The Next Vaccine-Autism Newsmaker: Not Isolated, Not Unusual

In February, I leaked news of the Federal government's admission that vaccines had triggered autism in a little girl named Hannah Poling. The stunning revelation, though still reverberating around the world, was roundly downplayed by US officials, who insisted that Hannah had an extremely rare, genetic case of "aggravated" mitochondrial disorder, with zero bearing on other autism cases.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rushed to the airwaves, exhorting parents to adhere to the nation's intensive and virtually mandatory immunization schedule, and brushing off their legitimate anxieties by saying: "We've got to set aside this very isolated, unusual situation."

Well, the days of setting aside are over: Hannah Poling is neither isolated nor unusual.

In fact, the boy who was selected to replace Hannah Poling as the first-ever thimerosal "test case" in so-called Vaccine Court, has just been found with many of the same unusual metabolic markers as... you guessed it, Hannah Poling.

Hannah's case was scheduled to be heard in Federal Claims Court on May 12 -- as one of three "test cases" of the theory that thimerosal (a mercury-based vaccine preservative) can cause autism.

Test cases will help address general causation issues in all 4,900 autism claims now pending in Vaccine Court. But following the government concession, Hannah was withdrawn as the first test case of the thimerosal theory, and attorneys scrambled to find a replacement: a young boy from New York.

Last week, however, the court announced that the replacement thimerosal test case was also being withdrawn, in order to "proceed to an individual hearing on a different theory of causation."

That theory, which applies to Hannah as well, maintains that children with dysfunctional mitochondria (the little batteries within each cell that convert food into energy) are susceptible to autistic regression, triggered by a vaccine-induced overtaxing of the immune system.

"We want to pursue an additional theory, not a different theory," the boy's father told me. "We are by no means abandoning the thimerosal theory of causation but, in the context of the test case, the thimerosal theory would have eclipsed our other evidence, including evidence of metabolic dysfunction," such as impaired mitchondria and low cellular energy.

Following the Poling concession, he said, "I saw right away that we needed to pursue the mitochondrial theory,"but the lead attorneys did not see it that way. "Perhaps they did not properly understand the concession, and believed the finding was of a rare, genetically caused mitochondrial disorder," as the government contends. "I think they rightly want to keep clear focus on thimerosal in the test case, and not muddy the presentation with other theories."

The court's test case process is unusual and unwieldy. "They limit the cases to one theory at a time, when the theories are not mutually exclusive," the father said. "For example, thimerosal could cause, contribute to, or aggravate mitochondrial dysfunction. These cases can't be wrapped into neat
little packages."

The unexpected withdrawal of two test cases in a row - both because of their apparent mitochondrial underpinnings - is sure to have larger ramifications in the Court of Federal Claims, as well as the much larger court of public opinion.

A new, additional theory of causation is about to be introduced in Vaccine Court: Vaccines can trigger a chain of events in children with mitochondrial dysfunction that causes autism.

But the US Government now has a major quandary to deal with. Federal officials already conceded that, far from being "theoretical," this chain of events already happened to Hannah Poling. This will make it difficult, if not impossible, to argue against compensating the boy from New York, when compensating a nearly identical case - Hannah Poling - was already deemed appropriate.

Some estimates of mitochondrial dysfunction in children with autism range as high as 20%-30%. But among the regressive subset of cases (virtually all of the claims in Vaccine Court) up to half of the children might show signs of it.

No one knows how many of those families will pursue a similar strategy of individual hearings on causation, based on the mitochondrial concession in the Poling case. But my guess is that there could be hundreds of them, following in the precedent of this case's footsteps. The legal ramifications, inside Vaccine Court and throughout the judicial system, remain incalculable at this point.

Still, when the American public finds out that the exceedingly "rare" Poling case was replaced by what is shaping up to be yet another exceedingly rare case - they will follow the lead of all three presidential candidates and finally reject the tired mantra that, "there is no link" between vaccines and autism.

Then perhaps will end, "One of the most vitriolic debates in medical history," as it is called by Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH and the Red Cross. "At some level," she said, the Poling case "was a vindication for families," adding that, "vaccines as a trigger carry a ring of both historical and biological plausibility."

The government is currently examining the national vaccine schedule to see if we are, perhaps, immunizing children too early and too often (and with too much thimerosal from the flu shot).

