Vaccine-Autism Link Case Goes To Court
Precedent-Setting Claim Over Whether Child's Autism Was Caused By Common Vaccines
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Play CBS Video Video Vaccines On Trial In a landmark federal case, the parents of 12-year-old Michelle Cedillo will try to prove that their daughter's autism was caused by a vaccine. Sharyl Attkisson reports.
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(CBS/iStockphoto)
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Interactive Breaking The Silence Find out more about autism, and where to get help for someone who may have this neurological disorder.
Wearing noise-canceling headphones, Michelle, of Yuma, Ariz., was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair at the start of the proceedings before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. She stayed only a short time.
Her parents, Theresa and Michael Cedillo, allege a preservative called thimerosal that had been used in vaccines weakened their daughter's immune system and prevented her body from clearing the measles virus after she was immunized for the disease at age 15 months.
Today, Michelle suffers from a litany of health problems, including severe autism, inflammatory bowel disease, glaucoma and epilepsy.
"We hope to find out what happened and hopefully get the help she needs," said Theresa Cedillo, who takes care of her daughter full time at home.
Special Master George Hastings Jr. thanked the family for allowing theirs to be the first of nine test cases that will help guide the resolution of some of the nearly 5,000 similar claims lodged with the government.
"Clearly the story of Michelle's life is a tragic one," Hastings said in pledging to listen carefully to the evidence presented during the three-week hearing.
The burden of proof is easier than in a traditional court. Plaintiffs only have to prove that a link between autism and the shots is more likely than not, based on a preponderance of evidence.
Large scientific studies have found no association between autism and vaccines containing thimerosal.
But many parents say their children's symptoms did not show up until after their children received the vaccines, required by many states for admission to school.
"These are families who followed the rules. These are families who brought children in for vaccines. These are families who immunized their children," said the Cedillos' attorney, Thomas Powers.
Powers said that the science regarding a possible vaccine-autism link is in dispute.
Government attorney Vincent Matanoski dismissed much of what the plaintiffs are expected to present as conjecture or speculation.
"You'll find their hypotheses untested or, when tested, have been found false," Matanoski said.
Since 1999, more than 4,800 families have filed claims with the government alleging their children developed autism as a result of routine vaccinations. Most contend that a preservative called thimerosal is to blame for the impaired social interaction typical of the disorder.
Created in 1986, the federal vaccine court has already paid out $750 million for vaccine injuries, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson, but it has never before tried an autism case.
The court is being asked to decide whether there is a link between autism and childhood vaccines. If it finds one exists, the families could be eligible for compensation under the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, a program established by Congress to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines by safeguarding manufacturers from lawsuits. Under the program, people injured by vaccines receive compensation through a special trust fund.
Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction. Those affected often have trouble communicating, and they exhibit unusual or severely limited activities and interests. Classic symptoms of mercury poisoning include anxiety, fatigue and abnormal irritation, as well as cognitive and motor dysfunction.
Monday's case addresses the theory that the cause of autism is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in combination with other vaccines containing thimerosal. The preservative, about 50 percent mercury by weight, is no longer found in routine childhood vaccines but is used in some flu shots.
In July 1999, the U.S. government asked vaccine manufacturers to eliminate or reduce, as expeditiously as possible, the mercury content of their vaccines to avoid any possibility of infants who receive vaccines being exposed to more mercury than is recommended by federal guidelines.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.





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See all 159 CommentsPosted by nitzalerner
In some ways it has been done: In the general population of the US the ratio is 1 : 166. In the Amish population, who do not vaccinate, the numbers are 1 : 15,000.
posted by glb1969
You are generalizing your argument with Shmedley1 to the entire concept.
I do believe in evolution. I am not religious.
You cannot use your patronizing "you're too religous to understand SCIENCE" with me.
There have been several posts that poke holes in your science--for multiple reasons. You are avoiding debating by dismissing all of us like you dismiss Shmedley1.
