National Autism Association
Saturday, August 06, 2005 (10:35:48)

Posted by sylvia

Disabilities.afreepress.com 13/06/05

Open letter to the media

Our federal health agencies continue to state that their research shows "no evidence of harm" from injecting our children with vaccines containing mercury. The press generally publishes these claims because these agencies are charged with safeguarding Americans' health. However, the members of the media rarely note that these are the same people who approved and mandated the vaccines in the first place. They're also the ones with the 700 conflict of interest waivers for financial ties to the drug industry. The reality is that there has never been any long-term study done on the toxic effects of mercury (thimerosal) used in vaccines.

In 1930 Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Company invented thimerosal to prevent contamination in vaccines and called it a "safe" form of mercury. Thimerosal was tested ONCE--75 years ago on 22 adults who were dying of meningitis. There was no possibility of seeing long-term effects nor could a test on adults give doctors any indication of the effect it might have on the developing brain of a baby. Thimerosal has never been legitimately tested for its toxic effects on humans, although hundreds of peer-reviewed published scientific studies attest to its extreme neurotoxicity. After the creation of the FDA, thimerosal use was grandfathered-in without benefit of scientific input regarding the potential for toxic effects.

The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control should be utterly embarrassed to make safety claims based on that pathetic history of oversight. Negligence of such sweeping proportion is unique in the history of modern medicine and has taken a devastating toll on the subset of young children unable to deal with the toxic overload from escalated use of mercury in pediatric vaccines. In twenty years, the autism rate has gone from one in 10,000 to one in every 166 children.

Our federal health agencies continue to have no valid explanation for the dramatic increase in autism. The FDA and the CDC tell us that this may be due to "better diagnosing" or some elusive "autism gene." By definition, you cannot have a genetic epidemic. Therefore, there must be an environmental trigger. The federal health agencies adamantly deny that the autism increase could be the result of toxic mercury allowed in vaccines in the late 80's through today. Yet, they are slow to look for any other environmental trigger. If not mercury, then what? Federal agencies have assumed an indefensible stance, claiming that the admitted excess mercury they allowed in vaccines for the last 20 years doesn't cause mercury poisoning. While they are in denial, America's children are suffering.

We are in the midst of an epidemic of neurological disorders such as autism, ADD, ADHD, etc. Eighty percent of children with an autism diagnosis are under the age of 17, with one in six school-age children now diagnosed with a learning or behavior disorder. Currently our schools are struggling to educate this explosion of special needs students, and in a few years it will be up to the states to bear the total burden of supporting these disabled individuals as adults. The cost will be in the trillions.

I'm asking members of the press to read the attached forward which chronicles the collusion and cover-up involving the FDA and the CDC over the effects of mercury in vaccines along with the statistics showing the explosion of autism in the United States in the last fifteen years.

I have also attached two recent study abstracts which illustrate the toxic properties of thimerosal. While some within our federal agencies and the pharmaceutical industry may refer to such work as "junk science", these studies are from Columbia University and the University of Washington, conducted by well-credentialed scientists with impeccable reputations. There are many other studies by similarly-accredited researchers and universities that support the thimerosal/autism link that I would be happy to provide as well. Many can be found in the library on the NAA website. I urge you to look there.

Please get back to me about your views on the claim that there is "no evidence of harm."

Anne McElroy Dachel

Chippewa Falls, WI

Media Relations Coordinator

National Autism Association

amdachel02@aol.com