Offit Teaches Physicians How to Talk To The Public About Vaccines: Contemptuously Lecture, Stonewall, Bully and Throw Them Out

Reading Jake Crosby's piece today on being thrown out of yet another Paul Offit speech, I am struck by the ironic pattern in these speaking engagements.  

Paul Offit (and Seth Mnookin) have been holding events at prestigious institutions to tell medical professionals and academics how to handle the public on the vaccine controversy.  Yet I think that it is completely lost on them that they are not just giving a speech on how to handle people who question the current vaccine program, they are actually holding a lab, will full scale demonstrations, on how to handle people who question the current vaccine program.

Because people don't really pay as much attention to what you say as they do to what you do.  (Ask any parent trying to teach a child NOT to do something that they do themselves.  "Don't smoke kids.  Now pass mommy her cigarettes.")  And what Offit and Mnookin have done, is offer a bunch of words that will likely have little impact, but then actually demonstrate how to treat doubters of their message, which has a huge impact.

So here is the take away that event goers are getting when attending an Offit/Mnookin event:

1.  Offit gives a lecture at NIH entitled “Communicating Vaccine Safety Science to the Public,” says a bunch of words, then demonstrates how to communicate "vaccine safety science" to someone who is a steakholder in the issue (Jake Crosby, who may be vaccine injured) by falsely accusing him of being a stalker, by not letting him ask a question (although he is behaving completely appropriately) and by throwing him off the premises. 

Take away:  To communicate with the public, talk AT them.  If they have questions that you don't want to answer, make them your adversary and have them removed from the property.

It is OK, and even preferable, to demonize vaccine safety skeptics, and treat them very poorly. 

Bully them.


2.  Offit gives a lecture at Yale entitled “Hard Knocks: Communicating Science to the Public,” says a bunch of words, then demonstrates how to communicate "science" to someone who is a steakholder in the issue (Jake Crosby, who may be vaccine injured) by falsely accusing him of being a stalker, by yelling at him, by not letting him ask a question (although he is behaving completely appropriately) and by throwing him off the premises.

Take away:  To communicate with the public, talk AT them.  If they have questions that you don't want to answer, make them your adversary and have them removed from the property.  Offit has also inferring that the "Hard Knocks" do not refer to the medical professional being "knocked" when trying to talk to communicate to the public, but actually to the vaccine safety skeptic who was actually "knocked" trying to communicate with the medical professional.  "When engaging the public, it is OK to give them 'hard knocks'."

It is OK, and even preferable, to demonize vaccine safety skeptics, and treat them very poorly. 

Bully them.

3.  Mnookin gives a lecture at  American University's School of Communication entitled  "How to Communicate with Anti-Vaccine Parents," says a bunch of words, then demonstrates how to communicate "science" to someone who wants to make their own vaccine decisions, by telling the audience that you are offended and repulsed by such parents, and that you think they are "Total Assholes."

Take away:  To communicate with the public, hold them in contempt.  Even when they are parents earnestly working in the best interests of their vulnerable children.

It is OK, and even preferable, to demonize vaccine skeptics, even as you admit that vaccines may not even work for their child.

Bully them.

4.  Mnookin appears at the  “Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research” event,  says a bunch of words, then demonstrates public responsibility in vaccine discussion by falsely accusing a stakeholder in the issue (Jake Crosby, who may be vaccine injured) of being disruptive at events, by not letting him ask a question (although he is behaving completely appropriately) and by throwing him off the premises .

Take away:  It is responsible, when dealing with vaccine safety skeptics, to talk AT them while only allowing them to sit quietly and listen.  If they have questions that you don't want to answer, make them your adversary and have them removed from the property.

It is OK, and even preferable, to demonize vaccine safety skeptics, and treat them very poorly.

Bully them.

Do you see the pattern here?

Mnookin and Offit ARE teaching the medical world how to treat those who have questions about vaccine safety.  They are to be treated very poorly.  They are to be held in contempt and bullied.  They are to be removed from the premises.

But of course the problem for medical professionals in taking this advice, is that when they try it in their offices, they loose the argument, the loose the patient, and they loose their reputation in the community.  Taking Offit's advice is akin to shooting oneself in the foot for anyone whose job actually requires them to have a conversation with a member of the public.

And the Offiteers have lost at least A QUARTER of the public to the conclusion that vaccinating according to CDC recommendations is a greater risk to their child than adhering to their recommendations.

So I will echo Mary Holland's most salient question to Paul Offit in this last exchange:

"Would you be willing to engage in a public debate about the vaccine issue?”

And we see that the answer is, and always will be, the one that Offit gives:

“There is no need to debate the science; the science is in.”

Their answer is "No."  

So as Offit (who has become the Bagdad Bob of vaccination) and friends lock the doors to the ivory tower from the inside, to protect themselves from vicious graduate students in epidemiology at that hotbed of anti-science anarchy, George Washington University; but what they don't seem to have noticed is that all they have done is locked themselves in a broom closet, away from the real vaccine discussion that matters.  Their tiny mutual admiration society is having little impact in the direction of vaccine uptake rates, because they are not engaging with the vaccine decision makers.  You know... their customers.  The discussions that are changing vaccine uptake are happening at coffee tables, at bus stops and over back fences.  

I have them on a weekly basis, I don't accuse people who question me of being disruptive or being stalkers, I don't treat them with contempt, i don't call them "Total Assholes," I don't shout them down when they try to ask questions, I don't throw them off the premises and I DO engage them for as long as they want to talk about the issue.

I can show a mother that the claim that "The science is in and vaccines don't cause autism" (and apparently now encephalopathy) is a complete load of horse shit in 2 minutes on my cell phone from our health officials own words documents and web sites.  Not only is Offit not there to defend his stupid claim, local pediatricians are completely ill equipped to win back moms who have been educated at the coffee table, because the only thing they have been taught to do with these moms are:

1. Hold them in contempt.

2. Talk AT them.

3. Don't allow them to ask questions.

4. If they challenge your stance, throw them out.

And then of course, the next time they are at coffee, it's all, "OMG... you were totally right.  They don't know anything about vaccine injury!  He couldn't answer the questions and just tried to bully me!  What is the name of your pediatrician who is cool with your vaccine choices?"

So by all means, keep it up you two... keep it up.  Nothing proves my points more to all the women I talk to than the way you behave.

Mechanisms of Aluminum Adjuvant Toxicity and Autoimmunity in Pediatric Populations

Mechanisms of aluminum adjuvant toxicity and autoimmunity in pediatric populations

Lupus (2012) 21, 223–230.

L Tomljenovic1 and CA Shaw2
1Neural Dynamics Research Group, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC,
Canada and 2Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and Experimental Medicine and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Immune challenges during early development, including those vaccine-induced, can lead to
permanent detrimental alterations of the brain and immune function. Experimental evidence
also shows that simultaneous administration of as little as two to three immune adjuvants can
overcome genetic resistance to autoimmunity. In some developed countries, by the time children
are 4 to 6 years old, they will have received a total of 126 antigenic compounds along with
high amounts of aluminum (Al) adjuvants through routine vaccinations. According to the US
Food and Drug Administration, safety assessments for vaccines have often not included
appropriate toxicity studies because vaccines have not been viewed as inherently toxic.
Taken together, these observations raise plausible concerns about the overall safety of current
childhood vaccination programs. When assessing adjuvant toxicity in children, several key
points ought to be considered: (i) infants and children should not be viewed as ‘‘small adults’’
with regard to toxicological risk as their unique physiology makes them much more vulnerable
to toxic insults; (ii) in adult humans Al vaccine adjuvants have been linked to a variety of
serious autoimmune and inflammatory conditions (i.e., ‘‘ASIA’’), yet children are regularly
exposed to much higher amounts of Al from vaccines than adults; (iii) it is often assumed that
peripheral immune responses do not affect brain function. However, it is now clearly established
that there is a bidirectional neuro-immune cross-talk that plays crucial roles in immunoregulation
as well as brain function. In turn, perturbations of the neuro-immune axis have
been demonstrated in many autoimmune diseases encompassed in ‘‘ASIA’’ and are thought to
be driven by a hyperactive immune response; and (iv) the same components of the neuroimmune
axis that play key roles in brain development and immune function are heavily targeted
by Al adjuvants. In summary, research evidence shows that increasing concerns about
current vaccination practices may indeed be warranted. Because children may be most at risk
of vaccine-induced complications, a rigorous evaluation of the vaccine-related adverse health
impacts in the pediatric population is urgently needed.


