Fw: Reply to Director-Laboratory, CERC, Ahmedabad. - On the vaccine issue.

[Guest guest]

ADDITIONAL COPY BEING IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION.

IMMEDIATE POSITIVE RESPONSE IS AWAITED.

 

 

 

- Dr. Leo Rebello CERC ; Jagannath Chatterjee Cc: Dr. Anbumani Ramdoss ; Sharad Pawar ; Secretary PG Wing GOI ; Prime Minister of India ; Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam ; Sonia Gandhi ; Chief Justice, Supreme Court ; NHRC

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 11:17 PM Fw: Reply to Director-Laboratory, CERC, Ahmedabad. - On the vaccine issue.

 

To Prof. Manubhai Shah

Chairman Emeritus

 

Consumer Education and Research CentreThaltej, Sarkhej-Gandhinagar HighwayAhmedabad - 380054, Gujarat, India.

 

Copies with compliments to

1.. Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Health Minister, Govt. of India, New Delhi

2.. Shri Sharad Pawar, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi

3.. Shri Oscar Fernandes, Minister for Programme Implementation, Statistics, etc. Govt. of India, New Delhi

4.. Secretary Public Grievances Wing, Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

5.. The Chief Justice, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi.

6.. Dr. A.S.Anand, Chairman, NHRC, New Delhi.

7.. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, New Delhi.

8.. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, The President of India, New Delhi.

9.. Smt. Sonia Gandhi, President AICC, New Delhi.

for information and necessary action

 

 

Dear Prof. Manubhai Shah :

You have replied to Jagannath Chatterjee's important letter from <manubhai_cerc

in the name of Mr. S.Yellore, Director-Laboratory, CERC, Ahmedabad. This means

that either Mr. Yellore is NOT capable of replying or you keep the full control of

CERC in your hands, eventhough you recently wrote to me that now you are only

functioning as Chairman Emeritus.

 

I am sorry to read your evasive reply. You have NOT extended the support of one of

the pioneering Consumer bodies to most important issue of our time.

Likewise, I do NOT appreciate CERC procedure of replying after deleting the original letter.

That itself amounts to subtle manipulation. Hence, I have reproduced Jagannath's letter below

your reply for complete understanding of the issue.

 

We wish to take a PIL and if CERC can do some background work that would be in

keeping with its avowed policy to help evolve the laws. VACCINATON IS ONE ISSUE

WHERE CERC MUST HELP.

 

I support the demand of Jagannath Chatterjee that CERC must buy vaccines,

test them for mercury / thimeserol / msg content and make representation instead of washing its hands off on an important issue which ruins the lives of millions of our children.

If CERC cannot do this then we need to know the reason why.

 

An immediate reply as to what action you propose to take will be appreciated.

Regards

Dr. Leo Rebello

Website : www.healthwisdom.org

 

 

 

-

 

Jagannath Chatterjee Consumer Education & Research Centre. ; manubhai_cerc

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 8:37 PM

Reply to Director-Laboratory, CERC, Ahmedabad. - On the vaccine issue.

 

To:

Sri S. Yellore

Consumer Education and Research CentreThaltej, Sarkhej-Gandhinagar HighwayAhmedabad - 380054, Gujarat, India.

 

 

Dear Mr Yellore,

 

Thank you for your letter Dt:11.04.06. Your organisation usually picks up products from the market to do your own testing. You then publish the reports.

 

You can very well do the same with the vaccinations. The medical community are the service providers, we are the consumers. As a consumer organisation it is your duty to probe into the matter. However from your letter it is obvious that you wish to steer clear of the subject.

 

I would advise you to pick up vials of vaccines from the market, as per procedure, and do detailed tests on them. As on date seven American States have banned mercury in vaccines, 20 more are pushing for the same, certainly not without reason !!. However no such effort is made by the Indian government to protect its citizen as mercury free vaccines are costly. So it is cost versus human life. The government has also erred in not informing the public about the dangers inherent in the vaccination process. As consumers we have every right to know the contents as well as after effects of any substance that is being injected into our bodies. This right has been denied to us.

