FW: HEP B VACCINE AND DIABETES

[Guest guest]

There is more to the " A-B-C of hepatitis " than what public health

officials and the media are telling parents when scare tactics are used

to motivate them into having their babies receive the hepatitis B shot

(the Province, Sept. 10/98).

Epidemiological studies carried out in New Zealand by J. Barthelow

Classen, MD, of Classen Immunotherapies Inc., Baltimore, land, at

the request of New Zealand authorities (New Zealand Medical Journal, May

24, 1996) found a 65 percent increase in the incidence of insulin

dependent diabetes among juveniles who had received the hep B

vaccination. Dr. Classen, formerly with the United States National

Institutes of Health, is a strong supporter for the use of vaccines in

preventing disease. His findings have since been published in a peer

reviewed journal and confirmed by studies carried out elsewhere. It

seems that certain proteins in the vaccine may initiate an auto-immune

response in susceptible children that attacks and destroys the insulin

producing cells in their pancreas. There is other evidence surfacing

that other auto-immune diseases (such as lupus) may be triggered by the

vaccine.

According to Health Canada there have been no reported children deaths

from hepatitis B under the age of 15 in the last ten years. In 1996

there were 61 cases reported in this age group. These victims were

either born to mothers who were infected or members of Asian

communities where the disease is highly endemic. In light of the

evidence, it is highly irresponsible for health authorities to suggest

hepatitis B is such a wide spread health threat that justifies

vaccinating thousands of babies not at risk for hepatitis B when the

alarm has been sounded by a respected researcher that this vaccine has

the

potential to place many of those infants at risk of becoming insulin

dependent diabetics. The failure to warn parents that these vaccines put

their babies at serious risk calls in to question the competence of

these health bureaucrats.

The United States Congress instituted a taxpayer funded vaccine damage

compensation program in 1986 when the vaccine manufacturers threatened

to stop production because they could no longer afford liability costs

and costly court awards. To date over $944,000,000 from this fund has

been paid out.

If these vaccines are so safe, why is it that manufacturers of the

vaccines cannot get liability insurance for their product?

Croft Woodruff,

6262 A Fraser Street

Vancouver BC V5W 3A1

324 2121

>From Pediatric NewsRise in Type 1 Diabetes Blamed on Late Vaccination

By: Miriam E. Tucker, Senior Writer

[Pediatric News 32(4):4, 1998. ? 1998 International Medical News Group.]

The incidence of type 1 diabetes is rising dramatically in American and

European children. There are many theories about why this is happening,

but one in particular is receiving a lot of media attention lately--that

the increase may be linked with the timing of childhood immunizations.

Experts agree that current data don't support that theory, although the

possibility is being studied. In Allegheny County, Pa., which has the

oldest type 1 diabetes registry in the United States, the incidence of

the disease was at a stable 12 cases per 100,000 population aged 0-19

years from 1965 until the

mid-1980s. Around 1985 the rate increased to about 18-19 per 100,000.

Since 1994 it appears to have risen even more, according to

LaPorte, Ph.D., who oversees the registry.

Especially worrisome is the " extraordinary " increase among African

Americans, who in the past have had lower rates of type 1 diabetes than

whites. During the 1970s and 1980s, about 7-8 per 100,000 blacks aged

0-19 years developed type 1 diabetes. In the mid-1980s, that incidence

rose to 11 per 100,000. Now for the first time, the incidence among

African Americans--males in particular--is slightly higher than for

whites. But type 1 diabetes is rising among whites, too, Dr. LaPorte,

professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, told this

newspaper. Other U.S. registries have been in existence for less than

15 years, but the same trend seems to be occurring nationwide.

