Age of Autism Weekly Wrap: Failure to Launch
By Dan Olmsted
Perhaps you saw the spectacular launch pad explosion of Elon Musk’s rocket this week. That is nothing compared to the failure to launch of the entire excessive-vaccination generation. (I adopt that term from Bernie Rimland, who said – and it always bears repeating – that “the autism epidemic is real and excessive vaccinations are the cause.”)
Recently an autism dad suggested to me that kids started having trouble with ADD and ADHD in the 1970s, well before the 1988 spike in autism that defines the epidemic. That could track to the introduction of the MMR and various other adjustments to the vaccine schedule and increases in coverage. And that would give us people like Michael Phelps – born 1985 – who has talked openly about having ADHD. It’s possible some of his substance issues could be self-medication. (This appeared to be the year when Olympians with Issues became the headline. Crohn’s disease, asthmatics – where did this infirmary full of world-class athletes come from? I don’t remember it a decade or two ago.)
Of course, Phelps is an awesome success story by any standard, but especially the standards set by pop culture presentations of young adults these days. One that’s on the airwaves now is for a credit-score company: the impetus for tracking your credit is the ongoing nightmare of living with mom and dad. Two or three amusing vignettes – dad wearing the same shirt to try to be cool, or playing some dopey game – make clear that living with your parents is a drag, man. It finally dawned on me this was one of the first ads I’d seen from a millennial perspective. Rather than the irritation of having grown kids at home – that would be my generation’s complaint -- it was the irritation of having stupid parents in your space, even if it is technically their space!
Also this week, I was flipping through my new edition of Tricycle, a Buddhist magazine, and from a less materialistic perspective picked up the same vibe.
“My students seem burdened,” said Jeff Wilson, an associate professor of religious studies at Renison State University in Canada. “People seem really afraid – we probably all know statistics around antidepressant use and anxiety and depression. I think it’s coming from the dissipation of family and connection with others. It just seems really hard to sustain that in the kind of society we have.”
Oh, pish posh. I wish that people who make useful observations would pause for just one moment before offering mere speculation as to the cause. I just don’t think there is justification for this kind of anomie, some breakdown in our families and society to the point that young people just can’t get it together.
It was no picnic in 1968, let me tell you. Yet today things are so fraught, apparently, that trigger warnings and safe spaces and micro-aggressions are the order of the day. (One is tempted to say, if you want a safe space, go back to your parents’ basement.) It was nice to see the University of Chicago push back in a letter to students this week. My own alma mater, Yale, was the scene of great pusillanimity kicked off by a dean’s wife harmless suggestion that nobody get too riled up by potentially offensive Halloween costumes. I don’t mean to minimize this generation’s own set of issues, nor the need to deal with historical grievances that ours may have never considered. Many will disagree, but I thought Georgetown’s offer this week to give preferential admission to descendants of slaves it had owned (and sold to keep in business) was terrific. There are problems to be dealt with but that does not explain or justify a generation of kids with sawed-off ambitions and crippling apathy who can’t seem to get out of their parents’ basements. I remember staying at home for three or four days right out of college until I moved in with a couple of friends. We were not living large, but it seemed that way because, hallelujah, we were on our own. (And then, a few months later, I moved into my own tiny attic apartment and bought a Sherwood receiver, a Dual Turntable and a pair of Dynaco speakers that I still have and put on a record that was just out -- Blood on the Tracks. Tangled Up in Blue's astonishing instrumental opening came pouring out like warm honey and gave the system a worthy baptism. I digress but being on your own is good!)
There’s nothing heroic about this, it is what people do and have done really for millennia -- a biologic imperative of youth to stand up, strike out on their own, show they can do it better and create their own life. The universe throws in some extra hormones or whatever to push us all out of the nest without a crippling fear of falling. Except, apparently, these days.
One of my favorite quotes is by Lightner Witmer, a Philadelphia psychologist, describing a possible early case of autism:
“As the flower blooms, the fish swims or the bird flies, so the child crawls, walks and talks. It is the unfolding of his own instinctive impulses. But this child had to be taught to crawl and to walk, and even then he could only toddle around uncertainly. He never uttered a word spontaneously.”
This unfolding naturally continues into adolescence and early adulthood – or it ought to. But we shouldn’t be surprised it doesn’t when we have 1 in 6 kids with learning disabilities, 1 in 68 with autism, more than half with some kind of mental or physical health issue. That’s a lot of kids! Yet when these kids continue to have “delays” into adulthood, we seem to ignore this reality of cause and effect. Saying a three-year-old is delayed is one thing, but a 20-year-old who delays taking on the natural responsibilities and advantages of his age is something else. Or is it? Are we going to be talking about “delays” in 80-year-olds? At some point delay becomes denial of a person’s right to live a full and unburdened life.
It’s what Bernie Rimland called Dyslogic Syndrome in a book by that title available on Amazon. The subtitle says it all: Why Millions of Kids are ‘Hyper,’ Attention-Disordered, Learning Disabled, Depressed, Aggressive, Defiant, or Violent – and What We Can Do About It. This overlooked gem from 2008 – a kind of bookend to his classic Infantile Autism in 1964 – describes the generation now in their late teens and early adulthood.
If you get a generation whose members were delayed in infancy, should we be surprised they remain delayed in everything from leaving home to adjusting to the rough and tumble of what used to be called “the real world,” still "toddling around uncertainly" like the child Witmer described? Speaking of the real world, I'm reliably informed that another reality show, Big Brother, currently has three contestants well into their 20s who still live with their parents. We should stop grabbing for silly explanations and come to grips, like Georgetown with its egregious slave history, with what we have wrought.
--
Dan Olmsted is Editor of Age of Autism.
Today, on national television, Chuck Todd said, "The Chinese like to play games". Ok granted there's a lot of context, but can you imagine the comment , "The Mexicans like to play games", "The Africans like to play games"? No matter the context those statements would would be the bane of American existence if said on FOX.
PS right after that comment was an ad for the Walgreens flu shot
PSS i hate them all
Posted by: annie | September 06, 2016 at 08:03 PM
---- On top of young people not driving - the trucking businesses are having trouble finding drivers.
Posted by: Benedetta | September 06, 2016 at 02:22 AM
Linda;
I google it like you suggested and it came up so quick - Well I am up tonight cause I hurt my shoulder and the aspirin wore off -- so no need in coffee.
But geeshhhhhhhh!
The article I found right off the bat -- GOOD LORD! It is really - really and I mean really bad!
Posted by: Benedetta | September 06, 2016 at 01:54 AM
Ronald Kostoff ;
What surprised me was the death rate among foster kids, it is horrible!
I know many carry a lot of emotional baggage around with them, and I a pretty sure there is mental illness involved in a lot of cases. I have to wonder at their parent's mental health - immune system passed on to them. But the system itself leaves them very vulnerable; and in danger. .
Posted by: Benedetta | September 05, 2016 at 09:47 AM
Benedetta,
Make a pot of coffee, then Google:
'How many young are not driving".
Posted by: Linda1 | September 05, 2016 at 08:58 AM
In previous posts, I showed how the most vulnerable humans and non-human animals are used/exploited for medical experiments. A new book shows the financial exploitation of the most vulnerable in our society by government and industry.
