Page 88 - Fall2012

THE INTERAGENCY AUTISM COORDINATING COMMITTEE (IACC) MEETING, JULY 10, 2012
Report by Kimberly Hartke

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (http://iacc.
hhs.gov/) was established by the Combating Autism Act of 2006.
It is comprised of U.S. federal agency representatives and public
members. The public members include autism advocacy groups,
parents of autistic children and three autistic adults. The panel met
on July 10, 2012 to welcome new members to the committee and
kick off the next phase of their work.
In April, 2012, the Centers for Disease Control released the
staggering statistic that one in eighty-eight American children is
on the autism spectrum. A member of the panel, Lynn Redwood
of the Coalition for Safe Minds, said that she believes that one in
thirty-eight U.S. children now has autism.
The IACC website says the committee is to represent a
Protestors turn their backs on Kathleen Sebelius, diversity of ideas and perspectives. Yet, during the public comments,
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Jake Crosby, a student at the George Washington University School
Human Services (pictured below). of Public Health blistered the committee for being stacked with
people who are blocking research into vaccines as a probable cause
of autism, calling each of them out by name.
Thomas Insel, MD of the National Institute of Mental Health
is head of the committee. Insel conducted research on the autism
drug Oxytocin which is now being promoted as a drug for shyness.
During his introduction to the work flow for the day, Insel said,
“The committee has discovered that we need to discuss the public
comments offered at our meetings, so they feel heard.” Notice he
didn’t say, “So we can learn,” or “Because we need their valuable
input.” And, his next remark was even more surprising. “We will
put off such discussion until the end of the meeting (several hours
later)." It was even more obviously patronizing, once you heard the
outrage expressed in the public comments. Interestingly, the panel
ran out of time and the discussion of public input never happened.
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, welcomed the new committee
saying, “The need for answers has never been greater.” She told the committee that autism is one of the top three
national health priorities for the Obama Administration.
Her remarks at the meeting prompted a quiet demonstration by a dozen people in the audience gallery. They stood
up and turned their backs on Sebelius, and remained so the entire time she spoke. The back of their yellow T-shirts
read: Sebelius Turns Her Back on the Autism Epidemic. One protestor wore a T-shirt that read, “My son’s brain damage
is government approved.”
Mark Blaxill, author of The Age of Autism (ageofautism.com), a book that fingers mercury in vaccines as a neurological
toxin, wore a yellow T Shirt that read: $1 Billion Wasted Researching What Doesn’t Cause Autism.
In his comments to the IACC panel, Blaxill said, “...to the federal representatives...you are working in a broken system...
in a revolving door where your leaders leave public service and routinely go to work for pharmaceutical companies
and consult with them about drugs and vaccines and how to get them through the approval process. It is hard to have
a sense of confidence in the integrity of our government...”
One of the strongest statements among the public comments was made by Mary Holland of the Elizabeth Birt Center
for Autism Law and Advocacy (ebcala.org). She told the IACC that their self-congratulatory remarks were inappropriate
given the fact that autism rates doubled during their previous term. Holland said, “What is on parents' minds around
the country and throughout the world is, ‘what is the relationship between vaccine injury and autism?’... if you are not
looking at that, this committee has a very questionable role.”

Kimberly Hartke is publicist for the Weston A. Price Foundation. Visit her website at hartkeisonline.com

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