MMR Vaccine Records Sealed

[Guest guest]

I might as well post the whole article:

Bush Asks Court To Seal

MMR Vaccine Records

By Todd Zwillich 11-26-2

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Attorneys for the Bush Administration asked a

federal court on Monday to order that documents on hundreds of cases of

autism allegedly caused by childhood vaccines be kept from the public.

Department of Justice lawyers asked a special master in the US Court of

Federal Claims to seal the documents, arguing that allowing their automatic

disclosure would take away the right of federal agencies to decide when and

how the material should be released.

Attorneys for the families of hundreds of autistic children charged that the

government was trying to keep the information out of civil courts, where

juries might be convinced to award large judgments against vaccine

manufacturers.

The court is currently hearing approximately 1,000 claims brought by the

families of autistic children. The suits charge that the

measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which until recently included a

mercury-containing preservative known as thimerosal, can cause neurological

damage leading to autism.

Federal law requires suits against vaccine makers to go before a special

federal " vaccine court " before any civil lawsuit is allowed. The court was

set up by Congress to speed compensation claims and to help protect vaccine

makers from having to pay large punitive awards decided by juries in state

civil courts. Plaintiffs are free to take their cases to state courts if

they lose in the federal vaccine court or if they don't accept the court's

judgment.

The current 1,000 or so autism cases are unusual for the court. Because it

received so many claims, much of the fact-finding and evidence-gathering is

going on for all of the cases as a block.

Monday's request by the Bush Administration would prevent plaintiffs who

later go to civil court from using some relevant evidence generated during

the required vaccine court proceedings.

Plaintiffs' attorneys said that the order amounted to punishment of the

families of injured children because it would require them to incur the time

and expense of regenerating evidence for a civil suit.

" Wouldn't it be a shame if at the end of the day our policy would be to

compensate lawyers, " said Jeff Kim, an attorney with Gallagher Boland

Meiburger & Brosnan. The firm represents about 400 families of autistic

children who received the MMR vaccine.

Kim accused the government of trying to lower " a shroud of secrecy over

these documents " in order to protect vaccine manufacturers, who he said were

" the only entities " that would benefit if the documents are sealed.

While federal law clearly seals most documents generated in individual

vaccine cases, it has never been applied to a block proceeding like the one

generating evidence in the autism cases.

Administration lawyers told Special Master Hastings that they

requested the seal in order to preserve the legal right of the Secretary of

Health and Human Services to decide when vaccine evidence can be released to

the public.

Justice Department attorney Matanoski argued that to let plaintiffs

use the vaccine court evidence in a later civil suit would confer an

advantage on plaintiffs who chose to forgo federal compensation.

" There is no secret here. What the petitioners are arguing for are enhanced

rights in a subsequent civil action, " Matanoski said of the plaintiffs.

" They're still going to have unfettered use within the proceedings. "

Hastings would not say when he would issue a ruling on whether to seal the

court documents, but did say that his decision would be " very prompt. "

Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or

redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior

written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or

delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

[Guest guest]

Scholarly language does not equate the scientific method, which surely means

the continuous re-examination of the evidence and the investigation of all

likely hypothesis until they are definitively proven true or false. I do not

doubt that many individuals and organisations have jumped on the MMR-autism

bandwagon with their own agenda. I also know it's much safer just to parrot

scholarly reports, but we do not know the long term effects of mass triple

vaccination alongside mass consumption of other non-traditional foodstuffs.

As others have pointed out, Dr Bradstreet has already responded to tbe

Danish Study (

http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=139344 & messageid=1037992442 )

..

The physician at the centre of the UK MMR-autism controversy is non-repetent

and working in Florida. If he were such a fool, why would the mutibillion

dollar forced-vaccination lobby employ PR firms to smear him?

Neil

[Guest guest]

Neil Gardner wrote:

> The physician at the centre of the UK MMR-autism controversy is non-repetent

> and working in Florida. If he were such a fool, why would the mutibillion

> dollar forced-vaccination lobby employ PR firms to smear him?

That one is not hard to figure out. If a fool has a significant following, then

the

people that oppose that fool might have to use PR to dissuade people from

following that

fool. Your bias against corporations seems to make you think that any time one

of them

opposes something, that something must be right. That's just as fallacious as

assuming

that corporations are always right.

[Guest guest]

For the sake of argument, and I hope further research will shed more light

on the genetic and environmental causes of autism, let's assume Drs

Bradstreet and Wakefield are wrong. Why smear them? Why spend millions of

pounds or dollars of public money to insist that the triple MMR vaccine is

the only viable option and to dissuade parents from taking separate vaccines

for measles, mumps and rubella. Try both approaches and see what happens!

But the government doesn't want people to choose their own medication. It

wants pharmaceuticals to have absolute control over healthcare. Would they

not do the public a better service by discouraging consumption of aspartame

(often associated with ADD) and promoting wholesome non-GM food? Instead

they're urging people to switch to sugar-free (i.e. aspartame-rich drinks)

and letting fast-food chains provide school meals, leading in the long run

to many times more premature deaths than measles caused prior to

vaccination. As for our immune system, the real fear is that the measles

virus has mutated into more virulent forms, against which MMR provides

little protection.

However, in all likelihood there are other contributory environmental causes

that accentuate autism in susceptible individuals. I still think there is a

perfectly natural genetically determined autistic-neurosmarmy spectrum (I

just coined the penultimate term, i.e. the opposite to aspie), which is

truly fantastic if we learn to take advantage of people's relative strengths

and weaknesses and stop making absurd assumptions about behavioural

niceties. However, environmental factors turn introvert types into auties

with severe developmental problems. Do you seriously want to condemn these

people to institutional lives dependent on social workers, disability

benefit and medications? No, I'd rather everyone be given a chance in life.

As said there are significant differences in diagnosis rates in countries

with advanced healthcare systems and I don't believe that diagnostic

criteria and awareness are the sole explanations. Some other neurological

differences are easily identifiable. Many ASDs may have been misdiagnosed as

schizophrenia inb the past, but the combined ASD + schizoid disorder total

is rising too as are diagnoses of dyspraxia, ADD and ADHD. Much of the

>inappropriate< or >disruptive< behaviour associated with aspie kids (but

not IMHO features of natural aspieness) can be seen in NT kids. What they

want is an atomised society glued to electronic devices, regurgitating mild

variants of the same propaganda and convinced of their self-righteousness,

but oblivious to the machinations of our real rulers. They want a society

where people converse in chatrooms, but dare not approach their neighbours.

I have serious psychological problems approaching my neighbours, but in an

ideal world we would not fear others, but respect each other's integrity and

identity. What's happening is quite grotesque. No-one is to be trusted and 1

in 5 kids are labelled special needs, something virtually synonymous with

mentally and/or physically handicapped. We pretend everyone has equal

opportunities and then worship neuro-smarmy idols (TV celebs, popstars,

movie stars, videogame heroes etc.).

Neil

Re: MMR Vaccine Records Sealed

> Neil Gardner wrote:

>

> > The physician at the centre of the UK MMR-autism controversy is

non-repetent

> > and working in Florida. If he were such a fool, why would the

mutibillion

> > dollar forced-vaccination lobby employ PR firms to smear him?

>

> That one is not hard to figure out. If a fool has a significant

following, then the

> people that oppose that fool might have to use PR to dissuade people from

following that

> fool. Your bias against corporations seems to make you think that any

time one of them

> opposes something, that something must be right. That's just as

fallacious as assuming

> that corporations are always right.

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Here's another news source with a little more detail:

The Bush administration asked a federal claims court on November 26 to seal

documents relating to hundreds of cases of autism allegedly caused by a

mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, used in childhood vaccines.

The government's legal action comes on the heels of an insertion into the

Homeland Security bill that protects Eli Lilly, the drug company giant that

developed thimerosal, from lawsuits involving the additive. The bill removes

all liability from the pharmaceutical industry and health officials for the

injuries and death resulting from the preservative.

The connections between the Bush administration and the pharmaceutical

company are extensive. Eli Lilly's chairman and CEO, Sidney Taurel, was

recently given a seat on the president's Advisory Council on Homeland

Security and Mitch s, former president of Lilly's North American

operations, is currently the White House budget director. Former president

Bush sat on Eli Lilly's board of directors.

In asking for the documents to be sealed November 26, Department of Justice

(DOJ) lawyers asked a special master in the US Court of Federal Claims for a

protective order on behalf of Tommy G. , the secretary of Health and

Human Services, whose department administers a government fund to compensate

people injured by vaccines. DOJ lawyers claim that the law creating the fund

gives the secretary jurisdiction over which information is released and they

argue that automatic disclosure of the documents would take away that right.