I personally thought that one Hannah Poling emerging out of Vaccine Court would be enough to
change the way we vaccinate in this country. But now we have two. And there are many more Hannah's out there, waiting to be counted.

NOTE: The UK's Sunday Sun writes about the controversy today, and mentions the second test case being withdrawn.

This was originally posted at Spectrum Publications.

Comments

[LindsE]

What about 2 out of how many millions makes a condition "not isolated" or "not unusual"? Sorry, maybe I'm slow, but I didn't make that leap. Of interest? Perhaps. Common? Not that we yet know of.

[johnfryer]

Mitochondria and Mercury

Getting back to the topic!

Mitochondria cells et al are passed down from the mother to her offspring.
So why should the offspring have different mitochondria to the mother?
Answer. They do not have different mitochondria.
So why do they become autistic?
Answer. Because mercury interferes with the enzymatic processes in the mitochondria preventing normal formation of eventually red blood cells.
Does this cause autism?
Obviously not.

But if mercury is loose and at work then the mitochondria are under attack just as the brain is under attack.

Some of those with damaged mitochondria will have damaged brains as well.

It's mercury warfare and our children are the foot soldiers taking the flak.

[NCGigi]

Mercury is also in flourescent lightbulbs. Before everyone rushes out to replace all incandescent bulbs with the little swirlies, think about it, one of these babies breaks and there is mercury dust all over your house. Yikes!

[Gichin13]

that is one view ... but another thought is that more mercury is used and released into the environment net through excess electrical production using standard bulbs instead of CFL.

There is definitely the question of proximity though. We have CFL bulbs in our house, but I am always careful with them and dispose of them properly when required.

[TruthWinsNow]

There is a third view. Using LED tech light bulbs instead of high energy consuming incandescent bulbs and environmentally disastrous CFL bulbs. The LED technology is emerging one.

The biggest drawback of LED bulbs is their cost. They use same level of energy like CFL, but are up to 5 times cost of CFL bulbs. But as the technology progresses, the cost will be reduced. Just today, I saw a news article that LED is going to be used on all laptops by 2012.
www.ciol.com/Semicon/Biz-Watch/News-Reports/LED-backlights-to-take-over-notebook-PCs/29408105584/0/

http://www.naturalnews.com/022886.html

[rolandcassard]

Isn't it true that the unnamed father cited here is also an attorney who has long represented families in vaccine-related lawsuits? Might've been worth a mention.

Also, just curious what's behind the persistent reference to the three presidential candidates' having "rejected" the idea there's no vaccine-autism link, when Obama's exact words on the subject recently were that "the science right now is inconclusive." (When he referred to "this person" as someone who believes in the link, he was clearly pointing to an individual in the audience to whom he was speaking.)

Just business as usual here, i guess.

[typicalpol]

because being a lawyer has everything to do with having mitrochondrial issue

[Robert59]

Is this a relatively inexpesive test that could be used to screen infants? Those who had mitochondrial impairments would only be immunized if their parents agreed to it while those without would get immunized.

This is why universal heatlh care is so important. It's not a question of government negligence but of something unknown. We know immunizations save tens of thousands of lives and with this breakthrough we might be getting a better idea at the cost.

Families with autistic children need help as these children are expensive to care for, especially as they age. This is where society should share the burden which it would with universal health care.

[DannysVoice]

No, there is not one specific test to diagnose Mitochondrial Disorder. Since it affects each person's DNA differently multiple tests can be necessary. One of the more accurate tests is a muscle biopsy. But this test is invasive, and does not always prove one has the disorder. It also costs about $10,000 so, no, it's not something their going to screen newborns for at that price.

But maybe they should... according to the Mitochondrial Foundation, a new case is diagnosed every 15 minutes, an increase in recent years...what's up with that? Many of the symptoms sound just like Autism...Gee, I wonder if it's related to all the crap the CDC and Pharma insist on injecting into our babies developing immune systems and brains in the name of saving lives?

I am ALL FOR life saving vaccines, I am NOT FOR vaccines that give children brain damage in the process!

[linlou34]

I can only hope that something will change with all of this. With the law in place from Bush, I can not get any kind of help for my son, as he was diagnosed at 3 years old. Or, perhaps we will be able to change that law as well. My biggest concern is to get the toxins out of the vaccinations, and to spread out the schedule. I, like most parents, want to protect and take the best care for my children.