 

Instead of complimenting me on my knowledge I wish you probe into the matter and find out the truth yourself. Vaccines are compulsory as both the government as well as doctors insist that ALL children should be vaccinated. I am amazed that the government has not taken adequate care to ensure that the vaccination process is safe. As per people who have probed into the matter, they say, "The only vaccine that is safe is the vaccine that has not been administered." Can you imagine!!

 

Vaccines contain, besides heavy metals, various chemicals majority of which are toxins and also carcinogenic. They also contain antibiotics though it is widely known that no antibiotics can be injected that are not skin tested. Vaccines contain serum from various animal and humans, where there is a very high danger of contamination. You can simply do a google search on "vaccine ingredients" to find out. The CDC also has a list of vaccine ingredients which has been updated upto 2006. The list is shocking to say the least. It hurts us not only physically and mentally but also religiously because as Hindus we are not supposed to take in bovine serum or turn into cannibals and inject ourselves with human serum and tissues, just after and prior to our birth.

 

The entire vaccine process is untested. Vaccines are tested for only 48 hours though it is widely known that vaccine effects can occur after weeks, months or even years. Autism, for example, occurs after three years. There has been no effort to test the combined effect of the various metal, chemical and serum contents. Even ethylmercury is untested, we can know of its dangers only from methylmercury, its close cousin, which is a highly dangerous neurotoxin. Each component is a potential danger, the combined effect may be worse as they interact among themselves in unknown ways.

 

The effects of vaccines on the weak, the pregnant, the undernourished and the sick has NEVER BEEN STUDIED.The effects of multiple vaccinations has also never been studied. The effects of vaccination stays for life and also passes into the next generation, an aspect that too has never been studied. As we vaccinate each subsequent generation we add to the vaccine dyscrasia. This is the science that you talk about. Here the consideration is not science but "economics".

 

You need not be afraid. Vaccine dangers form a part of the BHMS degree of homeopathy and is taught in the Governments OWN COLLEGES. Books on vaccine dangers form a part of the BHMS study material. Almost all homeopathic self help books in India and abroad lamblast the vaccination process as it changes the natural metabolism of the body and renders diseases holistically incurable. The homeopaths and ayurveds froth in the mouth as they condemn the practice of vaccinations. The government cannot thus wash its hands off its own responsibility towards its citizen. The worst critic of modern medicine is Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our Nation. If the government wishes to punish anyone for raising the vaccine issue it has to first dig up the Mahatma and arrest him. Therefore do not be a coward.

 

I have supplied you with enough leads. You have to do your own research. As a consumer research organisation you cannot shirk from your responsibility. Had the consumers been aware, had the medical community acted responsibly, and had the government acted judiciously I would not have become a near vegetable today and suffered horrendously for the last 26 years. You cannot give back my life but at least you can ensure that coming generations do not share the same fate.

 

I would request you to go through the following article that has appeared in The Los Angeles Times today. After going through it you will understand that it is not a battle between science and non-science but between business, profits and good sense. You will also understand what kind of dirty politics is involved in the whole process. The vaccination process has never been scientifically probed. We have to do the job of the scientists themselves to protect our children.

 

Please do not shirk from your responsibility. Get up, be a man. If a physical and mental wreck like me can stand up for the truth, so, I believe, can you. Remember, we are all answerable to God in the end. He is a very stern taskmaster. He is not going to forgive us for injecting poisons into the blood of babies who cannot speak of their agony. He cannot forgive us for ruining their lives even before they are fully aware of the world. We are treating our babies extremely cruelly and we should be ashamed.

 

Yours faithfully,

Jagannath Chatterjee.

A courageous health reform activist.

 

