Autism and Heavy Metals: An Interview With Mary Catherine DeSoto, Ph.D.
Taking Umbrage with Dr. Nancy Snyderman

Senate: 8/3 Hearing on Research Into Environmental Causes of Autism

Enviro health US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Hearing Details HERE
(10am August 3rd. Click link on Tuesday to see red "listen" button.)


Subcommittee on Children’s Health hearing entitled, "State of Research on Potential Environmental Health Factors with Autism and Related Neurodevelopment Disorders." 
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 
10:00 AM EDT
 
EPW Hearing Room - 406 Dirksen  



Panel 1
 
Dr. Paul Anastas
Assistant Administrator, Office of Research and Development
United States Environmental Protection Agency  
 
Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S.
Director, National Institute of Environmental and Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program  National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services 

Panel 2
 
Issac N. Pessah Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Director, UC Davis Children’s Center for Environmental Health and Disease Prevention
University of California, Davis, Department of Molecular Biosciences  
 
Bruce P. Lanphear MD, MPH
Senior Scientist, Child & Family Research Institute, Professor, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Adjunct Professor, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center  
 
Mary Moen
Parent 


 

Comments

Benedetta

Minority leader says:
"and how the federal government can enhance and improve its research efforts."

Then they best a be a look'in and a listen'n a whole lot closer to these parents and their "EYE" witness accounts about vaccine reactions, now how hard was that!

Mary the parent witness: Thinks her son be better, he is 10. Yeah! I thought mine was doin great at that age too, now --- stays in his room unless I really fuss, then he gets out of his room and and still does not know what to do with himself, or seems to have the energy to do anything. 10 he had energy - now he don't. Hmmm they best be look'in at on down the road indeed!

Theresa Cedillo

Paul Shapiro - couldn't have said it better. I agree 100%.

Benedetta

Simons OT MOM;
Thank you, and also for the summary too. Everyone's comments were interesting.

Sarah

I actually thought this Senate hearing was a huge step forward. Finally government officials are setting the record straight by publically admitting that autism has a strong environmental component, it's more than behaviors, that the immune system is involved, that we need more $$ for research, that the increase is real, that studies on autism clusters are needed, that intergrated approach to understanding the disorder is needed.

Yes, it maybe long overdue but at least they're finally getting the message.

Like watching someone take a pin to a balloon filled with hotair, hearing it pop, I loved how they dispelled the myths about "improved diagnosis and autism being all genetic" .. as Martha Stewart says "it's a beautiful thing"

Paul Shapiro, USA

Barbra Boxer baby, you ought to treat your self to live with a family for a couple of weeks, with a child or two that are in the middle of the spectrum. then, if you wanna talk, send me an e-mail and we can get started on your education. That offer goes for the rest of the committee and the so called expert testifiers.
[email protected]

cmo

It was the same report of the same dimwit groups of research teams that after 20 years, can only say we think it might be "sort of genetic" with an enviromental trigger...

They then talked about the need to study nearly 2,000 possible chemicals which should take another 20 years...

There was a short mention of the Somili children that were vaxed in refugee camps, vaxed when they came to the US, vaxed again in Minnesota, because no one could keep any records.. Autism rate is 1 in 28 I believe...

mary

I watched this and was very embarassed by everyone. Lots of talk of lead and smoking. Mercury was mentioned a couple of times but quickly forgotten. It was agreed that the increase in autism is real and some mysterious chemical must be causing autism but by gosh what could it be... I got it flame retardants. Geez, clearly they were talked to not to talk about thimerosal. They know and have chosen to keep their mouths shut and collect a paycheck. Sad.

Simon's OT mom

@Benedetta
You should be able to go to the link Bill Scanlan posted and see the video at any time. There are two videos, because of the length, the second one has the parent speaking. I watched them later in the afternoon. ALL of the professionals who spoke made it quite clear that genetics alone cannot account for the rise of autism, which they stated was a steady rise from the late 1980's to now. They sited the UC Davis study, but they also sited a similar international study that validates the rise cannot be accounted for by better diagnosis, change of diagnostic criteria, and inclusion of milder forms. Everytime one of these epidemic deniers opens there mouth, this link should be used to immediately close it!

Teresa Conrick

Oh, the irony. This comes up right above J.B.'s post. Lets hope this PDF is on the top of the list.

http://www.ane.pl/pdf/7021.pdf

"We argue that scientific research does not support rejecting the link between
the neurodevelopmental disorder of autism and toxic exposures."

"Our opinion
is not only that the increase is real, but that the
increase in various contaminants is a major factor
responsible for that increase."

"To summarize,
of the 58 empirical reports on autism and
heavy metal toxins, 43 suggest some link may be present,
while 13 reports found no link. Even with
tendency for null results not to be reported, it cannot
be said there is no evidence for a link between heavy
metal toxins and autism: although the question may
still be open-in sum, the evidence favors a link."

"To our
knowledge, there have been only three empirical, case control
studies of those with and without ASD compared
on a measure of actual mercury levels in the
body that purportedly fail to find any link (Ip et al.
2004, Soden at al. 2007, Hertz-Picciotto 2010). Two of
these data sets actually show that those with an ASD
appear to have more metals (Ip et al. 2004, Soden et al.
2007), contrary to what the original authors say about
the data."

"The question about toxic exposure and autism is open,
with the weight of evidence favoring a connection that is
not well understood. Although it is not possible to say
with certainty, it seems likely that the connection would
be mediated by genetic susceptibility and ability to
detoxify. That is, some people have genotypes that confer
higher susceptibility to toxic exposures. If so, then 50
years ago few people would have had enough toxic exposure
to have the neurological changes that result in
autism. Today, because many rather than few children are
exposed to all sorts of neurotoxins with lesser resources
to detoxify the body (environment, diet, lifestyle) those
that are vulnerable, may develop autism."

patrons99

Let's pray for our lawmakers. We need real heroes, not just posers. They need to understand that pharma's lobbying budget alone will not get them re-elected. The public is fed up with being exploited by pharma. Someone in the Senate should step up and hit a home run. We are in dire need of legislative reforms to stem the tide of vaccine-associated diseases. We can't afford to play the fool anymore. I hope that there is more than one Senate hearing and that they don't amount to nothing more than Kabuki theater...highly stylized and elaborate in form, but no substance or consequence.

Benedetta

I will not be here to hear it. Please someone listen and summarize or something?

Bill Scanlan

The Hearing will air LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 10am ET on Tuesday, August 3.

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN.aspx

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