The 3-mile walk will be held on May 6th, 2007. Registration will begin at 9:00 AM at Festival Plaza in Auburn and the walk will kick off at 10:00 AM.
We are currently seeking both corporate and private sponsorships as well as walkers. For more information please contact Shawn and Emily at walk@naamaine.org or by calling 207-514-0303.
The walk will take place rain or shine!
CONTROVERSIAL VACCINE PRESERVATIVE TO BE DISCUSSED AT UPCOMING CDC MEETING, SAYS NATIONAL AUTISM ASSOCIATION
Parents and Advocacy Groups request flu shots recommended for pregnant women, infants and children be mercury-free
Nixa, MO – The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet in two weeks at the CDC in Atlanta. Thimerosal, a controversial mercury-based vaccine preservative still used in flu shots, is scheduled to be discussed on the morning of February 21st.
While thimerosal has been phased out of some vaccines, it is still present in flu shots recommended for pregnant women, infants and young children. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines indicate that the 25 micrograms of mercury contained in flu shots is unsafe for anyone weighing less than 550 pounds.
Earlier this week, the CDC released a report citing 1 in 150 children are now diagnosed with autism—up from 1 in 166 just two years prior. Many parents and scientists believe the increased use of mercury-containing vaccines starting in the late 1980’s has led to the rise in cases.
“Children and fetuses are still being exposed unnecessarily to this neurotoxin,” says father Christian McIlwain of Cary, North Carolina. “With the recently added recommendations that influenza vaccines be given to women during any stage of pregnancy and children from age six months and up, the amount of early-age thimerosal exposure through recommended vaccines has increased drastically in the last two years—it’s simply time for the committee to advise that only thimerosal-free vaccines be used for pregnant women and young children.”
Despite multiple requests by the research group SafeMinds and the National Autism Association, this is the first time ACIP has put thimerosal on the agenda in several years. Advocacy groups were told by the CDC that thimerosal would be discussed at the October 2006 ACIP meeting, but it was never officially assigned.
ACIP consists of 15 experts in fields associated with immunization that have been selected by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide advice on immunizations. It develops written recommendations for the routine administration of vaccines to the pediatric and adult populations, and is the only entity in the federal government that makes such recommendations.
Parents are urged to attend the ACIP meeting, or send letters to the committee via e-mail to naa@nationalautism.org
Parents can also register to attend the meeting by visiting www.cdc.gov/nip/acip/dates.htm.
To learn more about autism, visit www.nationalautism.org.
The Age of Autism: The AOA Awards '06
By DAN OLMSTED
UPI Senior Editor
WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- As this column heads into its third year, the time is right to cite those who made 2006 a memorable year in the history of autism -- and set the stage for even more remarkable ones to come.
And the winners are:
Person of the Year: Anne Dachel. This Chippewa Falls, Wis., mom and member of the National Autism Association keeps chipping away at the mainstream media's wall of indolence and incuriosity.
She sent e-mails to just about every reporter who wrote about the subject this past year along with letters-to-the-editor of their publications, as well as penning articles of her own.
She praises, she pushes, she relentlessly raises the questions at the heart of the matter: Why have the number of cases risen so dramatically? Why aren't journalists asking tougher questions of Important People?
A recent example: "We need the press to continue to investigate and report on the generation of affected children in the U.S. We're being overwhelmed by a disorder that was unheard of a few years ago, yet the press isn't calling for answers. If one in every 166 children were suddenly developing blindness, I'm sure it would be a front page story."
Some no doubt find this a bit much. But what Dachel represents is persistence. Private citizens have every right to question elected officials and keep the media on their toes, whether the pooh-bahs like it or not. It's an old-fashioned thing called citizenship.
Person of the Century: Bernard Rimland, who died this year, is all that. What's more, you can pick the century -- in the one just past, he made a massive contribution by demolishing the idea that parents' behavior can make their children autistic.
In his landmark 1964 book, "Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior," he laid out the case against the then-conventional wisdom. What's more, he laid the foundation for all serious research on the subject when he wrote that "conviction (must be) subordinated to evidence. The history of science proves this to be the first step toward progress."
Using that same approach, Rimland concluded that medical treatment could help many autistic kids. That's his contribution to the century just begun and the promise it holds for both prevention and treatment.
He thus exiled himself from most of mainstream medicine, but he may have helped thousands of children. Which would you rather have as your legacy?
Because of his guts, grit -- and perseverance -- he'll be remembered for leading not one, but two, medical revolutions.
