‘This Question Has Been Asked And Answered’

From- Randy Crawford 3701 Second St. #10 Coralville, Iowa 52241 (319)400-2837 randycrawford52241@hotmail.com rancrawfo@hotmail.com

Today's (Feb. 12, 2009) federal vaccine court ruling on the harmlessness of MMR in Cedillo v. HHS case #98-916V is entirely sound. I have been taking dozens and dozens of injections of MMR for autoimmune disease over the past 4 years. MMR has been entirely safe and efficacious. As a matter of fact, it works best when injected daily for weeks at a time, and its beneficial effects are enhanced by adding in varicella and yellow fever live viruses. I have also taken MMR in conjunction with mercurics, as in tetanus-diphtheria vaccines, and again there is NO harm. Vaccines have been falsely maligned because of manufacturing technology that has not been used for decades. --END--

From- Randy Crawford 3701 Second St. #10 Coralville, Iowa 52241 (319)400-2837 randycrawford52241@hotmail.com rancrawfo@hotmail.com

Today's (Feb. 12, 2009) federal vaccine court ruling on the harmlessness of MMR in Cedillo v. HHS case #98-916V is entirely sound. I have been taking dozens and dozens of injections of MMR for autoimmune disease over the past 4 years. MMR has been entirely safe and efficacious. As a matter of fact, it works best when injected daily for weeks at a time, and its beneficial effects are enhanced by adding in varicella and yellow fever live viruses. I have also taken MMR in conjunction with mercurics, as in tetanus-diphtheria vaccines, and again there is NO harm. Vaccines have been falsely maligned because of manufacturing technology that has not been used for decades. --END--

I'm going to keep asking this question until someone answers. Could there be a link between autism and the high temperature spikes that some children get following immunizations?

As long as Suzanne Wright (as the titular head of Autism Speaks) gets her medical advice from Dierdre Imus, Jenny McCarthy, and the former members of the DAN protocol crowd from ARI they will fail the very individuals they are supposed to be representing. We have wasted enough time on this topic, not to mention the tens of millions advocated for research on useless treatments.

Please, let us move on.

Autism is absolutely treatable and it is devastating to hear, for your son's sake, blondie, that you are so certain he can't be treated. No one is saying he isn't a beautiful person the way he is, but autistic children are kind of stuck in a tortured world where they can't communicate the way they want to.

Diet and chelation absolutely DO help so many kids with autism, and I beg you to try SOMETHING to help your son. You may not have a problem with him the way he is - but I guarantee that if he could really communicate how he feels with, you'd learn that he DOES have a problem with being trapped inside his own body. It's not something to be afraid of. Your child will still be your child - just more who he is and less a tortured soul.

Also consider that a vast majority of autistic children have a condition called Leaky Gut Syndrome, in which holes are eaten through the lining of their intestines and they have a lot of GI problems as a consequence. When biopsies were taken from the intestines of those children, live measles viruses were found in all of them. Live measles viruses which, obviously came from the vaccine.

It's a lot of politics and a lot of money. The studies that prove vaccine safety have NOT been done, and simply because they are finding obvious evidence of harm does NOT imply safety!

Genetics sets the stage. Environment pulls the trigger. Educate before you vaccinate.

Let me tell you a little something about Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks was the ONLY autism organization NOT to embrace the theory of vaccines causing injury. VERY VERY recently, Autism Speaks' founders - the Wrights - accepted that they should at least be putting some of the money they're given into researching the possibility of autism from vaccines because their own grandson was vaccine injured and his mother is an absolute believer that vaccines caused the injury. So as an organization that formerly frowned on the vaccine-autism connection suddenly is quasi-accepting, at least enough to pay for the research (which is GREAT!), is of course going to stir the pot a little. It's good that Alison Swinger is no longer with Autism Speaks. I'm sure the CDC or AAP would offer her a position in a heartbeat!

Science is difficult to do. The example referring to skiing and broken legs is overly simplistic and clearly not written by a scientist. Also, science means changing your opinion when presented with fact. Manipulating information, attempting to present it as fact, using it for a foundation for your opinion, then attempting to sway others by using complex language not understood by the layperson is not science.

Conspiracy theory is an excuse for the unfounded.

No reputable data exist that support the vaccine theory. This does not mean it does not happen, but until data are presented I will not change my opinion This is the way of science. I am skeptical until evidence indicates I should be convinced. Thus, I do not believe vaccines cause autism. This opinion is not formulated for the purpose of framing an rgument. It is merely the principle of the scientific method. Without data, there can be no opinion. In the case of vaccines and autism, the data indicate no causal link.
I have vaccinated all three of my young daughters, and I am an autism expert conducting educational research. Although my expertise is in educational treatment of people with autism, I read the medical literature pertaining to autism.
Perhaps the expert opinion is still valuable in a society that "doesn't need science". Perhaps we can read between the lines and identify who and what is credible. Or perhaps American society, once proud of it's scientific and technological superiority, will continue to slip away from rational thought and respect for the opinions of those who know more than others.

