I looked a little further. I know that there are articles in the literature saying that neonatal crying causes hypertension that can cause intracranial hemorrhage because I've seen them, but I can't find them right now.

I was not focusing on the psychological aspect but on the potential harm from the physiological disturbance caused by the procedure. The first article below on Pediatric Stroke states that:

"pediatric stroke is likely more common than we may realize since it is thought to be frequently undiagnosed or misdiagnosed"

and

"Stroke is more common in boys than girls, even after controlling for differences in frequency of causes such as trauma. There appears to be a predominance of stroke in black children [9]. This difference remains true even after accounting for sickle cell disease patients with stroke [15]."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3255104/

However, it is important to point out that the above paper also states that it does not address neonatal stroke (neonatal = 1st month of life), so I'm not sure if any of the above is relevant but thought it might be. As I stated earlier, I wonder if some babies experience subclinical undiagnosed hemorrhaging or other damaging interference with oxygenation from the stress of the procedure that results in a later diagnosis of autism (or other neurological condition).

The other article is from the Canadian Medical Association - a position paper from 1996 on circumcision. They examined only certain outcomes and their recommendation was that circumcision should not be routinely done. But the article does have a lot of interesting information. In the section on pain control (caps in body, my emphasis) they do quote the research that Dr. Yazbak noted:

"NEONATAL CIRCUMCISION REVISITED
Fetus and Newborn Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society"

Excerpt:

"PAIN CONTROL DURING CIRCUMCISION
Newborn infants exhibit physiological, autonomic and behavioural responses to noxious stimuli. These responses suggest that they experience pain, and there is evidence that preventing pain in newborns can be important."'0
Newborns who undergo circumcision without an anesthetic have GREATER INCREASES IN HEART RATE, CRY LONGER AND HAVE GREATER DECREASES IN TRANSCUTANEOUS OXYGEN TENSION than those who undergo the procedure after administration of a dorsal penile nerve block with lidocaine.0'°
Behavioural differences have also been reported.
Infants circumcised without an anesthetic were reported
to show decreases in reponsiveness and in optimal motor
performance in comparison with those who received a
dorsal penile nerve block.102 THESE DIFFERENCES WERE STILL EVIDENT A DAY AFTER THE PROCEDURE. FURTHERMORE, A RECENT REPORT HAS DESCRIBED SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER CRYING BOUTS AND PAIN SCORES AMONG CIRCUMCISED BOYS THAN AMONG UNCIRCUMCISED BOYS DURING ROUTINE VACCINATION AT 4 TO 6 MONTHS OF AGE.'03
Dorsal penile nerve block has been shown to reduce
the behavioural and physiological changes during circumcision,","'
but may have serious consequences, including skin sloughs.,',07 Topical anesthetic agents show promise'08-"0 but do not take effect until 45 to 60 minutes after application. Furthermore, these agents may produce methemoglobinemia."' A prospective, randomized,
double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 47
patients showed that ACETAMINOPHEN did not alleviate
the intraoperative or the immediate postoperative physiological
and behavioural changes indicating pain."2
However, it may have provided some benefit after the
immediate postcircumcision period."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1487803/pdf/cmaj00090-0027.pdf

The authors of the original research attributed the response to pain among circumcised males at 4-6 months of age to a psychological difference, that they had been traumatized by their earlier experience. Could it be that the difference in behavior among the two groups is from a neurological difference/deficit in the circumcised boys?

And then, as Dr. Yazbak points out, there is the almost universal acetaminophen use in the past several decades around this procedure. AOA published this article from SafeMinds by Dr. William Parker connecting the drug to autism. It is Dr. Parker's opinion that acetaminophen should not be given to children: http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/09/tylenol-inflammation-and-autism.html

"The same year that Schultz published his first work on the topic, a large, multinational study found a dose dependent association between use of acetaminophen and asthma, rhinoconjuctivitis, and eczema [11].

A number of scientists have independently published molecular mechanisms by which acetaminophen can induce inflammation [12-15]. The drug can profoundly alter toxin metabolism and inflammatory processes in the body. It actually makes sense that acetaminophen causes brain damage in some children. In fact, based on how the drug affects the body, it would be surprising if the drug didn’t put a baby’s developing brain at risk.

A very large study in Norway showed that the use of acetaminophen by mothers during pregnancy was associated with developmental problems in children at three years of age [16]. Children had problems with their emotions, aggression, attention, and gross motor skills. Ibuprofen use was not associated with these problems.

