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United Methodist Church Passes Resolution Against Mercury In Medicine More Info
In A First – Faith Community Takes Historic Position Opposing Mercury in Medicines & Vaccines
United Methodist Church Passes Resolution
Against Mercury in Medicine
Press Release Contacts:
For Immediate Release CoMeD President [The Rev. Lisa K. Sykes (Richmond, VA) 804-364-8426]
April 29, 2008 CoMeD Sci. Advisor [Dr. Paul G. King (Lake Hiawatha, NJ) 973-263-4843]
With passage of a historic resolution today at its 2008 General Conference, the United Methodist Church has become the first faith community to officially oppose the use of mercury, in any form, including Thimerosal, in medicines, especially vaccines.
Beginning in 2005, several United Methodist Annual Conferences and its Women's Division, an organization of nearly 1 million women globally, passed a resolution entitled, "Protecting Children from Mercury-containing Drugs." Today, the validity of this urgent issue was further affirmed by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, which speaks authoritatively for the denomination' s 11.5 million members worldwide.
This faith-based resolution, passed April 29, 2008, is a challenge to the current acceptance of mercury in medicine by the U.S. Government, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the vaccine manufacturers.
Among its provisions, the resolution seeks: the immediate prioritization of mercury-free vaccines and other drugs for vulnerable children and pregnant women, the opportunity of informed consent whenever mercury is administered as part of a pharmaceutical product, and a ban of mercury-containing drugs. The complete text and details of the resolution's passage may be found at http://calms. umc.org/2008/ Menu.aspx? type=Petition&mode=Single&number=409
In addition, the resolution calls for United Methodist hospitals, clinics, and missions around the world to express a preference for mercury-free vaccines and other medicines. This is crucial because most of the Thimerosal-containi ng vaccines sent to the developing world still contain unreduced levels of mercury, as do most flu shots, and some other vaccines and drugs in the United States.
The Rev. Lisa K. Sykes, President of CoMeD, Inc, mother of a mercury-toxic child and a United Methodist clergywoman who has helped to shepherd this activist movement within The United Methodist Church, declared:
"This is the start of a Second Great Temperance Movement. More than a hundred years ago, our church fought widespread alcohol intoxication. With this resolution, we begin to fight widespread and, until now, unrecognized mercury intoxication from unsafe mercury-containing medicines."
CoMeD, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation actively engaged in legal, educational and scientific efforts to stop all use of mercury in medicine, and to ban the use of all existing in-date mercury-containing medicines. To support CoMeD's efforts financially, please use the PayPal link on CoMeD's website, http://www.mercury- freedrugs. org , for your tax-deductible
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Autism Risk Linked To Distance From Power Plants, Other Mercury-releasing Sources
 | Web address: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/ 080424120953.htm |
Autism Risk Linked To Distance From Power Plants, Other Mercury-releasing Sources
enlarge
Is the risk of autism greater for children who live closer to the pollution source? (Credit: iStockphoto/Marcin Pawinski)
ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2008) — How do mercury emissions affect pregnant mothers, the unborn and toddlers? Do the level of emissions impact autism rates? Does it matter whether a mercury-emitting source is 10 miles away from families versus 20 miles? Is the risk of autism greater for children who live closer to the pollution source?
A newly published study of Texas school district data and industrial mercury-release data, conducted by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, indeed shows a statistically significant link between pounds of industrial release of mercury and increased autism rates. It also shows—for the first time in scientific literature—a statistically significant association between autism risk and distance from the mercury source.
“This is not a definitive study, but just one more that furthers the association between environmental mercury and autism,” said lead author Raymond F. Palmer, Ph.D., associate professor of family and community medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. The article is in the journal Health & Place.
Dr. Palmer, Stephen Blanchard, Ph.D., of Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and Robert Wood of the UT Health Science Center found that community autism prevalence is reduced by 1 percent to 2 percent with each 10 miles of distance from the pollution source.
“This study was not designed to understand which individuals in the population are at risk due to mercury exposure,” Dr. Palmer said. “However, it does suggest generally that there is greater autism risk closer to the polluting source.”
