Sharon M.
Hepatitis B Vaccine Victims Ask Congress For Health Agency Investigation And
Informed Consent Protections
WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Families with members who have suffered
injuries or deaths following hepatitis B vaccinations and research
scientists
appealed to Congress today for better vaccine safety studies and informed
consent protections in mandatory vaccination laws. At a hearing of the U.S.
House subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources of
the Committee on Government Reform chaired by Congressman John Mica (R-FL),
the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) called for funding of
independent (non-government, non-industry) research into reports of
hepatitis
B vaccine associated health problems.
Testimony by teenagers, adults and parents of children, who died or were
left
with severe joint and head pain, chronic physical exhaustion, rashes and
skin
lesions, vision loss, seizures and other autoimmune and neurological
dysfunction after hepatitis B vaccinations, was presented to the committee.
Michael Belkin, of New York City, described the death of his five week old
daughter, Lyla Rose; 16-year old Lindsay Kirschner, of Florida told the
committee about how the side effects of her hepatitis B vaccine reactions
have kept her out of school; Judy Converse, M.P.H., of Connecticut,
described
how her newborn son, Nicholas, was left with seizures and developmental
problems after his hepatitis B vaccine reactions; and Betty Fluck, R.N., of
Indiana, described how she has to wear leg braces because of reactions to
hepatitis B shots she was required to get as a condition of employment.
Three medical researchers, including Bonnie Dunbar, Ph.D., of Houston,
Professor of Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine; Burton Waisbren,
M.D.,
of Milwaukee, a cell biologist and infectious disease specialist; and
Barthelow Classen, M.D., of Baltimore, President of Classen Immunotherapies,
criticized the scientific studies used to license the recombinant hepatitis
B
vaccine and require its universal use in all newborns and children.
Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president, National Vaccine Information
Center, reported she has filed two requests under the Freedom of Information
Act with the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease
Control
asking the two federal health agencies to release to the public copies of
peer reviewed, scientific studies and other documentation used to license
the
recombinant hepatitis B vaccine and to support the safety of the 1991
recommendation that all newborn infants at 12 hours old receive the first
dose of hepatitis B vaccine.
The National Vaccine Information Center, a non-profit, educational
organization founded in 1982 representing families affected by vaccine
injuries and deaths, health care professionals and parents, called for:
1. an investigation into federal health agency licensing and policymaking
standards applied to the recombinant hepatitis B vaccine;
2. special congressional appropriations to fund non-government, non-
industry conducted scientific research to identify genetic and other
high risk factors for reacting to hepatitis B vaccine;
3. the institution of informed consent protections in current vaccine
policies.
Fisher told the committee "The lack of informed consent protections in mass
vaccination programs is leading to fear and mistrust of the whole
vaccination
system. What we hear parents saying is: show us the science and give us a
choice."
SOURCE National Vaccine Information Center
CO: National Vaccine Information Center; U.S. Food and Drug Administration;
Centers for Disease Control
ST: District of Columbia, Virginia
IN: HEA MTC
SU: LEG EXE
05/19/99 15:50 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com