US Senate Hearing on Autism: It's The Environment Not The Gene Pool
"We should also look back to the history of drug regulation. It took the Thalidomide epidemic for us to take action. Perhaps autism is the equivalent for environmental chemicals."
By Anne Dachel
We woke up to a different world on Tuesday, August 3, 2010. With barely any notice, the autism community heard that the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children's Health would be holding a hearing entitled, "State of Research on Potential Environmental Health Factors with Autism and Related Neurodevelopment Disorders."
View archived webcast
As someone who follows autism in the news, this was a shock. I'm used to stories like the recent series published on the Psychology Today blog by Dr. James Coplan. He couldn't make it any clearer. Autism is something that has always been around--we've just expanded the definition and doctors are better at recognizing it. The numbers haven't increased.
We're all so used to hearing about the genetics of autism. The explosion in autism is a mystery and no one seems in too big a hurry to solve it. We're told we just need more autism awareness and we've been conditioned to accept the reality of one percent of children being on the spectrum.
So today was different. Members of the U.S. Senate would be hearing about how the environment is linked to autism.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar from MN and Sen. Barbara Boxer from CA asked questions and respondents made it clear: Autism is rising dramatically among our children. Genetics can only explain a small percentage of the autism cases. It's not better diagnosing by doctors or expanding the definition of autism. Something in the environment is damaging our children. It's leaving them disabled and dependent.
Speakers addressing the senators included:
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
The hearing was two hours long and lots of important things were said.
We were told that autism is costing this nation $35-90 billion annually and that autism is increasing everywhere. We also heard about all the untested toxic chemicals out there that are impacting our health.
Sen. Klobuchar brought up the devastating autism rate among the Somali population in the Twin Cites where one in 28 children is affected.
In the midst of Dr. Birnbaum's remarks, she noted specifically that there were no differences in mercury levels when comparing autistic and typically developing children. She didn't elaborate or explain why she chose to cite mercury.
We heard that there are 80,000 possible toxic triggers out there, including pesticides, flame retardants, lead, and tobacco. It didn't sound like the FDA is doing its job.
Bruce Lanphear described a sad oversight scenario. Children have new diseases with environmental causes. It may not be just a single toxin; it may be the interaction of multiple toxins.
He made the stunning statement, "We know enough to require premarket testing. To continue to experiment on our children is no longer tenable."
I wondered how many parents were aware that we were exposing children to more and more chemicals that have never been tested for their toxic side effects.
Lanphear showed just how desperate things are getting. He said, "We should also look back to the history of drug regulation. It took the thalidomide epidemic for us to take action. Perhaps autism is the equivalent for environmental chemicals."
Paul Anastas also trashed the argument used by many experts, people like vaccine inventor and defender Dr. Paul Offit, by saying that the worldwide increase in autism is real. Genes do not change this fast.
Most interesting was the testimony by Minnesota mom, Mary Moen, mother of a 10 year old son named Max who has autism. She echoed the incredible struggles faced by countless thousands of parents when she talked about what happened to her son:
"A bright and active baby had become increasingly agitated and aggressive as a toddler.
As a preschooler, any social situation was very challenging for Max. He became difficult to manage outside the home safely and was increasingly bothered by loud and high-pitched noises, smells, and touch.His reactions to things he didn't like were explosive and often dangerous."
"At the time he was diagnosed, many around me were asking how Max got autism. We suspected a genetic link but at the time it didn't matter. I was focused on moving forward to help my son who was by now so obviously different from his peers. Everything we read about treating autism told us early intervention was key. We bought books, went to conferences and begged for consultations with over-scheduled experts in the field. .. [We] were frustrated to find waiting lists as long as six to 12 months at facilities that offered these services. I quit my teaching job and my husband cut back on his orthopedic surgery practice."
Max's mother described the hard work that was needed and the absence of appropriate care and schooling. Max is also on medication to control behavior.
Moen listed her hopes for Max in the future and admitted it'll be difficult to achieve them.
She also described "a 48 year old aunt who we also suspect is on the autism spectrum. [She] is unemployed, socially isolated, and entirely dependent on her aging parents. People like her with undiagnosed and untreated autism are an example of autism's cost to our economy and society."
"There are many unanswered questions. We each struggle with the why. I do not believe we can come to a simple conclusion when it comes to the cause and effect of such a complex disorder as autism. While there is an urgent need for resources, it is also imperative that we focus resources on continued research so that we can one day identify its cause. Until we have done the extensive research necessary to understand autism, we cannot leave any stone unturned or rule out any possible factors as the cause of this disorder."
Sen. Klobuchar asked about problems parents of an autistic child go through, and Moen noted especially the waiting lists for diagnosis and services.
Isaac Pessah went into the immune system problems connected to autism. He talked about inflammatory conditions, neuro-developmental problems and the chemicals involved. He gave details and mercury was one consideration:
"We have started to examine whether immune cells from children with autism respond differently to what we call xenobiotic exposures and the two that we've examined thus far [are] mercury and the flame retardants. We picked the latter because we now have evidence that flame retardants do interfere with both the developing nervous system and the immune system-possibly through common mechanisms."
Pessah talked about a new project called MARBLES which is recruiting expectant mothers with a high risk of having an autistic child because they already have one with autism. They’ll study the "biology of the women involved, including taking blood samples, urine samples, labor and delivery samples, as well as following the child for the first three years after birth. Such a longitudinal study is now being modeled."
Pessah said they have about 170 women enrolled and that they hope to have about 200 in total.
Klobuchar asked a very important question at the end of the hearing. She wanted to know, if they were free of any constraints, where would the experts focus research work.
Pessah responded:
"Because of the complexity of autism spectrum disorders, our lesson learned at UC-Davis is that you need a multi-disciplinary approach. You need to have immunologists talk to neuroscientists, talk to toxicologists and pool their efforts, integrate their efforts in understanding this very complex disorder. And so granted, very large science will address more global issues, I think concerted studies of specific populations will give you valuable answers that could lead to mitigation of autism."
Lanphear:
"Given the prevalence of autism, even though it's risen in recent years, I think the kind of study you'd want to do would be prospective, it would be large and you would have multiple measures of various chemical exposures, looking at the children as they develop. That would of course be augmented by a whole host of other types of studies looking very specifically at questions."
Lanphear mentioned looking at "a kind of large birth cohort study" like the National Children's Study.
All of this was a new day for autism. There was no debate over the numbers. This increase is real. The environment is harming our children. That in itself is a big move forward.
What was disappointing was the lack of urgency in all this. Lanphear made it sound like we could take years conducting research on autism. The word mercury came up several times, but I didn't hear about vaccines even once. Autism seems destined to continue as the interminable mystery. The environment may be at fault, but with 80,000 possible triggers, who knows when we'll have any answers.
I wondered who set up the panel reporting to the health committee. Why weren't there other experts and parents there? Everyone had pretty much the same message: We know it's due to toxins but no one knows anything else for sure.
Where were the parents whose children were perfectly normal until they received certain routine vaccinations? I could imagine stunning before and after videos to highlight their accounts.
We could have also heard about the levels of toxins like mercury and aluminum found in these kids.
Why didn't anyone ask why millions and millions of dollars have gone into genetic research when clearly the answers aren't there?
Where were the DAN doctors? Why didn't we hear about biomedical treatments and recovering autistic kids? There could be some great before and after videos there too.
Where were the expects who've done the vaccine research? Why weren't people from SAFEMINDS testifying?
