Dan Burton

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. But why?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. There is one last thing I would like to bring up. We passed a law in this Congress that allows people to buy imported pharmaceuticals. The gentleman recalls that. The FDA and HHS said no, because there were concerns about the safety of the imported pharmaceuticals. But the Congress of the United States, the House and Senate combined, have spoken on this issue. They want the American people to be able to buy these pharmaceuticals safely from anyplace where they can get the best price. That is a law passed by the Congress. The only thing that is stopping it, and this is something we should have started on earlier, the only thing that is stopping it is our health agencies, who are saying, wait a minute, we want to make sure they are safe. You have proven tonight, and I think conclusively, that they are safe. There has been no indication whatsoever, no cases where people have died from imported pharmaceuticals. Even if there were a problem like that, which there is not, there is a way to make absolutely sure that the products coming into the country are safe, in a sealed container where there can be no tampering. So there is no way that we cannot make sure these products are safe. Yet the FDA continues to block it. I maintain it is because of this relationship with our pharmaceutical companies. But in any event, Congress has spoken and we need to keep beating on this issue so that the current law passed by the Congress is enforced and FDA and HHS just get the hell out of the way.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. That is $550 billion a year.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. If the gentleman will yield further, one of the things that concerns me about the prescription drug benefits the gentleman from Minnesota alluded to a moment ago is that if we pass a prescription drug bill in the Congress to provide benefits for seniors in this country and we do not do something as he suggested to make sure that they are paying a fair price for their product, then the taxpayers are going to be paying $360 for a product that you could buy in Germany for $60. Six times. I do not think the taxpayers want to be paying six times the price of a drug in Germany here in the United States. It would actually just bankrupt the United States Treasury in a few years if we did not do something about that. I am not for price controls, either; but I do believe that the marketplace ought to dictate the prices and a free market not only here in the United States but around the globe. I think the gentleman makes a very valid point. The American people should not pay six, seven, eight, 10 times the price that they do in other countries. That is what scares me about the prescription drug benefit we are going to pass in this Congress this year. I think the gentleman and I will be down here debating that when that bill comes to the floor to make sure that the taxpayers are getting their dollar's worth when we buy these pharmaceuticals for seniors.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. 324.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. What is the price comparison?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. We have used the logical arguments that the FDA has used, or illogical arguments, as to why they want to stop importation of pharmaceutical products from Canada and elsewhere. The arguments they use do not hold water. I think the gentleman has made that very clear here tonight. So what is the reason? There is only one reason, and the gentleman is reluctant to say this, but I am not, and that is the pharmaceutical industry makes the biggest share, the lion's share of their profits right here on the backs of the American consumer. That is not right. They will say it is R&D, research and development, but the research and development should be shared equally around the world. But as far as them making huge profits on the back of American consumers, when they are making a profit in Europe, Canada and Mexico, but not to the degree they are here, is just unconscionable. It bothers me that the almighty dollar as far as corporate executives are concerned is more important than the health of American citizens. The facts bear this out. There are American seniors and others who are going wanting for pharmaceutical products because they cannot afford them, whereas the same products are being sold for one-sixth the price someplace else in the world, and that is critical. We ought to hold these pharmaceutical companies accountable. We cannot let them go on raping the American people, and that is a very strong word and I am using it advisedly, but they are raping the American people while the rest of the world is benefiting from these lower prices. We need to hold them accountable. The thing that bothers me is that the FDA comes before our committee with the lame excuses that they used that do not hold water, as the gentleman has made clear here tonight, these lame excuses, and we ask why? They are the regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect Americans to make sure that the products are safe but also to make sure that they get the products to which they are entitled. The FDA is blocking, they are like a lineman in a football game blocking for the pharmaceutical industry. Why are they doing that? The pharmaceutical industry is making huge profits on the back of the American people, but why is the FDA helping them? The only reason I can imagine is there is some kind of subliminal, sweetheart revolving door between the people over at FDA, HHS and CDC and over at the pharmaceutical companies. That is something that smacks of being unethical, at the very least. The FDA and HHS should be concerned about the safety of products and to make sure that the American people have access to the products that will protect their health. They have been blocking for the pharmaceutical industry, and it is something that should not be tolerated in the future. The gentleman does not need to say that, but I will.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. And that is taxpayers' money.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. It does not.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. They have the 936 program down there.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. So six times.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Six times the amount.