Conflict of Interest

Ethics

Funding/money matters

Pharmaceutical industry

Pharmaceutical industry/FDA oversight

►January 24, 2004 - F.D.A. Begins Push to End Drug Imports - The New York Times

PR/advertising

Research conduct

Conferences, workshops, seminars, courses

►IOM Immunization Safety Review Committee Meetings - http://www4.nas.edu 

Diseases and their vaccines (current and in the pipeline)

AIDS/HIV/AIDS vaccine

►February 2004 - Perinatal HIV transmission is low but still a concern (requires registration) - At an urban hospital, only nine of 131 infants born over a two-year period were HIV positive. - Infectious Diseases in Children

Alzheimer's disease/vaccine

►February 3, 2004 - A New Hope - Amarillo Globe News - "What triggers Alzheimer's isn't clear, but what happens is."

Comment:  One possible cause of Alzheimer's is the elderly's yearly flu vaccine with its dose of thimerosal.

Anthrax/anthrax vaccine/Gulf War Syndrome

►January 27, 2004 - Anthrax kills nine cows in western Saskatchewan, farm quarantined - Canadian Press via http://cnews.canoe.ca

►January 26, 2004 - Make vaccine voluntary - editorial - Army Times - "Five years after the Defense Department began forcing service members to roll up their sleeves for the anthrax vaccine, the battle over whether the shots are safe, effective or even legal still rages...But there’s another question that gets far less attention: Has anyone reassessed the potential threat that prompted the vaccine program in the first place?...More than eight months after major combat operations ended in Iraq, U.S. officials have failed to find a single drop of the thousands of gallons of anthrax supposedly stockpiled by Saddam Hussein."

►January 25, 2004 - Ohio National Guard Member Charged For Refusing Anthrax Vaccine - AP via www.wcpo.com - "An Ohio National Guard member has been charged by the Army with disobeying a lawful order after he again refused to take the anthrax vaccine...Hickman could go to jail and be discharged if convicted...Pfaff said the charge is separate from Hickman's court martial in Ohio last month."

Asthma/allergies

Autism

►January 26, 2004 - Coping with needs of two boys with autism - Toronto Star - "Lillian wanted to tell me a little about life with her beautiful boys, both of whom are autistic...She also wanted — very kindly and gently — to talk a little about the rest of us, about the judgments we make and the little things we do that can be very painful to parents of special needs children."

Autism/mercury

►February 6, 2004 - Don't stop child vaccines: doctors - Experts take issue with study linking medicine with disorders - Edmonton Journal with files from CanWest News Service via www.canada.com - "A study that suggests a link between a vaccine preservative and risk of autism and other disorders will create unwarranted fear and possibly more sickness if parents refuse vaccinations for their children, Canadian doctors warn."

Comment:  Perhaps there will be more sickness. But the mere incidence of disease is not the measure against which vaccines should be compared.  The appropriate question is how much long-term damage will there be from the diseases as compared to the vaccines?  If the vaccines are indeed responsible for the epidemic rise in autism, just on that basis alone, there is reason to believe the benefits of at least some vaccines DID NOT outweigh their risks.

►February 5, 2004 - Study Suggests Vaccine, Autism Link - Thimerosal Can Disrupt Neurological Development, Researchers Say - WebMD - "The researcher says he believes the dramatic rise in autism and ADHD cases over the last few decades can be blamed on mercury poisoning due to vaccine-related thimerosal exposure. He adds that the fact that autism rates have not declined following the banning of thimerosal is not proof of its safety...'The epidemiological studies are looking at whole populations, and we are trying to determine what it is about an individual kid that might make him more susceptible to this exposure,' he tells WebMD."

►February 5, 2004 - Vaccines linked to autism, says new study - CBC via www.mytelus.com - "A U.S. researcher says he's found an important link between autism, attention deficit disorder and vaccines...The Boston study by Dr. Richard Deth found that thimerosal – the mercury-based vaccine preservative – affected the structure of human cells in lab samples...His believes some children may be more sensitive to the metallic component. 'The children at risk here are children who have diminished ability to clear these metals,' he says...Deth says his research is preliminary, was only a molecular study and wasn't done on human subjects."

►February 5, 2004 - A link between thimerosal and the brain: Can vaccines affect central nervous system function? - Molecular Psychiatry via www.eurekalert.org -

►January 27, 2004 - Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1 and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal - journal article (Molecular Psychiatry) - "The ethylmercury-containing preservative thimerosal inhibited both IGF-1- and dopamine-stimulated methylation with an IC₅₀ of 1 nM and eliminated MS activity. Our findings outline a novel growth factor signaling pathway that regulates MS activity and thereby modulates methylation reactions, including DNA methylation. The potent inhibition of this pathway by ethanol, lead, mercury, aluminum and thimerosal suggests that it may be an important target of neurodevelopmental toxins." (Click here for the full article.)

