Page 1 of 1 pages
Uh, Dan Burton is an R from Indiana, not Illinois. How could your fact-checkers have missed this very local slip-up?
Update: The copy has been fixed. Thanks for the heads up. —Eds.
Posted by Dave DeRosa on Nov 12, 2003 at 1:31 PM
What I resent about this information isn’t that alot of people made mistakes and alot more people are suffering as a result. What I resent is that the story does little to point the finger of responsibility in a useful direction.
We are dealing with an administration that, on the one hand, wants to shrink government to the size that it can drown it in a bathtub, and on the other trusts that corporate interests driven by cost-reductions and profit concerns will impose morality on an otherwise amoral situation.
By their very nature, corporations are not moral agents. It has been the infestation of government by corporate interests that have lead, and will lead, to failed policy implementations and gross violations of both the spirit and the letter of the law.
Democracy needs an executive branch that can be counted on to uphold the highest standards of moral and ethical integrity, and businesses must be kept in check by our entire government so that the public trust, when it is compromised, is never again egregiously sacrificed as it has been in recent years.
Posted by Greg Mucha on Nov 12, 2003 at 2:25 PM
Editor! I am pleased to see a balanced knowledgeable report on this most important issue. Mercury is threatening the physical and mental health of the world population. Mercury poisoning is very insidious. Besides autism it causes many other physical and mental symptoms, among which depression is only one.
The American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) were both founded over mercury issues. The ADA because of dental amalgam, the AMA because of Calomel (a mercury medicine).
Ever since the mid eighteen hundreds the ADA has successfully hidden the fact that amalgam contains mercury. The AMA has defended mercury until it was finally eliminated from medical textbooks around thirty years ago. Mercury in the form of teething powders became an issue when it was discovered in the ‘40s that it caused Pink Disease in babies. Still merccury was used as a diuretic at least through the ‘60s. Thanks for writing this report. This issue is a big issue and it will not go away. Too many people are affected by it. Sincerely Birgit Calhoun
Posted by Birgit Caalhoun on Nov 12, 2003 at 3:02 PM
Bravo! I agree with Birgit. Thanks for printing the factual side of this story. For too long the bureaucrats have been able to sweep this issue under the rug. Thanks for recognizing Rep Burton; it is due to his courage in bringing much of this information to light that many of us even knew that there was an issue!
Crystal - a mom of an 11-yr old autistic boy
Posted by Crystal Fernando on Nov 12, 2003 at 3:59 PM
I congratulate you in having the guts to present the truth others avoid. There are many damaged kids who need help and rather than fighting the truth- they messed up big time, they need to allocate money to fund research to help these kids.
Thanks.
Posted by JOYCE DAVILA on Nov 12, 2003 at 5:36 PM
Bravo to Ms. Fuentes for writing the most comprehensive article ever written about autism and thimerosal. She chronicled the history of why my typically developing 2 year old transformed and grew to be a nonverbal 4 year old who can’t say her own name or tell her younger sister that she loves her. I understand the cover up more thoroughly after your concise explanation of “asleep at the switch.” Thank you for all of your efforts. I will show this magazine to everyone I know including pediatricians who refuted this concept of vaccine injury to my family. Thank you.
Posted by Maria Hildreth on Nov 12, 2003 at 6:40 PM
i believe in this article. i have a 5 yr old son who was diagnosed last oct 2002 as a child having ASD - asperger’s syndrome. that time when i searched in the internet the possible causes of autism, i read about this thimerisol. then i compared the vaccine shots of my son with that of my older daughter and i was convinced that the frequency of the vaccine shots at an earlier age to my son might have been the cause of his autism.
i hope many parents would be able to read this very enlightening article. However, the damage to millions of children all over the world has already been done, i don’t know if the same manufacturer could invent another medicine to reverse the effect of thimerisol. i just pray that the kids born today will no longer receive those vaccines containing mercury to control the epidemic.
i hope to read more articles about this. More power & God Bless.
Posted by nina s. ayco on Nov 12, 2003 at 7:16 PM
Autism in a needle? You betcha! I can only imagine what my son might be like today if he did not recieve 125 times the “safe limit” of mercury in his vaccines by the time he was 18months old. Alex started off like any child, total normal development, early talker, walker, very bright. Within two months after his dpt, he was a total blank slate, lost all speech, play skills, everything….just gone to autism, and remains severely autistic today, at eight years of age. I cannot thank you enough for publishing such an amazing article that contains all the facts that us parents know so well and have known for so long. I only hope others will follow your pursuit in exposing this scandal. It is just appalling how long is has been kept under wraps by the pharmaceuetical companies and our own governmental agencies. It is time for this country to realize we are in the middle of an autism epidemic and our own government is to blame, Sincerely, Val Boergesson
Posted by Valerie Boergesson on Nov 13, 2003 at 9:28 AM
Thank you for printing this article.People need to be aware of the facts of all this.I have a 12 year old daughter who has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.She was born perfectly healthy and normal,changed around age 3. It is very sad to think they are letting this all happen.Isn’t this America???Please help the American Children.This is a terrible epidemic!
Posted by Lisa T on Nov 13, 2003 at 10:04 AM
I agree with Dave- get your facts straight…
Not all Recombivax HB is made with thimerosol. It truly depends on the country that the drug is going to due to approval issues. Some non-US countries have not APPROVED the vaccines that do not contain thimerosol. So, the thimerosol vaccines are what is used, because, in that specific country, that is what is approved. Since 1999, Merck has been making a thimerosol free form of Recombivax HB which is actually, the most common form manufactured. See
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4835a3.htm
Truly, I understand parent’s concern regarding their children’s vaccinations. But if you are going to write a report, give people the entire story and don’t present it in a way that’s misleading.
Posted by Mary on Nov 13, 2003 at 10:10 AM
Keep it coming guys, you are at the fronlines and fighting for the public where no one else ever has. God bless you.
Posted by Lindsey Sellers on Nov 13, 2003 at 5:36 PM
A friend in my mother’s group has a son diagnosed as Autistic two years ago, when he was two. When we were having our boys vaccinated, I asked for extra information, and received the Dept Health factsheets stating that there was no known link between vaccines and Autism. I don’t know if my friend’s son’s condition can be linked to the vaccine, but I do know that it’s hard to get accurate information on the issue. I believed and trusted the dept Health information I received, and it makes me go cold all over to think that maybe I put my children at risk when I had them vaccinated.
Posted by Lisa M on Nov 13, 2003 at 9:28 PM
Excellent article, as a parent of an autistic 11 year old boy who has no language and bowel problems I am so concerned about this epedemic of autism and children who are vaccine damaged. It is just as bad over here in Scotland and the rest of the British Isles. My sons case was due in court next April against the pharmaceutal company along with 1,300 other families whose children have been damaged by the MMR. This October the children’s legal aid has been suspended so at the moment we have no say in the matter. Us parents have heard comments like “We are scaremongering, hysterical etc. As far as I’m concerned we are telling the truth and hopefully many children have been saved from brain damage. The medical and legal establishment carry on as if no child has ever suffered a bad reaction to a vaccine. The song “Where is the Love ” by the Black Eyed Peas sums it up very well. Well done and keep up the good work
Posted by Joan Campbell on Nov 14, 2003 at 8:40 AM
If the Government is asleep at the switch, the answer is not more Government but to get it out of Health Care completely and insure therefore that Health Corporations will never benefit from political power. Shutdown the FDA/CDC monopolies and let Pharmaceutical Companies, Certification Companies, Insurance Companies compete for the consumers’ trust without Government litigation immunity.
(A parent of a autistic 6yo boy who obeyed the vaccination schedules devised by FDA/CDC).
Posted by Olivier Schreiber on Nov 14, 2003 at 11:54 AM
My name is Beth Klym. I have a clinical doctorate in Pharmacy and ran a Drug Information Center in large University Hospital. A large portion of my job was managing adverse drug reactions and conducting drug use reviews within our hospital. I was in charge of writing scientific reviews of all drugs requested by a physician for addition to the hospital Formulary. One day a week was spent meeting with drug representatives wanting to discuss with me the “benefits” of adding their drug to Formulary. Point being, I know how Drug Manufacturers function and beyond their researchers they might as well be selling cars. It’s all about the money and percentage of the market their drug holds.
I am also the mother of a five year old autistic child. The amount of money we spend each year in medical bills (because the insurance companies claim there is no cure for autism) and home teaching programs, private schools and language consultants (because the public school system wants to put my child in special education due to the fact they do not understand how to teach autistic kids and unwilling to change the status quo) would probably feed a small developing country for that same year. “No Child left behind” is political campaigning bullshit.
I want to thank your journal for writing the best summary of the vaccine/autism controversy I have ever read. You really covered most of the issues clearly with view points from both sides. But I was most impressed by your clear and accurate chain of events in what I believe is the biggest cover-up of malpractice in the history of modern medicine. Even now, knowing for years that they made a huge mistake affecting the lives of so many children and their families, their primary concern is to not look guilty in the public eye. Instead they should be busting their butts to take action to assure public safety and informing the public that everything possible is being done to make sure vaccines are safe. Parents with the support of unbiased journalism and media will not let them sweep this under a rug. They will be held accountable.
Starting today I will subscribe to your journal. Thank you for actually “getting it” and having the courage to print the story.
By the way, the most recent figures are 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism.
Sincerely, Beth (Mom to Michael)
Posted by Beth Klym on Nov 15, 2003 at 12:21 AM
Mary
one incorrect statement in the course of such a long article hardly justifies your response. My suspicion is that you would have corrected the substantive allegations had you been able so the fact that you picked on one aspect is, of itself, telling. And saying that you “understand” parents anxieties - hmmn - reminds me of so many politicians and “medical professionals” I believe that only the parent of a vaccine damaged child understands what it is like to be the parent of a vaccine damaged child. Are you one?
My son was damaged by his vaccine at aged 18 months and I watched him loose all his skills. It was like a nightmare. At least some of the understanding of how he was damaged gives me some means by which to help him. It is not just about the next generation to be vaccinated - it is about helping the damaged children we already have . I’m not sure you have any grasp of that or you wouldn’t be point scoring .
