Safeminds News:Finding the Truth December 2008 #1

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Finding the Truth

Stop the Mercury. Start the Cure. December 2008 #1

In This Issue

 

Please consider a year-end contribution to SafeMinds

Mercury in toys, cameras, watches and other common household items

Researchers & Department of Defense Question Multiple Vaccine Administration

First Balanced Forum on Vaccines Generates Both Light -- and Sparks

Autism's Financial Burden

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" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin. " ~ Jerry Newport

Please consider a year-end contribution to SafeMinds

 

One in six children have learning disabilities. One in 150 children have autism.

Do you believe it is possible that there is an environmental cause?

If so, we urge you to consider making a year-end donation to SafeMinds.

SafeMinds was the first organization to link the mercury based preservative

thimerosal in vaccines with the symptoms of autism. Since that time, we have

continued to work to end the health and personal devastation caused by needless

exposure to mercury through:

Aggressively educating government agencies, legislators, manufacturers and

retailers on the scientific research regarding mercury in the environment and in

medicines and the urgent need for its removal from all manmade sources.

Funding, encouraging and engaging researchers to help us scientifically

understand how mercury causes harm, how harmful effects can be reduced or

eliminated for future generations, and how effective treatments can be developed

for those already exposed. Safe Minds has funded several animal model studies

that have yielded important results on the toxicity of mercury in vivo..

Serving as a clearinghouse for the gathering and dissemination of sound and

relevant scientific research and coordinating peer-to-peer review opportunities

for those efforts. We evaluate and critique new basic and clinical scientific

and epidemiological studies on mercury and ensure that readers and the media

receive accurate and balanced portrayals of the evidence.

Providing information to promote awareness to families and clinicians in order

to education them about the issue. Safe Minds is proud to be a sponsor of Age of

Autism website that provides a well read forum to broadcast information on the

dangers of Mercury.

Your contribution to SafeMinds will advance research and public outreach to stop

the needless exposure to mercury, the second most dangerous toxin on earth.

We owe it to those children who have already been tragically injured not to give

up on our research efforts. But we can't do this without your help. Please click

here to make a donation.

Mercury in toys, cameras, watches and other common household items

 

From the SafeMinds Environmental Committee

In November of 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a web

site listing thousands of common household items that contain mercury, including

popular infant toys, digital cameras, watches, DVD players and camcorders.

Acknowledging the danger of mercury, both for the individual handling the

product and the greater environmental toxic load, the EPA site recommends the

use of mercury-free alternatives.

" The optimal way of preventing exposure to elemental mercury is to reduce the

use of mercury-containing products by using alternatives whenever possible. In

most cases, non-mercury alternatives exist for mercury-containing products, " the

web site states.

While the EPA falls short of banning mercury containing products, it provides

consumers information to keep safe and do their part to decrease the overall

mercury contamination of the environment. SafeMinds applauds this edict and

hopes that the next logical step will be taken with a federal mandate for the

use of mercury-free alternatives.

One extremely common item on the EPA's website is button-cell batteries,

coin-shaped batteries that provide power to thousands of portable electronic

devices, including hundreds of children's toys. Mercury from these batteries can

be released to the environment during various stages of the product life cycle,

but primarily during manufacturing and disposal. Because they are unregulated at

a state or federal level, toys and devices containing these batteries do not

have to be labeled. It is legal to dispose of them in the household trash; and

they rarely are collected for recycling. Because button batteries are not

targeted for recycling, almost all of this mercury presumably ends up in the

municipal solid waste stream where it is either incinerated or land filled.

Toys that contain these mercury-containing batteries include " Teethable Tunes "

and " Giggle Teethers, " music-making teethers designed for infants to chew on.

Other products include Panasonic DVD players, JVC digital cameras and Swatch

watches.

Other mercury containing products flagged on the EPA's website include dental

amalgams, fish, fluorescent light bulbs, thermometers and vaccines. For a

complete listing, please visit the site at www.epa.gov/mercury.

Researchers & Department of Defense Question Multiple Vaccine Administration

 

Safeminds asks, " Is Mercury a Common Factor? "

Two new reports announced last week call into question the safety of the Centers

for Disease Control (CDC) decade's old policy of routinely administering

multiple vaccines concurrently.

