Autism, mercury and cover up???

Published

This is a hot topic in the autism community, especially amongst parents who have to make a decision about vaccinating their children. My son had already had all his vaccinations before I even heard of the controversy, so I didn't have to make the decision. I probably would have chosen to vaccinate anyway, given that when we were little, my sister contracted encephalitis from the measles and nearly died. It caused pretty significant neurological damage for her. The irony is that the vaccine actually was available at the time, but it was fairly new, and the pediatrician told my parents, who didn't have health insurance for us, that "kids get the measles all the time and do just fine."

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7395411?rnd=1118937794114&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.872

wow, this was very informative. how convenient of the cdc to say in one breath government studies favor a rejection, not that is has been proven thimerisol does not casue autism. we have taken it out of the vaccines (thats a lie) so don't worry about it anymore. i think i'll just go out back and find a nice fox and ask him to guard my chickens. lol

peggy

right. and even the cdc has only said that the government's studies "favor rejection of mercury as a causal agent of autism"- not that it has been proven that mercury doesn't cause autism.

the age of autism: mercury ascending

by dan olmsted

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=science&article=upi-1-20050517-13562100-bc-us-ageofautism-iom.xml

washington, may 17 (upi) -- a year ago, the prestigious institute of

medicine slammed the door on the idea that mercury in vaccines bore

any relation to autism.

"the overwhelming evidence from several well-designed studies

indicates that childhood vaccines are not associated with autism,"

the chairman of the iom panel, harvard scientist marie mccormick,

told reporters last may 18.

the panel went further: it took the unusual step of urging that

research money go instead to more "promising" areas. you can't slam a

door much harder than that.

but 12 months later, that door seems slightly ajar. one big doorstop

is the new 441-page book by david kirby called "evidence of harm," a

compelling portrayal of parents and scientists who have pushed the

vaccines-autism theory. they contend that a mercury-based

preservative called thimerosal, in an increasing number of

vaccinations, triggered an autism epidemic in the 1990s.

thimerosal was phased out of u.s. childhood vaccines beginning in

1999.

one memorable vignette in kirby's book is a meeting between several

of those advocates and dr. julie gerberding, who had been director of

the centers for disease control and prevention less than two years.

last may 12, a week before the iom report, gerberding flew in from

atlanta to meet them -- at her request -- in the rayburn house office

building on capitol hill. rep. dave weldon, r-fla., a medical doctor

who is a persistent critic of thimerosal and the cdc's handling of

the issue, also was present.

taking turns, the parents and scientists methodically laid out their

case.

mady hornig of columbia university described how mice with an

autoimmune genetic predisposition develop autistic-like behaviors

after being injected with thimerosal-containing vaccines.

"hornig played the videos for gerberding, who suddenly appeared

stunned," kirby recounts in his book. "she brought her hands to her

face in disbelief.

"dave weldon had a similar reaction. he stopped hornig in the middle

of her ghastly presentation. 'wait a minute,' he said. 'am i to

understand you correctly? you injected these mice with the same

amount of mercury, relatively speaking, that infants receive in

vaccines, and you saw these kinds of mutilatory behaviors? you saw

this mouse eat through the cranium of his cellmate?'

"'yes,' she replied calmly."

the institute of medicine saw the same presentation before issuing

its report but rejected it as unconvincing.

gerberding was polite but noncommital, kirby writes. as she left,

she said, "i am not afraid of controversy, and i am determined to

follow the science."

call it coincidence, but it's striking how much less dismissive of

thimerosal concerns the cdc is these days, compared with the

institute of medicine and others.

the national network for immunization information, for instance,

launched a pre-emptive broadside against "evidence of harm." that

group represents the mainstream medical establishment, including the

american academy of pediatrics, the american nurses association and

the american academy of family physicians. their members, it should

be noted, were among those who administered the vaccines in question

on the recommendation of the cdc.

"warning: controversial vaccine book," the nnii statement was

headlined. "reporter david kirby has recently written a book ...

purporting that there is a link between thimerosal and autism and

other developmental disorders."

that's a bit of an overstatement, considering the first two

sentences of kirby's book: "does mercury in vaccines cause autism in

children? anyone hoping to find proof that it does in the pages that

follow is advised to put this book down now."

the nnii asserted that "extensive evidence shows no link between

vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. this

evidence is based on well-established scientific studies.

"continued attempts to link vaccines and autism run the risk of

diverting attention away from efforts to understand the cause or

causes of autism," the group said.

the cdc also issued a release on kirby's book. its thrust was

different -- that the book is a "look back" to a time when thimerosal

was in childhood vaccines.

"given the historical nature of the book, it is important to

emphasize that today, with the exception of some flu vaccines, none

of the vaccines used in the u.s. to protect preschool children

against 12 infectious diseases contain thimerosal as a preservative.

"as the iom concluded in a recent report, the vast majority of

studies, which have involved hundreds of thousands of children in a

number of countries, have failed to find any association between

exposure to thimerosal in vaccines and autism; that is, they have

failed to find any evidence of harm," the cdc said.

it's worth noting the contrasts in the statement. the doctors and

nurses group says "extensive evidence shows no link." dr. mccormick

at the institute of medicine says "overwhelming evidence" shows no

link.

but the cdc, which unlike such groups has ongoing access to the

actual data, merely states that studies so far "have failed to find

any association."

"cdc continues to support research related to autism," the statement

said, "including studies designed to examine the possible causal

association between autism and other possible environmental causes,

including thimerosal-containing vaccines. ... research in these areas

is ongoing."

ongoing research that includes thimerosal as a possible cause of

autism? supported by the cdc?

put simply, the cdc isn't ruling out anything -- contrary to the

institute of medicine's declaration that more research on thimerosal

is a waste of money, contrary to the medical establishment's

pronouncement that continuing to look could cause harm.

consider gerberding's comments april 28, 2004, at a house

subcommittee hearing: "we don't have the evidence to show that the

thimerosal preservative is a risk, but you know we have an open mind

about that."

I feel, and i know that many of you will disagree with me, and that's ok, because it's my opinion, but I think many of media and doctors need to not blow this ordeal out of porportion due to the fact that many young parents will think to themselves " hmmm I just won't vaccinate my child from the horrible disease just in case all this is true". Just like my sister was contemplating on doing with my nephew and i told her to check it out first. So what does she do? She looks on the internet with all these rumors that scared her even more. And yes she can ask for the non mercury vaccine but is her insurance going to cover it? What about all those poor young single moms on medicaid, are they going to cover it? I remember when all this came in the news when my daughter was around the age to recieve the mmr vaccine and yes i was scared and wanted to not give them to her. I just hope that the public will not jump to conclusions until all the information is out there. I'm sorry for all the parents out there with autism children and i hope they do find a reason, just like i hope they find a reason for sids too.

this is an interesting thread.

we know that children who were administered the shots on schedule suffered mercury exposures 87 times the government safety standards. autism has gone from 1 in 10,000 in the 80's to 1 in 166 in 2005. to say it's purely genetic is ridiculous. there's no such thing as a genetic epidemic. and the increase is not due to better diagnosis. ask any special ed teacher who's been teaching for at least 10 years. they will tell you they've seen a huge increase in children w/adhd, learning disabilities, speech delays,autism and aspergers (1 in 6 children) mercury is known to cause these problems. some children simply cannot excrete mercury properly. i hear the same story over and over again. the child was developing normally, meeting all his milestones, then around a year and a half, the child gets vaccinated and gets a high fever, becomes listless and screams for hours. a few days later, the child stops talking, loses eye contact, is always sick, etc. i guess it's just another "coincidence."

i had to laugh when i heard that they were removing mercury from the vaccines to make "a safe vaccine even safer." if it's already safe, then why did they remove the mercury? well, they almost removed the mercury. it's still in the flu and tetorifice shots. and the others still contain a trace of mercury. i talked to a woman who recently took her 15 month old in to get vaccinated. she asked to see the insert of the hib vaccine. it still contained the full amount of mercury. so always check the inserts.

it's strange how china and africa had a very low incidence of autism, that is until the U.S. recently started shipping vaccines with the full amount of mercury in them. now in China, where autism was virtually unknown prior to the introduction of thimerosal by U.S. drug manufacturers in 1999, news reports indicate that there are now more than 1.8 million autistics.

Autism Explodes in Africa - Group Holds Seminar

http://allafrica.com/stories/200506300250.html

re the denmark study on autism;

http://www.taap.info/DanishStudy2005.pdf

i encourage everyone to read Fouad Yazbak's Speech online.

like it or not, the media is starting to cover this issue. here's a cbs news video on autism/thimerosal:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?channel=eveningnew

here's the extended (10 minute)interview w/kennedy:

look to the column on the right under multimedia, second one down.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005...ain709269.shtml

here's a video of mercury destroying neurons;

http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/

if doctors think thimerosal is safe, then i suggest they take the following offer;

http://www.avn.org.au/News/us-offer.html

In a 1991 memo, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's vaccination programs, warned his bosses that 6-month-old children administered the shots on schedule would suffer mercury exposures 87 times the government safety standards. He recommended that Thimerosal be discontinued and complained that the US Food and Drug Administration, which has a notoriously close relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, could not be counted on to take appropriate action as its European counterparts had. Merck ignored Hilleman's warning, and for eight years government officials added seven more shots for children containing Thimerosal.

In 2000, the CDC met with pharmaceutical companies and the FDA in secret to review its findings linking Thimerosal with the dramatic rise in neurological illnesses. According to transcripts, participants were alarmed about the undeniable links between the Thimerosal and widespread brain damage in children. Dr. Bill Weil told the group, ''You can play with [the results] all you want. They are statistically significant." Dr. Richard Johnston admitted he feared his grandchild getting a Thimerosal-containing vaccine. But the group was most concerned with keeping the findings secret. ''Consider this embargoed information," said Dr. Roger Bernier, a senior director at the National Immunization Program, at the meeting's close. The CDC now says it has ''lost" the data that supported the crucial study and has persistently defied congressional requests and federal law requiring it to open up the federal Vaccine Safety Database to scientists and the public.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/01/autism_mercury_and_politics/

if we don't want to see vaccination rates decline, then this issue must be addressed.

Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.

It is interesting, too, that back when Kanner identified autism, the Amish had one of the highest rates among the demographic groups that were studied. The theory then was that intramarriage may have been responsible for this increased incidence. Now, we keep hearing how the Amish have one of the lowest incidences. Their rate hasn't actually changed. Nor, by and large, has their way of life. Those of us in secular society, where we have exposed ourselves and our children to more and more environmental insults, including a radically accelerated vaccine schedule, find ourselves with a rate of autism many times that of the group that used to be considered "heavily" affected.

First of all. These are not rumors. There are over 1500 studies that prove mercury in any form is neurotoxic. Autism is a horrible disease. You speak of SIDs. Lets look at SIDS. it showed up just around the time the DPT came on the scene. Many parents have sued VICA and won who's child died of SIDs after DPT. My own son 37 years ago went to his 2 month check up got his first DPT screamed for five hours and then stopped breathing. Do you know what they told me in the ER. He was a near miss SIDS. They refused to blame the vaccine he got twenty minutes before his little brain began to swell. I remember it like it was yesterday. His pediatrician actually wanted to give him another. I do believe had I not refused he would not be here today. He would have been listed as SIDS. Who is it that makes the decison that a childs death from a vaccine is more acceptable than a child that dies from a disease the vaccine was supposed to prevent. Do we weaken the strong to protect the weak. I for one am not willing to sacrafice my child or myself. I am not affraid of these disease's I had them all as a child and recovered just fine. The only cases of polio in this country since the seventies is caused by the vaccine. The real truth about our whole vaccine program is available if someone wants to know. We msut all stop buying into the propaganda and start doing our own research. Many porple who have bothered to research have found that the CDC loves to scue statistics. especially if they want to promote a new vaccine. All the thousands of people who supposedly died from the flu every year. Someone actually got into thier data base and counted the deaths from the flu. If I recall it was somewhere in the 200's. The CDC has known for years that the flu is a very mild disease in healthy children. Now they want them to get vaccinated for it. Somehow every single death from the flu in children was being plastered all over the media to scare parents. They failed to mention that those childen that died had other serious medical issues that put them at risk for complications. It is not the disease's parents are affraid of if they don't vaccinate. It is the lies, and coverups by the government agencies that refuse to tell the truth, Its the studies they won't do to protect the children who are at a higher risk for adverse reactions from the vaccines. No one has any accountability. The pharmaceuticals withhold information on dangerous drugs that are on the market (Vioxx) and these agenices are literally getting away with murder. The studies that claim these drugs are safe are fudged. It is not just vaccines that have problems. Its our whole medical system.

Peggy

I feel, and i know that many of you will disagree with me, and that's ok, because it's my opinion, but I think many of media and doctors need to not blow this ordeal out of porportion due to the fact that many young parents will think to themselves " hmmm I just won't vaccinate my child from the horrible disease just in case all this is true". Just like my sister was contemplating on doing with my nephew and I told her to check it out first. So what does she do? She looks on the internet with all these rumors that scared her even more. And yes she can ask for the non mercury vaccine but is her insurance going to cover it? What about all those poor young single moms on medicaid, are they going to cover it? I remember when all this came in the news when my daughter was around the age to recieve the mmr vaccine and yes i was scared and wanted to not give them to her. I just hope that the public will not jump to conclusions until all the information is out there. I'm sorry for all the parents out there with autism children and i hope they do find a reason, just like i hope they find a reason for sids too.
Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.
I feel, and i know that many of you will disagree with me, and that's ok, because it's my opinion, but I think many of media and doctors need to not blow this ordeal out of porportion due to the fact that many young parents will think to themselves " hmmm I just won't vaccinate my child from the horrible disease just in case all this is true". Just like my sister was contemplating on doing with my nephew and i told her to check it out first. So what does she do? She looks on the internet with all these rumors that scared her even more. And yes she can ask for the non mercury vaccine but is her insurance going to cover it? What about all those poor young single moms on medicaid, are they going to cover it? I remember when all this came in the news when my daughter was around the age to recieve the mmr vaccine and yes i was scared and wanted to not give them to her. I just hope that the public will not jump to conclusions until all the information is out there. I'm sorry for all the parents out there with autism children and i hope they do find a reason, just like i hope they find a reason for sids too.