Posted by Deborah on Nov 16, 2003 at 12:45 PM
A more comprehensive and balanced look would include a review of European research on the coincidence of the age at which autism symptoms are noted also being the age at which vaccinations are given in the US, even in countries where vaccinations are rare or given at considerably different ages. In other words, is it the age of the kid or the vaccination that leads to the appearance of symptoms?
Posted by Mary Sue on Nov 16, 2003 at 1:23 PM
I am a mother of three and have been taking care of children for many years now and I’m really concerned about the deterioration of their health. I have a four (almost 5) year old grandson that has never been vaccinated and people comment on his health, vitality and cleverness. He is considered smarter than other kids but I personally don’t think that is the case. I think he is just normal. I remember when my children were young most children were like him in those days. That is twenty years ago. They have been steadily increasing the number of vaccines the children are receiving and our children are getting sicker and sicker. I say stop all vaccinations and start using healthy food to keep our children’s immune systems strong so they can fight off all diseases in a natural way.
Bless you for a great website,
Stefan
Posted by Stefan on Nov 17, 2003 at 3:53 PM
This is an old story that has been examined repeatedly by a variety of researchers, most of whom have no connection to the pharmaceutical industry. In every large scale study, the data have failed to find a linkage between thimerosal and autism. Ms. Fuentes has been disingenous in dismissing the large scale studies in favor of a single researcher, Dr. Haley, whose work is correlative at best. As noted in a recent article in Science (Postnatal Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Meeting at the Synapse? by Huda Y. Zoghbi Science Oct 31 2003: 826-830), Autism and related diseases belong to a group of pathologies that arise postnatally and the timing happens to coincide with the age of vaccination, whether or not vaccinations are given. There are also genetic linkages in many cases of autism. Somehow, this information fails to be mentioned in the article. Selective use of information in this manner hurts the credibility of the journal. Worse yet, this is exactly what IndyMedia routinely accuses the government of doing.
Posted by Scott Brady on Nov 17, 2003 at 4:28 PM
GREAT ARTICLE AND VERY INFORMATIVE KEEP IT UP…..
Posted by angus files on Nov 18, 2003 at 4:58 AM
While I don’t question the facts of this story, I question the reaction it may cause.
Vaccines are an essential part of today’s society and have helped to save far more lives than those they may have hurt; and while this does not jusify the harm, the proper response should be to fight for ‘safer’ shots, NOT refusing to vaccinate our kids.
Let’s not cut off our nose to spite our face. Vaccination is truly a piece of history that has saved many lives and contributed greatly to our longevity. I’ll take the slim chance of my child getting autism rather than contribute to the spread of the likes of POLIO.
In the meantime…fight for SAFER vaccines…
Posted by M Hall on Nov 18, 2003 at 2:42 PM
good, informative article.
Posted by Penelope Low on Nov 18, 2003 at 3:41 PM
Great Article! My son was diagnosed with Heavy Metal Toxicity as well as autism.
Horrific…yes
Posted by adrian Prokofiew on Nov 18, 2003 at 5:19 PM
My 5-year-old son tested positive for mercury poisoning. He
Posted by Nancy Hokkanen on Nov 18, 2003 at 8:19 PM
My 2.75 year old son has been diagnosed with PDD - NOS or Autistic Spectrum Disorder but at the low end of the spectrum. In fact the doctor, developmental pediatrician, was very hesitant to give the diagnosis because she said that while he showed many/most of the symptoms of autism some of his behaviors seemed to refute the diagnosis. Like many others he developed very normally for the first 16 months of his life, passed every checkpoint with flying colors. Soon after 16 months he began to regress. Eventually lost all his language, wouldn’t engage anyone and would run circles around the house on his tippy-toes alternating between screaming and making indistinguishable noises.
Around 18 months we started an intensive diet, supplement and nutritional plan along with several intensive therapy programs. We have seen gradual steady improvement.
About 2 months ago we had my son tested for heavy metal toxicity by taking one provoking dose of DMSA. His urine test showed that “very elevated” levels of mercury were in his urine. We have since started on a chelation protocol. The results have been dramatic. He showed an immediate gain across the board and his goals for his therapy sessions have been revised upwards 3 times since we started chelation. The therapists reports have verified the observations that my wife and I were making and we haven’t told any of them about the chelation. My son has gained back and passed his previous language level and is only about 3-6 months behind. He is also much more engaged and personable. But most of all he is happy again the brightness is returning to his eyes. He is starting to remind me of the kid I used to see before all of this started.
A few questions come to mind for people like Scott Brady of Chicago, IL.
Why/how does my son have “very elevated” levels of mercury in his body?
Why does he get better when the mercury is removed?
Why, if the symptoms of autism and mercury poisoning are so similar, is my son immediately diagnosed with autism without any testing?
Why is mercury, one of the most toxic elements on earth, injected into babies?
You don’t really have to answer the last one or any of them for that matter. But please don’t insult me by telling me that studies have “...failed to find a significant linkage between autism and thimerosal…”.
There is no association between rattlesnake bites and autism either should I let him get bitten by a rattlesnake?
Posted by Ed Bowden on Nov 18, 2003 at 9:51 PM
Horrific
Posted by Roland Johnson on Nov 18, 2003 at 10:57 PM
Great job!!!!!!!! I am in the UK wishing we had journalists like you
Thank You from a mother with a vaccine (read Mercury) damaged child :)
Posted by Mandi Rodwell on Nov 19, 2003 at 12:03 AM
Thank you for looking at this issue and reporting a side of the story that would normally scare most journalists. Compared to many articles out there that cover this issue, your fact-errors are minimal.
Scott Brady said, “This is an old story,” but every night around 10:00 pm when my child is throwing a violent tantrum, it suddenly becomes a new story to parents like me.
It’s interesting when opinions like this surface from those who feel their little crumb of information explains everything. Mr. Brady said, “examined repeatedly by a variety of researchers, most of whom have no connection to the pharmaceutical industry.” Can he list these so-called unbiased doing-it-out-of-the-kindness-of-their-hearts researchers? I’d love to see their names…and their work.
“Ms. Fuentes has been disingenous (spelled “disingenuous”) in dismissing the large scale studies…” but can Mr. Brady recognize that these large-scale studies often monopolize the media spotlight thanks to large-scale public relations efforts and the perceived “expert” factor? Surely he can handle one little article that the CDC doesn’t get to territorially mark.
“Timing”? Ballyhoo. “Genetic linkages in many cases of autism”? Please be specific.
You’re right, Scott, selective use of information can be bad. But lucky for us, someone finally selected truthful information for a story echoed by thousands. By the way, are you the Scott Brady who has worked with Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (AKA: Aventis)?
M Hall, your comment, “I’ll take the slim chance of my child getting autism rather than contribute to the spread of the likes of POLIO,” begs the question, “What’s your definition of slim?”
As for choosing autism over other diseases, well, would you rather be in hell or purgatory? All of them are painful, and autism can be crueler than you’ll ever know. But if you want to know my absolute choice, I think I’d have to pick having a healthy child.
Posted by Lori Mac on Nov 19, 2003 at 8:26 AM
I’m furious! Three months ago I would have read this article and apathetically shook my head. Two months ago our 8 year-old son was diagnosed with Asperger’s. To think his life is changed forever possibly/ probably as a result of something we thought was GOOD for him! I had no idea until recently that our vaccinations, medications and dental amalgams contained mercury! I craved tuna during my pregnancy with my son- but avoided it because of of the mercury content. Instead I just mainlined it into him and glued it into his mouth! Regardless of whether mercury is the cause of my son’s autism- it’s POISON and if I’d known it was in vaccinations and amalgams- I would never have allowed either.
It’s too late for my son (but I’ll be damned if I allow another vaccination with thimerosal for either him or my 6 year-old twin girls)- but what can we do to avoid heavy metal poisoning and autism in other children?
Posted by Dawn Freeman on Nov 19, 2003 at 12:54 PM
Great story, please continue to report on this issue. We have to keep talkning about it to get something finally DONE about it. Especially one as political as this one!
I used to work for a pharmaceutical company and sold vaccines. I was a total advocate of immunizing my kids…..the last thing I wanted to point a finger at was immunizations, but I am a complete believer that thimerosal caused my sons autism.
Keep up the good work. Please!
Posted by Kim Wolford on Nov 19, 2003 at 3:49 PM
Being a parent of an autistic child I have been throughly confinced for over 2 years that vaccines triggered (if not out right caused) my 6 year old son’s autism.
I would like to thank you for doing an honest interview. So very few are willing to show the truth for what it is.
Feel free to check out my website at: http://delpshopepage.org and my group at yahoo. The address is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autism_and_vaccinations
Again my and many others thanks for being willing to reveal what so many have been trying to cover up.
Deborah A Delp
Posted by Deborah Delp on Nov 20, 2003 at 7:34 AM
I just wanted to say “Thank heaven’s their is some honest reporting!!!” I have not only lost faith in the CDC,Pharmacuetical companies, and government, but also in the integrity of so many media outlets(not including yours!). The one-sided reporting is sickening! Do the drug companies control everyone? I admire you soooo much for not being intimidated by “advertisers” telling you what you can and can’t print! We owe it to our children to let everyone know the truth. They are our future!!! What is wrong with the world today? Sometimes I am glad that she doesn’t know what a sick place this world can be. Its nice to know there are still some good people out there.
Thanks and keep up the great work!!
Cheryl McCall
Mom to Caroline/5yrs old/vaccine induced autism
Posted by Cheryl McCall on Nov 20, 2003 at 5:56 PM
What an excellent story! Thank you, thank you from another parent of a child recovering from Mercury overload. Dear Scott Brady may your children or grandchildren never have to suffer from what happened to us. Our beautiful blond boy turned into a zombie following his 15mo. check-up. He missed his 12 mos shots so when we went in for our 15mo check up they decided to catch him up.
