Autism and Vaccine
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Autism and Vaccine
http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/18/25/02.html
by Tim O'Shea, D.C.
Perhaps one of the most shocking pieces ever to appear on television this past
April: a six-hour taping of a Congressional investigation into the relationship
between vaccines and autism among American children. This footage appeared on
C-SPAN and was then archived on their website for a entire month.
On April 6, Rep. Dan Burton convened the Congressional hearing in which parents
repeatedly told similar stories - how their normally developing babies, after
MMR or DPT vaccinations, began displaying autistic behaviors, conditions that
are often permanent. Happy, bright children were suddenly losing their abilities
to learn, communicate or even recognize their parents.
Amazing testimony was given by experts in the field of autism:
Mary Megson, MD, explained how autism has gone from being rare (about one
incident per 10,000 children in 1978), to epidemic proportions in 2000 AD: one
case in every 300-500 children in many areas! Megson's research has shown total
deficiency of vitamin A in almost all autistic children. What depletes the body
of vitamin A at 15 months? The MMR vaccine. In addition,
Megson found that pertussis toxin from the DPT shot disrupted a certain protein
that is necessary for retinal formation. This would account for the prevalence
of night-blindness and loss of 3D vision so common among autistics.
John O'Leary, Ph.D., a world-class researcher and molecular biologist from
Ireland, using state-of-the-art sequencing technology, showed how he had found
the measles virus in the gut of 96% of autistic children, compared to 6.6% in
normal children. This virus did not come from the natural disease, but from the
measles vaccine. Dr. O'Leary found measles virus present in 75% of children
with Crohn's disease. Crohn's has traditionally been an intestinal disease of
adults, following years of dietary abuse. Its appearance in children is a new
event, and Dr. O'Leary's work points to the measles virus from vaccines as the
likely cause.
V. Singh, M.D.M., a specialist from Utah State who has studied over 400 cases
of autism, found that these children had experienced an autoimmune episode, in
which their own bodies had been made to attack the linings of their nervous
systems. Dr. Singh characterized the epidemic as a "hyperimmune response
to the measles virus." He stated that 55% of the families said that autism
appeared soon after an MMR shot, and that 33% of families said it appeared soon
after a DPT shot. Such neurologic damage is a well established side effect of
the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde used in these vaccines.
Andrew Wakefield, M.D., a brilliant researcher from the UK, noted an almost
100% incidence of "lymphoid nodular hyperplasia" or swollen lumps
throughout the intestinal tissue of autistics. Such a condition is rare in
normal children. Intestinal pathology is characteristic of the autistic child,
and
the condition generally follows soon after the MMR shot. Dr. Wakefield
explained that as the fragile, newborn intestine cannot function because of its
swollen condition, undigested toxins from vaccines and drugs are allowed to get
into the liver, which is also in a formative stage. Liver pathology is very
common among autistics. Wakefield's hypothesis is that these same
"undegraded toxins," having not been halted by the intestine or the
liver, as normally happens, that these toxins are then free to attack the
nervous system, and that autism may well be the result.
Kathy Pratt, Ph.D., director of the Indiana Center for Autism, stated that 1 in
400 children in Indiana were autistic! With 500,000 cases reported in the U.S.,
Dr. Pratt stated that autism is now more common than Down's syndrome. Dr. Pratt
points out that autism presently may disqualify a person for medical coverage
for other, unrelated conditions.
Michael Goldberg, M.D., a California pediatrician and researcher, explained how
it was impossible to have an epidemic based solely on genetics. That's the
standard excuse the CDC and the NIH have been using to explain how autism has
grown from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 300 in just 22 years.
Seeing the American democratic system in action in a live Congressional
hearing, it soon becomes apparent how the control of information operates, even
in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that we may well be poisoning
our own children!
The requisite defenders of the status quo robotically read their predictable
prepared statements, denying the possibility of any connection between autism
and vaccines. These included MDs Paul Offit, Edwin Cook, Brent Taylor and
others. After they uniformly denied the vaccine/autism connection, it was most
illuminating when Burton asked each one of them point-blank about
the money each received from the vaccine manufacturers. And these are members
of the advisory committee who make the decisions about which vaccines are to be
included in the mandated vaccination schedule.
Colleen Boyle was there to represent the Centers for Disease Control. After
stumbling through her prepared statement in which she denied any connection
between autism and vaccines, Boyle stated the present incidence to be "12
in 10,000." Burton then stopped her cold by asking her one simple
question: Did she think it was a conflict of interest for the same people who
were funded
by the vaccine manufacturers to be on the advisory board making decisions about
which vaccines should be given to American children? Boyle was dumfounded and
speechless. Burton repeated the question. Still no answer. Boyle's mute portrayal of the career
bureaucrat spoke volumes.
Equally inept and ill-prepared was Deborah Hirtz, MD, representing the National
Institutes of Health. Losing her place in her written statement, Hirtz forgot
what she was saying, and it seemed obvious she had not written it. Finally, she
just barely managed to put across what she was sent there to say - that there
could be no connection between vaccines and autism, but
that the NIH was "looking into it." The NIH has already spent some
$40 million per year of taxpayer money "looking into it." (Hirtz)
Their answer: It needs further study. The performance of these representatives
from the two government agencies who have almost sovereign power in the area of
vaccines was frightening - their indifference; lack of information;
condescension; and low level of intelligence. They gave no sign of having
understood one word of the critically important breakthrough research that had
just been so brilliantly expounded by Drs. Megson, O'Leary, and Wakefield. This
is what power looks like - people who have been in their position so long that
they know they don't have to justify themselves to anyone lower down on the
food chain.
