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Weekly Wrap: A Death Illumines the Autism Nightmare

 

AS scope
Alex's Endoscopy Revealed Too Many Ulcers To Count


AofA Red Logo Ayumi YamadaBy Dan Olmsted

 

Now we know.

Now we know that Alex Spourdalakis, whose short life ended so tragically, was afflicted with the kind of GI damage characteristic of so many other children with autism.

We know because finally, after getting out of the Loyola Hospital hellhole, he was scoped by Dr. Krigsman.

We know because images from the scoping were shown yesterday on CBS. (See screen grab above of what Krigsman called "too many" tiny ulcers to count.)

The one thing we don't know is when the medical world will be held to account for this catastrophe -- not just the effects, but the cause.

Because, of course, the deepest issue is causation. I've been told that Alex's mother specifically described a reaction to the MMR shot as the cause of her son's regressive autism. To cause autism and unbearable gut damage, deny it, and fail to treat it -- well, that is quite some record for a "helping" profession. A broken record, sadly.

As much as I like Sharyl Attkisson and am glad to see this story -- first exposed by AOA Contributing Editor Lisa Goes months ago -- gain national attention, the segment devolved into a bit of a mess. Ari Ne'eman, really? He gave his usual spiel about how some people think autism is so bad its sufferers might as well be dead. So what, Ari, since you don't believe in treatment? Many people who are in agony wish they and/or someone else they believe to be in agony were dead. Some act on that wish. That's bad. Very bad. Tell us something we don't know.

Tell us how to stop it. Tell us how to treat it.

Those of us in the autism biomed community know that won't happen anytime soon, because this goes to the heart of Andy Wakefield's research, the supposedly discredited and fraudulent Lancet case study from 1998 that reported just this syndrome -- MMR, regression, gut pathology -- in 12 children. Hundreds of thousands more children have suffered the same fate since then; many, many more are destined to if things don't change.

And that's something we know for sure.

--

Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.


CBS and Autism Media Channel: A Prelude To a Tragedy The Case of Alex Spourdalakis

Alex S(Note) The video from this morning is below, if you would like to call in to thank CBS for running Alex's story the number  is 212-975-3247.

CBS and Autism Media Channel present a prelude to tragedy

Where: CBS THIS MORNING 
When: Friday August 30, 2013, 8.00 am EST

In an unprecedented insight into the apparently senseless and violent death of Alex Spourdalakis, a 14 year-old boy with autism, CBS in collaboration with Austin-based Autism Media Channel presents a game-changer – intimate documentary footage of the unfolding crime. 

In a country where 1 in 25 children born today will develop autism, this compelling story is certain to create universal debate.  Alex’s tragedy is a story of our time, pitting the old against the new, capturing the iniquity of autism when perceived as a psychiatric oddity rather than a medical disease - an epidemic in an unprepared world. Using exclusive footage that followed Alex’s journey leading up to his death, CBS and Autism Media Channel present a story, unique in documentary history – one whose outcome should have been prevented; one that will change perception.

Polly Tommey, autism advocate, Autism Media Channel director, and founder of The Autism Trust, says the answers are staring us in the face. "Alex was one of millions of children at risk," she said. "Without a complete overhaul of our approach to autism treatments, therapies, and services, tragedies like this are inevitable."

For interviews with Autism Media Channel and professional enquiries please contact Ryan Parmenter at Modern Panda Pubic Relations on 512 797 2219 or email [email protected]






http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50154011n

Learn more at  autismmediachannel.com

See also: The Autism File magazine free at autismmediachannel.com

CNN and Fox Guarding the Vax House

TV Ad smiling manBy Anne Dachel

On August 27, CNN aired an exchange between news anchor Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta called, Vaccination myths vs. reality.

Sanjay Gupta: "[Measles] is very contagious.  If kids are not vaccinated and they come in contact with it, they are going to get measles. ...And of a thousand kids that will get measles, about one to two will die of it."
 
Anderson Cooper: "And this misperception that vaccines cause autism has been around for awhile...  Is there any reason not to get your child vaccinated?" 
 
Gupta: "There is no reason not to get your child vaccinated...."
 
And the two of them continued to talk. Gupta infered the issue was only the number of antigens kids receive.
 
Gupta: "We used to do far more and we didn't see the rates of autism that we do now."
 
Cooper: "So people used to get more vaccines than they do now."
 
Gupta: "They used to create a more antibody response.... It's one of the areas of those areas of concern people have raised....  So the vaccines themselves, the schedule of vaccines themselves, the components of the vaccines themselves, none of these things seem to have a link to autism.  And people need to say it that clearly.  I think there's so much wishy washiness even among colleagues in the medical community: it's okay to delay vaccines.  It's not okay because if your kid gets exposed during the time that you delayed that vaccine, you can get a very sick child from a preventable vaccine."
 
Cooper: "So why do you think this misperception is out there."
 
Gupta: "I think there's two reasons: one that there was this now widely discredited paper that came out in the late nineties, that made this astounding link.  You and I both spoke to Dr. Wakefield about some of his findings at that time.  He subsequently lost his medical license a few years ago. He probably had good intentions, Dr. Wakefield, but the science did not make any sense.  There have been literally hundreds of studies that have looked at this questioning: Is there a link between vaccines and autism?  The most recent one, ...looked at a thousand children, and this was the American Academy of Pediatrics, and really tried to follow these children out through years and put this notion to rest.  And the American Academy of Pediatrics looking at this science...has been able to say that." 
 
To the casual observer, it seems the science is in and non-vaccinating parents are putting their kids and everyone else at risk from a disease that could kill. 
 
Look at what else these two have said about autism and vaccines.
 
April 4, 2008, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta interviewed Dr. Jon Poling
 
Gupta on Hannah Poling: "Her case of autism diagnosis was conceded by the federal government as having been contributed to by vaccines.  That was a pretty startling thing for a lot of people to her. ...
 
Jon Poling: "You bring up a very important point that the government, actually the department of Health and Human Services, conceded that my daughter's medical problems, which are autism, encephalopathy, seizures, were brought on by vaccination."
 
 Anderson Cooper interviewed Dr. Andrew Wakefield on Jan. 5, 2011
 
Cooper called Wakefield's findings, "bogus data" and he said he "confronted" Dr. Wakefield.  He accused Wakefield of fraud and cut him off at every opportunity.  Wakefield told Cooper that the facts were in his book, Callous Disregard.  Cooper said he'd read what Brian Deer wrote and he rudely told Wakefield, "I'm not here to let you pitch your book." 
 
Clearly, Cooper was not interested in looking into both sides of this heated debate.  He gave no indication that he'd read Callous Disregard or ever talked to a single parent of the children Wakefield treated. 
 
Jan 5, 2011 Sanjay Gupta  interviewed Dr. Wakefield

Wakefield strongly urged Gupta to read his book.  "Please, I'll send you a copy. Take the book and read it.  You will understand the truth."   

Continue reading "CNN and Fox Guarding the Vax House" »


Danish Specialisterne Employing People with Autism in Delaware

Specialisterne-page-banner


Managing Editor's Note:  As my own daughters enter their junior and senior years of high school, their future, and how to fill a lifetime, looms.  Specialisterne is a Danish company now operating in the USA to employ individuals on the Spectrum in IT positions.  My oldest daughter likes to shred at school - it's one of her jobs. There is shredding at the job site below. My middle daughter is pretty good at searching and finding Sesame Street and Taylor Lautner on YouTube - I'll bet we could craft a job for her that respects her abilities and unique work style.  What do you want for your child with autism - or if you are an adult on the spectrum - what do you want for your own fulfillment?  K

Delaware organization matches people with autism and tech jobs

By Maiken Scott

One year after coming to Delaware, an international program that aims to find tech jobs for individuals with autism is seeing its first successes.

The program is called "Specialisterne," which means "The Specialists," and comes to Delaware from Denmark. The goal is to hone in on the special skills and talents of people on the autism spectrum -- and use them in the tech and data industry.

A few small robots are zipping around the open office space of CAI in Newark. A group of young men sends the robots on different missions -- tracing letters, riding up toward walls and stopping. CAI, an IT company, is the corporate partner for Specialisterne, and the young robot-builders are trainees working toward employment in the tech and data industry. They all have autism, and the goal of the training is to match their interests and special skill sets with jobs.

The Specialisterne logo is a dandelion -- a flower the program's founder, Thorkil Sonne, says children love and love to play with. But adults see the dandelion differently.

"When you buy a house with a garden and you see this wonderful flower again, what do you see?" said Sonne. "You see a weed, probably, because now your norms are different, the plant is the same, but is it a weed or is it an herb?"

Sonne's youngest son, Lars, has autism, and Sonne chose the dandelion as the logo because he wants society and employers to look at people with autism as an asset -- to see ability, rather than disability.

"There are a lot of skill sets, but they are unused, because they are limited by some barriers in mostly social expectations," he said.

Skill set meshes well with IT needs

The Specialisterne Foundation came to Delaware at the invitation of Gov. Jack Markell and then teamed up with CAI. Sonne says the trainees might struggle with social skills, but very often they have good memory, ability to see patterns and pride in what they do.  Read the full article at WHYY's Newsworks.


Dachel Media Update: Texas, Connecticut, Oklahoma

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

Aug 27, 2013, NBC News: Measles outbreak strikes North Texas

Aug 27, 2013, Hartford (CT) Courant: The First 10 Years Of Cash'an's Autism Challenge
 
Aug 27, 2013, News 9 Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Health Officials Stress Importance Of Measles Vaccine
 
Aug 27, 2013, Lewrockwell.com: We Need a New Pediatrician

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Texas, Connecticut, Oklahoma" »


The CDC Buys and Distributes Heavy Metal Mercury Preserved Flu Vaccines for Children

Mercury-vaccineBy Jim Thompson

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a division of the United States Public Health Service.  According to this 2012 report to congress, the “CDC is dedicated to protecting health and promoting quality of life through the prevention and control of disease, injury and disability.”

In 1999 the U.S. Public Health Service issued a joint statement with the American Academy of Pediatrics and vaccine manufacturers agreeing that the heavy metal mercury, a known neurotoxin, used in Thimerosal vaccine preservative should be removed from vaccines “as soon as possible.” 

However the U.S. Public Health Service is failing to meet the terms of this agreement.  According the following CDC web sites, the U.S. Public Health Service, 14 years after the agreement to remove Thimerosal, still allows the CDC to buy and distribute preserved multi-dose flu vaccines for children that contain the heavy metal mercury.  

(1) Mercury has been removed from most types of vaccines. However an estimated 83 million flu vaccine doses for the recent seasonal supply use this heavy metal in the preservative Thimerosal.  See http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/vaxsupply.htm

(2) “CDC buys vaccines at a discount and distributes them to grantees—i.e., state health departments and certain local and territorial public health agencies—which in turn distribute them at no charge to those private physicians' offices and public health clinics registered as VFC [Vaccines For Children] providers.” See http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/index.html 

(3) “Vaccine procured through the VFC program must be administered according to the guidelines outlined by the ACIP in VFC resolutions. VFC vaccine also may be administered in accordance with State school attendance laws.” http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/providers/resolutions.html 

Continue reading "The CDC Buys and Distributes Heavy Metal Mercury Preserved Flu Vaccines for Children" »


Autism from the Sibling Perspective: Sarasota Dreaming

NP dorm

By Natalie Palumbo

I am 19, a first year Motion Design major at Ringling College of Art and Design, and my older brother has low-verbal autism.  A little over a week ago, I moved into my college dorm, and so far I am fairing very well with my heavy schedule. I’m always downstairs in the colorful lobby working – so much so, that people see me as a “workaholic”. I’m not. I’ve just been waiting for this moment most of my life, and I don’t want to fail.

