By Martin Walker

The expression often used by Mr. Herbert Spencer
of the Survival of the Most Corrupt
is more accurate, and is sometimes
equally convenient.

With apologies to Darwin and Mr Herbert Spencer

And so it came to be that Dr Kumar, the Chairman of the GMC Fitness to Practice Panel trying Dr Andrew Wakefield, Professor Simon Murch and Professor Walker-Smith sat without the flicker of a smile on his face, leaning on the long plastic topped table and read out the verdicts to the many charges. The Panel found that; most of the children in the Lancet paper had been experimented upon outside the inclusion dates of research ethical committee approval 172/96. That a number of the children had been subjected to aggressive procedures not sanctioned by any research ethics committee. That in most cases parental approval had not been lodged in the case files and that Dr Wakefield had "treated children with a 'callous disregard' for the distress and pain that he knew or ought to have known the children involved might suffer. This latter aside, although repeated by the media incessantly throughout Thursday night, actually referred to the taking of a small quantity of blood by a trained professional from 5 healthy children, whose parents were friends of the Wakefield's; a control sample for a study. This had nothing to do with the experimental procedures that were supposedly carried out by Dr Wakefield on the 12 children reviewed in the Lancet paper.

As the recitation of the crimes of Dr Wakefield came to an end, it appeared as if Dr Wakefield, had in the mid nineties, been some kind of inhuman Nazi experimenter practicing on children in the heart of England; an overlooked human vivisector who stalked a large North London hospital committing serious crimes with the two other criminals in his firm, invisible to his colleagues and unseen by the hospital administration.

Kumar didn't have an easy read of the verdict. Feelings ran high. The GMC were unable to keep order. Muttering began as Kumar's message became clear while he dodged through the verdict; the microphones working with loud clarity for the first time in two and a half years. Suddenly one parent exploded in a clutter of bags and clothing, a scarf and a jacket, she stood up, twisted round a blur of mustard, shouting as she made her way out of the hearing room. She evaded the GMC security as they tried to manhandling her. After a short quiet with Kumar continuing, another parent, dressed attractively in purples, fury on her face, raged against him, repeating  'the children' over and again. GMC security did catch up with this diminutive parent and held her bruisingly in the lift on the way to expelling her from the premises.

The public gallery began to empty. Then after another five minutes of Kumar's sucrose voice, a freewheeling free-for-all pushed its way to the door. It was headed by a straighter than straight parent, one who usually appeared unable to be aggressive, he remonstrated with the Hearing, like a radical haranguing a rabble, every word in place, beautifully composed. He informed the panel that they were the only ones who had behaved unethically, not the doctors who had tried to care for their children.

Outside again, the parents drew together and began chanting their message or catching up with reporters, trying to squeeze the last juice from the media. Jim Moody, Dr Wakefield's friend and a lawyer a frequent visitor from the US during the hearing had that day delivered to the GMC an indictment of the prosecution's central witnesses in the hearing. I thought as I listened to him, he was far too articulate for a media able only to understand cacophony. Nevertheless they pretended to listen intently, pointing 57 varieties of recording technology in his direction. That night I could find not even rubble of his speech in the broadcast media.

By Barbara Loe Fisher
 
I remember the day I met Dr. Andrew Wakefield. It was September 12, 1997 and he had just flown into Dulles Airport from London the night before to speak at the First International Public Conference on Vaccination sponsored by the National Vaccine Information Center. The title of his talk was “Measles Virus & Measles Vaccine: Lessons to be Learned.”
 
It was five months before he and 12 other physician colleagues would publish a study in The Lancet calling for more research into a possible association between inflammatory bowel disease, MMR vaccine and developmental delays in some children.
 
I met Dr. Wakefield that day in 1997 in the auditorium where our conference was to take place as he was trying to decide what to do with a slide that identified him as being employed by the Royal Free Hospital. You see, he had received a telephone threat from London in the middle of the night warning him that if he spoke at our conference, he might not have a job when he returned to Britain. He then described to me the intense pressure he had been under from senior health officials in Britain to withdraw from our conference.

This was five months before he and his colleagues published the first article in the medical literature suggesting there might be an association between vaccine induced chronic inflammation in the body and developmental delays in some children.
 
In September 1997, Andrew Wakefield was a young British gastroenterologist, a rising star in the world of experimental medicine. He had received awards and scholarships for original research into the pathogenesis and etiology of inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease.....Click here HERE to watch a video and read the full commentary as well as read a Statement by NVIC about Andrew Wakefield and his research.

Barbara Loe Fisher is founder of The National Vaccine Information Center.

Parents of Children with Autism Call Decision in Wakefield Trial a Threat to Medical Integrity

GMC Findings Uphold Status Quo, Discourage Physicians from Listening to Parents’ Concerns

Nixa, MO – Parents of children with autism around the world are calling the findings against Dr. Andrew Wakefield in the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) unjust and a threat to researchers investigating autism as a medical condition.  The verdict comes less than a month after an article in the journal Pediatrics1 urged further study of a link between gastrointestinal disturbances and autism originally pointed out by Dr. Wakefield in 1998.

The GMC hearings have been labeled a smear campaign from the beginning by thousands of parents in the autism community who hold Dr. Wakefield in high regard for his pioneering work to understand autism’s medical underpinnings. Many parents of children with autism view the GMC investigation as little more than character assassination of a physician brave enough to investigate controversial issues, and fear that relevant science will never advance if researchers are forced to put their careers in jeopardy by following the scientific truth wherever it leads.

Additional confirmation of Dr. Wakefield’s early findings was published yesterday by a research team led by Arthur Krigsman, MD in the journal Autism Insights.2   The researchers found a significant association between ileo and/or colonic inflammation and the onset of developmental disorder, which further supports autism as a medical versus a behavioral condition as parents have been reporting for years to the medical community.

“Dr Wakefield was one of the first physicians to take the concerns of parents seriously and investigate the medical conditions they noted in their children,” commented NAA Board Chair Lori McIlwain.  “The real danger comes from those unwilling to ask questions, seek answers and challenge comfortable science for the sake of propelling medicine to a higher level of safety. Here’s a doctor who asks the questions others are too afraid to ask, even though it’s their obligation to ask them on behalf of our children. Bravo to Dr. Andrew Wakefield.”

For more information on autism, visit www.nationalautismassociation.org

Jack is our commenter of the week for:

How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
-Bob Dylan, Hurricane
 
on the post, Sad Day for our Children.

Didn't win but still want a T-shirt? Taking a page from public television, we'll happily send you one as our thank you for making a donation to A of A via our PayPal donate button.  You choose the donation amount. OK? Please tell us on the PayPal form if you want an adult M, L, XL or 2XL and include your mailing  address in the comments box at PayPal. Click below to  to see the back of the shirt.

  “That’s baseless conspiracy-mongering”, some might counter, contending that any anecdote I might dig up is simply the normal process of scientific quality control. “Welcome to the real world”, I respond, because this is something entirely new and disturbing. The deep and profound censorship occurring around autism science reaches depths that few casual observers can imagine.

I have proof.

By Mark F. Blaxill

There are no words to describe the findings of the General Medical Council (GMC). All I can say is that none of us should be surprised. The stakes had escalated far too high for the British medical establishment to countenance any other outcome. In the face of this parody of real justice, the only thing for the autism community to do now is stand by Andy Wakefield. Like him, we must not be intimidated; which is why I am proud to call Andy my friend. He is all of our friend.

We must also not forget two other fine men, John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch, men who have devoted their professional lives to healing the guts of sick children, and whose public reputations stand in tatters before the world, assaulted by the public health propaganda machine, victims of a modern day show trial. The GMC proceeding is a frightening and thoroughly modern form of tyranny. It makes you shudder to think what Stalin or McCarthy might have accomplished if their public relations had been more skillful and better organized.

The extremity of the GMC’s verdict--all three men guilty on all counts—lays bare any pretense that the British medical establishment cares one whit about the welfare of its patients. Let’s put in perspective the actions at issue here. No children were harmed and no parent or guardian has complained about the care these three men provided. In fact, the procedures involved were routine, the resulting treatments standard and the careful attention to gastrointestinal illness in autistic children has recently been endorsed by a consensus statement published in the journal Pediatrics (no friend of the autism community). Considered in this light, the GMC hearing process stands exposed for what it is. It was not about medical standards. It was not about evidence. It was not even civilized.  It was, rather, a naked exercise in intimidation, a fateful moment of moral decision in which the medical industrial complex exposed its ruthless, repressive essence. They are a frightening bunch and their conduct here raises issues well beyond autism.