There is no such thing as an "autism child". There are children with autism, but they are children first. We as nurses need to understand that and refer to children in respectful language. And yes, Medicaid does pay for vaccines that don't have mercury in them (or aren't supposed to, anyway). We really don't need your pity, we love our children. How patronizing of you.

I was not patronizing anyone and i'm sorry if you feel that i was. The little next door neighbor boy does have autism and i don't pity him or his family. As i said before i was just expressing my opinion just like the rest of you even though i knew it's not the same opinion. I am just stating the fact that I hear parents talking about not getting their children vaccines and i would be suprised to hear that medicaid would pay for the Non mercury vaccine since it is more expensive.

Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.
I was not patronizing anyone and i'm sorry if you feel that i was. The little next door neighbor boy does have autism and i don't pity him or his family. As i said before i was just expressing my opinion just like the rest of you even though i knew it's not the same opinion. I am just stating the fact that I hear parents talking about not getting their children vaccines and i would be suprised to hear that medicaid would pay for the Non mercury vaccine since it is more expensive.

And I am trying to tell you, to no avail it would appear, that thimerosal was banned from vaccines (although not recalled) starting in 1999. Medicaid has no say in the matter, if the vial doesn't contain thimerosal, they can hardly insist the child be injected with one that does. And when the mercury was banned, the NIH, IOM, CDC all told us "you'll see that mercury has nothing to do with autism, because if it did, we'd start to see autism rates level off". And now we have seen that leveling off. And the only people we're hearing from are those that continue to neglect to address the leveling off. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

Closing this thread to cool off...

Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

Reopening this thread and asking everyone to remember to debate the point, not the person.

As this is informative for those of us who may not be knowledgable on the subject (both schools of thought) we'd very much like to have it continue. Given our inability to rely on non-verbal cues here, please be mindful of how posts may sound to others when spoken aloud.

thanks for re-opening the thread!

here's an article by Dr. Amy A. Yasko on the role MMR and thimerosal play in autism:

I have written at length about the role of excitotoxins in the pathogenesis of autism.1 A subsequent paper by the world expert on excitotoxins, Dr. Russell Blaylock, has substantiated this work.2 These papers illustrate that glutamate and excitotoxins are key factors in the observed behaviors and pathology of autism. However, excitotoxins are not the cause of autism, even if they are a crucial part of the pathway by which the condition progresses. In my continuing effort to understand the pathway that leads to autism, I have reason to believe that a condition of chronic viral infection exists involving all three of the viruses in the MMR vaccine. The chronic measles, mumps and rubella in these children can account for many of their symptoms. I have observed the impact of each of these viruses in these children and have found them to result in imbalances in one or more organ systems. Furthermore, it is my belief that the preservative thimerosal helps to create this problem of chronic viral infection. Thimerosal may play an even more insidious role in the development of autism beyond its role in potential mercury toxicity.

http://www.autismanswer.com/articles/yasko/autism_virus_thimerosal.html

thanks for re-opening the thread!

here's an article by Dr. Amy A. Yasko on the role MMR and thimerosal play in autism:

http://www.autismanswer.com/articles/yasko/autism_virus_thimerosal.html

While the article is interesting, I take issue with the individual's method of research and scientific data. She has done no double blind studies nor is her data supported by available scientific data. Mecury is a heavy metal. She contends that it is difficult to remove from the human body. There in lies a fault in her premise. As a scientiswt, she should be aware of the fact that heavy metals are almost impossible to remove from human tissue. Also, she does not address the fact that thrimerosal has been removed from all vaccines except for some flu vaccines. And she does not address the issue that since it's removal, the rate of autism has not descreased. Nor has she or any of those who support her, addressed the fact that if thrimerosal is the major cause of autism, why have not all children exhibited some signs of autism?

Autism is a tragi disease. We have improved our diagnoses of it. We are working to improve our treatment. And we are being distracted by pursuing false claims of its cause.

Grannynurse :balloons:

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