In 2008 Johns Hopkins Neurologist Jon Poling went public with the news that his daughter Hannah, who regressed into autism following her 18 month vaccines, was paid by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
CDC, in a public statement, claimed that the Hannah Poling case was "rare" and should not be generalized to "normal" children. Days after the Poling's announcement, the Hiatt family also went public with their VICP ruling that their autistic daughter Madison was also a vaccine injury victim. Then the Banks family went public. Finally, CBS News reported finding 7 more vaccine/autism cases that dated back to 1991, the very beginning of the autism epidemic.
So the autism community wanted to know... just how many cases of autism have been paid by the program that was established in 1986, how "rare" is this, and what did the government know about vaccine injury and autism causation that they were not telling the public and the medical community. After being questioned by a journalist, the department of HHS that oversees the VICP issued the following statement on whether this was an admission that the government was now paying children for vaccine induced autism. The "official response" from HRSA:
"From: Bowman, David (HRSA) [mailto:DBowman@hrsa.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:22 PM
To: 'dkirby@nyc.rr.com'
Subject: HRSA Statement
David,
In response to your most recent inquiry, HRSA has the following
statement:
The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to
compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually
caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children
exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy
may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms
including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.
Some children who have been compensated for vaccine injuries may have
shown signs of autism before the decision to compensate, or may
ultimately end up with autism or autistic symptoms, but we do not track
cases on this basis.
Regards,
David Bowman
Office of Communications
Health Resources and Services Administration
301-443-3376"
This admission of a link to autism, and the disturbing revelation that the government was not even planning on counting how many autism cases it had paid from the vaccine injury fund, made it clear that HHS's claims of concern for the rise in autism rates and concern for vaccine safety were less than sincere, and that it was time for an investigation into the VICP to find out how many of the cases of vaccine induced encephalopathy (brain damage) resulted in "autistic behavior, autistic symptoms or autism" as Bowman had referenced.
Tomorrow the results of this two year investigation will be revealed and we will get a better look into what the government knows about vaccine/autism causation and how long they have known it.
Live Broadcasting by Ustream
Please tune in to the press conference tomorrow (streaming live on the internet at USTREAM), Tuesday, May 10 at Noon Eastern to the announcement take place on the steps of the US Supreme Court, that ruled only two months ago that vaccine injury cases would never be heard in a court of law, but must go through the corrupt Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
The EBCALA Press Release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ELIZABETH BIRT CENTER FOR AUTISM LAW AND ADVOCACY (EBCALA)
CONTACT NICOLE WILLIAMS
(301) 625-7772
OR
DANIELLE ORSINO
(480) 200-4411
Investigators and Families of Vaccine-Injured Children to Unveil Report Detailing Clear Vaccine-Autism Link Based on Government’s Own Data
Report Demands Immediate Congressional Action
Directors of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA), parents and vaccine-injured children will hold a press conference on the steps of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (717 Madison Place, NW in Washington, DC) on Tuesday, May 10 at 12:00 PM to unveil an investigation linking vaccine injury to autism. For over 20 years, the federal government has publicly denied a vaccine-autism link, while at the same time its Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) has been awarding damages for vaccine injury to children with brain damage, seizures and autism. This investigation, based on public, verifiable government data, breaks new ground in the controversial vaccine-autism debate.
The investigation found that a substantial number of children compensated for vaccine injury also have autism. The government has asserted that it “does not track” autism among the vaccine-injured. Based on this preliminary investigation, the evidence suggests that autism is at least three times more prevalent among vaccine-injured children than among children in the general population.
The federal government has called autism a “national health emergency,” conservatively affecting 1 in 110 children and costing the country billions of dollars each year.
Because almost all children in the United States are required by law to receive between 30-45 vaccines in order to attend public school, it is crucial that the VICP decide cases with justice and transparency.
EBCALA and the families of the vaccine-injured call on Congress to investigate the VICP, the only forum in which parents may bring claims of vaccine injury on behalf of their children.
WHERE: United States Court of Claims
717 Madison Place, NW
Washington, DC
WHEN: Tuesday, May 10
12:00 PM noon
--
Thank you,
EBCALA Host Committee
18 comments:
I find it hilarious that certain individuals who claim to be "science and evidence based" are already dismissing this news without having seen the evidence presented.
These hypocrites are so predictable. And laughingly boorish, as well. And, I predict another logorrheic and fact free post about this press release within the next 2 days. It will simply boil down to, "But the Science says this isn't true. Anyone who disagrees with the Science is a heretic (antivaxxer) and should be dismissed before hearing anything they have to say. All praise the Science and it's blessed child, the Holy Vaccine."
