Two recent posts by MB need to be considered together. In this post, MB informs us the Institute of Medicine is scheduled to meet on Monday for its “Immunization Safety Review meeting on Vaccines and Autism."
Republican Congressman Dr. David Weldon has asked that the IOM delay its meeting arguing that:
Pressing forward with this meeting at this time, I believe, will further undermine the credibility of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on matters of vaccine safety and do damage to the reputation of the IOM. I believe the proposed date of this meeting, which you have the ability to change, is in the best interests of no one who is seeking the truth about a possible association between vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.
The headline of one story about Dr. Deth’s research is:
Autism linked to preservative in common childhood vaccines:Alarmed U.S. researchers peg mercury-based chemical as 'smoking gun'
Scientists have found what they believe could be a "smoking gun" linking vaccines to autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.
In a study that was rushed to print online today -- two months ahead of its scheduled publication in the journal Molecular Psychiatry -- U.S. researchers have discovered an apparent link between thimerosal, a controversial mercury-based preservative once commonly used in childhood vaccines, and an increased risk of neurological disorders such as autism and ADHD…The study could account for the rising rates of autism since the early 1980s, when more thimerosal-containing shots were added to a child's vaccine schedule, says investigator Dr. Richard Deth, a professor of pharmacology at Northeastern University in Boston.
A recent review of vaccine-related "adverse events" in the U.S. found a "significant correlation" between shots containing thimerosal and autism, the researchers report.
The new study is "the first to offer an explanation for possible causes of two increasingly common childhood neurological disorders," the medical journal said in a statement.
I do not know if the characterization of the study as a "smoking gun" will prove to be true. My point is that nether does the IOM. If the IOM is in search of the truth, it will want to take a long, hard look at Dr. Deth’s work. I can not imagine that they can do so before Monday.
The IOM needs to reschedule its meeting so as to investigate the existence of “smoking gun” evidence linking heavy metals, including thimerosal to autism and ADD.
If truth and science are the goal, the IOM will want to see the study. If, as Congressman Weldon suggests, there is a political agenda in play, the IOM will force through a hearing and issue its report without a careful look at the new evidence.
That would be a shame. Look at MB’s post, follow the instructions and send a message that science should trump politics when investigating the causes of our kids’ autism
I thought the article you linked to wasn't as clear as I liked, so I went hunting and found this press release.
In their work, the scientists found that insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and the neurotransmitter dopamine both stimulated folate-dependent methylation pathways in neuronal cells. At the same time they noted that compounds like thimerosal, ethanol and metals (like lead and mercury) effectively inhibited these same biochemical pathways at concentrations that are typically found following vaccination or other sources of exposure.
This sort of theorizing isn't completely convincing to me. What if the body has defense mechanisms to protect against this sort of damage? In the final analysis, I think we'll have to rely on epidemiological studies to see or not if thimerosal precipitates autism.
Hi folks,
I too went hunting after reading your blog, and sent some inquiries.
Christine Phelan of Northeastern University was nice enough to send me a link to an executive summary of the new study:
http://www.nupr.neu.edu/2-04/autism.html
From the summary, there's a link to download the whole article.
Regards,
mb
(a different Mary Beth)
I misspoke - actually, from the above link you can download the full STUDY, not just an article.
mb
Posted by: mb at February 9, 2004 05:06 PMI was able to listen to a small part of the morning presentation at the IOM Feb.9 on Vaccines/autism......In the morning an English woman (Dr. Miller?) at question time was asked if the children in the study received Hep-B and she said none of the children did and then suspiciously (haha, I am getting so paranoid...I can see Dr. McCormick tripping over the plug "accidently" in my mind...but I digress....) the feed to my machine cut out. I thought, damn, this is BS to compare the English kids to Americans if they didn't receive that little bolus at day 1 like my kid and millions of others. So I was suspicious of her to begin with.
Then...I downloaded the slides from the meeting
http://www.iom.edu/subpage.asp?id=18065 -------
and I notice on page 20 of her presentation that the diagnostic categories were so vague that my son qualified for most of them. (I'm trying to remember. I know you all are such careful researchers and technically savvy, and a cheerful idiot like me must drive you crazy!!!!)
Autism
behavior disorders
DD (developmental disability, I suppose)
ADHD
Language Impaired
tics
I think there were 8 of them...but my son could have qualified for any of the above. Thus....there was no statistical association...well duh!!!!! It's like taking a tablespoon of tang and dividing it between 8 glasses. You get something that isn't quite tang, but not quite water.(God, that was a stupid analagy...) However, overall, there was an association when you combined the criteria, which I found damning.
Anyhoo.....CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING LINKED UP TO JOHN EDWARDS...or was I just dreaming? God bless you for your work.
Rose
Posted by: Rose at February 10, 2004 10:01 AMTo suggest that epidemiological studies will clear the air about the theoretical thimerosal-autism link will greatly depend upon using datasets which are a damn site better than the ones currently offered. Very few of the existing HMO records will be accurate, as autism is excluded from coverage by the majority of health plans, and as such is liable not to be coded into the systems with any degree of consistancy. Since autism has never been seen (by mainstream medicine) as an adverse event related to vaccination, none of the datasets for vaccine damage will be appropriate (can anyone say "predetermined outcome"?)
Epidemiological studies are only good for seeing broad trends in health and medicine, they cannot by their very nature find rare occurances. Even were one to assume that 100% of all autism is directly related to thimerosal (which is unlikely since autism predates the use of thimerosal containing vaccines) it still means that vaccines are better than 99% safe (in this regard) since autism has not yet risen above 1 in 100.
It will take clinical study of actual patients to answer whether or not thimerosal has a direct hand in causing autism.
And as far as studies go, even the ver Straetten report (which was "doctored" a bit by Destefano and Chen) found a direct correlation between TCV's and neurological impairments which was above what the courts have determined to be causation. Read the Simpsonwood transcripts to see what the CDC thought of this report before they passed it along in final draft to the IOM.
Posted by: Dad at April 8, 2004 11:57 AM