►December 3, 2003 - Report: Pentagon smallpox immunizations run better than anthrax - www.govexec.com - "In September 2002, GAO reported on the limited availability of the anthrax vaccine and a general frustration among military personnel with the information provided about the program."

Comment: The GAO also reported more disturbing news, significantly higher than previously acknowledged numbers of adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine.

►December 23, 2003 - Smallpox Concerns Fading Away? - UPI via The Washington Times - "Although the nation's terror threat level recently was raised to high, Americans appear to have become unconcerned about the possibility of attacks involving biological weapons, including individuals who only a year ago were clamoring for health officials to make vaccines and medications available to the general public...Even smallpox -- one of the deadliest diseases known to man and one of the most likely to be used in a bioterror attack -- no longer seems to instill the fear it did shortly after the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001."

►December 26, 2003 - Researchers intrigued by century-old smallpox scabs - AP via www.kobtv.com - "Government health researchers are going to conduct tests on the contents of a yellowed envelope found in a New Mexico library...The envelope is apparently filled with scabs from 19^th-century smallpox vaccinations."

►December 26, 2003 - In Medical Mystery, A Hint of Smallpox - Washington Post - "Librarian Susanne Caro was leafing through an 1888 book on Civil War medicine when she spied a small, yellowed envelope tucked between the pages. Freeing it, she read the inscription 'scabs from vaccination of W.B. Yarrington's children' in the corner, with the signature 'Dr. W.D. Kelly,' the book's author...Researchers believe the scabs found in March are either from smallpox vaccine patients or from victims, whose scabs were used in an early inoculation procedure. At the very least, inoculation scabs would shed light on the historic development of American vaccines for smallpox, which though eradicated a generation ago has returned to public consciousness as a potentially devastating weapon for bioterrorists."

►December 22, 2003 - Scandals: Senator Frist Frivolously Dismisses Vaccine Damage by Sandy Mintz - Vaccination News

►December 28, 2003 - U.S. Has New Concerns About Anthrax Readiness (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times

►December 29, 2003 - Call to stop deadly viruses getting into wrong hands - www.smh.com - "Ian Ramshaw...was critical of US researchers who have genetically modified cowpox virus, which can infect humans, in a way that is likely to make it extremely deadly...The team at the University of St Louis has said the research is necessary to understand what terrorists might achieve. "But I cannot see any scientific justification for it," Professor Ramshaw said...Sufficient knowledge could be obtained by restricting studies to mousepox virus, which is similar to cowpox but cannot infect humans, he said."

►Art of the M.I.N.D.: The Art Collection of the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute (book for sale) - "The UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute has assembled a significant collection of artwork created by children and adults with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The pieces of art featured in this book — pencil drawings, watercolors and oil paintings — are on permanent display throughout the institute's building."

►December 28, 2003 - Teen disabled by vaccine prepares for life on own - A rare reaction to an immunization crippled J.J. Coffelt's muscles, but not her spirit. - News-Leader - "J.J. is a statistical anomaly, one of 638 kids nationwide who, since 1988, have been compensated by the federal government for crippling disabilities suffered after getting immunized against childhood diseases."

Comment:  For a highly critical view of the compensation program, go to The Victim Friendly National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act: You've Got to Be Kidding!

►November 2003 - Visualizing How One Brain Understands Another: A PET Study of Theory of Mind - The American Journal of Psychiatry via http://mentalhelp.net - "Objective: Theory of mind (TOM), or 'mentalizing,' refers to the the ability to attribute mental states to self and others.  Inferring what people are thinking and feeling is an important aspect of human social interaction, and it is also an important aspect of both psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.  The authors conducted a positron emission tomography (PET) study to examine the neural substrates of TOM, using a task that mimics real-life social interaction."

►December 22, 2003 - Tracking Autism - West Virginia's registry of patients, the nation's first, will aid in research - AP via www.indystar.com

►December 26, 2003 - Something fishy - St. Petersburg Times editorial - "In his first public speech as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Leavitt gave Americans a hint of what to expect from the agency under his leadership. "I subscribe to an environmental philosophy called Enlibra. It's a Latin derivative meaning "to move toward balance,' " Leavitt said...Sounds good, until you apply it to an actual threat - such as mercury pollution. In that circumstance, the position sought by the EPA looks more like a dangerous imbalance."

►May-June 2002 - Mercury exposure and early effects: an overview.. - journal article (Med Lav) -"Infants exposed to phenyl mercury from treated diapers and young children ingesting mercurous chloride in teething powders have developed acrodynia (pink disease), and Kawasaki disease and the use of mercurial skin lightening creams has been followed by the development of the nephrotic syndrome...CONCLUSIONS: As mercury can give rise to allergic and immunotoxic reactions which may be genetically regulated, in the absence of adequate dose-response studies for immunologically sensitive individuals, it has not been possible to set a level for mercury in blood or urine below which mercury related symptoms will not occur."

►May 1999 - Marked elevation of myocardial trace elements in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy compared with secondary cardiac dysfunction. - journal article (J Am Coll Cardiol) - "RESULTS: A large increase (>10,000 times for mercury and antimony) of TE concentration has been observed in myocardial but not in muscular samples in all pts with IDCM."

►December 27, 2003 - Florida needs strict rules not to reduce toxic threat of mercury - Herald-Tribune guest columnist - "Mercury is extremely toxic, and there is no safe level of exposure for humans. It can cause brain damage, particularly in children under the age of 6. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that one in 12 women in the United States has absorbed enough mercury to pose a threat to a developing fetus."

►December 23, 2003 - High mercury found in eggs - Researcher: Data contradicts Bush policy

►December 19, 2003 - Autism and Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) Vaccination: A Challenge for Pharmacoepidemiology - Pharmacotherapy via Medscape - "Childhood autism was first described 60 years ago,^[1] but this distressing condition has attracted increasing attention recently...Autism tends to appear at around the age when children receive their vaccinations. The onset is usually gradual, so it is difficult to see how parents could reliably link the start of the condition with an event such as administration of a vaccine."

Comment:  This author is ignoring a number of relevant and important points.  First, it may not be a coincidence that autism was first described around the time DPT vaccine first began to be administered.  Second, the fact that autism tends to appear around the time of vaccinations is no reason to assume autism and vaccinations are not related.  Vaccinations are the most obvious potential cause, not the potential cause which should be automatically dismissed as coincidental.  If autism was non-existent or infrequent prior to widespread use of vaccination, that is even more reason to think they may be related.  Third, while the onset may be gradual in some cases, this author is apparently ignoring the significance of a new form of autism, "regressive autism", where a child was developing normally and then lost his or her skills.  While it may not be possible for a parent to "reliably" link the two, where a parent has linked the two, their observations should be taken seriously  Moreover, all efforts to study the question should be directed at determining if there is, rather than disproving, any link between the two, as has been the case with most studies alleging to do so.

►December 27, 2003 - Center to use method for autistic - Plano facility may be first to try Son-Rise technique in a school - The Dallas Morning News via WFAA-TV

►December 26, 2003 - Private schools low on funds - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - "The schools charged with educating the state's most severely disabled children say they are slowly going broke, and it could mean that some will have to close their doors at the end of the school year."

►December 10, 2003 - Immunisation, Aids And Muslim Skeptism - Daily Trust (Abuja) via www.allafrica.com - "But does the AIDS story stop there? Does the story just like any other issue have only one side? Are people really free to ask questions? Or are we compelled to hear and believe all that is said by the West, the UN or the giant media outfit...As usual the story of AIDS is another slap on the intelligence of Africa and the black man."

►December 23, 2003 - China Says to Punish Any AIDS Coverup - Reuters Health via Yahoo! - "China warned against any new AIDS (news - web sites) cover up Wednesday, a day after telling health workers they will be punished if they fail to report new SARS (news - web sites) cases...The official China Daily highlighted a meeting between Vice-Premier Wu Yi with HIV (news - web sites)/AIDS patients in Henan province, where blood-selling schemes led to mass infections in some villages, in which she vowed to punish anyone trying to conceal the disease."

►December 13, 2003 - What Really Causes AIDS? - by Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati, PhD - letter (BMJ)

►December 26, 2003 - Scientist is winning converts on Alzheimer's - AP/Wall Street Journal via USA Today - "Ashley Bush, a 44-year-old researcher at Harvard Medical School, was pilloried after he put forth a radical theory of Alzheimer's disease in 1994...Bush's theory is that the real culprit in Alzheimer's is a copper and zinc buildup in the brain — an idea few scientists have looked at...Now scientists are giving Bush more credence. He has a five-year grant from the NIH and this year won an American Academy of Neurology prize for Alzheimer's disease research."

►December 15, 2003 - Antibiotic may treat Alzheimer's disease - The Chicago Tribune via www.kanasa.com

►December 28, 2003 - Anthrax drill shows weaknesses, officials say - CNN - "A drill testing U.S. agencies' ability to distribute and administer antibiotics in the event of an anthrax attack found the federal government unable to respond quickly enough to prevent large numbers of deaths, officials said Sunday."

►December 28, 2003 - GIs in Iraq have mixed reactions on halt to anthrax shots - Stars & Stripes - "But one thing the military assured them they would have some protection against was the specter of anthrax: Before deploying here, each and every U.S. soldier had to take an anti-anthrax vaccine...But after U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued a ruling Dec. 22 that ordered the military to stop requiring soldiers take the vaccine, the word in the desert is mixed."

►December 27, 2003 - Anthrax protester wants the Marines to apologize - www.signonsandiego.com - "Anthony Fusco would like the Marine Corps to say it's sorry and then some...The Camp Pendleton Marine was demoted from corporal to lance corporal this year for initially refusing to be vaccinated for anthrax...Now a federal judge has ruled that the Pentagon's mandatory vaccination program is illegal, and the program was temporarily halted this week...Fusco, 23, feels he's been vindicated, and he's upset about the reduction in rank and loss of pay."

►December 27, 2003 - U.S. Asks Judge to Lift His Ban on Pentagon's Anthrax Vaccination Program - "The Justice Department has asked a federal district judge here to withdraw his preliminary injunction halting the military's mandatory anthrax vaccination program, or at least limit his ruling to the six plaintiffs whose suit prompted it."

►December 26, 2003 - Defense Department Seeks Court Approval To Continue Illegal Vaccination Program - Requests Court To Limit Injunction To Six Plaintiffs - Press Release - "'The DoD's Motion seeks to turn the Court's ruling into a farcical exercise. The vaccination cannot be illegal for one person but legal for another, unless informed consent is obtained,' said Mark S. Zaid, Esq., the Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. law firm of Krieger & Zaid, PLLC, and co-counsel in the litigation. Zaid added that while he understood the legal arguments asserted by the Justice Department to limit the scope of the decision, the effort violates the spirit of the decision, if not the letter of the law.

►December 23, 2003 - Assistant Secretary of Defense Health Affairs William Winkenwerder Briefing - www.defenselink.mil

►December 23, 2003 - Pentagon Defends Anthrax Vaccine Program - Reuters via Wired - "Zaid said if the Pentagon deems the shots 'voluntary,' they must allow service members and civilian contractors directed to get them to opt out with no repercussions...'When the next person is ordered to line up for the shot, they have to, before they inject the shot, say, "Listen, if you don't want to take this, you don't have to." If that person says, "No," they say, "OK, move on." That's informed consent.'...If that was not done, 'then they are in violation of the judge's order and subject to contempt of court.'"

►December 23, 2003 - Anthrax Vaccine a Personal Choice for Military - Lansing’s Bioport Could See Sales Slide - www.wilx.com - "Bioport says it plans to appeal the decision."

►December 23, 2003 - Federal judge: Anthrax vaccine not mandatory - Troops not meant to be 'guinea pigs' - www.delawareonline.com - "Sullivan's ruling could be of some help to a former Dover Air Force Base C-5 pilot who was honorably discharged in 2000 for refusing to be vaccinated. Former Air Force Maj. Sonnie Bates at one point faced a possible court martial for his refusal...A lawsuit challenging the vaccine filed by Bates in the Washington, D.C., court in 2001 was dismissed last year. But Sullivan's ruling could provide new grounds for Bates to seek reinstatement or restoration of the military pension he lost, said Bates' lawyer Mark Zaid, a Washington attorney also involved in the lawsuit that led to Sullivan's ruling Monday...'It's about time,' said Bates, now a civilian pilot. 'This may open the door for the walking wounded from this vaccine to get the health treatments they need and for some of the younger lieutenants, captains and airmen who had to end their careers because of this to rejoin the military.'"

►December 23, 2003 - Pentagon will obey ruling on anthrax - USA Today - "The Pentagon will abide by a federal judge's ruling and, at least for now, not give anthrax vaccine to troops who do not want it, a high-ranking Defense Department official said Tuesday...The official, who briefed reporters on the condition that he not be identified, said the vaccinations will continue for those troops who agree to them while the Justice Department, which represents the Pentagon, decides whether to appeal the ruling."

►December 23, 2003 - Myers: Troops Need Anthrax Vaccinations - Air Force Gen. Richard Myers Says Anthrax Vaccinations Important 'To Protect Troops' - AP via ABC News

►December 22, 2003 - Judges Halt Forced Military Anthrax Shots - AP via Newsday - "The Pentagon must stop forcing servicemen and women to take the anthrax vaccination against their will, unless President Bush signs a special order, a judge ruled Monday...Millions of shots have been given and hundreds of service members have been punished for refusing them since the mandatory vaccinations started in 1998...The judge ruled that the anthrax vaccinations fell under a 1998 law prohibiting the use of certain experimental drugs unless people being given the drug consent or the president waives the consent requirement."

Comment: !!!!!!!

►May 1999 - Marked elevation of myocardial trace elements in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy compared with secondary cardiac dysfunction. - journal article (J Am Coll Cardiol) - "RESULTS: A large increase (>10,000 times for mercury and antimony) of TE concentration has been observed in myocardial but not in muscular samples in all pts with IDCM."

►December 28, 2003 - How Georgia got fooled in hunt for flu vaccine - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

►December 28, 2003 - Flu is expected to reach its peak early in January - Fond Du Lac Reporter - "Whooping cough, flu shots and now measles, are all on the mind of Fond du Lac County Health Officer Diane Cappozzo...Fond du Lac became a communicable disease statistic with its whooping cough outbreak, which Tuesday peaked at 210 confirmed cases out of 430 cases of pertussis reported in Wisconsin so far this year."

►December 29, 2003 - Brain damage link to flu in pregnancy - www.theage.com.au - "According to the guidelines, the benefits of immunisation in preventing flu in pregnant women during the second or third trimester outweigh the risks, which can include miscarriage." 

►December 25, 2003 - Officials fall for $1.6 million flu shot scam - (registration required) - Chicago Tribune

►December 25, 2003 - Some turn to homeopathic remedies to combat flu - AP via The Stamford Advocate

►December 27, 2003 - Georgia Suspects Flu Shot Deal Was Bogus - AP via The Herald-Sun - "Georgia's public health director is convinced the state was deceived in a $1.65 million deal for flu vaccine that was never delivered, despite claims by a pharmaceutical vendor that he intended to deliver the medication."

►December 27, 2003 - What to do about the flu? - People seek out alternative medicines to ward off illness - www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com

►December 26, 2003 - Memorial Fund Benefits Young Flu Victim's Family - KMBC-TV via www.thekansascitychannel.com - "Ian had received a flu shot before he became ill."

Comment:  Did this child get sick and die in spite of having been vaccinated against the flu, or because of it?

►December 24, 2003 - Results of AP-Ipsos Poll on the Flu - AP via News day

Comment:  Although the percentage getting the flu vaccine (or not) and getting the flu (or not) was reported, the "crosstab" showing how many of those vaccinated (or not) who got the flu (or not) was not reported.  Why not?

►December 24, 2003 - Unapproved Foreign Flu Vaccine Peddled in U.S. - The New York Times

►December 23, 2003 - FDA Probing Unlicensed Flu Vaccine Reports - Reuters - "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it is looking into reports of unlicensed influenza vaccine being peddled by some trying to take advantage of reports of vaccine shortages...Three influenza vaccines have been authorized by the FDA, shots made by Aventis Pasteur and a unit of Chiron Corp. as well as the nasal spray FluMist made by MedImmune Inc."

►December 22, 2003 - Increasing demand for nasal vaccine - The Journal News - "The first time the Katonah Pharmacy held a clinic to offer the new nasal flu vaccine, only four people showed up...That was in October, when the supply of the standard vaccine was thought to be ample, and before the large-scale influenza outbreaks in the West and the highly publicized stories of healthy children dying of the flu...At another clinic on Saturday, 60 people filed through the drug store to have the vaccine, FluMist, squirted in their nostrils."

Comment: For more on how this "increasing demand" came about, go to How The Mass Media In The U.S. Created Flu Hysteria And Helped Drive The Vaccine Markets For The Makers Of FluMist And Fluzone. - by RFD columnist Sherri Tenpenny, DO in the Online Vaccines Conference at www.redflagsdaily.com

►December 22, 2003 - Experts urge action to ensure nation always has flu vaccine - Billings Gazette via South Florida Sun-Sentinel - "Some specialists want the government to encourage companies to make more vaccine, by buying and stockpiling millions of extra doses every year or guaranteeing their sale, even at the risk that millions of tax dollars worth of vaccine would be wasted...Others suggest the government stabilize the demand by more aggressively urging people to get an annual flu vaccination, perhaps making it mandatory to get into school."

►December 20, 2003 - Is US flu worse than usual? - At least 40 per cent of the children who died had other medical conditions that made them vulnerable, such as asthma or cerebral palsy - www.itv.com

►December 21, 2003 - Fighting the Flu in Hand-to-Hand Combat - Officials Urge the Public to Limit Physical Contact and Wash, Wash, Wash - Washington Post

►December 23, 2003 - Hepatitis Cases In Connecticut Traced To Restaurant (requires registration) - www.ctnow.com

►December 21, 2003 - Hepatitis rarity in U.S. makes it dangerous - Virus more common where sanitation is poor, but that builds resistance to it - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

►December 2003 - Kawasaki disease in an infant following immunisation with hepatitis B vaccine. - journal article (Clinical Rheumatology) - "The known association between hepatitis B and vasculitis has been reported in rare cases in adults after hepatitis B vaccination. We here describe a 35-day-old infant who developed Kawasaki disease 1 day after receiving his second dose of hepatitis B vaccine. Although extremely rare, this possible side effect should be noted and further investigated."

►December 28, 2003 - Despite Mad-Cow Warnings, Industry Resisted Safeguards (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "During a House debate last summer over a possible ban on using sick and injured cows for meat, Representative Gary L. Ackerman, a Democrat from New York, held up a photo of a crippled cow and cautioned that such "downer animals" carried the highest risk for mad cow disease."

Comment:  "Penny-wise but pound-foolish" just about sums up the arguments against prohibiting "downer animals" from being sold.

►December 24, 2003 - “Mad cow” in US brings hope to organic producers - The outbreak of the first “mad cow” case in the United States could force a rise of beef prices in the international market benefiting organic producing countries such as Uruguay and Argentina. - Merco Press via www.falkland-malvinas.com

►Special Report - Mad Cow Disease (requires subscription) - in the Combat Zone @Redflagsdaily.com

►Overview of Vaccine Manufacturing - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) - FDA - "The nutrient media that are used to support the growth of bacteria and the cell cultures in which viruses are grown often contain animal-derived components and, commonly, bovine-derived (from cows) components. As examples, the cells that are used to propagate viruses generally require calf serum for their maintenance and growth and the nutrient broths that are commonly used to grow bacteria contain beef extracts (e.g., a beef broth)."

►December 24, 2003 - “Mad cow” in US brings hope to organic producers - The outbreak of the first “mad cow” case in the United States could force a rise of beef prices in the international market benefiting organic producing countries such as Uruguay and Argentina. - Merco Press via www.falkland-malvinas.com

►December 27, 2003 - U.S. Mad Cow Link Questioned in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Cases - Reuters - "Family and friends of American victims of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the fatal brain disorder sometimes linked to mad cow disease, on Friday questioned whether the wasting illness that killed their loved ones was actually due to eating contaminated U.S. beef."

►December 27, 2003 - As Probe of Infected Cow Spreads, So Does Worry - Washington Post - "Cattle in other states may have eaten the same contaminated feed that infected a Washington state Holstein with mad cow disease, but investigators who want to track the infection to its source are being confounded by the lack of an organized system that would lead them to the herd where the cow was born, officials said yesterday."

►December 25, 2003 - Expert warns against mad cow overreaction - UPI via ClariNet via www.vaonline.net - "One confirmed case of mad cow disease is not an outbreak, a University of Michigan professor said as he cautioned against overreacting to the news...'Certainly I would not change my own diet preferences, which include eating beef,' Dr. Arnold Monto, an epidemiology professor at the U-M School of Public Health, told the Ann Arbor News."

►December 24, 2003 - 'Mad cow' mechanism may be integral to storing memory - Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research via www.eurekalert.org - "Scientists have discovered a new process for how memories might be stored, a finding that could help explain one of the least-understood activities of the brain. What's more, the key player in this process is a protein that acts just like a prion – a class of proteins that includes the deadly agents involved in neurodegenerative conditions such as mad cow disease...The study, published as two papers in the Dec. 26 issue of the journal Cell, suggests that this protein does its good work while in a prion state, contradicting a widely held belief that a protein that has prion activity is toxic or at least doesn't function properly."

►December 23, 2003 - Mad Cow Quotes - AP via Yahoo!