AGE OF AUTISM

DR. BLAYLOCK ON MITOCHONDRIA AND VACCINES

Thanks (again!) to Ginger at Adventures in Autism for this article.

Blaylock on Mitochondria and Vaccines
Mitochondria and Vaccines
From Russell L. Blaylock M.D.

As the person who first proposed the microglial/excitotoxin hypothesis (JANA 2003;6(4): 21-35 and J. Amer Phys Surg 2004; 9(2): 46-51) I feel I should explain the connection between microglia/excitotoxicity and mitochondrail dysfunction. My hypothesis was confirmed two years later by Vargis, et al in which they demonstrated chronic levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines as well as microglia and astrocytic activation in the brains of 11 autistics from age 5 years to 44 years, even though they never mentioned excitotoxicity as a final mechanism. I wish to address the mitochondrial issue, which has become of major interest with the appearance of the Hannah Poling’s case.

In my original hypothesis, later expanded in a number of other articles, I explained that when the systemic immune system is overactivated, the brain’s special immune system, consisting of microglia and astrocytes, also becomes activated.

DR. JON POLING IN THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION

Dr. Jon Poling has an opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution today.  You can read it HERE.

Autism in the U.S. has reached epidemic levels, at 1 in 150 children. Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has recently upgraded autism to "an urgent health threat." The most contentious issue of the autism debate is the link to routine childhood vaccines. My daughter's case, Hannah Poling v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has changed this debate forever. Hannah has pointed us in a new and promising direction —- the mitochondria.

Dr. Poling ends his piece with this paragraph.

Reform of the vaccine schedule will be an important part of the solution, whether vaccines play a major or minor role in autism. Our public health agencies and programs need a reconstruction plan. Day one of the reconstruction hopefully starts at the Vaccine Safety Advisory Committee's Working Group, to be held at HHS headquarters today in Washington.

NATURALNEWS.COM ON CNN AUTISM COVERAGE

The website www.naturalnews.com has posted a story following CNN's Autism Awareness programming last week.  It provides a superb summary of the current autism/vaccine information under the following headings:

• A Brief History of Vaccines, Profits, and Politics
• A Major Crack in Our Government's Armor
• How Our Government Defends Itself When It Is Clearly Wrong
• Why Vaccines are a Problem
• How Your Brain Works
• Government Responsibility
• The Genetic Red-Herring
• Reducing the Risk for Adverse Vaccine Reactions

By Byron Richards (NaturalNews) On April 2, 2008 CNN spent the day bringing awareness to the problem of autism. Larry King's segment, which included Jenny McCarthy along with a panel of guests, was particularly enlightening. My hat is off to Jenny, a celebrity mother who is making it quite uncomfortable for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to ignore parents of autistic children seeking answers. Why does a mom have to do the work of the CDC? The answer is rather simple: our government's zeal to insist on too many vaccines while ignoring the actual risks is the driving force behind the autism tragedy. Sure there are many related factors – but the bottom line is that our government is causing disease at an alarming and devastating pace.

Read the full article HERE.

 

MORE EMAILS FROM THE FDA ON MERCURY TESTING

By Twyla Ramos

On December 31, 2007, Age of Autism posted a series of emails between the CDC, the FDA, and me, in which I asked whether any government agency tests the mercury content of the vaccines which supposedly contain only a "trace" amount of mercury.  Neither the CDC nor the FDA, would answer my questions. (Read the piece HERE.)

The following month, I received an e-newsletter from the National Autism Association (NAA) which included a link to a January 17, 2008 letter from Representative Dan Burton to the FDA, demanding answers to questions raised by "a parent" in an email dialogue with the CDC and FDA.  In his letter (HERE), he asked the FDA for a response by February 11, 2008.

On February 14, 2008, to my surprise, I received an email from Christopher Middendorf, Chief of the Consumer Affairs Branch, Division of Communication and Consumer Affairs, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA.  He responded to my initial email sent to the FDA in November.  Our exchange is shown below.

----------------------------

From: Twyla Ramos
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 11:57 AM
To: CBER OCTMA Consumer Account
Subject: "Trace" amounts of Thimerosal in vaccines

The CDC says that: "Thimerosal still may be used in the early stages of making certain vaccines. However, it is removed through a purification process. When this process is complete, only trace, or insignificant, amounts of thimerosal are left (less than 0.3 mcg) and these amounts have no biological effect."

Does any governmental agency monitor and test vaccine products to ensure that this "purification process" is consistently effective and that the final product does not exceed 0.3 mcg of thimerosal?

Thank you very much,
Twyla Ramos
concerned parent

THE CONUNDRUM OF AUTISM

Last year, the Institute of Medicine convened a workshop on the role environmental risks may play in autism. In contrast to the IOM's flawed 2004 report exonerating vaccines, this event  may come to be seen as a watershed -- the moment when mainstream science faced up to the strong evidence that something besides genes is putting a whole generation at risk.
Remember, "environmental risk" just means something coming from the outside-in to trigger autism in susceptible kids. And that leaves the door wide open for everything from live viruses in vaccines to mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Read this comprehensive report on the IOM conference (HERE) and you'll know as much as anybody about where the science stands -- and where it needs to go.

CDC ADMITS VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM ON CNN

Thank you to Adventures In Autism for this You Tube video of CDC's Dr. Gerberding on CNN.

AAP TO WORK WITH DEFEAT AUTISM NOW! ON TREATMENT

This isn't an April Fool's Day joke. AAP has announced that they plan to work with with the Autism Research Institute's Defeat Autism Now! program in an effort to provide treatment for our kids.  I wonder if they will be sending a team to the DAN! conference this weekend?  Here's their press release:

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS RECOGNIZES WORLD AUTISM DAY

For release: APRIL 1, 2008

AAP media contacts:  Susan Stevens Martin  Debbie Linchesky
847-434-7131   847-434-7084
ssmartin@aap.org  dlinchesky@aap.org

CHICAGO – The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports World Autism Day (April 2) as a way to bring together groups that are committed to finding the causes of, and successful treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorders, which now affect an estimated 1 in 150 children in the United States. Thousands of children, parents and families are coping with what can be a devastating diagnosis with lifelong consequences.

THE FRAGILE BASIS OF GENETIC AUTISM CLAIMS REVEALED BY AN OSOTEN*

By Mark Blaxill

*Original source of the estimated number

In an earlier essay here, I commented on a claim made by the Autism Consortium in a recent study, originally published online in January in The New England Journal of Medicine. In an article that offered up a number of aggressive claims regarding the genetic bases of autism, lead author Lauren Weiss and 21 of her colleagues made the following remarkable statement.

In approximately 10% of patients, autism can be explained by genetic syndromes and known chromosomal anomalies (most of which have recognizable features in addition to autism) including the Fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, the Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, the Potocki-Lupski syndrome, and…the region (15q11-13) that is affected in Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes.

NEWEST STUDY JOKE: DRINKING WHILE PREGNANT CAUSES AUTISM

By Kim Stagliano

I realize today is a holiday for many of us. So I apologize for making you want to spit out your jelly beans with this post. A new study (by a psychiatrist, of course) has been released linking autism to maternal drinking while pregnant.

Now I ask you: "Did you drink while pregnant?"  Did your mother or your grandmother? Which one of you has a child with autism and knows dozens or more mothers with affected children?  Heck, I didn't even sniff vanilla extract while pregnant.

Maybe we can write a play, a murder mystery about autism, and call it "Alcohol and Old Sperm."

As this study was flying around the lists last night, most people concurred these researchers have it backwards. Drinking doesn't cause autism. But autism can cause drinking.

Read about the study HERE.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism.

BOYD HALEY LETS 'EM HAVE IT

(Editor's Note: Boyd Haley, the University of Kentucky chemistry professor and all-around troublemaker for those who deserve it most, weighs in on one of our favorite topics: The need to study the autism rate in never-vaccinated kids. Haley begins his commentary by citing the Poling case and the bogus focus on her "mitochondrial disorder."

We quote Boyd in more depth on that topic in "Hannah Poling and Rachel Carson," below this post. If Boyd did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.)

The attempt by the CDC and AAP to promote the concept that thimerosal containing vaccines are safe for all but those with "underlying mitochondrial disorder" is similar to the previous attempt to label autism as a genetic disorder.  This attempt is geared to place research funds into areas other than looking at vaccines in general and thimerosal in specific as the cause for the recent increase in autism.

MIKE WAGNITZ IN PEDIATRICS MAGAZINE

Mike Wagnitz, Chemist at the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene (WSLH) Toxicology Section, Madison, WI and NAA Advisory Board Member wrote THIS LETTER, published in Pediatrics, the magazine of the AAP:

Parents get angry when they see the following numbers listed on the internet. These numbers have been out there for everyone to read for years. They are mathamatical facts backed by references. The way to quell parental fears would be for someone like Dr. Parikh to address these numbers. Using propaganda is not going to work and only makes the situation worse.

0.5 parts per billion (ppb) mercury = Kills human neuroblastoma cells (Parran et al., Toxicol Sci 2005; 86: 132-140).

THE AAP STILL DOESN'T GET IT -- AND NEVER WILL

Managing Editor's Note:  It seemed appropriate to run this post above the link to Jenny McCarthy's City TV APPEARANCE where she states yet again, that it is parents looking out for our kids, not the mainstream medical establishment. And certainly not the American Academy of Pediatrics.

By DAN OLMSTED

Want proof? Check out the American Academy of Pediatrics' updated Facts for Parents About Autism and Vaccine Safety HERE. They manage to turn the Poling case into some 1-in-6.5-billion anomaly featuring a mysterious and rare underlying mitochondrial disorder.

They drone on about better diagnosis and early identification. They even cite the 10-percent-genetic figure that Mark Blaxill recently demolished for Age of Autism. Remarkably, on March 7, the AAP had issued a release that said, "The recent Vaccine Injury Compensation Program case raised many questions for the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP leadership is seeking access to official documents in the case so medical experts can examine the science and consider whether it raises implications for other children."

DR. SANJAY GUPTA'S BLOG: THE VACCINE DEBATE

Check out the comments about vaccines and autism at Dr. Sanjay Gupta's blog HERE. There's a good conversation taking place. Thank you to an Environment of Harm Yahoo list member for the heads up.

DR. JON POLING TO DR. STEVEN NOVELLA ON AGE OF AUTISM

By Dr. Jon Poling, father of Hannah Poling.

OPEN LETTER TO DR. STEVEN NOVELLA
IN RESPONSE TO "Has the Government Conceded Vaccines Cause Autism?"

Dr. Novella,

Thank you for generating interesting discussion regarding my little girl, Hannah Poling.  I would like to give you additional information in order to generate further productive discussions on this matter amongst the neurology community.  This information should assist you, Dr. DiMauro, and Dr. Trevethan, who have also commented publicly, to formulate better theories as to the significance of Hannah’s mitochondrial dysfunction in relation to her autism.

1. Mito Dysfunction or Mito Disease?  Chicken or Egg?

JULIE GERBERDING MUST RESIGN FROM CDC

From our commenter SD: I just got off the phone the White House and was told they were getting MANY phone calls and that we all seemed very passionate about this issue.  The operator told me that we should continue to call AGAIN and AGAIN.  That we should be putting our stories in writing and getting them out to the press.  By keeping it in the press will create pressure for results.  Thanks for the tip White House operator!

Today we call for the resignation of CDC leader Julie Gerberding for ignoring the health and safety of our children.  The following provides contact information for the CDC, White House and other organizations. (We can not guarantee all of these numbers will be reachable throughout the day.) Thank you to two A of A readers for these numbers.

Let's give our children the voice autism took away. Start "dialing."


Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 

julie.gerberding@cdc.hhs.gov

(404) 639-3311 (live)
(404) 498-1515 (answering service)
(800) 311-3435
http://www.cdc.gov/contact/      

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

Senator Obama  202-224-2854
Senator Clinton  202-224-4451
Senator McCain  202-224-2235

THE WHITE HOUSE

Main phone number: 202-456-1111

Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Fax: 202-456 -2461

First Lady Laura Bush's office: 202-0456-7064

Chief of Staff Josh Bolten: 202-456-6798

Presidential Scheduling: 202-456-5251

White House Counsel: 202-456-5257

Political Affairs: 202-456-5275/5277

President Bush: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
(There's a link to send message to President Bush)

Vice-President Dick Cheney: vice_president@whitehouse.gov
(Gee! There's email in the bunker?)

A GREAT AND TERRIBLE DAY

By Kent Heckenlively

There was a moment in the Larry King interview of the Polings in which Hannah Poling stretched up her arm and her mother scratched it for several moments.  It was without doubt an odd television moment, but one I know very well.  Every night as she’s laying down for bed my daughter Jacqueline stretches out her arm and I scratch it for several minutes.

It was great because for the first time I saw a child very much like my own on television, and terrible because I couldn’t help but notice how unusual the child must appear to so many.

CDC'S GERBERDING AND TREVATHAN TWIST THE FACTS

This classless comment from Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of CDC and Forbes Magazine #23 in the 2006 100 most powerful women in the world:  In a telephone press conference, Dr. Gerberding said the case -- although "sad" -- doesn't change the CDC's recommendations on childhood vaccinations.

"Sad?" She has no idea.

And from Dr. Trevathan: "There is nothing about the particulars of this situation that should be generalized to an understanding of the risks associated with vaccines for normal children," he said."

Is he delusional? Normal Children??? This is the CDC folks. Still trust them after these contortions?

Read the full article  in MED PAGE TODAY HERE.

OH, JUST 2 MORE SHOCKING VAX vs. UNVAXED SURVEYS. LAD-DE-DAH.

By Dan Olmsted

The conversation about the autism rate in vaccinated versus never-vaccinated kids has gotten kind of surreal, wouldn’t you agree? Right now (see several posts on this page) we’re battling the double-reverse pseudo-scientific assertion that such studies have been done and that they prove there’s no connection between vaccination and autism.

Oh, brother. In fact, oh, Big Brother. What we’re dealing with here is positively Orwellian. Not only is it the Big Lie -- because there are no such studies and those nonexistent studies prove no such thing– but it is an abuse of language that makes you wonder if this is 1984 rather than 2008.

FLUTIE FOUNDATION GRANT TO MERCURY STUDY

The National Autism Association has announced that they have received a generous grant from the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism for the Burbacher Study of the effect of mercury on the brain.

Nixa, MO  – It was announced this week that The National Autism Association (NAA) will receive $10,000 for the Burbacher/Charleston study into the effects of mercury exposure in the brain. The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, Inc. awarded the grant. Funding will support the completion of a research study relating to the effects upon the brain following exposure to mercury. 

MIGHTY MIGHTY MITOCHONDRIA AND THE ROOTS OF AUTISM

By MARY WEBSTER

By now, you have no doubt read the news this week that the government conceded the case of a child with autism filed in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.  David Kirby and Kent Heckenlively have adeptly covered the events for Age of Autism.

What you may not have read, however, is the compelling scientific evidence linking mitochondrial dysfunction and autism.  One such piece of evidence comes to us from a country whose history is, ironically, rich with tales of famous discoverers.  In keeping with the adventurous spirit of their countrymen who dared to brave the seas centuries ago, researchers in Portugal are among the few early explorers investigating the possible association between autism and mitochondrial dysfunction.

CONGRESSMAN'S OFFICE CORRECTS DR. JOHNSON

Editor's Note: We've been pointing out the flat-out fallacy of Dr. Tim Johnson's recent comments on ABC that studies of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations show vaccines don't cause autism. Now we've got powerful company. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney's press secretary has sent an e-mail telling him the same thing. Congresswoman Maloney, you may recall, has introduced legislation to compel the federal government to conduct just such a study, calling it "common sense."

Hats off to Rep. Maloney from Age of Autism for her continuing involvement in this fundamental issue. We hereby move and second that everyone let her know we appreciate the effort.

WATCH ABC NEWS' DR. TIM JOHNSON LIE ON NATIONAL TV!

Dr. Tim Johnson's lie is now on You Tube courtesy of..... Well, we don't know.

If you're the person who put this onto You Tube, we'd like to hear from you. Our contact info is on the sidebar.

WATCH HERE.

ABC NEWS: PLEASE LET ‘EM HAVE IT!

By J.B. Handley

As the email chain below from AOA reader Monica Bice shows, ABC is clueless and trying to defend the indefensible. Their chief medical correspondent blatantly lied to the American people and falsely reassured parents that the rates of autism amongst unvaccinated children has been studied when it has never been studied (except for Generation Rescue’s study!)

We want, and deserve, a retraction. Please email:

Roger Sergel
Managing Editor
Medical Coverage
ABC News
roger.h.sergel@abc.com

David Westin
President
ABC News
This email address is not working - if anyone has a working address please email leave us a comment!  Maybe David's mailbox is full???
David.westin@abc.com

Audrey Grayson
ABC News Medical Unit
(781) 455-6020
audrey.grayson@abc.com
 
________________________________________

ABC WORLD NEWS TALKS OUT OF ITS.......

Editor's Note: Age of Autism reader and mom Monica Bice got in touch with ABC to complain about Dr. Timothy Johnson's statement that studies have been conducted on vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated children to determine whether vaccines cause autism. First, read the response from Audrey Grayson of ABC. Then read what Monica answered back. And many thanks to Monica for obtaining this very useful information and sharing it with us. Perhaps others would like to let ABC know they still don't have their facts straight.
--

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Grayson, Audrey
    To: monica@aware4autism.org
    Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 10:19 AM
    Subject: Autism and Vaccines

    Monica,

    Thanks for your call. Below is some of the information you requested, with studies and additional information attached.

    Best,
    Audrey Grayson
    ABC News Medical Unit
    (781) 455-6020
    audrey.grayson@abc.com

    There are two kinds of theories out there, neither of which is supported by the evidence.

LIFE IMITATES TV

By David Kirby

Three weeks ago, the American public health establishment turned nearly apoplectic over the airing of an ABC TV fictional drama series, “Eli Stone,” for having delved into the thorny issue of vaccines and autism, and coming out on the side of the theory’s proponents.

Well, last I checked, the sky did not fall down, hell did not freeze over, children are still getting vaccinated (even with this year’s somewhat ineffective thimerosal-containing flu shot) and life goes on pretty much unchanged.

But as powerful as fictional television can be (and I confess to being a fan) it is still no match for good old fashioned reality.

When Eli Stone won a vaccine-autism case on TV, not much happened in our world. But last November, a real American family won a real concession and settlement from the US Government, and will soon be receiving very real dollars to help care for a sick little girl.

What happens next remains to be seen. But stay tuned for some fun and games this week as the mainstream media tries to grapple with (or, perhaps, roundly ignore) this very real courtroom drama, one that played out right under our very real noses.

[Editor's note: see David Kirby's discussion of the vaccine case concession, "Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court-Now What?"  at the Huffington Post, HERE]

THE DIRT ON CANCER AND INFECTIONS

From the LA Times:

Germs may actually help our bodies fight tumors -- which means an infection-free lifestyle comes at a price.

By vaccinating our children against common childhood illnesses, are we denying their bodies the opportunity to develop robust immune systems?  Are we trading chicken pox and measles for cancer down the road?

Read the full article HERE.

The studies also imply that our cleaner, infection-free lifestyles may be contributing to the rise in certain cancers over the last 50 years, scientists say, because they make the immune system weaker or less mature. Germs cause disease but may also fortify the body, a notion summed up in a 2006 report by a team of Canadian researchers as "whatever does not kill me makes me stronger."

AUTISM ONE CONFERENCE MAY 21 - 25

By Kim Stagliano

Are you planning to attend the AUTISM ONE 2008 CONFERENCE?

Jenny McCarthy is giving the key note address.  Dr. Amy Yasko is presenting. Even better? Dan Olmsted, Mark Blaxill and I are presenting on Saturday morning the 24th.  (Don't tell Jenny and Dr. Y. I said, "even better!" OK?) And did I mention, that the AAP headquarters is darn close? Maybe we'll shoot over there and inject our presence?  And the kicker? A1 offers babysitting so you can bring your children.

5 Days That Will Change Your Child's Life
The Sixth Annual Autism One Conference Returns to Chicago
Wednesday, May 21 – Sunday, May 25, Chicago, Illinois

THE REALITY OF RECOVERY Autism is a whole-body condition with many causes and many roads to recovery. Some children develop autism from vaccines, other children from exposure to molds, pesticides, and a host of environmental toxins.

The pioneering efforts of parents and practitioners have brought new appreciation about the underlying causes that create the conditions of autism. Understanding the causes has led to
safe and effective treatments that are helping our children get better.

Main Conference: Friday, May 23 – Sunday, May 25

BRILLIANCE IN ACTION Learn at the breakthrough presentations highlighting over 100 of the most eminent autism experts across five tracks:

1. Biomedical Treatments
2. Behavior and Education Therapies
3. Complementary and Alternative Medicine
4. Adolescence and Adulthood
5. Government and Legal Issues

LDDI SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS STATEMENT

LDDI has created a scientific consensus statement on environmental agents associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.  The document is in the right hand column at their site. Click here.

