Help With Autism

At least 12 infants who were part of a clinical study to test a pneumonia vaccine have died in Argentina over the course of the past year.  The study was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, and uses children from poor families.   According to the Argentine Federation of Health Professionals, the families are “pressured and forced into signing consent forms”.

The vaccine trial is still ongoing despite the denunciations.

The link between vaccination and autism continues to become a hot issue as doctors vehemently deny it, while both parents and others in the medical community claim that the link is valid.

In a letter to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, physician, Dr. David Ayoub, claims that pediatricians rely on information provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is funded by the companies that manufacture vaccines.

“With the recent concession by government health officials that childhood vaccines worsened a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms in a Georgia girl, and that she should be paid from a federal vaccine-injury fund, the facade of lies is beginning to crumble. I urge parents and pediatricians to do their own research with a thorough review of available literature and stop trusting reassuring claims from the very agencies that are responsible for this horrible debacle,” wrote Dr. Ayoub.

A mother who believes the MMR shot caused her son’s autism has contributed to a book all about the issue.

Deborah Nash saw the first symptoms of autism in her son David on July 9, 1994 - just four days after he received the vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).

She said: “I honestly believe the MMR jab caused it because he wasn’t born autistic. He was happy and bright and doing all the usual things. He slept well and was walking at 11 months. We had absolutely no concerns about him.”

Mrs Nash believes parents of children who developed the condition after getting the vaccination are not being listened to by the Government.

Frustrated by this, she and other parents have united to write a book voicing their opinions. Mrs. Nash wrote chapter seven of Silenced Witnesses, which was published in March.

In it, she describes her experiences of caring for David and her frustration at the Government’s refusal to begin research into the repercussions of the jab.

She wrote: “There is little hope of finding a cure’ for regressive autism unless and until there is properly funded clinical research into the victims.”

If research found the MMR vaccination had caused autism, the Government and pharmaceutical companies responsible may have to pay compensation to its victims. Mrs. Nash believes this may be the reason why they are reluctant to research the link between the vaccination and autism.

While preparing for the birth of her daughter, Christy Rue stumbled across a concern that she is now trying to share with every parent.

The 25-year-old mother is one of thousands who have picked up the cause to promote cleaner vaccines.

“The doctors give the shots, you know, so they must be safe,” Rue said.

But the disheartening facts, she said, are children are being disabled and pharmaceutical companies are paying lobbyists to help the vaccines pass through Washington.

“I’m not against vaccines,” Rue said. “I just want them to clean up the stuff they’re putting in there and give them a safer schedule.”

To make her concerns heard, Rue and her children traveled to Washington, D.C., for the “Green Our Vaccines, Too Many, Too Soon” march and rally two weeks ago. The three were among 8,000 people that walked from the Washington Memorial to the Capital Building, holding signs demanding change and pictures of children who lost their lives from reactions to vaccines.

“It was amazing to see how many people have been affected by vaccines and nobody knows about it,” Rue said. “To look around and see all these children, these innocent children who are victims, who now are having severe issues mentally and physically.

“When we walked down Independence Avenue it was a surreal feeling because so many other Americans had done this before for an important cause. But this is not just any old cause that will be forgotten about tomorrow. These are our kids and they are our future.”

The support for clean vaccines – meaning extracting toxins like formaldehyde, aluminum, antifreeze and mercury – has been slow because a majority of the medical community denies a link between vaccines and certain disorders such as autism.

Parents of autistic children believe autism is linked to mercury-based vaccines given to children as infants.

The mercury-based thimerosal was removed from most childhood vaccines in 2001 because of the autism fears. The number of autism cases continue to rise, though, leading health officials to set aside the connection. Today, 1 in 150 children have the disorder.

“Scientist say there’s no link, but who is paying for the research?” Rue said.

One of the main battles green-vaccine promoters face are the special interest and biased ties scientists have, she said.

Along with Mothers Against Mercury, a North Carolina-based organization, Rue is spreading the word about N.C. House Bill 431. The bill, which would limit the amount of thimerosal in vaccines, passed in the N.C. House last year, but failed to make it past the Senate’s Health Committee, Rue said.

Sitting in the pediatricians office last week, Rue said she looked around and wondered how many parents knew what was in the vaccines their children would receive.

“I’m not against vaccines by any means, I just don’t want my child being 1 in 150,” Rue said. “I don’t want anyone’s children.”

NEW YORK – Westchester and Rockland county residents were among dozens of people who rallied in Albany today to protest childhood vaccination. The activists held signs that said things like “Parents call the shots,” and chanted, “My kids, my choice.”The families are against legislation that would increase the number of immunizations children have to get. Under the bill, seventh graders and students preparing to enter college would have to get meningitis vaccines, minors could get vaccinated for sexually transmitted infections without parental consent, and future requirements for vaccines would be tied to national standards.
  
Lisa Rudley of Briarcliff Manor said two of her children have suffered health problems because of vaccines. One has recovered and another is one the way to recovering, she said.
  
Dr. Lynn Friedman, a chiropractor, said she unsuccessfully sued the Clarkstown School District to allow her son, now 12, to attend school without vaccinations. The state grants exceptions to the mandatory vaccine requirements for medical and religious reasons. Friedman said the district questioned the validity of her religious exemption. Her son goes to private school.
  
Elisa DiBari said her son, now 10, stopped speaking after receiving the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine at 15 months. He has had a lot of treatments over the years but is doing well.
  
“He’s a very positive kid. Nothing stopped him,” she said.
  
The families favor separate proposals that would allow families to opt out of the mandated vaccine program for philosophical reasons, and protections for parents who decline to have their children immunized for religious reasons.

During most of his early childhood, Zack Barsamian sat quietly under a table lining up his toys - he didn’t understand how to properly play with them. Often his hands covered his ears. Alone in his world, he didn’t like noise and he didn’t show typical child-like expressions of joy or happiness.

When Zack was 3 years old, doctors diagnosed his condition as “mid-functioning” autism. He also suffered from liver dysfunction and had difficulty digesting food.

Five years later and after his parents spent more than $400,000 out of pocket for Zack’s treatment, the boy smiles, relates and enjoys other children in his second grade class. He plays on a soccer team. He even has a best friend.

The $400,000 paid for conventional autism treatments including speech, occupational and behavioral therapists, and neurologists as well as testing and unconventional treatment to remove heavy metals from Zack’s body, expenses to travel to New York, North Carolina, Texas and Mexico to see specialists and the cost to build an in-home clinic.

Last week the Barsamians, along with 8,500 other parents of children with autism, participated in the Green Our Vaccines Rally, in Washington, D.C.

The participants hoped to raise awareness and push for elimination of toxins in vaccines, and to change children’s vaccination schedules. Some people believe the mercury-based preservative thimerosal found in vaccines is the main cause of autism. But the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is no link between vaccines and autism after examining the results of 19 major studies.

It began with IVs for nutrition and chelation to remove heavy metals from the blood.
 
The detoxifying treatment removes toxins in the body caused by internal factors such as diet and external factors such vaccines, the air we breathe, or the water we drink, said Jennifer.

Zack’s treatment also included oxygen therapy, which increases oxygen and blood flow to the brain. Twice a year Zack and his family travel to North Carolina where Zack receives treatment in a chamber for 100% pure oxygen.

To supplement that treatment, at home Zack receives one to two hours of daily supplemental oxygen therapy in a special chamber his parents built in their basement.

But the cost the Barsamians pay for treatment is high - between $3,000 and $7,000 each month because it is not covered by insurance.

More and more kids are recovering from autism, according Wendy Fournier, president of National Autism Association, a parent-run advocacy organization located in Missouri.

“Doctors are realizing it’s medically based. If you treat them medically - treat them with what’s going on in the body, they get better,” she said. “The problem is the medical community looks at them like they have some incurable mental illness. Autism is thought of as a mysterious mental illness.”

MARYLAND – Ginny Russo and her son Tony, 3, will be marching in the nation’s capital today to bring awareness and attention to autism.

Autism spectrum disorders affect about one in 150 children in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s a growing epidemic,” Russo said.

Russo, 33, of Mount Airy became informed about autism even before her son Tony was diagnosed when he was 2½ years old.

The rally Russo will be marching in today is to push Congress to promote cleaning up and re-evaluating the schedule of vaccinations given to children. The event, titled “Green our Vaccines,” claims that children are receiving too many vaccinations too soon.

The cause of autism is unknown, but organizations such as Talk About Curing Autism and Moms Against Mercury, which are sponsoring the rally, support the theory that there is a link between vaccinations and autism.

Russo said she doesn’t know what caused Tony’s disorder, but she has taken her son to receive alternative medical treatment and has placed him on a gluten-free diet. Russo said she has seen results in Tony, and that’s good enough for her.

Russo said autism is the common term for autism spectrum disorders that include Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome and other specific diagnoses.

ASDs are defined by the CDC as developmental disabilities that cause substantial impairments in social interaction and communication and the presence of unusual behaviors and interests.

Last Friday, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh released findings from a study that showed primates that were given vaccines showed autism-like symptoms.  The vaccines that were used were the same ones recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics; several of the vaccines had thimerosal in it.

The study’s results are being released as a federal case goes underway.

As reported by AP: the Institute of Medicine said in 2004 there was no credible evidence to show that vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal led to autism in children. But thousands of families have a different take based on personal experience.

Some of them are going to court Monday as attorneys will attempt to show that the mercury-based preservative triggers symptoms of autism.

Two 10-year-old boys from Portland, Ore., will serve as test cases to determine whether many of the children and their families should be compensated. Attorneys for the boys will attempt to show the boys were happy, healthy and developing normally — but, after being exposed to vaccines with thimerosal, they began to regress.

Thimerosal has been removed in recent years from standard childhood vaccines, except flu vaccines that are not packaged in single-doses. The CDC says single-dose flu shots currently are available only in limited quantities. In 2004, a committee with the Institute of Medicine concluded there was no credible evidence that vaccines containing thimerosal caused autism.

Nearly 4,900 families have filed claims with the U.S. Court of Claims alleging that the vaccination caused autism and other neurological problems in their children. Lawyers for the families are presenting three different theories of how vaccines caused autism.

The Office of Special Masters of the claims court has instructed the plaintiffs to designate three test cases for each of the three theories — nine cases in all — and has assigned three special masters to handle the cases. Three cases in the first category were heard last year, but no decisions have been reached.

Arguments are scheduled to go on throughout the month. A final decision could take several more months.

The families or the federal government can also appeal the decision of the special master to the Court of Federal Claims or to a federal appeals court.

The court Web site says more than 12,500 claims have been filed since creation of the program in 1987, including more than 5,300 autism cases, and more than $1.7 billion has been paid in claims. It says there is now more than $2.7 billion in a trust fund supported by an excise tax on each dose of vaccine covered by the program.

Elected officials in New York’s Nassau County are delving into the controversial issue that a autism vaccination could cause autism in children. Legislator David Mejias and assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg met with the parents of children who claim that their children’s autism was caused by vaccinations.

This is the latest news in state government stepping into autism research and support. Last week, the Florida state senate passed SB 1291, a bill that would mandate autism coverage by major health insurance carriers.