A-CHAMP

Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning (A-CHAMP), is a United Statespolitical activismgroup, founded by parents, which advocates on behalf of children they believe were injured by mercuryin thimerosalcontaining vaccines. Its mission, "To be a strong and unified voice for children with neurodevelopmental and communication disorders so that each child may be provided the support necessary to live a full and productive life." The organization is strictly non-partisan with the intent of representing the diversity of the political spectrumin helping to protect the human rights, civil rightsand legal rightsof children who may have been injured by vaccines.

Political agenda

A-CHAMP has its sights set on organizing a parents' movement that will rival the political power of the AARPand Moveon.org, taking the position that a potential exists to have 120,000 or more parent lobbyistsunited in supporting political action benefiting children with neurodevelopmental and communication disorders.

In addition to educating the public and media about its agenda, which includes empowering parents while escalating the debate over issues related to thimerosal and the MMR vaccine, A-CHAMP supports political candidates sharing common goals in both state and federal elections. Their purpose is to give children's advocates and affected parents a unified political voice, which they foresee will be in the tens of thousands due to what they believe to be an autism epidemic. A-CHAMP also contends a growing body of scientific studies indicate environmental exposure to neurotoxins, in particular mercury, may be contributing to the rapid rise in disorders such as Asperger Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorders(PDD's) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD).

Legislative agenda

A-CHAMP has begun to lobby against Congressional Bill (HR 650), the "Vaccine Accessibility for Children and Seniors Act of 2005", introduced by Congressman Ric Kelleron February 8, 2005, because it would deny children and other victims of vaccine injury access to the court system.

A-CHAMP supports the rival "National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2005", Congressional Bill HR 1297, introduced by Congressmen Dan Burtonand Frank Palloneon March 15, 2005, because it would amend the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program by extending the statute of limitations, provide a look-back provision for families who missed the filing deadline, increase compensation for injured children and provide for interim attorney fees and costs.

A-CHAMP also supports the "Mercury-Free Vaccines Act of 2005", Congressional Bill HR 881, introduced on February 17, 2005, by Republican Congressman Dave Weldon, MD, and Democrat Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. A-CHAMP supports the bill because of provisions that would ban mercury containing vaccines for children and pregnant women.

A-CHAMP has been active in raising awareness of the "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005" (S.1873), which would provide indemnity to pharmaceutical companies. [1]

High profile campaigns

A-CHAMP is among a number of parent advocacy groups which joined together to hold a march and rally in Washington, D.C., on July 20, 2005, in an event billed as "The Power of Truth March/Rally". Other groups involved include Moms Against Mercury, Dads Against Mercury, the National Autism Association, Safe Minds, Generation Rescue, NoMercury, Unlocking Autism, and Educate Before You Vaccinate.

Criticism

See Thimerosalfor a discussion of the current state of the Thimerosal controversy.

The predominant criticism of organizations such as A-CHAMP stems from the debate over the scientific studies related to thimerosal containing vaccines. Critics argue that the scientific evidence argue against a causal relationship between thimerosal and autism.

There are several major studies, often quoted by the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) and the Institute of Medicine(IOM), that have not supported causality. On May 17, 2004, the IOM published a report titled "Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism," which concluded, in part, that "The body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. The committee also concludes that the body of epidemiological evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. The committee further finds that potential biological mechanisms for vaccine-induced autism that have been generated to date are "theoretical only." However, there has been some controversy over the IOM decision. [2][3][4]

See also

• Autism
• Autistic community
• Controversies in autism
• David Kirby
• Generation Rescue
• Iatrogenesis
• Metallothionein

External links

• CapWiz.com- 'A-CHAMP Political Action Committee: "By Parents, for our Children"'
• Mothering.com- 'Fighting for Matthew: A Parent's Activism', Liz Birt Mothering (November/December, 2002)
• NYTimes.com- 'On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research', Gardiner Harris, Anahad O'Connor, New York Times (front page; June 25, 2005)

• NYTimes.com- 'Autism Special Section: Updated news, multimedia and resources related to autism', Gardiner Harris, Anahad O'Connor, Sandra Blakeslee, John O'neil, Katie Zezima, Jane Gross, Amy Harmon, Emma Daly, New York Times (June 25, 2005)

• Salon.com- 'Deadly Immunity: When a study revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids, the government rushed to conceal the data -- and to prevent parents from suing drug companies for their role in the epidemic', Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Salon.com(June 16, 2005)
• ThePowerHour.com- 'A-CHAMP (Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning) Action Alert'

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-CHAMP Wikipedia article A-CHAMP.