FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children

This is actually recycling an old story from June, but I am gonna run it again anyway because the point needs to be made loudly.

Again... props to Amy and Angela of Mom's Against Mercury for forcing the FDA to do its job.

FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children
David Gutierrez Natural News
Wednesday, Dec 03, 2008

For the first time, the FDA has issued a warning that the mercury contained in silver dental fillings may pose neurological risks to children and pregnant women.

"Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses," reads a statement that has been added to the agency's Web site. "Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care, but should discuss options with their health practitioner."

The warning was one of the conditions that the FDA agreed to in settling a lawsuit filed by several consumer health groups.

"Gone, gone, gone are all of FDA's claims that no science exists that amalgam is unsafe," said Charles Brown, a lawyer for Consumers for Dental Choice, one of the plaintiffs.

"It's a watershed moment," said Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project, another plaintiff.

Mercury is a well-known neurotoxin that can cause cognitive and developmental problems, especially in fetuses and children. It can also cause brain and kidney damage in adults.

So-called dental amalgams, or fillings made with a mix of mercury and other metals, have been used since the 1800s. Although it is known that small amounts of mercury are vaporized (and can be inhaled) when the fillings are used to chew food, and though Canada, France and Sweden have all placed restrictions on the use of mercury fillings, the FDA has always insisted that amalgams are safe.

Dental amalgams are considered medical devices, regulated by the FDA.

Even the FDA's new warning stops short of admitting that dental amalgams are dangerous for the general population. Instead, it focuses on the same population that has already been warned to limit mercury exposure by consuming less seafood: children and pregnant women. The FDA says it does not recommend that those who already have mercury fillings get them removed.

Millions of people have received amalgam fillings, although their popularity has dropped off in recent years. Currently, only 30 percent of dental fillings contain mercury - the rest are tooth-colored resin composites made from glass, cement and porcelain. These alternative fillings are more expensive and less durable than amalgam, however.

In 2002, the FDA began a regulatory review of amalgam that was expected to be complete within a few years. In 2006, with the review still incomplete, an independent FDA advisory panel of doctors and dentists rejected the agency's position that there is no reason for concern about the use of amalgam. While the panel agreed that the majority of people receiving such fillings would not be harmed, panel members expressed concern for the health of certain sensitive populations, including children under the age of six.

The panel recommended that the FDA conduct further studies on the risks to children from dental amalgam, and that it consider a policy of informed consent for children and pregnant: that is, warning those groups of the risks associated with the fillings before installing them.

Part of the lawsuit centered on the FDA's failure to respond to these recommendations in a timely fashion.

"This is your classic failure to act," federal judge Ellen Segal Huvelle told the agency.

As part of the lawsuit settlement, the FDA must reach a final decision on the regulation of amalgam by July 28, 2009.

"This court settlement signals the death knell for mercury fillings," Brown predicted.
But J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Ipsita Smolinski disagreed, saying that the FDA is unlikely to ban amalgam entirely

"We do believe that the agency will ask for the label to indicate that mercury is an ingredient in the filling, and that special populations should be exempt from such fillings, such as: nursing women, pregnant women, young children, and immunocompromised individuals," Smolinski said.

Obama Sponsors Mercury Ban Bill

The bill passed and President Bush is expected to sign it.

I have been looking for some sign from Obama that he understands any of what is at issue here, and I have not seen anything more than talk, and with his comments that he is not for selective vaccination, I had lost hope.

But this shows at least that he understand that mercury is dangerous.

I think it is safe to say that I will be endorsing McCain at this point, unless we see anything further from Obama; but I am glad to see that Obama has take initiative and action in regard to something that will protect children from environmental exposures and ups the anti in how toxic materials are perceived and handled.

Would he go so far as to reform the FDA and HHS and clean out all the conflicts of interest and corruption? I don't see any signs that it is on his radar.

Bush to Sign U.S. Mercury Export Ban
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
UPI

WASHINGTON -- U.S. mercury exports to developing countries will be banned under a measure expected to be signed by President George Bush, backers say.

Under the measure, which was passed by the U.S. Congress with bipartisan support, exports from the United States' mercury stockpile would be banned starting in 2013 and users will be required to store the toxic heavy metal permanently rather than shipping unused mercury overseas, The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday.

The bill's chief was sponsor Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who introduced the bill after the Tribune published a series of articles about mercury contamination in fish.

Because fewer U.S. companies are using heavily regulated mercury in industrial processes, the newspaper said concerns are rising about exports of the metal to industries in developing countries where pollution controls are lax.

"We know that mercury can cause serious developmental problems in children and problems affecting vision, motor skills, blood pressure and fertility in adults," Obama said in a statement. "While the United States has improved its efforts to collect and contain mercury, this country remains one of the leading exporters of this dangerous product."

Louise Rocks Fox and Friends Today

Louise Kuo Habakus and Claudine Liss from the New Jersey Coalition for Vaccine Choice were on Fox and Friends today and did a wonderful job of explaining why forced vaccination is a bad idea.

For the record, I can't remember seeing Fox News do anything on the vaccine autism connection, so props to the ladies for getting this interview!

Don't forget the Vaccine Choice Rally on October 16th.

The Passing of Dr. Frank Engley

From Linda Weinmaster:

It is with deep sadness that I inform the autism community that we have lost another hero. Dr. Frank Engley passed away last night. It is no exaggeration to say that Dr.Engley was the very first scientist to raise the alarm of the dangers of thimerosal with his landmark paper.  This last year infused him with a sense of purpose and determination to alert the world that the use of thimerosal must be stopped. He was deeply saddened that the FDA never followed through with his recommendations on eliminating thimerosal from all human biologicals. It was my honor and privilege to know this incredible man.  I will miss his brilliance and sense of humor.  You are my hero Dr. Engley. 

 

Linda Weinmaster

Vice President

No Mercury

Trustee; Alan D. Clark Research Foundation 

From Anne Dachel:

The efforts of Dr. Engley to prevent this disaster will be a lasting
tribute to him.  We need to remind the public of his early findings:

"Doctor Frank Engley a researcher and microbiologist who served on boards with the Centers for Disease Control, the FDA, and EPA throughout the 70s and 80s.

"I am afraid they have a tremendous amount of pressure being brought to bear by the medical profession, by the pediatricians, by congress, and by industry, and so they are under pressure&and someday they will have to live with the fact with what they said is wrong," Dr. Frank Engley.

Dr. Engley says the FDA knew about the dangers of thimerosal back in the 70s and 80s, when he served on its boards.

"Industries did not comment. They thought it was just generally going away. And it practically did. They came out with another report. The FDA about eight years later, and about 1998." Dr. Engley said.

"I would say to you, the FDA is partly to blame for the mecuricals still being on the market all that length of time. If they would have followed through with our 1982 report, vaccines would have been freed of thimerosal and all this autism as they tell me would not have occurred. But as it is, it all occurred," said Dr. Engley."

More Good Information on How Bad CFLs Are

So apparently one CFL light bulb contains 200 times the amount of mercury that is in the full dose mercury shots. It is astonishing to me that anyone thinks these are a good idea.

From Barb Kaplan:

Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

“Consider removal of carpeting section where the breakage has occurred as a precaution when there are infants, small children and pregnant women present.” This unsettling quote comes from the Vermont Department of Health and Environmental Conservation website, and it is one of the instructions given if you break a compact fluorescent light bulb.

In an effort to reduce the amount of energy we use, new legislation has been enacted at the local, state, and federal level here and abroad regarding energy efficient light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs, the type most people use in their homes, will in time cease to be manufactured because they are not energy efficient.

In the last year, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) have been repeatedly in the news because, although they cost about four times as much as a traditional light bulb, they use less energy to power them and last about six times as long. The main downside to CFLs is that they contain mercury, the second most hazardous neurotoxin on the planet. While a functioning CFL is not of concern, breakage and disposal of them are.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs contain a “trace” of mercury, 4 to 5 milligrams of it. The 25 micrograms of mercury in a flu shot, which may be responsible for the epidemic of children diagnosed with autism, is 1/200th of the mercury in a single light bulb of which there could be several in every room of every home. Keep in mind that leftover flu shots have to be treated as bio-hazard waste because they contain mercury, far less than what is in one CFL. To realize the enormity of this, consider that there are about 8 million households in New York State alone. If each household disposed of just one compact fluorescent light bulb per year, that’s over 32 kilograms of mercury to be recycled.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs cost 4 times as much as a traditional light bulb, averaging $2.00 versus 50 cents, and will save around $5.00 in electricity. There are other new bulbs that are emerging that are safer but may be, for the time being, cost prohibitive. For example, Home Depot has started selling a $5.00 Philips halogen bulb that’s 30% more efficient than current incandescents and has no mercury; however, most consumers will already balk at the $2.00 CFL and are unlikely to want to spent twenty dollars on a 4-pack of bulbs.

Under law recently signed by President George W. Bush, all light bulbs must use 25% to 30% less energy than today’s products by 2012 to 2014. The phase-in will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in January 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70% more efficient. Compact fluorescent bulbs meet the more stringent 70% efficiency standard. There are now laws banning incandescent bulbs in Cuba, Venezuela, Australia, Canada, and the European Union (27 countries). However, most of the other countries are not making as aggressive a timeframe for phase-in, which allows more time for new, less expensive, technology to be invented and recycling resources to potentially be created.

