The CDC to Study Vaccine Induced Encephalopathy!

Finally! The CDC's Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network is currently looking for subjects to "evaluate the association between viral vaccines and encephalopathy/encephalitis through a detailed evaluation of children with encephalopathy/encephalitis as well as control children".

Their message to doctors:

"If you have a patient who you think might be eligible for the study, please complete the following two questions and provide your contact information. We thank you for your help in this important study."

This is a HUGELY important subject, one we have been waiting for them to examine, and we want to make sure that they have all the subjects they need for this study, so please take a moment to see if your child might be a candidate.

Does your child have an encephalopathy?

According to HHS's Vaccine Injury Compensation Table symptoms are:

Loss of eye contact
Seizures
Not responding to external stimuli
Seems disconnected from the world around them

And the Merck Manual notes that these symptoms can be preceded by:

Nonspecific Gastrointestinal disorders.

If this sounds like your child, because boy howdy it sounds just like mine, call your pediatrician and let him know about the study to see if your child indeed has an encephalopathy and should be enrolled!

Oh wait... hold on a second... there are some exclusion criteria... Let me check them out...

Ok... so if your child has the above, but DOESN'T have:

A history of medical disease
A history of congenital problems
A history of developmental delay
Any immune system dysfunction
Any family history of immune dysfunction
Fevers and Seizures with in 72 hours

THEN they want to study them to see if their encephalopathy might have anything to do with their vaccines. You know, the HEALTHY kids with encephalitis.

So as long as the swelling in your child's brain that was caused by vaccines didn't cause or was not related to any of the above symptoms, CDC wants to get to know your child.

But that pretty much counts our all our kids... now doesn't it.

Never mind.


UPDATE:   The day this post went up, the site with the study on it went down.  Quite a coincidence.

I check the wayback machine and found that the call out for this study, which can be found here, was posted at the end of 2004.  Was it ever undertaken? 

Since the study has been there for almost four years, and went down the day that I wrote about it, I am just going to go ahead and assume that the correlation of these two events is likely more than just a temporal association.

Recent Vaccine Deaths

In the last few months there have been a LOT of reports of vaccine related deaths and one death of an autistic child at school by suffocation.

I have been avoiding posting these stories because, as I have mentioned before, writing about stores like these is difficult for me. I spend ten minutes writing about it and two hours recovering from it.

This has only been made worse by our personal experience in the last several weeks.

But I need to start reporting this stuff. Heaven knows NBC News isn't gonna do it.

So I will start posting links to the stories with out comment. Please don't interpret the lack of my usual verbosity on subjects of such gravity as a dismissal of their importance.

Childhood vaccinations suspended at Genesis pediatric clinics

Hey Dr. Gerberding.. What is this "Autism-Like Syndrome"

"While we recognize, and have recognized, mitochondrial disorders are associated with... autism-like syndrome, there is nothing about this situation that should be generalized to the risks of vaccines for normal children," said Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. - The Washington Post

Hey Julie... What is this "Autism-Like Syndrome" you speak of?

How does it differ from actual "Autism"?

Does my child have "Autism" or "Autism-Like Syndrome"?

Where is my resource to find out about this "Autism-Like Syndrome" that CDC has recognized both now and in the past that is associated with mitochondrial disorders? I have checked the CDC's web site and can't find anything.

Are there some case studies you can point me to?

Is this the same as the "Symptoms of Autism" that Hannah Poling got from her Vaccines?

Is this the same thing as "Vaccine Induced Encephalopathy"? 'Cause that has the symptoms of autism too.

Is CDC going to put out an "Autism-Like Syndrome Alarm" like the Autism Alarm that you put out for pediatricians so that they can tell the difference between these syndromes, correctly diagnose their patients and get them appropriate care?

What about a "Vaccine Induced Encephalopathy Alarm"? I just talked to a soon to be pediatrician graduating from med school who said she was not taught about Vaccine Induced Encephalopathy. She had never heard of it. Pretty poor on the medical establishments part not to teach their own doctors to look for known, permanent, kinda brain damagie side effects of pharmaceuticals that they are administering DOZENS OF TIMES A DAY!

Wait... CDC lady... aren't you the one who is supposed to be setting standards for medical care in this country? Have you not made sure that medical doctors look for medical conditions like Vaccine Induced Encephalopathy that explains "Autism Like" symptoms right off the bat?

I mean shouldn't doctors rule that out first before jumping to a psychological diagnosis of Autism with 'no cause and no cure'?

And how can they rule out that diagnosis if they are never even taught of it's existence? Hmmmm....

... and what about your comment about not generalizing vaccine damage in children with mitochondrial disorders to "normal" children? Which are the "normal" children?

Hannah Poling seemed to everyone a "normal" child before her vaccine induced, mitochondrial related, regression into "encephalopathy" with "autism like" "symptoms" that was diagnosed as "autism".

My son was "normal" too. Or was he? How can I know?

If we can't see the not "normal" kids with the naked eye, then why are we not testing for not "normal"? Or should pediatricians just be checking birth certificates for any child named "Abby Normal" and assume THAT is the "rare" child who has an undiagnosed mito disorder and will get "Autism Like Syndrome" from vaccines?

Come to think of it, if Hannah didn't show any outward symptoms that she was not "normal", how can ANY parent know that their baby is "normal"?

This is all so confusing for my tiny little, desperate, emotional, non vaccine expert, parent mind. I better rest it before I give myself a headache.

So many questions... absolutely no answers.

Speaking of no answers, I have been emailing CDC since March asking for those "15 good studies" that CDC stands behind and is basing it's "no link between vaccines and autism" stance on. I just keep getting responses that CDC will get back to me.

It has been three months. If you don't have 15 good studies that prove no link, then can you just send me a note to that effect so I can stop bugging you guys every two weeks?

But seriously...

When is the media going to stop giving CDC a pass on these increasingly absurd statements? Shankar Vedantam is given the chance to actually question a 'vaccine expert' who is an autism dad and should have answered to these essential questions to his satisfaction before spiking the vaccine autism connection, and there is no sign that any of these important questions were even considered. But we did find out that Hotez is insulted at the idea that anyone would cover up a vaccine/autism connection.

Has the medical community not noticed that we don't care if anyone is insulted by this anymore? Because that concern was last seen somewhere in the spring of 2004 around the time of the IOM "don't even bother looking at vaccines" decision. And the Simpsonwood transcripts put the last nail in that coffin.


Dear Media,

DO YOUR JOB!

Autistic children have been being paid from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund for more than 15 years!!! How many clues do you need that there is a big fat link between vaccines and autism before you call shenanigans on the AAP, CDC and HHS!

How much easily disprovable "Bullshit" do they need to shovel for you guys to report that their story is not adding up?

... and Shankar, I feel for the thousands of African children struggling with diseases that I have never heard of before, but the reason that I have never heard of them before, is because they are not a threat to my American child. Please stop trying to change the subject of the American autism epidemic by mentioning that other diseases exist in other places. Either vaccines can cause autism or they can't. The fact that they also may or may not help with other illness does not change that. Safety and effectiveness are two different issues.

... and please stop falling for this "talking about vaccines and diet treatments distracts from genetic biomarkers" crap. Untold millions in research has been poured into genetic causes for three or four decades now with ZERO applicable results and with a comparative nothing going into treatments that are actually working for our kids. Do your research before quoting a college sophomore. You are using up valuable space in one of the world's most influential papers interviewing a 19 year old who 'might' study autism one day.

Julie Gerberding has already gone on TV and admitted that vaccines can cause autism and explained how it happens. Please get your head out of the sand.

God bless the few of you reporters that are out there doing your jobs for real. I hope you all get Pulitzers when this is done with.

Ginger... getting snarky and annoyed

Top 10 Reasons NJ Needs Vaccine Exemptions

Top 10 Reasons NJ Needs the Conscientious Exemption to Mandatory Vaccinations Bill A260/S1071

1. Vaccination is the only mandated medical procedure whereby adverse reactions pose significant health risks to children.

Adverse reactions to one vaccine include: Encephalitis (brain damage), Diabetes, Arthritis, Anaphylaxis, nerve deafness, febrile convulsions and seizures, Pneumonia, Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), atypical measles and death. Source: MMR II Package Insert, Merck: 12/2007.

2. Vaccination is the only medical procedure that does NOT require industry-standard, double-blind, placebo-controlled safety studies.

Vaccination studies are NOT performed according to the industry-standard protocol: instead, both sets of children are administered vaccines and then analyzed for adverse reactions, efficacy, etc. A “placebo-controlled” unvaccinated group is never used in studies. An example of these flawed studies is as follows: Ten double-blind studies involving 2,252 subjects showed no significant difference in the frequency or severity of adverse experiences between ENGERIX-B and plasma-derived vaccines. Source: SmithGlaxoKline Vaccine Package Insert: 12/2006. U.S. populations of unvaccinated children are readily available for studies: children with religious and/or medical vaccine exemptions; children (15,000) in the Chicago-area HomeFirst practice; and the Amish population. Additionally, vaccines are NOT evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or potential to impair fertility. MOST, if not all, vaccine studies are actually performed by the vaccine manufacturers themselves.

3. Vaccination mandates the injection of known toxic ingredients into children.

Vaccine ingredients/mediums include neurotoxins, carcinogens, foreign denatured viruses, DNA derived from aborted fetal tissue, and antibiotics. Examples of vaccine ingredients include: aluminum* (heavy metal neurotoxin conclusively linked to Alzheimer's Disease and other neurological disorders.), formaldehyde (carcinogen), bovine casein (animal protein/foreign DNA), glutaraldehyde (dangerous toxin), monkey kidney cells (animal/foreign DNA), calf serum (animal/foreign DNA), neomycin sulfate and polymyxin B (antibiotics), yeast protein, diphtheria toxoid (foreign virus), tetanus toxoid (foreign virus), Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 poliovirus (foreign viruses). Source: Pediarix Package Insert, GlaxoSmithKline Biologics and Norvartis: 6/2007. Additionally, thimerosal is still found in most flu vaccines, now mandated annually for NJ children 6 to 59 months.

