Top Autism Panel Backs Research Objectives Mentioning Vaccines -- Dueling Press Releases Ensue

On Tuesday, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), Washington's leading arbiter for directing federal funds to autism research, unanimously voted to recommend studies that include investigations into possible links between autism and environmental triggers - including vaccines - in certain subsets of children.

The IACC has not yet posted details on what was decided at the meeting, but two opposing autism organizations are already applauding either A) the inclusion of vaccine-autism studies in the federal research plan; or B) the rejection of such studies from the plan - depending on whose statement one reads.

On Wednesday, the nation's largest, most mainstream autism foundation, Autism Speaks, issued a press release under the headline: "IACC Includes Vaccine Research Objective In Strategic Plan For Autism Research - Autism Speaks is Encouraged by New Language Recommending Funding of Vaccine Research."

According to the release, Autism Speaks is pleased with the IACC, which it said "unanimously calls for studies to determine if there are sub-populations that are more susceptible to environmental exposures such as immune challenges related to naturally occurring infections, vaccines or underlying immune problems."

Autism Speaks has reason to support more research in this area. A new, small study in the Journal of Child Neurology shows that mitochondrial dysfunction, vaccine-related fever, and autisitc regression may be related, in some cases.

Researchers looked at 28 children with ASD and mitochondrial disease and found that 17 of them (60.7 percent) had gone through autistic regression, and 12 of the regressive cases happened following fever. Among the 12 children who regressed after fever, a third of them had fever associated with vaccination, as was the case of Hannah Poling v. HHS.

Meanwhile, the Autism Speaks statement rightly noted that Congressional leaders who drafted the Combating Autism Act (CAA) of 2006, specifically said in the floor debate - and colloquy - on the bill that the IACC should use CAA funds to investigate "all possible causes of autism - including vaccines."

But Autism Speaks has a fledgling and Lilliputian rival, spawned in part from the defection of its former spokeswoman, Alison Singer, called the Autism Science Foundation (ASF), formed earlier this year. ASF was founded to study all potential causes of autism, except for vaccines, whose link to the disorder, the new group says, has been thoroughly debunked.

The Autism Science Foundation issued its own press release on the IACC vote, but curiously, instead of protesting the inclusion of vaccine-autism research into the recommendations, the group chose to deny that any such recommendations were actually made in the first place.

"Autism Science Foundation Agrees with Decision to Keep Vaccine Research Out of the IACC Autism Plan," the opposing press release said. "Alison Singer joined her colleagues on the IACC in voting to eliminate references in the autism strategic plan that could imply that vaccines cause autism or that call for additional vaccine research," the ASF release said.

And, Singer added: "Draft materials submitted to the IACC suggesting vaccines and/or vaccine components were implicated in autism were rejected by the committee because the IACC determined that they were not based on good science."

The IACC rejected vaccine-specific studies, but according to Singer, "Two initiatives in the plan, one old and one new, could allow for vaccines to be studied as part of larger environmental initiatives if circumstances warranted."

The IACC, she said, voted to keep previously approved language "calling for studies of environmental exposures outlined in the 2007 IOM report 'Autism and the Environment,' which could include vaccines." The panel also voted unanimously to "add a new objective to study whether or not there are certain subpopulations that are more susceptible to environmental exposures such as immune challenges (including naturally occurring infection, vaccines, and/or immune disorders)."

And, Singer added: "There is nothing in the plan that specifically calls for additional vaccine research because there are no data implicating vaccines as a possible cause of autism." She said that "research on environmental factors is important," without specifying what factors should be research.

And there was this, almost Orwellian statement:

Singer added that some groups seem to be misinterpreting the inclusion of the word 'vaccines' in the list of examples of immune challenges as a mandate for vaccine research, and have issued misleading statements. 'Based on the votes taken yesterday, the IACC was clear in its position about autism and vaccines. But if there is public confusion about this new research objective then I will try to make sure we clarify it at our next meeting.

So, just to recap: The Federal Government's top autism panel has voted unanimously to support studies into autism and its possible environmental triggers - including vaccination. In turn, Autism Speaks has cheered "including vaccine research objectives in the IACC plan" while its supposed rival, ASF, has equally cheered that "vaccine research (is) out of the IACC autism plan."

Some parents I spoke with grudglingly accepted ASF's view of events, however. "IACC took out ALL proposed vaccine research studies; They specifically eliminated A) a vax-unvax study, B) an unvaxed or partially vaxed sibs study and C) an adjuvant study - all gone," said Katie Wright, whose parents founded Autism Speaks after her son was diagnosed with the disorder. "They only left the word "vaccine" in a long laundry list of POTENTIAL future possible (translation never) study topics."