Mitochondrial Disease in Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients, published last week

in PLOS One by investigators from the Cleveland Clinic, s Hopkins Kennedy

Krieger Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital concluded that disturbance

in mitochondria (energy production cells) is an underlying mechanism in a subset

of individuals with autism. " There might be no difference between the

inflammatory or catabolic stress of vaccinations and that of common childhood

diseases " they said, and " large, population-based studies will be needed to

identify a possible relationship of vaccination with autistic regression in

persons with mitochondrial cytopathies. "

In a November 26th response to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney concerning adverse

vaccine events, Colonel Renata Engler of the DOD Vaccine Healthcare Center

commented on their collaboration with the CDC, " We have preliminary findings

from one of our many on-going research studies that suggest a relationship

between adverse events and multiple vaccinations exist. " She added, " The

recommendation for more research on subpopulation risk factors in relation to

multiple vaccine combinations has been included in the Institute of Medicine

(IOM) Report on Multiple Vaccines. "

Regarding findings by Elliott and colleagues in August, the United Mitochondrial

Disease Foundation stated that mitochondrial disorder is likely to be at the

core of many health conditions including autism. These latest findings provide

additional evidence that the link between autism and mitochondrial disorders is

not 'rare,' as government officials characterized it after the Poling family was

recently compensated for their daughter's vaccine injury.

SafeMinds Vice President Lyn Redwood stated, " Research clearly demonstrates that

mercury in vaccines causes mitochondrial damage, yet mercury-containing vaccines

continue to be administered to infants and pregnant women despite the IOM's

recommendation that these populations not be exposed. " SafeMinds believes the

government should initiate a comprehensive study of vaccinated/unvaccinated

populations examining all health outcomes, vaccine components and synergistic

interactions.

Environmental mercury exposure has also been linked to mental retardation,

Attention Deficit Disorder and autism. SafeMinds President Theresa Wrangham

added, " Mercury in all forms is neurotoxic and is increasingly impacting public

health. Congressional action is needed to shift industry from its use in

medicine, utilities and consumer products. "

First Balanced Forum on Vaccines Generates Both Light -- and Sparks

 

Reprinted from The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center e-newsletter.

The historic, first " fair and balanced forum on vaccines " generated light -- and

sparks -- last Thursday among experts on both sides of the safety issue, as well

as from parents concerned about new vaccine mandates in New Jersey. Nearly 300

parents, legislators, public health officials and physicians packed an

auditorium at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) to see the sometimes

heated discussion, and hundreds more watched and submitted questions online.

" There is a real crisis in confidence with parents over the issue of the safety

of vaccines. But there is no one [on this panel] who is against vaccines. We are

all interested in vaccinating safely and making vaccines as safe as possible, "

said children's health advocate, forum host and moderator Deirdre Imus, founder

and President of The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology®

(dienviro.com) at HUMC, a 501©3 not-for-profit corporation. The speakers

included:

, Commissioner, NJ Department of Health and Senior Services

Boscamp, M.D., FAAP, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics, New

Jersey Chapter Infectious Diseases Committee and chairman and physician-in-chief

of the ph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital at HUMC

Kirby, journalist and author, Evidence of Harm: Mercury In Vaccines and

The Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy

Margaret C. Fisher, M.D., FAAP, chair, Section of Infectious Diseases, American

Academy of Pediatrics, and medical director, The Children's Hospital at Monmouth

Medical Center

Lawrence Rosen, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, New Jersey

Medical School, Vice-Chair, AAP Section on Complementary, Holistic and

Integrative Medicine, Medical Advisor, The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for

Pediatric Oncology®.

Click here to view web cast, speaker slides and supporting information.

" This is an important conference, " Dr Boscamp said. " People are concerned and

their concerns need to be addressed. By bringing people together to discuss the

science behind these vital issues, people will be able to make informed

decisions based on facts. "

During a Q & A session that lasted more than an hour, the forum generated sharp

remarks from parents, including those who reported their children developed

autism following vaccines, leaving them in a daily crisis to cope. A main issue

is lack of informed consent, so parents can be the final arbiter of their

children's health. This year, New Jersey became the first state to require

mandatory flu vaccines for young children. NJ Assembly bill no. 260, introduced

in the state legislature last month, would give parents a path for

" conscientious exemption " to mandatory immunizations.

Speaking on behalf of parents, Ms. Imus said many are demanding informed consent

because they do not feel public health officials are considering the legitimate

issues raised by researchers, pediatricians and families.

Paramount among the concerns expressed by many parents were:

There have been no studies that prove the safety of giving multiple vaccines at

one time.

The toxins in vaccines, primarily the continued use of mercury in flu vaccines

and increasing amounts of aluminum in many vaccines, both known developmental

neurotoxins.