--

From the Los Angeles TimesBattle Lines Drawn Over Mercury in ShotsStates push for bans in children's vaccines. But leading medicalgroups are pushing back.By Myron LevinTimes Staff WriterApril 10, 2006As lawmakers in about 20 states press for bans on mercury inchildren's vaccines, they are meeting stiff resistance frominfluential health and medical organizations, including groups thatget substantial funding from drug makers and the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention.Seven states have adopted the anti-mercury bills — California beingone of the first.California's law, passed in 2004 and to take effect July 1, willprohibit shots with more than a trace of thimerosal for pregnantwomen and children younger than 3. In recent weeks, similar billshave been defeated in at least five states.The push for legislation comes long after the uproar over continueduse of thimerosal, a mercury-based antibacterial agent, appeared tosubside in 1999, when manufacturers began phasing it out of routinepediatric vaccines.But the controversy flared anew when flu shots containing thimerosalwere added to the childhood immunization schedule in 2004 and theCDC refused to recommend thimerosal-free shots for infants andpregnant women.Angered by the CDC's refusal — and fearing a backslide into morethimerosal use — state lawmakers and anti-mercury advocates beganpushing for outright thimerosal bans.The legislation faces opposition from groups such as the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics and the Immunization Action Coalition — astance that anti-mercury advocates say defies logic."We're trying to get [mercury] out of the environment," said MarilynRasmussen, a Washington state senator and sponsor of a thimerosalbill that was signed into law last month."Why would we be injecting it into babies? We've got to be smarterthan that."Mercury can damage the nervous system, and infants and toddlers arethought to be particularly at risk because of their low body weightand rapidly developing brains. That concern is behind wide-ranginginitiatives to cut mercury pollution from industrial plants and warnpregnant women to limit intake of some types of fish.The American Academy of Pediatrics and its allies, including somestate health departments, say there is no proof that the smallamount of mercury in vaccines is harmful. They argue that legalrestrictions could undermine confidence in vaccines — causing peopleto skip their shots — and lead to shortages.The academy, an organization of 60,000 pediatricians, has generallytaken a zero tolerance stance on mercury, even joining a federallawsuit seeking stricter controls on power plant emissions. Itsofficial policy, published in July 2001 in its journal Pediatrics,states in part:"Mercury in all of its forms is toxic to the fetus and children, andefforts should be made to reduce exposure to the extent possible topregnant women and children as well as the general population."Dr. Louis Z. Cooper, the academy's former president and chairman ofits Center for Child Health Research, acknowledged the group's standon thimerosal "does appear to be a paradox."But Cooper said he did not believe "the science justifies codifyingin state law that we ban all mercury-containing vaccines."He also voiced concern about the effect on immunization programs inthe developing world. The World Health Organization relies heavilyon thimerosal to immunize millions of children in poor nations, andcould face cost and logistical problems if forced to abandon it."If we banned mercury-containing vaccines by statute in the UnitedStates," Cooper said, "it would make it a lot harder to explain inother parts of the world" why they should accept them.Vaccine producers generally oppose the bills but have kept a lowprofile, leaving health groups to lead the charge. Last year,pharmaceutical companies contributed about $1.54 million to theacademy out of a budget of $68.2 million. Among the donors werevaccine giants Merck & Co., GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi Pasteur Inc.,according to tax filings and academy officials.The group also got about $1.55 million from the CDC for severalhealth programs.Although CDC officials are not permitted to lobby states, they havewarned that thimerosal bans could create confusion about whichvaccines are acceptable and lead some parents to delay or forgoimmunization of their children.Cooper said financial ties to drug makers and the CDC had notinfluenced the academy. "The bottom line has always been what wouldbe best for the child," he said.Another opponent of bans, the Immunization Action Coalition, basedin St. Paul, Minn., runs websites and newsletters promotingimmunization. The group has been dispensing strategy advice andmaterials to critics of the anti-mercury bills."We're scaring people away needlessly from very safe vaccines," saidDiane Peterson, the group's associate director.The coalition last year got about $628,000 from the CDC, about 42%of its $1.51-million budget. Industry donors listed on thecoalition's website — including Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, SanofiPasteur, Chiron Corp. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals — appear tocontribute most of its remaining funds, though the group would notdisclose total industry support.Along with California and Washington, New York, Iowa, Illinois,Missouri and Delaware have passed thimerosal bills. The laws permita waiving of restrictions in a public health emergency. Bipartisanfederal legislation to ban thimerosal has 73 co-sponsors in theHouse of Representatives.Introduced long before current standards for safety testing,thimerosal came into wide use in vaccines sold in multi-dose vialsto prevent bacterial contamination from repeated insertion ofneedles. Single-dose vials don't need thimerosal, but doctors andclinics historically preferred multi-dose containers for ease ofstorage and lower price.Exposure to thimerosal rose sharply in the early 1990s when the CDCadded five new shots for infants in their first six months. Many ofthese shots, as well as some already prescribed, containedthimerosal. The chemical is nearly 50% ethyl mercury, consideredsomewhat less toxic than the methyl mercury in fish and power plantemissions.The thimerosal issue erupted in 1999 when it became known that U.S.health authorities for the first time had totaled the cumulativedose of mercury from multiple shots. The calculation showed thatinfants who got their shots on time could be exposed to mercury inexcess of an Environmental Protection Agency guideline.As a precaution, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatricscalled on vaccine makers in 1999 to phase out thimerosal. By 2002,the chemical had been removed or cut to trace levels in all routinechildren's shots through a switch to single-dose vials. But thenmercury made a comeback in 2004, when the CDC added flu shots to thelist of prescribed vaccines.The only supplier for children younger than 2, Sanofi Pasteur, thenknown as Aventis Pasteur, marketed most of its vaccine in multi-dosevials. Then, as now, the CDC decided not to recommend that doctorsselect thimerosal-free shots for pregnant women and children.Sanofi Pasteur since has increased its capacity to make mercury-freevaccine, yet because the government has expressed no preference,some of the capacity has gone unused.In a pivotal moment in the debate, a committee of the prestigiousInstitute of Medicine rebuffed claims that thimerosal wasresponsible for an increase in autism cases.In its May 2004 report, the panel declared that "the body ofepidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationshipbetween thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism."But parent activists and some scientists criticized the report —contending, among other things, that the institute had given toomuch weight to research in countries where thimerosal exposures hadbeen lower than in the U.S. Either way, the report considered onlyautism and not potential risks of subtler developmental effects.The CDC is engaged in a study of 7- to 10-year-olds to see ifthimerosal exposures might have influenced language development,physical coordination and IQ.And while rejecting the thimerosal-autism link, a report in Novemberin the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal stated that risksto "the fetus, premature infant and low-birth-weight infant haveinsufficiently been studied."Some say the resistance by medical groups to bans on thimerosalreflects a profession in denial.Cooper, of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said he couldunderstand why people had come to see the academy as overlydefensive. "But I hope we're big enough to be open to science," hesaid.*Times researcher Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.-----------------------------cerc <manubhai_cerc wrote:

