[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 25, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
                    VACCINE INJURY COMPENSATION FUND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bradley of New Hampshire). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, in the late 1980s, Congress 
passed a bill that established a Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund. It 
was supposed to be a nonadversarial fund that was to help children and 
their parents when they were damaged by vaccines.
  We have found in the last few years that we have had a tremendous 
increase in the number of autistic children in America. We went from 1 
in 10,000 children who are autistic to 1 in 200; and now many 
scientists and doctors around the world and in the United States 
believe it has been caused by mercury in vaccines.
  There is a product in vaccines called thimerosal; and 50 percent of 
thimerosal, which is a preservative in vaccines, is mercury. Mercury 
causes damage to the neurologic system and to the brain; and yet we 
have been putting it in needles and then into our kids for many, many 
years, mercury which has a cumulative effect in the brain and does 
cause things like autism and other neurological disorders. Most parents 
do not know that.
  When we established this fund in the late 1980s, there was a 3-year 
window when people could file if their children had been damaged by 
vaccines. Many parents with autistic children did not know about the 
fund until the 3 years had elapsed. We are trying to get that changed 
so these thousands and thousands of parents with autistic children have 
the opportunity to apply to that fund to get the kind of restitution 
that they need to take care of their kids.
  Many parents have gone bankrupt, have lost their homes, have had to 
take extra mortgages to help with their problems, and the children are 
never going to be completely right. If Members saw the movie Rainman, 
Members know what I am talking about.
  Mr. Speaker, each night I am coming to the floor and reading one of 
the thousands of letters I get from parents who have no place to turn 
except to the Congress.
  This lady who wrote this letter is named Melinda Clark from Parma, 
Missouri. Here is what she writes:

       ``My family's journey down this road began a little over 3 
     years ago. The day of my son's diagnosis is permanently 
     etched in my mind. I stood there frozen in the doctor's 
     office almost as if time stood still, and I was instantly put 
     on autopilot. It is still painful to go back to that time in 
     my mind. It finally explained why my precious little boy no 
     longer uttered my name or even looked into my eyes. Oh, how I 
     longed to hear the words 'I love you,' but those were not 
     going to come easily. It would take numerous hours of intense 
     therapy to put together any sounds. With our backs against 
     the wall, we immediately immersed ourselves into research and 
     getting therapy treatment under way. While most kids his age 
     enjoyed leisure time playing with toys and watching Sesame 
     Street, my son began a time-intensive schedule of 40 hours a 
     week of combined therapies. We started from scratch and had 
     to first learn what exactly Nicholas knew and then work from 
     there to fill in many gaps.
       ``As our research continued, I was quick to discover the 
     use of thimerosal in many of my son's vaccines. Nicholas 
     received his vaccines from both the county health department 
     as well as the doctor's office. All in all, too much 
     thimerosal was accumulated for his fragile immunity and 
     nervous system. My investigation has been thwarted by the 
     doctor's office from the beginning. As I began to put 
     together pieces and find proof for my well-founded fears of 
     mercury poisoning in my son, I requested the specific lot 
     numbers as well as manufacturers' names for his vaccines in 
     order to file a vaccine injury report. The doctor's office 
     effectively stalled me for many months before finally telling 
     me that no specific records had been maintained. I could not 
     believe my ears. This was their legal, not to mention 
     ethical, obligation to their patients' safety and welfare. 
     Without this specific information, I was never able to 
     officially report the injury, but it is my sincere hope that 
     through this letter my story can be told. Nothing can be done 
     to undo the damage done to my son, but I pray that no other 
     family will have to suffer at the hands of our ignorant use 
     of mercury in these vaccines.
       What sickens me even more is I worked in an environmental 
     lab where we would test for this toxin in parts per billion, 
     and no one ever mentioned to me during my son's vaccines that 
     this toxin was being used as preservative. As an intelligent 
     human being, if given the opportunity and knowledge of being 
     told this chemical was contained in his vaccines, I never 
     would have allowed this poison to be injected into my child.

  Then it goes on and tells how horrible it was as she saw her child 
slip away from her and does not pay attention or look at her any more.

       It is difficult for those who are not personally affected 
     to understand or even acknowledge the truth. We have been 
     trained from early on to trust in our government and follow 
     all the guidelines set forth for vaccine safety. Like many 
     others, I used to have that trust. Now my vision has been 
     greatly blurred as the blame and acceptance of this issue has 
     been set aside time and again. It is time for our country to 
     step forward and do what is right. No other family should 
     have to walk this stony path when it can easily be avoided by 
     the complete removal of all mercury in all vaccines. The 
     monetary loss of dumping these vaccines is a small price to 
     pay. My son is now 6, and he is doing as well as anyone can 
     expect.

  Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of these children who have been 
damaged by mercury in vaccines, and here are a few pictures of some of 
these children. We need to adjust the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund 
to take care of these kids. We cannot leave them and their parents high 
and dry. It is absolutely criminal for this Congress not to deal with 
this issue.

                          ____________________