Letter to the Institute of Medicine regarding thimerosal in vaccines: August 22, 2001
Marie McCormick, MD, ScD
Immunization Safety Review Committee Institute of Medicine National Academy of Sciences 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418 Dear Dr. McCormick:
I am the president and founder of the
Cherab Foundation, headquartered in Gillette, New Jersey, which is
one of the largest national nonprofit
organizations devoted to verbal apraxia (or dyspraxia of speech) and
related speech and language disorders. (See Attachment 1).
Developmental verbal apraxia is an inability to plan and perform certain
motor speech tasks. The condition can vary from severe speech
restrictions to limited speech output, to speech which is unintelligible
and difficult to decode, all depending on the level of difficulty
experienced in coordinating oral movements required for sound and speech
production. (See Attachment 2). The CHERAB Foundation is
concerned with the future of large numbers of students with disabilities
who are in need of speech related services. For example, according
to the New Jersey State Department of Education, Office of Special
Education Programs, 38,797 students with disabilities between the ages
of 3 to 21 were speech-language impaired during the year 2000. A
total of 58,973 students from among preschool disabled, autistic,
emotionally disturbed, multiply disabled, mentally retarded, etc., or
32.9% of total, required some form of speech-related service. (See
Attachment 3.) These figures testify as to the high prevalence of
some sort of verbal apraxia symptoms among a broad range of disorders
involving the central nervous system. Environmental organo-mercury
compounds can cause deficits in speech and language, including complete
loss of expressive language, articulation difficulties, sensory
integration, and hypotonia, all common symptoms in apraxic children.
Many of these symptoms are prevalent in children with autism. In
this context I have become aware that infant vaccines used to contain
mercury through a preservative, thimerosal. The CDC conducted a
study based on a sample of 100,000 children in which they found a
statistically significant correlation between thimerosal exposure and
speech and language delays. (Verstraeten, T. "Risk of neurological
and renal impairment associated with Thimerosal-containing
vaccines", National Immunization Program, CDC, presented at the
IOM Thimerosal Review meeting, July 2001).
Given the above, I wish to bring to your attention a new, potential
therapeutic intervention in verbal apraxia that consists of essential
fatty acid (EFA) supplementation.
An analysis of professional anecdotal case reports provided by speech pathologists was presented to a scientific panel of experts at a CHERAB Foundation emergency fact finding conference held on July 23-24, 2001 in Morristown, New Jersey. The analysis clearly indicated improvement in verbal expression abilities of supplemented subjects. (See Attachment 4). Additional anecdotal reports presented by a practicing developmental pediatrician and a speech therapist provided additional proof of initial success. In a post-conference statement, the scientific panel of experts unanimously agreed that the existing scientific evidence justifies planning and implementing a comprehensive clinical trial to convincingly validate this new potential therapeutic intervention and discussed various clinical research alternatives to achieve this validation. (See Attachment 5).
I am the parent of a son with verbal apraxia
who benefited from the EFA supplementation and I can personally testify
as to its effectiveness. Personal testimonials of other parents
are also attached. (See Attachment 6).
Our organization is looking closely at the possibility that organic mercury compounds
might be causing some cases of apraxia and feels that more good research
is needed to explore and assess the potential associations
between verbal apraxia, EFA supplementation and organo-mercury
compounds. New therapeutic interventions in verbal apraxia with
EFA supplementation should also be pursued, since they could be
effective in alleviation of symptoms in other neurodevelopmental
disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, sensory integration
disorder and hypotonia where organo-mercury toxicity might have been
involved.
Sincerely,
Lisa Geng
President CHERAB Foundation http://www.apraxia.cc
Letter to the Food and Drug Administration regarding thimerosal in vaccines: November 7, 2001
Bernard A. Schwetz, DVM, PhD Acting Commissioner Food and Drug Administration 5600 Fischers Lane Rockville, MD 20852
Dear Dr. Schwetz:
The CHERAB Foundation is supporting the Safe Minds letter of October
19 regarding the recall of infant vaccines containing thimerosal.
