Necessary Roughness

In a press release the National Autism Association supports the creation of a government agency under the CDC to oversee and implement vaccine safety research.

According to NAA Vice President Ann Brasher, “It hasn’t been lost upon parents that the rates of neurological and other disorders among the children of this nation have risen alarmingly and are in direct proportion to the addition of numerous vaccines to the routine pediatric schedule over the past two decades. The CDC has yet to address the concerns of parents and have made it clear they don’t intend to. Congressman Weldon’s legislation is essential in establishing a trustworthy agency to conduct desperately needed vaccine safety research.”

So a government agency with the responsibility to see that the products it mandates (not merely recommends) are safe doesn’t get the job done, so we have to create another government agency, under said faulty agency, to get it done. Brilliant.

We are doing the pharmaceutical companies a big favor in paying for their safety research testing. Nothing is without risk, and if a company would be so stupid as to falsify their safety findings to the public, they can be sued out of business in civil court and key officials jailed for fraud. The CDC has shown that it cannot know everything. It can help matters by retaining an advisory rather than an enforcement role. It needs to let families research public information and decide for themselves what is best for them and their children.