Discover Magazine-Childhood Vaccines' Link To Autism Is Debunked

[Guest guest]

Sounds like it is time to write again......they need a few facts

Sheri

From: " Small Family " <smallmp@...>

From Teri Small

Today I purchased this magazine:

" Special....Year in Science....Discover....100 Top Science Stories of 2004 "

The date of this issue is January 2005. Featured on the cover as the No.

18 top science story of 2004 is: " Are childhood vaccines really the cause

of autism? " I nervously flipped through the pages at the supermarket, my

unjustified suspense mounting.

Here is the article:

Childhood Vaccines' Link To Autism Is Debunked

Medicine--The controversial theory that childhood vaccines cause autism was

discredited by one report after another this year. The biggest blow came

with the public retraction of a 1998 paper in the British medical journal

The Lancet that had suggested a link between the measles-mumps-rubella

vaccine and autism in a study of 12 children. Despite questions at the

time concerning its scientific credibility, the report garnered a blizzard

of press coverage and led some parents to put off vaccinating their young

children.

In February, Horton, editor of The Lancet, said that the work was

" flawed " and should never have been published. More reports followed. In

May an expert panel at the Washington-based Institute of Medicine announced

that neither the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine nor the mercury-based

vaccine preservative thimerosal is associated with autism. The panel based

its finding on expert testimony, published papers, and ongoing and

completed research--including epidemiological studies in the United States,

the United Kingdom, and Sweden. Then in September a long-term study of

more than 5,000 children in the United Kingdom--published in The

Lancet--also found no association between measles-mumps-rubella shots and

autism.

The new evidence has yet to quell the fears of some parents. In

particular, uncertainty over the effects of exposure to mercury have made

thimerosal a continued focus of controversy. Arguing that the slightest

risk warrants completely eliminating the preservative, the Food and Drug

Administration recommended removing it from childhood vaccines. Today,

except for the flu vaccine manufactured by Aventis, most vaccines contain

only trace amounts of thimerosal or none.

Experts say it's crucial to win back parents who mistrust the government

and refuse to have their kids vaccinated. " But there is no way we can

assure them that every vaccine is safe for every child, " says

, chair of immunology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

" That's not the case and never will be. "

--Apoorva Mandavilli (who is senior news editor for the journal Nature

Medicine).

There is a picture of a boy with autism looking through a school bus

window. The caption reads: " A boy with autism leaves for school in

Birmingham, Michigan. The genesis of his neurological disorder remains a

biological mystery. "

Discover's editor-in-chief is L. Petranek

Discover

114 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10011-5690

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Include the writer's full name, address, and daytime phone number.

__________________________________________________________

Discover is published by Buena Vista Magazines, a subsidiary of Disney

Publishing Worldwide.

Ads in this issue include:

Vicks Vapo-Rub

Vicks NyQuil

Juvenon ( " promotes healthy brain cell function " )

Ad Council...Amer. Cancer Society...Amer. Diabetes Assoc...Amer. Heart Assoc.

Other articles in this issue include:

Top story 7: New Drugs Target Cancer

( " The FDA also approved the first drugs specifically designated for

treating two rare cancers. Alimta, from Eli Lilly, targets malignant

pleural mesothelioma..... " )

21: Delay in Recalling Vioxx Points to Problems in FDA Approval Process

5: Killer Flu Incubates in Asia

80: Ethical Conflicts Plague NIH

( " As chief of geriatric psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental

Health, Trey Sunderland conducted studies of Alzheimer's and other

neurological diseases associated with aging. At the same time, he worked

as a consultant for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, earning $517,000 in

fees, honoraria, and expenses. His associate Putnam picked up

another $64,000. Neither told the institute about their outside work--or

got approval to do it..... Ending paid industry consulting would simplify

the ethical problem but could compromise recruitment of top scientists and

the quality of their research. With the proper clearance, bench scientists

at the NIH should have the right 'to do what every other scientist has the

right to do: consult for a science advisory committee or a pharmaceutical

company or a biotech company, partly because that's become part of the

culture and partly because it's very much a two-way exchange,' Alberts

says. 'The scientists at the NIH would learn a lot from those exchanges,

and that would help make the science at the NIH better.' " )

37: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Tied to Serotonin

41: HIV Victims Can Be Infected Again and Again and Again

( " .... cautions, " We are dealing with a new weapon of mass destruction

here. " )

25: Antidepressants Trigger Suicide Impulses in Teens

( " Critics charged that the FDA's drug-safety analyst had made a connection

between antidepressants and teenagers' suicidal behavior as early as 2002,

but agency higher-ups had rejected his findings and ordered an outside

panel to reanalyze his data. That panel came to the same conclusion he

had. The new warning creates a dilemma. Clinical depression is

commonplace among teenagers, and the illness itself can be deadly if

untreated. 'Depressed teens are already at substantial risk of attempting

suicide,' says Pine of the National Institute of Mental Health.... " )

24: Polio Resurfaces in West Africa

( " In addition, the oral polio vaccine is extremely sensitive to heat, and

children must receive as many as 10 doses before they are fully

immunized....Once the last infected countries are declared polio-free,

Aylward says, immunization must continue for at least another three years

to ensure that the disease has finally been beaten back. " )

62: Air Pollution Linked to Genetic Mutations

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--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

vaccineinfo@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm

ANY INFO OBTAINED HERE NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS MEDICAL

OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION TO VACCINATE IS YOURS AND YOURS ALONE.

******

" Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down.

Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy

knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information

and religions destroy spirituality " .... Ellner