Dachel Media Review: Trolls, Airline Practice, Grandpa
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
Sept 23, 2013, Forbes: Cashing In On Fears Of Autism: Scientists Claim They Can Predict Whether A Mom Will Have A Child With Autism
"Autism has been the subject of much discussion and controversy in recent years. Rates of diagnosis are rising, and many parents-to-be are understandably worried. Despite the efforts of many good scientists, we still don't have an explanation for most cases, although we do know that vaccines have nothing to do with it. Many unscientific claims are out there, some of them designed to take advantage of vulnerable parents who are desperate for answers. In this climate, any new claim to have found "the" cause of autism ought to be stated very, very carefully, and backed up by solid evidence...."
It must be Emily Willingham's day off over at Forbes. Today we have Steven Salzberg telling us vaccines don't cause autism and he sullies the motives of Judy Van de Water at the MIND. (So Steven, where are you when one insane study after another links autism to a mother's bad behavior? ---marrying older dads, drinking, having kids too close together, being too old, smoking, living to close to freeways, taking antidepressants and no getting enough folic acid?)
I posted my usual remarks. I'm sure he'll be miffed at me too.
Sept 22, 2013, ABC News: Children With Autism Practice Travel at NYC's JFK
"JetBlue Airways and the nonprofit Autism Speaks set up an air travel practice session for families who have children with the disorder. JetBlue officials said it was the first such event at JFK, one of the nation's busiest airports.
"Autism spectrum disorders are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges and now affects one in 88 children, according to Autism Speaks, which offers support and aims to raise awareness of the disorder. JetBlue officials said they wanted to teach their employees tools to help make travel comfortable for people with autism - who represent a growing number of customers."
So autism "NOW affects one in 88 CHILDREN"? "People with autism - who represent a growing number of customers"? Why? Why does autism NOW affect so many children that a major airport is doing this.
AUTISTIC Children Practice Travel at NYC's JFK. Does that tell us anything? It's not Disabled Children. It's specifically for ones with autism.
Autism is now so prevalent that we're having to do this. Why didn't they do this at JFK in the 1980s and 90s? Why not even 10 years ago?
We're quietly adjusting to autism. Everything from "Sensitive Santas" to "Autism Friendly" Broadway plays and movies show what autism is doing to us. No one seems to notice or worry about what means.
Right now we're making these changes for children. In the coming years, we'll have to do the same for adults---only their parents won't always be there to assist and adults with autism are not the same as children with autism.
Sept 21, 2013, Forbes: UK Reverses Swine Flu Vaccine-Narcolepsy Decision
"The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has contacted people turned down for compensation last year to explain that, after a review of fresh evidence, it now accepts the vaccine can cause the condition. The move leaves the government open to compensation claims from around 100 people in Britain, and substantial legal fees if a group action drawn up by solicitors is successful."
"A total of 100 people among 6 million who received this vaccination in the UK developed narcolepsy, for an adverse event rate of 0.0017%. "
Ms Willingham has long expressed her displeasure at what I write and I'm sure she'll be indignant over this. Hmmm....
So, is she saying that because the British government admitted, after three years, that the H1N2 vaccine caused narcolepsy in a statistically small number of people, we should trust that they're honest about vaccine side effects? 100/6 million. Pretty good odds. Officials are pretty safe in admitting this. It's evidence of nothing. I posted three comments.
Sept 21, 2013, Salon.com: That's not autism: It's simply a brainy, introverted boy
"Autism spectrum diagnoses are up 78 percent in 10 years. We're dramatically overdiagnosing it in everyday behavior."
Let's pretend that this is autism. Forget all the sick autistic kids--the ones, like my son, who were in the emergency room all the time. Forget the ones who regressed--the ones who don't talk and will bolt at a moment's notice. Let's call meltdowns mere normal childhood tantrums.
We're just not letting kids be different!
Sept 21, 2013, USA Today: Ga. autism project looks to early detection
"We don't want to see a whole generation of children coming to the Marcus Autism Center," Dr. Jennifer Stapel-Wax, the center's director of infant and toddler clinical research operations, said during the training."