From The Atlantic: "In his new book, The Poverty Industry: The Exploitation of America’s Most Vulnerable Citizens, Daniel L. Hatcher, suggests that the problems plaguing programs such as foster care and Medicaid are deeper and more troubling than most realize. Hatcher, a professor at the University of Baltimore’s School of Law, writes:
'States and their human service agencies are partnering with private companies to form a vast poverty industry, turning America’s most vulnerable populations into a source of revenue … The resulting industry is strip-mining billions in federal aid and other funds from impoverished families, abused and neglected children, and the disabled and elderly poor.'
How does this happen? Hatcher uses the example of the foster-care system, where some states enlist the help of private consultants to come up with strategies to maximize disability claims for children in its care. That results in higher payouts from the federal government. But instead of using that money to care for children, the money is diverted, and used for other things the state deems necessary."
An excellent presentation by the author can be seen on C-SPAN, where I caught it:
(https://www.c-span.org/video/?411928-1/book-discussion-poverty-industry)
Posted by: Ronald Kostoff | September 05, 2016 at 05:57 AM
When I was an undergrad, the library still had a large set of old St. Nicholas magazines for children from the nineteenth century. I enjoyed reading them, but was very surprised that in every issue there was a short story in a foreign language, a different language in every issue, French, German, Latin, with an invitation to all the little readers to translate it and mail it to the editors to compete for a prize for the best translation. !!!
Posted by: ciaparker | September 04, 2016 at 10:59 PM
Thank you Dan. Great to have you back after a bit of a break.
I saw my first "flu shot sign" the other day, it seems it was the same day the rocket blew up.
Posted by: go Trump | September 04, 2016 at 10:50 PM
Thanks, Bob. I did type your name in, hoping your article would come up - I don't think it did - or I just could not find it -
For every one else - while we are talking all of this -subject. - let us not forget about the driving. part of this!
When I was little - my sister and her boyfriend would drive all over the place, and they were only 14 years old at the time. It was not that uncommon., but every one drove - every one.
In 2005 my son was a senior and did not have it because of epilepsy was standing in his way. But he had driven off and on before being diagnosed. He wanted it.
But that was not the case of several of his class mates. My mailman had a daughter that graduated with my son and his daughter refused to get one I had hoped her mother and I could get together and help each other on the commute to the community college some 40 minutes away, but their schedules never matched.
Four years back; my cousin came to see me -with her children and grandies -- Her grand daughter was a senior in highschool, and she did not have her license nor wanted it. .
My cousin revisited me early in August of this year, and the granddaughter is getting ready to graduate from college and still does not have a driver's license. My cousin says that to even mention it - her grand daughter goes into such a panic attack that her daughter no longer even mentions it. My cousin's granddaughter is not going to get a driver's license and that is for darn sure.
We might want to see if there are any stats on teens obtaining driver's license. It might not be any big deal in the cities and - I don't know; does the East coast have lots of commuter trains - but around here, and in rural America not to have a car, pretty puts you a recluse and stranded. I cannot imagine why a person would not want to try for a license living in Kentucky or Ohio. .
Although we have a very fast growing rural transport system. in the past few years. My son actually got a job there for about three weeks . This was soon after he was off fro his other job. They put him in customers service.
Yeah --my son that has some form of autism, did not speak until the third or fourth grade, and uses words sparingly enough to make me start putting words in his mouth and making up what I think might have happened. He never corrects me -- My daughter has recently begun to tell me to stop that. Anyway he hated it - but he tried -- he was never so glad to lose a job - the telephone and him just don't mix. I have to laugh when I think of it. Or cry.
But how many young people are no longer obtaining a driver's license?.
Posted by: Benedetta | September 04, 2016 at 10:44 PM
Don't overlook a huge medical error, clamping the umbilical cord immediately after birth.
The baby's heart must pump blood to the placenta before birth, and until the fetal heart valves close, blood flow to and from the placenta continues. The fetal heart valves close after the lungs take over the function of respiration. Until then pulsations of the umbilical cord remain evident, and until the mid 1980s textbooks of obstetrics taught that pulsations of the cord should cease before clamping or tying it.
Clamping the cord immediately after birth amputates the placenta. The will to live is probably never greater than at the time of birth, so somehow most infants (85 percent) struggle to jumpstart lung function. This requires blood to fill the capillaries surrounding the alveoli. Blood may be drained from the brain to accomplish this.
According to the most recent resuscitation guidelines, about 15 percent of infants need assistance to begin breathing. How do they do that? Ventilation of the lungs. This is wrong. The capillaries surrounding the alveoli must be filled with blood to receive oxygen. Ventilation leads to patchy inflation of lung tissue nearest the bronchial airways. Wonder why so much asthma?
I will continue to try explaining this. Meanwhile the uproar over vaccine injury (exacerbating brain damage by asphyxia) is drawing attention to the high-minded attitude of the medical establishment. Many changes in medical practice are needed. Yes! Thank you Dan, and everyone!!!
Posted by: Patience (Eileen Nicole) Simon | September 04, 2016 at 08:38 PM
This article is brilliant. The only thing that surpasses your brilliance (along with Wakefield's) is your benevolence. I can't imagine the hardship coupled with ladies and gentlemen, like Mr Olmsted, and Dr Tenpenny, and Dr Humphries, and Dr Bark, and DR WAKEFIELD, and on, and on,,,,, with no "dog" in the figtht, who wake up every day, and produce BRILLIANCE that defends my "dogs", i mean children.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: annie | September 04, 2016 at 06:05 PM
Love it, Angus. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 04, 2016 at 05:20 PM
Linda1
Exactly, below is a short poem my father wrote one of his many he had no qualifications and left school aged 13 which around the 1920`s Britain was the norm, very few went to further education partly due to money and partly due to such high standards which are very hard to find these days.
“DAYS OF LET`S PRETEND”
TOUSEL HEADED BAREFOOT CHILD
UNKEMPT AND UNSHOD
PLAY ABOUT YOUR CAREFREE GAMES
ON PAVEMENTS I ONCE TROD
SEESAWS SWINGS ROUNDABOUTS
PAPERHATS, WOODEN SWORDS
DAYS OF LETS PRETEND
WHERE THERE WERE NO HOSTILITIES
THE FOE WAS ALWAYS FRIEND
DAYS OF LETS PRETEND
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | September 04, 2016 at 01:42 PM
Yes, the point is not whether a young adult should or will launch out of the geographical space, as there are many ways to launch depending on any given culture, but whether they can or could launch within their given cultures. One may live in a long house with all one's relatives, but you can be sure they all have responsibilities they must perform successfully for that type of culture to succeed. In close quarters that may mean, for instance, being flexible, sleeping quietly, planning and preparing meals for many, not getting burned in a central firepit, not knocking down walls or breaking tools shared by all, babysitting new babies and children to protect them from danger, and teaching those younger than you what you know (communicating effectively), etc.
I can share a story of differences here. Growing up, in 6th or 7th grade, we got to go away for a whole week to a nature camp as a school outing. There was one grownup teacher in each cabin of about 20 kids. There were no parent chaperones drafted. The kids were given a schedule where to go and went there on their own and showed up at the mess hall for food at the given time. Groups of kids merged and split incidentally and without incident as they moved between activities without much problem. It was fun and learning wrapped up in quite a memorable week. The biggest concern was whether the possibility of panty raids was real or myth and whether boys would try to kiss girls near the shower house or if someone was spreading a rumor.
