[Mb-civic] Playing Politics at Kids' Expense

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0413-31.htm 
Published on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 by Knight Ridder
Playing Politics at Kids' Expense
Bill would insulate pharmaceutical firms from liability
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
 
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has buried a provision in the 
"Protecting America in the War on Terror Act" to insulate the 
pharmaceutical industry from liability for venal actions that may have 
poisoned an entire generation of Americans.

Mounting evidence suggests that Thimerosal, a mercury-based 
preservative in children's vaccines, may be responsible for the 
exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays 
and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic in the United 
States.

Prior to 1989, American infants generally received three vaccinations. 
In the early 1990s, public-health officials dramatically increased the 
number of Thimerosal-containing vaccinations without considering the 
cumulative impact of the mercury load on developing brains.

Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in children's vaccines, may 
be responsible for the exponential growth of autism.

Warning Issued

In a 1991 memo, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's 
vaccination programs, warned the president of the company's 
vaccination division that 6-month-old children administered the shots 
on schedule would suffer mercury exposures 87 times the government 
safety standard (400 times the current U.S. government's safe level). 
He recommended that Thimerosal be discontinued, "especially when 
used on infants and children."

Merck ignored Hilleman's warning and, for eight years, government 
officials added seven additional shots for children containing 
Thimerosal.

Mercury is a known brain poison, and autism rates began rising 
dramatically in children who were administered the new vaccine 
regimens. A decade ago the American Academy of Pediatrics 
estimated the autism rate among American children to be 1 in 2,500. 
Today, the CDC places the autism rate at 1 in 166, or one in 80 boys. 
Additionally, one in every six children is now diagnosed with a related 
neurological disorder.

In 1998 the CDC's lead Thimerosal researcher, Dr. Thomas 
Verstraeten, complained to his colleagues in a secret memo that, 
despite rerunning and rethinking the research, the links between 
Thimerosal and autism "just won't go away."

Secret Meeting

In 2000, CDC, FDA and pharmaceutical companies called a secret 
meeting to review Verstraeten's findings. According to transcripts, 
participants were alarmed about the undeniable link between the 
mercury preservative and autism. Dr. Bill Weil told the group, "You can 
play with (the results) all you want. They are statistically significant."

Dr. Richard Johnston acknowledged he feared his grandchild getting 
vaccinated. But the group was most concerned with keeping the 
findings secret.

Numerous animal, DNA, epidemiological and other studies point to 
Thimerosal as the culprit in America's epidemic of neurological 
disorders.

Autistic children have been shown to have higher mercury loads than 
nonautistics, and there have been reports of significant improvements 
in some brain-injured children by removing mercury from their bodies.

Most of the symptoms of autism are similar to the symptoms of 
mercury poisoning. Recently, scientists have been able to induce 
autism in certain mice by exposing them to Thimerosal.

In a recent study, former FDA scientist Dr. Jill James uncovered a 
scientific link that helps explain why Thimerosal injures some children 
and not others. That study found that many autistic children are 
genetically deficient in their capacity to produce glutathione, an 
antioxidant generated in the brain that helps remove mercury from the 
body, a harmless difference until the child is exposed to large 
quantities of mercury.

Porter Bridges' experience is typical. In 1993, this healthy 4-month-old 
slipped into a coma hours after receiving his vaccines.

Today, 11-year-old Porter is autistic, hyperactive and severely brain 
damaged. He requires minute-to-minute supervision, is frequently 
afflicted with violent seizures and is not yet toilet-trained.

After a seven-year legal fight, the U.S. government acknowledged that 
Porter was damaged by his vaccines. There are now 520,000 autistics 
in the United States with 40,000 new cases each year.

High Cost of Care

The cost of caring for autistic children is conservatively $40,000 
annually. Families with children with autism and other neurological 
diseases have filed more than 4,200 claims in the special federal 
"Vaccine Court." Some plaintiffs have also filed in trial courts.

Some Drug Makers Act

Thimerosal defendants include Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, 
Weyeth and Eli Lilly. Frist's newly proposed "anti-terror" legislation 
would create insurmountable burdens of proof for plaintiffs in these 
cases and forbid states from banning Thimerosal.

Drug makers wary of liability have reduced Thimerosal in children's 
vaccines in recent years, with the exception of Chiron and Aventis' 
pediatric flu vaccine. Mercury-laced vaccine stocks were given to 
children until the end of 2003.

Thimerosal's inventor, Eli Lilly, donated $226,000 to Frist's national 
Republican Senate Campaign Committee in 2002 and bought 5,000 
copies of Frist's book on bioterrorism. Congress will vote on Frist's bill 
in the near future.

Instead of demanding the immediate removal of Thimerosal from all 
vaccines, and making the drug industry help defray the public and 
private costs of caring for injured children, Frist's bill would give the 
industry a free ride at public expense.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper 
and a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

© 2005 Knight Ridder
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