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When senators stop trusting the CDC, what does it mean?
Oct 21, 2005

 I liked this article. It points to the interesting issue of how, if
government bodies that we should be relying on are all tied up with the
drug industry, and they're doing little to protect vulnerable parts of
the
population from adverse effects of vaccines, what do we do? Take the
government mandates out of it? Give the power to doctors? Or just let
parents decide?

I know this
sounds bad to people who believe in the "herd protection" benefit of
vaccines. However, in light of an absolute epidemic of autism (1 in 166
kids!) I think we need to look at the risks caused by the vaccines
we're trying to prevent. For example, between 1990 and 1994, before the
chicken pox vaccine, there were a whopping 145 deaths due to chicken
pox in the entire country. Yet, in California alone,
the autism population nearly doubled between 1998 and 2002 (from 10,360
cases on December 31, 1998, to 20,377 cases as of December 31, 2002.)
These figures indicate a 97 percent increase in autism cases, and
nearly a 100 percent increase in the state's autism caseload since 1999.


I believe these kids are a very significant percentage of our
herd, and perhaps we should be trying to figure out how to protect them
(and of course, their families, many of whom will need to care for
these children for the remainder of their lives)


Anyway, onto the article...



Warning shot

By Rich Tucker

Oct 7, 2005
http://tinyurl.com/7wxpe

Writer, The Heritage Foundation

Sometimes even a mistake can have a positive outcome.

Back in August, the state of New York passed a law that will ban the
use of the thimerosal in children's vaccines. Thimerosal is a
mercury-based preservative added to vaccines so that a vial can be
used to store more than one shot. Some parents think thimerosal
triggered the outbreak of autism we've seen since 1990. The CDC
estimates as many as one child in every 166 has some autistic symptoms.

New York's law doesn't take effect until 2009, but it's a mistake from
day one. The law is just another example of a government meddling in
medical decisions. For far too long, doctors have been outsourcing
their decisions to the Centers for Disease Control, which recommends
that children get some 20 inoculations in their first 18 months.

Still, New York's mistake was useful, because it highlights the fact
that neither lawmakers in Albany nor bureaucrats in Atlanta should be
deciding what medical treatment our children will receive. Medical
decisions about what shots to get, and when, should be made by parents
and doctors.

Or, maybe, just parents.

In a letter this summer to its members, the New York chapter of the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) urged doctors to "CONTACT
GOVERNOR IMMEDIATELY AND URGE HIM TO VETO THE THIMEROSAL BILL." Why?
"Despite the headlines in the media, there is no evidence that
thimerosal is harmful," the letter said.

Well, that's interesting. In July 2001, the AAP issued a report that
found, "In children, significant [mercury] exposure to the central
nervous system can result in effects ranging from learning
disabilities to devastating neurologic problems including mental
retardation, blindness and spasticity."

Hmm. Those symptoms sound suspiciously like autism. Perhaps that's
why, as the report went on to say, "The AAP has also joined with the
Public Health Service to reduce the use of thimerosal, a
mercury-containing preservative, from vaccines."

Even today, the AAP is supporting a lawsuit against the EPA over how
much mercury is acceptable in the air. "Infants and young children are
at highest risk of injury from a mercury-contaminated environment
because their brains are still rapidly developing," Dr. Katherine Shea
of the AAP said in a news release.

So, mercury in the air is dangerous, but these doctors now claim that,
despite their earlier findings, there is "no evidence" that injecting
it directly into 10-pound infants is? The AAP ought to go back and
study results from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

VAERS was set up so doctors could provide feedback to the CDC if
children got sick after their shots. Dan Olmsted, a columnist for UPI
who's written extensively about autism, studied reports filed before
1999 and found 83 cases where autism followed a vaccination.

In 1994, one doctor reported "there are currently 10 cases of autism
in children who received DPT/OPV/MMR at 15-18 months." Other doctors
reported previously healthy patients suddenly losing their speech and
being diagnosed autistic shortly after their shots.

None of this is proof that thimerosal or vaccinations cause autism.
But it's certainly evidence that doctors ought to be concerned about.
And we can remove thimerosal simply by selling all vaccines in
single-use containers. There's no need for the preservative, and thus
no need to legislate against it.

It's also worth wondering if children should be getting so many shots
against so many diseases at such young ages. Sadly, many doctors seem
reluctant to question the CDC, because they're committed to practicing
medicine for the "greater good" instead of doing what's best for each
individual patient. In the most recent example, a recent study from
Boston Children's Hospital recommends that three- and four-year-olds
receive flu vaccines -- not because the children are at risk, but
because they tend to spread the disease to others.

"If we're trying to prevent an influenza epidemic and potentially a
serious influenza epidemic, one public health approach is going to be
to try to not just vaccinate the people who are most vulnerable, but
to vaccinate the spreaders of the disease," Dr. Kenneth Mandl told CNN
Oct. 6.

To his credit, Mandl noted, "this is something that a parent really
should discuss with a pediatrician. And again, right now there is no
recommendation to vaccinate three- and four-year-olds" against the
flu. Which is good, since the flu vaccine still contains thimerosal.

New York's law is an error that might actually do some good, if it
forces pediatricians to change their approach and go back to treating
each individual patient instead of following a government-written
schedule that's supposed to serve the "greater good." The AAP is
meeting in Washington this week. Maybe that should be on their agenda.

Find this story at:
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/richtucker/2005/10/07/159691.html
Visibility: Everyone
Posted: Friday October 21, 2005, 9:59 pm
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