There are others who can and will speak to the particulars of the case: the accusations, the evidence, and the integrity of the witnesses for the prosecution (see HERE and  HERE ). But it’s important to remember that this trial has never really been about the three doctors. If it were, it would never have consumed so many millions of dollars and thousands of hours over more than two years. The real goal of this proceeding, what I have called The Wakefield Inquisition (see HERE ) is to send a clear message to anyone--clinician or scientist--who dares step out of line like Wakefield did. And as parents and citizens, we all need to understand one thing: that message has been received loud and clear.

Jan 28th, 2010

Thoughtful House is naturally disappointed by today’s report from the UK General Medical Council.

A careful examination of the full record of the Council’s inquiry will show that the charges made against Drs. Wakefield, Murch, and Walker-Smith are unfounded and unfair. We invite anyone to review the record, and to draw their own conclusions.

The work of Thoughtful House on behalf of children with developmental disorders and their families goes on. We are dedicated to the recovery of these children.

Our focus continues to be to provide the best possible treatment for these children, and to conduct medical research in order to ensure continuing improvements in the quality of treatment available.

Thoughtful House supports a safety-first vaccination policy and upholds the right of parents to choose what’s best for their children. We urge parents who have concerns about vaccinating their children to consult with knowledgeable medical professionals.

More information about us, and the work we do, can be found at Thoughtful House.

FAQ: Thoughtful House and the MMR Vaccine

GMC Rules Against Wakefield et al, Yet Medical Establishmen Agrees  Further Study of GI Disease in Children with Autism Is Top Priority

Thursday, January 27, 2010 - Today the General Medical Council (GMC), the regulatory body for doctors in the UK, made findings of fact in connection to a complaint filed by journalist Brian Deer. The complaint alleged conflicts of interest and unethical research against Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Dr. John Walker-Smith and Dr. Simon Murch relating to their 1998 case series published in the Lancet.  As a result of these findings, the GMC will now determine the severity and appropriate sanctions, which could go so far as the loss of their licenses to practice medicine. 

SafeMinds is very disappointed by the GMC’s findings  The false testimony and the ensuing GMC FTP hearing have had the effect of delaying necessary research into cause and treatment for autism, and dissuading scientists from pursuing research relating to vaccines as a cause of chronic disease.

In the Lancet paper Wakefield et al reported a novel inflammatory bowel disease in 12 children with developmental regression (autism) and expressly stated that “We did not prove an association between measles mumps and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described.” The conclusion drawn by the case series was that, “Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to the vaccine.”  The study’s conclusion and call for additional research is often incorrectly misinterpreted as a call to discontinue immunization against measles, mumps and rubella. 

A Statement from Generation Rescue in Support of Dr. Andrew Wakefield

Do you think pharmaceutical companies have too much influence in the laws, policies, and regulations of our government? We do.

Do you think pharmaceutical companies do things that most Americans would view as unethical to protect their profits? We do.

In a court case in Australia involving the use of the drug Vioxx, it was proven that Merck (the manufacturer of Vioxx) “made a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralised" or discredited because they criticised the anti-arthritis drug the pharmaceutical giant produced."

In fact, a Merck employee wrote in an email concerning these doctors: "We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live."

This isn’t the stuff of conspiracy theories, this isn’t the stuff of cynics or crazy parents, this is court-documented behavior of Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world who happens to also be the manufacturer of one of the world’s most profitable vaccines, the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella).

The recent decision by the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom against Andy Wakefield shouldn’t surprise anyone who understands the stakes, profits, and reputations at risk in the debate over vaccines and autism.

The sole purpose of the GMC’s ruling this week is to try and quell the growing concern of parents that the expanding vaccine schedule and the remarkable rise in autism are correlated. The GMC will no doubt be helped by a press that barely understands the debate and has never read any of the dozens of studies published by Dr. Wakefield in many different respected medical journals.

The General Medical Council’s (GMC) verdict today concerning Dr. Andrew Wakefield brings together autism organizations across the United States who stand united in support of him, unequivocally renounce the GMC’s findings, and demand an investigation into possible conflicts of interests at the GMC.  We further challenge the U.K. and U.S. governments to offer grants for gold standard research into why so many children with autism have gastrointestinal pathology, as well as any links between this pathology and the symptoms of autism, before all of the children of the world are affected.

Today's verdict by the General Medical Council epitomized their negligence in respecting all of the sound scientific studies worldwide replicating the findings of Dr. Andrew Wakefield.  In the United States we will continue to fund studies replicating Wakefield’s work. We will focus more heavily on helping to educate the British public about the dangers of the MMR. We will look with renewed vigor into possible misconduct by the GMC. And, most importantly, we will continue to recover children from autism thanks, in large measure, to Dr. Wakefield’s pioneering work.  We have witnessed and applaud the sustained courage and dignity of Dr. Andrew Wakefield.  He has stood by the children, and we will stand by him.

Autism One
Autism Research Institute
Generation Rescue
National Autism Association
SafeMinds
Schafer Autism Report
Talk About Curing Autism
Unlocking Autism

Members of the Autism Collaboration

Click HERE to read the full report from TACA.

January 28, 2010
Prepared by Rebecca Estepp, TACA Manager, Strategic Partnerships

Despite jeers from the audience filled with supportive parents, The General Medical Council (GMC) found Dr. Andrew Wakefield to have “failed in his duties as a responsible consultant,” and “abused his position of trust” when conducting research in the late 1990s. Another hearing will be held to decide the sanctions of these findings. Coming to these decisions has been a long drawn out process. Here is a quick explanation of the proceedings.

What is the GMC?

The GMC is responsible for registering doctors to practice medicine in the United Kingdom.  Their purpose is to protect, promote and maintain the public health safety. They ensure proper standards in the practice of medicine. In July of 2007, the GMC began a “Fitness to Practice” hearing that charges Dr. Wakefield with serious professional misconduct. This trial is the largest hearing the GMC has ever conducted. It lasted 148 days over a two-and-a-half year period, called 36 witnesses and has cost more than £1 million pounds.

Why did the GMC bring this case against Dr. Wakefield?

In February of 1998, The British Medical Journal The Lancet published a paper authored by Dr. Wakefield.  Dr. Wakefield’s article suggested a possible but yet unproven connection between bowel disease and the MMR vaccine. His article focused on a case study of 12 children with neuropsychiatric disorders and bowel disease. At a press conference highlighting the release of his article, Dr. Wakefield suggested breaking up the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate injections for safety reasons. After that suggestion, MMR vaccination rates dropped in Great Britain, causing great concern to public health officials.

Was Dr. Wakefield the only doctor brought up on GMC charges?

No, Professors John Walker-Smith and Simon Murch, colleagues of Dr. Wakefield were also charged with allegations.

Click HERE to read the full report from TACA.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield responds to GMC Hearing decision.



 

The Official Finding of Facts (and summary) from the General Medical Council Fitness to Practice Hearing of Wakefield, Walker-Smith and Murch is in a 143 page .pdf file HERE.

Below is a short form FAQ about the GMC case of Dr. Andrew Wakefield and colleagues Professor John Walker-Smith and Professor Simon Murch 

Did the Ethics Practices Committee of the Royal Free Hospital NHS approve Dr. Wakefield and colleagues' proposal for research biopsies to be conducted on children which ultimately resulted in publication by the Lancet?

YES .  The Ethical Practices Committee of the Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust approved proposal # 162-95 before any biopsies were collected for the case study on the Lancet 12.   

Was the 1998 Lancet article based on a research study or a case study?

The Lancet article was based on a case study.  Case studies do not have control groups.

Did the 1998 Lancet case report say that the MMR vaccine causes autism?

NO.  The Lancet case report reads, "We did not prove an association between measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the syndrome (autistic enterocolitis) described."  The Lancet case report ends with a call for additional research.  "We have identified a chronic enterocolitis in children that may be related to neuropsychiatric dysfunction. In most cases, onset of symptoms was after measles, mumps, and rubella immunisation. Further investigations are needed to examine this syndrome and its possible relation to this vaccine."

