Forest? What Forest?: Vaccines & autism
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For research challenged journalists who think there is no evidence
that vaccines cause autism..
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From: HSI - Jenny Thompson [email protected]
reply-to: [email protected]
Approved-By: www.agora-inc.com/
Subject: Forest? What Forest?
Forest? What Forest?
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
May 10, 2004
Dear Member,
You can say one thing for government bureaucracies: They're
reliably infuriating.
This time it's the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), whose representatives still can't see the
forest because all those trees keep getting in the way.
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Seeing what they want to see
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Last year, a study published in the Journal of the American
Association of Physicians and Surgeons examined extensive
data on vaccines in children. The astonishing conclusion:
Children who receive just three vaccines containing the
mercury-based preservative thimerosal are 27-times more
likely to develop autism, compared to children who get
vaccinations containing no thimerosal.
This was no surprise to the many researchers who have
recognized that mercury-exposure to children through
vaccines dramatically increased over the past 15 years,
while the rate of autism jumped from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 150
over the same period.
But the CDC is having none of it. Last week, CDC reps
announced their recommendation that children aged 6 months
to 23 months should receive flu shots (which contain
thimerosal) as part of the standard schedule of
immunizations. Steve Cochi, the acting director of the
National Immunization Program underlined the CDC's official
view of the vaccine-autism connection, citing a "lack of
scientific evidence."
But CDC officials are almost certainly aware of a huge body
of scientific evidence that supports the vaccine-autism
link. For instance: The evidence used in the study mentioned
above was collected from data obtained under the Freedom of
Information Act. And the source of the data? Sure, you saw
it coming: The archives of the CDC.
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Hurry... supplies are limited
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Responding to the CDC announcement, U.S. congressman Dave
Weldon of Florida (who also happens to be a doctor) said he
was "outraged." And he added, "One thing we can be certain
of is that injecting mercury into an eight-, 12- or 16-pound
infant cannot have a positive effect on that child,
particularly when one in six infants is born with a mercury
level that the EPA considers harmful."
The one bit of good news here is that parents can request
thimerosal-free flu shots for their kids. The bad news is
that they'd best do it right now because the number of
immunizations without thimerosal will be limited and will
even need to be special ordered by doctors who don't keep it
on hand. The cost of the non-thimerosal shot will be
considerably higher as well.
Sounds a little crazy, doesn't it? Your child can have a
normal flu shot, or - for a slight additional charge - they
can provide a SAFER shot with one of the toxins removed.
So... which would you like? With-toxin or without?
The problem is that most parents will probably never even
know they have a choice. And the CDC is partly to blame
because officials decided not to offer that information
along with their recommendation to add the flu shot to the
standard vaccine schedule for infants.
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Don't postpone hope
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Today, most vaccines don't contain thimerosal. In 1999, the
U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of
Pediatrics petitioned drug companies to remove thimerosal
from vaccines intended for children, and by and large,
vaccine manufacturers have complied. (Think about it: Would
any of this have transpired if the scientific evidence was
truly lacking?)
Of course, this change doesn't help the many thousands of
children who have already been diagnosed with autism. But in
spite of the mainstream medical community mindset that
autism is basically "untreatable," there is some hope.
I recently received an e-mail from an HSI member named Randy
who is the parent of an autistic child. Randy writes: "I
searched your archives but I was not able to find any
research articles on autism and/or supplements that may be
beneficial for autistic children. If possible, please
dedicate some research towards any holistic approaches for
treating autism."
Knowing that HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., has used
nutritional treatments for various disorders in children, I
asked him to field Randy's questions, and here's what he had
to offer:
"The problem is there is a lot of conflicting information
concerning autism and its treatment. Through it all, the
work of Dr. Bernard Rimland has been steadily developing for
several decades. He found that high dose nutrient therapies
can have distinct, positive effects on a high percentage of
cases of autistic children. Vitamins C, pantothenic acid,
and particularly pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) and magnesium are
the mainstays. But there is more to it, and don't think for
a second that vaccines (specifically the MMR) and mercuric
compounds (thimerosal) aren't involved.
"Such treatment, however, is more involved than 'just
swallow a vitamin C and send the kid to college,' but I've
found that parents are nearly always willing to do the
homework in this field that sometimes the docs are not
entirely informed about. I'd strongly suggest getting
familiar with Dr. Rimland's site for the Autism Research
Institute (ARI), at autism.com/ari."
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Bucking the system
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I agree with Dr. Spreen. The ARI web site is an excellent
source of information about autism and the natural
treatments that Dr. Rimland has been developing for more
than 40 years. The parent of an autistic child, Dr. Rimland
was one of the first to dispel the myth that autism was
hopeless and untreatable. His son is now in his late forties
and is an internationally recognized artist.
In addition to establishing the Autism Society of America
(1965) and the Autism Research Institute (1967), Dr. Rimland
created the Defeat Autism Now! Conference (DAN!), which
brought together some of the world's leading autism
researchers and scientists. Since 1995, DAN! has developed
guidelines for diagnosis of autism, and non-pharmaceutical
approaches to treatment.
A listing of doctors who follow the procedures outlined by
DAN! is available on the ARI web site. I'm sure that Randy
and other parents and grandparents of autistic children will
find useful information there, as well as a refreshing
alternative to the discouraging mainstream attitude toward
autism.
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