AGE OF AUTISM

An extra dose of worry, please

Kids with autism have medical issues
that make every day a question mark

by Nancy Hokkanen

Bloomington, Minnesota

As I write this, my 9-year-old son is boarding a bus for a school field trip. His class is going to see wolves at a wildlife science center in the far suburbs. He has mercury-induced autism. He is excited. I’m a wreck.

Maybe the FOX Can Guard the Fowl(er)?

By Kim Stagliano

Kudos to Fox 6 San Diego for their, dare we say it, "Fair and Balanced" treatment of the Generation Rescue vaccinated versus unvaccinated study. 

We might have to ask our friends at "A-B-C" (the affiliate in Washington DC) to go back to school, however, for their one sided approach to the same information.  You can check it out here.  Kathy Fowler, medical reporter says, "If parents are concerned they can request Thimerosal free flu shots this fall."  How about, "If parents aren't concerned, they should have their heads examined?"

Kathy seems to be unaware that few pediatric offices and retail flu shot clinics have the Thimerosal free version of the flu vaccine available.

You have Symptoms, but not a Disease! Got It? – Day Nine of the Autism Omnibus Trial

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

I often try to put myself in the shoes of an average person who doesn’t have an autistic child and figure out what he might think of this controversy.

I picture this average person having a healthy respect for medical professionals, but if they can’t find the answer to a serious problem he’ll probably treat them like a mechanic who can’t find the solution to a troublesome car, and simply take his car to another shop.

The expert witnesses for the defense today reminded me of mechanics who can’t find the answer to a serious problem, specifically a young girl who probably would have died of malnutrition and dehydration if she hadn’t been hospitalized for eighteen days.

America, Meet Our Unvaccinated Kids

By J.B. Handley

For the first time ever, we know something about them that may help our kids.

Yup, they live right down the street from you, they are 5.6% of the population, and they have less asthma, less ADHD, and less autism than our kids seem to have. At least according to our survey.

Do we expect you to believe us? Not really. Not if you’re a member of the mainstream media or the mainstream medical establishment. But, we really hope you will look at our data. Because today, unlike the CDC, we are making all of our data public simultaneously with the release of our survey. Crunch away, and decide for yourself.

New Science vs. Old Science – Day Eight of the Autism Omnibus Trial

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

When I was young, I learned that dinosaurs became extinct because they were slow, stupid, and just plain out-competed by the warm-blooded mammals.

Then some scientists at UC Berkeley found evidence that a meteor the size of Mt. Everest blew a crater roughly the size of Ireland in the ocean off the Yucatan Peninsula, effectively killing off any animal over 150 pounds. 


That’s why today we have mammals, birds (small dinosaurs?), and reptiles, but no large dinosaurs chasing people down the street.

The truth of what happened to the dinosaurs never changed.  They were still just as dead from that meteor as they’d been before.  What changed was our understanding of those events. This trial may be at a similar turning point.

Foul Play

By J. B. Handley

Are you a Jason Giambi fan? I am. The guy is known in the majors for being one of the most genuinely nice guys to ever call a dugout home. His sweet swing, hard work, and clutch play made him a local favorite during his years with the A’s, and I loved rooting for the guy.

Like many of his peers, he seemed to be more buff than the Hulk, and the comparison between him at his peak of swatting homers and his Olympic Team baseball card photo was a bit like comparing Arnold to Pee Wee Herman. So maybe the A’s had a great weight room? 

Unlike his peers, Giambi recently admitted that he used steroids to enhance his strength and performance. So Giambi is also a cheater, just like several dozens of his peers, who were no doubt doing exactly what he was doing to produce the 1990s “homerun era” of baseball.

Cracking The Code: AS and NYT

Yesterday Autism Speaks ran a full page ad in the New York Times. If you saw the ad in your city's newspaper please tell us in the comments section.

The advertisement speaks simply of "Learn the signs of autism." It's an awareness campaign. And a good one. It puts forth no political agenda, no opinions on the controversy of autism, vaccines, environment, genes or court cases. It's an eye catching, well executed ad.  Autism Speaks is run by professionals from top to bottom. This is not a kitchen table/shoe string organization.

However, it did run across the gutter (No, really, that's what the center part of the newspaper is called.) from an editorial about the vaccine court in progress (see daily posts below from Kent Heckenlively) that concludes with this stunning statement: "Those who shun a vaccine are at far greater risk than those who take it."  Really?  Says who? The vaccine manufacturers? The parents of the infants who died from the Rotavirus vaccine of the early 1990's? 

