Crossroads Newsletter Apr 2006

A Poisonous Move for Kids by CDC
by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

On February 22, CDC announced that it is dramatically expanding America's flu vaccination program to include all children between six months and 5 years and their siblings and caretakers. But, guess what
CDC forgot to mention? There is not nearly enough thimerosal-free flu vaccine to go around. Vaccine makers produced fewer than 8 million thimerosal-free flu doses this season, which doesn't bode well for the more than 17 million children designated to receive flu shots under CDC's new protocol.

Thimerosal is the mercury-based preservative that has been linked to the epidemic of neurological disorders including speech delays, language delays, hyperactivity, attention-deficit disorder, and autism in American children born after 1989. CDC recommended the removal of thimerosal from children's vaccines by 2001, but most flu vaccinations still contain 25 micrograms of thimerosal in every 0.5ml dose. Under CDC's new
recommendations, every American child under five will be injected once each year, with a double dose for first-timers. By his fifth birthday, a child whose parents cannot obtain the child-safe vaccine will have received up to 100 micrograms of thimerosal, which is half ethyl mercury. A recent scientific study indicates that many children will retain the tissue-destroying toxin in their brain and organs for years. CDC has moved aggressively to cut funding and derail follow-up studies that examine the impacts of retained mercury in children's brains.
(complete story)

Medical Journal: Autism Rates Decline as Mercury Removed from Childhood Vaccines

Independent Analysis Refutes Institute of Medicine Claims of “No Relationship,” While Mercury Still Used in Flu & Other Vaccines

TUCSON, AZ -- A new study shows that autism may be linked after all to the use of mercury in childhood vaccines, despite government's previous claims to the contrary.

An article in the March 10, 2006 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (JPandS.org) shows that since mercury was removed from childhood vaccines, the alarming increase in reported rates of autism and other neurological disorders (NDs) in children not only stopped, but actually dropped sharply - by as much as 35%.

This analysis directly contradicts 2004 recommendations of the Institute of Medicine which examined vaccine safety data from the National Immunization Program (NIP) of the CDC. While not willing to either rule out or to corroborate a relationship between mercury and autism, the IOM soft-pedaled its findings, and decided no more studies were needed.

As more and more vaccines were added to the mandatory schedule of vaccines for children, the dose of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal rose, so that the cumulative dose injected into babies exceeded the toxic threshold set by many government agencies. Mercury is known to damage nerve cells in very low concentrations.
(complete story)

A User-Friendly Vaccination Schedule
by Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD

Vaccination is a controversial subject, and many parents worry about subjecting their children to them. Parents have asked what vaccines I would recommend their children receive. This article addresses that question.

Currently, the CDC Immunization schedules requires the following: It calls for one vaccine, against hepatitis B, to be given on the day of birth; 7 vaccines at two months; 6 more (including booster shots) at four months; and as many as 8 vaccines on the six month well-baby visit. Before a child reaches the age of two he or she will have received 32 vaccinations on this schedule, including four doses each of vaccines for Hemophilus influenzae type b infections, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis - all of them given during the first 12 months of life.

Seven vaccines injected into a 13 lb. two-month old infant are equivalent to 70 doses in a 130 lb. adult.

The vaccination schedule that I would recommend:
1. No vaccinations until a child is two years old.
2. No vaccines that contain thimerosal (mercury).
3. No live virus vaccines (except for smallpox, should it recur).
4. These vaccines, to be given one at a time, every six months, beginning at age 2:
a. Pertussis (acellular, not whole cell)
b. Diphtheria
c. Tetanus
d. Polio (the Salk vaccine, cultured in human cells)

American children are the most highly vaccinated kids in the world. This schedule is an alternative to the CDC's immunization schedule, it is user-friendly.
(complete article)

Reviewing ADHD Drugs - FDA Goes Through The Motions
by Evelyn Pringle

Some of the top-selling drugs of all time are those prescribed to treat attention deficit disorders.

A new ADHD drug is set to come on the market that supposedly can keep people awake for days at a time with no problems. Just what we needed, especially for hyper little kids.

The drug Sparlon is manufactured by Cephalon and is a clone of Provigil, another drug already on the market. Sparlon contains modafinil, the same exact active ingredient contained in Provigil which is approved for the treatment of patients with narcolepsy, sleep apnea and shift work sleep disorder, according to the FDA.