"cerc" <manubhai_cerc<jagchat01From : S. Yellore, Director-Laboratory, CERC, Ahmedabad.Tue, 11 Apr 2006 17:54:11 +0530

 

To : Mr. Jagannath Chatterjee, Health Reform Activist.

From : S. Yellore, Director-Laboratory, CERC, Ahmedabad.

Date : April 11, 2006

No. : jagchat01

 

Dear Sir,

 

This is with reference to your five page email addressed to Union

Minister for Health & Family Welfare and copy addressed to us.

We thank you for this email and we appreciate your concern for

ill-effects of certain vaccines on persons being vaccinated with

the same. As we don't have any evidence based scientific

information nor inherent knowledge on the ill-effects of certain

approved and permitted preservatives, we are unable to make any

comments. As you seem to be having a lot of information, which

we presume is science based published literature, it is felt

that you have approached the Central Health Minister and you may

continue to prevail on him as well as his Ministry officers for

doing the needful.

 

With regards and best wishes,

S. Yellore

-----------------------------Consumer Education and Research CentreThaltej, Sarkhej-Gandhinagar HighwayAhmedabad - 380054, Gujarat, IndiaPhone : 079-27489945/46, 27450528, 30121001-2-3 Fax : 079-27489947Email : cerc manubhai_cercWebsite : www.cercindia.org

 

Read INSIGHT - The Consumer Magazine

 

 

- Dr. Leo Rebello Jagannath Chatterjee Cc: dhanavel ; Dr. Anbumani Ramdoss ; AYUSH ; CCRH ; Oscar Fernandes ; Secretary PG Wing GOI ; Sonia Gandhi ; Prime Minister of India ; Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

Saturday, April 08, 2006 11:17 PM Fw: Respected Health Minister, please..please.. stop vaccinating the children.

 

Dear Jagannath :

Your letter to the Union Health Minister is extremely well-written. If you get positive response from him, do let me know. Otherwise, as discussed, we can take out a Public Interest Petition and challenge this racket which is destroying our health on one hand and our national pride and sovereignty on the other.

