Signs of autism can be seen in infants
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/living/health/11235477.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
By Julie Deardorff
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Like many new mothers, Tina Fougere kept a diary after her twins were born. With great joy, she traced their tiny feet. She diagramed their sprouting teeth. And she diligently chronicled first steps, first words and first birthdays.
What Fougere didn't know at the time was that her son, Nathan, was autistic. The personal journals, which detailed everything from sleep patterns to facial expressions in the two children, have become illuminating scientific documents that show autism can be seen in children as young as 6 months.
Autism, a devastating and confounding neurological disorder, is rarely diagnosed before age 2 and often not until age 3 or 4. The findings generated from the diaries, published in last month's scientific journal Neurocase, offered an unprecedented glimpse at the early warning signs.
The information can be crucial to early intervention. But these red flags also give parents even more to worry about if a child isn't developing precisely on schedule. Boys and girls are notorious for reaching milestones at different times.
Now, in addition to tracking a child's height and weight, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention want parents to note when their child smiles, how often, when the child starts to speak, when he learns to play and how he interacts with others.
Are the signs reliable?
Specific therapies haven't been designed for children who show autism symptoms when they are younger than 1. And there is growing concern that pediatricians aren't adequately trained to diagnose children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
"It's a new area, and we're still asking the question: Are the signs reliable enough to predict?" said Mel Rutherford, an assistant professor of psychology at Ontario's McMaster University, who studied the Hamilton, Ontario, mother's journals. "The danger is not whether we (diagnose) too early. The danger is not being accurate."
The number of children who have a condition in the autism spectrum is staggering. In the 1980s, it was thought that one in 2,500 had one. It's now one in 166, according to recent CDC estimates. Yet no one can explain why.
Instead, the effort is focused on early diagnosis. Last month, the CDC launched a campaign, "Learn the Signs. Act Early" (www.cdc.gov/ actearly) to teach parents the signs of normal development.
By 15 to 18 months, for example, a child should be able to say several single words, according to the guidelines. But what parents should know is that autistic children have delays in all forms of communication -- verbal and non-verbal. A lack of words at 15 to 18 months isn't necessarily cause for concern as long as he can point and grunt to show parents what he wants.
"If a whole suite of skills is not coming or is late, then you should start to wonder what is going on," Rutherford said.
Warnings often subtle
In Fougere's case, the twins appeared to develop normally for the first six months. Both smiled, were vocally responsive and showed a preference for family members over others, Rutherford said. Nathan even crawled and walked before his sister.
By age 1, however, Nathan showed less eye contact, less verbal communication and less affection toward others than his sister. In hindsight, a telling moment for Fougere was when Nathan seemed uninterested in his first birthday party.
Still, warning signs are rarely obvious. Betsy Marks' 3-year-old son, Jonah, developed normally for the first year and began speaking. At 13 months, the eight words he knew vanished from his vocabulary. But the changes were subtle. "We thought he wasn't talking and he was fussier because he broke his leg (about that time)," said Marks of Highland Park, Ill. "It happened really slowly."
© 2005 Lexington Herald-Leader and wire service sources.
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Study: Autism linked to mirror neuron dysfunction
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-03/uoc--alt032905.php
Findings may lead to early diagnosis of the disorder and possible therapies
Seeing is doing – at least it is when mirror neurons are working normally. But in autistic individuals, say researchers from the University of California, San Diego, the brain circuits that enable people to perceive and understand the actions of others do not behave in the usual way.
According to the new study, currently in press at the journal Cognitive Brain Research, electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings of 10 individuals with autism show a dysfunctional mirror neuron system: Their mirror neurons respond only to what they do and not to the doings of others.
Mirror neurons are brain cells in the premotor cortex. First identified in macaque monkeys in the early 1990s, the neurons – also known as "monkey-see, monkey-do cells" – fire both when a monkey performs an action itself and when it observes another living creature perform that same action. Though it has been impossible to directly study the analogue of these neurons in people (since human subjects cannot be implanted with electrodes), several indirect brain-imaging measures, including EEG, have confirmed the presence of a mirror neuron system in humans.
The human mirror neuron system is now thought to be involved not only in the execution and observation of movement, but also in higher cognitive processes – language, for instance, or being able to imitate and learn from others' actions, or decode their intentions and empathize with their pain.
Because autism is characterized, in part, by deficits in exactly these sorts of social interaction and communication skills, previous research has suggested that a dysfunctional mirror neuron system may explain the observed pathology. The current findings, the researchers say, lend substantial support to the hypothesis.
The UC San Diego team collected EEG data in 10 males with autism spectrum disorders who were considered "high-functioning" (defined as having age-appropriate verbal comprehension and production and IQs above 80) and 10 age- and gender-matched control subjects.
The EEG data was analyzed for mu rhythm suppression. Mu rhythm, a human brain-wave pattern, is suppressed or blocked when the brain is engaged in doing, seeing or imagining action, and correlates with the activity of the mirror neuron system. In most people, the mu wave is suppressed both in response to their own movement and to observing the movement of others.
Subjects were tested while they moved their own hands and while they watched videos of visual white noise (baseline), of bouncing balls (non-biologic motion) and of a moving hand.
As expected, mu wave suppression was recorded in the control subjects both when they moved and when they watched another human move. In other words, their mirror neuron systems acted normally. The mirror neurons of the subjects with autism spectrum disorders, however, responded anomalously – only to their own movement.
"The findings provide evidence that individuals with autism have a dysfunctional mirror neuron system, which may contribute to many of their impairments – especially those that involve comprehending and responding appropriately to others' behavior," said Lindsay Oberman, first author of the paper and UCSD doctoral student working in the labs of senior authors V.S. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, and Jaime Pineda, director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory.
The current study, the researchers say, adds to understanding the neural basis of autism and may point the way to early diagnosis and to potential therapies.
A first step, Ramachandran said, might be to test those individuals who seem to have a greater genetic likelihood of autism: the younger siblings of those already diagnosed.
Though EEG is not at present designed to measure the brain rhythms of low-functioning autistics – whose many repetitive movements confound EEG signals and where mental retardation also plays a significant role in behavioral deficits – it can be used as a tool for earlier diagnosis of high-functioning autistics, whose disorder today is typically not recognized until age 3 or 4 and often later.
Earlier diagnosis in turn could lead to earlier interventions. One therapeutic possibility suggested by the study's findings is biofeedback.
Pineda, who also works on a number of brain-computer interface projects, says that the mu rhythm is one that we most readily learn to control.
"We can learn to increase or decrease the strength of the mu signal at will. By imagining action, subjects are able to move a paddle in a computer game of 'Pong' after just four to six hours of practice," he said. "Because this rhythm is one that we have access to volitionally, it may prove useful in therapy."
Another possible therapy would involve ordinary mirrors. Ramachandran has successfully treated amputees who experience pain or paralysis in their missing, or "phantom," limbs by using a mirror reflection of their healthy limb to "trick" their brains into believing that the missing limb has been restored to pain-free motion. Since autistics' mirror neurons respond to their own motion, the researchers say, perhaps their brains can be induced to perceive their own reflected movements as the movements of another human being.
"We have a long way to go before these therapeutic possibilities are a reality, but we're that much closer now that we've linked autism to a specific region of the brain," said Ramachandran. "More than just documenting a brain anomaly in autism, we've been able to relate symptoms that are unique to the disorder – loss of empathy and imitative skills – to the function of a particular circuit, the mirror neuron system."
Other authors on the study are: Eric Altschuler, former UCSD postdoctoral researcher now at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who with Ramachandran and Pineda originally presented preliminary findings on mirror neuron dysfunction in one autistic child in 2000; Edward Hubbard, recent UCSD graduate now at the French National Institute of Health (INSERM) in Paris; and UCSD graduate student Joseph McCleery.
The team is now pursuing another, related line of research: Are mirror neurons involved in the ability to understand metaphors? Autistic individuals typically have difficulties with metaphors, often interpreting them literally, and the researchers believe this too may be connected to a dysfunctional mirror neuron system.
"Even as the clinical study of mirror neurons is giving us insights into autism and other disorders," Ramachandran said, "it is also giving us glimpses of a host of uniquely human – and elusive – mental capacities: making metaphors and passing on proverbs, to name just two."
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Findings may lead to early diagnosis of the disorder and possible therapies
Seeing is doing – at least it is when mirror neurons are working normally. But in autistic individuals, say researchers from the University of California, San Diego, the brain circuits that enable people to perceive and understand the actions of others do not behave in the usual way.
According to the new study, currently in press at the journal Cognitive Brain Research, electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings of 10 individuals with autism show a dysfunctional mirror neuron system: Their mirror neurons respond only to what they do and not to the doings of others.
Mirror neurons are brain cells in the premotor cortex. First identified in macaque monkeys in the early 1990s, the neurons – also known as "monkey-see, monkey-do cells" – fire both when a monkey performs an action itself and when it observes another living creature perform that same action. Though it has been impossible to directly study the analogue of these neurons in people (since human subjects cannot be implanted with electrodes), several indirect brain-imaging measures, including EEG, have confirmed the presence of a mirror neuron system in humans.
The human mirror neuron system is now thought to be involved not only in the execution and observation of movement, but also in higher cognitive processes – language, for instance, or being able to imitate and learn from others' actions, or decode their intentions and empathize with their pain.
Because autism is characterized, in part, by deficits in exactly these sorts of social interaction and communication skills, previous research has suggested that a dysfunctional mirror neuron system may explain the observed pathology. The current findings, the researchers say, lend substantial support to the hypothesis.
The UC San Diego team collected EEG data in 10 males with autism spectrum disorders who were considered "high-functioning" (defined as having age-appropriate verbal comprehension and production and IQs above 80) and 10 age- and gender-matched control subjects.
The EEG data was analyzed for mu rhythm suppression. Mu rhythm, a human brain-wave pattern, is suppressed or blocked when the brain is engaged in doing, seeing or imagining action, and correlates with the activity of the mirror neuron system. In most people, the mu wave is suppressed both in response to their own movement and to observing the movement of others.
Subjects were tested while they moved their own hands and while they watched videos of visual white noise (baseline), of bouncing balls (non-biologic motion) and of a moving hand.
As expected, mu wave suppression was recorded in the control subjects both when they moved and when they watched another human move. In other words, their mirror neuron systems acted normally. The mirror neurons of the subjects with autism spectrum disorders, however, responded anomalously – only to their own movement.
"The findings provide evidence that individuals with autism have a dysfunctional mirror neuron system, which may contribute to many of their impairments – especially those that involve comprehending and responding appropriately to others' behavior," said Lindsay Oberman, first author of the paper and UCSD doctoral student working in the labs of senior authors V.S. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, and Jaime Pineda, director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory.
The current study, the researchers say, adds to understanding the neural basis of autism and may point the way to early diagnosis and to potential therapies.
A first step, Ramachandran said, might be to test those individuals who seem to have a greater genetic likelihood of autism: the younger siblings of those already diagnosed.
Though EEG is not at present designed to measure the brain rhythms of low-functioning autistics – whose many repetitive movements confound EEG signals and where mental retardation also plays a significant role in behavioral deficits – it can be used as a tool for earlier diagnosis of high-functioning autistics, whose disorder today is typically not recognized until age 3 or 4 and often later.
Earlier diagnosis in turn could lead to earlier interventions. One therapeutic possibility suggested by the study's findings is biofeedback.
Pineda, who also works on a number of brain-computer interface projects, says that the mu rhythm is one that we most readily learn to control.
"We can learn to increase or decrease the strength of the mu signal at will. By imagining action, subjects are able to move a paddle in a computer game of 'Pong' after just four to six hours of practice," he said. "Because this rhythm is one that we have access to volitionally, it may prove useful in therapy."
Another possible therapy would involve ordinary mirrors. Ramachandran has successfully treated amputees who experience pain or paralysis in their missing, or "phantom," limbs by using a mirror reflection of their healthy limb to "trick" their brains into believing that the missing limb has been restored to pain-free motion. Since autistics' mirror neurons respond to their own motion, the researchers say, perhaps their brains can be induced to perceive their own reflected movements as the movements of another human being.
"We have a long way to go before these therapeutic possibilities are a reality, but we're that much closer now that we've linked autism to a specific region of the brain," said Ramachandran. "More than just documenting a brain anomaly in autism, we've been able to relate symptoms that are unique to the disorder – loss of empathy and imitative skills – to the function of a particular circuit, the mirror neuron system."
Other authors on the study are: Eric Altschuler, former UCSD postdoctoral researcher now at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who with Ramachandran and Pineda originally presented preliminary findings on mirror neuron dysfunction in one autistic child in 2000; Edward Hubbard, recent UCSD graduate now at the French National Institute of Health (INSERM) in Paris; and UCSD graduate student Joseph McCleery.
The team is now pursuing another, related line of research: Are mirror neurons involved in the ability to understand metaphors? Autistic individuals typically have difficulties with metaphors, often interpreting them literally, and the researchers believe this too may be connected to a dysfunctional mirror neuron system.
"Even as the clinical study of mirror neurons is giving us insights into autism and other disorders," Ramachandran said, "it is also giving us glimpses of a host of uniquely human – and elusive – mental capacities: making metaphors and passing on proverbs, to name just two."
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The David Center Scholarship for Parents or Guardians
Do you need financial assistance for your child under 18 years of age who needs a therapy or service?
The David Center is now accepting applications from parents or guardians to apply for David Center Scholarships.
Visit their website at: http://www.thedavidcenter.org
to learn how to apply.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
The David Center is now accepting applications from parents or guardians to apply for David Center Scholarships.
Visit their website at: http://www.thedavidcenter.org
to learn how to apply.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Autism's echoes fill this home (Article on family of 5 children with ASD)
Autism's echoes fill this home
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
AUSTIN — There is a quiet irony in Jeanette and Patrick O'Donnell's house, where autism has taken hold of five of their six children.
Though the brain disorder is most often associated with an inability to speak, autism has rendered this household anything but silent.
"You have to get used to the sound," Jeanette says of the crashes and pops that mean something is breaking or hitting the floor, usually propelled by small hands. The cacophony of seven older television sets, usually tuned to different channels, drones in the background, fed by a backyard satellite dish.
"We have to have TV on all the time," Jeanette, 44, says. "It's a stimulant."
It's rare to have so many children with the disorder. A database operated by the non-profit advocacy group Cure Autism Now says the O'Donnells are one of only three known U.S. families with five autistic children. Fourteen other families have four.
"People say, 'How do you do it?' " Jeanette says. "We weren't really given a choice. It would be the same if we had diabetic children or a child who had cancer."
"We're not big into self-pity," adds Patrick, 39, a print room supervisor for an insurance management company.
A glimpse into the O'Donnells' modest four-bedroom home is more than a look at the faded furniture they either inherited or bought at garage sales: It's a peek at a family on the verge of overload.
"You get stressed," Jeanette says. "Sometimes I go, 'Oh, my God, I can't take another minute.' "
Living with autism has meant adjusting to diagnoses spanning a spectrum of baffling symptoms. Jeanette provides almost non-stop prodding, with reminders about basic grooming, and caters to the rigid routines and personal quirks characteristic of the disorder:
• Caitlin, the oldest at 14, has classic autism, the most severe form. She has a high-pitched scream and has difficulty being around others.
• The next oldest, Deirdre, 10, has Asperger syndrome, the mildest form. She converses about subjects like Greek mythology but is socially awkward.
• Erin, 8, has some signs of classic autism as well as a sensitivity to sight and sound. Her diagnosis: "Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified."
• Patrick, 5, is in pre-kindergarten part time and also attends preschool for children with disabilities. He has the same diagnosis as Erin.
• Kiernan, 4, also is in preschool for disabled children. Diagnosed with severe autism, he rocks back and forth and is never far from a TV.
Meaghan, 7, is the only child not diagnosed with autism. She loves to draw and often helps her parents with the others.
"It kind of upset her that she was different," Jeanette says. "I said, 'That just makes you a special child in this home. You don't want autism.' "
A silent epidemic
Autism can transform a loving toddler into a detached and uncommunicative child. Researchers aren't sure of its causes and say there is no cure. But numbers are increasing dramatically. A decade ago, one in every 2,500 U.S. children had autism; now it's one in 166, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
The Autism Society of America, an advocacy group, says the number of Americans with autism could rise from 1.5 million to 4 million in the next decade.
Researchers are studying a number of possible causes and contributing factors, including the role of genetics and childhood vaccines. Scientists now believe there is a strong genetic link, but exactly which genes and how abnormalities occur is still a mystery. The O'Donnells say doctors told them in 1993, when Caitlin was diagnosed, that it was not hereditary.
They had already had four kids by the time a second child, Erin, was diagnosed in 1999. Jeanette says the three youngest were conceived while she was using a low-dose birth control pill.
"When autism comes into a family's home, it dominates the house and puts the family in a crisis situation," says Lee Grossman, president of the Autism Society.
Patrick umpires softball two nights a week to help stretch their single income. The family gets state and federal financial assistance totaling about $2,500 a month, which also includes respite-care money for a babysitter.
There is little couple time in this busy household, Patrick acknowledges. "Our quiet time is 10:15 p.m. to 10:25 p.m., when you pass out on the bed talking to me," he says, glancing over at his wife.
But they believe all their efforts make a difference. After years of speech therapy, all the O'Donnell children but 4-year-old Kiernan speak, though some haltingly. Caitlin stopped saying words at 15 months and didn't talk again until she was almost 8. Doctors say Kiernan also could have mental retardation, though it's hard to determine because he is non-verbal.
Caitlin, a middle-schooler in both regular and special-ed classes, has a full-time attendant, provided by the school district to keep her from running away from classmates. At home, she's usually in her pink bedroom with Barbie curtains, at the computer, playing video games or watching TV, even eating her meals there.
At home, they let go
The house may look disheveled and sound like a war zone, but Jeanette wants it to be the one place the kids can relax and be themselves after struggling to control their behavior all day at school. "Sometimes they go nuts here. They draw on the walls. They break the furniture. They've got to have somewhere they can let go."
A yelp from upstairs turns into crying, as Jeanette meets Caitlin at the foot of the stairs. "Honey, what happened?" she asks.
Caitlin holds out her hand, wailing, "My fingers."
"You shut the door on it?" Jeanette asks as she soothes her. "You'll be all right."
"She's hypersensitive. She is a little dramatic. She can't help it," Jeanette says.
Autism has not affected the kids' motor skills. All but Patrick, 5, walked by 10 months; he walked three months later. But some of them often walk on tiptoe.
"They don't like to touch the carpeting," Jeanette says, explaining their sensory sensitivities.
Erin likes only tight-fitting clothing; Caitlin, when she was younger, and now Kiernan, shed their clothes at home. Kiernan, at 4, walks around in a shirt and diaper most of the time. Deirdre is sensitive to the textures of certain foods.
Sometimes the quirks are more disruptive — and dangerous.
Kiernan is most often the crash culprit. He climbs up onto cabinets and breaks glasses. He knocks over the file cabinet in the garage turned playroom. He pushed over the floor lamp in the den and shattered a TV by knocking it off a table.
Just recently, he broke his right arm when he was climbing onto a vacuum cleaner box 18 inches off the ground. Lack of impulse control is another symptom of the disorder.
"He's got a big body, but he's only 10 months in his brain," Jeanette says.
Deirdre wasn't diagnosed until last year, at age 9. "We went all these years and didn't know she had it," Jeanette says. "We were so used to a certain kind" of autism.
Jeanette and Patrick's lives are far different from what they had imagined when they met in 1989 in an elevator in Manhattan on the way to the same New Year's Eve party. They moved back to Austin, Jeanette's hometown, when her father was dying; Caitlin was 11 months old. She wasn't diagnosed until she was 21/2, after months of doctors saying her constant crying was because of colic.
"We did everything we knew how," Patrick says. "We were raised to believe doctors knew best. We weren't doctors, but after dealing with some ... we realized they had less of a clue than we did."
The diagnosis was sobering. "The norm is, you get really mad that your kid has it," Jeanette says. "Then you get depressed because you've been cheated."
Keeping calm day by day
Patrick acknowledges that it is tough to parent such children. "Jeanette has said I'm one of the most calm people she's been around, but I have a lot of frustration and anger underneath. I have seven people who depend on me for whatever they depend on me for, and I can't let the frustration or the anger spill over."
Playing softball twice a week with pals works off his frustration, he says. "I get to hit a 12-inch-round ball instead of hitting an 18-inch-round head."
Jeanette's mom sometimes helps with the kids, and babysitter Michele Pollard, 30, has provided some relief for the past 10 years. Paid largely from state respite-care funds, Pollard takes some of them to bowl, play miniature golf or the children's museum to improve social skills.
Jeanette, whose degree was in agricultural education, helped pay for college by working with autistic teenage girls; until two years ago, she operated an in-home day-care center to boost the family income. Now she volunteers mornings at the elementary school, where she retreats to the quiet copier room to photocopy paperwork for teachers while her kids are in class. "I've had six kids in that school, and I think I kind of owe them," she says.
Having six children — even without autism — can be a handful. But having five with autism has meant learning how to become their advocate and fighting for them.
"They're here to teach me something, I'm sure," Jeanette says.
© Copyright 2005 USA TODAY
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
AUSTIN — There is a quiet irony in Jeanette and Patrick O'Donnell's house, where autism has taken hold of five of their six children.
Though the brain disorder is most often associated with an inability to speak, autism has rendered this household anything but silent.
"You have to get used to the sound," Jeanette says of the crashes and pops that mean something is breaking or hitting the floor, usually propelled by small hands. The cacophony of seven older television sets, usually tuned to different channels, drones in the background, fed by a backyard satellite dish.
"We have to have TV on all the time," Jeanette, 44, says. "It's a stimulant."
It's rare to have so many children with the disorder. A database operated by the non-profit advocacy group Cure Autism Now says the O'Donnells are one of only three known U.S. families with five autistic children. Fourteen other families have four.
"People say, 'How do you do it?' " Jeanette says. "We weren't really given a choice. It would be the same if we had diabetic children or a child who had cancer."
"We're not big into self-pity," adds Patrick, 39, a print room supervisor for an insurance management company.
A glimpse into the O'Donnells' modest four-bedroom home is more than a look at the faded furniture they either inherited or bought at garage sales: It's a peek at a family on the verge of overload.
"You get stressed," Jeanette says. "Sometimes I go, 'Oh, my God, I can't take another minute.' "
Living with autism has meant adjusting to diagnoses spanning a spectrum of baffling symptoms. Jeanette provides almost non-stop prodding, with reminders about basic grooming, and caters to the rigid routines and personal quirks characteristic of the disorder:
• Caitlin, the oldest at 14, has classic autism, the most severe form. She has a high-pitched scream and has difficulty being around others.
• The next oldest, Deirdre, 10, has Asperger syndrome, the mildest form. She converses about subjects like Greek mythology but is socially awkward.
• Erin, 8, has some signs of classic autism as well as a sensitivity to sight and sound. Her diagnosis: "Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified."
• Patrick, 5, is in pre-kindergarten part time and also attends preschool for children with disabilities. He has the same diagnosis as Erin.
• Kiernan, 4, also is in preschool for disabled children. Diagnosed with severe autism, he rocks back and forth and is never far from a TV.
Meaghan, 7, is the only child not diagnosed with autism. She loves to draw and often helps her parents with the others.
"It kind of upset her that she was different," Jeanette says. "I said, 'That just makes you a special child in this home. You don't want autism.' "
A silent epidemic
Autism can transform a loving toddler into a detached and uncommunicative child. Researchers aren't sure of its causes and say there is no cure. But numbers are increasing dramatically. A decade ago, one in every 2,500 U.S. children had autism; now it's one in 166, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
The Autism Society of America, an advocacy group, says the number of Americans with autism could rise from 1.5 million to 4 million in the next decade.
Researchers are studying a number of possible causes and contributing factors, including the role of genetics and childhood vaccines. Scientists now believe there is a strong genetic link, but exactly which genes and how abnormalities occur is still a mystery. The O'Donnells say doctors told them in 1993, when Caitlin was diagnosed, that it was not hereditary.
They had already had four kids by the time a second child, Erin, was diagnosed in 1999. Jeanette says the three youngest were conceived while she was using a low-dose birth control pill.
"When autism comes into a family's home, it dominates the house and puts the family in a crisis situation," says Lee Grossman, president of the Autism Society.
Patrick umpires softball two nights a week to help stretch their single income. The family gets state and federal financial assistance totaling about $2,500 a month, which also includes respite-care money for a babysitter.
There is little couple time in this busy household, Patrick acknowledges. "Our quiet time is 10:15 p.m. to 10:25 p.m., when you pass out on the bed talking to me," he says, glancing over at his wife.
But they believe all their efforts make a difference. After years of speech therapy, all the O'Donnell children but 4-year-old Kiernan speak, though some haltingly. Caitlin stopped saying words at 15 months and didn't talk again until she was almost 8. Doctors say Kiernan also could have mental retardation, though it's hard to determine because he is non-verbal.
Caitlin, a middle-schooler in both regular and special-ed classes, has a full-time attendant, provided by the school district to keep her from running away from classmates. At home, she's usually in her pink bedroom with Barbie curtains, at the computer, playing video games or watching TV, even eating her meals there.
At home, they let go
The house may look disheveled and sound like a war zone, but Jeanette wants it to be the one place the kids can relax and be themselves after struggling to control their behavior all day at school. "Sometimes they go nuts here. They draw on the walls. They break the furniture. They've got to have somewhere they can let go."
A yelp from upstairs turns into crying, as Jeanette meets Caitlin at the foot of the stairs. "Honey, what happened?" she asks.
Caitlin holds out her hand, wailing, "My fingers."
"You shut the door on it?" Jeanette asks as she soothes her. "You'll be all right."
"She's hypersensitive. She is a little dramatic. She can't help it," Jeanette says.
Autism has not affected the kids' motor skills. All but Patrick, 5, walked by 10 months; he walked three months later. But some of them often walk on tiptoe.
"They don't like to touch the carpeting," Jeanette says, explaining their sensory sensitivities.
Erin likes only tight-fitting clothing; Caitlin, when she was younger, and now Kiernan, shed their clothes at home. Kiernan, at 4, walks around in a shirt and diaper most of the time. Deirdre is sensitive to the textures of certain foods.
Sometimes the quirks are more disruptive — and dangerous.
Kiernan is most often the crash culprit. He climbs up onto cabinets and breaks glasses. He knocks over the file cabinet in the garage turned playroom. He pushed over the floor lamp in the den and shattered a TV by knocking it off a table.
Just recently, he broke his right arm when he was climbing onto a vacuum cleaner box 18 inches off the ground. Lack of impulse control is another symptom of the disorder.
"He's got a big body, but he's only 10 months in his brain," Jeanette says.
Deirdre wasn't diagnosed until last year, at age 9. "We went all these years and didn't know she had it," Jeanette says. "We were so used to a certain kind" of autism.
Jeanette and Patrick's lives are far different from what they had imagined when they met in 1989 in an elevator in Manhattan on the way to the same New Year's Eve party. They moved back to Austin, Jeanette's hometown, when her father was dying; Caitlin was 11 months old. She wasn't diagnosed until she was 21/2, after months of doctors saying her constant crying was because of colic.
"We did everything we knew how," Patrick says. "We were raised to believe doctors knew best. We weren't doctors, but after dealing with some ... we realized they had less of a clue than we did."
The diagnosis was sobering. "The norm is, you get really mad that your kid has it," Jeanette says. "Then you get depressed because you've been cheated."
Keeping calm day by day
Patrick acknowledges that it is tough to parent such children. "Jeanette has said I'm one of the most calm people she's been around, but I have a lot of frustration and anger underneath. I have seven people who depend on me for whatever they depend on me for, and I can't let the frustration or the anger spill over."
Playing softball twice a week with pals works off his frustration, he says. "I get to hit a 12-inch-round ball instead of hitting an 18-inch-round head."
Jeanette's mom sometimes helps with the kids, and babysitter Michele Pollard, 30, has provided some relief for the past 10 years. Paid largely from state respite-care funds, Pollard takes some of them to bowl, play miniature golf or the children's museum to improve social skills.
Jeanette, whose degree was in agricultural education, helped pay for college by working with autistic teenage girls; until two years ago, she operated an in-home day-care center to boost the family income. Now she volunteers mornings at the elementary school, where she retreats to the quiet copier room to photocopy paperwork for teachers while her kids are in class. "I've had six kids in that school, and I think I kind of owe them," she says.
Having six children — even without autism — can be a handful. But having five with autism has meant learning how to become their advocate and fighting for them.
"They're here to teach me something, I'm sure," Jeanette says.
© Copyright 2005 USA TODAY
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Autism - Mercury Poisoning, Epidemic levels breached...How Did This Happen?
Publisher press release available at URL: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/3/emw221858.htm
The autism tragedy has reached epidemic levels in the U.S. and in other countries. Affected children number in the hundreds of thousands.
SEATTLE, WA (PRWEB) March 28, 2005 -- Every American child entering the public school system is required to receive 21 specified vaccinations designed to protect them from dangerous diseases. In his book, Mercury: The Winged Messenger (now available at online booksellers), Courtney L. Zietzke writes that a chemical added to those vaccines has exposed children to dangerous levels of toxic mercury, that has caused debilitating autism with the government’s full knowledge.
Zietzke, who learned of this dilemma after his own son became autistic after receiving 21 vaccinations before 16 months of age, has written Mercury: The Winged Messenger to inform people about the intentional addition of a deadly chemical to vaccines and the subsequent cover-up of this problem by officials.
The chemical additive Thimersoal has been added to vaccinations intentionally in order to maximize pharmaceutical profits from multi-dose vaccine bottles. Zietzke writes that about 50 percent of Thimerosal is mercury, a chemical the U.S. government has known is toxic since 1930. Despite clear warning signs and a sharp increase in sudden child autism, the government is protecting drug companies, Zietzke explains.
The Bush administration attempted to add an eleventh-hour provision in the Homeland Security Bill that would have protected the pharmaceutical industry from Thimerosal litigation, according to published reports. The government has also established a separate court of law to handle pharmaceutical cases, which issued a three-year statute of limitations provision significantly reducing the chance of recovery for children and financial assistance for victimized families. Zietzke highlights other highly suspicious circumstances related to this problem, including Bush administration officials’ close ties to drug giant Eli Lilly & Co., the company that added Thimerosal to the vaccines and marketed the product.
This eye-opening book illustrates how thousands of innocent American children have been put in danger by products meant to protect them. Zietzke believes that, to date, over 400,000 children have been heavy metal poisoned by these vaccines. “The people of the United States and the World need the truth to be told and the politicians need to help these children,” Zietzke writes. “So far, absolutely no help has been given. The pharmaceutical industry and the federal government have engaged in deceptive practices that have evaded the legal and moral processes of our society.”
It has been determined that children in the United Kingdom as well as a host of other countries are now suffering from this same affliction. The numbers of affected children have breached epidemic levels.
Zietzke and the medical community have spent the last three years investigating this issue. Thousands of concerned parents like Zietzke wanted answers into what had caused this national tragedy. The answers discovered are deeply disturbing.
Mercury: The Winged Messenger ( ISBN # 1-4184-3781-6 ) is available at all major online book sellers and is a must read book for every parent wanting to know the truth.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
www.AutismConcepts.com.
Wanda's comment:
Have you ever wondered what the autism-vaccine connection is about? But found learning the facts too technical, overwhelming or for some folks, even boring? If so, read Mercury: The Winged Messenger (A True Story of Corporate Greed & Political Corruption), written by Courtney L. Zietzke, a fellow parent of a child who is vaccine-injured with autism and mercury poisoning. This book tells the true story of what appears to be happening to far too many of our children. Warning: reading this book will in all likelihood make parents angry. The good news is we can put constructive use to our emotions and urge our government leaders to move forward quickly to ban mercury in vaccines and other biologic products (i.e. dental amalgams, and the commonly used labor-inducing drug, Pitocin), medically treat and educate our children, provide financial assistance to meet their needs and allow individuals who are vaccine-injured an opportunity to seek justice in a court of law.
The autism tragedy has reached epidemic levels in the U.S. and in other countries. Affected children number in the hundreds of thousands.
SEATTLE, WA (PRWEB) March 28, 2005 -- Every American child entering the public school system is required to receive 21 specified vaccinations designed to protect them from dangerous diseases. In his book, Mercury: The Winged Messenger (now available at online booksellers), Courtney L. Zietzke writes that a chemical added to those vaccines has exposed children to dangerous levels of toxic mercury, that has caused debilitating autism with the government’s full knowledge.
Zietzke, who learned of this dilemma after his own son became autistic after receiving 21 vaccinations before 16 months of age, has written Mercury: The Winged Messenger to inform people about the intentional addition of a deadly chemical to vaccines and the subsequent cover-up of this problem by officials.
The chemical additive Thimersoal has been added to vaccinations intentionally in order to maximize pharmaceutical profits from multi-dose vaccine bottles. Zietzke writes that about 50 percent of Thimerosal is mercury, a chemical the U.S. government has known is toxic since 1930. Despite clear warning signs and a sharp increase in sudden child autism, the government is protecting drug companies, Zietzke explains.
The Bush administration attempted to add an eleventh-hour provision in the Homeland Security Bill that would have protected the pharmaceutical industry from Thimerosal litigation, according to published reports. The government has also established a separate court of law to handle pharmaceutical cases, which issued a three-year statute of limitations provision significantly reducing the chance of recovery for children and financial assistance for victimized families. Zietzke highlights other highly suspicious circumstances related to this problem, including Bush administration officials’ close ties to drug giant Eli Lilly & Co., the company that added Thimerosal to the vaccines and marketed the product.
This eye-opening book illustrates how thousands of innocent American children have been put in danger by products meant to protect them. Zietzke believes that, to date, over 400,000 children have been heavy metal poisoned by these vaccines. “The people of the United States and the World need the truth to be told and the politicians need to help these children,” Zietzke writes. “So far, absolutely no help has been given. The pharmaceutical industry and the federal government have engaged in deceptive practices that have evaded the legal and moral processes of our society.”
It has been determined that children in the United Kingdom as well as a host of other countries are now suffering from this same affliction. The numbers of affected children have breached epidemic levels.
Zietzke and the medical community have spent the last three years investigating this issue. Thousands of concerned parents like Zietzke wanted answers into what had caused this national tragedy. The answers discovered are deeply disturbing.
Mercury: The Winged Messenger ( ISBN # 1-4184-3781-6 ) is available at all major online book sellers and is a must read book for every parent wanting to know the truth.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
www.AutismConcepts.com.
Wanda's comment:
Have you ever wondered what the autism-vaccine connection is about? But found learning the facts too technical, overwhelming or for some folks, even boring? If so, read Mercury: The Winged Messenger (A True Story of Corporate Greed & Political Corruption), written by Courtney L. Zietzke, a fellow parent of a child who is vaccine-injured with autism and mercury poisoning. This book tells the true story of what appears to be happening to far too many of our children. Warning: reading this book will in all likelihood make parents angry. The good news is we can put constructive use to our emotions and urge our government leaders to move forward quickly to ban mercury in vaccines and other biologic products (i.e. dental amalgams, and the commonly used labor-inducing drug, Pitocin), medically treat and educate our children, provide financial assistance to meet their needs and allow individuals who are vaccine-injured an opportunity to seek justice in a court of law.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Mass Drugging of School children: The Dark Secret of US Public Education
Mass Drugging of Schoolchildren: The Dark Secret of U.S. Public Education
by Mike Adams
NewsTarget.com
Monday, March 21, 2005
Source: http://www.newstarget.com/005629.html
http://www.organicconsumers.org/school/druggingkids32505.cfm
Mass drugging of school children remains dark secret of public education, psychiatry. Believe it or not, until recently, it has been perfectly legal for schools to force schoolchildren to be put on psychoactive mind-altering drugs as a condition of attending that school. That is, the school administrator or counselor could insist that a certain child be dosed with mind-altering drugs. It sounds bizarre, but it was absolutely true until just recently.
Finally, Congress has passed legislation that bans schools from forcing parents to drug their children for behavioral problems. This law was even signed by President Bush, believe it or not.
Now you may think that, gee, this wasn't a problem, I never heard about this. But in fact it was a huge problem. There have been many cases where children were denied an education because their parents refused to put them on narcotic stimulants, antidepressants and other drugs that we now know cause violent behavior and increased risk of suicide. There were schools actually forcing parents to put their children on drugs that would cause aggressive behavior and suicidal thoughts. And, in extreme cases, these drugs actually caused or contributed to the kind of mass murders like we saw in Columbine where the two high school students picked up assault rifles, went to school, and blew away teachers and classmates. These two kids were on antidepressant drugs -- it's still one of the most censored stories of the last decade.
Think about it: these kids were taking antidepressants when they blew away their classmates and teachers. And yet the school districts are insisting that more children be put on these drugs!
Now, I knew there were problems with the public school system, I knew that a lot of public education was a complete waste of time and that many public schools are nothing more than taxpayer funded daycare. But even I was horrified to learn that our public schools are turning into mental institutions and forcing children to be dosed on psychoactive drugs just to be there. What happened to the right of children to have an honest education these days? What happened to the right of parents to protect their children from the abusive behavior of drug companies and psychiatrists who irresponsibly over-prescribe these drugs even though they're increasingly aware of the toxic, dangerous side effects of these drugs? (By the way, three years ago, anybody who said that antidepressant drugs cause violent behavior was called a nut case. Now it's a commonly recognized scientific truth, published in peer-reviewed journals and widely acknowledged by the scientific community. It just goes to show you how unpopular it is when you're a few years ahead of the public perception on these things.)
This law has been needed for quite some time. And who was against this law? Of course, it was the psychiatrists! The community of psychiatrists did not want to let go of this power, because when you have the power to force children to take drugs and to force parents to put children on those drugs, you have consolidated power over entire communities. That's what the psychiatrists have done -- when psychiatrists were given the right to prescribe drugs, they were given power, and they don't want to let go of that power. So they fought bitterly against this bill and they aren't happy with its passage.
But of course, they're continuing to just invent new fictitious diseases by diagnosing children with so-called mental disorders that have no verifiable scientific basis whatsoever. These diseases are completely fictional (like "social anxiety disorder" and "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder"). The hallucinations, it seems, are in the minds of the psychiatrists, not in the minds of the children. And when it comes to behavioral disorders, if you want to calm down the children and help them pay attention and learn more effectively, you've got to look at nutrition, not drugs. You have to get the sugar out of their diets, you have to take the food additives and the hydrogenated oils and the high-fructose corn syrup out of their diets. When you do that, 80% of these children that have been diagnosed with ADHD become non-ADHD children in two weeks or less. 80%. All you've got to do is take these food additives out of their diet, and all of a sudden they're normal, wonderful children who can learn and focus. They don't need drugs.
The threshold for drugging children is far too low in this country -- we have far too many people interested in the power, the profits and the control of drugging children. And it is laws like this that we need passed in this country. We need people to know (especially parents) that they don't have to agree to having their children dosed on toxic drugs. They have the right to say no! They have the right to protect their children from the ambitions of psychiatrists, the megalomania of an industry that wants to drug entire populations, and the profit-seeking ambitions of the pharmaceutical industry.
What's interesting is that one of the main proponents of this bill was the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). Other groups that supported this law include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Foundation of Women Legislators (NFWL), and Parents for a Label and Drug Free Education.
You may wonder why the NAACP, in particular, backed legislation like this. The answer is because it was predominantly black children who were being labeled as problem children and dosed with these drugs. The black community in America is watching an entire generation be dosed up with mind-altering drugs. That's as sad as anything I've ever seen in this country. Instead of helping these young black children get an honest education and get the skills that they need to succeed in life, we had psychiatrists and drug companies just putting them on drugs that basically numb their brains to the point where, sure, they're no longer a behavioral problem, but they're not learning anything either. How does that help society? It doesn't. All it does is create another high school dropout who can't function because they didn't get an honest education.
I'm going to be called a racist for saying this (like I care), but here goes: there are a lot of white psychiatrists drugging the heck out of low-income black children and calling it "medicine." That's not medicine, that's a chemical assault on the children of America. And frankly, African Americans have every right to be outraged about it.
So let's stop drugging our children and let's start teaching them for a change. Let's get the psychiatrists out of our schools and get the drug companies away from our children. Why is it that we teach our children to "just say no to drugs," and then we turn around and dose them up on powerful narcotics anyway? What kind of message does that send to our nation's youth?
While we're at it, let's start paying teachers honest salaries so that we can attract and retain high-quality people into the teaching industry. Let's start funding our schools with the money they need to actually provide quality education and let's have some serious school reform so that we can eliminate the old bureaucracy that currently runs our public schools all across the country.
We have a system of education here that's 200 years old; nothing much has changed! We still have chalkboards, erasers and stodgy lecture formats for conveying information to students. We need something new in our schools, and there are a lot of hard-working teachers and administrators who have great ideas but are shut down by the bureaucracy and psychiatrists who insist on drugging the students. Let these people have a chance to get some work done, to do the teaching they want to do, to put new ideas into action and see what works in terms of educating our children. I believe that teachers are teachers for the right reason -- they want to work with children; they want to help children learn. We need to give them the tools and the funds that they need to be better teachers, and that means making sure our kids are off of drugs so they have the state of mind necessary for learning.
Because right now, we're not raising a generation of smart, well-educated children. We're producing a wave of over-diagnosed, over-drugged, over-labeled children who are increasingly incapable of functioning as productive citizens in society.
Mass drugging of schoolchildren remains dark secret of public education, psychiatry
Source: http://www.newstarget.com/005629.html
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
by Mike Adams
NewsTarget.com
Monday, March 21, 2005
Source: http://www.newstarget.com/005629.html
http://www.organicconsumers.org/school/druggingkids32505.cfm
Mass drugging of school children remains dark secret of public education, psychiatry. Believe it or not, until recently, it has been perfectly legal for schools to force schoolchildren to be put on psychoactive mind-altering drugs as a condition of attending that school. That is, the school administrator or counselor could insist that a certain child be dosed with mind-altering drugs. It sounds bizarre, but it was absolutely true until just recently.
Finally, Congress has passed legislation that bans schools from forcing parents to drug their children for behavioral problems. This law was even signed by President Bush, believe it or not.
Now you may think that, gee, this wasn't a problem, I never heard about this. But in fact it was a huge problem. There have been many cases where children were denied an education because their parents refused to put them on narcotic stimulants, antidepressants and other drugs that we now know cause violent behavior and increased risk of suicide. There were schools actually forcing parents to put their children on drugs that would cause aggressive behavior and suicidal thoughts. And, in extreme cases, these drugs actually caused or contributed to the kind of mass murders like we saw in Columbine where the two high school students picked up assault rifles, went to school, and blew away teachers and classmates. These two kids were on antidepressant drugs -- it's still one of the most censored stories of the last decade.
Think about it: these kids were taking antidepressants when they blew away their classmates and teachers. And yet the school districts are insisting that more children be put on these drugs!
Now, I knew there were problems with the public school system, I knew that a lot of public education was a complete waste of time and that many public schools are nothing more than taxpayer funded daycare. But even I was horrified to learn that our public schools are turning into mental institutions and forcing children to be dosed on psychoactive drugs just to be there. What happened to the right of children to have an honest education these days? What happened to the right of parents to protect their children from the abusive behavior of drug companies and psychiatrists who irresponsibly over-prescribe these drugs even though they're increasingly aware of the toxic, dangerous side effects of these drugs? (By the way, three years ago, anybody who said that antidepressant drugs cause violent behavior was called a nut case. Now it's a commonly recognized scientific truth, published in peer-reviewed journals and widely acknowledged by the scientific community. It just goes to show you how unpopular it is when you're a few years ahead of the public perception on these things.)
This law has been needed for quite some time. And who was against this law? Of course, it was the psychiatrists! The community of psychiatrists did not want to let go of this power, because when you have the power to force children to take drugs and to force parents to put children on those drugs, you have consolidated power over entire communities. That's what the psychiatrists have done -- when psychiatrists were given the right to prescribe drugs, they were given power, and they don't want to let go of that power. So they fought bitterly against this bill and they aren't happy with its passage.
But of course, they're continuing to just invent new fictitious diseases by diagnosing children with so-called mental disorders that have no verifiable scientific basis whatsoever. These diseases are completely fictional (like "social anxiety disorder" and "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder"). The hallucinations, it seems, are in the minds of the psychiatrists, not in the minds of the children. And when it comes to behavioral disorders, if you want to calm down the children and help them pay attention and learn more effectively, you've got to look at nutrition, not drugs. You have to get the sugar out of their diets, you have to take the food additives and the hydrogenated oils and the high-fructose corn syrup out of their diets. When you do that, 80% of these children that have been diagnosed with ADHD become non-ADHD children in two weeks or less. 80%. All you've got to do is take these food additives out of their diet, and all of a sudden they're normal, wonderful children who can learn and focus. They don't need drugs.
The threshold for drugging children is far too low in this country -- we have far too many people interested in the power, the profits and the control of drugging children. And it is laws like this that we need passed in this country. We need people to know (especially parents) that they don't have to agree to having their children dosed on toxic drugs. They have the right to say no! They have the right to protect their children from the ambitions of psychiatrists, the megalomania of an industry that wants to drug entire populations, and the profit-seeking ambitions of the pharmaceutical industry.
What's interesting is that one of the main proponents of this bill was the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). Other groups that supported this law include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Foundation of Women Legislators (NFWL), and Parents for a Label and Drug Free Education.
You may wonder why the NAACP, in particular, backed legislation like this. The answer is because it was predominantly black children who were being labeled as problem children and dosed with these drugs. The black community in America is watching an entire generation be dosed up with mind-altering drugs. That's as sad as anything I've ever seen in this country. Instead of helping these young black children get an honest education and get the skills that they need to succeed in life, we had psychiatrists and drug companies just putting them on drugs that basically numb their brains to the point where, sure, they're no longer a behavioral problem, but they're not learning anything either. How does that help society? It doesn't. All it does is create another high school dropout who can't function because they didn't get an honest education.
I'm going to be called a racist for saying this (like I care), but here goes: there are a lot of white psychiatrists drugging the heck out of low-income black children and calling it "medicine." That's not medicine, that's a chemical assault on the children of America. And frankly, African Americans have every right to be outraged about it.
So let's stop drugging our children and let's start teaching them for a change. Let's get the psychiatrists out of our schools and get the drug companies away from our children. Why is it that we teach our children to "just say no to drugs," and then we turn around and dose them up on powerful narcotics anyway? What kind of message does that send to our nation's youth?
While we're at it, let's start paying teachers honest salaries so that we can attract and retain high-quality people into the teaching industry. Let's start funding our schools with the money they need to actually provide quality education and let's have some serious school reform so that we can eliminate the old bureaucracy that currently runs our public schools all across the country.
We have a system of education here that's 200 years old; nothing much has changed! We still have chalkboards, erasers and stodgy lecture formats for conveying information to students. We need something new in our schools, and there are a lot of hard-working teachers and administrators who have great ideas but are shut down by the bureaucracy and psychiatrists who insist on drugging the students. Let these people have a chance to get some work done, to do the teaching they want to do, to put new ideas into action and see what works in terms of educating our children. I believe that teachers are teachers for the right reason -- they want to work with children; they want to help children learn. We need to give them the tools and the funds that they need to be better teachers, and that means making sure our kids are off of drugs so they have the state of mind necessary for learning.
Because right now, we're not raising a generation of smart, well-educated children. We're producing a wave of over-diagnosed, over-drugged, over-labeled children who are increasingly incapable of functioning as productive citizens in society.
Mass drugging of schoolchildren remains dark secret of public education, psychiatry
Source: http://www.newstarget.com/005629.html
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
New BOCES Report Cards
The NYS Education Department put BOCES (IEA) report cards onto its web site. They can be found at:
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/repcrd2004/boces/bocesrptcard/bocesrptcards.htm.
Parents who have children in a BOCES program, or who have children who may be referred to such programs, should read this data.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/repcrd2004/boces/bocesrptcard/bocesrptcards.htm.
Parents who have children in a BOCES program, or who have children who may be referred to such programs, should read this data.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Pick Your Poison - New Republic article on mercury
March 22, 2005
Pick Your Poison
by Gregg Easterbrook
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w050321&s=easterbrook032205
Mercury emitted by United States power plants is so incredibly dangerousit causes "hundreds of thousands" of birth defects per year, accordingto a very well-respected publication, The New Republic. The Bush administration's proposal to reduce mercury emissions from power plants,released last week, is "illegal" and "irresponsible" and "blatantly disregards the threat mercury poses to our children," according to the National Resources Defense Council. According to Senator John Kerry, the proposal is "one of the weakest pollution control regulations everwritten for a major industry." Sure sounds bad.
Yesterday I noted how a high school in Washington, D.C., was closed formore than a week simply because a few drops of mercury were found in ahallway. Mercury mania has also gone national, mainly over fears ofmercury in the exhaust of coal-fired power plants. Mercury is a poison and also a neurotoxin, so having it in the air can't be good--although there would be some mercury in the air regardless of industry, since about a third of airborne mercury occurs naturally. But what about the scare?
A National Academy of Sciences study has shown that mercury could cause learning disabilities and seizures in young children. How often this actually happens is, however, not known. About six percent of American women have blood mercury levels high enough to cause risk to infants, a Centers for Disease Control study has found. News reports commonly say that large numbers of American women are "at risk" to give birth to babies with birth defects owing to mercury, but actual incidence of mercury-linked health harm has not been established. Because mercury tends to accumulate in Great Lakes fish, the Food and Drug Administration has warned women of childbearing age not to eat more than six ounces of freshwater fish per week. Most studies show overall incidence of birth defects in the United States declining, so there's no epidemic; especially, childhood deaths from birth defects are in decline. And the "hundreds of thousands" of birth defects caused by mercury that The New Republic warned about? Umm, sorry, mistake. This figure exceeds the total annual number of babies born with developmental defects in the United States, which according to the National Academy of Sciences is about 120,000, about three percent of whom have defects caused by prenatal exposure to toxic chemicals. That's about 3,600 babies per year with defects engendered by toxics, which is plenty bad enough. What fraction of the 3,600 links to mercury is unknown but is probably small, as lead and drugs (both legal and illegal) are believed to be the primary chemical-exposure cause. Though mercury levels inwomen's blood are the concern of the moment, lead levels in women's blood have declined significantly, and lead is much more clearlyassociated with birth defects than mercury.
Why the increase in mercury levels in women's blood? Mercury"deposition" in the biosphere is rising owing to a century of globalcombustion of coal, which contains traces of the element. Mercury fromcoal-fired power plants has never been regulated, either in the United States or any nation. And now we return to the politics.
In 2002, George W. Bush proposed the world's first regulation ofpower-plant mercury--small reductions right away and a roughly 70 percent reduction over 15 years, via the president's "Clear Skies"pollution-reduction legislation. Editorialists and environmental lobbyists denounced Clear Skies, calling its mercury provisions insufficient. Since 2002, enviros, editorialists, and Democrats in the Senate have been fighting doggedly against the Clear Skies bill, which was just blocked again in the Senate two weeks ago. Yet if mercury from power plants really is an urgent threat, blocking Clear Skies had the effect of insuring there would be no reform. Had Clear Skies been enacted in 2002, some of the mercury reduction that the bill mandated would already have occurred.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled regulations that would reduce power-plant mercury regardless of the fate of the Clear Skies proposal. The mandates are a 21 percent reduction by 2010 and a 70 percent cut by 2018. Immediately the rules were assailed as inadequate; Kerry was among many to declare opposition to Bush's plan,saying mercury emissions "must be controlled better and faster." Yet the same situation obtains now as in 2002: If environmental groups or members of Congress manage to block the new rule, then instead of a mercury reduction, nothing will happen. It's hard not to suspect that what some enviros and Democrats (not all, of course) want is to prevent action against mercury, to give them a grievance for the 2006 and 2008 elections.
Opponents complain that the administration's two plans for reducing mercury emissions--first Clear Skies and now last week's action, which was taken under existing authority of the Clean Air Act--allow trading of emissions credits among power plants. This, it is said, might create local "hot spots" of mercury around generating stations that meet the regulation by buying credits from other power plants that reduce their emissions more than required. This might happen; it cannot be ruled out, but seems unlikely.
In 1990 Congress enacted a credits-trading system for acid rain. Since then power-plant emissions of the primary pollutant that causes acid rain have fallen by 32 percent, without "hot spot" problems. Credit-trading in acid rain has caused emissions to decline more rapidly in some places than others; surely credit-trading in mercury emissions would cause emissions to decline more rapidly in some places than inothers. But having a slower rate of decline than other places still leaves an area better off than now. Because mercury is heavy compared to the air, it may precipitate to the ground closer to power plants than does acid rain. This causes some to fear that mercury from generating stations can cause "hot spots" in a way that acid rain, which tends to spread regionally, does not. This, too, cannot be ruled out, but again the worst-case outcome of a credits-trading approach is likely to bethat mercury declines more slowly in some areas than in others.
Now let's turn to the parts left out of coverage of the issue--that U.S. mercury emissions are already declining anyway, and that almost all mercury to which Americans are exposed does not come from power plants in the first place.
Currently, United States power plants emit about 48 tons of mercuryannually. Mercury emission in the United States fell by nearly twice asmuch, a 97-ton reduction, during the 1990s, as the EPA imposed strictrules on municipal waste incinerators. Municipal waste incinerators werechosen as the first target because they emitted far more mercury thanpower plants; now that this category of emission is controlled, theregulatory focus turns to power plants. Because of the incineratorsrule, overall emissions of mercury in the United States were nearly cutin half during the 1990s.
So if U.S. emissions are already falling fast, how can there be aproblem in the first place? The reason is that most mercury emissions donot come from the United States. Global mercury emissions are at least 5,000 tons per year, with more than half originating in Asia. Combustion of coal for power is rising rapidly in Asia, especially in China, and often without anything like the emissions controls of the United States; Chinese coal, in turn, contains more mercury than most American coal. Mercury from China and elsewhere drifts on the winds to the United States in larger amounts than the mercury emitted here; increasingly, research shows that smog, acid rain, dust pollution, and toxic air pollution are global, often transiting the oceans. These are not reasons not to regulate mercury from U.S. power plants--regulation is needed. But suppose the Bush rule proposed last week, and denounced by the usual suspects, goes into effect. By its deadline year of 2018, U.S. will be emitting just 15 tons of mercury annually, far less than one percent of the current global total. Speeding up the cut back in mercury emitted by U.S. power plants would have almost no effect on theamount of mercury to which Americans are exposed, since the bulk of the problem comes from nature or from Asia to begin with.
No coverage of the mercury issue that I have seen has placed into context how small U.S. power-plant emissions are in the global scheme, or that current claims of a mercury-exposure crisis follow a dramaticreduction in U.S. mercury emissions. Reporters and editorialists seem determined to present mercury from U.S. power plants as a super-ultra danger, simply by leaving out the larger equation.
Lamenting the state of green politics, Nicholas Krist of recently wrote in The New York Times that environmental alarms are becoming like car alarms: so often blaring when false they are now ignored when real. The flap over power-plant mercury is a car alarm: Harm from power plant mercury is real but relatively small, and the regulation the White House proposes will nearly eliminate the part of the problem that's within U.S. power to fix. Not engaging in silly faux hysteria over the White House plan--John Kerry said last week, "When fathers can't feed their families the fish they catch and children can't learn in school, is the Bush administration really willing to allow an extra ten years of higher mercury pollution?"--would make green sentiment more credible where the alarm should be sounding, such as on global warming.
Gregg Easterbrook is a senior editor at TNR and a visiting fellow atthe Brookings Institution.*
The material in this post is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Pick Your Poison
by Gregg Easterbrook
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w050321&s=easterbrook032205
Mercury emitted by United States power plants is so incredibly dangerousit causes "hundreds of thousands" of birth defects per year, accordingto a very well-respected publication, The New Republic. The Bush administration's proposal to reduce mercury emissions from power plants,released last week, is "illegal" and "irresponsible" and "blatantly disregards the threat mercury poses to our children," according to the National Resources Defense Council. According to Senator John Kerry, the proposal is "one of the weakest pollution control regulations everwritten for a major industry." Sure sounds bad.
Yesterday I noted how a high school in Washington, D.C., was closed formore than a week simply because a few drops of mercury were found in ahallway. Mercury mania has also gone national, mainly over fears ofmercury in the exhaust of coal-fired power plants. Mercury is a poison and also a neurotoxin, so having it in the air can't be good--although there would be some mercury in the air regardless of industry, since about a third of airborne mercury occurs naturally. But what about the scare?
A National Academy of Sciences study has shown that mercury could cause learning disabilities and seizures in young children. How often this actually happens is, however, not known. About six percent of American women have blood mercury levels high enough to cause risk to infants, a Centers for Disease Control study has found. News reports commonly say that large numbers of American women are "at risk" to give birth to babies with birth defects owing to mercury, but actual incidence of mercury-linked health harm has not been established. Because mercury tends to accumulate in Great Lakes fish, the Food and Drug Administration has warned women of childbearing age not to eat more than six ounces of freshwater fish per week. Most studies show overall incidence of birth defects in the United States declining, so there's no epidemic; especially, childhood deaths from birth defects are in decline. And the "hundreds of thousands" of birth defects caused by mercury that The New Republic warned about? Umm, sorry, mistake. This figure exceeds the total annual number of babies born with developmental defects in the United States, which according to the National Academy of Sciences is about 120,000, about three percent of whom have defects caused by prenatal exposure to toxic chemicals. That's about 3,600 babies per year with defects engendered by toxics, which is plenty bad enough. What fraction of the 3,600 links to mercury is unknown but is probably small, as lead and drugs (both legal and illegal) are believed to be the primary chemical-exposure cause. Though mercury levels inwomen's blood are the concern of the moment, lead levels in women's blood have declined significantly, and lead is much more clearlyassociated with birth defects than mercury.
Why the increase in mercury levels in women's blood? Mercury"deposition" in the biosphere is rising owing to a century of globalcombustion of coal, which contains traces of the element. Mercury fromcoal-fired power plants has never been regulated, either in the United States or any nation. And now we return to the politics.
In 2002, George W. Bush proposed the world's first regulation ofpower-plant mercury--small reductions right away and a roughly 70 percent reduction over 15 years, via the president's "Clear Skies"pollution-reduction legislation. Editorialists and environmental lobbyists denounced Clear Skies, calling its mercury provisions insufficient. Since 2002, enviros, editorialists, and Democrats in the Senate have been fighting doggedly against the Clear Skies bill, which was just blocked again in the Senate two weeks ago. Yet if mercury from power plants really is an urgent threat, blocking Clear Skies had the effect of insuring there would be no reform. Had Clear Skies been enacted in 2002, some of the mercury reduction that the bill mandated would already have occurred.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled regulations that would reduce power-plant mercury regardless of the fate of the Clear Skies proposal. The mandates are a 21 percent reduction by 2010 and a 70 percent cut by 2018. Immediately the rules were assailed as inadequate; Kerry was among many to declare opposition to Bush's plan,saying mercury emissions "must be controlled better and faster." Yet the same situation obtains now as in 2002: If environmental groups or members of Congress manage to block the new rule, then instead of a mercury reduction, nothing will happen. It's hard not to suspect that what some enviros and Democrats (not all, of course) want is to prevent action against mercury, to give them a grievance for the 2006 and 2008 elections.
Opponents complain that the administration's two plans for reducing mercury emissions--first Clear Skies and now last week's action, which was taken under existing authority of the Clean Air Act--allow trading of emissions credits among power plants. This, it is said, might create local "hot spots" of mercury around generating stations that meet the regulation by buying credits from other power plants that reduce their emissions more than required. This might happen; it cannot be ruled out, but seems unlikely.
In 1990 Congress enacted a credits-trading system for acid rain. Since then power-plant emissions of the primary pollutant that causes acid rain have fallen by 32 percent, without "hot spot" problems. Credit-trading in acid rain has caused emissions to decline more rapidly in some places than others; surely credit-trading in mercury emissions would cause emissions to decline more rapidly in some places than inothers. But having a slower rate of decline than other places still leaves an area better off than now. Because mercury is heavy compared to the air, it may precipitate to the ground closer to power plants than does acid rain. This causes some to fear that mercury from generating stations can cause "hot spots" in a way that acid rain, which tends to spread regionally, does not. This, too, cannot be ruled out, but again the worst-case outcome of a credits-trading approach is likely to bethat mercury declines more slowly in some areas than in others.
Now let's turn to the parts left out of coverage of the issue--that U.S. mercury emissions are already declining anyway, and that almost all mercury to which Americans are exposed does not come from power plants in the first place.
Currently, United States power plants emit about 48 tons of mercuryannually. Mercury emission in the United States fell by nearly twice asmuch, a 97-ton reduction, during the 1990s, as the EPA imposed strictrules on municipal waste incinerators. Municipal waste incinerators werechosen as the first target because they emitted far more mercury thanpower plants; now that this category of emission is controlled, theregulatory focus turns to power plants. Because of the incineratorsrule, overall emissions of mercury in the United States were nearly cutin half during the 1990s.
So if U.S. emissions are already falling fast, how can there be aproblem in the first place? The reason is that most mercury emissions donot come from the United States. Global mercury emissions are at least 5,000 tons per year, with more than half originating in Asia. Combustion of coal for power is rising rapidly in Asia, especially in China, and often without anything like the emissions controls of the United States; Chinese coal, in turn, contains more mercury than most American coal. Mercury from China and elsewhere drifts on the winds to the United States in larger amounts than the mercury emitted here; increasingly, research shows that smog, acid rain, dust pollution, and toxic air pollution are global, often transiting the oceans. These are not reasons not to regulate mercury from U.S. power plants--regulation is needed. But suppose the Bush rule proposed last week, and denounced by the usual suspects, goes into effect. By its deadline year of 2018, U.S. will be emitting just 15 tons of mercury annually, far less than one percent of the current global total. Speeding up the cut back in mercury emitted by U.S. power plants would have almost no effect on theamount of mercury to which Americans are exposed, since the bulk of the problem comes from nature or from Asia to begin with.
No coverage of the mercury issue that I have seen has placed into context how small U.S. power-plant emissions are in the global scheme, or that current claims of a mercury-exposure crisis follow a dramaticreduction in U.S. mercury emissions. Reporters and editorialists seem determined to present mercury from U.S. power plants as a super-ultra danger, simply by leaving out the larger equation.
Lamenting the state of green politics, Nicholas Krist of recently wrote in The New York Times that environmental alarms are becoming like car alarms: so often blaring when false they are now ignored when real. The flap over power-plant mercury is a car alarm: Harm from power plant mercury is real but relatively small, and the regulation the White House proposes will nearly eliminate the part of the problem that's within U.S. power to fix. Not engaging in silly faux hysteria over the White House plan--John Kerry said last week, "When fathers can't feed their families the fish they catch and children can't learn in school, is the Bush administration really willing to allow an extra ten years of higher mercury pollution?"--would make green sentiment more credible where the alarm should be sounding, such as on global warming.
Gregg Easterbrook is a senior editor at TNR and a visiting fellow atthe Brookings Institution.*
The material in this post is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Traveling tips for families with an autistic child
by Chantal Sicile-Kira
Traveling with children may not seem like such a big deal. However, when one of them has an autism spectrum disorder, it adds an extra dimension.
Chantal Sicile-Kira, author of Autism Spectrum Disorders
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399530479/sheknowscom03-20>
and host of a weekly radio show "The Real World of Autism with Chantal" on Autism One Radio (http://www.autismone.org/), has traveled widely with her autistic son. She offers some insight.
Many families who have an autistic child do not travel because they are concerned about how the child will handle the change and disruption, or are overwhelmed at the thought of managing the certain behaviors their child might exhibit in public.
Leaving the security of home to a new place can be off putting for a child with autism. All the preparation may seem a bit daunting, but it pays to plan ahead.
In my book, I offer the following suggestions for preparing to travel with your child, which can be adapted to suit your child's needs. How you prepare your child depends on his age and ability level; and taking a short trip is recommended before attempting long voyages.
