7/12/01 Oregonian: Parents of autistic kids sue over vaccines

[Guest guest]

This is from Thursday's Oregonian, saw the article this afternoon at the

hospital, and since I didn't see it posted here, I thought I'd copy it off

the Oregonian website for all of you. (I hope it all comes through- I've

noticed AOL chops things off if it's too big or turns things into

attachments.) (By the way, the Mead's, for those of you who don't know who

they are, are involved in the startup of autism center here.)

Ruth

http://www.oregonlive.com/public_life/oregonian/index.ssf?/public_life/oregoni

an/lc_51autis12.frame

Parents of autistic kids sue over vaccines

A class-action suit says the mercury once commonly used as a preservative in

the shots causes brain damage

Thursday, July 12, 2001

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By Sullivan and DON COLBURN of The Oregonian staff

Portland parents of four autistic children filed a class-action lawsuit

Wednesday against childhood vaccine-makers and the doctors who gave the

shots, claiming that a preservative in the vaccines poisoned their children

and left them brain damaged.

The suit filed in state Circuit Court in Multnomah County claims that during

the 1990s, vaccine manufacturers and thousands of doctors exposed as many as

6 million American children to potentially damaging levels of mercury through

thimerosal, a once common preservative in many childhood vaccines.

The action names 12 corporations and a Portland pediatrician for failing to

inform parents of the potential exposure or mercury-free alternatives, said

L. , a Portland medical liability attorney who filed the

suit.

But the class action may extend to additional companies and thousands of

physicians and families whose children have been diagnosed with autism, a

spectrum of developmental disorders marked by deficits in language and social

relationships. It also places Oregon at the forefront of activism in a

national search for answers for a disorder that has no known cause or cure.

Vaccine-makers and federal health officials say the small amounts of mercury

in thimerosal-containing vaccines pose no health hazard to children or

adults.

At a news conference Wednesday, was joined by a Beaverton couple

who, in a separate but related case, filed suit against nine vaccine-makers

and distributors, a pediatrician and her clinic.

and Tory Mead claim that the health problems of their 3-year-old son,

, are due to mercury poisoning from the 16 vaccinations he received

before age 2. The Meads say that 14 of those shots contained thimerosal.

Around his second birthday, began to show " symptoms of neurological

damage consistent with mercury poisoning, " the lawsuit says. He stopped

talking and became socially withdrawn. He has been diagnosed with autism.

Public health experts -- including the U.S. Surgeon General, the national

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration

and the American Academy of Pediatrics -- all say childhood vaccinations,

including those containing thimerosal, are safe.

" No children are getting toxic levels of mercury from vaccines, " concludes a

CDC advisory.

" There is absolutely no evidence that the mercury in vaccines causes or has

caused any harm, " said Dr. Myers, director of the national vaccine

program of the U.S. Public Health Service.

The known risk from mercury, Myers said, comes from " chronic, day-in, day-out

exposure to high levels. " But he said even if every shot a child received

contained mercury, the total exposure would not be dangerous because the

shots would be spread over two years. Most mercury inhaled, ingested or

absorbed through the skin is excreted and does not accumulate in the body.

" It's misleading to say it's cumulative, " said Dr. Offit, a pediatrician

and head of pediatric infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of

Philadelphia and a member of the CDC's advisory committee for immunization

practices.

Because of public concern about mercury, the CDC and the National Institutes

of Health have launched studies to measure possible health effects in

children who received mercury-containing vaccines. Preliminary findings from

both studies show no danger, Myers said.

" There's a wealth of data out there showing there's no relation between

vaccines and autism, " said Dr. Froeschle, a pediatrician and director

of scientific and medical affairs for Aventis Pasteur, one of the

vaccine-makers named in the Meads' lawsuit.

A report by the Institute of Medicine last April found no link between the

mumps, measles and rubella vaccine and autism. But Dr. Marie McCormick, the

chairwoman of the independent committee that produced the report, declined to

comment on the safety of thimerosal. The committee is holding a public

hearing on thimerosal-containing vaccines and brain development Monday in

Cambridge, Mass.

" The professional societies and relevant agencies take this very, very

seriously, " McCormick said.

Thimerosal has been used as a preservative in vaccines since the 1930s. In

June 1999, the FDA notified health officials that some infants receiving

routine immunization could exceed one of three federal guidelines for daily

exposure to mercury.

Public concern prompted health and government officials to recommend

eliminating thimerosal, while saying there was no convincing evidence of

harm.

The suits allege that the sharply increased number of shots that children

received during the past decade introduced dangerous levels of mercury at a

vulnerable stage of development.

Before fall 1999, thimerosal was used in multiple dose containers of vaccines

such as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and hepatitis B to combat bacteria.

There is no thimerosal in new vaccines for infants or in single dose vials.

But vaccines with thimerosal may still be in use in the United States,

McCormick said, because federal officials did not deem the preservative

enough of a public health threat to recall the product.

The class action suit asks the court to decide whether vaccine-makers or

doctors have the duty to warn parents that some vaccines contain ethylmercury

and that mercury can cause neurological damage.

It also demands that manufacturers turn over any studies relating to the

preservative. It would create a fund to study the affected children and

provide needed care. It also seeks to stop the statutes of limitations under

state and federal law for filing claims on vaccine injuries.

The Meads' suit asks for $13.1 million in damages, including $10 million in

noneconomic losses, $2.1 million in past and future treatment costs and $1

million in stress and loss of companionship with their son.

The Meads' lawsuit accuses drug companies of making defective vaccines and

failing to warn parents. It accuses The Children's Clinic and Dr. Beverly L.

Wittkopp, the boy's former pediatrician, of negligence in providing the

thimerosal-containing vaccinations. Wittkopp is also named in the class

-action suit. Both Wittkopp and The Children's Clinic declined to comment.

The Meads and their lawyers say they favor vaccinations against childhood

diseases but without thimerosal.

Their son's autism is being treated with a series of mainstream and

alternative therapies, including a restricted diet and supplemental vitamins.

Mercury is a metal present naturally in the environment, in petroleum and

some household products. Tiny amounts are in the water supply. Most human

exposure to mercury comes from breathing polluted air and eating fish. A

6-ounce can of tuna fish, according to an FDA study, may contain about the

same amount of mercury as some of the shots Mead received.

Most mercury ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin is excreted and

does not accumulate in the body, experts said.

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You can reach Sullivan at 503-221-8068 or by e-mail at

juliesullivan@....

Thursday, July 12, 2001 -->

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