Vaccines/Mercury/ Autism

[kola]

Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JAPS)
Vol 8 Spring 2003 Mark R Geier MD Ph.D.

Conclusion:
"This study provides strong epidemiological
evidence for a link between
increasing mercury from thimerosalcontaining
childhood vaccines and
neurodevelopment disorders and heart
disease. In light of voluminous literature
supporting the biologic mechanisms for
mercury-induced adverse reactions, the
presence of amounts of mercury in
thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines
exceeding Federal Safety Guidelines for
the oral ingestion of mercury, and previous
epidemiological studies showing adverse
reactions from such vaccines, a causal
relationship between thimerosal containing
childhood vaccines and
neurodevelopment disorders and heart
disease appears to be confirmed. It is to be
hoped that complete removal of thimerosal
from all childhood vaccines will help to
stem the tragic, apparently iatrogenic
epidemic of autism and speech disorders
that the United States is now facing."

to see the study:
http://www.whale.to/a/pdf/geier2.pdf

[kola]

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 12, 2004
Health Advocacy in the Public Interest (HAPI)
Contact: Dawn Winkler 970-641-7413

Vaccines Are Not Mercury Free

After much public controversy surrounding the mercury content of
childhood vaccinations, Health Advocacy in the Public Interest (HAPI)
raised $500 to have four vaccines tested for heavy metal content. 
The vials were sent to Doctor's Data, an independent lab which
specializes in heavy metal testing.

Many manufacturers voluntarily began producing supposed "mercury
free" vaccines in 1999.  Some product inserts currently claim that
a "trace" amount of mercury still exists in the final product but
that the amount has been greatly reduced. Others claim to be
producing completely mercury free products.

During an investigation into the mercury issue, HAPI learned that
Thimerosal, a 50% mercury compound, is still being used to produce
most vaccines and that the manufacturers are simply "filtering it
out" of the final product.  However, according to Boyd Haley, PhD,
Chemistry Department Chair, University of Kentucky, mercury binds to
the antigenic protein in the vaccine and cannot be completely, 100%
filtered out.

All four vaccine vials tested contained mercury despite manufacturer
claims that two of the vials were completely mercury free.   All four
vials also contained aluminum, one nine times more than the other
three, which tremendously enhances the toxicity of mercury causing
neuronal death in the brain.

The mercury content of routine childhood vaccinations has been linked
to the current autism epidemic as well as numerous other neurological
disorders affecting children today.   Currently, one in six children
are affected in some way and one in 250 children are diagnosed as
autistic compared to one in 10,000 prior to mercury containing
vaccines.

It is the position of Dr. Haley as well as HAPI that if mercury can
be detected in any vaccine using standard instrumentation, the
content should be disclosed in the product insert and manufacturers
should not be allowed to call the product "mercury free".

Executive Director of HAPI, Dawn Winkler, met with FDA officials in
Silver Spring, Maryland on July 27, 2004 to discuss blatant
mislabeling and misrepresentation of ingredients in vaccinations
which are licensed by the FDA.  Clearly, more testing is needed.  The
FDA has the ability and authority to take on the necessary testing,
however, at present, this task sadly appears to be up to the public.

HAPI will be attempting to raise more funds to test more vaccines in
an effort to pressure the FDA to crack down on manufacturers to label
their products correctly. To help with this effort call 970-641-7413
or email noshots@earthlink.net. (noshots(at)earthlink.net)

[kola]

mercury free huh? ..I don't think so.

http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm
===============================================


Now why would they do this if mercury wasn't causing Autism? Hmm. Ya see "they" keep saying mercury is safe but why did they buy off the political piggies to protect Big Pharm?   

Homeland Security Act inoculates drug makers against autism lawsuits.
BY CHRIS LYDGATE
243-2122
  http://www.wweek.com/flatfiles/News3373.lasso

When President George W. Bush signed the Homeland Security Act in the
White House on Monday, he praised the bill as a "heroic action" that
demonstrated "the resolve of this great nation to defend our freedom, our
security and our way of life."
Three thousand miles away, Portland lawyer Mike Williams rolled his eyes.

Williams represents hundreds of families who are suing pharmaceutical
companies--in particular, Eli Lilly--over a mercury-based preservative used
in some childhood vaccines. The families contend that the preservative
triggered neurological damage in their children, who have been diagnosed
with autism.

Last week, Williams was stunned to learn that an unknown lawmaker had
slipped a last-minute rider into the Homeland Security Act, shutting down
the lawsuits in the name of the war on terrorism.

"I thought I had lost my naiveté about the power of big money," Williams
told WW minutes after Bush signed the bill. "But even I was naive to think
Congress wouldn't do this. There was no notice, no warning, no debate--it
just came out of nowhere."

Sitting in his 19th-floor office, with a crystalline view of Mount Hood,
Williams, 55, is not exactly your buttoned-down tort geek. Rumpled in a
black waistcoat, he sports a gray-white beard and a shoulder-length shag of
hair. He holds a master's in philosophy from the University of
California-Berkeley, where he studied Wittgenstein and artificial
intelligence.

In the mid-'70s, frustrated by intellectual hairsplitting, he quit his
doctoral studies and became a truck driver, delivering propane in Montana.
"I was in my Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance phase," he explains.

Williams' wanderings eventually led to Harvard Law School, where he
graduated magna cum laude; in 1978 he moved to Eugene, where his very first
case concerned the Dalkon shield, a controversial contraceptive. Since then,
he has become one of America's top trial lawyers, litigating issues such as
asbestos, breast implants, fen-phen, Propulsid and Rezulin.

His latest obsession is thimerosal (thigh-MARE-oh-sahl), a preservative used
in childhood vaccines until 1999. His clients suspect thimerosal, which
contains the potent neurotoxin ethylmercury, is responsible for their
children's autism, a devastating neurological disorder that distorts
perception, behavior and speech.

The new legislation wipes out all thimerosal cases filed in state courts.Instead, parents are supposed to apply to the National Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program, established by Congress in 1986 to handle rare cases
of damage from childhood vaccines. The program grants a maximum of $250,000
to families who can prove their children suffered harm; if parents lose,
they can file regular lawsuits.

Williams says the program is stacked against his clients in several ways.
First, parents must file a claim within three years of their children's
first symptoms. Autism is typically not diagnosed until 18 months after the
first symptoms appear, and two-thirds of his clients have already missed the
deadline. Under the new rules, he says, "they'll never get their day in
court."

Second, the burden of proof is harder to meet under NVIC, which requires
plaintiffs to show that a majority of scientists agree with them, as opposed
to state courts, where they need only find some experts.

Third, the limit of $250,000 is considerably lower than the typical award
for autism in state court. The lifetime costs of caring for an autistic
individual are estimated at $2 million.

Most importantly, the legislation means delay. It takes four to five years
to reach a decision under NVIC--an eternity for parents struggling to
provide for children who often require round-the-clock care.

The long delay also lengthens the odds against their lawyers, who don't see
any money unless they win a case. Williams reckons he will shell out
$200,000 in out-of-pocket costs plus $1 million worth of time to bring a
single case to trial. Some tort lawyers go bankrupt before they ever get to
stand before a jury. "The pharmaceutical companies can hire more lawyers
than anyone," Williams says. "It's some of the toughest litigation around."

There is little question that autism is on the rise. Last month, researchers
at University of California-Davis concluded that the nearly threefold surge
in California's autism rate--which now stands at 4 to 5 per 10,000
people--could not be explained by shifting definitions, misclassification or
migration.

Williams suspects the culprit is thimerosal, which was manufactured and
marketed by Eli Lilly as a preservative that could be dissolved in the
vaccine to stop bacteria from contaminating vials that might contain up to
100 doses in the same jar.

"It was a packaging issue," Williams says. "It was cheaper for the
manufacturer to produce multidose vials than to package them as single
doses."

Unbeknownst to parents, their children were being injected with a few
micrograms of mercury along with every dose of vaccine.

Starting around 1990, several new vaccines were added to the typical
childhood schedule, many of which came with thimerosal.

"So you have kids getting three or four doses of organic mercury in one
day--hundreds of times the current EPA limits, which are probably about to
be lowered," says Williams.

Many scientists scoff at the mercury hypothesis, but the theory got a big
boost in 1999, when the American Academy of Pediatrics urged vaccine makers
to quit using mercury-based preservatives. Last year, the federal Institute
of Medicine concluded that the link between autism and thimerosal was
"biologically plausible."

Williams is convinced that such evidence would be compelling, if he ever got
the chance to present it in court: "I think I could win the case if I would
just get to a jury."

One of the most remarkable things about the legislative legerdemain is that
its author remains unknown. "It's the Republican version of immaculate
conception," says Josh Kardon, chief of staff to Sen. Ron Wyden.

Congressional sources say the Republican leadership must have OKed the
rider. Eli Lilly, which made $1.6 million of political contributions in the
last election cycle, has strong ties to the Bush administration. Bush's
budget director, Mitch Daniels, formerly worked at Lilly; the company's CEO,
Sidney Taurel, sits on the Presidential Homeland Security Council; and the
president's father, George Bush, sat
on Eli Lilly's board of directors.
==============================================

yeah right...surely there is no conflict of interest here huh?    and not to mention who the "unknown" lawmaker was.

[kola]

What is the reason for this? What rug? what broom?

Whats to hide? Any logical explanation?

==============================
US Government Asks Court to Seal Vaccine Records

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=1808546
 
Tue November 26, 2002 10:47 AM ET
By Todd Zwillich

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Attorneys for the Bush Administration asked a
federal court on Monday to order that documents on hundreds of cases of
autism allegedly caused by childhood vaccines be kept from the public.

Department of Justice lawyers asked a special master in the US Court of
Federal Claims to seal the documents, arguing that allowing their automatic
disclosure would take away the right of federal agencies to decide when and
how the material should be released.

Attorneys for the families of hundreds of autistic children charged that
the government was trying to keep the information out of civil courts,
where juries might be convinced to award large judgments against vaccine
manufacturers.

The court is currently hearing approximately 1,000 claims brought by the
families of autistic children. The suits charge that the
measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which until recently included a
mercury-containing preservative known as thimerosal, can cause neurological
damage leading to autism.

Federal law requires suits against vaccine makers to go before a special
federal "vaccine court" before any civil lawsuit is allowed. The court was
set up by Congress to speed compensation claims and to help protect vaccine
makers from having to pay large punitive awards decided by juries in state
civil courts. Plaintiffs are free to take their cases to state courts if
they lose in the federal vaccine court or if they don't accept the court's
judgment.

The current 1,000 or so autism cases are unusual for the court. Because it
received so many claims, much of the fact-finding and evidence-gathering is
going on for all of the cases as a block.

Monday's request by the Bush Administration would prevent plaintiffs who
later go to civil court from using some relevant evidence generated during
the required vaccine court proceedings.

Plaintiffs' attorneys said that the order amounted to punishment of the
families of injured children because it would require them to incur the
time and expense of regenerating evidence for a civil suit.

"Wouldn't it be a shame if at the end of the day our policy would be to
compensate lawyers," said Jeff Kim, an attorney with Gallagher Boland
Meiburger & Brosnan. The firm represents about 400 families of autistic
children who received the MMR vaccine.

Kim accused the government of trying to lower "a shroud of secrecy over
these documents" in order to protect vaccine manufacturers, who he said
were "the only entities" that would benefit if the documents are sealed.

While federal law clearly seals most documents generated in individual
vaccine cases, it has never been applied to a block proceeding like the one
generating evidence in the autism cases.

Administration lawyers told Special Master George Hastings that they
requested the seal in order to preserve the legal right of the Secretary of
Health and Human Services to decide when vaccine evidence can be released
to the public.

Justice Department attorney Vincent Matanoski argued that to let plaintiffs
use the vaccine court evidence in a later civil suit would confer an
advantage on plaintiffs who chose to forgo federal compensation.

"There is no secret here. What the petitioners are arguing for are enhanced
rights in a subsequent civil action," Matanoski said of the plaintiffs.
"They're still going to have unfettered use within the proceedings."

Hastings would not say when he would issue a ruling on whether to seal the
court documents, but did say that his decision would be "very prompt." ====================================================

It is 2008 and the records are still not being released. Is 6 years "very prompt?"

[kola]

New study links mercury to autism
Level of disorder dropped dramatically after element removed from vaccines

World Net Daily | March 3 2006

A new study shows a direct relationship between mercury in children's vaccines and autism, contradicting government claims there is no proven relationship between the two.

Published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, the data show since mercury was removed from childhood vaccines, the increase in reported rates of autism and other neurological disorders in children not only stopped, but actually dropped sharply – by as much as 35 percent.

Using the government's own databases, independent researchers analyzed reports of childhood neurological disorders, including autism, before and after removal of mercury-based preservatives.
According to a statement from the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, or AAPS, the numbers from California show that reported autism rates hit a high of 800 in May 2003. If that trend had continued, the reports would have risen to more than 1,000 by the beginning of 2006. But the number actually went down to 620, a real decrease of 22 percent, and a decrease from the projection of 35 percent.

Stated the AAPS: "This analysis directly contradicts 2004 recommendations of the Institute of Medicine, which examined vaccine safety data from the National Immunization Program of the CDC. While not willing to either rule out or to corroborate a relationship between mercury and autism, the IOM soft-pedaled its findings and decided no more studies were needed."

As more and more vaccines were added to the mandatory schedule of vaccines for children, the dose of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal rose, so that the cumulative dose injected into babies exceeded the toxic threshold set by many government agencies, the physicians' group explained.

Up until about 1989, pre-school children got only three vaccines – polio, DPT and MMR. By 1999, the CDC recommended a total of 22 vaccines to be given before children reach the first grade, including Hepatitis B, which is given to newborns within the first 24 hours of birth. Many of these vaccines contained mercury. In the 1990s, approximately 40 million children were injected with mercury-containing vaccines.

The rate of autism skyrocketed between 1989 and 2003. Currently, there are more than a half million children in the U.S. who have autism.

In 1999, on the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics and U.S. Public Health Service, thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines as a "precautionary" measure. There was no admission of any causal link between thimerosal and autism.

The authors of the new report, David A. Geier, B.A. and Mark R. Geier, M.D., Ph.D., believe consumers should still be concerned about mercury, as it is still added to some of the most commonly used vaccines, such as those for flu. kola note: and mercury is still in some vaccines "in trace amounts" see below

States the report: "Despite its removal from many childhood vaccines, thimerosal is still routinely added to some formulations of influenza vaccine administered to U.S. infants, as well as to several other vaccines (e.g. tetanus-diphtheria and monovalent tetanus) administered to older children and adults. In 2004, the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences retreated from the stated 1999 goal of the AAP and the PHS to remove thimerosal from U.S. vaccines as soon as possible. ... As a result, assessing the safety of [thimerosal-containing vaccines] is a matter of significant importance."

[kola]

Critics ask why flu shot doesn't match strain:
Mercury in vaccine found to be 250 times higher than recommended

WorldNetDailyl | January 20, 2004

Early in the 20th century an influenza known as the "Spanish Flu" claimed the lives of an estimated 20 million to 40 million people worldwide. It has been called the pandemic of 1918-1919, one of the most devastating in recorded history, claiming more lives than the "Great War" of 1914-1918, and even topping the death toll of the Black Death, or bubonic plague, that swept from far China in the 1330s across the face of Europe well into 1352.

Given the deadly history of the highly contagious flu virus, it comes as little surprise that governments and their public-health agencies pay keen attention to influenza-like illnesses arising even in the most remote corners of the world, or that news organizations cover the topic with a virulence rivaling that of the bug itself.

In fact the 2003-2004 flu season has been remarkable in that it hit earlier than in recent years and forced government health officials publicly to acknowledge that the influenza vaccine produced to protect against the virus doesn't protect against the strain of flu making its way across the country, leaving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to cavil that, after all, the vaccine "may provide some protection or lessen the symptoms."

The operative words being "may" and "some." Another CDC spokesman has said that "the vaccine doesn't offer foolproof protection." What "may" and "some" and "foolproof" mean in this context apparently is as difficult to divine as it is for health officials accurately to predict the influenza strains circulating from year to year.

The identification of the virus that is the target of inoculation from year to year is based on reported influenza-like illnesses throughout the world that a handful of international and government health agencies, including the World Health Organization and the CDC, monitor.