Not So Hot National Magazine Story of the Year: Newsweek, which did a cover story on the looming caregiving crisis as thousands of autistic children "age out" of mandated care into an uncertain adulthood.
So far, so good. But the magazine failed to come to grips with the obvious: Why are there so many kids with autism?
Fishy Factoid of the Year Award: ABC News, which did a story much like Newsweek's and simply asserted that "up to 1 million" adults are living with autism.
Where are they?
Quote of the Year: From Irva Hertz-Picciotto, chair of an expert panel convened by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the request of Congress. The panel poked some gaping holes in the kind of data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses to assure Americans that there's no link between autism and the mercury preservative in vaccines called thimerosal.
"I think there's more work to be done," said Hertz-Picciotto, a professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of California-Davis School of Medicine.
"We know there's a major genetic component to autism, but genes cannot explain a rise over a short time period of a few decades," she said, sounding a lot more like Anne Dachel and Bernie Rimland than Newsweek, ABC and the CDC.
"It's an 'open question' whether anything about vaccines -- timing, dose, preservative -- is related to the rise in diagnoses," she said.
That's right -- an open question, one that requires an urgent and definitive answer.
Not So Hot Magazine Story of the Year, Local Division: The Washingtonian, which ran an article in its November issue titled, "Something Happened and We Don't Know Why," about twins with autism.
Although the twins' mom thinks vaccine mercury did trigger their autism, she is brushed off with the author's comment that "many large-scale studies have disproved a link between thimerosal and autism."
Yeah, large-scale studies like the one the NIH expert panel just dumped a bucket of cold water on.
Prediction for '07: The pace of change is accelerating in ways that are not entirely in the control of the government and its often defensive bureaucracies.
I believe 2007 will be a very good year for the truth -- for the subordination of conviction to evidence, as Bernard Rimland so elegantly put it. And that would be a very good year, indeed.
Combating Autism Act Passes in the House
We’re pleased to announce the passage of the Combating Autism Act, approved earlier today by a House vote of 2/3's majority. The next step for the CAA is back to the Senate for deliberations on the House-approved version of the bill. We don’t anticipate problems there, but will be watching the discussions closely.
The main goal of NAA and SafeMinds in staying engaged in the legislative process was to obtain a directive for investigation of environmental factors, including vaccines and their preservatives, in the development of autism. Having achieved that goal, the next phase of securing appropriations for the bill will be difficult given the intense competition for funding. The war continues to deplete our nation’s financial resources, with current costs at approximately $5 billion a week according to government contacts.
As long as the legislative path for this bill seems already, it is clear that much work lies ahead in ensuring that the authorization for environmental research is appropriately funded. We will need the assistance of all who believe as we do that this area must be pursued if our kids are going to get the help they need. Soon, NAA and SM will be sending out action alerts on how the community can help us in our campaign with the Appropriations Committee.
With the passage of the CAA, we now have federal legislation that acknowledges the urgency of addressing the health care crisis of autism, the need for intensification and expansion of research into treatments and a cure (most importantly, the investigation of environmental factors relative to autism) and the need for community oversight among these critical research areas. We see this as a landmark event for our loved ones.
We thank everyone who has stood with us during this process. Parents, family members, and friends were instrumental in answering our action alerts by keeping up the pressure with their phone calls and letters to include the environmental provisions, treatment options, and critical oversight language. We are convinced that these collective efforts will make a positive difference for all children diagnosed with autism. Also, our heartfelt thanks go to Don and Deirdre Imus who steadfastly remained at the table on behalf of our kids, even without having a “dog in this fight”, as Mr. Imus would say. This is not an easy cause to champion, and we are heartened by their courage and devotion in doing the right thing for our children. By lending their support, they gave all of our children voices. We will be forever grateful.
National Autism Association
SafeMinds
Update on the Combating Autism Act – November 30, 2006
The following letter has been sent to Chairman Barton in an effort to reiterate the need for the mandate of specific environmental research in the Combating Autism Act.
November 29, 2006
The Honorable Joe Barton
2109 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4306
Re: Combating Autism Act: New Study Supports the Need for Urgent Action.
Dear Chairman Barton,
Thank you for your ongoing efforts to complete work on the Combating Autism Act before the end of the current session. Attached please find a pre-publication release from a group at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center that supports the urgent need for a significant increase in funding for research on the role of environmental factors (including vaccines) in causing autism spectrum disorder (ASD): “Evidence of Toxicity, Oxidative Stress, and Neuronal Insult in Autism” (Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 9:985-999 (2006)).
