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"Autism
Rocks" T-shirts!!
Note Cards by people with autism |
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WASHINGTON - A bill that marshals an army of new research dollars to strike a forceful blow against autism deserves - and we hope will get - full consideration from the House of Representatives when it returns in September. Passed unanimously by the Senate on Aug. 3, the Combating Autism Act will increase research funds for autism and offers new hope that a cure can be found for the nation's most common genetic disorder. The bipartisan act would bolster an already strong base of existing science about the origins of autism. Medical researchers believe it could lead to breakthroughs that might eventually help cure a disease that affects a growing number of children and their families. Equally important, the bill could finally lay to rest an unfounded theory propounded by a small group of physicians and parents, who claim a link between autism and the thimerosal preservative contained in many vaccines. advertisement Recently, five recent major studies examining the health records of hundreds of thousands of children in the United States, Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Canada found no link between autism and vaccines or thimerosal. The peer-reviewed studies - published in prestigious medical journals - show that the rates of autism either remained the same or increased after mercury-containing thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines. Unfortunately, misplaced media attention to this nonexistent link obscures the very real issues surrounding autism and shifts attention away from what is genuinely needed: federal funding for increased research into the disorder, advanced training for medical professionals, increased early diagnosis and improved services for autistic children and their parents. Given that autistic spectrum disorders are among the most common genetic conditions - occurring in one of every 166 live births - we should not waste any more time pursing what amounts to a dead-end speculation. The Combating Autism Act would, among other things: • Double the amount that the National Institutes of Health spends on autism research. • Create a screening program in all 50 states for the early identification of children with autism. • Fund the efforts of the Autism Treatment Network to identify the best medical practices in the treatment of autistic kids. • Continue funding of the epidemiological and public education programs on autism at the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion. The bill, which would authorize nearly $1 billion over the next five years to conduct a variety of activities to fight the disease, is long overdue and deserves swift passage. At present, research about autism is lim- ited. We do know it is a genetic disorder associated with structural changes in the brain that begin prior to birth. We also know that autism genes produce effects that lead to an excessive increase in head size at about one month of age, well before a baby receives its first set of pediatric vaccines. And we know heredity is the most important risk factor for these structural changes in autistic brains. A stepped-up effort to fund such research could lead to the development of new treatments, genetic screening tools and an evidence-based program of genetic counseling. The Combating Autism Act is, indeed, an act of enlightenment. In addition to helping us to understand the root causes of autism, it should undercut those who inaccurately blame lifesaving vaccines for the disorder. That mistaken belief, if perpetuated, could create a public health crisis that will make urgently needed vaccines unavailable to our children. Already, there have been widespread demands by state legislatures to limit the use of vaccines in children or to change their mode of production. In California, for instance, soon children will no longer be allowed to receive the influenza vaccine - a ban that could trigger an epidemic in the nation's most populous state. Reduced immunization rates will substantially reverse public health gains made over the last four decades and lead to unnecessary childhood deaths. In the meantime, it is important to remember that today's vaccines save lives. Some estimates indicate that the global use of childhood vaccines for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, Haemophilus influenzae meningitis and polio have saved 160 million lives over the last 25 years. That number is equivalent to all of the lives lost in all world wars during the 20th century. By passing the Combating Autism Act this year, Congress can help millions of American families - both those who are affected by autism and those who will continue to have access to vaccines that protect their children from many other preventable diseases. Dr. Peter Hotez heads the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is co-founder of Every Child by Two, the Carter/Bumpers Campaign for Early Childhood Immunization. Readers may write them in care of Peter Hotez, 2300 I St. N.W., Ross Hall 736, Washington, DC 20032. GUEST VIEWPOINT In their Aug. 18 editorial page column "Act could turn the tide on common birth defect," Peter Hotez and Rosalynn Carter anticipate the Combating Autism Act's promise in disproving the role of vaccines in causing autism. As Boyd Haley, professor of chemistry of the University of Kentucky has commented, "The article is totally devoid of any scientific credibility." Hotez and Carter reveal the poisonous agenda of those who would use government funds to bury the inconvenient theory that mercury in vaccines has caused the autism epidemic. Their main interest is to develop and promote vaccines. It is troubling that anyone would advocate using public money to improperly influence research of a threatening hypothesis. The purpose of the Combating Autism Act should be to find the causes of and treatments for autism, not protect the vaccine program. The authors misleadingly claim the thimerosal-autism link has been disproved. The U.S. study that inadequately examined this issue failed to make clear comparisons between children receiving thimerosal and those receiving none. Its lead author concluded that "an association between thimerosal and neurological outcomes could neither be confirmed nor refuted, and therefore, more study is required." The Institute of Medicine has reported limitations in the studies on which the authors rely, and concluded in a vaccine safety report that the hypothesis that thimerosal causes autism cannot be excluded for a subset of genetically susceptible individuals. The directors of the National In- stitutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control have testified in Congress in accord with the IOM assessment. Hotez and Carter misrepresent research by claiming that "autism genes produce effects that lead to an excessive increase in head size at about one month of age, well before a baby receives its first set of pediatric vaccines." Yet thimerosal-containing Hepatitis B vaccine, RhoGam, and flu shots given to pregnant women all result in prenatal or newborn exposures to children. Contrary to the authors' claim that autism is a "genetic disorder," genetics alone cannot explain autism. Recent research confirms that autism develops in many cases after 18 months of age. In most cases, children are not born with autism; science points to complex genetic susceptibilities triggered by environmental toxins. The leading researcher on enlarged head size in autism has stated that environment plays a role. Increased head size occurs postnatally when provoked by toxic exposures. Prenatal exposure to drugs can cause autism. Concordance of autism among identical twins is incomplete. The claim that the thimerosal theory has caused vaccine shortages is baseless fear-mongering. Prior to 2004, infants were rarely given the flu vaccine - yet there was then no flu epidemic or hysteria about vaccine shortages. Vaccine manufacturers can produce the ample supplies of thimerosal-free vaccines. The claimed suppression of vaccination rates never happened; despite widespread media reports of the autism-thimerosal link, vaccination rates are at historical highs in the U.S. A 2003 congressional report concluded that thimerosal did pose a risk and was related to the epidemic of autism. The report stated that the epidemic might have been prevented "had the FDA not been asleep at the switch regarding the lack of safety data regarding injected thimerosal and the sharp rise of infant exposure to this known neurotoxin. Our public health agencies' failure to act is indicative of institutional malfeasance for self-protection and misplaced protectionism of the pharmaceutical industry." Hotez's and Carter's suggestion that the Combating Autism Act can serve to refute the thimerosal theory casts suspicion on the intent of those who would implement the act. The act should not be used as a bludgeon to beat back a theory that threatens vested interests. Rather, the act should promote honest, unbiased and conflict-free science. If research funded by the bill is to be used improperly, as the authors suggest, the bill should die an ignominious death. On the other hand, if research funded by the act is insulated from bias, honest answers regarding autism's cause might be obtained. We must eschew an agenda aimed at covering up another "inconvenient truth." Our children deserve a bill aimed squarely at combating autism, not one pretending to do so by countering one uncomfortable theory about autism. If the bill becomes law, let oversight be vigilant, let honest research flow, let the chips fall where they may. Bobbie Manning is a
board member of Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury
Poisoning (www.a-champ.org). Robert Krakow is the group's president.
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