Periodically a group of doctors and experts, known as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration, meet to discuss the ambient cases. Usually by May of each year, they vote on the strain of influenza virus from which to formulate the year's vaccine. Some years the advisory committee picks the right virus, and sometimes (like this year) it guesses wrong.
kola note: I would interested in seeing evidence when (and if) they ever "picked it right".

During voting for the 2003-2004 formulation a majority of participants believed that the influenza A Fujian (H3N2) would be the appropriate strain. But apparently due to complications with isolating the A Fujian strain, and additional manufacturing concerns, the committee decided to stay with the influenza A Panama (H3N2) strain that has been used since the 2000-2001 flu season.

Attempting to make sense of what "may" and "some" and "foolproof" mean, Roland A. Levandowski, a doctor with the FDA's Medical Center for Biologics and a member of the advisory committee, tells Insight that "the inactivated influenza vaccines – the protective efficacy of vaccine – is never 100 percent.

We know from previous experiences with inactivated influenza vaccines that the best efficacy – the highest level of efficacy - is between 70 and 90 percent in healthy adults, and this occurs when there is a perfect match between the vaccine component and the circulating influenza virus."

Levandowski euphemizes, "This year the strain that is in the vaccine is not a perfect match, but the Fujian strain is represented in this class of virus [H3N2] and it's not so far off that we wouldn't expect to see some protection. If I had to guess, I'd say there is a 50 percent [chance] of protection, but even any guess depends on the outcome and what's happening out there in the real world."

So this year the level of protection the vaccine offers is in doubt.

Indeed, by Jan. 15, the CDC issued a press release admitting that ongoing testing showed that this year's vaccine "was not effective or had very low effectiveness" in the test subjects.

Yet up to that time the official edict from federal health agencies had been to charge ahead and vaccinate anyway. Then, as most now are aware, there wasn't enough of the "wrong" vaccine to meet the hysteria-induced demand.

So the CDC turned to the recently approved Washington-based MedImmune's FluMist, an influenza live-virus intranasal spray that is not approved for use on children younger than 5 or adults older than 49 – two of the at-risk groups for whom vaccination is recommended.

So with the reported shortage of inactive influenza vaccine and a limited use of the live intranasal spray, large portions of the population remain unprotected. How serious a problem is that?

By Dec. 20, CDC Director Julie L. Gerberding replied: "I think when you look at a map that shows wide-spread influenza activity in 36 states that we can regard it, from a commonsense perspective, as an epidemic."

Although the flu was widespread, according to the CDC the actual number of flu cases did not surpass the "epidemic" threshold until week 52 of the flu season.

The CDC website offers weekly reports on the number of influenza cases. For the week ending Dec. 27, or week 52, the CDC reported that "since Sept. 28, WHO and NREVSS, the National Respirator Enteric Virus Surveillance System, laboratories have tested a total of 50,743 specimens for influenza viruses and 14,942 were positive with 9.0 percent of all deaths reported by vital-statistics offices of 122 cities due to pneumonia and influenza."

The epidemic threshold is 7.9 percent.

According to the CDC, influenza is the most frequent cause of death from a vaccine-preventable disease in this country. From 1990 through 1998, an average of 36,000 flu-related pulmonary and circulatory deaths occurred each season in the United States.
kola note: This number is highly inaccurate and derived from skewed statsistics.

But how does the CDC arrive at its numbers of deaths related to influenza?

"Tracking the flu is done through sentinel physicians who test cases for the influenza virus," CDC spokesman Curtis Allen tells Insight. "But in most cases a person would go to their physician and the doctor would make a clinical diagnosis based on the influenza symptoms. The number of reported deaths [due to complications of the influenza virus] is based on a mathematical model and not actual swabbing of the nasal cavity."
kola note: diagnosis is by an educated guess. Real "science" huh? gimme a break.

Allen continues, "The CDC gets the information from the sentinel physicians, which basically is a random sampling where there are physicians in a community or health department who will be seeing patients and will swab their noses. There are a couple problems with determining the number of deaths related to the flu because most people don't die from influenza – they die from complications of influenza – so the numbers are based on mathematical formulas. We don't know exactly how many people get the flu each year because it's not a reportable disease and most physicians don't do the test [nasal swab] to indicate whether it's influenza."
kola note: yet they pick a nice round number of 36,000 deaths and realease to the MSM very year and especially pump out the feat tactics in the fall of the season.