We ask that your bill include (1) a specific authorization to NIEHS (leaving centers a matter of discretion); (2) the Autism Advisory Board (to provide a more hands-on tool for community and researcher feedback and recommendations to ensure the most useful and strategic research), and (3) a subject matter mandate that research topics specifically include vaccines, other biologics, and their preservatives. These latter two items were addressed in the Senate report and colloquy but are of such importance that they should be included in the statute itself. We also urge adoption of the floor statement submitted on behalf of the community two weeks ago, a copy of which is also attached for your convenience.
S. 843 authorized $45 million over five years for Centers of Excellence in Environmental Health and Autism. The bill was the product of months of detailed negotiations and compromises involving dozens of organizations in the ASD community, federal agencies, and a lot of hard work by Senate staff. The specific authorization reflected the need for a significant increase in funding for environmental research for two simple reasons.
First, the nation is confronting with the leading edge of a costly and debilitating ASD epidemic (1:166 affected children). As with any epidemic, while there may be underlying genetic susceptibilities, there must be an environmental cause (virus, fungus, heavy metals, pollutants, etc.). Once the cause is discovered, immediate steps can be taken to prevent new cases and abate the epidemic.
Second, as is the case with lead poisoning, many cancers, and several other chronic disorders, knowledge of the environmental cause or triggers leads directly to effective treatments. These will provide those with ASD the best possible quality of life and the ability to make the greatest possible contributions to society.
Even with the more comprehensive list of subject matter topics for research focusing on the cause, prevention, and treatment for ASD which you have included in your draft, whether the research in fact gets done depends on the money actually spent. We recognize that as an authorizing bill this is just the first step, and that the ultimate research agenda depends on appropriations and discretionary decisions. However, clear Congressional direction at the authorizing stage will give the community an important tool, and Congress a point of reference for oversight, to work with the appropriations committees and the administration to implement the needed research agenda.
The federal officials most responsible for funding research into the cause and treatment for ASD provide the best – and frankly scariest – justification for a Congressionally mandated significant increase in funding, accountability, and oversight. CDC Director Dr. Gerberding was recently quoted in a November 22 UPI story (“Autism Picture Still Incomplete”): “We just simply don’t have answers to the cause of this disorder or the disorders that fall into the autism spectrum, . . . we don’t have a complete picture of the scope of the problem.” NIMH Director Insel was quoted in the same article: “We don’t really understand that whole landscape very well, . . . There's just a whole series of questions that we need to begin to define answers to much more precisely.” “Ironically,” Insel admitted, “this is such a high priority for the National Institutes of Health -- and we have a large hospital and a huge clinic, with 18,000 people here in Bethesda -- (but) there has not been an autism program here until now. . . . As it is, autism has arrived at the stage where polio stood in the mid-1950s.” Dr. Gerberding conceded in an earlier article (“Autism Research Stance Shifting?): “"When you're dealing with a problem as complicated as this one and as important to so many children and so many families across the United States, we have a responsibility to be open to any and all hypotheses.” Exactly so, but Congress must direct, appropriate, and oversee funding to make sure that no stone is left unturned.
Solutions to the many ASD puzzles must be based upon sound science. But the urgency of the need coupled with a lackluster track record of NIH discretionary decisions underfunding needed research in the past demands more active Congressional direction and oversight. We fully support your overall NIH initiative for improved transparency and accountability, and want these principles applied against the ASD epidemic immediately.
The enclosed critical review article, from Congressman Barton’s own district – the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, provides an excellent roadmap and summary of recent research, much of it privately funded, on the environmental causes and the various biological dysfunctions associated with ASD. The existence of an epidemic indicates environmental causation:
The increase in public awareness and broadening of the criteria may be possible contributing factors; however, the substantial increase in the rate of autism revealed by epidemiological studies and government reports implicates the importance of external or environmental factors that may be changing (USDE, 2003; Chakrabarti and Fombonne, 2001; Palmer et al., 2006).
