CDC Vaccine Data Leads Scientists to Shocking Discovery, Possible Vaccine/Mercury/Autism Link

Yahoo.biz ^ | 02.09.04

[Coleus]

CDC Vaccine Data Leads Scientists to Shocking Discovery
Monday February 9, 9:20 am ET

CHILDREN 27-TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DEVELOP AUTISM WITH EXPOSURE TO MERCURY- CONTAINING VACCINES, FINDINGS REVIEWED AT TODAY'S IOM MEETING IN DC

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Institute of Medicine will hold a one-day meeting to review important new research on the link between thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in vaccines, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. One of the larger studies under review comes from the CDC's own Vaccine Safety Datalink. Under independent investigation, CDC's data concludes children are 27-times more likely to develop autism after exposure to three thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs), than those who receive thimerosal-free versions.

The findings are not only disturbing to government officials like U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-FL), who is also scheduled to speak before the IOM panel, they suggest autism via TCVs has a higher relative risk than that between lung cancer and smoking, which according to the American Cancer Society is only 22 for men and 11 for women. "This absolutely confirms what parents have been saying for years," says Jo Pike, President, National Autism Association. Like Pike, thousands of parents have reported sharp regressions in their children following a TCV and many of those children have gone on to receive a label of autism. An easy mistake to make since the symptoms of autism and mercury poisoning are almost identical.

Dr. Mark Geier is the lead investigator in the discovery. A medical doctor with a Ph.D. in genetics, he, along with fellow researcher, David Geier, will discuss their findings of the CDC data in front of an IOM panel. Among a host of other physicians and researchers presenting will be Dr. Jeff Bradstreet. He will discuss the results from his peer-reviewed study which concluded that urinary mercury concentrations were six times higher in children with autism vs. normal-age/vaccine-matched controls.

The presentations will begin at 8:00 AM at The National Academy of Sciences, Auditorium 2100 C Street NW. Dr. Mark Geier and David Geier are scheduled to present their findings at 12:15 PM. Weldon speaks at 8:00. Bradstreet at 4:00. For an agenda, go to: http://www.iom.edu/event.asp?id=17047. For information about the National Autism Association, go to www.nationalautism.org.

[bwteim]

Mercury Poisoning - Autism (top Mercury symptom, bottom Autism ---I don't know how to post a table)

Like this....

Table A:

Summary Comparison of Characteristics

of Autism & Mercury Poisoning

	Mercury Poisoning	Autism
Psychiatric	Social deficits, shyness, social withdrawal	Social deficits, social withdrawal, shyness
Disturbances	Depression, mood swings; mask face	Depressive traits, mood swings; flat affect
	Anxiety	Anxiety
	Schizoid tendencies, OCD traits	Schizophrenic & OCD traits; repetitiveness
	Lacks eye contact, hesitant to engage others	Lack of eye contact, avoids conversation
	Irrational fears	Irrational fears
	Irritability, aggression, temper tantrums	Irritability, aggression, temper tantrums
	Impaired face recognition	Impaired face recognition
Speech,	Loss of speech, failure to develop speech	Delayed language, failure to develop speech
Language &	Dysarthria; articulation problems	Dysarthria; articulation problems
Hearing	Speech comprehension deficits	Speech comprehension deficits
Deficits	Verbalizing & word retrieval problems	Echolalia; word use & pragmatic errors
	Sound sensitivity	Sound sensitivity
	Hearing loss; deafness in very high doses	Mild to profound hearing loss
	Poor performance on language IQ tests	Poor performance on verbal IQ tests
Sensory	Abnormal sensation in mouth & extremities	Abnormal sensation in mouth & extremities
Abnormalities	Sound sensitivity	Sound sensitivity
	Abnormal touch sensations; touch aversion	Abnormal touch sensations; touch aversion
	Vestibular abnormalities	Vestibular abnormalities
Motor Disorders	Involuntary jerking movements – arm flapping, ankle jerks, myoclonal jerks, choreiform movements, circling, rocking	Stereotyped movements - arm flapping, jumping, circling, spinning, rocking; myoclonal jerks; choreiform movements
	Deficits in eye-hand coordination; limb apraxia; intention tremors	Poor eye-hand coordination; limb apraxia; problems with intentional movements
	Gait impairment; ataxia – from incoordination & clumsiness to inability to walk, stand, or sit; loss of motor control	Abnormal gait and posture, clumsiness and incoordination; difficulties sitting, lying, crawling, and walking
	Difficulty in chewing or swallowing	Difficulty chewing or swallowing
	Unusual postures; toe walking	Unusual postures; toe walking
Cognitive Impairments	Borderline intelligence, mental retardation - some cases reversible	Borderline intelligence, mental retardation - sometimes "recovered"
	Poor concentration, attention, response inhibition	Poor concentration, attention, shifting attention
	Uneven performance on IQ subtests	Uneven performance on IQ subtests
	Verbal IQ higher than performance IQ	Verbal IQ higher than performance IQ
	Poor short term, verbal, & auditory memory	Poor short term, auditory & verbal memory
	Poor visual and perceptual motor skills, impairment in simple reaction time	Poor visual and perceptual motor skills, lower performance on timed tests
	Difficulty carrying out complex commands	Difficulty carrying out multiple commands
	Word-comprehension difficulties	Word-comprehension difficulties
	Deficits in understanding abstract ideas & symbolism; degeneration of higher mental powers	Deficits in abstract thinking & symbolism, understanding other’s mental states, sequencing, planning & organizing

(iv)

Unusual	Stereotyped sniffing (rats)	Stereotyped, repetitive behaviors
Behaviors	ADHD traits	ADHD traits
	Agitation, unprovoked crying, grimacing, staring spells	Agitation, unprovoked crying, grimacing, staring spells
	Sleep difficulties	Sleep difficulties
	Eating disorders, feeding problems	Eating disorders, feeding problems
	Self injurious behavior, e.g. head banging	Self injurious behavior, e.g. head banging
Visual	Poor eye contact, impaired visual fixation	Poor eye contact, problems in joint attention
Impairments	"Visual impairments," blindness, near-sightedness, decreased visual acuity	"Visual impairments"; inaccurate/slow saccades; decreased rod functioning
	Light sensitivity, photophobia	Over-sensitivity to light
	Blurred or hazy vision	Blurred vision
	Constricted visual fields	Not described
Physical Disturbances	Increase in cerebral palsy; hyper- or hypo-tonia; abnormal reflexes; decreased muscle strength, especially upper body; incontinence; problems chewing, swallowing, salivating	Increase in cerebral palsy; hyper- or hypotonia; decreased muscle strength, especially upper body; incontinence; problems chewing and swallowing
	Rashes, dermatitis/dry skin, itching; burning	Rashes, dermatitis, eczema, itching
	Autonomic disturbance: excessive sweating, poor circulation, elevated heart rate	Autonomic disturbance: unusual sweating, poor circulation, elevated heart rate
Gastro-intestinal	Gastroenteritis, diarrhea; abdominal pain, constipation, "colitis"	Diarrhea, constipation, gaseousness, abdominal discomfort, colitis
Disturbances	Anorexia, weight loss, nausea, poor appetite	Anorexia; feeding problems/vomiting
	Lesions of ileum & colon; increased gut permeability	Leaky gut syndrome
	Inhibits dipeptidyl peptidase IV, which cleaves casomorphin	Inadequate endopeptidase enzymes needed for breakdown of casein & gluten
Abnormal Biochemistry	Binds -SH groups; blocks sulfate transporter in intestines, kidneys	Low sulfate levels
	Has special affinity for purines & pyrimidines	Purine & pyrimidine metabolism errors lead to autistic features
	Reduces availability of glutathione, needed in neurons, cells & liver to detoxify heavy metals	Low levels of glutathione; decreased ability of liver to detoxify heavy metals
	Causes significant reduction in glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase	Abnormal glutathione peroxidase activities in erythrocytes
	Disrupts mitochondrial activities, especially in brain	Mitochondrial dysfunction, especially in brain
Immune Dysfunction	Sensitivity due to allergic or autoimmune reactions; sensitive individuals more likely to have allergies, asthma, autoimmune-like symptoms, especially rheumatoid-like ones	More likely to have allergies and asthma; familial presence of autoimmune diseases, especially rheumatoid arthritis; IgA deficiencies
	Can produce an immune response in CNS	On-going immune response in CNS
	Causes brain/MBP autoantibodies	Brain/MBP autoantibodies present
	Causes overproduction of Th2 subset; kills/inhibits lymphocytes, T-cells, and monocytes; decreases NK T-cell activity; induces or suppresses IFNg & IL-2	Skewed immune-cell subset in the Th2 direction; decreased responses to T-cell mitogens; reduced NK T-cell function; increased IFNg & IL-12

(v)

CNS Structural Pathology	Selectively targets brain areas unable to detoxify or reduce Hg-induced oxidative stress	Specific areas of brain pathology; many functions spared
	Damage to Purkinje and granular cells	Damage to Purkinje and granular cells
	Accummulates in amygdala and hippocampus	Pathology in amygdala and hippocampus
	Causes abnormal neuronal cytoarchitecture; disrupts neuronal migration & cell division; reduces NCAMs	Neuronal disorganization; increased neuronal cell replication, increased glial cells; depressed expression of NCAMs
	Progressive microcephaly	Progressive microcephaly and macrocephaly
	Brain stem defects in some cases	Brain stem defects in some cases
Abnormalities in Neuro-chemistry	Prevents presynaptic serotonin release & inhibits serotonin transport; causes calcium disruptions	Decreased serotonin synthesis in children; abnormal calcium metabolism
	Alters dopamine systems; peroxidine deficiency in rats resembles mercurialism in humans	Possibly high or low dopamine levels; positive response to peroxidine (lowers dopamine levels)
	Elevates epinephrine & norepinephrine levels by blocking enzyme that degrades epinephrine	Elevated norepinephrine and epinephrine
	Elevates glutamate	Elevated glutamate and aspartate
	Leads to cortical acetylcholine deficiency; increases muscarinic receptor density in hippocampus & cerebellum	Cortical acetylcholine deficiency; reduced muscarinic receptor binding in hippocampus
	Causes demyelinating neuropathy	Demyelination in brain
EEG	Causes abnormal EEGs, epileptiform activity	Abnormal EEGs, epileptiform activity
Abnormalities/	Causes seizures, convulsions	Seizures; epilepsy
Epilepsy	Causes subtle, low amplitude seizure activity	Subtle, low amplitude seizure activities
Population	Effects more males than females	Male:female ratio estimated at 4:1
Charact-eristics	At low doses, only affects those geneticially susceptible	High heritability - concordance for MZ twins is 90%
	First added to childhood vaccines in 1930s	First "discovered" among children born in 1930s
	Exposure levels steadily increased since 1930s with rate of vaccination, number of vaccines	Prevalence of autism has steadily increased from 1 in 2000 (pre1970) to 1 in 500 (early 1990s), higher in 2000.
	Exposure occurs at 0 - 15 months; clinical silent stage means symptom emergence delayed; symptoms emerge gradually, starting with movement & sensation	Symptoms emerge from 4 months to 2 years old; symptoms emerge gradually, starting with movement & sensation

[Born Conservative]

Same holds true the other way around too. So now we're back to square one.

Actually, there IS scientific evidence that refutes the link between autism and MMR vaccine/mercury.

[js1138]

It is so hard dealing with this one child with autism, I just can't fathom two. And if there is anything I can do to protect my next son, I will do it.

