November 2003 - Risk factors of multiple sclerosis: a case-control study. - journal article (Neurological Sciences) - "In multiple logistic regression analysis, we found independent risk factors of MS to be: familiarity for MS (OR=12.1; 95% CI, 1.3-110.7), autoimmune diseases (OR=3.8; 95% CI, 2.0-7.1) and migraine (OR=8.7; 95% CI, 1.0-75.4); comorbidity with autoimmune disease (OR=6.8; 95% CI, 1.4-32.0) and migraine (OR=13.5; 95% CI, 1.5-116.6); and vaccination against measles (OR=92.2; 95%, 12.1-700.2). Familial susceptibility to MS, autoimmune diseases and migraine, and vaccination to measles are associated with an increased risk of MS."

Comment:  Seems kind of important, this result.  Wonder why nothing much, if anything, has been reported about this highly significant correlation between measles vaccine and multiple sclerosis. 

December 13, 2003 - Panel reluctantly backed flu vaccine to FDA - Members of an advisory panel that backed this year's flu vaccine expressed doubts about its potential effectiveness before recommending it for the Food and Drug Administration's approval. - CNN

December 14, 2003 - Biotech threat scenarios get scary - Toledo Blade - "A newly declassified Central Intelligence Agency report warns that rogue scientists could highjack biotechnology and create super-microbes far worse than the virus staring in "24 Hours," Fox television’s popular drama...The CIA portrays them as viruses and bacteria from hell."

December 13, 2003 - Mercury in water, air a growing concern - EPA coal plant plans, fish linked (requires registration) - Chicago Tribune

Influenza: The Disease & The Vaccine - www.nvic.org

November 3, 2003 - My Turn: Reaching the 'Point of No Return' in Public - When 'J' has a fit, spectators assume poor parenting is to blame.  They never suspect that he's autistic - Newsweek via MSNBC

December 13, 2003 - Why flu kills healthy kids a medical mystery - The Denver Post - "The exact cause of death of 14-month-old Jeremy Beaumont and of Joseph Williams, the 8- year-old from Wellington, and of the other Colorado flu victims hasn't been determined. Most of those who died in Colorado were sick before the flu struck, with compromised immune systems, or, in at least one case, heart problems. But some were healthy - normal, exuberant children whose deaths no doubt send shivers down the spine of every parent in the state."

December 13, 2003 - Spread of Crohn's related to use of refrigeration, researcher says - The Toronto Globe and Mail via The Seattle PI - "The researchers believe that exposure to common food-borne bacteria such yersinia and listeria overstimulates the immune system and triggers Crohn's in people who are genetically susceptible. These bacteria are found in a wide variety of foods that are refrigerated, including pork, chicken, sausage, hamburger, cheese and lettuce; they can survive at temperatures near the freezing point."

Comment:  Perhaps, but why are they susceptible?  And since refrigerators have been around for quite awhile, given that Crohn's is on the rise, what has changed to make more and more people apparently susceptible than they used to be? 

December 12, 2003 - Getting heated over mercury - Regulation rollback is boon for utilities, bad for kids - by Molly Ivins - www.workingforchange.com - "I can't tell whether this administration is flaunting its cynicism, its contempt for science or its conviction that when in power you help your contributors and fry your enemies. Although how millions of small children and unborn fetuses came to be enemies of Bush & Co. is beyond my political or theological understanding."

December 7, 2003 - Does Kindergarten Need Cops? - The youngest schoolkids are acting out in really outrageous ways.  Why? - www.time.com - " 'I'm clearly seeing an increasing number of kindergartners and first-graders coming to our attention for aggressive behavior,' says Michael Parker, program director of psychological services at the Fort Worth Independent School District, which serves 80,000 students. The incidents have occurred not only in low-income urban schools but in middle-class areas as well. Says Parker: 'We're talking about serious talking back to teachers, profanity, even biting, kicking and hitting adults, and we're seeing it in 5-year-olds.' And these are not the kids who have been formally labeled emotionally disturbed, says Nekedria Clark, who works in Parker's department. 'We have our E.D. kids, and then we have our b-a-d kids.'"

