ON MEDIA: Pay no Attention to that Tsunami.
Updated at end of post.
By Anne Dachel
Anyone following the huge controversy over the question "Do vaccines cause autism?" has heard the endless denials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics. No matter how bad the numbers, autism is never a crisis and there hasn't been a real increase in the number of affected children. Autism--the mystery isn't understood yet but research continues. According to these groups, no one knows the exact cause of autism but it's probably genetic. There also is no effective treatment and no possibility of a cure. The CDC and the AAP are quick to tell us that diet, chelation, and hyperbaric oxygen are unproven and dangerous treatments. The CDC website states several times that there is no cure for autism.
The loudest voice representing the medical establishment comes from Dr. Paul Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine. He offers no hope to parents regarding recovery from autism, especially those people using biomedical treatments. He calls chelation therapy for autism 'unethical.' He further explains that if kids seem to improve with alternative/supplementary medicine, it's just coincidence. Offit was quoted saying, 'Classical Western medicine does not offer much for the treatment of autism. These fringe therapies have appeal because there is not much else out there.' (see: HERE)
A story from WebMD stated that according to Offit, "Very young children with mild symptoms of autism often get better on their own later in childhood, which may explain why many parents believe so strongly that alternative treatment work."
'There is a natural wax and wane with this disorder. Symptoms that seem very bad between the ages of 2 and 5 may get much better between the ages of 6 and 10,' said Offit
Offit repeated this claim recently in a New York Times story HERE horseback riding therapy helping autistic kids. (It seems even equestrian therapy comes under attack from Dr. Offit. who called it "a false hope," "misleading," and "expensive.") Here he told readers, 'The natural history of mild to moderate autism is that it does get better over time. You're worse between 2 and 5, and you tend to get better between 5 and 10. You mature, and you get better. If you take a child who is screaming uncontrollably and put them in a car, they calm down.'
This is a new claim as far as I can see. I suspect it's being promoted as an attempt to explain the kids that parents have successfully recovered using bio-medical treatment. It's only a coincidence when these children get better after having chelation therapy or after a change to a GFCF diet. Silly parents like Jenny McCarthy don't understand that their children would have recovered regardless of 'fringe treatment' they used, according to Offit.
This leads me to another recent NY Times story, Tug of War Over Costs to Educate the Autistic HERE.
This was a very scary piece. There were stunning statistics about autism in New York City schools:
The cost of educating an autistic child can be $85,000/year at the Brooklyn Autism Center Academy.
"In 2001, the city's Department of Education listed 3,278 students with autism; by 2008, that figure had more than doubled to 6,877."
"Other autistic students attend private schools from a list of those approved by the state, and their tuition, which ranges from $30,800 to $48,100, is paid by the city's Education Department."
If Paul Offit is right, a lot of these students will simply outgrow autism. It's 'the natural history of mild to moderate autism.' If he's wrong, these kids are a ticking financial time bomb.
For years, many of us in the autism community have asked, "Where are the adults with autism at a rate even remotely close to what we see in our children?" The CDC, famous for their population studies, has never been able to come up with one that could find them. Now we're being told that individuals are less symptomatic as adults and they cease to be a problem.
As someone in touch with countless parents in many places, I can report without hesitation that the vast majority of them are desperate about their children's future. And desperate isn't too strong a word. In Offit's magic kingdom, autism may just disappear as children age, but in the real world, lots of parents have an overwhelming burden of care as kids get older, bigger, and stronger.
One paragraph in the Times story stood out:
" 'The giant elephant in the room, if one in 150 children are being diagnosed with autism, is that they have the same life expectancy,' said Gary S. Mayerson, a lawyer who has represented more than 1,000 families. 'Either invest the money now for effective programming or find that your efforts are inadequate.' "
As I read this Times story about the increase in autistic students and in the cost of educating them, I noticed that the reporter never told us why this was happening. If the number of blind students had more than doubled in seven years in NY City schools, wouldn't they tell us what was causing so many kids to be disabled? The Times didn't get around to it. I could only imagine a staff meeting at the Times where an editor asked the reporter about the piece.
STAFF MEETING AT THE NYTIMES:
Editor: "You don't give a reason for the big increase in the number of New York City schoolchildren with autism. Did you ask anyone where they're coming from?"
Reporter: "No one knows for sure. Someone said it was because doctors are better at recognizing autism and they've expanded the definition of the disorder."
"Well, has there been a huge decrease in other categories of disabilities?"
"Not that I've heard. No one really knows anything. They told me to talk to the Centers for Disease Control. Officials there said they're not sure if more kids really have autism or not. It's a mystery."
"Is anyone worried about this trend? What if the numbers double again in the next seven years?"
"No one I talked to seemed concerned."
"Does anyone know what's going to happen to these kids when they become adults?"
"No one I talked to seemed concerned."
"Does anyone know how we're going to cover the cost for services?"
"No one really has an answer."
Anti-science agencies like the CDC, along with groups like the AAP ignore these kids, claim they're no problem, and scratch their collective heads over autism as some BIG MYSTERY. They still promote the lie that autism hasn't increased, despite spending millions of tax dollars counting these kids for the last 20 years.
In the end, the truth will hit us right between the eyes.
Right now, we just blindly stumble on seemingly unconcerned about the future, but stories about autism are always about kids with autism. Soon we'll be hearing about the needs of the young adults along with the continuing impact of autistic children.
I used to say, "No one is going to care about these kids until they're in the streets with no place to go." I meant it as a metaphor but now I see it as a real possibility. For years I've been writing about the devastating impact this disabled generation will have on America, both socially and economically. I'd love to be proven wrong but below are the official figures. We are just beginning to see what autism is going to cost us. This trend shows no signs of slowing down. We've often been told that there are 500,000 autistic children in the U.S. Official estimates of lifetime care cost range from $3 to $5 million and more PER INDIVIDUAL.
These statistics show us clearly what's happening.
When 1 in 150 is really 1 in 67 HERE
By Raymond W. Gallup & F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP
Look at the Dept. of Ed. figures and imagine a similar increase in the number of young adults applying for Social Security Disability.
UPDATE:
Recently President pro Tem of the California State Senate, Darrell Steinberg , announced the establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Autism (ASD). Steinberg said that their intention is to make autism a “public health priority.”
Various state officials and autism advocates spoke at a press conference explaining what their work would include. They talked about the cost of autism, the need for services, and the shocking numbers in CA.
While Steinberg made a reference to the “prevention of autism,” no one expanded on this idea during the press conference. A number of upcoming bills were talked about.
One state senator aims to help with early diagnosing and intervention. Someone else is working on housing for people with autism. Another senator is focusing on employment for affected adults.
One speaker gave us the mind-boggling numbers, saying that there were "14,000 students with autism a decade ago.” Then he added the increase, “46,000 students today, and growing."
As I watched the video, I kept waiting for someone to say, "We have to find out why this is happening to so many children. We can't keep adding thousands of children like this. This is a national health care emergency." But no one did.
Rick Rollens of the MIND INSTITUTE spoke and made what I thought were the best comments.
These were among the things he said:
"Autism is epidemic in this state as it is throughout the country."
"Autism population is skewed dramatically toward young children."
"Eight-four percent of the autism population is under the age of 21."
"More six and seven year olds in the system than all the adults with autism combined."
What these people are talking about is reality. This is what autism is doing to our country. When Steinberg pointed out the billions of dollars autism is costing us now and the billions more autism will be costing as these kids age out into adulthood no one made the claim that there’s been no real increase, only "better diagnosing.”
And no one said that these kids are going to outgrow autism because there is absolutely no evidence in the real world that it happens.
Anne Dachel is Media Editor of Age of Autism.
Good job, Anne!
Wondering if the vaccine for swine flu--ooops I mean H1N1--will be preserved with thimerosal?
Wondering if Offit will promote it......?
Maybe it will be a combo shot to go after ALL the bad flu culprits --seasonal, bird, and this....etc?
I'm sure the marketing guys are working on it as we speak............
Posted by: offit and swine combo shots | May 03, 2009 at 09:17 AM
I agree with Autism Grandma. Out of all the things they are able to figure out, they just 'can't' figure out what causes autism or allergies??? I think they do know and they don't care.
