5-18-99 Hep B hearing

[Guest guest]

Congressional Hearing

Connecticut Newsletter #2

On Tuesday, May 18, 1999 the Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, & Human

Resources subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform held

a hearing on the Hepatitis B Vaccine in Washington, DC. The focus of

the hearing was on:

1. What studies are being done on the data from the FDA's Vaccine

Adverse Event Report?

2. What are the risks and benefits for administering this vaccine to

infants?

3. What process does the Center for Disease Control employ to make a

vaccine recommendation?

4. What disclosure is required before the vaccine is administered? Is

it adequate?

The hearing, which began at 10 AM, was completely packed by 9:10 AM and

no more seats were available. There were approximately 20-25 people

that stood in the hearing and approximately 30-40 more people that were

forced to stand outside the hearing room because there was not enough

room. The hearing had been estimated to go for approximately 2 hours.

Four and ½ hours later, with not one break taken, the National Vaccine

Information Center held a press conference. ABC news recorded the

entire hearing and the press conference, including the outburst by Dr.

Katz, the representative of the AAP, at the press conference.

There were Hepatitis B vaccine victims represented from the

Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Connecticut (myself and

daughter), Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio. Three

parents who were present had lost their children when their children

died shortly after receiving the vaccine. One mother, with incredible

strength, who had appeared at the press conference, told how her

daughter died just 3 ½ weeks before. Her little girl would have been

three months old the day of the press conference. All of the

scientists, who are trying to do independent research, and the vaccine

victims, including myself who represented my daughter, spoke at the

press conference which lasted for approximately 45 minutes.

Congressman Mica from Florida was the Chairman of the hearing and he sat

through the entire hearing. The most Congresspeople present at the

hearing were four. There are 16 Congresspeople on the hearing and the

most present were FOUR at any time.

There were some interesting facts that came out of the hearing. I taped

the entire hearing and press conference. Any information that the CDC

or the FDA provided in testimony was very difficult to obtain.

Whenever, the Congresspeople would ask a question the government

officials, representing the CDC and the FDA, would not answer the

question. Rather they would give a vague response. After numerous

times asking the same questions in different ways, finally the

government officials would answer the question. The following are just

a few of the facts uncovered at the hearing..

1. The statistic that is often quoted is that there are 25,000 kids are

infected with Hepatitis B. After repeatedly asking the question as to

how the CDC arrived at this number, Harold S. Margolis, MD, Chief of the

Hepatitis Branch of the CDC finally admitted that 25,000 kids is simply

an estimate. They have no hard proof that there are definitely 25,000

kids with Hepatitis B.

2. According to Harold S. Margolis, MD, Chief of the Hepatitis Branch of

the CDC, in 1997 there were 95 children under the age of 2 in the United

States who were diagnosed with Hepatitis B. According to

Ellenberg, PhD, Director of the Division of Biostatistics and

Epidimiology, FDA stated in the same year, 1997, that there were 43

deaths following the vaccine in children under the age of 2. She would

not state that the vaccine caused the death but did acknowledge that the

deaths occurred shortly after the vaccine and there was an " association "

between the children's deaths and the vaccine. She was very careful of

her wording.

3. Amazingly, according to on's Principles of Internal Medicine

(1994), " 90-95% of all hepatitis B cases recover completely after 3-4

weeks of nausea, fatigue, headache, arthritis, jaundice and tender

liver. " I keep remembering the children who died and how they will

NEVER recover.

4. Neither Dr. Margolis nor Dr. Ellenberg would answer the question as

to whether the risks of the vaccine outweigh the benefits from the

vaccine.

5. When Dr. Margolis was asked whether there was any warning policy of

the risks associated with vaccines, such as now exist with cigarette

advertising or prescription or non-prescription medicine his answer was

incredible. He stated that the CDC has NO WARNING POLICY on the risks

associated with vaccines. Rather they rely on the vaccine package

insert, which from personal experience many parents don't even know

exists.

6. Incredibly, Dr. Margolis stated that the CDC does not know how long

the Hep B Vaccine is effective for. They have apparently followed the

vaccine for 15 years but they have no idea the length of immunity from

the vaccine. The vaccine package insert from the pharmaceutical company

describes the length of protection as " undetermined " . In the country of

India they vaccinate EVERY FOUR YEARS. Yet, the new CDC vaccine sheet

that parents receive now states that, " All three doses are needed for

full and lasting immunity. " Parents now think their child can not get

Hepatitis B because they received 3 doses of the vaccine yet it clearly

conflicts with what the CDC official said at the hearing, what the

vaccine package insert states and what the country of India is currently

doing.

7. This Subcommittee overseas the CDC. Amazingly, this was the FIRST

oversight hearing in 10 years!

