Important Press Release

[Guest guest]

PRESS RELEASE

September 30, 2002

For Immediate Release:

MAJOR ORGANIZATIONS JOIN PARENTS FOR FULL-PAGE

ADVERTISEMENT IN THE WASHINGTON POST.

After serious talks of placing a full-page advertisement in the

Washington Post to address the rise in disabilities among children,

three major organizations confirmed today that they will make

substantial donations towards the $78,000 project.

Unlocking Autism, Safe Minds, and The National Vaccine Information

Center have joined forces with JoAnne Pike and hundreds of parents,

caretakers and vendors, to campaign for answers from the government

about the growing number of vaccine-related disabilities among

children in America. " Something big needs to happen before anything

will change, " says JoAnne Pike, Unlocking Autism Representative and

mother of a child diagnosed with autism. " The government isn't

hearing us. National media isn't hearing us. Lucrative drug

companies are being protected. What we've got is a national crisis---

a silent one. "

Safe Minds President Lyn Redwood believes the ad is an excellent way

to take action. " We know it's time for something like this to happen,

which is why we're standing behind it 100%. Our children have been

exposed to one of the most toxic substances on earth, mercury, in

excess of federal safety guidelines from mandated infant vaccines and

now suffer with a wide range of physical and developmental

disabilities and no one wants to discuss this fact. This will be one

powerful message to the public and government officials---if they

haven't heard our message yet, they will. "

Focusing on the simultaneous rise in vaccination rates, multiple

vaccines and chronic disease and disability in the past 20 years, the

goal of the ad is to educate the general public and notify vaccine

lawmakers and policymakers that something needs to be done. Barbara

Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine

Information Center (NVIC), the oldest and largest vaccine safety

advocacy organization in America, agrees that something has to be

done to get the public's attention. " We are not going to wait another

20 years for the answers to legitimate questions about why so many of

our children are sick. We want to know why bright, healthy children

are never the same after getting vaccinated and we are not going to

give up until they give us credible answers. "

Unlocking Autism President Reynolds is also ready to address

the rise in disabilities, " Only ten years ago in the state of

Louisiana, seven children per year received a diagnosis of autism.

Today that number is 273. Keep in mind this is one small state. With

these sobering numbers, it's unrealistic to believe that physicians,

with more patients than ever before, have abruptly sharpened their

diagnostic skills. After all, we're not seeing 1 in 250 adults with

autism, but unfortunately this may be our fate if we do not take

immediate action. The rise in autism is very real and extremely

serious. It's time for government officials to heed the demands of

thousands of parents who are anything but wrong. "

Parents and caretakers of vaccine-injured children can take immediate

action by contributing to the Washington Post ad. Visit

http://www.unlockingautism.org or write to jpiker@.... Caretakers

are urged to include their child's first name, age and diagnosis

which will be displayed in the ad.

For more information, contact:

The Washington Post Project...

JoAnne Pike

jpiker@...

Lori McIlwain

lmcilwain@...