The claims are being heard by Special Master Hastings in a 'vaccine

court'-part of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVIC)-that

was created in 1986, when the government fund was established.

The vaccine court was set up to speed compensation claims and help protect

vaccine makers from having to pay large punitive awards decided by juries in

state civil courts. Claims must be filed within three years of a child's

first symptoms (autism, however, is typically not diagnosed until 18 months

after the first symptoms appear) and the program grants a maximum of

$250,000 for proof of injury-a sum considerably lower than the typical award

for autism in a state court. It also takes four to five years to reach a

decision under NVIC, according to Portland lawyer Mike , who

represents hundreds of families in suits against the pharmaceutical

companies.

The court is currently hearing approximately 1,100 claims brought by the

families of autistic children, who claim that thimerosal has caused autism

and other neurological disorders in children.

The request by the Bush administration would prevent plaintiffs who later go

to civil court from using evidence gathered during the required vaccine

court proceedings.

" There is no secret here. What the petitioners are arguing for are enhanced

rights in a subsequent civil action, " complained Justice Department attorney

Matanoski to Reuters Health.

The order, which amounts to punishing of the families of injured children,

will require that plaintiffs incur the time and expense of regenerating

evidence in a civil suit.

" The vaccine program is a public health program-every child has to get

inoculated, " Sallie Bernard of the parental advocacy group Safe Minds told

the WSWS. " Therefore the public has the right to know every aspect of the

program. "

Mercury-based thimerosal was added to vaccines to safeguard against

production-related contamination. The Federal Drug Administration began

urging vaccine makers to eliminate the substance in mid-1999, as did the

Public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The World

Health Organization still defends thimerosal, which is currently being

manufactured in vaccines sent to the underdeveloped countries. Thimerosal

helps vaccines survive dirty storage conditions and allows for cheaper

packaging in multi-dose bottles, as opposed to single-dose vials.

In 1999 the Institute of Medicine, an associated organization of the

National Academy of Sciences, concluded that the evidence was " inadequate to

accept or reject a causal relationship between thimerosal exposures from

childhood vaccines and the neurodevelopmental disorders of autism " and other

problems, but added, " However, data on mercury toxicity more generally

suggests that the hypothesis is biologically plausible. "

In the midst of the heated response by advocacy groups and law firms

involved with the thimerosal controversy to the DOJ's attempt to seal

documents, a study was published November 30 in the British medical journal

The Lancet. Its findings claimed that infants who received vaccines

containing thimerosal had levels of mercury in their blood that were within

the federal safety limits. The study examined 33 infants from two to six

months who were injected with thimerosal-laced vaccines and 15 infants that

were administered mercury-free vaccines.

Sallie Bernard of Safe Minds commented on the report: " Thirty-three blood

draws cannot do justice to a known neurotoxin. One major shortcoming of a

small sample size is the low chance of including infants who are especially

sensitive to mercury's effects, or who may have detoxification difficulties.

The blood was not drawn at peak levels, and the samples were not randomly

drawn, but were convenience samples and therefore not representative of all

infants in terms of health status, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and other

potentially important factors. Also the amount of the dosage used in the

study was considerably less that the typical dosage administered throughout

the 1990s. "

" This study is an example of the fact that as yet there has not been enough

time or resources allocated to complete much-needed, genuine

investigations, " stated Bernard, who expressed alarm at the prominence The

Lancet had given to the finding.

She further questioned the objectivity of the study's author, Dr. E.

Pichichero of the University of Rochester, who has extensive ties to the

vaccine manufacturers. In a disclosure statement for an article in the

American Academy of Family Physicians newsletter of April 2000, Pichichero

admits to receiving research grants and/or honoraria from Abbot

Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer Labs, Roche,

among a host of others. Pichichero's work has been cited in 21 vaccine

patent applications. Bernard pointed out that the University of Rochester

web site describes Dr. Pichichero as an immunologist, not a toxicologist.