*According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Aluminum is now being implicated as interfering with a variety of cellular and metabolic processes in the nervous system and in other tissues (Aluminum Toxicity in Infants and Children,1996).

4. U.S. Federal and State Government agencies and the American Academy of Pediatrics have conflicts of interest and are NOT protecting our children.

On June 7-8, 2000, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) assembled an invitation-only meeting, entitled “Scientific Review of Vaccine Safety Datalink Information” at the Simpsonwood Conference Center in GA. There were fifty-two attendees, including high ranking officials from the CDC, FDA, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization and representatives from all major vaccine manufacturers, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth, and Aventis Pasteur. The objective of the conference was to discuss the findings of CDC epidemiologist, Tom Verstraeten, regarding a link between thimerosal in vaccines and a dramatic increase in autism and other neurological disorders as analyzed in the federal database of 100,000 children. In the end, the group withheld Verstraeten’s findings, and told other scientists that the data was lost. By the time the study was finally published three years later, Verstraeten was hired by GlaxoSmithKline and the data was adjusted to discredit the link between thimerosal and autism. Source: Simpsonwood Transcripts, 2000; Robert Kennedy Jr., Deadly Immunity; Rolling Stone,1995.

Another example of conflict of interest: Paul Offit, MD, of University Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia, is a member of the CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee and was one of the members who voted to add the rotavirus vaccine to the Vaccines for Children’s program. Offit is a patent holder of a rotavirus vaccine and admitted to receiving $350,000 in grant money from Merck to develop the vaccine. The rotavirus vaccine was approved by the FDA in August 1998, then recommended by the CDC for universal use in March 1999. During safety trials and the vaccine’s introduction, children developed serious bowel obstructions and many had to undergo surgery, while some died from intussusception . The vaccine was pulled from the U.S. market in October 1999. According to a federal hearing on conflicts of interest, Rep. Dan Burton stated, “No individual who stands to gain financially from the decisions regarding vaccines that may be mandated for use, should be participating in the discussion or policy making for vaccines.” He went on to say that the CDC "routinely allows scientists with blatant conflicts of interest to serve on intellectual advisory committees that make recommendations on new vaccines," even though they have "interests in the products and companies for which they are supposed to be providing unbiased oversight." The House Government Reform Committee discovered that four of eight CDC advisors who approved guidelines for a rotavirus vaccine "had financial ties to the pharmaceutical companies that were developing different versions of the vaccine." Source: FACA: Conflicts of Interest and Vaccine Development: Preserving the Integrity of the Process, June 15, 2000.

In first quarter 2008, Offit participated with Dr. Eddy Bresnitz, former NJ Deputy Health Commissioner, at a Vaccine Ethics Panel in Philadelphia. Eddy Bresnitz, NJ Deputy Health Commissioner and state epidemiologist, recently announced he is leaving public office to become Merck’s medical director of adult vaccines.

5. Informed Consent is limited or non-existent because vaccine manufacturers and physicians bear NO liability for vaccine injuries and deaths.

Vaccine manufacturers and doctors bear NO liability for vaccine injury or death once a vaccine is mandated or recommended for the Childhood Vaccination Program, as stipulated in the U.S. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act of 1986. This act also established VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System), a government tracking system for vaccine injuries and deaths: 236,756 vaccine adverse reactions, including deaths, were reported between Jan 1990 and Feb 2008, by doctors and individuals. Inherent in this legislation, physicians no longer represent their patients, but act as agents of the state in requiring their patients be vaccinated. Parents are consistently not informed of the risks of vaccination vs. the diseases, nor have the ability to make informed vaccine choices through a conscientious exemption.

6. Nineteen other states currently have the conscientious/philosophical exemption.

Currently nineteen other states provide its citizens with the right to informed consent for vaccinations by providing them with a conscientious/philosophical exemption to mandatory vaccinations. NJ Parents deserve these same basic rights. In 2003, Jane Orient MD, FACP, executive director of the Assn. of American Physicians and Surgeons stated, “Parents should be offered vaccines for their children, with full disclosure, and without the pressure of a "requirement." The question remains, why is it that children need 36 vaccines for fear of rampant disease epidemics and the notion that children will become sick and/or die; yet the currently “undervaccinated” population of adults in our country who received eight or so vaccines as children and whose “protection” dwindled within a few years, are not causing epidemics or ill and dying from Chicken pox, diphtheria, polio, mumps, Hepatitis B or any other diseases?

7. The NJ vaccine mandate process bypasses our legislative process and is managed by the Public Health Council, a Government-appointed panel.

New Jersey’s childhood vaccines are voted on and mandated by the Public Health Council, a Governor-appointed panel of 7 voluntary members. The PHC members are NOT representative of NJ citizens, are NOT an elected body, may have conflicts of interest, and consistently ignore public comment. New Jersey deserves the right to have all medical procedures, especially those that are recommended to be mandated, pass through our state legislature and include thorough, unbiased review, a full public hearing and inclusion of public comment.

8. Vaccination has been proven to cause Autism.

In 2007, Hannah Poling, the first of 4,900 autism cases being considered by Federal Vaccine Court, was conceded by US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, confirming a causal link between vaccines and autism. According to a CNN Interview (March 28, 2008) with CDC director, Julie Gerberding, she admitted that Hannah Poling’s “autism-like symptoms were caused by vaccine-induced fever.” Additionally, Dr. Bernadine Healy, former NIH director and a cardiologist, stated publicly that when she began researching autism and vaccines she “found credible published, peer-reviewed scientific studies that support the idea of an association. The government has quite simply refused to conduct the studies, so others have come forward.”

In June 2007 an independent national research firm, SurveyUSA, posted results of an extensive survey “of more than 9,000 boys in California and Oregon and found that vaccinated boys had a 155% greater chance of having a neurological disorder like ADHD or autism than unvaccinated boys." - Generation Rescue, June 26, 2007: Data was gathered by SurveyUSA, a national market research firm, which surveyed parents on more than 17,000 children (http://www.generationrescue.org/survey.html). It must be noted that New Jersey has the most mandated vaccines throughout the world and the highest rates of Autism.

Also, since 1991, when the CDC and FDA recommended three additional thimerosal-containing vaccines for infants, the estimated number of autism cases increased fifteenfold, from one in every 2,500 children to one in 166. According to Dr. Bill Weil, an American Academy of Pediatrics consultant attending the meeting, “You can play with this all you want; the results are statistically significant.” Source: Simpsonwood Transcripts, 2000.

9. The current religious and medical exemptions in NJ are often challenged and have inconsistent requirements.

School principals/nurses, and preschool directors, as well as NJ Health Department officials often challenge and reject vaccine exemptions submitted by parents. The approval process for vaccine exemptions is inconsistent and confusing. Additionally, the religious exemption is all-or-nothing and does not allow a parent to make informed choices. For instance, many parents are aware of the ineffectiveness of the flu vaccine and do not want to give it to their child, but parents cannot choose to eliminate one vaccine from their child’s schedule; they must reject all vaccines. There are no options.

10. The premise that a certain number of our children may become disabled and die so that other children may escape a possible disease is unethical and unacceptable.

Does our state government have the ethical right to require that a number of children die so other children can possibly avoid a disease? As citizens and parents, we expect and deserve the right to protect our own children. Children are dying every day from adverse reactions of vaccinations; in fact, the Federal Vaccine Court compensates families $250,000 for each child proven to have died as a result of vaccination. The Federal Court web site verifies that more than 12,500 claims have been filed since creation of the program in 1987, including more than 5,300 autism cases, and more than $1.7 billion has been paid in claims. Shouldn’t parents have the right to informed consent in order to determine the risk they are willing to accept for their own children? Are you willing to sacrifice your child for the sake of others?

NJ Needs Vaccination Choice, not MORE Mandates.

Since 1983, there has been a 260% increase in vaccine mandates for NJ children. As of December 2007, NJ just mandated four new vaccines for our children, as young as 2 months old. NJCVC and other organizations are voicing opposition to the disturbing trend. Parents should have the right to informed consent regarding vaccinations for their children, just as they do with any medical procedure. Dr. Lawrence Rosen, a board certified pediatrician and Chief of Pediatric Integrative Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center notes, “There are risks associated with all medical practices, including vaccines, so it is important for parents, along with their doctors, to evaluate an individual child’s medical history and health, including genetic predispositions and allergies, to determine what is appropriate. Informed consent is a key ethical principle in medical practice.”
We thank the current 10 senators and 25 Assemblypersons who are sponsors of bill A260/S1071 and ask others to support this important legislation by making it into NJ law as soon as possible.

Sharyl Attkisson Reports on the Governmnets "See No Evil" Behavior

CBS is catching on to the fact that the government does not ask the questions that one would naturally ask if they actually wanted to know if and how vaccines cause autism.

And she correctly points out that the question of "Do vaccines cause autism" is now off the table with the Hannah Poling case. The question now in play is "How to vaccines cause autism".

Vaccine Watch
by Sharyl Attkisson
June 19, 2008, 10:34 AM
(AP)

After a decade of denying any possible association between vaccines and autism, the government quietly settled a vaccine-autism case last fall. When news of the case leaked out to the public months later, government officials labelled the case of Hannah Poling an "anomoly." The truth is, nobody is in a position to know whether Hannah's case is an exception. Government officials have told CBS News that they have not tracked vaccine-autism claims to see how many of them might involve children with the same undetected mitochondrial disorder Hannah had... one that may have made her susceptible to side effects from vaccines, triggering her autism. Government officials have also acknowledged to CBS News that they haven't looked for common denominators in other autism-related cases which have been compensated in federal vaccine court. Yes, there are other cases that have been paid. As CBS News has reported, the government has been settling vaccine injuries that resulted in autism and/or autistic symptoms since at least the early 1990's, while at the same time telling the public there is no cause for concern. Not all of the cases are published, but some of them are and can be found by searching legal case databases. That... with the help of some well-placed sources... is how CBS News turned up at least nine more cases... and counting. Considering that only a tiny fraction of vaccine-autism claims find their way to the little-known vaccine court, these cases are just a sampling of the total that may actually exist in the population. Further, according to knowledgeable sources, vaccine injuries compensated in the past due to encephalopathy (or brain damage) "often" resulted in autism, but the autism label was not used. Again, the government does not track how many of the encephalopathy cases involved children who got autism or ADD after their vaccinations.

One important factor is often lost in the discussion of a handful of cases: the fact that the debate has shifted from whether vaccines have any relationship to some cases of autism... to what is the role of vaccines in some cases of autism. And how big is the pool of cases. If vaccines can trigger autism in any way, directly or indirectly, that contradicts all the rhetoric and dogma heard from many public and government health officials for the past decade. And it supports what many other researchers have been saying for a decade, often to deaf ears, even after they published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Which is probably why Hannah's case is resonating under the radar in the medical community. A government conference has now been scheduled for later this month to examine mitochondrial disorders like hers and autism or neurological "triggers" (i.e. vaccines). See below.

Workshop

Mitochondrial Disorders of Childhood: Testing, Potential Relationships to Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Triggers for Neurological Deterioration June 29, 2008

Workshop Goals and Objectives

"Mitochondrial Disorders of Childhood: Testing, Potential Relationships to Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Triggers for Neurological Deterioration" is a workshop to be held on Sunday June 29th after the close of the United Mitochondrial Disease Meeting in Indianapolis at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis. The workshop will convene 11 experts in mitochondrial disorders or autism to discuss how the neurology of mitochondrial disorders might inform autism research.

The conference is sponsored by a number of Federal agencies including DHHS, CDC, FDA, NINDS and NIMH. Observers are welcome as seating allows.

Location

Hyatt Regency Indianapolis

Julie Gerberding Tells Congress That The Verstraeten Study is Junk!

I am stunned.

I can't even think of a snarky comment to write.

My only question is, when is the press release from the CDC retracting Verstraeten coming out?

David Kirby "CDC: Vaccine Study Design "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading"

For those of you who may not understand the significance of this development, Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, has just taken down the tent pole arguement in the "vaccines don't cause autism" claim, on her own, with her bare hands.

UPDATE:

Pamella Addresses the AAP and All Star Pediatrics about the Gerberding report and their continued disrespect for parents.
The American Academy or Pediatrics in an Awkward Position after CDC Takes Thimerosal Safety Studies Off the Table

Two More Gardasil Deaths Bring The Total To Five

"Two Less" - Egran03

From Natural News:

Two More Girls Die After Receiving Gardasil Cervical Cancer Vaccination
by David Gutierrez


(NaturalNews) The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has reported that
two young women died shortly after receiving Merck's Gardasil, a
vaccine against several varieties of human papillomavirus (HPV).

Gardasil and Glaxo SmithKline's Cervarix protect against the two
strains of HPV that are responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancer
cases. Gardasil also protects against two HPV strains that cause 90
percent of genital warts.

The EMEA did not release the names or ages of the women who died, and
said the cause of death was still unknown. It described their deaths
as "sudden and unexpected."

"In both cases, the cause of death could not be identified. No causal
relationship has been established between the deaths of the young
women and the administration of Gardasil," the agency said.

The recent deaths mark the fourth and fifth to occur shortly following
vaccination with Gardasil and the first in Europe. Previously, three
young women, aged 12, 19 and 22, died in the United States within days
after receiving a Gardasil shot. In addition, 1,700 cases have been
reported of patients suffering non-lethal adverse reactions.

Health officials believe that adverse effects of medication are widely
underreported.

Starting in September, the United Kingdom's Department of Health is
launching a yearlong campaign to vaccinate British girls between the
ages of 11 and 13 with one of the HPV vaccines. The program is
expected to prevent 1,000 cervical cancer deaths per year, the
department says.

In response to the EMEA's announcement, the Department of Health said
it had no plans to reconsider the program or change its advice on
vaccination against HPV.

An estimated 1.5 million people in Europe have already received an HPV
vaccine.

In the United States, three states have passed laws mandating HPV
vaccines for school-age girls, and 38 others have considered similar laws.

Mandatory vaccination has been opposed by the American College of
Pediatrics and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Gardasil Turns an Active 13 Year Old Into A Quadriplegic

Another blog sprung from a tragic vaccine injury that didn't have to be:

Jenny's Journey

Jenny is a 14 year old with a rapidly progressing paralysis. We are looking for other people like her in an effort to find treatment....

URGENT APPEAL FOR MEDICAL GUIDANCE ON PERPLEXING NEUROLOGICAL CASE OF JENNY
Unusually Rapid decline from apparent lower motor neuron disease in a 14 year ild girl (Inset followed HPV vaccine in March 2007). Jenny is now Quadriplegic-- and in danger of further decline.

For access to detailed medical records, please request access code from JenTet.com Administrator ý[admin@jentet.com]ý and correspondence on diagnostic and treatment ideas to tetlock@haas.berkeley.edu

Many world-class MDs have been consulted and many treatments tried

Immunoglobulin, prednisone (oral and pulse), plasma pheresis, and Cytoxan, have been tried based on the assumption of an autoimmune process, with no apparent effect.

A mitochondrial cocktail has been tried based on the assumption of a mitochondrial disorder.

Lithium and Rilutek have been tried based on the assumption of a neurodegenerative disease.

Jenny may have had certain pre-existing autoimmune and/or genetic vulnerabilities that rendered her susceptible to a catastrophic reaction to the HPV vaccine. These include an autoimmune skin disease (pityriasis lichenoides), a maternal grandmother who died of progressive supranuclear policy, and a maternal cousin with severe autism/seizures. Jenny also has only a single copy of the SMN-2 gene (but otherwise does not satisfy the preconditions for SMA).

Any DAN docs out there with any ideas for Jenny?

Mandatory Forced Vaccination for NY: The Worst Vaccine Law Yet

If you are with in driving distance, please attend. This CANNOT be allowed to pass.

From NAA:

Parents Rally in Albany Against Forced Vaccination
Forwarded from our friends at NVIC www.nvic.org

Parents will rally in Albany, NY on Tuesday, June 10, to protest a vaccine bill (AB10942) that would mandate the 69 doses of 16 vaccines the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends for all children through age 18 plus would automatically mandate all new vaccines federal officials recommend in the future. Sponsored by the NY House Rules Committee at the request of NY State Health Commissioner Richard Daines, provisions in the legislation would force all children to get annual influenza shots as well as force child use of vaccines for sexually transmitted diseases, such as hepatitis B and HPV, without obtaining permission from parents.

The legislation would make unelected physicians, who are appointed to the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) by unelected CDC officials, de facto state lawmakers because CDC recommendations for new vaccine use by all children would be automatically turned into state mandates. Duly elected New York state legislators would no longer be accountable to the people who elected them and could look the other way when federal officials recommend every new vaccine produced by industry for "universal use" by every child born in America.

If New York and other states had already passed this kind of legislation before the poorly tested and highly reactive GARDASIL vaccine was recommended by the CDC in 2006 for universal use by all 11 year old girls, Merck would not have had to spend money mounting a national advertising and lobbying campaign in a failed attempt in 2007 to ram GARDASIL vaccine mandates through state legislatures. (Public health laws, including vaccine laws, are enacted by the states and not by the federal government).

Every new vaccine that industry has created and marketed for children in the last quarter century has been recommended by the CDC for universal use by all children, tripling the numbers of doses of vaccines pediatricians give children. During this same time period, the numbers of children suffering with chronic disease and disability has also tripled with no explanation coming from U.S. public health officials about why so many highly vaccinated children are so sick.

In what appears to be a classic act of collective political cowardice, NY Assembly Bill 10942 would force nearly six dozen doses of vaccines on children and many more in the future but there are no publicly named individual sponsors attached to the bill. The only sponsor listed is the "Rules Committee" headed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) . There is a lot of speculation about how much influence Merck and other vaccine manufacturers, as well as medical organizations and government officials pushing the forced vaccination political agenda, are bringing to bear on legislators behind the scenes.

Parents in New York claim that Assembly Speaker Silver is blocking passage of
AB 5468 for philosophical belief exemption to vaccination in the Assembly (there is a companion bill, SB 3031, in the state Senate). Current NY law only allows parents to file a medical or religious exemption to vaccination and both of these exemptions have become increasingly difficult to obtain in New York. Many parents are reporting that their religious exemptions are being denied or revoked after they have been grilled for hours by state attorneys and school officials about their spiritual beliefs. Some doctors practicing in New York are also reporting that they cannot write medical exemptions without being harassed by state health officials.

Parents protesting attempts by the pharmaceutical industry and government to force nearly six dozen vaccines on children or deny them an education, which limits their ability to hold a job and function in society, are also supporting Assembly Bill 3064 (also SB 1563) for religious exemption to vaccination that would prevent state officials from grilling parents about their religious beliefs for the purpose of denying a religious exemption to vaccination. This bill states that "this legislation is intended to protect parents from inappropriate and intrusive inquiry into their beliefs by government authorities" and already has numerous sponsors.

Parents are also supporting Assembly Bill 3180 (also SB 1575) for medical exemptions to vaccination to allow licensed physicians and certified nurse practitioners to write medical exemptions for children if they believe that "such immunization or immunizations may be detrimental to the person's health or is otherwise medically contraindicated for health reasons" without being subject to override by state health officials seeking to deny medical exemptions. This bill also already has numerous sponsors.

New York citizens, who want to attend the 11:30 a.m. June 10 rally and press conference on the steps of the Capitol Building (Swan St. side) in Albany, can get more information about bus transportation from Long Island, Rochester and suburban Albany as well as other details about the event at www.mykidsmychoice.com. After the rally, parents plan to meet with legislators and then attend a Health Committee meeting at 1 p.m. in the Legislative Office Building (Room 823).

For more information on contacting New York state legislators, go to
http://assembly.state.ny.us/. New York voters can type in their zip code and find contact information for their own Assemblyperson and Senator and voice their opinion. To find out more about contacting NY legislators on this issue, go to the website of A-Champ.

Rita Palma, a Bayport mother of three, said "Vaccines are under more scrutiny than ever. Yet some lawmakers pick right now to create a bill that actually increases vaccine mandates. This bill is a slap in the face to worried parents throughout New York. AB 10942 is being pushed by Big Pharma lobbyists. We need to show them that New Yorkers will not stand for this and make our voices heard."

Congratulations to the parents and those principled lawmakers in New York, who are standing up and being counted in support of legislation protecting the human right to informed consent to vaccination. Every American should have the right to hold sincere religious and conscientious belief convictions about whether or not to subject themselves or their children to harm from a pharmaceutical product, such as a vaccine, that carries an uncertain risk of injury or death.

Doctors are not infallible and the products drug companies create for profit are not always safe or effective for everyone. And no child in America should be subjected to vaccination or any other medical procedure without the informed consent of his or her parents. New York AB 10942 backed by Big Pharma and Big Government is a prescription for tyranny.

Stand Up! Be Counted. Your health and your freedom is on the line.

Vaccinated Primates Show Signs of Autism

I am on a deadline for work and can't do this justice, but it huge news, so go read the two pieces about it on Age of Autism.

Former Head Of NIH Says Time to Investigate Vaccines and Autism

Dr. Healy ups the anti after her U.S. News and World Report article.

She says that the medical community is to afraid of what they will find so they won't properly investigate the vaccine/autism connection, and that medicine has a duty to protect those vulnerable to vaccine injury.

A big thank you to Dr. Healy for speaking reasonable truth when so many doctors are speaking nonsense.

Vaccine Court Considers Autism Link
CBS News Exclusive: Former Head Of NIH Says Government Too Quick To Dismiss Possible Link






A second round of autism test cases begins Monday in federal vaccine court.

Tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Attkisson has exclusive interviews with the two families bringing the cases: two of nearly 5,000 autism cases that have been filed in this special court.

The government and many scientists have consistently maintained for more than a decade that there is no link between vaccines and autism. The Institute of Medicine issued a report in 2004 that was intended to put the controversy to rest, saying that the weight of the body of scientific evidence does not show a causal link between vaccines and autism. However, other scientists and parents disagree.

Attkisson interviewed Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former head of the National Institutes of Health and a member of the Institute of Medicine who breaks with her colleagues in this exclusive CBS News interview: Dr. Healy says the government has been too quick to dismiss the possibility of a vaccine-autism link, and that it should be explored with renewed vigor.

Monsanto GMOs: Arpad Pusztai Looks at the Potential Link to Autism

After writing my last piece on the questions on the link between GMO's and Autism based on the comments of Dr. Arpad Pusztai in "The World According to Monsanto", I wrote to Dr. Pusztai and asked if he thought the ideas may be plausible ones.

He has not read the post yet, as he is traveling, but after reading the summary of the ideas in my email to him, he thought that the idea that the adjuvant properties of GMO's are setting our kids up for vaccine injury was a plausible one.

Here is his response:

Unfortunately, I have not had the time to read your second bit but I shall do so soon. However, I have found your ideas on the possible adjuvant role of GMOs very convincing.

You know there is quite a bit of evidence that the Cry toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis are strong immune stimulants and also immune adjuvants. Moreover, in GM-peas (not commercially available) even the transgenically expressed bean alpha-amylase inhibitor (not allergenic in beans) becomes an allergen and and immune adjuvant when its gene is transferred to peas.

There is now ample evidence to reinforce our original observation... that one of the unintended and unpredicted consequences of genetic engineering is the inducement of immune changes in the recipients, particularly in their mucosal (gut) immune system.

I shall attach our 2006 scientific review in which you will find more material on this.

So, your idea that in addition to the adjuvants (thiomersal, aluminium, etc) used in vaccines, if the diets contain immune adjuvants originating from GMOs and in receptive individuals, one may reinforce the possibly unwanted immune consequences of vaccination. This may be one too many of the immune changes that contribute to the development of autism in a genetic subset of individuals.

I am sorry that your child may be one these unfortunate individuals. It is possible that you may shut the doors after the horses bolted but I very strongly advise you to keep an eye on your child's diet and avoid GM corn, GM rice, etc at all cost. Although the Americans have difficulties to maintain the GM free status of even organic foodstuffs, please, do your best to cut out all GM from the diet. Write to Ronnie Cummins at OCA (ronnie@organicconsumers.org) for advice if you have not done so already.

This is the paper he sent:

Biotechnological, molecular and ecophysiological aspects of nutrition: GMO in animal nutrition: potential benefits and risks

I have not read the paper yet, but will comment further after I have a chance to digest all this.

Blaylock on Mitochondria and Vaccines

Mitochondria and Vaccines
From Russell L. Blaylock M.D.

As the person who first proposed the microglial/excitotoxin hypothesis (JANA 2003;6(4): 21-35 and J. Amer Phys Surg 2004; 9(2): 46-51) I feel I should explain the connection between microglia/excitotoxicity and mitochondrail dysfunction. My hypothesis was confirmed two years later by Vargis, et al in which they demonstrated chronic levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines as well as microglia and astrocytic activation in the brains of 11 autistics from age 5 years to 44 years, even though they never mentioned excitotoxicity as a final mechanism. I wish to address the mitochondrial issue, which has become of major interest with the appearance of the Hannah Poling’s case.

In my original hypothesis, later expanded in a number of other articles, I explained that when the systemic immune system is overactivated, the brain’s special immune system, consisting of microglia and astrocytes, also becomes activated. The microglia normally remain in a quiescent state called ramified microglia. Upon activation, they swell, assume special immune receptors in their membranes and move within the extracellular space. In this activated state they act as immune presenting cells and can secrete a number of inflammatory chemicals, such as IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-12 and IL-18, TNF-alpha, chemokines, complement and two excitotoxins called glutamate and quniolinic acid. They also generate a number of powerful free radicals and lipid peroxidation molecules.

A number of studies have shown that when you use powerful immune adjuvants, as used in vaccines (especially when combined), this inflammatory/excitotoxic reaction within the brain is maximized. With the first vaccine (or natural infection) the brain’s microglia are in a semi-activated stated called primed. If you re-vaccinate the animal or person within 1 to 2 months, these primed microglia overreact intensely, pouring out even higher levels of the excitotoxins, inflammatory cytokines and free radicals. Each subsequent set of vaccinations worsens this process.

These inflammatory/excitotoxic secretions damage the developing brain, which is undergoing its most active development at the very time the child is receiving 24 vaccines. This vaccine schedule exposes the child to a priming HepB vaccine at birth, 6 vaccines at age 2 months, then 5 vaccines at age 4 months, 7 vaccines at 6 months and finally 8 antigens at age one year. Each successive multi-dose barrage of vaccines intensely activates the brain’s microglial system and the microglia activate the astrocytes, which also secretes, inflammatory cytokines, free radicals and excitotoxins.

Experiments in which this pattern of immune stimulation is simulated using a vaccine adjuvant, demonstrate that it produces significant disruption of brain development. The greatest damage in these experiments is to the cerebellum and frontal lobes, which is also the primary sites of damage in autism. Further, food allergins also act as brain microglial activators, thereby worsening and prolonging the original immune/excitotoxic effect produced by the vaccines.

So, how does mercury play into all this. Mercury in extremely small concentrations (nanomolar concentrations) can activate microglia, trigger excitotoxicity and induce significant mitochondrial dysfunction. Blocking the glutamate receptors (that trigger excitotoxicity) also blocks most of the neurotoxic effect of mercury at these concentrations. That is, most of lower-dose effects of mercury in the brain are secondary to excitotoxicity. The mitochondria produce most of the energy used by neurons and a number of studies have shown that suppressing mitochondrial function by itself is not enough to alter brain function, but it is enough to magnify excitotoxic damage. That is, it is the excitotoxicity that is disrupting brain function and development.

A newer study has shown conclusively, that mitochondrial activation using a vaccine adjuvant not only suppresses mitochondrial function but that the damage cause by this mitochondrial suppression is actually produced by excitotoxicity. Blocking excitotoxicity completely blocks the microglial-induced neurotoxicity and mitochondrial damage cause by the vaccine.

A great number of studies have shown that activating the systemic immune system repetitively worsens neurological disorders caused by other things and can initiate neurodegeneration itself, that is prolonged. The inflammatory cytokines interact with glutamate receptors to dramatically increase excitotoxic damage. We know that autistic children have elevated CSF and blood levels of glutamate, which confirms the presence of the excitotoxic process.

Basically, what we see is a process triggered by sequential, massive vaccination that primes and then activates the brain microglial/astrocytic system, triggering the release of massive amounts of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and excitotoxins. This suppresses the mitochondria and the resulting energy loss further worsening the excitotoxic damage. Because of continued immune activation systemically, both by food allergies and natural infections, the brain’s immune system remains in an active state, leading to suppression of brain pathway development and neural function. This is why the change in the vaccine policy beginning in the mid-1980s, triggered the epidemic of autism. The mercury just aggravated the process.

I warned a number of people and published my warning, that removing the mercury from vaccines would not stop the high incidence of autism, because it was just part of the picture. We must also appreciate that there are a great number of sources of mercury besides vaccine-mainly environmental and from dental amalgam.

For more information on this mechanism you can read my original articles on my website –www.russellblaylockmd.com. Also I have written more papers on my website under the heading -Information. All the information is free. I have several newer articles appearing in Medical Veritas and the Journal of Alternative Therapeutics in Health and Medicine.

Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.

HT: Sophia Lauren

Jon Poling: Mitochondrial Dysfunction Not Rare In Autism

Dr. Poling suggesting medically defining "Mitochondrial Autism". I have been calling it "Poling Syndrome".

No matter what it is called, "what Hannah has" has been determined by HHS to be a vaccine injury. It is time for the medical community to define it, find what the percentage of kids with it are, screen for it and catch it before it descends into the "symptoms of Autism".