Read pdf of complaint here.

(27 January, London)  A First Amended Complaint on behalf of 21 US and UK autism and vaccine safety advocacy organizations against Drs. Horton, Salisbury, Zuckerman, Pegg, and Rutter alleging, inter alia, that they gave false statements and testimony as prosecution witnesses in the proceeding brought by the General Medical Council (GMC) has been filed today.  The false testimony on the two core issues (alleged conflicts of interest and unethical research) has irrevocably corrupted the proceeding against Drs. Wakefield, Walker-Smith, and Murch, and deprived them of a fair hearing.  The objective documentary evidence demonstrates that Dr. Wakefield did not have a disclosable financial conflict; that Dr. Horton (Lancet Editor) was well aware of Dr. Wakefield’s participation in MMR litigation, suppressed that knowledge from the public, and then feigned surprise six years later in order to shift “blame’ for publication of the controversial article to Dr. Wakefield; and that the Ethics Committee had approved the taking of additional biopsies by colonoscopy well before any of the 12 Lancet children were examined.  We call upon the GMC to immediately dismiss the complaints against Dr. Wakefield, Walker-Smith, and Murch and begin an appropriate investigation against Drs. Horton, Zuckerman, Salisbury, Pegg, and Rutter.

Summary of the Allegations in the First Amended Complaint

Read the full 104 page First Amended Complaint .pdf file HERE.

Before the General Medical Council London, United Kingdom In the Matter of:

Dr. Richard Charles Horton (#2927877) Dr. David Maxwell Salisbury (#1413890)

Docket No: _______ Dr. Arie Jeremy Zuckerman (#0870254) Dr. Michael Stuart Pegg (#1560424) Dr. Michael Llewellyn Rutter (#0639943)

FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT (Breach of duty of honesty and candor; False Testimony; Misuse of Professional Position, Failure to Disclose Conflicting Interest, False Expert Testimony)

The autism and vaccine safety organizations (Organizations) in the United States and the United Kingdom listed below call upon the General Medical Council (GMC) to investigate the conduct of Drs. Richard Horton, Arie Zuckerman, Michael Pegg, and David Salisbury in the Fitness To Practice (FTP) hearing against Drs. AndrewWakefield, Professor John Walker-Smith, and Professor Simon Murch. As set forth more fully below, Drs. Horton, Zuckerman, Pegg, and Salisbury breached their duty of candor to GMC and violated Good Medical Practice (GMP) guidelines by giving false and misleading testimony during the investigation and at the FTP hearing. Drs. Horton, Zuckerman, and Salisbury abused their professional positions ofresponsibility and trust by attempting to censor research critical of vaccine safety and interferewith relations between lawyers and scientists. Dr. Salisbury gave misleading testimony regarding the safety of the MMR vaccine and concealed information material to its safety from the public.

These actions have harmed, and will continue to harm, children by chilling and reducing funding for research into causes of and treatments for autism, and clinical care...

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Britain's General Medical Council has come down harshly on Dr. Andrew Wakefield's MMR research, saying he "failed in his duties as a responsible consultant" and was dishonest and irresponsible in describing research published in the Lancet.

Yorkshire Evening Post

 The Independent

Sky News

Read the full study, Clinical presentation and Histologic Findings at Ileocolonoscopy in Children with Autistic spectrum Disorder and Chronic Gastrointestinal symptoms at Autism Insights . View a .pdf HERE.

Arthur Krigsman 1, Marvin Boris 2, Alan Goldblatt 3 and Carol Stott 4

Abstract

Background: Children with developmental disorders experience chronic gastrointestinal symptoms.

Aims:To examine the nature of these gastrointestinal symptoms and histologic findings in children with autism spectrum/developmental disorders and ileocolonic disease.

Methods:
Chart review. 143 autism spectrum/developmental disorder patients, with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms, undergoing diagnostic ileocolonoscopy.

Results: Diarrhea was present in 78%, abdominal pain in 59% and constipation in 36%. Ileal and/or colonic lymphonodular hyperplasia (LNH), defined as the presence of an increased number of enlarged lymphoid follicles, often with hyperactive germinal centers, was
present in 73.2%. Terminal ileum LNH presented visually in 67% and histologically in 73%. Colonic LNH was multifocal and presented histologically in 32%. Ileal and/or colonic inflammation presented in 74%, consisting primarily of active or chronic colitis (69%). Ileal
inflammation presented in 35%. Presence of LNH significantly predicted mucosal inflammation.

Patients with ileal and/or colonic LNH had lower mean/median age than those without; patients with ileal and/or colonic inflammation had lower mean/median age than those
without. There was a significant association between ileo and/or colonic inflammation or LNH, and onset of developmental disorder; plateaued or regressive onset conferred greater risk than early onset.

Conclusions: Patients with autism or related disorders exhibiting chronic gastrointestinal symptoms demonstrate ileal or colonic inflammation upon light microscopic examination of biopsy tissue. Further work is needed to determine whether resolution of histopathology
with appropriate therapy is accompanied by GI symptomatic and cognitive/behavioral improvement.

Keywords:ASD ileitis, colitis, lymphonodular hyperplasia

1 Assistant professor of pediatrics, New York University school of Medicine Director of Gastroenterology services, Thoughtful House Center for Children, 3001 Bee Caves Rd, Austin, Texas, 78746, UsA.

2 Associate Clinical professor of pediatrics, New York University school of Medicine, 550 1st Ave., New York, NY 10016, UsA.

3 Adjunct professor Touro College, 27-33 West 23rd st, New York, NY 10010, UsA.

4Thoughtful House Center for Children, 3001 Bee Caves Rd,
Austin, Texas, 78746, UsA.

Autism Insights 2010:2 1–11

This article is available from http://www.la-press.com.
© the author(s), publisher and licensee Libertas Academica Ltd.
This is an open access article. Unrestricted commercial use is permitted provided the original work is properly cited.

 

By Kim Stagliano

This story is why we parents, derisively called "Curebies" because we seek treatment for autism, will never stop seeking recovery for our kids. As the numbers explode, expect more horror stories of abuse and neglect.

AKRON -- Akron school leaders placed a school aid with a troubled past on paid leave following allegations that he dragged a child with severe disabilities through a hallway by his ankles.  Ingram Myers, 50, attended a disciplinary hearing Wednesday morning to discuss the incident that occured at Ellet High School. The student, who suffers from severe autism, cannot speak and functions at the level of a toddler, according to his mother. He fell to the hallway floor Jan. 14, and that's when Myers allegedly dragged him by his ankles 50-100 feet back to his classroom. Read more at WKYC.  

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of www.ageofautism.com and mom to 3 daughters with autism. Her memoir, All I Can Handle. I'm No Mother Teresa. debuts Fall 2010. 

This week, we are running several posts about the UK General Medical Council Hearing. To learn more, click the Dr. Andrew Wakefield and UK/John Stone categories on the left sidebar. The following is an excerpt reprinted with permission from Autism File magazine.

By Andrew Wakefield, MB, BS, FRCS, FRCPath

The research reported by you in The Lancet was substantially different from that for which approval was granted by the Ethical Practices Sub-Committee in that it related to:

i) Children with a diagnosis of autism and not disintegrative disorder ...

Your actions were ... inappropriate, not in the best interests of patients, not in accordance with your professional ethical obligations, likely to bring the medical profession into
disrepute, and fell seriously below the standard of conduct expected of a registered medical practitioner.

The foregoing is a charge made by the General Medical Council in 2004. The subject matter was “That Paper” (see also The Autism File, 2009; Issue 33) – The Lancet paper
of 1998 that first reported intestinal disease in children with developmental regression. Notwithstanding the fact that in his enthusiasm Mr. Dobson got the wrong Ethical Sub-
Committee approval1 and the wrong research protocol for the wrong children… …there is so much more to this esoteric charge than meets the eye, and the “more” deserves scrutiny.

