worth reading /Congressman Dan Burton may God bless you

[Guest guest]

Special Order: Autism

3/25/03

Congressman Burton addresses the House floor about how the mercury

in childhood vaccinations causes autism.

Full Text

Mr. Burton: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the late 1980's,

Congress passed a bill that established the vaccine injury

compensation fund. It was supposed to be a nonadversarial fund that

was to help children and their parents when they were damaged by

vaccines. We have found in the last few years that we've had a

tremendous increase in the number of autistic children in America.

We went to one in 1,000 children to 1 in 100. And now many doctors

and scientists around the world believe it's been caused by mercury

in vaccines. There is a product in vaccines called Thimerosal, and

mercury causes neurological damage to the brain and we've been

putting it in needles and into our kids for many, many years mercury

which has a cumulative effect in the brain does cause things like

autism and other neurological disorders. Most parents don't know

that. When we established this fund in the late 1980's, there was a

three-year window when people could file if their children had been

damaged by vaccines. Many of the people who have autistic children

didn't even know about the fund until the three years had elapsed.

So what we're trying to do is get that changed so that all these

thousands and thousands of parents who parents who have children who

are autistic have the opportunity to apply to that fund to get the

kind of restitution to take care of kids. Many of these people have

gone bankrupt, have lost their homes, have had to take extra

mortgages to take care of the cost of their kids' problems and the

children are never going to be completely right. if you saw the

movie " Rain Man, " you know what I'm talking about. So each night I'm

coming down here and reading to you one of the thousands of letters

I get from these parents who have no place to turn except to the

congress. This lady that wrote this letter is named Melinda ,

and she's from Parama, Missouri. Here's what she says, my family's

journey down this road began a little over three years ago, the day

of my son's diagnosis is permanently etched in my mind. I stood

there frozen in the doctor's office almost as if time stood still

and I was instantly put on autopilot. It is still painful to go back

to that time in my mind. It finally explained why my precious little

boy no longer uttered my name or even looked into my eyes. Oh, how I

longed to hear the words I love you, but those were not going to

come easily. It would take numerous hours of intense therapy to put

together any sounds. With our backs against the wall, we immediately

immersed ourselves into research and getting therapy treatment under

way. While most kids his age enjoy leisure time playing with toys

and watching " Sesame Street, " my son had a time intensive schedule

of 40 hours a week of combined therapies. We started from scratch

and had to learn exactly what knew and then fill in many

gaps from there. As our research continued, I was quick to discover

the use of Thimerosal. received his vaccines from both the

county health department as well as the doctor's office. All in all,

too much was accumulated for his virginal immunity system and

nervous system. My investigation has been thwarted from the doctor's

office from the beginning. As I began to put together pieces and

find proof for my well founded fears of mercury poisoning in my son,

I requested the specific lot numbers as well manufacture's names for

his vaccines in order to file a vaccine injury report. The doctor's

office stalled me for many months before telling me no specific

records had been maintained. I couldn't believe my ears. This was --

was it Lowell not to mention either ethical obligation to their

patient's safety and welfare? Without the specific information, I

was never able to officially report the injury, but it's my sincere

hope that through this letter, my story can be told. Nothing can be

done to undo the damage done to my son, but I pray that no other

family will have to suffer at the hands of our ignorant use of

mercury in these vaccines. What sickens me even more is that I

worked in an environmental lab where we would test for this toxin in

the parts per billion and no one ever bothered to mention to me

during any of my son's vaccines that this toxin, mercury, was being

used as a preservative. As an intelligent human being, if given the

opportunity and knowledge of being told this chemical was contained

in his vaccines, I never would have allowed this poison to be

injected into my child. Then it goes on and on and tells about how

horrible it was as she saw her child slip away from her and doesn't

even pay attention to her or look at her anymore. It's difficult for

those who are not personally affected to understand or even

acknowledge the truth. We have been trained from early on to trust

in our government and follow all the guidelines set forth for

vaccine safety. Like many others, I used to have that trust. Now my

vision has been greatly blurred as the blame and acceptance of this

issue has been set aside time and again. It's time for our country

to step forward and do what's right -- no other family should have

to walk this stony path when it can easily be avoided by the

complete removal of all mercury in all vaccines. The monetary loss

of dumping these vaccines is a small price to pay. My son is now 6,

and he's doing as well as anyone could expect. Let me just end up --

I hear the gavel. There are thousands of these children, and there

are a few of their pictures right here who have been damaged by

mercury in vaccines. We need to adjust the vaccine injury

compensation found take care of these kids. We can't leave them and

their parents high and dry. It's absolutely criminal for this

congress not to deal with that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.