Top Federal Autism Panel Votes For Millions in Vaccine Research
By David Kirby on The Huffington Post.
The Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) has voted to
recommend earmarking millions of dollars in research funds from the
Combating Autism Act of 2006 to study the possible role of vaccines in the
causation of autism.
The panel also proposed spending an additional $75 million to study a
wide variety of other environmental factors in autism, possibly including
parental age, infections, heavy metals, neurotoxins, occupational exposures
and “other biological agents.”
The decision, made last month, received little or no attention in the
media. The vaccine research provisions are now included in the official IACC
Draft Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Research.
The IACC has 12 members from various health-related branches of the
Federal Government, plus six “Public Members,” including representatives
from Autism Speaks, the Autism Society of America and the Coalition for Safe
Minds, as well as Stephen Shore, an adult on the autism spectrum.
Section III of the Strategic Plan is titled, “WHAT CAUSED THIS TO
HAPPEN AND CAN THIS BE PREVENTED?” The section is divided into various
parts, including short- and long-term research objectives. Much of the
section is devoted to studying the interactions of genetic susceptibilities
with potential environmental triggers, including vaccines.
In fact, two vaccine-autism studies have been approved by the IACC,
which has proposed spending $16 million to: 1) “Study the effect of
vaccines, vaccine components, and multiple vaccine administration in autism
causation and severity through a variety of approaches, including cell and
animal studies, and understand whether and how certain subpopulations in
humans may be more susceptible to adverse effects of vaccines by 2011.
Proposed costs: $6,000,000
2) Determine the feasibility and design an epidemiological study to
determine if the health outcomes, including ASD, among various populations
with vaccinated, unvaccinated, and alternatively vaccinated groups by 2011.
Proposed costs: $10,000,000 Additionally, under “Research