Let’s rewind to 1995-7, armed with the enduring adage “if in doubt examine the patient.” Among the presenting clinical features of The Lancet children were some that were
apparently uncharacteristic of autism, at least as it was generally understood at that time. For all 12 children, these included normal or near-normal early development, a clearly delineated onset of behavioral/developmental symptoms, and loss of previously acquired skills. In addition, four children had become incontinent after previously having been potty-trained, while seven children had developed obvious clumsiness (ataxia), a motor symptomclearly indicative of central nervous system dysfunction (encephalopathy).

Read the full article in .pdf format from Autism File HERE.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION © THE AUTISM FILE

LISTEN TO THE PLAYBACK HERE.

Join Curt and Kim Linderman reporting with Polly Tommey of The Autism File and others in the U.K. following the verdict on the hearings involving Drs. Wakefield, Murch, and Walker-Smith.  Selected U.K. and U.S. attendees will be interviewed.

Thursday, January 28, 2010
11:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Linderman LIVE! 
Go to Autism One and click the Autism One Radio Icon.

 

This week, we are running several posts about the UK General Medical Council Hearing. To learn more, click the Dr. Andrew Wakefield and UK/John Stone categories on Age of Autism . The following is an excerpt reprinted with permission from Autism File magazine.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
By Andrew Wakefield, MB, BS, FRCS, FRCPath

On February 28, 1998, twelve colleagues and I published
a case series paper in The Lancet, a respected medical journal, as an “Early Report”1. The paper described the clinical findings in 12 children with an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) occurring in association with a mildto-moderate inflammation of the large intestine (colitis). This was accompanied by swelling of the lymph glands in the intestinal lining (lymphoid nodular hyperplasia), predominantly in the last part of the small intestine (terminal ileum). Contemporaneously, parents of 9 children associated onset of symptoms with MMR exposure, 8 of which were reported in the original paper (see also Child PH’s story on following page). The significance of these findings has been overshadowed by misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and a concerted, systematic effort to discredit the work. This effort, and specifically the complaint of a freelance journalist and an intense political desire to subvert enquiry into issues of vaccine safety and legal redress for vaccine damage, culminated in the longest running and most expensive fitness to practice case ever to come before the United Kingdom’s medical regulator, the General Medical Council. At this point, the evidence is in and the outcome is awaited. Now, and only now, with all of the contemporaneous documentation available, is it timely to review both the original paper and its legacy.

Background

From the late 1980s, my team at the Royal Free Medical School, the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group, published extensively on possible causes and mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease (e.g., Crohn’s disease). This involved examination of a possible causal role for measles and measles vaccine. In May 1995, parents started contacting me with the story that their normally developing child had regressed into autism or an autism-like state, with onset in the majority of cases soon after MMR vaccine. At around the same time, the children had developed chronic gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms similar to those described by Dr. Lenny Gonzalez in the July 2009 edition of The Autism File2. Despite whatwere often debilitating intestinal symptoms, many indicative of abdominal pain, few of
these children had undergone physical examination, let alone been investigated. Mention of the MMR vaccine had often alienated parents further from their child’s health care providers. Many doctors attributed the onset of symptoms to coincidence and were content to leave it at that. Conversely, at the Royal Free a systematic plan of clinical care and research
was designed in order to help affected children.

Read the full article in .pdf format at Autism File HERE.

38 THE AUTISM FILE | www.autismfile.com | [email protected] REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION © THE AUTISM FILE ISSUE 33 2009

The UK General Medical Council Hearing decision is due Thursday, January 28, at 9:01am EDT. We'll be running posts throughout the week, including this one, which first ran on 12/31/08.

From the Roman to the Wakefield Inquisition

By Mark Blaxill

As the year draws to a close, all of us at the Age of Autism are very pleased to honor Dr. Andrew Wakefield. As we’ve reported here many times during the past year, Dr. Wakefield has been the subject of a remarkable and unprecedented campaign to discredit his work and character, most notably in a show trial that is still underway in London, in hearings of the General Medical Council. In the face of extraordinary attempts to silence him, Wakefield has stood up to these attacks with grace and determination and has continued his research and clinical work on behalf of children and families suffering from autism. That makes him our first Age of Autism Galileo Award recipient.

Like many of our awards this year, this wasn’t a difficult decision. In fact, this may be one of those unusual cases where the recipient of an award in some ways outshines its namesake. To understand why that might be so, you need to understand a bit more about why we chose to name the award after the Italian scientist Galileo, what he represents to the history of science and how his experience compares with Wakefield’s.

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy in 1564. And while he was a physicist and mathematician of some note, Galileo was as much a practical mechanic as he was a grand theorist; indeed it was his tinkering with convex and concave lenses that gave him the tools to leave his lasting mark on the world. As a skilled inventor of early working telescopes, he did not design the world’s first telescope, but he was the first to make them powerful enough for scientific use. In fact, the word telescope (derived from the Greek roots skopein, “to see”, and tele for “far”) was coined in 1611 to describe one of Galileo’s first instruments. For the accomplishments that flowed from his pioneering work, he has been described by many as The Father of Modern Physics; Albert Einstein even went so far as to name him The Father of Modern Science.

But Galileo is celebrated today not as much for his engineering talent as for the suffering he endured in support of an unpopular scientific theory. Because it was Galileo’s work with telescopes in the early 17th century that lent critical support to the theory of heliocentrism, the idea that the earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around. As with his telescope technology, Galileo was not the first to propose the heliocentric theory: that distinction belongs to Nicolai Copernicus. Yet Copernicus, a Polish mathematician, was well aware of the personal risk of disseminating his ideas and delayed their publication for many years. Copernicus’ major work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, was published only shortly before his death at age 70 in 1543.

By Sabeeha Rehman

My 8 year old grandson Omar, who is on the autism spectrum, was pulled out at the airport and investigated as a terror suspect - his name being similar to that on the watch list.  He was enroute to Disney World with his parents and siblings.  He was held for an hour and it was only when his date of birth (2001) did not match that of the person's on the watch list, who we understand was in his twenties, and after several huddled meetings and phone calls, was he and his family allowed to board the plane.  He was agitated while being held for an hour, and sat there stimming, but they had to go through their procedures, before they could rule him out as a terrorist. Had his father not been with him during the one hour detention - he too was detained and then cleared - I dread to think of the damage that would have done to Omar.
 
He is 8!  He has autism! 
 
I have brought this to the attention to a reporter at the New York Times, and want to raise this as an issue with our networks, before more children like Omar are subjected to this treatment.
 
Sabeeha Rehman is the grandmother of an 8 year-old child with autism, and President and co-founder of the New York Metro Chapter of the National Autism Association.

By Martin Walker

Around 70 people gathered in the Virginia Woolf Suite at the Hotel Russell in London for the launch of the second volume of the 'parents voice books', Silenced Witnesses: The Parents Story. The Hotel Russell is probably one of the most beautiful hotels in London, and of course the Virginia Woolf suite was ideal considering the literary aspirations of the parents authors.

There are occasions when things go continuously wrong in projects like book writing and publishing. Having been involved in editing, publishing and introducing both volumes of Silenced Witnesses with Carol Stott, I had become aware, with this latest volume at least, that up until the very last minute things can go awry. Just as the books arrived in London from the printers, the company that had been set up to distribute them, collapsed leaving me just before Christmas owing a large amount of money - a loan having been part of the distribution deal - and the books marooned;  unable to even send out copies to the contributing authors. These dispiriting circumstances continued right up to the day of the launch when 2,000 flyers and book order forms, instead of arriving in London to be brought to the venue, ended up in France!

Right up to the start of the launch, I had only a glimmer of hope that everything would go well. However, it turned out be an event to remember and my anxieties, were quickly dissipated when it became clear half an hour before the start of the launch that the sixty chairs available would not be enough to seat everyone.

This is the second volume of Silenced Witnesses from Slingshot Publications, and the object of the books is evident, to give a clear voice to parents of vaccine damaged children, so that whether we win or lose the GMC battle or in the future when we win the scientific and the political arguments about vaccine damage, the parents' voices have been recorded.

Managing Editor's Note: Recently, John Gilmore, of the Autism Action Network, formerly A-Champ, sent a letter to Ari Ne'eman of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, requesting clarification on his views as they relate to his seat on the National Council on Disability. As the mother of three children whose autism means severe limitations on their ability to care for themselves (let alone advocate for themselves) I thank John for asking Mr. Ne'eman if his inclusion on this council will include advocating for all people with autism. John says,  "It is our understanding that you believe that a cure for autism is neither desirable nor should it be a federal research priority, and that too much research funding is used for finding the causes and potential cures and treatments for autism."

See Mr. Ne'emans response below. John's letter follows in full after the jump. John speaks for many of us who are concerned that Mr. Ne'eman is not willing to respond to the questions prior to his appointment. 

From: Ari Ne'eman
Subject: Re: Request for clarification of your views
To: "John Gilmore"
Date: Friday, January 15, 2010, 10:48 AM
Hello John,

I apologize for the delay in responding. I was asked recently by the White House to avoid any further public appearances and speaking to the media until after my confirmation process is complete and I was checking with them as to whether or not it would be acceptable for me to respond to the questions you have sent. Regrettably, they've asked that I avoid answering any questionnaires not provided to me by Senate offices as part of the confirmation process. As a result, I cannot submit my responses right now. With the exception of an article I submitted early last year (before I knew about the nomination) for the upcoming issue of Disability Studies Quarterly, I will not be publishing any writing until after the confirmation process completes. I mention the DSQ piece now because I don't want you to think I'm not being honest with you when it comes out.

However, I would be very interested in providing a response for distribution to your members after my confirmation process is complete. I would see it as a welcome opportunity to communicate some areas of shared belief and advocacy and explain, in a polite, respectful way, the reasons for some of the differences in opinion that exist between our perspectives. Would that be alright? Feel free to e-mail or call me if you have any questions or queries.

Regards,
Ari Ne'eman
President
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
http://www.autisticadvocacy.org

Dear Mr. Ne'eman,

Below is the text of a letter that you will receive as a hard copy shortly from the Autism Action Network (formerly ACHAMP). We are seeking clarification from you on some of your statements and opinions prior to your confirmation. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
John Gilmore
Executive Director Mr. Ari Ne’eman
President
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
c/o Karen Buford
1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
January 6, 2010
 
Dear Mr. Ne’eman,
 
Congratulations on your recent nomination to the National Council on Disability. The Autism Action Network applauds your work on behalf of people on the autistic spectrum to end the use of aversives and to increase support for people with autism in the community. You have made public statements, however, that have cause some measure of concern among our members. The vast majority of the members of our organization are parents or caregivers for low-functioning minor children with an autism diagnosis. Consequently, issues that affect low-functioning people with autism and their families are our primary concern. We would like clarification of your positions on a number of crucial policy issues to assist us in determining whether we will support your nomination. It is our understanding that you believe that a cure for autism is neither desirable nor should it be a federal research priority, and that too much research funding is used for finding the causes and potential cures and treatments for autism. For example on June 10, 2008 on Good Morning America your said, “We do not think to aim for a cure is the right approach to take.” Would you please clarify for us what your position is on the need for research to find the causes, treatments and possible cures for autism, and what levels of research funding you believe are appropriate?

On the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel
www.health.voiceamerica.com

Tuesday, January 26
12 noon Eastern

Segunda parte:  Curando el Autismo (en español) con Kerri Rivera y Lorna Ortiz
 
Segunda parte: Le exhortamos se unan a Kerri Rivera directora de la clínica DAN! Autism02 en Puerto Vallarta, México y a Lorna Ortiz, co-founder of Curando el Autismo, mientras hablan acerca del Congreso Internacional Curando el Autismo (ABA-Biomed) el cual se llevara a cabo los días 6 y 7 del 2010.  El mismo traerá sobre 10 profesionales en los campos de ABA y Biomed provenientes de EU, México y Puerto Rico.  Lorna, es la madre de un niño de 4 años con autismo que ha progresado inmensamente con terapia ABA e intervención biomédica.

Part 2: Join Kerri Rivera, director of the DAN! clinic Autism02 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, & Lorna Ortiz, cofounder of Curando el Autismo, as they share more info about the upcoming Curando el Autismo-International Congress (ABA-Biomed) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Feb. 6 & 7, 2010, featuring over 10 speakers from the US, Mexico & Puerto Rico. Lorna is the mother of a 4-year-old boy who is moving forward with ABA and biomedical interventions for autism.

The treatment category is sponsored by Lee Silsby, the leader in quality compounded medications for autism.

By John Stone

The updated ChildHealthSafety documentary account tracing events back to a hidden deal between the UK government and the manufacturers in 1988 involving a product already banned in Canada, and the astonishing array of conflicts among Andrew Wakefield’s persecutors, all the way to the present General Medical Council hearing in London can be found here (HERE). First posted last January, amid rumours that important new documents were to be made available through Freedom of Information, the information about the improper relations between government and industry was already damning.  Whatever  “the findings on fact” when the hearing resumes on Thursday there can be no excuse the continuing naive reporting of these events.

“The person who commissioned Deer was Paul Nuki, Sunday Times’ sometime Head of Newsroom investigations and “Focus” editor.  Paul Nuki is son of Professor George Nuki. Professor George Nuki in 1987 sat on the Committee on Safety of Medicines when the CSM was considering Glaxo company Smith Kline & French Laboratories’ Pluserix MMR vaccine for safety approval.  The CSM approved Pluserix MMR but it caused very high levels of adverse reactions and was withdrawn by the manufacturers on very little notice in late 1992 leaving the Department of Health in an embarrassing position...”

“Professor Denis McDevitt was due in July 2007 to chair the unprecedented British General Medical Council hearing of the case of Doctors Wakefield, Murch and Professor Walker-Smith.  McDevitt and the GMC failed to declare McDevitt’s personal involvement in approving the dangerous Pluserix MMR vaccine in 1988.  He only stood down after Jamie Doward of the Observer, Martyn Halle, freelance journalist for the Sunday Express, Andy Wilks of the Mail on Sunday, Jenny Hope of the Daily Mail and Heather Mills of Private Eye challenged the GMC over the matter. ["MMR Conflict of Interest Zone" Private Eye - June 2007]

Read more at ChildHealthSafety.

John Stone is UK Contributing Editor of Age of Autism.

 

By Kim Stagliano

Yesterday, I saw a Tweet that talked about a new treatment for the elderly with leukemia (article below the jump) and thought, "Wow, there's a breakthrough to add months to the life of an elderly person and yet there are folks saying our children should not be treated." Thus is born a post on Age of Autism, friends.

Help me understand why it's good to prolong the life of a 75 year old with cancer by several months, but it's not good to change the entire life path of a three year old who is diagnosed with autism?  Aren't both desireable?

There appears to be a concerted effort to make sure autism is seen as untreatable, and to paint those of us who dare treat our kids as fools.  Look at the Chicago Tribune article that featured a supplement so obscure (sorry Dr. Haley) that if you asked 100 parents in the biomed autism world, "What is OSR#1"  99 would give you a blank stare and the hundredth would answer, "The follow up song to Mambo #5? (A little bit of Monica in my life..)".  

I'd like to ask Ari Ne'eman myself.

Sir, I have three beautiful girls who can not cross the street safely. Do you stand behind my desire, as their mother, to find effective and safe treatments outside of psychiatric medications that can be transformed into chemical straight jackets in the adult autism population?  Do you respect my needs for my autistic children or do you only advocate for the highest functioning individuals who have stated that they themselves do not want a cure or treatment?  I respect the desire to self-advocate for my adult friends with Asperger's. I'm in favor of employer education, post secondary school support, better awarenss and training for law enforcement and a lifetime of support as needed for adults on the spectrum. I pray my girls may one day be able to self-advocate. Until then, I am their voice.

I can't imagine a world where people with terminal illnesses advocated only for employment rights, pain management and hospice, and not treatment or cure. Or diabetics advocating for better glucose meters, sugar counts on menus and improved limbs for amputees, but not for research into cause or cure. Why should autism be any different, when the diagnosis can be life altering and even life threatening?

Do you respect my wishes for my kids?

By J.B. Handley

For the first time ever, I’m more hopeful that Autism Speaks may be headed in the right direction. I don’t care too much for their advocacy. Yes, they have absolutely increased the awareness of autism. Yes, they have raised a war chest of funds to support autism research. Yes, they have positioned themselves as committed to the science of autism above all else. These are all good things.

