Government NIH only 5% of Budget on Environmental Factors
By Katie Wright
Accountability at IACC! Thanks to the incredible, and I mean
incredible, work of Dr. Susan Daniels’ IACC team the IACC audience were all
treated to a wonderful presentation detailing the exact breakdown of how all NIH
autism research monies were spent. (Click link for details spending analysis.) I love this office! Dr. Daniels’ team gets
the job done like no one else. They produce an incredible amount of really
important work. This work = accountability. Wow, did this office use the their
IACC hiatus well. They produced reams of valuable information as well as a
great web search program. Thank you.
The report CLEARLY showed that despite promises and assurances to the contrary, the NIH continues to spend the lion share of its $ on genetic research (76,798,748) and only 5% (yes, FIVE PERCENT, $4, 432,899) of its entire autism research budget on studying environmental factors. Just how many times have we heard Dr. Insel waxing on and on about how he now understands the importance of environmental research. Speaking for myself I have been hearing this sorry refrain for 5 yrs. Insel goes on talk shows, NPR, web interviews talking about how committed the NIH is to researching potential environmental triggers of ASD. This feels like just another case of a politician telling the voters what they want to hear and then quietly doing the opposite.
As usual Dr. Linda Birnbaum of the NIEHS defends the lack of environmental research by stating that “environmental” category is strictly defined as the study of chemical compounds and much gene / environment research was not included in this category. Please- “gene- environment” research is usually 90% genetic and 10% environmental in nature, so let’s be totally transparent here. Incredibly, we can always count on Dr. Birnbaum to rationalize the lack of environmental research funded via IACC. Of course environmental research means the study of chemical compounds! What is environmental supposed to mean: the study of Fragile X and the genome? No. Families want strictly accurate categories, not environmental padding.
Clearly it is not just the public comment speakers who are unhappy with the fact that ASD environmental science is grossly underfunded. Almost immediately Dr. Insel went on the defensive, attempting to rationalize the massive disparity between genetic and environmental research investments. Insel stated:” I mean people are all upset about this but it isn’t like 95% of the research is genetic and only 5% is environmental!” Yes, Dr. Insel that is pretty much exactly how it is! How I wish I was not in listen-only mode.
Clearly Dr. Insel had been working over time pre IACC meeting in order to portray the IACC report as an incomplete or inaccurate measure of autism research expenditures. In order to hide from the actual facts, Insel argued that the IACC portfolio report did not include all the autism research IN THE ENTIRE WOLRD and therefore the report was only semi accurate portrait of environmental research. Furthermore, only if one looked at all the research IN THE ENTIRE WORLD there is actually a great deal of ASD environmental research. Oh boy was Dr. Insel on a tear here! On and on and on about the explosion of autism research all over the globe and how much environmental research is really going on. In fact, by Dr. Insel’s count 38% of all autism research $ is spent on environmental science. We should be counting the ENTIRE WORLD of autism research in our portfolio accounting!
OK, this is nuts on so many levels. You know that crazy speech Otter gives Dean Wormer and the college students in “Animal House?” Otter insists that if Delta House is put on double secret probation then the entire fraternity system should be on probation and if Dean Wormer is blaming the entire fraternity system than he is blaming all colleges, and if all colleges are at fault than isn’t the entire United States of American really at fault…I know it makes no sense, but that is my point. Finally Otter says to Dean Wormer, “say what you want about me sir! Say what you want about Delta House! But I am not going to stand here and let you badmouth the United States of America!” All the students applaud.
I kept imaging Insel saying, “Say what you want about me! Say what you want about the almost total absence of NIH ASD environmental research! But I am not going to sit here and let you badmouth the ENTIRE WORLD of autism research!” We cannot flee from our failures and hide behind the whole world of autism research because:
1) We are all Americans here. So let’s stay put for a moment, and focus on our own problems.
2) NIH autism research is overwhelmingly genetic in nature. This research is conservative and uninspired. As a result we have achieved no breakthroughs and developed no new treatments in the past 10 years.
3) Sorry Dr. Insel, you cannot seriously claim that 38% of all the autism research in the world is environmental. Nor can you use that dubious figure to counterbalance the NIH’s failure to reasonably fund ASD environmental research.
4) France could be doing 100 studies the environmental science of face processing and call it environmental. Please, other countries can label their research any way they like that doesn’t mean it’s true. We have zero means by which we can hold foreign countries accountable.
