October 5, 2011: Vaccine Epidemic Book Talk and Discussion

On October 5, 2011, Mary Holland and Kim Mack Rosenberg, co-editor and contributing editor, respectively, of the book Vaccine Epidemic presented a number of key points from the book on law, science and issues in the debate surrounding vaccine choice and led a lively discussion. N. Chin, a parent who attended the Vaccine Epidemic talk, contributed her impressions:

I have continued to seek knowledge about root causes after my son regressed due to vaccines. The book Vaccine Epidemic contains many revelations about how vaccine safety remains a low priority by those who manufacture vaccines and control immunization policy. I welcomed the opportunity to meet with like-minded parents and professionals for a book discussion on Oct 5.

I will focus on the open discussions following the presentations and the goal of knocking down this 'house of cards' as Mary described. She said it has to be through the legal system and as a human rights issue. Others that evening mentioned how results of objective studies will change opinion.

I have to agree with Mary about affecting change through the legal system. Unless these studies receive air time equivalent to what teens see on MTV with HPV/Gardisil ads, or parents see in Parenting magazine, it is indeed extremely difficult to combat long-held beliefs that vaccines are as natural as “mother's milk.” It is clear that Big Pharma can outspend us and squash the most logical and compelling of studies.

We need to help find legal avenues and budget to knock down this house of cards.
One way is to support the Center for Personal Rights. They mentioned organizing with civil rights organizations as well. I plan to see if a couple of my contacts in DC can offer ideas. If we take the time to check our contacts and make some phone calls, we may just get there.

I wish to end on a hopeful note.

In the book, there is a letter by Dr. Francis Moore, who was a very prominent surgeon at Harvard Medical School. If someone as mainstream as Dr. Moore can be convinced of ill-conceived policy, then I remain hopeful that human reason will prevail.

Vaccine Epidemic - The Book: With Louise Kuo Habakus, Mary Holland, and Kim Mack Rosenberg

Confused by Conflicting Information about Vaccine Safety and Efficacy?

Unsure of Your Rights?

Looking For Straight Answers?

Join Editors Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland, and Contributing Editor Kim Mack Rosenberg, for an eye-opening discussion based on their groundbreaking book, Vaccine Epidemic.

This enlightening evening will build the case for vaccination choice as a fundamental human right. Come to learn critical information to help you make an informed decision concerning vaccination. Bring your questions!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

7pm – 9pm

408 East 79^th St. (Screening Room)

New York, New York

(between First and York Avenues)

Vaccine Epidemic - The Book

Rising above the rhetoric, this presentation is neither anti-vaccine nor pro-vaccine. It is pro-vaccine safety and pro-informed consent. The presenters will address the tough questions that parents are asking about vaccination and will discuss vaccine safety and efficacy issues – and share with the audience important and often ignored data on these issues. Next, the presentation will focus on the relevant law and the rights of individuals to refuse vaccination. The presentation will close with a summary of Vaccine Epidemic and a discussion of important topics in this critical and ongoing debate.

Louise Kuo Habakus is the executive director and a co-founder of the Center for Personal Rights. She was a managing director for Putnam Investments, a corporate vice president for Prudential Financial, and a consultant with Bain & Company. Louise graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, where she also received a graduate degree in international policy studies. In her advocacy work, Louise lectures and writes frequently and has appeared in numerous media outlets, including ABC World News Tonight, Fox & Friends, and the New York Times.

Mary Holland is a research scholar at NYU School of Law. She has written and edited books and articles on human rights and law. Mary has clerked for a federal judge, worked at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and at prominent U.S. law firms. She has testified before Congress, filed amicus briefs, and appeared on Court TV, Fox, CBS, and NBC. Mary is a co-founder and board member of the Center for Personal Rights and a founder and the director of of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law & Advocacy (EBCALA).

Kim Mack Rosenberg is a litigator at a prominent New York law firm, where her practice has focused on, among other things, products liability. Kim also has been honored by the Legal Aid Society of New York for her pro bono work. She graduated from Carleton College and received her law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. In addition to being a co-founder and board member of the Center for Personal Rights, Kim is the current president of the National Autism Association New York Metro Chapter and a board member of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law & Advocacy (EBCALA). She has been featured on Get Connected on 106.7 Lite FM.

NAA NY Metro Commemorates Autism Awareness Month: NYC City Hall Autism Awareness Event

On April 5, 2011, in recognition of Autism Awareness Month, NAA NY Metro and its supporters gathered on the steps of City Hall in New York City. The event was MC’d by the co-chair of NAA NY Metro’s Parent Mentoring Committee, Dara Berger, who shared her own family’s journey of helping her son.

NAA NY Metro also was pleased and honored that William Lopez, Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities at NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, joined us and addressed our group.

Continuing parents’ personal stories, Dara was followed by Ken Siri, a single dad who shared his son’s story, with frankness and with humor. Following Ken was NAA Board Member Katie Wright, a mom and advocate, who shared powerful words about her own family’s journey.

Next, Kim Mack Rosenberg, NAA NY Metro’s new President, spoke about the importance of awareness and advocacy, and how we can all take little steps in our daily lives to make those around us more aware of what autism is and what impact it has on a family. She also explained that it is important to have our voices heard in local government, in Albany and in Washington DC – and how simple steps like an email, a phone call, fax or letter can make a big difference.