Pick on somebody else, and really discuss things, or stop trolling.
You are correct - I will ignore your advice. With all due respect, this is not about religion or evolution (which is why I did not expand on further posts addressing it).
It is about MMR and Thimerosol, whether in part or as a whole. It is about the vaccination, ingredients, the autism epidemic, the children and the parents, not religion. This court case is FINALLY their day to be heard.
So the comment was not towards autism, but, towards vaccintions in general.
And yes, I have an autistic niece (3 y/o) and see what her parents go through; so I'm well aware, though not directly involved. In one of my prior posts I made mention that parents with autistic children endure far more than I think I could ever bare.
"...but I doubt that many on the other side of the issue have given the time of day to most of the questions I raised..."
That's a cheap shot. I responded to your "questions" a ways back. Did you not read it, or are you choosing to ignore it?
Lack of space means that much of the evidence cant be shown here glb1969, so I can only say as most of us on here have done look up the dangers of immunisation or Dr's against immunisations etc plus those that you have read in favour, dont just close yourself to one side, most of us on here have had the brains to look up both sides..
glb1969, what planet do you come from, no there is not a consensus amongst reputable scientists, and I supose you would only consider those who believe as you do are reputable... Cant you see that most of these people on here have done much research on both sides of the arguement, and are you telling all of them that they are tooo stupid to know what they are researching.. there are many like these few facts that I am giving here...
Patrick Stortebecker Formerly Associate Professor of Neurology, Karolinska Instititute, Stockholm. Mercury Poisoning from Dental Amalgam - a hazard to the human brain.
Hal Huggins. Observations from The Metabolic Fringe. ICBM conf. Collarado 1988
Sam Queen; Chronic Mercury Toxicity; New Hope Against an Endemic Disease. 000
Verchaeve L. et al., Comparative in vitro cytogenetic studies in Mercury exposed human lymphocytes. Mutation Res., 1985: 157; 221-226 .
Max von Penttenkofer, James T. Briggs, Dr. John Snow, Edwin Chadwick, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Southwood Smith, et al. was that they were able to eradicate cholera, yellow fever, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, scarlet fever, diptheria, whooping cough, measles, and the bubonic plague long before vaccinations were developed or routinely used.
The above was taken from...
The Dangers of
Smallpox Vaccination
Compiled by Gary Krasner
One of the conclusions in Thomas McKeown's seminal work, The Modern Rise of Populations (1976, also endorsed by a Lancet editorial, 2/1/75), was that the decline in mortality in the 18th and 19th centuries was essentially due to the reduction in deaths from infectious diseases, and that it was not the result of immunizations.
According to World Health Statistics Annual, 1973-76, Vol.2, "there has been a steady decline of infectious diseases in most developing countries regardless of the percentage of immunizations administered in these countries."
Not only had poor sanitation and nutrition lain the foundation for disease, it was also compulsory smallpox vaccination campaigns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that played a major role in decimating the populations of Japan (48,000 deaths), England and Wales (44,840 deaths, after 97 percent of the population had been vaccinated), Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, India (3 million -- all vaccinated), Australia, Germany (124,000 deaths), Prussia (69,000 deaths -- all re-vaccinated), and the Philippines.
Money is the game and the people are the fools who will give it to them..
glb1969 you have to be joking, do you think any loving parent who has investigated into immunisation and seen the damage that is being done to far to many children are going to risk their child for something which is causing damaging so many children..
Measles, mumps and chicken pox used to be counted as the mild childhood diseases.. We were NEVER in fear of our children being damaged from these diseases, in fact we used to make sure our children got it before they went to school as it is mostly much milder when they are young, but we live in fear of our children being damaged from immunisation.. isn't it strange that the cot death rate has dropped to almost nothing in Japan after they raised the age to two years for the first immunisation, hmmm...
glb1969, others have not put you down for your opinion so dont lower yourself by putting others down. You surely must wonder as to how can the whole herd be cured of these diseases when countries who cant afford immunisation are not being immunised???
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