NJ and MD Parents Take Action on Vaccine Laws

Parents in New Jersey and Maryland are organizing to educate legislators about the need for informed consent and safety protections in state laws.


NEW JERSEY NEWS:

Sue Collins, co-founder of New Jersey Alliance for Informed Choice in Vaccination (NJAICV) reports that NJAICV is sponsoring an on-line petition to endorse support for the insertion of a conscientious belief exemption to vaccination in NJ vaccine laws. She encourages New Jersey residents to sign the petition, which lists the signer's name, town, state, comments and date signed, but anyone living in any state can sign the petition. Go to http://www.gopetition.com/online/16754.html.

With the recent addition of 9 doses of 4 new vaccines (pneumococcal, influenza, meningococcal, Tdap) to daycare and school mandates, New Jersey became the state with the most vaccine requirements in the nation: 35 doses of 13 vaccines. The new vaccine mandates were rammed through by state health department employees last year under rule making authority and legislators did not vote on the new vaccine mandates. New Jersey has a religious and medical exemption but both exemptions are almost impossible to obtain due to opposition by state education and public health employees seeking a 100 percent vaccination rate among children.

Tonight, Monday, Feb. 11 from 7 to 9 p.m., NJ Govenor Corzine is holding a Financial Restructuring and Debit Reduction Town Hall Meeting in Glassboro, NJ. The meeting will be held at Gloucester, Glassboro Rowan University, Evon Ballroom, Student Center, 201 Mollica Hill Rd., Glassboro, NJ, 08028-1701. NJ citizens, who would like to ask Gov. Corzine a question at the Town Hall Meeting, must register to attend. To RSVP, call 609-777-2509 or go to http://www.nj.gov/townhallmeetings/rsvp/index.ht ml


MARYLAND NEWS:

After four years of hard work, parents in Maryland are educating MD legislators about the need to pass the "Lead and Mercury Reduction Act" (HB586 and SB304) supported by Maryland Delegates Sue Kullen and Nic Kipke and Maryland Senator Thomas "Mac" Middleton and others. Activist father, Mike Dow, who has been coordinating the effort, urges all Maryland residents to contact their own legislators as well as contact members of the Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee and the Maryland Senate Education, Health and Environmental Matters Committee.

For a list of legislators and Committees in the Maryland General Assembly and status of bills, go to http://mlis.state.md.us/

Mike reports that a Feb. 19, 2008 hearing has been scheduled at 1 p.m. and testimony is needed from experts and parents. For more information, contact Mike at
mikewdow@msn.com

The "Lead and Mercury Reduction Act" would prohibit "certain persons from administering vaccines that contain more than a certain amount of mercury per dose; prohibiting the sale, offer for sale, or distribution in the State of certain drugs that contain mercury; prohibiting the sale, offer for sale, or distribution in the State of cosmetics that contain lead or mercury; providing for a delayed effective date; and generally relating to prohibitions against the administering of vaccines with specified levels of mercury and the sale of cosmetics and specified drugs that contain mercury."