Whether the IACC has recommended specific vaccine-autism research, or environmental-autism research in which vaccines might be included, vaccines remain on the list of possible contributors to autistic regression in some children, at least for now, at the IACC.

And that is just how Congressional leaders intended it to be.

 

Comments

[Zipzop]

"Data shopping is not science. Data shopping is wish-fulfillment."
You are so right. When my severely autistic child was little, so many times I saw parents jump on anything, whether it made no sense or not, in hopes of curing their children. They'd also spend all kinds of money whether it made no sense or not. What bothered me most was that a lot of those parents wouldn't prepare for realistic futures for their children. They'd be picturing cured kids and bond together like the new cure was their latest religion. Often they would wear blinders where they'd see their children as less autistic when they weren't changed.
Like religion, they find comfort from living in this imaginary world and I sympathize but if they face reality, they will wind up isolated with a disabled autistic adults until they burn out and send them to foster homes. The bonded parents drift away from each other when their kids grow up.
Sometimes what they did in the name of the cure or treatment was very cruel.
Right now my daughter is a part of a research project. I can hope and imagine but I'm being realistic.

[Doybia]

Zipzop, Thanks for sharing your anecdotes about other people's children. Excellent and convincing evidence that alternative treatments for autism are useless...

I'm waiting for the peer review!

[dugmaze]

Zip,
You sound like you have despair when it comes to autism. But there are some signs of hope.

Anytime there's a change in autism that change can be evaluated.

Take dieting. My son reacts to dieting. Some children don't. I would think if they can erradicate all disease like they claim then they could figure out why my son can't eat carbohydrates.

What about Desiree Jennings? Damaged from vaccines. Some symptoms are leaving. How? For a researcher not to jump at this case is mind boggling. Here's an opportunity to ask an adult questions we can't ask our children.

I don't believe you've lost hope or else you wouldn't have your daughter in a research project. Therefore your relying on faith in the medical community to help with your daughter's autism. And I'm telling you that you can have faith in Jesus too. Why not? It's free. All it requires is the same amount of faith that you give the medical community.

I truly hope you take this step. I was just like you before I took it. Now my son's life has changed because of the step I took.

I'll be praying for your daughter wether it helps or not.

[Doybia]

Data shopping! Pretty funny. So it wasn't data shopping when the CDC went looking around the world and chose Denmark to do vaccine studies to compare to the U.S.? Denmark, with a quite different schedule, a much lower rate of autism, etc. Denmark, where they removed thimerosal well before there was any concern about autism and have no intention whatsoever of adding it back into their vaccines. Frankly, I think the studies done in Denmark are a perfect example of data shopping.

Here is a parallel to the way these parents have been treated (fortunately, made up).

Imagine a cluster of brain cancer cases popping up in a particular office building in a particular city. The authorities decide that they should study brain cancer in another city in another country. There they look at the rate of brain cancer in all office workers and find that working in office buildings does not cause brain cancer. They come back to the original cluster and tell them that they either didn't have brain cancer at all, or if they did it was coincidental. At no point in this scientific research are any of the actual cases studied.

That is the way the parents of autistic children have been dismissed.

[Sheldon101]

The study by Danish researcher is online, in full, via http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/112/3/604

Your description of how to determine if this is a random cluster or something systematic is done exactly as you describe with the specified pattern stated in advance.

There's nothing more to be studied.

A great deal of money and effort was wasted in an attempt to reason with parents of autistic children who created out of whole cloth the idea that vaccines cause autism. That's bad enough.

What's much worse is that they've now applied their concern for too many vaccines at one time (thimerosal) or a specific vaccine (MMR) to H1N1 flu vaccination. That bizarre action will result in the death of children who won't be vaccinated due to their efforts.

Such as a teenager like Evan Frustaglio of Toronto, Ontario
A 13-year-old Toronto boy, described as "healthy as can be," has died of the H1N1 virus. Evan Frustaglio, who played in a minor hockey league, died Monday night at St. Joseph's hospital. Evan went from having minor cold symptoms to dying within 48 hours, his father said.
# http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/10/27/frustraglio-h1n1-toronto-hockey113.html

[dugmaze]

I'm not doubting Evan died from HINI. But he died Monday morning and Tuesday morning the coroner said he died from the swine flu.

Is this possible?

[dugmaze]

All of the studies on vaccines prove that vaccines cause autism.

[Kidspud]

That is a terribly misleading statement. Here is one story that reports on a study from Columbia University that concludes there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20080903/autism-measles-vaccine-no-link

[dugmaze]

"That is a terribly misleading statement"
My statement was ALL vaccines. You provide one study.

Apparently you have proof that ALL vaccines don't cause autism. Please provide that proof.

[euthman]

Vaccines have been studied out the wazoo, and there is no link between vaccines and autism. More research in this area would simply be putting good money after bad.

[CraigWilloughby]

One vaccine; one ingredient.

How many vaccines are there?

[J Mac]

Yeah, except for one problem. None of the current studies factor in the use of anti-pyretics, such as Tylenol.

[Ergon]

And kids still die within 48 hours of receiving the multi-dose shots. What'll you believe, an 'expert' who conducts studies, or your own lying eyes?

[Doybia]

Don't look, don't find. They must have been looking up the wrong wazoo. Or as they say in Missouri, parents whose children regress after vaccines are up s**t creek without a paddle...

because there is no link...

so it is all coincidence or else delusion

[RaisingAwareness]

What do you say to all those parents who say their kids were progressing normally up until they got a vaccine shot?

What do you have to say to my friend whose child was walking by 6 months, speaking 2 languages by 2, then after another round of vaccines couldn't walk and talk?

[Ergon]

"inject into"

[Ergon]

I am all for properly conducted research by neutral parties after what? 60 years? And until such a study comes out, I urge every parent to do their own research, before they decide what to into their kids today.

[Sheldon101]

Why should parents do any more research on vaccination than they do in all the other areas of their life where they simply do what the experts say?

But if you feel you need to do research, do what you do in every other part of your life --- find the experts and follow the advice. That isn't your family doctor because they're not experts here.

Go to an official web site. If you're concerned about the evil US government, then go to Canada's site or Switzerland's site or the UK's site. It really doesn't matter where you go around the world---except for a bizarre health minister in Poland and North Korea, everybody adocatedes vaccination. Even Iran is buying 2 milllon doses of vaccine and going to make more for itself.

Flu Vaccination: Try to imagine the worldwide scope of the conspiracy if the anti-vaxers were correct.

[typicalpol]

I did what the "experts" recommended and ended up with a child with "autism" within hours as a result.

[dizmo4]

Yet more fuel for the anti-vaccination crowd....

[CraigWilloughby]

Yet another pointless comment from the anti-safe vaccination crowd.

[jcause28]

no kidding

[Doybia]

Speaking as an actual anti-vax person (most of the people posting here are not), this article isn't particularly relevant to the interests of parents who don't vaccinate. Most people I know who skip vaccinating study the diseases, study the vaccines (the CDC Pink Book is a very popular source of info), read a few medical studies and then make up their minds. Autism isn't the big fear, although it is a mild concern. I know a lot of unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and overall they are a pretty healthy bunch and their parents are quite happy with the decision they made. So why should they waste time arguing about stuff on this blog or any other?

No, the people who turn up here are people who trusted the authorities and obediently vaccinated. Then they ended up with a chronically ill child and no answers--well lots of answers but most of them are incredibly unhelpful.

No, your child just appears to be really unhealthy. The 6 years of diarrhea doesn't really mean anything is wrong, and the head banging is just autism and the shadows under the eyes are not a sign of ill health either. The only thing wrong with your kid is autism, which is hereditary and just coincidentally appears at the same time as...etc.

[Sheldon101]

POE or OPE?

[vincealy]

"They specifically eliminated A) a vax-unvax study, B) an unvaxed or partially vaxed sibs study and C) an adjuvant study - all gone," said Katie Wright, whose parents founded Autism Speaks after her son was diagnosed with the disorder. "They only left the word "vaccine" in a long laundry list of POTENTIAL future possible (translation never) study topics.""

These studies would prove whether or not vaccines have a role in autism . Removing them may be more about protecting the vaccine schedule than kids .

[CraigWilloughby]

Agreed. And it also completely shatters the trust of the public.

The CDC wants people to vaccinate? Well, do the damned studies and quit dodging! If they find that there is nothing to worry about, i.e. that the health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated people are similar (a study that should have been done 20 years ago when we asked for it), then I'm pretty sure that it will quiet a lot of people and help rebuild that trust.

But this reluctance to do the study makes them look like they are afraid of what they will find. That, most certainly, harms the public trust. The science needs to be done, period.

[AutismNewsBeat]

There aren't enough completely unvaccinated children in the US and Canada combined to generate reliable data.

[Doybia]

This is interesting! So how many children do you need in a vaccine safety study to get reliable results?