Less like science, more like religion. And they have the audacity to claim that parents who have reason to believe that their children were injured by vaccines are religious in their belief.
Unbelievable. Thank you for the post. I'll be tuning in tomorrow.
Look out government. The lawsuits are about to begin. Finally as all parents with an autistic child have known all along, that vaccines are causing autism, learning disablities, and many other neurological problems.
Audry,
You seem to be well intentioned, but your comment is a bit silly being posted here.
I would encourage you to read a little bit on a blog and a blogger, or even the links on a blog before posting commentary like this one.
For example, you might note that on the top right I have boldly pointed out that I am a co-author and a contributing editor the book "Vaccine Epidemic" of which Andrew Wakefield was a co-author. You also might note that I have been writing about the corruption in the case against him for about three years.
Further, if you actually read the post above, you would note that the vaccine injury compensation program has been paying autism cases for more than twenty years, which puts a hole in your theory that Wakefield proposed the vaccine causation hypothesis. He published it in 1998, so you will have to explain how he influenced cases ten years earlier.
The first study to document an autism vaccine association was actually the first paper on autism. Leo Kanner, when documenting the first 11 cases of autism that he found over the course of 8 years wrote that one of the cases was a regression following a small pox vaccine. That was in 1943.
Parents have been suing for vaccine induced autism since at least the 1970's. I heard about the vaccine autism connection in my undergrad psych program at George Mason University in 1988. And the first guy to really look at MMR autism causation published in 1994.
Wakefield is nothing more than a scape goat, and you are a sucker for believing the talking points and for not doing your homework. (sorry to be so frank)
If you want to have a serious discussion about autism causation, you are welcome in with open arms. But please don't leave these pompous comments with out even taking ten minutes to see what the discussion is in the first place.
You only show my readers that you are part of the problem because you won't think for yourself or check your sources.
... and the fact that you are practicing ABA and don't understand the gut/brain connection... it is upsetting to me.
You have an obligation to your clients to understand the basics of their potential medical problems and how GI conditions affect cognition.
Especially if you are doing ABA and feeing them things that are so bad for them that it impairs cognition.
I would like to encourage you to buy a copy of Brian Jepson's book, "Changing the Course of Autism" and gain a basic understanding of the physiological problems at play in autism.
Audrey,
Why??? You work with autistic children. Why would you be so blind to their medical issues? Why are you simply regurgitating misinformation from biased sources? It is obvious you haven't spent 5 minutes researching anything you are speaking about in your response, as well as showing a serious lack of insight for posting it on this blog. I, for one, would certainly not bring my vaccine injured daughter to you for your services given your serious lack of knowledge and apparent poor judgement. Please take this opportunity to educate yourself beyond what the mainstream media influenced people believe.
Ginger and friends,
I'm not going to argue with a number of your points because
A) I knowingly posted something controversial in a forum obviously about something vaccine injury and obviously on blog of well informed parents, etc. who are committed to the vaccine-autism issue
B) You are correct that I did not take much time to peruse your blog (although I did note the books you wrote and assumed you knew more about these issues than I let on in my post- you seem like a very active and informed parent committed to fighting corruption and I appreciate that) and for that I apologize
C) A number of the things that you cite I have heard of but have not looked into and will refrain from commenting on them since I don't have the information
However, I would like to comment on the notion of the GI-cognition relation. While stomach issues are frequent in individuals with autism and there are often eating issues, I would argue that these do not effect "cognition" per se, but affect behavior which impacts motivation for learning and thus what appears to be a cognitive issue.
I'm not denying the importance of stomach and medical issues- in fact, those can play large roles in the motivating operations to behavior and must be taken account when trying to increase academic behavior/learning and decrease aberrant behavior.
I see a link between how GI and other medical issues can affect learning, but a direct link between GI issues and cognition, I doubt. And I think most other ABA therapists would agree. I'd be glad to look at a study if you have one you'd recommend.
Finally, I think you're right. I may have some biased views from biased sources. Sometimes we think that we have chosen the side of truth and thus believe everything we hear from that side. Sometimes we become so invested in what we're doing for one cause or another, that our view biases to truth. And it goes both ways- on both sides of every issue, including this one.
What I'm saying is, I think we all need to be careful.
Glad to heasr you are open. I will get u some things.
But there is an ol joke in our community... "You don't see how the gut can affect cognition? Let's split a case of beer and i will explain it to you."
Yes, please send it over.
Haha- well, that's the intake of substances that affect neurological function because they enter the bloodstream, etc, just like any medication.
The intake of medication and other altering substances (like beer) will definitely alter cognition, I'm not disagreeing with you there.
