Growing list of scientists, health officials and government leaders who support vaccine-autism research

[Guest guest]

http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/11/the-list-keeps.html

There is a growing list of

scientists, doctors, public health officials and government leaders who now

believe that a vaccine-autism connection is at the least possible, and should

be researched further.

Earlier this week, Dr.

Fletcher, former Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Department of Health was

added. Now, eight more prominent researchers have joined the group. (See list

below – they are the last eight names added).

These are the authors of the new

study, “Mitochondrial Disease in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Patients: A Cohort Analysis,”

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003815#aff1 who did chart reviews on Hannah Poling

and two dozen other young people with autism and mitochondrial dysfunction.

In my opinion, it could well prove to be one of the most significant

autism studies published to date. (My Huffington Post article on this is HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/new-study---mitochondrial_b_147030.html

Mito disorders,

which might affect 7-to-30 percent of all children with ASD, can predispose

kids to developmental regression following a stressful trigger. Such a trigger

might come from a febrile infection – or it could conceivably come from a

vaccine reaction, the authors wrote.

“There might be no difference between the

inflammatory or catabolic (breaking down of tissue) stress of vaccinations and

that of common childhood diseases, which are known precipitants of

mitochondrial regression,” they said.

And then they wrote this: “Large,

population-based studies will be needed to identify a possible relationship of

vaccination with autistic regression in persons with mitochondrial cytopathies

(cellular disorders).”

And so, they get added to the list.

The list keeps changing in other ways. For example, late last spring it

listed, “all three presidential candidates” (Obama, Clinton and

McCain). Soon enough, that will be changed to US President, Secretary of State,

and a pivotal and potentially filibuster-busting Senator from Arizona.

Another change: Before, the list said, “Autism researchers at s Hopkins University Medical Center.” Now, those people can be named,

along with their colleagues: Investigators at the Cleveland Clinic and

Massachusetts General Hospital. I have also listed experts from Harvard, UC

and Autism Speaks, who were part of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for

Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).

It makes you wonder how long the

term “fringe” can seriously be applied to people who believe that

this debate is not over.

Finally, keep your eye on the

draft National Vaccine Plan at HHS, especially this January - right around the time

the nation gets a new HHS Secretary and, reportedly, a new Director of the CDC

– both of whom could potentially be added to the list, as well.

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In 2008, the following groups and individuals have advocated, or at

least considered, further study of a possible vaccine-autism connection:

1)

Presidenti-Elect Barack Obama

2)

Sen. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Designee

3)

Sen. McCain, Senior Senator from Arizona and pivotal minority vote

4)

Dr. Gerberding, Director of the CDC

5)

Dr. Bernadine Healy, Former Director of the NIH and President of the

American Red Cross

6)

Rep. Brad , (D-NC), Chairman

of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the House Committee on

Science and Technology

7)

Members of the HHS Vaccine Safety

Working Group

8)

Officials at the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office who drafted the

federal vaccine safety research agenda, the National Vaccine Plan

9)

Medical personnel at the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program of HHS, who

ordered federal compensation to Hannah Poling for her vaccine-associated

autism.

10)

Members of the CDC’s Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network

(CISA)

11)

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association

representing nearly 1,300 companies covering more than 200 million Americans

12)

Research grant making officials at

Autism Speaks

13)

Dr. Wallace, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the

University of California, Irvine, Director of the UCI Center for Molecular and

Mitochondrial Medicine in Genetics, and member of the Scientific & Medical Advisory Board of the United

Mitochondrial Disease Foundation

14)

Dr. Fletcher, former Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Department of

Health

15)

Dr. Jon Poling, prominent neurologist and father to Hannah Poling

16) Dr. Isaac Pessah, Professor and Chair,

VM: Molecular Biosciences,

Director, Center for Children’s Environmental Health, University of California, , and member of the Strategic Planning

Workgroup for Autism

Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).

17) Dr. Martha Herbert, Assistant

Professor, Pediatric Neurology Director, Transcend Research Program, Harvard

Medical School, and member of the

Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee

(IACC).

18) Dr. Geraldine Dawson, Chief Science

Officer, Autism Speaks, and member of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal

Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).

19) Dr. R. Weissman, Cleveland

Clinic Lerner College

of Medicine

20) Dr.

I. Kelley, Department of Pediatrics, s

Hopkins University

Medical Center

and Division of Metabolism, Kennedy Krieger Institute

21) Dr.

Margaret L. Bauman, Department of

Pediatrics and Learning and Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and

Rehabilitation Services (LADDERS), Massachusetts General Hospital

22) Dr. Bruce H. Cohen, Neurological

Institute and Pediatrics Institute, Cleveland

Clinic

23) Dr. F. Murray, Genomic Department of Pediatrics and Learning and

Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation Services (LADDERS), Massachusetts General Hospital

24) Dr. L. , Genomic Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic

25) Dr. L. Kern, Department of Pediatrics, s Hopkins University Medical Center and

Division of Metabolism, Kennedy Krieger Institute

26) Dr.

Marvin R. Natowicz, Cleveland Clinic

Lerner College

of Medicine

“HONORARY MEMBER”:

HHS Secretary Designee Tom Daschel, who said in November of 2002:

“Mercury-based

vaccine preservatives actually have caused autism in children.”