Science is difficult to do. The example referring to skiing and broken legs is overly simplistic and clearly not written by a scientist. Also, science means changing your opinion when presented with fact. Manipulating information, attempting to present it as fact, using it for a foundation for your opinion, then attempting to sway others by using complex language not understood by the layperson is not science.
No reputable data exist that support the vaccine theory. This does not mean it does not happen, but until data are presented I will not change my opinion This is the way of science. I am skeptical until evidence indicates I should be convinced. Thus, I do not believe vaccines cause autism.
I have vaccinated all three of my young daughters, and I am an autism expert conducting educational research. Perhaps the expert opinion is still valuable in a society that "doesn't need science". Or perhaps American society, once proud of it's scientific and technological superiority, will continue to slip away from rational thought and respect for the opinions of those who know more than others.

Blondie50, your comment is a list of cliches, most of which are highly spurious. The mere fact that a person has been vaccinated does not indicate that the vaccine is a credible cause for anything that they experience. The vaccine injuries that we are warned against by our doctors are well documented and shown to be the result of that particular inoculation.

In addition, it is not possible to predict a person's political ideas from how autism affects their child. Nor can you predict an autistic's opinion from the same set of circumstances. Frankly, it is offensive that you stereotype mothers of "non-verbal" autistics as being so uniform in their opinions. I'm afraid to ask what you think of autistics that communicate with keyboards.

blondie50 -
Based on your son's age, your Rhogam shots may very well have contained thimerosal. And he may very well have received a Hepatitis B shot on the day of birth containing thimerosal, followed by more thimerosal-laden shots at his well-baby visits from the start. You cannot rule out vaccines as a contributing factor.

You describe your son as happy and a computer wiz. You need to recognize that autism is a spectrum, and many parents who work on recovering their kids have kids who are much more severely affected than yours. If your child was completely non-verbal and suffered from health conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease or seizures and/or was very unhappy with huge behavioral issues, you would surely want to help him recover. At this point some kids are not helped much by biomedical treatments, but some are helped tremendously.

I agree that there needs to be much more services available for big kids and adults. If we could prevent autism by identifying environmental causes, and help people with autism by better understanding biomedical treatments, the gov't could spend less on young people with autism and have more funds for older kids and adults with autism. Unfortnately with the continuing epidemic -- with the increasing rate of autism which parallels the increase in our vaccine schedule -- costs to our schools and gov't agencies continues to rise. (And, per a recent study, this increase over the past twenty years is real -- not due to better diagnosis.)

There is actually very little money being spent on the autism-vaccine link. More studies would be an excellent investment.

Environmental toxins are indeed a factor, which complicates research. This does not mean that vaccines as a factor should be ignored.

Washingtonbigfoot -
I have heard your philosophy described as, "If a child is being shot at anyways, what are a few more bullets?"

I certainly agree that the world needs to do a lot more about toxins in the environment, including environmental mercury from coal burning power plants. Articles in both the L.A. Times and the N.Y. Times have stated that China has built a huge number of coal burning power plants in recent years which do not even have the emission control equipment required here, and that the pollution from these plants (including mercury) wafts over the Pacific ocean at high altituds and rains down on the U.S. A recent study found more autism in rainy geographic areas. Perhaps environmental mercury is a factor.

Nobody who believes in problems with our vaccine program is saying to stop looking at environmental toxins and only look at vaccines. Both need to be studied.

It is important to note that when we are exposed to toxins in the usual ways (via food, skin, lungs) the body does have systems in place to filter and detoxify. Injecting toxins directly into the bloodstream bypasses the body's usual defense mechanisms.

If children are exposed to envrionmental toxins, it is all the more reason for not adding to the amount of toxins received.

When a child breathes, drinks, and eats literally pounds of toxic substances every year, it is difficult to take seriously claims that a few micrograms of substances, even if they were toxic, is more likely to be an environmental trigger than all the other pollutants a child is exposed to. This is even more true given the amount of research pointing against vaccines causing autism and the paucity of research on other possible environmental triggers. The irony is that as recently as ten years ago, thousands of children were left with brain damage every year from illnesses such as hemophilus meningitis. It is sad that this non existent controversy over vaccines could take us back to those days.
We have polluted our entire planet and the potential environmental triggers are much more likely to be found there than in the miniscule amount of possible pollutants in vaccines.

When children are exposed to literally pounds of known toxins every year of their life in the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the foods they eat (even breast milk), it is sad that their parents turn against one of the true miracles of modern science which exposes their children to micrograms of substances which have no proven toxicity. It is time to start looking for the real environmental culprits. We have polluted much of our planet already and it is more likely that we will find environmental triggers there than in vaccines.
The argument about exposing children to too many antigens is specious at best. Our body is coated with millions of bacteria per square inch of skin and mucous membranes. The antigen load from these bacteria, viral infections, pollution, and food contamination far exceeds what they are exposed to in vaccines.

I am speaking strictly as a mom who has lived with a son with Classic Autism for 17 years. Yes, I believe he had Autism from the day he was born. He craved motion, loved being held, needed to be swaddled, wanted the head of the crib touching his head, never slept through the night for 3 years, screamed endlessley, etc. He has numerous documented food allergies. The only possible link to vaccines that I would accept is to the RhoGam vaccine I had prior to his birth .... 3 shots all together (2 with first child who has Autistic characteristic and another prior to 2nd child). There was no alternative to having these shots because I am RH negative and my huband RH positive.

I, too, am sick of the focus of research money on vaccines. I am also sick of the Jenny McCarthy's of the world who want to "cure" Autism. There is no cure. My son is a beautiful person, who loves to draw, is happy, funny, a wiz on the computer, healthy, and just a joy to be around. To try and cure him would lose all of these attributes that make him a unique individual. We have done our own research through the years and focused on some specific therapies that have significantly helped him cope with his disability.

I do wish that the money spent on the vaccine "problem" would be focused on services in the community for families like ours. It is difficult or not impossible to find services to help my son. Most all services are focused on early intervention and preschool years. They do grow up you know!

As Dr. Healy also pointed out, the literature is full of accounts of encephalitis (inflammation/swelling of the brain) as a result of vaccines.

Recent studies have found inflammation in the autopsied brains of people with autism, and inflammatory markers in the spinal fluid of people with autism.

Autism is not only about genes and the brain. People with autism have a high rate of food allergies and inflammatory bowel disease. Studies have found imbalance between various components of the immune system such as Th1 and Th2 cells. Read Dr. Bryan Jepson's book, "Chaning the Course of Autism" and Dr. Jaquelyn McCandless's book "Children with Starving Brains: A Medical Treatment Guide".

Go to www.putchildrenfirst.org for info on some of the large studies. Also read David Kirby's book "Evidence of Harm".

Children these days are suffering from higher rates not only of autism, but also of asthma, severe allergies, and auto-immune disorders. Do we really know what we are doing to developing immune systems when we give babies two dozen vaccines by the age of 2 and another dozen before school starts?

It's not only about thimerosal and multiple viruses. There are many substances in vaccines which could overly provoke the immune system. And all of the studies have compaired vaccinated children with other vaccinated children. We need a study of health outcomes in vaxed vs. unvaxed.

The question is not whether to do away with all vaccines. The question is whether our current schedule and ingredients are safe. The risks and benefits are not being adequately weighed. The longtermand shortterm effects are not being adequately studied.

Alison Singer is completely wrong to say that too much money is being spent on researching vaccines and autism. Far more money has been spent on researching genes and the brain. I believe that understanding the effects of vaccines is where we will find the key to autism prevention and treatment. This stone must not be left unturned.

The increase in autism has parallelled the increase in vaccines. Too much evidence is being ignored.

Some of the studies supposedly proving no link between vaccines and austim seem to me to take this approach:

Q: Does skiing cause broken legs?
Fact: Most people who ski don't break their legs.
Fact: Some people who don't ski break their legs.
Conclusion: Therefore skiing does not cause broken legs.

Why not study those who say they broke their lets skiing? Interview witnesses. Evaluate medical records. Study how the slopes could be made safer.

As many have pointed out, autism is complex and may actually be a group of syndromes with different etiologies, all resulting in impaired speech and communication, perseverative interests etc.

Many of the studies on autism and vaccines were done by those with a vested interest in denying a vaccine/autism link. Epidemiology is notoriously subject to manipulation via statistical methodology and selection criteria.

In addition, Dr. Bernadine Healy (former director of the NIH) has pointed out, large statistical studies may not tease out the impact of our vaccine schedule on a relatively small group of vulnerable individuals. And, she confirms based on review of the literature, there has been a reluctance to study individuals who have suffered adverse reactions to vaccines.

Dr. Healy's statement confirms what I have heard from parents of vaccine injured children: these reactions are summarily dismissed as "coincidental" with nobody from our government or medical organizations interested in trying to figure out what happened and why.

Some of the studies supposedly proving no link between vaccines and austim seem to me to take this approach:

Q: Does skiing cause broken legs?
Fact: Most people who ski don't break their legs.
Fact: Some people who don't ski break their legs.
Conclusion: Therefore skiing does not cause broken legs.

Why not study those who say they broke their lets skiing? Interview witnesses. Evaluate medical records. Study how the slopes could be made safer.

As many have pointed out, autism is complex and may actually be a group of syndromes with different etiologies, all resulting in impaired speech and communication, perseverative interests etc.

Many of the studies on autism and vaccines were done by those with a vested interest in denying a vaccine/autism link. Epidemiology is notoriously subject to manipulation via statistical methodology and selection criteria.

In addition, Dr. Bernadine Healy (former director of the NIH) has pointed out, large statistical studies may not tease out the impact of our vaccine schedule on a relatively small group of vulnerable individuals. And, she confirms based on review of the literature, there has been a reluctance to study individuals who have suffered adverse reactions to vaccines.

Dr. Healy's statement confirms what I have heard from parents of vaccine injured children: these reactions are summarily dismissed as "coincidental" with nobody from our government or medical organizations interested in trying to figure out what happened and why.