And the " one size fits all vaccine program " that fails to consider individual

vulnerabilities and family medical histories that indicate a child could be at a

higher risk for an adverse vaccine reaction.

Click here to read full article.

Autism's Financial Burden

 

By SafeMind's President Theresa Wrangham

Reprinted from Mothering magazine website (will be featured in March/April print

issue).

Twelve years ago, tears stained my face as my husband and I were told that our

eldest daughter, , had autistic tendencies that would require further

diagnostic investigation. Six months later, was diagnosed on the autism

spectrum as PDD/NOS, or in layperson's terms, mildly autistic. Even so, she

would face significant challenges in everyday life requiring treatment to

mediate the long-term effects of this disorder. Early medical advice about

treatment focused on core features of autism's deficits in language delay,

social skills, relationship development delays, and reasoning capacity. Years

later, we would discover the value and cost of the biomedical treatments that

have jump started her more recent improvements.

When was diagnosed, I was a stay-at-home mom and my husband had a

good job with good health insurance coverage, or so we thought. It quickly

became apparent that insurance would not cover the recognized treatments that

needed to improve and certainly not off-label biomedical treatments we

have used with success. We were a middle-class family with assets; we were told

that we didn't qualify for services to assist us in meeting the financial

burdens of treatment. If we could not find a means to fund treatment and

education now and in the future for , our family faced a financial

downhill slide to disaster. Autism was now the predator stalking our family and

threatening 's potential, our hopes for retirement, and college

opportunities for both our children.

, having previously worked on Alaska's North Slope in the petroleum field,

quickly sub-contracted for a position in Alaska. For more than half a year,

worked a two-week-on and two-week-off schedule in Alaska's Arctic Circle

to cover treatment costs and allow us financial stability. From then to now, we

continue to pay normal business expenses and all therapy costs not covered by

insurance. Our family's direct and indirect expenses for 's treatment last

year was approximately $45,000. The story for many families facing this all too

common financial scenario is anything but rosy, with many unable to meet the

financial obligations that autism treatment entails.

In fact, studies published by Harvard University found societal costs for caring

and treating individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the US to be

$35+ billion per year. Direct costs per ASD individual include direct medical

costs and behavioral therapies and are estimated to be $29,000-43,000 per year.

Annual indirect costs include direct non-medical costs, such as special

education, camps, child care, lost income, income differentials, and

alternative/off-label therapies. These indirect costs to the individual and/or

family are estimated to range from $39,000 to nearly $130,000 ( Ganz,

Understanding Autism: From Basic Neuroscience to Treatment, (city, state: CRC

Press, 2006)). Also of interest, the American Medical News reported the medical

loss ratios of the largest for-profit insurers and found that profits for the

biggest health care providers continued to rise, while the amounts these

providers spent on care declined.

Unsurprisingly, 50 percent of US bankruptcies are attributable to illness, or

medical bills, indicating that the ASD community is not alone in their struggle

for health care and treatment (Steffie Woolhandler, " Illness and Injury as

Contributors to Bankruptcy, " Health Affairs (2005).

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Ready to Give Back?

 

SafeMinds is looking for volunteers

SafeMinds is a volunteer-driven organization and we are currently looking for

additional people to help meet our goals.

We are looking for volunteers to help with the following activities:

Writers who can help analyze studies and help draft articles for the SafeMinds

website and newsletter.

Clerical and data entry support to assist our environmental committee.

Fundraising volunteers who can help with current initiatives or do their own

fundraising on behalf of SafeMinds.

Please contact Kilpatrick at eksafeminds@... if you are

interested in helping.

Visit The Age of Autism

 

The Age of Autism is the nation's first daily Web newspaper for the

environmental-biomedical community - those who believe autism is an

environmentally induced illness, that it is treatable, and that children can

recover. For the most part, the major media in the United States aren't

interested in that point of view, they won't investigate the causes and possible

biomedical treatments of autism independently, and they don't listen to the most

important voices - those of the parents. Visit the website at www.ageofautism

...com.

The Coalition for SafeMinds (Sensible Action For Ending Mercury-Induced

Neurological Disorders) is a private nonprofit organization founded to

investigate and raise awareness of the risks to infants and children of exposure

to mercury from medical products, including thimerosal in vaccines. SafeMinds

supports research on the potential harmful effects of mercury and thimerosal.

Our mission is to end the health and personal devastations caused by the

needless use of mercury in medicines.

Coalition for SafeMinds

Email: eksafeminds@...

Phone: 404-934-0777

Web: http://www.safeminds.org

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