Re: Baltimore Sun Today: Autism activists unmoved- stealthy writer?

[Guest guest]

I think this journalist might be a bit (a tiny bit) of an underground

sympathizer who was given an assignment to bash autism parents and

punched in just enough unsympathetic information in order not to get

fired or reassigned. Note the remarks that don't commonly appear in

other reports on the issue, such as the first cases of autism being

identified ten years after hg was first put in vaccines. She's read

Olmsted. And she quotes Deth.

I'm still going to rip apart the information in the article (not the

journalist) and I think that this is expected.

If this is so, it's very sad that this is how journalists, probably

particularly young ones, have to conduct themselves in the field.

It's easy to say they could make other choices but some people lack

the perspective, believe they're trying to change things from

the " inside " (until that argument falls apart). And Pringle

herself told me she made only $200 in a four month period last year.

Bit of a reality check.

Here's one possible reason that publications conform, aside from the

usual pharma payoffs: is anyone aware that cameramen from CBS and AP

were held at Abu Ghraib without evidence? Many believe they were

literally held hostage to get unembedded reporters and publications

to toe the line. A little conspiracy theory for you on a

Wednesday.

Oh, this makes my blood

> boil . . . .

> >

> > Autism activists unmoved

> > Many scientists are satisfied that mercury in vaccines is not the

> > cause of the condition, but some parents reject the research and

> > reassurances that immunizations are not to blame

> > By Desmon | Sun reporter

> > January 9, 2008

> > Article tools

> >

> > For years, the scientific evidence has been accumulating. The

> latest,

> > published this week, once again showed that thimerosal, a mercury-

> > based preservative long used in childhood vaccines, does not

cause

> > the neurological disorders associated with the U.S. autism

epidemic.

> >

> > In fact, scientists at the California Department of Public Health

> > demonstrated that in the years since nearly all thimerosal was

> > removed from vaccines in 2001, the rate of autism has continued

to

> > rise there. Had thimerosal been the culprit, those numbers should

> > have decreased.

> >

> > Case closed?

> >

> > Not in the world of autism, an emotionally charged place where

Web

> > sites, blogs and parent advocacy groups have spent a decade

> promoting

> > the theory that the thimerosal injected into babies beginning

when

> > they were just weeks old has left as many as one in 150 children

> > disabled by autism. These advocates have lobbied Congress,

screamed

> > about coverups and filed financial claims against the government.

> >

> > " I know the people who want to believe it's thimerosal will find

> > fault with this [study], " said Dr. Goldstein, president &

CEO

> of

> > the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. " The scientists,

> they're

> > saying, 'Why are we still talking about this?' "

> >

> > Thimerosal, which is almost 50 percent mercury, has been a

> > preservative in vaccines since the 1930. The first case of autism

> was

> > identified at s Hopkins University in the 1940s.

> >

> > Before 1991, only one vaccine - the one for diphtheria, tetanus

and

> > pertussis - contained thimerosal. Starting in 1991, two more were

> > added to the schedule for infants - sharply increasing the

quantity

> > of mercury given to young children. Most other vaccines have

> remained

> > mercury-free.

> >

> > By 1999, some government scientists were concerned that infants

> might

> > be getting too much mercury. As a precautionary measure, the

> federal

> > Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American

Academy

> > of Pediatrics asked pharmaceutical companies to remove thimerosal

> > from vaccines.

> >

> > Still, according to Dr. A. Offit, the infectious diseases

> chief

> > at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, doctors kept insisting

that

> > parents not worry about the safety of vaccines.

> >

> > But the firestorm came. " Many parents, frightened by a sudden

> change

> > in policy, reasoned that thimerosal was targeted because it was

> > harmful - and their faith in the vaccine infrastructure was

> shaken, "

> > Offit wrote in a September issue of The New England Journal of

> > Medicine.

> >

> > By 2002, the last U.S. doses of required vaccines for children

made

> > with thimerosol had expired, though other countries continue to

use

> > it.

> >

> > Those who publicly deny the link between thimerosal and autism

have

> > been harassed - some have received death threats. Goldstein said

he

> > has gotten hate e--mails and a call saying, " I hope your child

> dies. "

> >

> > In the new California study, published in Archives of General

> > Psychiatry, researchers looked at data reported to the California

> > Department of Developmental Services, which serves the state's

> > disabled population. " To me, the body of evidence is persuasive, "

> > said study author Dr. Schechter.

> >

> > But Lyn Redwood, a co-founder of SafeMinds, a nonprofit that

raises

> > awareness of mercury exposure in children, said she isn't ready

to

> > write off the thimerosal/autism connection. That's because

> thimerosal

> > has not disappeared. Pregnant women receive flu shots - which

> contain

> > a full dose of thimerosal - and flu vaccines for babies often

> contain

> > it, she said.

> >

> > " Our children are still getting exposed to mercury, " said the

> Atlanta

> > nurse practitioner and mother. " I think mercury should still be

on

> > everybody's radar screens. "

> >

> > She said the California data are flawed because the continued

rise

> in

> > autism could be explained by immigrants there who were vaccinated

> in

> > other countries where thimerosal is still used.

> >

> > " I think it's a little bit early to close the books on

thimerosal, "

> > she said.

> >

> > Dr. Mark Geier, a Silver Spring epidemiologist, agreed. " Everyone

> > worries about lead poisoning, " he said. " Do you know how much

more

> > dangerous mercury is? "

> >

> > It is still unknown what causes autism, a spectrum of disorders

> > marked by impairment in social development and communication.

> > Autistic children usually exhibit language delays and often have

> > difficulties relating to people, failing to read basic social

cues

> in

> > the faces of others.

> >

> > Most specialists believe autism's cause will be found in

genetics,

> > but many also suspect that an environmental trigger contributed

to

> > the explosive growth in autism cases in the past generation.

> Doctors

> > also attribute some of the growth to better diagnosis and a

> > broadening of autism's definition.

> >

> > But it's the scientific community's inability to provide a

> definitive

> > cause that has led so many to thimerosal. " The final answer to me

> > will come when that paper is written that says, 'This is what

> causes

> > autism', " said Dr. Deth, a pharmacologist at Northeastern

> > University in Boston, who calls thimerosal " a prime suspect. "

> >

> > Some health experts are concerned that thimerosal worries might

> keep

> > some parents from vaccinating their children, forgetting the

value

> of

> > protecting them from diseases that were once major killers.

> >

> > " Immunizations have kind of become the fall guy for problems, "

said

> > Dr. W. Zimmerman, a pediatric neurologist at Kennedy

> > Krieger, " but the public has a short memory - because before

> > immunizations, the diseases themselves were much worse. "

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

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

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