When one got to high school, 2 lucky kids were chosen from an essay writing contest (showing intelligence, coherance, detail, and responsibility - not a bubble test where one has a 1 in 4 chance of getting a right answer to any given question) to go on the middle school trip with those youngsters to teach 2 free time outdoor activities. I got lucky and got to go. I taught frisbee golf and compass reading, neither of which I had any clue about but learned myself and taught to others. This is to say, back in the very early 80s, I, as an older child, was trusted with an entire class of younger kids, and the adults barely thought twice about it. Our groups moved around the nature camp without micromanaging from adults, everyone was capable of learning what I taught in one lesson, no one got injured, ran away, drowned in the water, or died from anything else, including peanuts. All kids made it back safely after free time to mess hall without having their hands held the whole way. Everyone ate the food put on the table.
Flash forward 30 / 35 years. Now as an adult chaperon for a similar nature camp school outing. 2 adult teachers per group of 18 not always enough. No highschool mentors along. Extra adults to help with running kids down the mountain to the bathroom because they aren't clever enough to pee when the bathroom is right there and can't understand why the adults want them to try and go even if they don't have to before going up to the ropes courses or simply can understand repeated instructions, especially when in a crowd. Extra adults to cover for the middle aged teachers with joint replacements needed earlier and earlier in life who might not be able to walk with the kids up or down the mountains. Kids without survival skills as simple as eating, have to be told to eat because even if they aren't hungry they should eat to prevent being hungry in 45 minutes up on the mountain. Or kids that carry food at all times because they can't go 3 hours between meals due to hypoglycemic issues. Kids that have to be reminded to drink water because they don't understand the meaning behind thirst or their brains don't register it as a need. Bedwetting in 5th graders and talk of 8 year old siblings "working on that." Belly aches and Encopresis in the middle of the night. Headaches and bags of medicines and epipen to be doled out at meal time and bed time. Melatonin to create sleep, where sleep should come naturally. Extra adults to help with those that wander or can't stay in one spot, or watch the rest of the group so teachers can help manage one child with anxiety, or need for silence when the noise becomes too much so the rest of the group can still proceed.. Talk individuals down when the tears and frustration kick in when at the flip of an unpredictable switch they go from having fun, to fleeing from the situation, when all they want to do is participate and be part of the clan. Or to roll coolers of different special food packed by discerning parents who've had their kids come home from past camps brain fried, sick, and uncotrollable. The line of gluten free dairy free soy free gmo free egg free people in the corners of the kitchen is certainly not one of isolation as the kids ask "what can you not eat", interested to see an adult other than their nagging parent dealing with their same or similar issue. At the very least, the kids without known sensitivities are not making fun of the kids who bring their own food, as rotating between tables I saw many knowing kids making fun of the camp food and refusing to touch it. I saw full bowls of what were probably powdered eggs tossed away in the kitchen garbage by adults after the kids were taught "no waste" goals for foods on their plate. Mystery taco meat left virtually untouched and kids drumming up the courage to partake of the free bananas left for all in the corner of the dining room. Heavy reliance on carbs and unlimited access to sugar water (lemonade and punch and individually packaged juices) and nutritionally uninformed counsellors then counselling on respect to deaf ears as I stare around and wonder how they can expect kids, carbed up, exposed the the top 5 allergens known to create behavioral issues, and loaded with sugar from artificial preservatives and coloring from the drinks to listen to anyone at all, and then sit and support their peers on the high ropes courses. Thank goodness for the triple belay teams and double knotted harnesses!
And yet the happiness of the kids when they accomplished things, overcame their fears or anxieties and challenges was a joy to be around, even the ones who had no desire to be part of a group at all and could not be begged into being interested in anything other than themselves or their worries. There is no dearth of desire, hope, and persistence, thankfully. And the patience of the teachers was something to behold when they knew that they could trust another adult to watch the rest of the herd when or if one lamb needed help. Close monitoring was continually needed, without break, from 1-3 adults depending on which kids were in the group and how much down time in between activities. Less down time was easier to manage but lack of attention definately was a concern for longer time increments. It was a great trip, but not the easy spirit kind of school trips of the past, and somewhat heartbreaking to one who is old enough to have experienced the before and after.
Posted by: Jenny | September 04, 2016 at 01:01 PM
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/03/modern-life-is-killing-our-children-cancer-rate-in-young-people/
Modern life is killing our children: Cancer rate in young people up 40 per cent in 16 years
"...Among these are obesity, pesticides and solvents inhaled during pregnancy, circadian rhythm disruption through too much bright light at night, radiation from x-rays and CT scans, smoking during and after pregnancy, magnetic fields from power lines, gadgets in homes, and potentially, radiation from mobile phones.
“When you look at cancers such as childhood leukaemia there is no doubt that environmental factors are playing a big role,” said Dr Henshaw. “We were shocked to see the figures, and it’s modern lifestyle I’m afraid.
“Many items on the list of environmental causes are now known to be carcinogenic, such as air pollution and pesticides and solvents. There has been good research to suggest a mother's diet can damage DNA in cord blood. Light at night we know is very disruptive for the body, which is why shift workers have such bad health.
“Burnt barbecues, the electric fields of power lines, the electricity supply in your home. Hairdryers. It’s all of these things coming together, and it seems to be teenagers and young people that are most affected.
“What’s worrying is it is very hard to avoid a lot of these things. How can you avoid air pollution? It sometimes feels like we are fighting a losing battle.”
Posted by: John Stone | September 04, 2016 at 10:17 AM
Ladies and gents, Introducing generation V. The over vaccinated, mercury saturated, children of the 90s.
"We vaccinated our children and the're fine."
http://nbcnews.to/2ck53H2
"University offers "adulting" program to teach students how to cope.
Posted by: ginger | September 04, 2016 at 09:40 AM
Kim here. I teach traditional Karate. I notice immediately which of our new, young students are "neurologically intact" and honestly, many simply are not. Many of the students of foreign born parents are much better prepared for class. Hmmmmm.
Coordination, focus, ability to listen and then make their body follow the movements is lacking. Many parents sit by passively as their kids misbehave. Many just drop them off. They are not allowed to speak to their kids while class is in session, but afterward, it's interesting how few remind their youngsters that good behavior is important. They just let everything slide.
We had a 5 year old wet the mats on Friday. 5.
Posted by: Stagmom | September 04, 2016 at 09:25 AM
Last year a student from the UK told me that there is no longer any calculus in the syllabus for A-level physics as part of a very substantial reduction in standards over the last couple of decades; and as a subject that has always been extremely male dominated that anecdote is consistent with girls now substantially outperforming boys in academic achievement across the board.
The drive to increase the number of university places in the UK over the last thirty years may also be a factor; nonetheless it is natural to think that the wave of development problems over the last three decades will have been accompanied by children with milder symptoms which do not constitute a diagnosis, and the measured decline in the performance of boys is cause for great concern.
Posted by: Science is pure. People are corrupt. | September 04, 2016 at 08:30 AM
Angus,
In his book, _The Underground History of American Education_, educator John Taylor Gatto writes that the American literacy rate was much higher before compulsory education started in the mid 1800's. He says that the best selling books back then would be too difficult for the modern "educated" to comprehend.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 04, 2016 at 08:30 AM
The Glittering Prices
Well very simply it supports what I think that the brains of the population are dumbed down and degrees are being handed out like confetti.I cant count how many times my wife and I have had to re-write statements required in law by lawyers as the lawyers cant spell, cant use the proper grammar or take notes and transfer them accurately to a legal document.
There used to be a local garage round here and the deal was you sent it a photo of the car with your MOT fee and you would get your MOT certificate returned..true...the same wont be long in happening at University's .
Loads of internet articles about dumbing down, not many make the connection how the system is being rigged to allow lower marks through as higher marks and in turn this to cover the damage from vaccines, pesticides, anti-biotics in food, etc..
Another little article from the DM no fan but here you go.
The survey also showed that 18 institutions – including Imperial College London and King’s College – awarded significantly fewer good degrees than expected. However Exeter, which in 2011 handed out one of the highest proportions of firsts and 2:1s out of any university in England, awarded the top two grades to 82.8 per cent of students.
A spokesman said its ‘focus on excellent teaching is borne out in our degree results’.
Cambridge gave the top two degrees to 87.4 per cent of students and Oxford awarded the grades to 90.9 per cent of students in 2011 – more than any other university .
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2607340/21-universities-making-easier-class-degrees-Oxford-Exeter-names.html
Another test would be to pull out an examination paper of 50 years ago and see how many would pass never mind get a high qualification as is being passed out nowadays.
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | September 04, 2016 at 06:30 AM
@ Benedetta
You may find old articles by googling someone's name in the "google" box located between "Search" and "Donate" on the right side at the top of this page. It may take a moment to figure it out .. but ... you can give it a try looking for "old articles on aoa".
Posted by: Bob Moffit | September 04, 2016 at 06:25 AM
Hi Angus
I don't know what we deduce from this. The data shows grades going up which may be grade inflation but it does not show grades going down. Also what people are examined on and how they are examined changes over the many decades so it is not clear again what we are comparing. This is not to say that there is not a problem of growing developmental impairment in the population but I am not sure that this is measuring it. Another notable feature of our time which may drive better results is (1) the students are being forced to pay for their university education so they take it much more seriously but (2) competition in the jobs market when they leave is also much steeper. Also the pool of sudents apply is actually much bigger. The atmosphere of entering university is much different to 40 years ago - a lot less pleasurable I suspect.
Posted by: The Glittering Prices | September 04, 2016 at 05:00 AM
Thank you Dan. You said it so well and it really speaks to me. My high functioning son has tried three times to launch. He had the developmental instinct but not the capability. I felt like a mother bird watching her baby take off from the nest with a broken wing. The crash and burns are painful for him and for me. He is now in an apartment near my home and I visit every day. I hope he will be able to feel independent of me or at least have the support he needs to survive before I die. I am 74. He is 25 adopted.
Posted by: Anna Quandt | September 04, 2016 at 01:32 AM
Linda; My son was laid off last year and I told him to go back to school, since he liked it pretty good and get an additional something to do with computers since he likes those too.
He had to buy a book for 500, well it was not his - he rented it and they did not charge him another 100 dollars for not returning it; and they had a strict due date.
Posted by: Benedetta | September 03, 2016 at 10:25 PM
Bob:
I had read you article , and knew about your daughter. Mine daughter too had a bizarre disease - Kawasaki's disease . Her spleen also swelled up .
I tried to find it today before I asked - But--I I could not find your article.
Do I have to have the title to type in?
There are lots of articles I would like to go back and find, but find it rather difficult to figure out how to do so quickly.
Sage Stalone age 36 -- the full brother to Sylvester Stallone's other autistic son -age 32 -- was found dead - I think - today? From a drug overdose.
There is another poor judgment - and poor choice. Mentally healthy people do not make such choices on things that will destroy their life. Something there my friends. So is Apathy.
Posted by: Benedetta | September 03, 2016 at 10:09 PM
Thorazine, the "miracle" drug for treating schizophrenia in the 1950's, was within a decade or so found to cause tardive dyskinesia (TD). Now it seems clear this is the longterm result of many medications, and the older you get the more you are coerced into taking pills, and if you suffer from side effects, they have another pill for that.
Now that I live in an elderly housing community, I see too many people debilitated by severe mobility problems. Dizziness, a common side effect, leads to imbalance, and soon serious falls with head injury. But for people passed their mid-70s, that is not viewed with appropriate alarm.
Forget about retirement projects, plans for travel, even getting out for fresh air. The medical establishment is a disgrace, responsible for autism, addictions, Alzheimer's, and many more afflictions.
Posted by: Patience (Eileen Nicole) Simon | September 03, 2016 at 07:42 PM
These problems continue along, down the generations.
I know a woman whose mother was a microbiologist many years ago. Would have been a doctor, except that she had polio; one leg so compromised that it left her with a significant limp. Way back then, bias against women as doctors was so strong, she just had to forget about that.
As a microbiologist, she was around chemicals all her adult life. Plus the lingering polio effects, whatever they may have been.
In addition, that was the "Mad Men era." A martini or two, before dinner. Wine along with dinner. And constant smoking of cigarettes; chain-smoking sometimes. Two-pack-a-day habit.
Her (only) daughter had some fairly obvious physical problems. Seemed (seems) pretty much normal, mentally -- not autistic, etc.
But the daughter's children!! First is severely disabled -- but mom was trying hard not to gain weight. To the extent that the fetus was probably constantly malnourished -- insult to injury.
Second child, seemingly normal. But not quite, not really. Mother has been told that all 3 children have identical genetic defect(s). (Did not share just what that would be . . . )
Third child, over youngish age diagnosed as autistic. Then Asperger's.
All 3 children -- plus the mother, in my opinion -- go back to damage done from the grandmother. No vaccines needed. Although if any were given, so much the worse.
= = = = = = = =
Then with regard to Gulf War vets and the like. Not only were they required to get various shots and take various meds, but many of them were exposed to all sorts of chemicals. Toxic smoke from fires; fumes from jet fuel and exhaust; and more.
I remember a story about some guys -- (Air Force?) -- who were cleaning airplane parts. Elbow-deep in some sort of toxic chemical stuff. No gloves, no goggles or masks, no protective gear of any kind.
= = = = = = = = =
And then there's the grandson of a man who died about 5 or 6 years ago. The grandfather had developed dementia. The grandson, now grown and with a child of his own, could be a poster boy for Fragile X -- if anyone in their family ever looked at photos of Fragile X, they would recognize it.
The grandfather ran a nursery. Plants required lots of pesticides, back then. No protective gear, back then. One of the grown children of this man remembers seeing him "up to his elbows" in some kind of liquid pesticide. Many times, not just once.
= = = = = = = = =
Think there's a pattern here somewhere ?
.
Posted by: Nonnymouse | September 03, 2016 at 06:59 PM
Well Bob, regarding live and learn at least you have tried to do what you can at this point which is more than I can say for the AAP, which seems hell bent on destroying children for the pharmaceutical industry. There really won't be many healthy ones left soon.
Posted by: for Bob | September 03, 2016 at 05:57 PM
@ Benedetta
Bob; How old is your grandie with autism?
Our "non-verbal" young man is 16 years old .. remains fixated on Elmo .. a truly loveable grandson who gives his parents, grandparents, sibling, uncles, aunts, cousins .. great moments of joy. We are blessed to have him.
Unfortunately .. about 50 years ago .. at four years of age ... my own perfectly healthy daughter developed ITP .. a blood disease that every doctor we consulted could not offer any explanation as to what caused her disease .. although they all used the same word .. bizarre .. whenever we asked what the hell happened to her. Eventually .. after 2 months in hospital ..her spleen was surgically removed .. and .. today .. she is the mother of three of my five beautiful grandchildren ..with a seriously compromised immune system for life.
It wasn't until my third grandson was born .. about 35 years after my daughter .. that we heard the dreaded word "autism" for the first time. We couldn't believe that we had another child with a disease that we had never heard of before .. but .. this time we had access to the inter-net and quickly learned that not only autism but ITP were linked to vaccines.
Today ... ITP .. that "bizarre" disease that doctors couldn't explain or treat absent surgery .. is LISTED as a potential adverse reaction on a number of childhood vaccines .. indeed .. ITP is just one of the Gulf War diseases that affected so many of our veterans who were aggressively vaccinated in anticipation of being deployed to Kuwait to drive Saddam's Iraqi forces out of that country.
Again .. my generation lived in different times .. such as .. when we had our daughter .. my wife and I were in our early twenties .. and .. trust me on this .. THE DOCTOR IN THE WHITE COAT WAS GOD TO US ... AND ... WHATEVER HE TOLD US TO DO .. WE DID IT WITHOUT QUESTION.
Which is just one of the reasons .. as an advanced senior citizen ... I have lost FAITH and TRUST in every major institution in the USA today ..
They say ... "Live and Learn" .. we did ... only to LEARN ABOUT VACCINES TOO LATE TO HELP OUR CHILD AND GRANDCHILD.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | September 03, 2016 at 04:59 PM
The Glittering Prices
The overall standards have dropped significantly the eyes are open and the brains are no longer with us.The cover up is all around us just the same cover-up as in ,no vaccine link. We've all seen it in practice -pressure to get good results so as to obtain funding and grants, because if you don't pass these kids ;curtains...
"The universities awarding the highest proportion of firsts or 2:1s last year were Exeter, where 82 per cent of graduates received the top degrees compared with just 29 per cent in 1970, and St Andrews – Scotland's oldest university, where Prince William met fiancée Kate Middleton – where the figure was also 82 per cent compared with just 25 per cent in 1970.
Imperial College London and Warwick both granted 80 per cent firsts or 2:1s last year, compared with 49 per cent and 39 per cent respectively in 1970.
At Bath University the figure was 76 per cent last year compared with just 35 per cent in 1970."
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | September 03, 2016 at 04:59 PM
all thanks for so many interesting comments. i wouldn't object to living in a long house myself if that were the cultural norm --one thing i learned in my work is that the amish live at home till they marry (when the men grow beards they never shave). there is certainly nothing wrong with that if it's what people really want to do. in the old days too there might be military service for most young people, and perhaps there should be again (with the peace corps or other alternate opportunities to serve). so there can be a lot of ways of entering adulthood. but being sick is not one of them. there just seems to be a disconnect between our understanding that children with mental and physical disabilities/delays are at a disadvantage and our collective bafflement when a significant portion are in the same shape 20 years later. several of you have listed disorders and diseases prevalent these days (but not before) that would set back even the most ambitious young person, and make the point better than i can. i believe most young people want to grow up and out, whatever external obstacles happen to face their particular generation, and must be deeply frustrated when internal circumstances hold them back. not to mention their parents, or society which of course is nothing other than their collective success, or lack of it. -- dan
Posted by: Dan Olmsted | September 03, 2016 at 04:37 PM
I have read about the hikikomori phenomenon in Japan, where young people take to their rooms
for years or indefinitely. Large numbers are affected. One wonders about vaccinations and/or seafood, with a side effect of social withdrawal. In the 2008 book Diagnosis: Mercury, San Francisco
doctor Jane Hightower describes how a large number of her patients turned up with mercury toxicity,
apparently from what would pass for normal fish consumption. And she describes, of course, the failure of authorities to address the problem.
Posted by: Vicki Ward | September 03, 2016 at 03:55 PM
Jonathan
In May 2011 I wrote to NIH director Francis Collins regarding his statement to congress on environmental harm in 2006 (when he was director of the Human Genome project):
"The calamity that we face today is that in 5 years barely a single child has been saved from environmental harm by any government initiative, and new studies report that no less than 54% of US children suffer from the chronic diseases... and from the CDC itself that 1 in 6 has a developmental disability... all of which you indicated all that time ago are due to environmental changes. "
http://www.ageofautism.com/2011/05/an-open-letter-to-francis-collins-54-of-american-children-suffer-f.html
I got a pitiful letter back from an NIH officer pointing out the money they were spending - or was it wasting. More important what they have wasted is time and human life. They take our money and then everything else. A few weeks later the NIH welcomed a public visit from the editor of the British Medical Journal in which she poured out demonstrable falsehoods about Andrew Wakefield, and got a hero's welcome - how the idiots chuckled and cheered. Perhaps some of them were genuinely stupid enough to believe it. But they are corporatists at heart: it is only the salaries and pensions that count.
In 2006 Collins mentioned epigentic research as a panacea - at least he thought of doing something. But I have better idea, they should just stop poisoning us.
Posted by: John Stone | September 03, 2016 at 03:55 PM
Thanks, Dan!
It is hard to blame our kids for the way they grow up when we are poisoning them. Not just with vaccines and other environmental chemicals, but EMFs are also a major contributor to chronic inflammation. I suspect many parents give their kids as much freedom as they can handle, but the kids are in no shape to handle very much. We have some friends with what seems to be a very coddled child, but perhaps they are doing the best they can for her, given the damage she has sustained.
Rimland's book is excellent, I wish more people would read it.
@Shelley Tzorfas well said. I've ordered your book and am looking forward to it: https://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Autism-ADHD-Special-Needs/dp/0988853108/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472931562&sr=8-1&keywords=Shelley+Tzorfas
Posted by: Tim Lundeen | September 03, 2016 at 03:40 PM
The important point here is that we simply can't go on like this. The current situation is unsustainable and will lead (in the not very distant future) to general economic collapse. An ever increasing proportion of the younger generation is unemployable or minimally employable, thanks to Autism, ADHD, and a host of other chronic conditions. Or they're dead, thanks to optoids. The Vietnam War killed 55,000 US soldiers today, and those casualities and the protests against the war were fully covered by the media. Today the medical profession is responsible for 250,000 iatrogenic deaths every year, and it's a nonissue: no mainstream institution or media outlet sees it as a problem or proposes to do anything about it.
Posted by: Jonathan Rose | September 03, 2016 at 02:26 PM
Dan,
A few more thoughts...
How many school shootings do you remember while we were growing up? Except for Kent State, which was a widely decried tragic anomaly perpetrated by the police and not students, I remember exactly none. Kids today have grown up in a horrifically violent time, close to them with kids savagely going after each other in an unpredictable unsafe environment while being led by inept adults who more often than not make matters worse, and in continuous wars fought since they were born.
Bob,
I see what you're saying and I agree to an extent. But I think there is another way to look at it too - that we didn't protect them enough. That our generation got lazy and disconnected and didn't pay attention as the world was going so far off its axis that our young could no longer stand up in it. They are so abused by this current system. If you get a college loan, the government skims a nice fee right off the top. So the student doesn't have that money that he borrowed to pay for tuition but has to pay it back (including the fee) with interest. And, some of these common student loans start accruing interest immediately upon receipt. So that by the time a student graduates from college, the amount owed balloons into an astronomical sum. Required college textbooks are ridiculously expensive and they often don't even come with a binding. You can spend $200 on a "book" that is shrink wrapped loose pages. They get these kids coming and going. Ours is a society that poisons, traumatizes, then eats its young. It is no wonder that they fail to launch.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 03, 2016 at 02:03 PM
I remember reading a terrific book back in 1992, The Way We Were, a look back into life in the 1950's.
Its pages now yellow, it takes on the eroding family values, the rise of sexual revolution, the feminist movement and other changes in our society. I found it an interesting perspective, but pretty mild compared to today's reality. Our society now--toxic in every way. Toxic vaccines, food, water supplies, drugs for every ailment and drugs to alter the side effects from the drugs. Then toxic TV ads, a massive on the streets drug culture and a toxic government that doesn't give a damn about its people. Send them to false flag wars, spend billions a year on massive attacks on civilians of other countries, spray US citizens with mind and body blowing chemicals, a government of 6 large corporations where most of the wealth goes to the elite few, a society that can only move forward on the promotion of high technological instruments. A government that values lying to the public at every turn, where politicians only care about stuffing their pockets with dough. that wants to remove parental right and take over the care(or lack of) of our children,that strives to chip us like animals and de-freedom us(a made up word). Is it any wonder our progeny are going crazy? Not to forget to mention a school system that frowns upon individual though and action to keep its students in line for the next phase of its control. And there's the media controlled by the government. Do I have fear for the next generation? You bet. The 50's had its problems, but I'll take them any day..
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | September 03, 2016 at 01:02 PM
Dan, You are so right. Your comments remind me of the Japanese way of looking at illness as an unacceptable condition. So, at first, when strange things happened to the citizens of Minamata in Japan they called it the "elegant disease" to make it less stigmatizing, and when cats leaped around and then into the sea to drown for no good reason they called it "dancing cat" disease. Birds also fell from the sky without explanation. This form of denial is justified when there is no reasonable explanation. It took, I believe, around 50 years after the cause (methyl mercury poisoning) was found to finally provide monetary relief to people who had been poisoned by eating fish that contained methyl mercury. The poisoning started already in the '30s. The offending plastics-producing Chisso plant that had released mercury into the waters finally was forced to pay up in 2001.
Posted by: Birgit Calhoun | September 03, 2016 at 12:42 PM
Not all people feel that way Dan. There are societies where everyone lives together in a longhouse. Is it really better to shack up with a boyfriend or girlfriend than to live at home/
Posted by: Sun~Rose | September 03, 2016 at 12:23 PM
Through the latter eighties there seemed to be a real increase in learning disabilities and ADHD, that much I can attest to. Schools and classes started springing up that were geared to that and it seemed to be a real and new challenge. Of course there always seemed to be some dyslexic or hyperactive children but there seemed to be a real increase around this time.
Posted by: Ex social worker | September 03, 2016 at 12:13 PM
Well, at least some of this is cultural. In some parts of the world people die in the same house they were born in, living with several generations the whole time. That is the cultural norm and I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Sometimes I think that our society is too aggressive with our young and socially fragmented and isolationist instead of socially supportive and cohesive. Our family unit has been breaking down for some time. In the 1960's there was upheaval, but the family unit as a launchpad was stronger at that time, IMO. One of the big differences between then and now is the pervasive inescapable messaging from Big Brother. Children of the 60's can somewhat tune it out because we formed without it, but I don't think the millennials can. They have never known a time when they were not bombarded with a constant stream of confusion. Schools are likewise much more intense and sophisticated in use of behavioral management strategies. I just think that some millennials are too psychically beaten up to venture out on their own in this very frightening world. When we were kids, college didn't set us up for debtor's prison. We had police brutality, but nothing like what we see now. Cops back in the day didn't have a belt loaded down with every portable weapon ever invented like cops wear now. Cops weren't shooting people for nothing every day. Prisons weren't a private for profit business - the more customers the merrier. In the 1960's, kids couldn't wait to get a driver's license. A large percentage of millennials do not want to drive and it isn't because there is something wrong with them. I was driving at 16. If I was 16 today, I think I would walk.
I looked at an apartment lease recently. I was shocked at the wording. I remember the first lease I signed some forty years ago. It was such a big deal for me to be going out on my own, to this day I can see that lease in my head. There were protections written into the lease for both me, as the renter, and the landlord. Today's standard lease, IMO, has zero protection for the renter. That's standard now. Some of these protections could be already written into state law. I'm not sure. But there is definitely a difference between not only our kids, but our country, then vs. now. It is not a nice world to step out into. You might say that 1960's America was also no picnic, but I believe it is a lot less nicer now. I left home at a tender age. I think if it was now, I might be hiding in the basement.
As I write, I am reminded that the poor and disenfranchised always had the roughest climb out of adolescence. It may be that the middle class now, as the "middle class" is disappearing, is experiencing the reality that the poor and oppressed minorities have always known. The basement might be the middle class equivalent of the "hood".
All that said, yes, chronic illness can destroy the confidence necessary to venture out into the world, 1960's or 2016. And this generation has on top of everything else, to cope with the ill health that has been inflicted upon them by their predecessors.
Posted by: Linda1 | September 03, 2016 at 11:58 AM
Some of us can bear witness to our own descent into ADD/ADHD as a result of MMR or in my case MR vaccine in college.
My freshman year I took Calculus and remember diligently spending 45 minutes to an hour on each homework problem with 4-5 problems in a row. Complete concentration was required and given. Me on my dorm bed doing math problems one are the other for hours at a stretch.
Now fast forward to spring semester of Jr. year where things were completely different. So markedly different that I took pictures. I marvelled at my inability to focus and concentrate for more than about 10 minutes on any given assignment or task. I have a picture of my dorm room floor covered with papers and specifically remember how I had to jump from task to task project to project, subject to subject every 10 mins to get anything done. I also remember sleeping very little - 5 hours of sleep at night was all I needed.
After my daughter had a vaccine reaction I requested my own vaccine records from college and was shocked to find that the one trip I took to student health - was seen as an opportune time for med students to administer vaccines - and I got a measles-rubella vaccine in Feb. of my junior year. Spring semester 1989. The semester of a marked change in my attentiveness. The semester I became a hamster on a wheel.
The good news is my grades didn't really suffer and probably several (5-6 or so) years later I could concentrate again for long stretches.
I think the human embryo proteins in the rubella vaccine have something to do with setting off autoimmune response and that may be to blame.
Posted by: One Vaccine Injured Child is too many | September 03, 2016 at 11:33 AM
Apathy is a good description.
I get spurts some times of what a young person is really like , and it gives me hope; but it don't last, and we are back into apathy.
Bob; How old is your grandie with autism?
Posted by: Benedetta | September 03, 2016 at 11:31 AM
The kids we're discussing here were born in the 80s and onward. They have problems making it as adults for mysterious reasons. I know so many of them. One of the disabling factors seems to be severe bowel disease. Some others fail to launch because they have become drug addicts. Opioid abuse does not bode well for employment since the user is constantly nodding out, and may spend 16 hours a day in bed. Even kids who did really well in school now have wasted lives from drug abuse.
In my case, my daughter is a workaholic, but with out of control anxiety that leaves her in a constant state of fear that she will be fired. She does have dyslexia, and short term memory issues left over from many years of chronic illness, and she does make mistakes at work so her fears are not entirely unfounded. She also has been in two abusive relationships that ended in divorce. Her self-esteem is so low that she accepts being treated as inferior, and she can't read the cues correctly when someone is a sadist or a narcissist.. She has suffered through both physical and verbal abuse. I have to wonder how many kids that are on the fringe of the spectrum end up in highly abusive relationships.
Posted by: kapoore | September 03, 2016 at 11:16 AM
John Stone -
'In the UK and the US, for example, we have taken it for granted that children went away to university, whereas in France and Germany they might just go to the local university even if they were high-flyers (or so I have been told).'
It is certainly the case in Germany that schoolchildren move on to a local university rather than applying across the country according to reputation, France as I understand it has more flexibility; it was also standard as recently as the nineties for all young men to spend a year in national service in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and no doubt much of the eastern block.
But it is important not to attribute lower level disorders such as ADD / ADHD to social changes since they clearly have medical roots and are not something that can be coached out of a child any more than a victim of depression can pull himself out of it. Current scientific understanding of the brain is so primitive that a diagnosis is little more than a description of symptoms and it seems likely that inflammatory illness lies at the heart of everything from ADD through PDD-NOS to autism and depression. Also, as Angus notes it is likely that many of the current generation of children who have no diagnosis are nonetheless under performing due to sub clinical inflammation.
Posted by: Science is pure. People are corrupt. | September 03, 2016 at 11:04 AM
Angus
I wouldn't make too many conections here - to be a possible candidate for Cambridge you still have to be getting the highest grades in national examinations. One of the features of the system is that Oxford and Cambridge interview all their candidates - which can be a lot - and now almost no one else does. Oxford manage to whittle them down by having their own qualifying examination and it sounds like Cambridge are now following suit. But, of course, the best way the ruling classes can maintain their superiority in this age is to go easy on the vaccines and eat organic.
Posted by: The Glittering Prices | September 03, 2016 at 10:53 AM
Are people missing the point? This is not really about young people leaving home or about being thrust into wars.. It is about how, at last count , 54% of our children are made to be chronically ill and some are incompetent.54% of our kids (This is the old number-waiting for a new update) are ill. Autism, ADHD, SEIZURES, non verbal, serious childhood Leukemia, debilitating Tourettes,bi-polar, schizophrenic,Juvenile Diabetes, an endless list of maladies that have not previously existed in such enormous numbers.
Something changed.
Something changed beyond the scope of the environment, beyond the air, water, and food. Those things take years to manifest illness.
We have been allowing our system to shoot children 74 times with Aluminum, thimerosal/mercury, formaldehyde, aborted fetal cells, dangerous Peanut oils, cells of PIGS, DOGS, cows (Containing Leukemia cells too small to be removed easily) monkeys chicks insects Ammonium salts and other Horrific chemicals that bypass digestion and coagulate into the brains and souls of children.Media has convinced the non thinking population that these chemicals and toxins make children healthy?? Teachers are hard hit and believe this is for health. Then there are the raging illnesses of kids at the beginning of the school year late summer, early fall. Why are kids suddenly so ill every year at this time? It cannot possibly be because children are sharing toys with their classmates.. It is because children are getting shot with substances made from Fetal Cells that are considered to be "Live." These shots Spread illnesses to others for 30-60 days. This accumulation was created when our right to sue vaccine maker's was permanently stripped away in 1986 thus newborns began getting shot on their first day of life in a mad cow type experiment for an illness they could not get and had nothing to do with childhood. That was the Hepatitis B vaccine. The year-1991. The year, in my opinion, that the Autism Epidemic was given birth to…Until that time (Except for Rainman) no one heard of Autism or knew anyone who had it but today (In the US) almost everybody knows someone with Autism. Today (Because kids souls are shot up) kids going to schools or malls with Artillery is not uncommon starting with Columbine towards the late 90's. The 90's USHERED in these shots and illnesses. 1997 Pharmaceutical companies began to be allowed to direct market medications (And now vaccines) to the population. Only in the US and New Zealand can they rule the marketing and programming. At this point we might not even have enough healthy young people to take over in a few years and run this country. We can no longer build our cities and country on Rock n Roll…
Posted by: Shelley Tzorfas | September 03, 2016 at 10:42 AM
Aimee Doyle,
"I'm curious whether others have noticed this increase in mental illness among young people - is it real or an artifact of statistics? Also what might be the cause (college vax requirements, overall toxic load)."
You have made an important observation, and have raised an important question. I have seen no one, or no organization, address the totality of this issue, including AoA, CDC, WHO, IOM, NIH, FDA, EPA, etc. Two major technical components of the problem are Big Data, and, equally important, Credible Data.
In my eBook on Pervasive Causes of Disease, I identified ~800 foundational (tangible) items that contributed to more than a threshold number of diseases. The total list of contributing factors to less than the threshold number of diseases was closer to 8,000. Given the linkages among the immune system, the neural system, the endocrine system, the circulatory system, etc, it is hard for me to see how a substance that is toxic to one of these systems (as reported in the biomedical literature) would not have some level of adverse impact on the related systems.
So, if we are seeing increases in myriad neuro-developmental disorders, and we want to identify related contributing factors, we would have to start by examining the increased prevalence over time of the hundreds or thousands of potentially toxic stimuli identified in my eBook. That would provide correlation information. Then, we would have to identify plausible biological mechanisms that would link these potential foundational causes to the myriad diseases. Other Bradford Hill criteria for causation would also have to be included for highest credibility.
While individual laboratory experiments have the potential to offer useful information (if conducted and reported honestly), they can only go so far. Real-world exposures that humans experience involve synergies of potentially toxic substances, and many of these exposures are unknown. How many people carry an RF meter with them to measure microwave radiation exposure at all times? How many people carry a mass spec with them to measure chemical exposures at all times? Much epidemiological data is less than useful because of the very limited data obtained on the full spectrum of potentially toxic exposures that may be contributing to the diseases of interest.
Unless a contributing factor is so overwhelmingly dominant as the 'cause' of a disease of interest, it is difficult for me to see how the potential contributing factors can be deconflated to identify the contribution of each, given their sheer volume and unknown synergies.
But, our having to identify the culprits in this manner is backwards. In a rational world, we should not have to prove that substances are dangerous before taking them off the market. In a rational world, the proponents would have to prove they are safe before being allowed to enter the market. This is the Precautionary Principle at work, and is the only approach that offers hope of countering the chronic disease epidemic that threatens to overwhelm us!
Posted by: Ronald Kostoff | September 03, 2016 at 10:41 AM
(I got cut off it seems). The zillions of accompanying physical symptoms are not connected to their psychological symptoms in any way.