The study should encourage further investigations designed to determine the multiple routes of mercury exposure. “The effects of persistent, low-dose exposure to mercury pollution, in addition to fish consumption, deserve attention,” Dr. Palmer said. “Ultimately, we will want to know who in the general population is at greatest risk based on genetic susceptibilities such as subtle deficits in the ability to detoxify heavy metals.”
The new study findings are consistent with a host of other studies that confirm higher amounts of mercury in plants, animals and humans the closer they are to the pollution source. The price on children may be the highest.
“We suspect low-dose exposures to various environmental toxicants, including mercury, that occur during critical windows of neural development among genetically susceptible children may increase the risk for developmental disorders such as autism,” the authors wrote.
Study highlights
- Mercury-release data examined were from 39 coal-fired power plants and 56 industrial facilities in Texas.
- Autism rates examined were from 1,040 Texas school districts.
- For every 1,000 pounds of mercury released by all industrial sources in Texas into the environment in 1998, there was a corresponding 2.6 percent increase in autism rates in the Texas school districts in 2002.
- For every 1,000 pounds of mercury released by Texas power plants in 1998, there was a corresponding 3.7 percent increase in autism rates in Texas school districts in 2002.
- Autism prevalence diminished 1 percent to 2 percent for every 10 miles from the source.
- Mercury exposure through fish consumption is well documented, but very little is known about exposure routes through air and ground water.
- There is evidence that children and other developing organisms are more susceptible to neurobiological effects of mercury.
Implications
“We need to be concerned about global mercury emissions since a substantial proportion of mercury releases are spread around the world by long-range air and ocean currents,” Dr. Palmer said. “Steps for controlling and eliminating mercury pollution on a worldwide basis may be advantageous. This entails greener, non-mercury-polluting technologies.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated environmental mercury releases at 158 million tons annually nationwide in the late 1990s, the time period studied by the Texas team. Most exposures were said to come from coal-fired utility plants (33 percent of exposures), municipal/medical waste incinerators (29 percent) and commercial/industrial boilers (18 percent). Cement plants also release mercury.
With the enactment of clean air legislation and other measures, mercury deposition into the environment is decreasing slightly.
Limitations
Dr. Palmer and his colleagues pointed out the study did not reflect the true community prevalence rates of autism because children younger than school age are not counted in the Texas Education Agency data system. The 1:500 autism rates in the study are lower than the 1:150 autism rates in recent reports of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Furthermore, the authors note that distance was not calculated from individual homes to the pollution source but from central points in school districts that varied widely in area.
Data sources
Data for environmentally released mercury were from the United States Environmental Protection Agency Toxics Release Inventory. Data for releases by coal-fired power plants came from the same inventory and from the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. Data for school district autism came from the Texas Education Agency.
Journal reference: Palmer, R.F., et al., Proximity to point sources of environmental mercury release as a predictor of autism prevalence. Health & Place (2008), doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.02.001.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Interview with Spectrum Magazine
His crusade continues.
By Sarah Bridges, Ph.D. / Photos by Robert Milazzo
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s watershed moment occurred in 2006 when he visited the New York Times headquarters to discuss an editorial piece he submitted on the link between vaccines and neurological disorders in children. Ushered into a small room for what was set to be a private meeting with an editor, he instead found the space crammed with people, overflowing onto the arms of old leather chairs, with expressions ranging from boredom to disdain.
“I expected a discussion with the editor of the Times, but when I went in to meet, they had assembled a group of science editors that were so hostile and antagonistic, it was like talking to a brick wall,” Kennedy remembered. “They were absolutely determined that there would be no public discussion in their paper about mercury and neurological disorders.” His sentences were cut short by rapid retorts, as if the room was laced with invisible mines. Despite Kennedy’s information, and the phonebook-sized stack of articles that Dr. Boyd Haley had perched on his lap ready to share, the editors quickly shut down any discussion of thimerosal’s dangers; one person near the door sighed and rolled his eyes. The meeting progressed for 30 minutes, Kennedy offering DNA, animal, genetic, epidemiological and biology studies, and being met repeatedly with the statement, “The CDC says the vaccines are safe.”
To read more click here.
Anne Dachel - NY Times Saga
When I first compared the original April 11 AP story, "Gov't Seeks Help With Vaccine Questions," http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gQkR4fS0l1M7ouxFGOr6WtrJpkPQD8VVVRTO0
with the version that the NEW YORK TIMES put out on April 13, titled, "Vaccine Safety Panel to Include the Public in Setting Priorities," I was stunned by their selective omission of any of the really glaring statements on vaccine damage. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/washington/13vaccine.html?_r=2&ref=us&oref=slogin&oref=slogin The intent was obvious: soften the evidence that points to vaccines as the cause of autism.
Then someone sent me the Spectrum piece about RFK Jr's efforts to get the TIMES to legitimately report on the evidence out there. I saw immediately that it backed up everything I felt about how the TIMES covers autism. What really got my attention in the Spectrum story was the mention that Dr. Boyd Haley, an outstanding authority on mercury toxicity, was at the meeting with the TIMES editors and that he came with a stack of scientific material to support his claims. The Spectrum article said,
Despite Kennedy's information, and the phonebook-sized stack of articles that Dr. Boyd Haley had perched on his lap ready to share, the editors quickly shut down any discussion of thimerosal's dangers; one person near the door sighed and rolled his eyes. The meeting progressed for 30 minutes, Kennedy offering DNA, animal, genetic, epidemiological and biology studies, and being met repeatedly with the statement, "The CDC says the vaccines are safe."
Case closed.
The facts don't seem to matter at the TIMES. The damage being done to a generation of children isn't their concern either. Supporting the make-believe science coming out of the CDC is all they care about.
I asked Dr. Haley about the accuracy of the account of the TIMES meeting with Robert Kennedy. This is what he wrote back and is allowing me to share:
Robert Kennedy asked me to accompany him to the Times and the description in this article is very close to how I remember the meeting. The writers were not at all interested in the published science. I would make a comment about thimerosal toxicity . . . and they would look surprised---but they never asked for any of the stack of reports to verify what I said. Afterwards, one of the writers, a young man, whose name I don't remember, followed me out the door and downstairs seemed interested and asked some detailed questions, but later wrote an article and did not mention any of the published science about the toxicity of thimerosal. I lost a lot of respect for the New York Times that day and felt quite sorry for Robert Kennedy who was just asking for a logical look at the autism/vaccine issue. The Times did the opposite and wrote totally supporting the CDC line that their experts had eliminated vaccines as being involved.
Boyd Haley
And here is what I wrote about the NYTIMES and autism. I sent it separately to six email addresses at the Times. I included one to NYT reporter Gardiner Harris, long known for biased coverage on autism, since I mention him specifically. Maybe the NYT doesn't care about their reputation for junk autism coverage. They should. This is a disgrace for any newspaper, especially one with the credentials of the NYT. We're talking about children as victims in a health care disaster. The New York Times has failed our children and we aren't going to forget it.
AUTISM COVERAGE AT THE NYT: SINS OF OMISSION
BY ANNE DACHEL
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Govt. Reaches Out To Vaccine Critics
WASHINGTON -- The government began an unprecedented effort Friday to give vaccine critics a say in shaping how the nation researches safety questions surrounding immunizations.
The meeting, the first in a planned series, came amid new controversy about vaccines and autism -- and a fledgling theory that vaccinations might worsen a rare condition called mitochondrial dysfunction that in turn triggers certain forms of autism.
Federal health officials said the work, being planned for two years, wasn't in response to that controversy, and encompasses many more questions than autism -- from rare side effects of the new shingles vaccine to how to predict who's at risk for encephalopathy sometimes triggered by other inoculations.
To read more, please click here.
The meeting, the first in a planned series, came amid new controversy about vaccines and autism -- and a fledgling theory that vaccinations might worsen a rare condition called mitochondrial dysfunction that in turn triggers certain forms of autism.
Federal health officials said the work, being planned for two years, wasn't in response to that controversy, and encompasses many more questions than autism -- from rare side effects of the new shingles vaccine to how to predict who's at risk for encephalopathy sometimes triggered by other inoculations.
To read more, please click here.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Will a 9 year old change the vaccine debate?
April 12, 2008, 4:39 pm
Will a 9-Year-Old Change the Vaccine Debate?
