By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments and link to the stories below the jump.

Sept 30, 2013, 1011 HD TV, Lincoln, NE: Autism Speaks Walk At Haymarket Park


Sept 29, 2013, St. Louis (MO) Post Dispatch: The vaccination debate
 
Sept 29, 2013, Forbes: 'Wall Street' Actress Daryl Hannah Is An Autistic Woman
 
Sept 28, 2013, San Jose Mercury News:  Stanford research studies about autism Sept 27, 2013, Las Vegas Guardian Express: Flu Season - Vaccines More Dangerous Than the Flu (video)  

Sept 27, 2013, Fox News: Daryl Hannah opens up about her struggle with autism

Sept 26, 2013, WI State Journal: Autism parents group holding conference in Madison


Sept 25, 2013, Miami healthy living: Italian court acknowledges hexavalent vaccine and SIDS link

By Dan Olmsted

"We're the fun part," Taylor Hawkins said at Saturday Night's benefit concert in Hollywood for Age of Autism and Generation Rescue. "But we know why we're here."

And oh, the fun part! Hawkins and his two Chevy Metal bandmates threw down a seriously jambalistic 90-minute set of 70s-ish rock at the Sayers Club. (Taylor said in a local radio interview on Thursday it's the kind of stuff that would have appealed to a meth dealer in 1974. Actually it appeals to anyone with a rock bone in their body.)  Rolling Stone covered the showi n an article that ran yesterday.

Taylor is the drummer, a gig he also performs in a side group called the Foo Fighters. Actually, no! This is the side group, and the Foo are freaking world famous. But calling Chevy a side project or a cover band does nothing to capture the wild authentic energy at the heart of it all. The heart is Taylor's insane drum licks, which cause his long straight blond hair to mop his face in the manner of an Afghan hound shaking off a pesky fly.

For the encore, Taylor leapt from the drums to the main mike and wailed like a one-man Led Zeppelin. There was a whole lotta love.

And that was just on stage. People boogied In place and the Grey Goose flew, with bottles delivered with sparklers and some sort of internal illumination that made them look like lamps for library desks. But not.

And wasn't that a Jonas brother over there taking it all in? "It very much is Nick Jonas," GR's exec director Candace McDonald, who knows all, and everyone, told me above the din. "It very much is." A drummer himself, he must have been truly gobsmacked.

All power to Candace, who pulled all this together with her GR staff after Taylor's sister in law, Tara, who has an affected child, got in touch with AOA about Taylor's offer to do an autism benefit if Tara handled the logistics.

AOA's Kim Stagliano pulled in GR, Sayers made a generous agreement with us, and the rest was a rockin' blast. Tara brought it all back home when she briefly told the crowd about the need to put "the CDC under pressure" to produce a vax-unvax study and end the autism nightmare.

By John Gilmore

A US government-financed research group in Denmark lied about the role of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine in causing autism in a highly-publicized and influential study, Autism Rate Among Danish Children Reported in A Population Based Study of Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccination and Autism. The authors claimed that, “This study provides strong evidence against the hypothesis that MMR Vaccination causes autism,” even though the data in the study clearly shows that children who got an MMR vaccine had a 45% higher rate of full-syndrome autism than children who were not vaccinated, and a 31% higher rate of less severe forms of autism.  This data can be seen at this link below, Table 2.



 
Last week we presented evidence that the same US-government financed operation in Denmark fabricated evidence in an influential study to cover-up the role of mercury in vaccines causing autism. Both studies were prepared by a research group led by Dr. Poul Thorsen, a Danish epidemiologist hired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to produce a series of studies looking at health outcomes in Danish children. Several of the studies looked at the role of vaccines in causing autism, and all the studies prepared under Thorsen’s direction concluded there was no connection. In 20011 Thorsen was indicted by the US Attorney for allegedly embezzling $2 million from the CDC. He is currently a fugitive.

By Cathy Jameson

We’ve had some mishaps with our computer over the last few weeks. Its age, and several unwelcome viruses, made for a big electronic mess.  We had to finally stop using it last Monday.  Since then, and on the days I could not sit down and write, I had extra time to brainstorm some ideas.  In the midst of brainstorming, and after a few conversations I had last week about autism and the role vaccines play in that diagnosis, my wheels were spinning!  Knowing that by the time our new computer would be ready, I would not have time to write out all of my thoughts.  Instead of my usual essay format, I saw my thoughts in a picture format.  I couldn’t wait to get these images on paper. 

With my brand new computer finally installed, I got my creative on.  I made these images while the kids were in school on Friday.  Each message is short and sweet.  And, I think, straight to the point.  They are a follow up to the first installment of my  Shock and Autism post and include some important information relevant in many conversations I know a lot of us have. 

If you’ve got your own short and sweet and straight-forward message, leave those ideas in the comments below.  I have a few in mind yet to create, also left by readers from another previous post of mine, that I’m hoping to get started on soon.  As I get time, and as I learn the cool features of the computer, I’ll post what I make. 

Until I have time to create more…enjoy!

xoxo, Cat

I run into this argument all.the.time.  So, you show me your studies, and I’ll show you mine. 



Seriously?




We're still waiting.

By Dan Olmsted

You've probably seen those preternaturally cheerful ads for Walgreens with the voiceover by John Corbett about living at the corner of happy and healthy, gosh darn it, just by getting all your family health needs met there.

It being flu shot season and all, the ads have now adopted a religious fervor about getting flu shots for you and your family -- yes you, pregnant mom, and you, six-month old, and you, geriatric granddad.

Not content with shooting up with vaccine mercury all those who venture onto the premises, the company has added missionary zeal to its religious fervor. Walgreens wants you to know it has partnered with something called Shot at Life to protect children worldwide by "providing life-saving vaccines where they are needed most." Why, just by getting your flu shot at Walgreens you'll be joining with fellow sposors the United Nations, Bill and Melinda Gates and GAVI to spread these shots far and wide.

According to the company, "Now through October 14th, when you get a flu shot or any other immunization at Walgreens or Healthcare Clinic, we'll help provide a life-saving vaccine through the United Nations Foundation's Shot@Life Campaign. Together, we can supply up to three million vaccines to children who need it most. Simply come in, get a shot and give a shot."

My Rx -- simply don't come in to Walgreens for a flu shot or otherwise. Because if you do you'll be helping one way or the other to shoot up some of those 84 million kids around the world who get injected every year with thimerosal, the ethylmercury vaccine preservative that's also in most of those flu shots.

Shoot me, but I happen to believe there is strong evidence that mercury triggered the autism epidemic and helps keep it rolling merrily along. Underneath all this healthy and happy talk lies the rabid insistence by public health authorities at the CDC, the AAP and WHO that ethylmercury should never be taken out of infant vaccines! And that those of you who disagree are hysterical quack science deniers looking for sometime to blame for your child's being genetically differently-abled because in point of fact you're a little bit unusual your own weird self.

Florida Contest – Food and Nutrition Workshop with Julie Matthews (Tampa and Miami)
Win Free Attendance and Learning Tool

Food and Nutrition is Fundamental for Autism

For every disease or disorder: from diabetes to heart disease, celiac or IBS...food matters.  I cannot think of a single condition where diet is irrelevant.  Can you? 

It is no different for children with autism.  They need good food and nutrition.  They need to avoid foods their bodies can’t digest or that can create inflammation and other negative reactions.  They, just like all of us, need to eat foods rich in nutrients to support cellular and body functions.

In the 12 years I’ve been researching the science of autism and nutrition there have been dozens, dare I say hundreds, of studies that support that autism is a physiological (whole body) disorder— research support that there are gut issues, genetic mutations to folate chemistry, nutrient deficiencies, food intolerances, and other studies supporting nutrition and diet intervention for autism. 

Nutrition intervention can improve hyperactivity, attention, eye contact, speech, behavior and much more.

Yet, we still hear in the media that “diet” for autism is not founded in science. While I find this infuriating, the truth is, science is on our side. We don’t need to wait for mainstream to catch up—in fact, that is one of the wonderful things about the biomedical autism community and groups like The Thinking Moms, Autism Mothers, and the Canary Party, you don’t sit around waiting for “official approval” by the mainstream.

Here is the simplest overview about how food and nutrition affect autism:

-    Children with autism have problems with certain foods that affect their behavioral, cognitive, and physical symptoms. 1, 3, 5

-    Food has a direct effect on the gut, intestinal inflammation, and digestive capacity - which in turn affects physiology and brain function. 2, 4

-    Nutrient deficiencies are common with autism.6, 7, 8 

-    Gut problems and insufficient digestive enzyme function are common.9

(NaturalNews) Today is a milestone day for Natural News because it is the first time we are officially endorsing the platform of a political party. However, the Canary Party is really more of an activism group right now with the aim of influencing elections. You are not likely to actually see Canary Party candidates any time in the very near future (although you might a few years out).

What is the Canary Party? It's a group of moms, dads, concerned citizens and scientists who recognize the severe harm being caused to our world and our children by toxic heavy metals and synthetic chemicals found in vaccines, medicines, foods, personal care products and even products for the home. Their published mission statement is:

The Canary Party is a movement created to stand up for the victims of medical injury, environmental toxins and industrial foods by restoring balance to our free and civil society and empowering consumers to make health and nutrition decisions that promote wellness.

The Canary Party recognizes, as I do, that neither Republicans nor Democrats are ever going to deal with these issues. Both parties have been wholly compromised, bought off and hijacked by corporate interests. The democrats feign a belief in "environmentalism" but utterly fail to talk about GMOs, mercury in vaccines or toxic additives in everyday foods. Republicans, for their part, want virtually zero regulation on drug companies, food companies and chemical manufacturers, allowing them all to continue poisoning our world with no regulatory oversight whatsoever. Both of these parties fail to recognize how our world, our food and our children are being systematically poisoned by destructive corporations and failed regulatory policies.

By Anne Dachel

Reads Anne's comments and link to the articles after the jump.

Sept 25, 2013, The Las Vegas Guardian Express: Vaccines - Can We Really Keep Up This Argument?

Sept 25, 2013, Forbes: Where Are All The Older Autistic People? Scotland, For Example

By Brooke Potthast

“Mental health warnings ignored”…”Checks failed to flag past”…and the final headline,“Lost Opportunities”. Front page headlines, The Washington Post September 18, 19, 22. So last week we have another horrible, horrible shooting rampage that boggles the mind and leads us another step closer to what President Obama said is a creeping resignation to a “new normal” of homicidal massacre. The absolute worse part of the last week’s evil, tragic shooting is that with any semblance of government competency it could have been PREVENTED.

And therein lies the similarity with the autism epidemic. This incredibly horrible, horrible epidemic could have been prevented or at least halted and seriously lessened if warnings were not ignored, checks had not failed and the government had reacted appropriately to the red flags that have showed up over and over in the last 15 years since the recommended childhood vaccination schedule has quadrupled.

I mean who can ignore that American children are getting sicker and sicker? Who can ignore the skyrocketing rates of autism, asthma, allergies, and ADHD? Who can ignore school systems that are overwhelmed with students that need special education? The United States government can ignore it and they have. In fact, it seems they not only specialize in ignoring signs but they are good at covering up facts as well.

And I don’t think I will ever understand why the media is letting them continue with this charade. I first realized the connection to the Navy Yard shooting and the autism epidemic when I saw an extremely agitated television talk show host flipping out over the fact that there were so many red flags prior to the tragedy. This TV person was going nuts over how obvious it was that the shooter was a risk and a potential threat and that there were so many advanced warnings that no one picked up on. Well trust me TV personality, that is exactly how we parents feel when we read that the government decided maybe it was a good idea to remove thimerosol from vaccines just as a precaution in 1999 but it took almost 5 years for that to really happen and oh by the way if you had a child in May of 1999, like I did, he got shot full of mercury for the first two year of his life and oh sometimes I feel like his life is one big LOST OPPORTUNITY. And oh why in the world would they allow that very same mercury preservative to be in the maternal flu shot and infant flu shot? Because they are desperate to hide the fact that thimerosol in vaccines causes autism.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments and links to the articles after the jump.

Sept 25, 2013, 1011-TV Lincoln, NE: VIDEO: Three Siblings Living with Autism
 
Sept 25, 2013, Portland (OR) Tribune: Your kids get no easy escape from those dreaded shots

Sept 24, 2013, Huffington: I'm Coming Out... as Pro-Vaccine | JJ Keith

Sept 24, 2013, Huffington: The True Cost of Not Vaccinating Your Children: Reviving a Dead Disease | Elijah Wolfson

Sept 24, 2013, 1011-TV Lincoln, NE: VIDEO: Pediatrician Studies Autism, Inspired by Son

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5ziLxI1jyA

The CBCD has learned that Dr. Uzi Beller, “an international authority on gynecological cancers who treats patients on a daily basis (1)”, came out publicly against vaccinating 65,000, 14-year old girls in Israel with Gardasil (1). Dr. Beller voiced his criticism of Gardasil vaccination at “a meeting in Tel Aviv 10 days ago (with) 40 leading experts on gynecology, oncology, women’s health, vaccines and other specialties (1).”

When describing his opposition to Gardasil vaccination, Dr. Beller said, “I am not at all against vaccines. I just underwent the oral polio vaccination as the Health Ministry instructed medical institutions to give the two drops to every doctor who is in direct contact with patients. But, HPV is different from all other vaccines. It is not a vaccination against cervical cancer but against a virus that in some cases causes a premalignant condition, and in a small number of cases, a malignancy (1).”

“…in an interview with The Jerusalem Post in his office, (Dr. Beller) noted that the …pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the vaccine have been extremely aggressive in their lobbying and marketing; the vaccines are worth billons of dollars to them. At the same time, he said, many medical professionals who advocate vaccination have been pushing a “populistic campaign without being familiar with the issue (1).”

Dr. Beller continued by saying, “I would be happy to see a solution to this disease. Unlike mammography, there is no organized health fund screening for cervical cancer required, even though Pap smear testing has been shown to be worthwhile in early detection. I want to see fundamental studies proving efficacy, and they do not exist. The vaccines were tested on mostly white women attending colleges and university – mostly from developed countries and healthy. The data were based on a relatively short-term follow-up period. What is known does not yet justify widespread vaccination of healthy girls (1).”

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments afer the jump.

Sept 23, 2013, BBC News: Older people with autism in Scotland 'invisible'

Sept 23, 2013, Huffington: Autism: A Whole Body Disorder?

Sept 22, 2013, Sacramento Bee: Editorial: Brown shouldn't gut Assemblyman Pan's law on vaccinations

By Dawn Loughborough

“What’s past is prologue.”

Autism prevalence is 1 in 50 in the U.S.  How is the Agent Orange health compensation fiasco for Veterans the same as Vaccine Safety and Autism?  Thousands of Viet Nam Veterans exposed to the chemical Agent Orange were denied compensation, there was an obstruction of justice, and it took a directive from Congress to fix it over the course of 30 years.

Congress issued a directive for federal agency vaccine safety studies including baseline studies to show exposure and health outcomes (VICA Section 27). In a rising autism epidemic, unfettered science and detailed analysis hold promise for answers, but data is far from available and the process for collection and access to de-identified data remains stymied.

And according to information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, obstructions of justice that may have denied thousands of vaccine injured children with Autism compensation in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program appears to have been revealed through malfeasance in CDC science studies, possible destruction of early 1990’s government studies showing mercury issues,  alleged removal of unvaccinated children from the data sources making it harder to perform vaccinated v unvaccinated studies, and barred transparency to the Vaccine Safety Datalink for independent research.

Chairman Issa of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, currently conducting the complex Benghazi investigation, says that when a plane crashes, investigators produce crash reports that record the tiniest details and put together the pieces to explain what happened. The public desires that same “crash report” approach for children’s health epidemics.

But Coleen Boyle, a director of the CDC department involved in childhood developmental disabilities and autism prevalence studies has down played Autism as an epidemic and the science-related vaccine concerns in her congressional testimonies.  Autism prevalence has not been reported in terms of categories of autisms. It is unknown, for example, how many children developed normally and then regressed into Autism and following what exposures.

In reviewing prevalence counting and exposure concerns, the Viet Nam Veteran presents a historical context for the living history families are experiencing as part of the Autism Epidemic.  How is Autism like Agent Orange? Here is the story.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in 1983 became responsible for the prevalence counting for Viet Nam veterans exposed to Agent Orange, a jungle defoliant chemical, made by Monsanto and Dow chemical companies, associated with causing complex multi-system diseases.

Viet Nam Veterans were denied acknowledgment of and compensation for debilitating illnesses after they were exposed to Agent Orange in the jungles of Viet Nam.  In fact, it was not until an Admiral Zumwalt testified via classified hearings in Congress in 1990 that Veterans started to see scientific studies confirming their illnesses and compensation relief from the health outcome atrocities they experienced through exposure to this chemical.

Agent Orange exposure was considered harmless by the government, and the burden lay with veterans who had to prove that there were chemical exposure health related illnesses. And then, after proving relationship in causation, the government produced studies that further denied claims of injured Veterans, thereby protecting the chemical companies.  Denial was based upon coincidence, but it turns out there were those who knew about the dangers of Agent Orange as early as 1964:

“DA NANG, Vietnam — James R. Clary was a young Air Force officer and scientist who designed the spray tank for the C-123 cargo planes that dispensed Agent Orange and other herbicides during the Vietnam War.