The drug’s approval will be considered by the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee at a public hearing scheduled for March 23, 2006.
(complete review)

www.crossroadsinstitute.org

Early Downward Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines
David A. Geier, B.A.
Mark R. Geier, M.D., Ph.D.

ABSTRACT Contemporaneously with the epidemic rise in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs), first observed in the United States during the 1990s, the childhood immunization schedule was expanded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to include several additional thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs).

On July 7, 1999, a joint recommendation was made by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) to remove thimerosal from vaccines.

A two-phase study was undertaken to evaluate trends in diagnosis of new NDs entered into the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and the California Department of Developmental Services (CDDS) databases on a reporting quarter basis, from 1994 through 2005.

Significant increasing trends in newly diagnosed NDs were observed in both databases 1994 through mid-2002.

Significant decreasing trends in newly diagnosed NDs were observed in both databases from mid-2002 through 2005.

The results indicate that the trends in newly diagnosed NDs correspond directly to the expansion and subsequent contraction of the cumulative mercury dose to which children were exposed from TCVs through the U.S. immunization schedule.
(complete report)

New Study Supports Mercury-Autism Link as Documents Surface Showing CDC's Refusal to Reduce Mercury Exposure Through Routine Shots in 1999, Says NAA

National Autism Association Calls for Senate Investigation of CDC Malfeasance in Extending Use of Mercury in Kids' Vaccines

Nixa, MO - The National Autism Association (NAA) joined other advocacy organizations in calling for Senate investigations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding its failure to remove thimerosal (mercury) from pediatric vaccines when given the opportunity in 1999. This comes following a study released this week showing reduced autism diagnoses coincide with the reduction of mercury-containing vaccines given to children.

The study, conducted by Mark Geier, M.D. and David Geier and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, shows reduced autism rates since the removal of mercury from most childhood vaccines. These findings bolster voluminous studies and data confirming that increased use of mercury-containing vaccines in the 1980's and 1990's led to an epidemic of neurological disorders among American children.
(complete story)

Nine Percent Approval Rating? US Network Television News FAILS "Big Pharma"...

Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen

Despite the fact that "Big Pharma" spent billions of dollars, since 1999, on television, a recent Harris poll shows that only nine percent (9%) of the American public believes what the pharmaceutical industry says is the truth.

WASHINGTON - December 7, 2005- According to a October 2005 Harris Poll, only nine percent of the American public considers the pharmaceutical industry generally honest and trustworthy. If perception were reality, the prescription drug industry would be in Chapter 11.

Whether it is anger at the callous disregard for human health revealed in the Vioxx and SSRI scandals; irritation with the incessant peddling of drugs directly to consumers and giveaways to doctors; ire at the frustration with the concealment of adverse clinical trial findings; exasperation that safe, cheap drugs are barred from importation from Canada; or disgust with conflicts of interest in the drug approval process and the buying of political influence, over 90 percent of the public views the drug industry with suspicion.
A majority say they want more, not less, regulation. Indeed, industry sales are down this year and companies are laying off thousands of workers. But these selective factoids can be deceiving: Pfizer is among the companies cutting its workforce, while its profits for 2005 will be $8 billion. Hold your pity."
(complete story)

Mercury and autism: Accelerating Evidence?

Abstract: The causes of autism and neurodevelopmental disorders are unknown. Genetic and environmental risk factors seem to be involved. Because of an observed increase in autism in the last decades, which parallels cumulative mercury exposure, it was proposed that autism may be in part caused by mercury.
We review the evidence for this proposal. Several epidemiological studies failed to find a correlation between mercury exposure through thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines, and the risk of autism.

Recently, it was found that autistic children had a higher mercury exposure during pregnancy due to maternal dental amalgam and thimerosal-containing immunoglobulin shots.

It was hypothesized that children with autism have a decreased detoxification capacity due to genetic polymorphism. In vitro, mercury and thimerosal in levels found several days after vaccination inhibit methionine synthetase (MS) by 50%.

Normal function of MS is crucial in biochemical steps necessary for brain development, attention and production of glutathione, an important antioxidative and detoxifying agent. Repetitive doses of thimerosal leads to neurobehavioral deteriorations in autoimmune susceptible mice, increased oxidative stress and decreased intracellular levels of glutathione in vitro.

Subsequently, autistic children have significantly decreased level of reduced glutathione. Promising treatments of autism involve detoxification of mercury, and supplementation of deficient metabolites.
(complete research)