In the May 24, 1996, New Zealand Medical Journal, J. Barthelow Classen, MD, a former researcher at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the founder and CEO of Classen Immunotherapies in Baltimore, reported that juvenile diabetes increased 60 percent following a massive hepatitis B vaccination campaign for babies six weeks or older in New Zealand from 1988 to 1991. In the October 22, 1997, Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice, Classen showed that Finland's incidence of diabetes increased 147 percent in children under five after three new vaccines were introduced in the 1970s, and that diabetes increased 40 percent in children aged five to nine after the addition of the MMR and Hib vaccines in the 1980s. He concluded that "the rise in IDDM [juvenile onset diabetes] in the different age groups correlated with the number of vaccines given."

Classen discounts the conclusions of many vaccine safety trials, especially 48-hour or several-day vaccine reaction follow-ups, which can miss the development of autoimmune dysfunction that can take years to develop.

Nevertheless, in 1998, US federal health officials told the public in a report written to rebut Classen's findings, "Dr. Classen's results are not consistent with current scientific thinking and have not been verified by other researchers.... Comparison of diabetes rates between countries with different vaccination policies also provides weak evidence because many factors, including different vaccination schedules, may differ by country. Many factors, including genetic predisposition and a number of possible environmental exposures unrelated to vaccines, may influence the development of diabetes in different countries." [In other words, the federal government's rebuttal did not even attempt to disprove Classen's results, but instead simply discounted his entire study on grounds that he used data from more than one country.--Ed.]

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