Why weren't we told that untested chemical additives are nothing new? Deadly mercury is still allowed in vaccines and declared to be safe even though it was never tested or approved by the FDA.
Autism advocate and mother of a pre-teen with autism, Nancy Hokkanen, also from Minnesota, made this comment about Moen's testimony:
"I don't see Mary Moen's name on the regional biomedical treatment listserv I co-moderate. Though our children walked similar paths to diagnosis and behavioral therapies, we diverged regarding causality and psychotropic medication. My son's lab tests revealed medically treatable toxicities and nutritional deficiencies. Investigating autistic children's physical disorders can also provide clues to treating older relatives' ailments, to heal the root problem rather than mask symptoms and add side effects."
My biggest concern is over the tone of the hearing. I'd like to hear people call autism a health care emergency. I'd like it if they were going to call in more experts for more opinions on causation. Why are we hearing about long range children studies instead of an immediate look at the kids who got sick that Dr. Bernadine Healy called for two years ago?
Finally, we've officially declared autism to be an environmental disorder. Beyond that, there was little new in this hearing. It's seems we're still happy to leave autism a mystery.
In truth, we can't continue unaffected by the autism epidemic. The cost of this generation will bankrupt us. It's that simple. When has any country prospered with more and more of its children disabled and dependent for life? The real wakeup call was from Bruce Lanphear:
"We should also look back to the history of drug regulation. It took the thalidomide epidemic for us to take action. Perhaps autism is the equivalent for environmental chemicals."
--
Anne Dachel is Media Editor of Age of Autism.
I finally had time tonight to sit through this sub committee of Congress archive video.
First I want to say it really is making headway that they finally said that it is in fact something in the environment!!!!!!
Not genetics but environmental.
Still I have had a hard week, not a -- my heart is broken cry, but there is nothing I can use a ball bat on
Not genetics, but environmental - I have always known. So, now I know really know just how dumb the rest and slow government people are. and yet they have finally found thier way out of the darkness - well this much of it anyway.
This generation in our family has four autistic boys, one bipolar girl, one schizophrena man, and we are all pretty sure for this extended family there will be no next generation.
In spite of the it is not genetics information there was still that word snuck into the conversations now and again "epigenetics"
Someday smart people (if any are left) are going to look back and blush over inventing that word. If it is the environment that has to trigger the gene???? Now what gene is that, that is being triggered? It is the environment, stupid!
Anyway they are going to look at 80,000 chemicals and other environmnental stuff , all on a buget that was 4 million but now it is upped to 9 million from the stimulus bill.
The worse epidemic ever - even out-ranks childhood dibeties and this small percentage of a huge NIH budget is what they directed toward autism. This is our really, really smart people here?
So with that money they are going to look at these 80,000 chemical. BUT Are they smart enough to look at the effects of perhaps two or three of these 80,000?
Quick, some one do the math 80,000 and then two or three combinations of those 80,000, what does that put the total up too? I learned this formula in alergria class a long time ago, but have forgotten. That is understandable since I am a mother of an autistic - that makes me a pre-autistic and myth is we can just magically get the number out of air - no need to know the formula. And in a way that is true because I just know that it magically means:
Well it is equal to job security forever.
I am sure that no vaccine or combinations of vaccines will be among the 80,000 chemicals.
I wonder if the virus or viruses that (I think are in these vaccines) will be looked at? hmmmmm I wonder if the combinations of two viruses plus a metal attached to a carbon atom - like ohhhh mecury or aluminium will be looked at????
I wonder if the fact that moving overseas even to America requires lots of vaccinations will be considered, or is the hypothesis that vitamin D can not be absorb as well through dark skin is just too good to look any furhter?
And then ----- they discussed the difference that have been found in the immune systems of autism kids as opposed to regular kids. Now let me see, what could possibly; possibly; possibly could perhaps, might, maybe be mess'in up an immune system????
A dumb question, I know, but please pamper me. Does vaccines have anything to do with ohhh the immune system?
Posted by: Benedetta | September 12, 2010 at 12:48 AM
Benedetta,
No I do not, nor have I ever taken thyroid medication.
Posted by: Sid Davis | August 19, 2010 at 10:48 PM
Sid;
Did you have to take thyroid medicine?
Are you still having to take the thyroid medicine?
Posted by: Benedetta | August 19, 2010 at 08:40 PM
Benedetta,
My wife and I buy our Iodoral from Breast Cancer Choices (If you buy the three pack there is no shipping and that is the best net price I have seen):
http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/order.html
They have a protocol listed there because there are other supplements that are particularly important when taking iodine, but they do not have Tyrosine on their list which others recommend as a supplement also:
http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iprotocol.html
There is a discount code to use at breast cancer choices on the following website to save 15% off an order, plus there is more information about iodine there:
http://www.fibromyalgiarecovery.com/Iodine.htm
Both my wife and I started out blindly taking 32.5mg of Potassium Iodide, but as we learned more and more we found we needed both forms of iodine so we first bought Potassium Iodide and Iodine crystals on ebay and made our own 5% Lugol's solution, but later switched to Iodoral tablets for the convenience. The least expensive way to go is to make your own Lugol's solution which you can take with a little melted butter or in juice (grapefruit juice increases the absorption of any substance because it blocks certain digestive enzymes that would otherwise immediately start to break down what you take); each drop of 5% Lugol's will have 6.25 mg of iodine. There is a youtube video on how to, but it essentially is 1 oz Iodine crystals, 2 oz Potassium Iodide in 2 cups of distilled water; it takes a few days to dissolve and the jar you put it in must be covered with a plastic lid and should only be stirred with wood objects. After it is fully dissolved transfer it to amber dropper bottles and if you have some left, store it in a cool dark place with the lid on tight. Baking soda or citric acid will generally clean up spills but be careful because it stains and won't come out of everything.
We worked up to 50mg. per day and after we saturated ourselves, we started to have stiff joints and some kidney aches from throwing off what the iodine displaces in our cells. We took 1/2 teaspoon of Real Salt twice a day plus drank plenty of distilled water. Also started adding 1 tablespoon of food grade diatomacious earth to a glass of grapefruit juice daily, and started taking our magnesium in the form of magnesium chloride instead of magnesium oxide to help with the detoxification process. Chlorine, while an antagonist to iodine, will help from reabsorbing the toxins that get dumped in your kidney so that more comes out in your urine. I also paint the palms of my hands with the lugol's every few days because I have fibrous growths on the tendons to my fingers which previously kept me from fully straightening my fingers.
The results after 5 months for me:
Much more energy; clearer thinking; everything taste better; feel nice and warm; small weight loss (not even trying); I can now fully straighten my fingers and the fibrous growths in my palms have shrunk by 1/2; my hand tremors (which developed over the last 10 years) have 85% disappeared; my enlarged prostate problem is much better; can sleep 4 hours before getting up to the bathroom; and have the most delightfully vivid dreams. I wish I had taken a picture of my arms because I am sure I have more hair growth, but my wife thinks it is just the contrast of my graying hairs to the very nice tan I got this summer from working out in the garden much more (all that energy).
My wife has similar results except for the problems that were specific to me. Her thinning eyebrows have filled in, and her skin looks vibrant. We had hoped that her osteoarthritis in her knees would have improved, but so far no results there. I think there is a link between fluoride and bone and joint deterioration, but we don't know if the damage to her knee cartilage is too advanced to be reversed, but we have not given up on that yet.
Our adult children ask us how long we are going to do this, and I tell them until we glow in the dark.