Hannah Poling (W.A.Harewood/Associated Press)
There’s no question that the case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling of Athens, Ga., has fueled the controversy about childhood vaccines. But what’s less clear is whether it will help unlock the mysteries of autism.
Hannah was 19 months old and developing normally until 2000, when she received five shots against nine infectious diseases. She became sick and later was given a diagnosis of autism.
Late last year government lawyers agreed to compensate the Poling family on the theory that vaccines may have aggravated an underlying disorder affecting her mitochondria, the energy centers of cells. (To read more about the decision, click here.) Vaccine critics say the Hannah Poling settlement shows the government has finally conceded that vaccines cause autism. But government officials say Hannah’s case involved a rare medical condition, and there is still no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism.
Hannah’s father, Dr. Jon S. Poling, a practicing neurologist in Athens and clinical assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia, says the case has shifted the autism debate forever and points to a promising new area of research.
Writing in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday, Dr. Poling says there is compelling evidence that mitochondrial disorders, like the one his daughter has, are strongly associated with autism.
To understand Hannah’s case, it is important to understand mitochondria, which act like batteries in our cells to produce energy critical for normal function…. Emerging evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction may not be rare at all among children with autism. In the only population-based study of its kind, Portuguese researchers confirmed that at least 7.2 percent, and perhaps as many as 20 percent, of autistic children exhibit mitochondrial dysfunction. While we do not yet know a precise U.S. rate, 7.2 percent to 20 percent of children does not qualify as “rare.” In fact, mitochondrial dysfunction may be the most common medical condition associated with autism.
Dr. Poling urges the Institute of Medicine and public health officials to pursue research into mitochondrial conditions, which he describes as a “breakthrough in the science of autism.'’ He writes: National public health leaders, including those at CDC, must now recognize the paradigm shift caused by this biological marker with regard to their current position of dispelling a vaccine-autism link. In light of the Hannah Poling concession, science must determine more precisely how large the mitochondrial autism subpopulation is: 1 percent, 7.2 percent, 20 percent?
To be sure, many health experts do not agree with Dr. Poling’s conclusions. The case has “added nothing to the discussions of what causes or doesn’t cause autism,” said Dr. Edwin Trevathan, director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Friday, many of the main players involved in this debate — including Hannah’s mother and her grandparents, prominent vaccine skeptics and some of the government’s top vaccine researchers — took part in the federal government’s first-ever public meeting to discuss a government-wide research agenda to explore the safety of vaccines.
To read Dr. Poling’s complete essay, click here. Last month, Dr. Paul A. Offit, chief of the infectious diseases division of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, explained his view that the Hannah Poling case has been mischaracterized by vaccine critics. To read the piece, click here. Hannah Poling’s parents wrote this response to Dr. Offit’s report. Last month, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote this profile of Hannah and her parents.
Will a 9-Year-Old Change the Vaccine Debate?
Hannah Poling (W.A.Harewood/Associated Press)
There’s no question that the case of 9-year-old Hannah Poling of Athens, Ga., has fueled the controversy about childhood vaccines. But what’s less clear is whether it will help unlock the mysteries of autism.
Hannah was 19 months old and developing normally until 2000, when she received five shots against nine infectious diseases. She became sick and later was given a diagnosis of autism.
Late last year government lawyers agreed to compensate the Poling family on the theory that vaccines may have aggravated an underlying disorder affecting her mitochondria, the energy centers of cells. (To read more about the decision, click here.) Vaccine critics say the Hannah Poling settlement shows the government has finally conceded that vaccines cause autism. But government officials say Hannah’s case involved a rare medical condition, and there is still no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism.
Hannah’s father, Dr. Jon S. Poling, a practicing neurologist in Athens and clinical assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia, says the case has shifted the autism debate forever and points to a promising new area of research.
Writing in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday, Dr. Poling says there is compelling evidence that mitochondrial disorders, like the one his daughter has, are strongly associated with autism.
To understand Hannah’s case, it is important to understand mitochondria, which act like batteries in our cells to produce energy critical for normal function…. Emerging evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction may not be rare at all among children with autism. In the only population-based study of its kind, Portuguese researchers confirmed that at least 7.2 percent, and perhaps as many as 20 percent, of autistic children exhibit mitochondrial dysfunction. While we do not yet know a precise U.S. rate, 7.2 percent to 20 percent of children does not qualify as “rare.” In fact, mitochondrial dysfunction may be the most common medical condition associated with autism.
