Homefirst® Clinical Medical Update Vol.I #4
Autism and the Homefirst® Medical Practice
The Age of Autism: 'A pretty big secret' By Dan Olmsted UPI Senior Editor
CHICAGO, Dec. 7, 2005 (UPI) -- It's a far piece from the horse-and-buggies of Lancaster County, Pa., to the cars and freeways of Cook County, Ill.
But thousands of children cared for by Homefirst Health Services in metropolitan Chicago have at least two things in common with thousands of Amish children in rural Lancaster: They have never been vaccinated. And they don't have autism.
"We have a fairly large practice. We have about 30,000 or 35,000 children that we've taken care of over the years, and I don't think we have a single case of autism in children delivered by us who never received vaccines," said Dr. Mayer Eisenstein, Homefirst's medical director who founded the practice in 1973. Homefirst doctors have delivered more than 15,000 babies at home, and thousands of them have never been vaccinated.
The few autistic children Homefirst sees were vaccinated before their families became patients, Eisenstein said. "I can think of two or three autistic children who we've delivered their mother's next baby, and we aren't really totally taking care of that child -- they have special care needs. But they bring the younger children to us. I don't have a single case that I can think of that wasn't vaccinated."
The autism rate in Illinois public schools is 38 per 10,000, according to state Education Department data; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the national rate of autism spectrum disorders at 1 in 166 -- 60 per 10,000.
"We do have enough of a sample," Eisenstein said. "The numbers are too large to not see it. We would absolutely know. We're all family doctors. If I have a child with autism come in, there's no communication. It's frightening. You can't touch them. It's not something that anyone would miss."
No one knows what causes autism, but federal health authorities say it isn't childhood immunizations. Some parents and a small minority of doctors and scientists, however, assert vaccines are responsible.
This column has been looking for autism in never-vaccinated U.S. children in an effort to shed light on the issue. We went to Chicago to meet with Eisenstein at the suggestion of a reader, and we also visited Homefirst's office in northwest suburban Rolling Meadows. Homefirst has four other offices in the Chicago area and a total of six doctors.
Eisenstein stresses his observations are not scientific. "The trouble is this is just anecdotal in a sense, because what if every autistic child goes somewhere else and (their family) never calls us or they moved out of state?"
In practice, that's unlikely to account for the pronounced absence of autism, says Eisenstein, who also has a bachelor's degree in statistics, a master's degree in public health and a law degree.
Homefirst follows state immunization mandates, but Illinois
allows religious exemptions if parents object based either on tenets of their faith or specific personal religious views. Homefirst does not exclude or discourage such families. Eisenstein, in fact, is author of the book "Don't Vaccinate Before You Educate!" and is critical of the CDC's vaccination policy in the 1990s, when several new immunizations were added to the schedule, including Hepatitis B as early as the day of birth. Several of the vaccines -- HepB included -- contained a mercury-based preservative that has since been phased out of most childhood vaccines in the United States.
Medical practices with Homefirst's approach to immunizations are rare. "Because of that, we tend to attract families that have questions about that issue," said Dr. Paul Schattauer, who has been with Homefirst for 20 years and treats "at least" 100 children a week.
Schattauer seconded Eisenstein's observations. "All I know is in my practice I don't see autism. There is no striking 1-in-166," he said.
Earlier this year we reported the same phenomenon in the mostly unvaccinated Amish. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding told us the Amish "have genetic connectivity that would make them different from populations that are in other sectors of the United States." Gerberding said, however, studies "could and should be done" in more representative unvaccinated groups -- if they could be found and their autism rate documented.
Chicago is America's prototypical "City of Big Shoulders," to quote Carl Sandburg, and Homefirst's mostly middle-class families seem fairly representative. A substantial number are conservative Christians who home-school their children. They are mostly white, but the Homefirst practice also includes black and Hispanic families and non-home-schooling Jews, Catholics and Muslims.
They tend to be better educated, follow healthier diets and breast-feed their children much longer than the norm -- half of Homefirst's mothers are still breast-feeding at two years. Also, because Homefirst relies less on prescription drugs including antibiotics as a first line of treatment, these children have less exposure to other medicines, not just vaccines.
Schattauer, interviewed at the Rolling Meadows office, said his caseload is too limited to draw conclusions about a possible link between vaccines and autism. "With these numbers you'd have a hard time proving or disproving anything," he said. "You can only get a feeling about it.
"In no way would I be an advocate to stand up and say we need to look at vaccines, because I don't have the science to say that," Schattauer said. "But I don't think the science is there to say that it's not."
Schattauer said Homefirst's patients also have significantly less childhood asthma and juvenile diabetes compared to national rates. An office manager who has been with Homefirst for 17 years said she is aware of only one case of severe asthma in an unvaccinated child.
"Sometimes you feel frustrated because you feel like you've got a pretty big secret," Schattauer said. He argues for more research on all those disorders, independent of political or business pressures.
The asthma rate among Homefirst patients is so low it was noticed by the Blue Cross group with which Homefirst is affiliated, according to Eisenstein.
"In the alternative-medicine network which Homefirst is part of, there are virtually no cases of childhood asthma, in contrast to the overall Blue Cross rate of childhood asthma which is approximately 10 percent," he said. "At first I thought it was because they (Homefirst's children) were breast-fed, but even among the breast-fed we've had asthma. We have virtually no asthma if you're breast-fed and not vaccinated."
Because the diagnosis of asthma is based on emergency-room visits and hospital admissions, Eisenstein said, Homefirst's low rate is hard to dispute. "It's quantifiable -- the definition is not reliant on the doctor's perception of asthma."
Several studies have found a risk of asthma from vaccination; others have not. Studies that include never-vaccinated children generally find little or no asthma in that group.
Earlier this year Florida pediatrician Dr. Jeff Bradstreet said there is virtually no autism in home-schooling families who decline to vaccinate for religious reasons -- lending credence to Eisenstein's observations.
"It's largely non-existent," said Bradstreet, who treats children with autism from around the country. "It's an extremely rare event."
Bradstreet has a son whose autism he attributes to a vaccine reaction at 15 months. His daughter has been home-schooled, he describes himself as a "Christian family physician," and he knows many of the leaders in the home-school movement.
"There was this whole subculture of folks who went into home-schooling so they would never have to vaccinate their kids," he said. "There's this whole cadre who were never vaccinated for religious reasons." In that subset, he said, "unless they were massively exposed to mercury through lots of amalgams (mercury dental fillings in the mother) and/or big-time fish eating, I've not had a single case."
Federal health authorities and mainstream medical groups emphatically dismiss any link between autism and vaccines, including the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Last year a panel of the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies, said there is no evidence of such a link, and funding should henceforth go to "promising" research.
Thimerosal, which is 49.6 percent ethyl mercury by weight, was phased out of most U.S. childhood immunizations beginning in 1999, but the CDC recommends flu shots for pregnant women and last year began recommending them for children 6 to 23 months old. Most of those shots contain thimerosal.
Thimerosal-preserved vaccines are currently being injected into millions of children in developing countries around the world. "My mandate ... is to make sure at the end of the day that 100,000,000 are immunized ... this year, next year and for many years to come ... and that will have to be with thimerosal-containing vaccines," said John Clements of the World Health Organization at a June 2000 meeting called by the CDC.
That meeting was held to review data that thimerosal might be linked with autism and other neurological problems. But in 2004 the Institute of Medicine panel said evidence against a link is so strong that health authorities, "whether in the United States or other countries, should not include autism as a potential risk" when formulating immunization policies.
But where is the simple, straightforward study of autism in never-vaccinated U.S. children? Based on our admittedly anecdotal and limited reporting among the Amish, the home-schooled and now Chicago's Homefirst, that may prove to be a significant omission.
-- This ongoing series on the roots and rise of autism welcomes comment. E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com
Weldon, Maloney Introduce Vaccine Safety Bill
Press Release For Immediate Release
July 26, 2006 Contact: Kurt Heath (Weldon) 202-225-3671 Afshin Mohamadi (Maloney) 202-225-7944
Weldon, Maloney Introduce Vaccine Safety Bill Measure removes CDC’s conflict of interest; helps preserve public confidence in vaccine safety research WASHINGTON, DC – At a press conference Wednesday morning, U.S. Reps. Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-FL) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced a bill that would give responsibility for the nation’s vaccine safety to an independent agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, removing most vaccine safety research from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Currently, the CDC has responsibility for both vaccine safety and promotion, which is an inherent conflict of interest increasingly garnering public criticism.
