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Harold E. Buttram,
MD
Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism
of myths. Philosophy of Science: A Personal Report," in C. A. Mace (ed.),
British Philosophy in the Mid-Century. Sir Karl Popper
In early August of last year congressional hearings
were held in Washington D.C. on the question of vaccine safety. Congressman
Dan Burton, Chairman of the U. S. House Government Reform Committee, called
the hearings.
On the weekend of October 2-3, 1999, an autism conference
was held at Cherry Hill, New Jersey, sponsored by the Autism Research
Institute of San Diego, California. Over 1,000 people were in attendance,
the great majority of whom were parents of autistic children.
At one point in the meeting, when those parents who
thought their child's autism was caused by vaccines were asked to stand,
a large majority of the audience stood. With these and other indications
of growing public concerns about current childhood immunization programs,
it is hoped that this review will be of timely interest.
Inadequate Proof of Benefit
of Vaccines
It is true that there may be situations where extreme
measures may be justified, as the lesser of two evils, to preserve life
and health. The basic question, therefore, is whether the benefits of
current childhood vaccines outweigh the harm, or whether the reverse is
true.
As to the benefits of vaccines, polio has been eliminated
from the Western Hemisphere, and smallpox may have been eliminated worldwide,
although there are disturbing reports it is still to be found in parts
of the Far East. However, vaccine proponents would have us believe that
vaccines have been largely responsible for controlling virtually all of
the former epidemics of killer diseases in the U.S.
With the exceptions cited above, the facts do not
bear this out. According to the records of the Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company, from 1911 to 1935 the four leading causes of childhood deaths
from infectious diseases in the U.S. were diphtheria, pertussis (whooping
cough), scarlet fever, and measles.
However, by 1945 the combined death rates from these
causes had declined by 95 percent, before the implementation of mass immunization
programs.(1) By far the greatest factors in this decline were sanitation
through public health measures, improved nutrition, better housing with
less crowded conditions and the introduction of antibiotics. Also, the
virulence of microorganisms tends to become weakened or attenuated with
the passage of time and serial passages through human hosts.(2)
Safety Not Proven
It should be pointed out that today's children receive
22 or more vaccines before school age, whereas today's senior citizens
received only one vaccine in their youth, the smallpox vaccine. Some of
these vaccines contain mercury. Although the impact of this potentially
toxic metal remains unknown as concerns the vaccines.
With growing public concerns about potential adverse
reactions of these heavy burdens of foreign immunologic materials on the
immature immune systems of children, it is reasonable to ask ourselves
what is known about these reactions.
A small but growing minority of physicians and scientists
are becoming aware that safety testing for the various vaccines has been
woefully inadequate. As one of many examples, a 1994 special committee
of the National Academy of Sciences published a comprehensive review of
the safety of the hepatitis B vaccine.
When the committee, which carried the responsibility
for determining the safety of vaccines by congressional mandate, investigated
five possible and plausible adverse effects, they were unable to come
to a conclusion for four of them because they found that relevant research
had not been done.(3)
The clear implication of this and other revelations(4)
concerning a general deficiency of safety testing in the vaccine field,
especially as concerns possible long-term side effects, is that adverse
reactions may be taking place on a large scale without being recognized
as to their true nature.
There is a school of thought that the so-called minor
childhood illnesses of former times, including measles, mumps, rubella
[German measles] and chickenpox, which entered the body through the mucous
membranes, served a necessary and positive purpose in challenging and
strengthening the immune system of these membranes.(5)
In contrast, so the theory goes, the respective vaccines
of these diseases are injected by needle directly into the system of the
child, thereby bypassing the mucosal immune system. As a result, mucosal
immunity remains relatively weak and stunted in many children, complications
of which may be the rapid increase in asthma and eczema now being seen,
both in terms of frequency and severity.(6)
This concept tends to be confirmed by four controlled
studies, widely separated geographically, in which vaccinated children
were found to have significantly more atopic disorders than controls.(7-10)
In commenting on the increased incidence of asthma and other atopic disorders
in the United Kingdom in the article, "Measles and atopy in Guinea-Bissau,"
cited above, the authors made the following comment:
The rise of allergic disease among children in
the UK over the past 30 years remains unexplained. One hypothesis is that
infections in early childhood prevent allergic sensitization, and that
successive generations of children have lost his protection as their exposure
to infectious disease in early life has declined. Consequently the prevalence
of atopy and concomitant allergic disease has risen.