Some state and counties are beginning to pass similar laws. California, Connecticut, North Carolina and Rhode Island, and New Jersey are in the process of legislating against or have already passed laws against incandescents. Beginning January 1, 2012, it will be illegal to sell, purchase or even use a low-efficiency incandescent lamp in Suffolk County, New York.

The idea of allowing mercury to be placed in an easily breakable consumer product is fraught with public safety risks. In fact, it required a special exemption from the EPA to allow mercury-fluorescent lamps to be sold to consumers in the first place. Despite the decrease in the amount of mercury in the environment coming out of coal-fired power plants, the risk is being delivered directly to consumers’ homes.

The issue of breakage and disposal of CFLs is significant. If you drop one or more bulbs during installation or removal, or if your child knocks over a lamp with a CFL and it breaks, you have exposed yourselves and your children to airborne mercury. If a bulb does break in a home, leaving the window open and clearing out the room is not sufficient clean-up. Clean-up requires individuals to wear respiratory protection, as the Lumex values in the area surrounding the broken bulb will exceed safety guidelines. The broken glass cannot be vacuumed because the mercury vapors will disperse, causing wider-spread danger. Note that on some packages of CFLs, there are no warning labels (they are not mandatory) to tell a consumer that, for example, CFLs cannot be used with track, recessed, or dimmer fixtures, which could cause overheating. Some warning labels have information but in fine print.

Mercury affects the nervous system, causing brain, nerve, kidney, and lung damage. It can cause memory loss and, in extreme cases, even death. It retards brain development of fetuses and children, who are most vulnerable to mercury’s toxic effects. In fact, as of January 1, Minnesota banned mercury as a preservative in beauty products. Senator John Marty of Roseville, Minn., who sponsored the ban, stated, “Mercury does cause neurological damage to people even in tiny quantities. Every source of mercury adds to it.” New York and Illinois prohibit consumer products with mercury, such as figurines, toys and jewelry. So, why make mercury in the form of compact fluorescent light bulbs the likely replacement for incandescents?

Mercury is so toxic that the world’s 30 leading industrialized countries, including the U.S., have agreed to “cease all further work on mercury”. This means that we have to import mercury in order to make the bulbs, in violation of the spirit of the coalition.

There are inadequate ways to CFLs recycled. Ikea Stores are accepting them for recycling. However, my local store representative told me that when “dropping” the CFLs into the mailbox-type receptacle, the possibility exists that the bulbs could break. In addition, communities will have to find a safe and effective means of recycling these bulbs. Currently, this type of recycling in many communities is the once every month or two whereby any hazardous materials, such as lead-based paint cans and car batteries, can be dropped off. Some states, cities and counties have outlawed putting CFL bulbs into the trash, but in most states the practice is legal. Generally speaking, compliance is likely to be quite low as consumers currently toss used mercury-free incandescent bulbs into the trash.

However, there is obvious risk to storing and transporting the CFLs, which could be broken inadvertently while in one’s garage. Certainly we can’t all be driving to Ikea every time a bulb needs replacing. “The problem with the bulbs is that they’ll break before they get to the landfill. They’ll break in containers, or they’ll break in a dumpster or they’ll break in the trucks. Workers may be exposed to very high levels of mercury when that happens,” said John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, the trade group for the people who handle trash and recycling.

If a CFL is thrown into the regular trash container, when the garbage truck crushes the bulb, the mercury is released and the garbage man is exposed to a neuro-toxin. Subsequently, when the garbage is delivered to a landfill, mercury is released into the air, and, subsequently, soil, and water.

In Suffolk County, New York, County Executive Steve Levy, after signing into law legislation banning incandescents in 2012, he responded to a constituent as follows: “Rest assured, I did not make the decision to convert County facilities lightly and will take proper disposal of these bulbs [CFLs] seriously once full-scale conversion begins officially.” In other words, ban the safe but inefficient bulbs even though we have not figured out a safe way to deal with the very real problem of what to do with broken bulbs and used bulbs. As fluorescent bulbs are already on the market, the time to explore the options has already passed.

According to www.lightbulbrecycling.com, each year an estimated 600 million fluorescent light bulbs (“lamps”) are currently being disposed of in U.S. landfills, amounting to 30,000 pounds of mercury waste. Astonishingly, that is almost half the amount of mercury emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants each year. In addition, it only takes 4 mg of mercury, the amount of mercury in one compact fluorescent bulb, to contaminate up to 7,000 gallons of freshwater. This is prior to these laws even going into effect.

We need to delay legislation until mercury-free bulbs, such as halogens, become more available at prices less expensive than they currently are. The reality is that consumers are going to choose the relatively cheaper, mercury-laden compact fluorescent light bulbs which bring the dangers of mercury directly to the consumer and will inevitably harm the environment and its inhabitants far more than the energy efficiency will help.

We need to contact our local legislators as well as President Bush and tell them to delay implementation of the new energy efficiency standards indefinitely until such a time that halogen technology can improve and become cheaper. We need to have more recycling facilities in place for the compact fluorescent light bulbs that are already out there and safer ways to get the light bulbs to these facilities.

For additional reading on this subject, consult these web links where much of the preceding information originated:

http://www.mercvt.org/PDF/cflampfactsheet.pdf

http://www.newstarget.com/022279.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22258423/

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2007-12-16-light-bulbs_N.htm/

www.lightbulbrecycling.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071213/ap_on_he_me/mercury_in_mascara;_ylt=AtxQTWQCPuzHRVe7o.V_oCTVJRIF

http://www.newstarget.com/021907.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268747,00.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7431198

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55213

http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update66.htm

http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/homeowner/pdf/prospecthistory.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/index.htm

http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/legis/resos2007/i1867-07.htm

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36103.html

Did HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt Say: "We know it's the mercury"?

Dan Olmsted reports a rumor.

I say let's get those congressional hearings underway and find out EXACTLY who knows what.

UPDATE: Welcome Orac readers! While you are here, I would like to invite you to take a moment and look at some of the research that supports the connection between vaccines and autism here: "No Evidence of Any Link"

Watch the video of Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC admitting on CNN that vaccines DO trigger autism in a vulnerable subset of the population here: Julie Gerberding Admits on CNN that Vaccines can Trigger Autism

And read about my beautiful son, his regression into autism, and his on going recovery from autism via medical intervention here: Chandler

If you are interesting in exploring the details of why we are so insistent that vaccines are one of the most common triggers of autism, please don't hesitate to contact me directly at mail@adventuresinautism.com so that i can direct you to helpful resources.

Thank you for visiting!

Ginger Taylor, M.S.

CFL Mercury Light Bulbs or Landfills Full of Mercury

To quote Will Ferrell from Zoolander... I feel like I am taking crazy pills.

So we are protecting the environment by loading it up with the most toxic non-radioactive substance on earth while telling pregnant women not to eat fish because of all the mercury in them.

And what is this, "we will all have to use CFL's by 2016"? Over my dead body will one of those things come into my home (where stuff gets broken every day because I have an autistic son who is full of mercury.)

Toxic Levels of Mercury in Chinese Infants Eating Fish Congee

More evidence of the link that does not exist:

"A boy aged 2 years and 10 months presented with delayed speech and some autistic features. Since weaning, he had eaten fish (barramundi, sea perch, salmon and rock cod) up to eight times a week. He had no history of herbal medicine use, and his thyroid function, blood lead level, and a DNA screen for fragile X syndrome were normal. The child’s blood mercury level was 350 nmol/L and urine Hg/Cr ratio was 14 nmol/mmol (NR, < 10 nmol/mmol*)."

Toxic Levels of Mercury in Chinese Infants Eating Fish Congee

Stephen J Corbett and Christopher C S Poon

MJA 2008; 188 (1): 59-60

To the Editor: We report elevated mercury levels in three infants, each the only child of Chinese parents living in Sydney. All three children had eaten fish congee (a rice and fish porridge) as a weaning food and ate fish regularly as toddlers. Their parents had sought medical advice for either developmental delay or neurological symptoms in the children.

A 2-year-old boy had demonstrated increasingly aggressive behaviour for the past 6 months. A general practitioner had diagnosed mercury poisoning in the boy’s father 2 months earlier, following investigation for complaints of allergies, rashes, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. The family ate fish (usually salmon, barramundi or snapper) at least five times a week, and had used unspecified herbal medicines in the past. The child had eaten fish regularly since weaning. The boy’s blood mercury level was 158 nmol/L (normal range [NR], < 50 nmol/L), a random urine mercury/creatinine (Hg/Cr) ratio was 9 nmol/mmol (NR, < 6 nmol/mmol*), and his hair mercury level was 1.42 mg% (NR, < 0.18 mg%). The boy’s father and mother (who was pregnant) also had elevated hair mercury levels, of 4.3 mg% and 6.0 mg%, respectively. The father and child were treated with chelation therapy elsewhere.

* The two laboratories reported different normal ranges for the urine Hg/Cr ratio.

