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Monday, December 23, 2002

SPECIAL EVENTS

* Homeland Sec. Bill Provisions Prompt Parents to Capitol Hill Rally Jan 8

* Something DAN! in Barcelona

ADVOCACY

* Few Doubt Sen. Frist's Skill As Leader

RESEARCH

* Researchers Develop Identification Guidelines For Complex Disease Genes

* Stem Cells From Adult Bone Marrow Turned Into Central Nervous System Cells

TREATMENT

* Treating Tourette Syndrome

* Should Amalgam Fillings Be Removed?

COMMENTARIES

* Vaccines for America: Washington Times Commentary

* Federally Funded Study Measures Porn Arousal

SPECIAL EVENTS

Homeland Security Bill Provisions Prompt Parents to Capitol Hill Rally Jan 8

[From an Autism Autoimmunity Prject announcement.]

Recent events surrounding the last-minute provisions of the Homeland Security Bill have prompted parents to hold a rally on Capitol Hill in early January when congress reconvenes. The "Know the Cause, Find the Cure" March will bring parents of vaccine-damaged children together to share their views about the provisions and other recent developments in Washington, as well as the explosive rise in autism cases.

The Autism Autoimmunity Project is hosting the one-day event that will start at 9:00 am on January 8th at Upper Senate Park and last throughout the day. Coordinators are hoping Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow will introduce her new legislation that day along with other speakers who will be showing their support and speaking out about the unfair provisions added to the Homeland Security Bill.

Ray Gallup, Founder of the Autism Autoimmunity Project, says, "It's crucial that legislation reflects our children's best interests. We will continue to support the senators and congressman that support our children, and those who make sure the parents and families come before company profits."

The event will also bring in appearances by Congressman Dan Burton and other key political figures that are against the provisions. Lori McIlwain, the North Carolina State Chapter for The Autism Autoimmunity Project, says, "We certainly need to have a strong presence in Washington when congress comes back in session. This is our opportunity to speak out against the government's decision to put big-money drug companies before our children. They're trying to keep us down and they won't," says McIlwain.

Funds for unbiased research will also be demanded as thousands of parents believe their children have suffered neurological damage from Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in some vaccines and pregnancy shots as well as damage including inflammatory bowel disease caused by the MMR vaccine. "It's time for us to take control of the situation," says JoAnne Pike, President of Moms On A Mission For Autism, a Chapter for the Autism Autoimmunity Project. "Things are happening in Washington that will affect our children's future," she said. "We can't let that happen, at least not without a fight."

Packets about the autism-mercury connection will be handed out on the day of the event, along with free merchandise to help raise awareness. Running video of children with autism will also be on display throughout the day.

We Need You There

For more details on the march see: "Know the Cause, Find the Cure" March

Or. . .Adopt a Chair

Our permit has been approved for Jan. 8, 2003, at the Upper Senate Park. We have been approved for 300 chairs and we plan to put every one of those chairs to good use. If you are unable to attend, we think it's important that you be represented. We would like to have place cards for every family who would like to attend but cannot due to the demands of taking care of their special needs children.

We will need a small donation of $10 to reserve your chair and help with the cost of this March including getting your place card made at a printing shop. The following information will be included on your chair.

"I'm sorry we are unable to attend, we are under siege." The Smith Family

This will include your families name and a picture of your affected child/children which you can either e-mail to JPiker@aol.com or send to the Autism Autoimmunity Project by mail with permission to use that picture. We will be asking the politicians participating if they would adopt a chair and commit to being a voice for that family who cannot be present.

If you'd like to participate, please call the Autism Autoimmunity Project at 1-800-939-TAAP to reserve your chair.

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Something DAN! in Barcelona

[From a company announcement.]

A One-Day Autism Workshop, “Building the Bridge…” on Saturday, 11 January 2002, in Barcelona, Spain is co-sponsored by the Defeat Autism Now Association in Spain and the Autism Medical Center, a non-profit Foundation registered in The Netherlands.

The emphasis in Spain is to help parents plan and execute a strategic biomedical treatment protocol especially for their child.

Biomedical treatments for autism and ADHD have evolved into the fields of gastroeterology, immunology, pediatry, neurology, psychiatry, endocrinology and, because autism and adhd are so multi-factorial and multi-etiological, biomedical treatment options range from neutraceuticals (food supplements), pharmaceuticals, herbs and homeopathic remedies; OR, combinations thereof.

The medical practitioners of the Autism Medical Centers, located in 5 countries -- 7 psychiatrists, 1 neurologist, 1 pediatrician, 4 general family practitioners, 1 immunologist and geneticist -- refer to themselves as Specialists in the field of Autism and ADHD. However, we rely on parents to implement and execute the primary care of our patients.

In Barcelona we intend to empower you with clinical insights and practical know-how to enable you to differentiate the (many) tree(s) from the forest?

TOPICS AND SPEAKERS include:

“The broken immune system… virus autoimmunity link in autism”, by Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski MD PhD, Assistant Professor of Human Genetics and Immunology (Macedonia and The Netherlands)

“Genomic testing… Cytokine response may be a key mechanism of autism and similar disorders”, by Dr. John Furlong, ND, Director of Great Smokies Laboratories, Inc. (United States)

“Vaccine Safety Issues, The Importance of treating yeast effectively and the role of food allergies (IgG vs IgE), intolerance and sensitivity in autism”, by Dr. Devin Houston, PhDl, Professor of Enzymology and President of Houston Neutraceuticals, Inc. (United States)

“How your child’s biology influences behaviorral delays, such as autism, attention deficit (hyperactive) disorder are a manifestation of physiological delays inside the body” Dr. Maria Jesus Clavera de Ortiz, MD, Pediatrician and Medical Director AMC Spain

“The emergent pathogenesis of regressive autism: implication for the future… the leaky gut and altered brain chemistry”, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, MD, Gastroeterologist (ON VIDEO) (United Kingdom)

“Chronic muscular pains in childhood autism”, Dr. Valery B. Ultzibat, MD PhD, Professor of Medicine (Russia)

1) For a complete listing of speakers and topics, E-mail us at info@autism.nl to receive your comprehensive brochure, including the registration form.

2) Should you decide to attend, please e-mail your registration directly to info@autism.nl or print a copy of the registration form and fax your registration form to 31 26 482 2870.

3) Reserve your low-airfare flight immediately as the low airfare seats to Barcelona are filling up rapidly and please make your own hotel reservations near the center of town. (Ask your travel agent to combine a weekend hotel package with your airfare.)

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ADVOCACY

Few Doubt Senator Frist's Skill As Leader

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Republican Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee is a man accustomed to excelling, even overachieving, in all he does.

Born to wealth and privilege and educated at the nation's finest schools, Frist built a career opening chests and saving lives with pioneering heart and lung transplant surgery. Then he simply walked away in 1994 for an audacious political campaign against a popular incumbent senator.

Not only did he win, but eight years later, the surgeon-senator who didn't vote until Ronald Reagan was leaving the White House is passing more experienced colleagues to become majority leader.

Senate GOP colleagues are expected to make his selection official today. He'll be the point man for President Bush at what could be his presidency's peak of power, with his party commanding majorities in the House and Senate and high public-approval ratings.

Few who know Frist question whether he is up to the job. But unanswered is whether his unique combination of surgical and political skills will help him forge compromises that advance President Bush's agenda without alienating his party's fractious elements.

"He has addressed problems of medical care for all Americans, not just theoretically, in a hands-on way," Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said Sunday. "He personifies not just the rhetoric about idealism but as a life that has been lived."

Democrats have been impressed, too. They have regarded Frist as a tough opponent on two key health-policy measures: giving patients greater ability to sue their HMOs and providing a prescription-drug benefit to seniors. And this year, they learned what he could do politically. Frist led the Republicans' Senate campaigns, which took them from a minority to a majority.

"Maybe his ascendancy will help represent a breakthrough on things like providing through Medicare a prescription-drug benefit," said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. "I certainly hope so."

Going for the jugular

Frist didn't enter politics until 1994. In fact, he didn't even vote until he was 36.

Now 50, he is a Southerner with a conservative record. But he presents a more urbane and sophisticated image than Sen. Trent Lott, the man he is replacing, to the educated suburbanites who are increasingly the Republican Party's target voters.

"The main thing that Frist represents that Lott does not represent, and what the Bush White House wants the most, is that Frist is a national person and a national political figure, as opposed to being a Southern political figure," says David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Frist, a marathoner, can be tough. When he became head of the Republicans' 2002 Senate campaigns, he joked about his qualifications: All his training, Frist said, was pointed toward one thing: "Within 45 seconds, to be able to cut out the human heart." Democrats who lost Senate seats may think he did just that.

Republicans expect Frist and Bush will push health issues to the front of the Senate's agenda. Tops among the health care issues next year will be helping seniors pay prescription-drug bills, health coverage for the uninsured, and finding agreement on innovations that will shore up Medicare without busting the federal budget.

Frist has proven flexible. He pushed for $500 million in international AIDS spending last year, then acquiesced to Bush's $200 million offer. He also drew criticism from some for compromising on the issue of stem-cell research. He opposed "therapeutic cloning" of human embryos for research in treating diabetes, Parkinson's and other diseases, angering advocates of more research and treatment.

Already, he has faced hostility from some hard-liners. "Sen. Bill Frist is not somebody conservatives would be comfortable with," says Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation and a longtime leader of the GOP's conservative wing. "He's a moderate Republican at heart."

Frist has voted with conservatives to ban certain forms of abortion. But some right-to-life groups doubt his commitment to their cause of banning all abortions.

Frist figured in one of the final controversies of this year's congressional session. He was the author of a provision that blocks lawsuits by families claiming their children's autism was caused by vaccines containing mercury. The provision was added secretly to a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security, but Frist denied any involvement.

Denies conflict of interest

Frist has always distinguished himself from colleagues by keeping "M.D." at the end of his senator's signature. He is the first doctor in the Senate in 50 years.

But some critics accuse him of a conflict of interest on health issues. Frist's father and brother founded what has become the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, HCA. The company has created vast wealth for the Frist family. It also has been subject to the largest-ever federal fraud case; it agreed to repay the government $1.7 billion for overbilling Medicare.

The company, which has 180 hospitals and $18 billion in annual revenue, is the Microsoft of the health care industry, health policy consultant Robert Laszewski says. "They are an aggressive, acquisition-minded company. They try to come in and dominate markets. They are really tough," he says.

Jamie Court, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a California-based consumer group, charges Frist has helped the company by pushing for limits on damages in lawsuits. "He is going to be the poster boy for how close the Republican Party is with corporate criminals," Court said Friday.

Frist rejects any conflict of interest. He notes that he never managed or even worked for the company. Most of his assets are in a blind trust. His Senate financial disclosure forms, which report broad ranges of assets, show Frist and his wife and children have $25 million or more in HCA stock.

With Lott's departure in a furor over race, Frist may face that issue as well. Frist was not in Congress to vote on many civil rights bills that Lott opposed, but he received a failing grade, as did all Republican senators, from the NAACP this year. And during this year's Senate campaigns, which he led, Republicans were accused of discouraging black turnout in several states.

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RESEARCH

Researchers Develop Identification Guidelines For Complex Disease Genes

Scientists from Imperial College London, the Medical Research Council, Case Western Reserve University, USA and the Hammersmith Hospital have developed guidelines which scientists can use as a benchmark for proof of identification of the multiple genes responsible for common, complex diseases. Predisposition to common conditions such as asthma, cancer, Type 2 diabetes, mental illness and Crohn's disease, are all determined partly by multiple genes, and partly by environmental factors. This makes it difficult to identify the genes involved in these diseases.