Thimerosal came under scrutiny due to the dramatic rise in autism throughout

the 1990s. Early on in the decade several new thimerosal-based vaccines were

added to the standard childhood schedule, leading to an augmentation of two

to three times the doses of multiple vaccines. According to the Federal Drug

Administration's (FDA) web site, prior to the recent initiatives by the

agency to reduce or eliminate thimerosal from vaccines, the maximum

cumulative exposure to mercury via routine childhood vaccinations during the

first six months of life was 187.5 micrograms. The FDA states that " an

exposure to more than 62.5 micrograms within the first three months of life

significantly increases a child's risk of developing autism. " An FDA review

conducted in 1998 revealed that children who had received the full

complement of childhood vaccines were potentially exposed to mercury levels

30 to 50 times the acceptable levels established by the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA).

The number of children who have been affected by autism leaped from 1 in

2,000 in 1970 to 1 in 250 in 2000. (The National Vaccine Information Center

reports clusters in areas of New Jersey and California of 1 in 150).

Concurrently, the number of children diagnosed with learning disabilities

has now reached 1 in 5.

Another Safe Minds advocate, Lyn Redwood, a nurse practitioner whose husband

is a physician, told the WSWS the story of her son Will. " He was normal

until his second year of life. He then began to regress-he lost speech, eye

contact and became withdrawn and despondent. " When Will was diagnosed with

autism she began investigating her son's quantity of mercury exposure and

discovered it was 125 times the allowed level. It is her belief that Will

suffered from delayed neurotoxicity which led to the onset of autism.

" In the early 1990s, two new vaccines were added to the vaccine protocol for

the first six months of life. I believe that caused what we see now as an

epidemic of autism in children. You can see that most clearly in California,

the state with the best tracking records, " said Ms. Redwood. California

recorded an increase of 273 percent between 1987 and 1998 in the number of

children entering the California development services system with a

professional diagnosis of autism, according to the California Department of

Developmental Services.

She continued: " The Homeland Security Bill has now moved all cases to the

National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act, which has a three year limitation.

My case was in the batch of 1,000 cases, but the statute of limitation has

closed the door on us and also the majority of parents who remain unaware of

the statute. "

The Houston-based law firm of Waters & Kraus filed the first known lawsuit

alleging thimerosal's connection to autism. The firm is leading a consortium

of 10 firms nationwide that are actively prosecuting cases of this nature.

The lead attorney for the consortium, Andy Waters, obtained through Safe

Minds an unreleased confidential report by scientists of the Centers for

Disease Control (CDC) which states: " As for the exposure evaluated at 3

months of age, we found increasing risks of 'neurological developmental

disorders' with the increasing cumulative exposure to thimerosal ... within

the group of 'developmental disorders' ... for the subgroup called 'specific

delays,' and within this subgroup for the specific disorder 'developmental

speech disorder,' and for 'autism' 'stuttering' and 'attention deficit

disorder.' "

Mr. Waters told the WSWS: " It defies coincidence between double the vaccines

and the dramatic upsurge in autism. But this should come as no surprise,

given that the government and its allies are in control of public policy.

Eli Lilly gave more money to the Republican campaign than any other

pharmaceutical company in an industry that gave $20-40 million. The DOJ and

the administration are owned by the pharmaceutical companies. They want to

seal the files to prevent proving the case against these companies.

[Attorney General ] Ashcroft is owned by the industry and the Democrats

are waffling all over the place, so the administration's move comes as no

real surprise. "

" With the cases sealed, Eli Lilly will move for a dismissal and all my cases

are filed against Eli Lilly, " Waters continued. " This will be a long battle

against people who have all the resources and motivation. They control the

pier-reviewed medical and scientific journals and all the research money. It

will be a long and difficult fight. "

Waters added that " no amount of money can give these children back the

potential that they were born with, and no amount of money will comfort the

parents that watched helplessly as their children literally just slipped

away. "

[Guest guest]

Neil Gardner wrote:

> For the sake of argument, and I hope further research will shed more light

> on the genetic and environmental causes of autism, let's assume Drs

> Bradstreet and Wakefield are wrong. Why smear them? Why spend millions of

> pounds or dollars of public money to insist that the triple MMR vaccine is

> the only viable option and to dissuade parents from taking separate vaccines

> for measles, mumps and rubella. Try both approaches and see what happens!

I would agree with that. Knowledge and truth is what I want, even if that meant

admitting

I was wrong. I do not mean to say that I support smearing anyone... I would

rather credir

or discredit their study based on the facts.

