Posted on 01/28/2008 11:54:13 PM PST by bd476
ABC Show Will Go on, Over Protest by Doctors
By EDWARD WYATT
Published: January 29, 2008
ABC said on Monday it would include a disclaimer about the plot line of the debut episode of the drama “Eli Stone,” which links childhood vaccines to autism, and direct viewers to a government Web site that discredits such a link.
ABC’s decision follows a call by the American Academy of Pediatrics for ABC to cancel the opening episode of “Eli Stone,” which is scheduled to be broadcast at 10 p.m. Thursday.
In a letter to ABC executives on Friday, Dr. Renee R. Jenkins, the president of the pediatrics academy, warned that the episode “could lead to a tragic decline in immunization rates.” The first episode portrays a lawyer who wins a case against a drug company on behalf of a mother who believes that a preservative in a vaccine caused her child’s autism.
The link between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and autism has been debated for much of the last decade, but many scientific studies have failed to show any causal link between the two.
The letter from the pediatrics group followed an article in The New York Times last week highlighting..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I apologize for what I said to you, it was wrong.
I am only trying to make the point that from a moral perspective companies are responsible and that the government should not be in the busines of covering for them all the time. It frustrates me to find that whenever a person suggests that companies like the pharma industry are not concerned for peoples health rather than profit, that I get attacked by people who seem to be shills for big business on this site.
There was information (or a study) I just recently read concerning the Amish who had previously not immunized their children and who also had little rate of autism UNTIL they began to have their children get immunized. I will post that information later (unless someone beats me to it by that time).
I dont think you read my post. I made the point that the company was not concerned at all about the man who died but the loss of money.
the motive for trying to develop the drug was to help the man with his illness, thereby showing compassion on him. Oh, I’m sure there were those in the company that were just looking for a profit, also, but after investing $400,000,000 on efficacy and safety studies, they can’t be accused by even you of trying to turn a quick buck.
I was there and they talking about the money. I know I was there.
Funny thing about that...when I was in grade school, some kid would occasionally bring in a blob of mercury from a broken thermometer, and we would have lots of fun coating pennies, etc., with the stuff. Today any such incident is treated as a miniature Chernobyl.
How different the laws o chemistry and biology were back then.
Gene Plays Role in Risk of Autism
http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/080110/gene-plays-role-in-risk-of-autism.htm
A gene that appears to play a key role in the development of autism has been identified by three different teams of researchers.
UCLA scientists found that the gene — contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CNTNAP2) — is most active in brain regions involved with language and thought and that the presence of the gene may explain speech delays in children with autism.
A specific variation in the structure of CNTNAP2 makes a child more vulnerable to developing autism...especially in boy at about a 16/1 ratio vs girls.
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Guess what TRIGGERS the defective gene/chromosome?
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Seizure Disorder in Amish Children Points to Autism
STRASBURG, Pa., March 29 - A study of Old Order Amish children has identified the genetic mutation that causes a previously unknown disorder, with seizures that progress to autism and retardation.
The recessive disorder, dubbed cortical dysplasia-focal epilepsy syndrome, or CDFE, is marked by relatively normal infancy followed by onset at about 14 to 16 months of age of frequent seizures — 50 to 90 per week.
The seizure onset is followed by language regression and the development of hyperactivity, aggressive and impulsive behaviors, and mental retardation, reported Kevin A. Strauss, M.D., of the Clinic for Special Children here, and colleagues, The Old Order Amish is a close-knit, genetically homogenous population.
The finding points to a genetic variation in the gene encoding for contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) as a possible cause of both epilepsy and autism in the affected children, the investigators wrote in the March 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Genetics researchers often find insights into the origins of developmental disorders by studying populations such as the Amish, Mennonites, and Hasidic Jews. Members of these groups tend to have ancestors who came from the same geographic region, live in isolated populations, and intermarry, allowing recessive genetic traits to emerge in their offspring.
The seizure onset was followed by deterioration in learning ability and social development, and by age three all patients with CDFE were found to have “language regression, aberrant social interactions, and a restricted behavioral repertoire.
Their findings provide important insights into a previously unknown developmental role for CASPR2, a protein known to be important for neuronal and glial connections in the mature central nervous system.
“Previous studies on CASPR2 in isolated cell cultures and genetic ‘knockout’ mice did not predict its fundamental role in human brain development or cortical electrical activity,” Dr. Krauss said. “The present findings are compelling evidence for such roles, and open new directions for epilepsy and autism research beyond the index population.”
His colleague, D. Holmes Morton, M.D., co-founder and medical director of the Center for Special Children, added that “the identification of the mutation in CASPR2 in our Amish patients has already allowed us to recognize affected newborns before they become symptomatic. Our hope is that early treatment and prevention of prolonged seizures in these infants will lessen the effects of the disorder upon the lives of children and their families.”
Primary source: New England Journal of Medicine Source reference: Strauss KA et al. “Recessive Symptomatic Focal Epilepsy and Mutant Contactin-Associated Protein-like 2” N Engl J Med 2006;354:1370-7.
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They ID’d CNTNAP2 chromosome 16 defect as the cause. The “Old Order Amish” have instances of this! And see...THIS:
* Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2007 Apr;26(4):370.
