Autism and the elephant in the room: mum's the word

[live love laugh]

All of a sudden there's talk of autism everywhere. That is good but the discussions, like the one-sided political discussions we have grown accustomed to, fail to touch upon the most critical link known to autism: vaccines. I, fortunately, don't personally know anyone with the disease but if the 1 in 166 person diagnosis rate keeps climbing, I will soon.

Oprah did a show about autism this week. There was a doctor Anshu Batra from LA on as the expert. Parents told story after story of symptoms appearing after their children were vaccinated. Perfectly normal children had total changes in personality and regressed development after vaccinations. Yet, this "expert" stated that all suspicions of there being a link between vaccinations and autism have been refuted. I was floored. (I have since tried to do some research on this doctor who claims to have two autistic children who have nearly returned to normal and I find very little--except other parents' similar feelings about her statements.)

Fortunately, one of the parents on Oprah's show told the doctor that vaccinations have not been eliminated as a possible cause. Oprah let the parents and the doctor speak, fearing--I am sure--the same repercussions from drug companies that she got from the meat industry. I think it was good of Oprah to at least air the show but she should have had more than one expert on to discuss medical opinions.

Then, I watched the View. They had the same doctor on their show telling the same lies without challenge by any of the hosts.

Oprah and the View hosts as well as the doctor all seem to be under a gag order. How can drug companies suspect or be fearful of there being a link to their product to the extent that public conversation linking them is eliminated and then keep selling the tainted product? It sickens me.

When I google Anshu Batra, I find that she has appeared on CNN and countless shows misinforming people. What bothers me most about her dismissal of Thimerasol (a vaccine preservative) as a cause and her claims that autism is genetic is that the diagnosis rate has skyrocketed. If genetics were the cause, there would have to have been some rapid evolutionary change within the entire human gene pool within the last twenty to thirty years to result in a 1:166 diagnosis rate vs. a previous diagnosis rate of 1:100,000 or more thirty years ago. It just doesn't make sense (although the incidence of more boys than girls being diagnosed does point to some genetic susceptibility by boys.)

The other thing that concerns me about it is that we, the taxpayers, are paying through the nose for this disease. While I do not mind helping parents who are bankrupted by this unfortunate disease, I do mind basically bailing out the pharmaceutical companies who are creating this tax burden.

Anyway, I am putting together an email to send to friends to educate them about the threat of both vaccinations and mercury in fish and their links to autism.

[illinoisprogressive]

1. 20 years ago autism was hardly known. Now it's all over the place.

Something in the first few years and in a common connection is causing this. There is a common cause. It cannot be genetic when it was not common 20 years ago.

[live love laugh]

2. Exactly. n/t

[Book Lover]

3. Thimerosal in vaccines was much more common 20 years ago though

So now that the preservative is used much, much less today, why are autism cases increasing if that is supposed to be the cause?

[whoneedstickets]

4. Please, don't trouble the anti-vaccine consipricy kooks...

...with empirical evidence. Nor should we mention how many millions of children have been saved from debilitating polio, measles, small pox etc. cases in the last 50 years because of mandatory childhood vaccination.

[Book Lover]

5. Because this disorder personally touches my life, I want this anger and energy to be directed

in a fruitful way. These people want to help the diagnosed and their families, why not reach out with concrete and useful actions?

[whoneedstickets]

8. I appreciate your point.

I was being sarcastic. I have very little time for vaccine conspiracy nonsense because I have been exposed to some public health research and can only conclude that the system has saved literally MILLIONS of children from painful and debilitating illness. As pervasive as autism may be, I think it would probably STILL be worth the risk to vaccinate. Plus I think the autism growth rate is exaggerated by mandatory special education service provided to 'special needs' kids that encourages positive diagnoses. If you start to look for anything more systematically and then offer an incentive to the afflicted, you'll find more cases whether the actual rate in the population has changed.

[Book Lover]

10. I understood your sarcasm

But I feel your assertion that diagnoses are made because doctors somehow gain is inaccurate. School systems are straining to accommodate these children. I personally see no one gaining financially from this.

[whoneedstickets]

12. Doctors don't gain

The parents of children who may be developmentally delayed for some reason (perhaps having nothing to do with autism) benefit because a positive diagnoses forces schools to extend extra resources under IDEA. So, even if your kid might not have autism (he's just slow) getting a diagnosis means the public school system has to give him extra attention and who wouldn't want that? Its cheaper than tutoring.


Post Edit:

Check out this website. The graph shows how the growth in autism diagnoses follows after the passage of ADA and IDEA legislation. I doubt the actual rate of true (severe) autism has increased much. I suspect a lot of the growth is in 'borderline' or misdiagnosed cases. Which, of course makes all this vaccine causes autism stuff just a bunch of hooey from the conspiracy nuts (next up is fluoridated water...)


http://www.autism-watch.org/general/edu.shtml

[Book Lover]

17. Sorry I misunderstood you

I think I am more sanguine about people obtaining services for their kids through the public school system than I am reading you to be. Without going into details, the folks I know who do as you describe have children whose needs are greater than mere tutoring. They need real speech and behavioral therapy that insurance companies are not paying for. The school system has an obligation to provide these services, and so, to the parents, what does it matter what diagnostic box is ticked off on the forms filed? When stacking that up against the result, the skewing of statistics, I understand why they choose the route they do.

Further apologies if I am off base in interpreting your post.

[CTyankee]

55. You are so right! My grandson was diagnosed with mild autism

early on, at 2 1/2, and he is getting lots of services and therapies. However, he lacks some of the most common signs of autism. His language skills are advanced, he shows caring for others and he shares joy. A behaviorist examined him after the initial diagnosis by a doctor and she said his extreme farsightedness in his left eye could have accounted for some of his problems (he does fixate on certain objects, e.g. sliding doors). He also had initial problems in pronunciation which improved dramatically as he got a bit older. There are numerous disorders out there that are eminenetly treatable and when caught early and given treatment and therapies are successful.

My grandson's mild autism diagnosis has literally been the golden key to services provided by the state of California (and some Federal).

[MoonRiver]

104. Have they evaluated him for Asperger's Syndrome?

Those children typically DO have excellent language skills, though not communication skills. They are also average to above average intellectually. Understanding social cues and interacting with others appropriately tends to be problematical. There tends to be delayed motor development, and the children fixate on certain interests.

[loyalsister]

96. "Stigma for services" eh?

You may want to explore the details of you concerns before calling parents and kids out for that spending.
That particular label has a huge influence on how they are viewed for the rest of their lives. I would hope that parents and diagnosticians would take it very seriously.
If you care about more than the money and honestly believe parents carelessly slap that label on their kids for life.......

[K8-EEE]

77. As a parent of an autistic daughter, I don't discuss this on forums

It's amazing to me how hurtful people can be.

And yes, I think it was the mercury in the vaccine, and no, I'm not a kook.

[Book Lover]

78. Even when there is a nearly 100% chance that there was no thimerosol in her vacs?

I don't know your child's age, and therefore when she had her vacs, and I'm sure you don't want to post that info, but please think about that. And Lydia L's post below about the situation in Japan.

No matter what our other positions are, I am sure we both fully agree that our kids need services more than we need to beat the dead horse of thimerosal removal, which has already been done.

[K8-EEE]

79. No, you don't know

And I really don't need to justify my firsthand experiences to you or give you any personal information, other than the fact that I have done a lot of research and come to the conclusion that the thimerosol is not a good thing.

If you want to champion the cause of injecting children with mercury....whatever.

[Book Lover]

80. I didn't ask for personal information and I don't need it

And as someone who has had this issue personally touch my life as well, I do not appreciate your tone.

[orleans]

9. so what do you attribute the rise in autism to? what's the "empirical"

evidence you've got your hands on? do share with us "consipricy cooks"


cooks: noun "A person who prepares food for eating."

"No results found for consipricy
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/consipricy

[whoneedstickets]

11. See my note above

also I changed cooks to Kooks, (see edit time) before your post.

But don't let that stop you from playing spelling nazi at your leisure.

The refresh button is your friend.

[orleans]

43. are you a doctor? n/t

[kellenburger]

31. Thimersol is still in use.....

...because the FDA says it's safe. They do advise not to give vaccines containing
Thimersol to children who are or have been sick. A weakened immune system can't break
down the "small amount" of mercury.

My son had just gotten over bronchitis when he received a couple of immunizations
at once. He was never the same after that.
He was diagnosed at age 10 (2001)with asperger's syndrome.

Maybe there is no link, maybe it's just my son.

maybe it's 1 in 166

[live love laugh]

41. When the FDA and the CDC are manned by Bushites, there is no telling

what is really safe or unsafe. I am sorry about your son though I hear Asperger's is a milder form of autism.

[tavalon]

91. The cover up happened starting in 1998

so, we can't entirely blame this administration, for once.

[Tesha]

57. It works just like homeopathy. The less Thimerisol, the more autism. (NT)

[tavalon]

90. You are incorrect

Thimerosal was in all childhood vaccines until 1999 and slowly phased out in the next few years. When I was a child, we were given fewer vaccines at a later age than the children who are part of the current epidemic. In my generation a milder problem (but on the autistic spectrum)called attention deficit disorder became as epidemic as the current autism is. People has millions of reasons for that but one of the reasons that no one looked at was that my generation had more vaccines than the previous generations.

Autism is a multifactorial disease and one of the factors is environmental. The kids who succumb to the autistic spectrum disorders aren't able to process metals through and out of their systems. They also frequently have parents who have ADD or the "geek disease" known as Aspergers (another autistic spectrum disorder) so they have genetics already against them.

Vaccines are part of the overall problem. They aren't the only problem but they are part of it. And even the CDC and the IOM know this. They won't tell you because it would be, in their words, "a medicolegal nightmare".

[kellenburger]

97. the FDA says YOU are wrong

there are still some flu vaccines with thimersol

Asperger's is a neurobiological disorder calling it the
"geeks disease" is very insulting.

If you have proof that Asperger's is genetic please forward
your research to me because no other researchers have been
able to pinpoint a genetic link.

[progdonkey]

21. because autistic kids used to be called different, weird, or retarded...

There's nothing that says that autism is any more prevalent now than it's ever been; the only thing that's changed is that it's been recognized as a condition called autism.

Fifty years ago there were likely just as many autistic kids; the problem was that there was little understanding of what it was, or that it was a specific condition of its own, so a case of autism was recorded as a child being unruly, difficult, strangely gifted in some areas and hopelessly lacking in others, and/or just mentally retarded.

The reason the numbers of cases have been going up is because the understanding of what is and isn't autism has grown, and people who have mild forms of autism--which might not have been diagnosed as anything at all before--have now been added to the numbers of people living with autism, and for other similar reasons.

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. Nicely explicated. n/t

[WhollyHeretic]

72. That's a very important point that is overlooked too often n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

105. Not true. If one in every 150 children born in 1960 had these symptoms

... then the research emphasis would have happened back then.

Autism was rare when I was a kid, not just misdiagnosed. It is not rare now. I there is either an environmental trigger for latent genetic predisposition, or our modern environment is changing humans genetically.

Neither is good.

[MN ChimpH8R]

64. It was far more common than you think

It was just called something different. Asperger's and High Functioning Autism were only recognized in the DSM in the last fifteen years. Kids and adults now considered to be AS or HFA were misdiagnosed as avoidant, schizoid, ADHD, OCD, as having mood disorders or depression. The reason the number of diagnoses has increased so dramatically is that those of us on the spectrum are now being diagnosed much more accurately.

I have read no expert on AS or HFA (Temple Grandin, Tony Attwood and Simon Baron Cohen, most prominently) who considers AS/HFA to be anything but genetic.

[msongs]

6. good thing you are a qualified expert .... in consipiracy theories? nt

[live love laugh]

7. I am not an expert but when I see an expert lie about refuted evidence

then it is apparent to me that I must use whatever knowledge I have to keep myself and loved ones from harm.

[SoCalDem]

13. There could be a DUAL "causative" action or even multiple.

20 years ago people who became parents had had less interaction with chemicals than the parents of today. Who knows how long the toxic soup in our environment and daily lives takes to be passed on to the children?

Things that used to hold true, no longer apply.

I am 57, and until I was past puberty, I had little if any contact with plastics or man-made fibers.

We had wooden & steel toys, we ate off glass & china..we had glass thermos containers, we had metal lunch boxes.. Food came wrapperd in paper or foil.

Food storage containers were glass.. we used waxed paper. Our shoes were leather..out clothes cotton/linen/wool.

in ONE generation everything changed, and we have been bombarded by it ALL, and who's to say which ONE thing was the tipping point?

[live love laugh]

14. Very true. And yet, if there is case after reported case of symptoms

appearing soon after vaccinations, then wouldn't you at least think doctors would warn parents to be on the lookout for problems?

I am not against vaccines. I know they are helpful. But perhaps it is the age at which they are given that is a problem since most cases appear during very early development.

Again, I am far from an expert and my thinking may be too simplistic. I am just trying to make sense out of things that seem to have some relationship (ie, age of onset, presence of vaccinations as a common demoninator).

[whoneedstickets]

15. Could it be that...

..the time point in child's life when developmental delays become apparent just happens to be shortly after the time when a child receives vaccines? You really can't assess subtle mental development characteristics in very young infants. But things like delayed talking are always observed after a child's most extensive vaccination period (i.e. when they are strong enough to handle the vaccine regime but before they go to school or become actively in the general population and get exposed to possible infection).

Correlation is not causation and an increase in the observation of some phenomenon does not always mean a real increase (we just might be looking harder or we might have changed the measurement criteria).

[live love laugh]

16. Not to the dramatic degree in the examples I have seen. The parents

showed videotapes of alert, responsive children who were vaccinated and then became autistic--unable to respond to the same stimuli they formerly responded to. It would be different if the kids had never been responsive but that is not the case.

[Book Lover]

19. That makes no sense

The poster you replied to said that symptoms appear around the same time as when the big set of vacs happen. Nothing in your post addresses that.

Please, if you want to help autistic kids and their families, do something else with this energy. Work to pass laws that force insurance companies to follow their mission of paying for needed healthcare services. Work to increase the amount of funding school systems receive for the education of these children. Volunteer at your local school as an aide. We need *that* kind of effort now and today far more than we need you undermining the great and good work vaccines have done for our public health.

[live love laugh]

40. It makes sense to me. I am not advocating totally eliminating vaccines

but there is a need to look at their role in autism more closely. I could see several things being done without eliminating vaccines. Maybe they could be administered at a less vulnerable age. Maybe the ingredients could be changed to eliminate negative interactions. Maybe Thimerasol is a factor. At this point, all we have is tobacco-industry-level denial of the impacts of vaccinations.

[whoneedstickets]

20. While I certainly feel for these parents...

..the onset of autism, even the more severe forms, seem inconsistent. Sudden manifestation of characteristics can occur leaving parents to ask what happened. Naturally they think deductively and make causal attribution regarding what might have changed in the environment. But anecdotal cases and video evidence, as heart wrenching and compelling as they might be, is FAR from a sound basis to abandon the foundation of a hugely successful public health program.

Now, you may say 'it should be investigated', and you're right. But alarmist finger pointing at vaccines, which could encourage parents to opt out will eventually result in local outbreaks that harm or kill kids and adults. Vaccinated kids act a protection for adult populations whose own protection from vaccinations may have declined (or never have been good in the first place for various reasons). Protection from epidemics requires a significantly large protected population (enough to stem the spread of some virus). Until SOUND evidence is found, advancing conspiracy theories about vaccines creates a public health danger.

Every parent who has to make a choice to vaccinate faces some risk (I have kids who got their shots). Kids DO die from vaccines. Thankfully it's rare and equally thankfully most parents opt to accept the risk because of the societal benefit and because schools demand it.

[live love laugh]

23. No one is advocating "abandoning a hugely successful program" that is alarmist on your part.

I believe that I made myself clear by stating that I am not against vaccines but that there at least needs to be some vigilance in light of the appearance of symptoms at or near the time of vaccines. My concern is that that is no willingness whatsoever to even look at or investigate this as a possibility. Instead, one expert is being trotted out to misinform the general populace through the corporate owned media.

Your attempts to embarrass me with your ad hominem attacks by calling this a conspiracy theory, however, are suspect. Why are you so vehemently opposed to the questions that I am asking? Why the attacks?

[Karenina]

44. The condescension in the post you replied to

tends to enrage me. Who are we parents, who could give a flying fuck about his/her "symapthies," to believe when it is our children's lives and futures at stake? A corrupt corporate entity or our lying eyes?

There was much to-do about the pertussis part of the dpt when my kids were young. The oldest had no problem. The youngest had an immediate reaction. He ran a high fever, screamed FOR DAYS and regressed. I reported to my pediatrician who decided to wait on the follow-up shot and exclude the p. However, the damage was done. At 3, he was diagnosed.

We are extremely lucky. As the daughter of a neuropsychiatrist, I knew how to proceed to educate myself. I did layman's research for our pediatrician, observed and wrote up many dozens of children and their parents. I was in touch with EVERY researcher I could find and ascertained what was and what wasn't known in the field.

The concept of vaccination is not problematic for me. The care with which they are formulated and administered IS. I now hypothesize they can be a trigger given certain underlying predispositions. The attempts to marginalize us parents while indemnifying Big Pharma is not productive and is INFURIATING.

[live love laugh]

74. Who are we to believe indeed. I saw a doctor on TV a week ago tell women to

take estrogen for menopause because it has been proven that it strengthens the bones. Again I was alarmed.

My mother got breast cancer from taking what I later learned were derivatives from horse urine which is the estrogen this doctor is advocating. No one in my family has ever had breast cancer before her.

The National Institute of Health completed a five year study about two years ago and it debunked all of the claims that estrogen/progesterone supplements improved heart and bone health in menopausal women. Yet, we see these "experts" on TV lying again and again. They harm people and like you, I try to learn as much as I can and make intelligent decisions. I may be wrong about autism, but I don't trust that the people I see on TV are right--no matter what their profession.

[phylny]

33. I'm a speech-language pathologist, and my most favorite clients are

children with autism.

I went to a national conference a few years ago, and some of the research presented was interesting. The presenter was an expert from Canada, and she showed video of children as infants/babies who are later diagnosed with autism. In each of them, you could see altered motor patterns - difficulty rolling over or an odd pattern of rolling over, an odd crawling pattern. She said in her experience (and in mine, too) most parents don't notice anything "wrong" until around age two because that's when their children should be really talking and they're not, but the motor pattern is a hint that something's amiss.

Researchers are trying to find a way to diagnose very early, and one of the most important markers is if a child does not respond to their name (turn their head).

Of course, one mother of a little guy I worked with (who is a great success story) said she knew something wasn't right when he was in the womb. He kicked differently, moved differently than her other children.

In my experience, and in what I've read and learned, there is a genetic link. Something (maybe vaccines, but more likely something environmental) triggers it in children predisposed.

I hate autism, but love the kids I work with. I'd be the first one to wish that changing vaccines would eradicate autism, but it ain't happening.

[TreasonousBastard]

36. I'm only slightly older, and...

grew up on a fair amount of hot dogs, cold cuts, and bacon with nitrites, even the omnipresent Velveeta and Cheez Whiz. but nothing like what he kids are eating now.

Besides the plastic packaging, what the hell is in those cereals, mac&cheese, whipped toppings, toaster pastries...

Milk and beef with hormones and pork and chicken with antibiotics? And that thing about arsenic in chicken feed?

Peanut butter in a plastic "jar" that's half Crisco and sugar?

And, ummm... yeah, sugar and its evil twin HFCS-- isn't there an awful lot being said about kids being overly sugarized these days?

I'm far from a diet of organic brown rice and raw veggies myself, but I find there are fewer and fewer things I want to buy in the supermarket now. I picked up some cake mixes on sale and the results tasted like toxic waste-- one look at the ingredients list told me why. It's just as easy to make a scratch cake that tastes better without the chemical stew.

Too much of this stuff is scary, and we really don't know what effect test tube foods have on growing bodies.

So, point fingers at the possibility of a vaccine having adverse effects (while ignoring the adverse effects of, say, polio) but ignore the lead leaching out of cheap china, food additives, and all the other environmental nasties the kids are exposed to. Makes sense to me. :crazy:

[Retrograde]

47. not to mention dubious air and water quality in earlier times

I grew up in an old industrial city in the 50s and 60s. There was an industrial miasma that hung over the place, the result of emissions from steel mills and chemical plants. The water was full of phosphates and whatever else cities dumped into it. Remember when the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland caught fire?

I am by no means an expert on autism. My inclination, for want of better evidence, is that the so-called epidemic is a combination of more exact diagnosis (in some cases, people I've known who were diagnosed with a milder form of autism are what we would have called Classic Nerd 30 years ago rather than High-Functioning Whatever), better pre-natal and neo-natal care (more babies born with problems are surviving longer for those problems to become more serious), a decrease in the social stigma associated with having a "different" child (so people are more willing to talk about it) and maybe genetics (the autistic children I know personally are all the result of nerds mating, but since most of my friends fall into the classic nerd category that's not unexpected)

As for mercury - the mountains to the south and west of Silicon Valley contain large natural deposits of mercury ore - it's been mined since the 1820s - and the runoff causes a high concentration of mercury in local streams. Coincidence?

[SoCalDem]

51. There is "safety" for manufacturers, in the numerous "possibilities"

so they are in NO hurry to even try to study these things, and every 4 years we have a revolving population of regulators and officials who get new grants and start any "studies" all over again...usually with opposite esults of previous studies, so the public never knows what to believe :grr:

Back to basics as much as possible is what I think may help

Being cheap, may have inadvertantly worked in my kids' case. I never fed them baby food, and I always cooked from scratch when they wee little..