 

I am with you.

Dr. Leo Rebello

Website : www.healthwisdom.org

 

 

 

-

 

Jagannath Chatterjee

PS to HFM ; Health Minister ; Central Council for Research in Homeopathy ; Department of AYUSH ; Consumer Education & Research Centre. ; Dr. Leo Rebello

Friday, April 07, 2006 6:21 PM

Respected Health Minister,please..please.. stop vaccinating the children.

 

To:

Dr Anbumani Ramadoss,

Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare,

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,

New Delhi.

 

Dt: 07.04.06

 

Respected Sir,

 

Please accept my sincere namaskar. Having suffered a severe vaccine reaction two decades earlier, I have been studying the subject of vaccinations very closely. I now know that I was affected by the ethylmercury, a component of Thimerosal, that is used in all vaccines that are given to children in India. Mercury is the most dangerous neurotoxin known to mankind. The mercury caused extremely severe vaccine dermatitis in me, a condition only recently acknowledged by the medical community. As per recent research people with eczema should not take vaccines for eruptive diseases like small pox and measles. Experts also say that sick and malnourished children should not be subjected to vaccinations.

 

After the dermatitis was suppressed by steroidal ointments I suffered from severe neuromuscular and gastric disorders. Later I developed suicidal depression and intractable insomnia, signs of Affective Disorder. I have recovered only somewhat under the able guidance of a homeopath but my life is still an unbearable hell, both at the physical and mental level. I cannot look after myself and face a very uncertain future. I live because I wish to inform my countrymen about the horrors of modern medicine. Nobody should suffer the way I have.

 

Mercury, a component of the vaccine additive Thimerosal, is not the only harmful ingredient in vaccines. Aluminium hydroxide is another heavy metal that causes harm and also boosts the damage causing ability of ethylmercury. Vaccines also contain a slew of carcinogens like ethanol, glycol, formaldehyde and glutamic acid. The risk from contaminated serum in vaccines from cows, horses, pigs and aborted human fetuses, is also very great. It is openly acknowledged that vaccines have changed the genetic makeup of humans through genetic contamination.

 

It is a fallacy to assume that vaccines have caused a fall in epidemic diseases. Better hygiene has led to that. Also vaccines have been introduced when the epidemics were already on a downward trend. It is also a fact that vaccines containing live viruses have caused the very disease in victims which they were expected to prevent. According to medical experts, the battery of viruses introduced into the body via vaccines can interact with the viruses already present to create unknown dangers. They also warn against the use of genetically modified viruses in vaccines as the study of genetics is still in its infancy and side effects can be devastating.

 

The vaccination industry does not bother about the lives of people. It perpetuates the vaccine myth to preserve its own existence and boost profits. The industry spends millions of dollars in lobbying every year. It has on its list of shareholders the most powerful politicians of the world.

 

The arguement that mercury in vaccines is within the safe limits is a farce. By the time 24 vaccine shots are injected to a child, the level of mercury in the unfortunate toddlers blood is 62 times higher than normal. This mercury lodges itself in the fat cells of the brain to cause irreversible damage. This has been proved by a recent study on mice by the scientists of a Californian medical institute. The vaccine industry is now scared at the apparition of having to face innumberable law suits as vaccine damage is pegged at $ 20.00 lacs by legal experts. It is no wonder that the industry bribed an American politician to seek immunity from law suits. The CDC has been aware of the dangers of vaccinations since 1938 as uncovered by the concerned parents of vaccine damaged American children.

 

Recently the senior editor of the UPI dubbed the vaccination process as the "recruitment tactics" of the drug industry as vaccines cause diseases that the drug makers profit by the sale of their medicines. Besides autism, vaccines may be behind attention deficit disorders, increased stress levels, meningitis, encephalitis, neuromuscular ailments, irritable bowel, diabetes, arthritis, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and even AIDS. It is not unknown that the Simian Immuno Virus SV 40 was introduced into humans via the polio vaccine. These are not figments of the imagination but the statements of vaccine experts who are associated with the process of vaccine making.

 

As per the homeopaths, raw and unprocessed mercury has the capability of affecting people at the emotional level and boost criminal tendencies besides inducing people to lead degenerate lives. That it causes severe emotional flare ups has been observed in autistic children.

