High-stakes trial weighs autism-vaccine claims
WASHINGTON — Theresa and Michael Cedillo, the parents of an autistic child, sat behind their three attorneys on one side of the courtroom.
On the other side were three federal lawyers armed with a shelf full of scientific studies and legal briefs. Behind them were more rows of lawyers and scientists, some of them representing the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
It was a lopsided gathering, but the Cedillos had been waiting for the confrontation since they came to believe years ago that their daughter's autism may have been triggered by a combination of childhood vaccines and a mercury preservative used in them.
"For so long no one wanted to hear," said Theresa, 45. "Now someone wants to listen."
The case of Cedillo vs. Secretary of Health and Human Services is the culmination of one of the most wrenching episodes of modern public health.
For more than a decade, thousands of families of autistic children have clamored to gain legitimacy for their claim that childhood vaccines are to blame for their children's plight.
Now they are having their day in court. "We're hoping we can
Arguments in the Cedillos' case began June 11. Theirs is the first of nine families that will appear over the next year in an obscure federal court that rules on injuries possibly caused by vaccines. The cases were chosen to represent 4,800 autism claims that have flooded the vaccine court in recent years.
The stakes are high. The court oversees a $2.5-billion trust fund that could be drained if the parents win their claim.
Public health officials have warned that a finding favorable to the parents could deter other parents from vaccinating their children, a potential health calamity.
The government position is backed by the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence, which has repeatedly found the vaccines safe.
But what the Cedillos and other parents lack in hard data, they have made up for with a stubborn passion and sorrow that science cannot dispute.
"It is parents versus science," said Kevin Conway, one of the attorneys for the Cedillos.
Preservative blamed
At the center of the case is Michelle Cedillo. At 12, she still sleeps in diapers. She mostly communicates by waving her hands or tapping on a table. She can count to 2 but no higher.
Her parents say Michelle was a happy, normal 15-month-old until she received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, commonly known as MMR, on Dec. 20, 1995.