And if the medical authorities won't hear it from me, hear it from Jon Poling:

"As a neurologist, I have cared for those afflicted with SSPE (a rare but dreaded neurological complication of measles), paralytic polio and tetanus. If these serious vaccine-preventable diseases again become commonplace, the fault will rest solely on the shoulders of public health leaders and policymakers who have failed to heed the writing on the wall (scribbled by my 9-year old daughter)."

Reform the vaccine schedule before everyone abandons it.

Father: Child's case shifts autism debate
By Jon S. Poling
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/11/08

Autism in the U.S. has reached epidemic levels, at 1 in 150 children. Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has recently upgraded autism to "an urgent health threat." The most contentious issue of the autism debate is the link to routine childhood vaccines. My daughter's case, Hannah Poling v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has changed this debate forever. Hannah has pointed us in a new and promising direction —- the mitochondria.

On Nov. 9, 2007, HHS medical experts conceded through the Department of Justice that Hannah's autism was triggered by nine childhood vaccinations administered when she was 19 months of age. This concession was granted without any courtroom proceedings or expert testimony, effectively preventing any public hearing discussing what happened to Hannah and why. Contrary to some reports, the Special Masters, "judges" who preside over the "vaccine court," did not issue a decision.

Four months later, on March 6, with trepidation my wife, Terry, and I stepped forward to announce this news —- providing hope and awareness to other families. The HHS expert documents that led to this concession and accompanying court documents remain sealed, though our family has already permitted release of Hannah's records to those representing the almost 5, 000 other autistic children awaiting their day in vaccine court.

Mitochondria key

To understand Hannah's case, it is important to understand mitochondria, which act like batteries in our cells to produce energy critical for normal function. Because the government's concession hinged on the presence of Hannah's underlying medical condition, mitochondrial dysfunction, some claim the decision is relevant to very few other children with autism. As a neurologist, scientist and father, I disagree.

Emerging evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction may not be rare at all among children with autism. In the only population-based study of its kind, Portuguese researchers confirmed that at least 7.2 percent, and perhaps as many as 20 percent, of autistic children exhibit mitochondrial dysfunction. While we do not yet know a precise U.S. rate, 7.2 percent to 20 percent of children does not qualify as "rare." In fact, mitochondrial dysfunction may be the most common medical condition associated with autism.

Biological markers

Although unlikely, if the Portuguese studies are incorrect and mitochondrial dysfunction were found to be a rarity occurring in less than 1 percent of all autism, it would still impact up to 10,000 children (250,000 worldwide), based on current estimates that 1 million people in the U.S. (25 million worldwide) have autism. If, on the other hand, the research showing that 7.2 percent to 20 percent of children with autism have mitochondrial dysfunction is correct, then the implications are both staggering and urgent.

Autism researchers do not currently understand whether mitochondrial dysfunction causes autism or is simply a secondary biological marker. Autism clearly has many different causes, and should really be separated into multiple autism(s). I propose that we clearly identify and research the subpopulation term of "mitochondrial autism," which is distinguished by its unique biological, but not genetic, markers.

Based on what we know now, it is time to follow the prestigious Institute of Medicine 2004 report regarding autism and vaccines:

"Determining a specific cause (for autism) in the individual is impossible unless the etiology is known and there is a biological marker. Determining causality with population-based methods requires either a well-defined at-risk population or a large effect in the general population."

A paradigm shift

When the IOM report was published, mitochondrial dysfunction defining an autistic subpopulation was not firmly established. Today there is no doubt that mitochondrial dysfunction represents a distinct autism subpopulation biological marker. I urge health officials and the IOM to embrace their own report and pursue this breakthrough in the science of autism. National public health leaders, including those at CDC, must now recognize the paradigm shift caused by this biological marker with regard to their current position of dispelling a vaccine-autism link.

In light of the Hannah Poling concession, science must determine more precisely how large the mitochondrial autism subpopulation is: 1 percent, 7.2 percent, 20 percent?

Based on the 2004 IOM analysis, if the mitochondrial autism subpopulation is found to be relatively uncommon, then all conclusions from prior epidemiological studies refuting an autism-vaccination link must be discarded. New studies then need to be performed exclusively with the mitochondrial subpopulation. If mitochondrial autism turns out to be common, then we could re-analyze the data from prior studies to determine if these studies were powered sufficiently based on a predicted effect size. If not powered appropriately, the conclusion refuting an autism-vaccine link would again have to be rejected. These statistical concepts are basic.

The current vaccine schedule, co-sponsored by the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, injures a small but significant minority of children, my daughter unfortunately being one of those victims. Every day, more parents and some pediatricians reject the current vaccine schedule. In an abundance of caution, meaningful reform must be performed urgently to prevent the re-emergence of serious diseases like polio or measles.

Need for research

As a neurologist, I have cared for those afflicted with SSPE (a rare but dreaded neurological complication of measles), paralytic polio and tetanus. If these serious vaccine-preventable diseases again become commonplace, the fault will rest solely on the shoulders of public health leaders and policymakers who have failed to heed the writing on the wall (scribbled by my 9-year old daughter).

The mitochondrial autism scenario that my daughter has so eloquently painted has the CDC and public health experts logically cornered. Denial and fear tactics won't close Pandora's Box. Whether we find that mitochondrial autism is rare or common, there is urgent research left to be done to fully understand the interrelationship of vaccines, autism and mitochondria.

Reform of the vaccine schedule will be an important part of the solution, whether vaccines play a major or minor role in autism. Our public health agencies and programs need a reconstruction plan. Day one of the reconstruction hopefully starts at the Vaccine Safety Advisory Committee's Working Group, to be held at HHS headquarters today in Washington.

Dr. Jon S. Poling is a practicing neurologist in Athens and clinical assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia.

Autism Parents Need A Seat At The Vaccine Table

This week I have been complaining that the actual 'vaccine debate' only began on the Larry King show last week. This is just another example of the closed debate that health authorities have where they ignore the points that parent want to make and keep from having to answer the questions parents are asking.

Call the NVAC and tell them it is time to deal with the problems and it is time to give us a seat at the table so that the real debate can continue where it counts.

From Safeminds:

Consumer Representation Squashed at Upcoming National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) Safety Group Meeting

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC), Vaccine Safety Working Group (VSWG) will meet for the first time on April 11, 2008 in Washington DC. The autism community's vaccine safety concerns are not represented within this panel.

The charter for NVAC calls for participation by representatives from "parent organizations concerned with immunization." In light of the recent VICP award to the Poling family, and other similar cases being discovered, as well as the continued growing concern regarding the autism vaccine link, SafeMinds has requested of NVAC, without response, an expansion of the current consumer representation of this group to include one of SafeMinds Directors (Dr. Vicky Debold, or Mr. Mark Blaxill) to more accurately balance and diversify views essential to the task of this workgroup.

Currently, adequate consumer representation with regard to vaccines and their safety is trumped by the over-representation by those with a financial stake in increased vaccination (industry and providers) and with a bias in favor of traditional population-based immunization policy.

SafeMinds continues to advocate for the following in order to protect our children from harm.

* A comprehensive study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated populations, or alternatively vaccinated populations is needed to accurately determine harm from mercury in vaccines and other toxicants. The Amish are one such group and there are others.
* · Vaccine studies must be conducted by individuals free from conflicts of interest with the vaccine industry and public health officials whose livelihood depends on vaccine promotion.
* The vaccine schedule must be tested for safety in terms of multiple vaccines being given during one visit and the overall number of vaccines in use for long-term adverse effects - it has never been done and should be integral to vaccine safety monitoring.
* Greater consumer representation within the work group and specific consumer representation of the autism vaccine concerns by SafeMinds Directors Dr. Vicky Debold and Mr. Mark Blaxill.

TAKE ACTION NOW - REQUEST THAT THE AUTISM-VACCINE CONCERNS HAVE A SEAT AT THE TABLE!

Concerns can be sent to the following NVAC representatives. All requests should be copied to Dan Salmon to be a part of the official record for the April meeting and must be submitted by 4pm EST on April 9th.

CONTACT

Guthrie S. Birkhead, MD MPH
Chairman, NVAC
sxc17@health.state.ny.us; fax 518 486-1455

Bruce G. Gellin, MD, MPH
Executive Secretary, NVAC
bruce.gellin@hhs.gov; fax 202-690-7560

Daniel Salmon,
Vaccine Safety Specialist
daniel.salmon@hhs.gov

UPDATE:

From Kelli Ann Davis:

Posted by: "Kelli Ann Davis" kellianndavis@hotmail.com
Wed Apr 9, 2008 10:45 am (PDT)

Just got out of a meeting this morning with Dan Salmon, Bruce Gellin and Dr. Raub (Secretary Leavitt's Science Advisor) on this issue.

As a result of on-going communications over the past 5 weeks, the Panel now consists of a section entitled "Interacting with the Public" and includes Barbara Loe Fisher, Peter Bell, Lisa Randall (Voices for Vaccines) and Catherine Morris (Keystone -- Business focused on Public Engagement strategies)

There is also an hour segment after this panel's presentations for public comment.

During my meeting today, I made know my specific desire to have Mark Blaxill be a part of the Vaccine Safety Working Group.

Dr. Gellin assured me that the composition of the committee is not "set in stone" and that they are looking for feedback during this meeting to get an overall view of the requests that come in regards to specific suggests for the addition of public members to the Working Group.

I would strongly suggest that people call and ask for Mark's addition to the Working Group.

I will be first up during public comment time and I plan on reiterating my request for Mark once again.

Bottom Line: They know this is important in the wake of the Hannah Poling case and are open to our suggestions.

Kelli

My Letter:

Dr. Gellin, Dr. Birkhead and Mr. Salmon,

I am an autism blogger and autism mom who has been harshly critical of HHS and CDC for their actions and inactions in the vaccine/autism story.

It is my understanding that you are considering adding Mark Blaxill as an addition to the Vaccine Safety Working Group.

I cannot encourage you strongly enough to take this action.

