NVIC Question IOM report...

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For immediate release

April 24, 2001

LEADING VACCINE SAFETY GROUP QUESTIONS INTERPRETATION

OF IOM REPORT ON AUTISM AND MMR VACCINE

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a

non-profit organization

representing families with vaccine injured children

have endorsed some of

the conclusions of the report released yesterday by

the newly created

Institute of Medicine (IOM) Immunization Review

Committee on the

hypothesized link between MMR vaccine and autism. But

the nation's largest

and oldest vaccine safety and informed consent

advocacy group is questioning

whether misinterpretation and misuse of the

Committee's conclusions will

compromise public health agency commitment to funding

vaccine safety

research.

The Institute of Medicine Committee concluded that

" the evidence favors

rejection of the causal relationship at the

population level between MMR

vaccine and autistic spectrum disorders " but also

stated that " the proposed

biological models linking MMR vaccination to autism

spectrum disorders,

although far from established, are nevertheless not

disproved. " The

Committee also called for further scientific research

on the occurrence of

autism in children following MMR vaccination.

" The Committee clearly acknowledged the biologic

plausibility that MMR

vaccine could be a co-factor in causing autism in

some children. But the

message this report may send out, in practical terms,

is that there is

absolutely no association between vaccination and

autism and that the case

is closed. It can be used by those in industry,

government and medical

organizations with a vested interest in protecting

the status quo. " said

NVIC co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher.

" This would be tragic

because it could fatally compromise the making of

vaccine safety research a

priority in our society and delay the search for

identification of

biological markers that could predict which children

are more vulnerable to

vaccine-induced neuroimmune dysfunction that can, in

some, take the form of

autism. "

NVIC has long advocated that scientific research

into vaccine-associated

autism, learning disabilities, attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder,

asthma, and other chronic neuroimmune disorders

explore the cumulative

effects of multiple vaccines in genetically

susceptible children. In the

past 30 years, as vaccine recommendations have

increased routine childhood

vaccinations to 37 doses of 11 different vaccines,

there has been a dramatic

rise in the numbers of chronically ill children in

the US, including a

doubling of those with learning disabilities, asthma,

ADHD and diabetes.

Autism is now affecting 1 in 150 children.

" The conclusion of the IOM Committee that current

scientific evidence

favors rejection of a causal association between

autism and MMR vaccine

should not be taken out of context. There has been

limited scientific

research to date to investigate the relationship

between vaccination and

autism and until a more rigorous examination is

conducted, the case is open,

not closed, " said Fisher.