Posted by: Rebecca Lee | September 03, 2016 at 09:31 AM
I noticed last week that Cambridge UK is reintroducing the written examination as the A levels are so dumbed down they are not worth the paper they are written on..with 1 in 3 kids at the local secondary school requiring classroom assistant teachers the trickle has started.. the one thing pharma et-al knows it ain't vaccines... right!!
"Cambridge University brings back entrance exams amid struggle to identify brightest students"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/03/14/cambridge-university-brings-back-entrance-exams-amid-struggle-to/
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | September 03, 2016 at 09:27 AM
YES!!! Thank you for writing this Dan Olmsted. You are entirely right. The generation that got hammered with all the mercury from the vaccine is a group of really odd kids. Autism is just the tip of the iceberg. Autism is the worst thing that can happen perhaps, but mercury causes HUNDREDS of symptoms, many of which are psychological.
A young friend of mine comes to mind. She suffered from sleep apnea, had to be driven to a pain clinic for meds and wound up getting a sex change operation. This person was brilliantly intelligent. (I have no quite figured out yet whether being mercury toxic makes you smart somehow or whether being smart is just a risk factor.). I remember my dismay at the state of her living conditions as she seemed incapable of seeing dirt or mess.
This person I have described is not that unusual these days. How come there are so many transgender kids now that finding bathrooms for them has become an issue? Saying that they are suddenly feeling safe enough to 'come out' seems like saying the autism epidemic is just better diagnosing.
Fortunately, my friend was quite an upbeat person, because for the most part, heavy metal toxicity fundamentally interferes with a persons ability to be happy. From the heavy and dully violent emotions of the lead toxic who have peopled our inner cities for generations to this new influx of hyper-sensitive, overwrought kids we are getting now, we have human beings who have been robbed of their God-given right to be healthy and happy by the stupid and venal sociopaths that seem to be running things.
I can't close without putting in a plug for the Andy Cutler chelation protocol which is currently the only safe remedy for this poisoning. I am tired of hearing that all those kids from Flint, Michigan are doomed, and so forth. No, they can be recovered. It takes years of hard and boring work but it is well worth doing, certainly. The same for the mercury toxic folk., although they often feel that being all crazy and eccentric is perfectly normal and that the zillion of accompanying physical symptoms are not connected in any way.
Posted by: Rebecca Lee | September 03, 2016 at 09:27 AM
One thing I find very worrisome is the increased incidence of mental illness among young people of high school or college age. I remember when I went to college, I read that "1 in 10" young Americans lived with mental illness; recently I've read that the number is now "1 in 4". I don't have cites for these statistics - I'm an eclectic reader, so they could be off. But it does seems that there is more mental illness among young people now than there used to be.
My 26 year old son has autism (and not the high functioning kind). However, among our group of friends whose kids don't have autism, one young college-aged man was just diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and another just post-college was diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder (from what I understand, a disorder combining bipolar and schizophrenic features). There are other young people among our friends' kids who've struggled with (undiagnosed) anxiety, depression, and just general failure to launch.
I'm curious whether others have noticed this increase in mental illness among young people - is it real or an artifact of statistics? Also what might be the cause (college vax requirements, overall toxic load).
Posted by: Aimee Doyle | September 03, 2016 at 08:58 AM
John
When I was born .. the US had a "mandatory draft" for MALES to serve in armed forces at the age of 18. As a teenagers .. we had just seen the older guys in our neighborhood be drafted to fight, suffer injuries and die .. in the US war in Korea .. and .. we were very aware of any trouble spots in the world lest we may be drafted to fight another world.
(Vietnam was not too far in the distance .. but .. we didn't have any idea at that time. In fact I was serving 18 months in a peacetime Germany when the first US troops were deployed as "advisors" in South Vietnam)
I any event .. I knew only one guy ,. out of the 25 or so guys that I hung around with .. that went to college .. Princeton at that. Instead of college ..most of us entered the military services .. either by enlisting or being drafted .. such as myself .. "drafted" into the US Army at 18 years of age .. and .. though I swore I would NEVER speak well of my "basic training and 24 months of service" .. none-the-less .. I WAS ON MY OWN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE ... SUDDENLY FORCED TO GROW UP AND EARN THE RESPECT OF MY FELLOW TROOPS .. BLACK, WHITE, ASIAN, ETC .. WHO SERVED ALONGSIDE ME.
The Vietnam War which cost the lives of US 55,000 young men and women .. bought an end to the "mandatory draft" in the US today .. and .. whether you believe that is good or bad .. I believe our country would have avoided some of the "adventurous military excursions" ... such as ... Iraq and Afghanistan .. that have lasted 15 YEARS and still counting. No way would older generations allow our government DRAFT on young men and women to "spread democracy by launching pre-emptive strikes .. to force regime changes .. in sovereign nations .. such as ... Libya and Syria .. with absolutely no end in sight of the carnage these adventures unleashed.
But .. again .. that's probably just the rant of an OLD man .. who believes today's generation .. as evidenced by SF multi-million dollar quarterback Colin Kaepernick's decision to publicly disrespect our national anthem because he believes the anthem represents "oppression of black Americans" has grown up in a country that is far different than the US of my long ago youth.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | September 03, 2016 at 08:54 AM
Bob
There is a lot in what you are saying, having allowed that our children bear an unprecedented toxic burden (my children are certainly my heroes). In more conservative cultures what was expected was competence and the ability to take over. In the UK and the US, for example, we have taken it for granted that children went away to university, whereas in France and Germany they might just go to the local university even if they were high-flyers (or so I have been told).
Posted by: John Stone | September 03, 2016 at 07:05 AM
"There’s nothing heroic about this, it is what people do and have done really for millennia -- a biologic imperative of youth to stand up, strike out on their own, show they can do it better and create their own life. The universe throws in some extra hormones or whatever to push us all out of the nest without a crippling fear of falling. Except, apparently, these days."
Dan .. I am 76 years of age .. and .. I don't think my generation had a "biologic imperative" when we were children that made us want to "stand up, strike out on our own, show we can do it better and create our own life". What we did have were parents, schools, communities, churches, on and on .. that ENCOURAGED .. and .. TAUGHT us .. how to "do what people have done really for millennia".
In other words .. when I was a child .. OUR parents ALLOWED us to "stand up for ourselves" .. OUR parents knew instinctively it wasn't in OUR best interest to "stand up FOR us". OUR parents not only ENCOURAGED .. but .. ALLOWED us to "strike out on our own" .. today communities can charge parents with "child abuse" if they allow their child to walk home alone from school. OUR parents ALLOWED us to "show we can do it better" .. today's parents want their child to receive a trophy for participating in a sport .. parents of younger children prefer no score be kept so no child will .. God forbid .. suffer the "agony of defeat". OUR parents and schools ENCOURAGED us to succeed in school as best we could and the school bestowed honors .. such as .. the highest honor a child could receive .. being named Valedictorian .. too many of today's schools .. with parent blessings .. have abandoned bestowing "honors" on gifted students in order not to lessen the "self-esteem" of those students not so gifted.
Dan .. we should NOT BE SURPRISED we now have a generation who are having trouble in everything from leaving home to adjusting to the rough and tumble of what used to be called “the real world” .. because .. THIS GENERATION HAS NEVER BEEN ENCOURAGED, ALLOWED OR TAUGHT to achieve most things .. such as .. self-esteem and self-respect .. ON THEIR OWN.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | September 03, 2016 at 06:49 AM