The Vaccine-Autism Connection
Although a vaccine/autism connection has been dismissed repeatedly in the current media, scientific studies that are based on biological processes show a significant link. CDC epidemiological studies also show a strong link of thimerosal to ADD, Learning Disabilities, Speech Delay and Autism (see Geier footage). These studies may not have received high attention in the public as of yet, but the information explaining what health professionals and government and otherwise employed scientists have discovered is in this section.
To access the video clips, click the links beneath the Quicktime or Windows Media format icons for either the "Low" bandwidth (dial-up connection) or "High" bandwidth (DSL or Broadband) sizes.All video clips are the copyright of the Foundation for Autism Information and Research (F.A.I.R. Autism Media) and are intended for informational purposes only. The content herein is not intended as medical advice.
You will need Windows Media Player, or Quicktime Player to view these clips.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Dr. Cave received her M.S. in Clinical Chemistry in 1978 and M.D. from Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans in 1983. She completed a residency in 1986 and is board certified in Family Practice. On the clinical faculty of LSU Medical School, she is in the private practice of medicine in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has treated over 3000 children in the autism spectrum. Dr. Cave lectures throughout the country on autism, heavy metal toxicity, and vaccines, and has authored a book titled, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations. She has appeared on CNN in a special about autism and vaccines, and testified before a Louisiana State Legislative Committee and the United States Congressional Committee on Governmental Reform regarding mercury in vaccines in July, 2000.
This interview was filmed in February, 2007 and is currently only available in Quicktime format.
Dr. Burbacher is Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington. He has been involved in research in the area of mercury developmental neurotoxicity for several decades and was a member of the 2000 National Academy of Sciences panel on methylmercury.
In this interview, Dr. Burbacher describes the results of a recent study on the blood and brain levels of different mercury species in infant nonhuman primates following oral methylmercury exposure or exposure to vaccines containing thimerosal. The results of the study indicate several differences in the distribution and clearance of mercury from these two sources. These differences point out the importance of providing specific data on mercury derived from thimerosal for an evaluation of the safety of early exposure to mercury from vaccines containing thimerosal.
Mady Hornig, MD, Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University, is Director of Translational Research in the Center for Immunopathogenesis and Infectious Diseases at the Mailman School of Public Health. A physician-scientist, she is widely recognized for her work on the role of viral and immune factors in neurodevelopmental and other neuropsychiatric disorders, and the neuropharmacologic and neuroendocrine aspects of treatment resistant mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults.
Dr. Hornig’s translational research focuses on understanding the mechanisms by which infection, immune disturbances, and neurotoxins lead to neurodevelopmental damage or CNS dysfunction, contributing to neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism, schizophrenia, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorders, and mood disorders. Her research program integrates data from animal models and epidemiologic studies, incorporating behavioral, neurochemical, neurostructural, molecular, immunologic and microbiologic perspectives. She serves as Director of Clinical Core for a large, international multicenter program, led by Dr. Ian Lipkin, that is evaluating the role of Borna disease virus in human neuropsychiatric diseases, and as co-PI for a study of measles virus sequences in bowel biopsies of children with autism.
Dr. Haley received his BS in Chemistry/Physics from Franklin College in 1963. After a tour in the U.S. Army he completed his M.S. in Chemistry at the University of Idaho (1966) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry/Biochemistry at Washington State University (1971). He was an NIH Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Physiology, Yale University Medical School from 1971 to 1974. His first academic appointment was at the University of Wyoming in 1974 where he was promoted to full professor in 1983. In 1985 he was appointed as the first scientist hired in the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky with academic appointments as professor in the College of Pharmacy and in the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Kentucky Medical Center. In 1996 he was named Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry.
Dr. Haley has testified as an expert witness at government hearings on the issue of the health hazards of mercury in vaccines and dental amalgam.
Dr. Mark R. Geier, M.D., Ph.D. is a geneticist and President of the Genetic Centers of America, which for the past 23 years has offered clinical prenatal genetics services to the Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore areas. Dr. Geier has worked in the fields of molecular and cell biology and genetic engineering at the National Institutes of Health for ten years. Dr. Geier has also been a professor at The Johns Hopkins University Hospital.
Visit Dr. Wakefield's website for more information.
Dr. Wakefield discusses his research and the biological difficulties associated with the MMR vaccine as it relates to Autism. Dr. Andrew Wakefield is an academic gastroenterologist. He graduated in Medicine from St. Mary’s Hospital, part of the University of London, in 1981, and pursued a career in gastrointestinal surgery with a specific interest in inflammatory bowel disease. He qualified as Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1985, and in 1996 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Traveling Fellowship to study small intestinal transplantation in Toronto, Canada.
The main focus of Dr. Wakefield’s research is an investigation of the immunologic, metabolic, and pathologic changes occurring in inflammatory bowel diseases such as autistic enterocolitis, links between intestinal disease and neurologic injury in children, and the potential relationship of these conditions to environmental causes, such as childhood vaccines.----------
Jon Pangborn, Ph.D., received a doctoral degree in chemical engineering. After working in nuclear research and the field of alternative fuels, he became interested in the biochemistry of human metabolism. He developed a novel procedure for evaluating amino acid analyses and founded Bionostics, Inc., as a consulting organization. He is a holder of 9 U. S. patents, and author of over 200 publications and presentations. Dr. Pangborn is Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists, is certified as a Clinical Nutritionist, and serves regularly on the faculties of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and the American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy. He works closely with Dr. Bernard Rimland in the area of autism research, and also maintains a database on Tourette syndrome.
----------
Dr. Richard Deth, Professor of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Northeastern University, discusses research on the biochemical pathway of mercury exposure and explains, from the cellular level, the effect that mercury has on the developing nervous system.
