Friday, March 04, 2005

Trade-Off: Vaccine Maker Profits - Autism

In 2000, the FDA determined that infants were receiving much more mercury than was considered safe under EPA guidelines. A twelve-to-fourteen month old child, receiving the mandated vaccines under the Immunization Schedule, often received four to six shots during one doctor visit. Consequently over time, the child would be injected with as much as 40 times the amount of mercury considered safe.
Twenty years ago, autism only affected one in 10,000 children. However, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, by January 2004, the incidence of autism rose to one in every 166 children. The Autism Autoimmunity Project reports that the disorder strikes 1 in 150 (or 1 in 68 families) today.
...Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has introduced Senate Bill 3, which would immunize drug companies from all liability for vaccine-related autism caused by mercury poisoning.
"The fact that President Bush stated before the election that mercury should be removed childhood vaccines means he believes thimerosal could, in fact, cause harm. If the President ... supports the removal of mercury from childhood vaccines, then surely he cannot support legislation that protects drug companies from accountability for the injuries caused by mercury," said Shelley Reynolds, President of Unlocking Autism.
SafeMinds is a leading autism advocacy organization fighting to ban mercury from all medicines and to promote treatment research for those who have already been injured.
On Feb 28, 2005, SafeMinds announced its opposition to the bill HR 650, "The Vaccine Accessibility for Children and Seniors Act of 2005." The group maintains that the title of the bill is deceptive in that it imposes barriers to legal remedies for the vaccine-injured.

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