Thirteen years after the conflict ended, with serious concerns being raised in Congress about the effects of defoliants on veterans’ health, Clary dropped a startling bombshell: Military scientists had known that herbicides shipped to Vietnam were contaminated with dioxin and had “the potential for damage” to human health.

“However, because the material was to be used on the ‘enemy,’ none of us were overly concerned,” Clary wrote to then-Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D. “We never considered a scenario in which our own personnel would become contaminated with the herbicide.”

Full story here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/22/197316/makers-of-agent-orange-followed.html#.Ue4MRY0sm0c

Similar to what parents are told after they witness their children’s regression into Autism following vaccine exposure, Viet Nam Veterans were denied answers. Having mystery around potential causes has obstructed medical treatment innovation, compensation, and justice to both soldiers and now children who are victims of the war on infectious disease.

The CDC was asked to report on prevalence numbers. The process the CDC went through was to determine who had been exposed and when. Later these studies were used to determine those who would be compensated for health related issues caused by exposure to Agent Orange.

CONGRATS TO CLARISSA! CONTEST IS CLOSED.

We'd like to thank  rock icon Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters and Chevy Metal (and a devoted uncle to a youngster with autism) for his generous offer to play  a benefit concert for Generation Rescue and Age of Autism.

This exclusive event is by invitation only at The Sayers Club in Hollywood.  Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Candace McDonald for details.

The event is Saturday, September 28.

The contest is for tickets only - you must provide transportation and/or accommodations.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

Sept 23, 2013, Forbes: Cashing In On Fears Of Autism: Scientists Claim They Can Predict Whether A Mom Will Have A Child With Autism

Sept 22, 2013, ABC News: Children With Autism Practice Travel at NYC's JFK

Sept 21, 2013, Forbes: UK Reverses Swine Flu Vaccine-Narcolepsy Decision

Sept 21, 2013, Salon.com: That's not autism: It's simply a brainy, introverted boy

Sept 21, 2013, USA Today: Ga. autism project looks to early detection

Sept 20. 2013, Forbes: Grandpa's Age Linked To Autism

Sept 20, 2013, Suncoast News (FL): Trinity support group welcomes autism specialist

Sept 20, 2013, The Atlantic: Growing Up With an Autistic Brother in the 1990s

Sept 20, 2013, Alex Jones' Infowars: Governments Hire Web Trolls to Sway Public Opinion

Sept 19, 2013, Huffington: Failure to Vaccinate Children: An Unconscionable Twist of Faith

New Danish/CDC Data Undercuts Claims that Autism Rates Increased in Denmark after Mercury was removed from Vaccines: Who is Telling the Truth?

Please take 2 minutes to fill out this ACTION ALERT.

By John Gilmore

A widely publicized study released in 2003 claimed that mercury in vaccines played no role in causing autism because the rate of autism in Danish children increased after mercury was removed from Danish produced vaccines in 1992. A study released several weeks ago, however, shows the exact opposite, that the rate of autism in Danish children decreased after mercury was removed. And if the increasing rate of autism claimed in the earlier study showed that mercury had no role in causing autism, then logic would also require that the rate of autism going down, as shown in the current study, indicates that mercury in vaccines may very well have a great deal to do with causing autism. There is also a huge discrepancy between the total number of children with an autism diagnosis in Denmark during the study period between the two papers that baffles explanation.

Both papers were drafted in part by researchers at University of Aarhus in Denmark with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Both papers claim to have drawn their data from a national registry of health information that includes all children born in Denmark, and another registry that records all psychiatric disorders among Danish children. Both studies looked at the time period from 1995 to 2000. Yet the two studies looking at supposedly the exact same data during the exact same time period have two completely different conclusions about the growth of autism in Denmark.

The 2003 study, Thimerosal and the Occurrence of Autism: Negative Ecological Evidence From Danish Population-Based Data, was performed under the direction of Dr. Poul Thorsen, Ph. D., who was hired by the CDC to do a series of epidemiological studies in Denmark, several of which focused on the role of vaccines in autism. All the vaccine studies performed by Thorsen concluded there was no causal connection with autism. Thorsen’s studies absolving vaccines of any role in autism have had a decisive impact on American vaccine policy, autism research priorities, and the dismissal of almost all of the autism cases in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.  In 2011 Thorsen was indicted for a raft of crimes by the US Attorney, including embezzling CDC funds intended for Danish studies.  Thorsen is currently a fugitive.

The exact number of cases of autism in Danish children is difficult to discern in the 2003 Thorsen study. The actual numbers are not provided, as one would expect in a study performed by competent professionals, but a crude graph shows a rise in autism from 1995 through 1999. But even the 2003 Thorsen study graph showed a decline in 2000.  Numbers before 1995 are not reliable because only children diagnosed and hospitalized for autism are included in the national registries, which Thorsen identifies as less than 10% of all cases of autism in Danish children. Regardless, the authors concluded,  “The discontinuation of thimerosal-containing vaccines in Denmark in 1992 was followed by an increase in the incidence of autism. Our ecological data do not support a correlation between thimerosal-containing vaccines and the incidence of autism.”

Thank you to Vaccination News for permission to share this article. Please add their site to your favorites. 

By F. Edward Yazbak MD

I first described the warm and fuzzy relationship between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Danish Research in 2005.[1] At the time, I never thought that this “liaison” with Denmark would last so long or that it would end up costing the CDC (and the US taxpayers) so dearly.[2] 

When I asked why certain people in high places at the CDC thought that Danish Research was so wonderful, I was told that it was because Denmark had a unique “REGISTRY” of longitudinal statistics and medical information. Apparently, the United States desperately needed such valuable information from a country with a population of around 5 million.[3]

***

It became quickly evident that the most visible CDC envoy to collect and report “Danish Research” was Dianna E Schendel PhD[4], a distinguished scientist and epidemiologist. 

The most visible “liaison facilitator” representing the Danish side of that unique scientific undertaking until recently was Poul Thorsen MD, PhD, a psychiatrist turned epidemiologist.

In 2002, Drs. Schendel and Thorsen co-authored a study with K M Madsen and other Danish researchers titled “A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism”.[5]

The study was “supported by grants from the Danish National Research Foundation; the National Vaccine Program Office and National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the National Alliance for Autism Research.”

I have no idea why the “Danish National Research Foundation” would want to invest a single Danish Kroner on a study from Denmark about MMR vaccination not causing “Regressive Autism”. On the other hand, when it is the CDC’s National Immunization Program and not the CDC’s Developmental Disabilities Branch that funds a study that claims to prove that the MMR vaccine was not responsible for the increasing rates of autism in Denmark, then one must seriously wonder what the good people in Atlanta really expected as return on their investment. 

Thanks to a memorable publicity campaign, the Madsen study quickly became the absolute proof against any MMR-Autism connection. To this day in fact, the “November 2002 study by CDC and the Danish Medical Research Council that followed more than 500,000 children over 7 years and found no association between MMR vaccination and autism” is still listed chronologically first under “MMR Vaccine Safety Research.”[6]

What was truly incredible was the fact that the scientific world believed that the Danish study findings were rock-solid because the study was “population-based” and had examined a cohort of 537,303 children representing 2,129,864 person-years. In fact a quick look at Table 2 of the publication easily revealed that the “Big Danish Study” only included 316 children with autism and 422 children with autism spectrum disorders born from January 1991 through December 1998, a minute number of cases, when compared to the numbers we were reporting in the United States at the time.  

The “Big Study” obviously needed a response.[7] Read the full article at Vaccination News.

By Zack Peter

I think we can all agree, the road to recovery isn’t an easy one. You don’t just pick up a book, try out one treatment approach, and wham RECOVERY! Things just aren’t that easy. Sure it may suck, but that’s just life. It’s a journey. And milestones aren’t handed, they’re earned.

When it comes to my family, and my brother Ethan (who was diagnosed about eight years ago), it’s the same thing. We’re in the same boat. We’re living out our own journey, that has also come with it’s highs and lows. But today, I’m proud to share that we’ve reached some progress. My trust in the “All roads lead to Rome” rule is slowly starting to paying off.

Just the other day I was out with Mom and Ethan for our weekly Thursday night dinner when Mom told me, “So everyone’s slowly starting to get on board with GFCF diet.”

Flabbergasted, I turned her and said, “Wha-a-at?” I could not believe it. I remember our very first attempt at the diet. My grandparents were against it. Flat out just unsupportive of it. Just a couple of months ago I tired again getting through to my grandfather the importance of diet intervention with autism. It didn’t seem to be that important. They saw “diet” as “restriction.” They didn’t believe Ethan should be restricted in any way. This is an on going struggle that’s been happening for YEARS. So to hear these words coming out of my mother’s mouth were so heavenly. It may seem so minor to have a couple of other family members on board, but to us, that’s huge! These are family members that had gluten with extra gluten and a side of gluten in their house. And when Ethan would come over after school, if he happened to grab a slice of cheese or some cookies, they would turn the other cheek. Or simply claim to not know what foods had gluten or dairy. Or would argue with my mother that the diet had no effect whatsoever; that it was pointless. So hearing that they’re now coming around was so gratifying and the best news I could have received right now.

By Cathy Jameson

After a particularly difficult week, I knew I needed to make some changes.  The biggest change would be about my attitude.  It was going to be hard because reminders of why some things are difficult stare me in the face daily.  Some of the reminders have me ping ponging from feeling overwhelmed to feeling depressed.   The extra stress I carried last week made me want to give up on some of this fight.  Not on the fight I will always have to help and protect Ronan, but the fight that inevitably comes while attempting to educate other people on vaccine history, safety and injury. 

While trying to contribute the real facts about vaccines with some people, many of whom have become increasingly insulting the longer the dialogue continues, I came close to walking away.  I wanted to be done with it and with future conversations too.  I threw my hands up in the air and thought it’s not up to me to educate anyone, so why do I try so hard.  I’ve been told before “do not engage” and “it’s pointless” and “they’ll just get you all riled up, Cat”.  True to form, their same old arguments were indeed pointless, and I did get riled up.  I forgot my own advice and regretted engaging with these folks.  They proudly hail from narrow minded and one-sided pro-vaccination camps.   But something caught my eye.  It nagged at me and made me want to come back.

Midway through the discussion, new people chimed in.  People I hadn’t expected responded.  People who didn’t have kids yet but wanted to know why the fuss about vaccines.   People asking why some groups insist that vaccines are a gift to mankind while other groups politely caution the use of them.  These people offered a thought or two.  They were genuinely interested and clearly following along the conversation.  Then they began to ask questions.  Questions that made the conversation continue and that brought other people in as well.

I stuck around.  I shared my thoughts and linked websites.  These folks admitted that while they don’t like the vaccine schedule, they felt like they were unable to do much about it.  They didn’t know that public schools still have to admit students who choose to not follow the recommended schedule.   They didn’t know that vaccines haven’t truly been studied like the news and some government agencies want us to believe.  They didn’t know that with vaccine use, comes vaccine injury and death.  They didn’t know that our own government has paid out over $2.7 billion dollars to those who’ve been adversely affected by vaccines.  They didn’t know it only takes only a few minutes on a few websites to verify all of that and that they could easily start to search out the truth for themselves. 

I was taken aback when the conversation turned as these new people chimed in.  They reminded me of myself when I first learned about vaccines.  I was that ill-informed person.  I was that scared new parent.  I was that person who did not know I had rights.  I was also that constantly-wondering-what-if type of mom.  What if I do vaccinate?  What if I don’t?  What if he gets chicken pox naturally?  What if he doesn’t?   What if the vaccine doesn’t work?  And, wait just a minute.  Why does he need a booster if vaccines supposedly work so well? 

By Dan Olmsted

The cynically named Autism Science Foundation -- created to exclude scientific examination of the root cause of the autism epidemic, namely excessive vaccinations -- has been forced to apologize to the Devil himself.

Its Web site now says: "On a previous version of this page, the allegations contained in a lawsuit brought by Andrew Wakefield were inadvertently mischaracterized as conclusions of the court.  We regret this error."

ASF factotum Alison Singer also sent Andy an e-mail this week: "As you know, we previously removed the content about which you complained.  We have also posted a statement on our website apologizing for the error.  We trust this brings the matter to a close.  Alison"

The backstory is explained HERE. Needless to say, anything that makes Andy look bad is good for the Singer/Offit crowd. Unfortunately for them, the truth is a different matter.

And the truth is this: The bloated U.S. vaccine schedule harms kids far worse than the diseases it purports to prevent. That includes the MMR, as Andy has demonstrated.

--

Another bit of good news this week: Army Special Operations has finally pulled the plug on a drug the Army invented that has caused its soldiers to kill civilians -- right before they kill themselves.

The document, USASOC Mefloquine Instruction, orders its medical personnel to "immediately cease the prescribing and use" of Lariam for malaria prevention. The order cites recent changes from the FDA in the drug's product label that warn of long-term psychiatric and nerve problems. It also tells personnel to be on the lookout for such long-lasting problems, which can be mistaken for PTSD. (In other words, a significant percentage of "PTSD" is actually longterm Lariam toxicity, a manmade problem from hell if there ever was one.)

This is unalloyed good news, another day of reckoning for what retired Army Major Dr. Remington Nevin warned could be "the Agent Orange of our Generation." . But it also represents a systemic and deliberate failure by the FDA, CDC and military to respond to more than a decade of convincing evidence that the drug was doing that and much worse, including triggering homicidal behavior and suicide.

In September 2004, Mark Benjamin and I at UPI wrote an article about Special Operations soldiers  titled, "Malaria drug links elite soldier suicides." It began: "A startling pattern of violence and suicide by America's most elite soldiers has followed their use of a controversial anti-malaria drug," an investigation by United Press International and CNN has found.

Based on our reporting, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said: "The Department of Defense, and all other agencies that give this drug, should immediately reassess their decision to use this drug and look for alternatives."

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

Sept 20, 2013, Henrico Citizen (Henrico County, VA): Faison autism residence to break ground next week at Henrico site

Sept 19, 2013, Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME: Childhood vaccines reverse disease inroads

Sept 18, 2013, ABC6 Knoxville, TN: Young adults with autism less likely to have jobs, live independently

Congrats Elaine Simon, our 4th winner. 

 Finding Lina A Mother's Journey from Autism to Hope, is a memoir that AofA readers will relate to from the opening pages to the loving and upbeat afterword.   It's a story of challenges, seeking answers, how a family copes and evolves (not always in a fairytale fashion) and most of all - love. 

Lina's Dad is Skyhorse Publisher Tony Lyons. This is important for a few reasons. His life and love for Lina spurred him to create a home for autism books within the Skyhorse Parenting category  that might otherwise never see the light of day from traditional publishing.  That's so important to our community.   Books like Callous Disregard from Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Cutting Edge Therapies for Autism by Ken Siri and Tony Lyons and All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa by Kim Stagliano.

Lina was a precocious toddler—charming, chatty, joyful. At the age of three, in the aftermath of her second MMR vaccine, first came a seizure, and then, to her parents’ horror, the loss of Lina’s ability to play, use language, and control her impulses. Over the next few years they continued to lose Lina. She communicated her acute discomfort by biting, screaming, hitting, laughing maniacally, and throwing violent tantrums. As a single mother, with the help of her ex-husband, Helena Hjalmarsson tirelessly pursued every possible avenue to find a diagnosis, and more importantly a treatment, for her daughter, and the search continues to this day. Lina is nine.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

Sept 18, 2013, ABC15 Phoenix AZ: Arizona Autism Charter Schools ensure kids affected by autism get education they need

Sept 18, 2013, KPBS-TV San Diego: CA Shot Delays: Alternative Vaccine Schedules Mean Fewer San Diego Students Are Fully Immunized

Sept 18, 2013, VaccineDailyNews.com: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia launches new mobile vaccine app

Congrats Maria Bucchino, our 3rd winner. I've sent you a a second email from KRStagliano.  We have four books to give away and will have another winner tomorrow and Friday. You can leave a comment on this post to enter!

 Finding Lina A Mother's Journey from Autism to Hope, is a memoir that AofA readers will relate to from the opening pages to the loving and upbeat afterword.   It's a story of challenges, seeking answers, how a family copes and evolves (not always in a fairytale fashion) and most of all - love. 

Lina's Dad is Skyhorse Publisher Tony Lyons. This is important for a few reasons. His life and love for Lina spurred him to create a home for autism books within the Skyhorse Parenting category  that might otherwise never see the light of day from traditional publishing.  That's so important to our community.   Books like Callous Disregard from Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Cutting Edge Therapies for Autism by Ken Siri and Tony Lyons and All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa by Kim Stagliano.

Lina was a precocious toddler—charming, chatty, joyful. At the age of three, in the aftermath of her second MMR vaccine, first came a seizure, and then, to her parents’ horror, the loss of Lina’s ability to play, use language, and control her impulses. Over the next few years they continued to lose Lina. She communicated her acute discomfort by biting, screaming, hitting, laughing maniacally, and throwing violent tantrums. As a single mother, with the help of her ex-husband, Helena Hjalmarsson tirelessly pursued every possible avenue to find a diagnosis, and more importantly a treatment, for her daughter, and the search continues to this day. Lina is nine.

In this country, it is our constitutional right to worship freely and follow individual spiritual beliefs and conscience. I will not subject my daughter to anything I feel may cause her bodily harm and as an American citizen I have the right to choose what is beneficial for my child.
                                     - Dina Check

FAMILY DOC SAYS SHOTS COULD KILL TOT

NYC HEALTH DEP'T BOOTS SIX-YEAR-OLD OUT OF SCHOOL

PARENTS FIGHT BACK

The New York City Education Department has booted a first-grader from school because her parents won't get her vaccinated.

The child's doctor says the shots could kill the six-year-old. The family filed a legal medical waiver. But NYC denied it.

"These are doctor's orders. We won't risk her life," says mom Dina Check.  "How can  NYC know better than our family doctor? They are holding her education hostage.â€

"This is so hard on our daughter. She wants to be back in her old school with all her friends. What do we tell her?" says Dad.

NYS law states that if a doctor says a vaccine may be detrimental to a child's health, the child is excused from vaccines and can still go to school.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

Sept 17, 2013, UK Brighton and Hove News: Blaming parents for autistic children:


Sept 17, 2013, WNCN News Raleigh, NC:  Doctors warn of measles comeback

 
Sept 17, 2013, BREAKING NEWS: New study shows kids with food allergies costing parents billions--USA Today, Fox News, CNN (See links after jump)
 

By Kim Stagliano

Oh Lord I am  tired of so many things. The constant attacks on our community as if we aren't real Moms and Dads doing our level best for our children with autism. The name calling in national publications by "journalists." The assumptions that we are somehow American subversives because our experiences with our children have led us to conclusions outside the corporate pharma governmental agenda.  The dismissal of our kids' very real medical problems.

Saturday was my youngest daughter's birthday. She is now 13 years old. Her name is Bella. I introduced you to her in my book, and so many of you (from all camps I'll point out) came to her defense in 2010 when she was abused on her school bus by an adult. Your support meant the world to me.

I thought today I'd share a brief video after finally figuring out how to upload from my iPhone to YouTube to show you autism in our home. Well one version, Mia and Gianna are different young women in terms of ability. 

Instead of having a slumber party with friends and giggling about boys - Bella spent her day with her father and sisters and me - quietly working on skills followed by a simple supper and homemade cake.  THIS is autism. It's hard for Bella most of all. It breaks my heart every hour of every day.

SOUP

Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism. Her novel,  House of Cards; A 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.

 

 

 

 

Apply for the Rescue Family Grant

When a parent hears the words “your child has autism” everything changes. Generation Rescue is here for that change and the many more to come throughout their lifetime. Many individuals with autism suffer from treatable conditions like gut issues, sleep disorders and mitochondrial dysfunction which directly impact speech development, behavior and focus. Our grant program provides the opportunity to pursue treating these underlying symptoms of autism.

We understand that financial costs is often times the prohibitive reason from pursuing treatment, therefore, our grant program is available to individuals of ALL ages with an economic need.

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◾Dietary intervention Training
◾The Listening Program®
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Congrats GAYLE our 2nd winner. I've sent you an email from KRStagliano.  We have four books to give away and will have another winner tomorrow and Friday. You can leave a comment on this post to enter!

 Finding Lina A Mother's Journey from Autism to Hope, is a memoir that AofA readers will relate to from the opening pages to the loving and upbeat afterword.   It's a story of challenges, seeking answers, how a family copes and evolves (not always in a fairytale fashion) and most of all - love. 

Lina's Dad is Skyhorse Publisher Tony Lyons. This is important for a few reasons. His life and love for Lina spurred him to create a home for autism books within the Skyhorse Parenting category  that might otherwise never see the light of day from traditional publishing.  That's so important to our community.   Books like Callous Disregard from Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Cutting Edge Therapies for Autism by Ken Siri and Tony Lyons and All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa by Kim Stagliano.

Lina was a precocious toddler—charming, chatty, joyful. At the age of three, in the aftermath of her second MMR vaccine, first came a seizure, and then, to her parents’ horror, the loss of Lina’s ability to play, use language, and control her impulses. Over the next few years they continued to lose Lina. She communicated her acute discomfort by biting, screaming, hitting, laughing maniacally, and throwing violent tantrums. As a single mother, with the help of her ex-husband, Helena Hjalmarsson tirelessly pursued every possible avenue to find a diagnosis, and more importantly a treatment, for her daughter, and the search continues to this day. Lina is nine.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's commentary after the jump.

Sept 17, 2013, Rock Hill (SC) Herald: SAN DIEGO: Spectacular Bond: Reaching the Child with Autism

Sept 16, 2013, WetPaint.com: Jenny McCarthy on Autism Awareness: "I'm Not Anti-Vaccinations" - Exclusive

Sept 16, 2013, NY Daily News: More colleges provide options for kids with learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder

Sept 16, 2013, 13WHAM Rochester, NY: Insurance and families with autism -

Sept 15, 2013,  About.com (Lisa Jo Rudy): Profile: The Autism Science Foundation

By Anne Dachel

Many of us in the autism community are looking forward to another congressional hearing in November.  This one will be on vaccine safety and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.  The topic certainly does relate to autism since the vaccine-autism link is the most heated controversy in pediatric medicine.
 
We remember last November's hearing.  That was where Representative Bill Posey asked CDC representative, Coleen Boyle, why they had never conducted a simple study comparing the health outcomes in vaccinated and never vaccinated kids.
 
On this short youtube, we can hear Boyle's response.



Dr. Boyle: "We have actually done a number of studies looking at the relationship between thimerosal vaccines and autism and other developmental disabilities.  There have been since--actually over the last decade, numerous studies looking at the relationship  between vaccines--"
 
Rep. Posey: "That the CDC conducted?"
 
Boyle: "Some of them were conducted by the CDC. Others were conducted by other--"
 
Posey: "How many would you say?  Would you estimate?"
 
Boyle: "I would actually have to check with the specific numbers, but I know there were two, one large study looking at various neurodevelopmental disorders and the second one that focused specifically on autism.  Those were fairly recently--"
 
Posey: "Would you see that Miles gets a copy of those?" 
 
Boyle" "Of course, of course."
 
Posey: "Do you believe additional studies would provide useful data in assessing the safety of childhood vaccines?'
 
Boyle: "The IOM has evaluated this issue back in 2004 and again, most recently in 2011, and their conclusion, again not just looking at the work that was done at CDC, but with the total body of evidence, was suggesting that vaccines and their components do not increase the risk for autism."
 
Posey: "So clearly, definitely, you have studied vaccinated vs unvaccinated?"

Congrats Lisa Kelly -  our first winner. We have four books to give away and will have another winner tomorrow, Wed and Thursday. You can leave a comment on this post to enter!

 Finding Lina A Mother's Journey from Autism to Hope, is a memoir that AofA readers will relate to from the opening pages to the loving and upbeat afterword.   It's a story of challenges, seeking answers, how a family copes and evolves (not always in a fairytale fashion) and most of all - love. 

Lina's Dad is Skyhorse Publisher Tony Lyons. This is important for a few reasons. His life and love for Lina spurred him to create a home for autism books within the Skyhorse Parenting category  that might otherwise never see the light of day from traditional publishing.  That's so important to our community.   Books like Callous Disregard from Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Cutting Edge Therapies for Autism by Ken Siri and Tony Lyons and All I Can Handle I'm No Mother Teresa by Kim Stagliano.

Lina was a precocious toddler—charming, chatty, joyful. At the age of three, in the aftermath of her second MMR vaccine, first came a seizure, and then, to her parents’ horror, the loss of Lina’s ability to play, use language, and control her impulses. Over the next few years they continued to lose Lina. She communicated her acute discomfort by biting, screaming, hitting, laughing maniacally, and throwing violent tantrums. As a single mother, with the help of her ex-husband, Helena Hjalmarsson tirelessly pursued every possible avenue to find a diagnosis, and more importantly a treatment, for her daughter, and the search continues to this day. Lina is nine.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

TOP STORY: Mother kills two children--one was autistic

Sept 14, 2013, ABC 15 Scottsdale, AZ: 2 children found dead in Orange County, California hotel room

Sept 15, 2013, ABC 15 Scottsdale, AZ: Marilyn Edge charged in deaths of two children at California Hampton Inn & Suites hotel

Sept 16, 2013, ABC 15, Scottsdale, AZ: Marilyn Edge: Documents shed light on what murder suspect was going through

Sept 15, 2013, UK Daily Mail: Arizona mother Marilyn Edge 'killed autistic son, 13, and daughter, 10, before trying to kill herself'

 
An Arizona mother killed her children, one of whom was autistic.  He was 13.  It seems she had a case in Vaccine "Court."