The Cherab Foundation, headquartered
in Gillette, New Jersey is devoted to verbal apraxia (or dyspraxia
of speech) and related speech
and language disorders. The condition can vary from severe
speech restrictions to limited speech output, to speech which is
unintelligible and difficult to decode, all depending on the level
of difficulty experienced in coordinating oral movements required for
sound and speech production.
The CHERAB Foundation is concerned with
the future of large numbers of students with disabilities who are
in need of speech related services.
For example, according to the New Jersey State Department of
Education, Office of Special Education Programs, 38,797 students with
disabilities between the ages of 3 to 21 were speech-language impaired
during the year 2000. A total of 58,973 students from among
preschool disabled, autistic, emotionally disturbed, multiply
disabled, mentally retarded, etc., or 32.9% of total, required some
form of speech-related service. These figures testify as to the
high prevalence of some sort of verbal apraxia symptoms among a broad
range of disorders involving the central nervous system.
Environmental organo-mercury compounds can cause deficits in speech
and language, including complete loss of expressive language,
articulation difficulties, sensory integration, and hypotonia, all
common symptoms in apraxic children. Many of these symptoms are
prevalent in children with autism. The CDC conducted a study
based on a sample of 100,000 children in which they found a
statistically significant correlation between thimerosal exposure and
speech and language delays. (Verstraeten, T. "Risk of
neurological and renal impairment associated with Thimerosal-containing
vaccines", National Immunization Program, CDC, presented at the
IOM Thimerosal Review meeting, July 2001).
The CHERAB Foundation feels that since there appears to be ample
supply of non-mercury containing vaccines to fully immunize all
children, prudence dictates that the mercury-containing vaccines be
withdrawn as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Robert Katz, Ph.D.
Director of Research CHERAB Foundation Letter to the Food and Drug Administration regarding the dangers to health of indiscriminate ban of 4 kinds of fatty fish from pregnant women and newborns due to possible high mercury levels: Dr. Marjorie l. Davidson,
Center for Food Safety and Nutrition Food and Drug Administration Washington, D.C. Dear Dr. Davidson,
Please forgive my unsolicited appeal to you. But
a recent FDA
advisory recommending limited consumption of specific fish (shark, swordfish, tilefish and king mackerel) by pregnant women, due to potentially high mercury levels has relevance for fish oil supplements marketed for their omega-3 oil content. In regard to fish oil supplements the population at large does not know that MeHg binds to proteins and therefore it is not of concern in highly purified fish oils. They also have relevance for fish consumption decisions of the population at large. These recommendations come at a time when the American Heart Association recommended the consumption of two fish meals per week (preferably fatty fish) to the general population as a means of omega-3 fatty acid intake and reduction of risks from cardiovascular disease. The FDA recommendations could discourage pregnant women from consuming perfectly healthy oily fish and this could jeopardize their intake of omega-3s, specifically DHA essential for the fetus's brain development and the mental health of the mother. I am asking a simple question. Given that the Omega-3
Research
The public is reacting in a panic mode, especially because medical
professionals, OBGYNs, pediatricians and cardiologists are discouraging the public from eating fish. I heard recently a medical call-in radio program in which a cardiologist, involved with nutrition and physical exercise was discouraging the listeners from eating fish with the rhetorical question: "Why would you want to store mercury in your body?" The interviewer's response to that was: "We should remember that, it is good advice". It would be very unfortunate if regulations
meant to preserve the health of pregnant mothers and their developing
embryos and fetuses
would result in an aggravated omega-3 essential fatty acid deficiency
harming the developing fetus brain and eye development, the newborn,
the developing child and the mother. In essence it could harm
the entire population by endangering the cardiovascular health of
those who are above 40 years of age and prone to coronary heart
disease.
Please let me know if I can be of any assistance to you in avoiding
potential undesirable side effects to the recent well meaning ruling. Sincerely,
Robert Katz, Ph.D.
Director of Research
CHERAB Foundation President Omega-3 Research Institute, Inc. 3 Bethesda Metro Center, #700 Bethesda, MD 20814 Tel: 301-961-1918 Fax: 301-417-9087 E-mail: omega3ri@aol.com Web URL: www.omega3ri.org Late Talker
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