Thus the reported average of 36,000 deaths annually associated with influenza is based on estimates rather than actual figures. But what about the growing number of people concerned about the amount of mercury (thimerosal) in the inactive influenza vaccine?

It turns out that, at the very time government health officials were warning of the influenza epidemic, they also were putting out unrelated warnings about the quantities of tuna and other fish that could be ingested safely in view of the high levels of mercury in their flesh.

The Environmental Protection Agency recommends ingesting no more than 0.1 micrograms of mercury, while the FDA recommends no more than 0.4 micrograms per kilogram per day. What this amounts to is a recommendation by the EPA and the FDA that women and small children eat no more than 12 ounces of tuna or other fish or shellfish per week. This is because, according to the EPA, "mercury consumed by a pregnant or nursing woman or by a young child can harm the developing brain and nervous system."

Yet the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices has issued a warning, passed along by the CDC, that "all children aged 6 [months] to 23 months and pregnant women in their second and third trimester" receive the inactive influenza vaccine – which contains a full 25 micrograms of mercury – 250 times the limit the EPA recommends for tuna-lovers.

Nevertheless, the CDC website says, "the benefits of influenza vaccine with reduced or standard thimerosal content outweighs the theoretical risk, if any, of thimerosal," which is of course the source of the mercury.

The CDC website also states: "Based on guidelines established by the FDA, the EPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, no child will receive excessive mercury from childhood vaccines regardless of whether or not their flu shot contains thimerosal as a preservative."

Is there a disconnect in communications between federal agencies? Certainly the EPA and the FDA don't think the risk from exposure of children to high levels of mercury is "theoretical." Does mercury injected directly into the bloodstream of a small child stop at the neck, whereas mercury ingested from a tuna-fish sandwich does not? If EPA and FDA mercury limits are 0.1 and 0.4 micrograms, how can the CDC believe the 25 micrograms contained in the influenza vaccine is not "excessive mercury"?

According to Raymond Strikas, a spokesman for the CDC National Immunization Program, "At this point there is no confirmed proof that anyone has been harmed by mercury in vaccines. kola note but there is plenty, he just chooses not to accept it. If it is so safe why not stick him with the same amount doses of mercury and see. "I'm not arguing that mercury isn't a neurotoxin – you're right. No one argues that point. It's got to do with the amount in vaccines – it's very small and has been eliminated in the vast majority of childhood vaccines. There is thimerosal-free or reduced-thimerosal influenza vaccine available."

Then the "commonsense" factor cited by CDC Director Gerberding about influenza being at epidemic levels kicks in to point out that if you ingest mercury and it causes neurological problems, then it's just common sense that when you inject it into the bloodstream it will do the same.

Thimerosal is a preservative that has been used in multi-dose vials of vaccines. It contains 49 percent ethylmercury.

The CDC says "there is no convincing evidence of harm caused by low doses of thimerosal." However, in July 1999, the Public Health Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics agreed thimerosal should be eliminated "as a precautionary measure." And Strikas is correct when he advises that there is a thimerosal-free influenza vaccine. The problem, critics say, is that of the 85 million doses produced for this flu season only 3.2 million were thimerosal-free. Which lucky kids, they ask, weren't exposed to potential mercury risks?

Len Lavenda is a spokesman for Adventis Pasteur, one of three pharmaceutical companies producing this season's influenza vaccine.

He tells Insight, "We produce flu vaccines in several different presentations. We have three of these: a 10-dose vial [multidose], single-dose prefilled syringes and the pediatric preservative-free dose. Based on prebooking we determine how many of each will be produced."

Lavenda explains that "for the 2003-2004 season Adventis produced 43 million doses of the influenza vaccine."

The pharmaceutical spokesman was unsure of how many were free of thimerosal or even of how many thimerosal-free doses might be produced for the next flu season. The FluMist intranasal spray is free of thimerosal, remember, but cannot be given to children younger than 5.

Mark Geier is president of the Genetic Centers of America. He and his son David Geier, president of Medcon Inc., are consultants on vaccine issues and longtime opponents of thimerosal in vaccines. Certainly the Geiers don't accept the concept that mercury somehow is less poisonous to the human body when injected rather than ingested. They are alarmed about the presence of mercury in millions of doses of influenza vaccine being used to fight an epidemic.

