Fox News:

"Vaccines induce the protective immunity that is a consequence of natural infection, without having to pay the price of [becoming sick with] a natural infection," said Paul Offit, chief of the division of infectious diseases and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. ...

"Other side effects are much more rare, though they can happen: The oral polio vaccine that used to be given in the United States did, in a few instances, actually cause polio, but the shot that is used today does not. Measles can cause a lowering of a child's platelet count, but it does not last or cause permanent problems, says Offit....

"A possible connection was first raised by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, a British doctor who published a study in 1998 of 12 children in Britain who were diagnosed with autism within a month of receiving the MMR vaccine."

Expect countless more articles like this.  Next month there will be a House hearing on the vaccine compensation program.  I don't expect a lot of media coverage, just like the hearing last Nov.  Meanwhile, in order to assure the public that nothing's really wrong, there'll be a steady diet of "pro-vaccine" stories like this, especially admissions that yes, vaccines do have rare side effects. But in the end, so much benefit comes from these shots that the good outweighs the bad.  (That's pretty acceptable really---since most Americans are so brainwashed with pharma commercials that readily admit horrific side effects to drugs, at the same time we're told, "Ask your doctor if XXX is right for you.)
 
All we need to do is see Paul Offit's name and no mention of his money ties to Merck.  And of course, there is no place for comments.
 
Boston Herald

"The number of young adults with autism turning 22 is now just a ripple in what will become a relentless wave five years from now (Oct. 4). We have not seen anything like this before and our state is not at all ready. Nationally, expenditures on autism treatment are estimated at $160 billion already.

"The emotional, social, and alarming economic realities of this rising tide of need demand that state officials and private partners develop a long-term vision before the crisis reaches its crest.- Michael Moloney, Franklin

"The writer is CEO of Horace Mann Educational Associates, which serves children and adults with developmental disabilities."

Here is a letter-to-the editor from someone who works with ASD individuals.  It's factual.  It's scary.  Here's someone who knows this first hand.  Will anyone take note?  Probably not.  No one else---doctors, health officials, the media---sounds like this. 
 
I couldn't help but notice the heading on this letter, put there by the Boston Herald, I'm sure: "Autism challenges."  How well does that fit the what Michael Moloney talked about? 
 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
"Two years ago, Jill Escher found evidence that she thinks might explain why two of her three children have severe autism.

"Ms. Escher, a onetime lawyer married to a former Silicon Valley marketing executive, learned that when her mother was pregnant with her, she took a whole host of fertility and anti-miscarriage drugs, including some that are no longer marketed.

"Doctors had called her mother a 'habitual aborter' because she had suffered two miscarriages before she gave birth to Ms. Escher, and so they gave her mother two fertility drugs to boost her ovulation, and then, once she had conceived, they gave her a steroid and two synthetic sex hormone combinations to prevent miscarriage.

"While she has no proof that the drugs led to her children's autism, she knows that girls are born with all the eggs they will have for life, and she wonders if the medications could have affected her eggs in such a way that it triggered autism in her children, a 14-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl.
"This 'transgenerational' effect may sound unlikely, but it has become a hot topic in autism research as part of an emerging field known as epigenetics."

This article is proof that the media will present every possible cause for autism--EXCEPT OUR UNCHECKED, UNSAFE VACCINE SCHEDULE.

It seems we have years ahead to guess about the cause of autism.  Toxins are related to autism, except if they're injected.  I posted comments.

Mark Roth has written a number of articles on autism over the last few days.  He has experts speculating on everything---EXCEPT VACCINES---as a cause.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"'Now all of a sudden autism is snowballing, and what is it?' asked Mr. Gallucci, a plumber who is currently a stay-at-home dad. 'Is it toxicity in everything nowadays? Is it vaccinations? Is it food, water? There are so many different variables it's mind-boggling.'"

"If they came out with a pill to make it all go away, I'd really have to sit and think hard about that.  Obviously, I don't want want them to be ostracized for any reason, but it's who they are.  Just because they run on a different operating system doesn't mean that they're any less than anyone else.  So they run on Apple instead of Microsoft.  Not that big a deal. Everyone just has to figure out how to work with Apple."
 
This mother and dad are dealing with a really bad situation.  Joe has "low functioning" autism, according to his mother (although Mark Roth, who wrote this story, said Joe has "moderate autism") and John has Asperger's.
 
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette presented the more severe side of autism, but they did it in such a way that we're seemingly supposed to look at this like the mom---
 
"Autism is a different way of thinking about things."  It's clear, no one is going to demand to know where all these kids are coming from.  It's a mystery.  Roth pushes the genetics of autism and mentions "the possibility that some families might have experienced a common environmental exposure" only in passing--as if it's no big deal. 
 
This kind of acceptance means that we're doomed to have more and more new victims of the worse medical disaster in history.  No one wants to stop autism from affecting more children.  Reporters like Mark Roth don't even bring up the topic.  There is never talk about prevention---it would raise too many questions.  .
 
And the dad mentions vaccinations as a possible cause, but nothing more is said.  Roth gives us so many conflicting bits of information here that I guess we'll just have to resign ourselves to never knowing anything for sure about autism.
 
KOMO Seattle WA

"We spoke with Dr. Ari Gilmore from PacMed's Beacon Hill Clinic about some of the most common questions patients ask about the flu vaccine.

"Despite endlessly circulating hype, a 2004 comprehensive review by the Institute of Medicine found that there is no relationship between certain vaccine types and autism.

"Additionally, Gilmore says this year's vaccines contain no preservatives or mercury."

Dr. Gilmore is wrong about the presence of mercury in the flu vaccine."  
 
This is from the CDC website:  Do the 2013-2014 seasonal flu vaccines contain thimerosal?
 
And the answer is, YES, SOME OF THEM DO.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Standing at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium one day in May, the stocky, broad-faced 19-year-old is bawling like a toddler, which in some ways he still is.

"Jeffrey Maloney has severe autism. He does not speak, except for some short phrases. He is not toilet-trained. He cannot read or write. He suffers from seizures. And he is obsessed with certain objects and activities: animated Disney movies; GeoMagnets; and quarters, which he touches and stacks and lines up in precise, repetitive ways....

"Two of the four Maloney children have autism. Jeffrey's older brother, Patrick, 20, has Down syndrome and a form of autism known as 'pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified.' Like Jeffrey, Patrick does not speak and is not toilet-trained....

"Jeffrey and Patrick are two of more than 1 million people in the United States who have been diagnosed with some form of this mysterious brain disorder, which is characterized by social difficulties, communication problems and repetitive behaviors and fixed interests. And they are also in a growing set of families with two or more children with autism -- one recent study suggested that 11 percent of affected families have more than one child with the condition....

"One reason the Maloneys agreed to talk about their lives is that they realize they are in the first big wave of parents whose autistic children are entering an uncertain adulthood."

No one asks WHY Jeffrey and his brother Patrick are like this.  Why are their parents so worried about the future?

Mysteries of the Mind: Dealing with the different worlds of autism 

By Mark Roth and Julia Rendleman / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
Standing at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium one day in May, the stocky, broad-faced 19-year-old is bawling like a toddler, which in some ways he still is.

Jeffrey Maloney has severe autism. He does not speak, except for some short phrases. He is not toilet-trained. He cannot read or write. He suffers from seizures. And he is obsessed with certain objects and activities: animated Disney movies; GeoMagnets; and quarters, which he touches and stacks and lines up in precise, repetitive ways....

Two of the four Maloney children have autism. Jeffrey's older brother, Patrick, 20, has Down syndrome and a form of autism known as "pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified." Like Jeffrey, Patrick does not speak and is not toilet-trained....

Jeffrey and Patrick are two of more than 1 million people in the United States who have been diagnosed with some form of this mysterious brain disorder, which is characterized by social difficulties, communication problems and repetitive behaviors and fixed interests. And they are also in a growing set of families with two or more children with autism -- one recent study suggested that 11 percent of affected families have more than one child with the condition....

Of course, many researchers in the field now say that the symptoms and abilities of autistic children vary so widely that we ought to be talking about several different "autisms."

On a practical level, though, the picture the Maloneys paint is much different than the image people get when they see highly talented autistic people like Temple Grandin or John Elder Robison....
One reason the Maloneys agreed to talk about their lives is that they realize they are in the first big wave of parents whose autistic children are entering an uncertain adulthood.

Under special education laws, children with disabilities can remain in school until they are 21, but after that, the structure and interactions that school provides will go away, and the Maloneys worry about what will replace that....

Right now, her dilemma is moot, though, because Patrick and Jeffrey are still on the waiting list for a "consolidated waiver" from the state of Pennsylvania, which provides funding for day programs, group living and other extensive services.

Even when families get those waivers, there often are not slots available in group homes for the number of people applying.

"I know they need to be able to transition to some kind of adult life without me, but it's scary," Lisa said.
 
Comment:

This is the rate increase in autism in the U.S.  In 1994, the definition was broaden to include less severe forms of the disorder.  The numbers then increased dramatically.  The problem is, they never leveled out somewhere around 2000. 

The Rise in Autism:

1980: 1 in 10,000
1995: 1 in 500
2001: 1 in 250
2004: 1 in 166
2007: 1 in 150
2009: 1 in 110
2012: 1 in 88
2013: 1 in 50

With each increase, medical experts assured us that it was still because of the widening of the definition back almost 20 years ago and because doctors were getting better at diagnosing the disorder in children.  The problem is, no one can find adults with the same symptoms that we're seeing in more and more children.  Instead, stories are in the news every day about librarians, nurses, teachers, EMTs, firefighters, and police learning about autism.  Autism-friendly movies and "sensitive Santas at Christmas, are now common.  Why hasn't there been this need in the past?
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism

Mark Roth just had a story about in the Post-Gazette   After 20 years of soaring rates, they're still not sure if the increases are real.  The problem is parents everywhere are worried about where their children will end up as adults.  IF autism had always been around like this, there'd be no problem.  Young autistic adults would go where autistic adults are right now.  The problem is, no one can show us where they are. 

On Oct 5, 2013, Yvonne Abraham at the Boston Globe wrote about coming "tsunami" of young adults with autism aging out of school.

"Nationally, 500,000 people with autism will enter adulthood in the next decade. Some will not qualify for services. Even high-functioning adults face high unemployment...."
 
Someone needs to explain why this is happening.  Officially, autism has no known cause or cure.  There's nothing a mainstream doctor can tell a new mother to prevent her healthy, normally developing baby from also ending up on the autism spectrum by age two.
 
In the face of all of this, our health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have never even called autism a crisis.  "Serious public health concern is the strongest language they've used to describe autism. 

Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism