The “Idiot Moment” in Autism (The New York Times & Dr. Poul Thorsen)
By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.
(Author note - No offense is intended to actual idiots who are really nice people and would never do any of the foolish things mentioned in this article.)
I keep wondering when the “moment” will come. I’m talking about the moment when the average person who isn’t really interested in the vaccine-autism question will go “Hey, that doesn’t make sense!” You might call it something else. Perhaps the “bull***” moment, or even the “what the f*** moment!” For me, I prefer the “idiot moment.”
Maybe the idiot moment came a few weeks ago on February 25, 2010 when Nicholas Kristof, op-ed columnist for The New York Times wrote an article entitled, “Do Toxins Cause Autism?” Click HERE (Strangely, the national media employs a great number of idiots when it comes to autism, and I don’t mean the ones who are really nice and wouldn’t do any of the foolish things I’m getting ready to talk about.)
According to Mr. Kristof’s account, Dr. Phillip Landigran, professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York told him he is “increasingly confident that autism and other ailments are, in part, the result of the impact of environmental chemicals on the brain as it is being formed.”
The article may have actually captured an idiot moment in real time with Dr. Landrigan who said to the reporter (one idiot to another), “The crux of this is brain development. If babies are exposed in the womb or shortly after birth to chemicals that interfere with brain development, the consequences last a lifetime.” For those who haven’t been tuned into this debate, this is a major shift from medical professionals who have long argued that autism is a genetic condition, and the rise is nothing more than better detection of autism.
So let me think here for a moment. Pregnant women are advised not to drink or smoke during pregnancy, not to eat too much seafood because of the mercury it contains (remember, that’s the bad kind, not the kind in vaccines which is really good and will cause an increase in mental functions, just like it did to the Mad Hatter in the new Alice in Wonderland movie), so I’m trying to think where they might be getting these bad chemicals?
Maybe from the flu shot pregnant women are advised to get, or even the Hep B shot given to infants on the first day of life which was recently found to cause developmental delays in monkeys?
Don’t worry about things injected directly into our bloodstreams the article cautions us. According to the article “One peer-reviewed study published this year in Environmental Health Perspectives gave a hint of the risks. Researchers measured the levels of suspect chemicals called phthlates in the urine of pregnant women. Among women with higher levels of certain phthlates (those commonly found in fragrances, shampoos, cosmetics, and nail polishes), their children were more likely to display disruptive behavior.”
Let’s get this straight. Chemicals in shampoo may be a problem, but vaccines injected directly into the bloodstream and loaded with chemicals designed to kill viruses and bacteria are okay? That doesn’t even make sense to an idiot! He wouldn’t then start talking about gene studies! He’d say, hey could we look at some other chemicals to which kids might be commonly exposed?
How about this for a non-idiot thought? Maybe those women who retain high levels of phthlates have a faulty detoxification system that causes their children to be more greatly exposed to toxins in their environment, whether it’s from shampoos or vaccines?
Or maybe the next idiot moment is coming with the recent revelation that “The lead author of a key study used by the EU and USA health bodies as evidence mercury in vaccines does not cause autism has vanished after it emerged that he fraudulently claimed 10 million Kroner (about 1.8 million dollars) in funds from his university in Denmark.” Click HERE
I know, the idiots out there are still saying to themselves, “Okay, maybe he’s an embezzler, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a good scientist.”
However, the remaining holdouts might consider the assertion that, “The scientist (Dr. Poul Thorsen) has worked on a multi-phase research project on the cause of autism that has received about 80 million crowns (roughly 12.6 million dollars) in funding from the CDC, headquartered in Atlanta, since 2002.”
I know I can sometimes be an idiot, so let me talk this through. The CDC promotes vaccination. The CDC quietly gives $12.6 million dollars to a project to discover if vaccines are linked to autism. The study comes back and says they are not linked to autism. The CDC later points to this study as an independent finding supporting the safety of vaccines. The lead researcher is then investigated for financial fraud.
I’d think a lot of people out there would be starting to say, “Hey, wait a minute!”
Of course to many the idiot moment should have come much earlier with the publication of the Danish study. Left out of the discussion of mercury in vaccines was the comparison of the Danish rate of autism (3-4 in 10,000) with the American rate of autism at the time (67 in 10,000, recently upgraded to 90 in 10,000). As Dr. Boyd Haley says, that’s a little like conducting research on malaria in Alaska rather than Panama.
Or maybe another non-idiot thought is that the difference in autism rates has something to do with the fact that the Danish schedule recommends 12 shots for children before the age of six-years-old and we give U.S. children 36, with the majority of those being given in the first six months of life.
I’ll leave you with a final quote from The New York Times op-ed from Alan M. Goldberg, a professor of toxicology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He says, “There are diseases that are increasing in the population that we have no known cause for. Breast cancer, prostate cancer and autism are three examples. The potential is for these diseases to be on the rise because of chemicals.”
Maybe the “idiot moment” will arrive at the same moment in medicine as it does in the media.
Kent Heckenlively is Legal Editor of Age of Autism
I'm not sure if my post will be published as it offers a different point of view. I have a child on the spectrum and believe that ASD is a result of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (like phthalates) that are pervasive all over our society and almost impossible to avoid without a concerted effort. This poisons are food, air, skin, everything. If we focus only on vaccines, our target is too narrow and won't turn around the autism rates. Friends of mine have delayed, staggered and skipped vaccines and still have children turning out to be on the autistic spectrum. They are not eliminating their chemical exposure or their child's, are not aware of the effect of cell phone towers (I was pregnant while living near an airport with a very high concentration of cell phone towers) if they only focus on vaccines. We need continued research certainly, but let's err on the side of caution and eliminate stuff like EDCs, phthalates, etc. since for the most part they just serve conveniences, and superficial needs.
Posted by: Tallia Choudri | March 14, 2010 at 07:58 PM
I would like to say that if there is any dr. perhaps with a wife who is with child to let her have all the fish with mercury in them that she wants lets say ler her eat it every day or mabey let her near a very sm amt. of mercury & put it all on a tape with some one whow can be trusted like a parent of a austic child or one from a austim organiton & lets see how they will wiggle out of this PLEASE UNDERSTAND I DO NOT WANT TO HARM A CHILD !! in no way my suggestion is just that i truly believe we would not find one who would dare do this or let his wife or himself be injected with a harmfull vaccine, something to think about? why beacuse of it being a very risky & would know that those who still say vaccines are safe would finally lose the battle of vaccine saftey & all money.
Posted by: Linda | March 09, 2010 at 02:11 PM
Good info, but I noted this idiot moment two weeks ago...
http://autbits.blogspot.com/2010/02/toxins-cause-autism-vaccines-contain.html
Posted by: jeb | March 09, 2010 at 01:34 PM
The unconscionable vaxxers have targeted this site. They have rated it badly on "Web of Trust. Go to the link below to do something about it, like add a favorable comment. This is not a small app, lots of people use Web of trust, aka WOT.
http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/ageofautism.com
Posted by: jeb | March 09, 2010 at 01:04 PM
Are all of these so called "experts" and "officials" really Idiots? How is it possible that so many people who are obviously intelligent enough to become doctors, scientists and researchers, not intelligent enough to do simple math: 1 + 1 = 2.