Dr. Poling urges the Institute of Medicine and public health officials to pursue research into mitochondrial conditions, which he describes as a “breakthrough in the science of autism.'’ He writes: National public health leaders, including those at CDC, must now recognize the paradigm shift caused by this biological marker with regard to their current position of dispelling a vaccine-autism link. In light of the Hannah Poling concession, science must determine more precisely how large the mitochondrial autism subpopulation is: 1 percent, 7.2 percent, 20 percent?
To be sure, many health experts do not agree with Dr. Poling’s conclusions. The case has “added nothing to the discussions of what causes or doesn’t cause autism,” said Dr. Edwin Trevathan, director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Friday, many of the main players involved in this debate — including Hannah’s mother and her grandparents, prominent vaccine skeptics and some of the government’s top vaccine researchers — took part in the federal government’s first-ever public meeting to discuss a government-wide research agenda to explore the safety of vaccines.
To read Dr. Poling’s complete essay, click here. Last month, Dr. Paul A. Offit, chief of the infectious diseases division of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, explained his view that the Hannah Poling case has been mischaracterized by vaccine critics. To read the piece, click here. Hannah Poling’s parents wrote this response to Dr. Offit’s report. Last month, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote this profile of Hannah and her parents.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Autism Yesterday Premier - Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Biomedical Intervention Group of OKC/Edmond
Contact Information - Bigofokc@yahoo.com
IS AUTISM TREATABLE
Join the Biomedical Intervention Group of Oklahoma City/Edmond and Aaron’s Bridge (www.aaronsbridge.org) for the world wide premiere of the documentary, “Autism Yesterday”.
The documentary was created by Generation Rescue (www.generationrescue.org) and follows the lives of five families on their journey to heal their children from a disorder that had been previously deemed a life long condition. In the film you will see the progress and recovery of the children using biomedical treatment as only families living through it can tell. A parent/doctor panel discussion will follow the film. The featured doctor will be Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician, Dr. D.L. Gheen of
David Kirby, best selling author of ‘Evidence of Harm” reviews the film and writes, “In each story, we see clear before-and-after evidence of a child’s heartbreaking descent into the silent, baffling world of autism, and then their steady, sometimes miraculous progress back towards health, happiness, communication and, yes, recovery. The film, in elegant detail, shows us exactly how far these kids have come. A trailer may be viewed at http://www.autismyesterday.com/trailer.html.
The primary goal of this event is to present hope. Many families are not given hope and are told that “autism is not treatable”. Biomedical Intervention Group of OKC/Edmond and Aaron’s Bridge were founded by local parents that have witnessed their children become healthier with consistent biomedical treatment supervised by well-trained physicians. Their belief is based on new research that autism is a medical condition and that over time “autistic” symptoms can be reduced and sometimes alleviated with consistent biomedical treatment. Currently,
Byron Richards comments on Vaccines and Autism
hursday, April 3, 2008
Byron Richards, CCN
On April 2, 2008 CNN spent the day bringing awareness to the problem of autism. Larry King’s segment, which included Jenny McCarthy along with a panel of guests, was particularly enlightening. My hat is off to Jenny, a celebrity mother who is making it quite uncomfortable for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to ignore parents of autistic children seeking answers.
Why does a mom have to do the work of the CDC? The answer is rather simple: our government’s zeal to insist on too many vaccines while ignoring the actual risks is the driving force behind the autism tragedy. Sure there are many related factors – but the bottom line is that our government is causing disease at an alarming and devastating pace.
It is an interesting comment on our society that an outspoken and impassioned mother of an autistic child, along with her partner (actor Jim Carrey), are the catalysts that are likely to cause a warped empire to crumble. Many before them have tried; and typically been burned at the stake. Jenny and Jim are the government’s worst nightmare. They can’t shut down their medical practice because they don’t have one. They can’t financially damage them into silence. And as they lead their autism March on Washington D.C. this June 4th it is quite clear that they haven’t a prayer of shutting them up. A powder keg is about to blow.