[ed note: emphasis mine]

Joan Campbell Has Gathered Vaccine Injury Stories

Last fall, Joan Campbell began asking parents:

"I am compiling a list of children who were adversely affected by any vaccine. Please if you could say in about 4-6 sentences what that vaccine was, how they reacted, how they are today and what city the vaccine was administered."

Joan had received more than 900 responses so far. She has posted them here:

http://www.followingvaccinations.com/

Thank you Joan for telling the story that health authorities are doing their damnedest to bury.

If you have not yet submitted your story, you can do so at admin@followingvaccinations.com

Watch the Vaccine Bubble Burst: Novartis Q4 Profit Down as Vaccine Demand Drops

Last week I posted yet another appeal to the Pharma/Public Health public-private partnership to stop attacking our community, pointing out to them that their tactics were not working and were only loosing the vaccine/autism wars.

Today the Associated Press put out yet another confirmation that PharmaKorpGov's tactics are not working:

Novartis Q4 profit down as vaccine demand drops
Jan 27, 2011 5:32 AM ET
By The Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss drug maker Novartis AG saw fourth quarter net profit slip 2 percent on the year to $2.32 billion amid one-off charges and a sharp drop in demand for its pandemic flu vaccine, the company said Thursday.

Profit in the October-December period was hurt by one-time charges of $789 million, including restructuring costs in the U.S. and Germany — only partially offset by a one-time gain of $392 million, the pharmaceutical company said.

Revenue in the fourth quarter grew from $12.92 billion to $14.19 billion. However, the vaccine division suffered a 74 percent decline in sales to $361 million following the end of the pandemic flu in 2010, after sales for the flu vaccine totaled $1 billion a year earlier.

The maker of hypertension drug Diovan and anticancer treatment Glivec — known as Gleevec in the United States — said its 2010 full year sales were up by 14 percent to $50.62 billion, including $2.4 billion revenue from the full consolidation of eye care specialist Alcon, Inc.

Full year 2010 net profit was up to $8.45 billion from $9.96 billion a year earlier, the company, based in Basel, said.

"Novartis achieved excellent results in 2010 as all divisions contributed to above-market growth," Chief Executive Joseph Jimenez said.

The company's results were helped by 13 key product approvals and the breakthrough of the multiple sclerosis medication, Gilenya, which has also been launched in the U.S., he said.

Analysts at Zuercher Kantonalbank said while Novartis' revenue is fully in line with market expectations, its net profit remained slightly below expectations.

In its outlook, Novartis said it expects sales to grow at constant currency rates by a "double-digit mark," and productivity gains to help improve margins while absorbing price cuts, generic competition and the loss of the pandemic flu vaccine sales.

The company's shares were trading lower on Switzerland's stock exchange Thursday morning, falling by 1.74 percent to 53.50 Swiss Francs ($56.71).

Will the vaccine profiteers pay attention. If history is any gauge, and it always is, then no.

Their business runs on a cost/benefit analysis. Since there is such little cost compared to their other product lines (because the 1986 vaccine law protects them from lawsuits for the injured and dead via vaccination, and because the government - the US tax payer - sells their product for them via public health drives and mandates), it is likely they are willing to let things take a long nose dive, while they stay in denial that this is just temporary and one more run at Andrew Wakefield should solve the whole mess.

But have no doubt... this is the thing that hits PharmaKorp where it hurts. You can carry pictures of our sick and dead children and march around their building every day, that is not going to change things. Because of history is any gauge, and it always is, then only loosing enough cash will change things.

So the next question is, where is their bottom? My guess is an analyst sitting in some building, somewhere, watching for the magic number to flip, and then suddenly we will see Offit tucked away in some lab somewhere, a sudden change in management, and this new management will show that they are truly upset by what our community has had to shoulder, both insults and injuries, and really wants our help in making the vaccine program safe.

OR

We will win the Bruesewitz case in SCOTUS and the timeline jumps into overdrive.

So what is that magic number?

Mothers, Misogyny and Money

Yesterday I was involved in a discussion where one man noted that he saw a great deal of misogyny in the rhetoric coming out of vaccine industry public relations, and cited a few examples. It is there both in the overt PR, and PR that is posing as public health advice/policy and independent journalism/reporting. Because in order to dismiss vaccine damage and keep vaccine sales climbing, you have to dismiss the reporters of the vaccine damage. The mothers who spend hours a day interacting with their child.


Francesca Strino
Mother & Child

I have felt this usually not so subtle bias consistently since I began asking questions about vaccines on my first visit to the pediatricians office after the birth of my first baby, right on through to the events of the last week. I am repeatedly talked to as, and even on occasion even outright called, "just a mom." But I feel like accusing someone of misogyny is like accusing someone of racism. You might see hints of it in their actions, but you cannot know the true state of the human heart, so unless someone outright tells you they have a problem with women, making the accusation against them does not really serve anyone.

Besides, real misogynists, like real racists, are not usually open to hearing about how they might earnestly do some self-evaluation on their dislike for a specific group from a member of that group, so best just not to take it personally and let it go. Noting, of course that their point of view might be skewed and their advice to you may not really be in your best interest.

But I bring this up because wanted to do a small study in contrasts and highlight some philogyny... some of what is right in what the two men I was in this discussion with, noticed and said about mothers and how they set themselves apart from those who devalue and talk down to "Justamoms."

In response to the comment, Ed Arranga of Autism One shared the following:

"I think you’ve hit the nail on the head - Misogyny.

Six months ago I was in a doc’s office with 4 to 5 moms and about 12 kids. The room went quiet for a moment and each mom gently tested the air. A moment later a mom said, “It’s mine, Jeffrey come here, time to get changed.”

It was incredible. In the space of 5 seconds each mom knew if their child had pooped or not from 10 feet away.

These are the moms who cannot tell if their child regressed after a vaccine?

It seems something vital has been lost in the last hundred years in our race to certainty, with hubris and misogyny playing a far bigger role than is honestly acknowledged."

I agree (and blame Freud).

In this little story, I feel that Arranga has captured the depth in the often dismissed claim that mothers make when doctors try to wave away their claims of vaccine regression, "But... I know my child". Many doctors and officials hear mom's say, "I have met my child in passing once on the street during a rainstorm," but what mothers are actually saying is, "I am more intimately involved with my child on a spiritual and biological level that I cannot communicate to you in words, and that child is an extension of my own heart and body".

And on a more practical level, it tells me why Autism One has become THE autism convention of the year, and why our opponents can't sell books to mothers or don't bother trying to have conventions for the public. As a mom, I can see that Arranga gets it and wants the problem of autism solved and children served, while PharmaKorp and their emissaries are really just salesmen and mercenaries. They could not care less about me, my child or the well being of my family, and they sure as hell don't want to answer my earnest questions to help me wisely protect the health and life of my family.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I can tell who cares about me and my babies, and who cares about their own power and pocketbook. I can see which doctor will allow his career to be destroyed to get answers for my son and which doctor prevents answers from being found to raise his vaccine profits.

So props to the men out there (and the amazing one in my home) that see and esteem the unique talents of mothers. They are worthy of our motherly esteem as well.

And thank you Ed for all you have done for us an our children.

Ginger Taylor, Justamom

Addendum:

"To parents out there, I would say please trust your instincts. In particular, maternal instinct has been a steady hand on the tiller of evolution for many thousands of years and we wouldn't be here without it. Parents have tended to relinquish that instinct in favor of a medical community. We assume doctors know a lot when in fact they know very little. Please mothers, trust your instincts. No one knows your child like you do and no one can take that away from you, so trust that. That is my most important message. - Andrew Wakefield

"The festering nastiness, the creepy repetitiveness, the weasly, deceitful, obsessiveness, all signal pathology to me," "And they wonder why their children have brain problems." - Brian Deer, on parents of children with autism.

Our Book: Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children

Funny the timing of things, right?

Last May, just before Dr. Wakefield's appearance at the Center for Personal Rights rally (of which I was a coordinator) and the launch of Wakefield's book "Callous Disregard", seemingly out of nowhere, with no real precipitating event, the media was flooded with stories, old stories, unfounded stories, about how Dr. Wakefield's research was bogus, that the vaccine/autism link has been disproven and declared the vaccine safety debate over.

Imagine my surprise when this week, seemingly out of nowhere, with no real precipitating event, the media was flooded with stories, old stories, unfounded stories, about how Dr. Wakefield's research was bogus, that the vaccine/autism link has been disproven and declared the vaccine safety debate over.

It might lead someone to wonder... does the vaccine safety/choice community and/or Dr. Wakefield have any events and/or books coming out for which this might be an attempt to sabotage/distract/end around/disparage/discredit and generally torpedo? I mean they did that with "Callous Disregard" in the spring and to "Age of Autism" last fall, should I be looking for a new book from those who care about vaccine safety?

Fortunately, I already know the answer to that question is... wait for it... YES!

And I know that because I am proud to share that I am a contributing editor and co-author (along with Andrew Wakefield and more than twenty others) of the upcoming book, brought to you by the Center for Personal Rights, announced today:



How crazy that AGAIN, just like last May, that Wakefield has been declared a dastard, and vaccines cleared of all wrong doing RIGHT BEFORE our community comes out with media on the vastness of the problems in the vaccine program... darn the luck, I tell ya. Boy... do we have bad timing or what!

And that the source of this damning "new information" (which was actually from March of 2010) is once again, Brian Deer, who has mined the (illegally obtained) medical files of the children in Wakefield's paper to find evidence of "fraud" (by which he means that kids GP's who knew nothing about bowel disease and autism took different notes than the internationally known specialists in the field doing in depth research and medical evaluations on the children). Brian Deer.... who for those of you who have lost track, was the man who made the complaint that Wakefield's GMC trial was in response to (but who is also a "journalist" reporting on it... wrap your brain around those ethics if you can)... Deer has has managed to find "fraud" that was undectable by the parents of the children involved in the research project, Wakefield's 12 coauthors on the paper, the prosecutors and judges in Wakefield's 6 year/3 million dollar GMC trial, and the entire medical community and autism community, in the 13 years since this paper has been published.

Wow... that Brian Deer is one talented "journalist". So talented in fact, that he, among all journalists and doctors and people on planet earth, is allowed to illegally obtain the medical records of children, and not only escape arrest and prosecution for doing so, but is granted special dispensation to actually PUBLISH information, over the protests of the children's parents, that he claimed came from the files... in a medical journal! And not just that, but gets to have his unverifiable allegations broadcast by every mainstream media outlet in the US! (Anyone wonder why this is not being broadcast in the UK? Might there be legal problems with doing that there? Never mind... I am probably concerning myself over nothing.)
/end sarcasm

If it is not clear to you this far, let me be frank about it. The coverage of the vaccine/autism debate that you see in the media, is not scientific debate or earnest investigation... it is a dog fight. And Pharma plays dirty.

The vaccine industry is a 27 billion dollar per year business. It is as near as you get to the Federal Reserve and the Treasury as a license to print money. Vaccines are marketed and purchased by the US government and vaccine makers are immune from any financial or any other kind of liability when their vaccines kill or maim the American people. If you had a product line that you didn't have to advertise, that every child in the country had to buy (several times) and that you could not be sued for, and that even when one of your products was known to cause widespread death and damage, you could STILL go a decade or more with out having to go to the expense of updating it... how hard would you fight to keep that golden goose a'layin'? OK... pretend you have the gutter ethics of Merck, and GSK (who make MMR in the US and the UK respectively) and then tell me how hard you would fight. Ruining a man's life to prevent billions or trillions in future losses and potentially damaging a few kids is really nothing at all. It certainly would not have been the first time, nor the last. (Have I mentioned that Deers "investigations" have been mostly published by James Murdoch's newspaper? Did I mention that Murdoch is on the board of directors of GSK who makes the MMR? Or that Deer was "assisted" by Pharma's investigation hit squad firm? So many coincidences, many more to wade through over at Age of Autism.)

Vaccine Epidemic is a real threat to those 27 billion in profits. Our book is a very serious, very in depth analysis, by a cadre of smart and respected professionals (and me), that outlines the international medical standard of informed consent, stories of a variety of vaccine damage, legal implications/historical perspectives/financial concerns/political machinations/medical opinions of vaccinations and presents information on much of the damage that 25 years of pharmaceutical liability protection has done to the vaccine program and to our children.

What you have witnessed in the media this week is a frenzied effort to convince you that:

1. This one research paper represents all of the concerns about the vaccine program. (Our book has almost 400 citations... and we didn't cite the Wakefield paper 400 times).

2. That Wakefield has been "discredited". (He hasn't).

3. That the vaccine/autism debate is settled and that all the questions have been "asked and answered". (It is actually expanding and the evidence that there is a causal association is mounting, not diminishing).

And if you read Vaccine Epidemic, you will see why the medical community and Pharma throwing out the Wakefield paper and declaring the debate "closed", is like carving a pothole in I-95 in Virginia and declaring the interstate from Florida to Maine "closed".

They don't want the media taking our book seriously and they sure as heck don't want you to read it.

So please buy our book and decide for yourself. Is the message that you are getting on NBC the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Or do you need to take responsibility for your family's vaccine decisions in your own hands, based on your own research from original sources?



UPDATE: From the Department of Backfire

Yesterday our book was ranked below 250,000 on Amazon. At the moment it is #2,886 and climbing.

Offit's book, out last week, is 8,569
Wakefield's Callous Disregard, a year old, has climbed back up to 7,706 and number 10 in autism.

When they did this to Wakefield last spring, they put his book on the Amazon top ten list. So thank you to Brian Deer and Pharma? I guess? Keep slinging mud and the people will keep seeing through your CYA tactics and looking for the truth in how to best raise their children.

Vaccines Don't Cause Autism, and Guns Don't Kill People

A few days ago I posted a letter from HRSA responding to a media inquiry into the question of whether or not the Hannah Poling case showed that the government believed that vaccines caused autism.

[note: "encephalopathy" is a medical term for brain damage or a change in brain functioning.]

From: Bowman, David (HRSA) [mailto:DBowman@hrsa.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:22 PM
To: 'dkirby@nyc.rr.com'
Subject: HRSA Statement

David,

In response to your most recent inquiry, HRSA has the following
statement:

The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to
compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually
caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children
exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy
may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms
including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.

Some children who have been compensated for vaccine injuries may have
shown signs of autism before the decision to compensate, or may
ultimately end up with autism or autistic symptoms, but we do not track
cases on this basis.

Regards,

David Bowman
Office of Communications
Health Resources and Services Administration
301-443-3376

I have decided to play "If someone else said it", to show the sheer fraud at play in this statement, and of course, to ask the media if such poor quality lying and frank admissions of dereliction of duty would pass muster were it not coming from the government, and about such a sacred cow as childrens' vaccines.

From: Heston, Charlton(HRSA) [mailto:CHeston@hrsa.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:22 PM
To: 'citizen@usa.com'
Subject: HRSA Statement

Citizen,

In response to your most recent inquiry, HRSA has the following
statement:

The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to
compensate, any case based on a determination that death was actually
caused by gunshot. We have compensated cases in which people
exhibited a perforation, or general hole in the body. Perforation
may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms
including bleeding, organ damage, or death.