The term "Idiots" applies to lack of intelligence and the inability to make logical conclusions. (as in "Stupid") OK so are these people REALLY stupid idiots??? I THINK NOT. They have the information that we have regarding the vaccines and autism, so is it just that we are all smarter than they are? I THINK NOT. The majority of these people have made a conscious choice to ignore the obvious evidence in favor of thier careers and their paychecks. The higher up the ladder they are, the more they know about the truth, and yet they continue on in their denial due to their own agendas. The people at the top of this garbage heap are as certain of the reality of vaccines causing autism as we are. They have made a choice to follow the money and power, instead of following the truth and their conscience. Those "at the top" who have the facts and continue to engage in the conspiracy to submit to and proliferate the propaganda that "vaccines are safe" and "vaccines do not cause autism", have made the choice to not only ignore the truth, but to cover up the truth and actively contribute to the ongoing deceptions. They are not really "Idiots" but highly intelligent people who have chosen the quest for the "Almighty Dollar" instead of a quest for Almighty God. They have no conscience, no morals or ethical beliefs that guide the average person.
Yes there are many people who have no knowledge of the facts and who have fallen for the propaganda in the medical system and news media, but even these people are not idiots. They are simply in a place where the facts have not come to their attention as of yet, as so many of us were ourselves in our pre-autism life.
But these "officials" and "experts" in high positions of authority who know the truth and continue to engage in the corruptions and deceptions--They know who they are and we know who they are--They are 100% accountable for their actions that have directly produced millions of vaccine damaged children....many millions more than just the autism community...immune compromised poisoned children who will go on to develop allergies, asthma, ADHD, diabetes, cancer, and many other diseases. They are not idiots, they are intelligent greedy power driven monsters.
Posted by: Autism Grandma | March 09, 2010 at 02:20 AM
I don't exactly remember my idiot moments. I know they occurred, but in doses I sort of handled.....sort of. The media's assault and battery on the truth this last year and half, has been more difficult, more emotionally challenging for me. Its sad, but in my darkness, the only resolution I can see in response to such brutality is with pitch-forks.
Off on a tangent here, but does anyone think there was an idiot moment for the Germans watching the cattle cars packed with men, women, and children, traveling full in one direction and leaving empty? Only ash filled skies told of their final destination.
Was there was a collective German idiot moment? Did they make the connection?
If so, will there be a collective idiot moment in the United States, for this truth to be spoken and not denied?
Posted by: michael framson | March 09, 2010 at 01:33 AM
"That doesn’t even make sense to an idiot!"
Thanks for that wonderful sentence. If anyone was willing to make sense of this mess, we would have ditched anything remotely linked to the practice invented in the 1700's. Gee, lets scratch some putrid stuff into a healthy person and see what happens. Maybe the whole idea was stupid, like delivering babies after doing an autopsy and not washing your hands. Now there's a great idea.
Posted by: Cynthia Cournoyer | March 08, 2010 at 10:15 PM
I think I remember Dr. Boyd Haley in a video interview mention how they were finding damage in children with lead exposure at lower levels than previously found to be problematic, and how he thought that might be due to synergistic toxicity with (I assumed) Hg or Al.
Posted by: JenB re: Garbo's post | March 08, 2010 at 09:21 PM
Thanks, Kent, even though I think I'm one of those "actual idiots," especially when I think of what went on in my children's "well baby" visits. That's one part of our difficulty. Many "really nice people" who "would never do any of the foolish things mentioned in this article" find it unfathomable (if they ever even hear about it) that what has happened (and is still happening) could even be true, and why would someone not affected, as far they know, want to dig into the nitty-gritty about vaccine history, ingredients, effectiveness (of lack of), and adverse effects, when they can cling to the grade-school explanation of what vaccination is, and assume they, vaccines, are the wonderful thin grey line that keeps us free from disease. I think there are also a few, if not many, other comforting mindsets that are disturbed (or shattered) by coming to see the harm we are experiencing/causing.
Posted by: JenB | March 08, 2010 at 09:07 PM
With reference to the LATimes article suggesting that parenting skills "be the solution" --- Is is possible that chelation does not remove any more lead once blood lead levels are below a certain point?
Posted by: ASusan | March 08, 2010 at 08:14 PM
ooops, "year".
Posted by: kathleen | March 08, 2010 at 07:12 PM
Garbo, this, for me, is the WTF moment of the yer!
"We are hoping that enhanced parental skills and addressing the problems kids have from the exposure will be the best solution," she says.
Posted by: kathleen | March 08, 2010 at 07:10 PM
In the artilce AnaB posted, titled, "Children reaching age 3 without being able to say a word, survey finds," this sentence stood out to me:
"Ms Gross said childhood health targets were too focused on obesity levels and immunisation rates at the expense of more subtle difficulties."
Posted by: Kristina | March 08, 2010 at 06:23 PM
From today's LA Times Health (propaganda) section, an article about lead toxicity and how it may be dangerous at levels much lower than previously thought.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-lead-20100308,0,6907581.story
The WTF quotes appear near the end. It seems the CDC is willing to admit that lower levels of lead are unsafe and create developmental problems, but they haven't got a clue what to do about it because drug therapy is ineffective:
"The unfortunate thing with lower levels is there is no good body of research to show what medical intervention can help," Binns says. "We are hoping that enhanced parental skills and addressing the problems kids have from the exposure will be the best solution," she says.
Gee whiz, WTF? You are "hoping" that "enhanced parental skills" are going to be the solution for kids who have been lead poisoned?! How about using proven scientific methods like... CHELATION...to GET THE LEAD OUT?!?
I'm guessing that they are hoping not to use that solution because it might prove that chelation is safe and effective. Again, WTF?
Posted by: Garbo | March 08, 2010 at 05:06 PM
..... “increasingly confident that autism and other ailments are, in part, the result of the impact of environmental chemicals on the brain as it is being formed.”
Shizaammmm !!!
Since about 199x, the Autism community was becoming "increasingly confident" that it was the "damn environmental chemicals" being INJECTED into their infants and toddlers, at a 50 to 100x rate, while their brains were being formed, that was the DAMN PROBLEM.
A few more hundred telephone surveys and big medicine may begin to find the answer...
Posted by: cmo | March 08, 2010 at 05:06 PM
Landrigan contributed a chapter to a book on the rise in pediatric bipolar disorder in which he suggests mercury is a major cause. In the same breath, though, he cites the crap Pinchichero study as exonerating vaccine mercury.
It's a sort of scientific ventriloquism when these guys speak out of both sides of their mouths. Sure, in one sense Landrigan is advancing the issue in his own way, but at the expense of covering up for one of the most important contributing factors to mercury toxicity.
Posted by: Gatogorra | March 08, 2010 at 04:31 PM
I love this article too!
I'm puzzled about Landrigan being called out. I think his articles do make you wake up and go okay I have fillings in my teeth and I'm exposed to many toxins (mercury, lead, aluminum, flouride all known neurotoxins). And then I'm carrying this baby inside me and they are indeed being exposed and they are less than half my size. Then I have the baby and they give me a Rubella shot in the hospital (WITH Mercury) and I nurse my baby for mercury flows into his/her body from me. Then baby is injected with HepB most likely with aluminum and whatever else. Baby either recovers or has a lacking unseen developmental issue. Either way, more vaccines are right around corner.
Anyone out there have dental fillings?
Check this out:
http://iaomt.org/videos/
Each of my children have issues related to neurotoxins in our environment and then the vaccines affected them and that was apparent to me. So much so, that my 13 month has had only HepB (1x), Dtp (1x), and Hib (1x). She cried all night... No more for this family. Too much damage has been done to my son. My 2nd daughter has unexplainable hives each week, and my 13 month old has gastro problems. She even stopped talking when we tried to switch to Whole Milk from formula. Advanced Pathways doc said it was drugging her. She is on toddler formula now and we also found that our filtered city water had flouride. That caused dental floursis and burning poops + severe gastric issues. Each of them are what you call neurotypical. Not sure if I call APD and Dyslexia and having some Asperger behaviors with my son neurotypical though. Ped said "he's normal." I've been taking care of kids since I was 10 years old and we have whole new generation of really different "normal" behaviors. And it's NOT TV that causing it! (yes, that was suggested much to my anger).