Government agencies have the same answer to every problem: more committees;
more money; more study; and more meetings. Meanwhile, 22 years have gone by,
and all these people say is "we don't know." After 22 years and $100
million, we don't know the incidence, the cause or the cure for autism. But we'll
definitely "look into it." And, oh yes, it's definitely "not
vaccines."
The shocking scientific findings of Wakefield and O'Leary obviously demand more
research. So then, why are the vaccines not suspended until that research is
done? The underlying assumption is that the vaccines will continue as normal
until enough "research" proves it is dangerous, as with rotavirus and
Quadrigen. Only then will MMR be suspended. This is the
thinking that passes as logic. The key point here that no one seems to be
pointing out is that research should be done before mandating a vaccine into
the bloodstream of American children! You don't just start mass-injecting
something into a population and then stand back and defy independent scientists
to prove it isn't safe! That's exactly what we've done here.
As a nation, as a government, and as parents, Americans should be very certain,
beyond a reasonable doubt, that any substance being injected into an unformed
little nervous system is absolutely safe and does no harm. That should be the
minimum requirement. Drs. Wakefield, O'Leary, and Megson have shown startling
results from some of the only scientific research on autism and vaccines in the
entire world that has not been funded by the vaccine manufacturers. This research
also shows a high likelihood that MMR and DPT vaccines may cause permanent
intestinal destruction, liver damage, and autism. It presents a very plausible
hypothesis for the horrific increase of autism since 1978. So, until we know
for certain if they're right, why are
the vaccines not suspended?
Researcher Gary Null's pert answer comes swimming to the surface; "It's
the money, stupid." By the end of the hearing, Burton's room was polarized
into three groups:
* those who were convinced of a connection between autism and vaccines
* those who admitted the possibility
* those who angrily denied the possibility, affronted that anyone would
question their "scientific" opinions
It was amusing to see which people in the room were trying to discover the
truth, and which were trying their best to cover it up.
Despite Burton's heroic efforts to bring these matters into public view, it's
an uphill struggle. The big money's on the side of vaccines. Big money controls
research, the press, "scientific" journals, and politicians. Seeing
all these forces clash together in one room in just six hours has been the
most instructive display of confusing the issues perhaps since the OJ
trial. Watching a live congressional
hearing like this, it soon becomes clear that for them, the real priority isn't
necessarily finding the truth, but rather showing who's really in charge here.
The viewer begins to understand how autism could have gone from being unknown
in 1978 to being a household word
in just 22 years with so little fanfare.
Without undue pessimism, the prospects for unbiased, objective scientific logic
to prevail in deciding the future of MMR and DPT vaccines do not look bright.
The mentality of the CDC and the NIH was well characterized in this videotape.
The control of research and information by drug manufacturers was pervasive.
Burton's co-chairman, Henry Waxman, did his best to divert
attention from the issues to himself, to waste time on "points of
order," and to prevent anyone who disagreed with him from being heard.
Waxman's science champion, researcher Brent Taylor,MD, has recently had an
article published in Lancet that supposedly shows no possible connection
between vaccines and autism. Now Taylor has refused to provide his data for the
study when repeatedly asked by other researchers, like Dr. Bernard
Rimland. Such a request is standard,
and researchers commonly share their data when requested, unless they have
something to hide. Taylor's combination of fear and arrogance is characteristic
of the way that research, and ultimately, decision-making on vaccines by the
advisory committee. The researchers who have unlimited funding may 'prove'
whatever they wish, get it published in
the best journals, which are heavily advertised in by the drug companies, and
then refuse to respond to valid objections, because they know that those
opposing points of view will probably not be published.
Despite these formidable obstacles, doubts are creeping into the overall public
"consciousness" from many different directions about the safety of
vaccines. At one in 500, the fact of autism as an epidemic can no longer be
covered up. The work of Wakefield, O'Leary, and Megson is going to be very
difficult to explain away. The massive advertising campaign about the safety of
vaccines in the popular media, which is certain to be stepped up in the next
few months, is going to look very hollow in the light of clean, unbiased
research that is not funded by parties who stand to make billions from certain
predetermined results.
Author's note: Excerpted from forthcoming third edition of the Sanctity of
Human Blood, New West, Publisher.
References
http://www.c-span.org . Government Reform
Committee hearing on vaccines and
autism, 6 Apr 2000, Chairman: Representative Dan Burton.
Testimony before U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform,
6 Apr 2000:
Hirtz D, National Institutes of Health.
Megson M, MD, American Academy o fPediatrics . Wakefield A, MD, Royal
Free University College Medical School. . O'Leary J, PhD, Coomb's Women's
Hospital, Dublin. . Singh V, PhD, Utah State University . Boyle C, MD, National
Institutes of Health . Offit P, MD, University of Pennsylvania . Taylor B, MD,
Royal Free University
College Medical . Rimland B, PhD, Autism Research Institute, San Diego .
Goldberg M, MD, NIDS Research Institute.
Reprints of testimony are available from the Office of Government Reform,
Washington, DC (202) 225-2276 Videotape available from http://www.c-span.org
Tim O'Shea
San Jose, California
Breaking News Archives - each day's breaking news from December 1, 2003 (check here for breaking news you might have missed and breaking news that didn't ever hit the "front page")
More News - all the news most recently posted on this website
All the News - a running tab of everything posted on this website since October 29, 2003
Top Stories Archives - daily breaking and other important news stories
Daily News Archives - all the news posted on this website each day (from April 2001)
Hot Topics - selected stories, by category
Return to Vaccination News Home Page (for best results, right click to "open in new window")
DISCLAIMER: 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.