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Let me just conclude my participation in your Special Order by saying I am proud to be a member of the Gutknecht army.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. If the gentleman will yield, one of the arguments we heard when the FDA was before our committee, and the gentleman was there, was that they were concerned about counterfeit drugs. And one of the things that I think is very, very important, and it goes right along with what the gentleman is talking about, and why not hold that up, I think our colleagues back in their offices should see that, that is a device that guaranties that the package has not been doctored in any way. If that package were used in conjunction with a prescription that was filled in some other part of the world, it would guarantee beyond any doubt that that product was genuine and it was not a counterfeit and it was completely safe. Yet the FDA continues to use that argument, when it is absolutely certain that there is a way to make absolutely sure that that is a safe prescription drug.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, because of the Enron debacle and the other corporations around the country that padded the books that made it look like they were making profits when actually they were losing money, and at the same time corporate executives were making tons, because of that, the Oxley bill that you talked about a few minutes ago set certain guidelines and standards that they had to meet. I do not know why we couldn't propose some kind of legislation that would mandate the same kind of standard be applied to the pharmaceutical industry as well as other corporations around this country. The other thing that I think we ought to take a hard look at is when Congress, you and I, when we leave here, we cannot lobby our colleagues for a year. The reason we cannot is because there is a concern that there might be collusion between an incumbent congressman and some corporation where they are going to benefit from the judgment and the vote of a congressman in exchange for him lobbying down the road. So we make sure that a congressman has to wait a year before he can lobby his fellow Members. Why cannot we do the same thing with the FDA and HHS and CDC? Why can we not stop this revolving door policy that exists by saying, if you are working for a health agency here in the United States of America, you cannot work for a pharmaceutical company where you were sitting in judgment on their products or on their policies? I know it would be very difficult to draft a bill like that, but it might send a message if we introduced one, that that kind of chicanery must not exist. I cannot think of any other reason in the world other than profits that are keeping the pharmaceutical companies from people being able to buy their products in the United States from places like Canada. I cannot think of any other reason other than the FDA is deeply involved with the pharmaceutical industry, especially after what you have said here tonight about the reasons that they use. I cannot think of any reason in the world other than profit or collusion for the FDA to stand in the way of us being able to buy those products from Canada or anywhere else. When they sat before our committee and they looked us in the eye and they said it was a safety issue, which we know is not the case, then there has got to be a reason. I cannot put my finger on it other than there is some incentive for them to support the pharmaceutical industry's position, and we have to put a stop to that.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Not much.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I want to make sure I understand this correctly. First of all, we have had no cases that we know of where people have died from imported pharmaceutical products.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Secondly, the gentleman has just pointed out that tampering with pharmaceuticals that are coming into the country is not a problem because now there is a way where you can absolutely guarantee that that package has not been tampered with, that it is the right package, that it has the right product in it, because it has a sealing device that guarantees that it is what it is supposed to be.

Mr. BURTON

Mr. BURTON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Republic of China as it prepares to celebrate President Chen Shui-bian's third anniversary in office. President Chen should be commended for his leadership in guiding Taiwan through many challenges and maintaining prosperity and democracy for its 23 million people on the island. Despite economic downturns in many parts of the world, Taiwan has maintained a healthy, albeit slow, growth. Taiwan's substantive relations with nearly all the free countries have been steadily improving, especially with Taiwan's recent accession to the World Trade Organization. However, much more needs to be done to expand Taiwan's international presence. For years, I have been sympathetic to Taiwan's goals of obtaining a greater international presence. With the recent outbreak of SARS, I feel even stronger that Taiwan needs to be included in any and all international medical cooperation and collaboration. With the spread of SARS, the importance of public health information disclosure is paramount. As Secretary of State Colin Powell recently said, ``infectious disease knows no borders and requires an effective and coordinated response at local, national and international levels.'' Time has come for Taiwan to be included in all World Health Organization activities. For a start, I believe the United States should strongly support Taiwan's efforts to obtain observer status at The World Health Assembly this May. Moreover, I believe we should support Taiwan's bid to be a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in view of the fact there are 270 direct flights a week between the United States and Taiwan. There is no doubt in my mind that we should give Taiwan all the support, including Taiwan's bid to return to the United Nations. On the eve of President Chen Shui-bian's third anniversary in office, I. join my colleagues in wishing President Chen all the best.