Posted by: Cass | March 08, 2010 at 03:29 PM
After my son's reactions to his 1 yr. vaccines and a total loss of skills (what was appropriate for his growth on the day of his vaccinations had spiraled to a cognitive level of a 3 month old baby)... wasn't the WTF moment, lol - it was when I already self diagnosed him with Autism three months later and returned to the Pediatrican to announce my realization (to which he disagreed, OK almost the WTF moment), and I told him I put him on the GFCF diet and was seeing eye contact return - his reply, "that it was not going to do anything, and would most likely harm him!" An Allergy and Immunologist Specialist Pediatric Physician said removing gluten and casein would harm my child... BINGO, WTF?
Posted by: Tracy McDermott | March 08, 2010 at 03:05 PM
“The crux of this is brain development. If babies are exposed in the womb or shortly after birth to chemicals that interfere with brain development, the consequences last a lifetime.”
Well, no s*** Sherlock. Now, tell us something we DON'T KNOW...like why the gigantic jump in autism numbers when we've had shampoo, make-up, perfume and nail-polish around for eons?
(Oh, I can hear the pinging in their brains now....er, ah, gee -- never thought of THAT)
Posted by: Kelli Ann Davis | March 08, 2010 at 12:59 PM
As a side note, do you think anyone will ever have an idiot moment on drilling mercury into people's teeth?
It is remarkable how instantly stupid scientists become when the topic is vaccines and autism. Fear of losing one's job is a remarkable tonic for people to lose all capacity to reason-what a great piece!
Posted by: JB Handley | March 08, 2010 at 12:49 PM
Thanks for the laugh--if we don't laugh we'll scream, right?
I remember reading a quote by Dr. Andrew Cutler about mercury being used in vaccines only *as a preservative*. He said it doesn't matter what it's being used for--mercury doesn't KNOW it's intended purpose. It is what it is--poison.
Posted by: Sunny | March 08, 2010 at 11:47 AM
This is THE best article I have ever read. I woke up, read this and have been in THE BEST mood ever, after posting it on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and Cafemom. It's SHOCKING (not really) the amount of people who NEED the WTF moment. NEED. The world NEEDS IT. Sadly, though, I fear this is yet another BLATANT piece of evidence on our side that will somehow be explained away as hearsay or just a big mistake or some other ridiculous bull****. But for those of us who KNOW what's happening, this is a VICTORY after a few low blows from our SHIESTY opponents.
My WTF moment (I prefer WTF moment)was 2.5 years ago when I took my perfectly healthy, talkative, loving, attentive little girl to get her vaccines (I was a TOTAL idiot then. I didn't even read the papers they handed out, I TRUSTED them) 7 shots she received that day. 4 live virus. My daughter, as she previously was- never walked out of that office. She was changed. Lost. No more smiles or laughter. She seemed to have forgotten her name and who we were. Her beloved toys forgotten as she stared out the window at passing cars, hands flapping and spinning.
A couple months later, I took her to her same doctor, knowing full well she was Autistic SUDDENLY but not yet knowing HOW. Her doctor didn't believe me, since at her last Well Baby check, she had surpassed even the NEXT WB check's criteria... but at the end of the visit, wearing a very baffled look, she said shit did in fact, have Autism (diagnoses that day as PDD-NOS). Her parting words were, out of the blue "IT WASN'T THE VACCINES YOU KNOW".... That was my WTF moment right there. That's when I knew WHY my daughter had changed on THAT day and I began to research and I found that I was BY FAR not the only one who saw what I saw.
Thank you AoA for all that you do for parents like me. Maybe you DO know how much it means, but maybe you don't... THANK YOU.
Autism parents, and AoA too, please click the link that is my name and join my Autism community.
