19.06.2002

US Congressional Committee hearing into vaccine safety and autism


The US Congress has commissioned a committee to investigate any
relationship betwen vaccines and neurological disorders such as
autism. Prof. Stejskal, head of the MELISA foundation, was called as
an expert witness to the Committee on Government Reform on 19 June,
2002. She suggested that thimerosal is the link, as hypesensitivity
to the mercury-based compound can lead to autism.

Congressman Dan Burton, the committee chairman, gave an opening
statement to explain the inquiry. The New Stateman, a UK political
magazine, ran an article about the hearing entitled "A modern mystery
deepens".


Thimerosal - an allergen in our system

Testimony before the Committee on Government Reform
Vera Stejskal, Associated Professor of Immunology, University of
Stockholm

Soon to come!
A modern mystery deepens

Observations on autism by Rosie Waterhouse
From the New Stateman magazine (UK), 1 July 2002
This is an edited version. The full version is available from the New
Statesman website.

At a congressional inquiry in Washington into autism, five of
America's most senior public health officials have been grilled about
whether vaccines might be causing what the government reform
committee chairman, Dan Burton, called an 'epidemic' of autism in
children.

They were presented with a dossier of exhibits comprising copies of e-
mails, confidential minutes of meetings and other incriminating
documents, which one congressman, Dave Weldon, said amounted to
evidence of a cover-up. The public health authorities knew of the
possible health risks from mercury in vaccines years ago, the
documents showed, and had an emergency plan to remove it.

A secret study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), which was never published, showed children who had received
vaccines containing thimerosal - a preservative that is almost 50 per
cent mercury - were more than twice as likely to develop autism as
children who had not. The hearing, on 19 June, was part of an two-
year investigation into a dramatic rise in autism in the United
States, from one in 10,000 children reported ten years ago to one in
250 now.

The session was called to review research into possible causes of
autism, including the MMR vaccine and mercury. Mercury, the most
toxic substance humans are likely to be exposed to, is present in
some vaccines, but not the MMR.

Dr Arthur Krigsman, of the New York University School of Medicine,
has conducted tests on 43 autistic children. He found that 90 per
cent of them had the same inflammatory bowel disorders as Dr Andrew
Wakefield reported from his clinic at the Royal Free Hospital in
London.

Two of the researchers, Dr Vera Stejskal, professor of immunology at
the University of Stockholm, and Dr Jeff Bradstreet, a paediatrician
from Florida, put forward the hypothesis that, in some genetically
predisposed children, an accumulation of mercury damages the brain
and lowers immunity. This means that the body cannot cope with the
three live viruses in the MMR vaccine, thus triggering autism.

Next year, the British and American lawsuits begin. So far, all the
available studies into whether mercury and/or MMR cause autism, have
failed to prove a link. But they haven't disproved one either. We
need a thorough, independent, public or parliamentary inquiry, along
the lines of a US congressional hearing, to tell us about the
possible hazards of the government's vaccination programme - and
whether it is causing autism.

http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/site.php3?
newTemplate=NSArticle_Ideas&newDisplayURN=200207010008


A modern mystery deepens

Rosie Waterhouse

Monday 1st July 2002



Observations on autism by Rosie Waterhouse

At a congressional inquiry in Washington into autism, five of
America's most senior public health officials have been grilled about
whether vaccines might be causing what the government reform
committee chairman, Dan Burton, called an "epidemic" of autism in
children.

They were presented with a dossier of exhibits comprising copies of e-
mails, confidential minutes of meetings and other incriminating
documents, which one congressman, Dave Weldon, said amounted to
evidence of a cover-up. The public health authorities knew of the
possible health risks from mercury in vaccines years ago, the
documents showed, and had an emergency plan to remove it.

A secret study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), which was never published, showed children who had received
vaccines containing thimerosal - a preservative that is almost 50 per
cent mercury - were more than twice as likely to develop autism as
children who had not.

The hearing, on 19 June, was part of an two-year investigation into a
dramatic rise in autism in the United States, from one in 10,000
children reported ten years ago to one in 250 now.

The session was called to review research into possible causes of
autism, including the MMR vaccine and mercury. Mercury, the most
toxic substance humans are likely to be exposed to, is present in
some vaccines, but not the MMR.

In Britain, too, we are witnessing a significant increase in the
number of children diagnosed with autism, from one in 2,200 estimated
by the National Autistic Society in 1988 - when the MMR vaccine was
introduced - to one in 166 now.

Here, as in the US, a growing number of parents believe their
children were born and developed normally, but became autistic and
suffer the additional burden of a painful inflammatory bowel
disorder, because of vaccines. Many are taking legal action against
the manufacturers.

They will be using research that they claim supports their case,
including studies by Dr Andrew Wakefield, a consultant
gastroenterologist who first raised the possibility that the MMR
vaccine may be a contributory cause of autism and bowel disease in
children brought to his clinic at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

Wakefield has since been forced out of his job because government
ministers and health advisers have criticised his research
as "unscientific". But at the congressional inquiry in June, three
other scientists presented research findings that partially supported
Wakefield.

Dr Arthur Krigsman, of the New York University School of Medicine,
has conducted tests on 43 autistic children. He found that 90 per
cent of them had the same inflammatory bowel disorders as Wakefield
reported.

Two of the researchers, Dr Vera Stejskal, professor of immunology at
the University of Stockholm, and Dr Jeff Bradstreet, a paediatrician
from Florida, put forward the hypothesis that, in some genetically
predisposed children, an accumulation of mercury damages the brain
and lowers immunity. This means that the body cannot cope with the
three live viruses in the MMR vaccine, thus triggering autism.

In March, the British government announced a £2.5m research programme
into possible causes of autism. But the minister responsible, Jacqui
Smith, ruled out looking at whether MMR was implicated, because, she
said, that had already been investigated. But not thoroughly. Not
independently.

Next year, the British and American lawsuits begin. So far, all the
available studies into whether mercury and/or MMR cause autism, have
failed to prove a link. But they haven't disproved one either. We
need a thorough, independent, public or parliamentary inquiry, along
the lines of a US congressional hearing, to tell us about the
possible hazards of the government's vaccination programme - and
whether it is causing autism.






http://www.melisa.org/hottopics/thim.html