Government vaccine compensation payouts prove autism link

Government vaccine compensation payouts prove autism link










(NaturalNews) The federal government has been publicly denying any link
between autism and vaccines for over two decades, while it has quietly
been paying out damages for vaccine injury to children with autism, a
study released May 10th shows. The study underscores the need for
Congressional hearings and independent scientific research into the
connection between autism and vaccines (http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110511/NAA-calls-for-immediate-Con...).

The federal government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was
created in 1989 to act as a "no fault" taxpayer-funded alternative for
those seeking compensation for proven vaccine injury. The new
peer-reviewed study, published May 10th in the Pace Environmental Law
Review, looked at cases of vaccine injury that have been monetarily
compensated by the VICP. The study looked at 1300 cases of children
with brain injury resulting from vaccines where the court's records
referenced autism, symptoms of autism or disorders commonly associated
with autism -- twenty-one cases outright stated "autism or autism-like
symptoms" in the court records. The researchers then identified and
contacted 150 of the families that were compensated to find out whether
the children had autism. 62 of the families they contacted (greater
than 40 percent of their sample) reported children with autism, for a
total of 83 cases of autism. (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/83-cases-of-autism-associated...).

"What we did is we looked at the people who the government said are
clearly vaccine injuries and awarded them compensation," said Lou
Conte, the vaccine compensation recipient who helped coordinate the
study.

"We asked the next question and that question was: Do some of these
people also have autism?" said Conte. "We found that in 83 of the cases
we were able to locate, the families report that their children have
autism and symptoms of autism." (http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/health/new-study-suggests-link-between-vac...)

Government and conventional medicine maintain denial

The CDC has since released a statement supporting their previous statements that no link between vaccines and autism exists. (http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/morning/vaccine-autism-link-new-invest...)

Some medical experts agree. While the stories are heartbreaking, said
Dr. David Nelson chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Georgetown
University Hospital, there is no connection between vaccinations and
autism.

"There are absolutely no data that show autism is linked to vaccinations," said Nelson. (http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/health/new-study-suggests-link-between-vac...)

The Health Resources and Services Administration, the Federal agency
responsible for improving access to health care services for people who
are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable, also put out a
statement in response to the new study stating:

"The government has not compensated any case based on a determination
that autism, in the absence of acute neurological illness, was actually
caused by vaccines. Furthermore, there is no reliable scientific
evidence that vaccines cause autism even in cases where an acute
encephalopathy following vaccination has occurred."(http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/health/new-study-suggests-link-between-vac...)

Critics argue for further investigation

The Huffington Post
asked Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy, whose board
members authored the study, why anyone should care about the legal
proceedings of some obscure court when so much published science says
otherwise.

The EBCALA argued that the government officials in Health and human
Services or the VICP who decided that the children in this study
suffered vaccine injury did so based on science.

"We uncovered that these children also have autism. How can the
government then continue to assert that there is no link between
vaccines and autism?" said EBCALA directors, "If in fact there is no
link, why would there be even one case of vaccine-associated autism,
let alone 83?"

Authors of the study called their preliminary findings "the tip of the
iceberg," during a press conference in Washington May 11th.

Hundreds of autism cases have been settled quietly by the government,
they say, while thousands more were probably never filed, according to
News Medical. There are currently over 5,000 court cases pending that
claim autism as a result of vaccine injury. (http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110511/NAA-calls-for-immediate-Con...).

"The [VICP] appears to favor cases without any reference to autism,"
said National Autism Association President Wendy Fournier. "The message
is clear, if you want to receive financial support for the long-term
medical care of your loved one injured by vaccines, submit a claim for
brain damage, or residual seizure disorder - but leave autism out of
it."

NAA believes the findings of the new study call into serious question
the continued assertion from federal health agencies that vaccines do
not cause autism.

"As this study shows, vaccines can and do cause brain damage and
subsequent autism in certain children," said Fournier. "The government
has been settling these cases for over twenty years, yet has failed to
conduct research into why these children were susceptible to vaccine
injury. This neglect will continue to needlessly and senselessly result
in adverse reactions and autism in other children."

Call for congressional hearings

"Congress needs to find out
whether there was a cover-up," said lead author and managing director
of EBCALA Mary Holland. "It doesn't look good."

SafeMinds says the government has asserted that it "does not track"
autism among the vaccine-injured. SafeMinds is a nonprofit that aims to
raise awareness, support research and focus attention on the growing
evidence of a link between mercury and neurological disorders such as
autism, attention deficit disorder and learning difficulties.

Not looking is the easiest way not to find something, said SafeMinds,
so the organization is calling for immediate federal research into the
mechanisms of injury in these children in an effort to protect other
children from harm and Congressional action to reform the VICP.

"This study dramatically shifts the debate on autism and vaccines,"
said SafeMinds' Executive Director, Lyn Redwood. "The question is no
longer, Can vaccines cause autism? The answer is clear. Now, we have to
ask, How many cases of autism have vaccines caused and how do we
prevent new injuries from occurring?"


Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/032423_vaccine_compensation_program_brain_injury.html