By the grace of God we found Dr. Jeff Bradstreet who put him on a strict gluten casein diet to correct the havoc in his immune system and chelated the Mercury out.
After countless hours of speech, OT and ABA therapy we are getting our son back. All I want is for the CDC to vaccinate safely. Space out shots and require them to be Mercury free so that other parents can spend their time and money raising tomorrow’s future.
Sincerely,
Karen, Mom of Josh 3
Posted by Karen Beauvais on Nov 21, 2003 at 10:08 PM
Annette Fuentes asks whether thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative found in some vaccines, could cause autism. She seems personally convinced that thimerosal really does cause autism: She cites one study published by a nurse, and an unpublished study by a doctor at CDC , that support her case. Although she mentions in passing three other studies that show no link between thimerosal and autism, she then dismisses these studies without explanation or discussion. As a scientist, I have to say that this is not the proper way to proceed. You can
Posted by JohnFarley on Nov 22, 2003 at 7:38 PM
Thank you very much, for this magnificent article.
We are a parents of a seven years old beautyfull doughter, that she was born normal and at the age of three we were told that she was sufering from ADD.
Today reading and understanding more about this issues, I can help be very ungry wiht the goverment for not doing enogh to investigate prevent and stop the pharmaceutical companies making this type of vaccinations.
How many more children have to suffered this type of neurological disorder before the law makers can do same thing about it??.
Thank you so very much Annette for your help and great work that you do for all of us and our childrens.
Posted by Miguel Angel Paredes on Nov 23, 2003 at 6:58 AM
I applaud In These Times and Annette Fuentes for having the courage to call a spade a spade. That the pharmaceutical industry and government ask parents to continue accepting as coincidence that exposure to mercury, followed by symptoms consistent with mercury poisoning, followed by confirmed elevated levels of mercury in “autistic” children, is insulting to those of us who have watched our babies succumb to mercury toxicity through vaccines.
Mr. Farley, don’t you have to wonder whatever happened to common sense when the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was deciding what was going to be injected into newborns and toddlers? The acceptable levels for lead exposure have been significantly lowered in recent years and arsenic-treated wood has come under fire as well. Would it be okay with you to have your children injected with amounts of lead or arsenic greatly in excess of federal guidelines? Mercury is more toxic than either of these. As a scientist, would it be acceptable to you to inject your son or daughter with 50 mcgs. mercury at the age of two months as my son was? How many 1,107 lb. two-month old children do you know? This is how much a child would have to weigh for that amount of mercury to be considered “safe” by the EPA. You refer to an unpublished study by a CDC doctor. That study has been published—a watered down version of it where the data was manipulated to reduce the risk factor for neurological disorders after thimerosal exposure to a less worrisome number. The unpublished version is marked “CONFIDENTIAL: DO NOT COPY OR DISTRIBUTE”.
If you don’t think there is enough published information on the inadvisability of injecting children with this poison, a quick search of PubMed under keyword “thimerosal” may enlighten you. Among others, I’d recommend you read the recently published study by Baylor neurosurgeon David Baskin, all those by genetic obstetrician Mark Geier, and the baby hair study by Holmes, Blaxill, & Haley.
Posted by Rita Shreffler on Nov 24, 2003 at 10:14 AM
Thimerosal is not in childhood vaccines in Canada, yet Autism rates are soaring. There is no connection between the two.
Posted by Mary Appleton on Nov 25, 2003 at 1:48 PM
Most of the favorable comments come from parents of autistic children, who are absolutely convinced that they have found the cause of their child’s autism.
Here’s what most nonscientists don’t understand. Just because a substance is toxic at high levels, doesn’t necessarily make it toxic at low levels.
For example, fluoride is toxic at high levels. At low levels (one part per million), it protects teeth from decay. We gave our children fluoride drops to protect their teeth.
Another example: every day I take a dose of coumadin (warfarin), a blood thinner, on the advice of my cardiologist. At high levels, it’s very dangerous. In fact warfarin has been used as a rat poison. So every day I take dilute rat poison.
In fact, it’s quite often that trace elements (e.g. metals) that are essential to health at low levels are toxic at high levels. Iron is toxic at high enough levels.
Mercury has been known for ages to be toxic. The term “mad as a hatter” refers to mental problems caused by mercury poisoning of workers who used mercury to make felt hats from beaver pelts. That’s at high levels of mercury.
What about low levels? Annette Fuentes says the FDA maximum daily consumption level of methylmercury is 0.4 micrograms/day/kg of body weight. So a 5 kg (11 lb) baby could consume 2 micrograms/day by the FDA guideline, and could safely get 237 micrograms in 120 days. That’s using the FDA guideliness.
If instead the lower EPA guideline of 0.1 micrograms/day/kg is used, it would take 480 days to consume 237 micrograms of methyl mercury.
So, using these guidelines, as long as the vaccines were not given all at once, but over a period of time, the consumption rates would be within the guidelines.
Would I inject my children with mercury-containing vaccines? My children did get their vaccinations, probably with vaccines with low levels of mercury. And they’re just fine.
Posted by John Farley on Nov 26, 2003 at 11:52 AM
Mr. Farley, it does not take a scientist to understand that even “good” metals can be toxic in large amounts, and those considered dangerous are sometimes beneficial or at least benign in very small amounts. However, some toxins are toxic in any amount. I know of no therapeutic values for any amount of mercury or lead. If you have data indicating otherwise, I would be very interested in seeing it. Many people now recognize the need for zero tolerance for lead exposure and the same should be true for mercury as well. All possible 237.5 mcgs. mercury from vaccines were dispensed over just a handful of days—not spaced out in minute quantities per day over several months as you suggest. Many children received over 125 times the amount the EPA would consider safe for their weight on the SAME DAY by adhering to the vaccine schedule. I’m intrigued by your method of parceling the allowable amounts out per day in your calculations as if that were the way the shots were given. Do you also consider it safe to drink a case of scotch in one sitting as that’s the same as having a couple drinks per day in a six-month period?
I am happy for your family that your children were unaffected by being grossly overexposed to mercury on a few days in their infancy before the blood brain barrier was established. I am surprised, however, that as a man of science you are unaware that genetic proclivity can have a profound effect on one’s susceptibility to various diseases and toxic exposures. If you care to post your email address, I’ll be more than happy to forward you additional information on thimerosal and the possible role of genetic factors in determining individual capacity for excretion of heavy metals. Or, feel free to email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Posted by Rita Shreffler on Nov 26, 2003 at 4:14 PM
Thank you Ms. Fuentes for reporting factual information that is constantly dismissed, as in some previous comments. This tragedy effected our family…our 10 yo daughter is severely autistic. Years from now, the word “autism” will be gone, to be replaced with “mercury induced disorder”. A year ago, we watched as Congress battled over a small paragragh in the Homeland Security Bill (aka-Eli Lilly Rider). It would have prevented lawsuits in civil court and pushed any to vaccine court. Why did this even happen? Pharmaceutical companies know that thimerosal is toxic and some government agencies knows it as well. They will fight this to the bitter end and so will we, to get the word out so that people can know and refuse thimerosal in vaccines. Studies will be on CNN sponsored by CDC or fill-in-the-blank pharmaceutical companies “proving” that thimerosal cannot cause autism…yet you do not see or read about the Geiers’ research, Boyd Haley, Bradstreet, Holmes….because it is honest research. There is a lot at stake here…vaccine safety vs vaccine trust, public trust in government officials, pharmaceutical influence and vaccine approval, pharmaceutical lobbying and legislative bills (vaccine liability), and the biggest one, MONEY. Thimerosal should never have been in any injectable biologic/vaccine because it is toxic. Again, thank you for doing honest reporting and please continue your investigation, for all those already injured and to educate others about mercury induced neurological disorders.
Posted by Teresa Conrick on Nov 27, 2003 at 12:50 AM
I am glad there is SOME publicity about this. I did not trust “baby shots” because I live in a town of 12,000 and I knew of several children with bad reations. That was too many for me. Also the average age of SIDS was/is 2mos., the age you are told to start baby shots.
Posted by Karen Blackwood on Nov 27, 2003 at 1:29 AM
To Mary who didn’t have the guts to write her full name or where she is from: You spelt Thimerosal wrong twice. Get your facts straight.
To Mary Appleton: Canada buys vaccines from the US. Have you read a vaccine insert lately?
To John Farley: The link would show up consistently if pharmaceutical companies didn’t fund the research. Look at statistics. When we changed the age schedule in which we vaccinate and increased the amount of thimerosal containing shots autism rates have soared. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. By the way I am interested in doing my own research for thimerosal toxicity. Would you be agreeable to let me inject you repeatedly with thimerosal?
To M. Hall: The only polio outbreaks that have been caused in the past 30 years have been vaccine induced. In 1976 Dr. Jonas Salk, creator of the polio vaccine, said that analysis indicates that the live virus vaccine in use since the 1960’s is the principle, if not the sole cause, of all polio cases since 1961. Vaccines do not kill diseases. Play russian roulette with your child’s life. At least you have been informed. Live a day in any of our lives of vaccine injured children and you would eat your words.
To Scott Brady: It is not possible to have a genetic epidemic.
Lori M- Bravo!
Rita - Amen!
www.MomsAgainstMercury.com
Posted by Amy Carson on Nov 27, 2003 at 6:34 PM
Good article. For those poor parents who have kids afflicted, I recommend looking into a mercury detox program. It could return your child to health.
I know. I went through poisoning and detox from mercury fillings.
Posted by spartacus on Nov 27, 2003 at 7:26 PM
Here is the report of research that will be published this December…it is taken from ABC ch. 7 Detroit this month:
Posted by Teresa Conrick on Nov 27, 2003 at 10:52 PM
Here is a short part of ABC ch. 7 Detroit regarding a study being published this December:
http://www.detnow.com/news/0311051704.html
Dr. Mark Geier, MD PhD and Research Scientist, told investigative reporters, “You gotta understand this is the biggest iatrogenic, you know what iatrogenic means? It means ‘doctor-caused,’ not intentional I think, but doctor caused catastrophe that has ever happened.”
Dr. Geier and his researcher son David have studied and written about what they say is a link between Thimerosal and mercury in vaccines and neurological disorders such as autism.
Dr. Geier explained, “The American Academy of Pediatrics who attacked us had already recommended that it be removed from all the vaccines in 1999 and the Institute of Medicine recommended in 2001 that it all be removed so they agree with us, they just don’t want anyone to know the horrendous thing they allowed to happen.”
Dr. Schwartz rebutted, “
Posted by Teresa Conrick on Nov 27, 2003 at 10:57 PM
I am so glad to see this publication linked to an autism link that I have with Future Horizons, out of Arlington, Texas. For the the parents of autism spectrum children your first priority is to get educated. Get into support groups.
I just finished attending the CASD (Center for Austism Spectrum Disorders) Conference in Dallas, TX this past weekend and I regret not traveling and getting better educated earlier. Dr. Andrew Wakefield was there, he discovered the connection between autism and the MMR vaccine. As we learned at the conference, its thimerosal, MMR, etc. that contributes to the increase in Autism Spectrum disorders. Getting educated means a lot of reading, a lot of questions, and taking a stand, like when your doctor wants to give your son a THIRD MMR shot like mine did and you can rightfully refuse and tell him you already have an autism spectrum daughter and don’t want to have your son affected too.
There is hope, biomedical treatments have produced great results.
The next step is to get the conventional doctors educated and receptive to believing this actually has happened. Its up to us parents to educate the doctors when it comes to our childrens health and well being instead the opposite these days. I’ve done short of standing on my head to get the things I need for my daughter. She was diagnosed at 5 with Aspergers. She is now 9 and things as far as I can see will only get better with intervention.
Posted by Brenda Sulak on Nov 28, 2003 at 12:20 AM
The rider in the Homeland Security Act that would essentially protect Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits, was added to the bill after it left committe and before it went up for a vote. Congressional members were unaware that the rider had been attached as the bill went out committee after midnight and was voted the following morning. Sen. John McCain was outraged when he learned of the rider and gave an impassioned speech to have the rider removed. I never heard who added the rider at the last minute or whether or not the rider had been repealed.
Posted by SME in Seattle on Nov 28, 2003 at 4:03 AM
According to this genius of a doctor (see his dumb postings below) what most nonscientists don’t understand is this:
Posted by Sylvia Mar on Nov 29, 2003 at 4:56 PM
we have a similar sort of thing with a triple measles mumps and rubella injections.. lots of new cases discovered after the kids are injected
Posted by martin on Dec 1, 2003 at 3:34 AM
This cracks me up. John Farley says, “...does not fully explore, the real driving force here: lawsuits filed against the manufacturers of the vaccines.”
You’re right, John. I can’t wait to take my lawsuit winnings and go to Bora Bora with a child who hasn’t had a bowel movement in four days but will probably have explosive diarrhea tomorrow. Sign me up!
I want to buy a brand new car so when my child throws a violent tantrum because he cannot tolerate the sight of road signs, I can admire its shiny interior and (inhale) new car smell.
And I can’t WAIT to take big pharma money so I can go to a gourmet restaurant and eat couscous while my son eats rice chex for the 10th time this week because it’s one of only six foods he can have.
And yes, John, you hit the nail on the head…I’m only interested in the lawsuit money because lord knows when my son wakes up screaming at 3:00 in the morning…rolling around in pain…I often like to take a moment to run my hand over my new silk sheets.
With my lawsuit money, I can have a manicure everyday of the week…can you imagine? Yes, but my son gnaws on his fingers, so maybe he shouldn’t go with me. And oh boy, maybe I can even hire someone to follow my son around and make sure he doesn’t choke to death since he can’t gauge how much food is in his mouth.
You’ve figured it out, Farley, bravo!
Posted by Lori Mac on Dec 5, 2003 at 2:05 PM
PART ONE -Before you read my comments and are ready to pounce on me, my grammar may be off and I may make spelling mistakes here and there, I am just a moderately intelligent person who has not had a good nights sleep in about 10 years. So in a nutshell go easy on me. Thank you for this article, people always look at me sadly when I tell them my “paranoid ideas” My son is autistic and it IS because of vaccines, so sue me Merck. My son received hepb at BIRTH, which in retrospect is utterly ridiculous, and his “series” of shots at two and four months. He was jandiced at the time of his hepB vaccination,how outrageous, that a newborn child whose liver function is compromised is injected with inarguably extremely toxic chemicals and expected to be able to process and eliminate them. He remained jaundiced for a week. I had to take him to the hospital every day for blood tests. After his 2 month shots, slight fever, slept much longer than usual and ear infection. I went again at four months , good mom that I thought I was and held him while he was injected yet again. This time his previously not too awful stools became grren mucousy and foul. 8 - 10 times a day. So disruptive to his tiny little body that each time hed had a bowel movement he would throw up. My son was exclusively breatsfed, so my milk was obviously the culprit according to doc. I went on an elimination diet to remove possible allergens. Nothing helped. When the time rolled around for his next shots and I questioned the shots as a possible reason for his problems, my doctor fluffed me off. I found another doctor who would listen to me. This doctor had given a shot to a baby who had almost immediately died. Instead of chalking it up to an acceptable risk ( which in case you are wondering is exactly what my child and your child are to doctors) this event changed her life and in turn mine. I stopped giving my son shots at that point. Thank God , I can not imagine what the next vaccine would have done to him. I knew something had gone terribly wrong, I just did not know the extent of it for another 2 years. Are shots to blame? I would say my theory is there is a genetic predisposition to “become” autistic and there are a series of events that will take this tendency from just a predisposition and based on the events, circumstances , timing and general health of the child can cause autism anywhere on the spectrum.
Posted by Kelli on Dec 8, 2003 at 9:18 PM
PART TWO - For instance in my son , perhaps we have this predisposition, then mom gets pitocin during labor, baby’s liver is busy eliminating this and can not eliminate bilirubin properly, baby becomes jaundiced, baby is then injected with vaccine further taxing liver, mercury is not eliminated but is passed throughout my baby’s body and brain. Two months later liver is recovering nicely , baby is injected this time with DPT, HepB , Hib, and given live oral polio vaccine. Liver is set back again. Just recovering from assault when at four months, it all happens again. Baby’s system is totally thrown for a loop, digestive system is out of whack and never recovers.My little guy did not stand a chance. The rate of autism in boys as opposed to girls is nearly exactly the same as the rate of jaundice in newborn boys vs. girls. Could this be a contributing factor? Well that is my theory anyway. Do we all really believe that despite “no causal relationship between thimerosol and autim, the government and pharmaceutical companies have decided to remove it anyhow? What, out of the goodness of their hearts? Or could it be that by the time the parents of children vaccinated with thimerosol vaccines find out their children are autistic it will be too late to sue according to vaccine injury compensation timelines? THINK!
Posted by Kelli on Dec 8, 2003 at 9:20 PM
Good one. See the hoax known as vaccination here http://www.whale.to/vaccines.html
the lies, propaganda, the unsafe vaccines, the suppressed better medicine and so on
Posted by john on Dec 17, 2003 at 10:14 AM
Good article, nothing new but keep up the good work. The ill effects of mercury have a long history as well as fluoride. Neither of these two do the body any good. Wake up or suffer the consequenses.
Posted by Bruce Shaver on Dec 21, 2003 at 10:18 AM
It was purely accidental that I happened on this artical by Annette Fuentes. We are struggling with heartache because our 7 yr. old grandbaby has “learning disabilities”, ADHD and dyslexia. We had her evaluated by a good child psychologoist at age 5,and a good speech therapist and a good occupational therapist this last year. The results were devastating. Whether or not the last two evaluations were accurate or not gives us nightmares. This grandchild (and her mother) lived with us from when she was 6 mos. of age til age 5. I took care of her until she was about 2 y/o. She spoke by age 1 and walked at 9 mo. She spoke “baby talk” extensively from early on and was supremely frustrated because we did not understand her language. The best thing that ever happened to her was acquiring language skills ! She had amazing temper tantrums beginning at about age 1 which we handled non-violently, with firmness and love. These tantrums occured when her one-track mind clashed with ours. She has always been EXTREMELY verbal, full of questions, hyper-intuative, kind and compassionate with adults and other children.
The above discription remains true to this day. The change in her learning ability seemed to begin at about age 3+. She cannot read, cannot acknowledge the existance of vowels, memorizes words (but now seems unable to retain what she memorizes), cannot cypher beyond adding of single digits, and auditory processing
I no longer have this delightful child and her other family members living with us, but, it is my observation that she seems to be decompensating even more in the past few months.
She was given floride by pill during her first year. How do we find out if Thimerosal/mercury may have, in fact, been the catalyst? The child has no amalgam in her mouth to date. I read, with great interest, the letter from Ed Bowden,Yardley, PA and will do what I can to research all of this with my daughter and a doctor who will listen….if I can find one !
I would really like to hear more from Ed Bowden regarding the diet, supplement, nutritional plan and chilation therapy that has been so successful in helping their son.
Thank you for the article…..and your letters.
Posted by Sue Van de Loo on Jan 7, 2004 at 12:23 AM
If anyone still has doubts, check out the video on this site: http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/
This is a video that shows the terrible impact on growing nerve cells of a small dose of mercury. For you adults out there, keep in mind that the newest research shows that nerve cells keep growing your entire life.
Posted by Doug Gilbert on Feb 13, 2004 at 4:06 PM
I read the story on the mother on the beginning of this newsletter and it describes my son to the “T”. Exactly all of the sytomps that he had my son had and they also blamed it on hearing. I knew in my heart that the vaccinees played a role on his disability but I was reassured that it wasn’ t the case. For years my husband and I blamed ourselves for his disability because our first born was just fine. All the torment and difficulity suffered from these vaccinees his tragic. We now know it wasn’t our fault and it makes me real upset because I always thought I was to blame. We have a lot of children in our Sanilac County area diagonosed with autism and it is real sad that these children have to suffer from what the government says is protecting our children.
