IACC Reverses Their Decision on Continuing Vaccine-Autism Studies

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January 26, 2009
Protest Federal Autism Committee’s Deceitful Reversal on Vaccine-
Autism Research
Autism Action Alert: Click HERE to send your letter!

The inexcusable actions of the Federal members of the Interagency
Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) in retracting vaccine-autism
studies must be stopped. Sound science must move forward, not thwarted
by Federal agencies with vested interests in on-going vaccine-autism
injury litigation.

The autism advocacy organizations listed below implore parents of
children with autism - and all those who care about the burgeoning
rate of autism and its toll on the health of our children - to take
immediate action.

We are asking you to write a letter of disapproval to key government
decision-makers on autism. Your letter will be sent to President
Obama, your Senators and Representatives, HHS Secretary Tom Daschle,
the Senate HELP Committee, Senators Christopher Dodd, Joe Lieberman,
and Edward Kennedy, and Congressmen Chris Smith and Joe Barton.

Your letters are needed NOW. The next IACC meeting is Wednesday,
February 4, 2009 - less than two weeks away!

Here is what happened. (From SafeMinds Press) and (Age of Autism
report).

In a highly unusual departure from procedure, government
representatives to the IACC voted on January 14th against conducting
studies on vaccine-autism research despite approval of the same
studies at their prior meeting on December 12, 2008. The research was
supported by numerous autism organizations and requested by IACC’s
scientific work groups and Congress. The maneuver to re-vote was
initiated by the IACC’s representative from the CDC and pushed through
by the IACC Chair, Dr. Tom Insel, Director of the National Institute
of Mental Health of NIH. Review of the studies was not listed on the
committee’s official agenda, in violation of normal committee
practice.
Unlike most Federal advisory committees, the IACC is dominated by
government representatives occupying 12 of the 18 seats. Dr. Insel
admitted at the meeting that HHS agencies (which includes NIH and CDC)
have a conflict of interest in conducting vaccine-autism research due
to “Vaccine Court” litigation in which HHS is the defendant. Of the 6
non-government (public) members, 5 voted to retain the vaccine
research at the January meeting. The lone dissenting public member
resigned from her organization, Autism Speaks, the night before the
meeting. Autism Speaks has issued a statement denouncing her vote.

The Federal members of the IACC must know that the autism community
objects to their manipulation of committee procedures to block
unbiased research on the possible link between vaccines and autism.

They must hear that parents demand reinstatement by the IACC of the
vaccine studies that were already part of the IACC’s Autism Research
Strategic Plan, and to restore the funding already allocated to this
research.

They must acknowledge the inherent conflict of interest of the NIH/CDC
in conducting research on vaccine safety. Research initiatives MUST be
coordinated by an independent committee that includes equal numbers of
representatives from the autism-vaccine injured community and
conducted by independent and non-biased entities.

We also urge parents to attend the February 4th IACC meeting in
Washington DC if they are able to. Click here for the IACC website
http://iacc.hhs.gov/events/ to register. We encourage you to sign up
to make a public comment at the meeting.