Autism in the news

U.S. Vaccine Court Hearings Provide Vaccine-Injured Children Opportunity for Justice

June 28, 2007

For a number of decades, families in the industrialized world have watched in anguish as their once healthy children have regressed into autism. Numerous children have done so shortly after injection with multiple vaccines. Many researchers now draw a parallel between the rise of autism and the simultaneous increase in the number of doses of vaccines injected into young children in the first two years of life. While autism was once a rare disorder, afflicting 1 in 10,000, today, U.S. statistics estimate 1 in 150 children are on the autism spectrum (ASD). While Canada has no "official" estimate, autism groups here estimate that ASD numbers in Canada closely parallel the American experience.

Due to the extreme costs of therapies used to attempt rehabilitation of children afflicted with ASD, families who have linked their children's regression to vaccines have been pushing for recognition of this link in order that they may collect compensation.

The US National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) was created in the 1980's. At this time, US courts were awarding substantial damages to vaccine victims and manufacturers threatened to stop vaccine production because of enormous liability risks. US government vaccine injury compensation was a by-product of the desire to maintain vaccine production. But, with increasingly more limitations over the years, the program has granted few applicants compensation.

The US National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) was created in the 1980's. At this time, US courts were awarding substantial damages to vaccine victims and manufacturers threatened to stop vaccine production because of enormous liability risks. US government vaccine injury compensation was a by-product of the desire to maintain vaccine production. But, with increasingly more limitations over the years, the program has granted few applicants compensation.

On June 11, 2007, historic proceedings started in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, established under the NVICP. For the first time, the known science linking mercury containing vaccines and the triple live virus MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine to regressive autism will be publicly heard and examined by three "Special Masters" presiding over this "Vaccine Court". The Court will first examine "test" cases involving children in the autism spectrum whose families believe they are vaccine victims. The first case is Cedillo v HHS.

The inclusion of thimerosal (49% mercury) as a vaccine component increased in the early 90's, its rise mirroring the alarming rise in autism. Parents note their children's symptoms of autism mimic mercury poisoning and many autistic children are now being successfully treated for mercury poisoning and damaged immune systems.

More than 4800 families have applied for compensation to the Vaccine Court. Many of their children were injected with vaccines containing amounts of mercury that far exceeded EPA guidelines. The outcome of their cases will hinge on the evidence laid out and accepted as credible and plausible science in these first test cases.

Government "health" departments and agencies, the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment coordinate mass vaccination. These parties have gone to extraordinary lengths to discredit the autism/vaccine theory and to protect and justify the presence of mercury in vaccines. They deny that mercury, next to plutonium the second most toxic substance on the planet, is harmful when injected into newborns and young infants. This despite warning pregnant women to avoid eating fish because of the mercury content.

Many of the large autism groups in the U.S. are involved in the proceedings. Ann Brasher, Board Member of the National Autism Association (NAA) stated, "I believe that NVICP will not provide the specialized medical care necessary for autistic children despite a favorable ruling for the plaintiffs. But the overwhelming evidence needs to be explored. The public deserves to know all the facts and the truth behind them." Parents cite fatal flaws in the NVICP including:

• Families are forced to sue the government, which has no incentive to settle and can drag out cases for years while children go untreated.
• Unlike civil court, there is no right to discovery in vaccine court and no jury trial. In the current trial, access has been denied to vaccine company documents and CDC/HMO vaccine database records that would be routinely available in civil court.
• Tax payers end up paying for pharmaceutical mistakes. No other industry is allowed such extraordinary protection in a "Free Market" economy.
• Because the massively profitable vaccine industry is not held liable, it has no incentive to create safe vaccines.

(Source: www.nationalautismassociation.org/press060407c.php)

Excellent commentary on daily proceedings of the Vaccine Court written by Mary Holland, Esq can be followed on the A-Champ website at http://achampblog.org. Ms Holland has practiced and taught law for nearly twenty years and has a child on the autism spectrum but has no legal claims for her child's disorder.

Related articles:

THE LAW AND VACCINE-INJURY COMPENSATION by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO
June 19, 2007 from NewsWithViews.com
www.newswithviews.com/Tenpenny/sherri15.htm

Another overview of the autism/vaccine hearings and other interesting articles: www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56129

If Parents Win in Vaccine Court, What Do We Tell the World?
by David Kirby
www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/if-parents-win-in-vaccine_b_52065.html

Canadian vaccine victims have no recourse for their injuries. Canada is one of the few western nations without a national government compensation system for victims of vaccine injury. And for damages to be awarded, courts here require that vaccine victims prove conclusively that a vaccine caused their injury and that the vaccine provider was negligent in administering it—a nearly impossible task.