Institute of Medicine Meets A Second Time to Review Vaccine/Autism Link

By Lisa Reagan
An Exclusive Report by Mothering Magazine

Washington, DC - Nine of the 14 members of the Institute of Medicine's Immunization Safety Review Committee met on February 9, 2004 at the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The IOM meeting was held despite written pleas from U.S. Representative Dave Weldon, MD (R-FL) and Safe Minds, an advocacy and research oriented nonprofit, who petitioned the IOM to first fulfill its own 2001 goal of setting an agenda for "diverse and extensive research" into the issue and to allow more time for the completion of many ongoing independent studies that could support a link between the mercury-derivative thimerosal in some vaccines and autism spectrum disorders.

"Pressing forward with this meeting at this time, I believe, will further undermine the credibility of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on matters of vaccine safety and do damage to the reputation of the IOM. I believe the proposed date of this meeting is in the best interests of no one who is seeking the truth about a possible association between vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism," wrote Rep. Weldon in his January 15, 2004 letter to the CDC.

Safe Minds, a nonprofit organization founded by parents to investigate and raise awareness of the mercury risks to infants and children, has stated that the IOM meeting was in direct violation of the IOM's own charter and that the IOM had yet to follow through on the conclusions of its 2001 report which: acknowledge the link between vaccines and autism is "biologically plausible"; recommend the use of thimerosal-free vaccines; and recognize a need for a diverse and extensive research agenda into the issue.

The IOM's 1970 charter states that it will work "outside the framework of government to ensure scientifically informed analysis and independent guidance, which results in unbiased, evidence-based advice." The February 9th IOM meeting was called for and sponsored by the CDC, the nation's largest government public health agency.

In a January 15, 2004 letter to the IOM, Lynn Redwood, RN, MSN, president of Safe Minds wrote, "When we inquired why this meeting was scheduled now, we were told it was at the request of CDC in light of the fact that these issues would be heard later in the year as part of the vaccine compensation program assessment of autism cases. When asked if the meeting could be rescheduled at a later date when more information was available, you responded that the decision would have to be made by the CDC."

The IOM and CDC have stated through their spokespersons to Mothering that the February 9, 2004 IOM meeting was a part of an ongoing review of the vaccine/autism issue, is not in violation of the IOM charter and has nothing to do with the Omnibus Autism Proceedings; 3500 families, who believe their children's autism is the result of vaccine injuries, have sued the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the United States Federal Court of Claims. According to attorney Cliff Shoemaker, who sits on the Omnibus Petitioners Steering Committee, the hearings on the lawsuit were scheduled to begin in January 2004, but were indefinitely postponed on September 4, 2003, "due to lack of cooperation from government agencies and vaccine manufacturers to provide the petitioners with unaltered documents". According to Curtis Allen, spokesperson for the CDC, the February IOM meeting was "discussed in September 2003 and officially scheduled in October." Safe Minds was not notified of the IOM meeting until D