Read more
Byron Richards, CCN
On April 2, 2008 CNN spent the day bringing awareness to the problem of autism. Larry King’s segment, which included Jenny McCarthy along with a panel of guests, was particularly enlightening. My hat is off to Jenny, a celebrity mother who is making it quite uncomfortable for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to ignore parents of autistic children seeking answers.
Why does a mom have to do the work of the CDC? The answer is rather simple: our government’s zeal to insist on too many vaccines while ignoring the actual risks is the driving force behind the autism tragedy. Sure there are many related factors – but the bottom line is that our government is causing disease at an alarming and devastating pace.
It is an interesting comment on our society that an outspoken and impassioned mother of an autistic child, along with her partner (actor Jim Carrey), are the catalysts that are likely to cause a warped empire to crumble. Many before them have tried; and typically been burned at the stake. Jenny and Jim are the government’s worst nightmare. They can’t shut down their medical practice because they don’t have one. They can’t financially damage them into silence. And as they lead their autism March on Washington D.C. this June 4th it is quite clear that they haven’t a prayer of shutting them up. A powder keg is about to blow.
Read more
Reform the childhood vaccination schedule
Published on SavannahNow.com (http://savannahnow.com)
Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Columnist Anne Hart writes it's time to take a hard look at the aggressive schedule on which immunizations are given.
Mention the possibility of a link between autism and vaccines to a mainstream doctor and expect some eye rolls. Or ridicule. Or, in some cases, downright contempt.
The mainstream medical establishment continuously rejects any correlation between childhood vaccinations and autism, a disorder that affects one in 150 children in the United States.
But that rejection isn't silencing valiant and vocal parents pushing for safer vaccines and a less aggressive immunization schedule after their children were diagnosed with autism.
To read more please click this link.
Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Columnist Anne Hart writes it's time to take a hard look at the aggressive schedule on which immunizations are given.
Mention the possibility of a link between autism and vaccines to a mainstream doctor and expect some eye rolls. Or ridicule. Or, in some cases, downright contempt.
The mainstream medical establishment continuously rejects any correlation between childhood vaccinations and autism, a disorder that affects one in 150 children in the United States.
But that rejection isn't silencing valiant and vocal parents pushing for safer vaccines and a less aggressive immunization schedule after their children were diagnosed with autism.
To read more please click this link.
Friday, April 4, 2008
David Kirby - CDC Has Lost Control of the Autism Argument
Posted April 4, 2008
On Wednesday, CNN's Larry King hosted Jenny McCarthy, myself, and several others to discuss the growing evidence of a link between childhood vaccines and autism. The CDC refused to send someone to appear on the show. Instead, on Thursday, the agency issued a statement meant to reassure the American public that all vaccines are safe for all kids.
To read the rest of the article, please click here.
On Wednesday, CNN's Larry King hosted Jenny McCarthy, myself, and several others to discuss the growing evidence of a link between childhood vaccines and autism. The CDC refused to send someone to appear on the show. Instead, on Thursday, the agency issued a statement meant to reassure the American public that all vaccines are safe for all kids.
To read the rest of the article, please click here.
Autism's simmering controversy - Louisville Courier
Area parents debate possible link to vaccinations
As a baby, Austin Pope seemed to be developing normally -- even at an advanced pace, saying 75 words at 18 months.
But a month after getting five vaccines in one day, an unusually high number at the time, Austin began regressing, said his mother, Janet Pope of Crestwood.
One morning, he woke up with a stiff neck and just flopped in her arms. Ultimately, he stopped talking, stopped making eye contact and retreated into the world of autism.
Pope, whose son is now 16, tells a common story, one she compares to a recent case that spotlights a long-simmering controversy about a possible link between childhood vaccinations and autism that has been rejected by the mainstream medical establishment.
This month, federal officials conceded that 9-year-old Hannah Poling of Athens, Ga., should be awarded damages from a federal vaccine-injury fund because vaccines worsened a rare mitochondrial dysfunction, a problem involving cell metabolism. This, they said, led to autism-like symptoms.
"I'm hoping this will break the issue wide open," said Pope, 52, a former emergency room nurse and Air Force major.