Lucinda Torrez
Posted by Lucinda Torrez on Feb 14, 2004 at 10:46 AM
Very interesting.
Posted by rebekah on Mar 8, 2004 at 11:21 PM
I guess I can relate to this story. My son was given a DTaP vaccination at 41/2 months. The shot came out of his leg and instead of the nurse waiting to take blood work, she gave him a second shot. Therefore, she overdosed him on the vaccination. Being a first time parent, I wasn’t aware of the danger of vaccinations that our doctors give. It wasn’t even three weeks later when Wesley began to show signs of seizure activity. Although I took him back to the same doctor several times complaining of the stares and eye watering, she never even admitted a problem. She always sent me home with a good bill of health for him. At 8 months he began noticeably seizing but was having stare seizures 4 months prior. It is so unfortunate and wow, it makes me extremely angry, that we have a government that puts our children knowably at risk for these dangers. My son was diagnosed with PDD at 20 months of age and the day before his birthday, he was diagosed with Autism. Unfortunately, SOuth Carolina is so far behind in the times, that we do not have many programs for children with Autism and the ones that we do have are so backed up, the waiting lists are 10-12 months. My son is now 25 months old, just over two and will live with Autism for the rest of his life thanks to the United States of America.
Posted by Margie on Mar 22, 2004 at 7:53 AM
The idea that autism is caused by thimerosol has been discounted. Reasearchers in Sweden were able to study all of their children who received vaccines, and all those who did not, and discovered that the rate of autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders was the same in both populations of children.
Vaccines simply happen to be given at about the same time that a majority of children with “lower-functioning” autism happen to regress, and thus the two events become linked in the minds of the parents.
I agree that mercury is highly toxic, and that autism may include a special sensitivity to mercury, however, the neurological differences between autistics, including those with Asperger’s Syndrome, and neurotypicals (those without autistic characteristics) are to far-reaching to occur due to an event that happened after birth. Children are, quite simply, born with many of these differences already in place.
Tara Marshall, a reader with Asperger’s Syndrome
Posted by Tara Marshall on Apr 5, 2004 at 10:44 AM
Page 1 of 1 pages
SAVE 53% OFFTHE NEWSSTAND PRICE!
Reader Comments
Uh, Dan Burton is an R from Indiana, not Illinois. How could your fact-checkers have missed this very local slip-up?
Update: The copy has been fixed. Thanks for the heads up. —Eds.
What I resent about this information isn’t that alot of people made mistakes and alot more people are suffering as a result. What I resent is that the story does little to point the finger of responsibility in a useful direction.
We are dealing with an administration that, on the one hand, wants to shrink government to the size that it can drown it in a bathtub, and on the other trusts that corporate interests driven by cost-reductions and profit concerns will impose morality on an otherwise amoral situation.
By their very nature, corporations are not moral agents. It has been the infestation of government by corporate interests that have lead, and will lead, to failed policy implementations and gross violations of both the spirit and the letter of the law.
Democracy needs an executive branch that can be counted on to uphold the highest standards of moral and ethical integrity, and businesses must be kept in check by our entire government so that the public trust, when it is compromised, is never again egregiously sacrificed as it has been in recent years.
Editor! I am pleased to see a balanced knowledgeable report on this most important issue. Mercury is threatening the physical and mental health of the world population. Mercury poisoning is very insidious. Besides autism it causes many other physical and mental symptoms, among which depression is only one.
The American Dental Association (ADA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) were both founded over mercury issues. The ADA because of dental amalgam, the AMA because of Calomel (a mercury medicine).
Ever since the mid eighteen hundreds the ADA has successfully hidden the fact that amalgam contains mercury. The AMA has defended mercury until it was finally eliminated from medical textbooks around thirty years ago. Mercury in the form of teething powders became an issue when it was discovered in the ‘40s that it caused Pink Disease in babies. Still merccury was used as a diuretic at least through the ‘60s. Thanks for writing this report. This issue is a big issue and it will not go away. Too many people are affected by it. Sincerely Birgit Calhoun
Bravo! I agree with Birgit. Thanks for printing the factual side of this story. For too long the bureaucrats have been able to sweep this issue under the rug. Thanks for recognizing Rep Burton; it is due to his courage in bringing much of this information to light that many of us even knew that there was an issue!
Crystal - a mom of an 11-yr old autistic boy
I congratulate you in having the guts to present the truth others avoid. There are many damaged kids who need help and rather than fighting the truth- they messed up big time, they need to allocate money to fund research to help these kids.
Thanks.
Bravo to Ms. Fuentes for writing the most comprehensive article ever written about autism and thimerosal. She chronicled the history of why my typically developing 2 year old transformed and grew to be a nonverbal 4 year old who can’t say her own name or tell her younger sister that she loves her. I understand the cover up more thoroughly after your concise explanation of “asleep at the switch.” Thank you for all of your efforts. I will show this magazine to everyone I know including pediatricians who refuted this concept of vaccine injury to my family. Thank you.
i believe in this article. i have a 5 yr old son who was diagnosed last oct 2002 as a child having ASD - asperger’s syndrome. that time when i searched in the internet the possible causes of autism, i read about this thimerisol. then i compared the vaccine shots of my son with that of my older daughter and i was convinced that the frequency of the vaccine shots at an earlier age to my son might have been the cause of his autism.
i hope many parents would be able to read this very enlightening article. However, the damage to millions of children all over the world has already been done, i don’t know if the same manufacturer could invent another medicine to reverse the effect of thimerisol. i just pray that the kids born today will no longer receive those vaccines containing mercury to control the epidemic.
i hope to read more articles about this. More power & God Bless.
Autism in a needle? You betcha! I can only imagine what my son might be like today if he did not recieve 125 times the “safe limit” of mercury in his vaccines by the time he was 18months old. Alex started off like any child, total normal development, early talker, walker, very bright. Within two months after his dpt, he was a total blank slate, lost all speech, play skills, everything….just gone to autism, and remains severely autistic today, at eight years of age. I cannot thank you enough for publishing such an amazing article that contains all the facts that us parents know so well and have known for so long. I only hope others will follow your pursuit in exposing this scandal. It is just appalling how long is has been kept under wraps by the pharmaceuetical companies and our own governmental agencies. It is time for this country to realize we are in the middle of an autism epidemic and our own government is to blame, Sincerely, Val Boergesson
Thank you for printing this article.People need to be aware of the facts of all this.I have a 12 year old daughter who has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome.She was born perfectly healthy and normal,changed around age 3. It is very sad to think they are letting this all happen.Isn’t this America???Please help the American Children.This is a terrible epidemic!
I agree with Dave- get your facts straight…
Not all Recombivax HB is made with thimerosol. It truly depends on the country that the drug is going to due to approval issues. Some non-US countries have not APPROVED the vaccines that do not contain thimerosol. So, the thimerosol vaccines are what is used, because, in that specific country, that is what is approved. Since 1999, Merck has been making a thimerosol free form of Recombivax HB which is actually, the most common form manufactured. See
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4835a3.htm
Truly, I understand parent’s concern regarding their children’s vaccinations. But if you are going to write a report, give people the entire story and don’t present it in a way that’s misleading.
Keep it coming guys, you are at the fronlines and fighting for the public where no one else ever has. God bless you.
A friend in my mother’s group has a son diagnosed as Autistic two years ago, when he was two. When we were having our boys vaccinated, I asked for extra information, and received the Dept Health factsheets stating that there was no known link between vaccines and Autism. I don’t know if my friend’s son’s condition can be linked to the vaccine, but I do know that it’s hard to get accurate information on the issue. I believed and trusted the dept Health information I received, and it makes me go cold all over to think that maybe I put my children at risk when I had them vaccinated.
Excellent article, as a parent of an autistic 11 year old boy who has no language and bowel problems I am so concerned about this epedemic of autism and children who are vaccine damaged. It is just as bad over here in Scotland and the rest of the British Isles. My sons case was due in court next April against the pharmaceutal company along with 1,300 other families whose children have been damaged by the MMR. This October the children’s legal aid has been suspended so at the moment we have no say in the matter. Us parents have heard comments like “We are scaremongering, hysterical etc. As far as I’m concerned we are telling the truth and hopefully many children have been saved from brain damage. The medical and legal establishment carry on as if no child has ever suffered a bad reaction to a vaccine. The song “Where is the Love ” by the Black Eyed Peas sums it up very well. Well done and keep up the good work
If the Government is asleep at the switch, the answer is not more Government but to get it out of Health Care completely and insure therefore that Health Corporations will never benefit from political power. Shutdown the FDA/CDC monopolies and let Pharmaceutical Companies, Certification Companies, Insurance Companies compete for the consumers’ trust without Government litigation immunity.
(A parent of a autistic 6yo boy who obeyed the vaccination schedules devised by FDA/CDC).
My name is Beth Klym. I have a clinical doctorate in Pharmacy and ran a Drug Information Center in large University Hospital. A large portion of my job was managing adverse drug reactions and conducting drug use reviews within our hospital. I was in charge of writing scientific reviews of all drugs requested by a physician for addition to the hospital Formulary. One day a week was spent meeting with drug representatives wanting to discuss with me the “benefits” of adding their drug to Formulary. Point being, I know how Drug Manufacturers function and beyond their researchers they might as well be selling cars. It’s all about the money and percentage of the market their drug holds.
I am also the mother of a five year old autistic child. The amount of money we spend each year in medical bills (because the insurance companies claim there is no cure for autism) and home teaching programs, private schools and language consultants (because the public school system wants to put my child in special education due to the fact they do not understand how to teach autistic kids and unwilling to change the status quo) would probably feed a small developing country for that same year. “No Child left behind” is political campaigning bullshit.