A study at UCLA in collaboration with scientists in Denmark and Taiwan found that use of acetaminophen during pregnancy is associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [17]. To quote the authors, “Results did not appear to be confounded by maternal inflammation, infection during pregnancy, the mother’s mental health problems, or other (variables they examined)”.

An interesting epidemiologic study suggested that use of acetaminophen at the time of circumcision might account for many cases of autism [18]."
--------------
The last paper [18] is also cited by Dr. Yazbak. The paper describes the extent of the acetaminophen exposure:

"A common neonatal medical procedure is circumcision, which typically occurs during the postpartum hospital stay, within the first two days of life for a vaginal delivery and first four days for a cesarean section [34]. Prior to the 1990’s circumcision was generally performed without analgesics. A 1994 study by Howard et al. found that when paracetamol is given regularly every 6 hours for at least the first 24-hour postoperative period, infants demonstrated decreased responses to pain [35]. This study lead to the development of circumcision pain management guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics [36] and others [37, 38, 39]. These guidelines include the suggestion of a first dose of paracetamol two hours prior to the procedure, and doses every 4–6 hours for 24 hours following the procedure. Thus newborn males often receive 5–7 doses of paracetamol during the developmentally vulnerable initial days of life."

http://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-12-41

Thanks to Dr. Yazbak for another great thought provoking article.

Benedetta,
Thanks for the comic relief :o).

D,
I really, really hate it when I am wrong. You are right. I just now looked up the fingernail and I should have educated myself yesterday before responding. It seemed so outrageous that I assumed and one should never assume.

So now I've looked at 3 articles - one yesterday, and two today. All 3 contradict each other to a degree. Yesterday's says the mohel is quick, today's give more detail, with the 2nd implying that babies may be prepped before they are brought out for the ceremony and are quiet because they are in shock. The third article gives the religious basis and the actual practice which is shocking to modern thinking, but says nothing about prepping the infant beforehand.

However, that's the point. We can't know if circumcision is contributing to the autism epidemic until we define circumcision in greater detail taking into account how, when and by whom it is done and how the practice has changed over time. We would need to really delve into the subject and figure out the truth, as the 3 articles I found contradict each other to some degree.

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience. I appreciate your bringing these things to my attention and for correcting me.

http://www.beyondthebris.com/2012/12/bris-prep-what-happens-during-bris-that.html
http://www.come-and-hear.com/editor/br_4.html

@Linda1

I quoted you saying:

I propose that there is also a difference in the procedure done by a mohel vs a hospital or office physician. I bet with the mohel it is quick and the baby doesn't cry as much.

and responded:

Oh, my god, you have no idea. They use their sharpened fingernails to tear off the bits of foreskin. It's brutal.

You then quoted me and responded with:

Civilized countries are not circumcising with fingernails. Give me a break.

Could you tell me how you see your response as being related to mine? It was you who imagined Mohels are somehow kinder gentler circumcisers. It's even worse than what I describe, and includes the Mohel using his mouth to suck the blood from the baby's penis. This practice has in some cases led to the death of infants from herpes.

Perhaps you'll take the chance to reflect and re-evaluate?

Linda 1, do you count the UK and the USA as "civilized countries" given what we know about the vaccine/autism cover-up? I can assure you, I have personally experienced a similar level of brutality to that which D describes, as part of that cover-up. Don't deny someone else's experiences.

Reading only as far as a certain point in this report it soon became apparent to me that they are trying to prove that autism is a psychological (ie emotional) problem. I don.t think we should waste any more time on this, we've heard it all before.
D's comments on circumcision I find very disturbing and this is certainly an issue which should be pursued as seriously as FGM is now being. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention, D.

@ATSC

I propose that there is also a difference in the procedure done by a mohel vs a hospital or office physician. I bet with the mohel it is quick and the baby doesn't cry as much.

Oh, my god, you have no idea. They use their sharpened fingernails to tear off the bits of foreskin. It's brutal.

@Tim_Lundeen

If pain does impact an infant as severely as the research cited suggests, then that should be held up against the claims that vaccinating early is good because the infant won't remember...

Just to give you one more piece of evidence of how brutal and primitive this system is, they use to do open heart surgery on infants without anaesthetic. Because why? Because they were certain the infant nervous system was too underdeveloped to feel pain.