Although some of the many genes contributing to complex traits such as Alzheimer's and Type 1 Diabetes have been discovered in the last few years, researchers have faced a difficult task in deciding what represents definitive proof of a particular gene's action.

As well as looking at human illness and disease, the authors of the review paper published in Science today also looked at the multiple gene traits in cows, tomatoes and flowers, and the effects of the environment upon them. Through these methods researchers are now able to predict the milk yield in cows, the size tomatoes will grow to, the flowering period in commercial breeds of flowers and many other "genetically complex traits".

Professor Timothy Aitman, from the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, based at Imperial College London at the Hammersmith Hospital comments: "Where diseases and illnesses have been caused by a single gene, it has been relatively straightforward to identify that gene, but where multiple genes, and environmental factors have all had an effect it has proved much more difficult. We hope our guidelines will allow scientists to say when they have conclusively identified the genes behind these complex traits, or diseases, more effectively."

Over the last 25 years, scientists have identified over 1000 single gene disorders or illnesses. Diseases caused by a single gene, such as haemophilia and sickle cell disease, have been identified, but it has proven difficult to identify genes which interact in more complex disorders. Since the decoding of the human genome, the task of identifying these multiple interacting genes has become much easier.

The researchers have described a four-stage process through which a disease caused by multiple genes can be identified; linkage and association, fine-mapping, sequence analysis, and functional tests of candidate genes. This process will ensure that there is robust proof of the identity of genes underlying complex diseases.

Dr Anne Glazier, from the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London at the Hammersmith Hospital adds: "The criteria we have established will provide a means to evaluate the nature of the candidate genes identified to date, and demonstrate the insights that can be expected from the accelerating pace of gene discovery."

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Stem Cells From Adult Bone Marrow Turned Into Central Nervous System Cells

Research continues in an effort to determine if these

neural cells can be transplanted to treat stroke, brain tumors

and neurodegenerative disorders

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute have for the first time demonstrated that stem cells from whole adult bone marrow can be differentiated into several types of cells of the central nervous system. A long-term objective of this research is to determine if these neural stem cells can be transplanted to treat stroke, brain tumors and neurodegenerative disorders. This capability would give physicians a renewable source of neural progenitor cells, available from a patient's bone marrow instead of the brain, and without the ethical and tissue-rejection issues associated with the use of fetal stem cells.

Results of the study appear as the cover article of the December issue of the journal Experimental Neurology. While this study was conducted in rats, similar optimistic results have been seen in human tissue, according to senior author John S. Yu, M.D., Co-director of the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program at the Neurosurgical Institute.

Using modified viruses as transporters, researchers were able to transfer specific genes into neural stem cells – cells that have the potential to differentiate into any of several types of cells of the central nervous system. They then confirmed that the new cells expressed the proteins that had been encoded and established that the stem cells were capable of differentiating into astrocytes, neurons and oligodendroglia.

The replacement of damaged brain cells with healthy cells cultured from stem cells is considered one of the most promising therapies in the treatment of stroke and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Numerous studies are underway to develop effective methods, but finding a reliable source for the generation of neural cells for transplantation has been a challenge. The use of embryonic cells and fetal tissue raises ethical questions and the possibility of immune rejection.

Therefore, the best source of tissue for transplantation is the patient, and studies have shown that neural stem cells can be isolated, cultured and propagated from the brain tissue of adult mammals. But the removal of healthy tissue from a patient's brain introduces another set of safety, practicality and ethical issues.

The work at Cedars-Sinai involved a several-step process. Whole bone marrow cells were cultured, leading to the generation of "spheres" that were similar to neurospheres grown from neural stem cells. The bone marrow spheres were then differentiated into both neurons and glia. These cells, with their potential for expansion in the laboratory, may be good candidates for transplantation and repair of the nervous system, according to the researchers.

Dr. Yu said other recent related studies at the Institute have shown that neural stem cells are capable of tracking brain tumor cells as they spread. This is an important finding because one of the greatest challenges in treating malignant brain tumors is the fact that tumor cells often separate from the main tumor mass and migrate to form satellites. Malignant tumors also have poorly defined borders that are enmeshed in healthy tissue, making it difficult or impossible for surgeons to remove all of the cancer without damaging normal brain.

"In our research, neural progenitor cells could clearly be seen tracking pockets of tumor cells that were migrating away from the main tumor mass," said Dr. Yu. "This clearly demonstrated the ability of neural progenitor cells to actively follow pockets of tumor cells that disseminate through the brain."

Neural stem cells were also able to track brain tissue that was injured when blood flow was restricted – the type of damage caused by ischemic stroke. Forty-eight hours after neural stem cells were injected into the arteries of rats with ischemic brain lesions, researchers found transplanted cells distributed throughout the ischemic part of the brain. The cells were readily able to cross the blood-brain barrier, the body's natural defense to protect brain cells from toxic substances.

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TREATMENT

Treating Tourette Syndrome

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The drug mecamylamine, which blocks nicotine receptors in the brain, seems to relieve mood instability and depression in adolescents and children with Tourette Syndrome.

So says a preliminary study in the latest issue of Depression and Anxiety.

The national randomized study by University of South Florida College of Medicine researchers included 50 children and adolescents with Tourette Syndrome and at least one of several mood disorders, including depression, attention-deficit disorder, oppositional defiance disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and hypomania.

Of the 50 study participants, 38 completed the eight-week trial -- 21 taking a placebo pill and 17 receiving mecamylamine, a drug originally used to treat hypertension.

The study found the greatest mecamylamine-related improvements in the behavioral and emotional symptoms of four Tourette's patients who also had major depression. They had significant decreases in sudden mood changes, irritability, inattention, anxiety, restlessness, impulsiveness and demanding attention.

The study participants with Tourette's and depression who received the placebo showed no improvement.

The researchers recently began a controlled study of mecamylamine in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder, also called manic depression.

More information

Here's where you can learn more about Tourette Syndrome.

Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

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LETTER (to Lancet)

Should Amalgam Fillings Be Removed?

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Sir--Marilyn Larkin's news item (Aug 3, p 393)1 on the American Dental Association's campaign to discourage people from having amalgam fillings removed deserves some comment. In her report, she cites Frederick Eichmiller's concerns about the number of patients with multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and autism requesting removal of these fillings.

Dental amalgam is a mercury-based filling that contains elemental mercury at about 50% by weight. Amalgam is classified as an intermetallic compound, because it is mixed with silver, tin, copper, and zinc. To the chemist, this intermetallic compound is unstable by definition--and not a "stable alloy", as reported by Eichmiller--and mercury vapour leaks from dental amalgam over time.

Mercury adsorbed daily from dental amalgam ranges from 2 to 17 µg (not "minute" amounts as Eichmiller claims), and people that use chewing gum or are affected by bruxism may have higher intake of mercury from dental amalgams. Moreover, individuals with dental amalgams are exposed to continuous long-term amounts of mercury (in vapour form and in organic form from biotransformation by oral bacteria). Mercury vapour and organic mercury are the two most important forms of mercury in terms of toxic effects, their major target organ being the central nervous system. Furthermore, T Clarkson2 describes individuals with immunological susceptibility to mercury compounds who present with clinical adverse effects.2

F L Lorscheider and co-workers3 found a correlation between the total number of amalgam surfaces and total mercury content in whole blood, plasma, urine, faeces, breastmilk, and placenta. Postmortem examinations by M Nylander and colleagues4 show significant correlations between mercury tissue concentrations and the number of amalgam fillings. Similarly, our necropsy findings show a correlation between number of amalgam fillings and mercury content of tissue in brain, pituitary, thyroid, and kidney (unpublished data). Leistevuo and colleagues5 also report higher concentrations of organic mercury in saliva samples from patients with dental amalgams compared with controls.

