A-CHAMP Statement Regarding the Combating Autism Act and the Potential Omission of the Vaccine Research Provision

[Guest guest]

STATEMENT FROM A-CHAMP REGARDING THE COMBATING AUTISM ACT

In November 2005 A-CHAMP made a commitment to many autism

organizations, the community and our children to support the consensus

revision version of the Combating Autism Act. see:

http://www.a-champ.org/combatingautismactrevisednew.html The

consensus revision bill contains a modest provision for vaccine,

vaccine component and vaccine preservative research. This is the bill

A-CHAMP supports and we have worked hard to advocate for the revised

bill. We have kept and will continue to keep our promise to the

community.

If other organizations choose to break the consensus and support

legislation that drops the vaccine research provision their action will

be evident to the community.

If the vaccine language is dropped from the final bill that is

introduced in the Senate or House, A-CHAMP will advocate for language

to be incorporated into the legislative history that will support

vaccine research. But make no mistake: any communication to the Senate

that suggests it is acceptable to drop the vaccine research language is

a breach of the promise that the organizations made to each other when

they joined the consensus.

Everyone compromised on the consensus language. A-CHAMP does not view

every provision in the consensus revision bill favorably but there is

enough in the revised bill to make the entire package worthwhile.

Some organizations have criticized A-CHAMP for taking a strong position

on the vaccine language, claiming that a bill containing the vaccine

research language will not pass the Senate, and to vigorously support a

bill with the vaccine research language will kill the bill. A-CHAMP

regards that criticism as misguided. Pressure must be brought to bear

for what we want. If the " fix is in " in the HELP committee and the

vaccine research language is dropped we must nevertheless stand up for

what we want and what our children need. There is no good reason to

omit vaccine research from the bill - it is but a small part of the

revised bill. If we fail to push for the vaccine research provision

those in the Senate who have yielded to pharmaceutical and AAP

lobbyists will think that our community has no backbone, and will

always sell out our kids for political expediency. The suggestion that

continued advocacy for the vaccine research language jeopardizes the

bill is wrong, and is a distortion of the legislative process that has

occurred. Communications that signal the Senate that it is acceptable

to disregard our consensus represents unprincipled posturing by persons

or organizations that seek to curry favor with politicians, at the

expense of our children.

There is never sufficient justification for actions that place

political positioning and expediency over efforts that make our

community unified and strong. If our community were sufficiently

unified and strong we could tell the Senate: NO!, that is not what we

wanted, and we would be able to come back to the Senate and win a

stronger bill. Unfortunately, the day for our community's unity and

strength is yet to be realized.

A-CHAMP has never opposed the Combating Autism Act but we cannot

endorse the omission of vaccine research language from the final bill.

We will continue to advocate strongly for research in the one area of

autism research that has been neglected: research into vaccines,

vaccine components and vaccine preservatives. We will continue our

advocacy in other areas that benefit our children, such as health

insurance coverage, education and funding for lifetime care.

If other autism groups break their promise to the consensus for the

sake of political expediency that is their choice. A-CHAMP will

maintain its consistent position, one that is based on principle, a

commitment to our community and, most importantly, a commitment to our

children.

Thank you.

J. Krakow

President, A-CHAMP

On Jul 11, 2006, at 8:54 AM, andrea52521991 wrote: