Re: Statement By Safe Minds On The Wall Street Journal Editorial OF 12/29/03

[Guest guest]

Bravo, well done. And another hero, Lyn Redwood, to add to my growing

list!

Statement By Safe Minds On The Wall Street Journal

Editorial OF 12/29/03

>

> Statement By Safe Minds On The Wall Street Journal Editorial OF 12/29/03

> " The Politics Of Autism "

> Lyn Redwood RN, MSN President, Safe Minds

>

> The December 29th editorial from the Wall Street Journal " The

Politics

> of Autism: Lawsuits and emotion vs. science and childhood vaccines " is a

> misrepresentation of the actual facts surrounding the debate concerning

> autism and exposure to thimerosal, a mercury preservative used in some but

> not all infant vaccines. Instead of this being a " story of politics and

> lawyers trumping science and medicine " as alleged, it would be more

> accurately described as a story of how the pharmaceutical industry uses

the

> media and politics to accomplish its goals.

>

> One must ask, " Why does the Wall Street Journal feel it necessary to

> pick on families of children with autism and a small research advocacy

> group, Safe Minds? " The answer is simple, money.

>

> When an FDA official reported that ethyl mercury from thimerosal was

> able to cross the blood brain barrier resulting in appreciable mercury

> content in the brain and other well respected doctors opined that exposure

> to mercury containing vaccines, in addition to already high levels of

> exposure to environmental mercury, may result in adverse neurological

> outcomes, they began to worry. This, coupled with the uncovering of

internal

> documents obtained during the process of discovery from Eli Lilly, who

held

> the patent on thimerosal, that the product was not safe to administer to

> dogs, but nonetheless was promoted for use in childhood vaccines, was

enough

> for them to rush to their allies in Washington, or should I say largest

> campaign contribution recipients, for help. The result, a rider added at

the

> 11th hour to last year's popular Homeland Security Bill giving Eli Lilly

> immunity from any product liability related to thimerosal.

>

> Fortunately, many in Congress recognized that the rider had nothing

to

> do with homeland security and demanded that it be removed until the issue

> could be reviewed. The claim that these Senators failed to honor their

side

> of the agreement to address the issue in the next session of Congress is

> wrong. In fact, on April 9, 2003, the Senate Health, Education Labor and

> Pensions Committee, chaired by Gregg (R-NH), was scheduled to meet to work

> on a compromise bill agreed to by Senate Majority Leader Frist (R-TN). But

> before the start of that meeting, lobbyists from the vaccine manufacturers

> met with and convinced Senator Gregg to postpone the meeting indefinitely.

> Senator Gregg went on the record admitting that he aborted the committee

> meeting because of the concerns of the vaccine manufacturers. To suggest

> that Senators Snowe, and Chafee were at fault is a

misrepresentation

> of actual events and warrants retraction.

>

> Additionally, the editorial wrongly claims that thimerosal has never

> been linked to any health problems. A quick literature search finds

hundreds

> of studies that document numerous incidences of injury from thimerosal

> exposure. The few suggested in the editorial as being evidence disproving

> such an association have been highly criticized and when reviewed were

> actually found to support a link. One such study published in the

November,

> 2003 issue of Pediatrics contains faulty methodology and manipulation of

> data. In fact an earlier version of the study found statistically

> significant and dose dependant associations between exposures to mercury

> containing vaccines and several adverse outcomes including

> neurodevelopmental delays in general, speech and language delays and

> ADD/ADHD. Investigators kept the results secret and changed the data and

> methodology in order to achieve the results desired by vaccine

> manufacturers. This was only revealed when Safe Minds obtained minutes of

a

> secret meeting on the initial results through the Freedom of Information

> Act. One participant even claimed that based on the results, he would not

> allow his own baby grandson to receive the vaccines containing thimerosal.

> The lead author of the study, an employee of vaccine manufacturer Glaxo

> Kline, has refused press inquiries about these charges.

>

> In addition, independent researchers, at the behest of the U.S.

> Congress, have analyzed the same database for the relationship between

> mercury from thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and adverse

> neurodevelopmental disorders, and found an overwhelming epidemiological

> confirmation of a direct link related to increasing exposure to mercury

from

> thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines.

>

> The Rochester study as well was highly criticized by three

independent

> physicians and researchers in the following issue of Lancet. The sample

size

> of 33 children was too small to establish safety claims and the mercury

> levels in the blood were not obtained 3 hours after the exposure to the

> vaccine when the levels would be at their highest, but instead days and

> weeks later when the levels had now dropped below EPA's level of concern.

> One reviewer using pharmacokinetic modeling was able to extrapolate the

data

> back to peak levels and found that mercury levels had in fact breeched

> safety guidelines.

>

> This coupled with the fact that the lead author, in previous

> publications but not this one, acknowledged financial ties to a number of

> vaccine manufacturers including Eli Lilly, casts further doubt on their

> research findings.

>

> And lastly the highly touted Denmark study cited in the editorial as

> being the best evidence to date that there is no connection between

> thimerosal and autism is also highly suspect. The Danish autism registry

> allows 10 to 25% of the autism cases to be lost from its records each year

> with the net effect being that the older cases which occurred when

> thimerosal vaccines were administered in Denmark are lost. Controlling for

> this loss of records results in a higher number of autism cases during the

> time frame when thimerosal containing vaccines were used, supporting the

> thimerosal-autism link. Again, the author of this investigation failed to

> acknowledge his employment with the manufacturer and promoter of vaccines

in

> Denmark.

>

> While the ramifications of damage to a generation of children from

the

> needless exposure to mercury from infant vaccines and the accompanying

> liability is a big pill for the pharmaceutical industry to swallow,

sweeping

> the facts under the rug and running to Congress for protection after the

> fact will only exacerbate the problem. Public confidence in vaccine safety

> will only prevail when the pharmaceutical companies, the media and

Congress

> deal openly and truthfully with American parents. Congress must address

this

> in a manner that brings justice to injured children, and ensures that all

> vaccines, both voluntary as well as those required by law are safe and

> effective. Extending further liability protections to industry takes away

> the necessary incentives to accomplish that goal.\\

>

> (this is the article referred to

> http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004487

>

> The Politics of Autism

> Lawsuits and emotion vs. science and childhood vaccines. ....Sheri)

>

> --------------------------------------------------------

> Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath

> Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

> $$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

> vaccineinfo@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

> (go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

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> ANY INFO OBTAINED HERE NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS MEDICAL

> OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE

> DECISION TO VACCINATE IS YOURS AND YOURS ALONE.

>

> ******

> " Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down.

> Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy

> knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy

information

> and religions destroy spirituality " .... Ellner

>

>

>

>