Genetic Study Reveals Link Between Vaccines and Autoimmune, Brain Dysfunction

In response to a genetic study published in the May 1999 issue of Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC; Vienna, VA) is urging government funding of independent scientific research into potential genetic factors involved in vaccine-induced autoimmune and brain dysfunction. NVIC called the study a "major breakthrough" in scientific understanding of the possible biological mechanisms involved in vaccine-associated injury and death.

The three year study, funded and conducted by the Chronic Illness Research Foundation in collaboration with researchers from the University of Michigan School of Medicine (Ann Arbor) and a California Department of Veterans Affairs facility, found abnormal RNA in the blood of 50% of sick Gulf War veterans. None in the age and sex matched healthy non-military controls. The presence of abnormal RNA in the blood indicates that chromosomal damage has occurred.

The RNA found in the sick Gulf War veterans contained genetic material that occurs only in regions of chromosome 22 (specifically 22q11.2), a chromosome uniquely susceptible to genetic rearrangements and mutation. Damage to chromosome 22q11.2 has been linked in other published studies to autoimmune diseases such as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, thrombocytopenia purpura, and multiple myeloma cancer.

Gulf War soldiers were given 17 different viral and bacterial vaccines, including experimental anthrax and botulinum toxoid vaccines, as well as experimental drugs before deploying for the Gulf where they were exposed to pesticides and other chemical toxins. Many of the sick veterans are experiencing autoimmune and neurological dysfunction similar to that seen in vaccine-injured children.

"What our findings suggest is that, when the body is subjected to toxic events such as exposure to chemicals, radiation, viruses, bacteria, drugs, or vaccines, there appears to be molecular memory," said lead researcher Howard B. Urnovitz, a Berkeley, CA microbiologist and Science Director of the Chronic Illness Research Foundation. "The human chromosome may be able to take just so many toxic exposures before it begins to break down. Certain genotypes may be particularly at risk for sustaining chromosomal damage after exposure to toxic events. This makes it important to limit exposures, including being more selective with vaccine use and finding ways to identify and pre-screen for those who may be at high risk for chromosomal damage."

NVIC has been critical of the lack of government funding for independent, basic science research into the biological mechanism of vaccine injury and death. NVIC has collected reports of vaccine reactions for the past 17 years and some families have reported two or more family members who have become disabled or died following vaccination, indicating genetic predisposition to vaccine-induced health problems.

One government clinical study found that children with a family history of neurological disorders were three times more likely to suffer neurological problems after receiving a DPT shot. However, government-funded basic science research into biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced health problems is not being conducted, and no techniques to identify and screen out high-risk children have been developed.

The National Vaccine Information Center is a non-profit educational organization founded in 1982 by parents of vaccine injured children.

For more information: Barbara Loe Fisher, National Vaccine Information Center, 512 W. Maple Ave., Suite 206, Vienna, VA 22180. Tel: 703-938-0342. FAX: 703-938-5768.