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	news bulletins june 2002

• The Status of Research into Vaccine Safety and Autism
• Mother's Milk for the Mind
• Midwives Support HIV Positive Mothers In Breastfeeding
• Expressiva Sponsors Online Fundraiser In Support Of Breastfeeding Moms

The Status of Research into Vaccine Safety and Autism

The Committee on Government Reform held a hearing on The Status of Research into Vaccine Safety and Autism on June 19, 2002. The Government Reform Committee is chaired by Congressman Dan Burton (R-Ind).

The presenters at the hearing were divided into two panels. The first panel consisted of clinical researchers and practitioners who presented associations between autism and vaccines through their research and case studies. Presenting were: Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Vera Stejskal, Ph.D., Dr. Arthur Krigsman, and epidemiologist Dr. Walter Spitzer of the World Health Organization. The second panel was comprised of officials from the NIH, FDA, and the CDC who were called to explain the baffling trajectory of public health agencies of this country in response to research implicating vaccines as either associative or causal to autism. Presenting for the CDC were Dr. Robert Chen and Dr. Roger Bernier.

In the last 10 years autism rates have risen from 1 in 10,000, to 1 in 150 (as reported by the CDC). And a recent epidemiological study out of England reports a rate of 1 and 81. Autism, as described by one researcher presenting, is " a rather broad spectrum of clinical disorders, which share behavioral and delayed development features. Autism and its related entities are characterized by: delayed neurodevelopment, lack or appropriate use of language, stereotypical repetitive behaviors, and social withdrawal.

It was noted that even now with autism rates at epidemic levels, the CDC has still not bothered to sponsor hard clinical research to look at vaccines as causal agents to autism. Rather, they have responded to clinical and research evidence that irrefutably documents a relationship between vaccines and autism with epidemiological studies that proclaim otherwise. The problem with this, according to Dr. Walter Spitzer, an epidemiologist from WHO, is two-fold. The CDC's epidemiological study from the Vaccine Safety data-link database (VSD) that proclaimed "No Link" between the MMR vaccine and autism was grossly under-powered and therefore inaccurate. Secondly, Dr. Spitzer questioned the fact that the CDC has thus far refused to allow independent researchers to look at the VSD database both for neurodevelopmental outcomes and autism resulting from thimerosal exposures and the MMR vaccine. He said, "Temples of secrecy have no place in science. Secrecy always suggests the question, "What do they have to hide?""

The CDC took a beating from Congressman Burton on this issue. Burton liberally used the term "cover-up" and mentioned impending prosecution for CDC officials. Representative Dave Weldon, a physician and congressman from Florida concluded, "My message to the NIH, but the CDC in particular, is put your statistics textbooks away and get out your microscopes. The failure to do so only breeds speculation and undermines public confidence."

(Minutes from both panels will be available for public access at www.house.gov/reform as soon as transcriptions are complete.)

For more information:
www.gnd.org
www.house.gov/reform
www.melisa.org

Mother's Milk for the Mind

New research indicates that there is yet another reason why breast is best: better brains. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) measured markedly higher IQs in breastfed versus formula-fed infants. The duration a baby was breastfed played a significant factor: the longer infants nursed the greater their adult intelligence. Research sponsored by The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) yielded similar results. Low birth weight babies who were breastfed exclusively in their first six months of life had higher IQs-by as much as 11 points-than their formula-fed counterparts. Dr. Malla Rao of the NICHD said, "Mother's should be made aware that supplementing breastmilk with formula or solids in the first six months of life is not necessarily associated with better growth in infants."

In a related study, Toronto researchers reported that infants who were breastfed for nine months or longer were 50 percent less likely to develop asthma than babies who received formula. Research also suggests that breastfeeding not only benefits babies, but also their mothers, protecting them from breast cancer.

E. L. Mortensen, et al."The Association Between Duration of Breastfeeding and Adult Intelligence," Journal of American Medical Association 287, no. 18 (May 8, 2002);
Sharon Dell, et al. "Breastfeeding and Asthma in Young Children: Findings from a Population-Based Study," Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 155 (November 2001): 1261-1265;
M. R. Rao, et al."Affect of Breastfeeding on Cognitive Development of Infants Born Small for Gestational Age," Acta Paediatrica 91 (March 2002): 267-274.

Midwives Support HIV Positive Mothers In Breastfeeding

Midwives will support mothers with HIV infection in exclusive breastfeeding of their babies where that is the woman's choice.

Delegates to the International Confederation of Midwifes Council meeting in Vienna, where 60 national midwifery associations from 50 countries are represented, have agreed a position statement on the subject of infant feeding when the mother has been diagnosed as HIV positive.

A number of research studies carried out over the past two years were cited, the findings from which have indicated that to achieve a minimum risk of transmission of the virus, babies should be fed exclusively either by breastfeeding or by a reliable artificial method. The position statement, proposed by the Midwives' Society of the Royal College of Nursing and seconded by the Norwegian Association of Midwives, acknowledges the difficulty in some circumstances of finding a safe method of artificial feeding and 'urges the gathering of experience and its dissemination to support midwives [and] policy-makers ... in achieving the above-mentioned options'.

Midwives joining the discussion included those from the Koninglijke Nederlandse Organisatie van Verloskundigen (Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives) who felt that, in developed countries, using a reliable method of artificial feeding has a lower risk of mother-to-baby transmission. A responder from the Gambia Midwives' Association said that she understood there was evidence showing that exclusive breastfeeding and bottle-feeding carried the same risk of transmission to the baby up to at least three months of age.

The Iran Midwifery Population's representative stated their association's support for the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding by HIV-positive mothers in developing countries.

References
Coutsoudis A et al. 2001. Method of feeding and transmission of HIV-1 from mothers to children by 15 months of age: prospective cohort study from Durban, S Africa. AIDS; Feb 16, 15(3): 379-387.
Zetterstom R. 2000. Transmission of HIV type-1 from mother to infant. Acta Paediatrica; 89(11) November: 1273-1274.
ICM. 1999. Position Statement on Breastfeeding. ICM, The Hague. Young Infant and Child Nutrition. Resolution 54/7 by the World Health Assembly. WHO, Geneva, 2001.
www.internationalmidwives.org

Expressiva Sponsors Online Fundraiser In Support Of Breastfeeding Moms

In what could be described as the "mother" of all online fundraisers, Expressiva - a designer of contemporary clothing for breastfeeding mothers - will launch a unique program to support breastfeeding organizations on August 1 during World Breastfeeding Week.

On August 1, Expressiva will launch a unique online Shop-a-Thon on their website www.expressiva.com. Over any selected weekend or 3-day weekday, Expressiva will donate 10% of group sales to an organization of that group's choice. There is no limit or cap on how much an organization can earn, and the Shop-a-Thon can take place at any time of the day.

Expressiva Shop-A-Thon
"We understand the demands on new mothers with young children and busy schedules," says Elisa Minsk Hartstein, co-founder of Expressiva. "We've therefore taken steps to make it as easy as possible to participate. Orders can be placed online at any hour of the day. This is a great way for new mothers to not only feel good about the way they look, but feel good about supporting a worthy organization of their choice."

For more information on how you can sign up to take part in this unique fundraiser, please visit www.expressiva.com or call 877.913.9773 (toll free).