Parents and Researchers Call for Research on Autism-Vaccine Connection

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April 5, 2000 <<New>> Autism Questions: mailto:info@...

Parents and Researchers Call for Research on Autism-Vaccine Connection

Also: Autism Not Linked to Immunization: Debunking the Myth

[Organizational press release from the National Vaccine Information

Center.]

PRNewswire - At a Capitol Hill press conference today followed by a

hearing on autism in the House Government Reform Committee, independent

researchers investigating the biological causes of autism joined with parent

organizations in calling for immediate and accelerated basic science

research into identifying biological risk factors which play a role in the

development of vaccine-associated regressive autism in children.

The parents and researchers, who were joined by Government Reform

Committee Chairman Congressman Dan Burton, stressed that they were not

questioning the good that vaccines have done in controlling infectious

disease in childhood but were calling for accelerated research into the way

vaccines can impact on the developing brain and immune systems of some

children, depending upon genetic and other biological factors. They said

research should be designed to (1) better understand biological mechanisms

for vaccine- associated autism; (2) identify children at high risk in order

to develop screening techniques prior to vaccination; (3) tailor vaccine

policies to minimize vaccine risks; (3) develop immune modulating therapies

to repair immune and brain dysfunction following vaccination; and (4)

re-evaluate vaccine ingredients to maximize purity, safety and efficacy.

Presenting evidence for a vaccine-autism connection and answering

questions from the media were: Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., founder, Autism

Research Institute and Autism Society of America; Wakefield, M.D., of

London; Walter Spitzer, M.D., M.P.H., Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology,

McGill University; Vijendra Singh, Ph.D., Research Professor, Utah State

University; Candace Pert, Ph.D., Research Professor, town University

Medical Center; Megson, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of

Pediatrics, Medical College of Virginia; Yazbak, M.D., F.A.A.P., of

Massachusetts; and Lynn Redwood, RN, MSN, of Georgia.

Spokespersons for parent organizations included Barbara Loe Fisher,

co- founder and president, National Vaccine Information Center; Rick

Rollens, co- founder of F.E.A.T. and the M.I.N.D. Institute, University of

California- ; Reynolds and Jeana , co-founders, Unlocking

Autism, of Louisiana; Ray Gallup, founder of Autism Autoimmunity Project, of

New Jersey; and Karyn Seroussi, founder of A.N.D.I., of New York.

le Burton Sarkine, whose infant daughter almost died after a

reaction to a hepatitis B vaccination and whose 14 month old son was left

autistic after receiving nine vaccines on one day, introduced her father,

Congressman Dan Burton, who spoke about the direction the committee's

investigation is taking in exploring the connection between vaccines and

brain and immune system dysfunction in children.

“This was a historic day,” said NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher,

“because it marks the first time that researchers stood publicly with

parents with vaccine injured children and issued a united call for an end to

the gaps in knowledge about the way in which vaccines singly or in

combination can adversely affect children. We can't wait for one more

generation to be born before we commit the will and resources to answer

outstanding questions that beg to be answered.”

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Autism Not Linked to Immunization: Debunking the Myth

PRNewswire - The national parent advocacy organization, PKIDs (Parents

of Kids with Infectious Diseases), is committed to protecting our nation's

children against diseases that have life-long effects on their health and

development. In response to a U.S. House Government Reform Committee hearing

on autism (Thursday, April 6), PKIDs voices its support for more resources

for autism research and stresses that there is no scientific evidence

linking autism to immunization.

“There is a long way to go in understanding autism. As a nation, we

cannot ignore the need for research to find a cure for this severe and very

prevalent neurological disorder,” said Trish Parnell, director of PKIDs.

“Autism affects more than 400,000 families and costs the nation over 13

billion dollars a year -- it deserves as much public attention and research

as other childhood diseases.”

Although autism is currently the third most common developmental

disorder, it receives less than five percent of the funding for research of

other childhood diseases, like multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis.

Funding for research into diseases such as autism is an integral part of

finding a cure.

In hopes of improving the quality of children's health across the

country, PKIDs lends its support to H.R. 3301, the “Children's Health

Research and Prevention Amendments of 1999” that would amend the Public

Health Service Act in regards to children's health.

NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE LINKING IMMUNIZATION TO AUTISM

While PKIDs advocates for additional resources for autism research, it

does not condone the spread of false and misleading information linking

autism to childhood vaccination. PKIDs strongly encourages parents to

continue immunizing their children with scientifically proven safe and

effective vaccines.

“Today's high immunization rates are what is protecting us from

outbreaks of measles, rubella, diphtheria and polio,” said Dr. Ed Marcuse,

Director, Medical Services at Seattle's Children's Hospital and Regional

Medical Center. “If we stopped vaccinating, costly outbreaks of these

vaccine-preventable diseases would return as surely as spring follows winter

with devastating consequences for some families.”

Over the past 50 years, vaccines have gained control over or virtually

eliminated diseases that used to be very common in the U.S., including

measles, diphtheria, polio, smallpox, rubella, Hib meningitis and mumps.

But, other diseases such as hepatitis B, varicella and pneumococcal

meningitis are still common, resulting in serious illness for many families.

In fact, even in the U.S., where immunization rates are the highest,

approximately 1 million pre-school children are not adequately protected

against potentially disabling or fatal diseases that can be prevented by

immunization.

For more information, please call 877-55-PKIDS or log onto

http://www.pkids.org.

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Rally for National Autism Awareness

April 8, 2000

Open Your Eyes to Autism & Hear~Their~Silence

www.littleangels.org www.ark-inc.org

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Editor: Lenny Schafer | Eastern Editor: | News Wire: Ron Sleith

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