@ maurine

I do see a possible correlation between infant jaundice and autism, but ONCE AGAIN, it's a situation where a true medical condition is caused by industry and ignorant doctors.

Infant jaundice usually occurs in breastfed babies whose mothers were not given proper advice on how often to breastfeed and in bottle-fed babies, who are being given formula rather than breastmilk. The doctors advise the same schedule as is detailed in the little pamphlet handed out at the hospital--the same pamphlet that is conveniently created by the formula industry--they say to nurse a newborn every 2-3 hours.

Any lactation consultant will tell a new mom, especially a first-time mom, to nurse every 30-90 minutes. Less than that results in a dehydrated--and jaundiced baby.

Jaundiced and dehydrated babies are usually given formula because the formula industry managed to convince the doctors that jaundice is somehow caused by breastmilk.

And even Andrew Wakefield has said that formula-fed babies are more likely to develop autism, and more likely to be much more severely affected.

The formula industry is very nearly as evil as the pharmaceutical industry. They certainly share the same marketing tactics.

John, Last week, David Freedman was interviewed on our local NPR station. Freedman just published: WRONG: Why experts* keep failing us--and how to know when not to trust them. It's about all the forces that push experts, be they top scientists, high-powered consultants, pop gurus, financial whizzes or journalistic pundits (like me), into misleading us with flawed advice, and discusses ways to tell good expert advice from the dubious stuff.

During the interview he "specifically" cited genetic research as wrong 90% of the time.

Freedman explains the flaws that all too easily worm their way into research, including deliberate fudging of data and downright fraud. Fellow journalists, more interested in flashy copy than accuracy, come in for their share of the blame.

Stay away from the word. By the book,,, Autism is a genetic untreatable neurological disorder. Most of these children are just plain poisoned. It's all in the vocab to protect money. Sue anyone who gives your child an ASD label without ruling out medical disorders. seriously

According to Benedetta's ped, children who were genetically lacking a proper autonomic response would be better equipped to survive in primitive conditions. Say what??

As Benedetta even pointed out, at the very least they would not have been successful hunters. That genetic trait would have been selected for extinction.

The genetic trait of a robust and correctly functioning autonomic response--fight or flight--would have ensured the survival of humans with this trait. Only offspring that were able to withstand bleeding injuries with effective clotting ability or strong adrenaline responses to allergic reactions to novel allergenic foods or toxins would have selectively survived and this genetic trait would ensure a survival of the fittest. (Credit Dr. Abram Hoffer for this insight).

A more likely theory that would explain the surge in children with symptoms of ADHD is in the context of a hyper-stimulated immune response. A genetic trait that would be advantageous for survival of humans, enabling the ability to quickly respond to physical danger/harm could have disasterous effects if upregulated to the point that resulted in excessive adrenaline production (think mania) and a hypercoagulable state (think stroke). I can imagine a vaccine-induced hyperstimulated immune reaction that would result in anaphalaxis were it not for an upregulated genetic trait that responds in kind to contain the threat. As vaccines are designed to upregulate an immune response for an extended period of time, the proper physiological response to this in a selectively, genetically fit human would be an extended upregulation of the corresponding autonomic response. Concomitant with that increased and sustained fight or flight expression is unfortunately also the suppression of parts of the immune system. The children I know with ADHD tended to have a history of strep and ear infections.

The effects of the stimulant medications on children diagnosed with ADHD are not fully understood and I believe the mechanisms by which they are calming to some children have yet to be correctly identified. In the balancing of neuro/immune hormones, it is a tightrope act in the dark.

It's the genes! It's the genes!

All the gene stuff is just another way to write off a group of people. If it is the gene's then there is nothing that can be done. End of Story! This is CRAZY! People who have a famil history of Alcoholism can't not become alcoholics if they never drink.

It is a shame that there is no accountability of the people who are poisoning our children because of greed for money or power.

They are desparately trying write this all off as genetic hence the media spin...the problem is, it's too late. Senior scientist from the EPA and HHS have already gone on the record saying there's a strong environmental component.

Even Dr. Thomas Insel said:

"Along with known genetic disorders that cause ASD, such as Fragile X and Rett Syndrome, these new mutations may collectively account for 10 to 15% of ASD cases...For ASD, the research evidence has pointed to prenatal environmental factors as most salient. While there is increasing research into environmental factors that might contribute, thus far no one factor appears to explain the large number of, or apparent increase in, cases of ASD."

Source: NIH
http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2007/04/t20070417a.html

I think were dealing with is an immune dysfunction triggered by environmental toxins incl. vaccines (the likely culprit that started the dysfunction.

Our kids are chronically sick/ reacting to toxins in the environment due to an immune system that isn't equipped to protect them.