We believe that Eichmiller's comments are not supported by the findings of experimental studies. The health effects of amalgam fillings warrants further investigation and should be commented on with caution, from whichever view you approach the issue. *Gianpaolo Guzzi, Marco Grandi, Cristina Cattaneo

Airmeb-Unit of Metal Biology and Biocompatibility, Milan, Italy; and *Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, Italy

(e-mail:labanof@tin.it)

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COMMENTARIES

Vaccines for America: Washington Times Commentary

It should come as no surprise to some, but contingency fee personal-injury lawyers were the biggest special-interest group lobbying Congress in the final moments of debate on the recently passed homeland security bill. They lost their battle, and they are proving to be bad losers.

Even now, after the bill has been signed into law by the President, they are pushing for changes for "next year."

The Homeland Security legislation passed 90-9 on Nov. 19, 2002, following a contentious fight pushed by the personal injury lawyers' special interests to strike several litigation management provisions from the bill. One of the major targets of these lawyers and their supporters in the Senate was — and still is — a section making it absolutely clear that longstanding rules for lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers also apply to manufacturers of vaccine ingredients. The clarification provided in the Homeland Security Act preserves an injured person's right to recovery for injuries related to vaccines, but makes it harder for contingency fee personal injury lawyers to recover windfall fee awards in these cases.

Plaintiffs' lawyers had argued that manufacturers of vaccine ingredients were excluded from a no-fault compensation program set up for injured people seeking recovery from manufacturers of vaccines. Instead of having to go through the compensation program, as they would if they sued a vaccine manufacturer, plaintiffs' lawyers could proceed directly to filing lawsuits against manufacturers of vaccine ingredients. Such lawsuits include suits against manufacturers of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in vaccines that some plaintiffs claim is linked to autism.

No scientific studies have shown a link between thimerosal and autism. But lawyers can find "experts" who allege that there is such a connection. Companies that have been sued over thimerosal include Eli Lilly and Co., Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline Plc. Now, claims against ingredient manufacturers must first go through the no-fault compensation program.

The vaccine injury compensation program was set up in the mid-1980s to provide a quick, no-fault alternative to runaway tort lawsuits that forced vaccine manufacturers out of business. Congress recognized at the time that vaccines are a high-profile target for lawsuits, because they are intentionally injected into healthy people. Vaccines, like any medical procedure, have a risk.

Potential liability can occur if these risks arise. Liability also can occur if any illness arises in a person who has been vaccinated. An "expert" may be found who will say that it was the vaccine that caused the harm.

In their attempts to escape the no-fault fund, plaintiffs' lawyers have argued that ingredients such as thimerosal are "contaminants" and that the fund does not apply to ingredient manufacturers. As of June, 68 lawsuits were pending, 11 of them are class actions. One seeks $30 billion in damages; the entire value of the worldwide vaccine market is about $5 billion.Another lawsuit, in Florida, is claiming as many as 175 million victims. If these lawsuits and others like them continue against the vaccine industry, some companies will disappear, and there will be little incentive for the remaining companies to continue producing or conduct research about vaccines. These are proven facts: excessive lawsuits have caused the number of vaccine manufacturers to drop during the 1980s from 12 to four.

Contrary to the plaintiff's bar's sound bites in the media, the litigation management provisions do not cut off anyone's right to sue. Instead, they give people injured by vaccines and their ingredients the ability to obtain a fast, no-fault recovery for their injuries from a national fund paid for by manufacturers. Most people agree to a settlement through this fund, but if they are not satisfied with their award, they can then choose to file a civil lawsuit.

The no-fault compensation program provides many benefits. It is good for injured people because it allows them to get compensation for their injuries quickly, instead of making them go through the expense, delay and uncertainty of trial. In fact, they may not even need a lawyer to file a claim. It is good for manufacturers, because fewer civil lawsuits mean less resources spent on litigation and higher insurance premiums. It is very good for the public, because manufacturers can invest more money in developing and improving new and existing products. That is why the no- fault injury compensation program received strong support from an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress in 1986.