I want to thank your journal for writing the best summary of the vaccine/autism controversy I have ever read. You really covered most of the issues clearly with view points from both sides. But I was most impressed by your clear and accurate chain of events in what I believe is the biggest cover-up of malpractice in the history of modern medicine. Even now, knowing for years that they made a huge mistake affecting the lives of so many children and their families, their primary concern is to not look guilty in the public eye. Instead they should be busting their butts to take action to assure public safety and informing the public that everything possible is being done to make sure vaccines are safe. Parents with the support of unbiased journalism and media will not let them sweep this under a rug. They will be held accountable.
Starting today I will subscribe to your journal. Thank you for actually “getting it” and having the courage to print the story.
By the way, the most recent figures are 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism.
Sincerely, Beth (Mom to Michael)
Mary
one incorrect statement in the course of such a long article hardly justifies your response. My suspicion is that you would have corrected the substantive allegations had you been able so the fact that you picked on one aspect is, of itself, telling. And saying that you “understand” parents anxieties - hmmn - reminds me of so many politicians and “medical professionals” I believe that only the parent of a vaccine damaged child understands what it is like to be the parent of a vaccine damaged child. Are you one?
My son was damaged by his vaccine at aged 18 months and I watched him loose all his skills. It was like a nightmare. At least some of the understanding of how he was damaged gives me some means by which to help him. It is not just about the next generation to be vaccinated - it is about helping the damaged children we already have . I’m not sure you have any grasp of that or you wouldn’t be point scoring .
A more comprehensive and balanced look would include a review of European research on the coincidence of the age at which autism symptoms are noted also being the age at which vaccinations are given in the US, even in countries where vaccinations are rare or given at considerably different ages. In other words, is it the age of the kid or the vaccination that leads to the appearance of symptoms?
I am a mother of three and have been taking care of children for many years now and I’m really concerned about the deterioration of their health. I have a four (almost 5) year old grandson that has never been vaccinated and people comment on his health, vitality and cleverness. He is considered smarter than other kids but I personally don’t think that is the case. I think he is just normal. I remember when my children were young most children were like him in those days. That is twenty years ago. They have been steadily increasing the number of vaccines the children are receiving and our children are getting sicker and sicker. I say stop all vaccinations and start using healthy food to keep our children’s immune systems strong so they can fight off all diseases in a natural way.
Bless you for a great website,
Stefan
This is an old story that has been examined repeatedly by a variety of researchers, most of whom have no connection to the pharmaceutical industry. In every large scale study, the data have failed to find a linkage between thimerosal and autism. Ms. Fuentes has been disingenous in dismissing the large scale studies in favor of a single researcher, Dr. Haley, whose work is correlative at best. As noted in a recent article in Science (Postnatal Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Meeting at the Synapse? by Huda Y. Zoghbi Science Oct 31 2003: 826-830), Autism and related diseases belong to a group of pathologies that arise postnatally and the timing happens to coincide with the age of vaccination, whether or not vaccinations are given. There are also genetic linkages in many cases of autism. Somehow, this information fails to be mentioned in the article. Selective use of information in this manner hurts the credibility of the journal. Worse yet, this is exactly what IndyMedia routinely accuses the government of doing.
GREAT ARTICLE AND VERY INFORMATIVE KEEP IT UP…..
While I don’t question the facts of this story, I question the reaction it may cause.
Vaccines are an essential part of today’s society and have helped to save far more lives than those they may have hurt; and while this does not jusify the harm, the proper response should be to fight for ‘safer’ shots, NOT refusing to vaccinate our kids.
Let’s not cut off our nose to spite our face. Vaccination is truly a piece of history that has saved many lives and contributed greatly to our longevity. I’ll take the slim chance of my child getting autism rather than contribute to the spread of the likes of POLIO.
In the meantime…fight for SAFER vaccines…
good, informative article.
Great Article! My son was diagnosed with Heavy Metal Toxicity as well as autism.
Horrific…yes
My 5-year-old son tested positive for mercury poisoning. He
My 2.75 year old son has been diagnosed with PDD - NOS or Autistic Spectrum Disorder but at the low end of the spectrum. In fact the doctor, developmental pediatrician, was very hesitant to give the diagnosis because she said that while he showed many/most of the symptoms of autism some of his behaviors seemed to refute the diagnosis. Like many others he developed very normally for the first 16 months of his life, passed every checkpoint with flying colors. Soon after 16 months he began to regress. Eventually lost all his language, wouldn’t engage anyone and would run circles around the house on his tippy-toes alternating between screaming and making indistinguishable noises.
Around 18 months we started an intensive diet, supplement and nutritional plan along with several intensive therapy programs. We have seen gradual steady improvement.
About 2 months ago we had my son tested for heavy metal toxicity by taking one provoking dose of DMSA. His urine test showed that “very elevated” levels of mercury were in his urine. We have since started on a chelation protocol. The results have been dramatic. He showed an immediate gain across the board and his goals for his therapy sessions have been revised upwards 3 times since we started chelation. The therapists reports have verified the observations that my wife and I were making and we haven’t told any of them about the chelation. My son has gained back and passed his previous language level and is only about 3-6 months behind. He is also much more engaged and personable. But most of all he is happy again the brightness is returning to his eyes. He is starting to remind me of the kid I used to see before all of this started.
A few questions come to mind for people like Scott Brady of Chicago, IL.
Why/how does my son have “very elevated” levels of mercury in his body?
Why does he get better when the mercury is removed?
Why, if the symptoms of autism and mercury poisoning are so similar, is my son immediately diagnosed with autism without any testing?
Why is mercury, one of the most toxic elements on earth, injected into babies?
You don’t really have to answer the last one or any of them for that matter. But please don’t insult me by telling me that studies have “...failed to find a significant linkage between autism and thimerosal…”.
There is no association between rattlesnake bites and autism either should I let him get bitten by a rattlesnake?
Horrific
Great job!!!!!!!! I am in the UK wishing we had journalists like you
Thank You from a mother with a vaccine (read Mercury) damaged child :)
Thank you for looking at this issue and reporting a side of the story that would normally scare most journalists. Compared to many articles out there that cover this issue, your fact-errors are minimal.
Scott Brady said, “This is an old story,” but every night around 10:00 pm when my child is throwing a violent tantrum, it suddenly becomes a new story to parents like me.
It’s interesting when opinions like this surface from those who feel their little crumb of information explains everything. Mr. Brady said, “examined repeatedly by a variety of researchers, most of whom have no connection to the pharmaceutical industry.” Can he list these so-called unbiased doing-it-out-of-the-kindness-of-their-hearts researchers? I’d love to see their names…and their work.
“Ms. Fuentes has been disingenous (spelled “disingenuous”) in dismissing the large scale studies…” but can Mr. Brady recognize that these large-scale studies often monopolize the media spotlight thanks to large-scale public relations efforts and the perceived “expert” factor? Surely he can handle one little article that the CDC doesn’t get to territorially mark.
“Timing”? Ballyhoo. “Genetic linkages in many cases of autism”? Please be specific.
You’re right, Scott, selective use of information can be bad. But lucky for us, someone finally selected truthful information for a story echoed by thousands. By the way, are you the Scott Brady who has worked with Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (AKA: Aventis)?
M Hall, your comment, “I’ll take the slim chance of my child getting autism rather than contribute to the spread of the likes of POLIO,” begs the question, “What’s your definition of slim?”
As for choosing autism over other diseases, well, would you rather be in hell or purgatory? All of them are painful, and autism can be crueler than you’ll ever know. But if you want to know my absolute choice, I think I’d have to pick having a healthy child.
I’m furious! Three months ago I would have read this article and apathetically shook my head. Two months ago our 8 year-old son was diagnosed with Asperger’s. To think his life is changed forever possibly/ probably as a result of something we thought was GOOD for him! I had no idea until recently that our vaccinations, medications and dental amalgams contained mercury! I craved tuna during my pregnancy with my son- but avoided it because of of the mercury content. Instead I just mainlined it into him and glued it into his mouth! Regardless of whether mercury is the cause of my son’s autism- it’s POISON and if I’d known it was in vaccinations and amalgams- I would never have allowed either.
It’s too late for my son (but I’ll be damned if I allow another vaccination with thimerosal for either him or my 6 year-old twin girls)- but what can we do to avoid heavy metal poisoning and autism in other children?
Great story, please continue to report on this issue. We have to keep talkning about it to get something finally DONE about it. Especially one as political as this one!
I used to work for a pharmaceutical company and sold vaccines. I was a total advocate of immunizing my kids…..the last thing I wanted to point a finger at was immunizations, but I am a complete believer that thimerosal caused my sons autism.
Keep up the good work. Please!
Being a parent of an autistic child I have been throughly confinced for over 2 years that vaccines triggered (if not out right caused) my 6 year old son’s autism.
I would like to thank you for doing an honest interview. So very few are willing to show the truth for what it is.
Feel free to check out my website at: http://delpshopepage.org and my group at yahoo. The address is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autism_and_vaccinations
Again my and many others thanks for being willing to reveal what so many have been trying to cover up.
Deborah A Delp
I just wanted to say “Thank heaven’s their is some honest reporting!!!” I have not only lost faith in the CDC,Pharmacuetical companies, and government, but also in the integrity of so many media outlets(not including yours!). The one-sided reporting is sickening! Do the drug companies control everyone? I admire you soooo much for not being intimidated by “advertisers” telling you what you can and can’t print! We owe it to our children to let everyone know the truth. They are our future!!! What is wrong with the world today? Sometimes I am glad that she doesn’t know what a sick place this world can be. Its nice to know there are still some good people out there.
Thanks and keep up the great work!!
Cheryl McCall
Mom to Caroline/5yrs old/vaccine induced autism
What an excellent story! Thank you, thank you from another parent of a child recovering from Mercury overload. Dear Scott Brady may your children or grandchildren never have to suffer from what happened to us. Our beautiful blond boy turned into a zombie following his 15mo. check-up. He missed his 12 mos shots so when we went in for our 15mo check up they decided to catch him up.
By the grace of God we found Dr. Jeff Bradstreet who put him on a strict gluten casein diet to correct the havoc in his immune system and chelated the Mercury out.
After countless hours of speech, OT and ABA therapy we are getting our son back. All I want is for the CDC to vaccinate safely. Space out shots and require them to be Mercury free so that other parents can spend their time and money raising tomorrow’s future.
