Report Demands Immediate Congressional Action
WASHINGTON, May 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA) held a press conference in front of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to release a study linking vaccine injury to autism. For over 20 years, the federal government has denied a vaccine-autism link, while at the same time its Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has been awarding damages for vaccine injury to children with brain damage, seizures and autism. Coming out just after the prevalence study of autism in South Korea, this investigation breaks new ground in the controversial vaccine-autism debate.
The government has asserted that it "does not track" autism among the vaccine-injured. Based on this preliminary investigation, the evidence suggests that autism is at least three times more prevalent among vaccine-injured children than among children in the general population.
Chief investigator Louis Conte said, "Government officials call autism a 'national health emergency' affecting at least 1 in 110 children. Congress needs to find out what these administrators knew about this vaccine-autism association and when they knew it. Why was this association hidden in plain view? Why hasn't the government illuminated this association that could help us understand autism? Have we been fair to those who claimed vaccine-induced autism?"
The study found 83 cases of acknowledged brain damage from vaccines that include autism, a disorder that affects social interaction, language and behavior. Using publicly available information, the investigation shows that the program has been compensating cases of vaccine-induced brain damage associated with autism for more than twenty years. This investigation suggests that officials at HHS, the Department of Justice and the Court of Federal Claims may have been aware of this association but failed to disclose it.
Dr. Sarah Bridges, mother of a child compensated for vaccine injury that has autism, said, "We must ensure the safest possible vaccines and make sure that the children who suffer vaccine injury are compensated fairly and honestly. Congress created this Program and Congress should fix it. Hold hearings and get to the bottom of what smacks of a major cover up."
To view the full study online, please click here.
CONTACTS:
NICOLE Y. WILLIAMS
(301) 625-7772
OR
DANIELLE ORSINO
(480) 200-4411
SOURCE Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy