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	news bulletins march 2003

• Autism One Conference
• Parent Coalition for Vaccine Injured Children Call On Congress To Slow Down Compensation Bill
• What Kids Really Want
• Turn Off TV Week
• Genital Integrity Awareness Week

Autism One Conference
May 2-4, 2003 Loyola University, Chicago

Congressman Dan Burton will deliver the keynote address at the Autism One conference to be held May 2 - 4, at Loyola University Chicago. The conference is the most comprehensive ever assembled for the care, treatment, and recovery of children with autism.

Bringing together the best and the brightest from a variety of fields, the conference features many of the world's leading researchers, educators, and practitioners. In addition, high-ranking officials from the NIH and CDC will present, answer questions, and explain the government's present and future projects for fighting autism.

For more information please visit www.AutismOne.org or call Edmund Arranga at 714.680.0792.

Parent Coalition for Vaccine Injured Children Call On Congress To Slow Down Compensation Bill
Americans for Vaccine Safety and Accountability, a coalition of parents and health care professionals concerned about vaccine safety, vaccine injury compensation, and informed consent issues, is calling on Congress to "do the right thing" and separate out reform of the child Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) from bioterrorism legislation. The Coalition, headed by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), opposes the inclusion of VICP reform in Senate Bill 15, which targets funding for development of new bioterrorism vaccines and compensation for health care workers injured by smallpox vaccine.

"You can't fix overnight what has taken 15 years to get broken. Wedging reform of the federal vaccine injury compensation for children into a fast tracked bioterrorism bill is no way to get the job done right. Compensation for vaccine injured children has nothing to do with bioterrorism. We need to take the time to create a workable long term solution to a problem that is not going to go away any time soon," said Barbara Loe Fisher, NVIC co-founder and president.

Parents of vaccine injured children protested when the Homeland Security Act passed last fall included a rider protecting drug companies from liability for vaccine injuries, particularly those companies making additives for vaccines. The additive thimerosal, a mercury preservative, has been alleged to have caused autism in some children.

"Many parents have good reason to believe their children were harmed by mercury-containing vaccines. We can't leave these children out in the cold without any recourse to get help for their severely injured, often autistic, children. Any reform of the VICP has to take into account the shattered lives of these families and protect their right to seek federal compensation," said Lyn Redwood, President, SAFEMINDS, which advocates use of mercury-free vaccines and the elimination of mercury exposures in the environment.

The federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was created under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 as a non-fault alternative to civil litigation in order to protect the vaccine supply and restore public trust in the integrity of the mass vaccination system. Parent co-founders of NVIC worked with Congress, the American Academy of Pediatrics and vaccine manufacturers on the original legislation in the early 1980's.

Since 1988, more than 8,000 children have applied for compensation and 1,794 have been given awards for a total of $1.4 billion. NVIC and other parent groups have been critical of how adversarial the system is and how difficult it is to get an award.

"Congress made a social contract with the parents of America in 1986," said Fisher. "And that contract was that if parents vaccinated their children, then the government would provide federal compensation if a child was injured. The no-fault, expedited, fair and generous compensation system that Congress envisioned has not lived up to its promise and we owe it to all children to do it right this time around."

Member organizations of Americans for Vaccine Safety and Accountability include NVIC, Autism Society of America, Lyme Disease Foundation, Mothering Magazine, New Hampshire Citizens for Health Freedom, Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education (PROVE), Unlocking Autism and World Chiropractic Alliance. The Coalition was founded to secure just compensation for the vaccine injured; the inclusion of informed consent protections in vaccine policy and law; and funding of basic science research into adverse responses to vaccines.

For more information go to www.909shot.com and www.safeminds.org

What Kids Really Want
At a time when parents are struggling to raise healthy kids in a commercial culture, a new study provides a glimmer of hope. The nationwide poll commissioned by the non-profit Center for a New American Dream shows that what American kids really want is not more stuff, but more time with friends and family.

The study shows that 90% of kids ages 9-14 say friends and family are "way more important" than things that money can buy. And while a strong majority of survey participants say they feel pressure to buy things in order to fit in, nearly six out of ten say they'd rather spend time having fun with their parents than head out to the mall to go shopping.

The poll shows a real problem of time starvation among American youth, with almost one in four saying that their parents are too busy working to spend time with them. Perhaps most revealing, nearly two-thirds of children polled say they wish their parents had a job that gave them more free time to do things together, while a scant 13% wish their parents made more money.

Another fascinating finding offers rare insight from a child's perspective into the stresses that non-stop marketing to kids places on families. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of children surveyed said they worry that kid-targeted advertising causes trouble between them and their parents.

"The simple fact is that our kids need us now more than ever, and they know it," said Betsy Taylor, author of the newly released book What Kids Really Want That Money Can't Buy (2003, Warner Books) and president of the Center for a New American Dream. "As parents, we all struggle to do what's best for our children, and we really worry about them. The good news is that our kids recognize what really matters in their lives - family, friends and time."

Poll Highlights

Family and Friends are Most Important

• 90% of kids 9-14 say that friends and family are way more important than things that money can buy.
• 57% would rather spend time doing something fun with their mom or dad than go to the mall to go shopping.

• Less than one in three kids 9-14 (32%) say they spend a lot of time with their parents.
• Nearly one in four (23%) say this is primarily because their parents are too busy because of work.
• Almost one in five (19%) say this is primarily because they are overscheduled with homework or school activities.

• If they were granted one wish that would change their parents' job, 63% of kids 9-14 would want their mom or dad to have a job that gave them more time to do fun things together.
• Only 13% wished their parents made more money.

• 63% express concern that there is too much advertising that tries to get kids to buy things.
• 58% feel pressure to buy stuff in order to fit in.
• 74% worry that advertising that tries to get kids to buy things causes trouble between kids and parents.
• 74% say it's too bad you have to buy certain things to be cool.
• 81% complain that lots of kids place way too much importance on buying

For more information visit the Center for a New American Dream website at www.newdream.org

Turn off TV Week
April 21-27, 2003, millions of children and adults around the world will turn off their televisions and discover that life without TV may just be more rewarding, fun, and relaxing.

Television cuts into family time, harms our children's ability to read and succeed in school, and contributes to unhealthy lifestyles and obesity. Here are just a few of the facts:

• On average, children in the US will spend more time in front of the television (1,023 hours) than in school this year (900 hours).
• Forty percent of Americans frequently or always watch television during dinner.
• As US Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher said at the Kick Off of TV-Turnoff Week 2001, "We are raising the most overweight generation of youngsters in American history...This week is about saving lives."

Sound like fun? It is! Join thousands of parents, teachers, pediatricians and other families by celebrating TV-Turnoff Week 2002 this April 22-28.

For more information, visit the turn off TV website at www.tvturnoff.org

Genital Integrity Awareness Week
April 1st - 7th, 2003 - Washington DC 10th Annual March Against Circumcision

The International Coalition for Genital Integrity (ICGI), The National Organization of Circumcision Resource Information Centers (NOCIRC) and Stop Infant Circumcision Society (SIC Society) are sponsoring "Genital Integrity Awareness Week" in Washington, D.C. during the first week of April, Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Genital Integrity is a health and civil rights issue. Weeklong events will include an information fair, marches and demonstrations. For more information and a schedule of events, see the SIC society website at www.sicsociety.com or the NOCIRC website at www.nocirc.org