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PRESS RELEASE 

September 30, 2002 

For immediate Release: 

Major Organizations Join Parents for Full-Page

Advertisement in the Washington Post. 

After serious talks of placing a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post to address the rise in disabilities among children, three major organizations confirmed today that they will make substantial donations towards the $76,000 project.   

Unlocking Autism, Safe Minds, and The National Vaccine Information Center have joined forces with JoAnne Pike and hundreds of parents, caretakers and vendors, to campaign for answers from the government about the growing number of vaccine-related disabilities among children in America. “Something big needs to happen before anything will change,” says JoAnne Pike, Unlocking Autism Representative and mother of a child diagnosed with autism. “The government isn’t hearing us.  National media isn’t hearing us. Lucrative drug companies are being protected. What we’ve got is a national crisis¾a silent one.”   

Safe Minds President Lyn Redwood believes the ad is an excellent way to take action. “We know it’s time for something like this to happen, which is why we’re standing behind it 100%.  Our children have been exposed to one of the most toxic substances on earth, mercury, in excess of federal safety guidelines from mandated infant vaccines and now suffer with a wide range of physical and developmental disabilities and no one wants to discuss this fact. This will be one powerful message to the public and government officials¾if they haven’t heard our message yet, they will.” 

Focusing on the simultaneous rise in vaccination rates, multiple vaccines and chronic disease and disability in the past 20 years, the goal of the ad is to educate the general public and notify vaccine lawmakers and policymakers that something needs to be done. Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the oldest and largest vaccine safety advocacy organization in America, agrees that something has to be done to get the public's attention. "We are not going to wait another 20 years for the answers to legitimate questions about why so many of our children are sick. We want to know why bright, healthy children are never the same after getting vaccinated and we are not going to give up until they give us credible answers." 

Unlocking Autism President Shelley Reynolds is also ready to address the rise in disabilities, “Only ten years ago in the state of Louisiana, seven children per year received a diagnosis of autism. Today that number is 273. Keep in mind this is one small state. With these sobering numbers, it's unrealistic to believe that physicians, with more patients than ever before, have abruptly sharpened their diagnostic skills. After all, we're not seeing 1 in 250 adults with autism, but unfortunately this may be our fate if we do not take immediate action. The rise in autism is very real and extremely serious. It's time for government officials to heed the demands of thousands of parents who are anything but wrong." 

Parents and caretakers of vaccine-injured children can take immediate action by contributing to the Washington Post ad.  Visit http://www.unlockingautism.org or write to JPiker@aol.com. Caretakers are urged to include their child’s name, age and diagnosis which will be displayed in the ad.   

For more information, contact:

The Washington Post Project…

JoAnne Pike

jpiker@aol.com

Lori McIlwain

lmcilwain@msn.com

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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.