On the High Salt deal, I have no knowledge. I did look around the internet and saw some HiSalt mineral salt blocks for sale that included iodine. At one time in my life we had beef cattle and we just bought the brown mineral block that the Missouri Farmers Association sold and I can't remember all that it had in it. I have not been to the feed store in years.
Posted by: Sid Davis | August 19, 2010 at 06:56 PM
Sid;
Well over a decade ago, we feed our cows a supplement called highboot or high boot.
It was a salt with a very high dose of iodine.
It was for foot rot in cattle. It took care of the foot rot that was for sure. Now we have two cows that get it every year, from standing in the wet ground around their drinking water concrete tub.
High boot was banned. I do not know why, do you think you might find out why?
Posted by: Benedetta | August 19, 2010 at 12:29 PM
Sid thanks for the links.
I may have made a mistake and ordered some kelp pills.
Seems like it is the perfect catch 22.
Seafood contains iodine, so eat more seafood to get more iodine which helps elimnate heavy metals (mercury) from your body.
Trouble is the sea now also contains more mercury too.
I loved your links, they were very good, and you have hit on a very good point.
Once again I might should have just ordered iodoral (expensive) instead of the kelp pills.
Do you order this?
Putting important iodine in only one food is not enough, just like vit D in milk is not enough esp now that we have a disorder with the metabolism that causes long chain carbs (found in milk) to be broken down.
I use to think it was the vaccines only. Now I am beginning to think it was just the vaccine being the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 19, 2010 at 09:34 AM
Benedetta,
Here is one article and one short youtube video, both by medical doctors, giving an overview of iodine as it relates to thyroid and some related deficiency diseases.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoMfg76gAUo
http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller20.html
And here is one article suggesting a correlation between low iodine and autism:
http://legacy.autism.com/ARI/newsletter/204/page6.pdf
Table salt with iodine is hardly adequate to deal with the increased levels of fluorine, chlorine and bromine which are progressively more prevalent in our food and drink, and which compete with iodine for cellular receptor sites. The iodine in table salt is measured in micrograms per serving; those who are using iodine to correct deficiencies and treat disease are using as much as 50mg. or more daily which is hundreds or times what is in table salt.
It is also interesting these high doses of iodine help remove mercury, lead, aluminum, arsenic, fluorine, and bromine from our cells, although care must be taken to not do this too rapidly.
I find this an interest topic with what seems to me to be a high potential to do considerable good. Unfortunately not enough research is being done, and the medical establishment currently has a bias against iodine.
Posted by: Sid Davis | August 19, 2010 at 12:29 AM
monicasilverio
Good luck with that, I wish you the best. Each case brought before them is one more nail in the coffin. Perhaps it is just mercury and nothing else.
I do know for my kids and husband it was the vaccine. It was the vaccine immediately after the shot it all began.
I was just wondering about tyosine.
ANd I wonder about my thyroid trouble, me not my kids. I am the only one in the my family that had it ever and at as such a young age (well not too young my early 40's). Now my mother in law and all her three sisters had thyroid problems. But I am not related to my mother in law.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 17, 2010 at 10:14 PM
Yea but what about iodized salt?
Has anyone considered breathable toxins, especially fungal?
And if vaccines are possibly to blame how about the technique used when giving certain vaccines. Most of them are intramuscular, but what if vaccines are accidentely given subcutaneously?
Posted by: Jennifer | August 17, 2010 at 06:54 PM
keep it simple-thimerisol in the vaccines causes autism. ..i received rhogam in my first trimester. all of my sons chromosones were in synchronicity. he is one of the omnibus children.his case has not been heard. dx asd,severe developmental delay, adhd, mr.let big pharma drop......
Posted by: monicasilverio | August 17, 2010 at 06:23 PM
Something else that is noted by people that have suffered from Kawasaki's.
They are moody, very moody.
Bright lights in the winter, UV tanning salons all makes them feel better.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 16, 2010 at 10:24 PM
Sid;
That is interesting.
Also tyosine has something to do with pigment. We had three recent articles about autistic kids not tanning. No tan lines from being out in the sun.
Tyrosine
Overview:
Tyrosine is a nonessential amino acid the body makes from another amino acid called phenylalanine. It is a building block for several important neurotransmitters, including epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. Neurotransmitters help nerve cells communicate and influence mood. Tyrosine also helps produce melanin (the pigment responsible for hair and skin color) and helps in the function of organs responsible for making and regulating hormones, including the adrenal, thyroid, and pituitary glands. It is involved in the structure of almost every protein in the body.
Tyrosine deficiencies are rare. Low levels have been associated with low blood pressure, low body temperature, and an underactive thyroid. This does not mean, however, that taking tyrosine supplements will improve any of these conditions.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 16, 2010 at 10:21 PM
Check into iodine deficiency as a contributing factor or even a major cause.
We know that for extreme deficiency children are born with cretinism, brain damage and lower IQ. What about cases where the deficiency is not so extreme?
Iodine is one of a chemical family including fluorine, chlorine and bromine. The thyroid gland needs iodine and tyrosine to make thyroid hormones and every cell in our bodies need iodine. However the cell receptor sites can be blocked because by fluorine, chlorine or bromine because each of these is more reactive than iodine and because we are being exposed to much higher levels of these competing halides than ever before, and our soil is more depleted of iodine than ever before.
This is an area that begs for increased research.
Posted by: Sid Davis | August 16, 2010 at 01:24 PM
"New Study Shows Vaccines Cause Brain Changes Found in Autism" right here... http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/07/new-study-shows-vaccines-cause-brain-changes-found-in-autism.html
Posted by: Everett Washington | August 13, 2010 at 01:38 PM
Jennifer Byrd-
Vaccines can and do cause autism- check out the cases that have been declared "won" in vaccine court but be aware that they did prove the medical condition ie ADEM, mitochondria disorder,toxic encephalopathy etc as the diagnosis instead of the DSM, psychiatric one- autism.
As far as these children and any others who never were vaccinated, mercury, as shown by Palmer et al, can be an environmental inducer to autism:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18353703
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16338635
Posted by: Teresa Conrick | August 12, 2010 at 02:54 PM
If vaccines cause autism, would someone explain to me why three children I have evaluated in the past year for it had autism despite the fact that their parents had chosen not to vaccinate them?
Posted by: Jennifer Byrd | August 12, 2010 at 02:36 PM
Speaking of toxins ... is this for real?
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cement-epa-20100810,0,4379482.story
My favorite part:
EPA officials said the limits would benefit children, whose brains can be damaged by mercury that makes its way through the air to water and then to fish that children eat.
Really? Through air. AND water. AND fish. AND the digestive system. And all the way to the brain. What about DIRECT INJECTION? Nah, I’m sure that’s safe. As long as it doesn’t go through air and water and fish and the stomach and veins and to the brain.
Posted by: Jennifer Hutchinson | August 11, 2010 at 10:08 AM
Lynn - Because of the uniqueness of neurology and immunity of all of our children on the autism spectrum, it really is to their benefit that we seek the services of a DAN trained doctor. They will suggest the list of lab test that will best investigate your son's underlying issues. Lab tests, family history(which would include your geographical location), medical records (which Lynn noted may include hospital mandated vaccines that you were not aware of) and one of the things that most other doctors fail to do now - just listening to the parent talk- should help a well trained DAN doctor help you discover underlying issues that you can address to help your son. No one here at Age of Autism thinks vaccines alone account for the underlying cause of our chidren's autism. There are numerous articles here about viruses, such as lymes disease, as well as toxic metal exposure from our environment. It is just that we all believe that no one has sufficiently addressed the role vaccines do play, enough to stop it from affecting the next generation of children. Good luck, as this is a marathon journey for the recovery of our children.
Posted by: Simon's OT mom | August 10, 2010 at 11:06 AM
Lynn;
One more thing, I thought of.
I ran into on man who thought his six week old baby (had Kawasakis) had never been vaccinated.
He did not know that the Hep B was given in the hospital, on the very first day of the baby's life outside the womb. A vaccine for a disease that is sexually transmitted or transmitted if the person has a job working with blood. It was mandatory.
It took six plus weeks after the DPT shot for my daughter to come down with Kawasaki's when she was 2 years old. That is why I missed it and rechallenged her and her brother.
Posted by: forLynnMiller/fromBenedetta | August 09, 2010 at 11:19 AM
lynn miller
Everybody buys into the safty of vaccines.
So, why did you not vaccinate in the first place????
I did, untill I saw what the DPT shot did to my kids.
Anyway!
Benmyson covered a lot of good points.
But did you: Did you ever have any vaccinations to yourself- esp in the last ten years before your son was born?
Did you react to any of these vaccines?
There are some that are thinking it is a virus, that came into the human population by contaminated vaccines!
A guess could be that our immune systems has a hard time keeping this virus in check esp if there are other environmental factors involved. Such as more vaccines with their adjuvants that are there to challenge the immune system, or heavy metals.
The guess continues that maybe this virus actually lives in some of the immune system's cell, and to challenge the immune system is to mulitply the virus. Yes, like AIDS only less agressive.
Lots of things are unknown here. Lots of things we are having to guess.
Brain injuries of unknown causes (like from an out of control immune system) seems to confuss the psychologists. They have autism now that ranges from severe to moderate, they are now including children into the dignosis of bipolar, and schizophrena.
Last night I watched a show on kids with bipolar and right after that a kid with schizophrena. They all looked like autism too me. The schizophrena one had an IQ of 146 but she was sitting there stimming, and imagining she was seeing little talking cats and dogs - -an Aspergers -- a sure enought one is what it really looked like to me! But no need to worry because a psychologist has looked at some table somewhere and says she is the youngest schizophrena on record - at age 6.
The bipolar kids - one psychologist said on this televsion program that for young kids - bipolar, should be renamed on that psych table as "temper dysfunction" or something like that since they had anger issues. Also it was an effort to keep them from being labeled with this debilataing disease so early in life.
Speaking of mood/anger disfunction: A lot of kids that have Kawasaki's: (a disease that appears out of no where - gives the kids really high fevers like 104 for 10 days or more, possible heart problems,and strokes, rash, peeling of hands, feet, groin, and is a type of acute vasculitis) after the child recovers from this disease most parents notice a mood, personality change in their child. I know I did..
Then the psychologist on these shows talked about genetics; hummmm, neither were not a genetisits but a psychlogists. Boy, the psychology degree sure covers a lot of different fields, it must take them years to get their degree with all the knowledge of all the science fields they have to cover.
I do not think it is genetics, for autism- they already said at the top - the NIH and the Congress that it is environmental, and I imagine these other two diseases are the same.
We should not be having to guess after all this time we should already know.
I am sorry Lynn there is so many unanswered questions. There should be some concrete things by now - but there has been a lack of caring to the point you almost think they (who ever they are) has something to hide this point.
I do know that my two kids were fine, untill the DPT shot, and they progressively became worse as each shot challenged them.
While you were breast feeding I hope you took vitamin D supplements. It would have helped his immune system if he already was ill at least.
Also I am also pretty sure this disease is a disease of the mitochondria. The energy cycle at the very bases of the problem something is interferring with that energy cycle wether it is a virus, heavy metal, sequlene, or our very own immune system.
Many here are into all the B vitamins and diet to help the energy cycle work better.
Good luck and my prayers go with you.
Posted by: forLynnMiller/fromBenedetta | August 09, 2010 at 11:06 AM
Hi, Lynn. Sometimes vaccines are not the cause of autism. Sometimes there are clusters of affected children in certain geographical locations.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dd/report.htm
It could be due to the fact that a thermometer manufacturer had a plant in the area where people now live (and mercury leached into the soil and groundwater due to improper waste disposal), or perhaps due to a population living downwind from a coal burning power plant (as they are known to spew mercury into the air and contaminate it.) We live in a very dirty, polluted world. Mercury and other heavy metal poisoning can occur from multiple sources, including your own mouth (if filled with silver amalgam fillings), and your tuna sandwiches, as Bensmyson stated.
Posted by: Not an MD | August 09, 2010 at 09:35 AM
Lynn - The Cornell Study was done in 2006. I remember looking it up a few years ago and best I can recall it had something to do with sunlight or the lack of it. There was a relationship between rainy weather and TV, the more it rained somewhere the more kids stayed inside and watched TV. Because they stay inside there is a lacking of vitamin D.
Id be willing to bet that somewhere there is a study about ADHD and television because it is my experience that half the people creating commercials and tv shows have some problem paying attention to anything they dont want to and it shows in their work.
But my son had no tv, never watched it and tv didnt cause him to have fevers, seizures and autism.
Maybe your son's father is old, used viagra or that you have vinyl flooring, maybe you didnt show enough affection, could be smoking, perhaps it could have been from someone in your family tree that caused your son's autism? There are studies that show a relationship to the above.
Did you have any vaccines? Any mercury fillings? Eat a lot of big deep water fish? Tuna?
In general, the metals found in breast milk are usually at lower levels than are found in maternal blood. Thus, breast milk is not the primary pathway of exposure for infants; prenatal trans-placental exposure is a much greater concern. That said, instances of high exposure through breast milk do occur, and are often important indicators of an infant's total exposure. One study found that longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with poorer infant growth in children whose mothers had higher levels of mercury in their bodies.
Mercury occurs in a number of forms in the environment. The most hazardous for children is methyl mercury, although inorganic mercury is also a potential concern. Methyl mercury, like lead, is toxic to the developing brain. While high-dose exposures can result in a cerebral palsy-like syndrome, low dose exposures may cause subtle deficits in learning and memory.
Posted by: bensmyson | August 09, 2010 at 07:00 AM
my son Harrison is 12, is severely autistic and has never had a vaccine and was breast fed for 2.5 years. I did all the therapies and schools like everyone else. would someone comment on the recent study from Cornell that exposure to television before age 3 could be the cause of autism? thanks. Lynn Gardow Miller
Posted by: lynn gardow miller | August 09, 2010 at 12:48 AM
Dear Cherry,
"The Parents said it before the Scientists" is an excellent title.
I'm going to hold on to that. It's only a matter of time now.
They can obfuscate all they want but the epidemic is here to stay and its impact will only increase. You can't talk about the increase being real without
mentioning the controversy over vaccines. They have no independent science to back their claims---NONE. We on the other hand have volumes to support the belief that an unsafe, unchecked vaccine schedule has made a holocaust of our children.
In the end, the truth will come out; it has to or we're doomed as a prosperous country. And when everyone is running for cover and denying that they knew this was happening, believe me, lots and lots of us will be writing about the autism community and their tireless mission, in the face of towering odds, TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THE AUTISM EPIDEMIC.
Best,
Anne
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | August 08, 2010 at 05:34 PM
http://www.whale.to/v/kalokerinos.html
It seems the depletion of vitamins brought about by vaccines has been known for decades yet continues to be ignored.