Comment:  This is the journal article that has caused the stir about thimerosal and autism.

►February 5, 2004 - Autism: A personal view: 'We need explanations' - The Province - "Maple Ridge physician Edward Auersperg, whose son is autistic, said yesterday the problem with the latest U.S. study is that it can't be proved or disproved...But Auersperg said it's only natural for parents to look for causes when their child is diagnosed with neurological damage...'Any time you have a kid with a problem, you start looking for explanations. And I mean you need to, we need to, find out why one kid in a thousand is autistic,' he said."

Comment:  Uh, one in a thousand?  Where has this doctor been?  How about as high as one in 49 in at least one place?  (You can see how invested in these vaccines doctors are, when even one with an autistic child doesn't seem open to the idea that vaccines might be the cause of autism.)

►February 5, 2004 - Mercury risk to newborns alarming - New data from EPA doubles the estimate exposed in womb - Scripps Howard News Service via Seattle PI - "About 630,000 children are born each year at risk for lowered intelligence and learning problems caused by exposure to high levels of mercury in the womb, according to a new analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency...That's nearly double the previous EPA estimate of 320,000 babies a year...However, recent studies indicate that the developing fetus may have more difficulty excreting mercury than pregnant women, which would account for the higher mercury levels in cord blood versus maternal blood."

Comment:  Note that there is no mention of or concern about vaccines containing mercury which have been routinely given to newborns.

►February 5, 2004 - New Research Suggests Link Between Vaccine Ingredients and Autism, ADHD - press release - Northeastern University via www.newswise.com - "According to new research from Northeastern University pharmacy professor Richard Deth and colleagues from the University of Nebraska, Tufts, and Johns Hopkins University, there is an apparent link between exposure to certain neurodevelopmental toxins and an increased possibility of developing neurological disorders including autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The research – the first to offer an explanation for possible causes of two increasingly common childhood neurological disorders – is published today in the April 2004 issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry."

Comment:  IMPORTANT NOTE: You may need to do a search for the article on this website. 

Comment: "BL Fisher Note: The truth about vaccine risks will be found in the laboratory with those committed to doing the biological mechanism work at the cellular and molecular level. And that truth, which is so often obscured by poorly designed epidemiology, will shine bright and clear in the end."

►February 5, 2004 - Vaccine additive linked to brain damage in children - Mercury-based preservative tied to autism, ADHD, U.S. resaearchers say - CanWest News Service via www.canada.com - "After assuring parents that additives in vaccines don't cause brain damage, scientists have found what they believe could be a "smoking gun" linking these additives to autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children."

Comment:  This is obviously extremely important research.  Note how the "experts" are trying to use poorly designed epidemiological studies to trump biological mechanism research done by researchers at Northeastern University, Johns Hopkins, the University of Nebraska and Tufts.  When are the "experts" going to realize that digging in their heels, denying the connection regardless of the evidence,  is not going to work in the long run?  There is simply too much damage and too many parents who are not going to dutifully or complacently slink away.

►January 27, 2004 - Mercury fears with dead dolphins - The Australian  - "Record levels of mercury have been found in dozens of dead dolphins recovered from South Australia's Spencer and St Vincent gulfs...'There's no such thing as a good (heavy metal) level,' Dr Bossley said.

Comment:  Why is this point so hard for the unquestioningly pro-vaccine camp to understand?

►January 26, 2004 - Americans Who Eat Canned Albacore Tuna Ingest Too Much Mercury, New Data Shows - www.commondreams.org

Comment:  Ingesting mercury is not okay, but injecting it is.  Right. (Oh, yes, I forgot.  Not to worry - it's the good kind of toxic mercury that we are injecting.)

Autism/MMR

►February 6, 2004 - Parents delay MMR jab decision - www.eveningnews24.co.uk - "And it is feared delaying the jab could put children at far greater risk of contracting the potentially lethal conditions."