As usual, with every moment, there is always autism.

When my family was helping me move in, we had some complications with Anthony. He was restless, and at times echoing very loudly. Some of the echoing was “yelling dialogue” from TV or movies. We think he was trying to match the energy of everything going on. Anthony cannot be left alone, so we had to take turns watching him and try to keep up with the schedule for new students and parents. My parents had to tag-team their events so one of them could stay with Anthony. They couldn’t go to the evening celebrations for parents, but they said they were happy enough I was there. Luckily, Anthony really liked the campus, and the kids were really nice to him. I’ve met students that want to meet him now because of all the cute things I’ve said about him. Like the night before we traveled to Sarasota, I had to take a break from packing because Anthony wanted to make a spontaneous video with me. He wanted us to do the opening dance from his favorite British TV show “It Ain’t Half Hot Mum.” Anthony already had it memorized. I didn’t know it, so I had to learn fast!




At orientation, we had to visit several registration tables. There were freebies for new students at nearly all the booths. One booth had bracelets, so I chose a pink one for me, and asked if I could have a blue one for my brother. The people working the booth were very nice, but said they couldn’t because they had a limited quantity. I understood, and continued on. Shortly after that, my friend Jenette approached me with a blue bracelet for Anthony. She overheard me, and wanted Anthony to have her bracelet. I was so touched – I couldn’t believe she did that for me. Jenette is truly a kind and caring person. She reminds me so much of my best friend from back home.

Continue reading "Autism from the Sibling Perspective: Sarasota Dreaming " »


Civil Intimidation in Australia – A Call for Help Answered for Meryl Dorey

AVN LogoManaging Editor's Note: A lot can happen in 24 hours - sometimes even a small miracle.  We were about to post this:

Today Age of Autism highlights the predicament of vaccine safety advocate Meryl Dorey, founder and former president of the Australian Vaccine Network (AVN). For several years now Meryl’s work has continued against a background of bureaucratic and civil intimidation. In the latest turn of events Meryl has been ordered to bear the costs by a judge (magistrate) equivalent to 10,000 US dollars after she tried to take out a civil action against members of a counter-organization (Stop the AVN) who had advocated illegal acts against her (including a veiled death-threat), and after the police themselves had refused to act. It is evident in Australia that the state itself is descending into lawlessness, and the harassment of Meryl and the AVN takes place just because they offer well researched and reliable information about vaccines which cannot be counter-acted by other means.


We received this happy email from Meryl in the interim:  

Well, I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but in less than 24 hours, you amazing, supportive people, have donated or pledged enough money to pay court costs in full! So please stop donating if you were planning on making a donation today or in the future (but if you pledged to send funds by cheque or money order, please do send them because I calculated that as part of the total).

I cannot even begin to describe the feeling of knowing that so many of you cared enough to help and I tried yesterday to write personally to everyone who informed me that they donated to thank them, but I still have a backlog of emails I hope to get through today.

Now, I need to ask if everyone who donated to this appeal by bank deposit or internet banking but did not send me an email to let me know could please drop me a quick note to [email protected]. I will be getting in touch with everyone who has donated with some very important news and I want to make sure you don't miss out.

Again, thank you so much! You have no idea what it means to me to both have been able to raise these funds and to know that I am not alone in this battle for freedom of choice.

We are sharing Meryl's original plea because what happened in Australia could happen in The UK or The USA and we need to be aware of the lengths to which skeptic/vaccine front groups will go to protect their commerce. Meryl wrote on 8/25:  

A Grave Injustice Has Been Done: A Plea for Help

I grew up believing in the rule of law; knowing that might did not make right and that justice would always go to those who deserved it while those who did the wrong thing would be punished for their misdeeds.

Unfortunately, my experience with The Australian Skeptics and Stop the AVN over the last few years has shown me that the opposite is actually true – those who harm, threaten and abuse others will always prevail – at least if the abusers are supporting an entrenched status quo that is funded by billions of dollars in pharmaceutical profits.

Continue reading " Civil Intimidation in Australia – A Call for Help Answered for Meryl Dorey" »


Dachel Media Update: Measles, Myths, Why Not HBOT


Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 26, 2013, Fox News: Traits of autism seen in some kids with ADHD

August 25, 2013, KOMO-TV Seattle: Health officials: Child with measles visited U-District restaurant

August 24, 2013, Fredericksburg VA: Vaccination rate steady in state

August 24, 2013, The Buffalo News: Autism-immunization link is a myth

August 23, 2013, Forbes: FDA Warns Consumers About Common Off-Label Autism Therapy
-

August 23, 2013, THE CA REPORT: 5 Things You Should Know About Vaccines

August 23, 2013, My Fox Houston
: 'Are You Vaccinated?' CDC wants to know

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Measles, Myths, Why Not HBOT" »


Google News Search on Vaccines, Exemptions Turns Up? All of Us.

Vax Aware MugBy Anne Dachel

Forget the autism issue. Just go to Google News and look up "Vaccines, Exemptions." It's a really big topic. Parents aren't buying all the claims that vaccines are safe.

Despite a massive effort by health officials and doctors, parents continue to fear that vaccines can do more harm than good.  Stories about more parents exempting their children are everywhere.  I can't help but notice that there's special concern about the vaccination rates for kindergarten kids.  If the youngest students are more likely to be exempted, that can't be good for the vaccine promoters. 

And I'm sure the pro-vaccine people don't like to see these stories out there.  If more parents are opting out, they may have good reasons.  It causes other parents to be concerned too.  If they start to really look into the issue, there's plenty of info out there to scare them out of vaccinating.

It's a slow process, but parents are getting the message that an unsafe, unchecked vaccine schedule isn't to be followed blindly.

Family Practice News Digital Network: Oregon has highest rate of kindergarten vaccine exemptions

"Oregon has the highest percentage of children enrolled in kindergarten who have been exempted from receiving at least one vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported."

CBS News CDC: Vaccination rates among kindergartners high, but exemptions worrisome


"The state with the highest vaccine rate was Mississippi, with over a 99.9 percent rate reported among kindergarten students. The state with the lowest median vaccine rate was Colorado, with 82.9 percent of kindergartners covered by vaccines."

Vermont ranks high on list of non-medical immunization exemptions


"The percentage of students entering kindergarten who were fully immunized was consistent over the past two years - 86.9 percent in 2012-2013 and 87 percent for the previous year, according to the Department of Health.

"Public schools generally have a higher immunization rate than private schools. The public school with the lowest immunization rate was Barre City Elementary and Middle School with 60.4 percent of the students having received all of the required vaccines."

Pa. lags in kindergarten vaccinations

"Some states have nearly 100 percent immunization rates when kids enter kindergarten, but not Pennsylvania, which ranks near the bottom of lists of vaccine coverage by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Just over 85 percent of kindergartners have gotten their chickenpox vaccinations, for example, when schools report data to Pennsylvania health officials in October."

Continue reading "Google News Search on Vaccines, Exemptions Turns Up? All of Us." »


SaneVax Reports on Japan's Struggle with HPV Vaccination Injuries

JapaneseRead the original report at SaneVax.org: Citizens of Japan suffering from convulsions, seizures, severe headaches, partial paralysis and a host of other adverse events after submitting to HPV vaccinations have petitioned their government health officials to permanently suspend the use of 'cervical cancer' vaccines.

According to testimony presented to the National Health Ministry  by Dr. Sotaro Sato, who has examined many of the injured girls:

"...the convulsions, inability to walk, and involuntary movements of hands and toes were caused by encephalomyelitis, or inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Cervical cancer vaccines, which are chemically bound to special types of adjuvants, often trigger encephalomyelitis. Since the vaccines cause auto-antibodies against the brain's neuronal fibers to be produced in many cases, they have triggered demyelinating disorders. They have also induced many cases of cerebral vasculitis."

The SaneVax Team would like to personally thank Ms. Toshie Ikeda, Hino City Assembly Legislator and Secretary General, Secretariat of the Nationwide Liaison Association of Cervical Cancer Vaccine Victims and Parents for providing us with the following newspaper account of their presentation of five petitions to Health Minister Norihisa Tamura.]

TOKYO, Aug. 24 Kyodo – Eight teenage sufferers of severe side effects of cervical cancer vaccines and their parents called on health minister Norihisa Tamura on Friday to permanently end the government’s subsidy program for the vaccines.

The schoolgirls aged between 14 and 18, including four in wheelchairs, and their parents are members of the Nationwide Liaison Association of Cervical Cancer Vaccine Victims and Parents. They made the request in a meeting with the minister of health, labor and welfare at the ministry building, association chief Mika Matsufuji told a news conference.

The association handed five petitions to Tamura, with the plea to abolish the vaccination program topping the list.

Continue reading "SaneVax Reports on Japan's Struggle with HPV Vaccination Injuries" »


I Will Wait

Ill-Wait-For-You

By Cathy Jameson

We haven’t had the best summer.  The kids have been sick on and off since June.  A reliable care giver left us for another job.  One of our cars was on the fritz.  The central air conditioning unit bit the dust.  Other things, like the fact that Ronan now refuses to walk into one of his therapy places, cause frustration.  Delays, increased stress, and bearing the weight of intense negative moments have me questioning my sanity.  When some of my kids start school next week, I will be somewhat ecstatic and totally relieved to start a better routine. 

While this summer had more stress than relaxation, the kids’ vacation from school wasn’t a wash.  We made some new friends.  We celebrated several birthdays and anniversaries.  We had fun family time.  We got to be lazy when everyone else was scampering to early-morning summer camps and jetting out of town on expensive vacations.  The positive experiences this summer weren’t as frequent, but one in particular brings the biggest smile to my face.  It came last week on a day that Ronan wouldn’t leave me alone.  

Desperate for just five (consecutive) quiet minutes to myself, Ronan wouldn’t have any of it.  He was in constant search of me.  And as soon as he found me, he glued himself to my side making sure I stayed close to him.  This seeking me out isn’t unusual.  The fact that he wanted me to join him was.  Ronan is typically a loner.  He prefers to be on the outskirts of the room doing his own thing while the rest of us carry on with whatever it is we’re doing.  For the most part, while his siblings are playing, Ronan is either observing them or doing something quiet a safe distance from them.  Since Ronan doesn’t stay put for too long and needs constant watching, I sometimes have limited time to complete a task in one sitting.     

Thursday of last week was no different of what’s become of our daily summer routine.  The big kids were playing together while Ronan chose to play Wii.  He learned how to play Wii appropriately a few months ago and is quite good at some of the games.  He especially loves bowling and will stay at the game for a good stretch of time.  I knew Ronan was safe and happy, so I sat down thinking I had time to catch up on some reading.  I really needed the break before I had to get up again to make dinner. 

Not that I was hiding, but I was hoping to do absolutely nothing for just a little bit.  Within seconds of sitting down, Ronan found me.  He needed something, so I got up.  He held my hand and guided me to where he was playing Wii.  I checked the unit.  It was working fine.  “Nothing broken.  See,” I said pointing to it.  “It works.  Try it again, Buddy.” 

Ronan handed me the remote control and insisted I keep it.  I tried to hand it back but Ronan wouldn’t reach for it.  I pushed a few of the buttons on the remote and saw that the blue lights lit up.  Console works.  Batteries work.  Huh.  What could be wrong with it, I wonder, unless….OH! 
“Ronan, do you want ME to play?!”  He signed ‘yes’. 

Continue reading "I Will Wait" »


Weekly Wrap: Another Medical Practice with a Sane Vaccine Schedule – and No Autism

AofA Red Logo Ayumi YamadaBy Dan Olmsted
 
When we at Age of Autism talk about ending the epidemic, the “to do” list seems almost overwhelming – funding a vax-unvaxed study, getting mercury out of flu shots, proving the HepB shot is nuts, wresting control of the agenda from pharma, fixing Vaccine Court (this time in the good sense of “fix”), establishing that biomedical treatments help kids recover, and on and on.
 
But there’s a shortcut to all this, and it goes straight through pediatricians’ offices. The evidence is growing that where a sane alternative to the CDC’s bloated vaccine schedule is offered, and other reasonable changes adopted, autism is either non-existent or so infrequent that it doesn’t constitute an epidemic at all.
 
The latest example comes from Lynchburg, Va., and the pediatric practice of Dr. Elizabeth Mumper. She noticed a frightening rise in autism in the 1990s. Concerned that vaccines and other medical interventions might be playing a role – concerned in other words that SHE was playing a role -- Mumper changed course.
 
Fewer vaccines. Fewer antibiotics. No Tylenol. Breast-feeding. Probiotics. Good, pesticide free diets.
 
Since then, hundreds more children have been seen in her practice, Advocates For Children. But no more autism.
 
Mumper’s study (read it here), recently published in the North American Journal of Medicine & Science, begins with a useful way of describing the epic increase in the disorder – 100-fold since 1975:
 
“During the author’s career, reported prevalence of autism increased from 1 in 5,000 (1975) to 1 in 2,500 (1985), to 1 in 500 (1995) to 1 in 250 (~2001) to 1 in 166 (~2004) to 1 in 88 (~2008) to 1 in 50 (2013); all reflected birth cohorts born earlier. Further research into autism prevalence studies have debunked the initial contention that higher numbers could be explained away by better diagnosis and broadening of diagnostic criteria. …
 
“The horrifying increase in the numbers of children with neurodevelopmental problems happened on our watch. It was frustrating for me and my colleagues to see more children with autism while the debate over whether the autism epidemic was real, whether parents could be trusted to give histories about their own children, and whether there really was a regressive sub-type of autism went on for years. There have been missed opportunities for treatment and possibly prevention.”
 
Mumper’s modified vaccine schedule doesn’t follow the CDC’s, but still gives kids the shots they need to enter kindergarten unless they get an exemption -- see nvic.org.  Here it is (click to enlarge):
 
Mumper Vaccine Schedule

 
What I notice among other things is the absence of HepB starting at birth, no rotarvirus (sorry, Paul), no flu shot in pregnancy and infancy, a potent source of mercury; the MMR is pushed back to age 2 and chickenpox to as late as age 5.

Continue reading "Weekly Wrap: Another Medical Practice with a Sane Vaccine Schedule – and No Autism " »


Dachel Media Update: Measles, God, Autism

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

August 21, 2013, Fort Worth (TX) Star Telegram: Copeland's church finds hope in vaccinations

August 21, 2013, Newson6, Tulsa, OK: After Texas Outbreak, Tulsa Doctor Says Measles Will Make Way To Oklahoma

August 21, 2013, KWWL-TV Waterloo, IA: "Vaccines do not cause autism." Local doctor sounds off on latest wave of criticism
 

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Measles, God, Autism" »


A Daily Reminder for Daily Life with Autism

Zack PeterManaging Editor's Note: Zack Peter is an autism sibling, like our Contributing Editor Natalie Palumbo, who is just beginning her freshman year at college.  The sibling perspective is so important - having a brother or sister with autism affects the entire family for better and yes, sometimes for worse. Zack offers his own zany brand of humor and coping skills as he stands by his little brother Ethan.

By Zack Peter

What can I say? My life isn’t anything what I expected it to be. Then again, I’m not quite sure what I expected of it at this point. But when you compare it to how things usually are for people in their 20s, I guess I’m right where I should be: annoyed, frustrated, heartbroken, madly in love, happy, sad, lonely, yet full all at the same time. Some nights I go to bed at ease and others I can’t desperately wait to fall asleep at end of the night.

How I balance it all? Going to school, working a part-time job, running Just Plain Entertainment, producing and hosting my show Just Plain Ridiculous, building my personal brand through my books and comedy, doing work for autism, all while still trying my best to be a great big brother and caring friend. Sometimes I run myself dead and at others I take off too many hours in a day. (All while very heavily caffeinated!) Some days I feel guilty and others I feel entitled.

Which begs back at the question: How do you balance life? Especially with autism in the mix. One thing people tend to always forget is when autism comes in the picture, life doesn’t stop. Autism just adds to it. Marital problems are still there for the parents, high school is still a bitch for us siblings. I saw a meme online the other day with the caption, “I know life isn’t supposed to be fair, but this is just ridiculous!” Yes!!

I may not know very much, but I’m sure this juggling act of life is just as confusing in your twenties, as in your thirties, or forties. Maybe not fifties. I think it gets less confusing and just a lot more physically achy, with a lot more naps.

So when do you figure out how to balance it all? I don’t think there’s a real answer to that. I have tips. 9 out of 10 of them include alcohol, but hey, I’m learning as I go. I think one of biggest things we have to remember in this balancing act of life, in this struggle with daily autism, is that it is crucial to stop and appreciate what we have. Gratitude is so important. It keep us going down this road to recovery. And this bitch of a road called life. Is it easy to have a brother with autism? No. Is it easy trying to figure everything out on my own? No. But when I stop and appreciate the (get ready for it) beauty autism has brought to my life, it helps me through the frustrated tears and back up to fight through another day.

Continue reading "A Daily Reminder for Daily Life with Autism " »


Science Summary: Ischaemic heart disease, influenza and influenza vaccination: a prospective case control study

Science post imageFrom Heart and Education in Heart, An international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and researchers in all areas of cardiology. Read the full study HERE.

Competing interests Professor CR Macintyre has received grant funds and/or support for investigator-driven research from GSK, CSL, Sanofi Pasteur, Merck and Pfizer. Dr Anita Heywood has received grant funds for investigator-driven research from GSK and Sanofi Pasteur. Dr Holly Seale has received grant funds for investigator-driven research from GSK, CSL and Sanofi Pasteur. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract

Background Abundant, indirect epidemiological evidence indicates that influenza contributes to all-cause mortality and cardiovascular hospitalisations with studies showing increases in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and death during the influenza season.

Objective To investigate whether influenza is a significant and unrecognised underlying precipitant of AMI.

Design Case-control study.

Setting Tertiary referral hospital in Sydney, Australia, during 2008 to 2010.

Patients Cases were inpatients with AMI and controls were outpatients without AMI at a hospital in Sydney, Australia.

Main outcome measures Primary outcome was laboratory evidence of influenza. Secondary outcome was baseline self-reported acute respiratory tract infection.

Results Of 559 participants, 34/275 (12.4%) cases and 19/284 (6.7%) controls had influenza (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.09 to 3.54); half were vaccinated. None were recognised as having influenza during their clinical encounter. After adjustment, influenza infection was no longer a significant predictor of recent AMI. However, influenza vaccination was significantly protective (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.85), with a vaccine effectiveness of 45% (95% CI 15% to 65%).

Conclusions Recent influenza infection was an unrecognised comorbidity in almost 10% of hospital patients. Influenza did not predict AMI, but vaccination was significantly protective but underused. The potential population health impact of influenza vaccination, particularly in the age group 50–64 years, who are at risk for AMI but not targeted for vaccination, should be further explored. Our data should inform vaccination policy and cardiologists should be aware of missed opportunities to vaccinate individuals with ischaemic heart disease against influenza.

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The science category is sponsored by AutismFreeBrain, Inc. was created to fund innovative research to develop a cure for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Our studies have identified inflammatory processes in the brain, we called Brain Immunity Storms, that are much like an allergic reaction, releasing surges of molecules that disrupt areas of the brain responsible for emotion and language.

Dachel Media Update: Flu Shots & Heart Attack Prevention, Marin County Vax Rate

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anmne's comments after the jump.

August 21, 2013, UK Daily Mail: Flu vaccine 'can halve the risk of a heart attack in middle-aged men'--Researchers say NHS should consider giving it to everyone aged 50 to 64.

August 21, 2013, NPR San Francisco: Marin Vaccination Opt-Outs Increase, Despite the Science

August 21, 2013, Fenton (MI) TriCounty Times: Number of parents turning down vaccines is on the rise in state

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Flu Shots & Heart Attack Prevention, Marin County Vax Rate" »


Malicious Defamation of Dr. Andrew Wakefield by Autism Science Foundation

Dr. Andrew Wakefield suit headshotNote: At last report, Ms. Singer indicated that she would remove the content from the ASFwebsite  until such time as she returned from vacation and had direction from counsel.  Screen shots of the letter are below the verbiage and you can read this letter in pdf form HERE.

Ms. Alison Singer, Director
Autism Science Foundation
28 West 39th Street, Suite #502,
New York, NY 10018       

August 20, 2013

Dear Ms. Singer,
 
Re: Malicious defamation of Dr. Andrew Wakefield by the Autism Science Foundation. Without prejudice

    I am writing to you in light of false and highly misleading, reckless, and defamatory statements made about me on the website of the Autism Science Foundation of which, according to your website, you are a Director. These statements have been brought to my attention today, August 20, 2013.

    The offending statements are to be found at www.autismsciencefoundation.org/autismandvaccines.html. For the purpose of litigation, the relevant pages have been captured.

    Specifically, I refer to your lead article that, since it is the first hit to come up when one performs a Google search on “Autism+Vaccines”, is likely to have been heavily promoted to the public by you and/or your sponsors.  

    I refer to your article “Autism and Vaccines”; subheading  “History of the Issue”, paragraph 4. You cite from a hearing in the English Courts, the specific purpose of which was for Mr. Justice Eady to rule on whether or not the Claimants [Andrew Wakefield] should be allowed to stay defamation proceedings against Defendants Brian Deer, Channel 4 Television, and Twenty Twenty Productions.

    Justice Eady set out by summarizing the “words complained of” by me –  potentially defamatory words that had been made by the Defendants against me. In those “words” he deliberately “confined” himself to “identifying” my meaning. Justice Eady stated:   

“The words complained of consist of very lengthy extracts set out in the particulars of claim from the television programme. For present purposes, I do not think it necessary to replicate them in this judgment. I shall confine myself to identifying the Claimant's meanings, which were to the effect that he had:

i) Spread fear that the MMR vaccine might lead to autism, even though he knew that his own laboratory had carried out tests whose results dramatically contradicted his claims in that the measles virus had not been found in a single one of the children concerned in his study and he knew or ought to have known that there was absolutely no basis at all for his belief that the MMR should be broken up into single vaccines." 


(ii) In spreading such fear, acted dishonestly and for mercenary motives in that, although he improperly failed to disclose the fact, he planned a rival vaccine and products (such as a diagnostic kit based on his theory) that could have made his fortune.


(iii) Gravely abused the children under his care by unethically carrying out extensive invasive procedures (on occasions requiring three people to hold a child down), thereby driving nurses to leave and causing his medical colleagues serious concern and unhappiness.


(iv) Improperly and/or dishonestly failed to disclose to his colleagues and to the public at large that his research on autistic children had begun with a contract with solicitors which were trying to sue the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine.


(v) Improperly and/or dishonestly lent his reputation to the International Child Development Resource Centre which promoted to very vulnerable parents expensive products for whose efficacy (as he knew or should have known) there was no scientific evidence".

    In the offending article on your website you have deliberately, recklessly, and I believe maliciously, taken these words and presented them to the public as the conclusions of Justice Eady in relation to my alleged guilt. This is evident on any reading of what you have written. Specifically, you state:

“The following year, on October 28th, 2005, the Honorable Justice David Eady concluded  that Wakefield:”

“Spread fear that the MMR vaccine might lead to autism, even though he knew that his own laboratory had carried out tests whose results dramatically contradicted his claims in that the measles virus had not been found in a single one of the children concerned in his study1 … In spreading such fear, [Wakefield] acted dishonestly and for mercenary motives in that, although he improperly failed to disclose the fact, he planned a rival vaccine… that could have made his fortune. [Wakefield] gravely abused the children under his care by unethically carrying out extensive invasive procedures (on occasions requiring three people to hold a child down), thereby driving nurses to leave and causing his medical colleagues serious concern. [And] improperly and/or dishonestly failed to disclose to his colleagues and to the public at large that his research on autistic children had begun with a contract with solicitors which were trying to sue the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine.”

The entire ruling can be read here: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2005/2410.html

Continue reading "Malicious Defamation of Dr. Andrew Wakefield by Autism Science Foundation " »


Ask Congress to Help Release Autism Data - CDC Ignores Law 8 Years

FOIATake Action: Ask Congress to help release autism data  CDC ignores Law for 8 years 
 
From our friends at Autism Action Network:

Please click on the Take Action link here to send an email to your members of Congress requesting their help in making the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) obey the law.  Dr. Brian Hooker, Ph. D., a biochemist and father of a child diagnosed with autism, has been waiting for more than eight years for documents requested from the CDC under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to provide requested documents and information to the public. These documents belong to the people of the United States and were created using our tax dollars.  In recent years the federal government has flagrantly ignored the FOIA.  The requested documents have nothing to do national security, they concern the details of autism studies paid for with your tax dollars.

Dr. Hooker has in the past obtained records from the CDC that showed that several of their studies claiming no correlation between vaccines and autism were rejected by prestigious medical journals for lack of rigor and scientific flaws. He also has obtained documents that show the CDC withheld information when their own studies showed that there is a correlation between vaccines and autism.

After eight years a reasonable question must be, “What is the CDC trying to hide?” But we will not see this information unless we make the CDC give it up.

Requests under the Freedom of Information are given identifying numbers. These are the numbers for Dr. Hooker’s requests:

#05-0435, #05-0499, #05-0674, #05-0680, #05-0222, #05-0942, #05-0924, #10-00555, #10-00556, #10-00579, #10-00696, #10-00697, #11-00295, #11-00368, #11-00438, #11-00439, #11-00440, #11-00451, #11-00706, #13-00172, #13-00200, #13-00203, #13-00235, #13-00271.

Please share this message with friends and family and please post to Facebook and other social networks. And if you support the work of the Autism Action Network please like us on Facebook.
 
 

Dachel Media Update: Police, Placenta, Siblings

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 21, 2013, BBC News: Measles jab claims by Children's Immunisation Centre 'irresponsible'

August 20, 2013, HLNtv.com: Photos mocking kids with autism posted online

August 20, 2013, The Tennessean:  Police, school district to identify autistic people

August 20, 2013, KING5-TV Seattle: Placenta may help diagnose autism after birth

August 20, 2013, TIME: Siblings of Autistic Children at a Higher Risk for the Disorder; Can That Risk Be Lowered?

August 20, 2013, Reading (PA) Eagle: It's time to make sure your child is properly vaccinated before going to school

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Police, Placenta, Siblings" »


Autism Community Unites Behind Poison Pen Letter Recipient

Purple letter

By Kim Stagliano

Every so often, this fractured, exhausted, nose-to-grindstone-for-the-kids autism community is able to leap to the defense of another family without so much as a pause. It doesn't matter whether Mom is biomed or ABA, psychiatric meds or organic Yak juice - you get my point. Sometimes the cruelty of how others perceive and feel entitled to treat our children - no matter their age - rallies us round the autism flag like Pearl Harbor.

Media outlets from Perez to the NY Daily News have reported on a poison pen letter sent "anonymously" to a family in Toronto, Canada. From City News Toronto:

A family is in shock and a community has united after an anonymous hate letter was written about a young boy living with severe autism.

Karla Begley told CityNews her son Max, 13, stays with his grandmother in the morning during the summer time. It was at that home in Newcastle where letter was delivered on Friday.

“I was shaking when I was reading it,” Brenda Millson, Max’s grandmother, told CityNews. “It’s awful words. You don’t know why somebody would ever do such a thing.”

The typed, one-page letter refers to the young boy as a “nuisance” and a “wild animal” before suggesting the family move or “euthanize” the child.

My neighbors have no idea how often I close windows on a warm day when a meltdown is in progress or imminent. The woman who might give me stink eye at Stop & Shop doesn't know that my child is using every ounce of her courage to maintain her calm while roaming the brightly lit store.  I wrote a BOOK trying to explain to outsiders that our lives - yours, mine, the autism Mom who thinks I'm a complete anti-vaccine kook - are crazy hard.   We deserve compassion and for God's sake, a bit of kindness. It's the end of summer - my kids desperately need their school routine. Don't yours? Maybe Max needs his too. Certainly Kara Begley needs to hear from all of us in the autism community, "We love you.  We have your back. We love your son.  We ARE you."

And to "One Pissed Off Mother" who thought typing this letter would make her feel better and superior to Max, his Gram and his Mom?  We and our children will live our lives with pride and dignity, thank you very much.  And I hope the media crush you are receiving now feels like a thousand paper cuts under a shaker of salt.....

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her novel,  House of Cards; A All I Can Handle 50 pixel Kat Cavicchio romantic suspense is available from Amazon in all e-formats now. Her memoir, All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa is available in hardcover, paperback and e-book.

 

 




 


Dachel Media Update: Poison Pen Letter, Measles

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 20, 2013, NY Daily News: Family of 13-year-old autistic boy disgusted after hate-filled letter is slipped under their door urging them to ‘euthanize’ boy for being a neighborhood ‘nuisance’

August 19, 2013, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth: Tarrant County Confirms 10th Case of Measles

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Poison Pen Letter, Measles" »


Dachel Q&A: Dr. Michael Schachter

Dr. SchacterBy Anne Dachel

When it comes to autism, the media continues to push the tired mantras, "studies show no link" and “better diagnosing--no real increase" in their coverage.  To support these claims, there's often a local doctor who is quoted.  The doc usually shows a mild interest in autism and reassures us that while the cause is unknown, there certainly is no link to vaccines.  The casual observer might think that the scientific-medical community really cares about what autism is doing to our children and that they're honestly looking into the whys:  
 
Why is a once rare disorder now so common that everyone knows someone with an affected child?

Why do some children, who seem to be normal and thriving, suddenly become sick and lose learned skills, subsequently winding up with an autism diagnosis?"

Why are there so many autistic children who reportedly make great gains when they go on special diets and get certain biomedical treatments?

Why isn't there a comparable autistic population among adults--especially adults with severe autism?

Why do so many parents continue to claim that their child was just fine until they received certain routine vaccinations?
 
We might think that the scientific-medical community is looking into the whys, but it's not.  The media, vaccine makers, health officials, and doctors all have a vested interest in continuing the status quo as far as autism is concerned.  

That's why autism will only be treated as a medical curiosity and never as a health care crisis.

That's why the emphasis will always be on diagnosing and early intervention and not on stopping the epidemic.

That's why no one will ever call for a vaccinated/unvaccinated study.

That's why the conventional medicine industry will concentrate on behavior medications and not on approaches, such as improved nutrition, removal of toxins, the use of nutritional supplements and herbs and other methods considered outside of mainstream medicine,   to really improve the health of ASD kids.
 
In the face of all this, it is amazing that there are actually experts out there willing to speak out.  Age of Autism continues to report on the scientists who do the important and ethical studies and find the real proof about autism's cause.  AoA also presents the doctors who are really helping our sick kids---not just creating new victims.  I'm privileged to have talked to a number of these rare, courageous people.  (And if you think it’s hard being a parent who says vaccines cause autism, try being a doctor and say it.)
 
On my Media Update back on July 19, 2013 , there was a very interesting comment posted by Michael B Schachter, MD, who runs the Schachter Center for Complementary Medicine in Suffern, NY. 

Dr Schachter wrote:

Some people post that all doctors oppose the notion that vaccines have anything to do with autism and how can they all be wrong and Jenny be right? All doctors DO NOT OPPOSE THE VIEW THAT VACCINES MAY CONTRIBUTE A LOT TO THE EPIDEMIC OF AUTISM. Many of them quietly and privately express this view, but keep quiet out of fear of sanctions by the medical community, state regulatory agencies or their academic employers. Pharmaceutical companies play a prominent role in supporting medical organizations, politicians and the media. It takes a brave soul to oppose the prevailing view that "we have no idea what causes autism, but it certainly has nothing to do with vaccines."

Continue reading "Dachel Q&A: Dr. Michael Schachter" »


Dachel Media Update: Israel, Parental Concerns, New Haven Adults

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 19, 2013, San Jose Mercury News: Number of Marin children without vaccinations continues to grow; health officials worried

 August 18, 2013, Utica (NY) Observer-Dispatch: Are kids sicker than they used to be?

August 18, 2013, New Haven (CT) Register: Programs address needs of New Haven adults with autism

August 17, 2013, ABC 3 Pensacola, FL: Parents question child vaccinations

August 17, 2013, NJ.com: Preventable diseases must be stopped with vaccines: Opinion

August 16, 2013, OregonLive.com: When parents don't vaccinate their kids and other kids suffer:

August 16, 2013, US News: Kids With Autism Outperformed Others on Math Test, Study Found

August 15, 2013, Jerusalem Post: In Israel, Nationwide polio vaccination campaign to start August

August 15, 2013, Yeshiva World News: Parents Opposed to Polio Booster Vaccine Taking their Case to Court
 

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Israel, Parental Concerns, New Haven Adults" »


Induction At Birth, Pitocin and Autism: The Wrong Question Again Revealed

Pitocin-lg2By Teresa Conrick

It's in the news again.  Yet another study that shows a supposed cause to a future diagnosis of autism.  This time -- Induction and Augmentation -- I actually looked them both up to clarify what that meant:
 
".... When labor does not naturally start on its own and vaginal delivery needs to happen soon, labor may be started artificially (induced).....

Even though inducing labor is a fairly common practice, childbirth educators encourage women to learn about it and about the medicine for stimulating a stalled labor (augmentation) so that the women can help decide what is right for them.....

Oxytocin (Pitocin) can be given through a vein (intravenously) in small amounts to ripen the cervix. But it usually is given after the cervix softens, to cause the uterus to contract. Labor that is induced by oxytocin usually starts off harder and progresses faster than labor that starts on its own, especially in first-time mothers. If oxytocin does not induce labor or if the baby's heart rate indicates distress, a cesarean delivery (C-section) may be needed."

Interesting.  So here are some of the key parts about an alleged connection to autism that we are seeing from the mainstream media:

"Induced labor may increase risk of autism in offspring"


"Having labor that is induced or augmented may lead to a greater chance of having a child with autism, new research reveals.....Researchers looked at data from the North Carolina Detailed Birth Record and Education Research databases, which included 625,042 live births linked with school records. Of the group, 5,500 children had been diagnosed with autism.....Overall, the researchers estimated two out of every 1,000 autism cases in boys could potentially be prevented by not inducing or augmenting labor....C-sections did not affect the rate of autism. "

That's all over the news. 

Here's the actual pieces of the abstract : Association of Autism With Induced or Augmented Childbirth in North Carolina Birth Record (1990-1998) and Education Research (1997-2007) Databases 

"One in 88 children in the United States is diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder. Significant interest centers on understanding the environmental factors that may contribute to autism risk.....Compared with children born to mothers who received neither labor induction nor augmentation, children born to mothers who were induced and augmented, induced only, or augmented only experienced increased odds of autism....Our work suggests that induction/augmentation during childbirth is associated with increased odds of autism diagnosis in childhood. While these results are interesting, further investigation is needed to differentiate among potential explanations....."

Continue reading "Induction At Birth, Pitocin and Autism: The Wrong Question Again Revealed" »


Autism Parental Input

Cat PhotoBy Cathy Jameson

Bright Lights in the Big City

Last Monday evening I got a call from my friend Megan Davenhall who is also known as Sunshine from The Thinking Moms’ Revolution.  Sunshine was asked by Fox News to go on air and give her reaction to the induced labor-autism study.  Unable to go, she asked if I might be able to jet up to the studio to be on the evening news.  While still on the phone getting details, I whispered to my always-supportive husband what the call was about.  He encouragingly smiled at me and said, “Go!”  I have no prior television experience.  Heck, we don’t even have cable TV anymore!  I felt a little out of touch but was excited to see what was in store.  I thought what have I got to lose?  I’ve already been so vocal about Ronan and our situation; this will be one more chance to tell people what I know about autism.

I said to Sunshine, “Sure!  I’ll do it.”  Had I known how nervous I would be just a few hours later during the interview, I would’ve quickly hung up and hidden under a blankie instead!  I’m glad I didn’t run and hide.  As nervous as I was (and, oh boy, was I nervous), this opportunity was important. 

I knew I needed to do some major prepping for what I just signed up to do and only had just over an hour to do it.  I made a quick call to Fox News and told the fellow putting the segment together that a Thinking Mom was available to go on air.  I got more details about what the piece was about too.  Fox News’ reporter, Shawn Yancy, who is also an autism mom, was going to showcase the autism-induced labor study in the 10 o’clock health news segment.  Could I share my thoughts on that?  I laughed and said, “Oh, yeah, I saw that go through my news feed.  I usually read everything I see about autism, but I didn’t open that link.  I thought to myself, ‘Another study?  Really??  What’ll it be this time?’  My contact at the station pressed if I’d be available.  I confirmed I could and hung up.     

While I got dressed and ready to go, my husband read through the study and wrote some notes for me.  I joined him moments later and sat down at the computer to do some reading.  Together, we found more information and saw that this particular study was drawing a great deal of national attention on several news sites, including ones we trusted and on quite a few mainstream ones as well. 

With notes in hand, we went over key talking points.  Since I hadn’t yet been given any questions that the reporter would ask me, I made sure to jot down general information on autism as well as news from other recent studies.  Not having done too much reading on induced labors, I wanted to verify that process and that induced labor requires chemical assistance.  I already knew that, when any kind of toxic goo is added to the body burden, the immune system can be suppressed.  The GI tract can take a hit.   A toll can be placed on the neurological system.  I assumed that once induction starts, risks immediately do too. 

I felt like I had a good idea of what could be presented but wanted to get some input from those who’ve sat in the hot seat before.  I made a quick call to Kim Stagliano.  She offered sage advice and boosted my spirits.  Once we hung up, Kim put the word out that I’d be on the news which prompted an encouraging call from AofA’s Media Editor Anne Dachel.  She too wished me luck and reminded me of something I hadn’t thought of.  This study, as with a string of others, puts blame on the mother.  Ah, yes.  Another tactic to dodge the truth and make mommy the bad guy. 
With only ten minutes left before I needed to get on the road, I reached out to a friend who is well versed in the subject of pregnancy, laboring and babies.  Brandy Burd has ten year’s experiences as a doula and serves the Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Norfolk cities in Virginia.  From her website, “As a birth doula, my goal is to help mothers educate themselves on their options for childbirth, and provide the physical, emotional, and informational support they need to achieve what they define as a positive birth experience.”  I knew Brandy would be a fantastic source for me in the final few minutes I had left to cram for the interview. 

What I gathered from our conversation is that inducing labor could indeed be medically necessary in certain situations, but allowing for a natural birth should be considered first.  Some reasons a doctor may suggest an induction are when the mother is experiencing pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure, diabetes, multiple complicated pregnancies and when the membranes rupture but the next stage of labor is grossly delayed as that can put the baby’s health at risk. 

Full-term pregnancies typically range from 37 – 42 weeks.  Forty-two weeks may seem like a long time, but women can and have safely labored up through then naturally.  Despite that fact though, some clinics promote induced labor as a “standard management” practice.  Some reasons for non-medically necessary inductions are:

*for social reasons (inducing because parents wish to have the baby on a certain date)

*due to maternal age (inducing because a woman is “older”)

*for convenience to the provider (inducing around his/her schedule or time off)

*for convenience to the hospital (inducing scheduled during the day when more staff is available)

*for convenience to the pregnant woman (inducing because she may be tired of being pregnant or because she wants a smaller baby) 

When considering birthing options, taking note of the woman’s health, the type of pregnancy she’s had as well as the baby’s development is of utmost importance.  To needlessly schedule an induced labor could actually cause serious complications for both mom and child and what Brandy referred to as the Ripple Effect.  This means that when one intervention is started, another is likely to be added in order to offset an unexpected outcome or unforeseen complications from the procedure.  More drugs, some with increased negative side effects, are added next. Those, as well as other invasive actions, can add stress and physical strain to the laboring process.  Instead of a let-nature-takes-its-course approach, or allowing mom to trust her body, both mom and baby are hooked up to drips and monitors and have less mobility to move through the labor pains. 

Continue reading "Autism Parental Input" »


Weekly Wrap: You're an Idiot, Emily.

AofA Red Logo Ayumi YamadaBy Dan Olmsted

I hope the homage to Bob Dylan somewhat softens the blow of calling Emily Willingham of Forbes Mag an idiot, and implicitly, Babe (cf Idiot Wind, 1974). What I really mean is, your ouevre is intellectually incoherent when it comes to autism causation, ma'am.

But that doesn't scan as well.

In Forbes Magazine (self-professed Capitalist Tool), Emily turned nasty on Anne Dachel when Anne commented on Emily's piece this week about the new study linking induced pregnancy and autism risk. Emily went after the proposed connection -- a reasonable thing to do, suggesting any number of things in pregnancy that might have caused the study's observation. Anne, also reasonably, posted this:

"And I wonder how many of these mothers got a mercury-containing flu vaccine during pregnancy. The majority of the flu vaccine available contains 25 mcg of mercury, a known neurotoxin. It easily crosses the placental barrier. That much mercury is recommended for someone weighing 550 lbs, according to EPA guidelines." -- Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism

To which Emily replied: "Yes, about that fast-and-loose play with the word “mercury.” There’s a prefix missing from your comments. I know you know that. Why do you persist in eliding it?"

Ah yes, sneakily omitting the fact that vaccine mercury is ethylmercury, nontoxic, fetus- and infant-friendly neurologically and immunologically irrelevant ETHYLmercury.

Emily links to a post by Steven Novella, kindly condescending to inform us that the kind of mercury in vaccines is the good kind -- the kind Paul Offit calls "a gentle bacteriostat, " and Arthur Allen calls "safe" (this after Allen had called the concern about it a "not-so-crackpot theory.")

Anyway, Novella says, "First, the EPA limit is for methymercury, not ethylmercury, which is the form found in Thimerosal. Methylmercury is known to be much more toxic than ethylmercury. In addition ethylmercury (half life about a week) is cleared from the body much more quickly than methylmercury (half life about 1.5 months). Further, infants excrete mercury more efficiently than adults. The EPA safety limits are based upon the more toxic form of mercury, with a 10 fold built in safety buffer in case some people are more susceptible to mercury toxicity than others."

For which I have just one word -- no, not idiotic. And not bullshit. Although both apply. No, the word is Burbacher. The University of Washington professor's peer-reviewed study shows ethylmercury goes into the brain, folks, and it stays in the brain a lot longer. It's not excreted, it's trapped in the brain, where it de-ethylates into inorganic mercury and settles in to do its damage.

The idea that ethyl and methyl are the yin and yang -- complete opposites -- of mercury is, well, idiotic. Both are members of the same organic mercury (danger! danger!) grouping: alkyl mercury (mega-danger!) As Mark Blaxill and I show in our book, The Age of Autism, their commercial development in the early part of the last century was accompanied by a healthy respect for the lethality of both.

"There are several lines of scientific evidence that raise concerns about the immediate toxicity of thimerosal," we write. "Mark Noble at the University of Rochester "demonstrated that levels of thimerosal that seem likely to be achieved in the brains of vaccinated infants can interfere with normal growth and development of precursor cells in the developing brain. Noble and his colleagues have shown that thimerosal is as effective as methylmercury in activating cellular response pathways that lead to degradation of cell sufrace receptors of critical importance in normal cell division and survival."

Continue reading "Weekly Wrap: You're an Idiot, Emily." »


Dachel Media Update: "Free" Back To School Shots, Induced Labor

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 15, 2013, Port Orchard (WA) Independent: SCHOOLS | Free immunizations among Back to School Celebration highlights

August 15, 2013, Michigan Live: Latest data on Michigan, Muskegon County child immunizations highlight vaccination debates

August 15, 2013, My Fox Austin: Article stirs autism and vaccine debate

August 14, 2013, Forbes: Autism Risk And Labor Induction: Is There A Link?

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: "Free" Back To School Shots, Induced Labor" »


Back to School

PinwormsBy Kim Stagliano

I suppose I shouldn't complain, our school was in session until late June.   But summer is H-A-R-D when you have a child(ren) with autism. Like I need to remind you? We were fortunate to have some extended school year programming and a camp  that actually allows kids with behaviors and over the age of 9!   My oldest is entering her "senior" year of high school. Can you smell my terror from your computer? My middle daughter is in her third year of high school, and my baby, who turns 13 next month, is a 7th grader. If she could speak I'm pretty sure she would be a surly  pre-teen telling us all to "just leave her alone!" Her behavior this summer has taxed us all to our last nerve  - a combination of gut issues and the general mien of a 12 year old girl.  (As an aside, my folks sent me to boarding school at 14, need I say more?)

How are you holding up as the summer ends.  Are your kids back to school already? And what are your hopes for this coming school year?

(PS) I mentioned gut issues? Who among us hasn't carried a dead worm in a baggie to the ped?  Gary didn't make it..... 


Voices for Vaccines III: The Opinions and Silences of Dorit Reiss

ReissBy John Stone

Following two articles on the organization Voices for Vaccine and its two leading advocates Dorit Reiss and Karen Ernst .  John Stone (UK Editor of Age of Autism) had the opportunity for a detailed exchange of views with Reiss on Examiner.com in its blog  ‘Anti Jenny McCarthy petition authored by pharmaceutical industry cronies’. The position, however, is much as before.

The legal and historical status of Voices for Vaccines

Dorit tried to make light of the association with ‘Task Force for Global’ a sizeable non-profit which claims to be a partner of the Centers for Disease control which takes money from the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, VFV were started by ‘Task Force’ in 2008 which stated its intention of recruiting members of the public to act as advocates for the vaccination program. When I originally wrote about Dorit on these Karen was on in minutes stating:

Voices for Vaccines has as its fiscal agent The Task Force for Global Health. They take in our donations and cut checks for us. Many non-profits who are too small to handle their own 501(c)3 status use fiscal agents in this way; it's quite common. We have absolutely no access to their money, nor do we benefit from their money. Voices for Vaccines is not tied to any pharmaceutical corporation or to any government organization. Thus far, all of our donations have been small and have come from individuals.

However, the Task Force website states that VFV is a project of Task Force (and it subdivision Vaccine Equity) and CDC veteran Alan Hinman is named as both director of Vaccine Equity (funded by Bill Melinda Gates Foundation,  Merck and Novartis) and VFV. When finally cornered on this we had the following exchange:

Dorit: The problem is that she [Karen]  cannot show you a negative: how is she supposed to show you that Hinman is not controlling? I point out that if you look at what VFV does, it is very clearly Karen and Ashley's voice you hear and no one else. If you want to demonstrate links to the Task Force, I'd appreciate some evidence of control.

Me: It would be a trifle unusual for the director of an organization not to have any say in its running. BTW does VFV have an independent report and accounts - I can't see anything displayed on the website?

Dorit: Note that Hinman is not listed as director on VFV. I don't know why he is on the Task Force. And I don't know about the accounts - you'd have to ask Karen Ernst.

Me: Karen can comment here if she wants.

I do not know whether Karen is grateful to Dorit but so far she has not shown up to clarify matters. Earlier on in the exchange Dorit had seemed to have more knowledge of VFV’s financial arrangements:

Many non-profits that are small make use of a financial agent. The global task force serves in that role for Voices for Vaccines. They pay the Global Task Force for it.

Agency or Regulator Capture

Here Dorit maintains the level of obfuscation we might expect following her article on the benefits of agency capture, only surprise she does not recognise any instance of capture and all the points where the CDC and industry meet – either through Task Force or the CDC Foundation – are ineffably benign and beneficent.

Dorit: … Reading the Task Force's annual report, I see some ex-CDC among its people, and some projects in which the CDC is a funder. http://www.taskforce.org/sites.... The fact that the Task Force gets funding from CDC seems to suggest that if anything the CDC has input into their projects, not that pharma influences the CDC covertly through the Task Force. That's not good evidence of pharmaceutical control (or even influence) on the CDC. To remind you, the CDC's operations are funded by Congress

Me: Surely, it is a matter of culture. Julie Gerberding was appointed head of Merck vaccine division within a year of leaving the directorship of the CDC - that is scarcely reassuring. You may be comfortable with such things, but I am not.

It's a long time ago but Task Force according to Wiki was founded by three ex CDC execs who could thus form partnerships with both industry and the CDC.

Another commenter “Ember” intervenes:

Your article arguing the benefits of (regulatory) capture is not confusing. The term regulatory capture was originated by Woodrow Wilson to signify the phenomenon of state regulatory agencies which were created to act in the public interest but which instead advance the commercial or special interests that dominate the industries the agencies are charged with regulating. There's really nothing confusing about trying to rectify the term or the practice as a "good thing."

Dorit responds to neither point. This is a later exchange:

Me: Actually, when it comes to the issue of regulatory capture the CDC Foundation is a very interesting topic. Here is a list of the foundations corporate partners with the rubric:
"Our diverse partners understand that linking with CDC through the CDC Foundation can significantly advance public health in this country and worldwide. Often, partners become engaged early on in a project to clearly understand its objectives or participate in the program design. Several partners may jointly fund a program to ensure its successful completion.

"Corporations whose goals or philanthropic interests align with CDC’s work often partner with the CDC Foundation to advance CDC's work on a specific health threat, such as protecting patients from healthcare-associated infections, reducing tobacco use and increasing screening and treatment for chronic and infectious disease." (http://www.cdcfoundation.org/what/partners#category-299)

Of course, all the major pharmaceutical manufacturers are there (and none of them are really philanthropic organizations)

Dorit: The foundation is actually set up as a good example of the…kind of collaboration that we want to encourage and that does not really raise concerns about capture. The foundation operates outside the CDC, with a dedicated team; it does things that do not require direct regulation of companies - most of the projects are focused either on research or on activism abroad; it does not give funding partners direct access to decision making inside the CDC; it allows the CDC to do things that it would not be able to do on its regular budget to prevent health threat; and in case you noticed, funding partners include The Mayo Clinic, the World Health Organization, and others.

Continue reading "Voices for Vaccines III: The Opinions and Silences of Dorit Reiss" »


Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine and Primary Ovarian Failure

Science post imageAm J Reprod Immunol. 2013 Jul 31. doi: 10.1111/aji.12151. [Epub ahead of print]

Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine and Primary Ovarian Failure: Another Facet of the Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants.

Colafrancesco S, Perricone C, Tomljenovic L, Shoenfeld Y.
Source

Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel; Rheumatology Unit, Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialities, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Abstract

PROBLEM:

Post-vaccination autoimmune phenomena are a major facet of the autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA) and different vaccines, including HPV, have been identified as possible causes.

METHOD OF STUDY:

The medical history of three young women who presented with secondary amenorrhea following HPV vaccination was collected. Data regarding type of vaccine, number of vaccination, personal, clinical and serological features, as well as response to treatments were analyzed.

RESULTS:

All three patients developed secondary amenorrhea following HPV vaccinations, which did not resolve upon treatment with hormone replacement therapies. In all three cases sexual development was normal and genetic screen revealed no pertinent abnormalities (i.e., Turner's syndrome, Fragile X test were all negative). Serological evaluations showed low levels of estradiol and increased FSH and LH and in two cases, specific auto-antibodies were detected (antiovarian and anti thyroid), suggesting that the HPV vaccine triggered an autoimmune response. Pelvic ultrasound did not reveal any abnormalities in any of the three cases. All three patients experienced a range of common non-specific post-vaccine symptoms including nausea, headache, sleep disturbances, arthralgia and a range of cognitive and psychiatric disturbances. According to these clinical features, a diagnosis of primary ovarian failure (POF) was determined which also fulfilled the required criteria for the ASIA syndrome.

CONCLUSION:

We documented here the evidence of the potential of the HPV vaccine to trigger a life-disabling autoimmune condition. The increasing number of similar reports of post HPV vaccine-linked autoimmunity and the uncertainty of long-term clinical benefits of HPV vaccination are a matter of public health that warrants further rigorous inquiry.

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Autism Free Brain
Putting an End to Autism
by Fighting Brain Immunity Storms™

AutismFreeBrain, Inc. was created to fund innovative research to develop a cure for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Our studies have identified inflammatory processes in the brain, we called Brain Immunity Storms, that are much like an allergic reaction, releasing surges of molecules that disrupt areas of the brain responsible for emotion and language.

Dachel Media Update: Slate Hate, HPV Vax & Early Menopause

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 13, 2013, Slate.com: Endangering the Herd--The case for suing parents who don't vaccinate their kids-or criminally charging them

August 13, 2013, Health Impact News: Study: HPV Vaccine Linked to Premature Menopause in Young Girls

August 13, 2013, USA Today: Brain changes of autism may begin in the womb

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Slate Hate, HPV Vax & Early Menopause" »


His Name Was Ritchey: Autism's Case 3 Offers Clues to the Rise and Future of Autism

SolvedBy Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Our search ends here, not far from where it began.

No, says Brook Blanton, listed as the "informant" on the death certificate, she can't give us any information. Politely professional, she can't even say what seems obvious -- that as an employee of Wake County Family Services, she served as guardian ad litem for the deceased, representing the interests of a disabled adult.

So we are left with not much more than "decedent's name: William Ritchey Miller." 

We do know his parents called him Ritchey. And that Leo Kanner called him "Richard M."

And we know that by whatever name, he was Case 3 in Kanner's landmark 1943 report, "Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact."

But beyond Kanner's writing we know only what William Ritchey Miller didn't do. Under marital status on the death certificate: Never Married. Under usual occupation: Never worked. Under decedent's education: 0.

The death certificate, which we'd picked up the day before at Wake County Vital Records, gives his date of birth -- November 17, 1937. The certificate says he died on July 8, 2011, cites "multiple myeloma" as the cause, and reports he had been sick for a year. He was 73 years old.

Ritchey Death Cert



Given the bureaucracy into which disabled children with no one to advocate for them can fall, it is frustrating but fitting that this is where the trail goes cold -- in a public agency where no one is allowed to even acknowledge his existence, surrounded by a virtual megalopolis of hospitals (Wake Med), rehab centers, nursing homes and assisted living, perhaps the nation's true growth industry. Raleigh has the fastest-growing proportion of 65 and older adults in the United States.

And autism, as the fastest growing developmental disorder in children, will eventually comprise a significant portion of such adults, many with no one to depend on at the end but a state-appointed guardian, and the kindness of strangers.

Pieced together from multiple sources culled over the past decade, here are the contours, if not the depth, of a life that deserves to be recognized, both for its own intrinsic value and for what it may tell us about the origins of the Age of Autism, and the future of the thousands now "aging out" into a life for which no one has prepared.

--

"Since 1938," wrote Leo Kanner in that first report of autism, "there have come to our attention a number of children whose behavior differs so markedly and uniquely from anything reported so far, that each case merits -- and, I hope, will eventually receive -- a detailed consideration of its fascinating peculiarities."

Kanner referred to those 11 children only by a first name and last initial, some accurate, some pseudonyms, some, like Richard M., amalgams. "Richard" arrived at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where Kanner practiced on February 5, 1941, age 3 years 3 months. His lack of ordinary responsiveness led his parents to believe he was deaf. He wasn't.