A boy aged 2 years and 10 months presented with delayed speech and some autistic features. Since weaning, he had eaten fish (barramundi, sea perch, salmon and rock cod) up to eight times a week. He had no history of herbal medicine use, and his thyroid function, blood lead level, and a DNA screen for fragile X syndrome were normal. The child’s blood mercury level was 350 nmol/L and urine Hg/Cr ratio was 14 nmol/mmol (NR, < 10 nmol/mmol*). The boy’s father did not eat fish, and his blood mercury level was 19 nmol/L. The child’s mother did eat fish, and had a blood mercury level of 27 nmol/L. Two weeks after removing fish from the diet, the child’s blood mercury level had fallen to 99 nmol/L and his urine Hg/Cr ratio to 7 nmol/mmol. However, his behaviour did not improve, and he was subsequently diagnosed with classical autism.

A 15-month-old boy presented with delayed development since birth. Fish had been introduced to his diet at 8 months of age, and he had since continued to consume fish four to five times a week. He had recently eaten either ling or salmon. The boy’s mother had consumed ling three to four times a week after the fifth month of her pregnancy. The child’s thyroid function, DNA screen for fragile X syndrome, chromosome karyotype, and urinary metabolic screen were normal. His blood mercury level was 143 nmol/L, but fell to 19 nmol/L over a period of 1 year after ceasing fish intake. His longer-term developmental status is unknown.

Fish congee, made with either freshwater species or locally caught fish, is a common weaning food in coastal regions of southern China and South-East Asia.1 Adding fish to the weaning diet has health benefits,1,2 such as reducing anaemia, and is actively promoted. However, fish, particularly the large pelagic (open ocean) species more likely to be bought in Australia, may also contain mercury. Excessive consumption of mercury has been associated with neurological impairment.3-5

The Box shows that the consumption by infants of fish congee made from portions of large fish species may exceed the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI)7 for methylmercury of 1.6 μg/kg bodyweight/week (the limit considered sufficient to protect a developing fetus). Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s most recent risk assessment concluded that median-level consumers of fish are unlikely to exceed the PTWI for methylmercury,6 but frequent consumers might if all their consumption is of predatory or long-lived fish species, which tend to acccumulate higher concentrations of mercury.

It has been previously noted in the Journal that public health policy regarding fish consumption needs to balance the health benefits for cardiovascular disease and anaemia with the possible ill effects of mercury on neurological development in infants.8

We recommend that multilingual information about fish and mercury be made available to pregnant women and mothers, especially targeting groups who are likely to be frequent consumers of fish and who use fish in weaning and infant foods. Regulatory and health promotion activities could also be informed by surveillance of blood or hair mercury levels in infants from ethnic groups at high risk of mercury intoxication, and of the frequency of fish consumption in this age group (by type of fish).

Estimated weekly mercury intake in infants consuming fish congee

New Study Implicates Mercury In The Development Of Autism

The American Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology has published this study out of Rutgers and UMDNJ that exposed mercury to animals and found "neurobehavioral alterations" such as impaired social interaction, cognition and motor behavior. They also found that they improved when given vitamin E, suggesting that oxidative stress is at work in this process.

This is no surprise to any of us who have been treating our autistic kids for mercury toxicity and oxidative stress for years, but the big surprise in this study is in the credits.

The shocker is that this study is brought to you by Autism Speaks.

IMHO Autism Speaks has finally said something worth saying.

So... will we see this article in the press? Will the AAP recognize it and start looking at Vit. E as a helper for their patients with autism? Will CDC start taking another look at vaccines? Will Autism Speaks start coming around now that their own studies are implicating mercury as a factor in the development of autism?

Or will they all continue to proffer the lie that there is no convincing evidence linking vaccines to autism, while ignoring all the studies that are piling up on the hard drives of parents across the country?

American Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology 4 (2): 218-225, 2008
ISSN 1553-3468
© 2008 Science Publications

Corresponding Author: George C. Wagner, Psychology, Busch Campus, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08854
Tel: 732-445-4660 Fax: 732-445-2263


Evidence of Oxidative Stress in Autism Derived from Animal Models
1Xue Ming, 2Michelle A. Cheh and 2Carrie L. Yochum,
3Alycia K. Halladay and 2George C. Wagner
1Pediatric Neuroscience, UMDNJ, Newark, NJ
2Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
3Autism Speaks, Princeton, NJ

Abstract: Autism is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that leads to deficits in social interaction, communication and restricted, repetitive motor movements. Autism is a highly heritable disorder, however, there is mounting evidence to suggest that toxicant-induced oxidative stress may play a role. The focus of this article will be to review our animal model of autism and discuss our evidence that oxidative stress may be a common underlying mechanism of neurodevelopmental damage. We have shown that mice exposed to either methylmercury (MeHg) or valproic acid (VPA) in early postnatal life display aberrant social, cognitive and motor behavior. Interestingly, early exposure to both compounds has been clinically implicated in the development of autism. We recently found that Trolox, a water-soluble vitamin E derivative, is capable of attenuating a number of neurobehavioral alterations observed in mice postnatally exposed to MeHg. In addition, a number of other investigators have shown that oxidative stress plays a role in neural injury following MeHg exposure both in vitro and in vivo. New data presented here will show that VPA-induced neurobehavioral deficits are attenuated by vitamin E as well and that the level of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker of astrocytic neural injury, is altered following VPA exposure. Collectively, these data indicate that vitamin E and its derivative are capable of protecting against neurobehavioral deficits induced by both MeHg and VPA. This antioxidant protection suggests that oxidative stress may be a common mechanism of injury leading to aberrant behavior in both our animal model as well as in the human disease state.

CFL Mercury Light Bulbs Must Now Be Treated As Hazardous Waste in New Hampshire

Heads up.

New rule for new light bulbs

By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
New Hampshire Sunday News Staff
Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008

The message seems to be everywhere these days: "Change a light, change the world."

Environmental groups, utilities, government agencies, retailers -- even Oprah Winfrey -- all have promoted the switch to compact fluorescent lights as an easy way to save money, reduce energy consumption and limit greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

But another message has been nearly lost in all the enthusiasm: These bulbs contain mercury, a highly toxic heavy metal, and have to be disposed of carefully, especially if they're broken.

As of Jan. 1, New Hampshire bans the disposal of any "mercury-added" product, including spent CFLs and "button-cell" batteries, in landfills, transfer stations or incinerators. So now, instead of throwing those lightbulbs in your household trash, you'll have to recycle them, either through your municipality or a participating retailer.

And if you break one, you need to handle it as hazardous waste.

Whatever you do, don't vacuum a broken bulb, advises Pamela Schnepper, a toxicologist in the environmental health program at the Department of Environmental Services. "That will spread it through the house, it will put it in the air, and then the vacuum cleaner will be contaminated."

Instead, environmental experts advise, ventilate the room and leave it for 15 minutes. The safest approach is to wear gloves, and use cardboard and duct tape to pick up small pieces and powder, seal everything in a screw-top jar, and store the jar in a safe place until you can dispose of it at a hazardous waste collection.
feb3 compact lights 270px (SHAWNE K. WICKHAM)

Linda Farruggio of LeBlanc's Hardware holds a pair of compact fluorescent light bulbs. (SHAWNE K. WICKHAM)

The risk of mercury exposure from one broken lightbulb is low, Schnepper stressed. "All we want to do is make sure people know to clean it up properly."

She said DES plans to update its cleanup and disposal guidelines after the upcoming release of a Maine study about the mercury risk from broken CFLs.

Noting her agency bases its mercury advisories on the most sensitive populations, Schnepper said she expects DES will advise keeping pregnant women and young children -- the developing nervous system is most vulnerable to the harmful effects of mercury exposure -- out of the area while a broken bulb is cleaned up.

Stephanie D'Agostino, supervisor of the pollution prevention section at DES, has worked on mercury reduction for a decade. She cited "disconnect" between researchers working on mercury reduction and those pushing energy efficiency and said her agency recently sent municipalities information packets about the new law for mercury-containing products.

A typical household CFL contains about 5 mg of mercury (about the size of a ballpoint pen's tip). To put that in perspective, an old-fashioned mercury thermometer -- the kind you can't even buy anymore -- contains about 500 mg, according to the EPA.

Experts point out that compact fluorescents, because they use less electricity and last longer than incandescent lightbulbs, reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. But they say it's important not to put the mercury back into the waste stream when the bulbs eventually do burn out or break.

It only takes a small amount of mercury to harm the environment, according to D'Agostino. One gram "is enough to contaminate a 20-acre lake to the point where you would have to issue a fish consumption advisory."

D'Agostino said CFLs are now the "largest source of mercury in the solid waste stream."

"It used to be batteries, but since 1996, mercury in alkaline batteries has been banned ... In the meantime, we're all using more and more fluorescent lights, so that's causing there to be a higher level of disposal."

To address that, the state partnered with more than two dozen True Value hardware stores to recycle spent CFLs, and DES is now setting up a similar program with Ace Hardware stores. D'Agostino said she's also hoping some of the big-box stores, such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart, that promoted the sale of CFLs will start recycling them.

Currently, about 60 municipal facilities accept unbroken CFLs for recycling.

The new state law banning disposal of CFLs and other mercury-added products does not specify penalties for violators. However, it comes under the state's solid waste law, RSA 149-M, which authorizes fines and even criminal charges.

Scott Bradford, manager of the Peterborough Recycling Center, said his facility has been recycling fluorescent lamps for years. He said some residents recently have brought in brand-new CFLs to recycle after learning they contain mercury.