Comment:  This is scare-mongering.  These conditions (measles, mumps and rubella) are rarely lethal in healthy children in developed nations.  (Rubella is often so benign you don't even know you had it, although it can be serious for a fetus if the mother contracts it during a critical period in pregnancy.)  For Scandals columns on the measles and measles vaccine, go to What Is Wrong With This Picture?;  More confusing disease stats;   Playing With Fire - It's Not EASY To Fool Mother Nature;   Don't Worry, Be Happy;  Measles In The Vaccination Age:  Is It Now Deadlier?;   Why We Won't Take No* For An Answer  (*No relationship between MMR and autism);  and Shoot First, Don't Ask Questions Later.  For how rubella vaccine might be related to the rise in autism, go to Scandals: Is Rubella Vaccination Playing A Role In The Rise In Autism?

►2004 -MMR vaccine and autism: an update of the scientific evidence - www.futuredrugs.com

Autism therapies/education/medicine (including the cost of care)

►February 7, 2004 - Autism cases — and costs — on the rise - San Mateo Daily Journal - "The number of autism cases is rising at a rapid rate around the world, and San Mateo County school officials are preparing to deal with the devastating impact it could have in coming years...'These are literally million dollar kids,' said Jim Cox, director of special education in the San Mateo-Foster City School District."

Comment:  If vaccines play any role in creating the epidemic of autism, might it not be prudent to question whether the benefits of vaccines outweigh their risks?

►February 7, 2004 - New Treatment For Autism: An I-Team Report - www.wnem.com

►February 1, 2004 - Family suing to aid autistic son - www.2theadvocate.com - "Over the years, Richard and Lisa Wells have worked three jobs between them, mortgaged their Bramble Drive home twice and sold possessions to help their son...Now they're trying another approach: taking the nation's largest pharmaceutical companies to court."

►February 3, 2004 - Cause for concern - Parents of autistic children search for answers - Daily Camera via www.rockymountainnews.com - "Federal and private sources have begun to respond to the alarming numbers with funding, which has helped to build impressive research centers in Denver and Boulder. But desperate parents, well aware that early intervention is key to keeping an autistic child connected with the world, don't have time to wait...They're reading journals, searching the Internet and networking with professionals and other parents about therapies. They're placing their children on special diets and giving them nutritional supplements while spending tens of thousands of dollars on an array of behavioral and occupational therapies, most of which aren't covered by insurance."

►January 30, 2004 - When demand exceeds supply - Parents do anything to get autistic children right treatment - The New York Times via The Houston Chronicle

►January 21, 2004 - Rights group joins fight to extend autism treatment - Hearing set in case of 8-year-old Toronto boy - The Toronto Star

Autism and vaccines (general)

►February 5, 2004 - Autism: The doubts: B.C. Doctors not convinced - The Province - "'Much of the research that looks for harms from vaccines, at some point, you come back to the fact that the researcher may have a bias against vaccines and this work gets seized upon by people who clearly have a bias against vaccines,' Kendall said."

Comment:  Well, gee, I wonder why this "expert" never seemed to have a problem before with studies alleging to vindicate vaccines that not only were conducted by pro-vaccine researchers, but paid for or otherwise influenced by vaccine manufacturers. 

►January 26, 2004 - Hearing to examine role of vaccines in autism cases - Contra Costa Times - "Testimony next month will revisit the controversial issue of whether childhood vaccinations have anything to do with the calamity of autism...Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., a physician by trade, has pushed to have the hearing postponed, arguing that 'it does not appear to be a serious effort to examine these critical issues.'"

Comment:  To read Congressman Weldon's statement, click here.  To read an earlier letter from Congressman Weldon to the head of the CDC, Dr. Julie Gerberding, click here.

Autoimmunity/autoimmune disease

Behavioral disorders, chronic disability

Bioterror-related, other than smallpox and anthrax

►February 4, 2004 - Fighting terrorism on the food front - www.foodnavigator.com - "Safeguarding America’s food supply against possible terrorist threats will eat into a considerable chunk of the USDA’s budget next year. The country is also planning to stockpile animal vaccines, following concerns that diseases such as BSE and Avian Influenza could be used in acts of bioterrorism."

Cancer/cancer vaccines

Cardiac

Chickenpox/chickenpox vaccine

Comment:  Chickenpox used to be universally considered a benign disease.  If it has now become a more serious disease, why is that?

Comment:  And when it's your child who has complications as a result of vaccination, it's no longer just a routine vaccination.

►January 26, 2004 - State could require chicken pox vaccine - AP via www.news-leader.com - "Missouri children could be required to be vaccinated against chicken pox before starting school under a rule proposed by the state Department of Health and Senior Services."

Diabetes

Diphtheria/diphtheria vaccine

Ebola/ebola vaccine

Flu/flu vaccine

Haemophilus Influenza/Hib Vaccine

Hepatitis A/hepatitis A vaccine