http://www.legalfund.org/burton_notes.html

 

House Government Reform Committee
on Autism and Vaccines
Representative Dan Burton, Chairman
April 6, 2000

Shula Edelkind

Highlights from notes on the Hearings:

Rates of autism were reported variously by government representatives as 12 / 10,000 and as 1 / 300 , 1 / 500 and 1 / 600. It was admitted that in the United States, we do not know how many children have autism. In Sweden more than 1% of children are now diagnosed with autism. It was not clear whether that figure included PDD or Aspergers.

Several parents presented the history of their children's development of autism during Panel #1. It was very moving. Most parents, but not all, traced its onset to the hours, days, or weeks following vaccinations. Several treatments were mentioned as helpful, including the gluten/casein free diet, additive-free diet, secretin use, and testing for toxic metals and fungal infections which are problems these children appear prone to.

For more information about what autism is, and several treatments, see www.autism.com/ari

For more information on lead levels in children, see www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HEC/caselead.html

For more information on fungal infections in children see www.greatplainslaboratory.com

For more information on a gluten/casein free diet, see www.gfcfdiet.org

For more information about secretin, and links to other sites about it, see curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/cise/ose/information/secretin.html

Parents pleaded with the medical community not to abandon their children -- that when a child with autism has diarrhea and GI problems, it is not OK for the doctors to shrug it off by saying "autistic kids DO that."

One parent said that "the price of avoiding measles is not worth this."

Giants in the field of autism research like Drs. Wakefield, Rimland, Cook and Singh were there, as well as Dr. Brent Taylor who claimed that his own research proves that there is no connection between vaccines and autism, and there is no need for more research on such "coincidences."

One of the parents asked, "How long before a coincidence over and over becomes a hypothesis?"

In Taylor's research, it is interesting that older children who received the MMR at a later age were included. It is also interesting that he persisted in calling Dr. Wakefield "Mr. Wakefield." Perhaps our subscribers in England can explain if that is usual or if we are right to conclude he was being rude. Taylor claimed that autism rates went down, not up. Later, he said that when after Wakefields' reports vaccinations went down, then autism rates did NOT go down. Since nobody is very sure what the rates are, and nobody is (yet) counting them, I guess he can say whatever he wants.

Dr. Michael Goldberg, of UCLA, said that he has often seen families in which the mother has CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), the older child has ADHD, and the younger child has autism. He finds these children's immune systems low in natural killer cells. He feels that we must find a way to identify children at risk and adjust their vaccine program appropriately to reduce this risk.

Dr. Bernard Rimland said that through vaccination we are trading acute disease for chronic disease and auto-immune diseases including ADHD, lupus, Crohn's disease, etc. He said that 99% of bad vaccine reactions go unreported because there is no penalty for not reporting them, and asked that doctors be required to report such reactions.

He also implored the researchers and physicians not to ignore the 18 studies showing the success of treatment with Vitamin B6 and Magnesium which far outshines any of the currently-used drug treatments in both effectiveness and safety.

Dr. Paul Offit of the University of Pennsylvania advises the CDC on vaccine use. He also says that there is no evidence proving that autism or other disorders are associated with the MMR vaccine.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Well of course -- the whole purpose of the Hearing was to ask for research so that evidence either way can be discovered !!]

When asked why the fact that he is funded by Merck - the company that makes vaccines - is not a conflict of interest with his advisory position at CDC, he said it is only an "apparent" conflict of interest but really is not any conflict because he "takes the job seriously."

Dr. Vijendra Singh does research on auto-immunity in autism, looking for "markers," which are selective. He said that auto-immune disorders can be triggered by a virus. He said you cannot find the answers to autism by studying only the psychology, but a medical team effort is needed. He was horrified that in the research on autism funded by the NIH and CDC, there was no mention of immunology research.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield has been studying the occurrence of the measles virus in certain cells in children with autism and GI problems such as chronic diarrhea. He finds that these children have swollen "tonsil" material in their gut. He showed some shocking pictures of what he has been finding. He says that this is something new, not found in normal children, but it IS found in children with ADHD. It is associated with immune deficiency.

Dr. Ed Cook, from Yale, has been working on the molecular genetics of autism. He, himself, lost a younger brother to autism. He was quite distressed that his own research on secretin did not show it to be effective, but hoped that his work may prove helpful to further research in it.

Representatives Jim Turner and Steve LaTourette suggested changing the timing of vaccinations.

Representative Waxman and others stressed that parents should not panic and should continue to vaccinate their children while waiting for more research to be done.

It was stressed by several presenters that the question is not whether children "should be" vaccinated or not, but rather how to make the vaccines safer for all children. It was pointed out that vaccines currently contain doses of mercury higher than that allowed for adult exposure, as well as lead, formaldehyde, and other contaminants. There were also pleas to the medical community not to ignore the medical and physical symptoms of these children -- that this is not "just" a behavioral or psychological disorder, but a physical disease.

Dr. John Upledger, an osteopathic physician, discussed the use of cranial-sacral treatment in ADHD and autism, and its connection to autism onset following fever, method of toxic metal buildup, blood circulation deficits in the brain, etc.

Dr. Mary Megson spoke about children who were OK until after their vaccinations at age 5. In the families of such children, she found that one parent reported night blindness, which is a marker for a defect in a G-protein. She feels that the vaccines have an effect on this protein. She also noted that the MMR depletes the body of vitamin A and that many children are deficient in lipid-soluble vitamin A.

It was pointed out by Dr. Megson and others that addition of lipid-soluble vitamin A and vitamin C may be protective at vaccination time. Amounts would apparently be the normal daily recommended amounts.

It had been noted by another speaker (I think) that in a Third World country, 50% of children died after vaccinations were given. It was determined that they were deficient in vitamin C, and that the vaccine depleted all their vitamin C. Giving them a supplement of vitamin C at the time of vaccination brought the mortality rate down to zero percent.

Dr. Megson also noted that in families whose children developed autism, there was a high level of diabetes, early heart attack, and cancer rates among parents. She felt that the measles vaccine cross-reacts with an intermediate factor leading to leaky gut syndrome, and that there is also loss of cell-cell connection in the blood-brain barrier.

The researchers did a magnificent job of presenting the current state of knowledge and calling for more research on autism in general and its possible relationship to vaccines. They also called for an effort to make safer vaccines in general. I was surprised to see that although many different treatments were mentioned, there was no feeling of fragmentation -- rather the parts to the puzzle seemed to begin to fit. Hopefully, this bringing together of experts in various fields will spark new areas of research by all concerned.

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ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.