U.S. Autism Epidemic and Vaccinations. Are they related?

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) and the Autism Research Institute (ARI) are calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to launch a public-private collaborative effort to investigate the possible relationship between vaccines and the autism epidemic in Brick Township, N.J., documented in a report released by the Centers for Disease Control in late April, as well as the nationwide autism epidemic highlighted in congressional hearings earlier that month. Both NVIC and ARI represent families, many with children who developed normally until given routine vaccinations.

Children with the brain dysfunction known as autism display an individualized range of difficulties -- in concentration, thought patterns, moods, communication, behavior or social interaction. These may manifest as specific verbal or learning deficits, eccentricities or ritualistic, repetitive behaviors, abnormal responses to stimulation, inability to make eye contact or to play, or sullen, introverted tendencies followed by destructive or explosive outbursts. These children seem to slip into a world of their own. Some are diagnosed as mentally retarded while others may be deemed "savants" with exceptional ability in one area such as numbers (as portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the movie "Rainman").

Both NVIC and ARI represent families, many with children who developed normally until given routine vaccinations. Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of NVIC, said "The CDC was asked publicly at a meeting with parents in Brick Township two years ago to look at the role vaccines may have played in the children's autism. The CDC did not do it. Parents want independent, non-government researchers to be involved." Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., founder of ARI, agreed. "What is the CDC afraid of? Outside experts that parents trust should come in to take an unbiased look." Suzanne Applegate, of Tom's River, who attended the initial CDC meeting said that she asked CDC officials "to look at the children's vaccine histories and to take blood samples and do other lab tests but the CDC officials said there was no scientific evidence vaccines cause autism. But now there are just too many parents with autistic children all over this country who know that their children were developing normally until after they got their shots."

The CDC reportedly discounted water pollution or other environmental causes for the high rate of autism in children living in Brick Township in 1998. The Brick Township study revealed that 1 in 149 children suffer from autism spectrum disorder (not counting children under three), a much higher incidence than the 2 to 10 in 10,000 published figures often quoted. The CDC report strongly supports the mounting evidence that the whole nation is experiencing an autism epidemic. A 1999 report by the California Department of Developmental Services (www.dds.ca.gov) found that there was a 273% increase between 1987 and 1998 in the numbers of new children entering the California developmental services system with a professional diagnosis of autism. Since then, Maryland has reported a 513% increase in autism between 1993 and 1998 and several dozen other states have reported increases of 300% or more in the numbers of autistic children served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Rick Rollens, father of a son who became autistic after a series of vaccinations and co-founder of the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (M.I.N.D.) Institute at University of California-Davis, criticized the CDC's lack of investigation into the vaccine question. He said, "If 1 in 149 children in America were sick with a brain-damaging infectious disease, the CDC would be all over the country sounding the alarm to find out what was going on and trying to find ways to stop it." The M.I.N.D. Institute was founded to conduct medical research into neurodevelopmental disorders in children. Hearings in the House Government Reform Committee last August and again last month included testimony from parents and physicians, who presented evidence that vaccines may be a co-factor in the development of autism in some children (www.house.gov/reform/hearings/index.htm). Both NVIC and ARI have written the DHHS asking that non-government researchers at private research institutes, such as those at M.I.N.D., be involved in any large government study of the incidence or biological causes of autism, including vaccine-associated brain and immune system dysfunction leading to autism.

What can parents do?

• Remember that despite pressure to conform, you have a choice. Having vaccinations is almost never a legal requirement.
• You can determine whether your child is likely to have an adverse reaction to a vaccination through a breakthrough technology known as Electro-Dermal Screening. See the article "Preventing Vaccination Side Effects in Advance" on this website.

Many researchers say that good nutrition is more effective than vaccination in preventing disease. For information see "Ask the Physician: Reversing Autism with Nutrition" on our website.

Reversing Autism

For other articles on this subject, scroll down the page, click on "Search Health Conditions" and enter a keyword such as "vaccinations," "autism" or "Electrodermal."

Dr. Leonard Horowitz has a recommended cassette tape, "Horowitz on Vaccinations," available for $14.95 +S&H from Tetrahedron. Call 888-508-4787.

Kathi Williams of the National Vaccine Information Center can be contacted at 703-938-0342.

Other related websites are:

www.909shot.com
www.dds.ca.gov