Mr. Blaxill is a bright and distinguished member of our community. His addition to the process of vaccine safety would go a long way toward rebuilding the trust that parents like me have lost in HHS.

I would love to be able to tell my readers that HHS is beginning to take vaccine safety seriously by seating someone at the table who will ask the hard questions that are needed to ensure the health and safety of American children.

Sincerely,
Ginger Taylor, M.S.
AdventuresInAutism.com

The American Academy of Pediatrics Shows Up in Autism Treatment

The Defeat Autism Now! Conference was last weekend and the big news was not that Jenny McCarthy showed up, but that the American Academy of Pediatrics showed up.

After years of inaction and obfuscation, this was action number two taken by the AAP in just one week.

AAP not only showed up, from what I can put together, they really listened. They saw that the doctors presenting were their doctors and that the families in the audience were their patients. They got that the research and the interventions had a solid base and that medical approach to treating what is currently diagnosed as ‘autism’ has already begun with out them. They got that it is time for them to begin investing in what we have started.

I hear that they understand the multisystem failure that is going on in our kids and the multi system approach that is needed to address it.

I think they got a taste of how wrong it has been that parents complaints to, and questions of, doctors have been treated with such hostility, and that doctors who spoke up for our children were ostracized.

… and I got the feeling that they might even have been a little impressed with the way that our community has taken back an entire arena of medicine from drug companies and insurance companies and hospital systems and all other things big medicine.

The first step in building bridges, real relationships, is to show up and listen. They have done that.

But now comes the hard part for the AAP… what to do with that information. They know it is real, they know that we are on the level, and they know that the treatments are working. Can they take that and do what really needs to be done, no matter where the trail leads?

Are they ready to announce that vaccines are the big trigger? I don’t think so. I would be surprised if they were ready to do that yet. Vaccination changed their profession dramatically, and for the better, and to come to terms with the fact that it has crossed the line and gone too far… to admit out loud that they have caused so much damage… that will be very difficult. Not just for the AAP body as a whole, but for each individual pediatrician.

Are they ready to start participating in real research with us? I think they very well might be on treatment options, but good vaccine research, a real vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study? That is the million dollar question.

In this Age of Autism (to borrow from Dan Olmsted), where parents like me have been burned and burned hard, action talks and bullshit walks. We watch every move that docs make and judge carefully who is really looking out for the best interests of our vulnerable children, and who is looking out for their own interests.

I have, in no way, hidden my contempt for the actions of the AAP over the last decade for what they have and have not done in the autism epidemic, and for the potential disaster that will take place if in fact David Tayloe does take charge of this body.

But the current leadership of the AAP has gotten my attention with their actions in the last week. I think that they are in a rare moment in time where a state of flux is occurring, and there is a possibility of them turning a corner and making a real attempt to redeem themselves.

Voices that are usually squelched are being heard.

I think this is a fragile window. Failing to continue to move forward with real action, and assuming that reverting to bullshit public statements will placate autism moms and dads, would start closing that window quickly. The reign of David Tayloe would kill it stone dead.

I have a few words of advice for the AAP if they are concerned with stopping the slide of public trust and keeping the vaccine program from crumbling:

1. Say goodbye to your ego.

If you got into this business to be treated like the big guy and want to stay the big guy, then you will only get in the way of bringing our children back. If you can get past yourself, you will start to see beautiful stories of healing in families that have been devastated. You have the chance to become a part of something amazing that is happening in families who were told that their child was no longer functional and should be put away. Choose to see life return even at the expense of your pride (and your Mercedes and your vacations).

2. Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No matter what happens, no matter the fall out, no matter the shame. You have one chance here to clean out the cancer that is the lies that have been told to American parents by the CDC about vaccine safety. If you take this time to CYA, then you won’t get another chance.

3. Find a nice, dignified excuse to set David Tayloe aside as the next AAP president and choose someone of integrity and character like Jay Gordon who will treat vaccine injury with seriousness and the intricacies human body with humility. I personally won’t listen to any doctor who listens to David Tayloe.

4. Actually participate in real vaccine debate. When what passes for a debate only includes those whose livelihood depends on vaccination continuing, it is not a real debate.

What has been referred to as the ‘vaccine debate’ for the last four years since the IOM decision has looked like this: A panel of doctors from the CDC, AAP, IOM, NIH, HHS having mutual admiration society catered by GSK while congratulating themselves on eradicating polio and rubella, inside a building owned by a hospital that is owned by an insurance company that is owned by Merck, while parents and the doctors who listen to them and heal their children are locked outside banging on the door trying to get in.

None of the parents’ points, complaints or questions are addressed, and if one does manage to get in, she is told to sit down or is escorted from the building.

Literally.

Registered nurse, Lyn Redwood, one of the first mercury moms, a very smart, dignified and soft spoken woman who had testified before congress, when attending a CDC public meeting, asked why the committee would not state a preference for pregnant women to get thimerosal free vaccines. She was told to sit down.

When CDC held a press conference on vaccines in 2005, we went to the HHS building in DC, but weren’t allowed in the room to ask questions. Parents were escorted to a ‘holding area’ with a TV so we could watch it remotely. Lyn was there with us.

Later, we tried to talk directly to pediatricians. Generation Rescue, a brand new organization at the time, rented a booth at the 2005 AAP convention in DC, and Lyn and her husband, physician Tommy Redwood, were among the parents there to share with your doctors.

Our message was printed on a large banner that stretched across the back of the room, “Autism is Preventable and Treatable”. When we arrived, The Redwoods, along with other parents who had been raising valid and responsible questions about the vaccine program, were prevented by security from entering the building to work at the booth.

The most heart breaking thing about that fear based, controlling decision, was that Lyn’s recovered son was also turned away from the building. His name was actually printed on the list given to us as to who would not be allowed to man the booth. Pediatricians from around the world had a chance to meet and interact with a recovered child face to face three years ago. The pictures I brought of Chandler were paltry replacement for a real live talking boy, but you locked him out.

If you want to build faith with us, then a good sign that you are ready to take responsibility for your actions would be to apologize to the "DC 7" Scott Bono, Laura Bono, Lyn Redwood, Tommy Redwood MD, Will Redwood (now 14 years old), Wendy Fournier and John Gilmore.

And then continue the REAL vaccine/autism debate that begun on Larry King last week. Get a hall in DC, a really big one, and let’s face each other and slog through all the research and records and deal with this. You are gonna get yelled at, just like Jenny yelled at Karp, you are gonna see a lot of tears, you are going to have to eat a lot of crow and it will all be on the record. But that is what it is going to take to put humpty dumpty back together.

5. Apologize for harming our children, not treating the injury and not listening to parents when they tried to tell you about vaccine regression and recovery.

We know that you were lied to. We know that you have to depend on the CDC to give you guidance. We know that they have orchestrated this nightmare charade.

But you did not meet your ethical obligations to proof them. Your leadership continues to hold out crap studies like Verstaeten, Denmark and Fombonne to disprove the vaccine autism link. You need to remove your stamp of approval from them, admit that they don’t prove what people have claimed that they prove, and join us in asking that they be retracted. If you do that there is still a chance to salvage something.

You have serious culpability here, but we know that you are not the source of the big lie.

6. Clean up this mess. Take action now. If you try to play the ‘death by committee’ game like the IOM did, parents will start tuning you out at the first mention of the words ‘task force’.

You have to start with this: Autism treatment is not a top down operation like other approaches to defeating an illness you are used to. If you could have understood it the way we have illnesses like rubella, you would have by now. If it could be tackled the way HIV was, then the Autism Speaks modus operandi would have yielded results, but it hasn’t.

Autism, or ‘Autisms’ as successful practitioners have come to define it, is not one thing, and is extremely complicated. So you can’t start with the ‘disease’ and then apply lessons to the child. You have to start with the individual child to get to the ‘disease’

It is a varied syndrome and our kids pick a la cart from a long list of physical problems.

Get a copy of Bryan Jepson’s book, Changing the Course of Autism in the hands of every one of your members.

Tell them to call their patients who are diagnosed with autism into the office for a long sit down to find out what parents have been trying with them, what is working and what is not. Have them listen to the child’s whole story, a COMPLETE history of all that has happened since before conception. They will learn huge amounts of information doing this.

Walk into the DAN! docs offices and start putting eyeballs on our kids. Physically examine them and start testing.

Get DAN! docs to hold training sessions all over the country for AAP members.

Invite local parents to speak to your pediatricians and tell them what they know. We are not doctors but we are experts on our children.

(You wanna be really smart? Do what the smart DAN! docs do. Encourage your docs to find the brightest autism mom in town who is treating her child, the one that the other mom’s call with questions, and hire her as their research assistant and parent liaison. They are plowing through the research every day, they live in an autism lab, and they talk to all the other researcher moms every day.

They are expert medical investigators.

Take advantage of them.)

And when your members start reporting the things that they are seeing to you, listen to them and coordinate that information.

Bottom up, bottom up, bottom up.

7. What ever you do, you better do it with the doctors we already trust.

8. What ever you do, go where the results are. Your work towards recovering our kids should not include learning from people who have not contributed to the recovery of a child with autism. Look for the people who are bringing children back and find out what they are doing.

And if you give people who still aren’t sure that there is even an actual increase in the rate a seat at the table, you will just be wasting our time. This is about discussion and cooperation that leads to action, not pontificating and lecturing in order to hear yourself talk. If they are interested in genetics or counting heads, then leave them to their business. Their business is not the business of treatment, and this is about treatment.

9. Whatever you do, you have to offer total and complete transparency about everything.

10. And whatever you do, please understand, you have to do it fast.

With our autistic children, we have a window of time, starting when their injury happens, to heal them. That clock starts the minute we get a diagnosis and we work like madmen to heal our children before that window begins to close.

Now you are in our shoes. You have been given the diagnosis, that parents were right and that you have lost them. You have a window of opportunity to heal that broken relationship before that window starts to come down hard and fast.

I hope you understand that you have to work smart, work quick and work from our organizational model, not yours, to keep that window from slamming shut on you.

And I hope you understand that the window will start falling hard and fast on June 4th.