> But the government doesn't want people to choose their own medication. It

> wants pharmaceuticals to have absolute control over healthcare. Would they

> not do the public a better service by discouraging consumption of aspartame

> (often associated with ADD) and promoting wholesome non-GM food? Instead

> they're urging people to switch to sugar-free (i.e. aspartame-rich drinks)

> and letting fast-food chains provide school meals, leading in the long run

> to many times more premature deaths than measles caused prior to

> vaccination. As for our immune system, the real fear is that the measles

> virus has mutated into more virulent forms, against which MMR provides

> little protection.

I have not heard that aspartame was associated with ADD. I know that when I was

quite

young, my mother had me on a low-sugar, no preservative (BHA/BHT) diet because

of my

perceived hyperactivity. I never heard that aspartame was being implicated too.

> However, in all likelihood there are other contributory environmental causes

> that accentuate autism in susceptible individuals. I still think there is a

> perfectly natural genetically determined autistic-neurosmarmy spectrum (I

> just coined the penultimate term, i.e. the opposite to aspie), which is

> truly fantastic if we learn to take advantage of people's relative strengths

> and weaknesses and stop making absurd assumptions about behavioural

> niceties. However, environmental factors turn introvert types into auties

> with severe developmental problems. Do you seriously want to condemn these

> people to institutional lives dependent on social workers, disability

> benefit and medications?

I do not think that is accurate. People are or are not autistic depending on

mostly

genetic factors, although there is some other cause that has not as yet been

identified.

However, the autism is either in place or it is not at birth; people are born

autistic.

Some things can exacerbate the condition and reduce function level, but that is

not the

same as turning introverts into autistics. They are autistic either way.

I further demur with the idea that being autistic necessarily means a dependent

life.

There are far too many exceptions to that rule to even believe it for a second.

If you

take all of the aspies into account, only 15% of people on the spectrum are

low-functioning-- a far cry from the 75% figure that is typically used, which

refers only

to those that have a near classical presentation of autism.

I certainly am all in favor of doing research to learn why some of us turn out

like those

of us on this list, and some of us end up unable to communicate or perform the

most basic

self-help services. A lot of this has to do with sensory integration early in

life; if

the senses do not present a coherent view of the world, the mind cannot be

stimulated and

develop intelligence as it should.

> As said there are significant differences in diagnosis rates in countries

> with advanced healthcare systems and I don't believe that diagnostic

> criteria and awareness are the sole explanations. Some other neurological

> differences are easily identifiable. Many ASDs may have been misdiagnosed as

> schizophrenia inb the past, but the combined ASD + schizoid disorder total

> is rising too as are diagnoses of dyspraxia, ADD and ADHD. Much of the

>>inappropriate< or >disruptive< behaviour associated with aspie kids (but

> not IMHO features of natural aspieness) can be seen in NT kids. What they

> want is an atomised society glued to electronic devices, regurgitating mild

> variants of the same propaganda and convinced of their self-righteousness,

> but oblivious to the machinations of our real rulers.

By and large, I would agree with that statement. I think of modern sports as

being akin

to the Roman circuses, meant to keep the populace sated and preoccupied with

things other

htan the way their lives are being run for them.

> What's happening is quite grotesque. No-one is to be trusted and 1

> in 5 kids are labelled special needs, something virtually synonymous with

> mentally and/or physically handicapped. We pretend everyone has equal

> opportunities and then worship neuro-smarmy idols (TV celebs, popstars,

> movie stars, videogame heroes etc.).

I would agree with that.

[Guest guest]

> I have not heard that aspartame was associated with ADD. I know that

> when I was quite young, my mother had me on a low-sugar, no preservative

> (BHA/BHT) diet because of my perceived hyperactivity. I never heard

> that aspartame was being implicated too.

I've used aspartame since it came out, and I've never had ADHD.

As far as I know, I never had the MMR vaccine. I had the mumps when I was

five, and it directly caused my diabetes. I'd rather have taken my chances

with the vaccine. I know that my AS was caused by the circumstances of my

birth, not by a vaccine.

Iris

Iris Gray, Puff, Calli and Munchkin

Proud to be Canuckistanian

Personal website: http://victoria.tc.ca/~rainbow/

Toastmasters website: http://victoria.tc.ca/Community/Bb/

[Guest guest]

Iris wrote:

>I've used aspartame since it came out, and I've never had ADHD.

Seems like any/all artificial sweeteners can be a migraine

trigger for some people. I avoid them all.

Jane