Threat of Brain Damage
From the Vaccines
Perhaps the greatest concern with vaccines today rests
with their possible causal relation to the growing epidemic of childhood
autism, developmental delay, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD).
Regarding the latter, recent news item stated that
ADHD has increased from 900,000 in 1991 to nearly 5 million today.(11)
Parenthetically, statistics may be open to question, but one cannot question
the observations of veteran elementary school teachers who, in our experience,
unanimously and emphatically report a marked increase in this disorder
in recent years.
Regarding autism, a recent survey mandated by the
California state legislature found an increase of 273 percent in California
in the past eleven years.(12) Reports from education departments of several
states and reports to the U.S. Congress on the rapidly increasing needs
of classrooms for developmentally delayed children reflect comparable
changes throughout the nation.(13)
At present primary suspicion for this epidemic of
neurobehavioral disorders rests with the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine.
Although scientific evidence has not yet reached the standards of scientific
proof, one pioneer researcher in this area, Dr. Vijendra Singh, during
his tenure with the Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan,
published the report of a study in which he found that a large majority
(84%) of autistic children tested had antibodies to brain tissue in the
form of antibodies to myelin basic protein.
He also found a strong correlation between myelin
basic protein antibodies and antibodies to the MMR vaccine. Using an immunoblotting
technique, MMR antibody was found in 16 out of 27 (59%) autistic sera
in contrast to 2 out of 20 (10%) normal sera, which represents a 6-fold
higher incidence of MMR antibody in autistic children.(14)*
Working from another approach, Dr. Andrew Wakefield
and coworkers of the Royal Free Hospital in London found a possible link
between MMR vaccine, Crohn's disease of the bowel, and autism.(16)
If the MMR vaccine is causing an autoimmune reaction
involving the brains of autistic children, what would be the mechanism?
It has already been pointed out that one of the differences between the
vaccine and the respective wild virus infections is that of entry into
the body (injections versus mucosal entry).
There is another difference: whereas with the wild
viruses there is serial passage through human hosts, in the case of the
vaccine, the measles virus is incubated in animal culture tissue (chick
embryo). Are these fundamental differences responsible for the rapidly
increasing incidence of childhood autism and possibly other autoimmune
disorders now being seen?
Although research in this area is in its infancy,
we do know some things. As purely genetic material, viruses are highly
susceptible to the process of "jumping genes," in which they may incorporate
genetic material from tissue in which they are cultured.(17) The process
may be further affected by the fact that protein sequences in the measles
virus have been found to be similar to those found in brain tissues.(18)
With the exception of the pioneering work of Dr. Singh, these are questions
which remain unexplored and unanswered.
Stealth Virus
A similar process may have taken place with the oral
(Sabin) polio vaccine, which is cultured in monkey kidney tissue. Years
ago, Dr. John Martin, then serving as director of the viral oncology branch
within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, found foreign DNA in contemporary
polio vaccines. He later learned that a simian (monkey) cytomegalic virus
had been found in all of the eleven African green monkeys imported for
production of the polio vaccine.(19)
After leaving the FDA, Dr. Martin took a position
as professor of pathology with the University of Southern California.
There he tested blood samples from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome,
autism and other nervous system disorders.
This work led to his discovery of unique cell-destroying
viruses that were not recognized by the immune system. Termed "stealth
viruses," some of which he thought had clearly originated from the simian
cytomegalic virus, these viruses were missing specific genes, which, if
expressed, would induce immune responses from the host.(20,21)
It should be admitted that this work is preliminary,
and no definitive conclusions can be drawn from it, but the need for further
intensive investigation should be apparent.
Overdue in the opinion of many, on June 17, 1999,
U.S. government officials voted to withdraw their recommendation for the
use of the live oral polio vaccine and to recommend exclusive use of the
inactive (Salk) polio vaccine, because the former has been the only remaining
source of polio cases, though rare, in the U.S. since 1979.