An intern made these notes: "The child seems quite intelligent, playing with the toys in his bed and being adequately curious about toys used in the examination. He seems quite self-sufficient in his play. ... He does not pay attention to conversation going on around him, and although he does make noises, he pays no attention to conversations going on around him."

Ritchey thus fit the emerging pattern Kanner was seeing for the first time -- children of at least ordinary intelligence and no visible physical abnormality who nevertheless were oblivious to the outside world, pursuing strange fixations, rigid routines and nonsense speech patterns, if they spoke at all. Most especially, they failed to form the ordinary bonds of infancy -- the "affective contact" -- that was universal to human development.

Baffled, Kanner wrote up his findings on the 11 children in 1943. By then, he had seen Richard M. twice more, with no improvement evident. "He did not communicate his wishes but went into a rage until his mother guessed and procured what he wanted. He had no contact with people, whom he definitely regarded as an interference when they talked to him or otherwise tried to gain his attention.

"The mother felt she was no longer capable of handling him, and he was placed in a foster home near Annapolis with a woman who had shown a remarkable talent for dealing with difficult children. Recently, this woman clearly heard him say his first intelligible words. They were, ‘Good night.’”

Continue reading "His Name Was Ritchey: Autism's Case 3 Offers Clues to the Rise and Future of Autism" »


Cathy Jameson On Labor Induction and Autism on Fox 5 DC

Tmr bookThank you to Age of Autism's Cathy Jameson for her appearance on Fox 5 News DC last night to discuss the recent news that inducing labor could be related to autism.  Cathy is a co-contributor to book The Thinking Moms' Revolution.  And our favorite Sunday read here at AofA. Great job, Cathy.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/video?&clipId=9191960&autostart=true#axzz2bqZvHrkZ

DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG

Emily Willingham on "Mispresenting the Facts" in Forbes

WillinghamBy Anne Dachel

Emily Willingham at Forbes reminds us at the beginning of her articles, "I write about the science they're selling you."   I couldn't agree more.  In her coverage, she regularly announces that vaccines don't cause autism.  Her latest update was August 9, 2013: Court Rulings Don't Confirm Autism-Vaccine Link

"There’s a post making the rounds courtesy of something called 'Whiteout Press' with the headline 'Courts confirm vaccines cause autism.' It’s spreading across sites, through chains of elementary school parent communities, and onto radars of other communities that overlap. In other words, it’s viral. If only there were a vaccine for it.

"The post itself is a cobbled together retelling of stories everyone’s already known for years. Whiteout Press might have been surprised to learn about this 'ongoing story,' but each element of it has been widely reported in the mainstream media over the last decade and a half, in exceptional detail.

"The centerpiece of the 'courts confirm' article is the 2012 finding of a local Italian court that a child was diagnosed with autism a year after receiving an MMR. The court, in linking the two things, relied very heavily on the retracted and fraudulent 1998 Wakefield MMR Lancet paper and the testimony of a single physician, hired by the plaintiff’s attorney (widely known for advising parents on how to avoid compulsory vaccinations). The physician, Massimo Montinari, it seems, has written a book on how vaccines cause autism and peddles an autism 'cure' that he’s devised."
Willingham ridiculed the idea that an Italian court could be expected to make a sound decision about vaccines. "Italian courts, provincial or otherwise, are not known for basing their rulings in science. "  She said we can rely instead on the scientific evidence and the vaccine court rulings in the U.S.

So why don't we believe her?  Why haven't we been convinced by all the studies that show no link and the rulings against parents who claim vaccines caused their child's autism?

Willingham: "What baffles me–genuinely baffles me–is why they expend the energy on such an internally inconsistent, crazy-quilt job of an argument to level these false charges against vaccines. No medical intervention is without risks, and vaccines are no exception. But vaccines are among the safest, most-effective, and most widely life-saving interventions of all time."

After that ringing endorsement, she cautioned us, "Mispresenting the facts about them does no one any good at all and has done considerable harm."

"Mispresenting the facts"?

Willingham is typical of media people who maintain a cult-like mentality when it comes to vaccination. Vaccines are safe. Vaccines save lives, is their sacred mantra.

No matter how many parents say their healthy child became autistic right after a huge round of shots, there is no link.

No matter how many doctors admit they no longer follow the recommended vaccine schedule, there is no link.

No matter how many studies by well-credentialed experts challenge this tenet of faith, there is no link.

No matter that the federal vaccine court has compensated lots of autistic kids, there is no link.

So was Fox News "mispresenting the fact" when they aired the story, Government Paid Millions to Vaccine-Injured Kids,  on May 9, 2011?

This coverage revealed that 83 cases have been found where a child injured by a vaccine was compensated by the federal government and that child’s injuries included autism.

Listen to Dr. Sarah Bridges talk about son’s case. He was a healthy baby until he was vaccinated. The court agreed that the vaccines he received caused his autism.

Louis Conte, who was involved in the discovery of those 83 cases of vaccine induced autism compensated by the federal government had this to say about Willingham's piece:

Continue reading " Emily Willingham on "Mispresenting the Facts" in Forbes" »


Forbes’ Willingham Wrong on Courts, Vaccine Injuries and Brain Damage

LegalsBy Louis Conte

Emily Willingham’s missive on Forbes.com on 8/9/13, “Court Rulings Don’t Confirm Autism-Vaccine Link” was in response to a Whiteout Press article called “Courts confirms vaccines cause autism.” Willingham criticized the Italian courts for a decision last year where they ruled that an MMR vaccine caused a child’s autism. She criticized Italian Courts in general but sang the praises of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), for saving vaccine manufacturers millions because the United States is a “hyperletigious society” and life-saving vaccines need to be protected from the civil justice system. She incorrectly and selectively describes the Omnibus Autism Proceedings (she called them the “autism omnibus trial”), seizes the customary opportunity to criticize Dr. Andrew Wakefield and re-iterates the mainstream claim that the science against an autism-vaccine link is “overwhelming.” Willingham claims that the courts show that “vaccines don’t cause autism.”

Willingham’s perspective of the NVICP is shallow and naïve. A thoughtful review of the program reveals a justice venue that lacks compassion, abuses petitioners and their witnesses and has become a vassal of the pharmaceutical industry it protects. The truth is that the NVICP conceals the reality of vaccine injury by keeping vaccine injury victims out of the view of American citizens and juries.

The Omnibus Autism Proceedings ultimately denied justice to thousands of petitioners. The federal government’s Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation, which screens all the cases that enter the program, failed to disclose the fact that the program regularly compensated children for the vaccine induced brain damage who also had autism since its inception in 1988. These children were typically compensated for brain damage - the NVICP Table Injury called Encephalopathy - an acknowledged outcome of vaccine injury. Autism is a behavioral manifestation of brain damage in many of these cases. In the peer reviewed Unanswered Questions From the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury, (28 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 480 (2011) Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol28/iss2/6) Holland, Krakow, Colin and I reported on 83 such cases after gaining access to a small percentage of the cases compensated over the past twenty years. Our two year investigation revealed that autism secondary to brain damage has long been understood within the NVICP. How clearly understood? Note this comment from a Special Master in the 2003 Kienan Freeman case:

Continue reading "Forbes’ Willingham Wrong on Courts, Vaccine Injuries and Brain Damage" »


Dachel Media Update: US of Autism, Cancer, Insurance, Vaccination

Online newsBy Anne Dachel
 
Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 12, 2013, Columbus (OH) Dispatch: Insurance coverage for autism treatment varies

 
August 12, 2013, Vermillion (SD) Plain Talk: USD Sanford School of Medicine pediatrics chair publishes book on 'vaccinophobia'

August 11, 2013, The Oklahoman: Autism class helps students stay focused, calm
 
August 11, 2013, NY Times: Autism's Unexpected Link to Cancer Gene
 
August 11, 2013, NY Times: Autism And Cancer Are Not Parallels - Forbes

August 10, 2013, LA Times: With fewer vaccinations, is your child's school safe?

August 8, 2013, NY Post: 'The United States Of Autism' can't tackle politics

August 8, 2013, NY Times: Journey Across a Wide Spectrum
 
August 8, 2013, WANE-TV Fort Wayne, IN: Kids who get vaccines to receive free school supplies

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: US of Autism, Cancer, Insurance, Vaccination" »


MSM Covers Autism Wandering: 60 Children Dead in 4 Years

Big red box

Thank you to National Autism Association for spearheading this important article in the mainstream media about autism and wandering.   The NAA Conference is this November in St. Pete Beach, FL and features special guests Jac and Chris Laurita, autism parents and Real Housewives of NJ stars.

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer
August 11, 2013 (AP)

The 3-year-old girl wandered away from her grandmother's home in Wareham, Mass., in mid-April. A frantic search began almost immediately, and within an hour little Alyvia Navarro was found unresponsive in a nearby pond. She was pronounced dead the next day.

A month later, across the continent, a larger search unfolded over three days as hundreds of emergency service personnel and volunteers fanned out around Clearlake, Calif., looking for 9-year-old Mikaela Lynch after she vanished from her backyard. The outcome grimly echoed the Wareham search: A dive team found Mikaela's body in a muddy creek.

The two girls were the first of at least 14 children with autism known to have died this year after slipping away from their caregivers. All but one of them drowned, evidence of a fascination that many autistic children have with water. The body of the latest victim, 11-year-old Anthony Kuznia, was found Thursday in the Red River after a 24-hour search near his home in East Grand Forks, Minn.

The tragic phenomenon goes by various names — wandering, elopement, bolting — and about half of autistic children are prone to it, according to research published last year in the journal Pediatrics. 

That would be a huge number. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated last year that 1 in 88 children are affected by autism, and a federal survey this year pegged the prevalence rate at one of every 50 schoolchildren — more than 1 million children in all.

Wandering has led to the deaths of more than 60 children in the past four years, and the fear of it can make daily life a harrowing, never-let-your-guard-down challenge for parents. Read the full story HERE.

How do you manage wandering in your home?

Shock and Autism

Fear_in_advertising_1950sBy Cathy Jameson

I try to stay as current as I can on autism topics and how they relate to Ronan’s situation.  As I read, I’m exposed to the God-awful truth.  Despite how much it sometimes hurts to learn what I’ve had to discover, I keep reading. 

Not everything I’ve seen has been useful though.  Sometimes I run across fluff pieces pawned off as the Gospel truth.  This happens more than it should and occurs in more sources than I’d expect:  magazines and books, on the internet and across the pages of newspapers worldwide.  Apparently, the more sensationalized and inaccurate a piece is the better.  

A few months ago I wrote a piece about an in-your-face  advertising concept I’d heard about on the radio.  Many of us in this community have used ‘in-your-face’ writing to get our point across for some time.  What if we added images that are visually honest also?  The other side gets to sensationalize how safe and effective their products are in their high-dollar advertising programs.

So why can’t we, too, with our stories?  I’m not saying that we would glorify what’s happened to our children.  We’d continue to be 100% factual and add pictures that correspond to what our kids have had to bare—an unfathomable burden that came as a result of what’s been claimed as safe, but is rather, undeniably ineffective.   

What if? 
 
CJ Herd2


Not a pretty picture, huh?  

