mm2

    According to a participant at the scientific review of the
confidential CDC study held at Simpsonwood, "The number of dose-
related relationships are linear and statistically significant. You
can play with the numbers all you want. They are linear. The
increased incidence of neurobehavioral problems in the past few
decades is probably real. I work in the school system where my effort
is entirely special education, and I have to say that the numbers of
kids getting help in special education is growing nationally and
state by state at a rate we have not seen before…we don't see that
kind of genetic change in 30 years."
     It is now estimated that 17 percent of US children under the age
of 18 are suffering from learning and/or behavioral disabilities.
California's Department of Developmental Services just released it
sobering statistics for 2001. It reported a 20 percent increase over
the previous year 2000 for diagnoses of level-one autism. Level-one
autism is the number one disability in the state of California,
accounting for 35 percent of all new cases. Of the 16,802 persons
with level-one autism in the California system, two-thirds of them
are between the ages of birth and 13.
     How could a mistake of such magnitude have been made---one that
has seemingly impacted a generation of children around the world? The
FDA approves vaccines in a vacuum; they are not required to study
cumulative exposures or the synergistic effects of receiving multiple
vaccines in a single day. After the FDA approves a vaccine, it is
reviewed for inclusion on the CDC's Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP) vaccine schedule. In reviewing policy
decisions that brought about the approval of the ill-fated rotavirus
vaccine, Congressman Dan Burton found that the ACIP is riddled with
conflicts of interest: committee members own stock in drug companies
that make vaccines; committee members own patents for vaccines;
conflicts of interest waivers are granted for members for a year at a
time, and there are no public members or parents who have a vote on
the same committee.

Executive Director of the American Association of Physicians and
Surgeons Jane Orient, MD, has long argued that because vaccines are
state and federally mandated, the manufacturer and the physician are
relieved of liability for adverse effects. On the other hand,
physicians who advise against a mandated vaccine face increased legal
liability if a patient is infected with that disease. Neither
vaccine manufacturers nor medical personnel have any impetus to
follow up on the safety or rationale of the product they are
administering.
It has been almost three years since Lynn Redwood, a nurse,
mother of an autistic son, and one of the founders and current
president of SAFEMINDS, first came across an FDA report mentioning
that children who received vaccines within thimerosal might possibly
exceed federal guidelines for mercury exposure. She went on to have
a lock of her son's hair tested, and it revealed levels of mercury
and aluminum at almost five times the acceptable amount. Redwood
says, "I want parents to know what happened to their children, and I
am starting to lose faith that our government and its various
agencies are doing anything about this."