We should listen to scientists like Dr. Mario Capecchi who said there's a direct link between mental illness and immune dysfunction specifically defective microglia in the brain.

I'm reposting Dr. Capecchi's full interview for those who haven't seen this, well worth watching

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=10947928

We're hardly living in the “Wonderful World of Disney,” but lately when I read about a study like the above, I see Cinderella's two step-sisters trying on the famous glass slipper (“Cinderella” was the video of choice, perhaps a little too often, among my younger siblings).

Anastasia's turn comes first, and she happily declares a perfect fit until the plump little royal attendant pulls her foot out of the folds of her skirt and it is apparent to all that the slipper covers little more than her big toe.

Next, Drusella bops the poor attendant on the head, grabbing the shoe-horn and declaring, “You clumsy! I’ll make it fit!” And she forces her also unusually-long foot, at least the toes and the heel anyway, into the slipper. The moment of excitement over a “successful fit” is short. Her foot springs the slipper into the air, sending the duke and attendant into a panicked pile-up to save the precious key to finding the prince’s true love.

Meanwhile, the evil step-mother has Cinderella locked away in tower, with no intention of letting her be known, no matter the outcome.

Why are we rehashing all this anyway???

Did not Tom Insel say in one of those IACC meetings that it was environmental???

Did not some Congressional hearing - say it is environmental???

Oh, that was autism not ADHD OR ADD. Hey, my son has ADD listed in with all his other problems coming from a stroke as a baby along with PDD-NOS, tourettes, OCD, anxiety, speech problems too!

When I heard this genetic study, I knew instantly that it was garbage - because I know it is environmentally linked to all the other crappy stuff going on with our kids. However the public half listening - says to themselves- oh genetic - case closed - sticks this in their minds for all time, so CDC, NIH and all the rest is off the hook. My gosh - can't blame them for a genetic problem.

I wish I had all my money back that I paid my son's ped and then had to listen to him explain again and again what ADD and ADHD is and why it is. He would say it is genetic because a long time ago it was in our best interest not to concentrate on one thing for too long or we would be eat by saber tooths, or killed by arrows from Indians. Attention deficit was nessacary for survival.

I did not buy it then, and I sure don't now. As a school teacher -I truly know what it means to a child to have ADD, or ADHD and it is not pretty. Survival means that you don't go around like a chicken with it's head cut off, half finishing a job, not finishing anything. That means that the corn patch centuries past didn't get plowed you would starve.

ADHD - is not really appreciated by many of just what a bad deal it is for children.

I watched my nephew struggle with this for years. His own little swing in the yard - and how he would swing was - so very disturbing to watch. It looked like something out of a horror movie or a lunatic house. He couldn't get through highschool - had to drop out. He can not hold a job - has lost job after job. He cannot decide on a career in college and keeps changing careers. His mouth gets him into trouble too. He had his driver liscense provoked because he has been pulled over so many times and a car full of unpaid traffic tickets. He is a mess.
He became so nervous one night that they had to take him to a mental hospital to give him some sedatives.

Not an easy thing for a young man.

Cases where autistic-behavior can be directly associated with a known genetic disorder, such as Fragile X or Rett's Syndrome, Prader Willi, Angelman Syndrome, and etc. were never more than 10% of the cases. That's BEFORE Rett's & Fragile X were removed from the DSM-IV, now children with those disorders have a MEDICAL, rather than a behavioral, diagnosis.
No one is disagreeing that autism has many potential causes, and that some of those causes may very well be genetic.
However, the results of those "autistic genes" can be very different. While over 90% of identical twins are concordant (both have) an Autism Spectrum Disorder if one twin is diagnosed with Autism, they can have very different variants and differ by over 50 IQ points. One can have full-blown autism, with a complete lack of verbal language, self-injurious behavior, and repetitive behaviors, while the other twin has a mild case of Asperger's. One lives in group homes and is heavily medicted, the other becomes a computer programmer.
Considering that identical twins have exactly the same genetic code in over 99% of cases (there are some unusual cases where they do not, because they "separated" early on when one developed a mutation, such as Down's Syndrome or Fragile X in it's genetic code), obviously there is something more than just raw genetics going on. Identical twins are also the closest thing, when raised together, for having exactly the same environment - however, studies conducted in Denmark showed that the earlier they separated, the less likely they were to be functionally similar. Twins who shared a placenta (a mark of late separation) were more likely to be similar in functioning, even in the absence of any known genetic anomolies.
Additionally, studies of family clusters of autism have shown that many people in the same family, both WITH and WITHOUT autism share the same mutations. Studies on isolated cases have shown a rather random sample of de novo (new) mutations, such as copying errors, when anything could be identified at all.
So, any link between Autism and genetics must necessarily be fragile.