Bradford contends CFLs need better product labeling. "I definitely think on the side of the box in big print there should be some kind of a warning, not so much as a deterrent but just an informative piece on there that says, 'Hey if you do buy this, be wary.' "

Jennifer Dolin is environmental marketing manager for Osram Sylvania, which has three manufacturing plants in New Hampshire. (None make lightbulbs; those are all made in China, she said.)

Informing the public about proper handling of CFLs should be a "shared responsibility" among manufacturers, retailers, utilities and government agencies, Dolin said. She said that as Sylvania's packaging is updated, it will include a link to the company's Web site, where such information is posted.

Julia Dundorf, co-director of the New Hampshire Carbon Coalition, said she doesn't want the mercury issue to discourage people from buying CFLs. But, she said, "I think it is critical that at the point of sale there is more information for the public."

The issue is about to get even more pressing.

The energy bill Congress passed late last year included new efficiency standards for lightbulbs that effectively phase out most incandescent bulbs by 2012. (There are a few exceptions, such as the low-watt bulbs used in appliances.)

Osram Sylvania's Dolin said manufacturers are working on new products that will meet those standards, including some that won't contain mercury.

For now, D'Agostino suggests consumers should make choices based on their own comfort levels, perhaps avoiding using CFLs in a child's room or an area where they are more likely to break. "I don't think there's a huge harm done if you don't put them in every single light socket in the house," she said.
What to do

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has a list of municipalities and hardware stores that accept unbroken compact fluorescent lights for recycling. DES also provides instructions for cleaning up and disposing of a broken CFL.

ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the federal Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Energy to promote energy efficiency. For information about compact fluorescent lights and the "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign, go to energystar.gov.

Kirby on HuffPo: Vaccine Debate Rages On

David Kirby: The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Anything But Over

Exactly five years ago I began research for my book Evidence of Harm, which looked into the possible link between mercury, vaccines and the tsunami of autism that now overwhelms our education system.

Along the way I have encountered many people -- in the government, in medical circles, in the media, on the Internet - who are furious at my attempts to shed light on this controversy and utterly contemptuous of parents, doctors, and anyone else who supports research into the hypothesized link between autism and vaccines.

Many of these people, incredibly, still insist that autism is purely a genetic disorder with no known "cause" and probably no cure. They blithely claim that autism has always been with us in the same epidemic numbers we see today, (If you're the parent of a young boy in New Jersey, by the way, you now face 1-in-60 odds of a diagnosis), we just never noticed or else counted those kids as "quirky" or possibly retarded.

Even officials at the CDC, who traced an e-coli outbreak to a single patch of California spinach within months cannot say if autism is actually on the increase or not.

Some experts, however, are beginning to understand that autism is clearly on the rise and thus must have an environmental component coupled with a genetic underpinning. But they insist that vaccines or their ingredients (ie, mercury, live measles virus, aluminum) have nothing to do with the epidemic.

They really really want this vexing vaccine chatter to cease. But it won't.

Buried beneath the usual tumultuous headlines of recent days were three tidbits of news that clearly underscore why this raging, sometimes vitriolic debate is not ending any time soon. In fact, all three reveal significant cracks in the federal government's hitherto impenetrable fortress of denial of any vaccine-autism link whatsoever:

1) The CDC granted nearly $6 million for investigators at five major research centers to study 2700 children over the next five years in what the Contra Costa Times called "the largest-ever U.S. study aimed at solving one of the most perplexing mysteries of modern times: the cause of autism."

Lisa Croen, the study's principal investigator in California, told the paper that, "What's become very clear is that autism results from a combination of having a genetic predisposition or genetic susceptibility, plus the added extra exposures from environmental factors or other kinds of lifestyle factors."

Among the "factors" to be studied are family history, events during pregnancy, maternal medications, parental occupation, ambient pollution around the houseand "a child's vaccination history" the paper reported.

Oddly the study will not look at the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. According to the FDA and the Institute of Medicine the last batches of thimerosal containing vaccines for infants and immune-globulin given to pregnant women expired in late 2003 (except for the flu shot, which is still given to infants and pregnant women).

The new study will only study children born from September 2003 to August2005. But the question remains and I think it's legitimate: If an association between vaccines and autism has been completely "ruled out" then why are we spending taxpayer dollars to study autistic children's vaccination history?

2) The Department of Health and Human Services announced the formation of a new federal panel the "Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee" which will help set public and private research priorities into the cause and treatment of autismas mandated by the recently passed Combating Autism Act.

Among those named to the panel by HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt were Lyn Redwood, president of the Coalition for Safe Minds (and chief protagonist in my book), and a leading advocate of the mercury-vaccine-autism connection and Lee Grossman president and CEO of the Autism Society of America, another staunch supporter of the hypothesis.

Which again begs the question: If the debate over vaccines and autism is over then why did the Feds appoint two people to this important new panel who will relentlessly push for more taxpayer dollars going into research of vaccines and autism?

3) Lawyers for the US Justice Department and HHS are conceding an autism case that was to be tried in the so-called federal "Vaccine Court"according to papers filed on the court's on-line docket.

Nearly 5000 autism cases are pending in Vaccine Court though a small number of "test cases" are being tried in which attorneys for the families attempt to link the symptoms of autism to thimerosal and/or the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (or MMR, which never contained mercury). It was a pending test case that the government conceded.

According to my source, however, the government is NOT conceding that mercury or vaccines cause autism. "In this case the DOJ conceded that vaccines significantly aggravated a child's pre-existing autistic symptoms" my source said "but the autism itself was caused by a congenital mitochondrial disorder that is entirely genetic."

And the source noted"By conceding 'significant aggravation' I think DOJ is trying to avoid ever having this case go to hearing on the underlying causation issue.

"In other words this was likely going to be a slam-dunk and the Feds knew it. Rather than risk having the case become a "test" for thousands of other claims it looks like the DOJ opted to fold and pay out damages to the family without actually admitting that vaccines can cause autism.

This entirely unreported event raises several interesting questions I think. To begin with if the federal government has conceded that vaccines can cause "significant aggravation" to the autism symptoms of even just one child shouldn't the public be notified?

And if the government has conceded that this child would be better off today had he or she not been vaccinated -- in other words that vaccines made the symptoms of autism go from bad to worse - couldn't it be possible that vaccines might also say make symptoms go from mild to bad?

And if the government concedes that vaccines aggravated the symptoms of autism in at least one child shouldn't parents of children with the disorder be informed of this and shouldn't they be allowed to opt out of future vaccinations on medical grounds if they wish?

And if the government concedes that vaccines can aggravate the symptoms of autism then shouldn't that same government also earmark funds to research how and why that occurs?

And of course, why on earth would parents concede that there is "no evidence of an association between vaccines and autism" when the government has just conceded that there was an (albeit not causal) association?

Finally, to all those who are going to post comments about the autism rates in California not coming down, following the removal of thimerosal from most vaccines: You are right. The most likely explanation is that thimerosal was not responsible for the autism epidemic. But that does not mean that it never harmed a single child.

And keep in mind that, of the record 1000+ additional autism cases recorded in California last quarter, some 75% of them were children who were six years of age or older, and thus born well within the "thimerosal generation." There is evidence that many factors could conceivably be keeping the California numbers higher than the national average, including aggressive early intervention and outreach to low-income families, increased immigration from countries that still use thimerosal (and immigrant children who are routinely re-immunized upon arrival) and migration of families from less progressive U.S. states eager for California's relative public largesse.

And remember that the CDC, wisely, does not conduct autism prevalence studies on children until they reach the age of 8, to account for any late stragglers entering the database. If thimerosal did not come out of vaccines entirely until 2003, then it won't be until 2011 before kids in that birth cohort are studied by the CDC, so vindicating thimerosal entirely might still be a tad premature.

All that said, thimerosal may well not be a factor in a single case of autism. But what if one day, we discovered it had caused, say, one percent of all cases? With estimates of autism as high as 1.5 million in the country that would mean 15000 Americans who were ravaged by thimerosal
(not to mention everyone overseas).

But if thimerosal is vindicated,or shown to be a very minor player, then what about other vaccine ingredients? And what about the rather crowded vaccine schedule we now impose upon families of young children? And what about reports of unvaccinated children in Illinois, California and Oregon who appear to have significantly lower rates of autism? Shouldn't we throw some research dollars into studying them?

You can answer that, no, we shouldn't because the vaccine-autism debate is over.

But I am willing to wager that it has only just begun.

Best Summer Ever: An Update on Chandler’s Progress

I have been away from blogging for the last two months because we spent the summer focusing on getting our boy better. And hell yeah is he better!

After a break from chelation of more than a year, we tested him to find that his lead levels were through the roof. Our DAN doc was alarmed and he recommended that we go straight to IV Calcium EDTA chelation (CaEDTA).

Previously, I had wanted to remain cautious and used the much slower method of oral DMSA, but seeing the results that Chandler had from just 10 sessions this summer, I could not regret my decision more. I wish I had done this for him three years ago.