But, I also feel Autism Speaks has really, really let down our kids. They turn a blind eye to stories of recovery, and I still don’t understand why. The have wasted boatloads of money on useless genetic research. And, when it comes to the dreaded “V” word – vaccines – Autism Speaks appears to behave more politically than scientifically. They seem to toe the line, never warning parents of vaccine risks, while trying hard not to alienate our community too much. Are they worried about alienating their donors? Damn straight.

I want Autism Speaks to be a great organization. I want them to end this senseless epidemic. I truly believe that Autism Speaks and the AAP are the only two organizations that can put an end to the autism epidemic, and the AAP is hopelessly devoted to vaccines.

My hope comes from a letter, written almost a year ago, that an AoA reader pointed out to me. A letter buried in the feedback to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee that I never noticed and have been unable to find anywhere online, except buried in a lengthy pdf document (HERE). So, for the first time I know of, the letter, written by Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Geraldine Dawson, is printed below in its entirety so it can be found on the web.

Journalists and our opposition work very hard to portray the vaccine vs. autism debate as one that pits “Science” versus “Parents.” They pretend this debate is over and they want to ridicule our side and make it look like we are all flat-earthers. It’s why a letter like the one below is so refreshing. The next time a journalist, friend, or relative annoys you with their ignorance, just send them this link – the letter is filled with a remarkable number of nuggets, insights, and truths. All written by a PhD scientist, not a parent.

To make life easier for AoA readers, I have also included my Top 17 list of quotes from Autism Speaks’ letter to the Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC). (It perhaps goes without saying that nearly one year after Dr. Dawson wrote this letter, our government has done nothing to address any of the great ideas included here):

Top 17 quotes from Autism Speaks’ Letter to the NVAC

1. “In the past several years, the prevalence of ASD has increased dramatically, underscoring the potential role of environmental factors in its etiology.”

2. “Recent studies point to a key role of the immune system in the biology of ASD, raising questions about the effects of the significant immune challenges associated with vaccinations, particularly when delivered in combination and early in life.”

3. “We believe that the question of whether immunization is associated with an increased risk for ASD is of extremely high priority.”

4. “Still other studies point toward subgroups of children with ASD with genetic vulnerabilities than can amplify the adverse effects of environmental exposures, including vaccinations, on brain development and function”

5. “There is a need to describe the nature and prevalence of vaccine adverse events in children with metabolic disorders and assess risk factors for these events.”

6. “As mentioned in the draft scientific agenda, many key questions have not yet been adequately addressed. Many of the studies to date have relied on data from the Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System (VAERS). While this system has clear strengths such as its broad coverage, it nevertheless has substantial limitations (Ellenberg and Braun, Drug Safety, 2002). Because the system relies on passive self‐report, a major limitation is under‐ reporting such that only a small fraction of adverse events are reported. Furthermore, events that occur weeks following vaccination are less likely to be reported than those that are proximal to the vaccination.”

By Sym and Wade Rankin

My wife and I subscribed to the Chicago Tribune soon after moving into the area a little over three years ago.  Recent articles led us to the conclusion that their editorial bias hindered, rather than aided a productive debate on the most important issue in our household:  our response to the growing autism epidemic.  We therefore took that most American of steps; we cancelled our subscription and made sure the paper knew why we did so. Here's the letter:

Mr. Tony Hunter
President, Publisher
Chicago Tribune Company
435 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611

Dear Mr. Hunter:

A few days ago, we called the circulation department to cancel our subscription to The Chicago Tribune. We thought it appropriate to write and explain why we thought this necessary. Put briefly, the Tribune’s continuing written assault on the autism community and those who serve us has caused us to lose the high degree of respect we once held for your newspaper.

Specifically, articles written (or co-written) by Trine Tsouderos have, in our opinion, strayed from the principles of balance, fairness, and the truth.

By way of background explanation, our family is one of the hundreds of thousands in this country who have felt the impact of the autism epidemic.

We are part of a growing number of people who have chosen not to meekly embrace our son’s disability, but rather to seek biological explanations for the clinical manifestations that led to the diagnosis and to utilize the best medical treatments to treat the underlying physical conditions. We are not alone on this journey, and like most of the parents who embark on this course, we are well-educated. Both of us have professional backgrounds (including a background in mainstream medicine).

Each case of autistic spectrum disorder is unique from a standpoint of both cause and treatment. We have utilized some so-called “alternative” therapies together with more traditional treatments. The continued improvement of our son’s clinical manifestations has been nothing short of remarkable. Our story is not unique; there are many of us who have seen first-hand the success that can result from treating underlying physical conditions instead of just the symptoms by which autism traditionally has been defined.

Read the full entry, I Think My Child Might Have an Autism Spectrum Disorder What Do I Do? at Psychology Today.

Getting a diagnosis - if indeed a child has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - as early as possible is important because research shows that early intervention is the best intervention. Yet, not all pediatricians recognize the early signs of a possible ASD.

Although diagnosis rates of autism are up, this does not mean that all doctors or medical professionals are aware of the different signs of autism in different types of babies and toddlers. A diagnosis is made by observing the behavioral characteristics in three areas : communication, social interactions, and imaginative play or thought. As there are no physical characteristics that are shared by those in the spectrum, and there is a wide range of abilities and disabilities - it is not always easy to identify...

Chantal Sicile-Kira is an advocate, award-winning author, and speaker known for her practical and inspirational advice on raising children and teens with autism.  Her latest book is 41 Things To Know About Autism (Turner, March 2010). Her other books are: Autism Life Skills; Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum; and Autism Spectrum Disorders; all published by Penguin. Chantal was recently  appointed by the California Senate Select Committee on Autism &  Related Disorders  to co-chair the  South Counties Autism Regional Taskforce providing input to the CA State Senate. In June,  both of her children will be graduating from high school with full academic diplomas.  When her son, Jeremy,  was diagnosed with severe autism,  Chantal  was told to find a  good institution for him, and she has. It's called 'college'.

 

 

Read the full article, At UC Davis MIND Institute, learning can be child's play for autistic at Sacramento Bee Online.

...Four years ago, when her older son Josiah was 2 years old and diagnosed with autism, her reaction was more emotional.

"I remember feeling, 'I don't know my child,' " she said, taking a deep breath.

"When you have a baby, and it has all its toes, and it's apparent to everyone that it's normal, you start to dream for the child," she said, raising a tissue to the corner of her eye. "But when you get a diagnosis with autism, you have to let go of all those dreams. … You don't know if the child will talk, get a job, have a friend. You have to let go of everything."

Now, every time her sons learn a new skill, she said she's filled with pride. "But you still cry..."

By Katie Wright

I am sure every living person in the autism community knows about son’s Christian’s battle with diarrhea and the success we had with dietary interventions. Sorry but please bear with me. I just want to make San Franciso families aware of amazing dietary intervention workshop tomorrow.

If you have a child with chronic diarrhea or constipation this workshop is for you. If you have a child who won’t eat or eats 2 things this workshop is also for you! Julie Matthews knows everything there is to know about autism and nutrition. She is patient, engaging, super smart and believes in our kids.

Welcome Parents and Caregivers! Nourishing Hope presents a one-day empowering workshop to educate parents about the most current integrative healing strategies for children with autism. The conference features Dr. Kurt Woeller, Julie Matthews and Stan Kurtz. Click Autism Hope in Action for details.

Although autism rates have skyrocketed to 1 in 94 children and the causes of the epidemic remain uncertain, parents should know that now, more than ever, hope and healing is in your hands and available to your child.

Autism's greatest secret is that autism is treatable. Children can achieve improved health and behavior, and even fully recover from autism when following an integrative medical, nutrition, wellness, and supplementation healing approach. When Hope meets Action, children Get Better!

Saturday, January 30, 2010
Registration: 7:30AM
Workshop: 8:15AM – 5:30PM

Workshop Location:
South San Francisco Conference Center
255 South Airport Boulevard
South San Francisco, California 94080

Information Email: [email protected]
Getting To The Conference: www.MapQuest.com
Conference Center/Hotel Details: www.ssfconf.com

Cost:
Early Bird Special (Booked by December 15th) – $70.00
Workshop Registration Fee – $95.00
Day of Workshop Registration Fee – $125.00

The treatment category is sponsored by Lee Silsby, the leader in quality compounded medications for autism.

Managing Editor's Note: As many of you know, a large portion of the autism community banded together over the last couple of weeks to support NAA's bid to win $1,000,000 in the Chase giveaway. Many were surprised that the Autism Society of America was silent throughout the campaign, despite repeated attempts to enlist their help to garner a pot of cash to help families with autism through non-controversial programs.  Today's Google alert included this story about a local chapter spinning itself off to retain autonomy.  Read the full article at PNJ.com:

Read the full article in the UK's MailOnline.

By Sally Beck

The longest and most complex disciplinary hearing ever held by the General Medical Council will reach a conclusion on Friday.

Dr Andrew Wakefield, the gastroenterologist who in 1998 raised the possibility of a link between autism, bowel disease and the MMR jab, will learn whether he has been found guilty of ethical breaches in research methods.

Read more:But even if Dr Wakefield is found guilty of serious professional misconduct, he will have to wait another six months for the bureaucratic wheels to turn at the GMC to discover whether he will be struck off.

Yet Dr Wakefield is no Harold Shipman. His supporters suggest that his only ‘crime’ was to voice concerns about MMR which embarrassed the Department of Health...

From our friends at National Autism Association:

Out of 500,000 nonprofits across the country, you helped us become one of Chase Community Giving’s Top 100 highest voted organizations on Facebook and earned us $25,000.00 for our programs. You also earned us a chance to enter Round 2 of the Chase Community Giving Campaign and a shot at winning $1,000,000.00 for the most amount of votes earned on Facebook, and $100,000.00 for positions two through six. The results are in, and NAA made it to the 7th place position.

While some may see this as yet another loss for our community, we believe it is an extraordinary win for our cause. We are incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of support, hard work, dedication and compassion that has occurred over the last seven days of this competition.

We've seen people working around the clock pulling for our children and loved ones. Many of the people who jumped in wholeheartedly aren't directly affected by autism, yet worked alongside us as if they were. We saw autism nonprofits come together and forego our organizational names for a week to simply became the name "vote autism."

The amount of press coverage and free media placement was unexpected. We saw ABC and Fox affiliates airing our 60 second autism PSA in the daytime, which is unheard of. We saw morning news shows airing our three minute autism video, and radio stations around the country donating free airtime to "Vote Autism on Facebook, the #1 Childhood Disorder in the Country." We saw high profile figures bringing attention to our cause. Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, HollyRod Foundation, The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation, Kathy Ireland, Nia Vardalos, CNN's Jack Gray with over a million Twitter followers - all of them were bringing awareness to autism.

Most of all, we saw you fighting like mad to spread the word.

1. Henderson is our commenter of the week on the post, Anne Dachel On The Rising Autism Numbers.    
   
   Where are these regressed toddlers in history? Where in our sacred texts of every ancient written religion of the world? Where in our sacred oral traditions of the many religions from anywhere on earth? Where in our western written tradition that we are so familiar with from our English Lit class? Where are these toddlers in Beowolf, Chaucer or Shakespeare? Where are these toddlers in "The Epic of Gilgamesh" (or any other ancient text for that matter)? Ancient Texts Where in our nursery rhymes? Where are they? And, more tellingly, where are their mothers? Given that all of "our" cultures where generally paternalistic and pretty anti-female (yes, that is a sweeping generalization of every culture on earth - go with me). Given this assumption... one can only imagine what all of these texts would have done EXACTLY what that man, Dr. Kanner did. Blame the mother or some other female. For that man from hell it was the "Refrigerator Mother". (HERE) For many traditions on earth, god forbid, it would have been even worse (e.g., the burning of witches). I cannot believe that screaming/weeping mothers holding their child in their arms, wailing into the night... I cannot believe they have always been with us... If they were, they'd be in OUR stories. Where is the RETRIBUTION for this sin - the theft of a personality, the theft of skills, the theft of a child? Where are the "evil" women who are punished for this sin? Where are the "evil" women being flagged, stoned, burned for "stealing" someone else's child's personality through witchcraft/spells/trickery? Where are the "evil" women who "deserved" to have her child's gifts taken from her by a vengeful god for her evil and wanton ways, for her blasphemy, for her adultery, for her sins? Regressive autism: their laughter, their joy in learning, their personalities, their gifts stolen from their wailing and weeping mothers have NOT always been with us! THIS IS MY PROOF! I am one of the weeping and wailing mothers. I screamed into the night. I wept tears unlike tears that never experienced before. I wept for weeks on end. I screamed at the top of my lungs, ravaging my throat - in my automobile - where no one could hear me. I wept from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my soul, I wept the blackest tears.

By John Stone

With the General Medical Council hearing against Drs Wakefield, Walker-Smith and Murch due to announce its preliminary findings in less than a week there is little doubt that the UK media will play the line that whatever happens the science is over – yet they have every reason to believe that this is not true and continue to blank the specific criticisms with ad hominems against supporters of Andrew Wakefield. They have had it demonstrated:

1) The persistence of measles of virus in the gut (the most controversial part of Wakefield’s hypothesis)  is an established reality

2) The epidemiological evidence base for the safety of MMR vaccine (and particularly in relation to autism) is non-existent

3)  Autism incidence has spun out of control despite denials

Until they answer the criticisms their journalism will remain vacuous  opinionising: no better than propaganda. Above all, they can scarcely counter that they are unaware of the problems, because I for one have assiduously placed them back under their noses, year after year – notably with such opinion leaders as Jeremy Laurance, medical editor of the Independent, and Ben Goldacre, author of the Guardian’s Bad Science column.

In the case of Laurance (although Goldacre is deeply implicated to) I placed a challenge for him in BMJ Rapid Responses recently (BMJ HERE), and then when he did not reply, placed the link in an editorial he wrote in his own newspaper (Independent HERE ).

Laurance set the scene with his comment on the MMR affair in his review of the decade in British Medical Journal:

No vaccine in recent history has provoked so much anger, fear, and ill informed speculation. It started in 1998 with the publication of the now infamous Lancet paper linking MMR vaccine with bowel disease and autism. Vaccination rates with MMR stood at 91% in 1997-8 but had slipped to 80% in 2003-4 and as low as 60% in parts of London. Although the rates have since recovered to 85%, hundreds of thousands of children remain unprotected from the diseases and cases of measles have soared.

Read the full report HERE from Safer Chemicals Healthy Families.

Chronic disease is on the rise.

More than 30 years of environmental health studies have led to a growing consensus that chemicals are playing a role in the incidence and prevalence of many diseases and disorders in our country, including:

•Leukemia, brain cancer, and other childhood cancers, which have increased by more than 20% since 1975.[2]

•Breast cancer, which went up by 40% between 1973 and 1998.[3] While breast cancer rates have declined since 2003, a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is now one in eight, up from one in ten in 1973.[4]

•Asthma, which approximately doubled in prevalence between 1980 and 1995 and has stayed at the elevated rate.[5][6]

•Difficulty in conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy affected 40% more women in 2002 than in 1982. The incidence of reported difficulty has almost doubled in younger women, ages 18–25.[7][8][9]

•The birth defect resulting in undescended testes, which has increased 200% between 1970 and 1993.[10]

•Autism, the diagnosis of which has increased more than 10 times in the last 15 years.[11]

Managing Editor's Note: I'll be attending this event and hope to see you there. Kim

On February 6 at 8PM (ET/PT), HBO will premiere an original film based on the inspirational true story of Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes. "Temple Grandin" paints a picture of a young woman's perseverance and determination while struggling with the isolating challenges of autism. Temple is a highly successful doctor of animal sciences, a best-selling author, and an internationally renowned autism advocate. 

To support the autism community and celebrate the film, HBO and Barnes & Noble will host a special book signing and discussion with Temple Grandin on Monday, Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble at 150 East 86th St. (at Lexington Ave.) in New York. HBO and Barnes & Noble invite the public - especially parents, friends and advocates of individuals with autism - to this free event. 

Information related to autism and the HBO film will be displayed in all 775 Barnes & Noble stores and at www.bn.com/templegrandin, including a free, downloadable coloring book that tells Temple's story through illustrations created by artists with autism.  You can download the coloring book through February 17 at www.bn.com/templegrandin and at www.HBO.com.

Read the full story at Channel3000News.

TOWN OF DELTON, Wis. -- A 13-year-old boy was taken into custody on Tuesday night in connection with the shooting death of his father in the Town of Delton.

Sauk County investigators said that the boy, identified as Michael Crisafulli, admitted to shooting his 55-year-old father, Angelo Crisafulli. The boy is being held on a first-degree homicide charge.

The boy told police he had a "balloon of anger," which finally broke and he shot is father as a result. The complaint said the boy was expelled from Reedsburg Middle School on Tuesday and his father was angry. The boy said he was upset because he was forced to go to his uncle's house and work on a car axle.

Read Dan Olmsted's Debunking Epidemic Denialism in Spectrum Magazine.

Of all the nonsense that people who believe autism is an environmental illness have to put up with, perhaps the most pernicious is this: “It’s just better diagnosing.” It’s just better diagnosing that 1 in 100 (or more) children now have an ASD. It’s just better diagnosing that this number has leapt something like 100-fold from the early days of autism in the 1940s, and tenfold in the past two decades.

The assumptions buried in this seemingly benign argument are not benign at all. They suggest autism is not increasing, is not an emergency, and is not environmental—it’s genetic. Autism is unfortunate (some don’t even agree with that!), but there’s no reason to get all worked up about it. The autistic, like the poor, are always with us. Let’s focus on early detection and lifelong care...

Read Part 3 of Steven Higg's Bloomington Alternative Blog with David Kirby.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Anyone with a passing knowledge of Indiana’s political and business cultures would not be surprised to learn state leaders played feature roles in one of the first great scandals of the George W. Bush administration. Or that the episode involved perhaps the greatest environmental disaster of the postmodern age -- the intravenous exposure of an entire generation of children to a powerful neurotoxin.

After all, “leaders” like Dan Quayle, Evan Bayh and Mitch Daniels have led their state to the No. 49 ranking in Forbes magazine’s 2007 comparison of state-by-state environmental quality. Of Indiana and other bottom-dwellers like No. 50 West Virginia, the business magazine said, “All suffer from a mix of toxic waste, lots of pollution and consumption and no clear plans to do anything about it. Expect them to remain that way."

Sorry for the last minute announcement: 

NVPO News and Announcements:

1. NVAC Call Wednesday, Jan 20th

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) will hold a public conference call on Wednesday, Jan 20th from 3PM to 5PM eastern. There will be a discussion of the National Vaccine Plan and an update on the 2009 H1N1 influenza program. An agenda is available at: http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/meetings/pastmeetings/agenda20100120.html

Public call-in information:

Participant Toll Free: 1-888/677-1385
Passcode: NVAC

By Kim Stagliano

Thank you to HuffPo for popping up this post so fast. Please forward the link, comment and vote! Click here to go to the HuffPo post.

Remember the old saying about how different the world would be if the Defense Department had to hold bake sales to buy bombs? Well, in the autism world, we have to hold bake sales to raise money for just about everything. Autism now strikes one in 110 American children, yet receives far less funding than other pediatric diagnoses. Today, we have a chance to win $1,000,000 for autism in the Chase Community Giving Program (VOTE HERE). I'm asking on bended knee for your vote for The National Autism Association.

Please, join our community and our friends at Autism Speaks, TACA, Autism One, Generation Rescue, SafeMinds, Unlocking Autism, The Schafer Autism Report, Autism United and many others and cast your vote HERE for NAA. With this money, they can fully fund their Project Found, which provides grant money for GPS locator systems to prevent death and injury from wandering (or bolting) away from home. They can fund the Helping Hand Grant which puts dollars directly into needy families' wallets. They can continue to help single Moms and Dads through the Family First Project. And they can offer more scholarships to their annual conference. Thank you.

By Anne Dachel

Today I found a story from April, 2007 that I don't remember ever seeing before.  It was written by Kristina Chew and it was a critique of something I had written. Chew is the mother of a son with autism and she's someone who's very outspoken on the subject.
 
This is the story I found: The Autism "Problem/Crisis/Epidemic/Emergency" (HERE)
Chew focused on one of the issues I'm most outspoken about: We are not prepared for the coming population of adults with autism.
 
Chew wrote: "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding has referred to autism as a 'serious public health problem,' and A-CHAMP and National Autism Association (NAA) member Anne McElroy Dachel takes the title of her April 10th article Autism: A Serious Public Health Problem from Gerberding's words. Dachel is quite concerned with language in this piece, and asks why the CDC has yet to refer to autism as the 'crisis' and even a 'national health threat.' "
 
Chew included several quotes from my writing.  Her main point was that I'm wrong.  There's no need to worry about what will happen to all the kids who have an autism diagnosis.  She doesn't offer real proof of her claim.  She merely says, "And the good thing, as Dachel herself notes, is that we will notice all of these autistic persons; we will see them, unlike the situation for previous generations, whose autism was not apparent, understood, or identified: I just had a conversation with an autistic person from a 'previous wave' yesterday (she lives across the street from us). We are able to see them now because we know what autism is and are able to understand when we see it.  "And, provisioned with what we now know, I don't think we will be drowning."

Chew said the same thing that Paul Offit wrote about in Autism False Prophets. (HERE)  Offit also has no concerns about the future when all the children with autism become adults.  He dismissed the increase in autism by saying we just used to call autistic people 'quirky,' 'different,' or 'unusual.' 

Actually, I'm tired of people saying that expanding the spectrum and including high functioning and Asperger's Syndrome accounts for the explosion in the numbers.  Why do I personally know so many young people with severe autism, whose symptoms can't be ignored?  How could we have just missed these people in the past?  Where are those misdiagnosed adults with classic autism---those with the same symptoms we see in so many children today?

By Teresa Conrick

As I said in Part 1 of this series, I love a good mystery.  Now it's time to again look at  the current Chicago Tribune obsession with autism treatments.  On January 17th, The Trib came out with the third installment in their autism hit pieces on biomedical treatments. The question remains as to why?  Why would the Tribune, and maybe more specifically, why would the author of these apparent prefabricated and fictitious accounts write so disdainfully about biomedical treatments helping children with an autism diagnosis?

For those who do not know, there are many groups who have been fighting hard to suppress the fact that vaccines can cause autism.  They are people in the media, in public health, in medical organizations, in vaccine development and patents, in universities with autism gene chasing grants, in the public sector (NIH, CDC, AAP, et al) in the private sector, (pharmaceutical companies) and many in between. 

Each of these denying and often untruthful entities have people running them that are often parroting each others words.  We have seen our share of them attempt to stop the truth about not only the damage done by vaccines, ie- mitochondrial, neurological, immunological, and gastrointestinal assaults to the children but now the attack is on the treatments that can stop pain, stop inflammation, recover speech, restore health and increasingly end the behaviors of "autism" by curing the child of the injury done. One would wonder if showing "recovery" from autism via biomedical treatments aimed at these specific damaged systems is scaring those who need to keep Pandora's box closed on vaccine injuries as their is money, future vaccine revenues, and pharmaceutical sales at risk.

So here we are in the beginning of a new year but with the same old crap. I was curious about the blatant and recurrent theme that the Trib was trying to pass as truth. What I found was an interesting connection as some facts came to light from some good and reliable sources.  Trine has a relative, a sister, Danielle, who is involved in Public Health.
(HERE).

Our friends at the National Autism Association have a chance to win $1 Million Dollars through Chase Community Giving on Facebook!

Through its programs like Helping Hand and FOUND, NAA provides real help to families affected by autism. Imagine how many families could be helped with a million dollars! NAA is the only autism organization of the 100 charities in the running for $1 Million – and they need our support! Please take a minute to visit FaceBook and vote today! You get more than one vote. View NAA’s “Chase the Hope” video here: http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/chase  

Voting takes place January 15-22nd.

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) will be holding a Full Committee Meeting on TODAY Tuesday, January 19, 2010 from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET at the William H. Natcher Conference Center, NIH Campus, in Bethesda, MD.

To access the conference call:
USA/Canada Phone Number: 888-577-8995
Access code: 1991506

Autism Speaks' Andy Shih is talking for over an hour on "global autism" and CDC's Cathy Rice is giving an "update." Also, the final version and edits for the strategic plan will be voted on, plus planning for next version of the plan and how IACC will respond to public comment.