Daily Mail: "The doting mother sued the Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2004, alleging a vaccination gave her son autism, court records showed. The case was dismissed only last year.
"Citing a lack of medical records supporting Ms Edge's claim, and the lack of a valid medical opinion to further bolster it, Chief Special Master Patricia Campbell-Smith dismissed the suit for 'insufficient proof.'

"Ms Edge was awarded a judgment in the amount of $7,692 to settle legal fees owed for the suit. It is not clear if or when she ever received that money."

ABC 15 said, "In 2012, Chief Special Master Patricia Campbell-Smith dismissed the case." 

Aside from the horror of the events in Orange County, this also sheds light on how our vaccine injury compensation program works. For eight years, she waited for a decision.

Sept 15, 2013, 5 new rules to improve your child's sleep habits - Health & wellness -

Sept 15, 2013,  Welland (Ontario) Tribune: Anti-vaccination movement should be accountable

Sept 15, 2013, Livingston Daily (Howell MI): Parents should have kids vaccinated

Sept 15, 2013, Newsworks: A.J. Drexel Autism Institute boosts research on adults with autism

Sept 14, 2013, MILive: Autism anguish: Does sympathy for Kelli Stapleton put people with autism at risk?

Sept 13, 2013, Cape Coral (FL) Daily Breeze: Free autism screenings

Sept 12, 2013, Gianelloni.wordpress.com:  Why all the measles outbreaks?
 

By Teresa Conrick

CDC has a new page  freshly out on Friday the 13th.  In it, CDC tries to make the case that, “Among the most vulnerable for influenza-related conditions are children with neurologic conditions,” said Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.”  Disability Scoop picked that up and posted it on their website:

“Despite an increased risk for complications from the flu, many children with intellectual disability, cerebral palsy and other disorders are not vaccinated to protect against the virus.” Though they call themselves, “The Premier Source for Developmental Disability News,” it does not seem that they included any other sources for this important  topic .

Another website also picked up this CDC “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR),” -- Autism Speaks:

 “Only half of children with neurologic or neurodevelopmental conditions received flu shots in 2011 and 2012, according to a study published this week in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.  The finding is of particular concern because these children are at high risk for flu-related complications. Among the most vulnerable are children with epilepsy, which frequently co-occurs with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).....“This is a serious issue,” says developmental pediatrician Dan Coury, medical director of Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Center. “Many families think of the flu as a nuisance illness. But it can lead to more severe complications, hospitalization and even death. Because of this, we began offering flu vaccine to our patients with ASD at our center four years ago......"

There seems to be a lot of information yet we are not told some very important facts that need to be included:

MITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION

Much research has shown autism to be related to mitochondrial dysfunction.  Vaccination can, for many of these vulnerable children, cause regression:

•         Redox metabolism abnormalities in autistic children associated with mitochondrial disease  

“….This study suggests that different subgroups of children with ASD have different redox abnormalities, which may arise from different sources. A better understanding of the relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction in ASD and oxidative stress, along with other factors that may contribute to oxidative stress, will be critical to understanding how to guide treatment and management of ASD children. This study also suggests that it is important to identify ASD/MD children as they may respond differently to specific treatments because of their specific metabolic profile…. Several reports have documented that inflammatory processes, especially involving fever, that are triggered by illnesses or vaccines, can result in neurodevelopmental regression, including regression into ASD, in children with underlying MD,73 even if MD was not diagnosed before the illness.74 Inflammation and inflammatory mediators can inhibit mitochondrial function30, 31, 32 and increased oxidative stress associated with inflammation may cause further mitochondrial dysfunction,33, 34 potentially leading to long-term mitochondrial damage.

We would like to thank our friends at AutismOne for providing this paper to Age of Autism and supporting this type of scientific progress

A review of traditional and novel treatments for seizures in autism spectrum disorder: findings from a systematic review and expert panel

(Click HERE to download the pdf.)



Richard E. Frye1*, Daniel Rossignol2, Manuel F. Casanova3, Gregory L. Brown4, Victoria Martin4, Stephen Edelson5, Robert Coben6, Jeffrey Lewine7, John C. Slattery1, Chrystal Lau1, Paul Hardy8, S. Hossein Fatemi9, Timothy D. Folsom9, Derrick MacFabe10 and James B. Adams11
1Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, AR, USA
2Rossignol Medical Center, Irvine, CA, USA
3University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
4Autism Recovery and Comprehensive Health Medical Center, Franklin, WI, USA
5Autism Research Institute, San Diego, CA, USA
6New York University Brain Research Laboratory, New York, NY, USA
7MIND Research Network, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
8Hardy Healthcare Associates, Hingham, MA, USA
9University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
10University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada
11Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

Despite the fact that seizures are commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the effectiveness of treatments for seizures has not been well studied in individuals with ASD. This manuscript reviews both traditional and novel treatments for seizures associated with ASD. Studies were selected by systematically searching major electronic databases and by a panel of experts that treat ASD individuals. Only a few anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) have undergone carefully controlled trials in ASD, but these trials examined outcomes other than seizures. Several lines of evidence point to valproate, lamotrigine, and levetiracetam as the most effective and tolerable AEDs for individuals with ASD. Limited evidence supports the use of traditional non-AED treatments, such as the ketogenic and modified Atkins diet, multiple subpial transections, immunomodulation, and neurofeedback treatments.

Although specific treatments may be more appropriate for specific genetic and metabolic syndromes associated with ASD and seizures, there are few studies which have documented the effectiveness of treatments for seizures for specific syndromes. Limited evidence supports l-carnitine, multivitamins, and N-acetyl-l-cysteine in mitochondrial disease and dysfunction, folinic acid in cerebral folate abnormalities and early treatment with vigabatrin in tuberous sclerosis complex.

You are cordially invited to ‘A Night Out... For Our Canaries’ to benefit the making of Canary Kids [A Film For Our Children] at Maestro's Restaurant, Straz Center in Tampa, FL.

About the Canary Kids Project

We are taking seven children with a diagnosis of autism, ADHD, asthma or other chronic illness and providing them with FREE healing and recovery services for 18 months. The children’s recovery journey will be documented on film and made into a feature-length movie. To view the trailer of Canary Kids, please click here.

Some of the many benefits of attending this amazing event include:

Guests will have the opportunity to learn about and support the making of a game-changing/paradigm-shifting documentary film, Canary Kids.

By Cathy Jameson

Just when I think I’ve helped everyone I thought I could, I haven’t.  Not that it’s my job, or that I get paid to help others; it’s just part of my nature to help, especially when the other person is a mom.

I ran into a woman last week who’ve I’ve known just for a little while.  Her kids are typical.  Or so I thought.  The more time we spent together the more I realized, no, her kids sound like mine.  Mine are not as typical as I imagined they could be—one has severe developmental delays and autism.  Two were speech delayed.  Three were vaccine injured. 

The longer we chatted, the more this other mom and I shared the same vocabulary:  therapy, vision issues, sensory needs, auditory integration, calming and self-regulating techniques.  All this time I wanted to be more like her, but she was just like me: a mom working feverishly to give her kid what they needed to be able to function in the world. 

Hearing that her child had struggles hit me hard.  I had no idea.  In past brief encounters I assumed she was bathing in “typical” parenting, and yet, she was struggling just like I do.  It humbled me.  In the same instant, it crushed me. 

Just when I think I can handle all that I encounter…

Just when I feel I have been completely beaten down emotionally…

Just when I think surely no more children are suffering like mine have…

It felt like my world was caving in.  To hear that another child shared the same story and similar struggles as some of my children do, how did I miss that? 

Was it because I was too self-absorbed and knee-deep in my own thoughts? 

Was it because I can’t be all and do all for everyone even though I want to?

Was it because this other parent hadn’t put two and two together yet like I and many of my friends have? 

Was it because this parent has kept their head in the sand about what’s contributing to their child’s problems?

Or was it because they’re afraid of confirming what they do know but haven’t yet found the courage to confront it? 

By Dan Olmsted

Epidemics are simple, my colleague and co-author Mark Blaxill says. They have beginnings in time and place, they spread in ways that ultimately reveal their origins, and they end when their essence is understood and further cases are prevented.

The autism epidemic is no exception, although the medical-industrial complex wants you to think so, and the mainstream media is only too happy to grant their wish (and scoop up their ad dollars). Autism is a mystery, it's genetic, but many genes, many, many genes and gene-environment interactions and something something about older moms and better awareness and Prozac and maybe freeways and deisel fuel and icky stuff like that.

No! That is not the ticket.

Autism represents a particular kind of environmental injury in susceptible children. It had a precise beginning, in the 1930s when the chemical compound that caused the first cluster, ethyl mercury, was first commercialized. It simmered along as that exposure remained fairly steady for half a century. Then, like a raisin in the sun, it exploded a half century later when one of the commercial uses of ethyl mercury -- as a preservative in multidose childhood vaccines-- was suddenly ramped up.

Other manmade toxins, and other exposures from organic mercury developed in the interval, and the CDC's bloated, too many too soon vaccine schedule, no doubt kicked up the number of cases of early infant brain damage manifesting as the autistic behavioral syndrome. But the inauguration, and later the explosion, of ethyl mercury tracks clearly with the same trajectory as autism -- a real twofer! In a sense it is a challenge-rechallenge situation, the kind of evidence scientists consider proof of causation  but, because it is autism, have to claim is coincidence.

But because it is so simple, and ultimately self-evident, it doesn't take very long to make the case -- just under 15 minutes, actually. This summer, Mark, Teresa Conrick, Natalie Palumbo and I told the first part of the story in a 10 minute video titled, How Mercury Triggered The Age of Autism.



It showed how we went from essentially zero cases before 1930 to the first 11, identified by Leo Kanner in his landmark 1943 medical paper, Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact. Those families' backgrounds, we showed, had an astonishing and otherwise inexplicable link to the new ethyl mercury compounds-- in agriculture via seed disinfectants and lumber preservatives, and in medicine for multidose vials of ethyl mercury-preserved diphtheria toxoid vaccines.

For God's sake, the father of Case 2 was a plant pathologist at North Carolia State whose first paper in his archive there is an experiment with mercury!  The archives contain a notation that he was working with ethyl mercury in 1936 at the same time his son was born. This fact, confirmed by a brochure for the product in his archives, is the smoking gun of the autism epidemic, we've argued.

Now cut to exactly 50 years later. In 1986, Congress approved the Vaccine Injury  Compensation  Act, and despite its helpful sounding name, all hell broke loose -- hell in the form of the autism epidemic. Since then, autism has soared by a factor of 10 or 20 times, as the number of vaccines increased as a result of the liability-free world the act created for the pharmaceutical companies. The amount of mercury kids were getting tripled, and the timing got far more dangerous -- flu shots with mercury for pregnant women, HepB shots for babies within hours of birth.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

Sept 13, 2013, Brown (U) Daily Herald: State registry to enhance autism research

Sept 12, 2013 CNN/CBS/LA Times/Fox News/NPR/Wash Post---all blame unvaccinated for measles outbreaks (See links after the jump.)

Sept 12, 2013, TIME: What the 'Love Hormone' Has to Do With Autism

Sept 11, 2013, Alex Jones: Do vaccines cause autism?

Friends, grab a pom pom to wipe your eyes when you read this wonderful story of autism recovery success, and pride. Keely's Mom is Kendra Pettengill, a long time autism advocate who credits ARI along with school staff and good friends with Keely's outstanding success.  But it's Keely herself whose words ring truest, "Impressive!"   Congratulations to the family. Keep the hope!



GLIDE, Ore. -- Last week, the Glide Wildcats had their first home game of the season. At that game, there was one cheerleader who was cheering for a lot more than football.

Kendra Pettengill's daughter Keely is on the cheer leading team, but there was a time when she wasn't sure it was best for her daughter. "I was thinking this was the last thing she needs, is to be on a cheer squad," Kendra said.

But, Keely made the varsity cheer squad for her sophomore year.

She's not like most cheerleaders: she's autistic.

Shelby Mehlhoff, a Glide senior, talked about Keely's work ethic. "She comes out and gives it her all everyday," she said.

Sidney Fucciolo, a junior, agrees. "She's came a long way. You can tell she's matured and growing into a woman and getting out of that girl stage," she said.

The Canary Party Highlights the Failures Reported by Families of the U.S. Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to Perform its Intended Role
 
Why do 1 in 50 U.S. children have autism? Do vaccines cause autism? What is the VICP? How does the U.S. government really treat children injured by vaccines?

Those questions are answered in a compelling video from the Canary Party, a political group that stands up for victims of medical injury, environmental toxins and industrial foods. Though dozens of published studies show that vaccines are linked to autism, and tens of thousands of reports per year of post-vaccinal regression continue to roll in to the CDC, according to The Canary Party, the U.S. government and pharmaceutical companies routinely deny it – and prevent vaccine injury victims from receiving treatment and justice.

The new video is narrated by actor/comedian/activist Rob Schneider, a parent concerned about government intrusion into families’ healthcare choices for their children, and the increasing reports of vaccine-injured children. When the SNL alum was approached about the project, he was eager to sign on, saying, “This fight is like the Civil Rights fight. I only hope this is 1963... not 1953!” Schneider does not have a vaccine injured child, but was disturbed by what he learned about the vaccine program while looking in to vaccinating his own baby, “What upset me the most is the inequity in this system. Parents vaccinate their children after being told that it will keep their child healthy. Then when some suffer devastating disability instead, the system abandons them and sweeps the damage under the carpet. No one is accountable, these families are left devastated and it’s wrong."




The video illustrates The Canary Party's understanding of how the current autism epidemic is rooted in the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which Congress passed to shield vaccine manufacturers from liability for injuries and deaths caused by vaccines. “Reports of adverse reactions to the diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTP) vaccine had caused consumers to question its safety, and manufacturers lobbied for relief from potential lawsuits,” said Ginger Taylor, Vice President of The Canary Party. “With that financial obstacle removed, pharmaceutical companies then pushed government agencies to add more and more vaccines to the recommended childhood schedule.”

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

 

Sept 11, 2013, WTVM Columbus GA: New flu vaccines available, doctors explain the big picture

Sept 11, 2013, WNYC Radio: The Leonard Lopate Show:The State of Psychiatry

Sept 10, 2013, AutismSpeaks.org: Autism Speaks Sponsors World Health Organization Conference on ASD
 
 

Managing Editor's Note: We realize our readers will not be able to attend this event as a rule. However, as our kids age and we start planning for their futures, I can promise you that the Austin Texas model below should be required reading for all.  Thank you to our Contributing Editor Dan Burns, himself father to an adult son with autism, for his tireless work in the brave new frontier - aptly leading the way in Texas.


Overview and purpose

Appleseed Ventures and AIM Academy are hosting a get-together in Bastrop, near Austin Texas, on the weekend of Sept. 20-22 for autism families, real estate developers, and financiers, and autism advocates. The purpose is to cultivate a network of resources for parents who seek to create living, working, playing, and healing communities for their adult children on the ASD (autism) spectrum, and to exchange ideas for a pilot community of ASD adults that is self-originating and self-sustaining.

Agenda and Program

The get-together will run from 5:00 PM Friday, September 20 through until 12:00 noon Sunday, September 22. We’ll gather Friday at 5:00 PM around the pool at Quality Inn in Bastrop, caravan to the historic district, take a walking tour of this Victorian frontier city, and reconnoiter for hand-crafted ale at the Bastrop Brewhouse. Dinner is at the Brewhouse Restaurant, at Anita’s, or at your choice of one of the dozen top-ranked restaurants in old downtown Bastrop.

Saturday morning at 8:00 we’ll convoy to McKinney Roughs Nature Preserve for a hike through Lost Pine trails famous for scenic views of the Colorado River.

At 10:00 on Saturday we’ll settle in for the centerpiece of the weekend: our Bridge to the Future Roundtable hosted by AIM Academy and Appleseed Ventures. This is an open, audience-participation event. If you can’t come to anything else, come to this! Our featured guest presenters, Diane Belnavis (Juniper Hill Farms) and Cathy Boyle (Autism Housing Pathways), whose work has been featured in Age of Autism, are journeying from Pennsylvania and Boston to share their experiences/successes in housing and employment for our adult children. Diane, Cathy, and other presenters will help develop templates for creating similar success stories in Texas and beyond.

After lunch on Saturday we’ll open our Think Tank: opportunities for discussion and networking in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings at the Special Events Science Center McKinney Roughs Nature Preserve. Bring your ideas and questions for transition, housing, and jobs!

At 3:00 PM we'll have tubing outfitted courtesy of the Bastrop River Company. Bring swimsuits.  Tubes and lifejackets provided free.

Join us at 6:00 PM for Saturday night dinner at the Bastrop Brewhouse Restaurant, overlooking a scenic bend in the Colorado River and featuring live music and local cuisine. Bring your own instrument or purchase an inexpensive kazoo from LarryLand Music next door and join “Pickin’ on the Porch” (anybody can play) at the Brewhouse for a good time.

Sunday? An optional tour of possible properties in Travis, Bastrop, and Lee counties for establishing a safe, supportive community for our adult children with autism.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

 Sept 10, 2013, Montgomery (NY) Times-Herald-Record: 'Sensory Storytime' for kids diagnosed with autism

Sept 10, 2013, ABC7 Amarillo, TX: Local cases reported in whooping cough epidemic

By Teresa Conrick

“SINCE 1938, there have come to our attention a number of children whose condition 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...."