 

Sir, I believe you are not entirely ignorant of what I have expressed in my letter to you. No one is. It seems everyone knows the dangerous implications of the vaccination system except the hapless people on whom the vaccines are forcibly injected. I have met many Health Officials who have preferred to remain silent against my arguements. They say that they are helpless against government orders and that the government is helpless against the WHO guidelines. It is also well known that certain very powerful political powers wish to utilise the vaccination procedure to foster bio terrorism and forcible population control.

 

I would request you to kindly look into this very grave issue, ascertain the facts, and try to find a way to introduce preventive measures which are humane and sensible. Diseases can be very well prevented by better hygiene and nutrition and also by the use of the homeopathic vegge vaccines. Such alternatives need to be urgently looked into. Modern medicine is purely profit oriented and will not mend its murderous ways to benefit humanity.

 

I have been intending to write to you on this matter for a long time. Today I came across an article in an American newspaper, copy enclosed, which speaks of public anger and American Congress diaspproval of the vaccination procedure and highlights the callous and criminal negligence of the CDC. I could contain myself no longer. My intense and intolerable personal pain and the thought of millions of other children and adults who could be suffering similarly forced me to take up the matter with you.

 

Please do as you deem fit. The future of India's health will depend upon your decision.

 

Respectfully yours,

Jagannath Chatterjee,

Health Reform Activist.

 

encl: Article in AJC.

 

CC: Director, Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy,

Director, Department of AYUSH,

Director, Consumer Education and Research Centre,

Dr Leo Rebello, Director, Natural Health Centre, Mumbai,

PS to Health & Family Welfare Minister.

 

Controversy over autism eats at credibility of CDCAlison Young - StaffThursday, April 6, 2006

http://www.ajc.com/today/content/epaper/editions/today/news_44437aaa906db0c7003f.html

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rarely the subject of public controversy, is facing an emerging credibility crisis on the emotional issue of whether old-style vaccines containing a mercury preservative caused autism in thousands of children.

The agency is being accused of cover-ups and scientific manipulations by vocal advocates of autism awareness. It also is facing questions from some high-profile members of Congress.

 

As the debate and controversy increasingly find their way into pediatricians' offices, average parents of healthy children are questioning whether vaccines are safe, sometimes even refusing inoculations.

 

The CDC and other public health officials insist such questions lack a basis in fact or science. Their greatest concern is that the broadening debate holds the potential to put a new generation of children at certain risk of deadly diseases if confidence in the safety of vaccines is lost and they don't receive recommended shots.

 

"I think it's huge," said Dr. Julia McMillan, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee that makes vaccine recommendations. "There's no pediatrician in practice that doesn't confront this on a weekly basis: families who are questioning the need for --- and in some cases refusing --- vaccines for their children."

 

But the academy and the CDC are in agreement. They say there is no evidence to support a connection between autism and the mercury-based preservative thimero-sal, which they stress is no longer used in most pediatric vaccines.

 

"We simply don't know what the cause of autism is," Dr. Robert Davis, the CDC's director of immunization safety, said Wednesday. Nonetheless, the CDC is at the center of criticism.

 

A full-page ad scheduled to run in today's editions of USA Today, the nation's largest circulation newspaper, accuses the CDC of "causing an epidemic of autism" by recommending that children receive a series of vaccines that until 2001 contained thimerosal. The ad, placed by various advocacy groups, quotes environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as saying: "It's time for the CDC to come clean with the American public."

 

But what stings public health advocates more is a letter sent Feb. 22 by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and seven other members of Congress. The bipartisan group asks that the CDC not take the lead on a new study examining the vaccine-autism issue.

 

"If the federal government is going to have a study whose results will be broadly accepted, such a study cannot be led by the CDC," the group wrote Dr. David Schwartz, new director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, will convene a panel in May to discuss how to analyze a key CDC database to determine whether autism rates have dropped since thimerosal was removed from vaccines.

 

The letter was also signed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y,) and Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.). Agency officials said Wednesday they are proud of the CDC's work on thimerosal safety issues and that they have looked hard to find a link as well as to find any other cause of autism.

 

"It was an unfortunate choice of language," Davis said of the Lieberman letter. "They and everyone else are certainly entitled to their opinion. We stand by all the research we have done."