"The ethyl mercury in the influenza vaccine," insists Mark Geier, "assuredly does not stop at the neck. Yes, there is something called the blood/brain barrier, which prevents some toxins from entering the brain. But ethyl mercury, which is what is in the influenza vaccine, crosses that barrier. The influenza vaccine has 25 micrograms of mercury, which means that to be at the recommended level of safety, and assuming that you get no mercury from any other source, you'd have to weigh 550 pounds to be safe."

But, Geier says, "that is only one aspect of this influenza virus that concerns us. There is a further risk to the health of this country because the current vaccine doesn't match the current influenza strain. You understand that they have been wrong about the strain about half the time and we've been screaming about this for years. Finally, this year, they even admitted it was the wrong strain. But they say you should continue to get the vaccine because 'it may give you some protection.' The truth is it is unlikely to give you a significant amount of protection because it is the wrong strain."

He continues, "Now let's talk about what can be done. It turns out that this is not going to be a terribly deadly year and the created panic has succeeded in selling the vaccine. But there is no joking about influenza. What if the 1919 strain comes back? Every year we try to make a vaccine, and let's hope the year it comes back we have a good one. In its best year the influenza vaccine is probably about 70 percent efficacious, which means we'd still lose tens of millions of people, so what do we do? The next thing out of their mouths is: 'Well, if it gets really bad we're going to quarantine states.' Wait. This isn't 1919, and we have three FDA-approved drugs that prevent influenza. What happened to them?"
"Tamiflu," Geier says, "is made by Roche [Pharmaceuticals]. Taking one pill a day prevents up to 90 percent of flu. So explain to me why our [Department of] Homeland Security has stocked millions of doses of Cipro in case we're attacked with anthrax - unlikely on a wide-scale basis – but has not put away Tamiflu for a major outbreak of influenza that could go worldwide? Tamiflu ... can be taken within 48 hours of the onset of flulike symptoms and will shorten the case. Two, it is approved for prophylactic use – taking one pill a day for the flu season – and it will prevent any type of influenza A or B, no matter what strain, and it is graded in the 90 percent range."

Geier insists that "it should be put away for both uses and, God forbid there is a major outbreak, every city should have this stocked. Homeland Security is supposed to protect us not only from terrorists but also natural disasters – and this would be a real natural disaster. Why aren't public-health officials telling people there is an alternative? Instead, what we've got is people fighting to get the wrong vaccine, fully approved by the FDA. What kind of leadership is this?"

"Suppose for a moment," he says, "that there were a 1919 swine-flu outbreak tomorrow. Do you think they could just pass out Tamiflu to everyone then? No. That would mean producing tens of millions of doses. I went to a local pharmacy to get Tamiflu and asked the pharmacist how many he had on the shelf. He had just 20 Tamiflu pills – not even enough to fill my prescription. Look, this is serious. If the 1919 strain should return tens of millions of Americans could die, but our health officials are doing nothing, even though the FDA has approved the antivirals for exactly this use. The vaccine in its wildest dreams never works in the 90 [percent range], so why aren't they actively promoting Tamiflu?"

 

[Caleb]

Kola, what do you want people to *do* about this?

Many people on this forum are already skeptical about vaccines.
Those that seem to like the vaccines don't want to force you to get them.

What do you seek to accomplish?

[Lactivist]

Hey Kola,

I want to add something.  The link to autism isn't JUST mercury in vaccines.  Many believe it is a combination of factors (which explains why older generations didn't have high rates of autism).  I'd like to add to anyone who's interested that in addition to mercury in vaccines, older age of parents and cesarean sections (due to drugs for induction, pain, surgery) have also been linked to the rise of childhood autism. 

[kola]

There is quite a bit of pseudoscience, misinfo and disinformation on the topic of autism.

Do you have any studies showing older parents and c-sections are causing autism?

[kola]

Kola, what do you want people to *do* about this?

Many people on this forum are already skeptical about vaccines.
Those that seem to like the vaccines don't want to force you to get them.

What do you seek to accomplish?

It is open to discussion. And it  is there for people to learn if they so choose.

For years we all have been lied to. I am trying to expose the truth and present the OTHER side of the story. ONLY THEN can a parent make a rational decision regarding whether or not to vaccinate their kids. Others will continue to use blind faith.

Kola

[BaneOfTheBeast]

Kola, what do you want people to *do* about this?

Many people on this forum are already skeptical about vaccines.
Those that seem to like the vaccines don't want to force you to get them.

What do you seek to accomplish?

Information and education, discussion and debate... I would imagine.
Kola just posted a ton of information that others can now reference when discussing this topic with others that may not be on the forum.

I mean what is it that you want people to *do* about the things you post?

[ReverendRyan]

There is quite a bit of pseudoscience, misinfo and disinformation on the topic of autism.

Does that mean you finally recant 90% of everything you've posted here? Oh, happy day.....

[Lactivist]

Hultman C, Sparen P, Cnattingius S. Perinatal risk factors for infantile autism. Epidemiology 2002; 13: 417-23

"The researchers had at their disposal the recorded data from the Swedish nationwide Birth Register regarding all Swedish children born during a period of 20 years (from 1974 until1993). They also had at their disposal data regarding 408 children (321 boys and 87 girls) diagnosed as autistic after being discharged from a hospital from 1987 through 1994 (diagnosis according to strict criteria). For each case five matched controls were selected, resulting in a control sample of 2040 infants. The risk of autism was significantly associated with caesarean delivery, a 5-minute Apgar score below 7 (in other words: baby not in good shape at birth), maternal birth outside Europe and North America, bleeding in pregnancy, daily smoking in early pregnancy, being small for gestational age, and congenital malformations. Unfortunately the authors could not dissociate scheduled caesareans and caesareans during labour. Also, the variable 'labour induction' could not be taken into account, because it did not appear in the National Birth Register until 1991, as I learnt from personal correspondence with one of the authors." - from http://www.wombecology.com/caesareans.html

[ReverendRyan]

Hultman C, Sparen P, Cnattingius S. Perinatal risk factors for infantile autism. Epidemiology 2002; 13: 417-23

"The researchers had at their disposal the recorded data from the Swedish nationwide Birth Register regarding all Swedish children born during a period of 20 years (from 1974 until1993). They also had at their disposal data regarding 408 children (321 boys and 87 girls) diagnosed as autistic after being discharged from a hospital from 1987 through 1994 (diagnosis according to strict criteria). For each case five matched controls were selected, resulting in a control sample of 2040 infants. The risk of autism was significantly associated with caesarean delivery, a 5-minute Apgar score below 7 (in other words: baby not in good shape at birth), maternal birth outside Europe and North America, bleeding in pregnancy, daily smoking in early pregnancy, being small for gestational age, and congenital malformations. Unfortunately the authors could not dissociate scheduled caesareans and caesareans during labour. Also, the variable 'labour induction' could not be taken into account, because it did not appear in the National Birth Register until 1991, as I learnt from personal correspondence with one of the authors." - from http://www.wombecology.com/caesareans.html

That sounds like further proof that the correlation between cesareans and autism is not a causal relationship, but that certain types of birthing difficulties and autism share a common cause.

The correlation also implies that autism is linked to either genetic or prenatal causes, not childhood vaccines.

Those are the results that are always found when an unbiased study is done (such as the Swedish one), and not by an ideologically driven organization (such as most of the former listed on this thread).

[kola]

That sounds like further proof that the correlation between cesareans and autism is not a causal relationship, but that certain types of birthing difficulties and autism share a common cause.

the studys says :"Unfortunately the authors could not dissociate scheduled caesareans and caesareans during labour". How can you say that when the study says they did not differentiate between schedulaed c saections and emergency ones? The study did not take that into account. It also did not list or track how many were fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all.

The easiest and most reliable study to prove or disprove that vaccine causes autism is this:
Track the non-vaxed kids and compare to the fully-vaxed kids. How simple.

To this day there is not ONE unvaccinated child who has been diagnosed with autism. (the autism reported in the amish community involved  an asian adopted child who was fully vaccinated and enforced by fed and state laws). To me this speaks volumes. (when looking at the epidemic numbers of autism and all the kids effected)