I can certainly sympathise with this. However, it is incredibly easy to phony up statistical cases that sound plausible but really don't prove anything. Research on these subjects is ongoing and will eventuall reveal the truth. I already know that there is a net benefit for immunizations; the unknown factor is how much the risks can be reduced.

I said some time ago that I wanted to bow out of this discussion, and now I will reveal why. My father was a state health officer for thiry years and back in the fifties was offered the directorship of CDC. He turned it down because he didn't want to move the family to Atlanta. I might add that at that time the post was not quite as well known or prestigeous as it is now.

But I grew up hearing statistics at breakfast and dinner. There was a time when I could recite the number of cases of a dozen diseases, along with their trend lines. I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but I simply have no respect for folks who question the motivation of medical researchers. I've known these people all my life.

[WVNan]

K :-)

[Coleus]

http://www.westonaprice.org

http://www.notmilk.com/

[Coleus]

Actually, there IS scientific evidence that refutes the link between autism and MMR vaccine/mercury.>>>

If there really is then we wouldn't have this thread or the yahoo article and that scientific conference the article announced.

[Wurlitzer]

"Granted, they do admit to 'no or trace amounts in routinely recommended licensed vaccines', but, THIS would still not explain any rising rates in autism and other effects (as others have pointed out earlier in this post)."

So by your own post you admit some mercury is still in some vaccines. ALL IS AN ABSOLUTE. TRACE AMOUNTS are an AMOUNT. by your own post Jim you refute your position:"All routinely recommended licensed vaccines that are currently being manufactured for children in the U.S. (except influenza) contain no thimerosal or only trace amounts." "Except....trace amounts". Seems like ALL does not apply to these preservatives.

The FR is getting annoying with people parsing the truth like Clinton on almost any subject.

I have not been part of the crowd that is blaming this preservative for everything from acne to liberalism. Lets face it, give something to a million people and you will have no reaction to X percentage, a positive reaction to Y percentage, a negative reaction to Z percent. In a million other people those same reactions, albeit more than likely not in the same percentage, will occur due to genes or other environmental conditions. Researchers simply try to look for a deviation from the norm.

I prefer to look at the benefit to damage ratio of most things. IE: Asbestos has saved more lives then it killed. Fortunately we have discovered better methods but at the time it was the best we had. (I'm sure that will get parsed).

[Born Conservative]

If there really is then we wouldn't have this thread or the yahoo article and that scientific conference the article announced.

This "yahoo article", as you refer to it, is a PRESS RELEASE. As for the "scientific conference", what exactly is that? Just because someone has a "scientific conference", does that automatically validate as true the material being presented? I can have a "scientific conference" at my house this weekend, give it a fancy name such as The Institute for Lunar Studies and announce that the moon is really made of green cheese. That doesn't mean that it's true, but it sure makes it sound legitimate.

As for you doubting the existence of legitimate scientific research refuting the MMR/Mercury/Autism link, here is a specific study that refutes the link. Note that since removing the mercury-based preservative from the vaccine, the Autism occurance has INCREASED, not decreased.  Sign up for an account at www.medscape.com (I'm fairly sure it's still free) and search both Medscape and Medline; there's plenty of research abstracts available on the subject.

Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data.

Pediatrics 2003 Sep;112(3 Pt 1):604-6    (ISSN: 1098-4275)

Madsen KM; Lauritsen MB; Pedersen CB; Thorsen P; Plesner AM; Andersen PH; Mortensen PB
Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark. kmm@dadlnet.dk.

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative in vaccines, is a risk factor for the development of autism. We examined whether discontinuing the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines in Denmark led to a decrease in the incidence of autism. DESIGN: Analysis of data from the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register recording all psychiatric admissions since 1971, and all outpatient contacts in psychiatric departments in Denmark since 1995. PATIENTS: All children between 2 and 10 years old who were diagnosed with autism during the period from 1971-2000. OUTCOME MEASURES: Annual and age-specific incidence for first day of first recorded admission with a diagnosis of autism in children between 2 and 10 years old. RESULTS: A total of 956 children with a male-to-female ratio of 3.5:1 had been diagnosed with autism during the period from 1971-2000. There was no trend toward an increase in the incidence of autism during that period when thimerosal was used in Denmark, up through 1990. From 1991 until 2000 the incidence increased and continued to rise after the removal of thimerosal from vaccines, including increases among children born after the discontinuation of thimerosal. CONCLUSIONS: The discontinuation of thimerosal-containing vaccines in Denmark in 1992 was followed by an increase in the incidence of autism. Our ecological data do not support a correlation between thimerosal-containing vaccines and the incidence of autism.

Major Subject Heading(s)	Minor Subject Heading(s)	CAS Registry / EC Numbers
Autistic Disorder [chemically induced] [epidemiology] Thimerosal [adverse effects]	Child, Preschool Child Denmark [epidemiology] Incidence Preservatives, Pharmaceutical [adverse effects] Registries [statistics & numerical data] Risk Assessment Thimerosal [chemistry] Vaccines [adverse effects]	0 (Preservatives, Pharmaceutical) 0 (Vaccines) 54-64-8 (Thimerosal)

Indexing Check Tags: Female; Human; Male; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language: English

MEDLINE Indexing Date: 200310

Publication Type: Owner: NLM

Publication Type: Journal Article; Multicenter Study

PreMedline Identifier: 0012949291

Journal Code: AIM; IM

[tracer]

betterthingsforbetterlivingbump

[Wurlitzer]

"I've seen so many anti-vaccine folks on these threads and have met so many otherwise reasonable people who have bought the whole anti-vaccine propaganda onslaught that I make no assumptions. "

AMEN!!!

It is hard to have a rational discussion with people who believe it is all or nothing. Most medications, vaccines have side effects. Some are mild others are devastating. Most will not see any side effect (assuming a properly researched medication).

Depending on what ailment is being treated or possibly prevented, we all need to make that educated decision to take the risk for the possible gains. If it is all or nothing, you cannot make an educated decision

[AnAmericanMother]

FWIW, here are my personal observations on the issue.

Do I understand that the MMR is a live vaccine? If so, is it true that it would not ever have had the thimerosal preservative in it?

The 2nd MMR shot gave my daughter a very bad reaction (extremely high fever and febrile seizures) but she is fine, 15 years old and doing well in school.

Our second child is an in-family adoption, the child of my late sister. We have noted developmental problems with him ever since we adopted him at age 2 - late talking, coordination, eye contact, etc. He has been under a psychiatrist's care since age 4, and while he is not full blown autistic he exhibits some of the symptoms and is probably Asperger's. But here are my three observations:

1. He is improving. Puberty has been a real benefit for him, he is more socially adept, his schoolwork has improved (he is in a special school for ADD/LD children), and he is just easier to live with all round. Since he's very bright, he should be able to catch up and live an essentially normal life.

2. My sister was a lot more "geeky" than I am - very science and math focussed and looking back I can see in retrospect that she exhibited a lot of autistic/Asperger's type traits. She married a man who really was a poster child for Geeks Anonymous. So if there's a genetic component you would expect it to be concentrated in their child, and that appears to be the case.

3. This is the real kicker -- I found out at my son's yearly checkup in December that he never got his MMR! In all the uproar and confusion leading up to my sister's death he apparently never got taken to the pediatrician. We have heard the stories and followed the discussion here on FR with respect to the vaccine, and had been wondering all these years if somehow the vaccine was responsible for some of my son's troubles. Apparently not.

[Born Conservative]

I agree with you both on the Hep B vaccine; I'm not sure why it is given (Hepatitis B is a devastating illness, but it isn't a common disease amongst school children). I checked the American Academy of Pediatrics site, and it only states that children 18 years and younger and adults at high risk should get the vaccine. I guess this could be analagous to the condom/abstinence debate; condoms for everyone (vaccine for everyone) or abstinence to prevent pregnancy and STD's (abstinence from sex and avoiding blood exposure i.e. no sharing needles to prevent Hep B). It's also interesting to note, that in Pennsylvania, this is a mandatory vaccine for school children.

As for the Hep B vaccine's safety, I've personally administered hundreds of Hep B vaccines to children, and have yet to see ANY adverse reaction from it, so it's probably a very safe vaccine (which is also supported by research on the vaccine).

[pwatson]

We had hearings in Texas on the Hep B Vaccine. The issue is all the thousands of Illegal South Americans streaming into Texas who already have Hep B and Tuberculosis (TB) and hundreds of other infectious diseases. Most of these infected Mothers have their baby’s in Parkland Hospital in Dallas and others because it’s free and the child is an instant Citizen. If they make a law that all babies have to have a Hep B vaccine before they can leave the hospital they are able to make sure all the Illegal families are now protected and at least the children will not be spreading the diseases. You see the whole logic of Hep B at birth is to solve the problem of illegal immigration diseases, they know there are far more side effects at birth but if they delay it to 5 years old then all the illegals who can’t afford well baby check ups will miss it.
Government likes one size fits all solutions even if it’s stupid, this way they are done with it

[Born Conservative]

It is so hard dealing with this one child with autism, I just can't fathom two. And if there is anything I can do to protect my next son, I will do it.

I can only imagine what it is like to have a child with autism, and I can understand your hesitancy regarding vaccines. For what it's worth, I'm an RN in a large outpatient pediatric clinic at a medical center/teaching hospital. One of the doctors I have worked with is a Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician (neurodevelopmental peds is a specialty dealing with disorders such as autism, learning disorders, ADHD, pervasive developmental disorder, etc.). Needless to say, a large part of his practice involves autistic children (up until recently, there haven't been many specialists for autism). I have discussed with him at length the vaccine/autism "link", and he contends there is no link whatsoever based on current scientific evidence. Unfortunately, the cause of autism is unknown.

As for vaccines in general, current vaccines are safe and effective. Does that mean that 100%? No. There will always be that 1 in a million person who may have a serious reaction to a vaccine. But the risk of the vaccines are still much lower than the risk of the diseases they are preventing. I have personally seen a child with Tetanus early in my career, and it's not pretty (imagine the pain of labor only multiply that 10 fold; he ended up on a ventilator for several days on chemical paralysis and sedation; he did eventually get better). I've also taken care of numerous children with Hib meningitis (this was common prior to Hib vaccine). Many of these kids developed complications such as seizure disorders, hearing loss, and even mental retardation due to the meningitis. Had the vaccine been available at the time, they wouldn't have gotten meningitis (it's rare to see Hib meningitis these days). As for these diseases still being present, they are. We still have whole populations in this country who don't get vaccinated (the Amish), so the organisms and people who develop the diseases are still out there. My point in all of this is so that you keep an open mind, make informed decisions, and try to do what's best for your children.

[Vic3O3]

It's not the vaccine that was the problem. It's the mercury based preservative that is the issue. It was used to allow multiple injections to be given from a single bottle of vaccine. Easy enough to go back to single dosage containers IMHO.

[Askel5]

=== Vaccine companies will be scared as hell to develop anything new.


Oh please ... if the Blood Trail's taught me one thing, it's that blood brokers and pharmas are bullet-proof.

[frgoff]

My 4th child is autistic. You may want to be careful before making assumptions.

[js1138]

Good for your for holding out against junk science. I will be glad to cralw on my knees over broken glass to apologise if there is some some simple way to prevent autism. Doubly so if the culprit turns out to be contaminated vaccines. But I doubt if this will be the case. Autism continues to be the scourage of the brainy class. If it were vaccines it would hit welfare childrn juss as frequently, because they have to get all their shots to qualify.

[Coleus]

gary is on now, 1600 am

[stanz]

Thanks for the heads up...I'm at work..no radio.