►January 10, 2004 - Oculorespiratory Syndrome: Adverse Effect of Flu Vaccine - American Family Physician via http://i-medreview.subportal.com

►January 10, 2004 - School vaccination system could use shot in the arm - Despite state law, districts struggle to protect students - Lowell Sun Online - "In a perfect world, all students would enter the classroom fully vaccinated. State law requires nothing less...But in the real world of overburdened, underfunded schools, things aren't so simple. The result: Many students enter the classroom without protection from serious illnesses."

Comment:  In a perfect world, the "experts" and those who believe in them would not act as if they know what is best for everyone.  They would also not try and enforce their narrow, human, imperfect view.

Choice of vaccines for travel - WHO

►January 8, 2004 - Judge clears anthrax shots in the military - The Daily News -  "Geld said the matter has been under review by the FDA for more than two decades...'These deliberations have been going on for years,' Geld said. 'The timing is not related to the ruling. It just so happened that it came out now.'"

►January 9, 2004 - UHC out of flu vaccine - Students are still unable to receive influenza vaccines from the University in the midst of a nationwide flu epidemic. - www.redandblack.com

►January 8, 2004 - Late safeguards against flu - www.townonline.com - "If you want to avoid the flu, vaccines are no longer available. Wash your hands instead...That's the message of a flu advisory that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has sent to local health boards...Another vaccination option is a nasal spray called FluMist, which can only be used by healthy people between 5 and 49 years old. According to the Department of Public Health, one dose costs $46, but many insurance companies offer rebates...However, FluMist is a weakened version of the flu, so those who take it should be careful, Collins said. For example, if someone takes the vaccine and coughs or sneezes within a couple hours, there is a chance he or she may be spreading the flu."

►January 9, 2004 - UHS launches campaign to combat spread of flu - The Michigan Daily - "'Our demand for FluMist has been very high,' Krista Hopson, media coordinator for UMHS...The University decided earlier not to offer FluMist to students because of certain risks associated with it.  Despite the shortage, their stance has not changed...'We still don't have the confidence in FluMist to use it.  Unless you're at high risk you shouldn't,' said Winfied.  Currently not many students at the University are among those at high risk."

►January 9, 2004 - Pentagon Advisers Review Troop Vaccine Safety - Global Security Newswire via www.nti.org - "A U.S. Defense Department advisory board is reviewing the military’s practice of giving soldiers multiple, simultaneous vaccinations to protect them from certain biological agents and natural diseases...Ellen Embrey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for force health protection and readiness, last October requested the review by the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB), which is composed of top civilian experts from around the country. The board is expected to present its findings at a regular meeting next month...The request was made while a subcommittee of the board and another panel were investigating a possible relationship between military-administered vaccines and the illnesses or deaths of four personnel."

►January 9, 2004 - Flu Season Haunted by Ghosts of the Tuskegee Experiment - NNPA via The Wilmington Journal

►January 9, 2004 - BioPort wins $245 million contract to supply anthrax vaccine - AP via www.mlive.com - "BioPort Corp. said Friday that it has entered into a three-year, $245 million contract with the Pentagon to provide anthrax vaccine following a government ruling that the vaccine is safe...The Lansing, Mich.-based company has been the nation's sole supplier of an anthrax vaccine for years but has struggled with safety and reliability issues. BioPort President Bob Kramer said Friday the contract 'demonstrates the Pentagon's faith in our company.'"

►January 7, 2004 - National Autism Summit Charts a Path Through a Scientific, Clinical Wilderness (requires subscription) - journal article (JAMA) - "Autism advocates say that for decades, all of science has turned away from the mysterious brain disorder, diagnosed now more than ever. Jon Shestack, father of a son with autism and vice president of the advocacy group Cure Autism Now, said he felt like 'someone snuck into my home and stole my one-and-a-half year old's mind, leaving his bewildered body behind.' If 1 in 250 children were actually being abducted rather than diagnosed with autism, "it would be a national emergency," he said...Budget figures bear out such criticism.

►January 9, 2004 - CDC begins tests on students, teachers exposed to mercury - Reno Gazette-Journal

►January 9, 2004 - Special ed a major part of a school’s work - Press of Atlantic City - "More than one out of every four students in the Pinelands Regional School District requires some form of special-education services, forcing the district to devote 40 percent of its instructional budget to the program...Beside the added cost per student - it can cost twice as much to educate a special-education student - the district employs about 100 special education personnel, about a quarter of its entire staff."

►January 10, 2004 - Yeats May Have Been Autistic, Psychiatrist Says - Reuters via http://entertainment.sympatico.ca - "Some of Ireland's finest minds including poet W.B. Yeats and founder of the Irish Republic Eamon de Valera may have been autistic, a leading psychiatrist said Friday."

Comment:  Here we go again.  Minimizing the very real pain and suffering of those most acutely affected by autism by associating autism with its most benign (and sometimes even beneficial) form.  For more on this, go to Scandals: Adding Insult to Injustice to Injury Redux.

►January 9, 2004 - School Helps Kids With Emotional Problems - Baltimore Jewish Times

►January 9, 2004 - Guest opinion: Misleading statements could issue of mercury - www.billingsgazette.com - "The Dec. 20, 2003, guest editorial by Verne Lehmberg and David Ponder chastising EPA for their recent rules regarding mercury emissions from coal fired power plants was misleading and a major distortion of facts...The authors of this article would have us believe that fish in Montana's lakes and streams are unhealthy to eat due to mercury contamination, with the strong implication that this mercury contamination is caused by coal-fired power plants...Mercury is a naturally occurring element that is widespread in the environment. It is released to the environment by the natural processes of leaching of soil and rock by rainfall and groundwater movement, and by volcanic activity."

►January 6, 2004 - ID bracelet helps finds wanderers - Health-Progress

►January 7, 2004 - New Picture of Rare Childhood Disorder - Brain scan of boy with hyperplexia provides new insight - HealthDayNews via Dr. Koop - "The first use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brain of a boy with a rare disorder called hyperlexia is described in a Georgetown University study in the new issue of Neuron...The case study of a single child revealed the neural mechanisms that underlie hyperlexia. The findings suggest hyperlexia is the true opposite of the reading disability dyslexia."

►January 2004 - Developmental Checkups - They’re good, they’re cheap and they’re almost never done.  What is wrong with this picture? - EP Magazine

►January 12, 2004 - Dental Health (Eating Disoders) - Changes in Mouth Often First Signs of Eating Disorders - Dear Doctor Column - UAB Health System