Why aren't we asking why there is a generation of children now disabled with autism in the first place? Why does one in every 50 U.S. children now have a diagnosis of autism? Why is the rate among boys alone now an incredible one in 31? For two decades health officials have had no answers as autism went from being a rare disorder to one now so common everyone knows someone with an affected child.
How bad do the numbers have to get? Officially, autism has no known cause or cure. There's nothing a mainstream doctor can tell a new mother whose baby was born healthy and is developing normally so that this child doesn't also end up on the autism spectrum by age two. Why is the rate of autism only based on studies of children? Why can't we find adults with an autism rate even remotely close to what we see in our children?
Sept 20. 2013, Forbes: Grandpa's Age Linked To Autism
"Results of a study in a Swedish population have linked grandpa's age to an increased risk of autism in grandchildren. More specifically, the study authors found that men who sired children at age 50 or older were almost twice as likely as younger fathers to have an autistic grandchild....
"The authors sought to control for factors related to socioeconomic status and other variables. They found that this age-related increase in autism risk was independent of the age of the autistic child's own parents. Other studies have identified a link between older parental age-particularly for fathers-and autism risk."
"If environmental factors are interacting with those genes in the development of autism, then the results also seem to suggest that we need to look away from current environmental candidates for this interaction and go back at least two generations."
What a neat setup here. Genetic mutations passed on FROM GRANDPA? How far back does that go? It would certainly let the current vaccine schedule off the hook. And that's what this is all about. I posted comments.
Sept 20, 2013, Suncoast News (FL): Trinity support group welcomes autism specialist
"The Sept. 11 meeting of the group Helping HANDS, featured David Berger, a pediatrician at Wholistic Pediatrics and Family Care in Tampa. He also specializes in biomedical therapies as well as treatment for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, autism and other related disorders....
"More than 30 people attended the Helping HANDS meeting to hear what Berger had to say. His presentation focused on treatment and prevention of Autism and long-term chronic issues. He talked about a wide range of topics, from vaccinations and personalized medicine to the importance of vitamin D and the benefits from Epsom salt baths."
On May 3, 2012, Dr. Berger was covered in the story on News10 in Tampa. I also contacted him about his unique practice and interviewed him for this story on Age of Autism.
I'm glad to see he's still talking. I posted comments.
Sept 20, 2013, The Atlantic: Growing Up With an Autistic Brother in the 1990s
"Today approximately one in 88 children are identified as on the autism spectrum. But in 1990, autism was just a blip on the radar. You didn't hear about support groups, special training for educators, clinical studies. All that a small autistic child had was his family."
A blip on the radar"? Wow, how enlightened we are today. I guess we can compare autism to how we used to treat the mentally ill.
Sept 20, 2013, Alex Jones' Infowars: Governments Hire Web Trolls to Sway Public Opinion
"Hiring paid shills to propagandize for the establishment is a common practice
"It's an admitted fact that governments around the world hire armies of shills to troll comment sections of news websites and social media with pro-establishment propaganda in an attempt to sway public opinion."
And yes, I'm sure some of those comments on vaccine-autism stories condemning anyone who challenges the safety claims are from paid posters. I know what inspires ME to write and it's no secret. But would ordinary people take the time to defend vaccines if they didn't have some motivation--money, livelihood, etc.?
Let them post! It keeps the controversy out there!
Sept 19, 2013, Huffington: Failure to Vaccinate Children: An Unconscionable Twist of Faith
"An unconscionable twist of faith contributed to the health tragedy: Church leaders had been advising congregants against vaccination because of a scientifically unfounded belief that vaccinations could cause autism."
Thankyou Huffington Post for carrying the torch. I hope you will take on all those disgraceful European governments who mandate about a third of the vaccines that our fortunate American children get. Ill bet they've got a lot of dead children in those backward countries as a result of their unscientific attitudes. What on earth are those governments thinking??!
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | September 25, 2013 at 03:54 PM
With regard to Steven Salzberg's academic integrity:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2012/12/prof-stephen-salzberg-and-the-congressional-autism-hearing.html
Posted by: John Stone | September 23, 2013 at 06:58 PM
Helen Keller was brainy and introverted too! She was so brilliant, she would have recovered All By Herself but her coddling, misinformed parents wasted all that money on Ann Sullivan.
Posted by: Carolyn Flannery | September 23, 2013 at 06:27 PM