I was referring to GI issues as inherent problems with digestion or intake of food, or malformations of parts of the digestive system.
I'm praying for you and your son (and not in a condescending, "I think you're wrong and pray you'll find the correct path" sort of way- in a, "we all need to get to the truth of this, despite the evil that attempts to corrupt it" as well as an "autism is just tough" sort of way)
"Haha- well, that's the intake of substances that affect neurological function because they enter the bloodstream, etc, just like any medication.
The intake of medication and other altering substances (like beer) will definitely alter cognition"
But that IS part of what is going on with children like mine. Their foods behave like drugs, not food.
When you or I eat a slice of bread, for example, we have the proper enzymes that break down the carbs and proteins, we have intact vili that absorb the nutrition, and we have intact wall lining that ensures that waste products are eliminated through the out door.
Not so with this group of kids.
When they eat a piece of bread, they do not produce sufficient enzymes to break down the proteins, their villi are smashed and broken, so nutrients are not absorbed, and worst of all, they have fissures in the lining of the walls of their gut that allows waste products and undigested food into their blood stream... that effects cognition.
In the case of bread and milk, their proteins gluten and casein remain undigested and instead of their individual amino acids being absorbed by the villi, they remain in protein chains and are absorbed between breaks in the cell walls. Both of them, once in the blood stream, behave like morphine as they plug into the morphine receptor cites in the central nervous system and literally make our kids high. These proteins, once in the blood, are referred to as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casomorphin and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliadorphin (gluteomorphin).
Know how our kids don't feel pain and can bang their head until they are bleeding? Ever seen a drunk guy run into a wall for fun? Same thing happening there.
Know how our kids seem "spacey"? A good portion of it is because they are being poisoned every day by their food.
And that is just the beginning of the gut/brain connection in autism. Think about the food dies, preservatives, pestacides, contaminants, msg, hfcs and on and on. Their guts don't eliminate that from their bodies like ours do. It all leaks in.
And all that crap getting in (called Leaky Gut Syndrome) causes autoimmunity and inflammation. And brain inflammation is exacerbated. And our kids have brain inflammation.
And most neurotransmitters are created in the gut.
The gut is nick named "The Second Brain"
Best source for the research on this is the book I recommended, but this is a talk by Harvard's Dr. Tim Buie, pediatric gastrointerologist, speaking on dietary intervention for autism at the Maine CDC Autism Conference two years ago. He goes over the current state of research on GI problems in autism.
The whole, "no research to suggest diet works" is nonsense. Most of the research is flawed from the beginning. Some of it includes children with no signs of GI problems (and there are those out there) and as "Autism" is not a medical syndrome (just a description of behaviors) getting all the kids with behavioral symptoms together for a study, with out picking out which children have the physical syndromes being studied, leads to research that does not find anything and does not serve our kids.
Watch it and you will be more informed on GI issues in autism than most of the senior colleagues in your field who don't want anything other than ABA to be used to help children.
http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2009/07/maine-cdc-autism-conference.html
... and this little brief I just posted is only the beginning of the GI discussion. It does not even get into the malnutirtion in our kids.
The first autism treatment book I read was "Children with Starving Brains"
Our kids have GI damage that prevents the absorbtion of the nutrients they need to grow, and the continued intake of foods that cause them GI distress keeps the gut damaged and they spend their lives running on broken legs. They never heal.
BEST book on this is on the side of my page. It it called "Breaking the Vicious Cycle"
Heal the gut and the body can take nutrients in, get waste products and poisions out, and begin to heal itself.
It is obvious and completely makes sense, but sadly your industry has talked itself into the insane notion that it is ok to give neurologically impaired children with chronic bowel problems junk food, that didn't even exist in their current form a century ago, and that it won't hurt them.
It is not even a sound idea if you know nothing about the processes by which food impairs or improves cognition in this senario.
Start looking at your clients. How many of them have thin arms and legs and swollen bellies? That is a sign of both inflammation and mal nutrition.
Look at the faces of your little ones... do many of them have red cheeks that make them look like they just came in from a hour in the snow? That is yeast from gut dysbiosis.
How many of them have white coatings on their tongue. That is a GI yeast infection.
Spend this week looking at the kids you are working with.
If you haven't read Orac's latest laugh-fest, you might want to.
I called it 100%.
sigh. do i have to?
No, you don't. Fortunately, I reviewed it for you on my blog :-D
phew. thanks for the save. I can do that.
omg this made me cry. what an outrage! i've been digging my heels in against vaccinating since my child was born, but the government and our doctor were starting to wear me down... no more! i'll keep on fighting it!
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