Continue reading "Shock and Autism" »


Weekly Wrap: Movies, Drugs, Strange Ideas, Mercurochrome, Anorexia, Hysteria

AofA Red Logo Ayumi YamadaBy Dan Olmsted 

Times One: Nice to see a positive review in The New York Times of The United States of Autism, which I favorably reviewed a few weeks back. In the great minds think alike category, I wrote this:

" At one level, it's like a bunch of Love It or List It episodes on HGTV jammed together: Host and (unseen) camera crew arrive at the door, family greets them, they go inside and chitchat for a few seconds about their difficult circumstances." I went on to point out that at a deeper level, the quick-cut technique was highly effective.

The Times wrote: "But all should be prepared to forgive the fakey vibe of an HGTV fix-up show, with the happy-faced Mr. Everts being greeted with cheery bonhomie at stop after stop."

The Times didn't like the part where Richard Everts connected with a family member (no spoilers here!). I did. On the other hand, the photo the Times used illustrated what I called my favorite moment in the movie, when a typical sibling who can't really express himself causes Everts to shake with laughter.

The bigger point is the Times reviewed the movie because it opens Friday in Manhattan. Showings there and in LA are prerequisites for Oscar consideration, which this film deserves.

--

Times Two: Also nice to see an op-ed piece in the same paper this week about Lariam, also called mefloquine, by a man who took it in India and completely lost his memory overnight. "Last week," wrote David Stuart MacLean, "the Food and Drug Administration finally acknowledged the severity of the neurological and psychiatric side effects and required that mefloquine’s label carry a 'black box' warning of them. But this is too little, too late."

He's right about that. The bigger issue is the sentencing hearing this month for the Army sergeant who killed 16 Afghan civilians, apparently while taking the drug. As I've been reporting for more than a decade, the Army, which invented the drug, has been derelict in facing up to its atrocious side affects, which include psychosis, suicide, and homicidal violence. A nice combo when mixed with guns.

Just this week the military put out another worthless report on its exploding suicide rate. As Kelly Patricia O'Meara wrote online, the report is "utter garbage and a complete insult to the men and women of our armed forces," largely because it avoids alltogether the role of prescription drugs in triggering suicides.

"Literally thousands of news articles have been written questioning the connection between the military suicides and increased number of psychiatric drugs being prescribed and 'researchers,' using taxpayer funds, do not even consider it as a possible risk factor? Shameful." And Lariam is not even a psychiatric drug. What mayhem are all the others causing, and how will we ever find out if they won't even acknowledge the damage so clearly wrought by Lariam?

Lariam and the military's broader problem with its pill-popping culture is a parallel situation to the vaccine-autism saga -- an FDA approved, CDC-recommended catastrophe and coverup. I wonder if any of the "skeptic" crowd ever wonders how I could have been right about Lariam but, in their opinion, so very, very wrong about vaccines. I hope it gives them nightmares.

--

A few weeks back I wrote that Temple Grandin ought to stick to her subject-matter expertise, this after she said on MSNBC that the big increase in autism was "because the definition of autism over the decade has expanded." No, it's not. She also told the aforementioned NYT that if any vaccine has anything to do with autism, it's the MMR.

No, it's not. Clearly the MMR has triggered autism in a lot of kids, but the best evidence is that most of those kids have been set up by immune-damaging triggers, in most cases -- in my view -- earlier vaccines, and especially ones containing thimerosal. There has never, to my understanding, been a standalone MMR autism epidemic, but there sure has been a vaccine-fueled autism epidemic.

Now Grandin's mother, Eustacia Cutler, has wandered well outside her wheelhouse by writing in the Daily Beast that autistic men have an affinity for online child pornography. I read the piece and, wearing my journalism hat, was struck that an editor let it through -- not because of the sensitive subject matter, but because there was not a single case-in-point mentioned.

Continue reading "Weekly Wrap: Movies, Drugs, Strange Ideas, Mercurochrome, Anorexia, Hysteria" »


National Autism Association Video for First Responders on Wandering

Big red box
Our friends at NAA are the community leaders in exposing the life and death problem of wandering and autism; and proactively educating families, providers and, in this video, first responders. Please share this video with your local first responders. You coud save a life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auJvlpWhb5E

If you have child who wanders - no matter what his or her age - contact NAA to learn about their BIG RED SAFETY BOX program. And if you can donate $35? You'll buy a box for a family who needs it.


Dachel Media Update: Vax, Vax, Vax, Diabetes

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump

August 9, 2013, La Crosse (WI) Tribune: Vaccines have been proven to save lives

August 8, 2013, WILX-Lansing MI: Why the Sudden Drop in Immunizations


August 8, 2013, Forbes: Scientists Will Create A Deadly New Flu Strain, Just To Prove They Can

August 8, 2013, WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, NY: Family Copes With Child's Autism, Diabetes Diagnosis

August 8, 2013, Forbes: Chiropractors In Australia Barred From Making Antivax Claims

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Vax, Vax, Vax, Diabetes" »


Protocol 007: FDA Document Supports Claim of Mumps Vaccine Fraud

Mumps

Note: Previous posts in the Protocol 007 series include:

Protocol 007: Merck Denies Fraud, But Feds Seek New Mumps Vaccine as Cases Spread

Protocol 007: Feds Urge Judge Not to Dismiss Mumps Vaccine Suit
Mumps


“Protocol 007”: Merck Scientists Accuse Company of Mumps Vaccine Fraud that Endangers Public Health

By Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill
 
Scrawled on a single sheet of paper, an FDA inspection form appears to back whistleblower allegations that pharmaceutical giant Merck committed fraud to convince the government its mumps vaccine still works.
 
The bigger question appears to be: Why didn’t the FDA do anything about it?
 
The document below, obtained by Age of Autism under a Freedom of Information Act request, is dated August 6, 2001. The FDA inspector who showed up that day at Merck’s vaccine laboratory in West Point, Pennsylvania, noted “raw data is being changed with no justifications.”

FOIA Mumps

 
“Spreadsheets used to determine questionable results and retesting clinical samples for [redacted] has not been validated,” the inspector adds.
 
Faking data to hide the real lab results is at the heart of the claim by two former Merck scientists, who filed suit under the federal whistleblower statute. Virologists Stephen A. Krahling and Joan A. Wlochowski say they witnessed the fraud firsthand when they worked at the Merck vaccine laboratory in West Point between 1999 and 2002, and were pressured to participate.
 
Ironically, the fact the FDA investigated after Krahling triggered the inspection is being cited by the drugmaker in its effort to dismiss the suit.
 
“They [the whistleblowers] are asking the court to muscle the FDA out of the way and decide on the science,” Merck attorney Eric Sitarchuk told a federal judge last week, according to a report by Law360. “It's precisely that problem that's why [a whistleblower] case can't be based on the alleged falsity of a label” describing the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
 
The suit was unsealed in federal district court in Philadelphia last summer, soon after the Justice Department, which had been studying the allegations for more than a year, declined to intervene on the whistleblowers’ side.  As we reported then, the alleged fraud was a multi-year effort to hide the fact that the mumps vaccine is no longer anywhere near as effective as Merck claims and may have led to scattered mumps outbreaks around the country.
 
The fraud was dubbed Protocol 007 and widely known and approved within the company’s vaccine division, according to Krahling and Wlochowski.
 
In federal court last week, a lawyer for the whistleblowers argued that Merck’s deception meant the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars on a vaccine that didn’t work as promised. The mumps vaccine is a component of Merck’s MMR-II – mumps, measles and rubella – shot. It is the only mumps vaccine currently available in the United States.

Continue reading "Protocol 007: FDA Document Supports Claim of Mumps Vaccine Fraud " »


Dachel Media Update: Back To School, Blood Test

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

 
August 7, 2013, Gainesville (FL) Sun: Immunizations, physical exams are required, too
 
August 7, 2013, Fox Kansas City (MO): Not too late for back-to-school immunizations

August 7, 2013, Daily Mail: Simple blood test could detect autism in one-year-olds after breakthrough in detecting the condition's genetic 'signature'
 
August 7, 2013, UK Guardian: Ambitious aims: the international push to understand and treat

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Back To School, Blood Test" »


Simon Baron-Cohen and Autism - 70 Years Later and Psychiatry Still Gets It Wrong

WrongwayBy Teresa Conrick

It's been 70 years since Dr. Leo Kanner first diagnosed those original eleven children as having inborn autistic disturbance of affective contact.

"We must, then, assume that these children have come into the world with innate inability to form the usual, biologically provided affective contact with people, just as other children come into the world with innate physical or intellectual handcaps"
 
As the calendar pages fall, like a montage in a film, autism is now being seen as a whole-body medical illness, affecting the gastrointestinal system, the immune system and the brain.  Kanner was correct in his gathering of clues but so, so wrong on the true origin of autism's inception. The trigger for many children who regressed into autism has been reported to be vaccines, the mercury in them, mercury in the environment  and/or an immune response that is dysfunctional .  There is overlap as it is shown that mercury/thimerosal as well as bacteria and viruses, components in vaccines, can trigger immune and autoimmune issues.

Now read this recent conclusion  from Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Cambridge:

"Traditionally, anorexia has been viewed purely as an eating disorder. This is quite reasonable, since the girl’s dangerously low weight, and their risk of malnutrition or even death has to be the highest priority. But this new research is suggesting that underlying the surface behaviour, the mind of a person with anorexia may share a lot with the mind of a person with autism."
There is something similar here between Kanner and Baron-Cohen.  Psychiatry, a field of the mind, often with a focus on Freud or theory of mind...theories, continues to look at the clues of autism and mangle the hell out of them. The children and often times, the families, have been evaluated solely on behavior. That is wrong. Much research is showing that these disorders often times are immune-mediated.

In a nut shell, his study:

"The team led by Prof Simon Baron-Cohen tested 66 teenage girls with anorexia and found they had a higher than average number of autistic traits, a lower than typical empathy score and an above average interest in systems. This profile is parallel to that visible in autistic people but is less pronounced.....They were also less empathetic and had a higher interest in repeating patterns and predictable rule-based systems than the typical teenagers to whom they were compared."
But why does psychiatry not dig deeper?  Could there be connections here -- medical symptoms -- that need attention?  I did dig a bit and for starters, this whole autism and anorexia research seems to be years old -- and not originating from Baron-Cohen:

Anorexia could be linked to autism  25 April, 2009 | By Tulasi Sivapatham 

"In a study, published online in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, Janet Treasure and her colleagues found that there were significantly more people with eating disorders who have trouble modifying their behaviour in response to changing goals, something which is seen in ASDs.
In treating people with anorexia to not only see the fine details but also the bigger picture, mental health professionals hope patients will be less likely to obsess over body weight.

Continue reading " Simon Baron-Cohen and Autism - 70 Years Later and Psychiatry Still Gets It Wrong" »


Dachel Media Update: Special Ed, GMOs

Online newsBy Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

August 6, 2013, New Britain (CT) Herald: City to apply for grant for Saturdays for Special Kids

August 6, 2013, WNCN Raleigh, NC: Big Shortage of Special Education Teachers in Wake County

August 1, 2013, Huffington (Canada) Rachel Parent Debates Kevin O'Leary About GMOs (VIDEO)

Continue reading "Dachel Media Update: Special Ed, GMOs" »