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, for some time now I have been coming to the floor on a regular basis talking about children who are autistic. A few short years ago, one in 10,000 children in this country was autistic. Now it is more like one in 200. This is a 50-fold increase. We have an absolute epidemic. The major culprit in most people's minds is the mercury, mercury that has been in vaccines as a preservative. Since the 1930s and 1940s, they have been putting mercury in vaccines as part of a preservative called thimerosal. As children started getting more and more vaccinations, the amount of mercury in their systems grew and grew and grew. And now children get between 25 and 30 shots before they go to kindergarten. The cumulative effect of all that mercury in their brains is causing severe neurological problems for these children, their families, and the entire country. We did a report, a report that took 4 years in studying the problems with these vaccinations, and most people in the country are not even aware of the problem. A lot of people do not even know what autism is. But the fact of the matter is an awfully large number of these children who have been damaged and who are autistic, we believe and our report believes and shows, that they were damaged by the mercury that was injected into their bodies along with the vaccinations they were getting. Mr. Speaker, I have been coming to the floor for some time, and every time I come to the floor I talk about letters I have been receiving from families of children and pictures of children who are autistic and their stories about how their child became autistic. We have found from all these letters that the children get their vaccinations, four, five, six, and seven shots in 1 day, in many cases; and within a very short time after that these children who are normal, who make eye-to-eye contact, who laugh and walk and do all the things that normal children do, they change. They no longer communicate, they no longer look you in the eye, they bang their heads against the wall, they have chronic diarrhea and constipation alternatively. And the problems go on and on. I have a letter here from a fellow who says it has cost him his house. He had to sell his house, $45,000. He had to borrow money. He is in debt up to here, and he has nowhere to turn. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, which was supposed to help these people, it was created to help these people whose children were damaged by vaccines, shows no hope. Many of these people did not get in within the 3-year time limit because they did not know what caused their child to be autistic. They did not even know their child was autistic because the doctors misdiagnosed them. So they missed the 3-year statute of limitations, and they have nowhere to go. So we are trying to get the Senate and the House together to work out a program where children can get into the program, can have their case reviewed. And if it is proven that they were damaged by the mercury in the vaccines, or the MMR vaccine, then they can get restitution from this fund. But we are having a terrible time because the pharmaceutical companies are fighting us because they are afraid of the liability they might incur. So we come down here every day, and we beat on this issue and beat on this issue and will continue to do that until we get some positive results, because these parents, and we have thousands of these letters, thousands, and it is growing every day, these parents have no place to turn. These children are going to grow up living to be 65, 70 years old and the taxpayers of this country are going to be taking care of them. That is the only place they can turn because the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund is not doing what it is supposed to do to help these children. I wish everyone would look at these pictures, my colleagues back in their offices and those on the floor. These are normal children who were damaged by vaccines. Their parents have no place to turn, and the pharmaceutical companies have turned their backs on them. That is criminal and something has to be changed.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, tonight on the program ``Hardball'' on MSNBC, Chris Matthews, who is a very expert interviewer, will be interviewing Prince Bandar, who is the Saudi Ambassador to the United States of America. I hope tonight Chris will ask him some of these questions that are very, very important that need to be answered for the American people. Here are a few of them: Why were 15 of the 19 hijackers that attacked us on 9/11 from Saudi Arabia? Why does the Saudi Government provide financial aid to families of suicide bombers? Why does the Saudi Government support Wahabi clerics and institutions that preach hate and call for suicide attacks against Christians and Jews? They are teaching these children in their schools with the help of the Saudi Government on a daily basis. According to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report, through phony charities, huge sums of Saudi money are sent to terrorists; $1- to $2 million a month went to al Qaeda. Why did the Saudi Embassy provide travel documents to Maha Marri, the wife of a terrorism suspect, and her five children so they could escape the United States even though a grand jury had demanded testimony from that lady and the FBI had confiscated her passport? They helped her leave the country. And why was Prince Bandar's wife, Princess Haifa, providing $130,000 to a Saudi woman in Virginia, who in turn gave some of this money to a family who gave shelter to two of the September 11 hijackers? And how is it that 19 al Qaeda operatives who battled the Saudi police in a gunfight just days ago escaped? These are things that must be answered. Tonight Chris Matthews has the opportunity to put it right to the Saudi Ambassador. I hope he will do that.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, for some time I have been coming to the floor on a regular basis talking about the problem of the epidemic of autism. Just a few short years ago, 1 in 10,000 children were autistic. Today it is closer to 1 in 200. Think about that. We have had a 50-fold increase in the number of children who are autistic, and yet we have not had any real attention paid to the problem. I wrote a letter to President Bush and to his administration, asking that there be a national conference called with leading scientists and experts from around the country and around the world to get together to try to find out why we are having such a terrible problem with this epidemic of autism, and this epidemic is one that is going to be with us for many, many, many years. These children who become autistic are going to grow up, live to be 65, 70 years old, but they are not going to be able in many cases to take care of themselves; so they are going to be dependent upon the taxpayers, upon society to take care of them, and so it is extremely important that we address this situation right now. I have on this lectern beside me pictures of children from across the country who are autistic, and I and the parents of these children believe that many of them, maybe most of them, became autistic because of mercury that was in vaccines put in by the pharmaceutical companies under the title of thimerosal. Thimerosal is a preservative that was put in children's vaccines and other vaccines for a long time, since the 1940s, and now that we give children 25 to 30 vaccines before they start kindergarten, the cumulative effect of all that mercury going into their system and into their brain is an epidemic of autism, and yet nothing is being done about it. We passed a Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund that was supposed to provide a nonadversarial approach to helping solve these problems of these autistic children and their families because of the huge amount of money that they have to lay out to take care of their children, and yet it has not worked. We have been trying to correct that, but we have not received the kind of cooperation from the other body that we need to get that job done. Today we have got a new report from California, the Department of Developmental Services, and it says that in the past 4 years the amount of autistic children that have been found has doubled, in 4 years. That is in the State of California alone, and this has been going on all across the country. In some parts of the country, the number of children that are born and becoming autistic is much greater than 1 in 200. It is down to 150 in parts of New Jersey and Georgia and elsewhere in this country, and we must pay attention to it. We must get to the bottom of it, and we must provide a mechanism for these parents and these children to be taken care of before it is too late. As I said before, it was 1 in 10,000 children were autistic. Now it is 1 in about 200. There has been almost a 300 percent increase in autism in 11 years, from 1987 to 1998, and in California they said that their report has led to numerous subsequent epidemiological studies in autism throughout the United States as well as the global health community, and yet we have not as a Nation addressed this problem. It has been said in this study that in just a short period of time in California, autism will be more prevalent than cancer in children, than diabetes in children, Down Syndrome in children, and within 3 to 4 years will surpass in total number of cases both cerebral palsy and epilepsy in California. That is just California alone. This is a silent epidemic, and most people in America who are not conversant with what autism is do not even realize it, and many of my colleagues unfortunately do not understand the gravity of this situation. So tonight and every night I am going to be coming down here. Tonight I am talking about the study that was done in California, but I am going to be coming down here reading letters from autistic families, from parents of autistic children who have noplace to turn and nowhere to go, because when they go to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund for support and help, they are turned down without any review of their situation. We are trying to open that up. There is about $2 billion in that fund right now, and we need to make it nonadversarial. If children are damaged by vaccines, if they are damaged by the mercury in vaccines, then those parents ought to be having access to that program as quickly as possible. It has been closed to them so far, many of them. We need to open it up with a 2-year look-back provision so that they can get in and have their case reviewed, because to have their child in that situation, to have them not be able to look at them, talk to them, running around flapping their arms, having chronic diarrhea and constipation is something that parents must not live with, and this Government needs to address this problem. California has talked about it in this report, and the Congress of the United States and the White House need to come to grips with this problem right away.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, today we passed the IDEA bill, which was designed to help children who have learning disabilities to get the kind of attention they need in the educational systems across this country. The bill was not a bad bill. It did not go far enough. We only provide about 21 percent of the funds that are necessary. It should be 40 percent. That is what we promised the States. We are not there yet, but hopefully we will get there before too long. The reason I am here on the floor tonight is because I have received thousands of letters from parents of children who are autistic, and, as autistic children, they do have these learning disabilities. These parents believe, and I believe, after having hearings for the past 4 years that their children, many, many of their children, have been damaged by the mercury that was in children's vaccines. We have been putting mercury from a product called thimerosal in children's vaccines since the 1930s, and now that we are giving children 25 to 30 vaccinations before they start into kindergarten, you have a tremendous amount of mercury being built up in their systems. Mercury has a cumulative effect in the brain. So when you were giving a child one shot, it might not have been so bad. Obviously, you do not want mercury in their system, but the mercury was getting into the brain, and in many cases it was not causing damage. But when you give a child 30 shots before they start into kindergarten, many, many, many of those children are going to have brain damage and neurological damage such as autism. I have received, as I said, thousands of letters from parents of autistic children from around the country, and I have been coming down here showing pictures of these children and reading these letters, because the pharmaceutical companies and the Congress of the United States have a responsibility to those families who are suffering financially and mentally from the terrible trauma of autism their children are going through. It used to be one in 10,000 children were autistic. Now it is 1 in 200. We have had a 50-fold increase in autism in the last 10 to 15 years. It is an absolute epidemic, and something has to be done about it. We have been debating how to handle it in the Congress of the United States. Every child who is damaged by vaccine should have access to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, but many of these children and their