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	growing child vaccines

Institute of Medicine Meets A Second Time to Review Vaccine/Autism Link
By Lisa Reagan
An Exclusive Report by Mothering Magazine

Washington, DC - Nine of the 14 members of the Institute of Medicine's Immunization Safety Review Committee met on February 9, 2004 at the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The IOM meeting was held despite written pleas from U.S. Representative Dave Weldon, MD (R-FL) and Safe Minds, an advocacy and research oriented nonprofit, who petitioned the IOM to first fulfill its own 2001 goal of setting an agenda for "diverse and extensive research" into the issue and to allow more time for the completion of many ongoing independent studies that could support a link between the mercury-derivative thimerosal in some vaccines and autism spectrum disorders.

"Pressing forward with this meeting at this time, I believe, will further undermine the credibility of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on matters of vaccine safety and do damage to the reputation of the IOM. I believe the proposed date of this meeting is in the best interests of no one who is seeking the truth about a possible association between vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism," wrote Rep. Weldon in his January 15, 2004 letter to the CDC.

Safe Minds, a nonprofit organization founded by parents to investigate and raise awareness of the mercury risks to infants and children, has stated that the IOM meeting was in direct violation of the IOM's own charter and that the IOM had yet to follow through on the conclusions of its 2001 report which: acknowledge the link between vaccines and autism is "biologically plausible"; recommend the use of thimerosal-free vaccines; and recognize a need for a diverse and extensive research agenda into the issue.

The IOM's 1970 charter states that it will work "outside the framework of government to ensure scientifically informed analysis and independent guidance, which results in unbiased, evidence-based advice." The February 9th IOM meeting was called for and sponsored by the CDC, the nation's largest government public health agency.

In a January 15, 2004 letter to the IOM, Lynn Redwood, RN, MSN, president of Safe Minds wrote, "When we inquired why this meeting was scheduled now, we were told it was at the request of CDC in light of the fact that these issues would be heard later in the year as part of the vaccine compensation program assessment of autism cases. When asked if the meeting could be rescheduled at a later date when more information was available, you responded that the decision would have to be made by the CDC."

The IOM and CDC have stated through their spokespersons to Mothering that the February 9, 2004 IOM meeting was a part of an ongoing review of the vaccine/autism issue, is not in violation of the IOM charter and has nothing to do with the Omnibus Autism Proceedings; 3500 families, who believe their children's autism is the result of vaccine injuries, have sued the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the United States Federal Court of Claims. According to attorney Cliff Shoemaker, who sits on the Omnibus Petitioners Steering Committee, the hearings on the lawsuit were scheduled to begin in January 2004, but were indefinitely postponed on September 4, 2003, "due to lack of cooperation from government agencies and vaccine manufacturers to provide the petitioners with unaltered documents". According to Curtis Allen, spokesperson for the CDC, the February IOM meeting was "discussed in September 2003 and officially scheduled in October." Safe Minds was not notified of the IOM meeting until December 5, 2003.

Thirteen speakers presented evidence before the February 9th IOM committee meeting. Seven speakers presented studies that advocated a potential biological link between autism and vaccines, five presented government-sponsored epidemiological studies that found no link, and one presented a study of thimerosal effects on non-human primates.

The speakers who advocated no link between autism and vaccines included the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with their United Kingdom, Canadian and Danish government counterparts. Originally published in February 2000, the first version of the CDC's epidemiological study's "found a significant association between exposure to thimerosal containing vaccines and autism and neurological developmental delays," wrote Dr. Weldon in a letter to the CDC in October 2003.

In July 2000, it was estimated that 8,000 children a day were being exposed to mercury in excess of federal guidelines through their mandatory vaccines, according to the three-year congressional investigative report, "Mercury In Medicine: Taking Unnecessary Risks" issued in May 2003. According to this report by the US House Committee on Government Reform, "Rather than acting aggressively to remove thimerosal from children's vaccines, the FDA and other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services adopted an incremental approach that allowed children to continue to be exposed to ethyl mercury from vaccines for more than two additional years. In fact, in 2001, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refused even to express a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines, despite the fact that thimerosal had been removed from almost every childhood vaccine produced for use in the United States," states the report.

In his opening remarks to the IOM committee members on February 9, 2004, Dr. Weldon said, "The failure to get answers to the many questions surrounding vaccine safety is beginning to undermine public confidence. I am repeatedly informed by researchers who encounter apathy from government officials charged with investigating these matters, difficulty in getting their papers published, and the loss of research grants. Some report overt discouragement, intimidation and threats, and have abandoned this field of research. Some have had their clinical privileges revoked and others have been hounded out of their institutions..."

Some IOM committee members and public questioners noted that the UK and Danish governments did not have the same vaccines or schedules as the United States and questioned whether these studies should be considered relevant to the committee's task. Of the 13 speakers, all voiced their support of vaccinations and all were required to disclose their financial ties or previous financial payments from vaccine manufacturers to the IOM committee.