Sincerely,
Karen, Mom of Josh 3
Annette Fuentes asks whether thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative found in some vaccines, could cause autism. She seems personally convinced that thimerosal really does cause autism: She cites one study published by a nurse, and an unpublished study by a doctor at CDC , that support her case. Although she mentions in passing three other studies that show no link between thimerosal and autism, she then dismisses these studies without explanation or discussion. As a scientist, I have to say that this is not the proper way to proceed. You can
Thank you very much, for this magnificent article.
We are a parents of a seven years old beautyfull doughter, that she was born normal and at the age of three we were told that she was sufering from ADD.
Today reading and understanding more about this issues, I can help be very ungry wiht the goverment for not doing enogh to investigate prevent and stop the pharmaceutical companies making this type of vaccinations.
How many more children have to suffered this type of neurological disorder before the law makers can do same thing about it??.
Thank you so very much Annette for your help and great work that you do for all of us and our childrens.
I applaud In These Times and Annette Fuentes for having the courage to call a spade a spade. That the pharmaceutical industry and government ask parents to continue accepting as coincidence that exposure to mercury, followed by symptoms consistent with mercury poisoning, followed by confirmed elevated levels of mercury in “autistic” children, is insulting to those of us who have watched our babies succumb to mercury toxicity through vaccines.
Mr. Farley, don’t you have to wonder whatever happened to common sense when the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was deciding what was going to be injected into newborns and toddlers? The acceptable levels for lead exposure have been significantly lowered in recent years and arsenic-treated wood has come under fire as well. Would it be okay with you to have your children injected with amounts of lead or arsenic greatly in excess of federal guidelines? Mercury is more toxic than either of these. As a scientist, would it be acceptable to you to inject your son or daughter with 50 mcgs. mercury at the age of two months as my son was? How many 1,107 lb. two-month old children do you know? This is how much a child would have to weigh for that amount of mercury to be considered “safe” by the EPA. You refer to an unpublished study by a CDC doctor. That study has been published—a watered down version of it where the data was manipulated to reduce the risk factor for neurological disorders after thimerosal exposure to a less worrisome number. The unpublished version is marked “CONFIDENTIAL: DO NOT COPY OR DISTRIBUTE”.
If you don’t think there is enough published information on the inadvisability of injecting children with this poison, a quick search of PubMed under keyword “thimerosal” may enlighten you. Among others, I’d recommend you read the recently published study by Baylor neurosurgeon David Baskin, all those by genetic obstetrician Mark Geier, and the baby hair study by Holmes, Blaxill, & Haley.
Thimerosal is not in childhood vaccines in Canada, yet Autism rates are soaring. There is no connection between the two.
Most of the favorable comments come from parents of autistic children, who are absolutely convinced that they have found the cause of their child’s autism.
Here’s what most nonscientists don’t understand. Just because a substance is toxic at high levels, doesn’t necessarily make it toxic at low levels.
For example, fluoride is toxic at high levels. At low levels (one part per million), it protects teeth from decay. We gave our children fluoride drops to protect their teeth.
Another example: every day I take a dose of coumadin (warfarin), a blood thinner, on the advice of my cardiologist. At high levels, it’s very dangerous. In fact warfarin has been used as a rat poison. So every day I take dilute rat poison.
In fact, it’s quite often that trace elements (e.g. metals) that are essential to health at low levels are toxic at high levels. Iron is toxic at high enough levels.
Mercury has been known for ages to be toxic. The term “mad as a hatter” refers to mental problems caused by mercury poisoning of workers who used mercury to make felt hats from beaver pelts. That’s at high levels of mercury.
What about low levels? Annette Fuentes says the FDA maximum daily consumption level of methylmercury is 0.4 micrograms/day/kg of body weight. So a 5 kg (11 lb) baby could consume 2 micrograms/day by the FDA guideline, and could safely get 237 micrograms in 120 days. That’s using the FDA guideliness.
If instead the lower EPA guideline of 0.1 micrograms/day/kg is used, it would take 480 days to consume 237 micrograms of methyl mercury.
So, using these guidelines, as long as the vaccines were not given all at once, but over a period of time, the consumption rates would be within the guidelines.
Would I inject my children with mercury-containing vaccines? My children did get their vaccinations, probably with vaccines with low levels of mercury. And they’re just fine.
Mr. Farley, it does not take a scientist to understand that even “good” metals can be toxic in large amounts, and those considered dangerous are sometimes beneficial or at least benign in very small amounts. However, some toxins are toxic in any amount. I know of no therapeutic values for any amount of mercury or lead. If you have data indicating otherwise, I would be very interested in seeing it. Many people now recognize the need for zero tolerance for lead exposure and the same should be true for mercury as well. All possible 237.5 mcgs. mercury from vaccines were dispensed over just a handful of days—not spaced out in minute quantities per day over several months as you suggest. Many children received over 125 times the amount the EPA would consider safe for their weight on the SAME DAY by adhering to the vaccine schedule. I’m intrigued by your method of parceling the allowable amounts out per day in your calculations as if that were the way the shots were given. Do you also consider it safe to drink a case of scotch in one sitting as that’s the same as having a couple drinks per day in a six-month period?
I am happy for your family that your children were unaffected by being grossly overexposed to mercury on a few days in their infancy before the blood brain barrier was established. I am surprised, however, that as a man of science you are unaware that genetic proclivity can have a profound effect on one’s susceptibility to various diseases and toxic exposures. If you care to post your email address, I’ll be more than happy to forward you additional information on thimerosal and the possible role of genetic factors in determining individual capacity for excretion of heavy metals. Or, feel free to email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Thank you Ms. Fuentes for reporting factual information that is constantly dismissed, as in some previous comments. This tragedy effected our family…our 10 yo daughter is severely autistic. Years from now, the word “autism” will be gone, to be replaced with “mercury induced disorder”. A year ago, we watched as Congress battled over a small paragragh in the Homeland Security Bill (aka-Eli Lilly Rider). It would have prevented lawsuits in civil court and pushed any to vaccine court. Why did this even happen? Pharmaceutical companies know that thimerosal is toxic and some government agencies knows it as well. They will fight this to the bitter end and so will we, to get the word out so that people can know and refuse thimerosal in vaccines. Studies will be on CNN sponsored by CDC or fill-in-the-blank pharmaceutical companies “proving” that thimerosal cannot cause autism…yet you do not see or read about the Geiers’ research, Boyd Haley, Bradstreet, Holmes….because it is honest research. There is a lot at stake here…vaccine safety vs vaccine trust, public trust in government officials, pharmaceutical influence and vaccine approval, pharmaceutical lobbying and legislative bills (vaccine liability), and the biggest one, MONEY. Thimerosal should never have been in any injectable biologic/vaccine because it is toxic. Again, thank you for doing honest reporting and please continue your investigation, for all those already injured and to educate others about mercury induced neurological disorders.
I am glad there is SOME publicity about this. I did not trust “baby shots” because I live in a town of 12,000 and I knew of several children with bad reations. That was too many for me. Also the average age of SIDS was/is 2mos., the age you are told to start baby shots.
To Mary who didn’t have the guts to write her full name or where she is from: You spelt Thimerosal wrong twice. Get your facts straight.
To Mary Appleton: Canada buys vaccines from the US. Have you read a vaccine insert lately?
To John Farley: The link would show up consistently if pharmaceutical companies didn’t fund the research. Look at statistics. When we changed the age schedule in which we vaccinate and increased the amount of thimerosal containing shots autism rates have soared. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. By the way I am interested in doing my own research for thimerosal toxicity. Would you be agreeable to let me inject you repeatedly with thimerosal?
To M. Hall: The only polio outbreaks that have been caused in the past 30 years have been vaccine induced. In 1976 Dr. Jonas Salk, creator of the polio vaccine, said that analysis indicates that the live virus vaccine in use since the 1960’s is the principle, if not the sole cause, of all polio cases since 1961. Vaccines do not kill diseases. Play russian roulette with your child’s life. At least you have been informed. Live a day in any of our lives of vaccine injured children and you would eat your words.
To Scott Brady: It is not possible to have a genetic epidemic.
Lori M- Bravo!
Rita - Amen!
www.MomsAgainstMercury.com
Good article. For those poor parents who have kids afflicted, I recommend looking into a mercury detox program. It could return your child to health.
I know. I went through poisoning and detox from mercury fillings.
Here is the report of research that will be published this December…it is taken from ABC ch. 7 Detroit this month:
Here is a short part of ABC ch. 7 Detroit regarding a study being published this December:
http://www.detnow.com/news/0311051704.html
Dr. Mark Geier, MD PhD and Research Scientist, told investigative reporters, “You gotta understand this is the biggest iatrogenic, you know what iatrogenic means? It means ‘doctor-caused,’ not intentional I think, but doctor caused catastrophe that has ever happened.”
Dr. Geier and his researcher son David have studied and written about what they say is a link between Thimerosal and mercury in vaccines and neurological disorders such as autism.
Dr. Geier explained, “The American Academy of Pediatrics who attacked us had already recommended that it be removed from all the vaccines in 1999 and the Institute of Medicine recommended in 2001 that it all be removed so they agree with us, they just don’t want anyone to know the horrendous thing they allowed to happen.”
Dr. Schwartz rebutted, “
I am so glad to see this publication linked to an autism link that I have with Future Horizons, out of Arlington, Texas. For the the parents of autism spectrum children your first priority is to get educated. Get into support groups.
I just finished attending the CASD (Center for Austism Spectrum Disorders) Conference in Dallas, TX this past weekend and I regret not traveling and getting better educated earlier. Dr. Andrew Wakefield was there, he discovered the connection between autism and the MMR vaccine. As we learned at the conference, its thimerosal, MMR, etc. that contributes to the increase in Autism Spectrum disorders. Getting educated means a lot of reading, a lot of questions, and taking a stand, like when your doctor wants to give your son a THIRD MMR shot like mine did and you can rightfully refuse and tell him you already have an autism spectrum daughter and don’t want to have your son affected too.
