Olmsted on Autism: Clueless in D.C.

By Dan Olmsted
 
The Washington Post, my local paper, recently redesigned itself from head to toe. I have to say I like it – it’s kind of Wall Street Journal-y, not surprising given that its relatively new editor used to be in charge there. But a redesign is not going to cure what ails the Post when it comes to covering what’s the matter with kids today.
 
Those deficiencies are on compact display in the new weekly insert that is part of the redesign. Called Local Living, it combines health, home, wellness and community news in an amalgam that, in its first edition, told me the following:

  -- Ethyl mercury is harmless to fetuses and infants. “The dose of mercury you get from a vaccine containing thimerosal is far below the limits of mercury exposure, but the fact that thimerosal has mercury in it causes many people to be concerned about getting injected with it. It is not associated with any adverse side effects at the doses present in influenza vaccines, but it is being eliminated from childhood vaccines due to public concerns.”

So says Andrew Pekosz, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University in answer to a question about concerns over the swine flu vaccine. I’m going to skip the usual rejoinder and let that statement twist in the wind.

 -- A few pages later, there’s a Q&A with the authors of a new book on baby care titled, “Is It a Big Problem or a Little Problem: When to Worry, When Not to Worry, and What to Do.” Here is the second question from the Post reporter: “Sensory processing issues seem to be so common now. Do most children grow out of them or should parents be more proactive about getting their kids therapy?”

Really? Sensory processing issues seem to be so common NOW? What the heck is that about? I don’t recall my friends having sensory processing issues. In fact, I don’t even know what that means, to tell you the truth. But it sounds like a Big Problem to me. The experts’ answer is reassuring, though: “A lot of people don’t really realize that we all have sensory sensitivities.”

Count me among the lot of people who don’t really realize that they have sensory sensitivities.

But the normalization of screwed-up children continues apace.

 -- Turn back one page and we learn that “Adults can have allergic reactions, too.” TOO? In other words, allergy is so common among children that we often forget that grownups even have allergies. Before going onto the woes of shellfish allergy among big people, the article nods to the fact that “children tend to be allergic to milk, eggs, soy and wheat in addition to peanuts and tree nuts.”

Let’s see … children are allergic to dairy, eggs, soy, wheat, legumes … in other words, just about everything but raw meat. What the heck? Does this have anything to do with the statistic that 12 percent of American children have asthma? Fun fact: The word “allergy” was first used to describe vaccine reactions.
 
Anyhoo, you get the picture. Cluelessness about the real state of America’s kids, and blindness to the dots that are just sitting there begging to be connected, are still epidemic in the redesigned Post. It’s going to take more than a change in fonts to fix that.
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism

Comments

[Kathy Schaus]

Dan,
This is Kathy Schaus..What are your qualification
Jeanne, you have been asking "what is the magic number?" In 1996 (I think) Kathy and Andy Schaus were asking what is the magic number for kids who were reacting severely to the DPT vaccine, for the FDA to pull a vaccine lot. They were asking the FDA bureaucrat as he was being shown the VAERS DATA on national TV...maybe NBC, Dateline, "is it 25, is it 10....what is the number?" How many kids have to die or become injured before the lot is pulled. Silence, Silence, Silence; there is no number high enough, period. The Schaus's as part of NVIC did all they could do to and nothing has changed except the denials from the CDC, FDA, and AAP, have become more manipulative, more massive, and there are more vaccinations.

In 1996 it was Kathy Schaus asking your question. Who will be asking the same question in the years to come?

We have entered a very, very black hole, that sucks truth, honesty, integrity, and humility, into a vacuum, never to be seen again. We get back denial, arrogance, hubris, greed, corruption. No Shame. It is the profound shame they are running from.

It quite clear, that the media are more than willing to be deaf, dumb, blind, deceitful and dishonest, picture Amy Wallace, to stay afloat.

[Kathy Schaus]

Dan,
This is Kathy Schaus..What are your qualification
Jeanne, you have been asking "what is the magic number?" In 1996 (I think) Kathy and Andy Schaus were asking what is the magic number for kids who were reacting severely to the DPT vaccine, for the FDA to pull a vaccine lot. They were asking the FDA bureaucrat as he was being shown the VAERS DATA on national TV...maybe NBC, Dateline, "is it 25, is it 10....what is the number?" How many kids have to die or become injured before the lot is pulled. Silence, Silence, Silence; there is no number high enough, period. The Schaus's as part of NVIC did all they could do to and nothing has changed except the denials from the CDC, FDA, and AAP, have become more manipulative, more massive, and there are more vaccinations.

In 1996 it was Kathy Schaus asking your question. Who will be asking the same question in the years to come?

We have entered a very, very black hole, that sucks truth, honesty, integrity, and humility, into a vacuum, never to be seen again. We get back denial, arrogance, hubris, greed, corruption. No Shame. It is the profound shame they are running from.

It quite clear, that the media are more than willing to be deaf, dumb, blind, deceitful and dishonest, picture Amy Wallace, to stay afloat.

[Paul Shapiro]

Picture This!

Over the past twenty or so years ago, the number of children struck within the autistic spectrum has increased from one in ten thousand to one in a hundred. That is, a one hundred to one change.

If things continue at the present rate, in twenty or so years, most children will be on the spectrum, so being on the spectrum will be the new normal.

Children that we consider normal today, will be the oddity. I guess at that time the tables will have turned, the FDA, CDC and society at large will searching for what causes these formally considered normal kids to act so odd. Huh!

Where did I go wrong? Please help me?

[Jim Thompson]

Regarding “So says Andrew Pekosz, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University”--there are 25 micrograms of mercury in each flu shot that uses Thimerosal as a preservative. And a half cup of water (4 ounces) with that much mercury has 0.2114 parts per million mercury and is considered a hazardous waste by the USEPA. See http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.cgi?TITLE=40&PART=261&SECTION=24&TYPE=TEXT .

[jen]

somebody needs to film what's going on in the schools. It's crazy! The new normal is not normal.
Remember the scene in Titanic, when Rose, after the Titanic has sunk, tries weakly to blow the whistle and she gets louder each time, and finally, a rescue boat hears her blow the whistle. I wish the rescue boat would hear us.

[Deutsche Demokratische Republik, 1985]

Thanks, Dan. We can now consider ourselves, at least organized-medicine-wise, to be living in some Eastern Block country regarding the blatant rewriting of history. Hey, but as long as the typeset is nice...

None of this stuff was common when I was a kid-- an epidemiological scan of past medical records and US Census data and a poll would easily establish this fact. The problem is, as you're pointing out, that any such findings would be Bowdlerized in the mainstream press.

[michael framson]

Jeanne, you have been asking "what is the magic number?" In 1996 (I think) Kathy and Andy Schaus were asking what is the magic number for kids who were reacting severely to the DPT vaccine, for the FDA to pull a vaccine lot. They were asking the FDA bureaucrat as he was being shown the VAERS DATA on national TV...maybe NBC, Dateline, "is it 25, is it 10....what is the number?" How many kids have to die or become injured before the lot is pulled. Silence, Silence, Silence; there is no number high enough, period. The Schaus's as part of NVIC did all they could do to and nothing has changed except the denials from the CDC, FDA, and AAP, have become more manipulative, more massive, and there are more vaccinations.

In 1996 it was Kathy Schaus asking your question. Who will be asking the same question in the years to come?

We have entered a very, very black hole, that sucks truth, honesty, integrity, and humility, into a vacuum, never to be seen again. We get back denial, arrogance, hubris, greed, corruption. No Shame. It is the profound shame they are running from.

It quite clear, that the media are more than willing to be deaf, dumb, blind, deceitful and dishonest, picture Amy Wallace, to stay afloat.

[Kathryn]

Me ADHD/dyslexia/autoimmune (note: a great deal of my issues probably date to when I played with the mercury from a broken thermometer for a LONG time - that year - I got shingles and had to do the grade twice - luckily, I learned to read after all). Husband (ADHD/Brilliant). His mother is the kicker though - she IS Lady Catherine. Sadly, I am no Elizabeth.

On that note: any other Austen/Autism fanatics out there? Have I got the book for you:
So Odd a Mixture
Along the Autistic Spectrum in 'Pride and Prejudice'
http://www.jkp.com/catalogue/book/9781843104995

The genes have truly always been there, but the difference is how sick we are now. Imagine one of our children managing an estate? Lady Catherine managed to do so despite her empathy, monologues without regard to her audience and her theory of mind issues.

Each generation sicker than the previous.

I remember my first DAN conference years ago - an old hat mom mentioned how terrified she was for our children's children. I get it now.

[Nora]

Can AOA draw something up that we can post on our FB page and ask for people to complain about the CDC not honoring the Freedom of Information Act and the information that they will not provide to CBS news regarding the H1N1 vaccine?

[Twyla]

Wow, I guess the "There's-always-been-this-much-autism-we-just-didn't-notice-it-as-much-before" line worked so well that now they are trying it out on allergies and asthma.

What happened to the Wash Post? Just last year (3/4/2008) they published the article "Immune Systems Increasingly On Attack". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/03/AR2008030303200.html

Some quotes:

"First, asthma cases shot up, along with hay fever and other common allergic reactions, such as eczema. Then, pediatricians started seeing more children with food allergies. Now, experts are increasingly convinced that a suspected jump in lupus, multiple sclerosis and other afflictions caused by misfiring immune systems is real.

"Though the data are stronger for some diseases than others, and part of the increase may reflect better diagnoses, experts estimate that many allergies and immune-system diseases have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in the last few decades, depending on the ailment and country. Some studies now indicate that more than half of the U.S. population has at least one allergy...

"Although hay fever, eczema, asthma and food allergies seem quite different, they are all 'allergic diseases' because they are caused by the immune system responding to substances that are ordinarily benign, such as pollen or peanuts. Autoimmune diseases also result from the body's defense mechanisms malfunctioning. But in these diseases, which include lupus, MS, Type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease, the immune system attacks parts of the body such as nerves, the pancreas or digestive tract.

"'Overall, there is very little doubt that we have seen significant increases,' said Syed Hasan Arshad of the David Hide Asthma and Allergy Centre in England, who focuses on food allergies. 'You can call it an epidemic. We're talking about millions of people and huge implications, both for health costs and quality of life. People miss work. Severe asthma can kill. Peanut allergies can kill. It does have huge implications all around. If it keeps increasing, where will it end?'"

True, Wash Post staff writer Rob Stein didn't acknowlege the elephant in the room -- dozens of vaccines at an early age -- as a possible cause. But at least he wasn't trying to deny the problem.

Quite a makeover!

[Cherry Sperlin Misra]

I was really taken aback when I discovered that my daughter, a young neonatologist, thought that cancer was pretty normal in children !!!! I thought about it and realised that if you are young and you work in a hospital and you see lots of kids with cancer there, you would naturally accept that as a part of life. It is truly horrifying. Dr. Stephanie Cave once remarked that we have forgotten what normal children are. I have now seen in my school kids who got no vaccines, or none with mercury. They are incredibly calm. We have got so used to hyperactive kids!

[Theresa O]

The "new normal" is actually a win for Big Pharma and the powers-that-be. I recall reading part of the transcripts of the Cedillo autism hearing, and either the special master or the plaintiff's attorney (they were so similar, it was hard to tell which was which) said that the huge number of ear infections that Michelle Cedillo had before age two wasn't abnormal at all. Of course it's not abnormal these days! but when I was a kid (I'm 31 now), I had one ear infection from swimmer's ear when I was ten years old, and my three siblings had none. Then again, we were only got 11 shots. How nice for the federal government that symptoms of autism aren't rare anymore--I guess they can't be caused by vaccines!

[Roger Kulp]

"A study I would like to see is if people with ADHD are more likely to have a child on the Spectrum than the average person. I don't think that study will ever happen. Could you imagine all those children, knowing their child is predisposed, and delaying vaccines? Nah, that study will never happen.

Posted by: AnaB"

Have you noticed how many adults with ADHD,Bipolar,BPD,or Asperger's not only have severely autistic children,but are also some of the loudest supporters of neurodiversity.?Other than Sarah Palin or Glen Beck,I can think of no better example of the neurological decline of humanity than the neurodiversity movement.Something has damaged these people's brains a lot worse than autism.People weren't talking this nutty until relatively recently,

Have you also noticed how easy it is to treat the autism itself, and still be very sick with immune or mitochondrial disease ?I used to think it was just me but I'm seeing more and more stories like this in my Yahoo! groups.It may be something way too new,even for friendly researchers like Wakefield to realize yet,let alone the IACC.It has got to be very significant.Now that we are this far along in the DAN!/biomed revolution,this may be one of the next things we need to address.

Listening to Les Baxter on a fifty year old audiophile system,and longing for a better time.

[Angela Warner]

Well said Dan. I always appreciate the tone of your columns.

I have been wanting to post on this all day, as it certainly does appear that we are moving to a "new" normal, and that is frightening and should be making us rally even more regarding causation and treatment.