H. Vasken Aposhian, PhD, professor of molecular and cellular biology and professor of pharmacology at the University of Arizona, presented his review of "mercury toxicology and significant recent studies" and proposed that autism was a mercury efflux disorder, occurring in children whose bodies were unable to pass the mercury-derivative thimerosal in some vaccines out of their systems. Referring to the epidemiological studies presented by the US and international government health agencies, Aposhian said, "Epidemiological studies do not reveal cause and effect. Rather, they reveal statistical correlations...It is this toxicologist's view that the link between thimerosal and neurodevelopmental disorders in children has become more plausible. Thimerosal appears to add organic mercury to the mercury burden of children with a mercury efflux disorder." Pointing toward the study presented by Polly Sager for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease on primates and thimerosal exposure, Aphoshian stated, "Results of research using thimerosal in non-human primates may not be applicable to autistic children and should be viewed and used with caution."

Speaker David Baskin, MD, professor of neurosurgery and anesthesiology at Baylor College of Medicine, assured the committee members that despite lack of support and recognition, independent researchers and scientists were, "moving toward a causal link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism." Baskin believes that there could be more contributing factors to autism than just thimerosal in vaccines. "It is ridiculous that we are putting warnings on fish and not regulating coal and power plants for the mercury they release into the air," said Baskin.

Boyd Haley, PhD, chairman and professor of the department of chemistry at the University of Kentucky, told the committee that his studies had shown that antibiotics as well as testosterone could increase the toxicity of thimerosal, thus possibly explaining why autism overwhelmingly affects boys. Haley has testified numerous times at congressional investigations of mercury toxicity from dental amalgams and vaccines.

Independent researchers, Mark R. Geier, PhD, president of the Genetic Centers of America and David Geier, president of MedCon.One, were allowed to access the CDC's own database the Vaccine Safety Datalink in December 2003 only after many denied requests. The Geiers' study of the CDC's statistics concludes that the CDC's database "supports every other database that thimerosal is a major contributor to the autism epidemic."

"If you don't believe there is a connection between thimerosal in vaccines and autism, what do you think is causing this epidemic and what are you doing about it?" Mark Geier asked the committee members. "They presented the same three studies they always present and that have already been proven to be conflicted, and we have over 5,000 studies suggesting otherwise. I was a believer of the CDC until I looked at the evidence. I am still a believer and supporter of vaccinations. This is no longer a scientific pursuit, but a political one."

In the months leading up the IOM meeting tension escalated between the parents of autistic children, independent researchers, and government health organizations. On February 10, 2004 and in subsequent editorials against activist parents the Wall Street Journal accused parents of vaccine injured children of emotionally bullying the IOM to form a conclusion that would pave the way for lawsuits directly against vaccine manufacturers. CDC spokesperson Curtis Allen confirmed that the CDC and some of their scientists have received threats.

Some even assume that IOM committee member Joshua Cohen resigned because of threats that may have preceded the February 9th meeting. However, IOM spokesperson Christine Stencel denies these assumptions. "Joshua Cohen did not resign due to threats," said Stencel. He believed his resignation "would have no impact on the committee's decision." Cohen is a senior research associate at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard School of Public Health. Stencel said she is "not privy to any particular threats" to the IOM or its committee members.

When Mothering questioned parents after the IOM meeting about the report of threatening calls to the CDC, Lori McIlwain, president of the National Autism Association said, "I don't doubt that one or two might have called, but we do not advocate that sort of behavior. We don't doubt that some parents are extremely angry but there is a better way to make their point. The CDC and the Wall Street Journal should not lump us all together. They are trying to stereotype us to try to discredit us."

When asked to respond to the recent allegations in the Wall Street Journal editorials that her group's motivation for activism is potential lawsuit money, McIlwain said, "We are nonprofit and not for salary. We raise money to give to Safe Minds for independent research. I can guarantee you that when your child has insomnia, constant diarrhea and is suffering the last thing on your mind is buying a Mercedes. Our lives have been ruined and money is not going to make that any better."

A 30-minute public comment period was allowed at the end of the February 9th IOM meeting and parents representing myriad national autism and vaccine safety organizations, as well as pediatricians, and dentists advocating for mercury removal from vaccines and dental amalgams, were permitted two minutes each to address the committee directly. Most public commentators expressed their gratitude to the committee members, who have had careers in pediatric care and research, and respect for the committee's Herculean task of evaluating the extensive evidence presented.

"As the mother of a son brain injured by the DPT vaccine in 1980, I remember that back then no scientific body had ever analyzed and published information about vaccine risks for the public. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 asked IOM do that. The reports you have published since then have been historic documentation of the fact that vaccines can cause brain and immune system dysfunction in some children," said Barbara Loe Fisher, president of the National Vaccine Information Center. "What you do at this critical moment in time may well determine vaccine safety research priorities in this country, including whether or not studies will be funded to find out which children are genetically vulnerable to vaccine reactions, so their lives can be spared. We hope you will do what needs to be done, to not only foster public trust in the impartiality of the Institute of Medicine but to light the way for the medical community to do the credible scientific research that will prevent future generations of children from suffering the kinds of vaccine damage that our children have suffered over the past quarter century."

The IOM committee is expected to issue a report on its conclusions in May or June 2004. The committee's report and recommendations will be addressed to federal vaccine research policymakers, state and local vaccine program implementers, health care professionals, the public, and the media. The materials submitted for review to the IOM committee are available in a public access file on their site. A written transcript of the February 9, 2004 meeting will be available by the end of the month on the IOM site. Click here for the entire transcript from the meeting.