AGE OF AUTISM

DAVID KIRBY: IF AUTISM HAS ALWAYS BEEN WITH US...

By David Kirby

If autism has always been with us in the same high numbers that we see today -- as some scientists and academics contend -- then we should be able to identify the 1 in 150 adults currently living with autism in places like the US and UK.

With all of the media attention on autism these days, one would think that adults with the disorder would come forward in search of social services, adult education, job training programs, support groups, and other ways that would make their numbers be counted.

Of course, not all adults on the autism spectrum are aware that they have an ASD, and others may not be interested in social services, special education or job training. And of course, many of these services are woefully lacking or unavailable to adults with autism.

But still, by any currently available measure, there appear to be far more people under the age of 18 with autism than there are adults with the disorder.

DAVID KIRBY ON HUFFPO: NOT ISOLATED, NOT UNUSUAL

David Kirby has a new post over at HuffPo.  You can read it HERE.

.....Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rushed to the airwaves, exhorting parents to adhere to the nation's intensive and virtually mandatory immunization schedule, and brushing off their legitimate anxieties by saying: "We've got to set aside this very isolated, unusual situation."

Well, the days of setting aside are over: Hannah Poling is neither isolated nor unusual.

In fact, the boy who was selected to replace Hannah Poling as the first-ever thimerosal "test case" in so-called Vaccine Court, has just been found with many of the same unusual metabolic markers as... you guessed it, Hannah Poling.

DAVID KIRBY IN SPECTRUM MAGAZINE

David Kirby has an article in the online issue of Spectrum Magazine.

In February, I leaked news of the Federal government’s admission that vaccines had triggered autism in a little girl named Hannah Poling. The stunning revelation, though still reverberating around the world, was roundly downplayed by US officials, who insisted that Hannah had an extremely rare, genetic case of “aggravated” mitochondrial disorder, with zero bearing on other autism cases.

Read David's full article HERE.

THANKS TO OBAMA FOR SUPPORTING VACCINE RESEARCH

David Kirby has a piece running over at Huffington Post today titled, "Obama Climbs on the Vaccine Bandwagon" in which he writes: No matter who wins in Pennsylvania today, the next President of the United States will support research into the growing evidence of some link between vaccines and autism.

Here's Senator Obama's quote:

"We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it."

--Barack Obama, Pennsylvania Rally, April 21, 2008.

"AUTISM YESTERDAY" - A TRIBUTE TO TIRELESS PARENTING

Editor’s Note: This is a repeat post of David Kirby’s review of the film Autism Yesterday, premiering tonight in more than 140 venues around the world. If you aren’t headed to a screening, the film is now available at Amazon..

By David Kirby

At a time when Big Medicine, Big Government and Big Media are trying hard to make the vaccine-autism debate go away, along comes a quiet little film like “Autism Yesterday” to throw a wrench in the establishment’s best laid plans to stifle the pesky vaccine chatter once and for all.

Anyone out there still declaring that this debate is over, that medical science has fully exonerated mercury and vaccines, and that thousands of parents who insist otherwise don’t know what they are talking about, really should watch THIS film before embarrassing themselves further.

DAVID KIRBY AT DHHS VACCINE MEETING

SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is hereby giving notice that the National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) will convene a meeting of NVAC's Vaccine Safety Working Group. The meeting is open to the public.

DATES: The meeting will be held on April 11, 2008, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The following provides a transcript of David Kirby's comments at this meeting:

Hello, my name is David Kirby, I am an author and journalist, and my only conflict of interest is that I wrote a book about vaccines and autism. But I don’t plan on selling any books here today.

This has been a really extraordinary meeting, and I am very happy that everyone came together to discuss this important topic. I will probably be reporting on this in various venues, though I am not quite sure what my, what we call “take home message,” is going to be.

But I do want to say, and at the risk of overstatement: History will judge each and every one of you. A year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, people like me will look back on the history of vaccine safety in this country, and look at you folks, and say, “What did they do?”

CDC HAS LOST CONTROL: DAVID KIRBY

David Kirby's latest HuffPo piece on the CDC's "loss of control" over the vaccines debate is HERE.

...the CDC now issues a written statement meant to soothe jittery parents, by saying that "the recommended vaccine schedule is flexible." Such decisions, the friendly announcement said, "are best made in consultation with the child's doctor, and parents shouldn't be reluctant to have such discussions."

DAVID KIRBY: ARE 1 in 50 KIDS AT RISK?

The following is an excerpt from David Kirby's latest HuffPo piece. Read the full post and comment HERE.

By David Kirby

On Tuesday, March 11, a conference call was held between vaccine safety officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, several leading experts in vaccine safety research, and executives from America's Health Insurance Plans, (the HMO trade association) to discuss childhood mitochondrial dysfunction and its potential link to autism and vaccines

It was a sobering event for all concerned, and it could soon become known as the Conference Call heard 'round the world.

CDC RESPONSE TO DAVID KIRBY ON AJC

The Atlanta Journal Constitution ran an online opinion piece refuting David Kirby's powerful piece (HERE) from last week.  You can comment on the AJC blog again HERE.  Hurry before they close comments.

"Autism claim shouldn't deter parents"

By ANNE SCHUCHAT

Published on: 03/26/08

David Kirby's March 20 opinion column, "Give Us Answers on Vaccines," misinterpreted available information about a case before the National Vaccine Injury Compensation program and may have parents wondering what is best for their child when it comes to immunizations. That is unfortunate, given that our nation's childhood vaccines are very safe and are proven to protect and save lives.

Read the full opinion piece HERE.

AJC BLOG ON DAVID KIRBY'S OP ED PIECE

Please go over the the blog at The Atlanta Journal Constitution and share your opinions on David Kirby's Op-Ed piece.  CLICK HERE to go to the blog.

DAVID KIRBY IN THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION

Managing Editor's Note: Atlanta is the home of the CDC.  If she reads the piece at the breakfast table, CDC Director Julie Gerberding might not be able to swallow that puppy she devours each day before toddling off to work with a happy heart, eager to tell the world there is no autism epidemic and even if there was, it isn't caused by vaccines. As always, thank you, David.

By DAVID KIRBY

By now, many parents in America have heard of the Hannah Poling court case. They know the government has acknowledged that vaccines contributed to autism in at least one little girl from Georgia. Understandably, they are worried, and they want answers.

But instead of frank talk from leading health officials, their concerns are being met with stonewalling, denial and misinformation. By refusing to address what really happened to Hannah - by commanding parents to settle down and adhere to the nation’s rigid immunization regime - officials will only drive people away from vaccines in anxiety-ridden droves.

Read the entire piece in The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

POLING AUTISM PRESS CONFERENCE AND DAVID KIRBY ON CNN HERE!

Click HERE to see Dr. and Mrs. Poling's news conference about their daughter's autism. You can also watch David Kirby on CNN from later in the day.

Don't forget to support the fine folks at Fair Autism Media who brought you these clips!

DAVID KIRBY ON IMUS IN THE MORNING

A listener provided a transcription. Here it is.

IMUS: Good morning Mr. Kirby. How are you?

DAVID: I'm good. It's been exactly 3 years ago when you and Diedre really started bringing this to the people's attention. Boy, talk about "Ground Hog Day". It just seems  like we're beating the same issues all over again, without getting anywhere.

IMUS. I thought it was kind of amusing to me, after Senator McCain said what he said in
Texas, which I'll ask you about in a second....to see my name in a couple of columns
blaming me for influencing him. When I've never said anything of the kind. I've got my
own suspicions, but, any way, what exactly did Sen. McCain say now?

DAVID KIRBY: SEN. McCAIN WATCH OUT FOR INCOMING!

David Kirby writes in Huffington Post:

It was with some amazement that I read about your comments, made tonight while campaigning in Texas, about a possible link between mercury in vaccines and autism.

According to Jake Tapper at ABC News, a Texas mother of a child with autism asked you about the Federal Court document, first reported on Huffington Post last Monday, in which Justice Department officials conceded that vaccines had aggravated one child's underlying medical condition, resulting in a diagnosis of autism.

Your courage -- some would (and will) call it lunacy, or at best political suicide -- to step into this quagmire, while running for President, no less, is an inspiration and comfort to those of us who continue to ask such discomfiting questions in the public realm.

Read the full piece and ADD YOUR COMMENTS TO SUPPORT DAVID HERE.

DAVID KIRBY ON CHARLOTTESVILLE PODCASTING NETWORK

Best-selling author David Kirby is an investigative journalist whose book Evidence of Harm tracked how mercury in vaccines may be connected to the autism epidemic. In a detailed article published February 25 on the Huffington Post, Kirby reported that the federal government has conceded a case before the Court of Federal Claims that a mercury-based preservative in a vaccine may have contributed to a child’s autism:

“The child’s claim against the government — that mercury-containing vaccines were the cause of her autism — was supposed to be one of three “test cases” for the thimerosal-autism theory currently under consideration by a three-member panel of Special Masters, the presiding justices in Federal Claims Court.”

Kirby goes on to detail the case in this February 28 installment of WINA’s Charlottesville–Right Now.

“This should change the tenor of the debate,” Kirby said. Could mitochondrial disease play a roll? Kirby wants to know more.

Listen HERE.

DAVID KIRBY ON ABC AND CENSORSHIP

Our colleague David Kirby has a piece over at Huffington Post on the AAP asking ABC to D-E-E-P SIX the Eli Stone episode about autism and vaccines. Read his piece HERE.