Vaccines and Autism: The Jury is In

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Diploid
Cuban

Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole

Vaccines and Autism: The Jury is In

#9786484 - 02/12/09 08:08 PM (17 years, 8 months ago)

Auto-Summary

A panel of court-appointed experts ruled that families whose children developed autism after receiving vaccines containing thimerosal are not entitled to compensation from a $2.5 billion government trust fund. The three experts found no evidence that thimerosal-containing vaccines can cause autism, immune-system dysfunction, or gastrointestinal dysfunction. This decision is a setback for over 4,800 families seeking compensation for their children's autism, which they attribute to thimerosal. Despite the ruling, families can still appeal the decision. The FDA and the U.S. Health and Human Services Department maintain that there is no association between vaccines and autism, and have been working to reduce or eliminate thimerosal in vaccines.

Looks like there's no connection between Vaccines and Autism though the relative scarcity of research into the effects of thimerosal still worries me.

--

By Cary O’Reilly

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Families whose children developed autism after taking vaccine combinations that contained thimerosal aren’t entitled to compensation from a $2.5 billion government trust fund, a panel of court-appointed experts ruled.

Three “special masters” appointed by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington found today that the families failed to show thimerosal-containing vaccines taken with an “MMR” shot for measles, mumps and rubella can contribute to causing autism, immune-system dysfunction or gastrointestinal dysfunction.

The rulings are a blow to more than 4,800 families who claim their children’s autism was caused by thimerosal. They are seeking compensation from the fund established by Congress in 1996 to shield drug companies such as Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis AG from lawsuits over vaccines the U.S. government requires for children. The money comes from a 75-cent tax on each dose.

“There is no evidence” that ethylmercury in the amounts found in thimerosal-containing vaccines “can damage infant immune systems, or otherwise contribute to autism in any way,” Special Master George Hastings wrote in his finding.

Autism is an umbrella term covering several developmental and communication disorders that affect as many as six of every 1,000 children born in North America. Some parents contend that their children developed autism after receiving the MMR vaccine at the same time as immunizations that contained thimerosal.

Live Virus

The MMR shot contains live, weakened virus strains that impair children’s immune systems, lawyers for the parents said. Government lawyers argued that that there is no science to support the claim.

In the first of the three test cases ruled on today, lawyers for the family of Michelle Cedillo argued that she developed severe autism after being given vaccines containing thimerosal as a toddler. They claimed the combination of MMR and thimerosal caused a breakdown of the immune system and led to her autism.

Cedillo, now 14, can’t speak and is permanently disabled by her condition and will require costly medical care for the rest of her life, according to her lawyers. Her parents claim she was a normal baby until she received a vaccine combination containing thimerosal at age 15 months.

Families Can Appeal

“While Michelle Cedillo has tragically suffered from autism and other severe conditions, the petitioners have failed to demonstrate that her vaccinations played any role at all in causing those problems,” Hastings wrote.

Tom Powers, an attorney who represented the family, said the rulings on the test cases are not the end of the process.

“The special masters are not judges,” and the families may decide to challenge some of their findings, Powers said in an interview. “This may yet be decided by an appeals court.”

Other special masters ruled against families making similar claims in two other cases decided today. The families can appeal.

A 2005 study of 27,749 children at 55 schools in Montreal found no link between mercury in vaccines and autism. In the study at Montreal Children’s Hospital, autism rates rose among school-age children who had been vaccinated as infants, even though the preservative thimerosal wasn’t included in shots given during the last two years of the study period. More than a dozen other studies have also failed to show a link.

“This is a real victory for children and a great day for science,” said Paul Offit, a pediatrician and chief of infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Measles, Meningitis

Offit said recent outbreaks of measles, whooping cough and meningitis in the U.S. can be attributed at least in part to parents opting not to have their children immunized due to concerns about the risk of autism.

The FDA has been working with vaccine manufacturers since at least 1999 to reduce or eliminate thimerosal. Some flu vaccines, including Fluvirin, made by Novartis’s Chiron unit, and Fluzone, made by Sanofi-Aventis’s Sanofi Pasteur unit, still contain the preservative, according to the FDA.

In a statement, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which oversees the FDA, said the medical and scientific communities have found no association between vaccines and autism.

“Hopefully, the determination by the Special Masters will help reassure parents that vaccines do not cause autism,” HHS said.

Wyeth, the maker of vaccines being acquired by Pfizer Inc., rose 51 cents to $43.51 on the New York Stock Exchange. Novartis rose 1.4 percent to 49.52 Swiss francs in Zurich. French vaccines maker Sanofi-Aventis fell 2.4 percent to 46.36 euros in Paris.

The lead case is Cedillo v. HHS, 98vv916, U.S. Court of Federal Claims (Washington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Cary O’Reilly in Washington caryoreilly@bloomberg.net.

Bloomberg

--------------------
Republican Values:

1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.

4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.

Extras:

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