That famous sentence from Dr. Leo Kanner has been ignored for far too long.  We, here at Age of Autism, believe that it is the first clue  in solving the epidemic cases of autism today. 

Kanner's terminology -- "fascinating peculiarities" -- has been the main focus of autism for seven decades.  Because he was a psychiatrist, autism was categorized as a mental disorder.  Since then, autism has become the focus of study after study, most about as far away from its true origin as possible.  I dare say that we are now – finally -- seeing the paradigm turning a bit faster. 
It was just last year that I reported  French doctors using antibiotics to treat autism, with some being cured of their symptoms: 

“…successive antibiotic treatments with accompanying medications induced in 60% of cases a significant improvement -- sometimes even a complete resolution of symptoms.  These children can now lead a normal school and family life."

Autism is creeping out of Psychiatry and instead, on its way to its correct destination – a NeuroImmune disease. Its “fascinating peculiarities,” are actually turning out to be a domino effect of a dysfunctional immune system.  The triad of symptoms that have historically described autism are actually the end result of an abnormal immune system, not an abnormal child:

-          difficulty with social interactions.

-          difficulty with language and other forms of communication, like gesturing or using facial expressions.

-          unusual, restricted or repetitive behaviors (also called “stereotyped” behaviors or stereotypies), which can involve either interests or actions.
 
 For the many thousands of parents, like myself, who have witnessed their child regress into autism, this is helpful and hopeful.  Many saw dramatic changes after vaccinations: rashes, gastrointestinal distress, vomiting, chronic sore throats, ear infections, and fevers.  Subtle or acute behaviors then emerged and those behaviors unfortunately became the focus.  That is beginning to change.

Autism Speaks seems to now be funding a study on immunotherapies and autism. This is a direct focus on the idea of immune dysfunction and autism - Anti-Neuronal Autoantibodies in PANDAS and Autism Spectrum Disorders

“Pediatric neuropsychiatric and movement disorders affect millions of children each year with devastating consequences on families. Work done over the past 12+ years has focused on understanding how infections and autoantibody responses affect the brain. The investigators have found that neuropsychiatric and movement disorders such as pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococci (PANDAS) are associated with a group of autoantibodies which may be elevated during disease symptoms and may signal neuronal cells in the brain. This project explores the hypothesis that autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated in some instances with PANDAS symptoms where the two diseases may be co-morbid…….This research has the potential to identify patients with autism who would benefit from immunotherapies or other PANDAS treatments.”

 I have been writing about both autism and PANDAS  as my own daughter, diagnosed with autism in 1995, is affected with chronic infections and now an autoimmune diagnosis.  I keep meeting more and more families who have children with autism, PANDAS or both.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments on mainstream newscoverage after the jump.

Sept 10, 2013, Augusta (GA) Chronicle: Stop calling it autism

 
Sept 9. 2013, WFAA Dallas/Fort Worth: Outbreaks make a case for vaccinations

Sept 9, 2013, Forbes: Is Texas A Hotspot For Outbreaks Of Vaccine-Preventable Disease?

Sept 9, 2013, Medical Daily: Jenny McCarthy Debuts On 'The View': Sympathy Aside, Is She A Believable Spokesperson On Health?


Sept 9, 2013, NY Daily News: Autistic girl makes 'miracle' recovery after alleged murder-suicide attempt by mom

Sept 9, 2013, Fithcburg (MA) Sentinel & Enterprise:Bill seeks designation for autism on licenses

By John Stone

Recent remarks by Forbes science columnist Emily Willingham about the autism/vaccine question are historically ill-informed, scientifically incompetent and politically naïve. John Stone, UK Editor of Age of Autism, documents her failure with extended quotation from articles by Dr F Edward Yazbak.

One of the strangest twists in Emily Willingham’s now infamous 10 Weirdest Things Linked To Autism column was her comment to Age of Autism’s Anne Dachel about a vaccinated vs non-vaccinated study. Here it is - to be prominently read - on the first page of comments:

That study has been done, but your group dissmisses (sic) it because the sixth author on it is a criminal, even though the database registry information is available, none of the other half-dozen or so authors have removed their names from the work, and the journals that have published the papers have not retracted them. It was a study involving a huge number of people. It was pretty definitive. What I love–and it bears repeating–is how you’ll dismiss this study and the CDC, yet religiously cite the CDC’s 1 in 50 number, derived from some very fuzzy data collection.

Not quite so visible (indeed it took me two days to locate it after I submitted) is my response, which ought to have shaken the lady if she was in any way concerned for the truth and certainly suggests her knowledge of the issues on which she purports to have intellectual expertise is superficial:

Hi Emily,

I think perhaps you are referring to the Madsen MMR study (only) of which Cochrane reported:
“The follow up of diagnostic records ends one year (31 Dec 1999) after the last day of admission to the cohort. Because of the length of time from birth to diagnosis, it becomes increasingly unlikely that those born later in the cohort could have a diagnosis”

While NEJM refused to publish a letter from epidemiologist Prof Samy Suissa of McGill University in which he had re-calculated the raw data to show that autism was 45% higher in the MMR vaccinated group.

But that was not the only CDC Danish study co-ordinated by the heavily indicted Dr Poul Thorsen – there were as (of) November last year at the Congressional hearing 21, four of which had been published since his indictment.

In fact, there is another problem here. Why can’t the CDC shake this embarrassing person off? For a clue here are two articles (1 The CDC finances, writes and helps publish Danish research Another useless CDC-supported autism study  and  The CDC, Spinach and Autism  published years ago in Red Flag(s) by Dr F Edward Yazbak:

So, we have a series of points.   (1) The study Willingham cites was for MMR only and not for the extended schedule, which is what Anne Dachel was talking about.  (2) The flawed results of the study – pointing to a significantly higher incidence of autism amongst the vaccinated - were the subject of expert comment independently of our side.  (3) The problem of Poul Thorsen’s collaborators is that they continue to be historically tangled with him – this is not on any rational basis testimony to the integrity of the 21 studies he has helped to coordinate and co-authored between the CDC and Aarhus University in Denmark (Staten Serum Institut). It will be recalled that when quizzed about the matter by the unimpressed Congressman Posey (“this guy is a humongous scumbag and one of the worst wanted men on earth”) at the Congressional hearing last November CDC spokeswoman Coleen Boyle had a fit of amnesia and could only recall that there were two such studies. Furthermore, we might continue to wonder with proceedings against Thorsen perpetually stalled in two continents how he could have helped himself to two million dollars of CDC money without inside help. Against this background Emily Willingham’s comments seem insouciant and even silly: they simply will not do.

We've been writing about Forbes' Emily Willingham: Emily Willingham and the CDC Criminal, Forbes’ Willingham Wrong on Courts, Vaccine Injuries and Brain Damage , Emily Willingham on "Mispresenting the Facts" in Forbes , The Continued Weirdness of Emily Willingham

Yesterday I received a LinkdIn email about a job with Forbes as Managing Editor for Forbes BrandVoice.    What are we reading today in any publication? News? Press Releases? An interesting question. We've been approached to run sponsored content - we say not. But we are not capitalist tools. 

BrandVoice, in a nutshell, is publicity/marketing content wrapped in the layout of new content. Forbes published this article last February,  Inside Forbes: Before It Was Called Native Advertising, a Team in a 'Box' Had an Idea explaining the concept of allowing marketers to use the same online platform as journalists, contributors.  I've seen something similar on my Yahoo home page where news is interspersed with adnews  - headlines that look newsy but then have a tiny "advertisement" label.

From the ad:

Forbes BrandVoice is an integrated and by-invitation content-sharing platform that enables marketers to join the conversation with their own narrative and expertise. (emphasis mine) BrandVoice is an innovative approach to integrating marketer’ content with the Forbes’ editorial and users’ content – allowing marketers to demonstrate their thought leadership in the Forbes platform using the same tools as content creators.

By Anne Dachel

Read Anne's comments after the jump.

Sept 8, 2013, New Haven (CT) Register: DR. DAVID KATZ: Flu vaccine not perfect, but worth a shot


Sept 8, 2013, Detroit News: Young adults with autism need more services, families, advocates say

 
Sept 8, 2013, Natural News: Merck vaccine developer admits vaccines routinely contain hidden cancer viruses derived from diseased monkeys


Sept 7, 2013, KIMT TV 3 Mason City, IA: Autism Speaks Walk
 
Sept 7, 2013, New York Times: Outbreaks Make a Case for Vaccinations

Sept 6, 2013, CTV Ottawa News: Mother of son with autism feels guilt, but no regret over decision to leave him in government care

Sept 6, 2013, The Daily Tar Heel (UNC): UNC scientists publish findings linking autism and environment