Ok, so let’s return to earth and focus on the issues at hand. Why isn’t the NIH funding environmental research? I would like to hear a discussion about that. When Dr. Insel did return back to the United States all he wanted to discuss were the private and academic gene and brain institutes throughout the country doing some autism research and how IACC should include them at IACC meetings. IACC’s mandate is that public seats must represent the public. That means, people affiliated with large national autism advocacy and research orgs. These orgs must be totally transparent in their financials and legitimately represent the ASD community. For example, AS, the National Autism Association, Talk About Curing Autism and SafeMinds are such organizations. But no, Dr. Insel did not want leaders from NAA or TACA on IACC, despite the fact that these organizations have over 30,000 members, fund research and serve 10s of thousands of ASD families. Instead, Dr. Insel wants IACC to guest host academics and bureaucrats from the Rockefeller Institute- who do more, wait for it….Genetic research! Dr. Insel just doesn’t get it and never will.
Let’s bottom line it: the NIH spends only FIVE PERCENT of
its entire autism research budget on studying environmental factors. This is
unacceptable and must be remedied.
Katie Wright is Contributing Editor to Age of Autism.
"NIH spends only FIVE PERCENT of its entire autism research budget on studying environmental factors."
Has our purportedly educated NIH heard of the relatively new science of "Epigenetics"?
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=9658&Section=AGING&source=DHB_100513&key=Body+ContinueReading
Epigenetics shows us that even if we have an inherited genome with a proclivity for "autism" it is how that genome is EXPRESSED that determines if one gets autism.
What determines how a genome is expressed? ENVIRONMENT!
So no matter how you cut it, it is ENVIRONMENT that causes autism and incidentally almost every other mainline "disease" we care to consider.
The NIH in asking us to believe they do not understand the basis of all disease is asking the impossible. They (those at NIH control central) KNOW or have a damn good idea what is causing autism, CVD, cancer and many other "health", in actuality depopulation, problems.
Posted by: Lou | November 11, 2012 at 09:39 PM
Natasa,
The Economist article you linked is good. There is another good one there. It comes from a perspective that is compatable with biomed and maybe is a sign that there is serious attention in more circles of what a lot of us have known/thought for over 15 years.
The human microbiome
Me, myself, us
http://www.economist.com/node/21560523
Posted by: Visitor | September 01, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Unfortunately, the IACC under the leadership of Dr. Insell will NEVER diligently pursue "enviromental" exposures as they relate to the "causation" of autism. It is just not in his "genes" to do so.
Ha ha!! And ditto to the rest of what Bob Moffitt wrote too.
Thank you Katie for bringing this research data to light which is part of the massive cover-up of vaccine injury in this nation.
As Bob said, reform will have to come from an act of Congress, and we need to galvanize to educate our elected officials. (Unfortunately, all to often, an elected official becomes educated and then a new one replaces him/her. And Pharma is always one step ahead with it's $200 million annual lobbying effort.)
Posted by: Stop Big Harma | September 01, 2012 at 09:22 AM
"If you don't want to find something---look where it's not."
Exactly. This is the technique used to cover up every government supported crime they have "investigated" over my lifetime.
My working hypothesis, which I will probably take to my grave is that autism may have a few factors but "vaccination" appears to be a sine qua non, without this nothing.
Take a large group, say 10,000 and give them NO VACCINATIONS and observe how many cases of autism occur.
How difficult would this be to do?
Why is it not being done?
When will we get an honest puppet president?
Posted by: Lou | August 31, 2012 at 09:28 PM
There was a great article in the Economist (very mainstream!) recently.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560559
Few quotes :)
“…The other field that may be changed is genetics. Many of the diseases in which the microbiome is implicated seem to run in families. In some, such as heart disease, that is partly explained by known human genes. In a lot, though, most notably autism, the genetic link is obscure. This may be because geneticists have been looking at the wrong set of genes—the 23,000 rather than the 3m. For those 3m are still inherited. They are largely picked up from your mother during the messy process of birth. Though no clear example is yet known, it is possible that particular disease-inducing strains are being passed down the generations in this way…
… Though less reliably so than the genes in egg and sperm, microbiomes, too, can be inherited. Many bugs are picked up directly from the mother at birth. Others arrive shortly afterwards from the immediate environment. It is possible, therefore, that apparently genetic diseases whose causative genes cannot be located really are heritable, but that
the genes which cause them are bacterial.”