(So much has been made of the accidental death of the autistic child in PA who was mistakenly given the wrong form of the drug, Na2EDTA, while undergoing chelation for lead, and I wanted to take a moment to link to the CDC’s review of three chelation deaths. These tragedies were medical accidents and not the result of the administration of CaEDTA which is the standard and safe treatment for children with lead poisoning.)

His results have been wonderful. Cautioning, he is still autistic, but his speech is really starting to flow, his eye contact has shot up, he is connecting with the kids in the neighborhood, he is beginning to make little jokes, and get my little jokes, and – miracle of miracles – hold on to your butt – HE IS POTTY TRAINING!!!

The change in him over the first five sessions were the most dramatic. Our neighbors, whom we have been close friends with since before the kids were born, and whose kids play with our kids practically daily, went away for two weeks at the beginning of his IV chelation. We had not told them what we were doing. When they came back, their family was outside with my husband and Chandler. After about 20 minutes I came out and the mom said to me, “What is up with Chandler, he is acting like a different kid?” I told her about the chelation and she said that it was like we had adopted a new child.

His lead levels are still rising, and he still has mercury tucked in there behind the lead (chelators bind to lead first and you have to clear it before you can get the mercury out adequately), so we will be doing this for a while. After a month long break, we will be starting up again and I will give more frequent updates on his progress.

But for now, I wanted to share with everyone our wonderful news of our beautiful boy’s progress.

Thank you to all of the encouragement that so many have given us over the years.

Congress Votes on Banning Mercury From Vaccines

[Update: Make sure you check the bottom to see why ECBT's stance is BS. Also my letter to Mrs. Carter calling her attention to the mercury issue]

Every Child by Two is urging their membership to call congress and oppose this amendment that would make vaccines safer. Here is everything you need to know about Every Child By Two:

Officers:

Kirsten Thistle
Treasurer
Senior Vice-President, APCO Worldwide
(APCO is the PR Agency for: Johnson & Johnson, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Associations, Novartis Pharmaceuticals – Glivec, Immunex Corporation - Novantrone, The Vaccine Fund, STERIS Corporation and the list goes on)

Board Members:

Craig Engesser
Senior Director, Professional Affairs
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

Paul Offit, MD
Chief, Section of Immunologic and Infectious Diseases
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Ex-Officio Members:

Anne Schuchat, MD
Director, CDC/National Center for Respiratory and Infectious Diseases

I called their offices and they said that they receive unrestricted grants from pharmaceutical companies.

It is difficult for me to believe that the former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who founded Every Child By Two, understands the dire conflict of interest here. She is a mental health advocate, and advocates for caretakers like us.

I think I will write her a letter too.

Call your Congressman and support the ban on mercury in vaccines.

From A-CHAMP:

Congressional Vote on Mercury Ban Expected

Contact Your Member of Congress ASAP!!!

Take Action!
This past Wednesday, July 11, the House Committee on Appropriations adopted by voice vote an amendment that prevents federal dollars from being used to provide flu vaccines, that contain mercury as a preservative, to children under three years of age. This amendment, offered by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) was based on legislation that he has introduced with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) to completely ban mercury from all vaccines. This bill will come to the floor of the House of Representatives on July 17.

Action You Must Take Today!
You need to e-mail of fax write your member of Congress today.
You may use our automated system to send an email by Clicking Here.

If you want to call or fax your Congressman and don’t know who your Member of Congress is you can find out by Clicking Here or going to http://capwiz.com/a-champ/directory/congdir.tt Your Congressman's contact information can be found there.

E-mail your Member of the House of Representatives AND CALL their office (Congressional Switchboard 202-224-3121 can also get you to your Congressman by phone).

Here is suggested text for a letter if you wish to send a fax or a manual email. The text is also in our pre-written email if you wish to use our automated system:
I am writing you to urge that you vote against any amendment that removes from the FY 2008 House Labor/HHS Appropriation bill the provision that bans mercury (thimerosal) from childhood flu vaccines. I am very concerned that an amendment may be offered on the House floor when this bill is considered that would strip this important provision from the House bill. As my representative, I urge you to vote against any amendment that would leave babies exposed to mercury-laced flu vaccines.

There is no other way to put this - It is just a stupid practice to be injecting babies at 6, 7, 12 and 24 months with the neurotoxin mercury particularly at such a critical stage of neurodevelopment. The House Appropriations Committee agreed overwhelmingly that injecting children with mercury is a bad idea when they adopted an amendment on July 11 offered by Rep. Dave Weldon - a physician.

The developed world other than the United States has essentially banned mercury from all of their childhood vaccines, including the flu vaccine. But, the USA continues to use mercury as a preservative in millions of doses of the flu vaccine given to children. Seven years ago, in 1999, the following concensus was reached by the US's leading public health agencies: “[The] Public Health Service, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agree that thimerosal-containing vaccines should be removed as soon as possible. Similar conclusions were reached this year in a meeting attended by European regulatory agencies, the European vaccine manufacturers, and the US FDA which examined the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines produced or sold in European countries.”

That was in 1999. In October 2004 the House Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the need to remove mercury as a preservative from childhood flu vaccines. Now, three years later virtually no action has been taken by the CDC, AAP or vaccine makers to eliminate mercury preservative from childhood flu vaccines. The time to end this madness is long overdue.

I appreciate in advance your vote against any amendment that would weaken the Weldon provision that protects babies from exposure of babies to this dangerous neurotoxin. I will be reviewing the record vote on this issue should an amendment be offered to strip this provision.

Thank you for protecting our babies.

Message Brought To You By A-CHAMP
Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning
See Our Action Alerts. Click the TAKE ACTION! button

Update: So ECBT says they oppose removing the mercury because, "Sanofi (the only company licensed to supply [flu] vaccine to this age group) has reported that they do not have enough capacity to meet this demand".

Except that Sanofi just announced the opening of their new FLU VACCINE FACILITY! (And yes of course Paul Offit is quoted in the article. Silly of you to even ask.)

New Pa. vaccine plant poised for pandemics
By Karl Stark
Philadelphia Inquirer

SWIFTWATER, Pa. - Here in the former honeymoon capital known as the Pocono Mountains sits a near-windowless building that everyone will know about when the next pandemic flu hits.

Just down the road from a Caesars resort with its heart-shaped pools lies the country's only comprehensive flu-vaccine plant. Drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis announced yesterday that it had finished construction of a $150 million building here that would double its production of vaccine for seasonal or pandemic flu, since both are made nearly the same way.

The highly computerized plant now awaiting final government approval won't be pumping out vaccine until late next year. But the drugmaker invited Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and the media for a rare peek yesterday at a critical facility before its life-saving balm begins flowing.

Leavitt called the plant critical to the health of the country and the world. "We do know that pandemics happen, and that we will see a pandemic, and that we need to be prepared," he said.

The plant looks like a high-tech hospital on perpetual security alert. No merely curious visitors can enter when it's working. Its 200 production workers - all vaccinated for the flu - will be gowned, gloved and masked.

A few workers went through the motions yesterday, entering rooms through special air locks that help keep the virus in and the contaminants out, and pantomiming production steps as a special filtration system purified the air.

Yet, amid the warren of stainless-steel tubes and vats, the plant will still make vaccine the old-fashioned way: with chicken eggs.

They have incubated flu vaccine reliably since 1935. And the plant will need 600,000 eggs a day at full capacity. Sanofi buys what it needs and more from dedicated egg suppliers, to assure an ample supply.

Sanofi senior vice president Wayne Pisano, who oversees vaccine sales, described the process as tried-and-true, and said the emerging cell-culture-based method has not been perfected for making the millions of doses needed.

Leavitt said the federal government was trying to change that by spending $1 billion over the next five years to improve cell-based technology and to increase U.S. vaccine production. The United States has amassed pre-pandemic vaccine for six million people, along with 50 million doses of antiviral medicines. "Obviously, that's not enough," Leavitt said.

While media attention on flu has receded, Leavitt noted that the flu virus was continuing to change and threaten people. An especially dangerous form, called H5N1, has infected 318 people worldwide and killed nearly 200 since 2003. The world has averaged three flu pandemics a century, the last striking in 1968 and 1969. Sooner or
later, another one will occur, Leavitt said.

The federal government is continuing to prepare. Last month, Sanofi announced a $77.4 million contract from the government to retrofit a second flu factory at the Swiftwater site. The firm, which will also spend $25 million of its own funds, would be able to make 150 million doses a year by 2010, tripling its current production, when all ongoing upgrades are done.

Sanofi, the world's biggest vaccine-maker, isn't the only company in the game. GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., which has a U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, is rehabbing a 90-acre former vaccine plant in Marietta, Lancaster County, to make flu and other vaccines. The firm has received a $274 million federal contract to develop the cell-
culture method and to ramp up manufacturing there. Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG is also building a vaccine plant in Holly Springs, N.C. But both projects are years away from production.

Kimberly Elliott, deputy director of Trust for America's Health, a public-health-advocacy group, said the U.S. effort still lags in key aras, such as how to detect the disease quickly and how to handle the large numbers of sick patients in a pandemic. "Most hospitals are already overcrowded," she said. "Hardly any state is doing well on this, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey."

Experts hope that vaccines will provide a lot of protection. And yesterday at the plant, workers were showing how they would be made.

In one room, a mechanical needle will inject virus into the eggs, which will be left to incubate for two or three days.

