Autism Bills Introduced into Congress
Two bills relating to autism have recently been introduced into Congress.
The first bill (the Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Populations Act of 2006 co-sponsored by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Tom Osborne, R-Neb) would require the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study and compare health outcomes (including autism) in both vaccinated and unvaccinated* populations.
* e.g., the Amish:
“I have not seen autism with the Amish,” said Dr. Frank Noonan, a family practitioner in Lancaster County, Pa., who has treated thousands of Amish for a quarter-century.
“You’ll find all the other stuff, but we don’t find the autism. We’re right in the heart of Amish country and seeing none, and that’s just the way it is.”
Such a comparison would be a simple and straightforward way to identify whether immunizations may play a role in the autism epidemic.
The second bill (the Vaccine Safety bill co-sponsored by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and David Weldon, , R-Fla.) would give responsibility for the nation’s vaccine safety to an independent agency outside the CDC.
Currently, the CDC currently oversees both the recommendation of and safety monitoring of different vaccinations, which puts the agency in the difficult position of essentially regulating itself as well as the primary suppliers (pharmaceutical companies) of products that enable the fulfillment of one of the agency’s primary directives (i.e., ensure high vaccination rates among the general population).
