With the new Administration, is it possible that the Feds are finally getting serious about addressing vaccine safety problems? Hard to tell at this point, but, as we wrote last month, several opportunities are coming up to voice concerns on the lack of vaccine safety research and the need to remedy gaps.

The next opportunity is this Monday, March 16. The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) is holding a stakeholder meeting from 9:00-5:00 in Washington DC. NVAC, which advises the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) of the Department of Health and Human Services, is seeking public input into the scientific research agenda being developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Immunization Safety Office (ISO). More stakeholder meetings will be held by the NVPO and NVAC in April.

The March 16 meeting will address the CDC's draft research agenda and broader issues regarding the national vaccine safety system. The NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group's progress to date will also be discussed and attendees/stakeholders are asked to provide comment on (1) the draft research agenda, (2) options for developing priorities for the research agenda, (3) general vaccine system issues, and (4) the draft document developed by the writing group identifying gaps and prioritization criteria.

SafeMinds Directors Sallie Bernard and Vicky Debold participated in the Writing Group meeting held last month, which helped prepare for the March 16 meeting. The Writing Group consisted of individuals and members of groups with a primary interest in vaccine-related issues, state and local public health and immunization officials, pediatricians, and federal officials. The Writing Group has published a draft joint statement and draft documents on Gaps in the Research Agenda and Criteria for Assessing ISO Research, which address questions around immunization of special populations, specific diseases which might be caused by vaccination, and the health effect of vaccination practices.

The Obama administration has taken decisive, action to decrease mercury emissions by agreeing to form a legally binding international mercury reduction treaty. Once the administration announced it would reverse the course set by the Bush administration, China, India and other nations agreed to become involved.

Susan Egan Keane, a policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Washington Post the commitment was "an amazing and astonishing turn of events."

"For six or seven years, the Bush administration had absolutely blocked any attempt to create a legally binding instrument," she told the Washington Post. "The Obama administration, within three or four weeks of inauguration, was able to put that into reverse."

Mercury is a known neurotoxin released into the environment from coal power plants, chemical production plants and small scale mining. Mercury exposure occurs from ingesting foods, such as fish and foods containing high fructose corn syrup, as well as air emissions from industry. Recent studies from the University of Texas Health Science Center have associated proximity to industrial mercury emissions with a significant increase in the diagnosis of autism (Palmer et al 2008, 2005). While non-mercury manufacturing alternatives exist that decrease emissions by 90%, the Bush administration never required factories to reduce emissions and rather allowed them to purchase emission credits.

Negotiations on the treaty will begin late this year, with the hopes of completion by 2013. The White House issued a statement saying a future treaty would use "a combination of legally binding and voluntary commitments" to cut mercury emissions from industrial processes as well as coal-fired power plants and small-scale mining. Nancy Sutley, who chairs the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in the statement: "The United States will play a leading role in working with other nations to craft a global, legally binding agreement that will prevent the spread of mercury into the environment and improve the health of workers, pregnant women and children throughout the world."

In February, the Obama administration signaled that it will seek more stringent controls on mercury pollution from the nation's power plants and SafeMinds is encouraged by indications that the federal government is taking action to slow the rate of environmental mercury contamination.

The 2008 draft strategic National Vaccine Plan is the initial step in updating the 1994 National Vaccine Plan. The National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) Introduction describes the process the NVPO and other federal agencies to create the 2008 draft Plan. Public engagement meetings will take place in St. Louis, Missouri on March 14, 2009, Columbus, Ohio on March 28, and Syracuse, New York on April 4, 2009. Meetings will include up to about 100 community members sought through outreach from a variety of community networks and limited to people who live in the local area who register in advance of the meeting.

The Plan is built around the achievement of five broad goals:

· Goal 1: Develop new and improved vaccines.
· Goal 2: Enhance the safety of vaccines and vaccination practices.
· Goal 3: Support informed vaccine decision-making by the public, providers, and policy-makers.
· Goal 4: Ensure a stable supply of recommended vaccines and achieve better use of existing vaccines to prevent disease, disability and death in the United States.
· Goal 5: Increase global prevention of death and disease through safe and effective vaccination.

All comments on the Plan should be received no later than 5 p.m. on March 31, 2009. Electronic responses are preferred and may be addressed to NVPComments@hhs.gov. Written responses should be addressed to the National Vaccine Program Office, Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 443-H, Washington, DC 20201. Attention: National Vaccine Plan RFI. For more information, contact Captain Raymond A. Strikas, M.D., National Vaccine Program Office, Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 443-H, Washington, DC 20201; (202) 690-5566; fax 202-260-1165; e-mail NVPComments@hhs.gov.

