Studies Showing Links BTW. vaccines & autism....

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A new epidemiological study suggests that a link exists between vaccines

containing Thimerosal and several neurodevelopmental disorders, including

autism

spectrum disorder (ASD).

The researchers examined possible associations between neurodevelopmental

disorders and exposure to mercury from Thimerosal-containing vaccines using the

Vaccine Safety Datalink(VSD), the administrative database established by

several HMOs and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Immunization

Safety Office.

The study, which is being published in the _Journal of Neurological

Sciences_

(http://www.pharmalot.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/thimerosal-vaccine-study.pd\

f) , examined birth cohorts between 1990 and 1996 for diagnosed

neurodevelopmental disorders and thimerosal exposure via recorded vaccines.

Funding

was provided by the court-appointed Petitioners’ Steering Committee

representing children with autism claims pending in the National Vaccine Injury

Compensation Program.

The study also compared large groups of children, from seven different birth

years, with varying mercury exposures. When comparing exposure differences

of 100 micrograms of mercury, the study found the prevalence rates of autism,

autism spectrum disorders, tics, attention deficit disorder, and emotional

disturbances were significantly increased by 1.7 to 4.5 times. These increased

prevalence rates were seen in both exposure periods of birth-7 months and

birth-13 months.

“These findings are important because they demonstrate that children in a

birth cohort with higher average mercury exposure than other birth cohorts had

rates of neurodevelopmental disorders that were on average 2 to 4 times

higher than the rates in the birth cohorts with lower exposures,â€

Young,

an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Washington

University School of Public Health and Health Services and study’s lead

author, say in a statement.

“Because of the strong ecological associations found in this study, it is

extremely important that additional studies be conducted using this data

source, including case-control and cohort studies which, would allow the

linking of

individual exposure to disease,†says Young, who has been a consultant in

vaccine cases before the no-fault NVICP.

The steering committee says the federal government, the vaccine makers and

HMO’s wouldn’t conduct any studies in this database. The investigators of

this study are the only scientists outside the government and the HMO’s who

have

been given access to the VSD data, but their access was restricted in three

ways that, they say, limited the data that could be examined.

First, the government refused to produce the automated data in a way that

would have allowed the investigators to link vaccine-mercury exposure to

outcome data in individuals. As a result, Thimerosal exposure had to be

averaged

over each birth cohort for the time periods of birth-7 months and birth-13

months, even though the database was set up to permit individual risk

assessments.

Second, the government and the HMO’s refused to permit access to any data

entered after the year 2000, which meant that the maximum follow up period of

the neurodevelopmental disorders for some children was only to four years of

age. Specifically, for children born in 1997 or later, this restriction to

access prevented any examination of true prevalence rates for those later birth

cohorts.

Third, only three of the eight HMO’s participating in the taxpayer funded

database permitted even this limited access (Northern California, Colorado, and

Oregon Kaiser plans). Other HMO’s blocked access to the data on hundreds of

thousands of additional children.

The steering committee goes on to say that families who have filed claims

for compensation in the NVICP have sought broader access to the taxpayer-funded

data base for four years, but have been blocked by the government and the

courts.

In 2006, a panel appointed by the National Institute of Environmental Health

Sciences _recommended_

(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/autism/docs/thimerosalexposur\

einpediatricvaccines102606.pdf) that a broad study

of the database for links between TCV’s and autism be conducted, but the

Bush Administration refused to provide funding while also refusing to permit

outside investigators to conduct a study.

The other two study authors are: Geier, vp of the Institute of Chronic

Illnesses, who has been a consultant in vaccine/biologic cases before the

no-fault NVICP and in civil litigation; and Mark Geier. president of The

Genetic Centers of America and a board certified epidemiologist, who has been a

consultant and expert witness in vaccine/biologic cases before the no-fault

NVICP and in civil litigation.

_________________________________________

" Ms. Michele "

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