coal-fired power plants are the largest source," Stadler said.

The federation argued that the EPA should adopt rules that could cut power plant emissions by as much as 90 percent. It also urged the EPA to set tighter rules for other industries and to ban mercury in some industrial and consumer products.

A spokesman for a group of power companies said the federation's recommendations would be "counterproductive." Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, said the report calls for "old-fashioned litigious regulatory approaches."

He said that President Bush's proposed Clean Air Act amendment, called the Clear Skies Initiative, would result in greater efficiency and therefore less pollution. The amendment would allow companies to buy and sell the rights to pollute, as long as national limits were not exceeded. It calls for an eventual 70 percent reduction in mercury pollution.

In its report, the Wildlife Federation said the EPA could accomplish quicker and more stringent reductions under current law than under the Bush proposal. Through 2017, five times as much mercury would be emitted under the Bush plan, it said.

Dan Reidinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, trade association of the nation's electric industry, said power companies "have committed to reducing mercury pollution substantially." However, he said, the 90 percent reduction that the Wildlife Federation endorses "would raise electricity costs without providing any measurable health benefit."
 

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=289992004


Sat 13 Mar 2004printer friendly  email articleBritain - where medics still inject mercury into babies

FRASER NELSON

WHILE Britain has spent years worrying about links between autism and the MMR jab, a far more serious threat has been gathering - involving one of the oldest and most lethal poisons on earth: mercury. It is a proven neurotoxin, so strong that the contents of a thermometer could pollute a small lake, yet Britain’s NHS is still using it in a cheap triple DTP jab. The defence is not that mercury makes the vaccine work better - the ingredient is used simply as a preservative, to give it a longer shelf life. UK officials say there is "no evidence" that mercury is linked to autism, and there is no cause to remove it from routine vaccinations.

But Britain is now understood to be the only developed country in the world to take this view. From Japan to the United States, mercury has been withdrawn from the child vaccination schedule precisely on the ground that doubts exist about its safety. The debate is not about whether the vaccines should be administered: mercury-free jabs are available on the NHS - and, in Scotland, to anyone who demands them. Nor is it a scientific argument restricted to the domain of experts: parents’ groups consistently argue that it does not require a PhD in chemistry to establish that mercury should not be injected into the body of a eight-week-old baby.

It is instead an argument about whether parents should be told what is in the vaccine - and whether they should be given the power to decide which vaccination is best for their child. The NHS uses a DTwP vaccine bought from a company called Aventis. Unless parents say otherwise, this is the vaccine which will be issued. It protects against diphtheria, tetanus and whole-cell pertussis (whooping cough). The wP means a whole dose of dead pertussis toxin, in a small enough dose for the infant’s immune system to learn about the disease, and how to protect against it. Mercury is a proven toxin so strong that the contents of a thermometer could pollute a small lake

As a preservative, DTwP uses thimerosal - sometimes spelt thiomersal - which is 49.6 per cent ethyl mercury. Each injection contains 25 micrograms of mercury - which means 75 micrograms over the three-jab course in the first 16 weeks of the baby’s life. The mercury-free alternative, also ordered by the NHS, is called Infanrix, produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The diphtheria and tetanus components are the same - the difference is that it does not use whole-cell pertussis. This is a crucial distinction.

In the 1970s, research was published suggesting that the whole-cell pertussis was linked to neurological disorders. This led to a worldwide scare and parents left infants unvaccinated, rather than risk the jab. Medical authorities the world over had outbreaks of whooping cough on their hands. The decision was taken to produce a new type of vaccine which allayed parents’ concerns.

Scientists’ response was to use only the components of the pertussis vaccine which were absolutely necessary to provide immunisation. The result was acellular pertussis - DTaP. Infanrix is part of the new generation of DTP jabs. Its components - pertussis toxin, filamentous haemagglutinins and pertactin - are purified and detoxified then included in the jab. This process is naturally more expensive than just including whole cells of the pertussis bacillus. So Infanrix costs about twice as much as DTwP - which has made it prohibitively expensive to the third world vaccination programmes carried out by the World Health Organisation.

Infanrix is by no means the only DTaP on the market. There are scores of products made by various manufacturers - each competing with the others on effectiveness ratings and how few side effects are produced.  There is far less competition making DTwP jab - which is regarded in the richest countries as old technology whose time has passed. Also, there is no medical need to use mercury as a preservative when the new DTaP vaccines have none. This is perhaps why the DTwP does not have a brand name. It is not, by and large, something any parent would request over DTaP - even though statistics comparing the two are hard to extract from the UK health service.

All vaccines are tested against each other, in studies normally involving tens of thousands of children. In each test which has ever been performed, Infanrix - and every DTaP vaccine - has been given a far superior "safety profile" than DTwP. This has nothing to do with mercury. The problem is the so-called "junk cells" which exist in the whole-cell pertussis vaccine, but have been taken out of the DTaP jab. They are found to trigger a range of unpleasant and unnecessary side effects in infants. This is an argument about whether a child’s parents should be told what is in the vaccine

Even in the hotly-contested world of vaccine wars, it is now beyond dispute that infants injected with DTwP are far more likely to suffer fever, convulsions or show protracted crying that could last for up to two days. All of these are triggered by the "junk cells". Data filed in the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm shows that the figures vary - some say that babies are three times as likely to suffer convulsions after the DTwP jab, some say 1.8 times more likely. But none dispute the trouble caused by junk cells.