Workers shine special lights onto the eggs to make sure they are intact. The process is known as "candling" because it was originally done by candlelight.

A mechanical knife then cuts off the top of eggs, and a machine flips 36 at a time, pouring their fluid into a vat. The virus is killed, and then the fluid is run through a centrifuge and purified several times.

"We're still stuck with eggs," noted Paul A. Offit, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and author of Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases.

"I would like to think," he added, that "the fear of the pandemic will enable us to upgrade our flu technology."

My Letter to Mrs. Carter:

Dear Ms. Carter,

I am a Johns Hopkins educated marriage and family therapist and the mother of a 5 year old boy diagnosed with autism and mercury poisoning. At only two weeks of age he was given a Hepatitis B vaccine that contained what is described at "trace" amounts of mercury, after which he developed colic and unexplained fevers that lasted for three months, and bowel problems that persisted for five years. At age two, when he was diagnosed with autism, we tested him and found that he had mercury poisoning. In researching his vaccinations to see if that could be the source, we found that the hep B vaccine that he had just after he was born, the one that is currently on the vaccine schedule, although considered to contain "low dose" or "trace" of mercury, actually exceeded the EPA's safety limits for a person of his weight.

Further research on the EPA's safety limits showed me that they were not based on any research on the safety of injected mercury, and that in fact the only safety study on the mercury containing preservative thimersoal was done in the 1920's on 22 patients who were dieing of meningitis. The study found that there were no long term side effects, because all the participants died with in days of injection. Thimerosal was then put into vaccines, and grandfathered in to the FDA at its inception, with out any further safety testing. That study remains the only safety testing on thimerosal.

For the last three years I have been reading the research on vaccine safety. I was heartbroken to find that the hep B vaccine that my son initially reacted to (eventually loosing speech and eye contact the 4th time he was given the shot at 18 months of age) was given inadequate safety testing as well. Children who got the shot were only followed for three days, a woefully inadequate amount of time to see if the vaccine resulted in immune or neurological changes.

I have also read and analyzed for myself several of the large epidemiological studies that the medical establishment puts forth as proof that thimerosal in vaccines are safe and has no relationship to autism or other developmental disorders. I find that these studies do not measure what they purport to measure and that because of their very narrow inclusion criteria, they cannot be used to determine whether or not thimerosal containing vaccines are safe for my two sons.

Because of our family's experience, I began writing (I maintain a blog at http://adventuresinautism.com) and advocating for adequate research and vaccine safety. This week the bipartisan Mercury Free Vaccines Act of 2007 will be voted on, and your organization, Every Child By Two, is opposing it. I am writing to you to ask you to change your stance and support the complete removal of mercury from vaccines.

Mercury is one of the most potent neurotoxins on the planet and there can be no justification for injecting it into full grown adults much less newborns babies. It is hundreds of times more lethal to humans than lead, yet the medical establishment, who stands firm and united in their assertion that no amount of lead is safe, maintains the nonsensical assertion that there is "no evidence of harm" in injecting a "trace amount" of mercury directly into the blood stream of a developing child, and therefore should be allowed to stay in vaccines.

As I have read the emerging research on the relationship between mercury and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, and seen the dramatic improvements in my own son as we chelate the metal out of his body, I am convinced that there is a link between mercury in vaccines and autism. But if you are not, would it still not be prudent to remove mercury from vaccines as quickly and completely as we can?

The Every Child By Two's stance is that the effort should be struck down because, "Sanofi (the only company licensed to supply [flu] vaccine to this age group) has reported that they do not have enough capacity to meet this demand". This seems a woefully inadequate justification. Mercury should continue to be injected into small children and pregnant women so that fewer people get the flu for one season?

I read on the web site that you began your vaccination efforts after a measles outbreak killed 150 people. According to the CDC, autism now effects 1 in 150 people. The evidence that vaccines and autism are related are growing every day, as are the number of children who are making a full recovery and loosing their autism diagnosis when they are treated with emerging interventions, like chelation and diet, that are based on the vaccine/autism theory.

Because of mainstream medicine's reluctance to see the possibility that autism is an iatrogenic disorder, confidence in the vaccine program as a whole is at risk. I am one of a growing number of parents who has ceased vaccinating their children all together because I can no longer trust the medical establishment to be honest with me about the risks and benefits to my children's health. I believe complete and verifiable removal of all mercury from all vaccines will be the only thing to prevent further erosion in the program.

If I might be so bold, in my eyes, there is an irony in your work. You advocate strongly for those diagnosed with mental disabilities, like my son, and for caregivers, like me; but your stance on mercury in vaccines has unintentionally served to put us in those positions. Your love and your heart for those of us suffering and struggling with illness is so clear. Please use the better part of caution and support the immediate and complete removal of mercury from vaccines.

If I can be of any further assistance to you in examining this issue further, I would be happy to make my self available in any way I can.

Sincerely,
Ginger Taylor
Chandler's Mother

Bird Flu Vaccine. Now with TWICE the Mercury!

FDA's newly approved Bird Flu vaccine contains 100mgs of Thimerosal which means 50 of Mercury!

http://www.fda.gov/cber/label/h5n1san041707LB.pdf

Whereas you needed to be 550lbs to safely take the mercury laden flu shot with 25 mikes of merc according to the EPA, now you must weigh 1100 lbs to safely take the bird flu shot. Oh... and you need two doses 28 days apart.

How is this making vaccines safer?

If bird flu comes, just don't go outside.

Update: I seem to remember some bad movie from the 70's where people caught a horrible disease from a bird and locked themselves in a clinic and created an vaccine but in the end the vaccine killed them and everyone else ended up being fine. Does anyone remember this movie?

Dan Burton Addresses Congress on the Vaccine Hearings

Not quite sure how I missed this one.

"I believe the families of these autistic children deserve to be compensated for their vaccine injury as Congress intended when it created VICP. I believe the science is there to prove this case and I am hopeful that the court will agree and at the end of this arduous process these 4,800 families will finally get justice."

When a respected republican congressman who held vaccine/autism hearings stands on the floor of the house and lists some research studies that support the vaccine/autism hypothesis, how the heck does the media get away with going on the air and repeatedly saying, "No Link"?

SPEECH OF
HON. DAN BURTON
OF INDIANA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2007

• Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about the Omnibus Autism Hearing which started on June 11, 2007, down at the U.S. Federal Claims Court here in Washington, DC. At issue are the 4,800 claims against the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program filed by parents of autistic children who believe, as I do, that thimerosal--the mercury-based preservative in vaccines--caused their children's disorders.



• There are many people in our health agencies, in the pharmaceutical industry and here in Congress who say that there is no the scientific evidence linking thimerosal and autism. However, during my tenure as chairman of Government Reform Committee (1997-2002), and as chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness (2003-2005), I chaired numerous hearings examining the alarming increase in autism in this country over the last several decades. In the 1980s, roughly one in 10,000 American children was diagnosed with some kind of autism spectrum disorder. Today that number has risen to 1 in 150. I believe, as do many credible scientists and researchers, that the clear correlation between the dramatic rise in the number of autism cases, and the rapid expansion of the childhood vaccination schedule during that 20-year period, points to the mercury-based preservative thimerosal--routinely used in pediatric vaccines during the period--as a contributing factor to our country's literal epidemic of autism. In fact, I firmly believe my own grandson became autistic after receiving nine shots in 1 day, seven of which contained thimerosal. In fact, Dr. Bernard Rimland--founder and director of the Autism Research Institute--testified before the committee that classic autism, (noticeable from birth) has largely been replaced by late-onset or ``acquired autism''; a form of autism in which children are born normally developing but later regress into autism in the second year of life. He was one of the first to point to environmental insult through vaccine injury as a possible leading contributing factor.


• The truth is that since the initiation of my vaccine investigation, two schools of science have evolved leading to two very different conclusions. The first, largely funded by the Centers for Disease Control, consist of epidemiological evaluations in Denmark that look at medical files in individuals who developed autism and deciding whether or not thimerosal exposure was more predominant in the autism patients. Those who have focused solely on the epidemiology research have concluded that there is no relationship between vaccine injury and the onset of autism. However, once published, these studies were discovered to have many methodological flaws. For example, using individuals in Denmark did not provide a true comparison to the U.S. vaccine schedule, and by the CDC's own admission, the study could not really provide any true conclusion as to whether or not a subset of the population--because of vaccine exposure to mercury or some other vaccine injury--developed autism.


• The second school of research has conducted so-called ``hard'' science; providing objective measures through laboratory and animal research. For example, Dr. Hornig at Columbia University replicated the thimerosal exposure in vaccines in a mouse study and discovered mice exposed to thimerosal had both behavioral and biological responses--displaying autism like behaviors and exhibiting white matter changes in the brain that were measurable. Other laboratory research has shown that thimerosal exposure affects the protective sheath of the neurofibrals in the brain as well as the IGF-I molecule. And Dr. Jill James at the University of Arkansas has shown that thimerosal exposure affects the methylation process--the mechanism used to regulate genes and protect DNA from some types of damage.


• The most recent hard science study to be published is from Dr. Burbacher, a leading expert on mercury, who investigated the different affect methyl mercury and ethyl mercury had on primates. He found that ethylmercury--the form of mercury in thimerosal--stays in the brain (doing more harm) than methylmercury.