Posted by: barbaraj | August 08, 2010 at 04:39 PM
I don't know what anyone expected to come from this! On so many topics panels and hearings are convened with handpicked groups that eliminate anyone who might actually tell the truth or bring up awkward questions. This was just one more of the same. The purpose is not to find truth but to make people think that an issue has been addressed.
I was listening to NPR the other day -- topic: the safety of Gulf seafood. They had one guest who said it wasn't, and the instant she said the word "dispersant" they cut her off and started taking calls. And they did not go back to her as they did with the other guests. So you tell *me* if the reason for these hearings is to get at the truth! If NPR won't do it I can't imagine our revolving-door industry/government people are about to. Then again NPR isn't even NPR any longer -- it's American Public Media now, and it's run by a couple of Republican fundraisers, so what can we expect... not that the Republicans are much different than the Dems. They're all paid off by the same people after all. (Look at Max Baucus).
While we do need to keep the pressure on, we're really on our own here! The sooner we accept that (and stop hoping/expecting that we can get the powers that be to do anything about it) the better off we'll be.
Posted by: Karen Eliot | August 08, 2010 at 02:18 PM
Dear Ann M Dachel- Are you the one, could you, would you, should you be the one to write an article entitled something like, " The Parents said it before the Scientists" ?
If that appeals to you please do- Ive watched the autism scene for about 12 years now and one by one the parents of the kids trump the doctors and scientists on the issues every time : No the mercury in vaccines is not really "traces" The mercury in vaccines is NOT some specially benign kind of mercury . The rate of autism is REALLY increasing. Autism in NOT primarily genetic ( unless you consider being human an unfortunate genetic condition) Why do we need such an article? To shove in the faces of every self important quasi-scientist who tells us that autistic parents are nut-jobs looking for someone to blame.
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | August 08, 2010 at 01:39 PM
If whatever is injuring our childrens brains had the visible injury effect that Thalidomide caused then the world would be up in arms.
It is not just ASD, kids today have many brain ailments including ADHD, compulsions, etc. A full root cause analysis needs to be done such as when a plane crash occurs.
They need to look at everything introduced in the last 40-50 years into pregnant women, babies and toddlers lives such as vaccines, labor inducing drugs, food additives, etc.
The idiots that claim "Autism is something that has always been around--we've just expanded the definition and doctors are better at recognizing it" are the worst they need to retake basic science and math.
Simple statistical analysis could easily prove them incorrect compare 50 year olds with 15 year olds especially males. Where were all these ASD kids when I was growing up as a baby-boomer? Did their parents hide them in the basement!
Posted by: Marco Areopagita | August 08, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Is it just serendipitous that accutane treated patients and ASD patients share an apparent association with inflammatory bowel disease? Perhaps not. Could these both be examples of a one-two punch, chemical biological intoxication?
What if accutane-treated patients with inflammatory bowel disease were previously vaccinated, with the MMR? with the full vaccine schedule? Do vaccines predispose to accutane toxicity?
What is the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in the completely unvaccinated? What is the incidence of ASD in the completely unvaccinated?
http://www.whale.to/a/yazbak.html
http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/02/accutane-depression-and-expert-testimony/#comment-463651
http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-business/acne-drug-accutane-8217s-side-effect-is-death-so-why-is-it-still-on-the-market/4240
The vaccine schedules are directly responsible for a growing list of vaccine-associated diseases, including neurologic injury to the brain, for which ASD is the prototype.
Posted by: patrons99 | August 07, 2010 at 07:32 PM
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
Would somebody please tell these COWARDS that it is ok to say that the vaccines are the cause of autism.Not even mentioning vaccines was clearly a prerequisite to be able to attend the meeting
This meeting was BS and this was done just to say that they are making a good faith effort so they have plausible deniablity later, "we tried to find out what the problem was had we had meetings ..."
The gene theory and the better diagnosis BS has been seen through and debunked completely and all that is left is the "Enviromentall Card" because there are just too many smart people looking at it and commenting on the research and the researchers and so they cannot lie effectively about diagnosis and genes, so all that is left is the ambigous and amorphous and ever nebulous "Its enviromental" "There is something in the water!!" Yeah it is, it's called GOVERNMENT AND PHARMA BS
VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM
Posted by: WILLIE | August 07, 2010 at 03:44 PM
spacekitty -
I don't mean to suggest that accutane is in any way innocuous. It's use in treatment of severe scaring-type acne should be done only under the close supervision of a licensed dermatologist with considerable experience in monitoring for signs of accutane toxicity. Quite a few acne-ridden adolescents are already depressed because of their acne. It would be a shame if severely striken acne-ridden teenagers were forced to seek treatment for their acne offshore.
How do we know that accutane and/or the vaccine schedules don't unmask Vitamin D3 and/or Vitamin C deficiency? There is a telomere-shortening theory of ageing and accutane toxicity. There is literature demonstrating telomere-length preservation with Vitamin D3 supplementation. Perhaps, vitamin D3 supplementation might have a mitigating effect upon accutane toxicity. I don't know.
The vaccine schedules and Vitamin C depletion may play a role in SIDS/SUID. It is conceivable that Vitamin D3 and Vitamin C supplementation might have at least a partial disease-mitigating effect in neonates.
It is possible that elimination of the vaccine schedules might have disease-mitigating effect by eliminating major "portals" of disease.
Disclaimer: this comment is solely MY personal opinion and is not in any way intended as medical advice.
Posted by: patrons99 | August 07, 2010 at 02:45 PM
When questioned about the Autism rate of 1 in 28 for a group of Somali children in Minnesota....
Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S.
"thought is could be a vitimin D deficiency..."
WHY did someone not think of that sooner ???
She should be given the title of genius...
Posted by: cmo | August 07, 2010 at 01:29 PM
I know lots of young folk who were effected by accutane,,, their parents went crazy trying to figure out what happened to their child who suddenly went depressed and sometime suicidal.
Posted by: spacekitty | August 07, 2010 at 01:29 PM
brian - interesting comment re: Hollywood, pharma, and accutane.
How certain are we that accutane-alone is responsible for the reported association with inflammatory bowel disease? Is it possible that a dysfunctional "gut" preceded the administration of accutane? How could this have happened? Hmmmm. Ditto, ASD. How certain are we that a dysfunctional immune system did not actually precede the onset of ASD? One of our first lines of natural immune defense is found in our gastrointestinal tract.
This recent senate hearing is a perfect example of "plausible denialability".
“...no effective cures can be found while the scientific community debates for decades about what is actually causing the many contemporary sicknesses and diseases experts increasingly say are related to this one-two punch, chemical biological intoxication”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGsIenVqSDU&NR=1
Posted by: patrons99 | August 07, 2010 at 09:35 AM
a little off topic but a important read:
'The usual interaction between Hollywood and the pharmaceutical industry takes place when a celebrity endorses a drug. Roche, for instance, has successfully employed Sally Fields to promote its Boniva med for osteoporosis. Now, though, Roche is about to encounter a Hollywood experience of an entirely different sort - James Marshall, who played a US Marine in the 1992 hit film ‘A Few Good Men,’ claims his acting career was derailed after he used the Accutane acne pill and developed inflammatory bowel disease. His colon was subsequently removed and he is suing the drugmaker for $11 million.'
His trial starts this week in a New Jersey courtroom and the spectacle is likely to cause a side effect of its own - attention on product liability litigation in ways that previous lawsuits have not generated. How so? For all of the thousands of such lawsuits filed against drugmakers in recent years, the featured plaintiffs were, basically, John Doe or Jane Doe - ordinary people whose ordinary lives were allegedly disrupted by the use of a medication. Rarely, were their trials covered in the media. And even when this happened in a big way - such as the first few Vioxx lawsuits - these people faded back into oblivion, regardless of the outcome.