In summary, it is possible that either the MMR or
the oral polio vaccines, by mechanisms described above, may induce a process
of encephalitis or brain inflammation, which may be highly prevalent but
as yet rarely recognized for its true nature.
Genetic Implications of "Live Virus"
Vaccines
In an October 1967 letter to the editor of Science
magazine, Joshua Lederberg, Department of Genetics, Stanford University
School of Medicine, warned about live-virus vaccines: In point of fact,
we (are practicing) biological engineering on a rather large scale by
use of live viruses in mass immunization campaigns...Crude virus preparations,
such as some in common use at the present time, are also vulnerable to
frightful mishaps of contamination and misidentification.(22)
With this sobering warning, made over 3 decades ago,
it may sadly prove to be prophetic for what we are seeing today.
Damage May Yet Escalate
As another concept, it is highly pertinent that many
of today's children are second-generation vaccines; that is, they are
born to mothers previously vaccinated with the measles, mumps, and/or
rubella vaccines.
It is possible the reaction rates in the second-generation
vaccines may be happening on a much larger scale due to previous sensitization
of mothers from their vaccines, this sensitization being transmitted in
turn to the fetus during pregnancy.(23) If this process is taking place,
something we cannot know until appropriate research is done, there predictably
will be additional increases in autism beyond that already taking place,
should the process be continued into yet another third generation.
Time may prove that vaccine programs went awry when
they deviated from the most basic of all medical ethics, the right of
parents to accept or reject vaccines for their children. Freedom of choice
provides a system of checks and balances now lacking.
At the very least, this would provide the parents
the power to compel better safety screening of vaccines. The remedy? The
government should stop violating the right of informed consent, or the
parents' right to accept or reject vaccines for their children based on
full and uncensored disclosure of pros and cons.
Today, we have a system in which vaccine production
by the pharmaceutical companies is largely self-regulated. Naturally these
companies are interested in profits from their products which, in itself,
is not wrong. However, when arbitrary decisions in the mandating of vaccines
are made by government bureaucracies, which frequently work hand-in-glove
with the pharmaceutical industry, with no recourse open to parents, we
have all the potential ingredients for a tragedy of historic proportions.
Conclusion
In closing, it may be appropriate to cite an item
which, though seemingly small in itself, may be indicative of the problems
with which we are faced. In January 1993, a scientific journal published
the results of a study of 89 children with adverse clinical reactions,
following administrations of various combinations of vaccines.(24)
Detailed case histories were taken and blood tests
were done to examine various parameters of cellular and humoral immunity.
It was found that children with adverse reactions had marked increases
in abnormal blood parameters as compared with children who had had no
reactions.
The first study of its kind as far as we are aware,
perhaps the most striking and significant feature of the report is not
the results of the tests, which might have been anticipated, so much as
the fact that it came from a foreign country, Czechoslovakia.
American science has been foremost in the development
and promotion of vaccines. That it should be laggard in basic safety testing,
of which this study may represent one of the modest beginnings, is a sad
reflection on the American scientific community. We expect and should
demand more from American science and medicine.
Footnote *
This does not detract from the fact that these diseases,
such as measles, may have complications resulting in brain injury. Measles
can precipitate subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and encephalomyelitis.
The latter illness may follow not only measles, but rubella, varicella,
mumps, influenza, and other childhood diseases, just as smallpox and rabies
vaccinations may be complicated by postvaccinal encephalomyelitis. In
these cases, the vaccine itself could cause similar sequelae through molecular
mimicking.(15)
References/Notes
1. Dublin L. Health Progress, 1936-1945.
New York, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 1948, p. 12.
2. Biodati CJM. Immunization: History, Ethics
Law and Health. Integral Aspects Inc., Windson, Ontario, 1999, pp. 104-106.
3. Stratton KR, Howe CJ, Johnston RB, Jr.
(Eds). Adverse Events Associated with Childhood Vaccines: Evidence Bearing
on Causality. Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press, Washington,
DC, 1994, pp. 211-236.