From Huffington Post

f you are like most Americans, you have an expectation that our federal regulatory agencies will protect us from unsafe chemicals found in the products we use everyday. We expect our children's toys, baby bottles and drinking water to be safe.

As lawmakers remain understandably pre-occupied and attempt to get their legislative arms around the instability of our economic future, scientists, physicians, and consumer advocates are waiting for Congress to take up long overdue legislation that will change our country's chemical regulatory law,

The Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). TSCA was the first environmental law that acknowledged the possible harm to humans posed by chemical exposures. Passed in 1976, with a goal of "protecting the public health and the environment," TSCA is considered the weakest of all the environmental laws today and the only one that has never been amended.

When first enacted, 63,000 chemicals were grandfathered in with the presumption of safety. However, no one knows if these chemicals are truly safe. Since then, approximately 18,000 new chemicals have entered the marketplace with little or no safety data.

To read the full article, click here.

For an update on the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, click here.

For a roundup of important legislation affecting children's health, click here.

New Yorkers, come to the first ever autism lobbying day in Albany on Tuesday, March 24th. The New York autism community is holding a rally to protest against Governor David Paterson's proposed severe budget cuts to early intervention programs, special education pre-school and special education that are proportionally in excess of the cuts proposed for the rest of the budget.

The threat is real and action is needed now. Make a difference and come to the rally! The New York autism community supports special education, early intervention and fairness for persons with autism. Governor Paterson needs to hear your voice demanding that he:

· Stop the sweeping proposed budget cuts proposed to Early Invention, Special Education Pre-School, and Special Education
· Pass real health insurance reform for people with autism. We pay our premiums and it is long overdue for our children to receive the healthcare they need.
· Pass vaccine rights legislation. Three bills are pending that would assure informed consent rights and give vaccine choice to the people of New York, including a philosophical exemption to vaccine mandates.

Where: 11 am on the East Capitol Steps. Meet with your legislators and their staffs the rest of the day.
How: Buses will be going from NYC, Long Island, Westchester and other parts of the state.
Contact: Lisa Rudley at lisarudly@yahoo.com or John Gilmore at jgilmore@autismunited.org,

See www.autismunited.org for more info.
What to Bring: Placards, children, friends, family,

Endorsed by: Autism United, Autism Action Network, Autism Society of America -Albany Chapter, National Autism Association New York City Chapter, Talk About Curing Autism, Generation Rescue, SAFEMINDS, Foundation for Autism Information and Media, Autism One.

Pass this information on through organizations you work with, and through Face Book and other online groups. .

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, NIH has designated at least $200 million in FYs 2009 - 2010 for a new initiative called the NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research, to fund 200 or more grants. In addition, Recovery Act funds allocated to NIH specifically for comparative effectiveness research (CER) may be available to support additional grants. Projects receiving these funds will need to meet this definition of CER: "a rigorous evaluation of the impact of different options that are available for treating a given medical condition for a particular set of patients. Such a study may compare similar treatments, such as competing drugs, or it may analyze very different approaches, such as surgery and drug therapy." Such research may include the development and use of clinical registries, clinical data networks, and other forms of electronic health data that can be used to generate or obtain outcomes data as they apply to CER.

More information including list of specific challenge topics related to comparative effectiveness research is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/challenge_award/

That's right, go ahead and buy something for yourself -- a new CD, the latest bestseller, everyday essentials like pet food or vitamins, even a computer. But first join www.iGive.co m/SafeMinds.

Every time you shop at one of the over 680 name-brand stores in the iGive.com Mall, we'll receive a donation of up to 26% of each purchase you make, at no cost to you.

Remember, donating to SafeMinds won't cost you a thing. But we'll miss out on a lot of extra dough, if you don't join. So visit www.iGive.co m/SafeMinds now. Membership is free and your privacy is guaranteed.

Click here to join.

Support SafeMinds today. Every donation makes an impact. Click here to make a donation.

AutismCares is a consortium of leading autism organizations who have come together to support individuals with autism and their families during natural disasters and other catastrophic life events.

AutismCares assists families who meet the eligibility criteria to cover costs associated with housing, automobile repair, insurance premiums, medical care, prescriptions, daycare, funeral expenses, and other items on a case-by-case basis. In most instances, payments are made directly to the vendor providing the services and not directly to the family.

The Age of Autism is the nation's first daily Web newspaper for the environmental-biomedical community - those who believe autism is an environmentally induced illness, that it is treatable, and that children can recover. For the most part, the major media in the United States aren't interested in that point of view, they won't investigate the causes and possible biomedical treatments of autism independently, and they don't listen to the most important voices - those of the parents. Click here to visit the Age of Autism.