I am friends with my own 5th grade teacher and have had many conversations with her over the years since the boys were diagnosed. She and my mom were best friends growing up, and she had a huge impact on me both personally and academically. She doesn't recall seeing any children with autism before the late 80's or early 90's. Gee... wasn't that the time of the explosion of autism, and also the beginning of the explosion of the vaccine schedule among other things environmentally?

I know vaccines caused problems for three of my four kids. They didn't for the 4th child... ummmm.... because she's not had a one.

You can change the cover of the history book, but that doesn't change the historical content. Pediatricians today (as Cynthia or Allison pointed out) have not seen a totally typical child. The majority of them are too young. I know in our case, our doc (a NP whom I adore), hasn't seen our youngest since she was about 4 months old (unless she's tagging along on another kids visit). I don't take her in. I don't have to. She is never sick. She is unvaccinated. Samantha is the historical normal, her older sister and brothers are the "new" normal. I guess maybe I should start taking Sam in for all those check-ups (minus the damn vaccines thank you), to every ped in town so they can see the historical normal?

I thank God that my kids are not allergic to meat...

Thanks again Dan. I honestly did laugh. I love your humor, and my laughter was at that and the blatent stupidity or ignorance, because sometimes one just has to laugh at it all. It's mind boggling sometimes...

[JenB]

Sorry, I really meant "epitaph," not epithet.

[JenB]

One of the first confounding factors for me in trying to decide if the vaccine connection to neurological damage in children was real was that I believed surely if there was any possibility of probable causation for the visibly increasing damage I was seeing, we would be hearing about it.

I naively wasted hours searching "mainstream" press headlines and archives, etc. to see what had been said about this, while at the same time reading what those who were actually researching the issue had to say.

What would really get to me (and still does) was seeing wording that implied this was a long-time running controversy that was really old news and it was mystifying (or slightly intellectually amusing) that it just wouldn't go away. This may be the most generally UNKNOWN long-running “controversy” (more like ongoing worldwide crime against humanity, particularly children) ever. Will mainstream media’s epithet read, “We tried to save you, especially your children, from your ignorance, with IGNORANCE?”

[Alison Davis]

"Really? Sensory processing issues seem to be so common NOW? What the heck is that about?"

-Laughed out loud when I read that! It reminded me of years ago when I took my son with autism to the regular ped. because I was worried about the crazy routine of tics he had suddenly developed. She said, "You know, tics are very common in children."

I looked at her aghast and said, "SINCE WHEN?! Since when are kids moving around like this and making these sounds regularly???!!!"

[Cynthia Cournoyer]

When it's 1 in 1, the argument is over. Nobody will "wake up" in the proverbial sense. The New Normal will have won out again. I say "again" because History Teaches. Most pediatricians haven't seen a "normal" child. They become speech delayed so often and burning diarrhea so often, that they can't say anything other than "it's normal." I truly believe that the vehement denial of all "anti" vaccine arguments is the first step to having everyone agree "it's normal." Then, why would you want to study normal? Why would you want bio medical intervention on a normal child? That's when waking up Alice just might be impossible.

[Benedetta]

Ana and Kathy;
Have you ever considered that these parents have an undignosed inflammation thing going on?

Maybe a much milder form than thier children, and that also came from vaccines?

Immunity is passed on from parent to child (that includes fathers too, I still have my immuno text book from college that explained the studies, but it is not as strong as the mother's). This passed on immunity is really strong in the beginning of the baby's life. So, more vaccines, more inflammation and more vasculititis!

My sister-in-law she had something not well going on- and all of her four boys have problems. You may talk about Hyper activity but it is no laughing matter when it comes to her second son. I feel so sorry for him, he use to have a tire swing and he spent hours rocking it back and forth almost Stimming. His mouth ran way ahead of his head and he was in trouble all the time. He is still pitiful. He is now 25 and he can not hold down a permanent job or a keep a girl friend, even if she is just as freaky as he is.

[nhokkanen]

Dan, thanks for your report. Although your use of the word "amalgam" gave me a reflexive flinch....

Jeanne, you're right -- but at 1:1 will people even recognize that they're affected if the damage becomes so normalized? People adapt fairly easily; Ubangi lip plates are/were de rigeur in that subculture.

Bill Maher mentioned his childhood allergies. In my 1960s family of 8, we got 2 vaccinations and the three youngest kids developed allergies -- the most severe were in the youngest child.

Readers Digest magazine used to have a medical series about everyman "Joe" -- "I Am Joe's Brain," "I Am Joe's Kidney." We need an update entitled "I Am Joe's Toxic Malfunctioning Immune System."

[Deb O.]

Years back, I moderated a parenting board on the defunct Child.com. We had some lively conversations on that board, some of which revolved around vaccines. Unfortunately, the "expert" on the Infant board was none other than our old pal Dr. PrOffit. You know, the one who doesn't see patients?
If you check out the vaccine information contained on the Parents.com (Child.com was swallowed whole by Meredith, Corp., you will see the potentially dangerous, one-sided information being offered.

[Jen]

"A shift in the public health paradigm could lead to a financial downturn, if not financial ruin, for the existing mainstream health industry. This really isn't just about autism, imo."

Precisely!

[Autism mom]

It seems as though the compass of what's considered to be "normal" as a standard of health has changed dramatically since the 1990s. That is indeed very scary.

How does one get the needle to point back to N again?

[Kathy Blanco]

Ana
I think your on to something... I have four brothers, all of them have something that appears to be to me, some kind of autism spectrum. One of my brothers had an anaphylaxis reaction to a single measles vaccine. All are getting along OK, but you can tell there is a shadow of autism in them. I am sure, that if they got the full load of mercury, vaccines, as well as our loaded MSG diets etc in todays schedule, I wold have FOUR brothers with autism. They did have some problems in school, at least most of them, however, as they grew, they had strengths in math, and science, and succeeded in college and careers etc. That's probably why they are engineers and what not. One brother, however, did have major problems, social problems, and resorted to the use of drugs and alcohol. He still depends on them to medicate him. I have two with autism and two who are not on the spectrum. The two that are not, one has ADHD so I guess that is a spectrum, and the other is HF NT and very very very smart. So, the whole spectrum may be from severe autism, to HF genius. All of them interestingly have poor immune quality.

I also feel that if a paremt has neurobiological problems, such as dyslexia and or ADHD, there chances of having autism in their children does go up, because obgviously, they share the same biochemistry, and or inability to detox, and or, they may even share an infection. We were in research for the complement C4B prpblem, and it's located on Chromosome 6. It is responsible for taggnigor lysing viruses and bacteria. Interestingly, that same are of the chromosome is around ADHD and dyslexia type of genes. So, the infectiosn such as SV-40, such as XMRV, such as Herpes 6, such as Lyme disease...which could conceivably be all caused by infection and toxins. Passing down those infections is key...and possibly explaining this epidemic...in that, infections or vaccines...may be triggering these viruses to wake up.

Right now, I think that we need research into infections in mothers and fathers and how those can conceivably be passed down to the next generation. I am working on such a project with the XMRV virus. If any are interested and have a CFS diagnosis and have children with autism, could you contact me? I would be able to get you a FREE test for XMRV and your children. This would result in some ideas such as antivirals, aimed at the virus. Email me private..

[AnaB]

I have Sensory Processing Disorder and am 39. It made normal aspects of childhood difficult for me (undiagnosed at the time ADHD as well). I have a son with Autism.

One time I was in an Autism parent meeting, about 20 parents there, and curiosity caused me to ask this question: How many of you have either you or your spouse with either ADHD or OCD and every hand went up, every one of them! I wonder if todays vaccine schedule is taking people who would have been like me otherwise and landing them further down the Spectrum?

A study I would like to see is if people with ADHD are more likely to have a child on the Spectrum than the average person. I don't think that study will ever happen. Could you imagine all those children, knowing their child is predisposed, and delaying vaccines? Nah, that study will never happen.

[The combined personalities of Doctors Snyd-Off-Ins]

Why is it that all you educated people won't shut up? You keep citing logic and reason when we tell you what to think, yet you won't stop Tweeting or updating your FB page! Don't you realize you're reaching out to people on a personal level and they no longer relate to me as their trusted doctor? UGH! I don't have to read the studies myself. I know what I'm talking about because my boss told me it's what I'm supposed to say. And NO! I won't let you talk to me. Or ride in an elevator with me. And I won't see you as a patient, either.

[Victor Pavlovic]

Well when we can't fight a war and do research like other countries due to our disabled children then maybe the President of that time will declare it a National Emergency.Unfortunately it will be to late for America, I am sure that we are in a lot of trouble, I just don't understand why the CIA is not picking up on this and ordering the Halting of Toxic vaccines that are destroying our ability to defend ourselves in the Very Near Future.

[Sue]

Everyone here needs to join as many listservs as possible for parents of asthmatic kids, parents of kids with sensory processing disorders, parents of kids with behavioral disorders, parents of kids with auditory integration problems, parents of kids doing vision therapy, and just plain parenting boards. When relevant, report any success you have had with biomed interventions for the gastrointestinal, speech, sensory, auditory, vision, tantrum, attention issues that are getting posted about all the time on ALL of these boards. All parents are interested in healing/helping their kids--most just have no idea what the ultimate problem most likely is, or that help--beyond behavior modification and/or drugs--is available.

I have learned the hard way that starting a conversation about possible vaccine dangers is not the way to break the ice or get others to listen--but letting people know how dietary changes, supplements, digestive enzymes, detoxing heavy metals, etc. have helped/changed specific behavior or health problems in your kids is information most parents will welcome, or at least consider. No need to advise anyone what to do, just state what you have done and how it helped. Suggest parents read other listservs (including especially good ones that deal with autism biomed) or selected books (Bock for example) for more information about available biomed methods and/or to find/learn about other parents who are successfully helping their kids.

I think this will open eyes. It could help more parents of all the unhealthy NT kids with ADD, asthma, allergies, digestive problems, etc. start down the path to discovering the true situation--as well as towards more widespread acceptance/awareness that autistic (and suffering NT) kids can indeed get better, and even recover, through biomed.

I think part of the problem is that most parents don't read autism listservs, or blogs, or books about autism, so they never realize all the similarities between the problems their kids have and those suffered by kids diagnosed with autism. It appears to me that many parents of kids diagnosed with autism soon realize that the biomed interventions that help their child with autism are also helpful for their NT siblings and even themselves.

I think one reason mainstream medicine is fighting back so hard against biomed is that the leaders of this industry realize that once people find health solutions for one medical problem somewhere besides mainstream medicine and pharmaceuticals, many (most) will start looking elsewhere for solutions to most or all of their health problems. A shift in the public health paradigm could lead to a financial downturn, if not financial ruin, for the existing mainstream health industry. This really isn't just about autism, imo.

Sue

[Robin Rowlands]

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Robin Rowlands

[Anonymous Special Ed Teacher]

I found out at our recent special ed meeting that the 8th graders coming to the high school who will need special ed services this next school year will be the largest group ever.....so far.

Most of these childen will be classified as OHI, or Other Health Impaired:

"Definition of OHI-
The federal and state definitions of OHI are essentially the
same. According to the federal regulations,
Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality
or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental
stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the
educational environment, that—(i) Is due to chronic or acute
health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart
condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis,
rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia; and (ii) Adversely affects
a child’s educational performance.3"

We in the trenches of the schools know OHI to be ADD and ADHD mostly but now asthma (which does not directly interfere with classwork like add/adhd) is now up to about 50% in the special ed classes. Not sure what it is in reg ed classes.

OHI is also a catchall area for tics,crohns, colitis,chronic fatigue syndrome,seizures, migraines,and the many allergies that are happening. I have many students with seasonal allergies,and chocolate, but huge increases in also egg, soy, latex, peanut, and metal allergies. We all know where they are coming from and it is alarming and enraging.

To many who have been in these trenches for 10-20 years, it is so disturbing watching more and more of them enter though the doors each year. It is horrendous that it is becoming the norm and that those who are trying to deny the increased neurological and immunological damage are saying that it has always been like this. It was not always like this and thank you, Dan and AoA for the reality checks.

[Tracy]

When the 1 in 91 figure came out, I also had a brief thought that it would take 1 in 1 to get the attention of the AAP. I even joked about it on my FB page.. going to your baby's well visit and the Doc saying "okay, by next visit we will discuss which dx. your child will receive - the milestone checklist says he is line for Autism, Asthma, ADHD, Peanut Allergy or Diabetes.."
Dr Nancy called us "crazy people" (but educated!) on her show yesterday.. and was so upset I thought she was going to have a heart attack right there in the middle of her report.
I guess the good news is, at least a discussion is taking place, whether via bad reporting or not, surely the uninformed perk up just a little ?

[Bob Moffitt]

Please read today's AOA...CBS News Sharyl Attkisson: Freedom of Information Stalled at CDC.

As I understand it...President Obama's commitment to a "new era of open government"... as evidenced by US Attorney General Eric Holder's new guidelines to "restore the public's ability to access information in a timely manner" .... has proven useless.

Make no mistake about it..public agencies routinely ignore FOIA requests from dedicated, serious, reporters like Sharyl Attkisson...because they know the vast majority of our FOURTH ESTATE (THE MAINSTREAM PRESS) ... are too lazy or indifferent to challenge them.

Needless to say...I am extremely disappointed the new FOIA guidelines have proven useless...like...putting lipstick on a pig.

[Allison]

Well all 3 of my kids are allergic to beef too, so I guess that leaves out the raw meat for us....LOL! Might have something to do with gelatin in vaccines...

It's astounding how much apologizing goes on with the use of Thimerosal. How did this become "all mecury harms.. stay away! Except when injected with it, then you are fine so stop your worrying"? The dichotomy is absurd.

I remember when journalists broke news from heated all sided investigations....Sadly this is gone except for the few like you and David. Thank you....

[Anne McElroy Dachel]

The press is the biggest reason why we ask no questions about what is happening to our children. We've simply adjusted to having so many sick and disabled children. In a few years no one will remember what it was like when kids weren't all having health problems.

Having a makeover doesn't change the philosophy of paper. Getting an expert in molecular microbiology and immunology to tell us that injecting children with mercury is nothing to worry about is proof. JUST ONCE---I'd like to see a paper find an independent TOXICOLOGIST willing to put their reputation on the line defending Hg vaccines. I'VE NEVER SEEN IT HAPPEN. Wonder why.
Anne Dachel
Media

[Carol Martin]

Thanks to propaganda from the Lead Industries, we used to think that lead wasn't all that bad for you. Heck, a little might even be good for you. And don't say otherwise or you'll be persecuted unmercifully for years.

[John Gilmore]

Well, Dan, it is deplorable. But the Washington Post and other outlets of the mainstream media are cutting their own throats. They print garbage on every topic. Usually, you can get that garbage for free.

Most newspapers have become nothing more than a collection of press releases for government and major corporations. Which will quite soon be the end of them. And the sooner the better.

[Bob Moffitt]

Unfortunately, the ONLY thing that will help main-stream media outlets, such as, the Washington Post....stem the dwindling circulation numbers that presently threaten their very being...is to stop being professionally lazy and begin questioning authority whenever and wherever the opportunity to do so arises.

Indeed, there is no greater opportunity than questioning authorities (CDC, FDA, IOM, IACC, etc) on their failure to explain why so many of the most heavily vaccinated generation in our nation's history...suffer so many chronic autoimmune disorders.. that were far less prevelant in ALL previous, less vaccinated, generations.

Until they undertake this urgent, unpleasant task...making changes to the "format" of the Washington Post will serve no more purpose than putting "lipstick on a pig"

[we shall overcome]

Dan, you hit the nail in the head. The most disturbing trend I'm seeing is the normalization of the outrageous rates of autism, asthma, allergies, diabetes... Any mainstream commentary you see now talks about these as if they had always been that way. If you set your baseline in, say, year 2002 there are no dramatic increases in autism or asthma. But this is not the stock market where what happened 5 years ago doesn't matter anymore. This is not normal, rates of these conditions have not been this bad for the past 30,000 years, Why are they now beong trested as NORMAL? What's more scary is that some people working in schools, especially the younger tachers and therapists, are falling the same trend. They are beginning to talk about asthma or autism at the present rates as if they had always been there.

The short span memory of today's world is getting worse and worse: the past doesn't count anymore and nobody cares about the future. We are doomed.

[Sunny]

In the words of Charlie Brown...
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!!!!
This makes me CRAZY! =(

Dan, as always, thank you for your tireless efforts in addressing the mountains of misinformation and denials that continue to plague the media. As I've said before, the work you guys do at AoA helps me stay sane in this nutty world, and for that I am so grateful!

I sadly agree with Jeanne---it wasn't until we were directly affected that we could wrap our brains around the idea of this mess. Those closest to us now get it as well (thank God!). But other friends and (less-close) family, well, they feel sorry for what happened to us, and we have their compassion, but they clearly don't believe they're in danger of it happening to them...and they can't buy the idea that all of these "well-respected" media outlets PLUS many of the gov't regulatory agencies PLUS their very own trusted physicians are ALL either lying, repeating misinformation, and/or withholding extremely important information from them. It's too big a leap for them. And, sadly, I get that. But we just keep putting it out there, because, every now and then, it "clicks" for some random, long-lost friend on Facebook or some distant cousin and they tell you that they believe you and that they've stopped vaccinating their kids until they can learn more...or for good. That's why we keep putting it out there instead of turning inward as we work to recover our sweet boys.

Thanks again, Dan. I LOVE AoA and the community of readers here.

Sunny

[Adrienne]

Thanks for this, Dan. As my second child, who just turned 2, was diagnosed with enterocolitis (although since our firstborn was the 'sacrificial lamb,' he doesn't have autism) a little over a week ago, I was concerned about his treatment protocol of immunosuppressive steroids. I wanted opinions; well, reassurances of any kind that my kid wasn't going to catch some bug-of-sorts this flu season and end up in the hospital, unable to fight infection due to the meds he'll be taking.

When I spoke with the pharmacy manager at our local Walgreen's, she told me that "half the kids walking the streets (in our hometown) are on Prednisone." She said she's never seen more asthma than in the last ten years and that these steroids are the 'drug of choice' for pediatricians. It seems when it comes to these kids and asthma, when they get the slightest cold that produces a cough, they can't seem to get it under control. She said she has two and half pints of the stuff in stock on her shelves at all times. I felt somewhat reassured, and then reasonably nauseous after hearing that. I am so afraid our public health officials will never wake up to what's happening to our kids.

[Bad Apple]

I never realized my child had a ‘sensory processing’ problem until the day I took her to the eye Doctor. “Doc, I said, it’s really getting unnerving. It’s too many times now—she’s been driving too long to still be doing this. She’ll make these gawdawful left hand turns right in front of oncoming cars! I got to thinking, does she maybe have a problem with her depth perception?”

Nope, I was told. Turned out she actually has a problem with her ‘sensory processing’.

Not to worry, though. There’s nothing that I or she ought to try to do about it according to the Doctor. An awful lot of people if not most learn to just ‘work around them’.

So, I guess I should just do nothing but pray. Thankfully, she does seem to have ‘worked around’ the problem, as she’s never yet gotten into a serious accident and she’s been driving for some years now.

It’s interesting that I’d never heard of these ‘sensory processing’ problems in anyone before. A few months later the topic came up again for only the second time I’d ever heard about it. It came up when an eye Doctor was visiting an autism support group meeting that I happened to be attending (altho none of my children are on the spectrum), and he just happened to be discussing the treatment of these types of disorders.

I gave up on print newspapers, all of them, long ago. My own local Cleveland Plain Dealer is now used only by husband while he’s changing his ostomy bag. I stopped reading it and canceled my subscription the day I saw, on their editorial page, an Associated Press story by Alicia Chang entitled ‘Study fails to link chemicals, brain woes’. It was about a federal report that cleared anyone of wrongdoing in covering up thimerosal damage. That had seemed a somewhat fair story, I had thought, as I’d read it on the internet.

But what the Plain Dealer had done was, they published only the first half of the article. They published the part that said that there were all of these people who said that they’d found no link between autism and vaccines. Then they for some reason decided not to print the very last paragraph of the article. The part that talked about Sallie Bernard of Safeminds, and what she thought of the report. This happened to be the one part of the story that presented the concerns of parents with autism. My husband read the story on the internet, and then read the same, but truncated, AP story in the Plain Dealer. And he said “it leaves you with a completely different impression.”

I tried to explain to the woman on the phone when she called trying to get me to renew my subscription. I tried to explain to her why it was that I was no longer interested. I spoke about vaccines, I spoke about autism, I spoke about the AP story that they’d printed but only in part. I even brought up my husband’s ostomy bag and the only reason that I might currently want to continue receiving the Plain Dealer. But she wasn’t interested in hearing about it.
.

[Jeanne]

I often wonder why so many people cannot connect the dots; but then I remember I was one of those people for many years.

I think it takes being touched personally and directly by vaccine damage for the lines between those dots to start making themselves seen.

I've been asking what is the magic number - the magic number where everyone realizes what is going on. It wasn't 1 in 1500. We breezed right through 1 in 500. 1 in 250 passed without fanfare. What about 1 in 150? No? If not 1 in 150, would it be 1 in 100? Nope, that wasn't it. If not 1 in 100, then 1 in 50? 1 in 25? More? 1 in 10?

And then I realized, until the number is 1 in 2 or 1 in 1, the majority of the population will not be personally and directly affected and will therefor not be able to connect the dots.