Several environment-based mechanisms of causation are set forth:
Many theories were postulated regarding the underlying cause of autism. For example, autism was implicated to be related to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (Wakefield et al., 1998, 2000; Wakefield, 2003); mercury in vaccines (Bernard et al., 2002; McGinnis, 2001); immune system dysfunction (Cohly and Panja, 2005; Warren et al., 1990, 1992, 1995; Singh et al., 1993; Weizman et al., 1982); fungal infection (Shaw et al., 1994; Shaw, 1996), toxicity (McFadden, 1996); metabolic abnormalities (Waring and Klovrza, 2000; Waring and O’Reilly, 1990; Alberti et al., 1999); and “leaky gut syndrome”(Vantrappen and Geboes, 1993). Most recently, studies have suggested that decreased glutathione levels and increased oxidative stress may play a role in the pathology (James et al., 2004). Which of the many theories may be correct and/or how the various theories may fit together remains unclear. It is important to note that these theories are based on small studies and much more research is needed.
But this orchard of low-hanging fruit will not get picked without a clear authorization from Congress.
The review cites several studies demonstrating that children with ASD have difficulty eliminating metals including mercury from vaccines and the environment. The review cites reports from the “real world” of families coping with ASD:
The Autism Research Institute collected data from over 22,300 parents of children with autism on the behavioral effects of biomedical interventions. The survey includes a list of 45 medications, 23 non-drug supplements or biomedical treatments, and 9 special diets. The parents were asked to rate the treatment on a 6-point scale. Of these 77 choices, parents rated chelation therapy (or the removal of heavy metals) as the highest. Seventy-six% of parents said that their child “got better” on this treatment. The next most effective treatment was a gluten and casein free diet at 65% (ARI, 2006).
Yet NIH has only recently announced but not yet begun a clinical trial of chelation that has been used by the few families that can afford it for years.
The article’s conclusion offers an ominous warning:
The evidence presented in this article suggests that some of these children may be experiencing neuronal cell damage sometime after birth as result of insult. The evidence also suggests that these children may be selectively vulnerable to the impact from external or environmental factors. Some children with autism may be like the canary in the coal mine, exposing policy and/or environmental issues that need to be addressed.
We hope that Congress will be able to say that it has done everything possible to stop and treat this epidemic.
The following organizations represent a broad range of families, advocates, and researchers involved with ASD. We appreciate your efforts and look forward to working with you to pass – and implement – a law that will truly make a meaningful difference for those with ASD and their families.
Sincerely,
The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology
Autism One
Generation Rescue
National Autism Association
SafeMinds
Talk About Curing Autism (TACA)
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
October 31, 2006
Contact:
Wendy Fournier, NAA (Portsmouth, RI) 401-632-7523
Lori McIlwain (Cary, NC) 919-468-6455
National Autism Association Cites Serious Shortcoming in CDC Flu Shot Safety Study
Six-week follow-up called “ridiculously inadequate” by autism advocacy group
Nixa, MO – A study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicating that the influenza vaccine is safe for infants and toddlers is being criticized for the brief six-week follow-up of subjects involved in the study. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nine of the 19 authors admit ties with vaccine makers including Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, and others.
“Following-up with these children for a mere six weeks is ridiculously inadequate,” according to National Autism Association (NAA) executive director Rita Shreffler. “The neurological injuries that result in diagnoses such as autism do not typically occur immediately after getting shots. Exposures to vaccine toxins such as mercury are cumulative and symptoms of injury may not be apparent for months or even years. Apparently, this is yet another CDC-drug company collaboration to whitewash thimerosal and ensure that flu shots are as profitable as possible, regardless of their long term adverse effects.”
Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative used in most flu shots, including those often received by pregnant women and young children. While some mercury-free flu shots are manufactured each year, the majority contain 25 micrograms of mercury, an amount considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency for an adult weighing 550 pounds. A growing number of scientific studies link mercury exposure in susceptible individuals to the development of neurological injuries such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The CDC now recommends the flu vaccine for pregnant women, and annually for children six months through five years of age.
At a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) last week, thimerosal was not placed on the agenda despite a request from 15 national organizations that the ACIP follow the 2001 Institute of Medicine recommendations that pregnant women, infants, and children receive thimerosal-free vaccines. CDC officials also refused to vote on stating a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines for pregnant women and children.
“Pregnant women and young children shouldn’t be exposed to mercury in any form because of the potential for serious neurological injury,” commented Laura Bono, NAA board member and mother of a vaccine-injured son. “In my opinion, failure to follow-up appropriately with the kids in this study, then based on the incomplete data, promote flu vaccines as ‘safe,’ is irresponsible, giving parents a false sense of security. Predictably, this latest from the CDC does nothing to address the long-term dangers of injecting children with mercury.”
For more information on autism, visit www.nationalautism.org