@Benedetta

Our two movements have direct parallels as they are both concerned with bodily integrity and both involve extensive medical research fraud. Being aware of both these issues I would like that, but I suspect that most people would judge that the combined controversy would be too explosive to handle given the long religious history. When we are able to see all this as a question of research fraud in the interests of entrenched power, corporate and otherwise, we might be able to attack both. In the mean time, if you are interested in reading more on this, you might want to start with two links: Doctors Opposing Circumcision and Circumstitions.

I want to thank you personally for your concern.

@M said:

Maybe there is a link between circumcision and autism in the U.S., but not related to the procedure itself, but because of the type of parent that chooses to circumcise their child.

In the danish study that Yazbak refers to, I notice that they use Muslims in Denmark. Many will be immigrants, and immigrants are often repeat vaccinated.

The Bible says to perform circumcision on the 8th day of life. That was the time that the religious ritual was historically done. Years ago I learned from a Hebrew scholar (but have not personally confirmed) that the 8th day is scientifically when clotting factors peak in the newborn. He said that makes sense, so doing the procedure on the 8th day protected the baby from hemorrhaging.

In the hospital, it is done between 24-48 hours after birth, but can be done later according to parent's wishes (see article below).

I propose that there is also a difference in the procedure done by a mohel vs a hospital or office physician. I bet with the mohel it is quick and the baby doesn't cry as much. Together with the timing, 8th day vs earlier, the amount of crying comparing the two scenarios is significant.

In the hospital the procedure may be done by residents in training or doctors with varying levels of skill. And, there are different methods. Some more painful than others? Years ago, it was (somehow) believed that babies didn't feel pain (ignore that screaming, he just doesn't like being strapped down, he can't feel a thing). Those that didn't go along with that line of thinking didn't believe that injected local anesthesia was worth the risk. So babies endured the procedure without any. That was then.

This 2015 article that I found in the Atlantic describes some of the differences. According to the article, most mohels take 30-60 seconds. Physicians can take 10 minutes. Mohels have the baby on a pillow on the lap of a family member. A physician in hospital or office will strap a baby down to a cold board, arms and legs outstretched (the article doesn't say that, but that's the way it's done), parents not necessarily there. No baby is going to tolerate that treatment lightly. There will be frantic screaming, sweating, and elevated blood pressure. The medical literature is clear that frantic prolonged crying is not good for neonates. Under this kind of stress, could there be bleeding from small blood vessels in the head that is not immediately apparent but that shows up later on as developmental delay/autism? Does the stress interfere with the baby's ability to detoxify the birthday shot and the possible 80,000 chemicals that have contaminated his body because he was born into the 2000s?

Another consideration - When were hospital stays drastically cut? Was it the 1980s or 90s? Prior to that change in the length of hospitalization, circumcisions were probably done later than they are now. Could those extra days of maturity have helped babies to get through the stress of the procedure without injury?

The question is, does the difference in the way the procedure is done now vs historically, together with all the other modern stresses/toxins that modern babies have to endure, lead to a different outcome in some cases? I don't think we can rule it out.

Excerpt from the article mentioned above ("Why Non-Jews are Choosing Jewish Circumcision Ceremonies":

"Non-religious circumcisions are typically done in the hospital around 24 to 48 hours after the baby’s birth, though some parents may choose to circumcise their sons in a doctor’s office after the baby has been taken home. (The exact timing may depend on each pediatrician, but the procedure generally takes place within the first four weeks of a baby’s life.) Techniques used vary from doctor to doctor, but three methods are common in the U.S.: the Gomco clamp, the Mogen clamp, and the Plastibell, a ring attached to the penis underneath the foreskin. The procedure can take anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds with the Mogen clamp to 10 minutes with the Plastibell; most mohels use one of the clamps.

In a hospital setting, the parents may not necessarily be present while the procedure is performed. (After confirming with the family that they wanted their son circumcised, Finch says, members of the hospital staff “just came in and told us that it had been done and how to care for it.”) At a traditional Jewish circumcision, a baby is circumcised in the presence of his family, usually as he lays on a pillow that’s been placed on the lap of a family member. Mohels have varied methods for comforting the baby, including a sugar solution, a drop of wine, or topical or injectable anesthesia. Physicians in the hospital may use topical or injectable anesthesia to make the baby more comfortable."

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/why-non-jews-are-choosing-jewish-circumcision-ceremonies/395552/

A big question here is: why is circumcision used as a study object for autism? Is there anything that causes these circumcised boys to be more likely to be autistic? I can see that it might be the Tylenol they are getting when they are being circumcised.