Long-term European data show the same thing: In Finland, for example,

which has the world's highest rate of type 1 diabetes, the incidence

rose from 12 per 100,000 children aged 0-15 in 1953 to 38 in 1986, and

to 45 in 1996. Throughout Europe the incidence of type 1 diabetes is

rising about 2%-3% per year, while the United States is " probably a

little higher, " Dr. LaPorte noted. One " hot " theory among researchers

to explain the increase is that the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic

islet cells may be triggered by a " superantigen, " possibly arising from

a viral infection, a food, or a toxin. Some data support a link between

type 1 diabetes and cow's milk. " We know it has to be something in the

environment, since the gene pool can't change that rapidly, " Dr. LaPorte

said.

The media, however, has latched onto the theory of immunologist J.

Barthelow Classen. He believes the immunization schedule, which begins

immunizations at 2 months of age, is exacerbating the risk for type 1

diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. Giving these immunizations at

birth could reduce the risk, he told this newspaper. He is president of

Classen Immunotherapies Inc., a Baltimore company that is developing

" immunization methods " and " methods of testing immunization schedules "

to minimize the risk for development of type 1 diabetes. According to

Dr. Classen, maternal viruses are passed on to the infant at birth and

take hold within the first 6 weeks of life. Giving vaccines during this

period would trigger the release of interferon, which would block the

viral infections. When vaccines are given at 2 months of age, they

exacerbate the virus-induced inflammation that is already occurring in

the pancreatic islet cells. This is particularly true of the vaccines

that contain killed components such as Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib),

which activate macrophages, he said.

In type 1 diabetes-prone mice, Dr. Classen found that giving low doses

of killed human vaccines at birth completely prevented the development

of diabetes, while immunizing at 8 weeks either increased the risk or

did not change it. He also cites human epidemiologic data to support

his theory: In various parts of the US and Europe, the institution of

new vaccines has been followed by a rise in type 1 diabetes incidence.

For instance, the diabetes increases in both Pittsburgh and Finland

followed the introduction of the Hib conjugate vaccine, according to Dr.

Classen. (The Hib vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1987).

Immunization expert Dr. Katz said Dr. Classen's theory " is not

yet supported by data. " What worries me is that this will create anxiety

about immunizations. At this moment there is no basis for revising the

immunization schedule, " said Dr. Katz, who has served on two Institute

of Medicine vaccine safety committees and is the Carpentier Professor of

Pediatrics Emeritus at Columbia University in New York. Dr. LaPorte

went a step further: " I think [Dr. Classen] is completely wrong. " The

increase in immunizations in the early 1960s did not affect diabetes

incidence, and countries with good immunization coverage, like Japan and

China, have not seen a rise in diabetes.

Everyone--even Dr. Classen--says more data are needed before anyone

considers manipulating the immunization schedule. The National Institute

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases began a study in collaboration with

British public health officials to gather all the data relating to the

topic. They will hold a meeting to look at the findings later this year.

At least three other conferences looking at the relationship between

infectious diseases and autoimmunity are planned. The Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention is also studying the relationship in an

already-established database population of more than 500,000 children in

four California HMOs. The agency will look at type 1 diabetes rates in

children who received hepatitis B vaccine at birth and those whose first

dose was given at 2 months, and it also will look at diabetes rates

after use of the Hib vaccine began.

Vaccine 1998 Feb;16(4):329-334

Major adverse reactions to yeast-derived hepatitis B vaccines--a review.

Grotto I, Mandel Y, Ephros M, Ashkenazi I, Shemer J Israel Defense

Force, Medical Corps, Israel.

Yeast-derived recombinant DNA hepatitis B vaccines usage became widely

accepted since the early 1990s. Severe adverse events have been reported

infrequently in adults and rarely in infants and children given

hepatitis B vaccine in the ten years which have passed since the

introduction of the vaccine. Some of the data were summarized in

previous review articles. Our review of the literature revealed reports

of serious adverse reactions which included immediate reactions

(anaphylaxis and urticaria) as well as delayed reactions, including

skin, rheumatic, vasculitic (including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and

glumerulonephritis), hematologic, ophthalmologic and neurologic

reactions. These cases were summarized and a pathogenetic mechanism is

offered.

PMID: 9607051, UI: 98269934