Because if you are not with us in Washington, we will know that what you have done this week is bullshit.

UPDATE: Katie Wright comments:

"It was great that the AAP finally showed to a DAN! conference. Jenny McCarthy had to shame them into it, but it is good they came. Dr. Cooper did not just walk in and out he sat through several presentations over three days. I told Dr. Cooper that the AAP needs to get up to speed- NOW. There is no time to waste, they need to send TEAMS of physicians to DAN! and Autism One. If they want to start earning the respect, rather than the ire of the parent community, the AAP should start booking those hotel rooms in Chicago now. They can also make inexpensive and easy changes by updating the website so their autism information can reflect 2008, not 1998. The AAP has much to prove to our families, let's hope they take on this challenge."

Wait! Did Julie Gerberding Just Admit that Vaccines Trigger Autism!?

I think that she did!

She could not have talked around it or downplayed it more... but she said it.

I only saw the video on CNN's web site, but Kirby found the transcript of the whole show.

I am gonna dig through the transcript and get back to you.. in the mean time:

UPDATE: She did. Let's go to the tape.

CNN, CDC, and Some Truth
Posted March 29, 2008 | 02:20 PM (EST)
Huffington Post

It was a big morning in Atlanta today. In case you missed CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding this morning on CNN's "House Call with Dr Sanjay Gupta," it was rather interesting:

If I have read the transcript below correctly, Dr. Gerberding is saying that, yes, in some mitochondrial disorder cases, vaccines can be the trigger that causes "symptoms that have characteristics of autism." So, Dr. Gerberding admits a link -- but then denies that it is a link to autism.

The only problem with this line of argument is that I know for a fact that Hannah, as well as the kids in the new unpublished mito study were, as one doctor told me, "plucked right from autism clinics. They all have autism, there is no question of that."

JULIE GERBERDING, DR., CDC DIRECTOR: "Well, you know, I don't have all the facts because I still haven't been able to review the case files myself. But my understanding is that the child has a -- what we think is a rare mitochondrial disorder. And children that have this disease, anything that stresses them creates a situation where their cells just can't make enough energy to keep their brains functioning normally. Now, we all know that vaccines can occasionally cause fevers in kids. So if a child was immunized, got a fever, had other complications from the vaccines. And if you're predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage. Some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism."

So, complications from vaccines can set off damage that causes characteristics of autism (just not autism itself). I don't believe I have ever heard that from a CDC official before, though that doesn't mean they never said it.

At the same time, this language does not quite jive with what Director Gerberding told reporters just over three weeks ago on a conference call:

"Let me be very clear that (the) government has made absolutely no statement about indicating that vaccines are a cause of autism. That is a complete mischaracterization of the findings of the case, and a complete mischaracterization of any of the science that we have at our disposal today. So I think we need to set the record straight on that."

I guess it all depends on what the meaning of the word, "cause," is.

The CNN interview this morning with Sanjay Gupta continues:

GUPTA: Are we ready to say right now that childhood vaccines do not cause autism?

GERBERDING: We can say absolutely for sure that we don't really understand the causes of autism. We've got a long way to go before we get to the bottom of this.

GUPTA: And you are comfortable saying that with everything we know?

GERBERDING: I'll never be comfortable with everything we know. I mean, I think we have to have an open mind about this. We know that there is very little chance that something related to a vaccine is going to cause a serious problem for a child.

Amid the usual "vaccines save lives" answer to questioning if it's possible that childhood vaccines could cause autism, there is some new and interesting rhetoric in the CDC Director's statements:

To wit:

"Set off some damage"

"Have an open mind"

"We don't know"

"Get to the bottom" of vaccines and autism.

"Ill never be comfortable"

"Very little chance" - instead of "there is no evidence"

"Something related to A vaccine" - (as opposed to several vaccines at once)

This seems like news to me, but I could be wrong. At the least, I think it is interesting, and worthy of follow up, should anyone in the media be able to talk with Dr. Gerberding. For some reason, she doesn't return my calls.

Cornelia Read: A Shot In The Dark

Cornelia Read manages to sum up my whole blog in one post. But with better images.

David Kirby Drops Another Bomb: Autism Risk May Be 1 in 50

Of the thirty kids with regressive autism that were screened, 100% of them had the same biochemical imbalances as Hannah Poling.

All 30.

100%

Hannah is in no way, rare.

"The biochemistry of 30 children was studied intensively, and in each case, the results showed the same abnormalities as those found in Hannah Poling, participants said. Each child had moderate elevations or imbalances in the exact same amino acids and liver enzymes as Hannah Poling."

And... (I can't even believe that I am typing these words) on the conference call that Kirby is writing about the CDC was discussing adjusting the vaccine schedule to make it safer.

Keep reading...

UPDATE: Kirby offers bullet points to help us wrap our heads around all the info here:

I realize my Huffington essay was rather long and complicated. Here is a brief synopsis of just SOME of the larger points raised in the piece. I will probably alter this a little, but it hits most of the main topics. Please feel free to circulate - DK

● Up to 1 in 50 children (2%) may have a genetic mutation that puts them at risk for mitochondrial dysfunction.

● Up to 20% of all children with autism may have an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction

● Children with mitochondrial dysfunction are more likely to regress into autism between the ages 1 and 2 years, if they have fever or illness from viral infections or vaccines.

● The CDC is aware of this difficult situation and is taking measures immediately to address the current national vaccine schedule.

● The genetic susceptibility for mitochondrial dysfunction in autism is inherited through the father, not the mother, as previously thought, and is not rare at all.

● The DNA mutation might not be enough in itself to confer cellular dysfunction, and many doctors believe there is an environmental trigger as well.

● They note that thimerosal, mercury, aluminum, pollution, pesticides, medicines and prenatal alcohol exposure have all been shown to damage mitochondria.

● Other doctors believe that a corn-byproduct based diet in America has put children in a constant inflammatory state, thus making the DNA mutation more pathogenic.

● While some children with mitochondrial dysfunction regress into autism following fever and illness from a viral infection; other kids, like Hannah Poling, clearly regress following a reaction to vaccines.

● The exact percentage of people with vaccine induced autism is unknown. But even a 1% rate could mean 10,000 Americans with vaccine related autism, at a cost of many billions of dollars for lifetime care.

The Next Big Autism Bomb, Are 1 in 50 Kids At Risk?
Posted March 26, 2008 | 09:30 PM (EST)
David Kirby
Huffington Post

On Tuesday, March 11, a conference call was held between vaccine safety officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several leading experts in vaccine safety research, and executives from America's Health Insurance Plans, (the HMO trade association) to discuss childhood mitochondrial dysfunction and its potential link to autism and vaccines.

It was a sobering event for all concerned, and it could soon become known as the Conference Call heard 'round the world.

The teleconference was scheduled by a little known CDC agency called the Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) Network, a consortium of six research centers working on "immunization-associated health risks," in conjunction with the CDC's Immunization Safety Office and the health insurance lobby -- whose companies cover some 200 million Americans.

The hot topic of the day was mitochondria - the little powerhouses within each cell that convert food and oxygen into energy for use by the body. Recent news events have implicated mitochondria in at least one case of regressive autism, following normal development.

Some researchers on the call reported that mitochondrial dysfunction is probably much more common than the current estimate of 1-in-4,000 people. The potential implications for autism, then, are staggering.

"We need to find out if there is credible evidence, theoretically, to support the idea that childhood mitochondrial dysfunction might regress into autism," one of the callers reportedly told participants.

"THE CLOCK IS TICKING"

One person on the call (those interviewed for this article asked to remain anonymous) told me that, "the CDC people were informed, in no uncertain terms, that they need to look into this issue immediately, and do something about it." The clock is ticking, they were told, and if they don't respond, the information will be made public.

Still, the doctor said, he was enormously impressed by the "seriousness" with which CDC officials treated the possibility of a link between mitochondria, autism and possibly vaccines as well.

In the recent landmark Hannah Poling case, filed in Federal "Vaccine Court," officials conceded that Hannah's underlying mitochondrial dysfunction was aggravated by her vaccines, leading to fever and an "immune stimulation that exceeded metabolic reserves."

But on March 6, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding claimed that Hannah's case was a rare, virtually one-of-a-kind incident with little, if any relevance to the other 4,900 autism claims currently pending in the court -- or to any other case of autism for that matter.(There were conflicting accounts about whether Gerberding was on the call or not).

Since then, however, Dr. Gerberding and other CDC officials were made aware of a Portuguese study, published last October, which reported that 7.2% of children with autism had confirmed mitochondrial disorders. The authors also noted that, "a diversity of associated medical conditions was documented in 20%, with an unexpectedly high rate of mitochondrial respiratory chain disorders."

"Apparently, the Portuguese study really got their attention," one of the participants said. "It's a highly significant finding. And it's worrisome enough to definitely look into. I think the CDC people know that."

They also know that some reports estimate the rate of mitochondrial dysfunction in autism to be 20% or more. And the rate among children with the regressive sub-type of autism is likely higher still.

Vaccine safety officials on the March 11 call may have been open to discussing mitochondria and autism, but they were probably highly unprepared for what was to come next.

One doctor reported his findings from a five-year study of children with autism, who also showed clinical markers for impaired cellular energy, due to mild dysfunction of their mitochondria.

The biochemistry of 30 children was studied intensively, and in each case, the results showed the same abnormalities as those found in Hannah Poling, participants said. Each child had moderate elevations or imbalances in the exact same amino acids and liver enzymes as Hannah Poling.

All thirty children also displayed normal, healthy development until about 18-24 months of age, when they quickly regressed into clinically diagnosed autism (and not merely "features of autism"), following some type of unusual trigger, or stress, placed on their immune system.

Researchers explained on the call that some data show that mitochondrial dysfunction can convert into autism "in numbers that make it not a rare occurrence," one participant told me. They explained this as "a distinct syndrome; not a mixed bag at all. Every kid had mild mitochondria dysfunction and autistic regression."