[CraigWilloughby]

There are enough completely unvaccinated children in the USA and Canada to generate enough data to warrant further study. The CDC estimates about .3% of children are completely unvaccinated. That is a pretty good sample size to gather data with.
According to the CIA,

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#People

there are approximately 60 million children in the US. .3% of those children would give us 180,000.

How many treats would it take to make you go away?

[CraigWilloughby]

Even if we can't get 180,000 children from the US alone, it is safe to say that we could easily get around 80,000 from the US and Canada. Still a pretty large sample.

Or, are you afraid to do the study? Are you afraid of what it will find.

Go on, whimper along. Let the science be done.

[isjois]

Autism was first diagnosed by Kanner in 1943 - shortly after the whooping cough vaccine was rolled out:

"In the 1920s Dr. Louis W. Sauer developed a vaccine for whooping cough at Evanston Hospital (Chicago, IL). In 1925, the Danish physician Thorvald Madsen was the first to test a whole-cell pertussis vaccine on a wide scale.[17] He used the vaccine to control outbreaks in the Faroe Islands in the North Sea. In 1942, the American scientist Pearl Kendrick combined the whole-cell pertussis vaccine with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids to generate the first DTP combination vaccine." (Wiki - whooping cough)

How can anyone get away with completely dismissing vaccines - when there were no cases of autism, prior to the whooping cough vaccine?

While all vaccinated children may not develop autism, it's immoral that all of our "sick kids" are dismissed in one fell swoop.

1 in 100 children have autism...1 in 6 have some other behavioral­/learning/­developmen­tal/emotio­nal disorder...1 in 10 have asthma...1 in 3 have autism/adh­d/allergie­s/asthma.

[mofmars333]

Here's an urgent report every American citizen needs to know about.

NBC reports on secret shots leaving many in the military on the brink of death & it was found the mystery shots were flu vaccine.

It's said when this is revealed to the public it will make the Walter Reed scandal pale in comparison.

As you'll see a highly praised Department of Defense Medical Officer disclosed that thousands are having severe reactions & he believes they are being used as guinea pigs in experiments.

"The ‘big lie" H1N1 coincidences, contradictions and conspiring"

Part 1

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10438-Peace-Studies-Examiner~y2009m8d27-The-big-lie-H1N1-coincidence-contradiction-and-conspiring

Part 2

http://www.examiner.com/x-10438-Peace-Studies-Examiner~y2009m8d28-The-big-lie-H1N1-coincidence-contradiction-conspiring-part-II

Don't miss the eye opening video in the above link in part 2. You have to scroll down to find it & it will blow any thinking persons mind & wake up any & all who see it.

It's said to be the worst cover up in the history of the military.

Learn more from revealing comments sent to President Obama's Administration at;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/24/obama-declares-swine-flu_n_332617.html

[Aslanone]

Yes, vaccines do cause autism, so says the federal Vaccine Court, which has been quietly compensating vaccine-caused autism since 1991. What remains to be determinedis the "body count," and how new cases can be prevented (with a safer vaccine schedule), and existing cases fairly compensated (for being child soldiers injured in thewar against disease) and treated. Comparing the overall health outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated children is by far the most productive science to get to these answers, for autism and the other epidemics of childhoodl chronic illness. Congress called for this research over 20 yars ago with its 1986 Mandate for Safer Childhood Vaccines and again in 2006 with the Combating Autism Act. The National Vaccine Advisory Committee identified lack of baseline health data as a key gap in vaccine safety science last June. See recommendation 7 at: http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/NVACRecommendationsISOScientificAgendaFinal.pdf. Sadly, IACC has politicized science by unlawfully deleting funding for a comprehensive program of vaccie researc, beginning with this crucial vax/unvax c omparison. The public's growing revolt against vaccines is built upon the federal government's policy of deliberate ignorance abuot vaccine safety. It'snot enough to say that "vaccines are safe,vaccines save lives." The must be as safe as possble. Otherwise, the rational parent will avoid the risk of chronic illness such as autism and free ride on herd immunity. The Government must adopt a safety first agenda; otherwise th benefitsofvaccines will be lost.

[Sheldon101]

I think you're wrong about the Vaccination Compensation program. Aside from Polling in 2008 what are the cases you rely on? Mr. Kirby, while reporting on Polling, has this quote from HHS:

"DVIC has reviewed the scientific information concerning the allegation that vaccines cause autism and has found no credible evidence to support the claim. Accordingly, in every case under the Vaccine Act, DVIC has maintained the position that vaccines do not cause autism, and has never concluded in any case that autism was caused by vaccination."

And then explain WHAT ON EARTH the concern with autism has to do with opposing flu vaccination in those past the age of developing autism who weigh much more and get 1 or 2 vaccinations a year.