families who are autistic have not had access to that fund, and that is why this debate rages on. In the other body we have had some real problems, and that is why we are trying to bring to the attention of the other body, the leader of the other body, as well as Members of Congress, how deep this problem is and how important it is to the people of this country that we get it solved. I do not have time to read a lot of letters tonight, but I want to read part of one letter I received. It is many, many pages from a man named James W. Coll. James is from Hanover, Pennsylvania. He has a son, Jacob, who became autistic. He says in his letter, ``Jacob is 5. There is no doubt in my mind that my son Jacob has thimerosal-induced autism.'' Why does he say that? He says it for the same reason that I say that about my grandson. My grandson was a very normal child, as Jacob probably was, and he was speaking and he was laughing and he was a lot of fun to be around. He actually got nine shots in one day, seven which had mercury in them, and, 2 days later, he was running around banging his head against the wall, flapping his arms, had chronic diarrhea and constipation at the same time, and we lost him. He looked at you blankly. He would not talk any more. He became incommunicado, if you will. That has happened to thousands and thousands of families across this country. We cannot leave them high and dry. It is costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are mortgaging their homes, they selling everything they have to take care of their children. They did not realize they had access to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund until the 3-year statute of limitations ran out. We need to reopen that fund so that every person who has an autistic child has a day in court, if you will, to make their case before the fund to get money to help their child and help their family. There is $1.8 billion in that fund. We protected the pharmaceutical companies by allowing them to put so much money in the fund so that they would not be sued when people are damaged by vaccines. So the people who have been damaged by the vaccines ought to have access to that fund. It should be non-adversarial. It is adversarial right now. They have been keeping people out, they have been keeping children out, and damaged children have been suffering, their families have been suffering, and they have nowhere to turn. So that is why every night I come down here and show pictures. These are called ``The Faces of Autism.'' We have thousands of these children. I have probably 50 or 60 here. Here is a new one we have. It says on this, ``Vaccines Stole My Health, Childhood and Future. Don't Steal My Rights.'' I think that is very important. We should not steal this child's rights, or any child's rights. They should have access to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, they should have access to education. If we do not deal with these children now, they are going to grow up, they have an average life expectancy, and if they cannot cope with society and we do not deal with them now, we are going to pay 10, 20, 30 times more to take care of them when they are adults and they cannot make a living and cannot function in our society. So it is absolutely imperative. I say this to my colleagues in the other body and here, we need to pass legislation this year that will give these people access to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund so that they will have somewhere to turn and they won't be left high and dry. I will be back here tomorrow night or several nights in the future to bring up other cases, and I hope that we will be able to make this case time and again to the American people until we get the job done. Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the letter from James W. Coll. Dear Sir: I would like to begin this letter by telling you a little about myself and my wife Christine. We are both 31 yrs old and have two children. We live in Hanover, Pennsylvania. She is a stay-at-home mom and I am a paramedic for a private company in Washington, DC. My older son James is eight yrs old and my younger son Jacob is 5. There is no doubt in my mind that my son Jacob has thimeroSal-induced autism. I am going to tell you my family's story the best way I can. Before I get started I just want to tell you that my heart goes out to you, your daughter and grandchild. I know for me it is the most challenging thing I ever faced. I feel like I can related more to parents of autistic children than my own distant family. My son Jacob was born on July 21, 1997 in Pittsburgh, PA. He was born by cesarean section because he weighed ten pounds and was too big for a vaginal delivery. His Apgars were normal at birth and there were no complications after delivery. He received his first vaccination, which was the hepatitis one, at the hospital, just like all children in America. During the first few weeks he was home, we noticed he vomited his formula a lot. Some took him to his pediatrician. He was then put on Soy formula and it was thought he might be lactose intolerant. This did not help much. He would still gag and vomit. It wasn't all the time. He was still able to hold enough down to thrive and grow. The pediatrician told us that this was a problem for some children and that it would subside in time. During the first year of his life he learned to crawl. This milestone appeared normal. There were some things that confused us. He did not like to be sat down in the grass outside, he would cry inconsolably and wanted to be picked up. His eye contact with us was not very good. You could not capture his interest with toys. He liked to be held close to us a lot and would put his face next to ours. He was quiet unless he was hungry or something disturbed him. Sometimes we would push him in the stroller and he would cry when we tried to push him back home. He was very hard to console at these times. We just thought he was different and this was his personality. My mother told me I was a fussy baby. At this point we never suspected autism. We didn't even know anything about autism, outside of the movie Rainman. At a year old he received more immunizations. They were given at one of his pediatrician's offices, Dr. Tuchin. After that we noticed that his glands in his neck, under his armpits and on the back of his head, swelled up. They appeared like little peas under his skin. His pediatrician told us he had a virus and that this was normal because his body was fighting off infection. She did not feel any testing was