Kim then presented NAA NY Metro’s 2011 Spirit of Hope Award to Mary Holland, in recognition for her tireless advocacy work and her “never give up” attitude that embodies the spirit of hope. In accepting the award, Mary shared some of her own experiences as a mother and an advocate and discussed the importance of the work that we as parents and advocates do. Mary is a research scholar at NYU School of Law, director of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law & Advocacy, a founding board member of the Center for Personal Rights, and an editor of and contributor to the groundbreaking book, Vaccine Epidemic.

Dara then introduced Mary Coyle, to address “Fighting Back and Winning.” Mary spoke of her own son’s challenges and successes and shared how well he is doing today. Her story was an inspiration to parents who dream that their child with ASD will achieve great success in life. Mary is also a homeopath with extensive training in homotoxicology and through her work, she helps other parents achieve success with their children as well.

Finally, Khalid Rehman, Chair of the Advocacy Committee gave an update on current advocacy efforts and shared a beautiful poem written by Danson Mandela Wambua, a non-verbal young boy with autism, capturing so poignantly that so many of our children are full of insight, intelligence and life but have difficulty communicating and sharing all they know.

While April is Autism Awareness Month, NAA NY Metro strives to make every day one in which autism awareness, education, advocacy and change happen.

Autism in The News

We are reprinting below our VP/Treasurer Kim Mack Rosenberg's recent post on her own blog, Embracing Wellness, pulling together the Fox & Friends autism coverage from the past few weekends. We want to be sure everyone is aware of these important news stories.

Fox News Steps Up To The Plate On Autism

Regardless of your political leanings, autism warrior moms and dads should tune in for continuing autism coverage on Fox and Friends - they have made Saturday mornings newsworthy several of the past weekends! To those following autism in the news, CBS's Sheryl Attkisson often seemed like a lone media voice willing to investigate and report on controversial autism issues. Now she is joined by Fox and Friend's Alisyn Camerota. In late September and early October, Ms. Camerota has presented three segments on controversial autism issues.

First, TACA's Rebecca Estepp went head to head to with Dr. Marc Siegel regarding the Hannah Poling case and "Vaccine Court" (the omnibus proceeding), among other things:

The next weekend, Mary Holland, an NYU law professor, and Dana Hall, a parent with a case pending in the autism omnibus proceeding, appeared on Fox and Friends to discuss recent developments in the omnibus proceeding:

Mary and Dana captured in a few short minutes many of the flaws in the omnibus proceeding and why it has failed. Mary summed up with this powerful statement: ". . . we will look back at this proceeding in shame."
Then, on October 2, Dr. Bob Sears, a board-certified pediatrician and author of The Vaccine Book, appeared to discuss the CDC's failure to test vaccines in real world circumstances - i.e., to test the safety of vaccines given in the multi-vaccine combinations in which they are administered to infants and children. Dr. Sears called out the CDC on its testing failures and challenged its blanket claims of vaccine safety, including the CDC's claim that vaccines present lower level exposures than children may encounter in their environment - pointing out that inhaling and injecting are very different! Finally, he touched on the issue of bias and scandal surrounding some vaccine research.

This coverage is welcome and we hope to see more. Let Fox & Friends know that you are tuning in and continue to support Sharyl Attkisson's superb coverage on CBS as well.

Holiday Party 2009

On Dec. 16 we held our 2nd annual Holiday Party for the NAA NY Metro Chapter in NYC. It was a wonderful event. It was made all the more special this year by our decision to invite all our past speakers from every event to come to the party as our honorees. So besides the incredibly hard working and passionate NAA NY Metro Chapter volunteer board and committee members, we also had many amazing parent warriors and some of the most gifted and special people who gave their time to create some memorable events for us to offer to our members.

It was extremely easy to get enveloped in a lengthy conversation with any one of these groups of people. The only other time you have the chance to gather this many interesting and caring people under one roof is at one of the many conferences. However, in this instance there was no work involved, just purely enjoying one another's company and being able to reflect on the events of the past year.

The party was put together in the same style that almost everything is regarding the NAA NY Metro Chapter. And that is by teamwork. Many of the board and committee members signed up to take care of a task and then got to the party early to help set up. There is always a unique sense of comraderie among the NAA community, which makes spending time with everyone enjoyable whether setting up or enjoying the wonderful food and drinks at the party.

Now it's time for me to address the food and drinks. Kirstin Boncher, of WhatToFeedYourKids, really out did herself and impressed us all with her very lively and delicious GFCF party spread. She made some simple dishes that tasted anything but simple. Everyone loved her chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce and the vegetable dumplings in asian dipping sauce. I can't imagine how many people must have asked her for the recipes to these outrageous tasting dishes. Now let's talk about the desserts....WOW! They were out of this world. No, truly they were. Being on a gluten free diet as I am has never been so easy.

If only I could eat Kirstin's food and GLOW gluten free cookies everyday. The cupcakes were as delicious as any gluten containing ones. I dare anyone to try to tell the difference. GLOW gluten free cookies also provided their amazing gluten free casein free cookies. The ginger snap cookies and the chocolate chocolate chip were our favorites. The lemon squares, made by Kirstin, were purely decadent...need I say more.

As far as drinks, Norene Chin was kind enough to pick up everything from water to juice to soda. But she really showed us what she can do by making a hot apple cider tea punch from scratch. This was a huge hit and really put many of us in the holiday mood. My husband Mark Berger was kind enough to pick up and haul over many bottles of wine that he carefully selected as well as sampled at the party.

All in all, the party was truly a major success. I am already looking forward to next years!

Special Thanks to GLOW Gluten Free Cookies for donating their gluten free/casein free cookies to our holiday party and you can find all the recipes at WhatToFeedYourKids.com