Posted by: Natasa | August 31, 2012 at 05:53 PM
Superb Kate ..spend it on anything rather than an issue that we all know is related to autism
Angus
Posted by: Angus Files | August 31, 2012 at 01:50 PM
I've had individuals comment to me online essentially along the lines of "Of course, autism is a genetic disorder! Look at all the genetic research on autism that is out there!"
I don't see western healthcare making much progress until they can rethink the genes/germs=enemies, our powerful chemicals=saviors bias. It is more than frustrating that the higher generation of profit and funding from poisoning ourselves and failing to figure it out seems only to confirm that bias for some.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | August 31, 2012 at 01:34 PM
Dear Katie,
I've known the renown researcher, Dr. Boyd Haley, for a number of years now. He's been very involved in trying to expose what toxic vaccines are doing to America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9njQLK9AVyg&playnext=1&list=PLCFF21F1AA1AFC356&feature=results_video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQYISvsgq6s&playnext=1&list=PLE2C87398DB6785FC&feature=results_video
Once when I was very frustrated over the dead-end studies coming out constantly from health officials (and funded by our tax dollars), he said to me,
"If you don't want to find something---look where it's not."
That's it in a nutshell.
What could be more impressive to the general public? Millions going into studies all over the place, big name universities, lots of well-credentialed experts all seemingly turning over every stone trying to find out what's happening to our children.
It's a charade and I'm sure all these people known it, even if they don't want to admit it even to themselves. They refuse to honestly and thoroughly investigate the thousands of children who were born healthy and who suddenly and dramatically regressed after being vaccinated.
It was the late Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the National Institutes of Health, who went on CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500803_162-4090144-500803.html in 2008 and said that the vaccine-autism question is still open. She said we need to look at the children who got sick. NO ONE IS WILLING TO DO THAT. Instead, experts are happy to go to Iceland, look at a few dozen dads and blame mutating sperm which is the latest big autism news. (And that'll make the front pages of the IACC/NIH newsletters, I'm sure.)
Anne Dachel, Media editor
Posted by: Anne McElroy Dachel | August 31, 2012 at 11:42 AM
We all agree with each other .....We all know the vaccine damage truth ! How do we give our cause the oxygen it desperately requires ? How can we escalate our campaign to a level that it cannot be censored from the media ? We have to reach the wider audience who havent been impacted by this yet . We need our cause debated out in the open again . A new approach . How did the sufragettes manage to win the vote for women ? How did any revolution succeed ? What are we not doing now , that we need to be doing ?
Our opposition thinks it has our measure , and we need to surprise them with a new offensive . they have effectively closed us down at every opportunity but only because our determination is not united & resolute - the science is all on our side , the facts are all on our side , we have all the best people , and still they have us kettled in nicely .
Posted by: Justin Young | August 31, 2012 at 10:30 AM
Katie, I think Animal House is a great analogy. That explains the total meltdown when it comes to facing this epidemic head on. The problem is they can't keep kicking the can down the road, spending millions wastefully, and expect to keep their jobs. Unfortunately for our children they have already kept their jobs way too long.
One day (hopefully soon) they will be recognized for their total irrelevancy.
Posted by: Mary R. | August 31, 2012 at 09:57 AM
New categories for research expenditures should be: (1) Language disorder, (2) brain systems involved in learning to speak, (3) maturation of the language areas of the cerebral cortex, (4) factors that disrupt brain development...
Physical or metabolic anomalies at birth are an immediate alert for genetic disorders. But autism is not evident at birth, and much research funding has gone into how to detect it early.
Autism research today is laughable, except that we can only weep, and worry about whose child will be struck down next.
Posted by: Eileen Nicole Simon | August 31, 2012 at 09:23 AM
For years from 1995 to 2003, I worked by myself, with other parents and my own organization, The Autism Autoimmunity Project to get the NIH to fund autoimmunity research on autism. Case in point where I organized my own meeting with the NIH.
From.........
http://www.whale.to/vaccines/gallup3.html
"On September 23, 1997, Dr. Bernard Rimland, Dr. Vijendra Singh, Dr. Donnatella Graffino, Dr. Tina Zecca, and myself met with Marie Bristol of the National Institutes of Health (the very same Marie Bristol mentioned in your article) and two of her associates. We discussed the immunology research of Dr. Singh, Dr. Zecca and Dr. Graffino and Dr. Zecca handed out the abstract that I enclosed. Dr. Rimland and I mentioned the fact that many of the parents have contacted us regarding their autistic children and that they have reported adverse reactions to vaccines causing their children's autism. In fact, I have contact with several hundred parents regarding the connection to the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and the children's autism. Some of these parents are MD's and RN's so they are knowledgeable about the medical field.
After assurances thar Marie Bristol would help us and get funding for this research, we never heard any more about this. Dr. Singh applied 4 times in the last 5 years for funding and was turned down all 4 times. It was then that I decided to form the Autism Autoimmunity Project to fund autism research in this critical area of autism research."
From.........
http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/February2002/PRElevRubeolaTitersAut.htm
"Abstract
Elevated Rubeola Titers in Autistic Children
T Zecca, D. Graffino, M Lania-Howarth, M Passannante, J Oleske NJ Medical school, Children’s Hospital of NJ, Newark, NJ September 1997 (presented at meeting with Dr. Marie Bristol at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland)
The syndrome of autism is a clinical entity affecting 20 out of 10,000 children. we have evaluated the possible role of MMR in the pathogenesis of autism by comparing rubeola titers in autistic and normal children. Among 16 children diagnosed with autism followed in our clinical practice, we noted these children to have a 3 fold increase in their rubeola titers over expected normal range. A Wilcoxon Kruskal Wallis test comparing 13 rubeola titers from normal children reveals a statistically significant P-value of 0.0050. Subjectively, parents have stated that their children’s developmental milestones deteriorated following MMR vaccination. Neurological sequelae following MMR are widely reported. MMR therefore may play a role in the pathogenesis of autism. The elevated titers of anti-measles antibodies in autistic children may signify a chronic activation of the immune system against this neurotropic virus."
Sadly, I did what I could over the years but the NIH wasn't interested in funding one dime for this research and I haven't seen anything to date except if they funded studies disproving an autoimmune link to autism. I know autism organizations/parents are well intentioned to get the NIH to fund this type of research but the NIH isn't and will continue to provide roadblocks now and in the future.
I no longer have the Autism Autoimmunity Project and whatever I can contribute to the Autism Research Institute (ARI) for their study planned on vaccinated versus unvaccinated, I do. Only an organization like ARI will do this type of research. You will never see it coming from the NIH, CDC, IACC, etc. no matter how much taxpayer money is poured down the toilets of these Federal agencies. I know from my own past experiences and am seeing it now from the complaints of parents and organizations presently involved in trying to get the right thing done.
Sad and unfortunate but these Federal agencies are not responsible to the people. They are responsible to their masters/lobbyists in the pharmaceutical industry. Something that has to be recognized as fact and reality for all concerned.
Posted by: Raymond Gallup | August 31, 2012 at 07:54 AM
Nearly 100 times more common than polio.... and they spend 95% of the money looking in the wrong place. The dream of most reserch budgets is endless funding to look for something that is not there, as it provides stable employment.
Are any of these gene studies being done on the Amish ? They do not have Autism, ( they do not vaccinate their children ) so they must NOT have the Autism gene.
This would seem to be the best group to study to find out what gene the "defective autistic children" are carrying.
If they found the AUTISM gene TODAY, how many years would it take for an effective treatment ? What would be the treatment ? a test and termination services ?
Thank gawd for NIH / CDC Epidemeology that states Autism rates are about the same for those who receive 28 vaccines compared to 31... therfore whatever vaccine combination they give to any child is still safe and effective.
Would there be a chance someone could also look for the WHOOPING COUGH GENE ? It would seem logical that some of those cases MUST be genetic.
Did the Polings get the HPV vaccine for Hannah yet ? That might calm a few fears in that area... ( Hannah / nine vaccines on the same day & sudden Autism )
*********
Former CDC Director, Dr. Julie Gerberding, discusses cusses the Hanna Poling Case.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh-nkD5LSIg
Dr. Gerberding in now President of Merck World Vaccines, the corporation she once was expected to regulate.
Posted by: cmo | August 31, 2012 at 07:46 AM
Katie .. thanks for all you do
Unfortunately, the IACC under the leadership of Dr. Insell will NEVER diligently pursue "enviromental" exposures as they relate to the "causation" of autism. It is just not in his "genes" to do so.
Therefore .. the ONLY solution to the ongoing travesty the IACC has become is for CONGRESS to publicly examine and then issue a detailed report demanding an explanation for "why" the IACC .. under the leadership of Dr. Insell .. has FAILED to examine environmental exposures as potential contributing factors in the ever-rising rate of autism.
It pains me to say it .. but .. as long as Insell remains in his present position .. the millions of dollars squandered by the IACC on genetics .. to the complete exclusion of the environment .. will continue.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | August 31, 2012 at 07:33 AM