Vaccines and Autism — Should we be concerned?

The buzz is all over the place now as the Department of Health and Human Services has recently conceded that an autistic child was injured by vaccines. Larry King has interviewed the parents of Hannah Poling, Jon Poling, M.D., who received his M.D. and Ph.D from Georgetown University and did his neurology internship at Johns Hopkins University, Department of Neurology, and Terry Poling, an attorney and nurse.

A few days ago, as this case was unfolding, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is currently in med school. She seemed confused when I told her that several of the parents in my Attachment Parenting group are concerned about the potential toxicity of certain vaccine ingredients. She calmly explained that it has been proven in studies that there is no link between autism and vaccines.

She may have been calm, but I was not. As a parent, we’re all used to getting “called” on our parenting decisions by well-meaning friends and family. So what’s a responsible but open-minded gal to do? Do some research to dig up some respectable folk who agree with you, so you can achieve a little more belief in your own sanity.

I do believe that toxic ingredients in vaccines are a cause for concern. I try to avoid feeding my children preservatives and artificial coloring, and I go organic when I can, why shouldn’t I also avoid toxins in my children’s medical treatment? Here are some quotes by bigwig smart people and doctor-types that justify this position, for those of you out there who need some.

David Kirby has a thorough analysis of the Poling case on The Huffington Post. He explains:

The doctors conceded that the child was healthy and developing normally until her 18-month well-baby visit, when she received vaccinations against nine different diseases all at once (two contained thimerosal).

In its written concession, the government said the child had a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was “aggravated” by her shots, and which ultimately resulted in an ASD diagnosis.”The vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder,” the concession says, “which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of ASD.”

A quote from Dr. Boyd Haley, a chemical researcher at the University of Kentucky, from a USAAA interview:

What I really believe is that autism (and AD, Parkinsons, MS, ALS) are neurological diseases indicating a weakness in certain individuals for response to certain toxins. Exposure of these individuals to mercury from any source increases their risk.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. published a Rolling Stone piece based on transcripts of meetings between the CDC and major pharmaceutical companies in 2000. The study was based on findings of Tom Verstraeten that linked thimerosol, found in vaccines, to neurological disorders.

Even for scientists and doctors accustomed to confronting issues of life and death, the findings were frightening. “You can play with this all you want,” Dr. Bill Weil, a consultant for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the group. The results “are statistically significant.” But instead of taking immediate steps to alert the public and rid the vaccine supply of thimerosal, the officials and executives at Simpsonwood spent most of the next two days discussing how to cover up the damaging data.

According to transcripts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, many at the meeting were concerned about how the damaging revelations about thimerosal would affect the vaccine industry’s bottom line. “We are in a bad position from the standpoint of defending any lawsuits,” said Dr. Robert Brent, a pediatrician at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware. Dr. John Clements, vaccines advisor at the World Health Organization, declared that “perhaps this study should not have been done at all.” He added that “the research results have to be handled,” warning that the study “will be taken by others and will be used in other ways beyond the control of this group.”

In fact, the government has proved to be far more adept at handling the damage than at protecting children’s health. The CDC paid the Institute of Medicine to conduct a new study to whitewash the risks of thimerosal, ordering researchers to “rule out” the chemical’s link to autism. It withheld Verstraeten’s findings, even though they had been slated for immediate publication, and told other scientists that his original data had been “lost” and could not be replicated. And to thwart the Freedom of Information Act, it handed its giant database of vaccine records over to a private company, declaring it off-limits to researchers. By the time Verstraeten finally published his study in 2003, he had gone to work for GlaxoSmithKline and reworked his data to bury the link between thimerosal and autism.

From the Scientific Consensus Statement on Environmental Agents Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders:

Environmental agents that we are confident cause learning and developmental disabilities in humans include: alcohol, lead,
mercury, PCBs, PBDEs, manganese, arsenic, solvents, PAHs, pesticides and nicotine/environmental tobacco smoke.

Although not directly related to vaccines, the following is a quote on aluminum toxicity from Aluminum Toxicity in Infants and Children published by the American Academy of Pediatrics:

In 1976, it was reported that the brain tissue of patients dying of a neunologic syndrome called dialysis encephalopathy had high concentrations of aluminum in the gray matter. Two years later, a severe form of osteomalacic osteodystrophy (fracturing dialysis osteodystrophy) and dialysis encephalopathy was described, which occurred in patients undergoing dialysis with a dialysate prepared from tap water that contained large amounts of aluminum. The epidemic-like occurrence of these diseases was largely eliminated by removing the aluminum from the water used to prepare the dialysate.