Boyd Haley, a University of Kentucky chemistry and biochemistry professor who was an expert witness in support of the Poling case, argues that the vaccine preservative thimerosal, which contains mercury, can cause autism and mitochondrial dysfunction.
"This young girl probably didn't have a disorder until'' she was exposed to thimerosal, Haley said.
To read more about this article, click here.CDC Under Siege - Deirdre Imus
When American scholar Warren Bennis said, "Bureaucracies are beautiful mechanisms for the evasion of responsibilities and guilt," he might well have been speaking of the current state of affairs inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Once revered around the world, hardly a month passes without another news report questioning the credibility, scientific independence, and integrity of the nation's premier health agency.
Over the past four years headlines frequently chronicle a disturbing litany of allegations charging top CDC officials with wasting money on questionable research priorities, public relations stunts, distorting or ignoring health concerns raised by their own scientists, and retaliation against those who object to the censorship of scientific findings.
The past three years have been particularly unpleasant for CDC Director, Dr. Julie Gerberding, but apparently not as bad as she and her managers are making it for many CDC scientists.
Research supports mercury-autism link Denver Post
| | | |
| Written by Michael Wagnitz | |
| Thursday, 03 April 2008 | |
| It was reported repeatedly in 2006 that the link between mercury-containing vaccines and autism has been disproven. Yet if one looks at the most recent research coming from some of our major universities, one may draw the opposite conclusion. What we have learned in the last couple of years is that the underlying medical condition of autism is neuroinflammatory disease. In a study conducted at John Hopkins University, brain tissue from deceased autistic patients was examined. The tissue showed an active neuroinflammatory process and marked activation of microglia cells. Neuroinflammatory disease is synonymous with an activation of microglia cells. |
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Vaccine-autism question divides parents, scientists
CNN story - Dr. Boyd Haley's response to the CNN story
Click Here to watch the video.
Click Here to watch the video.
FROM DR. BOYD HALEY:
To all: This represents the major problem parents of autistic children face in getting national public support. The very idea that “it is a parent versus science” debate. It isn’t-- all of the well done biological science supports an oxidative stress based illness and nothing reduces reduced glutathione better than mercury or organic mercury compounds. What else toxic is the autistic infant exposed to? The work by Holmes, Bradstreet, Hornig, Deth, Haley, Nataf, James, Lathe, etc. support the concept that a toxin has injured these children that is mercury based. Yet this science is never presented or discussed by the mass media---instead it is always a well educated CDC physician versus an emotional mother of an autistic child that seems to be highlighted. Sometimes, it is a single courageous physician (usually also the parent of an autistic child) presenting the argument. Nothing wrong with this, except it totally excludes the very hard fact that thimerosal has been proven to be one of the most toxic and, specifically neurotoxic, of compounds AND the biological systems affected in autistic children are those that are mercury sensitive.
Let’s see how many of the above listed researchers are interviewed in the CNN presentation on the “mystery of autism causation”. I will bet the farm that most of the research discussed will be the famous 5 epidemiological studies, paid for by the CDC, and done totally by foreigners who all now live in Europe and work for vaccine manufacturers. Also, 4 of these studies were done on foreign data bases and the “Danish studies done by Hviid” were done, according to their own published data, on a data base with less than 5 autistics per 10,000 while the rate in the USA was 67 per 10,000.
When will the mass media experts as the tough questions? Why hasn’t a premier USA university been commissioned to evaluate the possible causation between vaccine exposure and autism? Given the Amish report by Dan Olmstead this should have been done long ago. The rate of autism in the non-vaccinated population is where the answer to this question lies---and I am sincerely of the opinion that the CDC already knows the answer to this question. Let’s see if the study from the Medical Center in Mannitoba, Canada that showed an asthma rate of about 16% versus 5% on children vaccinated at 2 months versus 4 months of age will be discussed. It clearly shows a relationship between age of vaccination and an illness that has increased like autism.
This morning on CNN Dr. Gupta presented a piece on the observation of autism like symptoms in pre-term babies. I was shocked as I have talked to parents of autistic children who were born premature who were vaccinated on the day of birth even though these children are medically compromised. Go figure. In my opinion, our vaccine program is in the hands of incompetent individuals and Dr. Paul Offit proves this every time he speaks.
Boyd Haley
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