[NHGranite]

I am allergic to Thimerosal, the mercury that is/was in many vaccines, including the flu shot. How many others are "allergic" or have a reaction that has not been traced properly? Allergic to latex - adhesive on medical products (bandaids, EKG lead stickers, steri-strips) - penicillin - plastic , so many things.

One of the worst reactions for me is Iron Pills; I get cluster headaches. NOBODY BELIEVES ME! Doesn't make me wrong. But I am dismissed constantly by medical "experts".

Tylenol hurt my liver for years; told doctors and was laughed at - now Tylenol is known to cause liver damage in some.

Just because they don't listen doesn't make the reaction go away.

[Zipzop]

Tylenol is so dangerous and doctors treated me like I was crazy when I said to stop pumping Tylenol into my son after surgery to kill pain. He couldn't keep food down so the Tylenol was being mainlined to his liver in dangerous doses. Now the Tylenol stories are finally coming out. If you take one extra strength dose and your pain isn't gone after an hour, chances are you may want to take another dose. This is deadly dangerous but nobody is really warned about it like they should be.
I wonder how many out-of-court settlement hush money is spread out by the Tylenol people to keep the dangers of the drug quiet.

[J Mac]

The makers of Tylenol (Johnson and Johnson) do indeed go to elaborate lengths to keep the dangers of that drug quiet. They don't give a hoot about safety, only profits. Why, they even go as far as funding Wakefield's work at Thoughtful House in order to keep the focus of autism research on vaccines, instead of their own product. And the director of DAN! is Woody Johnson's sister-in-law, Jane.

[Zipzop]

Double blind solid scientific research about every popular autism treatment would stop a lot of the bickering and distractions among people involved in autism. Our kids need real answers, not subjective anecdotes.

[AutismNewsBeat]

Secretin was tested, double-blind, in the 90s.

[BlueTexasWoman]

Actually, most people really don't want this because it exposes many very expensive autism treatments as nostrums at best, and harmful at worst (chelation for example).

They've already identified some genetic markers for autism. They will likely find (as they have for many more illnesses beyond autism) a genetic tendency and an environmental trigger. That trigger will likely occur much sooner than the vaccines (which no longer contain the things that people claim cause autism, yet autism continues to occur, especially in siblings of children with autism). Many children are now being diagnosed long before their vaccinations (as they likely would have been before, had we know more about the spectrum).

But I'm open to the data. Many people crusading about vaccines will continue to ignore the data they are presented with, until they agree with the data. Data shopping is not science. Data shopping is wish-fulfillment.

20 years ago everyone was convinced that cervical cancer was caused by promiscuity. They thought it had something to do with exposure to multiple penises (you can look it up). We now know that it is (in most cases) caused by a virus, a virus that can be exchanged in a single contact. Scientists followed the data, and hey found a direct cause for cancer (and it really had nothing to do with multiple penises).

Follow the data, not parents' hypotheses.

[Jillba]

Actually, the 1st vaccination is administered at 24 hours of birth (Hep B) so I do not know how you are going to identify if a person has autism or not before that. If you skip the 1st vaccination, the next set is scheduled at 6 weeks. Again, way too early to see if they have autism. The genetic markers that they have found are also in the typical population as well. Should we continue genetic research? Absolutely but we should also be looking at environmental triggers including vaccinations and especially retroviruses (such as XMRV). We need to find out what is causing the immune dysfunction in so many people with autism. I do not want the money towards autism research to be allocated to huge genome projects to solve other diseases/illnesses. I understand that there will always be crossing over in other areas but other departments should be spending their research money on that and autism should have more of their research money allocated to environmental triggers. I have witnessed first hand the NIH's bungling of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome where the GAO has testified that their research money was diverted to other departments and the CFS committee dismissed the link between retroviruses and CFS over 20 years ago and concentrated on the psychological treatment and antidepressants.

[Gatogorra]

Properly supplemented chelation is very effective for chronic metal toxicity and it's been practiced for more than fifty years. Where do you get the data on its dangers? That rat study? They didn't replace zinc or mag in that research. Or are you talking about the one child who died from being given the wrong chelator?

And I also have to question your data if you think autism can be diagnosed two to twenty-four hours after birth or even prenatally since HepB is given within a day and the flu shot is given to pregnant women. Citations if you will. And what chromosomes are you talking about? The last study overturned the data from the one before and this last study found barely a single digit incidence of a mutation that was shared by some controls but not the parents. These are, at most, de novo mutations and a matter of epigenetics-- i.e. environmentally induced genetic changes.