“There’s an enormous inherent conflict of interest within the CDC and if we fail to move vaccine safety to a separate independent office, safety issues will remain a low priority and public confidence in vaccines will continue to erode,” said Weldon, noting that across the federal government similar conflicts of interests have been remedied, but with regard to mandatory childhood vaccines the conflict continues to persist unchecked. “This bill will provide the independence necessary to ensure that vaccine safety research is robust, unbiased, and broadly accepted by the public at large.”
"Vaccines do wonders for public health, but when the government requires them, it must also ensure that they're safe,” said Maloney. “We need adequate, unbiased research on vaccines, and this legislation would deliver that. I applaud Dr. Weldon for his tremendous commitment to and leadership on this issue. He is truly dedicated to protecting our children and the public at large."
Specifically, the Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act of 2006 would create and equip an independent office to address, investigate, and head off potential vaccine safety problems – like the use of mercury in vaccines – in an objective and non-conflicted office whose sole purpose is vaccine safety and evaluation. Additionally, it provides $80 million in funding to conduct vaccine safety research and analysis.
Weldon and Maloney were joined by several groups advocating vaccine safety reform, including the National Autism Association, A-Champs, and safeMINDS. According to the National Autism Association, “This landmark legislation will provide critical government agency oversight and implementation of vaccine safety research, which has not kept pace with the rise in the number of vaccines routinely prescribed to consumers including pregnant women and young children.”
Weldon’s proposed legislation comes as the Senate considers legislation that reforms the way the federal government conducts drug safety at the FDA but explicitly omits vaccines from further safety reviews
Kudos to representatives Weldon and Maloney for introducing a bill into Congress that will look at the issue of vaccine safety. I feel that this may be the begining of informing the public of the risks as well as the benefits of the childhood vaccione programs. We must always remember the teaching of Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, "Primum Non Nocere", Above All Do No Harm.
Dr. Mayer Eisenstein is a graduate of the University of Illinois Medical School,the John Marshall Law School,and the Medical College of Wisconsin - School of Public Health.
Under his medical leadership Homefist Health Services has cared for over 70,000 parents grandparents and children.
As our population ages Dr Eisenstein and the Homefirst Staff are bringing the same natural approach to chronic medical conditions elevated blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, muscle and joint pain, menopausal symptoms, acid reflux, heartburn, GERD, IBS, etc. as they have to childbirth.
His radio show "The Dr Mayer Eisenstein Show" is heard coast to coast on XM satallite radio and on many affiliates.
Dr. Eisenstein's book "Don’t Vaccinate Before You Educate!" is a result of his lectures on vaccinations. Dr. Eisenstein brings his knowledge as a physician, public health doctor and attorney to help educate you on this very important subject. Dr. Eisenstein presents scientific literature both pro and con vaccine. He comes to the conclusion that scientific studies alone will not be enough to decide the benefit vs. the risks of vaccine programs. Therefore, he concludes that personal religious convictions, not scientific studies, are the main reasons, upon which to base your vaccination decision. Unlike most other physicians, he feels parents have a right to be involved in the final decision about vaccinating their children. He discusses vaccine law, religious exemptions with a heavy emphasis on the Illinois law. Don’t Vaccinate Before You Educate! will be the beginning of a path to educate families with regard to childhood vaccines.
Excerpts
This book is not meant to convince you to vaccinate or not vaccinate your children but to open your eyes to the ongoing debate.
Education as defined by Webster’s College Dictionary: To impart knowledge to; provide with information; to educate consumers To educate means to widen one’s horizons. I hope that this book will be educational with regard to the vaccine issues and inspire you to become more educated with regard to the risk vs. benefits of vaccine programs.
I have included just a few of the many pro and con scientific vaccine studies. Many more can be obtained by going on the internet to the multiple vaccine sites as well as to the on-line versions of some of the most prestigious medical journals (BMJ, AMA, Pediatrics, Lancet, Journal of Disease of Children).
I hope this book leads you to do more research as well as think about your religious and spiritual convictions.