Vaccination usage among an old-order Amish community in Illinois.
Yoder JS, Dworkin MS.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
The Old-Order Amish have low rates of vaccination and are at increased risk for vaccine-preventable diseases. A written survey was mailed to all Amish households in the largest Amish community in Illinois inquiring about their vaccination status and that of their children. In this survey, the Amish do not universally reject vaccines, adequate vaccination coverage in Amish communities can be achieved, and Amish objections to vaccines might not be for religious reasons.
PMID: 17133167 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
So...the Old Order Amish have a LOW rate of vaccination...and a LOW rate of Autism/autism spectrum disorders!
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Thiomersal is very toxic by inhalation, ingestion, and in contact with skin (EC hazard symbol T+), with danger of cumulative effects. It is also very toxic to aquatic organisms, and may cause long-term adverse effects in aquatic environments (EC hazard symbol N).[6] In the body, it is metabolized or degraded to ethylmercury (C2H5Hg+) and thiosalicylate.
U.S.F.D.A. Thimerosal in Vaccines
http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm
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History of Thimerosal and Autism
http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2005/08/beginning-at-beginning.html
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I have more information I can post.....but, it’ll have to later until later this afternoon....gotta run.
yeah they probably wished they’d have found out the outcome on the first million rather than the 400th. So what?
You dont want mercury in your bloodstream thats for sure. Even old mercury tooth fillings are treated as hazardous waste.
How many would be dead or crippled by polio, measles, diphtheria etc. if not for the work of these profit-driven corporations? That's a question the anti-vaccination folks never seem to want to deal with. Not to mention the drugs that fight heart disease, diabetes and so on. I'll take capitalism any day, warts and all.
TRIGGER is a key word...
TRIGGER - not cause...
Very important distinction. Some people will just waltz right on by it. Thank-you...
How much advertising did the Trial Lawyers purchase? Perhaps this was financed by the Edwards Campaign, just in case he needs some other job after the election.
I think you missed my point the point is that companies cover-up instead of owning up to their error. And they do this for money.If you child was killed or harmed because a company used a component in its vaccine that they know does harm. then you would not be taking up for them.
CST, I read that you worked in the pharmaceutical industry. I do understand that in some pharmaceutical companies, just as in any other industry, not all goes according to Hoyle, and not every person working in a pharmaceutical company, (or any other company) is honest, hard-working, beyond reproach, etc.
However, I also believe that overall, there's not enough money in the world for a large pharmaceutical company to be entirely comprised of deceitful, lying chemists, falsifying secretaries, accountants, lab techs, sales force, medical doctors, Board of Directors, with an evil CEO at the top.
Maybe that's not clear. Let me try again.
Okay what I mean is that I don't believe in generalizing one horrible experience to all. Perhaps you felt compelled to leave that industry behind and now attribute your bad experience as representative of the entire pharmaceutical industry. That's easy to understand. At some point, it also might be helpful to back up a bit and take a longer, objective look.
I agree. If a company errs, then the company owns the error.
How or on what occasion would a pharmaceutical company have liability coverage paid for by the government in liability issues?
There are a few very large pharmaceutical companies which seem to be sued at least once a year. Are they then turning around and sending their attorney bills to our government? That wouldn't be right.
Thank you. :-)ColdSteelTalon wrote: "...I am only trying to make the point that from a moral perspective companies are responsible and that the government should not be in the business of covering for them all the time."
I agree with you.ColdSteelTalon wrote: "...It frustrates me to find that whenever a person suggests that companies like the pharma industry are not concerned for peoples health rather than profit, that I get attacked by people who seem to be shills for big business on this site."
Health is very important. It's not fun to be attacked for expressing an opinion.
Maybe some of the people who seem to be big business advocates aren't so much advocating big business over an individual as they are fearing the demise of big business via increased taxes, increased lawsuits, and too many centralized government regulations, all making it difficult for a large company to succeed.
Which "Trial Lawyers"? What is possibly financed by the Edwards Campaign?
I'm not sure what you are referring to.
Let me also say this, using the downside of corporate America as an excuse to promote Junk science and actually false claims is the very tactic that the left is and has been using against the Constitution. If as many here claim there is another problem with thimerosal then that should be the claim of the show not a distorted end justifies the means argument that really is only being shown to further de-legitimize capitalism.
Couldn't agree more.
Even though we as a country do all we can to make things safe, I have to question the exposure of the amount plasticizers in all the plastic baby food jars, bottles, disposable bottle liners, etc. that kids are given. Even with the tightest controlled best quality plastics, these plasticizers leech into the food.
One way to peg this as an environmental and / or breast feeding concern is to do case studies of underdeveloped countries and the % rate of autism in the children there.
Wouldn't take much to offset the immune system of infants and toddlers as to open their systems to an otherwise non-threat virus, bacteria or man made compound from lack of the mothers' natural antibodies provided through beast feeding.
Don't screw with mother nature, I say. Every time man thinks he can con nature....we pay.
No, I take your point. When a company commits fraud it should be prosecuted according to the law. But to condemn an entire industry, especially one that has brought enormous benefit to so many, due to a single incident is excessive.
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