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For the last twenty years, the incidents of autism have been rising to astronomical heights. The reasons for this have been debated, argued, protested and denied. Parents of autistic children are confused, left with feelings of guilt, anger and frustration.

The Centers for Disease Control and the FDA say better diagnostics have been the cause for the rise in autism. Parents and other health officials ask, if better diagnostics are the reason, where are all the autistic adults?

Childhood vaccines have been at the heart of this issue since the late 1980s. When pharmaceutical companies began using the mercury-based vaccine preservative, thimerosal, autism suddenly began to shoot up the charts of childhood illnesses. Mercury is one of the deadliest toxins on the planet.

A child from 6 months to age 3 receiving a flu vaccine with thimerosal gets 12.5 micrograms (mcg) of mercury. Yet, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, only someone weighing 275 pounds can process this amount of mercury. Older children receive the adult vaccine with 25 mcg of mercury, an amount that someone weighing 550 pounds can process through the liver. The 25 mcg-flu vaccine is also recommended for pregnant women at all stages of pregnancy.

Mercury easily passes the placental barrier and enters the developing fetus whose tiny brain is just forming.

The CDC has been under fire for refusing to give out testing results on the effects of thimerosal in vaccines. Why? Because there has never been a toxicity test done by the CDC or the FDA.

How do parents of autistic kids fight back?

There is an official federal "vaccine court," where some 4,750 autism-related cases have been pending for years. Claimants say thimerosal contributed to their children's autism. They are seeking compensation from a special vaccine injury fund administered by the federal government.

The long-awaited autism vaccine trial will commence in June in the courtroom of Special Master George Hastings. The plaintiffs and their attorneys have asked for complete transparency in every aspect of the tribunal, including public disclosure of all evidence and unhindered media access to the hearings.

The Bush administration wants to hold the hearings in a sealed courtroom, off limits to the press and public, with stiff sanctions for any outsider who attempts to gain unauthorized access to the secretive proceedings within.

On Nov. 3, the Department of Justice wrote to Hastings saying it "would oppose public access to the courtroom and public broadcast of the trial," because such an arrangement "would pose security and privacy concerns" for those in attendance.

If vaccines are safe, then why all the controversy and secrecy? What if one of every 166 births resulted in blindness or deafness? Is autism any less important because it happens after birth?

Autism is not a result of better diagnostics. It is a medical disaster that needs to be acknowledged and corrected.