There is hope, biomedical treatments have produced great results.
The next step is to get the conventional doctors educated and receptive to believing this actually has happened. Its up to us parents to educate the doctors when it comes to our childrens health and well being instead the opposite these days. I’ve done short of standing on my head to get the things I need for my daughter. She was diagnosed at 5 with Aspergers. She is now 9 and things as far as I can see will only get better with intervention.
The rider in the Homeland Security Act that would essentially protect Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits, was added to the bill after it left committe and before it went up for a vote. Congressional members were unaware that the rider had been attached as the bill went out committee after midnight and was voted the following morning. Sen. John McCain was outraged when he learned of the rider and gave an impassioned speech to have the rider removed. I never heard who added the rider at the last minute or whether or not the rider had been repealed.
According to this genius of a doctor (see his dumb postings below) what most nonscientists don’t understand is this:
we have a similar sort of thing with a triple measles mumps and rubella injections.. lots of new cases discovered after the kids are injected
This cracks me up. John Farley says, “...does not fully explore, the real driving force here: lawsuits filed against the manufacturers of the vaccines.”
You’re right, John. I can’t wait to take my lawsuit winnings and go to Bora Bora with a child who hasn’t had a bowel movement in four days but will probably have explosive diarrhea tomorrow. Sign me up!
I want to buy a brand new car so when my child throws a violent tantrum because he cannot tolerate the sight of road signs, I can admire its shiny interior and (inhale) new car smell.
And I can’t WAIT to take big pharma money so I can go to a gourmet restaurant and eat couscous while my son eats rice chex for the 10th time this week because it’s one of only six foods he can have.
And yes, John, you hit the nail on the head…I’m only interested in the lawsuit money because lord knows when my son wakes up screaming at 3:00 in the morning…rolling around in pain…I often like to take a moment to run my hand over my new silk sheets.
With my lawsuit money, I can have a manicure everyday of the week…can you imagine? Yes, but my son gnaws on his fingers, so maybe he shouldn’t go with me. And oh boy, maybe I can even hire someone to follow my son around and make sure he doesn’t choke to death since he can’t gauge how much food is in his mouth.
You’ve figured it out, Farley, bravo!
PART ONE -Before you read my comments and are ready to pounce on me, my grammar may be off and I may make spelling mistakes here and there, I am just a moderately intelligent person who has not had a good nights sleep in about 10 years. So in a nutshell go easy on me. Thank you for this article, people always look at me sadly when I tell them my “paranoid ideas” My son is autistic and it IS because of vaccines, so sue me Merck. My son received hepb at BIRTH, which in retrospect is utterly ridiculous, and his “series” of shots at two and four months. He was jandiced at the time of his hepB vaccination,how outrageous, that a newborn child whose liver function is compromised is injected with inarguably extremely toxic chemicals and expected to be able to process and eliminate them. He remained jaundiced for a week. I had to take him to the hospital every day for blood tests. After his 2 month shots, slight fever, slept much longer than usual and ear infection. I went again at four months , good mom that I thought I was and held him while he was injected yet again. This time his previously not too awful stools became grren mucousy and foul. 8 - 10 times a day. So disruptive to his tiny little body that each time hed had a bowel movement he would throw up. My son was exclusively breatsfed, so my milk was obviously the culprit according to doc. I went on an elimination diet to remove possible allergens. Nothing helped. When the time rolled around for his next shots and I questioned the shots as a possible reason for his problems, my doctor fluffed me off. I found another doctor who would listen to me. This doctor had given a shot to a baby who had almost immediately died. Instead of chalking it up to an acceptable risk ( which in case you are wondering is exactly what my child and your child are to doctors) this event changed her life and in turn mine. I stopped giving my son shots at that point. Thank God , I can not imagine what the next vaccine would have done to him. I knew something had gone terribly wrong, I just did not know the extent of it for another 2 years. Are shots to blame? I would say my theory is there is a genetic predisposition to “become” autistic and there are a series of events that will take this tendency from just a predisposition and based on the events, circumstances , timing and general health of the child can cause autism anywhere on the spectrum.
PART TWO - For instance in my son , perhaps we have this predisposition, then mom gets pitocin during labor, baby’s liver is busy eliminating this and can not eliminate bilirubin properly, baby becomes jaundiced, baby is then injected with vaccine further taxing liver, mercury is not eliminated but is passed throughout my baby’s body and brain. Two months later liver is recovering nicely , baby is injected this time with DPT, HepB , Hib, and given live oral polio vaccine. Liver is set back again. Just recovering from assault when at four months, it all happens again. Baby’s system is totally thrown for a loop, digestive system is out of whack and never recovers.My little guy did not stand a chance. The rate of autism in boys as opposed to girls is nearly exactly the same as the rate of jaundice in newborn boys vs. girls. Could this be a contributing factor? Well that is my theory anyway. Do we all really believe that despite “no causal relationship between thimerosol and autim, the government and pharmaceutical companies have decided to remove it anyhow? What, out of the goodness of their hearts? Or could it be that by the time the parents of children vaccinated with thimerosol vaccines find out their children are autistic it will be too late to sue according to vaccine injury compensation timelines? THINK!
Good one. See the hoax known as vaccination here http://www.whale.to/vaccines.html
the lies, propaganda, the unsafe vaccines, the suppressed better medicine and so on
Dr. Stephen Barrett, the leading critic of quack medicine (“alternative medicine”) thinks that
thimoseral does NOT cause autism.
http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/immu/thimerosal.html
The whole quackwatch site is worth careful study.
Good article, nothing new but keep up the good work. The ill effects of mercury have a long history as well as fluoride. Neither of these two do the body any good. Wake up or suffer the consequenses.
It was purely accidental that I happened on this artical by Annette Fuentes. We are struggling with heartache because our 7 yr. old grandbaby has “learning disabilities”, ADHD and dyslexia. We had her evaluated by a good child psychologoist at age 5,and a good speech therapist and a good occupational therapist this last year. The results were devastating. Whether or not the last two evaluations were accurate or not gives us nightmares. This grandchild (and her mother) lived with us from when she was 6 mos. of age til age 5. I took care of her until she was about 2 y/o. She spoke by age 1 and walked at 9 mo. She spoke “baby talk” extensively from early on and was supremely frustrated because we did not understand her language. The best thing that ever happened to her was acquiring language skills ! She had amazing temper tantrums beginning at about age 1 which we handled non-violently, with firmness and love. These tantrums occured when her one-track mind clashed with ours. She has always been EXTREMELY verbal, full of questions, hyper-intuative, kind and compassionate with adults and other children.
The above discription remains true to this day. The change in her learning ability seemed to begin at about age 3+. She cannot read, cannot acknowledge the existance of vowels, memorizes words (but now seems unable to retain what she memorizes), cannot cypher beyond adding of single digits, and auditory processing
I no longer have this delightful child and her other family members living with us, but, it is my observation that she seems to be decompensating even more in the past few months.
She was given floride by pill during her first year. How do we find out if Thimerosal/mercury may have, in fact, been the catalyst? The child has no amalgam in her mouth to date. I read, with great interest, the letter from Ed Bowden,Yardley, PA and will do what I can to research all of this with my daughter and a doctor who will listen….if I can find one !
I would really like to hear more from Ed Bowden regarding the diet, supplement, nutritional plan and chilation therapy that has been so successful in helping their son.
Thank you for the article…..and your letters.
If anyone still has doubts, check out the video on this site: http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/
This is a video that shows the terrible impact on growing nerve cells of a small dose of mercury. For you adults out there, keep in mind that the newest research shows that nerve cells keep growing your entire life.
I read the story on the mother on the beginning of this newsletter and it describes my son to the “T”. Exactly all of the sytomps that he had my son had and they also blamed it on hearing. I knew in my heart that the vaccinees played a role on his disability but I was reassured that it wasn’ t the case. For years my husband and I blamed ourselves for his disability because our first born was just fine. All the torment and difficulity suffered from these vaccinees his tragic. We now know it wasn’t our fault and it makes me real upset because I always thought I was to blame. We have a lot of children in our Sanilac County area diagonosed with autism and it is real sad that these children have to suffer from what the government says is protecting our children.
Lucinda Torrez
Very interesting.
I guess I can relate to this story. My son was given a DTaP vaccination at 41/2 months. The shot came out of his leg and instead of the nurse waiting to take blood work, she gave him a second shot. Therefore, she overdosed him on the vaccination. Being a first time parent, I wasn’t aware of the danger of vaccinations that our doctors give. It wasn’t even three weeks later when Wesley began to show signs of seizure activity. Although I took him back to the same doctor several times complaining of the stares and eye watering, she never even admitted a problem. She always sent me home with a good bill of health for him. At 8 months he began noticeably seizing but was having stare seizures 4 months prior. It is so unfortunate and wow, it makes me extremely angry, that we have a government that puts our children knowably at risk for these dangers. My son was diagnosed with PDD at 20 months of age and the day before his birthday, he was diagosed with Autism. Unfortunately, SOuth Carolina is so far behind in the times, that we do not have many programs for children with Autism and the ones that we do have are so backed up, the waiting lists are 10-12 months. My son is now 25 months old, just over two and will live with Autism for the rest of his life thanks to the United States of America.
The idea that autism is caused by thimerosol has been discounted. Reasearchers in Sweden were able to study all of their children who received vaccines, and all those who did not, and discovered that the rate of autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders was the same in both populations of children.
Vaccines simply happen to be given at about the same time that a majority of children with “lower-functioning” autism happen to regress, and thus the two events become linked in the minds of the parents.
I agree that mercury is highly toxic, and that autism may include a special sensitivity to mercury, however, the neurological differences between autistics, including those with Asperger’s Syndrome, and neurotypicals (those without autistic characteristics) are to far-reaching to occur due to an event that happened after birth. Children are, quite simply, born with many of these differences already in place.
Tara Marshall, a reader with Asperger’s Syndrome
register a new account »Posting Security