Obviously, the program is bad medicine for wealthy personal injury lawyers. They make their money by taking a share of a plaintiff's settlement or damages award — often 25 percent to 33 percent or more. Having cases against manufacturers of vaccines or their ingredients go through a no-fault compensation injury program makes it less likely that plaintiffs' lawyers will recover a share of "jackpot justice" punitive damages awards.

Companies that make vaccines and their ingredients will be among the primary defenses in America's war against terrorism. Chipping away at their resources through lawsuits based on junk science prevents financial and human resources from being invested in products that can help protect the American public from terrorism.

Victor E. Schwartz is partner at Shook, Hardy and Bacon in Washington and chairs the firm's public policy group. He is an expert on tort reform and acts as general counsel to the American Tort Reform Association. He is an author and a professor at University of Cincinnati College of Law.

[Brief Commentary from reader Richard M., who forwarded the above article to us: This man, a certain Victor E. Schwartz of Shook, Hardy and Bacon in Washington, whines about the poor vaccine companies primary defenders in America's war against terrorism, having their resources threatened by "jackpot justice" through junk science.

About 50 parents should turn up with their kids at this ignoramus' office. I think parents have been very restrained given the circumstances, but he certainly has misjudged their feelings on this grave injustice and impropriety on behalf of people who haven't the guts to admit who they are.]

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* * *

Federally Funded Study Measures Porn Arousal

A federally funded study has paid women as much as $75 to watch pornographic videos to determine "what types of audiovisual erotica women find sexually arousing."

Women participating in the $147,000 study at Northwestern University — funded through the federal National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) — were paid to "watch a series of commercially available film clips, some of which will be sexually explicit, while we monitor your body's sexual arousal," according to a flyer seeking volunteers for the study.

Funding for the research comes from the National Institutes of Health

(NIH) budget, which has more than doubled in the past five years.

The two-year study began in September 2001 and is intended to "assess the subjective and genital arousal of 180 lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women as they watch erotic video clips of lesbian, gay, or heterosexual interactions," primary researcher J. Michael Bailey explained in a description of the project.

"We have some really great results on it, and I think it's going to make a big splash," Mr. Bailey said of the research, which he said he hopes to publish soon.

In 1991, Mr. Bailey made headlines as one of the first researchers to say homosexuality is "substantially genetic," a conclusion based on studies of twins.

Previous studies have shown that male sexual arousal is "target specific" — that is, that heterosexual males respond to depictions of females, while homosexual men respond to images of males, Mr. Bailey said.

"There has been inadequate attention to the question of whether female sexual orientation is target specific," Mr. Bailey wrote in a grant proposal. "However, some research including our own preliminary data, suggests that target specificity is much weaker for women than for men."

Early reports of the study, including in Northwestern University's daily newspaper, indicate that women's responses to the pornographic videos did not differ whether the images were of male-female couples, lesbians, or homosexual men.

Rep. Dave Weldon, Florida Republican, cited the Northwestern study as an example of misplaced research priorities, saying he asked NICHD three years ago to study whether the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was associated with autism.

"The NIH couldn't find the money to look into this relationship between kids with regressive autism and the mandatory MMR vaccine, but they can pay people $150,000 to watch pornography," Mr. Weldon said. "This is disgusting, and is a clear example of distorted priorities at the NIH. The NIH message to parents of autistic children: Don't look to us for help."

Funding for NIH has increased from $13 billion in fiscal 1998 to $27.2 billion sought by the Bush administration for the current fiscal year. The White House proposed raising NIH funding by $3.7 billion a year, which would be a 16 percent increase. That increase is reflected in the $27.2 billion NIH budget that has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, but House appropriators have yet to mark up the appropriations bill.

A spokesman for NICHD said the agency "covers all aspects of human development."

"Our institute does things that are not directly involved with children's health. So it's a misnomer to say that it's just child health."

Reports of Northwestern's video sex research have prompted some ridicule, landing the study a spot in the nationally syndicated "News of the Weird" feature, but Mr. Bailey said it's no laughing matter.

"I think it's extremely important research, and I think it's pathetic how skittish the government is about funding research about sex," Mr. Bailey said.

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