That's a pretty powerful blanket statement from The Times editorial staff.  And the use of the word "shun" implies an emotional cutting off based in hysteria, not the thoughtful, agonized decision that most parents who eschew some or all vaccines make.

The Autism Speaks ad ran right next to this editorial. Coincidence? Veiled message?  Code? You tell us.  Here's the full body copy from the editorial.

"A federal vaccine court in Washington is confronting the contentious and highly emotional issue of whether early childhood vaccinations might have caused autism in thousands of children. Virtually every major scientific study and organization that has weighed in on the issue has seen no link. But many parents of afflicted children remain unconvinced. Their lawyers will try to prove that some 4,800 children were harmed by the mass vaccination campaigns that protect the nation’s youngsters from potentially devastating childhood illnesses.

There seems little doubt that the child at the center of the first of the cases — Michelle Cedillo of Yuma, Ariz. — has classic symptoms of autism: impaired social interaction, limited ability to communicate, and unusual repetitive behavior. Her mother says she developed a high fever a week after she received the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella at the age of 15 months and soon after could not speak and was unresponsive.

Her lawyers theorize that two vaccine factors were likely responsible. This shot and others that she had received contained a mercury preservative that they argue suppressed her immune system, thus allowing the measles virus used in the vaccine to cause neurological damage. Other plaintiffs are contending that the preservative alone, the measles vaccine alone or something else in the vaccines caused their children’s autism.

What confuses the issue is that infants are routinely vaccinated at the age when autism first emerges, and understandably distraught parents, searching for a cause, often latch onto vaccination as the likely culprit. But in Michelle’s case, experts testifying for the Department of Health and Human Services said that home videos and professional records showed early symptoms of autism starting well before she received the measles vaccine."

In 2004, the prestigious Institute of Medicine concluded that neither the preservative, known as thimerosal, nor the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was associated with autism and that various hypotheses about how they could trigger autism lacked supporting evidence. Even after thimerosal was phased out of pediatric vaccines, autism rates did not fall.

The vaccine court will be addressing the narrow issue of whether these families deserve compensation from a national vaccine injury fund. But the proceedings will inevitably affect all parents’ attitudes toward the measles vaccine and toward pediatric vaccinations in general.

We can only hope that, however the verdicts go, parents will remain eager to get their children vaccinated. Even the plaintiffs’ lead attorney acknowledged that mass immunization programs are “a great public benefit” that have prevented tens of thousands of deaths and serious injuries. Those who shun a vaccine are at far greater risk than those who take it.

The Rorschach Family Home Videos – Day Seven of the Autism Omnibus Trial

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

There’s a joke about a man in a psychiatrist’s office who’s taking the Rorschach ink-blot test.  The ink-blots are abstract and what the patient sees in them is supposed to reveal something of his mental state.

In each picture the man claims to see different scantily-clad women.

“I know what your problem is!” the psychiatrist declares.  “You’re obsessed with sex!”

“But doc,” the patient protests, “you’re the one showing me all the dirty pictures!”

In reviewing this day’s testimony all I could think of was the Rorschach ink-blot test.  What people see in the videos of Michelle Cedillo reveals what they believe is at the heart of autism.

DIRECT EXAMINATION OF DR. MAX WIZNITZER BY MR. VORIS JOHNSON, JR. – ATTORNEY FOR THE GOVERNMENT (RESPONDENTS)

Dr. Wiznitzer is board certified in pediatrics, pediatric neurology, and in neuro-developmental disabilities.  He received his M.D. from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, and had a fellowship studying disorders of language and autism.  He’s an associate professor of Pediatrics, Neurology, and International Health at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and is also a staff child neurologist at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.

There was some controversy at the beginning of the hearing about whether they would actually review the video-tapes in court or simply refer to the time and frame of the recording.  Apparently, there was some concern over whether the showing of the tapes was distressing to the Cedillo family.  Plaintiff’s counsel said there was no problem showing the videos in court and adjustments were made to have the tapes reviewed in the courtroom.

Plaintiff’s counsel was concerned that the testimony of Dr. Wiznitzer on early signs of autism in the videos was duplicative of the previous day’s testimony.  It was, but the special masters allowed it.  His testimony highlighted areas of concern that had been discussed the previous day, such as whether she really had language, although she was clearly using words, her social interactions with people, and whether she was turning towards people when they called her name.

CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DR.. WIZNITZER BY MR. THOMAS POWERS – ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFFS (PETITIONERS)

This cross-examination revolved again over the question of whether Michelle’s pediatrician had picked up any signs of delayed development before her MMR shot.  No concerns had been documented in her records.

Dr. Wiznitzer was also cross-examined on whether he was an immunologist and able to determine signs of a compromised immune system.  He has to rely on the opinion of others.  There was also some questioning of his previous participation in vaccine cases on the side of the pharmaceutical companies and how much he received for that work.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE DAY’S TESTIMONY

We see what we believe is there to be seen. 

It’s said that when Indians in the New World glimpsed the first European sailing ships they could not imagine they were the creations of men.  Years later when experts in a courtroom view videos of a child they think they see the early signs of autism, and therefore the MMR shots couldn’t have had anything to do with it.  But what about the 12.5 micrograms of Thimerosal the child received on the very first day of life from the Hepatitis B shot?  Could that have started the autistic cascade which finally became an avalanche after the MMR shot?  The pediatrician who oversaw Michelle’s care didn’t notice any problems before the MMR shot.  Was he right or wrong?

I thought I’d wait until the end of this trial to talk about what I believe and how I see the world, but I think this is a good time to share that information.

My daughter Jacqueline went off breast-milk shortly before Thanksgiving of 1998 and went on a cow’s milk based formula.  She was six months old and a happy and contented child.  In early December she got her six-month vaccinations and within a few weeks she seemed different.  She started having head-bobs, which were later diagnosed as infantile seizures.  We followed the standard medical practices of medication which controlled her seizures, but her development lagged far behind.  When she was three years old she was diagnosed as being severely autistic.

Our son Ben was born in 2000 and because we had figured out our daughter had a milk allergy, he was kept on a hypo-allergenic milk-free formula until approximately 15 months.  We called him Busy Ben because he was so active.  The idea that a vaccination might be the reason for our daughter’s problems had never entered our minds until Ben had his 18 month vaccination.

Within a few days Ben went mute.  He started pounding his head on the floor.  When I took him to the playground near our apartment he’d stop every five minutes or so and mutely point to the distant horizon.  If I squinted I could see the tiny image of a passenger plane taking off from the Oakland Airport.  An audiologist later explained to me that the first noise of a jet aircraft which reaches us is at a range that humans can’t hear.  Ben could hear them.

By chance I picked up the book Solving the Mystery of Autism and PDD by Karyn Serousi which advocated a wheat and milk free diet for these kids.  Ben went on that diet within five days after he went mute.

I don’t remember the first word my son spoke, but I will never forget the moment he started his road back to us.  He had been mute for twelve days and my wife Linda and I had taken him to a local shopping mall.  There was a small fountain in front of the Nordstrom’s department store.  Water gushed out of the mouth of a stone lion and into the pool.  Ben became fascinated with the stream of water and Linda and I waited for him.

He peered into that pool for what seemed like hours, then said, “Bubbles!”  He said it again and again, as if he had finally remembered the words to his favorite song.  My wife has been a speech therapist for the past eighteen-years and is thus a highly trained observer.  She claims it took Ben about a year to catch up to his peers in language, and about two years for all of his sensory problems to resolve so he could do something as simple as sit in a movie theater without needing to run to the nearest exit.

Ben just finished first grade, is in the top of his class both academically and socially, and has made more outs this season on his tee-ball team than any other player.  In addition, he’s halfway to getting his black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do.

Jacqueline still has seizures and is in a home program.  However, we’ve done extensive bio-medical treatments for her and they’ve brought her farther than we ever imagined.  Her eye-contact is great, she tries to speak appropriately although it’s very unintelligible, and she gives me more smiles in a day than any dad has the right to expect from a child.

I have one kid back, and I’m trying like hell to get the other one.

That’s how I see the world.

Kent Heckenlively has worked as an attorney, television producer and is now a beloved science teacher.

Asking the Right Questions – Day Six of the Autism Omnibus Trial

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

Defense counsel began their case today and I expected fireworks.  The question is whether after all the sound and fury they did much for their case.  Based on the questions by the one of the Special Master at the end, I believe they may have done very little.

RESERVED OPENING STATEMENT BY MR. MATANOSKI – ATTORNEY FOR GOVERNMENT (PETITIONERS)

Matanoski opened respondent’s testimony by telling the court that over the weekend he considered making a motion for judgment as the record stands.   He did not even think he needed to put on a defense.  He claimed that the plaintiffs had not put on a case that even under the most generous interpretation should get a favorable ruling.  It was a bold move, but one I believe that risks alienating the Special Masters even before their case had begun.  What if any of the Special Masters thought the plaintiffs had put on a compelling case?  Or even if the evidence is less than robust, the mere fact that such terrible injuries have been suffered by so many children, that they deserve their day in court?  Defense is now in effect calling any of the Special Masters who might think there is something to these questions, an idiot.

Defense counsel claimed the evidence of petitioners was not scientifically reliable, but he would present a case because serious accusations had been leveled against the MMR shot, diseases which according to him cause more than 450,000 deaths a year worldwide.  He painted Dr. Andrew Wakefield as the man at the center of this controversy, alleging the filed patent for his own mono-valent measles vaccine in 1997 gave him the incentive to falsify data and create a worldwide panic so people would rush to use his vaccine.

The experts for plaintiff were reviewed, and Matanoski explained why his experts on these issues were much more reliable.

DIRECT EXAMINATION OF DR. ERIC FOMBONNE BY MS. RICCIARDELLA – ATTORNEY FOR GOVERNMENT (RESPONDENTS)

Dr. Fombonne is a professor of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  He is head of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at McGill as well as head of the Autism Spectrum Program at Montreal Children’s Hospital.  He went to medical school at the University of Paris and also has a master’s degree in Biostatic Methods in Human Physiology.  He did his residency in psychiatry at the University of Paris and is a certified specialist in child psychiatry.

Dr. Fombonne is also organizer and teacher of a summer school program at the Autism Research Training Program, which is partially funded by the group, Autism Speaks.  He regularly diagnoses autistic children, and claims to have diagnosed perhaps 2,000 children.  He has 34 book chapters in various textbooks pertaining to childhood psychiatric and developmental disorders and has served on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Child Psychology nd Psychiatry.  He was the associate editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and was the advisor to the Chief Medical Officer in the United Kingdom concerning the MMR and autism controversy.

After all this build-up I was shocked by the apparent laziness and outright misrepresentation of the petitioner’s claim of the first question asked of Dr. Fombonne.  It reads, “Doctor, did Michelle’s receipt of thimerosal-containing vaccine in the MMR vaccine cause or contribute to her autism?”  Maybe it was a court reporter’s mistake.  However, it’s in the record and I’ll treat it as accurate.  Here’s why it’s important.

THERE IS NO THIMEROSAL IN THE MMR VACCINE!

Defense counsel knows this the Special Masters have said this case must answer three very specific questions.  1.  Does Thimerosal (mercury) affect the immune system?  2.  Is there a connection between the measles vaccine and autism?  3.  Is there a connection between Thimerosal, the measles vaccine, and autism?  Petitioner’s case is built upon the theory that thimerosal used in other vaccines lowered the immune system of genetically-at-risk children who were unable to flush the mercury from their systems.  Then, the MMR shot, which is a live-virus vaccine (thus no need for Thimerosal because that would kill the virus) gets injected into these kids and they develop chronic viral infections, which cause

their autism.

It’s one thing to disagree with the premise of an opponent’s argument.  It’s another to misrepresent it and an attorney does so at his peril.  These things get picked up on by judges.

Fombonne then ran through a description of autism although he kept stating that it was a scientist named Tanner who first identified the disorder in the United States, when his actual name was Kanner!  (Again, maybe this was the mistake of the court reporter!)  On explaining his theory that autism has always been with us, he described the work of Uta Frith who claimed a certain twelfth-century monk “certainly had autism”, as well as a certain Scottish scholar, and a feral child discovered living in the woods in medieval Europe.

Fombonne’s testimony regarding general principles in recognizing autism was strong, although he claimed that even when all possible genetic factors are taken into account, 90% of all autism is “idiopathic”, meaning that doctors cannot find a reason.  He cited certain brain abnormalities, such as the loss of Pukinje cells, or larger amounts of white matter in the brain, but could draw no definitive conclusions.

Among possible causes of autism, he noted that there were increased numbers of autistic children among the children exposed to the drug thalidomide. Thalidomide was used for morning sickness in the 1960’s, but after wide usage was found to cause limb deformities in children.  I actually knew two children who had thalidomide deformities when I was growing up.

Another possible cause was viral exposure as there was a high number of autistic children who were born to the mothers who contracted rubella during a large outbreak in 1963 and 1964.

A man-made chemical contributing to autism?  Viral exposure contributing to autism?  I thought we were in plaintiff’s case for a moment.  I hoped the attorneys for the petitioners picked up on these statements.

Fombonne was quite effective when he reviewed Michelle’s video-tapes and pointed out what he claimed were early signs of autism.  First, he noted she was a content, non-demanding child who had a late social smile.  Second, there was evidence of motor delay.  She didn’t crawl until nine months, sit until eleven months, and wasn’t independently walking at fifteen months.  He also claimed her records showed early evidence of macrocephaly (abnormal head size).  There were some comments about how she was fixated on the Sesame Street show in an abnormal way in a video of her taken at eight months.

I thought this was the strongest testimony presented by the defense.

In the final questions, Dr. Fombonne testified he did not believe that autistic children suffered from bowel troubles any more than normal children, and if they did, it was not related to their autism.

CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DR. FOMBONNE BY MS. CHIN-CAPLAN – ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFFS (PETITIONERS)

Ms. Chin-Caplan began by pointing out that in his sixty-two page report on Michelle Cedillo, he only started discussing Michelle specifically on page fifty-two.

Plaintiff’s counsel then asked whether Fombonne had correlated Michelle’s head size with body weight and length.  Michelle’s head size was at the 95th percentile, but so was her weight.  Her length was a lower percentage.  Fombonne replied that length was a better comparison than weight, so there was still a discrepancy.  However, defense’s other expert witness on this matter, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman (not testifying, but his report is on record in this case), claimed he did not have an opinion as to whether head size was better correlated with weight or length.

When questioned, Dr. Fombonne did not express an opinion as to whether the measles virus is a strong immunosuppressant.  He also had no opinion on the question of fever and immunosuppression.

Fombonne was questioned as to an article he’d written saying that pediatricians were pretty accurate in picking out developmental problems with their patients.  This was contrasted with the lack of any concerns expressed by Michelle’s pediatrician prior to her MMR vaccination.

Plaintiff’s counsel directed Fombonne’s attention to a well-known article identifying the early indicators of autism in children and noted that far from being quiet, contented children, their behavior was marked by irritability, distress, and disregulation.  Fombonne admitted that there was wide variation.  According to the cross-examination, very few of

Michelle’s behaviors matched those in the article.

Fombonne was then directed to his own article in which he stated there was no good epidemiological evidence to support or refute Wakefield’s suggestion of a link between bowel disorders and autism.  Fombonne also talked about how Wakefield had earlier been investigating a link between the MMR vaccine and increased rates of Crohn’s disease in the general population.

While Fombonne does not believe in a link between bowel disorders and autism, it was pointed out to him that Autism Speaks, one of the main financial backers of his summer “Autism Research Training Program”, has had various forums of the gastro-intestinal problems of autistic children and has even put forth a protocol for examining these problems.

DIRECT EXAMINATION OF DR. EDWIN COOK BY MS. TRACI  PATTON – ATTORNEY FOR GOVERNMENT (RESPONDENTS)

Dr. Cook received his bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University and got his M.D. at the University of Texas-Medical Branch of Galveston.  He was chief resident at the University of Chicago and has fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry.  He’s the holder of a pharmacogenic patent, which has the distinction of being the first time a drug treatment is linked to a specific gene that is disordered.

He has diagnosed and treated autistic patients since 1984.  He spends two days a week in a clinical setting working with autistics.  He researches the genetics of autism and has a brother who has a condition which is similar to autism.  He’s the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed articles of which about 30 deal with the genetics of autism. 

Dr. Cook wasted no time in stating his belief that it’s less possible for individuals to be genetically predisposed to react to Thimerosal and/or the MMR vaccine in a way to trigger autism “than for the earth to be the center of the solar system.”  He may not have helped his credibility when he stated he didn’t even know how you would “test the possibility.”  I wonder how far Galileo would’ve gotten if he hadn’t known how to test his theories.

Dr. Cook seemed to be on stronger ground when he discussed studies of identical and fraternal twins and the rate of autism, showing a strong genetic link and how other neurological conditions don’t appear immediately, but only after the passage of some time.

CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DR. COOK BY MS. CHIN-CAPLAN – ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF (PETITIONERS)

Ms. Chin-Caplan started the cross-examination by detailing how work on the genetics of autism.  In what may have seemed comical, she went through all of the various genes Cook has researched for a connection to autism, with all of them having given only a slight or no correlation to autism. 

Cook responded that there are over 20,000 genes and it’s difficult to find the one which may be responsible for autism, but scientists like him would keep on looking.

Plaintiff’s attorney asked if in his opinion there can be post-delivery insults which cause autism, and he said he was aware of cases in Tanzania in which malaria contributed to autism.

Chin-Caplan asked if in a hypothetical fact pattern that a court might award compensation when somebody has had an MMR vaccination, suffers a seizure which leads to encephalopathy, then develops autism.  Cook thought that this hypothesis was an impossible fact pattern, but Chin-Caplan then asked if his opinion would change if he knew that this Vaccine Court had previously awarded compensation on those exact facts.  He did not seem to give an answer.

Plaintiff’s counsel then asked if he was aware that the Institute of Medicine held a meeting in April of 2007 on “Autism and the Environment” which looked at environmental triggers.  He didn’t attend the conference, although he’d heard about it.

SPECIAL MASTER VOWELL HAS QUESTIONS FOR DR. COOK

Maybe the best way to figure out how a case is going is to listen to the questions which get asked by a judge.  Special Master Vowell had two questions at the end of Dr. Cook’s testimony which indicated to me that she grasps what the essential questions are of this trial.

Her first question was, can environmental triggers affect gene expression?  The question was beautiful in its simplicity.  We all know examples of the guy who lives to a hundred even though he smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, while an occasional smoker for a few years gets lung cancer.  We all know that smoking is harmful, but the truth is it will be more harmful to some than to others. 

Why should mercury injected into babies be thought of as any different than cigarette smoke being blown into their faces? 

To his credit, Dr. Cook said, yes, environmental triggers can affect gene expression.

Vowell then asked his opinion of the article by Dr. Martha Herbert of Harvard Uiversity entitled “Autism: A Brain Disorder or a Disorder that Affects the Brain?”  (This is probably the best article by a leading researcher attempting to pull together the various strands of evidence from multiple sources that something has gone wrong in the immune system of autistic children.)  Cook responded that he was aware of the article and thought it was good to consider all the possibilities.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE DAY’S TESTIMONY

I was prepared to feel deflated after the first day of the defense’s presentation, but I’m cautiously optimistic.

I didn’t hear a lot of science which refuted the claims of the petitioners.  In fact, they even admitted that chemical and viral exposures are correlated to autism.   It seems as if they’re holding onto the life-raft of a genetic explanation, but even they admit it doesn’t completely keep their theory afloat.

Defense takes the approach that it needs to compare the claims of the parents of autistic children to those who believe the earth is the center of the universe.  I think that’s overkill and will only damage their credibility.  Everybody acknowledges that these children are seriously impaired.  It doesn’t present a good impression to get angry at parents who want answers. 

Ask questions that show you understand the other side’s case.  If you have science, show it.  If you don’t, the Special Masters will ask the good questions you didn’t.

If you don’t ask the right questions it will seem like you don’t want to know the answer.

Kent Heckenlively has worked as an attorney, a television producer and is now a beloved science teacher.

One Mother's Experience with Autism and Vaccines

By Ellen Cotton

I’m an ordinary mom of a very special kid.  Finding out that, in my ignorance, I had allowed my special child to be injured by vaccines, was a shock that I will never forget.

It took several years and a lot of independent research for me to figure out what happened to my child.  My husband and I adopted him in 1993 when he was just 4 days old.  He was very healthy and had a perfect score on the Apgar tests.  We were thrilled to have him in our lives and he exceeded all our hopes and dreams - he was beautiful, healthy, bright and cheerful.  The only problems we had were problems that were common to many parents.  Our baby was colicky and didn’t settle down until he was finally taken off milk-based formula at age 3 months.  After that he was a very happy baby.  He met all the usual milestones – sat up at 4 months, crawled at 6 months, walked at 12 months, and started saying multiple words at 9 months.  He was strong, friendly, responsive to people and things – a happy chatter box.

Because I had a full-time job, we hired a nanny from age 6 months until he was 2 and a half.  Then we put him in a wonderful daycare next door to my office.  He loved being with the other children and socialized well.  One staff person asked me if my son was able to read, because she had observed him picking up books and saying the titles without any prompting.  I had also noticed that he seemed to be able to repeat things read to him – even an entire children’s book! When he was 3, another staff person mentioned that he was having difficulty learning to ride a tricycle.  No other problems were ever reported.

But, shortly after he entered the daycare, he started having chronic ear infections.  Every two weeks he’d have another one.  The doctor gave him antibiotics and eventually they didn’t work anymore.  Fortunately, he stopped having the chronic ear infections at age 4 when we moved from Toronto, Canada to California.

After we moved, it was a difficult and confusing time for all of us.  I took my son for check-ups and he received several vaccines shortly after we arrived in California.  I put him in pre-school and there were some behavioural problems.  But I attributed them to the move and upheaval at home.  The preschool did some evaluations for kindergarten and I have a written report that shows my son having met all the milestones for school - including being able to write his name and a few other words, counting to 100, cutting, pasting, drawing…

Then, I took him for his required vaccines for entering public school.  He was almost 5 years old.  Because the vaccine schedule for Canada was slightly different than what was required for California, the doctor said he needed 7 vaccines – all of which were given to him in one session!  It was traumatic for my son and he was very sick with a high fever for several days, but the doctor said that was normal.  I didn’t think any more about it until several years later.

His kindergarten class was a bit unique.  They were implementing a special pilot programme for teaching reading and writing based on the needs of children with dyslexia.  I volunteered to help in the classroom when they were doing the programme.  After several months, it became obvious that my son could no longer write, use scissors or draw.  He was also having some difficulty with reading.  This seemed strange to me, because he could do all these things in preschool.  The teacher seemed a bit concerned about his fine motor coordination and said I should keep an eye on it.  We also noticed that he was having difficulty with gross motor skills as well.  He would no longer climb on the playground equipment and seemed afraid to try things that he used to love.  And despite my constant efforts, he still could not ride a tricycle.  There were also a lot of tantrums and upsets, but again I thought that was because of the adjustment to school.

I’ll skip all the horrors of elementary school.  To make a long story short, my son was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia and learning disabilities, then A.D.D., then finally Asperger’s Disorder along with Developmental Coordination Disorder and anxiety.   I kept doing research online and reading books about autism and learning disabilities.  Then I came across Karyn Seroussi’s book, Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and PDD.  At one point in the book she talked about her family history of reactions to vaccines.  My heart almost stopped as I suddenly recalled that my son’s birth mother had written a short note on the adoption papers that stated she had had a bad reaction to a vaccine. 

Suddenly, it all started to fit together.  I finally realized that my son’s serious problems started after that final onslaught of 7 vaccines.  He had all the symptoms of mercury poisoning – neurological damage, learning disabilities, irritability, nervousness, fits of anger, memory loss, attention problems, depression (yes, he had bouts of depression even at age 6!), low self confidence, anxiety, low self control,  foul breath, abdominal cramps, gastrointestinal problems, fine tremors, muscle weakness, fatigue, joint pain, sensory sensitivities, and coordination problems. 

When he was 10, I had my son tested for toxic metals.  His mercury levels were near the top of the “extremely elevated” range.  He also had elevated levels of lead.  We put him on supplements and the GF/CF diet, which seemed to noticeably calm him down.  Then after a few months we started a very carefully controlled series of chelation with DMSA supported with nutritional supplements and diet.  We continued this regimen for almost 3 years.   

My son is now 14 years old.  There have been significant and major improvements in his moods, attention, anxiety, self-control, gastrointestinal health, muscle strength, energy and coordination.  Some were gradual, some very quick and dramatic.  What didn’t change were his learning disabilities and some mild degree of autistic tendencies.  Had I realized the problem when he was younger, we might have seen a greater improvement in these areas.

I do believe that autism is a complex disorder and that vaccine injury alone can not be given full blame.  More likely it is certain genetic predispositions, triggered by a barrage of environmental insults – too many vaccines containing Thimerosal (all of them in my son’s case), given at too early an age, toxins in our environment, toxins in the food we eat, too many antibiotics.  They all add up and take their toll on the brains and bodies of our developing children.  But there is no doubt in my mind that vaccines were a major factor in my child’s sudden descent into neurological hell.  I am deeply grateful to all the “rescue angels” out there who helped me get my son back on the path to health.

Ellen Cotton lives in California and is a Generation Rescue "Rescue Angel" who helps other parents learn about treatments to help their children with autism heal.