Marshall, however, was a star. And reports say the New Jersey-bred pretty boy will rely on testimony from even biggers names - Martin Sheen, Brian Dennehy and Rob Reiner. His Hollywood pals are expected to testify that Marshall, 43, was headed for stardom before his ailments upended his career. “The jury will hear that James Marshall had the potential to be the next James Dean-like star,” Marshall’s lawyer, Michael Hook, tells Bloomberg News. “That dream is gone because he took something to treat acne.”
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/news.php?start=3780&end=3800&view=yes&id=5072#newspost
Posted by: brian | August 07, 2010 at 08:01 AM
c all the above!!! I still don't believe injecting toxins into infants is such a hot idea either......
Posted by: n | August 07, 2010 at 06:43 AM
Just a couple of questions to the general public and government "officials" alike:
What is the environment that our children are exposed too? Is everything ELSE in the world toxic but vaccines? How many chemicals are in vaccines? I'll give you a clue...hundreds. So why is it so hard for everyone to get their thick skulls around the fact that chemicals in an OVER 800% increase in the vaccination schedule could be causing MORE harm than good? Why?
Once again Anne, thank you for a wonderful article.
Posted by: rileysmom | August 07, 2010 at 02:31 AM
"We know it's due to toxins but no one [wants] knows anything else for sure."
Washington could have been buried under 600' feet of snow for the last 10 years and we would be where we are today.
The next 10 years in Washington will be the same. I couldn't even stomach Boxer's or Imhoff's opening remarks.
Trying or believing anything useful will come out of Washington is delusional.
It really would be better if Washington was buried under 600' of snow.....permanently, with an extra 300' on K street.
Posted by: michael framson | August 07, 2010 at 01:51 AM
Angus Files
You are right on all three accounts.
1) Good job on spelling my impossible name that my mother gave me.
2)Yes, it is the Somalians - it is either the less sunlight or all the Aspies of that country got together and decided to come to America - but it could not be all the vaccines they took to get here - that is a for sure.
3.) David Thrower's link is a good one, thanks for sending it to me.
Bob Moffitt - "Deny,deny untill they die"
Patrons 99 You are right there is no end in sight, dead and buried is what they are counting on.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 06, 2010 at 10:03 PM
“That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.”
Tennyson, The Grandmother.
While there may be potential environmental causes of autism, this committee had the moral obligation to properly address vaccines as a cause, as well as the neurotoxin mercury used in flu vaccine preservatives.
Similarly, there are environmental causes of lung cancer.
http://lungcancer.about.com/od/causesoflungcance1/a/envirocause.htm
But one does not then ignore cigarette smoking as a cause (even if there is biased scientific studies funded by the tobacco industry that claim cigarette smoking is not unsafe).
Oh right, that happened already.
Posted by: Jim Thompson | August 06, 2010 at 09:39 PM
what was the study they were talking about on mercury? Is that available to us?
And..... until we all demand our insurance carriers to treat our kids for metal toxicities, this dance of shame will continue. Everyone... prove your kid is sick and demand that they be covered. It is as simple as that.
Posted by: spacekitty | August 06, 2010 at 09:00 PM
Dear Steve,
I suspect that what you say is true. SO---if they can't pinpoint the chemicals responsible, no one has a right to say it's not the
toxic vaccines we load into kids. Who's crazy enough to accept that toxins cause autism---except the ones found in vaccines?
They've fought us for years whenever the issue of a true increase came up. This hearing slams the door on the claim of a genetic cause, no real increase.
Acknowledging that toxins cause autism means that the argument that an unchecked, unsafe vaccine schedule is behind the epidemic is right out there front and center.
Anne D.
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | August 06, 2010 at 08:22 PM
Yes, Lisa is correct. Anytime they want to know the cause of autism, they can start asking the parents and doctors who have successfully recovered kids how they did it. Thousands have been recovered, including my kids. My kids are recovered because I learned from those who were successful before me.
Posted by: Heidi N | August 06, 2010 at 07:34 PM
Benedetta (got your name spelt right now i hope)
I think Somalia has the highest offical records of Autism going by what i read today .
For a general picture David Thrower is also very good on the Uk .
http://www.whale.to/a/thrower04.html#16._____Is_Autism_Increasing__-__Some_Recent_UK_Pronouncements_
Angus Files
Posted by: Angus Files | August 06, 2010 at 07:09 PM
I suspect a new strategy is forming. Blame it on the "toxic soup" and it will still have nothing to put a finger on and the status quo is undisturbed. Including the vaccinations.
I guess I have become too jaded to think this is amongst the beginnings of a legitmate paradigm shift.
Posted by: Steve | August 06, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Benedetta and Angus -
You are BOTH right on the mark. We will all be long gone, dead and buried, by the time our government figures out the environmental cause of ASD. We will have to figure it out on our own, e.g. with studies of the Hewitson, et al type. We might need private sources of funding. Public sources of funding would likely have strings attached and in a worst case scenario, we might end up loosing final right of review of resultant publications.
It's time we all JUST SAY NO TO PHARMA. It's reached the point where they are literally poisoning us. Pharma now controls nearly every aspect of our lives. I'm completely fed up pharma-medicine. It's a rotting, stinking disgrace. Sadly, there is no end in sight.
Posted by: patrons99 | August 06, 2010 at 05:53 PM
Anne - to reinforce your comparison to veterans, this is taken from the 2008 Congressional report into Gulf War Syndrome:
'Thus far, however, longer-term studies have focused primarily on large health services datasets that provide information on hospitalizations, clinic visits, and disability for diagnosed conditions. While these represent an important step forward in understanding possible longer-term health effects of the anthrax vaccine, such studies provide few insights concerning symptom rates and undiagnosed multisymptom conditions. No studies have actively assessed rates of symptoms or multisymptom illness months or years after receipt of the anthrax vaccine.’
So after seventeen years, the vaccine question was still untouched. Autism research needs a rich benefactor, because the government will NEVER research vaccine reactions in children. Unspeakably sad, but true.
Posted by: GH | August 06, 2010 at 05:47 PM
Angus;
Then we better hope that American egg cracks soon for Uk's survival.
A nurse practioner just told me that she and her collegues thought the autism gene probably came from England to begin with. The British men were all stiff lipped, money making aspergers and that is why the country is now riddled with autism.
Oh, the stupidity of what I have to put up with on a day to day basis!
But she is not totally wrong, is it not true that the United Kingdom has a higer rate than anywhere else?
Posted by: Benedetta | August 06, 2010 at 05:39 PM
Clearly "science" and "government" are NOT interested in the causes of autism, and this whole meeting was bull$h!t. If they truly cared about the causes, they would study the kids who are recovered.
They do NOT do this.
Why?
Because recovered kids are recovered by treating vaccine damage.
Posted by: Lisa | August 06, 2010 at 05:39 PM
AH, It ain't the circulating - it's the processing. Mercury likes "All the fatty-protein organs (brain, filter organs, the gut, etc.) end up collecting it." Thanks for that Erik Nanstiel.
It's no wonder the diets and enzymes work well. If the mercury is blocking the functions and processing, it would make sense that we are seeing kids allergic to starches, sugary fruits and of all things the sticky gluten that plugs up what actually IS trying to become cell nutrition. They are starving and oh ... that brings us back to McAndless and many decades old sages.
Simple, eh?
Compared to parent knowledge, what a pattern of denial our government has!