4. Buttram HE. The National Childhood Vaccine
Injury Act: A Critique. The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,
October 1998, pp. 66-68.
5. Incao P. Supporting children's health,
Alternative Medicine Digest, Issue 19, pp. 54-59.
6. One survey showed a 46 percent increase
in death rate nationwide from asthma between 1977 and 1991. Philadelphia
Inquirer, Dec. 8, 1994, p. A22. In some areas, the incidence of asthma
has increased 200 percent in the past 20 years. The Human Ecologist, National
HEAL, Fall 1992, Vol. 55, No. 6.
7. Sheneen SO, et al. Measles and atopy
in Guinea-Bissau. Lancet 1996;347:1792-1796.
8. Odent MR. Pertussis vaccination and asthma:
Is there a link? JAMA 1994;271:229-231.
9. Alm JS, et al. Atopy in children of families
with an anthroposophic lifestyle. Lancet 1999;353:1485-1488.
10. Kemp T, et al. Is infant immunization
a risk factor for childhood asthma or allergy? Epidemiology 1997;8(6):678-680.
11. Jennings L. Increasing Ritalin doses
in school children questioned. The Intelligencer, Sept. 21, 1998, pp.
D1-D2.
12. Changes in Population of Persons with
Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders in California's Developmental
Services System: 1987-1998, a Report of the Legislature, March 1, 1999.
13. Department of Development Services, 1600
North Street, Room 240, Sacramento, CA 95814; Assessment, Evaluation and
Support Unit, Special Education Division, California Department of Education;
Total Enrollment and Percent of Pupils with Disabilities by Federal Office
of Special Education Programs, New Jersey State Department of Education;
Illinois State Board of Education Report (8-20-98). Rhode Island Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education, annual Statistical Reports; Sixteenth
through Twentieth Annual Reports to Congress on the implementation of
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/OSEP94-98An/Rpt/
14.Singh V, Yang V. Serological association
of measles virus and human herpes virus-6 with brain autoantibodies in
autism. Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology 1998;88(l):105-108.
15. Jubelt B, Harter DH. Viral Infections
in Merritt's Textbook of Neurology. Seventh edition, Lea and Febiger,
Philadelphia, 1984, pp. 99-104.
16.Wakefield AJ, et al. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular
hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder
in children. Lancet 1998;351:637-641. 17. Kumar S, Miller LK. Effects
of serial passage of Autographa California nuclear poly hedrosis virus
in cell culture. Virus Research 1987;7:335-349.
18. Jahnke U, et al. Sequence homology between
certain viral proteins and proteins related to encephalomyelitis and neuritis.
Science 1985;29:282-284.
19. Horowitz L. Emerging Viruses, AIDS and
Ebola. Tetrahedron Publishing Group, Rockport, Massachusetts, 1997, pp.
488-493.
20. Martin WJ, et al. African green monkey
origin of the atypical cytopathic "stealth virus" isolated from a patient
with chronic fatigue syndrome. Clinical and Diagnostic Virology 1994;4:93-103.
21. Martin WJ, et al. Stealth virus epidemic
in Mohave Valley, I: Initial report of virus isolation. Pathobiology 1997;65(l):351-356.
22. Lederberg J. Letter to the editor. Science,
Oct. 20, 1967, p. 313.
23.Gupta S, et al. Dysregulate immune system
in children with autism, beneficial effects of intravenous globulin on
autistic characteristics. J of Autism and Developmental Disorders 1996;26(4):439-452.
(In this article on page 450 it was stated, "We theorize that the high
titers of rubella antibody...presented in mothers of children with autism
would be transplacentally transferred and may persist for a prolonged
period in the child. When such a child gets MMR immunization, rubella
antigen may complex with preexisting antibodies and such complexes might
play a role in pathogenesis of autistic features.")
24. Immunologic findings in children with
adnormal reactions after vaccination. Czechoslovakia Pediatrics 1993;48(1);9-12.
Dr. Buttram is a diplomat of the American Board of
Environmental Medicine and a practicing physician in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.
E-mail: hbuttram@woodmed.com.
Medical
Sentinel March/April 2000 5:49-52
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