[CraigWilloughby]

You gotta wonder what Gerberding (Dr. Evil) and Offit (Number 2) are thinking right now. After Hannah was downplayed as being "isolated and unique," the vaccine court rushes to replace Hannah in the omnibus with anoter child. Then, guess what? That child has the same problems as Hannah does.

I have a message for Dr. Evil and Number 2:

"Open mouth; insert foot."

[DannysVoice]

She's probably wondering how much longer she'll be employed. Her days of CDC puppeteer and mouth piece are about done! And Offit - UGHH - he always sides with big pharma becuse he's on their boards and payrolls. He's the Dr. who used his connections with pharma, CDC and FDA to get his ROTO Virus vaccine fast tracked for approval in the mid 1990's. He didn't have to prove half of what's required under normal safety guidelines. Within 9 months his vaccine was pulled from the market because kids had severe reactions and several died. When is safety actually going to come first with these people?!!

[typicalpol]

Why is it that the thimerosal test cases are the ones showing this mitro issue?

I thought Kathleen Siedel had already solved all these questions from a library?

[Heraldblog]

The test cases were selected by the petitioners' attorneys.

[typicalpol]

those attorneys seem to being doing their job of making a point then

Why doesn't the government hire Kathleen Siedel?

[saintcatherine]

HuffPost's Pick

As I've read the print news stories in the mainstream media that have responded to Hannah Poling, I've become more and more frustrated by blase, condescending, all-encompassing medical commentary reassuring the American public Hannah's case has no relevance to the vast majority of cases of autistic regression. These reassurances ignore evidence such as that which was presented to the American Academy of Neurology April 13, and soundly marginalize the words of Dr. Poling himself about his daughter.
Dr. Poling responded to the comments section of the blog NeuroLogica, a blog dedicated to intense skepticism on a wide variety of issues. In his comments, he addresses the repeated mantra that "Hannah has a rare mitochondria disorder, was destined to regress, and is extremely rare".
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php?p=203#comment-1791
What is controversial is not that a subset of these children may have sub-clinical mitochondria dysfunction that would NOT be detectable by routine medical examiniation, but whether or not these dysfunctions arise spontaneously from genetic programming or are precipatated by environmental insult (such as is proposed to occur during vaccination). This should be what scientists are debating, and the public should understand this as the real issue. Why, then, is nothing coming out of the maintstream medical establishment and the press except "Hannah is not relevant"?

[joanndarc]

A fact: any amout of mercury (Hg) is toxic and causes dose-related autism. No reason to suspect that vaccines themselves CAUSE autism exists. Obviously any mercury containing mixture injected internally shall be expected to have toxic effects and the development of autism is one of them.

[dshwa]

Theoretically, the mercury in thiomersol shouldn't be able to get free from the rest of the molecule to cause damage. Again, I said theoretically. Whether or not that is true in vivo is at the crux of the debate. There is the possibility that some undiscovered genetic expression allows for the metabolism of thiomersol to unbound mercury in order to cause damage.

But no discussion of this is complete without comment on the benefits of vaccines. We've wiped on disease virtually out of existance (polio) and chased several others to the brink (diptheria, smallpox, and mumps to name a few) that used to kill or disable thousands of people yearly. Yes, autism is a problem, and its causes need to be investigated. But until there is proof, and two cases is not proof, vaccination still should be a top priority for all parents. That being said, I would still recommened using thiomersol free vaccines whenever possible.

[burnt]

"We've wiped on disease (snip) that used to kill or disable thousands of people yearly."

While there is validity to this argument, the question now is... "But at what cost".

If there is any truth to the claim that autism has achieved a ten-fold increase in yearly diagnosis during the last 20+ years and that it now affects 1 in 300 children born each year in this country (2004 estimate), then you can probably do the math if you realize that in the US there are over 4 million births yearly.
http://www.medicalconsumers.org/pages/MercuryinChildhoodVaccination.html

Those numbers only address the instances of autism... not other less severe physical or behavioral problem that might also be linked to immunization programs as they are conducted today. I'm speaking directly to the incredible number of attention deficit problems our children now face... which by the way, are tremendous profit machines for drug makers.

[Heraldblog]

Joanndarc, what evidence do you have that "any amount of mercury (Hg) is toxic and causes dose-related autism"? And what is dose-related autism? Is that the same as "dose response"?