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Join
the Cherab
Foundation's
free email support discussion list: For
information about communication impairments, see Cherab's
partner informational site, Speechville
Express Read more about The Late Talker, a new book for families of children who are late to talk. |
Letter to the Food and Drug Administration Regarding Thimerosal in Vaccines November 7, 2001 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: http://www.omega3ri.org/
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