I made my OWN mixes. You can get these cookbooks today on ebay or amazon.. HP Make-A-Mix.. I made my own pancake mix, hot roll mix, cake mix, breading mix. I made my own sausage (it's NOT hard)..we bought hind quarters from a rancher.

I bought a Le Machine and made my own baby food from whatever we were eating, and my kids had NO allergies.

I did it because I was cheap, but looking back,. I'm really glad we did it :)

[donsu]

42. true and true and true - the toxic stew children have been conceived,

and born into is/will cause changes unconceived of.

I too come from before the age of plastic - another world never to be seen again.

for the last 20 yrs. I've noticed a change in the way many people's brains works. I have yet to have found the words to describe the changes.

its like their subconscious doesn't see connections that pre plastic subconsciouses see.

[Smarmie Doofus]

18. I know nothing of vaccines but I do know this:

>>>If genetics were the cause, there would have to have been some rapid evolutionary change within the entire human gene pool within the last twenty to thirty years to result in a 1:166 diagnosis rate vs. a previous diagnosis rate of 1:100,000 or more thirty years ago. It just doesn't make sense (although the incidence of more boys than girls being diagnosed does point to some genetic susceptibility by boys.)>>>>

The way kids are *classified* ( "diagnosed", if you prefer) has changed.

Today I teach kids classified as "ASD" who in the eighties were classified as EMR ( educable mentally retarded) or even TMR ( trainable mentally retarded). There is a reluctance in the field to use the MR designation as it is seen as limiting expectations. If the kid has social quirks and/or communication-related idiosyncrasies, AND has an IQ outside of the average range (roughly 75-125) there is a very high likelihood he will be labeled ASD, whereas in the past the same kid would have been labeled MR.

Moreover, improvements in medical technology has improved the survival rate for premies and other high risk babies that would have not have survived to be labeled as *anything* in the old days. Lots of these, I suspect, are being figured into the autism "epidemic" statistics.

[whoneedstickets]

22. An excellent post..

So, categorization and measurement lead to an increase in a diagnosis of some condition which is then pointed to as a new epidemic. A search for a cause (which doesn't exist) is undertaken and, when none are forthcoming, wild speculation begins. None of this is good science or public policy.

[progdonkey]

24. dammit, I posted the exact same argument ten minutes after you...

I need to learn to double-check that something hasn't already been mentioned, especially when the other response was already much better than what I ended up writing!

It's good to see I'm on the same page with someone who actually has experience with autistic kids, though. :toast:

[live love laugh]

26. Autism is retardation but not mental retardation--the symptoms may overlap

but there are differences.

Autism sufferers exhibit delays in social skills and communication skills, whereas the mentally retarded are cognitively deficient. The autistic have marked delays in social skills and communication though they are often very smart whereas the retarded are able to respond to social cues but have lowered IQs. The autistic may seem to be retarded because they are so socially delayed that they appear not to "get it".

There is often a distinct difference between the those who are autisic vs. those who are mentally retarded but that is not to say that an autistic person can't also be retarded.

[Smarmie Doofus]

29. In my experience the overlap is huge.

The vast majority of kids with autism test below the average range IQ... i.e. below 75.

Folks exhibiting autism features and testing average or above in IQ are a distinct minority of the ASD poulation . They're usually included in the Asperger's category. From wikipedia:




"Asperger syndrome is not differentiated from other autistic spectrum disorders by a minority of clinicians and instead they refer to it as high functioning autism (HFA) <1> in that early development is normal and there is no language delay and thus the symptoms differ only in degree from classic autism. Some people with AS do have learning disabilities; however, IQ tests may show normal or superior intelligence in diagnosed individuals.<2><3>"

[LeftishBrit]

45. Wow - we posted some very similar ideas!

Very interesting to hear from someone who works with autistic children.

By the way, yes, it is thought that boys are more genetically susceptible, perhaps because some of the relevant genes may be on the X-chromosome.

[Ilsa]

65. boys tend to be genetically more prone to quite a few

disorders since they only have the one X chromosome, and no second X which might carry a gene involved inactivation of certain enzymes or processes.

[earth mom]

25. Great Post! The pharma giants and the * government have been pulling answers out of the air

or is that their a$$es?!-while they totally ignore the elephant in the room. The cause of Autism is not anything that they are trying convince everyone it is, but rather what most parents of children with Autism are saying it is: an OBVIOUS REGRESSION at around 1 years old after an onslaught of mercury laced vaccinations.

IT DOESN'T TAKE A ROCKET SCIENTIST TO CONNECT THE DOTS. But it sure does take a slew of them to come up with convoluted reasons that it's not caused by the vaccinations. It's all absolutely sickening because the children and their families are the ones getting the total shaft through all of the bullshit the pharma giants and the * government are pulling.

Of course, the millions-or is it billions?!-of dollars that are at stake through lawsuits that families would certainly file if the REAL TRUTH came out, is all the motivation needed to lie like the low life scum that they are! :puke:

[Book Lover]

27. The vaccines are no longer formulated with thimerosal

If your assertion is true, then why have autism rates increased while the amount of thimerosal used in vac preparation has decreased?

[Eric J in MN]

34. Maybe it's the vaccine itself and not the thimerosal...

...which is causing autism.

They didn't always give so many vaccines at once to babies.

[Pachamama]

85. Had a flu shot lately?

Because its incorrect that vaccines are no longer formulated with thimerosal

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/thimerosal.htm

[WritingIsMyReligion]

100. Then why is Down Syndrome genetic?

Trisomy 21--a third chromosome 21 that arises from what is called "nondisjunction" in the process of meiosis. I find it highly unlikely that environmental factors would produce that--in utero, perhaps, but not after birth. I think that the so-called "OBVIOUS REGRESSION," as you put it, is nothing more than this finally taking effect after a year or so, just as other genetic disorders (Huntington's, etc.) do not appear until later in life.

[LeftishBrit]

30. There have been many changes in diagnostic criteria for autism

It is thought by many researchers on autism that the idea of an major epidemic in autism has been exaggerated.

At one end of the scale, children, who were in the past considered as 'naughty', 'emotionally disturbed', 'maladjusted, or just 'odd', are now often diagnosed as 'high-functioning autistic'. At the other end of the scale, children who in the past were described as 'mentally handicapped' without further analysis of their problems are now often described as autistic if they have particular difficulties in social or communication areas.

Here is a link to Helen Heussler's letter to the British Medical Journal, which provides evidence that children who had other diagnoses or none in the 1970s would be more likely to be diagnosed as 'autistic' nowadays.

www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/322/7284/460


There are two factors that are known to be strongly linked to autism. One is genetics. An identical twin of an autistic person has about a 60% risk of also being autistic, and an additional 30% risk of having a cognitive or language disorder that does not fit all the criteria for an autism diagnosis.

The other factor is serious prenatal or perinatal problems. If only one of an identical twin pair is autistic, it usually turns out that the autistic twin had more medical difficulties at birth and/or was of lower birthweight. In general, survivors of extreme prematurity or other life-threatening birth complications are more likely to be autistic. It may well be that one factor involved in the increase in autism diagnoses is that babies are fortunately more likely nowadays to survive serious birth complications and prematurity. 30 years ago, many such babies never lived to be diagnosed as autistic.

As regards vaccines specifically: it is certainly *not* the case that the possibility of links between vaccines and autism has never been discussed. In fact, there has been a LOT of discussion of the issue, to the point of possibly neglecting other potential environmental contributors to autism. But there is little evidence that vaccines actually do cause autism. In Japan, the MMR vaccine was withdrawn for some years due to quality problems, and autism diagnoses increased during that period in Japan at the same rate as in other countries.

It is rather unlikely in any case that most cases of autism are due to something that affects children in the second year of life. With some exceptions, most cases of autism do not involve a sudden decline in function in a child who was previously developing typically. The reason why autism is only diagnosed in the second year of life or later is that it involves difficulties in communication and social interaction, and can only be detected at an age when typically developing children do have significant skills in communication and social interaction.

I do think that it is worth giving more attention to environmental factors that may affect pregnant women. It may be that some pollutant or some infection is increasing the chance of unusual brain development in the unborn baby. It is important to study such possibilities.

[phylny]

32. And then there's the case of a former client of mine who had a daughter.

The mom was a doctor and since there was a family history of autism, she didn't vaccinate her daughter. By the time the daughter was two, she was exhibiting full-blown autism. No vaccines.

[soothsayer]

35. Huh. Never knew there was a genetic link.

[BumpCity]

37. More Research is needed

I'm so glad the woman on Oprah's show spoke up refuting the
Dr's conclusive evidence against vaccines relationship with
autism.   After belonging to the autism community for the past
14 years, you'd be surprised how many parents have witnessed
the same experience I did.   Up until 18months, my daughter
(now 16)exhibited all the normal milestones: limited speech,
eye contact, socialization, mostly potty trained.   Within a
week after her DPT vaccination she was in the hospital with
high fever, dehydrated and was lethargic.   After that we
started to lose her to classic autism symptoms.  The stories
by the families on Oprah's show about what it's like as a
parent and as a family was a mirror image of our experience.  


I started to become very politically active in trying to get
services for my daughter and others in my state.   I became
aware of all the lawsuits that were now starting to form
against Eli Lilley and others.   Sen Frist had a bill that was
trying to 1)cap awards at 250K and 2)change the statute of
limitations.   These lawsuits poised a serious threat to
Lilley.  (This was the provision that they tried to insert at
the eleventh hour into the Homeland Security bill, but was
caught and stopped)  

Dan Burton-IN, grandfather of an autistic child, held many
hearings investigating the CDC's cover up in the way it
handled oversite of the Thimerasol controversy.  In these
hearings, he had many experts on Thimerasol and the effects of
mercury on a small child.  This is multiplied by the number of
vaccination series that children in the late 80's and early
90's were subjected to.  Burton had several CDC officials
and inter office memos that showed possible cover up and
failure to address the problem.

In my child's case, I do believe that Thimerasol played a roll
in her autism.   The drug companies voluntarily quit making
Thim. based vaccines in the late 90's and early 2000, but did
not recall them from Dr's shelves.   They still have it in
some flu vaccines.   

I'm pro-vaccination, anti-thimerasol. I just think that more
independent scientific studies are needed to examine
Thimerasol and also the effects of so many vaccination series
to a young child's body.   Environmental pollution should also
be closely examined.

[earth mom]

54. Excellent post! Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[SidDithers]

38. When you get your science from Oprah and The View...

well, nothing more really needs to be said.

Sid

[live love laugh]

39. You assume that the Oprah Show and the View are the only places that

I have been exposed to the topic of autism. Had it not been for the fact that I was already aware of some of the problems of autism I would have never been able to start this thread because I wouldn't have known there were other factors outside of what was stated on those shows. Again, the problem is the widespread communication about autism by people who don't fully discuss all of the potential issues.

[SidDithers]

48. So why not post those sources...nt

Sid

[live love laugh]

50. Sources are readily available through Google. Try searching for

autism, mercury and Thimerasol. That would provide the same type of information that the parents mentioned. The key point of this whole thread was that had I not known about the other available information, I too would be misinformed by listening to Oprah and watching the View. I am not using what I saw there as science but as an example of disinformation.

[Ilsa]

46. Autism is manifested in varying ways and degrees. Sometimes

children are effectively "retarded" from it, other times it is mostly speech/social problems. The diagnosis has so many variant exhibited and the children need such a variety of therapies.

From all of this I've concluded that pollution and toxins in our environment (some may be in vaccines if they are multi-dose vials with thimerosal) are playing a part in utero for alot of people with certain genetic makeup. I think some of us can't process out the heavy metals or other poisons we're ingesting and the growing fetus pays the long term price in having their lives ruined, as well as ruining the finances and quality of life of the families.

I am a parent who is experiencing this first-hand. Life with an autistic child is really hard. I also feel for my other child who is getting half a childhood because of all the stuff we don't get to do with an autistic child in the family.

[mudesi]

49. I've read that television caused it

I read once about a theory that color TV, with its flashy, moving images, had been linked to autism. The brains of infants and young children exposed to those images were somehow effected by them.

[earth mom]

52. That theory is a TOTAL CROCK.

What infant watches T.V.?! Autism strikes at about a year or so, when infants are mainly sleeping and eating. How about SIXTEEN + vaccinations, before the age of ONE with the MMR jab at the one year mark?!

It's only AFTER all those vaccinations that parents notice a DISTINCT before and after in the behavior of their child. No one is going to tell me that that many vaccinations for an infant is a good thing or that T.V. caused it.


NO FUCKING WAY.



And BTW-the reason why people with Autism watch T.V. is because they learn and think in pictures.
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Pictures-Expanded-Life-Autism/dp/0307275655/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-2657125-7863145?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176061557&sr=8-1

[Ilsa]

66. No, seizures have been detected in children watching rapidly

flashing images, but I'm talking about the really fast stuff. It could be that those kids were predisposed to developing seizures.

[wicket]

53. Great post

:kick:

[aikoaiko]

56. We should see it in the data --- but we generally don't

As a father of a 2 year old I understand your concern about vaccinations, but as a rational person I look to the data. A majority of articles say the same thing -- no causal link between vaccinations and autism.

How do you explain these studies? Should we see it in their data if you are correct?

Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism

Anders Hviid, MSc; Michael Stellfeld, MD; Jan Wohlfahrt, MSc; Mads Melbye, MD, PhD

JAMA. 2003;290:1763-1766.

Context Mercuric compounds are nephrotoxic and neurotoxic at high doses. Thimerosal, a preservative used widely in vaccine formulations, contains ethylmercury. Thus it has been suggested that childhood vaccination with thimerosal-containing vaccine could be causally related to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.

Objective To determine whether vaccination with a thimerosal-containing vaccine is associated with development of autism.

Design, Setting, and Participants Population-based cohort study of all children born in Denmark from January 1, 1990, until December 31, 1996 (N = 467 450) comparing children vaccinated with a thimerosal-containing vaccine with children vaccinated with a thimerosal-free formulation of the same vaccine.

Main Outcome Measures Rate ratio (RR) for autism and other autistic-spectrum disorders, including trend with dose of ethylmercury.

Results During 2 986 654 person-years, we identified 440 autism cases and 787 cases of other autistic-spectrum disorders. The risk of autism and other autistic-spectrum disorders did not differ significantly between children vaccinated with thimerosal-containing vaccine and children vaccinated with thimerosal-free vaccine (RR, 0.85 <95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.60-1.20> for autism; RR, 1.12 <95% CI, 0.88-1.43> for other autistic-spectrum disorders). Furthermore, we found no evidence of a dose-response association (increase in RR per 25 µg of ethylmercury, 0.98 <95% CI, 0.90-1.06> for autism and 1.03 <95% CI, 0.98-1.09> for other autistic-spectrum disorders).

Conclusion The results do not support a causal relationship between childhood vaccination with thimerosal-containing vaccines and development of autistic-spectrum disorders.


Author Affiliations: Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Department of Epidemiology Research (Messrs Hviid, Wohlfahrt, and Dr Melbye) and Medical Department (Dr Stellfeld), Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association
Brent Taylor, Elizabeth Miller, C Paddy Farrington, Maria-Christina Petropoulos, Isabelle Favot-Mayaud, Jun Li, Pauline A Waight

Lancet 1999; 353: 2026–29

Summary
Background We undertook an epidemiological study to investigate whether measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)vaccine may be causally associated with autism.

Methods Children with autism born since 1979 were identified from special needs/disability registers and special schools in eight North Thames health districts, UK.Information from clinical records was linked to immunisation data held on the child health computing system. We looked for evidence of a change in trend in incidence or age at diagnosis associated with the introduction of MMR vaccination to the UK in 1988. Clustering of onsets within defined postvaccination periods was investigated by the case-series method.

Findings We identified 498 cases of autism (261 of core autism, 166 of atypical autism, and 71 of Asperger’s syndrome). In 293 cases the diagnosis could be confirmed by the criteria of the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD10: 214 <82%> core autism, 52 <31%>
atypical autism, 27 <38%> Asperger’s syndrome). There was a steady increase in cases by year of birth with no sudden “step-up” or change in the trend line after the introduction of MMR vaccination. There was no difference in age at diagnosis between the cases vaccinated before or after 18 months of age and those never vaccinated. There was no temporal association between onset of autism within 1 or 2 years after vaccination with MMR (relative incidence compared with control period 0·94 <95% CI 0·60–1·47> and 1·09 <0·79–1·52>). Developmental regression was not clustered in the months after vaccination (relative incidence within 2 months and 4 months after MMR vaccination 0·92 <0·38–2·21> and 1·00 <0·52–1·95>). No significant temporal clustering for age at onset of parental concern was seen for cases of core autism or atypical autism with the exception of a single interval within 6 months of MMR vaccination. This appeared to be an artifact related to the difficulty of defining precisely the onset of symptoms in this disorder.


Interpretation Our analyses do not support a causal association between MMR vaccine and autism. If such an association occurs, it is so rare that it could not be identified in this large regional sample.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

58. Autism is also increasing in Japan, where mercury hasn't been used in

vaccines for years.

[SoCalDem]

59. But plastics & chemicals in the environment have grown exponentially ,

just like in the US:(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

60. My theory is that it's general petrochemical exposure

which is what plastics are made of.

[SoCalDem]

61. That's MY uneducated opinion too.. I think we are approaching "overload"

and once we cross "the line", it's gonna be too late

[Karenina]

73. Then think of the mercury levels in fish

could it be a "trigger" of underlying conditions? :shrug:

[K8-EEE]

81. It could still be mercury from other sources (fish, polution)

At least one doctor has told me flat out: most cases of autism are mercury poisoning, although the sources of the poison can be different.

[TZ]

62. lies vs. scientific proof

1)Thimerosol is no longer in any vaccine. Period
2) Autism has had several scientific studies that link it to genetic tendencies.
3) No SCIENTIFIC STUDIES have concluded that the rates of autism in vaccinated children are higher than in unvaccinated populations.
4) Developmental chronology- you have to remember that the times of vaccines are given at certain times at development in children. Its possible that at that developmental points there are other things that happen developmentally that cause children to develop autism (some enzymatic problem) that happens to coincide with a scheduled vaccination. Please remember that vaccines DO NOT STAY IN THE SYSTEM long, they only stimulate the immune system and then get cleaned out by the spleen and liver. They do not LINGER in the tissues, which is POSSIBLE with the mercury from fish.
5) Vaccines are COSTLY to produce. In fact the UN practically has to beg drug companies to make them so they can be distributed to 3rd world countries. These companies aren't "lying" to cover up profits.
6) Vaccines will save more far more children from things like Polio, Diptheria, measles, Rotavirus, than this so called epidemic of autism. Africa has had a big comback in Polio cases because fear (like the fear you are attempting to spread here) has caused many parents to cease vaccinating their children.

[whoneedstickets]

75. Brilliant post.

Thank you for the information.

I argued #4 earlier. I'm still perplexed why so many on this thread keep arguing "but there's more cases" when so many explanations for an increase in 'DIAGNOSES' could occur without any increase in real cases.

I understand that the parents of children suffering from this condition could be frustrated and want answers. But pointing fingers at vaccination is about as logical as claiming it was caused by 'solid food' (something else children of this age encounter for the first time), or cows milk or any of a number of things other than genetics with is likely the cause.

Even if there is little or no increase in cases (just in diagnoses) finding the cause of Autism is important. The higher incidence among boys suggests an X chromosome link. What could lead to faulty X chromosome? Autism is known to run in families. So heredity is #1. Older moms? Environmental pollution?

POST Edit, after posting the mother's age idea I did some research and found this link to a 'Father's age' finding.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5768623

[SidDithers]

76. Great post...nt

Sid

[Lurking Dem]

82. Well done.

Once again, turtlensue.

[Pachamama]

84. Since facts seem important to you - Had a flu shot lately?

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/thimerosal.htm

:eyes:

[Lurking Dem]

86. Thimerosal free flu vaccine

is widely available.

And she was talking about scheduled childhood vaccines to begin with.

[Pachamama]

88. "Thimerosol is no longer in any vaccine. Period"

Those are the exact words. No reference to childhood vaccines. Also, many children are receiving flu vaccines and are being reccommended to receive them by Pediatricians.

Also, Thimerosal free flu vaccines are not widely available. They are not readily stocked and have to be specially requested.

[TZ]

111. None of the vaccine makers I KNOW

and I do work in industry, even have Thimerosol in the LAB let alone in the vaccine. If there is thimerosol in a flu vaccine- you can get flu mist which I believe does NOT have it.

[MN ChimpH8R]

63. I am on the spectrum and this is absolute

I was DX'd Asperger two years ago after more than thirty years of wondering why I was so different and isolated. Everything credible that I have read in my extensive research indicates that spectrum conditions are the result of different neurology, that is to say a physical difference in the way the brains of autists and Aspies are wired. These differences are hard-wired into us prenatally. Vaccines cannot change the physical structure of the human brain that is the source of spectrum disorders. Inter-hemispheric connections in the brain and a lack of mirror neurons are the root cause of spectrum conditions. These conditions are genetic in nature and are highly heritable.

The phonied-up connection between spectrum disorders and childhood vaccines arose because spectrum disorders first become diagnosable during the same time frame that kids are being vaccinated. Correlation is simply not cause and effect. I am not averse to well-reasoned conspiracy theories (such as LIHOP and who really killed JFK) but this one ventures into the realm of bad science fiction.

Google "Simon Baron Cohen" and follow a few of he prominent links.

[earth mom]

67. What you are missing is the sudden and marked upswing of an epidemic.

1 in 166 = NOW ( I also heard it's 150) VS. 1 in 100, 000 = 30 YEARS AGO.

Something is triggering a genetic pre-disposition that in turn becomes Autism instead.

[SoCalDem]

70. 1 in 98 for males n/t

[earth mom]

107. 1 in 98?!!!!! Is that in the article because I must have missed it.

Thanks for the heads up!

[SoCalDem]

110. Eek.. the article I saw said 94..not 98..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=552302

and

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=557383

[MN ChimpH8R]

71. Please check out posts 21 and 64

The skyrocketing increase is the result of realizing something not previously known.

[earth mom]

108. Read my post 106.

People would have noticed these children because most of them can NOT function as "neurotypical" children can. Aspergers is a different story and those children certainly did function under the radar for years. But what we are talking about, what is fueling the epidemic, is children with full blown Autism. Not Aspergers.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

101. No, people are just getting better at diagnosing it.

As has been said numerous times on this thread.

[earth mom]

106. Do you know anyone with full blown Autism?

Not Aspergers. But Autism.

Because if you did, you would see from the out of control behavior that these kids exhibit that they are not kids that went "misdiagnosed" in the past. Children that need their butts wiped as teenagers, and who can't dress themselves, and who bash their heads on the floor are NOT children that went misdiagnosed in the past. NO WAY, NO HOW.

[Ilsa]

68. Excellent post! And I think this is true for about 99% of children

on the spectrum.

I do know of a parent in town whose baby was talking typically for a nine month old, then stopped, after a series of four vaxes. There will always be a small number who fall outside of the norm for how this develops. MAybe this baby reached a threshold and that is when some heavy metals sarted affecting the baby's neurology.

I knew something was different about my son after he was born, but we didn't get really scared until the absence of language was apparent. He was born autistic, 1996.

[bleedingheart]

89. my son is an Aspie

his father, and grandfather are both Aspies...

I don't think in our case it had anything to do with vaccinations, yet I have family members that consistently tell me about special gluten diets and how vaccines are responsible for my son's disorder.

It is all hogwash.

There are a lot of folk out there making a mint off of parents who want to find the "cure", when my son was first diagnosed I can't tell you the folks who directed me to all sorts of charlatans who made my skin crawl....One specialist told me that if I paid him $75 a visit...my son could play Dance Dance Revolution in his office every Saturday morning and be cured....I kid you not.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

69. The only claimed link between vaccination and autism *that I know of* has been thoroughly debunked.

The only claim of a vaccine causing autism that I'm aware of was by a guy called Andrew Wakefield here in the UK, who claimed that a triple measles/mumps/rubella vaccine caused autism, based on very sketchy evidence indeed.

That's been very thoroughly debunked, and, shamefully, Mr Wakefield still hasn't admitted he was wrong, and a good many children have been needlessly exposed to measles, mumps and rubella as a result (there was a mumps epidemic here a little while ago, although I'm not sure that's connected).

That said, there may well be other claimed links between other vaccinations and autism that I don't know about, and that haven't been so thoroughly disproven.

[mmonk]

83. Because I don't believe vaccinations are the cause.

The autism spectrum has been expanded through recognition that it was not was as narrow in symptoms as first thought. There were a lot of children that were just thought of as different that were not put under the autism spectrum umbrella until they recognized connections.

[bleedingheart]

87. actually I think there are more cases of Autism BECAUSE of better diagnostics

there are a few kids I remember from my childhood that today would be considered autistic but back in the early 70's they were considered "retarded".

Today...parents are lucky to get better diagnostic evaluations of their children and they are seeking those diagnoses because the taboo about having a special needs child is going away. In the 40's and 50's a lot of families locked up their children who didn't fit the "normal" spectrum and most of that was done because the doctors and even the families wanted to get the "problem" out of the way.

What I would like to see are the stats on mental disorders to see if there has been any sharp reductions in those disorders that were "catch alls"...the broad diagnoses that were used to label any disorder that doctors didn't know how to deal with...or really know what it was.

[noonwitch]

92. I agree with you, there are better diagnostic tools now than 20 years ago

I tend to think the cause is genetic. I've observed autistic kids now and then in the course of my work, although the ones I've worked with have been those who also had developmental disabilities in addition to the autism.

What I've observed is this-most of us are born with the rudimentary ability to filter stimuli, and fine-tune the ability as we grow. Some kids, for whatever reason, are born without that ability. Because they are constantly bombarded by stimuli, and unable to differentiate between what requires their attention and what doesn't, they will shut down completely and focus on something that appears totally harmless that makes no sense to the rest of us (shiny things, obsessions with counting objects).

A kid with this perceptual situation who has a normal or higher intellectual ability can benefit from good teaching and adapt his unique perceptions to everyday life.

It's difficult to rule out vaccines as a cause, though, because most symptoms of autism aren't really noticed until the kid misses developmental milestones, which is after the first few rounds of routine immunizations.

[Canuckistanian]

93. General comment to the majority of this AUTISM thread

(Wife of DU member writing)

This is the summary of everything I have learned in efforts to better understand Autism and how to help our son.

Our son was diagnosed at 3 and half years of age, we had done a lot of things to help him and rule out other issues affecting his speaking (he exceded all the other development markers doctors use to create the chart used to measure as compared to typical child developing) However he did spin things incessantly, open and close doors incessantly, loved to spin himself, rejected physical contact of his parents... we could go on

So here are my(our) comments in no particular order, as I am trying not to get angry at some of the posts:

whether or not vaccines with any mercury derivatives cause the symptoms of autism to manifest is immaterial, why not simply err on the side of caution, besides as soon as one "side" comes to a conclusion another will come to the forefront and "prove" the opposite. mercury/thimerosol yes or no it doesn't matter really, spend a little money and use a more expensive preservative and move on

there is no "cure" for autism as it is a neurological disorder NOT a disease, and this also is why it should not be labeled an epidemic, I do not know what else to call the increasing prevalence of this disorder but the people affected are not "sick"

mercury poisoning has symptoms that mirror autism so IF a child has been poisoned and then their system is cleaned of mercury THAT looks like a cure

gluten and casein seem to worsen the symptoms of autism, best to get solid allergy testing then go forward and try to eliminate this and anything else the child is alergic to from the child's diet

I sense the child had seizures while he was in the womb, and also up to about age 2 or 3, no one has confirmed this, and what does it matter now it has passed and he is affected.

I like the idea of one poster here suggesting instead of getting angry at parents/drug companies/government/parents with affected kids/whom or what ever, to volunteer at the school or privately...

As for our kids being over serviced or helped when others need help and do not get help, our son's "help" is limited, and he has been excluded from so many therapies due to his age where he got moved off the waiting list for some therapies, (called aging out) and the waiting lists being too long, then re-admitted to the waiting list BACK at the bottom, one wonders what is the point and if we had bags of money could we buy this therapy instead? I'd sell my soul to help him.

Clinically/socially/legally he is "disabled", I struggle with this as it is a permanent label that may cause other problems as he becomes an adult and survives us into his middle years, parents like us must find ways to protect any equity we have built up in order to continue to provide for the child after we are gone. We do not want our children to become wards of the government. If we can get him educated and employed can we get him declared un-disabled?

Hubby and I know this is genetic, our son is the perfect result of the combination of our idiosyncrasies and exceptionalities. We both realize we have displayed many of the traits used to diagnose for Autism.