MAKE AUTISM STOP
Posted by: MAKE AUTISM STOP | August 06, 2010 at 05:35 PM
Benedeta your bang on the money,everyone in the UK here,says "it has to happen in the US first" too big to tumble is one of the quotes I have in my head from articles this week and that was for one of the smaller pharma tenticles never mind the whole lot ..PHARMA AS WE KNOW IT SHOULD DESTROYED.
Angus
Posted by: Angus Files | August 06, 2010 at 03:45 PM
Anne posted:
"My friend said that typically the government’s response follows a pattern. First, they deny there’s a problem. Next, they refuse to pay those affected."
I think the "typical government response" to a health catastrophe .. such as .. Gulf War Syndrome, Agent Orange or Autism is:
DELAY, DENY AND HOPE THEY DIE.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | August 06, 2010 at 03:30 PM
Sent the link to this story to every Tv and print "News" outlet in our surrounding area.
This should be big news. But I guess the fury over Mrs. Obama going to Spain is just more important.
Posted by: K Fuller Yuba City | August 06, 2010 at 03:13 PM
After 20 years of research, pharma & the CDC has no idea what causes Autism.
However, it is a wonder of modern bs science that in 2009, pharma could "change the criteria" for a pandemic at the WHO,
...quickly find a new pandemic that fit the new criteria, and make a "two billion dollar/ money up front" vaccine, (to save us all) ... that we now are throwing away....
Posted by: cmo | August 06, 2010 at 02:30 PM
Mary's kid is 10 years old. I remember 10 years old. In that brief momemt I did think we had beat it. well we had not, so Mary has a long ways to go.
This all sounds like the same stuff I heard when I listened to the earlier IACC meeting.
At that meeting, I felt they were licking their chops with glee. Oh, yes it is environmental, but we don't know what it is! It could be soooo many things, so very many things, thus- it will take a money - a whoooole lot of money and time - oh yessss - a whoooole lot of time. Think of all the careers that can come from this whole bunch of money, time consumming task -and such a noble task too. Years of a steady good salary leading right on into retirement-- our smart kids (unlike the kids with autism) might can take over the search for austim and continue in this good sucure job as we all hunt for that environmental cause- if only we handle this just right.
Maybe I have been around too long with nobody caring, maybe I am just a mad old woman, goodness knows I did not actually hear this meeting like I heard the IACC meeting, so maybe I am being unfair.
Am I?
Posted by: Benedetta | August 06, 2010 at 01:30 PM
Im with you Gatogorra, this is bullshit. It's a way for them to attempt to prove to the judge 10 years from now how hard they tried, how they knew nothing. Innocent.
No mention of the big elephant in the room, how odd indeed. Think they had a few meetings about how to conduct this meeting, what to say and what not to say? Wouldnt that be public information, someone could make a FOIA request for that right? Were there meetings? If so let me have the notes, the recordings, minutes and emails. Who advised, who was on the list to talk, turned them down, were unavailable? Who asked for this in the first place?
Posted by: bensmyson | August 06, 2010 at 01:12 PM
TODAY we should start determining the immune function of EVERY child before unleashing the massive amount of vaccines they get today. Sounds easy to me
------------------
Test mommy before baby is born. This essentially eliminates the need for any vaccine.
The same sort of test that so called experts say "proves" the immunogenicity of mass vaccination in clinical trials somehow becomes unclear, lost, unavailable and doubtful when used responsibly...ethically...morally.
Nice...
Posted by: Media Scholar | August 06, 2010 at 12:33 PM
Yes Andrea, totally right.
Dana Halvorsen was incredible. We could not have asked for a better representative of our kids. She should be made president of ASA.
Posted by: Katie Wright | August 06, 2010 at 12:23 PM
P.S.
I recently talked about the autism epidemic with a friend who’s a long-time congressional insider. He made some interesting comments comparing autism to veterans with Gulf War Syndrome and soldiers harmed by Agent Orange in Vietnam.
My friend said that typically the government’s response follows a pattern. First, they deny there’s a problem. Next, they refuse to pay those affected. When they do get around to investigating the claim, they look in the wrong place---somewhere where they’re sure not to find anything incriminating.
This is nothing new to the autism community. For years, everyone in authority has been in denial. We’ve been told there’s been no real increase in the number of affected children and doctors love to take credit for finally recognizing the disorder.
Millions have been spent on pointless genetic research used to reinforce the claim that kids are simply born with autism.
How bad do the numbers have to get before these children get some official recognition? Everyone was alarmed about polio in the 1950s when one in 3,000 Americans was affected. How in the world can we continue to quietly accept the fact that one percent of our children have autism?
As I watched the monumental hearing on autism and toxins, I was amazed at the lack of interest being shown. Why weren’t there more senators and staffers eager to hear about what’s happening to a generation of U.S. children? Where were the reporters and cameramen covering all this for the evening news? I’m sure Senators Udall and Boxer had other important obligations but to watch them leave in the middle to the testimony, was disheartening.
The only network that reported on this hearing was ABC, and they made the point that no one has shown any evidence of an environmental link, plus they included a video report denying that a GFCF diet benefits autism.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Autism/autism-link-environmental-factors-hazy-families-senate-subcommittee/story?id=11313928
ABC News ran their story with a subtitle, “Experts and Parents Say Little Is Known About Environmental Links to Disorder,” seemingly intended to give everyone the idea that all this is just speculation.
ABC cited Dr. Stefani Hines, a pediatrician and assistant professor at Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine, who said,
“There's no really solid body of research that tells us there's something in the environment definitively linked to autism. There are many hypotheses that factors like vitamin deficiencies, mercury and glutein and casein in the diet are linked to autism, but there's no strong literature to support many of these hypotheses."
ABC also included Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Miami saying, "There is a genetic component, and there are likely to be some environmental issues, but no one really knows what those are, and they're probably different for different kinds of autism.”
Finally, ABC News made it clear in BOLD PRINT:
“Autism's Environmental Links Remain a Mystery, Researchers Say.”
Is this really how much America cares about children with autism?
I believe that the government will start to address autism when they have some idea of how to solve the problem. Right now, from the tone at the end of hearing, they have no answers. Experts talked of long range studies looking for some clue as to the cause of autism and they offered nothing to help recover damaged kids.
We heard that there a problem but no one had a viable solution.
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | August 06, 2010 at 12:18 PM
More tiptoeing around the mammoth in the room... a mention of "immunologist" here, a whisper about "drug regulation" there.
It would have been nice to hear from someone who understood mercury toxicity. All this measurement of blood levels is like running a Breathalyzer test for last week's Jagermeister shots.
Posted by: nhokkanen | August 06, 2010 at 11:21 AM
On the mercury thing - didn't I hear Dr Anastas clarify that just because the levels were the same in the children, it didn't mean it affected them equally..
Posted by: Sarah S | August 06, 2010 at 11:15 AM
Most toxicologists only test the blood for mercury... and perhaps don't realize that mercury doesn't like blood... it likes tissue. All the fatty-protein organs (brain, filter organs, the gut, etc.) end up collecting it. So they use blood tests to exonerate mercury...
Posted by: Erik Nanstiel | August 06, 2010 at 11:04 AM
Thanks for the straightforward report. I keep coming back to Mark Blaxill's point that "epidemics are simple". This kitchen sink causation approach seems like just a way to stall.
As others have pointed out, autism can have thousands of environmental facilitators which can be different for every child-- exposures which make it more likely that the central cause (or limited number of causes, which would most likely all have overlapping mechanisms of damage) will do its worst. But "facilitator" and "cause" are different things-- the member of the criminal gang who ties the victim's arms is not the cause of the bullet hole in their head, though they "helped". I feel pretty sure the cause(s)-- aside from the very rare de novo mutation which induces autistic-like symptoms-- will ultimately turn out to be a specific mechanism of damage that can only be rendered by one or a few things in combination on individuals made susceptible for a number of reasons.
This committee seems to want to waste as much time as possible sifting through the facilitators, while avoiding the inconvenient cause(s) for as long as possible or indefinitely.
Posted by: Gatogorra | August 06, 2010 at 10:55 AM
Katie,
You already know why they didn't have a parent like the one you described.
They really don't want to know what a parent like that would say.
Anyone know the status of the hearing Tom Harkin held last year at this time on autism?
Dana Halvorsen gave incredible testimony as well as other parents. Those were the kind of parents we needed at this latest hearing. And the kind we need everytime we get a chance to be heard.
You would think they would want to hear from people who have compelling stories to tell. You would think...
Link to Harkin's hearing on A1
http://www.autismone.org/content/us-senator-tom-harkin-hearing-autism-research-treatments-and-interventions
Posted by: Andrea | August 06, 2010 at 10:54 AM
The vaccine connection to autism is such a hot topic, how bizarre that nobody mentioned it. Not even to dismiss it.
Posted by: Carol | August 06, 2010 at 10:51 AM
Wake me up when the committee starts talking about vaccines. Maybe in 25 years. I'll be the 70 year old woman shopping for toys with her 30 year old son.
Posted by: julie | August 06, 2010 at 10:44 AM
If Thalidomide was a "liability free product" such as the entire vaccine industry, it would probably still be on the market...
Dr. Offit & Dr. Nancy would be saying that research shows that the "very short arms" of Thalidomide children is a "new genetic disease..."
One would think the Senate committee would ask some simple questions, such as "where the hell" are the CDC vaccine injury records, provided by parents, that provided the data used for the secret CDC June 2000, Simpsonwood meeting ???
One dimwit at the hearing stated that they did not find higher mercury levels in Autistic children which is a falacy. They do not say where the data came from but it probably came from "testing shoes" of children or some other fine scientific effort...
The primate vaccine data on Thimerosal, where the animals are sacrificed and the brain tissue clearly measured and tested shows exactly what happens to vaccine supplied mercury.
There were a few bright spots at the hearing, However, one has to wonder what flu shot is planned for the public this fall, and if the Senate will support another "H1N1 multi billion dollar pharma fund raiser..." where we later throw away 130 million doses of unused, unwanted vaccine.
Posted by: cmo | August 06, 2010 at 10:37 AM
I was able to watch a part of this hearing live, and haven't finished watching the archive, BUT while watching, one of the things that stuck out to me was the mention that our children have clear cut autoimmunity issues. Which led me to think, vaccination has clear cut contraindications for those dealing with immune system issues, and therefore TODAY we should start determining the immune function of EVERY child before unleashing the massive amount of vaccines they get today. Sounds easy to me?!?!?! Sigh.
Posted by: kim | August 06, 2010 at 10:08 AM
Even if mercury levels in children with autism are the same as mercury levels in children without autism--which I doubt (can someone get the data upon which this statement was based?)--this would not at all prove mercury is not involved--or that it isn't the most significant factor in the puzzle.
Much evidence indicates that mercury exposure causes a multitude of health problems--and it seems quite likely to me that it is the combination of mercury exposure via vaccines (and/or other exposures) along with synergistic elements and or events that causes the spectrum of damage we see in our kids.
Perhaps the child who is exposed to mercury via vaccines but who is well-nourished, healthy, in a non-stressful life, who hasn't had additional mercury exposures (via the mom's amalgams or mercury-contaminated diet, broken fluorescent bulbs, or other sources), isn't given tylenol, hasn't had (or isn't taking) antibiotics, has a healthy gut flora, and doesn't have lead (or any other heavy metal or BPA or organophosphate pesticide or similar) toxicity from contaminated toys, food, paint, pet flea powders, or whatever, isn't fed food with aspartame or msg, or gmo soy or corn, and didn't get other vaccines with aluminum at the same time--will be able to get rid of most of the mercury in the shots and will only end up with asthma, or eczema, or a food allergy, or a lazy eye (or all of the above).
But the child who has a couple of these additional stressors, will end up with speech delay, chronic infections, or Asperger's. And the child with many of these synergistic factors may end up with severe autism.
That is the picture that makes the most sense to me and best fits what I have observed firsthand and what I have been able to learn about mercury toxicity and cofactors. Teasing out exactly what the most dangerous cofactors might be may eventually be brought to light from the sort of study proposed--if they actually collect the right data.
In the meantime, were I a new parent or grandparent, I would keep my child far away as possible from all sources of mercury, lead and aluminum exposure (including all vaccines!), never use tylenol, avoid antibiotics, choose organic foods, and avoid plastics and all pesticide/herbicide/toxic cleaner exposures (to the extent possible--very difficult given widespread use of all of these in parks and schools).
If the recognition that autism is increasing and caused by "environmental factors" becomes accepted by society at large, and actually publicized widely (funny this Senate hearing has only gotten coverage here as far as I can see), that would be a step in the right direction. Is there a transcript of the hearing available?
Posted by: Sue | August 06, 2010 at 09:32 AM
I was very disappointed that the senators had not done their homework prior to the committee meeting. These senators asked the most elementary of questions and did little to hold the agencies accountable for their lack of progress. the past Senator Harkin asked far more complex questions, many follow ups and asked to hear from more than one parent.
Mary Moen was a wonderful representative of the HF population. She also spoke articulately about the shameful wait for services and education. However, I cannot, for the life of me, understand why a Mom who does not believe environmental factors were an issue in her families' autism testify at an Autism and the Environment committee meeting?
Ms. Moen did not want to "dwell on" the causes of autism but wanted to move forward. So many children cannot move forward because they are physically ill and do not make progress despite good therapeutic interventions. It was grossly irresponsible of the committee not to allow the testimony of another parent- one well versed in environmental factors. Such a parent could have raised many of the important issues that the senators failed to discuss.
Posted by: Katie Wright | August 06, 2010 at 09:20 AM
This time around, why not just tell us how you would like us to react?
Posted by: Ed Hutcheson | August 06, 2010 at 07:09 AM
How is it possible for Dr. Bruce Lanphear to testify before this committee and NOT mention childhood vaccines in conjunction with his observations that:
"children have new diseases with environmental causes. It may not be a single toxin, it may be the interaction of multiple toxins?
OR
"to continue to experiment on our children is no longer tenable"
OR
"it took the thalidomide epidemic for us to take any action. Perhaps autism is the equivalent for environmental chemicals"
Based on these observations .. one would think Dr. Lamphear's highest priority would be to conduct urgent, critical, toxicological testing of the MANY substances .. some already known to be highly toxic .. that are commonly found in ALL childhood vaccines?
Instead .. given the opportunity to state where HE would "focus" HIS research .. HE says:
"Given the prevalence of autism, even though it's risen in recent years, I think the kind of study you'd want to do would be prospective. It would be large and you would have multiple measures of various chemical exposures, looking at the children as they develop. That would of course be augmented by a whole host of other types of studies looking very specifically at questions".
I don't know about you .. but .. Dr. Lamphear's "focus" on research doesn't sound too promising to me.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | August 06, 2010 at 07:08 AM
Great Article Thanks Anne!
Posted by: Tanners Dad | August 06, 2010 at 06:13 AM