WSJ Article - would appreciate ideas for response...

[Guest guest]

I received an e-mail this morning from an a very " pro-vaccine "

acquaintance. It contained the following WSJ article which has a very

pro-vaccine - " poor pharmaceutical companies aren't making enough

billions, autistic kids are just ungrateful,unpatriotic and ruining

the country " tone.

I do not want to come off as a non-credible parent as the article

suggests, but I am would appreciate some ideas regarding how to

respond if anyone has ideas or the time. Also, this article just begs

for more letters to the editor...

WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Autism and Vaccines

Activists wage a nasty campaign to silence scientists.

Monday, February 16, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST

Everyone in our business learns to take a punch, but even we've been

surprised by the furious response to an editorial we ran a few weeks

ago about vaccines. The subject deserves further attention, not least

because the goal of our antagonists appears to be to shut down public

debate on the matter.

For the past few years, a small coterie of parents has taken to

loudly claiming that thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines for

60 years, is the cause of autism in their children. Their allegations

have scared many parents about immunizations, sent trial lawyers

scurrying to sue the few remaining vaccine makers, and inspired an

ugly political dispute. Lost in the controversy has been a little

thing called science.

We felt someone ought to point out that nothing currently exists in

the medical world to justify this furor--that thimerosal has never

been credibly linked to autism, and that recent studies in leading

medical journals have also failed to find a link. That research is

one of many reasons the medical community remains solid in its belief

that vaccines are safe.

To our surprise, we had wandered into a hornet's nest of moral

intimidation. In letters and e-mails we've since been accused

of " fraud, " a " terrorist act, " and of having an " industry profit

promoting agenda. " We've been told we belong to a vast conspiracy--

including researchers, pediatricians, corporations, health officials

and politicians--devoted to poisoning their children. A few have

harassed our secretaries and threatened an editorial writer.

As writers for an independent newspaper, we aren't about to shut up.

But what worries us is that these activists are using the same

tactics in an attempt to silence others with crucial roles in public

health and scientific research. The campaign to silence or discredit

them has already had damaging consequences.

A case in point is the National Alliance for Autism Research. This

widely respected outfit was founded by parents of autistic children,

and its staff and volunteers have raised millions for research. When

the autism claims first surfaced, NAAR dutifully cofunded a Danish

study, which found no connection between the measles-mumps-rubella

vaccine and autism. Within days, the critics were trashing NAAR,

claiming it was under the influence of drug companies (untrue) and

suggesting its research couldn't be trusted. NAAR had to spend

valuable time and resources rebutting those claims so it can remain a

source of honest information for worried parents.

Meanwhile, doctors who have spoken about the benefits of vaccination--

Offit and Katz (the co-creator of the measles vaccine)--

have been targeted as baby killers and compared to Hitler. The goal

appears to be to silence doctors who encourage immunizations.

That would be a disaster. While we don't know what causes autism, we

do know that diseases like measles cause blindness and brain damage.

Doctors are already struggling to be heard over Internet rumors, and

they report that parents are increasingly nervous about vaccines.

That's how paranoia started in England and Ireland, where parents

were swept up in autism claims and refused to immunize. Ireland, a

country with a population 77 times smaller than that of the U.S.,

reported 2,000 measles cases in 2002. The U.S. had 37.

As it happens, the thimerosal flap has already taken a human toll.

Health officials recommended taking thimerosal out of vaccines in

1999 to help calm fears--but this only fueled claims of a government

cover-up. Worse, as Dr. Offit reported in a recent issue of

Pediatrics, some hospitals misinterpreted thimerosal-related

recommendations and suspended some vaccinations for newborns. One

institution later reported the death, from acute hepatitis B-induced

liver failure, of a three-month-old infant who wasn't immunized.

Aided by trial lawyers, the intimidation has spread to Congress.

Vaccine makers receive some liability protection from the federal

Vaccine Injury Compensation Program--which pays out to the rare

family whose child is injured by vaccines. But tort lawyers have

exploited loopholes to file billion-dollar thimerosal suits that

could bankrupt the few remaining vaccine makers.

When Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist tried to modernize VICP--

and require autism claims to go through the program like everyone

else--the autism police went to work. They camped out in Washington

and convinced three Republican Senators to kill any liability

protection. The Senators claimed in a recent letter to us that they

hope the bill will be reconsidered, but it seems to have disappeared.

The lawsuits go on.

None of this, we should stress, is in the interest of families struck

with autism. Researchers have spent years studying the vaccine-autism

link, and we hope they continue. But if the research disproves a

connection--as it has up to now--the autism community needs to listen

and move on. Research dollars are limited, and parents of autistic

children deserve to see the money spent where it will do the most

good.

Autism is a terrible diagnosis, and we hope science soon gives

parents the chance at a cure. But the best way to achieve that goal

is through open and honest inquiry that shouldn't be stopped because

of the clamoring of an intolerant few.