necessary. Myself and my wife thought it was and a blood test was ordered at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The results were unclear. The CMV virus was suspected or a virus that closely mimicked CMV. There wasn't real concern by the physicians in charge of Jacob's care. In fact, we seemed to bother his pediatrician because she was not very nice to us about this problem and wrote little sarcastic notes in his chart about the testing. Otherwise he continued to grow and thrive, despite his food sensitivity and everything else (as in his vital signs and physical appearance appeared normal). His lymph nodes stayed enlarged for about six months from when he was a year old. We were just told it takes a while for them to go back down and it was a good sign because his body was fighting off the virus. From 1\1/2\ years old to 2\1/2\ years old his food sensitivity continued to be a problem and a lot of solid food made him throw up. We were referred to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Occupational Food Sensitivity Clinic. They observed Jacob eat french fries. They wanted to feed him pudding, which to this day he dislikes. They told us that he had some food sensitivities of an unknown cause and that he needed therapy. The team of therapists who observed him wanted to send a therapist to our house a couple of times a week and teach him to eat different foods. This idea, to us, seemed unnatural. We did not think this would help him. We decided to just keep on feeding him what he liked and he would out grow this. The only things he would eat were chicken and fries, grilled cheese, cookies--basically, anything dry and tasty. He does not eat any vegetables to this day, or wet foods. He always coughed a lot too when he drank liquids. Our doctor told us not to worry, as long as he did not get pneumonia. His speech was very limited at 2 yrs old. Sometimes he could say Mom or Dad, but it wasn't all the time. He would jump up and down a lot and flap his hands in front of the TV. We thought he was just happy and playing. He did not have interests or imaginary play with his toys. He liked only push button toys. In the back of my mind and my wife's we knew he was a little different, but we thought if we just gave him some time he would start talking more and eat more foods, and not be so hyperactive. In February, 2000 we moved to the Washington, DC area because I got a job offer paying more money. We moved to a small 2 bedroom apartment in Woodbridge, VA. The people downstairs complained a lot because my son jumped up and down and they could hear it. We lived there six months and the management would not renew our lease because of the noise of the jumping and Jacob's tantrums. During this time my wife took Jacob to his new pediatrician, Dr. John Farber. When he was approximately 3 years. old, Dr. Farber diagnosed Jacob with Pervasive Developmental Disorder. He told us this term coincided with autism and that Jacob would improve in time or that we should go to Child Find Services in the county in Virginia in which we lived. My wife took Jacob there. It was a hot day and his evaluation took place in a trailer which was not air-conditioned. My son tantrumed and did not like it there. They could not even test him. They agreed with the diagnosis. We later learned that this term is routinely used with children when the child is young and that a physician is not ready to totally label the child autistic. We then took Jacob to Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland for a second opinion. They had a special clinical therapy place called the Kennedy Krieger Institute. There at approximately 3\1/ 2\ years. old he was examined by a Dr. Andrew Zimmerman who diagnosed him with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. He also had some bloodwork done which ruled out Fragile X Syndrome. He told us to find a good speech therapist. At that time we had moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia where rent was cheaper and we could afford to live in a nice rental town-home community. We found a speech therapist, but we didn't think this was very effective. She was trying to teach Jacob to talk more with picture cards. We didn't feel this was intense enough. We then learned of a therapy called Applied Behavioral Analyses. We tried to get the Spotsylvania County School District to pay for a 40 hour week program which was recommended by all the six physicians that examined Jacob. We also had his diagnoses confirmed by other physicians. We have diagnoses letters from all of them. We were hoping for a better second opinion. We were hoping Dr. Farber was wrong. The county school services would only pay for 20 hours a week of in- home services. ABA is a therapy that consists of teaching your child tasks, by breaking them down into smaller steps and doing them over and over again, until the child understands. Every verbal sentence is given concrete meaning the child can associate with. This therapy was developed by Dr. Lovas of UCLA. I'm sure you probably heard of it. In September, 2001, we moved back to Pittsburgh, PA and rented a small house. We did this because we found out that Pittsburgh had the Allegheny intermediate unit which payed for these services. This was funded by the State of Pennsylvania. They had a Lovas replication site which taught ABA therapy. We had Jacob evaluated and we are setting up an in-home therapy workshop for Jacob. After a couple of workshops, though we decided that we did not like the way he was treated they wanted to isolate Jacob when he had a tantrum and ignore him. This seemed very unnatural to us. A lot of people view this therapy as programming a child like a robot. Myself and my wife agree. At least in my son's case, we don't feel it's the answer. After that we decided there was no point in staying in Pittsburgh. Approximately one year ago we purchased a new home in Hanover, PA. My job was still in Washington, DC. When we lived in Pittsburgh, I drove 250 miles to work, stayed the weekend and drove home on Mondays. We chose Hanover because it's the closest you can be to the DC area, and still be in PA. If we ever decide in the future that PA is the way we want to go, we will still live in PA, which will pay for it. After we moved to Hanover in March 2002 we learned there were doctors who specialized in biologically treating children with autism. They follow a protocol that the Autism Research Institute in San Diego California developed. It's called the Don Protocol. The Autism Research Institute sent us a list of doctors nationwide who were trained by the Autism Research Institute and attend the lectures. Most of these doctors are into homeopathic medicine and don't take health insurance. I make about $70,000 a year. I definitely didn't have the money left over to privately pay for a physician. We were fortunate and found a doctor in Baltimore, MD which is about 35 miles south of Hanover. His name is Arnold Brenner. He has been treating children with autism and other disabilities for 20 yrs. When we first took Jacob he ordered blood work and a hair analysis. The purpose behind this was to look for a cause of Jacob's autism. Then you can give supplements or change the diet so the child's nervous system is not irritated, thus improving the symptoms. We found out that Jacob was allergic to gluten and casein, and that he had an abnormal reading of mercury in his hair. We were shocked! My son's mercury reading was in the low medium range. Most people don't have any in their body. This also proves that Jacob's body could not detoxify the thimerosal from the immunizations. I feel like my child has been assaulted by the pharmaceutical industry. Mercury is toxic to humans. Science has known this for a long time. Why then has the Ely Lilly Company produced it (thimerosal) for the pharmaceutical manufacturers? They have knowingly poisoned our children. The only thing that keeps me from going crazy is the fact that I love my son and my family. Jacob is being treated with a medication called Chemet. It was previously used to treat lead poisoning. The goal of the therapy is to remove the mercury from the body. His urine is tested every four weeks and sure enough, there are traces of mercury in it. Our doctor told us the only other way he could have gotten mercury in his body was from eating fish, and we don't eat any fish. He also takes daily vitamins that come from a place called Kirkmans Labs, which are specially formulated for artistic individuals. In addition to this, he takes about ten other supplements which support his liver and supplement any other abnormalities in his blood work. We also learned that mercury poisoning can cause allergies to casein and gluten. My son now is on a case/gluten-free-diet, which is also recommended during the chelation process. We don't know if the chelation is really working yet. The Doctor tells us that the 20 other children that he is chelating are all making improvements. I don't know if this will work in my son's case. I am hoping and praying. Chelation is a relatively new therapy. It has only been in use for about two years. Jacob's doctor feels Jacob was not born this way and that the immunizations may have caused it. He told me that he has found that when you remove the mercury, the symptoms improve. The Chemet costs about $500 for a one-month supply. Fortunately my insurance covers it, the blood work, and some of the urine testing. The vitamins are not covered. So far I've spent approximately $700, in all. My son is going to be six years old in July--July 21st. He is not potty-trained and doesn't understand to go to the bathroom when he has the urge. We are trying to work at this. His speech consists of loudly saying what he wants. Examples are: Cookies! Drink! Chocolate! We can understand it, but it's not real pronounced. He says ``stair,'' to get help over the gate, which is in the doorway of his room. He eats with his fingers and throws the food he doesn't want on the floor. He rocks on a kitchen chair when he sits in it, on his knees. He'll rock the chair as he kneels on it, while holding onto the backrest with his hands. You have to tell him all day long to turn around and sit down. He'll listen, but thirty seconds later he'll get right back up and rock again. He also likes to jump on the couch and stand on the armrest. Again you have to tell him to get down all day long. He will get right back up and keep doing it. He doesn't understand about danger. Examples are: a hot stove, hot water, falling from heights, such as the couch. He needs to be watched and constantly supervised all day long. He doesn't understand the reasoning behind everything. Examples of this are: ``Jacob don't rip the pages out of your book,'' ``Jacob, don't run out in the street.'' He cannot bathe himself. He cannot write his name or draw simple pictures. We buy him toys that are at a 2-yr-old level. He cannot brush his teeth by himself. He will put it in his mouth, but usually just sucks the tooth paste off it. Sometimes he screams at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. We know it's a nervous impulse he cannot control. If I tell him to shut the refrigerator door, he might go and do it, but it's after I say it 5 times. He can understand simple instructions, such as ``stand up,'' ``sit down,'' ``Jacob, come here'' (sometimes). He walks on his tiptoes, frontwards and backwards all day long. When he's home, he takes all his clothes off. He won't sit at our dinner table through the whole meal. He'll get up and run around with food in his mouth. Sometimes he's aggressive and he'll bite or pinch you if he's upset about something. Myself and my wife understand because we love him and we know he has a disorder. Our day consists of getting up, bathing him, getting him to take all his vitamins and Chemet. We use a syringe because he can't tolerate a spoon in his mouth. All his food has to be made and purchased at Health Food Stores. On top of this, you have to watch him while you do all this to make sure he doesn't fall and break his leg or something worse. He likes to take a ride in the car and he'll let you know he wants to, by carrying an article of clothing he wears, over to you, because he usually just walks around at home in his diaper. He knows he has to put clothes on to go outside--although the article of clothing he brings you may not always be his own. He cannot dress himself. You have to help him with zippers and buttons. He may, in the summer, be able to put a pair of stretch elastic shorts on, but he may put them on backwards. You cannot explain to him that the tag on the shorts goes in the back. His joints in his wrists are weak and he has poor muscle tone in his arms. Sometimes his wrists crack. He is very affectionate and will hug me and his mom. His brother, too. He likes to be around us and likes when I wrestle with him. He will say ``mom,'' but sometimes has difficulty saying ``dad.'' I took him in my backyard a couple of days ago and he will toss a big ball with me, if we stand about 3 feet apart. He looked in the sky, saw some birds and said ``birds.'' This gives me hope that the Chemet is working. I hope this gives you a picture of what my son is like. This disorder has also affected my older boy greatly. I can't spend time with James because I have to help my wife watch Jacob. My wife watches Jacob by herself for 72 hours, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every week. During that time I'm working a 72 hour shift in Washington, DC. I'm a paramedic and work for a private ambulance company. The company is not that busy at night so I am able to get sleep. I'm off Monday through Thursday every week, which is spent watching Jacob and changing his diapers. This works out well because it gives my wife a break and a chance to go out with my son James. Jacob takes melatonin at night, which helps him sleep. Ninety-five percent of the time now he sleeps a full night. Before he would stay up till 3 a.m. and wake up at 7 a.m. This was exhausting for me and my wife. He goes to bed at midnight now and wakes up at 10 a.m. To change jobs now would be very hard for me. I would like to, but my family needs this break every week. This disorder has limited my career, but I greatly appreciate the flexibility of my employer. When I found out a bill was sneaked into the Homeland Security Act, I was outraged that someone would try to cover this up. I am glad it was removed. As for a 3 year statute of limitations, this should not apply in thimerosal-induced autism. Nobody knowingly decided to inject a harmful substance into their child. We immunized our children because it was recommended to us by the health care industry. I am not proud to be an American. Our standard of living is good and this is also not just a U.S. problem, but a world-wide problem. Our country should have made sure that these immunizations were not given to children. Mercury is toxic! That's why it's not in thermometers. That's why they don't let kids play with it in science class anymore. As soon as they made this discovery about mercury, it should have been removed from the immunizations. I have heard they found out mercury was toxic to humans 20 years ago. But our country still let the Ely Lilly Co. manufacture it to be used in multidose vials of immunizations. Why is it recently that all the manufacturers removed thimerosal from the immunizations? Simply because they know it causes autism. I will only believe in this country again if every family in my situation is compensated, and I don't mean thousands, I mean millions of dollars for each family. And if chelotion does work, it needs to be paid for by our government, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Whoever put thimerosal in immunizations and knew it could cause autism, needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law! A life sentence for these people would be getting off easy. Congressman Burton, if you need any copies of my son's testing or medical records, please let me know. I hope the good people on your side of the government are able to overcome the people who knew about this and didn't care about hurting innocent children like my son Jacob. Yours truly, James W. Coll.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's remarks and appreciate the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez) introducing this amendment. Autism is one of the most misunderstood maladies that children have and adults have in this country, and it is a growing problem. We have one out of every 200 children in America now becoming autistic. It used to be one in 10,000. It has been multiplied by 50 the number who are affected. Many of these children do have problems occasionally, where they flap their arms, they will bang their heads against the wall, they will even speak incoherently. It takes somebody who understands to be able to deal with them. It is very difficult on parents, but it is more difficult even for people who are trying to educate these children. So I think this is a great amendment, and I appreciate the gentleman's comments, and I appreciate the amendment of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez) in introducing this amendment. The parents of these autistic children for the past 5 or 6 months here in the Congress have been fighting a very difficult battle with pharmaceutical companies, because they think, and I believe, that many of these children were damaged by mercury in some of the vaccines that we had. So they have had a tough fight, and I am glad to see that we are showing a little concern about their problems by having this amendment on the floor; and I assume it will be adopted without any opposition. So I thank the gentlewoman, and I thank the committee for accepting it.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I just wanted to say that the committee has done a pretty good job on a very difficult issue. They are going to be up to 21 percent. The goal has been 40 percent for a long time. Let me just say that I have a personal interest in this issue. I did not have a few years ago but I do now. And I want to tell you that there are children being left behind and they are going to be left behind unless we get additional funds. I have talked to school boards and school teachers and others and the funds are not there to give these children the educational additional attention they need, particularly children who are autistic. And we have 1 out of every 200 children in America now that are autistic. And we need to get to that 40 percent level before 6 years; and I know the gentleman is doing his absolute best to get there, but that is not enough. We are not moving fast enough. We waste a ton of money around here, and these kids who are autistic and who are Down syndrome children are going to be burdens on society as they grow up if they do not get the attention they need right now. And it will cost 10, 20, 30 times more if we do not do it now by educating them and giving them a chance to be a productive member of society, than if we wait. So what I would like to do is say to my colleagues in this Congress, and I know we are all well-intentioned and we care about these kids, the problem is real. Children are being left behind, and it is going to come back to bite us in the fanny in the future if we do not do something about it right now. So I would like to say to my colleague who has worked very hard on this and his committee and the members of the Committee on Appropriations, let us get to the 40 percent level a lot quicker than 6 years from now because these kids cannot wait. We are going to bear the responsibility 10, 20, 30 years from now when they grow up and they cannot produce.