• The bottom line is that mercury is a base element and the most toxic substance known to science outside of radioactive materials; and each of these hard science studies, and more, show that it is biologically plausible for mercury exposure in vaccines to cause the onset of autism and provide tantalizing pieces in the puzzle about how.


• My support for the link between thimerosal and autism, especially in open congressional hearings has caused many people to throw around the accusation that I am ``anti-vaccine.'' My response to that is that vaccines are the only medications that are mandatory for Americans to receive and as such we have an even greater obligation to ensure that they are as safe as possible. In addition, experience tells us that, as with any other epidemic, while there may be underlying genetic susceptibilities, there usually is some type of environmental trigger as well, such as a virus, fungus, exposure to heavy metals, pollutants, or whatever. There has never, to the best of my knowledge, been a purely genetic epidemic. So, genetics alone simply cannot explain how we went from 1 in 10,000 children with autism spectrum disorders 20 years ago to 1 in 150 today.


• No one has ever identified a positive health benefit to mercury in the human body. Thus, it was sound public health policy to eliminate mercury from thermometers, blood pressure gauges, light switches, cosmetics, teething powder, horse liniment, hat-making materials, smokestack emission, and mining operations. It would also be sound public health policy to eliminate mercury from all vaccines.


• But Madam Speaker, getting the mercury out of all vaccines is only the first step. We also have a responsibility to help all of the children who have already been injured by mercury in vaccines. That is why the outcome of the Omnibus Autism Hearing is so critically important. In the 1980s, Congress creating the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to shield medical professionals and vaccine manufacturers from liability if an individual suffered an adverse event from receiving vaccines. The compensation fund, which currently contains about $2.5 billion, is financed by a tax on pediatric vaccines. We created VICP to protect the vaccine supply and to insure that all who were injured by a vaccine would receive compensation in what was supposed to be a no-fault, easy to use manner. Congress intended for families to be compensated quickly and fairly; and when the evidence was close as to whether or not the medical condition in question was vaccine related or not--as is the case with thimerosal--the court should always err in favor of the injured. But over the years the system has broken and what was supposed to be quick and fair has become slow and contentious; which is why today 4,800 families are fighting in court to be heard. They have waited a long time for their day in court and I am pleased that the court is providing the transcripts online quickly and that audio streaming on the internet is being provided for the thousands of families who are not able to travel to Washington and actually be in the courtroom during the proceedings.


• As the Omnibus hearings proceed, I hope that all of the evidence regarding vaccine injury will be received by the courts and given a full and fair review. I believe the families of these autistic children deserve to be compensated for their vaccine injury as Congress intended when it created VICP. I believe the science is there to prove this case and I am hopeful that the court will agree and at the end of this arduous process these 4,800 families will finally get justice.

Autism, Vaccines, Biomed and Lisa Sykes on Nightline Tuesday

Our own Lisa Sykes and her son Wesley will be featured on ABC News Nightline, tomorrow Tuesday night.

Proposed Legislation in NJ: Monitor Mercury Exposed Children

Lawmakers propose monitoring of children exposed to mercury
By JOHN MARTINS Staff Writer, (856) 794-5114
Published: Saturday, June 23, 2007

A pair of New Jersey congressmen introduced legislation Friday to provide millions of dollars for the testing and monitoring of children exposed to mercury contamination.

U.S. Rep. Frank LoBindo, R-2nd, said in a news release that the bill — H.R. 2813, or the Children's Mercury Exposure Act — was crafted in direct response to the contamination of the Kiddie Kollege day-care facility in Franklin Township, Gloucester County.

"The Kiddie Kollege incident reminds us that children can, and unfortunately will, be exposed to mercury from contaminated industrial sites," he said. "(The law) attempts to ensure that children and parents have knowledge about the risks, that the scope of this problem is determined and that the appropriate level of testing and care is provided."

If approved, the law would establish a research program at the National Institutes of Health to study the risks that mercury exposure poses to children. It would also require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, to work with state health departments in studying and reporting the prevalence of such exposure.

The proposed law would also authorize $10 million in block grants to be distributed to states for the initial and long-term testing of children exposed to the harmful element, a neurotoxin that affects the nervous system, lungs, brains and kidneys.

In July 2006, the Kiddie Kollege day-care center was closed after mercury contamination was discovered in the soil. The facility was built on a site formerly used by a thermometer manufacturer.

The Children's Mercury Exposure Act was co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-1st.

Once the contamination was discovered, the children and staff at the day-care center tested positive for mercury exposure.

Long-term testing, however, was not authorized, and LoBiondo said he has contacted both the CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency to request expanded testing at the homes of those affected by the contamination.

Assessment of Chronic Mercury Exposure and Neurodegenerative Disease

Just got an email from someone at UC Berkely. He sent me his Thesis:

I just finished my M.S. thesis at UC Berkeley, Environmental Health Sciences division and have spent the last 3 years asssessing the links between mercury exposure and neurodegenerative disease. Attached is a pdf of the results. I think that it may be illuminating on such a complicated topic.

Sincerely,
Dan R. Laks, M.S.

Assessment of Chronic Mercury Exposure and Neurodegenerative Disease - additional pdf
Dan R Laks, Environmental Health Science
M.S. Thesis, U.C. Berkeley

It is a long read (130 pages) but looks to be interesting and comprehensive. Thought I would post if for you.

His conclusions recommendations:

Conclusion

At this time, a scientific consensus suggests that the global rate of atmospheric mercury deposition may be increasing over time1. In addition, the latest studies suggest that as global mercury deposition increases, the incidence of the most closely associated neurodegenerative diseases such as Autism and Alzheimer’s Disease are rising as well 2, 3. Recent studies suggest that the incidence of Autism and Alzheimer’s Disease may be rising in heavily industrialized countries around the world, in the same regions where unprecedented mercury levels have recently been found in women and children, fish and animals, rice and soil 4. These trends support the theory that both chronic mercury exposure and associated risks of neurodegenerative disease may rise over time within the general U.S. population.

Due to the bioaccumulation of organic mercury in food sources, atmospheric deposition of mercury vapor ultimately deposits mercury in the human pituitary, liver, immune system, adrenals, and kidney. The accumulation of targeted mercury deposition may disrupt the endocrine and immune systems, damage the delicate balance between inflammation and suppression, and elevate risks of neurodegenerative disease. As emissions of mercury into the atmosphere increase on a global scale, it is
logical to assume that the rate of chronic mercury exposure and deposition in target areas of the human body will increase as well.

Our analysis of chronic mercury exposure trials tested a hypothesis that a suitable method for assessment of chronic mercury exposure would observe the change of I-Hg that results from CH3Hg exposure, demethylation, and deposition. The regression of I-Hg to CH3Hg was effective at distinguishing different exposure groups in a trial of chronic mercury exposure. This is significant as it provides a method for assessment of chronic, organic mercury exposure by the rate of inorganic mercury deposition.

From the NHANES study, data are sufficient to conclude there is an association between chronic, organic mercury exposure and inorganic mercury deposition in target systems of the human body. This study concludes that blood I-Hg and methyl mercury levels should both be accurately measured in order to serve as bioindicators for the assessment of chronic mercury exposure. Our analysis of the NHANES population reports an association between organic and inorganic mercury levels in the blood. This is consistent with other studies that demonstrate demethylation of organic mercury as a contributing source of I-Hg deposition within the body. Our study reports evidence that chronic mercury exposure and resultant deposition are associated with changes in biochemical markers for the liver, immune system, and pituitary. Luteinizing hormone, white blood cell count, and bilirubin levels are all biomarkers associated with chronic, organic mercury exposure. This is significant as it demonstrates for the first time within the U.S. population, that chronic, organic mercury exposure is
associated with targets of inorganic mercury deposition. Blood I-Hg was the most accurate bioindicator to characterize susceoptible subpopulations, women ages 35-39 years, and African American women ages 16-49 years. The method presented here for the assessment of chronic mercury exposure should be further tested as a method to define subpoplations most susceptible to further mercury exposure.

Biological Mechanism for Mercury Exposure and the Risks of Neurodegenerative Disease

The 2004, IOM report on vaccines gave an assessment of a biological mechanism regarding vaccines and Autism and concluded that there was no human evidence of an immune response that associates thimerosal exposure with autism 110. Results from this thesis report provide human evidence, within the U.S. population, of a biological mechanism and a causative relationship between mercury exposure, immune dysregulation, and the risk of Autism.

Reported, direct associations between I-Hg and organic mercury suggest that demethylation of organic mercury within the body is a contributing source of I-Hg deposition. The process of I-Hg deposition occurs in targets of the endocrine and immune system and may lead to an elevated risk of neurodegeneration. As Webster et al. discuss in their review, “disturbances at any level of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis or glucocorticoid action lead to an imbalance of this system and enhanced susceptibility to infection and inflammatory or autoimmune disease60”. I-Hg deposition in white blood cells would produce a similar effect on the immune system, with resulting immune imbalance leading to increased risks of autoimmune disease.

