RE: The Pentagon -- A Voice of Reason on Vaccines and Autism?

[Guest guest]

My husband was military for seven years.  He left the Service nine

years before our son was conceived.  Are these related?

Pamela

From:

EOHarm [mailto:EOHarm ] On Behalf Of

Kirby

Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 8:38 PM

To: EOHarm

Subject: The Pentagon -- A Voice of Reason on Vaccines and

Autism?

Posted December 4, 2008 | 03:01 PM (EST)

The Pentagon -- A Voice of Reason on

Vaccines and Autism?

Kirby – Huffington Post

When it comes to fighting autism, maybe we should send in the

Army.

Autism and the military have a deep history together. Children

of service members are reportedly almost twice as

likely to have autism (1-in-88) than those in the general population

(1-in-150). Meanwhile, the Department of Defense quietly spends millions in

taxpayer dollars researching the possible causes of autism at far-from-the-spotlight

centers around the country.

Recently, several documents have been brought to my attention

which, when viewed together, suggest that the Department of Defense has

legitimate concerns about vaccine injuries and their possible connection to

autism, perhaps more so than other branches of the Federal Government.

These documents raise several questions that I am currently

trying to get answered from DOD officials:

1) Autism may be an " adverse event " of

Tripedia (DTaP) use

According to the website of the Vaccine Healthcare Centers

Network, run by DOD and CDC, autism is

listed as an " adverse event " associated with use of the Tripedia

triple vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.

My questions are: Why does autism appear here? Does VHC

consider autism to be a possible adverse event of DTaP use, or has it simply

been reported that way by parents?

2) Patients who have bad vaccine reactions should

avoid multiple vaccines in the future

According to

this VHC slide, any patient who has a " Systemic Event " following

immunization - defined as " symptoms and signs of illness after

vaccination " and " any reaction that does not involve the injection

site " - should avoid multiple vaccines in the future, if possible.

My questions are: Is that standard DOD policy? Is there an

alternative schedule for these patients? Does this advice apply to children of

service members as well? Why is this information not shared with civilian

doctors and pediatricians?

3) Patients who develop serious neurological diseases

might need vaccine exemptions in the future

This VHC

slide says that a patient who develops a severe neurologic disease

following vaccination might need temporary or permanent exemption from future

vaccines. Such diseases include peripheral neuropathy, encephalopathy

(including autism, presumably) Guillain-Barré syndrome and progressive focal neurologic

disease. Such patients should be given temporary exemptions from future

vaccinations.

Meanwhile, risks for recurrent reactions should be assessed

before additional doses are given, and " permanent vaccine exemption may be

required. "

Again, is this DOD policy? Are such exemptions given? Because

autism is listed as a " severe neurological disease, " would those

patients (ie, children of service members) also be exempt from future

vaccinations? And, on a related note, does VHC consider autism to be a " neurological

disease, " as opposed to a developmental/behavioral disorder?

4) Mercury, and possibly thimerosal may cause autism

and dementia

According

this slide (#22) on the vaccine preservative thimerosal, from the Armed

Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), " exposure to mercury in utero and

children may cause mild to severe mental retardation and mild to severe motor

coordination impairment. " The slide also seems to indicate that autism and

dementia might questionably be " health effects " of mercury or

thimerosal exposure.

My question is: Why does autism appear on a list of health

effects on a slide about thimerosal, even if it is followed by a question mark?

5) Alternative biomedical treatments may be prescribed for thimerosal

exposure

The same slide says that " treatments " for thimerosal

exposure include: " Methyl-B12, ointment DMPS, & glutathione

(GSH). " These are all alternative (some would say fringe, radical and

dangerous) treatments being used today by thousands of autism parents and their

children's physicians, with varying degrees of success (including reports of

full recovery).

Methyl-B12 - has been

shown to repair damage to the process of methylation, and to restore methionine

and glutathione levels in patients with autism to within normal ranges.

DMPS - is a sulfur-based

amino acid used in the process of chelation - in which sulfur molecules bind

with heavy metals such as mercury, and eliminate them from the system.

Glutathione - is a

sulfur-based protein that binds with heavy metals and eliminates them from the

system. It is also a powerful anti-oxidant. Many children with autism show

signs of glutathione depletion, heavy metal accumulation and oxidative stress.

My questions are: Was the speaker simply refering to

treatments that some people have tried, or is the AFID endorsing these

treatments for thimerosal toxicity and/or autism? On what evidence is this

based? Are Methyl B-12 and GSH, like chelation, considered standard of care in

the military for mercury toxicity? Can you explain why autism families in the

military have these treatments covered, (at thousands of dollars a year), even

if they also have an autism diagnosis? Is this why military insurance will pay

for visits to doctors in the Defeat Autism Now network, which advocates the use

of these non-traditional treatments?

I eagerly await the replies from VHC and AFID officials, and

will update this blog as soon as I hear anything.

Meanwhile, regardless of the Pentagon's positions on the above

questions, we know for certain that DOD is concerned about the risk of injury

from multiple vaccines.

In fact, it may even need to reconsider the practice.

" We have preliminary findings from one of our many

on-going research studies that suggest a relationship between adverse events

and multiple vaccinations exist, " US Army Colonel Renata J. M. Engler, MD,

director of the VHC, (a " collaborative network " of the Defense

Department and the CDC), wrote

to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). " These findings will require

validation, but heighten our concern for the current clinical practice of

multiple vaccinations. "

" The more drugs one is exposed to, the greater the

likelihood of having an adverse event so as vaccine numbers increase, and (sic)

we will see more people who have efficacy or safety issues, " Col. Engler

said. " The standard of care (ie, in the context of mixing vaccines) is to

minimize drug exposures because of the recognition that the more drugs being

used, the greater the chance of a reaction and potentially a serious adverse

event. "

I wonder when the CDC and America's pediatricians will issue

an equally thoughtful and cautionary statement, instead of their usual

reassurance that small children can easily get 100,000 shots at once, without a

single " serious adverse event " among them.

PS: For a list of scientists and government leaders who called for more

vaccine-autism research in 2008, please CLICK HERE.