How the Medical Press Reports the Hearing / NIH Disrupted

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How the Medical Press Reports the Hearing / NIH Disrupted

First these bulletin items:

* An unconfirmed report has come in that a presentation yesterday by

the NIH to parents and concerned parties after the hearing was bluntly

interrupted by frustrated attendees. “We didn’t come to hear about 30 years

old research!” exclaimed the group in the middle of a presentation, “What is

the NIH doing about autism now!?” The NIH had invited the public to an

information presentation in Bethesda, land. More details to come upon

confirmation.

* The projected attendance for the rally hovers at 5,000 – weather

permitting. Weather in DC late afternoon, was partly cloudy.

* * *

How the Medical Press Reports the Hearing

[This report from WebMd demonstrates the Medical Press’ take on the

hearing. This article from yesterday does contain interesting new details

not previously reported here. By , WebMD Washington

Correspondent.]

The Issue Draws Grass-Roots Interest

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1728.56384

In a marathon and emotionally charged hearing, a Congressional

committee on Thursday examined an alleged link between routine childhood

vaccines and autism.

" We're talking about an epidemic of autism, " said Rep. Dan Burton

(R-Ind.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. Burton, whose

grandson is autistic, said he believes there is a link between vaccines and

autism. Similarly, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) says, " The

problem may not be our children ... but in what our children are being

given. "

The onset of autism often coincides closely with the first

administration of vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella.

But Coleen Boyle, PhD, an official with the CDC, testified that no

link has been found between vaccines and the disease. And the American

Public Health Association, American Medical Association, and American

Academy of Pediatrics all issued statements asserting that vaccines do not

cause autism, and provide far more benefit than risk.

Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), the committee's lead Democratic member,

accused Burton of " sensationalism " in holding the hearing, which featured 19

witnesses. " Hearings like this have a real danger. Why should we scare

people ... until we know the facts? " he said. He said the hearing could

cause people to die if children fail to get vaccinated and then contract

certain illnesses.

Autism is an ill-understood, lifelong neurological disease that

severely hinders an individual's communication with the outside world. The

hearing highlighted the fact that the number of children with the disease

appears to have increased in recent years. California, for example, has

reported a 273% increase in children with autism since 1988, while land

reported a 513% increase from 1993 to 1998. But some experts attribute the

rise to better recognition of the disease and an evolving definition of the

condition.

Regardless of its scientific merit, the idea of a connection between

vaccines and autism appears to have garnered broad grass-roots interest.

Four parents began the hearing by testifying to their belief in the link,

saying that their children's autism symptoms began shortly after they had

measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccinations between the ages of 1 and 2. Their

impassioned testimony brought tears from both the audience and members of

the The hearing was so packed with autism and vaccine activists that it

required two overflow rooms.

The controversy on the subject began when British researcher

Wakefield, MB, hypothesized in a 1998 piece in The Lancet that autism may be

triggered by viruses in the MMR vaccines. Wakefield reiterated his findings

for the hearing. And Vijendra Singh, PhD, a research professor at Utah State

University, testified: " The onset of autism should no longer be regarded is

merely a coincidence with the timing of the vaccinations. "

But other researchers and physicians said that subsequent studies have

not established any such link. Prober, MD, a member of the American

Academy of Pediatrics' committee on infectious diseases, tells WebMD, " If

people believe this en masse, then our vaccine programs will suffer

substantially and there will be a resurgence in all the diseases we had so

successfully controlled. "

Prober suggested that Burton's interest in autism is clouding his

judgment. " His degree of objectivity is a little marred by the concern that

he has, appropriately so, for his family members. Science is meant to be as

objective as possible. "

Burton, for his part, sought to cast doubts on the objectivity of some

of those who asserted that there was no vaccine-autism link. Offit, MD,

chief of infectious diseases at the University of Pennsylvania School of

Medicine, testified that there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism.

But Burton pointed out that Offit is paid by the drug firm Merck to educate

physicians about vaccines. Merck manufactures the MMR vaccine.

" There is nobody I know that does vaccine work that would want to hide

or deny an association that has some plausibility, " Prober tells WebMD. " The

process of vaccine development, testing, licensure, and follow-up is an

extremely complicated process that has probably more checks and balances

than the government. " For example, Prober said, the infant rotavirus vaccine

was pulled swiftly from the market last year after safety problems were

found.

On the other hand, the Association of American Physicians and

Surgeons, a group with serious concerns about current vaccine standards,

maintains that the federal government may have ignored or concealed early

data that could have kept that vaccine off the market.

The CDC and the National Institutes of Health are now conducting

several studies looking at both autism and vaccines. Lawmakers at the

hearing called for further funding and initiatives.

© 2000 Healtheon/WebMD. All rights reserved.

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