Through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System the U.S. govenment has paid nearly 2 billion dollars to parents since 1988. Although they do not act to prove one way or the other that a vaccine caused a disease or reaction, they have this to say:

Even though careful and complete studies are done before a vaccine is licensed, rare side effects may not be found until a vaccine is given to millions of people with different backgrounds and medical histories.

Representative Dave Weldon, M.D., a Florida congressmen, has issued the following in response to reports on thimerosol safety by the IOM:

The IOM’s scope of investigation was severely narrowed for this review. In 2001 the IOM considered thimerosal’s relationship with nuerodevelopmental disorders as a whole, but here they only consider Autism. This raises suspicions that this IOM exercise might be more about drawing pre-designed conclusions aimed at restoring public confidence in vaccines rather than conducting a complete and thorough inquiry into whether or not thimerosal might cause neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, the author of one of the studies upon which the IOM relies, recently stated in an April 2004 letter to Pediatrics: ‘The bottom line is and has always been the same: an association between thimerosal and neurological outcomes could neither be confirmed nor refuted, and therefore, more study is required.’ It was after this study was published that the IOM scope was narrowed.

Unfortunately, the epidemiology studies that the IOM bases its findings on are not immune from conflicts or controversy. Many of the authors have conflicts of interest including funding from vaccine manufactures, employment by manufacturers, or conflicts in that they implemented vaccine policies that are now being investigated. Furthermore, the studies were designed to examine entire populations and would miss subgroups of genetically susceptible populations. Much like the infamous 1989 study by The National Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD) which missed the link between folic acid deficiencies and neural tube defects, the epidemiology studies reviewed by the IOM in drawing today’s findings, could easily have missed a link between thimerosal and NDDs. — May 18, 2004

As a practicing physician and a Member of Congress, I have been increasingly alarmed by mounting evidence over the past several years suggesting a relationship between mercury exposure in newborns and the rising epidemic of neurodevelopmental disorders. Mercury is a known neurotoxin. It does not take a great leap of faith to believe that even low exposures to mercury at a critical stage of neurodevelopment could cause neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). A study released today conducted by Dr. Jill James demonstrates that children with regressive autism have a defect in the pathways used by the body to detoxify and excrete heavy metals such as mercury. Not only does her research help to explain why these children may be uniquely vulnerable to mercury-related injuries, but her research also provides avenues for the potential treatment of mercury-associated NDDs.

Today’s study, along with several other recently published scientific studies, demonstrate clearly that the IOM overstated their conclusions. Dr. James’ work begins to identify a subgroup of children that may be highly vulnerable to certain levels of mercury previously thought safe for all children. None of the five epidemiology studies on which the IOM based their report would have detected this subgroup; they simply were not designed in such a manner to identify a genetically susceptible population. Despite the IOM’s recommendation to the contrary, I will do all I can to ensure that the public health community, including NIH and CDC, aggressively pursues research into ways we can identify and treat children that may be genetically vulnerable to mercury-induced neurological damage. — Dec. 19, 2004

Congresswoman Diane Watson of California put it perhaps more succinctly:

The IOM did not make the statement that mercury injected into the body is helpful. Mercury is mercury, and it is a neuro-toxic substance (among other bad things) - name one beneficial use in the human body.

Reps. Dave Weldon, M.D. and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced the Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2007 (H.R. 1973) to establish an independent office to address, investigate, and head off potential vaccine safety problems in an objective and non-conflicted office whose sole purpose is vaccine safety and evaluation. Regarding the CDC, Weldon states:

I am a strong supporter of childhood immunizations, but it is critically important that our immunization program have a vigorous, independent and well-funded safety program. The CDC is the principle federal agency charged with vaccine safety research, but they are seriously conflicted. Their top priority is maintaining high immunization rates, while vaccine safety ranks near the bottom both in priorities and funding. — March 6, 2008

So where does that leave me? I’m actually still in the midst of the decision-making process. Ultimately the decision to vaccinate (and what schedule to use) includes more questions than simply, “Are there toxins in vaccines?” But when the answer is “Yes,” that seems like a good place to start.

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