December 13, 2003 - Scientist warn of flu pandemic - As bad as this year's flu season is, it hasn't brought the worldwide outbreak known as a pandemic. But experts warn that a pandemic is coming, it's just a question of when. - AP via CNN

December 14, 2003 - What Caused Small Town's Leukemia? - Fox News

December 13, 2003 - Stronger vaccine was nixed - March decision by FDA is examined in light of deadly flu season - The Denver Post - "Federal regulators could have approved a flu vaccine that protected the public against the deadly strain sweeping through Colorado and across the country, but would have had to use a controversial and risky method to do it."

December 13, 2003 - Drug firms fund disease awareness - www.smh.com.au - via Spin of the Day @ PR Watch.org - "Pharmaceutical companies are pouring millions of dollars into patient advocacy groups and medical organisations to help expand markets for their products...They are also using sponsorships and educational grants to fund disease-awareness campaigns that urge people to see their doctors."

December 14, 2003 - The Big Bad Flu, or Just the Usual? (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "For all the public concern over the rapid spread of the new Fujian strain of influenza, health officials and doctors say there is still no way to know whether this year's flu season is particularly severe or just off to an early start. And for all the clamor for dwindling supplies of vaccine, no one knows how effective the current vaccine will be against the Fujian strain...But the flu season has already thrown some realities about the public health system into sharp relief, these experts say. It suggests that the country needs to be far better prepared to deal with influenza — either the conventional strains that cause serious illness each year, or a horrendous strain like the one that caused the 1918-19 pandemic, which killed at least 30 million people worldwide."

December 14, 2003 - MMR RIP?  (requires subscription) - The Sunday Times, UK - "A conspiracy of silence or paranoid scaremongering? Is the MMR vaccine a cause of autism — or is it a vital health programme undermined by this medical maverick?"

December 14, 2003 - Doctors’ fury at MMR drama ‘errors’ - The Sunday Herald, UK - "A spokesman for the Royal Society said last night that members were alarmed at the blurring of the distinction between fact and fiction, especially the failure to include any reference to scientific doubts over Wakefield’s theories or that opinion is split and the majority of scientists believe there is no evidence to suggest an MMR-autism link."

Comment:  Sometimes what is one person's "fact" is another person's "fiction".

December 14, 2003 - Withdrawn Drug May Close Window of Hope for Kids (requires registration) - The Los Angeles Times - "But for the last 18 months or so, he's been moonlighting on the biggest case he'll ever have — proper treatment for his son, Garrett, who began displaying autistic-like characteristics when he was 1 1/2. However, Gurwitz and his wife, Renee, also a deputy district attorney, refuse to describe their son as autistic...Therein lies the backdrop for an emerging medical story that, so far, has left the Gurwitzes and other parents in varying states of frustration, anger and — dare they suggest it? — cautious optimism."

December 12, 2003 - Smallpox Vaccine Victims Can Seek Payment - AP via Yahoo! - "More than 38,000 medical care workers, police, firefighters and other emergency responders have been vaccinated against smallpox under an emergency response plan that went into effect last January. Officials estimate that about 2 percent of those vaccinated experienced some sort of medical injury as a result...Under rules announced Friday, those injured by the smallpox vaccine will be able to seek compensation from a $42 million program that provides both financial and medical benefits."

December 12+, 2003 - Rapid Reponses to Hear the Silence - journal article (BMJ)

    Raymond W. Gallup - "It says quite a bit that Andrew Wakefield was sacked at the Royal Free Hospital in London, England and that Arthur Krigsman was prevented from doing his pathology work at hospitals in New York. It says that the people that are against the science that Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Krigsman are producing, do not want the truth to come out." - Competing interests: I have an adult with autism that tested for elevated measles antibody titers and colitis. Also, I'm Founder of The Autism Autoimmunity Project that funded Dr. Andrew Wakefield's independent research.

    M C Feliciello - "Would you consider the censorship of the film "Hear the Silence" from national screening an effective means to restore herd parental trust in public health policy?" - Competing interests: Parent of an Autistic Child.

    L S Lewis, General Practitioner  - "'As a doctor' I feel no doubt about my legal duty to seek VALID CONSENT, VOLUNTARILY GIVEN, AND FULLY-INFORMED. How does censorship of legal material in a free society achieve that?" - Competing interests: Fully-informed consent VS. maximum vaccinations

December 14, 2003 - A travesty of truth - This week's 'drama' about MMR and autism does nothing but reinforce already held prejudices - The Guardian/Observer

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