I could go on for hours. It is important if you are interested in knowing more about Autism or Aspergers or any number of other conditions/disorders on the Autism Spectrum to do a lot of research including talking to people affected by the disorder and their families.

[meldroc]

94. IMHO, thimerosol is only one of the causes of the autism/aspergers epidemic.

There are tens of thousands of chemicals that have been introduced into our environment in the past few decades that weren't there before. My guess is that thimerosol could be implicated in some, but not all or even most of the autism and Asperger's cases in this epidemic. There's lots of others. There's bisphenol-A, which is in plastics (especially polycarbonate - used in Nalgene bottles and elsewhere) and aluminum can linings. It behaves like an estrogen-like hormone, and it's been implicated in causing all sorts of developmental abnormalities in animals, and scientists are thinking it's implicated in the obesity epidemic, as well as lots of other things. That's just one of the chemicals out there. It'll probably take decades to sort out all the low-level toxins we're all ingesting now, especially with the chemical industry pulling pages out of the tobacco industry's playbook and denying everything, and the Bush administration gutting the FDA to ensure their big corporate buddies can make money, no matter how much it screws the rest of us.

[enki23]

95. autism is now massively overdiagnosed in some populations. underdiagnosed in others.

you cannot, however, draw a direct connection between diagnosis numbers and numbers of actual cases, especially for something "syndrome-y" like autism. it ain't that simple. take home message: exactly as with ADD/ADHD, you definitely do *not* need to have an actual increase in autism cases to have an increase in autism diagnoses.

thing is, it's important to remember it's not *evil* for people to push the mercury-autism theory. it's not a completely improbable theory. it just seems to be wrong. at least, it's wrong to try to blame a purported epidemic of autism on childhood vaccines.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

98. I doubt the syndrome has become that much more common.

50 years ago there were probably as many people with autism as there are now. They just weren't diagnosed as such because the medical field was not advanced enough to label them as anything more than "insane." I would not be surprised if many autistic children were left to die in parts of the country simply because they were strange.

What is the alleged link between mercury/vaccinations and autism? Certainly there is a genetic component to forms of autism--Down Syndrome is trisomy 21, which isn't caused by anything more than nondisjunction in meiosis. Does mercury increase the rate of meiosis going awry, as does age? I know the rates of giving birth to a child with Down increase dramatically in women over age 40. Does mercury somehow "act" upon children after birth? What is the link?

[rainy]

99. Bobby Kennedy is an expert on this topic but they will not have him on as a

informed speaker because he does blame he vaccines.

[lostnfound]

102. This will turn out to be like global warming where

a wealthy industry succeeds for a long time in painting the leading edge scientists as kooks and alarmists. One difference is that they may succeed in covering their tracks permanently since it's multivariate and not the sole cause, and especially with confounding data of all of these pregnant women and new mothers and infant children getting vaccinated with one or two shots of thimerosol-containing flu shots.

Even though he's a republican, Dan Burton was on a rampage about this subject and held a hearing which I saw on Cspan; it including a Texas medical researcher who had an astonishing presentation that was quite persuasive.

The money isn't there for proving such a connection; but there's plenty of money to be had for proving that there is NOT a connection.

[live love laugh]

103. It's just like the tobacco industry. The longer they stall the more they make.

Eventually, the truth will come out...probably when the stats are at, like, 1:10.

[earth mom]

109. Bingo-you win the prize! TPTB have muddied the waters and instilled fear in people to the point

that people are skeptical about what knowledgeable professionals like Dan Burton and RFK Jr. are telling people about this epidemic.

It's all so disgusting and shameful because this smear campaign is being done at the expense of innocent children by those who value money more than human life. :puke:

[TZ]

112. Again 90% of vaccines are made outside of US

and do not bring large profits to ANYBODY. And I really resent the willful ignorance of people on this particular topic. Do either of quoted sources have phD's in biology or MD's? Why don't you post some peer reviewed scientific data on this "conspiracy" from either of the two gentlemen. That might be convincing

[LeftishBrit]

113. And I would add here...

that in countries with National Health Services, the pressures tend to work in the other direction: i.e. it is to the government's advantage to minimize the number of vaccinations, as it costs the government money. Nonetheless, with rare exceptions (e.g. we don't yet have the chickenpox vaccination), the same vaccinations are given in the UK as in the USA.

[earth mom]

116. Yes, there are many scientists researchers and doctors-read post 115. nt

[LeftishBrit]

114. Neither Kennedy nor Burton is a professional in the field of autism

Kennedy is an environmental lawyer, so he may have consulted experts in the field, but he isn't one
himself. Burton is a congressman, and not one whom I would ever have expected to be favourably mentioned on DU!

Most researchers on autism as such, e.g. Uta Frith and Simon Baron-Cohen in the UK, do not consider vaccines to be the cause.

[earth mom]

115. There are plenty of scientists, researchers & doctors who believe the vaccine connection to Autism.

But they are dissed up one side and down the other by the powerful and monied pharmaceutical companies.
___________________
Autism - Cut The Crap

Evelyn Pringle

In their public statements, officials within the FDA and CDC, are always claiming that researchers and scientists who conduct studies, not funded by drug companies or the government, are making unfounded claims about a link between thimerosal-laced vaccines and autism, and other neurological disorders, which they claim could lead to reduced vaccine coverage, resulting in preventable outbreaks of disease affecting the entire planet.

I say cut the crap.

Think about it. Why would so many highly respected scientists, researchers and physicians go to such great lengths to concoct bogus studies and issue false reports, in essence putting their professional reputations on the line, if their was no connection? I want these officials to do two things. First I want them to give me one good reason why these professionals would make this up, and two, I want them to give me one logical alternative theory for the current epidemic of disorders.

Lets look at a few of these experts.

Dr. Jeffrey Bradstreet, is a practicing physician who treats children with autism and other brain-damage disorders. While in the Air Force, he was trained in toxicology and environmental health. His duties as an Officer included the responsibility for military personnel who had exposure to a wide variety of toxins, including mercury. Dr. Bradstreet has evaluated well over 2000 children with neurological disorders. He also directs a school for children with neurodevelopmental disorders where his responsibilities include supervising occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, and applied behavioral analysts. Dr. Bradstreet is a Harvard Certified Medical Education Instructor in autism and has written three peer reviewed papers regarding the relationship between thimerosal, developmental disorders and biological markers for Mercury-Susceptibility.

In addition, he has conducted research regarding these disorders and has worked with some of the most highly respected professionals in the country, including Dr Jane El-Dahr of the Tulane University Medical Center; Dr V.K. Singh of the Utah State University Biotechnology Center; the University of Michigan Department of Pharmacology; Dr Vas Aposhian of the University of Arizona; Dr Anne Connolly of the Washington University Hospital; Dr Walter Spitzer of McGill University; the Department of Pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Dr. Jim Adams of the University of Arizona; and Dr. Jill James, a former FDA researcher, now with the University of Arkansas, Department of Pediatrics.

<snip>

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0507/S00386.htm
http://www.sierratimes.com/05/07/29/24_164_252_187_13884.htm

[Killarney]

117. Why does autism strike FOUR TIMES as many boys than girls?

It's not like more boys get vaccinnated than girls. Or boys watch more tv than girls. Or boys eat more fish than girls.

But autistic boys outnumber autistic girls, 4 to 1.

That means something. I don't know what. But the key to the cause and/or trigger is in that statistic if someone can figure why.