* Airports and train stations are areas that involve lots of waiting. Teach your child the "waiting" skill if he does not have it. Make or find a picture that will represent "waiting" to your child, such as a line drawing of a "stick" person sitting in a chair, with the face of a clock next to it. Write "waiting" clearly on the card. Glue to cardboard, laminate it and place a piece of Velcro somewhere on it. Next, make sure you have picture of whatever items your child usually requests or wants immediately (favorite food, toy, ride in the car) backed with Velcro.
Have a second's timer available. When you are ready to teach this skill, have the favorite items you know the child likes available to you, but out of sight and reach of the child. The next time your child communicates tha the wants that preferred item, put the picture on the Velcro on the waiting card, then put the timer on for a few seconds. Say, "we are waiting" and point to the card. When the timer goes off, immediately give him the desired item.
Some children need to start with a wait of only five seconds, and work on up from there. Others can start at 10 seconds or even closer to a minute. Once your child has learned to wait for a certain amount of time, add more time in small increments. Eventually, your child will understand that he WILL get what he asked for; it is only a matter of time. Then, when the family is preparing to go out, you can put the picture representing where you are going on the waiting sign and put the timer on 10 minutes (for example) before leaving the house. This will give him a heads up about when you are going, and where. When traveling, you can take the waiting sign, timer and goodies with you if necessary. Some may not need it, others will.
* Put up a monthly calendar with the departure date clearly marked, and hasthe child check off every day until departure. Bring the calendar with you and mark off number of days in one place or on the trip, always having the return date indicated.
* Put together a picture and word "travel book" of what means of transport you are going to be using to, who you are going to see, where you will sleep, and what you will do or see at your destination. Go over this with your child, like you would a storybook as often as you like in preparation for the trip. Using a three-ring binder is best, as you can add extra pages or insert the calendar mentioned above for use on the trip.
* Put together a picture or word schedule of the actual journey to take with you on your trip. Add extra pages to the travel book. Add Velcro and attach pictures or words in order of the travel sequence. Add an empty envelope to add the "done" pictures when you have finished one step of the journey. For example, if you are flying to another city, start with a picture of the taxi or car that will take you to the airport. (When you are at the airport, have him remove the taxi) picture and put it in the envelope. Then have a picture of the airport, followed by the waiting picture, and then theairplane, followed by the airport, then the waiting sign, the taxi and then the hotel.
* Think of your child's daily routine and the items he likes or needs for his routine and bring them along to make him feel more at home. Bringwhatever foods and drinks will keep him happy on the trip.
* Buy some small, inexpensive toys that he can play with and that if youlose it will not be the end of the world. If he only plays with one favorite item, try to find a duplicate and see if you can "break it in" before the trip. Do not wash any items (including plush toys) before the trip as the child may feel comfort in the "home" smell of his cherished item.
* When staying in a hotel, It is a good idea to call ahead and ask for a quiet room. You may wish to explain about your child's behavior if there is a likelihood of your child exhibiting them in the public part of the hotel. Same with a friend or relative's home. It can be a bit disconcerting for everyone concerned if your child takes his clothes off and races through your friend's home stark naked.
* Make sure your child has an id tag attached to him somewhere, with a current phone number written on it. You can order medical bracelets, necklaces and tags to attach to shoe laces for your child. Additionally, if your child can carry it in his pocket, make an ID card with a current photo, date and phone numbers. Be sure to put any information that is important to know such as allergies and medications, and any special information (i.e.non-verbal).
If you are traveling by plane, Sicile-Kira recommends that you call the airlines as far in advance as you can, and tell them you will be traveling with someone who has special needs. Some airlines have "special assistance coordinators." You may wish to explain about your child's needs and some of the behaviors that may affect other travelers, such as rocking in the seat. You may also request that assistance be provided to help you with your child and luggage to get to the gate, and ask that assistants meet you at the airplane upon arrival. Remember, the person may not understand about your needs. They may ask you questions and say that assistance is only for the physically handicapped, so you may need to explain in concrete terms why you need help.
For more information, visit the author's website at www.chantalsicile-kira.com.
Reprinted here with permission.
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
by Chantal Sicile-Kira
Traveling with children may not seem like such a big deal. However, when one of them has an autism spectrum disorder, it adds an extra dimension.
Chantal Sicile-Kira, author of Autism Spectrum Disorders
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399530479/sheknowscom03-20>
and host of a weekly radio show "The Real World of Autism with Chantal" on Autism One Radio (http://www.autismone.org/), has traveled widely with her autistic son. She offers some insight.
Many families who have an autistic child do not travel because they are concerned about how the child will handle the change and disruption, or are overwhelmed at the thought of managing the certain behaviors their child might exhibit in public.
Leaving the security of home to a new place can be off putting for a child with autism. All the preparation may seem a bit daunting, but it pays to plan ahead.
In my book, I offer the following suggestions for preparing to travel with your child, which can be adapted to suit your child's needs. How you prepare your child depends on his age and ability level; and taking a short trip is recommended before attempting long voyages.
* Airports and train stations are areas that involve lots of waiting. Teach your child the "waiting" skill if he does not have it. Make or find a picture that will represent "waiting" to your child, such as a line drawing of a "stick" person sitting in a chair, with the face of a clock next to it. Write "waiting" clearly on the card. Glue to cardboard, laminate it and place a piece of Velcro somewhere on it. Next, make sure you have picture of whatever items your child usually requests or wants immediately (favorite food, toy, ride in the car) backed with Velcro.
Have a second's timer available. When you are ready to teach this skill, have the favorite items you know the child likes available to you, but out of sight and reach of the child. The next time your child communicates tha the wants that preferred item, put the picture on the Velcro on the waiting card, then put the timer on for a few seconds. Say, "we are waiting" and point to the card. When the timer goes off, immediately give him the desired item.
Some children need to start with a wait of only five seconds, and work on up from there. Others can start at 10 seconds or even closer to a minute. Once your child has learned to wait for a certain amount of time, add more time in small increments. Eventually, your child will understand that he WILL get what he asked for; it is only a matter of time. Then, when the family is preparing to go out, you can put the picture representing where you are going on the waiting sign and put the timer on 10 minutes (for example) before leaving the house. This will give him a heads up about when you are going, and where. When traveling, you can take the waiting sign, timer and goodies with you if necessary. Some may not need it, others will.
* Put up a monthly calendar with the departure date clearly marked, and hasthe child check off every day until departure. Bring the calendar with you and mark off number of days in one place or on the trip, always having the return date indicated.
* Put together a picture and word "travel book" of what means of transport you are going to be using to, who you are going to see, where you will sleep, and what you will do or see at your destination. Go over this with your child, like you would a storybook as often as you like in preparation for the trip. Using a three-ring binder is best, as you can add extra pages or insert the calendar mentioned above for use on the trip.
* Put together a picture or word schedule of the actual journey to take with you on your trip. Add extra pages to the travel book. Add Velcro and attach pictures or words in order of the travel sequence. Add an empty envelope to add the "done" pictures when you have finished one step of the journey. For example, if you are flying to another city, start with a picture of the taxi or car that will take you to the airport. (When you are at the airport, have him remove the taxi) picture and put it in the envelope. Then have a picture of the airport, followed by the waiting picture, and then theairplane, followed by the airport, then the waiting sign, the taxi and then the hotel.
* Think of your child's daily routine and the items he likes or needs for his routine and bring them along to make him feel more at home. Bringwhatever foods and drinks will keep him happy on the trip.
* Buy some small, inexpensive toys that he can play with and that if youlose it will not be the end of the world. If he only plays with one favorite item, try to find a duplicate and see if you can "break it in" before the trip. Do not wash any items (including plush toys) before the trip as the child may feel comfort in the "home" smell of his cherished item.
* When staying in a hotel, It is a good idea to call ahead and ask for a quiet room. You may wish to explain about your child's behavior if there is a likelihood of your child exhibiting them in the public part of the hotel. Same with a friend or relative's home. It can be a bit disconcerting for everyone concerned if your child takes his clothes off and races through your friend's home stark naked.
* Make sure your child has an id tag attached to him somewhere, with a current phone number written on it. You can order medical bracelets, necklaces and tags to attach to shoe laces for your child. Additionally, if your child can carry it in his pocket, make an ID card with a current photo, date and phone numbers. Be sure to put any information that is important to know such as allergies and medications, and any special information (i.e.non-verbal).
If you are traveling by plane, Sicile-Kira recommends that you call the airlines as far in advance as you can, and tell them you will be traveling with someone who has special needs. Some airlines have "special assistance coordinators." You may wish to explain about your child's needs and some of the behaviors that may affect other travelers, such as rocking in the seat. You may also request that assistance be provided to help you with your child and luggage to get to the gate, and ask that assistants meet you at the airplane upon arrival. Remember, the person may not understand about your needs. They may ask you questions and say that assistance is only for the physically handicapped, so you may need to explain in concrete terms why you need help.
For more information, visit the author's website at www.chantalsicile-kira.com.
Reprinted here with permission.
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
UC M.I.N.D. Institute Report on Autism Rates in CA
Report to the Legislature on the Principal Findings from The Epidemiology of Autism in California: A Comprehensive Pilot Study
The UC M.I.N.D. Institute report on autism rates in CA, available at url: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/html/news/autismreport.htm
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
The UC M.I.N.D. Institute report on autism rates in CA, available at url: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/html/news/autismreport.htm
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Videos to IOM Immunization Safety Review Committee Hearing
Videos to Institute of Medicine Immunization Safety Review Committee Hearing
This link provides access to videos and other good information on the presenters at the IOM autism vaccine hearing, held on Feb. 9, 2004.
http://www.universityofhealth.net/NAS/NAS%20Roster.htm
List of Speakers with Videos available:
Marie McCormick, MD, Committee Chair
Congressman Dave Weldon, (R-FL), (Physician)
Dr. Mady Hornig, MD, Associate Professor, Columbia University
Dr. Kumanan Wilson MD MSc, of the Toronto General Research Institute, Canada
Dr. Frank DeStefano, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Elizabeth Miller, Head Immunization Division, Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London, UK
Dr. Robert Davis, MD MPH University of Washington, Group Health, Cooperative Dept. of Pediatrics, Center for Health Studies and Epidemiology
Anders Peter Hviid, MSc, Department of Epidemiology Research, State Serum, Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Dr. Mark R Geier MD PhD, President, The Genetic Centers of America
and David Geier, President of MedCon
Dr. H. Vasken Aposhian, PhD, Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona
Dr. David Baskin, MD Professor of Neurosurgery and Anesthesiology,
Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Polly Sager, Assistant Director for International Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (National Institutes of Health)
Dr. Boyd Haley PhD, Chairman and Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky
Dr Jeff Bradstreet, MD FAAFP, Adjunct Professor, Neurosciences, Stetson University, Director of Clinical Programs, International Child Development Resource Center, FL
Dr. Vijendra K. Singh, PhD, Research Associate Professor, Utah State University
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
This link provides access to videos and other good information on the presenters at the IOM autism vaccine hearing, held on Feb. 9, 2004.
http://www.universityofhealth.net/NAS/NAS%20Roster.htm
List of Speakers with Videos available:
Marie McCormick, MD, Committee Chair
Congressman Dave Weldon, (R-FL), (Physician)
Dr. Mady Hornig, MD, Associate Professor, Columbia University
Dr. Kumanan Wilson MD MSc, of the Toronto General Research Institute, Canada
Dr. Frank DeStefano, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Elizabeth Miller, Head Immunization Division, Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London, UK
Dr. Robert Davis, MD MPH University of Washington, Group Health, Cooperative Dept. of Pediatrics, Center for Health Studies and Epidemiology
Anders Peter Hviid, MSc, Department of Epidemiology Research, State Serum, Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Dr. Mark R Geier MD PhD, President, The Genetic Centers of America
and David Geier, President of MedCon
Dr. H. Vasken Aposhian, PhD, Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Arizona
Dr. David Baskin, MD Professor of Neurosurgery and Anesthesiology,
Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Polly Sager, Assistant Director for International Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (National Institutes of Health)
Dr. Boyd Haley PhD, Chairman and Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky
Dr Jeff Bradstreet, MD FAAFP, Adjunct Professor, Neurosciences, Stetson University, Director of Clinical Programs, International Child Development Resource Center, FL
Dr. Vijendra K. Singh, PhD, Research Associate Professor, Utah State University
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Study: Environmental Mercury Release, Special Ed Rates, and Autism Disorder: An Ecological Study of Texas
Environmental Mercury Release, Special Education Rates, and Autism Disorder: An Ecological Study of Texas
http://tinyurl.com/68ssl
Raymond F. Palmera, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, Steven Blanchard, Zachary Steina, David Mandell and Claudia Millera, a University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio Department of Family and Community Medicine, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA, Department of Sociology, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas, USA, University of Pennsylvania Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, USA
Abstract
The association between environmentally released mercury, special education and autism rates in Texas was investigated using data from the Texas Education Department and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A Poisson regression analysis adjusted for school district population size, economic and demographic factors was used. There was a significant increase in the rates of special education students and autism rates associated with increases in environmentally released mercury. On average, for each 1000 lb of environmentally released mercury, there was a 43% increase in the rate of special education services and a 61% increase in the rate of autism. The association between environmentally released mercury and special education rates were fully mediated by increased autism rates. This ecological study suggests the need for further research regarding the association between environmentally released mercury and developmental disorders such as autism. These results have implications for policy planning and cost analysis. Contact Information Corresponding author. Tel.: +210 358 3883.
Partial List of Studies Linking Thimerosal / Mercury to Autism
Bernard S, Enayati A, Redwood L, Roger H, Binstock T. Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning. Med. Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):462-71. PMID: 11339848
Geier DA, Geier MR. An assessment of the impact of thimerosal on childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. Pediatr Rehabil. 2003 Apr-Jun;6(2):97-102.PMID: 14534046
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14534046&dopt=Abstract
Geier MR, Geier DA. Neurodevelopmental disorders after thimerosal-containing vaccines: a brief communication. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2003 Jun;228(6):660-4. PMID: 12773696
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12773696&dopt=Abstract
Geier & Geier. Parents' worries about thimerosal in vaccines are well founded! http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/eletters/112/6/1394
David Baskin, M.D. et al. Thimerosal induces DNA breaks, caspase-3activation, membrane damage, and cell death in cultured human neurons and fibroblasts. Toxicol Sci. 2003 Aug;74(2):361-8. Epub 2003 May 28. PMID:12773768 http://toxsci.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/2/361
Mady Hornig, M.D Etiologic factors and pathogenesis of autism: evidence from clinical studies and animal models. IOM presentation, Feb 9 2004
Audio only: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19108
Richard C. Deth, Ph.D. Effects of Mercury on Methionine Synthase: Implications for Disordered Methylation in Autism DAN! 2003
Philadelphia - http://216.117.159.91/powerpoint/dan2003/RichardDeth.htm
Richard C. Deth, Ph.D. A Link Between Thimerosal and the Brain: Can Vaccines Affect Central Nervous System Function?
Molecular Psychiatry 2004, Volume 9.
Vojdani A, Pangborn JB et al. Infections, toxic chemicals and dietarypeptides binding to lymphocyte receptors and tissue enzymes are majorinstigators of autoimmunity in autism. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2003 Sep-Dec;16(3):189-99. PMID: 14611720
Jeff Bradstreet, M.D. A Case-control Study of Mercury Burden in Children with Autistic Disorders and Measles Virus Genomic RNA in Cerebrospinal Fluid in Children with Regressive Autism. IOM presentation, Feb 9, 2004
Slides: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=18578 - Audio:http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19130
Valsamakis A et al. Altered virulence of vaccine strains of measles virus after prolonged replication in human tissue. J Virol. 1999 73(10): 8791-7.
PMID 10482633
http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/reprint/73/10/8791.pdf
The CDC's original findings before the CDC began to manipulate the data, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act: High risk values for thimerosal injections and a range of neurologic problems, including ADHD, tics, language problems, and autism. http://factsformedia.com/factsformedia/thimerosalstudy.pdf
Excerpts from CDCs in-house conference: Thimerosal sequelae http://tinyurl.com/17a
Congressman, Dr. Weldon's letter to the CDC director, available at: http://tinyurl.com/4c9x2
Institute of Medicine presentation of Congressman Dave Weldon, M.D. -http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/pdf/Weldon.pdf
Geier MR, Geier DA. Autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines: analysis of the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). IOM presentation, Feb9, 2004.
Slides: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=18392 -- Audio:http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19120
David Baskin, M.D. Relation of Neurotoxic Effects of Thimerosal to Autism. IOM presentation, Feb 9, 2004.
Audio only: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19124
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
http://tinyurl.com/68ssl
Raymond F. Palmera, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, Steven Blanchard, Zachary Steina, David Mandell and Claudia Millera, a University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio Department of Family and Community Medicine, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA, Department of Sociology, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas, USA, University of Pennsylvania Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, USA
Abstract
The association between environmentally released mercury, special education and autism rates in Texas was investigated using data from the Texas Education Department and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A Poisson regression analysis adjusted for school district population size, economic and demographic factors was used. There was a significant increase in the rates of special education students and autism rates associated with increases in environmentally released mercury. On average, for each 1000 lb of environmentally released mercury, there was a 43% increase in the rate of special education services and a 61% increase in the rate of autism. The association between environmentally released mercury and special education rates were fully mediated by increased autism rates. This ecological study suggests the need for further research regarding the association between environmentally released mercury and developmental disorders such as autism. These results have implications for policy planning and cost analysis. Contact Information Corresponding author. Tel.: +210 358 3883.
Partial List of Studies Linking Thimerosal / Mercury to Autism
Bernard S, Enayati A, Redwood L, Roger H, Binstock T. Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning. Med. Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):462-71. PMID: 11339848
Geier DA, Geier MR. An assessment of the impact of thimerosal on childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. Pediatr Rehabil. 2003 Apr-Jun;6(2):97-102.PMID: 14534046
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14534046&dopt=Abstract
Geier MR, Geier DA. Neurodevelopmental disorders after thimerosal-containing vaccines: a brief communication. Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2003 Jun;228(6):660-4. PMID: 12773696
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12773696&dopt=Abstract
Geier & Geier. Parents' worries about thimerosal in vaccines are well founded! http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/eletters/112/6/1394
David Baskin, M.D. et al. Thimerosal induces DNA breaks, caspase-3activation, membrane damage, and cell death in cultured human neurons and fibroblasts. Toxicol Sci. 2003 Aug;74(2):361-8. Epub 2003 May 28. PMID:12773768 http://toxsci.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/2/361
Mady Hornig, M.D Etiologic factors and pathogenesis of autism: evidence from clinical studies and animal models. IOM presentation, Feb 9 2004
Audio only: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19108
Richard C. Deth, Ph.D. Effects of Mercury on Methionine Synthase: Implications for Disordered Methylation in Autism DAN! 2003
Philadelphia - http://216.117.159.91/powerpoint/dan2003/RichardDeth.htm
Richard C. Deth, Ph.D. A Link Between Thimerosal and the Brain: Can Vaccines Affect Central Nervous System Function?
Molecular Psychiatry 2004, Volume 9.
Vojdani A, Pangborn JB et al. Infections, toxic chemicals and dietarypeptides binding to lymphocyte receptors and tissue enzymes are majorinstigators of autoimmunity in autism. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2003 Sep-Dec;16(3):189-99. PMID: 14611720
Jeff Bradstreet, M.D. A Case-control Study of Mercury Burden in Children with Autistic Disorders and Measles Virus Genomic RNA in Cerebrospinal Fluid in Children with Regressive Autism. IOM presentation, Feb 9, 2004
Slides: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=18578 - Audio:http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19130
Valsamakis A et al. Altered virulence of vaccine strains of measles virus after prolonged replication in human tissue. J Virol. 1999 73(10): 8791-7.
PMID 10482633
http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/reprint/73/10/8791.pdf
The CDC's original findings before the CDC began to manipulate the data, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act: High risk values for thimerosal injections and a range of neurologic problems, including ADHD, tics, language problems, and autism. http://factsformedia.com/factsformedia/thimerosalstudy.pdf
Excerpts from CDCs in-house conference: Thimerosal sequelae http://tinyurl.com/17a
Congressman, Dr. Weldon's letter to the CDC director, available at: http://tinyurl.com/4c9x2
Institute of Medicine presentation of Congressman Dave Weldon, M.D. -http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/pdf/Weldon.pdf
Geier MR, Geier DA. Autism and thimerosal-containing vaccines: analysis of the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). IOM presentation, Feb9, 2004.
Slides: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=18392 -- Audio:http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19120
David Baskin, M.D. Relation of Neurotoxic Effects of Thimerosal to Autism. IOM presentation, Feb 9, 2004.
Audio only: http://www.iom.edu/view.asp?id=19124
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Friday, March 18, 2005
African-American families more accepting of home schooling
African-American families are more accepting of home schooling as an option for their children, making black people one of the fastest-growing segments of home schoolers. In 2003, approximately 85,000 black children were taught at home nationwide, according to U.S. Dept. of Education and home-schooling groups. It is estimated black students make up about 5 percent of the nation's 2 million home schoolers.
Thinking of home schooling your child?
Below are some home schooling resources for parents:
The National Black Home Educators Resource Association
13434 Plank Road
Private Mailbox 110
Baker, LA 70714
www.nbhera.org
Home School Legal Defense Association
(540) 338-5600
www.hslda.org
National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance
(919) 929-0080
www.naaha.com
Homeschool Network of Greater Cincinnati
PO Box 31088
Mount Healthy, OH 45231
www.hsncincy.com
Christian Home Educators of Cincinnati
(coalition of 17 support groups)
www.chechome.org
THINK (Teaching Homes in Northern Kentucky)
(859) 581-7440, Ext. 1
www.thinkathome.com
Holy Family Catholic Home Educators
E-mail: humblmom4@aol.com
For more information and resources on autism or home schooling, go to: www.AutismConcepts.com.
Thinking of home schooling your child?
Below are some home schooling resources for parents:
The National Black Home Educators Resource Association
13434 Plank Road
Private Mailbox 110
Baker, LA 70714
www.nbhera.org
Home School Legal Defense Association
(540) 338-5600
www.hslda.org
National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance
(919) 929-0080
www.naaha.com
Homeschool Network of Greater Cincinnati
PO Box 31088
Mount Healthy, OH 45231
www.hsncincy.com
Christian Home Educators of Cincinnati
(coalition of 17 support groups)
www.chechome.org
THINK (Teaching Homes in Northern Kentucky)
(859) 581-7440, Ext. 1
www.thinkathome.com
Holy Family Catholic Home Educators
E-mail: humblmom4@aol.com
For more information and resources on autism or home schooling, go to: www.AutismConcepts.com.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Study: Mercury Pollution, Autism Link Found
Mercury Pollution, Autism Link Found - U.S. Study
Wed Mar 16, 2005
08:02 PM ET
By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Mercury released primarily from coal-fired power plants may be contributing to an increase in the number of cases of autism, a Texas researcher said on Wednesday.
Read full article at URL: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7926129
Another related article at URL:
Possible Mercury, Autism Connection Found in Study
Texas school districts with the highest level of the toxic metal had the highest rate of the disorder, researchers say.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-autism17mar17,1,3169057.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
Texas researchers have found a possible link between autism and mercury in the air and water. Studying individual school districts in Texas, the epidemiologists found that those districts with the highest levels of mercury in the environment also had the highest rates of special education students and autism diagnoses. The study does not prove that mercury causes autism, cautioned the lead author, Raymond F. Palmer of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, but it provides a "provocative" clue that should be further investigated.
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Wed Mar 16, 2005
08:02 PM ET
By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Mercury released primarily from coal-fired power plants may be contributing to an increase in the number of cases of autism, a Texas researcher said on Wednesday.
Read full article at URL: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7926129
Another related article at URL:
Possible Mercury, Autism Connection Found in Study
Texas school districts with the highest level of the toxic metal had the highest rate of the disorder, researchers say.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writer
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-autism17mar17,1,3169057.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
Texas researchers have found a possible link between autism and mercury in the air and water. Studying individual school districts in Texas, the epidemiologists found that those districts with the highest levels of mercury in the environment also had the highest rates of special education students and autism diagnoses. The study does not prove that mercury causes autism, cautioned the lead author, Raymond F. Palmer of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, but it provides a "provocative" clue that should be further investigated.
For more information and resources on autism, go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2005
MEDIA ADVISORY
OFFICE OF CONGRESSMAN DAN BURTON
FIFTH DISTRICT, INDIANA
2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202)-225-2276
FAX (202)-225-0016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 16, 2005
REP. BURTON INTRODUCES
NATIONAL VACCINE INJURY COMPENSATION PROGRAM
IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2005
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-5), formally introduced the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2005 (H.R.1349) in the U.S. House of Representatives last night. "The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was designed back in 1988 to be a non-adversarial alternative to civil litigation," stated Congressman Burton. "Seventeen years later, the reality is that the system has become quite litigious and there are some serious problems with the program. I am re-introducing this important legislation to address the fairness and accessibility issues vaccine-injured families are facing." Continued Congressman Burton, "Specifically, my legislation seeks to amend the current VICP rules by extending the statute of limitations, increasing the base amount of funding available to those injured, and providing a critical two-year look back provision for families who previously missed the filing deadlines."The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2005 (H.R. 1349) is tri-partisan legislation - currently with a dozen co-sponsors - that builds upon recommendations to improve the VICP as outlined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. The bill seeks to:
· Extend the statute of limitations for seeking compensation to six years from the date of injury. Under current law, families must file within two years of a child's death or three years of a child's injury.
· Provide a one-time, two-year period for families with post-1988 injuries to file a petition if they were previously excluded from doing so because they missed the statute of limitations.
· Allow for the payment of interim attorney's fees and legal costs while a petition is being adjudicated. The costs of assembling the necessary medical records and obtaining expert witnesses are substantial. Under current law, these costs, as well as attorney's fees, are not reimbursed until a case is fully resolved, which often times takes three to seven years. Some cases have taken ten years to resolve and for reimbursements to be made.
· Increase compensation for future lost earnings for injured children. Under current law, compensation is based on the average weekly earnings of full and part-time workers as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This bill would specify that only full-time workers should be used in the calculation.
· Increase the level of compensation to a family after a vaccine-related death from $250,000 to $300,000. The death benefit has remained unchanged since the program's inception fifteen years ago.
· Allow for families of vaccine-injured children to be compensated for the costs of family counseling.
· Create and maintain a guardianship to administer the funds. During his tenure as Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform (1997-2002) and the Subcommittee on Human Rights & Wellness (2003-2004), Congressman Burton held no fewer than 20 hearings to examine the possible correlation between mercury-containing vaccines and the increasing incidents of autism. Despite the growing body of evidence suggesting such an association is real, many in our Federal health agencies continue to dispute this conclusion. Scientific evidence aside, the numbers simply do not lie. Although autism used to be a rare disease affecting only 1 out of every 10,000 individuals, it now afflicts 1.5 million Americans nationwide. Furthermore, autism is not a fatal disease. Therefore, the families of autistic individuals are facing high-priced medical care for years to come with little to no assistance. Concluded Congressman Burton, "By enacting these common-sense reforms, we can make sure the VICP operates as it was intended to, as a flexible, non-adversarial system that handles claims in an efficient and generous manner so as to avoid the need for civil litigation. I believe creating a stronger VICP is a win-win solution for everyone involved. The families of those afflicted with vaccine injuries will have a fair and user-friendly venue to seek some means of restitution, and pharmaceutical companies will no longer be under the shadow of the threat of costly and potentially industry-crippling class-action lawsuits. Embracing this solution would be good for the industry as well as society." "The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has helped thousands of Americans who have suffered injuries from vaccines, however, there are many families and individuals that continue to suffer unnecessarily," said Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., the lead Democratic co-sponsor. "I am proud to support this legislation because it will improve the current system and ensure fair and timely recourse for the devastating events that can result from vaccinations." The Department of Health and Human Services, upon reviewing the recommendations of the CDC's Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, submitted suggested legislation in 1999, which the Bush administration has since endorsed. H.R. 1349 incorporates most of these recommendations, as well as other recommendations that were put forth during the course of Congressman Burton's six year investigation. For more information regarding Congressman Burton's legislative and investigative efforts on Federal vaccine policy, please visit the designated health care page on his website at www.house.gov/burton/wellness.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
OFFICE OF CONGRESSMAN DAN BURTON
FIFTH DISTRICT, INDIANA
2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202)-225-2276
FAX (202)-225-0016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 16, 2005
REP. BURTON INTRODUCES
NATIONAL VACCINE INJURY COMPENSATION PROGRAM
IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2005
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-5), formally introduced the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2005 (H.R.1349) in the U.S. House of Representatives last night. "The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was designed back in 1988 to be a non-adversarial alternative to civil litigation," stated Congressman Burton. "Seventeen years later, the reality is that the system has become quite litigious and there are some serious problems with the program. I am re-introducing this important legislation to address the fairness and accessibility issues vaccine-injured families are facing." Continued Congressman Burton, "Specifically, my legislation seeks to amend the current VICP rules by extending the statute of limitations, increasing the base amount of funding available to those injured, and providing a critical two-year look back provision for families who previously missed the filing deadlines."The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2005 (H.R. 1349) is tri-partisan legislation - currently with a dozen co-sponsors - that builds upon recommendations to improve the VICP as outlined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines. The bill seeks to:
· Extend the statute of limitations for seeking compensation to six years from the date of injury. Under current law, families must file within two years of a child's death or three years of a child's injury.
· Provide a one-time, two-year period for families with post-1988 injuries to file a petition if they were previously excluded from doing so because they missed the statute of limitations.
· Allow for the payment of interim attorney's fees and legal costs while a petition is being adjudicated. The costs of assembling the necessary medical records and obtaining expert witnesses are substantial. Under current law, these costs, as well as attorney's fees, are not reimbursed until a case is fully resolved, which often times takes three to seven years. Some cases have taken ten years to resolve and for reimbursements to be made.
· Increase compensation for future lost earnings for injured children. Under current law, compensation is based on the average weekly earnings of full and part-time workers as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This bill would specify that only full-time workers should be used in the calculation.
· Increase the level of compensation to a family after a vaccine-related death from $250,000 to $300,000. The death benefit has remained unchanged since the program's inception fifteen years ago.
· Allow for families of vaccine-injured children to be compensated for the costs of family counseling.
· Create and maintain a guardianship to administer the funds. During his tenure as Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform (1997-2002) and the Subcommittee on Human Rights & Wellness (2003-2004), Congressman Burton held no fewer than 20 hearings to examine the possible correlation between mercury-containing vaccines and the increasing incidents of autism. Despite the growing body of evidence suggesting such an association is real, many in our Federal health agencies continue to dispute this conclusion. Scientific evidence aside, the numbers simply do not lie. Although autism used to be a rare disease affecting only 1 out of every 10,000 individuals, it now afflicts 1.5 million Americans nationwide. Furthermore, autism is not a fatal disease. Therefore, the families of autistic individuals are facing high-priced medical care for years to come with little to no assistance. Concluded Congressman Burton, "By enacting these common-sense reforms, we can make sure the VICP operates as it was intended to, as a flexible, non-adversarial system that handles claims in an efficient and generous manner so as to avoid the need for civil litigation. I believe creating a stronger VICP is a win-win solution for everyone involved. The families of those afflicted with vaccine injuries will have a fair and user-friendly venue to seek some means of restitution, and pharmaceutical companies will no longer be under the shadow of the threat of costly and potentially industry-crippling class-action lawsuits. Embracing this solution would be good for the industry as well as society." "The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has helped thousands of Americans who have suffered injuries from vaccines, however, there are many families and individuals that continue to suffer unnecessarily," said Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., the lead Democratic co-sponsor. "I am proud to support this legislation because it will improve the current system and ensure fair and timely recourse for the devastating events that can result from vaccinations." The Department of Health and Human Services, upon reviewing the recommendations of the CDC's Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, submitted suggested legislation in 1999, which the Bush administration has since endorsed. H.R. 1349 incorporates most of these recommendations, as well as other recommendations that were put forth during the course of Congressman Burton's six year investigation. For more information regarding Congressman Burton's legislative and investigative efforts on Federal vaccine policy, please visit the designated health care page on his website at www.house.gov/burton/wellness.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
New flu vaccine for kids hits the market
A new pediatric influenza (flu) vaccine that contains no preservatives - the only influenza vaccine approved for use in children 6 to 35 months of age - has been produced by the sanofi-aventis Group http://www.sanofi-aventis.com, in time for the 2005-2006 influenza season.