Associations with the liver (bilirubin) reiterate concern that mercury deposition may increase enterohepatic circulation, raise the absorption rate of mercury, and thereby elevate susceptibility to future exposure such as from vaccines containing ethyl mercury. As the rate of mercury deposition accelerates with exposure, so do the risks of disease. I-Hg deposits accumulate over years in targets of the immune and endocrine system. Infants are particularly susceptible to exposure as they have no
microflora in their GI tract to help eliminate mercury. During gestation, a hereditary burden of exposure would include inheritance of mercury exposure from the mother’s mercury burden. After birth, exposure would include diet, mother’s milk, and a regimen of vaccines. Geographic clustering of direct exposure from point source plumes is another possible influence on the rate of deposition.

According to the biological mechanism presented here, the subpopulation most susceptible to mercury exposure and the risks of disease would be characterized by quantifying the rate of I-Hg deposition. Proper assessment of chronic mercury exposure and neurodegenerative disease would consist of the most accurate measurement of blood I-Hg to serve as bioindicator for chronic mercury exposure and targeted deposition. The sum of all thimerosal-containing vaccines would then predict the
relative risks of a disease response for each subpopulation characterized by I-Hg deposition.

In 2004, the IOM concluded that toxicological data may support a biological mechanism of causation, that there may be a genetically susceptible subpopulation to mercury exposure, and that there is evidence of immune dysregulation in the serum of autistic patients. Results from our NHANES analysis present evidence that African Americans face the highest risk of I-Hg deposition and associated effect on the pituitary (LH). Due to increased risk of chornic mercury exposure and targeted I-Hg deposition in the endocrine system, the African American subpopulation may face elevated risks of
associated neurodegenerative disease. Indeed, several epidemiological studies have found a higher prevalence of Autism in African American children than in white children.

Associations of chronic mercury exposure with the immune system (white blood cell) and pituitary (luteinizing hormone) within the general U.S. population establish links with mercury deposition, Autism and Alzheimer’s Disease. Deposition in target areas may decrease the amount of future exposure or acute dose (e.g. vaccines) needed to surpass a threshold concentration and trigger mercury’s targeted, neurotoxic effect. Once the critical threshold concentration is reached, simultaneous neurotoxic events may cause focal damage in the pituitary, adrenals, immune system, and liver and induce a cascade of inflammation, autoimmune responses, neurodegeneration, and disease.

Policy recommendations
• Limit all sources of mercury exposure.
• Reduce dietary intake of contaminated fish.
• Monitor and measure mercury content in food and diet.
• Remove mercury from vaccines and dental amalgams.
• Regulate coal burning power plant emissions to limit mercury emissions into the atmosphere.
• Restrict mining of mercury.
• Chronic mercury exposure should be measured with the method for assessment of chronic mercury exposure presented in this paper.
• Chronic mercury exposure should be monitored in the general population and within
susceptible populations such as the elderly, expectant mothers, and newborn infants.
• Continued research in the fields of mercury speciation, detection and elimination therapy should be developed.

Future Research
• Future research should adopt the method for assessment of mercury exposure presented in this study that relies on both blood I-Hg and methylmercury as bioindicators of chronic mercury exposure.
• Bioindicators for chronic mercury exposure within the U.S. population should be monitored to assess risks of disease.
• Accurate methods of inorganic and dimethyl mercury detection should be developed.
• A causative role for chronic mercury exposure and neurodegenerative disease may be linked through impairment of the pituitary, and secretion of Luteinizing Hormone. Investigate a causative role for mercury deposition and the process from LH disruption to Alzheimer’s Disease and Autism.
• Investigate the cellular mechanism for the demethylation of organic mercury in mammalian tissue. This mechanism is unknown and may be an important area for future research in molecular biology.
• Study the effects of liver function, the role of bilirubin, gastric motility, and the role of variable flora populations on the rate of mercury elimination.
•Perform clinical research on mercury elimination and chelation therapy to apply towards susceptible populations such as pregnant mothers, children, and elderly populations.
• Present and Test the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: In this biological mechanism, chronic, organic mercury exposure is linked to elevated risks of neurodegenerative disease, specifically types of Autism, and Alzheimer’s Disease. Elevated risks of neurodegenerative disease may be due to immune and endocrine disruption caused by targeted I-Hg deposition in the liver, pituitary, and white blood cells. A process of focal I-Hg accumulation may lead to elevated risks for mercury’s neurotoxic effect.
Once this neurotoxic concentration is surpassed, resultant endocrine and immune system impairment may instigate a cascade of neuroinflammatory reactions, autoimmune disorders, impaired cell migration and neural development, neurodegeneration, and associated disease.
Hypothesis 2: Accurate assessment of blood I-Hg concentration will define the subpopulation most susceptible to cumulative mercury exposure (vaccines, diet, amalgams) and at highest risk of associated neurodegenerative disease (Autism and Alzheimer’s Disease).

RFK Jr. Defends Katie and Autism Moms

I needed this.

Attack On Mothers
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
HuffPo

The poisonous public attacks on Katie Wright this week--for revealing that her autistic son Christian (grandson of NBC Chair Bob Wright), has recovered significant function after chelation treatments to remove mercury -- surprised many observers unfamiliar with the acrimonious debate over the mercury-based vaccine preservative Thimerosal. But the patronizing attacks on the mothers of autistic children who have organized to oppose this brain-killing poison is one of the most persistent tactics employed by those defending Thimerosal against the barrage of scientific evidence linking it to the epidemic of pediatric neurological disorders, including autism. Mothers of autistics are routinely dismissed as irrational, hysterical, or as a newspaper editor told me last week, "desperate to find the reason for their children's illnesses," and therefore, overwrought and disconnected.

But my experience with these women is inconsistent with those patronizing assessments. Over the past two years I've met or communicated with several hundred of these women. Instead of a desperate mob of irrational hysterics, I've found the anti-Thimerosal activists for the most part to be calm, grounded and extraordinarily patient. As a group, they are highly educated. Many of them are doctors, nurses, schoolteachers, pharmacists, psychologists, Ph.D.s and other professionals. Many of them approached the link skeptically and only through dispassionate and diligent investigation became convinced that Thimerosal-laced vaccines destroyed their children's brains. As a group they have sat through hundreds of meetings and scientific conferences, and studied research papers and medical tests. They have networked with each other at meetings and on the Web. Along the way they have stoically endured the abuse routinely heaped upon them by the vaccine industry and public health authorities and casual dismissal by reporters and editors too lazy to do their jobs.

Many of these women tell a story virtually identical to Katie Wright's -- I have now heard or seen this grim chronology recounted hundreds of times in conversations, e-mails and letters from mothers: At 2-1/2 years old, Christian Wright exceeded all milestones. He had 1,000 words, was toilet-trained, and enjoyed excellent social relations with his brother and others. Then his pediatrician gave him Thimerosal-laced vaccines. He cried all night, developed a fever and, over the coming months, this smart, healthy child disappeared. Christian lost the ability to speak, to interact with family members, to make eye contact or to point a finger. He is no longer toilet trained. He engaged in stereotypical behavior--screaming, head-banging, biting and uncontrolled aggression, and suffers continuously the agonizing pain of gastrointestinal inflammation.

After hearing that story a couple dozen times, a rational person might do some more investigation. That's when one encounters the overwhelming science -- hundreds of research studies from dozens of countries showing the undeniable connection between mercury and Thimerosal and a wide range of neurological illnesses. In response to the overwhelming science, CDC and the pharmaceutical industry ginned up four European studies designed to disguise the link between autism and Thimerosal. Their purpose was to provide plausible deniability for the consequences of their awful decision to allow brain-killing mercury to be injected into our youngest children. Those deliberately deceptive and fatally flawed studies were authored by vaccine industry consultants and paid for by Thimerosal producers and published largely in compromised journals that neglected to disclose the myriad conflicts of their authors in violation of standard peer-review ethics. As I've shown elsewhere [see www.robertfkennedyjr.com], these studies were borderline fraud, using statistical deceptions to mislead the public and regulatory community.

The CDC and IOM base their defense of Thimerosal on these flimsy studies, their own formidable reputations, and their faith that journalists won't take the time to critically read the science. The bureaucrats are simultaneously using their influence, energies and clout to derail, defund and suppress any scientific study that may verify the link between Thimerosal and brain disorders. (These would include epidemiological studies comparing the records of vaccinated children with those of unvaccinated populations like the Amish or home-schooled kids who appear to enjoy dramatically reduced levels of autism and other neurological disorders.) The federal agencies have refused to release the massive public health information accumulated in their Vaccine Safety Database (VSD) apparently to keep independent scientists from reviewing evidence that could prove the link. They are also muzzling or blackballing scientists who want to conduct such studies.

Ironically, it is the same voices that once blamed autism on "bad parenting," and "uninvolved" moms that are now faulting these mothers for being too involved.

Due to this campaign of obfuscation and public deception, Thimerosal-based vaccines continue to sicken millions of children around the world and potential treatments -- like the chelation that benefited Christian Wright -- are kept out of the hands of the mainstream doctors now treating autistic kids with less effective tools. Like thousands of other mothers of autistic children, Katie Wright knows what sickened her child. Her efforts to spare other families this catastrophe, deployed with a cool head and calm demeanor, are truly heroic. Maybe it's time we all started listening. Maybe it's time to start respecting and honoring the maternal instincts and hard work of Katie and her fellow mothers by aggressively funding the studies that might verify or dispute them.