Families of autistic children to argue vaccine is link to disease

Parents claiming that childhood vaccines cause autism should not be awarded by the courts when the scientific community has already rejected any link, U.S. government lawyers argued Monday on the first day of a federal hearing.

Overall, nearly 4,900 families have filed claims with the U.S. Court of Claims alleging that vaccines caused autism and other neurological problems in their children. Lawyers for the families are presenting three different theories of how vaccines caused autism. A hearing concerning one of those theories began Monday and is expected to last through the month. The theory at issue is whether vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal caused autism.

Lynn Ricciardella, a Justice Department lawyer, said that the theory has not moved beyond the realm of pure speculation. She noted that such organizations as the Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have rejected any link between thimerosal and autism.

"There is no scientific debate," Ricciardella said. "The debate is over."

Thimerosal has been removed in recent years from standard childhood vaccines, except flu vaccines that are not packaged in single-doses. The CDC says single-dose flu shots currently are available only in limited quantities.

Under a two-decades-old program, individuals claiming injury from a vaccine must file a petition for "no-fault" compensation with the United States Court of Federal Claims. The secretary of Health and Human Services replaces the vaccine manufacturer or vaccine administrator to defend the claim.

Two 10-year-old boys from Portland, Oregan, will serve as test cases to determine whether thousands of families can be compensated. Attorneys for the boys will attempt to show they were happy, healthy and developing normally — but, after being exposed to vaccines with thimerosal, they began to regress.

To win, the attorneys for the two boys, William Mead and Jordan King, will have to show that it is more likely than not that the vaccine actually caused the injury, which they described as regressive autism.

Tom Powers, one of their attorneys, acknowledged that the evidence showing thimerosal led to regressive autism was indirect and circumstantial. Still, it is clear in the case of the two boys that they were normal and typical well after their first birthday. Only after the full round of vaccines had been administered, did they begin showing symptoms of autism.

The attorneys for the families said that a study in monkeys showed that mercury could ignite "neuroinflammation" in the brain, and such inflammation is the hallmark of somebody with autism. They also noted that previous studies of thimerosal were focused on autism, rather than on a more rare, specific form of the disorder that they described as regressive autism.

The first witness for the families, Sander Greenland, a professor at the UCLA School of Public Health, said that published studies he reviewed failed to separate regressive autism from other types of autism when looking at thimerosal, thus they allow for a substantial association of the vaccines with clearly regressive autism.

Under the vaccine compensation program, officials titled special masters serve as the trial judges. The hearing that began Monday involved three special masters who will hear the evidence and determine whether thimerosal belongs on the list of causes for regressive autism. The ruling are appealable to the Court of Federal Claims.

Plaintiffs were instructed to designate three test cases for each of their theories — nine cases in all. The two cases beginning Monday are among the three that focus on the second theory of causation: that thimerosal-containing vaccines alone cause autism. If the families are successful, they could be entitled to damages that cover lost income after the person turns 18 and up to $250,000 (euro162,000) for pain and suffering.

Many members of the medical community are skeptical of the families' claims. They worry that the claims about the dangers of vaccines could cause some people to forego vaccines that prevent illness.

Autism is a developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others. Medical experts don't have a comprehensive understanding of what causes autism, but they do know there is a strong hereditary component.

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On the Net:

Background on thimerosal trial: http://www.uscfc.uscourts.gov/node/4428