And the monster comment is quite accurate. Read this quote from cogforlife about how fetal cells were obtained for use in vaccines:
"“For example, he talks about how in Sweden they have been puncturing the sac of a pregnant woman at let us say 14 to 16 weeks, and then they put a clamp on the head of the baby, pull the head down into the neck of the womb, drill a hole into the baby's head, and then put a suction machine into the brain and suck out the brain cells. And this is directly from his book. Healthy human fetuses from 7 to 21 weeks from legal abortions were used. This is in Sweden. The conception age was estimated from crown rump length and so on. Fetal liver and kidney were rapidly removed and weighed. Now at 21 weeks, what they were doing, or 18 weeks, or 16 weeks, was what is called prostaglandin abortions. They would inject a substance into the womb. The woman would then go into mini-labor and pass this baby. 50% of the time, the baby would be born alive, but that didn't stop them. They would just simply open up the abdomen of the baby with no anesthesia, and take out the liver and kidneys, etc.” [23]
Even more distressing is the fact that there was no need for any abortions to be done in order to create a rubella vaccine. There were already two licensed rubella vaccines on the US market: the Cendehill and Merck’s HPV-77, both of which use animal cell lines – and both of which are still licensed today and could be brought to market at any time. [24] The efficacy and safety of both vaccines is not an issue either as they rate pretty much the same as the present day rubella.[25]
Assuming then that a new vaccine was desired for some other unknown reason, again, it was not necessary to isolate the virus through abortion. There was an epidemic - scientists could have done exactly what the Japanese did: they swabbed the throat of an infected child! Nor was it necessary to cultivate the rubella virus on fetal cell lines, also evidenced by the Japanese who cultivated their vaccine on rabbit cells.[26]"
http://www.cogforlife.org/fetalvaccinetruth.htm#The_Need_for_Further_Fetal_Tissue_
Posted by: CM | May 02, 2009 at 09:07 PM
Every time I read another "reason" and "contributing factor" regarding autism, all I can think is this: All of the kids today have toxins in their system, and various other health issues. BUT why is it that children can survive all this without developing autism unless major doses of heavy metals and other toxins are injected right into their bodies over and over again in the USA (United States of Autism) and Great Britain. Is it some kind of "coincidence" that the countries with the largest vaccine schedules have these horrific rates of autism, and the other countries with the lowest autism rates also have the lowest vaccine schedules? This doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out, but the vaccine industry and government agencies are all pretending like "they just don't understand". LIES LIES LIES...They know exactly what is going on with the vaccines and that is why hired guns like Dr. Profitt get on TV and do the damage control. The only people who can protect these innocent children right now are their own parents by just saying NO to the vaccines because Big Pharma only cares about Big Bucks and they will do whatever it takes to keep the vaccine money machine going. These monsters do not give a flying f*ck about our children!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Autism Grandma | May 02, 2009 at 06:32 PM
For nancy H.
Maybe there is a little truth in what Offit says about a car ride. My daughter and both of her children had horrendous what the medical community calls colic and has no explanation for(but we know better now) I used to take my daughter as a baby and also my grandchildren in my car and ride up and down the freeway in the middle of the night and for some crazy reason it would soothe their aching guts and they would stop screaming. The stop lights were difficult though.
maurine
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | May 02, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Paul Offit has no expertise whatsoever in the diagnosis, treatment, and general condition of Autism. He was a patent holder of a vaccine; that's his expertise.
His assumption that kids automatically outgrow autistic symptoms as they get older is just absurd. My child's aggression, seizures, bowel issues and other Autism related health challenges have gotten WORSE after the age of five Paul Offit....worse!!
I love how on this issue, if someone disagrees with them, people like Paul Offit expect facts, figures, peer review data from that person, etc....yet when it is something they believe he is more than willing to offer as fact his speculations and opinions that are unsubstantiated by expertise on the issue....speculations like Autistic people naturally outgrow Autistic traits as they get older.
Perhaps Paul Offit should stick to creating vaccines. His foray into acting as if he were an expert in the field of Autism screams that the man "doth protest too much".
Posted by: SMD | May 02, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Is it also just a coincidence when you make millions from a vaccine that you spout bullsh*t?
Posted by: MadDad's wife | May 01, 2009 at 10:27 PM
So... Paul Offit says "If you take a child who is screaming uncontrollably and put them in a car, they calm down."
Well, maybe they become relieved thinking they're going to get medical help. Or maybe they've just screamed themselves hoarse, or to the point of exhaustion. Pain has a tendency to do that to a little kid.
Posted by: nhokkanen | May 01, 2009 at 10:18 PM
I was recently driving with 3 friends. 3 of us have teenagers and 1 is younger having a daughter 3 and son 1. As we were talking the 2 moms with older kids asked me about nutrition and what they should do for their kids who have a host of problems apraxia, language delays etc. now these kids are not even special needs and they are having all these problems. They including my own son aren't even include in this number. I call them the walking wounded bc their parents just can't understand why johnny just isn't as bright as his older sister.
While talking we all agreed vaccines had something to do our childrens condition. The young mom wasn't having any of it she LOVED her doctor and believes everything she says. BLAH.. Blah blah... I just said I will pray for your children and you know where I live I'm here when You need me HERE ALL OF US IN THE CAR HAD DAMAGED CHILDREN AND SHE WAS BLINDLY HEADING TO THE LIGHT.
Posted by: Maureen O | May 01, 2009 at 09:57 PM
Anne,
Nobody says it like you in coming down on the media. I wish your statements were printed in every newspaper in the country.
Your comments make me laugh(and not really because the subject matter is funny), but they also make me want to cry. How do you get yourself to calm down every day? Blink, blink.
thanks, Maurine
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | May 01, 2009 at 09:19 PM
Excellent piece, Anne. Thank you.
Regarding Offit's explanation of "coincidence" for children who recover from biomed...isn't it strange that we're not seeing any of those coincidental recoveries after mainstream meds? Why are no parents exclaiming, "My child recovered after taking Zyprexa!!" We should be hearing this too, following Offit's logic. But we're not.
Posted by: just wondering.... | May 01, 2009 at 02:41 PM
The word cause seems to trip us up I think? So, in my mind, I think of a plant. A plant from a great nursery, fed well with fertilizers, given proper sunlight, water, etc, can grow. To a point, it's in a container. You bring it home. You have two options, put it in the rocky soil, put it where it's not suppose to be, put it in the weeds which seem to choke it, never fertlize, water it...what would be the outcome? Of course, it won't thrive. The opposite to that, is that you give the plant a chance to thrive, and do the exact opposite. You feed it, nurse it, talk to it for cyring out loud, and you have a healthy plant, able to handle the wind, the cold and chaff, planted in the right zone, and you have a plant for years.
In like fashion, are we not setting up our children for failure, when we think that their immune system can handle the rocky soils, the droughts, the no sun? Do we in like fashion, put them in the weeds? This is what vaccines do. They give the body mixed messages, harder times to heal, they thwart the immune and metabolic function, they actually damage, and our children are not thriving and are damaged in a variety of lovely attributals. We have the worse mortality rate in the world, the highest autism rate, we are getting more autoimmune neurological disorders, and we have a sickly population dependent on scary drugs which exasterbate mitochondria, poison the body, etc. We are basically all under the gun. Mothers are sick who have kids with autism, fathers are sick, siblings are sick. This should be a giant clue for all of us? Are we toxic? Are we infectious? The answer is yes. Epidemics are likely caused by a pathogen that is passed to family members. That pathogen could be vaccines, or it could be an infection in utero.
Vaccines may not be the cause of autism, it may be that our bodies are already not functioning even at subnuclear, subnormal, smoldering levels, and that vaccines TRIP the body into a mode, where we are open to many things. It may damage the immune system so far, that the brain immune system never works again. IF you get an MMR vaccine, in research, they show your lymphocyte system is damaged for one year. For that year, you can be exposed to lyme pathogens, to viruses and bacteria either already in you are you are newly exposed, which are fully capable in nature to cause autism. In utero, the effects are even worse, because the developing brain won't be able to handle these things when they need the timing and information it needs to grow and lay down properly pathways and signals, anagolous to a nursery stock which is in a container too small and with crappy soil. You have a sickly plant fromt he get go...
So, in my mind, vaccines either CAUSE, or INITIATE, or WORSEN the autism condition. This would explain why not all children get autism by vaccines. What are the preconditions? What was the condition of mother, child? IT's like saying all people who get he swine flu are going to die, no, this is not the case...and so it seemed the case for the small toddler, who had preconditions. Perhaps our kids have poor methylation, glutathione, metallothionein, high copper and low zinc, low B-12, intrinsic factors, X linked maternal mitochondrial dysfunctions, low oxygen, hypoxia from bith processes (ICC), pitocin damage, hormonal damage, mercury poisoned in utero, etc.
So, I think these scientists know these things, and know that you can't say one thing causes autism, but that doesn't excuse their behavior in this issue. So, they shove things under the carpet because their science doesn't explore the multifactorial multiple infectious and toxic interchanges with a child who is vaccinated heavily in this schedule.
This is why we can't predict what child is going to be fine, and which child is going to be devastated. In that type of environment, no one should think they can go unscathed. Be it politician, actors, senators, congressmen, and even presidents. This is an equal opportunity destroyer. However, I must say, that in my 26 years now in autism...that I have never, ever met a WELL mother. And I mean, yeah, you can fake it all you want, but, your tests reflect your childs. You can have silent thrombaphilia, you can have tendency to iron overload, you can be tired a lot, you can have MTHFR/COMT and glutathione block, you can have a silent indisdious infection, you can have arthritis, night blindnes, mercury in your mouth, low lithium, MS, thyroid disease...you are not fooling me moms...we are the tree, with a bucket full of apples, and the apples that fall, don't fall far from. And that goes for the Dad's too...
And this is not a beat your chest type of response moment...I am just an observer here...and in those years, I have taken great strides to prove this issue, and it seems, I am on the right track...maybe the first person that should be tested to see if vaccines are contraindicated, is the parents? AFter all, even at MINDS, they found KDA proteins that are autoantibodies against fetal brain tissue....the KDA proteins they found are borrelia lyme.
Posted by: Kathy Blanco | May 01, 2009 at 01:55 PM
ObjectiveAutismDad - Ditto!
He can't fill out his SSI application
Posted by: L Land | May 01, 2009 at 01:14 PM
CM your observation is just so obvious, so right there in front of you, it's amazing how noone reads the writing on that wall. It amazes me everyday. Disgusts me as well.
Posted by: Col | May 01, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Yeah my son's getting better now that he's an adult (just turned 18)...
He just learned to tie his shoes.
He still can't effectively brush his own teeth.
He still can't wipe himself effectively.
He still doesn't understand that you can't just run out into the street.
If left alone he'll just wander off (last year at the beach he took off down the beach and I followed him for about a mile -- he never looked back once to notice that I was there).
He doesn't communicate what's bothering him when he's in pain -- other than by banging his head.
He doesn't talk clearly enough (most of the time) that people can understand him -- including close family members.
He can't prepare his own food.
Basically he needs one on one attention 24 hours a day....
And he's improved quite a bit in fits and starts -- but only when we make changes to his biomed treatments.
Posted by: ObjectiveAutismDad | May 01, 2009 at 09:23 AM
Again, I have to say these kids have coincidence disorder. They coincidently get what is termed autism[vaccine sequaele] after getting vaccinated and then they coicidently get better after biomedical treatments.
Posted by: paula p proffit merckelouse | May 01, 2009 at 08:01 AM
This statement IMO actually implicates the vaccines:
"You're worse between 2 and 5, and you tend to get better between 5 and 10."
Children get bombarded with over 30 vaccines by the time they turn 2 and then again at 4 with a series of booster shots.
Then between 5 and 10, when they're not getting any shots, they get better.
I was told the same thing about eczema. I was told that eczema tends to go away by age 11. I quit vaccinating (because of other more serious symptoms), and the eczema went away before age 2 and never came back.
Posted by: CM | May 01, 2009 at 07:49 AM
In the UK many of us will recall that under the title of "Care in the Community" in the mid 1980s the Thatcher government moved to close Victorian asylums for the mentally disabled and in many case ever so humanely dumped them on the street - I remember them milling round the West End. I wonder if very similar things didn't happen in the US at the same time, and it shows they can do these things and it never becomes a major political issue.
There is nothing like victimising the already powerless when things are tough. Indeed, New Labour endlessly whittle away at the benefit rights of the disabled - we have just had a new wave of "reforms" which will undoubtedly hit ASD people very badly - under thee guise of equal rights. When we see Simon Baron-Cohen successfully sweeping the true rate of ASD under the carpet for half a decade we have to ask just whose side he is on.
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/04/autism-the-64-billion-dollar-a-year-question-for-simon-baroncohen-ben-goldacre-fiona-fox-and-autism-.html
This is certainly one key reason why are governments must not be allowed to continue to shuffle off responsibility for what has happened. They have walked away too many times already.
Posted by: John Stone | May 01, 2009 at 07:35 AM