WASHINGTON, May 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The
following is being released by SafeMinds (www.SafeMinds.org):
For over 20 years, the federal government has publicly denied a
vaccine-autism link, while at the same time its Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program (VICP) has been awarding damages for vaccine
injury to children with brain damage, seizures and autism. A new
investigation, based on verifiable government data, breaks ground
in the controversial vaccine-autism debate. The investigation found
that a substantial number of children compensated for vaccine
injury also have autism and that such cases have existed since
1989, the year after the VICP was formed.
SafeMinds’ Executive Director, Lyn Redwood, RN, MSN comments,
“This study dramatically shifts the debate on autism and vaccines.
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?” The government has asserted that it
“does not track” autism among the vaccine-injured. SafeMinds
responds that not looking is the easiest way not to find something.
SafeMinds 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.
The peer-reviewed study looked at cases of vaccine injury that
have been monetarily compensated by the federal Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program. It was published today in the Pace
Environmental Law Review. The study investigated
approximately 1300 cases of childhood brain injury as a result of
vaccines in which the Special Masters ruled for the plaintiffs,
looking for references to autism, symptoms of autism or disorders
commonly associated with autism. It reports that twenty-one cases
actually stated “autism or
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