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Science Forum Index » Immunology Forum » Statement from SafeMinds on Vaccine Court Autism Concession
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| JOHN |
 Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:32 am |
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Statement from SafeMinds on Vaccine Court Autism Concession
The Department of Health and Human Services recently conceded an autism case
in the US Court of Federal Claims, Office of the Special Master, under the
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). The Responsent's Report
states that the vaccines administered to the claimant, a child diagnosed
with autism, "significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder,
which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and
manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism spectrum
disorder." Several of the vaccines contained mercury. SafeMinds executive
director, Sallie Bernard, expressed concern over this latest evidence of the
link between autism, vaccines and mercury, stating, "the concession
highlights the urgent need to study the adverse effects of childhood
vaccines and the contribution to these effects by various vaccine components
including the mercury-containing vaccine preservative thimerosal."
Thimerosal was widely used in the 1990s and is still present in most infant
doses of influenza vaccine as well as vaccines produced for developing
countries.
The VICP case was reported in detail today by David Kirby,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/government-concedes-vacci_b_88323.html
author of Evidence of Harm, on the Huffington Post website According to the
article, the child was developing normally until given the vaccines, and
shortly after the shots, she regressed into full autism. The child was
diagnosed by nationally recognized autism medical specialists.
Mercury, including thimerosal, can trigger mitochondrial dysfunction, even
at low doses. Mercury can also lead to oxidative stress and abnormal calcium
signaling, both of which are key features of mitochondrial impairment.
Several studies have found markers of increased oxidative stress, calcium
imbalance, and mitochondrial dysfunction in autism subjects. Researchers
from a variety of academic institutions suggest that a substantial portion
of people with autism have underlying mitochondrial deficiency. In response
to news of this case, SafeMinds has compiled an extensive but not exhaustive
library of science and medical articles on autism, mitochondria, and
mercury. This information is available at www.safeminds.org.
Autism has reached epidemic proportions, now 1 in 150 children, at great
cost to basic individual functioning, to families struggling for services
and treatment, and to society which must provide resources for intensive
education and other lifelong supports. "Our government is failing the public
by avoiding unbiased investigations into the link between autism, vaccines,
mercury, and other likely environmental triggers," said Bernard. "Instead of
fighting families in vaccine court, the government should be spending the
taxpayers' money on finding out why so many children are sick, even if these
investigations prove an unpleasant theory regarding childhood vaccinations." |
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