----------
Visit Dr. Shaw's website for more information.
William Shaw, Ph.D. obtained his doctorate in biochemistry, genetics, and human physiology from the Medical University of South Carolina. He is certified in the fields of clinical chemistry and toxicology by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry.
Dr. Shaw worked for six years in nutritional biochemistry, endocrinology and immunology at the US Centers for Disease Control and for twelve years in Smith Kline Beecham Clinical Laboratories where he was involved with specialized medical testing for toxicology (poisons and drugs), immunology, tumor receptors and endocrinology. For the subsequent five years, William was an associate professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine. At the same time, he served as Director of Clinical Chemistry, Toxicology and Endocrinology and the organic acid testing for metabolic conditions at UMKC's Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Currently, William serves as Director of The Great Plains Laboratory for health, metabolism and nutrition in Lenexa, Kansas. He specializes in metabolic and nutritional factors in a wide range of human diseases, with a special focus on the the metabolic, infectious, nutritional, and immunological causes of autism and PDD.
----------
Visit Dr. Usman's website for more information.
Dr. Usman is the Director of True Health Medical Center in Naperville, IL where she specializes in treating biochemical imbalances in children with ADD and Autism. Dr. Usman is a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctor who has researched copper/zinc imbalances, metallothionein dysfunction and promotion therapy. She received her degree from Indiana University, completed residency at Cook County Hospital, and is board certified in Family Practice.
----------
Dr. Bernard Rimland is a research psychologist (Ph.D.). and Director Of the Autism Research Institute, which he founded in 1967. He is also the founder of the Autism Society of America (1965), and the editor of the Autism Research Review International. His book, Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implication for a Neural Theory of Behavior (1964) is widely credited with changing the field of psychiatry from its claim that autism is an emotional illness, caused by destructive mothers, to its current recognition that autism is a biological disorder. He has lectured on autism and related problems throughout the world, and is author of numerous publications. He served as primary technical advisor on autism for the film Rain Man.
----------
Jane M. El-Dahr, M.D., F.A.A.P.
Jane Marony El-Dahr, M.D. is the Director of the Section of Pediatric Allergy /Immunology / Rheumatology at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisana. She is also Associate Professor of Clinical Paediatrics and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine. Her undergraduate medicine was completed at Harvard University and included a year in the department of genetics at Trinity College Dublin. She received her medical degree from Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and did her residency and fellowship at Yale New Haven Hospital and at the University of Virginia Health Services Center. She has been actively involved in the immunological and toxicological aspects of ASD for many years.
----------
Elizabeth Mumper, M.D., FAAP
Dr. Mumper is a general pediatrician and CEO of Advocates for Children, based in Lynchburg, Virginia. She has faculty appointments at the University of Virginia and the Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. Current clinical research projects include investigating intestinal biopsies in children with autism and correlating gut pathology with methylation and immune abnormalities.
----------
Kenneth Bock, M.D.
Kenneth A. Bock, M.D. received his M.D. with honors from the University of Rochester, School of Medicine, in 1979. He completed his residency in family medicine at the Lancaster General Hospital in 1982 and was Board Certified in Family Medicine that same year.
He is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Rhinebeck Health Center in Rhinebeck, NY and The Center for Progressive Medicine in Albany, NY. He is Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Nutrition, and the American College for Advancement in Medicine. He is a clinical instructor in the Department of Family Medicine at Albany Medical College. He is President-Elect of The American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), which is an organization that has been involved in teaching nutritional and integrative medicine to physicians since the early 1970's.----------
Paul Hardy, M.D.
Dr. Hardy received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York. After completing a Medical Internship at the Baylor College of Medicine, Methodist Hospital, in Houston, Texas, he returned to the University of Rochester where he completed a residency in Neurology at Strong Memorial Hospital. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Medicine and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He also serves on the Panel of Professional Advisors of the Autism Society of America.
----------
Patricia S. Lemer, NCC, M.S. Bus.
Patricia Lemer is an Educational Diagnostician and National Certified Counselor who Specializes in educational services for children with developmental delays. She is the Executive Director of Developmental Delay Resources, a nonprofit organization dedicated to meeting the needs of those working with children who have developmental delays in sensory motor, language, social, and emotional areas. DDR publicizes research into determining identifiable factors that would put a child at risk and maintains a registry, tracking possible trends. DDR also provides a network for parents and professionals and current information after the diagnosis to support children with special needs.
----------
Jeffrey Z. Sell, P.C.
Jeff earned a BS degree from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas and obtained his law degree from South Texas College of Law. He started his trial practice with Taylor & Cire representing injured people in courts throughout the State. Jeff was a Senior Trial Attorney with Archer, Shrode and Soule' where he first chaired over 50 trials to a jury verdict.
Jeff is presently the the Director of Chapters & Membership for the Autism Society of America and has served as the 1st Vice Chairman of the ASA's Board of Directors and the Chairman of ASA's Government Relation Committee. He has also served as the 1st and 2nd Vice-President of ASA and he has been active on many committees as well. Jeff is a co-founder and Past Vice President of Autism Resource Konnection (“ARK”), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing public awareness of autism, he is a member of the governing bureau of the World Autsim Organisation, he serves on the Professional Advisory Boards of New York Families for Autistic Children (“NYFAC”), Developmental Delay Resources ("DDR") and the Law Enforcement Awareness Network (“L.E.A.N.”), and, he was a Texas State Representatives for Unlocking Autism.
Jeff is a member of several professional legal organizations - Houston Bar Association, Texas Bar Association, America Trial Lawyers Association, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Board of Directors--Houston Trial Lawyers Association, United States Court of Federal Claims Bar Association, Northwest Harris County Bar Association and the American Bar Association, to mention a few.