 

Public health officials who work with the CDC are more blunt. "I think it's shocking," said Dr. Martin Myers, executive director of the National Network for Immunization Information and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston.

 

"The loss of public trust in one of the most extraordinary institutions in the world. I'm not quite sure how that has occurred, but it has, and that's one of the unfortunate consequences," Myers said.

 

The controversy, which erupted as a rally was scheduled on Capitol Hill today in conjunction with National Autism Month, is gaining political traction. It is moving well beyond an initial core of autism activists, the CDC amd public health and congressional officials all agree.

 

There are many parents of autistic children who believe, as do most pediatricians and scientists, that there is no scientific evidence that thimerosal caused autism and other neurological disorders. That issue was settled for most in a widely publicized 2004 report by an expert panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

 

But the report has been the subject of controversy and intense scrutiny since it was published. Parents of many autistic children insist that thimerosal caused the disorder, because it appeared around the time their children received vaccinations. Their advocates also point to what they say is intriguing new research in animal models indicating that some individuals may be more sensitive to thimerosal than others. Martin Cowen, whose family lives in Jonesboro, is one such parent.

 

Cowen is convinced thimerosal-containing vaccines caused his son Lindsey's autism. Lindsey, who turned 8 last week, does not speak, has not been toilet trained and cannot be allowed outdoors without being restrained for fear he'll run into traffic, his father said.

 

Cowen is highly skeptical of the CDC, a position shared by a cohort of parents and advocates across the country. "An enormous effort is being made to deny the connection," he said of the CDC. "What do I think their motive is? They are very interested in having the herd vaccinated. . . . They don't think of people as people suffering individually. It's the greatest good for the greatest number."

 

The National Immunization Program, run by the CDC, coordinates immunization activities across the country. Increasing the rate of immunization against disease is a cornerstone of public health.

 

At the same time, the CDC also is charged with monitoring vaccine safety. It's an inherent conflict of interest, said Weldon, a doctor before he was elected to Congress.

 

"They really do have a credibility problem," said Weldon, who serves on the committee that decides the CDC's budget. "Part of the credibility problem is it's asking them to investigate a problem that they may have created."

 

Weldon became involved in the thimerosal issue seven years ago. "Honestly, at first I was very dubious," he said. "As I looked at it more and more, I began to feel there is some validity to this."

 

Weldon said the recent interest by Lieberman and others on Capitol Hill is a sign the issue is gaining currency. Lieberman was unavailable for comment.

 

The controversy and public debate is likely to be further fueled by the full-page ad being paid for by a coalition of the autism activist groups led by Generation Rescue. The ad promotes a sophisticated Web site, www.PutChildren First.org, which includes links to CDC documents, e-mails and transcripts the groups say support their contention of an agency cover-up.

 

CDC spokesman Glen Nowak said many of the documents on the site have been in the public domain for years, and are presented out of context and in ways that may "look quite ominous" when they're not.

 

"It's a very challenging issue," he said. The CDC is bracing for a spike in calls today from parents with questions and is increasing staffing at its public help line, 1-800-232-4636.

 

This advertisement, scheduled to run in today's USA Today newspaper, complains that the CDC has covered up the connection between childhood vaccines and autism.JUST THE FACTSAutism

 

A neurological disorder that causes problems with communication skills and the ability to have normal social interactions. Autism and related autism spectrum disorders (ASD) cover a range of symptoms that can vary from mild to severe.

The cause is unknown, affecting more boys than girls.There is no count of how many people have autism in the United States. Estimates range from 1 in 500 to 1 in 166 children who have autism or an autism spectrum disorder, roughly 24,000 children each year.Thimerosal

A preservative widely used to prevent bacterial growth in vaccines until the late 1990s. It contains mercury.

Mercury, at high levels, is known to damage the nervous system. But its effect at low levels is unclear.

In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service and the American Academy of Family Physicians issued a joint statement concluding that while there was no evidence of harm from the use of thimerosal in vaccines, it should be removed from pediatric vaccines as a precaution.

Except for some influenza vaccines, thimerosal has been removed from most vaccines routinely given to children age 6 and younger.

Sources: CDC, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Toxicology Program, and the Autism Society of America.