Britain’s defence - behind the use of mercury, as well as junk cells - is that the DTwP vaccine works better against whooping cough. The Department of Health argues that a child given DTaP is "twice as likely" to contract whooping cough. But no studies quoted by the government directly compare the two vaccines which Britain is actually using. In any case, one study - conducted a decade ago - showed the likelihood of whooping cough was one in a thousand with DTwP and two in a thousand with DTaP. These are the odds.

David Geier, one of the scientists who produced a recent report suggesting a link between thimerosal and autism, said that debate has moved on since 1994 and the UK no longer needs reports. "Look at the United States. Look at Japan. They have both been using DTaP for years - and do we see any outbreak of whooping cough there? It now doesn’t matter what a few studies found - we can look at entire countries."
 

http://www.news-leader.com/today/0401-Cleanupvac-52781.html
Published April 1, 2004

Clean up vaccines, mercury foes urge
State Senate considers bill calling for nation's first ban on preservative.

Roy Holand Sponsor of bill to ban mercury as a preservative in vaccines

By Kathleen O'Dell
News-Leader Staff

Jefferson City — Parents and physicians asked Missouri senators on Wednesday to make history with the country's first ban on a mercury-based preservative in childhood vaccines. Five people testified before the Senate Committee on Aging, Families, Mental & Public Health on behalf of Springfield Rep. Roy Holand's bill calling for the ban. It would not become law until January 2006 to give vaccine makers time to retool.

Public health officials and the Missouri Nurses Association endorsed the bill after it was changed to allow the state to give vaccine doses with the preservative if a disease outbreak is pending and thimerosal-free vaccine doses are unavailable. Mercury is a known neurotoxin, and national medical groups and scientists say the mercury-based thimerosal, a preservative still used in some vaccines, is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders — including the one of six children diagnosed with such disorders. While many children expel the mercury through wastes, it accumulates over time in others and affects brain development, researchers say. Other national scientific groups refute the studies' conclusion that there is a link. But they also say that thimerosal should be phased out of vaccines given to children.

"This is the biggest story of the 21st century," said Dr. Alan Clark of Carthage, who with his wife, Lujene, are vehemently for the ban. Their 8-year-old son, Devon, is autistic. Clark, former president of the Greene County Medical Society, said the society is planning a July symposium in Springfield because physician members want to learn the science behind the thimerosal controversy. Lujene Clark said Iowa and Nebraska are considering a similar bill, and officials in other states have told her, "'We're watching what you're doing. If you get it through, you'll give us the courage to tackle it next,'" she said. Holand's bill calls for telling parents before the vaccine is given if a particular vial contains thimerosal. That raises concerns among some.  Two physicians testified in opposition, saying they agree mercury doesn't belong in vaccines, but they're concerned that raising the issue will scare parents out of immunizing their children. The result will be a resurgence of childhood illnesses and more childhood deaths from influenza, said Dr. Robert Harris, a Columbia pediatrician also with the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

About 135 Missouri children died last year from flu complications. Harris said he thinks autism naturally shows up after age 18 months, coincidentally when children have gotten most of their vaccines. Sen. Patrick Dougherty, D-St. Louis, referred to one of about a dozen letters he said he has received opposing the bill, citing studies that refute the link between thimerosal and autistic behaviors. Holand, who is also a physician, told committee members that half the vaccine makers have already stopped adding thimerosal to vaccine. They did so at the 1999 recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service. "If half can do it, surely the other half can," Holand said. Studies show switching to a more acceptable preservative would add about $1 to the cost of a dose of vaccine. But thimerosal still exists in the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and the influenza vaccine in multidose vials. He said there were 3.5 million doses of non-thimerosal vaccine last year, and he's heard 30 million will be available next year. "We are here as pro-immunization advocates," said Holand. They want to make sure the vaccine supply is safe for the children getting it. The Clarks said they returned this week from four days in Washington, D.C., discussing the issue with national leaders.

"No science, no link" was a common response, said Alan Clark, "but they have not looked at all 5,000 (scientific) articles that clearly identify thimerosal as the cause. Without a doubt, this is a critical issue for children." One senator raised the issue of a 2001 government-endorsed study concluding there was no causal relationship between thimerosal and autism. Alan Clark quickly referred to a 2003 study by the same groups. The final report is due in May, he said, "But I listened to all eight hours of testimony, and I saw nothing to convince me otherwise." Clark added, "Washington is looking closely at Missouri. They're impressed with what we're doing here. We have the chance now to make children safe from these poisons."
 
The Clarks testified not only as advocates but as parents of an autistic child whose costs for special health care and education this year alone will total $50,000. The rise in numbers of children with autism disorders also place a financial burden on public schools and state budgets, Lujene Clark said. Lujene Clark said Devon received 12.5 micrograms of mercury in a vaccine as an 8-pound newborn — "That's 34 times the limit allowed by the EPA." He got more mercury in subsequent vaccines between 2 and 18 months old, at which point they noticed developmental changes, she said. Devon was diagnosed with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder in first grade, but after a flu vaccine a year later his symptoms worsened and he was diagnosed with an autism disorder. Nixa resident Rita Shreffler, who has two autistic children, also testified." This is a common-sense issue," she said. "Mercury has no place in vaccines."
Contact Kathleen O'Dell at kodell@News-Leader.com.
• Details about autism conference in Chicago. 6A