Posted by: Lainna | March 08, 2010 at 11:31 AM
I have saved the Q&A leaflet from The Vaccine Education Center at CHOP from February 2005 which our ex-ped distributed. I love this line..."the levels of mercury contained in thimerosal in vaccines were within guidelines established for safety by the FDA." Oh there are so many more great quotes from this beauty!
Posted by: Holly M. | March 08, 2010 at 11:17 AM
When I took a look at my family, I remembered my cousin's 3 month old fully vaccinated son died from SIDS. That scared the he** out of me. That could have easily been one of my kiddos. I thank God that my 3 girls are alive today.
Posted by: Trace | March 08, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Thanks for the chuckle (not the bad kind of mercury but the good kind found in vaccines that makes you smarter) Very good!
I can not keep from thinking that the environmental global warming scandle may play a lead role in the change of attitude and bring on the idiot changing moment!
I mean that for the first time in a long time I hear commentators on the TV, radio and even newly published books stating that the environment 'NOW' is cleaner than it has been in probably the last couple of centuries. All they have to do to prove this is go back and show pictures of rivers on fire with waste, or belching smoke stacks that actually were belching sure enough sulfur dioxide, and----- well, some thing actually toxic, and not carbon dioxide (a by product of all living things). OR show pictures of Love Canal were the stuff was oozzing into the basement of schools and homes. That is not happening 'Now'! But autism in on the rise - if they will really do the states and with 'Ethics'!
Maybe the idiot moment for a lot of people will come when they remember that the reason for the establishment for the EPA was to keep the water, air, soil from being poisoned! Not for the elite to walk the Applachian Trails with very few people and just nature. Maybe everybody will say wait a minute the whole environmental movement's real purpose was to keep from poisoning ourselves, how can breathing in a Christmas candle compare to burning rivers? Maybe it is what is being put directly into our veins.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 08, 2010 at 10:35 AM
This reminds me of when my 1.5 yr. old had a bad rash. I took her to the ped, who asked about foods she was eating. Nothing new and no common foods that cause allergic reactions, I responded. Well, he said it could be from any food, even fruits or veggies, even if she's been eating it for quite some time and done just fine, she could develop a reaction to it.
But all the crap in vaccines is just not questioned!
Posted by: bek | March 08, 2010 at 10:11 AM
This idiocy reminds me of an article I recently read entitled, "Children reaching age 3 without being able to say a word, survey finds" http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6974590.ece
The whole time I'm reading it thinking, "ask the question, ask the question". The obvious question being WHY? Why are more children not being able to speak a word until age three? Nope. Article did not even broach the question. This passes for investigative reporting? All hail the new normal, but pay no attention to the "why" behind the curtain.
Posted by: AnaB | March 08, 2010 at 09:57 AM
Mine wasn't really an idiot moment, but a horrible realization that my son could very well die because of his vaccines.
Posted by: Craig Willoughby | March 08, 2010 at 09:52 AM
Kent you remind me of all the years we heard that there was only "safe mercury" in vaccines. That got to be too much of an oxymoron for the CDC to keep saying. They may not use the phrase, but they still idea of the mantra.
Will the media go after Thorsen like they've attacked Wakefield? Probably not. And it's more proof that everyone will do anything to pretend it's NOT VACCINES CAUSING THIS!
Anne Dachel
Media
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | March 08, 2010 at 09:01 AM
Amen. I think of this everytime concern is mentioned about chemicals in the environment as a possible cause. Hello, read the fricken list of vaccine ingredients. Couldn't be one of these chemicals being injected into my newborn could it?
Posted by: Mike | March 08, 2010 at 08:53 AM
I just read an article in a Jewish newspaper that said a doctor has stated that all students at Yeshivos in New York must be vaccinated for mumps(due to recent outbreak) or not be allowed in the schools. However, the article clearly stated that the students who got infected were vaccinated. For me, this is a what the f*** moment. Thanks, maurine
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | March 08, 2010 at 08:12 AM