SchaferAutismReport: AJC: Boost Vaccine Safety

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Reader Supported Vol. 12 No. 119p In This Issue:

• COMMENTARYAJC: Boost Vaccine Safety • CARECaring for a Special Needs Child Can Be Difficult for Business Travelers • • • • • • • • • PEOPLEStudent: `Never Give Up' On Autistic KidsMental Disability Groups Protest 'Tropic Thunder'Stiller Defends 'Tropic Thunder'Aspergers Stabbing Victim 'Like A Child'Spokane Couple Channel Grief Into Work To Help Children With AutismMother of Drowned Toddler

Reaches OutPolice Rescue Teen From Lake Union, SeattleMissing Autistic Child Search Ends Happily in NCEVENTSWaking Them Up Down Under Send your LETTER The Autism Calendar or here: tinyurl.com/283dpa DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW SUBSCRIBE. . . ! . . . Read, then

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- DEADLINEAugust 25 For SeptemberAutism Events CalendarSubmit listing here free! JUST OUT NEW!the Autism Calendartm hereHundreds of Local Autism EventsCOMMENTARYAJC: Boost Vaccine Safety By Margaret Dunkle in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. tinyurl.com/5rkm5n In recent months, a vitriolic public health debate has been taking place, sparked by the case of Hannah Poling, a 9-year-old Georgia girl with autism. Her parents, neurologist Jon Poling and his wife, Terry, filed in federal no-fault vaccine court, asserting that vaccines caused their daughter's condition and asking for compensation for the lifelong care Hannah will require. Without a formal hearing, the federal government conceded the nine vaccines Hannah received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying medical condition — mitochondrial dysfunction, or an impaired functioning of how cells create energy. This predisposed Hannah "to deficits in cellular energy metabolism and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum disorder." In simple terms, Hannah has autism.

This concession, which became public in March, has prompted strong reactions. Some government officials are, ironically, fueling public distrust of immunizations by failing to acknowledge — much less address — emerging vaccine safety issues. And every day, more parents and some pediatricians reject the vaccination schedule. Former National Institutes of Health Director Bernadine Healy has entered the debate, saying the scientific community should never turn its back on a hypothesis out of fear for what it might reveal: If you know there is a susceptible group, she said in a television interview, "you can save those children. If you turn your back on the notion there is a susceptible group ... what can I say?" Yet, amazingly, just last month the Federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee refused to mention vaccine safety in its strategic plan. The matter is urgent.

One in every 150 children has an autism spectrum disorder. Mitochondrial dysfunction is not rare among these children. The best evidence suggests that at least 4 percent — and perhaps 20 percent or more — of autistic children have mitochondrial dysfunction. With stakes this high, it's time for policy-makers to take five common-sense steps to ensure that more children are not damaged by the very vaccines intended to protect them. • With Marshall Plan dispatch, Congress should launch a bold, nothing-off-the-table program of basic scientific research on the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and neuro-inflammation in autism and other disorders. Funding — $200 million for starters — must not be taken from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. • Reform vaccine practices so they are as safe as possible for both children in general and susceptible subgroups. Examine the

schedule, number and frequency of vaccines, use of combination vaccines, preservatives used and ages at which vaccines are administered. Find ways to identify children for whom vaccination or another event might cause or worsen mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to autism. Study siblings to identify biological markers that could lead to prevention, screening and treatment. • Piggyback new research onto existing efforts. Use the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act to propel advances concerning genetic and metabolic disorders. Modify the National Children's Study to test alternate vaccine schedules. And integrate new analyses into ongoing studies, such as mitochondrial research already under way at s Hopkins University and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. • Identify children nationwide who have abrupt developmental regressions, including those that are vaccine-related, and speed them into research and

intense early intervention. And strengthen the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, including imposing serious consequences for health care providers who do not report bad reactions. • Improve the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Encourage parents to focus on early intervention by allowing longer than three years to file. Update the Vaccine Injury Table, making it easier for families to receive compensation as new discoveries emerge. And explore limiting compensation to the most critical immunizations, returning adverse reactions from other vaccines to the regular court system. A loud wake-up call from a beautiful little redheaded girl from Georgia has provided policy-makers with a historic opportunity to tackle critical issues of vaccine safety. If they fail to answer, what can I say? — Margaret Dunkle, Hannah Poling's great-aunt, directs the Early Identification

and Intervention Collaborative for Los Angeles County. She is a senior fellow at the Center for Health Services Research and Policy at Washington University. Note: The opinions expressed in COMMENTARY are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Schafer Autism Report.For rest of today's SAR click here:www.sarnet.org/frm/forsar.htm Today's SAR is provided through the support of paid subscription readers. - THANK YOU - $35 for 1 year - or free!www.sarnet.org Copyright Notice: The above items are

copyright protected. They are for our readers' personal education or research purposes only and provided at their request. Articles may not be further reprinted or used commercially without consent from the copyright holders. To find the copyright holders, follow the referenced website link provided at the beginning of each item. Lenny Schafer editor@... The Schafer Autism Report is a non-profit corporation Unsubscribe here:

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