Read full article at:
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=8342
For more information and resources on autism, go to: www.AutismConcepts.com.
Read full article at:
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=8342
For more information and resources on autism, go to: www.AutismConcepts.com.
First Alert Door Alarm
http://www.firstalertalarmsystem.com/
When our son was young, he would manage to open windows and doors to wander out of the house, day or night, even in winter. First Alert Door Alarms are inexpensive alarms you peel and place to install. If the alarm is triggered it will make a high-pitched piercing sound or, you can set the alarm to chime like a doorbell. It's good for windows, doors or entrance to the swimming pool.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
When our son was young, he would manage to open windows and doors to wander out of the house, day or night, even in winter. First Alert Door Alarms are inexpensive alarms you peel and place to install. If the alarm is triggered it will make a high-pitched piercing sound or, you can set the alarm to chime like a doorbell. It's good for windows, doors or entrance to the swimming pool.
For more information and resources on autism, go to:http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Autism News Report - FOX News and IMUS
Link to Fox 5 News Autism Report Video
http://www.autismnetworks.com/fox5.htm
Imus has recently had several informative radio shows discussing vaccines, autism and thimerosal. Here's a link: http://www.blogger.com/.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
http://www.autismnetworks.com/fox5.htm
Imus has recently had several informative radio shows discussing vaccines, autism and thimerosal. Here's a link: http://www.blogger.com/.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
The Age of Autism: Backward
The Age of Autism Backward
by Dan Olmsted
United Press International
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050228-053300-1821r.htm
This article describes the history of Leo Kanner in 1943 identifying 11 case studies of children born from 1931 to 1938, with a new and unique developmental disorder present at birth. Kanner believed autism to be present at birth.
The article explores the possibility that based on Kanner's writings and parental notes, some of those 11 original cases may have been 'regressive' or acquired autism syndrome and were not 'autistic' since birth. This would support an environmental trigger theory.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
by Dan Olmsted
United Press International
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050228-053300-1821r.htm
This article describes the history of Leo Kanner in 1943 identifying 11 case studies of children born from 1931 to 1938, with a new and unique developmental disorder present at birth. Kanner believed autism to be present at birth.
The article explores the possibility that based on Kanner's writings and parental notes, some of those 11 original cases may have been 'regressive' or acquired autism syndrome and were not 'autistic' since birth. This would support an environmental trigger theory.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Navigating Medicare and Medicaid, 2005: Resource Guides for People with Disabilities, Their Families, and Their Advocates
This guide explains the critical role Medicare and Medicaid have come to play in the lives and the futures of roughly 20 million children, adults, and seniors with disabilities - and give people with disabilities new information to help them get the most from these programs.
Full report available as Adobe PDF file at:
http://www.kff.org/medicare/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=50946
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Full report available as Adobe PDF file at:
http://www.kff.org/medicare/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=50946
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Key Facts: Race, Ethnicity & Medical Care
http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/6069-index.cfm
This chartbook is intended to serve as a quick reference on racial/ethnic disparities in health, health insurance coverage, and health care access and quality. The document highlights the best available data and research, providing a selective review of the literature. Section One gives an overview of the demographic characteristics of the U.S. population. Section Two presents measures of health status. Section Three profiles patterns of health insurance coverage. Section Four describes findings on access to primary and preventive care. Section Five documents findings on the use of specialty care for heart disease, cancer, asthma, and HIV/AIDS.
Chartbook
http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=14366
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
This chartbook is intended to serve as a quick reference on racial/ethnic disparities in health, health insurance coverage, and health care access and quality. The document highlights the best available data and research, providing a selective review of the literature. Section One gives an overview of the demographic characteristics of the U.S. population. Section Two presents measures of health status. Section Three profiles patterns of health insurance coverage. Section Four describes findings on access to primary and preventive care. Section Five documents findings on the use of specialty care for heart disease, cancer, asthma, and HIV/AIDS.
Chartbook
http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=14366
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
The Role of Health Coverage for People with Disabilities
http://www.kff.org/medicare/121203package.cfm
People with disabilities are at risk in the health-care system because of their wide-ranging health-care needs, their relatively heavy use of prescription drugs, health-care and support services, and typically low incomes. A new survey of people with permanent mental and/or physical disabilities explores their health-care experiences and challenges in accessing and paying for care.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
People with disabilities are at risk in the health-care system because of their wide-ranging health-care needs, their relatively heavy use of prescription drugs, health-care and support services, and typically low incomes. A new survey of people with permanent mental and/or physical disabilities explores their health-care experiences and challenges in accessing and paying for care.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Committee on Government Reform Autism Hearings
http://reform.house.gov/ then search key word "autism" or go to url:
http://reform.house.gov/GovReform/News/DocumentQuery.aspx?SearchPhrase=autism&Enter=+Search+
Chairman Burton to Review New Scientific Discoveries Regarding Mercury in Medicine Sep 7, 2004 - Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights & Wellness, will convene a hearing to examine the latest scientific research out of leading universities such as Columbia, Johns H... More
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Chairman Burton to Review Federal Government Initiatives and Revolutionary New Treatments for Autism May 5, 2004 - According to a recent Autism Alert released by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 out of every 6 children is presently dia... More
Chairman Burton to Hold Hearing on the Autism Crisis: Are We Making Progress? Nov 19, 2003 - Nationwide, as many as 1.5 million Americans are believed to have some form of autism spectrum disorder, and Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, wants t... More
Chairman Burton to Release Mercury in Medicine Report May 2, 2003 - Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-5), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, will join a panel of scientists, medical researchers, and parents who are convening from across the nation in Chic... More
http://reform.house.gov/GovReform/News/DocumentQuery.aspx?SearchPhrase=autism&Enter=+Search+
Chairman Burton to Review New Scientific Discoveries Regarding Mercury in Medicine Sep 7, 2004 - Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights & Wellness, will convene a hearing to examine the latest scientific research out of leading universities such as Columbia, Johns H... More
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Chairman Burton to Review Federal Government Initiatives and Revolutionary New Treatments for Autism May 5, 2004 - According to a recent Autism Alert released by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 out of every 6 children is presently dia... More
Chairman Burton to Hold Hearing on the Autism Crisis: Are We Making Progress? Nov 19, 2003 - Nationwide, as many as 1.5 million Americans are believed to have some form of autism spectrum disorder, and Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, wants t... More
Chairman Burton to Release Mercury in Medicine Report May 2, 2003 - Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-5), Chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness, will join a panel of scientists, medical researchers, and parents who are convening from across the nation in Chic... More
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
The Mercury Calculator
The Mercury Calculator
http://www.nvic.org/Issues/HgCalculator.htm
NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER ANNOUNCES
"THE MERCURY CALCULATOR"
Do you have a child who you suspect is vaccine injured because ofexposure to the mercury preservative Thimerosal in vaccines? Are you takingyour child in for routine vaccinations and want to know how much mercury heor she will be injected with? Are you thinking about getting a vaccineyourself and wonder about the mercury content? Now you can check it outwith The Mercury Calculator on the National Vaccine Information Center'saward winning website, http://www.nvic.org/
NVIC's Mercury Calculator is quick and easy to use. Vaccines in use todayas well as those sold in the past, listed by vaccine type and manufacturer'sname. Users just enter a weight and click on the vaccines which were/are tobe give. The total mercury load is automatically calculated to reveal howmany times it is over the allowable Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)"safe" limits for mercury exposure.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
http://www.nvic.org/Issues/HgCalculator.htm
NATIONAL VACCINE INFORMATION CENTER ANNOUNCES
"THE MERCURY CALCULATOR"
Do you have a child who you suspect is vaccine injured because ofexposure to the mercury preservative Thimerosal in vaccines? Are you takingyour child in for routine vaccinations and want to know how much mercury heor she will be injected with? Are you thinking about getting a vaccineyourself and wonder about the mercury content? Now you can check it outwith The Mercury Calculator on the National Vaccine Information Center'saward winning website, http://www.nvic.org/
NVIC's Mercury Calculator is quick and easy to use. Vaccines in use todayas well as those sold in the past, listed by vaccine type and manufacturer'sname. Users just enter a weight and click on the vaccines which were/are tobe give. The total mercury load is automatically calculated to reveal howmany times it is over the allowable Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)"safe" limits for mercury exposure.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
New Proposed Bankruptcy Legislation Will Hurt Parents of Autistic Children
Proposed Bankruptcy Legislation Will Hurt Parents of Autistic Children
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/3/emw214801.htm
New Proposed Bankrupcy Leglislation will Hurt Parents of Autistic-Mercury Poisoned Children Who are Seeking Financial Relief
Parents of "Autistic" - Mercury poisoned children suffer another severe blow at the hands of big business and heavy handed politicians in Washington, D.C.
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) March 7, 2005 -- Under pressure from banks, credit unions and credit card companies, the U.S. Congress is currently seeking to overhaul the federal bankrupcy laws that would make it much more difficult for parents of Autistic children to file for federal bankrupcy protection. This specific issue surrounds the parents of these children who have been severely hurt by their children's catastrophic medical expenses.
The U.S. Congress has been debating this new legislation for some weeks and is now preparing to hand the President this new federal bankrupcy legislation. This proposed legislation in its current form is grossly unfair to all parents who have been financially wiped out by the current "Autism" epidemic.
Parents of Autistic children, who last year discovered that their children's Autism was caused by Thimerosal ( a vaccine additive containing 49.6% mercury ) contained in their government mandated and approved baby vaccines, will receive no federal protection under the proposed new bankrupcy legislation.
This series of events has angered parents who have been hit hard by this medical catastrophy. Under this proposed legislation, parents of these sick children may loose their homes because of this legislations lack of federal protection for these injured families.
According to the book titled, Mercury: The Winged Messenger( ISBN # 1-4184-3781-6 ) as many as 350,000 children now suffer from this medical tragedy. The U.S. Governments role and the drug conglomerates role in this tragedy has been extensively documented in this book.
According to parents, this new federal bankrupcy leglislation is heavy handed, grossly unfair and will destroy the very fabric of the principles that this country was founded on.
These Autistic - Mercury poisoned children have lost their own futures. Now, the parents who have lost these children, may also loose everything else. The U.S. congress must continue to debate these issues and to protect these children and their families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.
The legal rights of these vaccine injured children and that of their parents must be protected at all costs.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/3/emw214801.htm
New Proposed Bankrupcy Leglislation will Hurt Parents of Autistic-Mercury Poisoned Children Who are Seeking Financial Relief
Parents of "Autistic" - Mercury poisoned children suffer another severe blow at the hands of big business and heavy handed politicians in Washington, D.C.
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) March 7, 2005 -- Under pressure from banks, credit unions and credit card companies, the U.S. Congress is currently seeking to overhaul the federal bankrupcy laws that would make it much more difficult for parents of Autistic children to file for federal bankrupcy protection. This specific issue surrounds the parents of these children who have been severely hurt by their children's catastrophic medical expenses.
The U.S. Congress has been debating this new legislation for some weeks and is now preparing to hand the President this new federal bankrupcy legislation. This proposed legislation in its current form is grossly unfair to all parents who have been financially wiped out by the current "Autism" epidemic.
Parents of Autistic children, who last year discovered that their children's Autism was caused by Thimerosal ( a vaccine additive containing 49.6% mercury ) contained in their government mandated and approved baby vaccines, will receive no federal protection under the proposed new bankrupcy legislation.
This series of events has angered parents who have been hit hard by this medical catastrophy. Under this proposed legislation, parents of these sick children may loose their homes because of this legislations lack of federal protection for these injured families.
According to the book titled, Mercury: The Winged Messenger( ISBN # 1-4184-3781-6 ) as many as 350,000 children now suffer from this medical tragedy. The U.S. Governments role and the drug conglomerates role in this tragedy has been extensively documented in this book.
According to parents, this new federal bankrupcy leglislation is heavy handed, grossly unfair and will destroy the very fabric of the principles that this country was founded on.
These Autistic - Mercury poisoned children have lost their own futures. Now, the parents who have lost these children, may also loose everything else. The U.S. congress must continue to debate these issues and to protect these children and their families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy.
The legal rights of these vaccine injured children and that of their parents must be protected at all costs.
For more information and resources on autism go to: http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Study: MMR Japan study versus Wakefield and Stott rebuttal w contact info urls
As some of today's and recent news articles indicate, letters from parents to journalists and to researchers seem to be helping raise public awareness. This email is posted so that individuals can have urls and titles for the MMR-in-Japan study (2) and for the rebuttal by Wakefield and Stott (1). Also herein is contact information for the Japan-MMR study's lead author.
Thanks to T. Binstock.
1. Commentary: Japanese study is the strongest evidence yet for a link between MMR and autism
Andrew J Wakefield FRCS FRCPath and Carol M Stott PhD
http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/pr-0205.htm
Honda and colleagues present a fascinating report on the cumulative incidence (numbers of new cases with time) of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Japan, for children born 1988 to 1996. The study seeks to examine the relationship between ASD and MMR vaccination. Japan is unique since MMR was introduced in 1989 and discontinued in April 1993. Honda et. al. see this as providing an ideal opportunity to test whether there is a causal association between MMR exposure and incidence of ASDs. They predict that, if MMR causes autism, stopping MMR should result in a subsequent decline in incidence. This was not seen. In fact, there was a striking rise in the incidence of ASDs in this population over time, with a marked rise postdating the removal of MMR. The authors state that their finding 'implies that MMR could not cause a substantial proportion of cases of autism'.
In conducting a study of this kind it is important to consider the background against which earlier hypotheses relating to the possible association between measles containing vaccines such as MMR, bowel disease, and childhood developmental disorders were formulated, and according to which any relevant data should be interpreted.
The above notwithstanding, the authors of the Japanese study are confident in the completeness of ascertainment of ASD cases, the accuracy and precision of their screening, and the quality of diagnostic services for developmental disorders. Given this level of confidence in the incidence figures, the data merit further scrutiny in light of Japan's unique experience with the vaccines of interest.
[rest of Wakefield, Stott rebuttal at url: http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/pr-0205.htm]
2. No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study.
Hideo Honda et al.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry doi:
10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01425.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01425.x/abs/
Hideo Honda <honda@yokohama.email.ne.jp>Yokohama Rehabilitation Center,
1770 Toriyama-cho, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 222-0035, Japan
Tel: +81-45-473-0666; Fax: +81-45-473-0956
Background: A causal relationship between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and occurrence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been claimed, based on an increase in ASD in the USA and the UK after introduction of the MMR vaccine. However, the possibility that this increase is coincidental has not been eliminated. The unique circumstances of a Japanese MMR vaccination program provide an opportunity for comparison of ASD incidence before and after termination of the program.
Methods: This study examined cumulative incidence of ASD up to age seven for children born from 1988 to 1996 in Kohoku Ward (population approximately 300,000), Yokohama, Japan. ASD cases included all cases of pervasive developmental disorders according to ICD-10 guidelines.
Results: The MMR vaccination rate in the city of Yokohama declined significantly in the birth cohorts of years 1988 through 1992, and not a single vaccination was administered in 1993 or thereafter. In contrast, cumulative incidence of ASD up to age seven increased significantly in the birth cohorts of years 1988 through 1996 and most notably rose dramatically beginning with the birth cohort of 1993.
Conclusions: The significance of this finding is that MMR vaccination is most unlikely to be a main cause of ASD, that it cannot explain the rise over time in the incidence of ASD, and that withdrawal of MMR in countries where it is still being used cannot be expected to lead to a reduction in the incidence of ASD.
For more information and resources on autism and vaccines go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Thanks to T. Binstock.
1. Commentary: Japanese study is the strongest evidence yet for a link between MMR and autism
Andrew J Wakefield FRCS FRCPath and Carol M Stott PhD
http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/pr-0205.htm
Honda and colleagues present a fascinating report on the cumulative incidence (numbers of new cases with time) of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the Kohoku Ward, Yokohama, Japan, for children born 1988 to 1996. The study seeks to examine the relationship between ASD and MMR vaccination. Japan is unique since MMR was introduced in 1989 and discontinued in April 1993. Honda et. al. see this as providing an ideal opportunity to test whether there is a causal association between MMR exposure and incidence of ASDs. They predict that, if MMR causes autism, stopping MMR should result in a subsequent decline in incidence. This was not seen. In fact, there was a striking rise in the incidence of ASDs in this population over time, with a marked rise postdating the removal of MMR. The authors state that their finding 'implies that MMR could not cause a substantial proportion of cases of autism'.
In conducting a study of this kind it is important to consider the background against which earlier hypotheses relating to the possible association between measles containing vaccines such as MMR, bowel disease, and childhood developmental disorders were formulated, and according to which any relevant data should be interpreted.
The above notwithstanding, the authors of the Japanese study are confident in the completeness of ascertainment of ASD cases, the accuracy and precision of their screening, and the quality of diagnostic services for developmental disorders. Given this level of confidence in the incidence figures, the data merit further scrutiny in light of Japan's unique experience with the vaccines of interest.
[rest of Wakefield, Stott rebuttal at url: http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/pr-0205.htm]
2. No effect of MMR withdrawal on the incidence of autism: a total population study.
Hideo Honda et al.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry doi:
10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01425.x
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2005.01425.x/abs/
Hideo Honda <honda@yokohama.email.ne.jp>Yokohama Rehabilitation Center,
1770 Toriyama-cho, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama 222-0035, Japan
Tel: +81-45-473-0666; Fax: +81-45-473-0956
Background: A causal relationship between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and occurrence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been claimed, based on an increase in ASD in the USA and the UK after introduction of the MMR vaccine. However, the possibility that this increase is coincidental has not been eliminated. The unique circumstances of a Japanese MMR vaccination program provide an opportunity for comparison of ASD incidence before and after termination of the program.
Methods: This study examined cumulative incidence of ASD up to age seven for children born from 1988 to 1996 in Kohoku Ward (population approximately 300,000), Yokohama, Japan. ASD cases included all cases of pervasive developmental disorders according to ICD-10 guidelines.
Results: The MMR vaccination rate in the city of Yokohama declined significantly in the birth cohorts of years 1988 through 1992, and not a single vaccination was administered in 1993 or thereafter. In contrast, cumulative incidence of ASD up to age seven increased significantly in the birth cohorts of years 1988 through 1996 and most notably rose dramatically beginning with the birth cohort of 1993.
Conclusions: The significance of this finding is that MMR vaccination is most unlikely to be a main cause of ASD, that it cannot explain the rise over time in the incidence of ASD, and that withdrawal of MMR in countries where it is still being used cannot be expected to lead to a reduction in the incidence of ASD.
For more information and resources on autism and vaccines go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Study: US study confirms bowel disease findings in children with autism
Study: U.S. study confirms bowel disease findings in children with autism
Neuropsychobiology. 2005 Feb 28;51(2):77-85
Dysregulated Innate Immune Responses in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Their Relationship to Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Dietary Intervention.
Jyonouchi H, Geng L, Ruby A, Zimmerman-Bier B.
Department of Pediatrics, New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ, Newark, N.J., USA.
Autism researchers at the University of New Jersey Medical School in the US have confirmed the original findings of researchers from the UK, by finding evidence of marked inflammatory and immune abnormalities in children with autism associated with gastrointestinal symptoms. The study compared the production of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory molecules by immune cells in autistic children on unrestricted (n = 100) or elimination (n = 77) diets with developmentally normal children with non-allergic food hypersensitivity on unrestricted (n = 14) or elimination (n = 16) diets, and healthy typically developing children. In response to challenge with bacterial toxins or dietary proteins from cow's milk, immune cells from autistic children with bowel symptoms showed a strong pro-inflammatory response and a reduced ability to switch off immune system activity compared with the other children.The authors conclude that the findings indicate intrinsic defects of these immune responses in autistic children with intestinal problems, suggesting a possible link between gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms mediated by immune abnormalities. Dr Wakefield who led the team that first described intestinal disease in UK children with autism and demonstrated very similar immune abnormalities to those described by the New Jersey researchers in this group of patients, now heads up Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas. Dr Wakefield confirmed the importance of these new findings and stressed their potential for increasing our understanding the role of gastrointestinal inflammation in the behavioural symptoms in children with developmental disorders such as autism. Thoughtful House in a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recovering children with developmental disorders through a unique combination of state of the art medical care, education and research.
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Neuropsychobiology. 2005 Feb 28;51(2):77-85
Dysregulated Innate Immune Responses in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Their Relationship to Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Dietary Intervention.
Jyonouchi H, Geng L, Ruby A, Zimmerman-Bier B.
Department of Pediatrics, New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ, Newark, N.J., USA.
Autism researchers at the University of New Jersey Medical School in the US have confirmed the original findings of researchers from the UK, by finding evidence of marked inflammatory and immune abnormalities in children with autism associated with gastrointestinal symptoms. The study compared the production of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory molecules by immune cells in autistic children on unrestricted (n = 100) or elimination (n = 77) diets with developmentally normal children with non-allergic food hypersensitivity on unrestricted (n = 14) or elimination (n = 16) diets, and healthy typically developing children. In response to challenge with bacterial toxins or dietary proteins from cow's milk, immune cells from autistic children with bowel symptoms showed a strong pro-inflammatory response and a reduced ability to switch off immune system activity compared with the other children.The authors conclude that the findings indicate intrinsic defects of these immune responses in autistic children with intestinal problems, suggesting a possible link between gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms mediated by immune abnormalities. Dr Wakefield who led the team that first described intestinal disease in UK children with autism and demonstrated very similar immune abnormalities to those described by the New Jersey researchers in this group of patients, now heads up Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas. Dr Wakefield confirmed the importance of these new findings and stressed their potential for increasing our understanding the role of gastrointestinal inflammation in the behavioural symptoms in children with developmental disorders such as autism. Thoughtful House in a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recovering children with developmental disorders through a unique combination of state of the art medical care, education and research.
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Study: Eye contact triggers threat signals in autistic childrens brains
<http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php><http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php><http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php
Contact: Kim Dalton or Richard Davidson <mailto:kmdalton@wisc.edu> kmdalton@wisc.edu
608-263 8913
Study: Eye contact triggers threat signals in autistic children's brains
MADISON - Brain tests at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggest thatautistic children shy from eye contact because they perceive even the mostfamiliar face as an uncomfortable threat. The work deepens understanding of an autistic brain's function and may oneday inform new treatment approaches and augment how teachers interact withtheir autistic students. Tracking the correlation between eye movements and brain activity, theresearchers found that in autistic subjects, the amygdala - an emotioncenter in the brain associated with negative feelings - lights up to anabnormal extent during a direct gaze upon a non-threatening face. Writing inthe March 6 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists alsoreport that because autistic children avert eye contact, the brain'sfusiform region, which is critical for face perception, is less active thanit would be during a normally developing child's stare. "This is the very first published study that assesses how individuals withautism look at faces while simultaneously monitoring which of their brainareas are active," says lead author Kim Dalton, an assistant scientist atUW-Madison's Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior. Daltonmeasured eye movements in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),a sophisticated technology that allows researchers to "see" a brain inaction. Notably, the UW-Madison study overturns the existing notion that autisticchildren struggle to process faces because of a malfunction in the fusiformarea. Rather, in autistic children the fusiform "is fundamentally normal"and shows only stunted activity because over-aroused amygdalas make autisticchildren want to look away, says senior author Richard Davidson, aUW-Madison psychiatry and psychology professor who has earned internationalrecognition for his work on the neural underpinnings of emotion. "Imagine walking through the world and interpreting every face that looks atyou as a threat, even the face of your own mother," Davidson adds.Scientists have in the past speculated that the amygdala - which has beenimplicated in certain anxiety and mood disorders - plays a role in autism,but the study directly supports that idea for the first time. An increasingly publicized developmental disability, autism greatly weakensthe capacity to socialize and communicate normally. The tendency to avoideye contact is one of the most pervasive traits among autistic children,says Dalton. The characteristic is a problem because eyes, in particular,are a crucial source of "subtle cues that are critical for normal social andemotional development," Dalton says. Dalton's work comprised two studies. In the first, researchers placedautistic children inside an MRI scanner and showed them pictures of faceswith both emotional and neutral expressions. The children had to press oneof two buttons to indicate whether a face showed a blank or expressive face.Throughout the process, the researchers used precise eye-tracking technologyto measure exactly which parts of the face study participants were lookingat and for how long. Normally developing children far outpaced the autisticstudy participants in identifying expressions correctly. During the second study, the researchers again placed subjects in MRImachines and showed them photographs of both familiar and unfamiliar faces.They monitored eye movements and brain activity, and once again, autisticsubjects performed considerably more poorly than normally developingparticipants. In the future, the findings could help scientists "train autistic childrento look at a person's eye region in a more strategic way, like when theperson may not be looking directly at them," says Davidson. Researcherseventually could assess whether such approaches improve the ability to makeeye contact and whether they might even induce positive developmentalchanges in the brain. Because autism is more inheritable than any other psychiatric condition,researchers also could start to explore the genetic mechanisms underlyinghyperactive amygdalas - "a completely uncharted research territory," saysDavidson. And if the autistic amygdala is found to be overactive frominfancy, the knowledge could help doctors implement intervention approachesright from an early age. ###
- Paroma Basu (608) 262-9772, <mailto:basu1@wisc.edu> basu1@wisc.edu
Contact: Kim Dalton or Richard Davidson <mailto:kmdalton@wisc.edu> kmdalton@wisc.edu
608-263 8913
Study: Eye contact triggers threat signals in autistic children's brains
MADISON - Brain tests at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggest thatautistic children shy from eye contact because they perceive even the mostfamiliar face as an uncomfortable threat. The work deepens understanding of an autistic brain's function and may oneday inform new treatment approaches and augment how teachers interact withtheir autistic students. Tracking the correlation between eye movements and brain activity, theresearchers found that in autistic subjects, the amygdala - an emotioncenter in the brain associated with negative feelings - lights up to anabnormal extent during a direct gaze upon a non-threatening face. Writing inthe March 6 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists alsoreport that because autistic children avert eye contact, the brain'sfusiform region, which is critical for face perception, is less active thanit would be during a normally developing child's stare. "This is the very first published study that assesses how individuals withautism look at faces while simultaneously monitoring which of their brainareas are active," says lead author Kim Dalton, an assistant scientist atUW-Madison's Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior. Daltonmeasured eye movements in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),a sophisticated technology that allows researchers to "see" a brain inaction. Notably, the UW-Madison study overturns the existing notion that autisticchildren struggle to process faces because of a malfunction in the fusiformarea. Rather, in autistic children the fusiform "is fundamentally normal"and shows only stunted activity because over-aroused amygdalas make autisticchildren want to look away, says senior author Richard Davidson, aUW-Madison psychiatry and psychology professor who has earned internationalrecognition for his work on the neural underpinnings of emotion. "Imagine walking through the world and interpreting every face that looks atyou as a threat, even the face of your own mother," Davidson adds.Scientists have in the past speculated that the amygdala - which has beenimplicated in certain anxiety and mood disorders - plays a role in autism,but the study directly supports that idea for the first time. An increasingly publicized developmental disability, autism greatly weakensthe capacity to socialize and communicate normally. The tendency to avoideye contact is one of the most pervasive traits among autistic children,says Dalton. The characteristic is a problem because eyes, in particular,are a crucial source of "subtle cues that are critical for normal social andemotional development," Dalton says. Dalton's work comprised two studies. In the first, researchers placedautistic children inside an MRI scanner and showed them pictures of faceswith both emotional and neutral expressions. The children had to press oneof two buttons to indicate whether a face showed a blank or expressive face.Throughout the process, the researchers used precise eye-tracking technologyto measure exactly which parts of the face study participants were lookingat and for how long. Normally developing children far outpaced the autisticstudy participants in identifying expressions correctly. During the second study, the researchers again placed subjects in MRImachines and showed them photographs of both familiar and unfamiliar faces.They monitored eye movements and brain activity, and once again, autisticsubjects performed considerably more poorly than normally developingparticipants. In the future, the findings could help scientists "train autistic childrento look at a person's eye region in a more strategic way, like when theperson may not be looking directly at them," says Davidson. Researcherseventually could assess whether such approaches improve the ability to makeeye contact and whether they might even induce positive developmentalchanges in the brain. Because autism is more inheritable than any other psychiatric condition,researchers also could start to explore the genetic mechanisms underlyinghyperactive amygdalas - "a completely uncharted research territory," saysDavidson. And if the autistic amygdala is found to be overactive frominfancy, the knowledge could help doctors implement intervention approachesright from an early age. ###
- Paroma Basu (608) 262-9772, <mailto:basu1@wisc.edu> basu1@wisc.edu
U.S. Autism Rates Rise Sharply
U.S. Autism Rates Rise Sharply
By Karen Pallarito
MONDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- The apparent rise in the proportion of children in the United States with autism appears to be real, a new analysis suggests.
Autism prevalence is increasing with successively younger children, particularly those born between 1987 and 1992, epidemiologists report in the March issue of Pediatrics.
Read full article at:
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/03/07/hscout524376.html
See also:
Report to the Legislature on the Principal Findings from The Epidemiology of Autism in California: A Comprehensive Pilot Study
The U.C. Mind Institute autism prevalance in CA report available at url: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/html/news/autismreport.htm
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
By Karen Pallarito
MONDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- The apparent rise in the proportion of children in the United States with autism appears to be real, a new analysis suggests.
Autism prevalence is increasing with successively younger children, particularly those born between 1987 and 1992, epidemiologists report in the March issue of Pediatrics.
Read full article at:
http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/03/07/hscout524376.html
See also:
Report to the Legislature on the Principal Findings from The Epidemiology of Autism in California: A Comprehensive Pilot Study
The U.C. Mind Institute autism prevalance in CA report available at url: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/html/news/autismreport.htm
For more information and resources on autism go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
CDC Finally Takes Action on Dangers of Common Childhood Vaccines
CDC Finally Takes Action on Dangers of Common Childhood Vaccines
Mountain Views
By John Hanchette
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/hanchette150.html
The federal government frequently takes a licking in these pages, but late in February it finally made one small decisive step toward helping the children of America. The decision, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drew little attention in the mainstream media, but it deserves praise nonetheless. It also deserves a followup warning that the action will be useless without more tough decision-making in favor of openness and access to vaccination records. The CDC -- under the promising direction of Dr. Julie L. Gerberding -- at long last decided to separate the national immunization program from the branch that monitors vaccine safety and the risks of serious side effects.
here's a link to another related article,
CDC Sets New Safety Goals for Childhood Vaccines
Health and Health Care in Schools
http://www.healthinschools.org/ejournal/2005/march1.htm
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced February 18 that it will separate a program that advocates vaccination from another program that is supposed to monitor the safety of existing vaccines. In announcing the reorganization, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said the move will improve the credibility and capability of the safety branch, which will be headed by CDC’s science chief, Dr. Dixie Snider, Jr.
For more information and resources on autism and vaccines go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
Mountain Views
By John Hanchette
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/hanchette150.html
The federal government frequently takes a licking in these pages, but late in February it finally made one small decisive step toward helping the children of America. The decision, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drew little attention in the mainstream media, but it deserves praise nonetheless. It also deserves a followup warning that the action will be useless without more tough decision-making in favor of openness and access to vaccination records. The CDC -- under the promising direction of Dr. Julie L. Gerberding -- at long last decided to separate the national immunization program from the branch that monitors vaccine safety and the risks of serious side effects.
here's a link to another related article,
CDC Sets New Safety Goals for Childhood Vaccines
Health and Health Care in Schools
http://www.healthinschools.org/ejournal/2005/march1.htm
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced February 18 that it will separate a program that advocates vaccination from another program that is supposed to monitor the safety of existing vaccines. In announcing the reorganization, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said the move will improve the credibility and capability of the safety branch, which will be headed by CDC’s science chief, Dr. Dixie Snider, Jr.
For more information and resources on autism and vaccines go to:
http://www.autismconcepts.com/.
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