Some people who have been compensated for gunshot injuries may have
shown signs of dying before the decision to compensate, or may
ultimately end up dead or with fatal symptoms, but we do not track
cases on this basis.

Regards,

Charlton Heston
Office of Communications
Gunshot Injury Compensation Program
Health Resources and Services Administration
301-443-3376

What Bowman is saying is that 'vaccines don't really cause autism, they cause brain damage that may cause autism. And we don't pay attention if it does.'

When this PR failure ran in 2009, no one else in the media picked up on it.

This week, two mainstream journalists have actually reported on the ridiculous position that the government has taken that 'vaccines don't "cause" autism, vaccines merely "result" in autism'. The first is Sharyl Attkisson at CBS, who wrote about it here and whose interest apparently was piqued enough for her to take a hard look at the "encephalopathy" shell game that HHS is playing which led to a follow up piece here: Autism, Vaccines and Brain Damage: What's in a Name? Atkisson is the latest journalist to figure out that just calling the autism cases in the VICP "encephalopathy" is their very transparent attempt to maintain some sort of denial of the widespread damage the vaccine program is doing.

She reports:

But there's a trade-off: occasionally, vaccines cause injury or death. Very rarely, patients are left with what's known as "encephalopathy", the medical term for brain damage.

In fact, CBS News has found nearly 1,300 cases in which vaccine-related brain damage has been compensated in court over the past 20 years.

1,300 hundred cases of vaccine brain damage paid by the government more than blows away the made up statistic parroted far and wide that serious vaccine damage is "ONE IN A MILLION". Because for that to be true, there would need to be 1,300,000,000 vaccinated people in the US. Which is one billion too many people.

And this 1,300 number ONLY includes brain damage, not other injuries or deaths. The total number of cases paid is 2,503. Let's say we have 300 million people vaccinated in this country in the last twenty years. That would mean that if the government has actually found, recognized and compensated every serious vaccine adverse reaction (and we know that ain't happening) then vaccine injury is about 1 in 120,000. Given that only about 1 percent of vaccine injuries are ever even reported, and that few people who fall seriously ill are ever told that their circumstance might be a vaccine reaction, if we factor that in, then we are looking at 1 in 12,000.

Keep in mind that 1 in 100 has autism, and 1 in 6 children have a developmental disability or delay, and those populations are not exactly scoured to see how many of them are vaccine injuries, and well... that is how you get a citizenry that stops believing the government.

So as there has been no research comparing vaccinated people to unvaccinated people, we can't really know the true rate of vaccine injury. My estimate is somewhere between 1 in 120,000 and 18% of the population. Lets hope someone with time and money can narrow that down for us someday.

The second journalist to have a light bulb pop in over her head, is Alisyn Camerota at Fox News, who points out the "fishy legal language" the government is using. Dr. Manny also seems to be coming to grips with the hard truth, because as I recall, years ago he was ruling out vaccines in autism.






Let's see if any other reporters are woken up by the VICP announcement of paying a child around twenty million dollars for "autism-like symptoms". (You know because people with autism have autism like symptoms, a man with no legs is also missing his big toe, I am five pounds overweight, my great, great, great grandfather currently has a mitochondrial disorder where his cells just don't make enough energy to properly power his brain, or any other small subset of a larger more dramatic condition that is both completely true and completely misleading to the listener who expects the government to tell them the truth. Did I mention that Hannah Poling has full syndrom, DSM diagnosed Autism, with a capitol "A"?)

And if you check that HRSA National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Statistic Report page one more time, you will note that there is now a "1" in the "Compensable" column of the Autism Omnibus Proceedings. Of course HRSA has added an asterisk next to it with the following note:

"HHS has never concluded in any case that autism was caused by vaccination."

And now you can go back to the beginning of this article to remind yourself that HHS only compensates for bullet holes, not for bleeding or death.

Update:

I missed this one

Karen DeSoto at MSNBC also gets the wake up call and wants to know what the hell is going on.  She  notes that it is the government that has sealed the case when the Polings had requested it be open to the public so it could be of value in answering the questions we all have.

With all the attacks on them since the concession was made public, including people stalking their daughter, would they still be open to that? I don't think it matters. With out even mentioning the name Poling or one detail about Hannah, HHS could say, "Here is one process by which a seemingly neurotypical child can get autism from vaccination". Or if they want to maintain their BS legal word game cover, "This is a process by which a child with an undiagnosed mitochondrial disorder may develop autism like symptoms as a result of vaccination".




I hope that DeSoto follows up on this. She is right. Parents every where should be screaming WTH? at HHS.

Update:

Fox News follows up a week later. Becky Estepp of SafeMinds and TACA is on, and has to give Dr. Mark Siegel a lesson in vaccines.




Update:

This post is generating much traffic, so I will go ahead and add the news piece that really exposed how badly the government was lying to try to keep people from waking up to the fact that HHS has been paying these cases for almost twenty years. Julie "Vaccines Cause Autism and Do Not Cause Autism" Gerberding.

Vaccines Don't CAUSE Autism, They Just RESULT in Autism

(looking at my stopwatch) aaaaaaaaand time!

Hannah Poling finally gets paid for her vaccine induced resulted autism.

So if a brilliant Johns Hopkins neurologist and his super smarty nurse/lawyer wife file a vaccine injury claim for their daughter, that is such a slam dunk case that the government does not even bother to fight it but concedes the case, they can expect to wait, let see... add the four, carry the three, divide by pain and suffering and... oh, thats not bad... ONLY ten years, one month and two weeks or so after the child is injured to be paid by the government. Yep! That is one compassionate program alright!

Mind you the Polings have been dragged through the mud, personally and professionally, for daring to file in the VICP and win to get money to help their daughter. Oh... and they also had the bad taste to tell people. In public even. Bastards.

But at least we have finally gotten a straight answer from the government on whether or not vaccines cause autism. Turns out that vaccines don't "cause" autism, they just "result" in autism. From CBS News:

In acknowledging Hannah's injuries, the government said vaccines aggravated an unknown mitochondrial disorder Hannah had which didn't "cause" her autism, but "resulted" in it.

THANK GOD! Parents, you can go back to blindly trusting their government. All your questions and concerns about the safety of the vaccine program have been asked and answered with the utmost integrity and with thorough thoroughness.

Sleep in peace citizens. All is well.

Government heath care is awesome.  More government health care please.

(And I hope Hannah fully recovers and buys a Ferrari with whatever is left of her 1.5 mil)


Update:

I thought I might include this email from David Bowman at HRSA. He sent it to David Kirby last year in response to an inquiry.

From: Bowman, David (HRSA) [mailto:DBowman@hrsa.gov]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 5:22 PM
To: 'dkirby@nyc.rr.com'
Subject: HRSA Statement

David,

In response to your most recent inquiry, HRSA has the following
statement:

The government has never compensated, nor has it ever been ordered to
compensate, any case based on a determination that autism was actually
caused by vaccines. We have compensated cases in which children
exhibited an encephalopathy, or general brain disease. Encephalopathy
may be accompanied by a medical progression of an array of symptoms
including autistic behavior, autism, or seizures.

Some children who have been compensated for vaccine injuries may have
shown signs of autism before the decision to compensate, or may
ultimately end up with autism or autistic symptoms, but we do not track
cases on this basis.

Regards,

David Bowman
Office of Communications
Health Resources and Services Administration
301-443-3376

So again... vaccines cause encephalopathy which progresses into autism, but vaccines don't cause autism. And by the way, HHS does not track whether or not vaccines cause autism, they just pay attention to cases where vaccines cause encephalopathy. Then they stick their fingers in their ears and yell "la la la, I'm not listing", when parents come back a month later and say their child has been diagnosed with autism.

Why does anyone take vaccine advice from these people? Why did I?


Nostalga Update:

Oh alright... one more time just for fun.



And for those of you who would like to reminise more about the absurdity of the governments position on the Poling decision: Spinning the Hannah Poling Case

HOLY CRAP UPDATE: Hannah is not getting 1.5 mil, she is getting around 20 million dollars!

CBS has updated their post to read:

"The first court award in a vaccine-autism claim is a big one. CBS News has learned the family of Hannah Poling will receive more than $1.5 million dollars for her life care; lost earnings; and pain and suffering for the first year alone.

In addition to the first year, the family will receive more than $500,000 per year to pay for Hannah's care. Those familiar with the case believe the compensation could easily amount to $20 million over the child's lifetime".

The government is paying Hannah Poling 20 million dollars for a vaccine injury that the same government claims does not exist.

I am speechless.

1983 - 23 Doses of Vaccine, 2010 - 70 Doses of Vaccine

Someone came across the 1983 US recommended vaccine schedule on the CDC's web site:



23 doses of vaccine, birth to 18 years old.

Today our kids are supposed to get 70 doses.

What has changed? Where was the mass death of children to justify more than tripling the number of vaccines children get?

No mass deaths, just the 1985 vaccine act that gave vaccine makers immunity from killing and maiming children, and and a corrupt ACIP.

And as a reminder of the massive scale of this malpractice, there is no testing, none, that tells us what giving children this vaccine schedule (or any vaccine schedule we have ever had) does to our children.

This in the Age of Autism, where 1 in six children have a developmental disability or delay, where autoimmune and neurological disorders are rampant.

Malpractice.

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Kathleen Sebelius gave an interview to Moms Rising, and was asked some vaccine questions. Fran Drescher was present and asked her about spacing out vaccines:



Fran never got her answer, so no... the administration is not interested in opening up a discussion on spacing out vaccines. But it is curious that Ms. Sebelius claimed that vaccines are constantly being tested for efficacy and safety. Both individually and in combination.

Really?

Because there is no study into the four shots (seven vaccines) that my son received at 18 months when he regressed into autism. My understanding of the process is that they do test for efficacy, but not so much for safety, and very rarely to they test combinations of vaccines for either.

And of course there is no study that looks of the safety of the complete schedule in any way.

The vaccine studies that they actually do are small and don't follow kids for very long. I was horrified to learn that the safety study on the Hepatitis B vaccine that Chandler reacted to when he was a new born only followed children for THREE DAYS.

And of course these tests almost never include a true placebo group. Merely one version of a vaccine compared to another version of a vaccine or adjuvant.

Although it was good to hear it straight from the horses mouth that the vaccine schedule is what it is partly due to convenience. Gotta get as many shots in as many kids as possible when they are in the office! Brain damage be damned.

I came across an interesting movie quote in the NYT today. From a piece on the International AIDS Conference:

In a lovely ironic touch, the conference hall is only a few steps from the Ferris wheel in the Orson Welles film noir classic set in postwar Vienna, “The Third Man.” On it, a cynical dealer of counterfeit drugs tells his pursuer to look down at the people below and says: “Victims? Don’t be melodramatic.... Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever?”

All that "constant testing" is not so much concerned with our particular little dots.



This is my little dot. His fevers, crying and constipation started three days after his first dose of Hepatitis B vaccine. I never could find a safety test that covered him.

Dr. Blaylock's Advice on How To Reduce Chance of Adverse Reaction From Flu Shot

Treatment for Toxic Vaccine Exposure, from Russell Blaylock, M.D.

The Following was composed by Dr. Russell Blaylock as a method to reduce autoimmune reactions to the flu vaccines only. Do not use this if you have the flu itself. These are just general observations and not medical advice. You should work with your doctor for a specific program.Treatment for Toxic Vaccine Exposure

1. Place a cold compress on the site of the injection immediately after the injection and continue this as often as possible for at least two days. If symptoms of fever, irritability, fatigue or flu-like symptoms reoccur -- continue the cold compresses until they abate. A cold shower or bath will also help.

2. Take fish oils -- I recommend the Norwegian fish oil made by Carlson Labs -- it has the correct balance of EPA and DHA to reduce the cytokine storm. The dose is one tablespoon a day -- if severe symptoms develop -- two tablespoons a day until well and then switch to one tablespoon a day. Children -- one teaspoon a day.

3. Curcumin, quercetin, ferulic acid and ellagic acid as a mixture -- the first two must be mixed with extravirgin olive in one teaspoon. Take the mix three times a day (500 mg of each)

4. Vitamin E (natural form) 400 IU a day (high in gamma-E)

5. Vitamin C 1000 mg four times a day

6. Astaxanthin 4 mg a day

7. Zinc 20 mg a day for one week then 5 mg a day

8. Avoid all immune stimulating supplements (mushroom extracts, whey protein) except beta-glucan -- it has been shown to reduce inflammation, microglial activation and has a reduced risk of aggravating autoimmunity, while increasing antiviral cellular immunity.

9. Take a multivitamin/mineral daily (one without iron -- Extend Core)

10. Magnesium citrate/malate 500 mg of elemental magnesium two capsules three times a day

11. Vitamin D3:

All Children -- 5000 IU a day for two weeks after vaccine then 2000 IU a day thereafter

Adults -- 20,000 IU a day after vaccine for two weeks then 10,000 IU a day thereafter

Take 500 mg to 1000 mg of calcium citrate a day for adults and 250 mg a day for children under age 12 years.

12. Avoid all mercury-containing seafood

13. Avoid omega-6 oils (corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, canola and peanut oils)

14. Blenderize parsley and celery and drink 8 ounces twice a day

15. Take Jatoba tea extract (add 20 drops in on cup of tea) one day before the vaccine and the twice a day thereafter. (you can get it at http://www.iherb.com/Amazon-Therapeutics-Jatoba-1-oz-30-ml/14429?at=0) It is inexpensive.

Film: Shots in the Dark

Made a film about the vaccine injured, including our community. It was made by the Film Board of Canada, but has not been released, and it is reported that the Canadian Prime Minister does not want it released.

It was posted on You Tube last fall. I am not sure how I missed this until now.

Shots in the Dark

We Finally Get a Vaxxed v. Unvaxxed Study, Vaccinated Primates Have Brain Changes Seen In Autism

We finally get a vaccinated v. unvaccinated study. No... no actual children yet, but infant rhesus macaque monkeys.



And no wonder main stream medicine doesn't want vaccine studies with an actual baseline (completely unvaccinated), because the results are dramatic.

The infant primates vaccinated according to the US vaccine schedule (equivalent to their size/development rate, pre 2002 shots WITH full doses of mercury) showed the same brain changes found in children with autism. The amygdala, the fear and anxiety center, did not mature properly in the vaccinated group, and those differences did not appear until AFTER the 12 month vaccines were given.

The abstract:

Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid
ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study

Acta Neurobiol Exp 2010, 70: 147–164
©2010 by Polish Neuroscience Society - PTBUN, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology

Laura Hewitson1,2,*, Brian J. Lopresti3, Carol Stott4, N. Scott Mason3 and Jaime Tomko1

1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA;
2Thoughtful House Center for Children, Austin, TX, USA; 3Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 4Independent Chartered Scientist, Cambridge, UK;
*Email: lch1@pitt.edu

This longitudinal, case-control pilot study examined amygdala growth in rhesus macaque infants receiving the complete US childhood vaccine schedule (1994-1999). Longitudinal structural and functional neuroimaging was undertaken to examine central effects of the vaccine regimen on the developing brain. Vaccine-exposed and saline-injected control infants underwent MRI and PET imaging at approximately 4 and 6 months of age, representing two specific timeframes within the vaccination schedule. Volumetric analyses showed that exposed animals did not undergo the maturational changes over time in amygdala volume that was observed in unexposed animals. After controlling for left amygdala volume, the binding of the opioid antagonist [11C]diprenorphine (DPN) in exposed animals remained relatively constant over time, compared with unexposed animals, in which a significant decrease in [11C]DPN binding occurred. These results suggest that maturational changes in amygdala volume and the binding capacity of [11C]DPN in the amygdala was significantly altered in infant macaques receiving the vaccine schedule. The macaque infant is a relevant animal model in which to investigate specific environmental exposures and structural/functional neuroimaging during neurodevelopment.

Key Words: rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta, non-human primates, animal model, neuroimaging, PET, MRI, amygdala, opioids, ethyl mercury, thimerosal, neurotoxicity

The full paper: Hewitson et. al.

The editorial written by the editor of the journal, who says:

An alarming finding is reported by Hewitson and coworkers showing that, in infant monkeys that were immunized, the amygdala does not show the normal pattern of maturation but is hypertrophied. Although these are only preliminary data, given the well-known role of the amygdala in generation of fear and other negative emotions, they support the possibility that there is a link between early immunization and the etiology of autism.

Mark Blaxill and Dan Olmsted's discussion of the paper: New Study Shows Vaccines Cause Brain Changes Found in Autism

It should be noted that in the spring of 2008, The American Academy of Pediatrics was informed of this study. At the conclusion of the DAN conference in Cherry Hill, NJ in April of 2008, Dr. Jerry Kartzinel personally discussed it with Dr. Louis Cooper who was there representing the AAP. Cooper skirted the issue, acting as if he was concerned with the cost of the study, and Kartzinel replied that the study was fully funded and underway. Cooper was clearly not comfortable with the discussion of the study, and changed the subject. In their discussion of what Cooper had seen at the conference and how to proceed with some sort of partnership between ARI and AAP, Cooper had already stated to Kartzinel:

"I’m concerned about immunization policy and how you protect immunization."

To my knowledge, AAP never got back to anyone on their input into, or involvement with, this primate study. Note that the study was not published by Pediatrics, where it belongs, as it is AAP's journal and AAP is Pharma's main vaccine distributor. I am sure they want this buried as deep as is possible.

I am interested to see what AAP's public comment will be on this. If there is one.

AAP's (@ameracadpeds)twitter page can be found here: http://twitter.com/ameracadpeds

Feel free to call this post to their attention.

Gardasil May Cause Cervical Cancer

Awesome, right?

From the Examiner:

Warning, Gardasil may cause increased risk of cervical cancer
June 30, 10:34 Norma Erickson

Buyer beware: Gardasil, given under the wrong conditions, may increase the risk of cervical cancer.

Would you consent to giving your child a vaccine that caused an increased risk of cancer? That may be exactly what you are doing when you consent to Gardasil.

According to Information the manufacturer of this vaccine presented to the FDA prior to approval, if a person has already been exposed to HPV 16 or 18 prior to injection Gardasil increases the risk of precancerous lesions, or worse, by 44.6%. (See VRBPAC Background document, bottom of page 13) This documentation was presented on the 18th of May 2006.

That statement bears repeating, if you have been exposed to HPV 16 or 18 prior to injection and take the vaccine, you increase your risk of precancerous lesions, or worse, by 44.6%.

Is this information advertised? No! This information was actually presented to the FDA by Merck. It came from their own safety trials. The FDA did not respond by recommending screening for HPV prior to vaccination. The FDA did not even demand a warning be included in the package insert....

Offit Offensive Has Failed, Vaccine-Autism War Continues, Child Vaccine Refusals Increase in U.S.

I was going to write something, but it turns out Harold already wrote it. So go read it there.

AAP, CDC, HHS, Public Health... what is your plan? Is this really it? You really gonna ride this train right of the side of the cliff?

The VICP Autism Omnibus: How The Government is Killing the Vaccine Program

... and their credibility right along with it.

Today, yet again, the Kangaroo Court Vaccine Injury Compensation Program found that, surprise, surprise, vaccines don't cause autism. Exactly what we expected that their propaganda finding would be. (See the statements by the Coalition for Vaccine Safety, TACA, SafeMinds and the National Autism Association at the end of this post).

A few weeks back, after I posted my chart of the 20 billion dollar vaccine industry and their Wakefield Witch Hunt, Steve Kette, an autism dad, sent me a flow chart that he had done illustrating just how the public/private partnership (Government/Pharma/MSM entity here to for referred to as "The Empire") that is the US vaccine machine program is running itself into the ground.

We have had story after story illustrating the revolving doors between CDC and Pharma/vaccine industry, painful experiences on just how biased the media is, and now an admission straight from the horses mouth that the Secretary of Health, Kathleen Sebelius, is asking for the media for favorable coverage on the vaccine issue. The role of the MSM is to do critical analysis of the government, not hold Kathleen's purse.

And another thing that MSM outlets are supposed to do is compete with one another, right? Not so if you are all a part of one giant conglomco like the Tribune Company Corporation Incorporated. Here is an email exchange that took place today between the two notorious "reporters" Trine Tsouderos from the Chicago Tribune who has spent the last few months trashing our community, and Thomas Maugh from the LA Times who has spend the last few years trashing our community, (and who once responded to an earnest inquiry from me with the oh so respectful, "Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!") collaborating on VCIP Ruling story today:

From: Tsouderos, Trine
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 12:39 PM
To: Dennis, Tami
Subject: Vaccine court story

Hi Tami,

Kaarin said you guys were going to write the vaccine court story – she said to let you know if you need anything, I’m happy to help. My autism sources have been contacting me all day wanting to talk about it, so it would be easy to get quotes.

Anyway, let me know! Best wishes,

Trine

Trine Tsouderos
Chicago Tribune
Science and Medical Reporter
312 222 5648 (w)
312 927 7986 (cell)
ttsouderos@tribune.com



From: Dennis, Tami
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 12:43 PM
To: Maugh, Thomas
Subject: FW: Vaccine court story

They did good stuff. Don’t hesitate to use them if you need comment.



From: Maugh, Thomas
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 2:47 PM
To: Tsouderos, Trine
Subject: FW: Vaccine court story

Please. Anything you can send me would be helpful. I'm gong to be listening in to the Every Child by 2 Press conference.

Thomas H. Maugh II
Science/Medical Writer
Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
310 649-1300



From: Tsouderos, Trine
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 1:02 PM
To: Maugh, Thomas
Subject: RE: Vaccine court story

Do you want me to get JB Handley at Generation Rescue? I have his email.



From: Maugh, Thomas
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 3:02 PM
To: Tsouderos, Trine
Subject: RE: Vaccine court story

Whoever you think would give a good, rational quote. Some of the responses on the PR newswire seem rather irrational.

Thomas H. Maugh II
Science/Medical Writer
Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
310 649-1300

FYI... For the "irrational" response on the newswire... see below. He means the responses from our community. So sweet how Trine and Maugh are there for each other in their battle against the forces of darkness vaccine injured children.

The whole circle is corrupt. Because there is no way to sue Pharma or the Government for vaccine damage, and certainly no way to sue biased media sources, the public is penned in and once vaccine injury takes place... well... to bad... you're screwed. You are also evil and want children to die from polio because you said out loud that a vaccine injured your child. You are also anti-vaccine, even if you continue to vaccinate your other children. (Did I mention desperate and scientifically illiterate? Also you probably have mental health issues. Oh... and Thomas Maugh thinks you are irrational.)

And the public is starting to get that this whole thing is bullshit. There has been speculation today as to why these VICP rulings were dropped on a Friday afternoon, burial ground for media pieces. Is it that the government gets that people think they are full of crappola and don't want these rulings to feed another cycle of vaccine program bashing? That is my guess. (Or are they trying to prevent more stories on Thorsen?)

Because, as Mr. Kette has illustrated below, the Government/Pharma/MSM shenanigans like the rulings today only serve to discredit themselves in the public's eyes, and add fresh, stinky fertilizer to the growing suspicion and distrust of the vaccine program.


The Life Cycle of a Failed Public Vaccination Program
(click to enlarge as pdf)



Kette is quite insightful in placing "Empire Paternalism" at the head of this death spiral, because it begins when the public forgets the profound axiom that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". The warm feeling of security that comes from allowing yourself to believe that governments and billion dollar multinational corporations are earnest, righteous and working in your personal best interest is seductive. But Big Brother does not love you... he doesn't even know you. History ONLY illustrates the cycle of powerful governmental/corporate entities falling into corruption and either destroying society OR eventually being held accountable by the people either by the vote or by pitchfork. Powerful entities like these are only held in check when people turn their brains on, stop pretending that the government, or the corporation can fix our problems and heal the world.

Be clear, the corporation exists to make money, the government is not doing its job to hold the corporation accountable, and the media is not doing its job of holding them both accountable. They are all becoming very powerful and very rich by working together. The ONLY accountability for vaccine damage will come directly from the public saying "NO MORE!".

In vaccination, the government is not your friend.

Ronald Reagan's words were never truer than in the case of the story of American Vaccine Injury:

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'We're from the government and we're here to help.'"

UPDATE:

I, along with most of the people who have been writing about the VICP decisions, have been corrected by one of my readers who makes a good poing:

"...Anyone looking closely at the accumulative decision(s) of MEAD, KING and DWYER (plus, 595 Pages) will be hard pressed to find the Special Master(s) (Patricia Campbell-Smith, George L. Hastings, Jr., and Denise K. Vowell) saying, Thimerosal Does Not Cause Autism,  It's Official: Vaccines Don't Cause Autism or Vaccines Could Not Have Caused Autism, U.S. Court Says, and yet, incredibly, that's exactly what being broadcast and reported across the nation by the media.

What the Special Master(s) did say was the Petitioner(s) respectively failed to satisfy the burden of proof , CAUSE AND EFFECT, or by a PREPONDERANCE OF 'CAUSATION-IN-FACT" EVIDENCE under the articulated legal standards. Consequentially, all three petitioners failed to establish their clear entitlements to compensation.

In other words, it appears the full weight and burden of proof to establish a "link" between Autism and vaccines (including the preservative, Thimerosal) was entirely placed on the families of WILLIAM P. MEAD, JORDAN KING and COLIN R. DWYER.

Not an easy task for the family struggling with a sick kid at home, even the family was armed with equal resources and a league of brilliant litigators with law degrees from the Harvard School of Law.

These families faced lawyers hired by the vaccine makers with unlimited resources and truckloads of paper. No reasonable person would call that a fair fight.

There is a huge difference in saying Vaccines Could Not Have Caused Autism, and in saying, by the Preponderance of Evidence the families failed to prove a "link" to the satisfaction of the court, a story broadcasters and media unjustly prejudiced, be it out of ignorance or by intent..."
-Larry

Read the press released from:

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety:

Special Masters Protect Vaccine Program and Deny Justice to Vaccine-Injured Children

Mercury-Autism Link Not Found Because of Government Policy, not Science

Washington, DC - The Coalition for Vaccine Safety (CVS) believes that the Special Masters of the Court of Federal Claims wrongly decided that thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs) do not cause autism. The Special Masters appear to have based their decisions on the government policy to protect the vaccine program rather than to fulfill their role to do justice by vaccine-injured children. In these three 'test case' decisions in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding, petitioners William Mead, Jordan King and Colin Dwyer developed normally through the first year of life and then regressed into autism. They presented thousands of pages of scientific documentation and testimony. Their evidence showed that thimerosal, a mercury-laden vaccine preservative, more likely than not contributed to their autism.

"The deck is stacked against families in Vaccine Court. Government attorneys defend a government program, using government-funded science, before government judges. Where's the justice in that?" asked Rebecca Estepp, a CVS steering committee member and mother of a petitioner in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding.

It is universally accepted that mercury is a neurotoxin and can damage the developing brain and the immune system. All three boys' health improved through medical interventions to reduce mercury toxicity and immune dysfunction. Nonetheless, the Special Masters concluded that petitioners failed to meet their burden of proof, even though Health and Human Services (HHS), the respondent in the proceeding, offered no alternative explanation other than genetic predisposition. The Special Masters appear to be following a misguided government policy that if they acknowledge a mercury-autism link, parents will stop vaccinating their children.

The breaking story of fraud at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) involving Dr. Poul Thorsen, a leading member of a Danish research group that wrote studies supporting the CDC's claims that there is no mercury-autism link, casts further doubt on the Special Masters' decisions. The emerging evidence of Dr. Thorsen's embezzlement of $2 million, falsehoods about his employment, and serious questions about his research throw into question the validity of the science at the heart of HHS's claim of no mercury-autism link.

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety (CVS) is an alliance of organizations dedicated to vaccine safety representing over 75,000 families. In recent letters to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of House and Senate Committees charged with oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Coalition called for hearings to investigate HHS, the CDC and other government agencies. Those federal agencies have failed to comply with the terms of the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Act (VICA). Specifically they have failed to provide critical vaccine safety science, including from the taxpayer-funded Vaccine Safety Datalink, on thimerosal, autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities.

The Special Masters' Omnibus Autism Proceeding decisions and revelations about Dr. Thorsen's actions only strengthen the Coalition's resolve in calling for immediate Congressional action to investigate vaccine safety - an issue that potentially affects every person in the country.

"We are confident that the truth will win out. We hope that Congress will intervene in what is clearly a miscarriage of justice to vaccine-injured children," said Jim Moody, an attorney and CVS steering committee member.

For more information on the Omnibus Autism Proceeding and vaccine safety, visit www.coalitionforvaccinesafety.org.

SafeMinds:

Government's Refusal to Fund Sound Science Stacks Deck Against Vaccine-Injured Children and Casts Doubt on the Integrity of the National Immunization Program says SafeMinds.


Washington, D.C. - March 12, 2010 - Autism and mercury advocacy organization SafeMinds regrets today's ruling by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims against three families who argued that vaccines which contained the mercury based preservative thimerosal contributed to their child's autism. The denial of reasonable compensation to families was based on inadequate vaccine safety science and poorly designed and highly controversial epidemiology studies supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the defendant in vaccine injury cases and is also responsible for carrying out the very vaccine safety research that should be integral to court decisions. This conflict of interest means the deck is stacked against families when they enter "vaccine court" and is yet one more reason for parents to doubt the integrity of the National Immunization Program.

"The government has its thumb on the scales of justice," said Laura Bono, parent of a vaccine injured child whose case was dismissed. "The Vaccine Injury Compensation Act passed by Congress in 1986 gave immunity to vaccine manufacturers and diminished the incentive to create safer products. Meanwhile, the law only gives the illusion that parents will have their day in court. The process is dysfunctional and many families will not see justice done."

Two HHS agencies, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), are responsible for conducting vaccine safety research. Calling into question the scientific integrity of this research, a top CDC funded vaccine researcher, Poul Thorsen, responsible for the oversight of some of the most influential and controversial studies that have been claimed as evidence for no link between autism and thimerosal, is alleged to be under investigation when funding documents were found to be forgeries and millions of dollars were missing.

The director of the NIH institute in charge of autism studies has admitted that HHS has a conflict of interest in conducting autism-vaccine research due to the court cases. Last year, the government dominated Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee blocked critical vaccine-autism research studies from moving forward. "The government must fund an extensive vaccine safety program, including studies of the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children," stated Lyn Redwood, Vice President of SafeMinds. "Trust in the immunization program will continue to deteriorate without adequate and unbiased safety science."

Over 5,000 petitions have been filed in the vaccine court alleging that vaccines caused a variety of damage to the developing brain, immune system, and other metabolic pathways ultimately giving rise to a diagnosis of autism. Already, the court has awarded approximately $5 million in compensation for such cases, of which the Hannah Poling case is the most well-known. Many of these cases were quietly settled by the government so the public is not aware of them. Thus the court has already decided that vaccine injury is linked to autism.

Today's ruling against families demonstrates that the process is arbitrary. The question is not whether some cases of autism have a vaccine etiology. The government has admitted that. The only remaining question is how many kids have been injured - and what must be done now to treat these kids and prevent further injury.

SafeMinds wishes to recognize the bravery and perseverance of the families who now may face a lifetime of inadequate support for their disabled children.

The Coalition for SafeMinds (Sensible Action for Ending Mercury-Induced Neurological Disorders) is a nonprofit organization founded to investigate and raise awareness of the risks to infants and children of exposure to mercury from medical products, including thimerosal in vaccines. Further information about SafeMinds and the harmful effects from mercury exposure may be found at www.safeminds.org

Talk About Curing Autism:

Second Round of Autism Omnibus Court Cases Decided

Legal update By Rebecca Estepp, TACA.

March 12, 2010

Today in Washington DC, the Special Masters of the Court of Federal Claims released their decisions in the second round of Omnibus Autism Proceeding (OAP) claims. Once again, the OAP has failed children with autism that exhibited regression after their routine childhood vaccinations. All three cases: Mead, King and Dwyer were denied compensation.

First off, what is the OAP?

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-660) created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) in 1988. The VICP was created to ensure there was an adequate supply of vaccines and stabilize vaccine costs. Prior to this Act, there were only a handful of drug companies that producing vaccines. These companies faced lawsuits in civil court when their vaccines caused injuries. The drug companies lobbied for liability protection and the Act was passed.

A responsibility of the VICP was to establish and maintain an accessible and timely venue for individuals found to be injured by vaccines. The VICP was developed to be a no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines. The U. S. Court of Federal Claims that decides these claims in court is commonly referred to as vaccine court. Damages are paid to individuals from a government-maintained fund. Drug companies can no longer be sued in a civil court of law until the claim has gone through the VICP. For more information go to: HRSA Vaccine Compensation.

The VICP was set up for individuals who suffered an “on-the-table” vaccine injury. That is an injury that happened within minutes or hours after receiving a vaccine.

In 2001, parents of children with autism started filing claims with VICP. These claims were considered “off-the-table,” meaning the vaccine injury did not occur “on-the-table” or at the time of injection. In July of 2002, the Special Masters (the term used for “judges” in vaccine court) established the procedure for addressing these claims and the Omnibus Autism Proceeding (OAP) was born. It was at that time that parents started flooding OAP with claims. More than 5500 claims have been filed in the program to date.
For more information on the Omnibus cases & decision click HERE.

Who are the Mead, King and Dwyer families?

The Mead, King and Dwyer are families with many similarities. All three families have boys with autism. All of the boys in these cases are the same age, 12 years old. Each family reported that their sons developed typically during the first year of their lives and then suffered a regression after their routine pediatric vaccines were administered. William Mead and Jordan King are both from Portland, Oregon while Colin Dwyer is from Queens, New York. Interestingly, William Mead was developing so typically that he was a model for Pottery Barn.

TACA would like to take this time to recognize the extraordinary efforts of the Mead, King and Dwyer families along with their attorneys. These brave families put their children on the line for more than 5500 children in the OAP. Their attorneys fought a brilliant battle in a very rigid court. These courageous families and their attorneys are truly our heroes.

When were these cases heard? What was the causation theory behind these cases?

These cases were heard in May and July of 2008. These three families were chosen as test cases number four, five and six in the OAP under the causation theory number two. Theory number two states that the thimerosal contained in the vaccines these boys were administered was the sole reason for their injuries.

Weren’t there decisions in the OAP last year? What was the causation theory in those OAP Cases?

Last February the same court denied compensation to the first three OAP cases (Cedillo, Hazlehurst and Snyder) which had a different theory of causation. Those cases theorized that the first three children had suffered an injury due to the combination of thimerosal containing vaccines and damage done from the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Read more information on the first OAP cases at TACA HERE.

Analysis of all OAP decisions

Hindsight is always 20/20. The analysis I wrote for the first round of OAP decisions was far too optimistic. I mistakenly theorized that the reason the first verdicts took 19 months to conclude was due to a close call the Special Masters must have had when coming to their decisions. I no longer hold that opinion.

While I recognize that the Special Masters had the herculean task of sifting through thousands upon thousands of pages of evidence, I believe it took over a year for the Special Masters to carefully choose the language in their verdicts to send the message that the OAP will not award compensation to children with autism. The Vaccine Court seems to be more concerned about protecting the perception of safety in the current vaccine schedule than compensating the children who were harmed in the immunization program.

This opinion change was confirmed today when the Special Masters concluded that Mead, King and Dwyer families did not meet their burden of proof. I’d like to point out that the government did not offer any other explanation for these boys’ regressions, other than to claim that it was a vague, nonspecific genetic cause for which there was not a shred of evidence.

I attended the OAP hearings in 2007 and 2008. I was full of hope this was the venue that would finally lead to justice for vaccine-injured children. I was optimistic as I watched the parents testify and watched their dedicated attorneys fight for their clients. Unfortunately, I now view the OAP as a program where government attorneys defend a government program using government-funded science before government judges. This is hardly fair and I am afraid we never had a chance for justice for these children.

Is there any hope?

I know this all sounds very bleak. However, there are many reasons why there is still hope for children with autism who suffered vaccine reactions.

1. These three decisions will be appealed. The appeal process begins immediately in the OAP.

2. Bruesewitz v. Wyeth—On March 8, the Supreme Court voted in favor of hearing this vaccine injury case. The issue in this case is not whether or not the child was harmed by a vaccine, rather the Supreme Court will decide on whether or not parents have the right to sue a drug company outside of the VICP. Mary Holland, Esq. and Jim Moody, Esq. wrote a wonderful article on this upcoming case for the Age of Autism. Read more HERE.

3. Theresa Cedillo and Michael Cedillo v. Secretary of Health and Human Services—This amicus curae brief was filed in February backed by twenty-three autism organizations in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Read more HERE.

4. The above legal cases will take many months to move forward which allows more time for science to develop. This could possibly help our side of the argument.

5. The Dr. Poul Thorsen situation is still evolving. Dr. Thorsen was a lead scientist in the Danish studies conducted in 2003 that showed that vaccines and autism were unrelated. Dr. Thorsen is now missing with $2 million of Danish Universities’ money. Read more of this explosive story HERE.

6. The Hannah Poling and Bailey Banks cases. These two children with autism were awarded compensation for damage done to them during their routine childhood vaccinations. The difference for these two children was their cases were heard outside of the OAP and were compensated for conditions like seizure disorder and encephalopathy. Read more about Hannah Poling and Bailey Banks: Poling HERE and Bailey-Banks HERE.

7. One in four parents now believes in the autism/vaccination connection! And no wonder. There is substantial evidence that a susceptible set of children have reacted to their vaccines. The number of children with autism has been skyrocketing for years and there is still no explanation from the government or the medical establishment for the increase. Read more at CBS News HERE.

8. The newly formed Coalition for Vaccine Safety is spear heading many new vaccine safety initiatives including the call for Congressional Hearings on this topic. For more information on this coalition click HERE.

I ended last year’s decision analysis with “this fight is not over.” I feel even more devoted to that statement this year. While I do think the OAP is broken, needs reform and provides very little chance that any child will receive compensation from it, I don’t think the vaccine and autism connection issue is dead. This fight is far from over.

Rebecca Estepp is Media Relations Director for TACA.

NAA:

Justice Once Again Denied to Vaccine Injured Children

The National Autism Association is disappointed but not surprised by the decisions made public March 12, 2010 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in three thimerosal test cases. These decisions reflect the corruption of a broken system that is rooted in protecting the country’s vaccine program at all costs, and not in compensating children who have been injured by vaccines.

Ironically, it is the government’s negligence in maintaining proper oversight of vaccine safety issues, and then refusing to compensate those injured by vaccines, that is eroding public confidence in the vaccine program. Our government health agencies continue to demonstrate complete loyalty to a vaccine program known to have caused autism and other serious injuries to children.

Because these latest decisions in vaccine court are the end result of a corrupt legal process and a blatant disregard for vaccine safety, we are asking Congress to investigate the Department of Health and Human Services and its subordinate agencies for their role in overseeing vaccine safety issues. These agencies are charged by both federal law and ethical responsibility to ensure that vaccines are as safe as possible. To become a part of this crucial effort to hold federal health agencies accountable for vaccine safety, please visit NAA's Autism Action Center at http://naa.kintera.org/actioncenter.