But that is already possibly a known entity. I even doubt that that is a significant factor. That brings me to the question: why are they using such a narrowly defined cohort? When it comes to the Amish as a cohort in a vaccine study, there is always a problem with the fact that they do not reflect the general population of the United States. The cohort of circumcised boys is even less reflective of the United States of America as a whole than the Amish versus the U.S. Besides it's only boys. Where is the question asked about circumcised girls. Of course that group would be tiny. But it does exist. Maybe not in Denmark.

I venture to say this whole thing about autism and circumcision is just another red herring, and I am not sure why it was used to make this study. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

If pain does impact an infant as severely as the research cited suggests, then that should be held up against the claims that vaccinating early is good because the infant won't remember, particularly in conjunction the much needed understanding of how little the infant immune system is prepared to respond to vaccination in the first year or two of life.

I would also think, though, that if the use of anesthesia in circumcision was generally on the rise or in place during the time frame evaluated by this study, then that exposure should be considered as a likely factor in the associated autism risk found here, but not observed in earlier decades.

@Kapoore

RE Mandates:

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20183 (2011)

This report provides an updated overview of recommended and mandatory vaccinations in the European Union (EU), Iceland and Norway, considering the differences in vaccine programme implementation between countries. In 2010, the Vaccine European New Integrated Collaboration Effort (VENICE) network, conducted a survey among the VENICE project gatekeepers to learn more about how national vaccination programmes are implemented, whether recommended or mandatory. Information was collected from all 27 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. In total 15 countries do not have any mandatory vaccinations; the remaining 14 have at least one mandatory vaccination included in their programme. Vaccination against polio is mandatory for both children and adults in 12 countries; diphtheria and tetanus vaccination in 11 countries and hepatitis B vaccination in 10 countries. For eight of the 15 vaccines considered, some countries have a mixed strategy of recommended and mandatory vaccinations. Mandatory vaccination may be considered as a way of improving compliance to vaccination programmes. However, compliance with many programmes in Europe is high, using only recommendations. More information about the diversity in vaccine offer at European level may help countries to adapt vaccination strategies based on the experience of other countries. However, any proposal on vaccine strategies should be developed taking into consideration the local context habits.(End of Quote)

Please note that the Pertussis component, the Hepatitis b vaccine, the MMR vaccine, the HPV vaccine and the influenza vaccine are not mandated in Europe

I think increased use of Tylenol associated with circumcision is a far more likely candidate.

@ed yazbak With all respect, and MUCH appreciation for what you do for us all, I don't think you read my post. I do NOT think that circumcision per se is a risk factor. I am speculating that circumcision is a proxy for a genetic background that has increased risk for autism in our current environment -- and there is evidence to support this, though it is not conclusive.

By the way the local news has been reporting for the last two days that IT HAS BEEN FOUND THAT TOOOOOOO MUCH FOLIC ACID LEADS TO AUTISM.

Nope, I don't think so. Does not fit for my case either.

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeee But those three DPT shot and reactions does seem to fit so very well.

Katie, Tim and M

I always try to be nice to authors even if I disagree with them.

Like many Danish studies: This publication was created by examining data and only by examining data

The two authors were never previously interested in autism as per their list of publications.

I presume that if Danish boys pierced their noses, some good statistician from SSI could prove that nose piercing causes autism and rattle a dozen convincing stats and statements.

Again: Keep in mind: Circumcision preceded autism by a few thousand years and there have not been step-wise increases in circumcision rates like those we have seen in our poor affected children.

Benedetta,

https://internationalextraditionblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/denmark.pdf

We need to "want him"

Denmark needs to "let him go"

and there is the problem

I really don't think there's a relationship between autism and circumcision based on the type of parent who chooses to circumcise, because I don't believe there's a relationship at all. It's just an extension of the "...old mothers, fat mothers, mothers who smoke, mothers who live too close to highways...etc..." kind of thing. If you believe all that, might as well add mothers who circumcise to the list.

It is remarkable that science still embraces this man and says his research proves that vaccines don't cause autism.

Thorsen played with data and eventually played the CDC for millions.

Every paper he has touched using Danish data should be retracted.

He should be dragged back to US in shackles. There is an outstanding warrant and everyone knows where he is. He's not hiding in a cave in Afghanistan.

Thank you Dr. Yazbak for this great article!