SafeMinds has developed a brochure providing information on the flu vaccine that is available to communicate the risks still posed by this thimerosal- containing vaccine. We encourage you to distribute this brochure in your doctor's office and other places you think people will pick up. Please feel free to download the file here or e-mail eksafeminds@gmail.com to receive copies of the brochure in the mail.

Fundraise for SafeMinds!
SafeMinds is a volunteer run organization. As such, we need your help to raise funds for critical research. We owe it to those children who have already been tragically injured not to give up on our research efforts. Interested in helping fundraise for this important cause through holding an event, volunteering, working with your company? Contact Elizabeth Kilpatrick at eksafeminds@gmail.com

Latest Autism Gene Studies Find . .  Not Much

By SafeMinds Board Member Mark Blaxill

There’s a familiar rhythm to the most prominent autism gene hunt publications. Their authors hype their newly minted study aggressively in the media. The prestigious journals that publish them lend their imprimatur to press releases that say, “this study is a big deal.” The findings sound impressive in the press release (and the authors get plenty of time on camera and in leading newspapers to tell us how truly impressive they are). Read more . . .  

A Message from Deirdre Imus

Fifty years ago, parents had a good understanding of their responsibilities. They were our lifeline and provided us with food, clothing, shelter, education, and, of course, love. Like parents throughout history, they did whatever was in their power to keep us safe and protect us from harm. But in today's society, what does it really mean, to "keep our children safe, protect them from harm"? In today’s society, the responsibility of raising -- and protecting -- our children has become a lot more complicated. Read more . .

         Revelations in Vaccine Safety
       IOM, IACC & NVAC Meetings Expose Depth
       of Crisis of Faith in Nation’s Immunization
       Plan

What is the intersection on meetings held by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) last week? 

Click here to read more.

Federal Vaccine Court Rules Against Autism Families: Government’s Refusal to Fund Sound Science Stacks Deck Against Vaccine-Injured Children.

One more reason to distrust the government’s vaccine program, says SafeMinds

Click here to read SafeMinds full statement.

IACC Blocks Vaccine Autism Research

Click here for action alerts and links that provide detailed information on the IACC, the Strategic Plan for Autism Research, and the latest outrageous actions by the Federal members of the IACC, the governments official advisory committee on autism.

December 11, 2008 [rev 12-14-08]

RE: Concerns on IACC Strategic Plan Discussions

Dear Members of the IACC:
In November, several autism organizations sent a letter to IACC members which outlined concerns with the draft Strategic Plan for autism research. Most of these issues have been resolved with revised language submitted for consideration at the November 21 IACC meeting. However, the discussions and voting on the language raised several concerns, and we write again asking the
IACC to address them at the next meeting on December 12.

Read entire letter

NIH & AUTISM: A Case Study in Barriers to Progress in Environmental Medicine

Mark Blaxill, Sallie Bernard, Theresa Wrangham, SafeMinds

Introduction
Medical practice for chronic illnesses has been slow to integrate the etiological principle that most human disease has an environmental component. Chronic disease medicine emphasizes diagnosis, intervention after symptom onset, and finding "disease genes." The environmental health disciplines emphasize pollution reduction and environmental remediation. Neglect of environmental considerations in healthcare for specific diseases has negative consequences by perpetuating preventable conditions and hindering development of effective treatments.

Autism is a case in point. Autism spectrum disorders now affect 1 in 150 children and cost billions of dollars in lifetime care. Despite evidence of autism’s environmentally-induced underpinnings and resulting alterations in multiple organ systems that are not necessarily developmentally determined, a “brain disorder/genetic heritability” paradigm prevails. Autism healthcare continues to be managed by psychiatric/behavioral professionals who carry the assumption that autism is a lifelong condition requiring services centered around diagnosis, therapies, and behavioral interventions that have the goal to merely improve the functioning of a defective organism rather than promote the recovery of an injured child.

Read more (pdf)

Download poster

WXYZ.com Detroit Action News

Anchor Lead:
It’s the controversy that won’t go away. Is the skyrocketing rate of Autism in children due in any way to the mercury long contained in childhood vaccines? It’s an issue our chief investigative reporter Steve Wilson has stayed with from the start…and Steve will science ever answer this one?

Wilson Live Open:
It could happen one day but only if researchers keep looking… and with 1 in 150 children now diagnosed with Autism in this country—more than 100 new, young victims every single day—a lot of skeptical parents and others believe there’s a big incentive for industry and government to cover up the truth. 

To see which vaccines still include thimerosal, visit the website below:

http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/thi-table.htm

Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders and ARI Provide Ongoing Registration to Advance Autism Research

Download brochure

Watch Interview

May 1, 2008 – Dallas, TX – A paper published in the medical journal Health & Place found that children living next to a mercury polluter have a higher risk of developing autism. The research, from University of Texas Health Science Center (San Antonio), by researchers Raymond Palmer, PhD and colleagues, determined that a community’s distance to a coal-fired powered plant, or other industrial mercury source, significantly predicts future autism rates in the community’s schoolchildren. 

Read more.

When American scholar Warren Bennis said, "Bureaucracies are beautiful mechanisms for the evasion of responsibilities and guilt," he might well have been speaking of the current state of affairs inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Once revered around the world, hardly a month passes without another news report questioning the credibility, scientific independence, and integrity of the nation's premier health agency.

Over the past four years headlines frequently chronicle a disturbing litany of allegations charging top CDC officials with wasting money on questionable research priorities, public relations stunts, distorting or ignoring health concerns raised by their own scientists, and retaliation against those who object to the censorship of scientific findings.

The past three years have been particularly unpleasant for CDC Director, Dr. Julie Gerberding, but apparently not as bad as she and her managers are making it for many CDC scientists.

Read more.