WYETH WINS THIMEROSAL CASE

"...it is generally accepted in the relevant scientific community that autism is genetic in origin except in rare instances of prenatal exposures to certain substances at defined periods during pregnancy."

Here's a Yahoo article on the case.

JENNY McCARTHY CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO RAISE HELL

WHO: Jenny McCarthy and our sponsor TACA Now.

WHAT: "The biggest largest rally ever done in front of the Centers for Disease Control"

WHERE: CDC Headquarters, Atlanta, GA

WHEN: June 28, or 29, 2008 (tentative)

WHY: Jenny will tell you here. (You need Apple Quicktime)

AUTISM TODAY: CHARTING THE RISE

Check out these links provided by Dan Hollenbeck and posted at Fighting Autism, now part of Thoughtful House Center for Children.

  1) Latest Autism Prevalence Data Graphs

  2) Autism State Rankings

  3) New Jersey Autism Prevalence

NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION PROGRAM OUT OF CONTROL

Road to Nowhere: The National Immunization Program is out of control: who will restore sanity?

By J.B. Handley

In A User-Friendly Vaccine Schedule, perhaps the most enlightened work ever written by a doctor regarding immunizations, Dr. Donald Miller, a professor at The University of Washington writes:

“The schedule states, "Your child can safely receive all vaccines recommended for a particular age during one visit." Public health officials, however, have not proven that it is indeed safe to inject this many vaccines into infants. What's more, they cannot explain why, concurrent with an increasing number of vaccinations, there has been an explosion of neurologic and immune system disorders in our nation’s children.”

We try to make similar points with a full page ad in USA Today that asks what we consider to be many reasonable questions like, “Given the unabated rise of autism to epidemic levels, isn’t it time for the scientific community to seriously consider the anecdotal evidence of so many parents?”

Isn’t it?

DR. ANDREW WAKEFIELD'S RESPONSE TO BAIRD G. ET AL

Thank you to Dr. Andrew Wakefield, of Thoughtful House Center for Children for sending us this important piece:

Response to Baird G. et al. Measles vaccination and antibody response in autism spectrum disorders. Archives of Disease in Childhood. Published 5th February 2008.

In a case-control study of 10 to 12-year-old children with either autism, special-educational needs, or normal development, the authors examined measles-antibody responses (plaque reduction neutralization assay) and the presence of measles virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction). The study apparently sought to identify autistic children relevant to the original MMR/autism hypothesis, i.e., those who regressed and those with bowel symptoms.

The study is severely limited by case definition in the context of the crucial ‘possible enterocolitis’ group. For inclusion in this group they required the presence of two or more of the following five current gastrointestinal symptoms:

• current persistent diarrhea (defined as watery/loose stools three or more times per day >14 days),
• current persistent vomiting (occurring at least once per day, or more than five times per week),
• current weight loss,
• current persistent abdominal pain (3 or more episodes [frequency not specified by authors] severe enough to interfere with activity);
• current blood in stool;
plus:
• past persistent diarrhea >14 days’ duration, and excluding current constipation.

CDC = "C-ancer D-oesn't C-ount?"

Last month we shared a STORY about FEMA and the formaldehyde-filled Hurricane Katrina trailers.  Seems the folks at CDC are involved in the potential coverage up of health dangers too. 

A congressional committee is investigating whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suppressed information about cancer dangers in trailers housing Hurricane Katrina victims and if the agency retaliated against the scientist who sought to make those risks public.

Sounds alot like what many of us having been shouting about vaccines, doesn't it?

Read more HERE.

MMR & AUTISM: NO LINK! WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER 9 SHOTS

A study that found no link between MMR and autism just happened to hit the press less than a week after the Eli Stone debacle for AAP. Read the abstract here. Read a FOX News report HERE.

The 2008 AAP vaccine schedule shows up to 12 vaccinations could be admininstered at a child's 15 month well visit. One of those is the MMR. The others include: Hib, Pneumococcal, Polio, Varicella, Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hep A, and an extra Influenza, depending on time of year and whether child got a flu shot at an earlier visit.  Count the shots for yourself HERE on the schedule.

Tomorrow you're going to have a headache. Heck, you might have one right now. You'll take a Tylenol or a Motrin or a Bayer aspirin. Would you take all three at once? Or could that combination perhaps cause harm?

Whaddya think, Age of Autism readers?  Is MMR off the hook?

SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE VACCINE FRIEND.....

By Kim Stagliano

This REPORT from SUNY Buffalo reports that scientists are working on vaccination via the mucus membranes, in this case, the nose. This application makes sense in outlying areas of the globe, given lack of sanitation, refrigeration and potable water. But having watched enough of Scarface to know that sniffing/snorting/spraying stuff into your nose can affect your brain I have to wonder about the ramifications of snortable vaccines. I'm sure FDA will make sure they are perfectly safe though.

"If I want to immunize somebody in Uganda with a vaccine that must be injected, for instance, I have to bring needles, everything must be sterile and everything must be kept cold, which means we need refrigeration.

"But if I can vaccinate through the nose, all I have to do is dry the antigen and my adjuvant. When I get to the middle of Uganda, I boil some water, pour in the antigen and adjuvant, stir it up, put it in an atomizer and 'sniff.' The mixture doesn't even have to be sterile, because the nose isn't sterile."

When they figure out how to put Gardasil onto tampons, I'm leaving the country.

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor for Age of Autism.

DR. NANCY MINSHEW & ME: WHO'S CRAZY?

By J.B. Handley

Dear Dr. Minshew,

It’s my understanding that you are a child neurologist and that you have been a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for the past 22 years, and that today you run one of the NIH’s nine Centers for Excellence of Autism.

I took the time to read this 100 page presentation you gave on autism, which helped me understand your perspective on my son and what ails him. To summarize from your bio on the ASA’s website, you have developed a “model of autism as a disorder of brain connectivity and constrained information processing accounting for many of the manifestations of this disorder.”

The reason for my email today, which I’m also posting on a public blog I write for, isn’t really about my son, it’s about me. You see, after reading many of the things you have written and said, I find myself in a real funk, a state of angst and confusion.

IS THE AAP LOSING CREDIBILITY WITH PARENTS AND PEDS?

Dedicated to the Health of All Children… Is the American Academy of Pediatrics losing credibility with parents and pediatricians? (Note, this piece was originally run in Mothering Magazine. The author allowed us to reprint it given the timely nature of the topic of AAP and our children.)

By Bobbie Manning

As the battle lines continue to be drawn between parents and professionals in the debate over the use of mercury in children's vaccines, a new level of activism emerged on October 8th, as parents descended on Washington DC to appeal directly to the prestigious American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Following a day of marching and meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, parents turned their attention to the DC Convention Center, where the AAP was holding its 75th Annual Convention.

AUTISM, SERIOUS SCIENTISTS AND THE WACKOSPHERE

NOTE: In keeping with the content of this post, we will not allow additional comments that are anonymous or use a pseudonym from another blog. We welcome those of you who would like to post under your own name. Thank you.

By Mark Blaxill

A recent episode of the popular television show CSI:NY made the entertainment news headlines with a novel plot concept. In a clever (and probably lucrative) cross-promotion with the online game called Second Life, the show’s writers devised a story line in which a conflict between characters in the so-called “virtual world” of Second Life spilled over into the real world resulting in a sequence of murders and high speed chases that criss-crossed back and forth between the virtual world of Second Life and the real world of downtown Manhattan. As a fictional murder-mystery about a virtual world, it was fun to watch (I confess to being a CSI junkie myself). But the plot line stuck in my head for a different reason; in their ever-voracious search for catchy plotlines, the episode had an eerie air of prophecy about it. The main point was this: out of control game players in the virtual world killed real people. After a point, their fantasy life was no longer a game. It crossed the line into irresponsible behavior.

ANOTHER LOOK AT HOW IP AND WONG WENT WRONG

By Mark Blaxill

DeSoto and Hitlan’s paper (see accompanying article above) does a thorough job of analyzing the corrected data, but out of professional courtesy, they are somewhat circumspect in detailing the full scope of the errors committed by the Hong Kong University team. Since the journal editor, Roger Brumback, was gracious enough to publish the raw data he obtained from Wong (assuming, of course, that she got it right this time around), an interested observer can check all of Ip et al’s revised calculations for themselves and compare them line by line with the original.