8. Due to Secretary of Health and Human Services changing the definition

of a reaction to DPT from several days to just 4 hours after the vaccine

there is some money that has accumulated in the Vaccine Compensation

Program Fund. Rather than paying the victims, the government argues and

says if the child had the reaction 6 hours after the vaccine it is not a

reaction but rather ONLY if it is within four hours of receiving the DPT

vaccine. The sad part is there are children who have been severely

disabled with seizures, autism, etc. with doctors who have identified

the vaccine as the cause but do to bureaucracy an arbitrary number has

been picked because too many claims were getting filed. Instead of

doing research and making a safer vaccine they just changed the

definition of a reaction.

9. Dr. Waisbren, Sr., a clinical investigator from Milwaukee,

representing the FACP (I cannot locate what the initials stand for)

noted some interesting facts. First, he noted no one hears of adverse

reactions because dozens of cases against pharmaceutical companies have

been settled out of court for large sums of money and with the

stipulation that no one can discuss the settlement. He also noted that

the CDC reports are NOT peer reviewed. Which means that there is no one

questioning the CDC's findings as to whether they are valid.

10. Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, who was profiled in the January 1999 20/20 report

on Hepatitis B, also spoke. She has always done vaccine research with

more of a pro-vaccine twist until recently. Her brother and a student

of her's both suffered serious reactions to the Hepatitis B vaccine.

Her brother is completely paralyzed and unable to care for himself. He

used to be a Doctor also. Her student suffered partial blindness along

with other adverse reactions from the Hepatitis B vaccine. She also

noted some interesting facts. When Dr. Dunbar contacted the FDA

regarding the Hepatitis B vaccine an individual told her that " this

vaccine is a problem and it is a big one. " She also explained how

medical students come crying to her because they see a child have a

reaction and they are told by medical staff to be quiet about it. They

are told not to report the reaction.

11. During the hearing a pattern developed. The pattern is that ALL the

reported Hepatitis B vaccine reactions occurred in Caucasians. This

does not mean that other groups of people do not react it simply means

that all the vaccine adverse reaction reports occurred in Caucasians.

Approximately 70% of the reactions occurred in girls/women. None of

these patterns have yet to be researched by the CDC or the FDA.

12. EVERY person/family who had experienced a Hepatitis B vaccine

reaction, that I met, had experienced some sort of problems with their

respiratory system. Some had difficulty breathing, wheezing,

congestion, etc. In fact, the new CDC sheet lists these symptoms as

serious allergic reactions! If you or your child has had this symptom

following the Hepatitis B vaccine I strongly encourage caution and

research before getting another vaccine.

13. Every person present, including Ms. Thelma Thiel Chairman & CEO of

the Hepatitis Foundation International, agreed that parents should be

given the choice regarding vaccines, and especially the Hepatitis B

vaccine. Ms. Thiel's son died at age 4 from Hepatitis B.

14. Without any evidence, the new CDC sheet on Hepatitis B Vaccine now

states that the Hepatitis B vaccine " is the first anti-cancer vaccine

because it can prevent a form of liver cancer " . Remember NO evidence

proving this has been presented.

15. In a step in the right direction the new CDC sheet now states, " If

you miss a dose or get behind schedule, get the next dose as soon as you

can. There is no need to start over. " On a personal level this had

been an issue with our daughter. Our pediatrician had lied to us

telling us we would have to redo the whole series until I provided her a

copy of the CDC guidelines to which she responded saying she knew about

the CDC guidelines.

16. There was quite a bit of discussion regarding exemptions. It seemed

that the congressional subcommittee felt the exemptions seemed to work

just fine. The problem they don't understand is not every state has all

three exemptions (medical, religious, and philosophical). They also do

not realize that parents are not notified that they are allowed to an

exemption. There was some discussion of a possible national

philosophical exemption.

Congressman Mica made an unprecedented move in that he has left the

congressional record open for this hearing for and unprecedented 30

days. This means they are accepting written testimony (in the form of a

letter) to be added to the record. Congressman Mica said that he has

never had so many requests to speak before a committee.

It is imperative, VITAL, that you send a letter to each Congressperson

on the Committee, your Senator, and Representative. Attached is a list

of the committee members and their telephone numbers and their faxes and

address. You can send letters to the Subcommittee address listed on the

attached list.

We have a small window of opportunity for our voices to be heard. Do

not miss out on it. The battle for individual state philosophical

exemptions could be solved with a national philosophical exemption.

While in Washington, DC, prior to the hearing I met with Representative

Shay's assistant and Senator Lieberman's assistant. Both are going to

report to their Representative and Senator about our conversation.

PLEASE voice your experiences and concerns and make sure the

subcommittee hears from you (by phone, fax, email, or mail) BY JUNE 16,

1999. If you send a written letter make sure it says that you want it

to be submitted as part of the record.

If possible please forward me a copy of your letter submitted for

written testimony. Thank you and I will be in contact with you

regarding the surveys I sent out prior to my departure for Washington,

DC.

Sincerely,

F. Reiss

P.O. Box 161

Manchester, CT 06045

860-493-9147

@...

@...

***************************************************************

Any information obtained here is not to be construed as medical

OR legal advice. The decision to vaccinate and how you

implement that decision is yours and yours alone.

________________________________________________________________

GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!

Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!

Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:

http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.