Another surprise came when one researcher announced an "inheritance pattern" that linked each case through the genetics of the father: In families where two cousins had autism, the genetic link was always through the father.

This unexpected discovery would clearly implicate nuclear DNA inheritance, and not mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited only through the mother.

Gerberding and others had previously insisted that Hannah and her mother, Teri Poling, both had the same single point mutation in their mitochondrial DNA. CDC officials asserted that Hannah had a pre-existing disease, a rare genetic glitch in her mitochondria, that may well have manifested as "features of autism" on its own, perhaps even without an environmental trigger.

"It's not in the mitochondrial DNA, and it's not rare," one participant confirmed. In fact, he said, many people probably carry the nuclear DNA mutation that confers susceptibility to mitochondrial dysfunction, they just don't know it.

1-in-50 GENETIC RISK?

On the call, speculation on the prevalence of a genetic mutation that could confer mild mitochondrial dysfunction in the general population ranged from about 1-in-400, to a staggering 1-in-50, or 2% of all Americans.

There was talk about the urgent need to do mapping studies, and find the locus of this gene. Some of the researchers said they want to test all 30 children for the actual DNA mutation. There was some expectation that they might discover that the mutation goes back generations, so parents and grandparents might be tested as well.

One belief is that a particular mutated gene may have become prevalent over the centuries, because of selective advantage. Mild mitochondrial dysfunction reportedly has been associated with intelligence, because it can increase activity of the brain's NMDA receptors. A large number of receptors can produce increased intelligence, but it can also increase risk of brain disease, one doctor explained to me. It's possible that increased receptor activity acts in same way.

But not everyone agrees that mitochondrial dysfunction is a purely inherited affair. Some researchers believe that, while a susceptibility gene for mitochondrial problems certainly exists, some type of environmental trigger, or "adversity," as one doctor put it, is needed to turn the mutation into a dysfunction.

The medical literature is replete with studies on mitochondrial health and the adverse impact of mercury, aluminum and other toxins. Even AIDS drugs like AZT and prenatal alcohol consumption can damage mitochondria and impact cellular energy.

The mercury-containing vaccine preservative, thimerosal, for example, "can definitely kill cells in vitro through the mitochondria," one teleconference participant told me. "And some people are beginning to suspect that the dose of hepatitis B vaccine given at birth might be interfering with proper mitochondrial function in certain children."

While the cause of mitochondrial dysfunction is up for the debate, so too is its potential effect on regressive autism.

All the researchers I spoke with agreed that, in many cases, there was an underlying, asymptomatic mitochondrial dysfunction, aggravated by some other stressful event imposed on the child's immune system, resulting in autism.

Such "metabolic decomposition" occurs when a child's system simply "cannot meet the energy demand needed to fight the stress of illness," one doctor explained.

But what causes the stress? That is a very big question.

Apparently, in only two of the 30 cases, or 6%, could the regression be traced directly and temporally to immunizations, and one of them was Hannah Poling. In the other cases, there was reportedly some type of documented, fever-inducing viral infection that occurred within seven days of the onset of brain injury symptoms.

All 30 of the regressions occurred between one and two years of age, at a time when the still-developing brain is particularly vulnerable to injury.

But if a significant minority of autism cases was caused by mitochondrial dysfunction aggravated by common childhood illnesses, then shouldn't we see fewer cases today than, say, at the beginning of the 20th Century? And wouldn't developing countries likewise show far more prevalence of autism than the United States?

Not necessarily, some experts said. They noted that many viral infections are still quite prevalent in modern-day America, and many children still get these types of viral infections about once a month, on average.

If that is the case, then why doesn't every child with "mito" dysfunction regress into autism? Surely, they must encounter viral infections during their yearlong window of neurological peril.

Again, not necessarily: Some doctors said it would depend on the severity of the dysfunction, the type of virus encountered, and perhaps other factors that are still not understood.

But at least two of the 30 kids with mito deficiencies were pushed over the edge into autism by their vaccines, and some researchers feel the number is probably much higher than that in the larger population.

"Vaccines, in some cases, can cause an unusually heightened immune reaction, fever, and even mild illness," one participant said. "A normal vaccine reaction in most kids would be very different in a kid with a metabolic disorder. We know it happened to at least two kids in this study, and I'm certain there are many more Hannahs out there."

One theory currently in circulation about what happened to Hannah and other children like her, is an apparent "triple domino effect." According to this hypothesis, it takes three steps and two triggers to get to some types of autism, and it goes like this:

STEP ONE: Child is conceived and born healthy, but with an underlying nuclear DNA genetic susceptibility to mitochondrial dysfunction, inherited from dad.

TRIGGER ONE: An early environmental "adversity" occurs in the womb or during the neonatal period, perhaps caused by prenatal exposure to heavy metals, pollutants, pesticides and medicines. Or, it occurs in early infancy, through environmental toxins, thimerosal exposure, or even the Hepatitis B vaccine "birth dose." This trigger results in:

STEP TWO: Child develops mild, usually asymptomatic mitochondrial dysfunction (though I wonder if the ear infections and eczema so common in these cases might also be symptoms of mito problems).

TRIGGER TWO: Child, now with an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, suffers over-stimulation of the immune system beyond the capacity of his or her metabolic reserves. This stress is either via a viral febrile infection, or from multiple vaccinations, as in the Poling case. This trigger results in:

STEP THREE: Acute illness, seizures, encephalopathy, developmental regression, autism.

Such a scenario might help explain why autism has increased right along with the addition of more vaccines to the national schedule.

And it might help explain why autism rates are not plummeting now that thimerosal levels have been significantly reduced in most childhood vaccines.

It's possible that exposures from the flu shot, and residual mercury left over in other vaccines -- perhaps in synergistic effect with aluminum used as an "adjuvant" to boost the immune response - might "contribute to the toxic mix that causes childhood mitochondrial dysfunction in the first place," one of the doctors said.

But like many hypotheses, this one has competition. Some researchers believe that the modern American diet is largely to blame for an increase in the number of children whose underlying mitochondrial dysfunction is "triggered" into autism by febrile infections.

The answer, they hypothesize, is corn.

The American diet has become extraordinarily dependent on corn oil and corn syrup used in processing, these experts contend. They say that corn oil and syrup are inflammatory, whereas fish oil is anti-inflammatory. Could our diet be a factor in making this mutated gene become more pathogenic? It's a biochemical defect that leads to biochemical disease, supporters of this theory say: The gene itself becomes more of a problem.

WHAT NOW?

This information raises so many questions it makes your head swim.

First and foremost among them: What to do about vaccinating children with known mitochondrial dysfunction?

In many respects, these kids should be first in line for vaccination, to prevent some illnesses that might trigger an autistic regression during the window of vulnerability. On the other hand, with multiple vaccinations, such as the case with Hannah, there is also a risk of overtaxing the immune system, and likewise triggering regression into autism.

What's needed most urgently, if possible, is a quick, affordable and efficient method of testing children for low cellular energy, perhaps before vaccination even begins.

There was some discussion on the conference call about altering the vaccine schedule in some way, to lower the risk of immune over-stimulation in susceptible children. Certainly, pressure will grow for a change in the schedule - the question is how, when, and if such changes will be made.

Some of the suggestions may not be popular among public health officials. They include:

1) Establishing a maximum number of vaccine antigens to which any child could be exposed on any given day.

2) Permitting the option of separating out the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) live virus combination vaccines into three distinct "monovalent" shots.

3) Not giving the varicella vaccine (chicken pox) on the same day as the MMR injection - the CDC recently withdrew is recommendation for the Pro-Quad MMR+Varicella vaccine because it doubled the risk of seizures.

Another option is to create new "recommendations for administering multiple vaccines to children who have fallen behind in the recommended childhood immunization schedule," according to the website of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Hannah had missed some shots and her doctor decided to "catch up" with the schedule by administering five shots, containing nine vaccine antigens, at once. But some autism activists have pointed out that giving five shots in one day is not that uncommon.

Moreover, they claim, many children regressed into autism following normal vaccination, when the parents religiously adhered to the official schedule.

According to the Johns Hopkins site, "Additional research is needed to determine if other children with autism, especially those with 'the regressive form' of autism, have the same or similar underlying mitochondrial dysfunction disorders."

It adds that, "the advisory groups who make recommendations regarding vaccines will undoubtedly examine this case carefully and make decisions regarding the potential need for changes."

That day may come sooner than you think. It was just announced that, on April 11 in Washington, DC, the National Vaccine Program Office at HHS will convene a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee's Vaccine Safety Working Group. The Working Group was established to go over the CDC's Immunization Safety Office draft research agenda, and to, "review the current vaccine safety system."

The meeting is open to the public, and I have my seat reserved. But I honestly don't envy the Working Group's very tricky task at hand.

It remains to be seen how all this plays out. And many important questions still lie ahead.

For example, if mitochondrial dysfunction turns out to be as common as 200-per-10,000, and autism is now at 66 per 10,000, did anything bad happen to any of the other 134-per-10,000 children, apart from autism (i.e., ADD, ADHD, speech delay, etc.)?

Moreover, if 10-20% of autism cases can actually be traced to an underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, then what about the majority of autism cases where this did not come into play?

And, if 20% of autism cases are mito related, and 6% of those cases regressed because of vaccines, that would mean that at least 1% of all autism cases were vaccine related. Some estimates of autism go as high as a million Americans - that would mean 10,000 people with vaccine-triggered autism, and billions of dollars in the cost of lifetime care.

(While we are on the subject, isn't it time to fund a study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children, to settle this debate once and for all?)

Finally, the goals of the CISA Network, (which convened the teleconference) are rather progressive and far reaching. It remains to be seen how well the Network fulfills its stated mission, which includes:

Conduct research into "the role of individual variation" on vaccine injury;

"Empower individuals to make informed immunization decisions;"

Help policy makers "in the recommendation of exclusion criteria for at-risk individuals," and;

"Enhance public confidence in sustaining immunization benefits for all populations"

Let's see how long it takes before Network members hang out the proverbial banner: "Mission Accomplished."