Autism Mercury Link . com

ScienceDaily (Oct. 4, 2008) - The first national survey of attitudes toward autism reveals that a small but significant percentage of people still believe the disease is caused by childhood vaccines. The survey of 1000 randomly selected adults was conducted for the Florida Institute of Technology.

Nearly one in four (24 percent) said that because vaccines may cause autism it was safer not to have children vaccinated at all. Another 19 percent were not sure. This at a time when the Centers for Disease Control reports that autism affects one in 150 children born in the United States.

Scientists say there is no evidence linking vaccines and autism, but the lingering fear is leading to fewer parents having their children vaccinated and a growing number of measles infections. The New York Times reported in August that measles cases in the first seven months of 2008 grew at the fastest rate in more than a decade and cases in Britain, Switzerland, Israel and Italy are said to be soaring.

The public’s concern over vaccines stems from a controversial 1998 British study linking autism and the MMR vaccine, which at the time contained the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. The study was later retracted by most of its authors and thimerosal was removed from all childhood vaccines in 2001, but responses to the just-completed survey show the public is still confused.

Florida Institute of Technology commissioned the survey, which asked specifically about the link between the preservative and autism. Nineteen percent of the respondents agreed with the statement “Autism is caused by a preservative once found in childhood vaccines.” An additional 43 percent were not sure, meaning fewer than half (38 percent) of the respondents believe no link exists between the vaccine and autism.

Part of the confusion may stem from the fact that the cause of autism is unknown, according to Florida Tech Assistant Professor of Psychology Celeste Harvey. More than three in four respondents (76 percent) to the national survey agree with the statement: “At this time, scientists don’t know exactly what causes autism.”

“Fear of the unknown, coupled with anxiety over the growing incidence of the disease, may be leading people to draw their own conclusions,” said Harvey.

The first national survey of the public’s knowledge and understanding of Autism was conducted for the School of Psychology at Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Fla. The survey includes responses from 1000 men and women, 21 years old or older, randomly selected from throughout the nation. The poll has a plus or minus 3.1 percent confidence interval at a 95 percent level of confidence. The telephone interviews were conducted between August 1 and August 29 by GDA Education Research, Mount Pleasant, S.C.

In addition to asking whether a link exists between autism and childhood vaccines, the survey explored people’s knowledge of the disease, their exposure to people with autism and their support for early intervention programs.

An 11-year-old boy with autism and his family cannot proceed with their case against pharmaceutical companies after a judge ruled that federal law pre-empts state claims against companies if their vaccines are FDA-approved.

Jared Wright, 11, of Texas, was given six vaccines during the first year-and-a-half of his life.

Five of the vaccines contained the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal. Jared’s parents, Howard and Jacqueline Wright claim the mercury in the vaccines caused Jared’s autism.

The vaccine makers named in the product liability lawsuit were Aventis Pasteur Inc., Merck & Co. Inc., and Wyeth.

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WASHINGTON - New research further debunks any link between measles vaccine and autism, work that comes as the nation is experiencing a surge in measles cases fueled by children left unvaccinated.

Years of research with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, better known as MMR, have concluded that it doesn’t cause autism. Still, some parents’ fears persist, in part because of one 1998 British study that linked the vaccine with a subgroup of autistic children who also have serious gastrointestinal problems. That study reported that measles virus was lingering in the children’s bowels.

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Dr. Buttar has made a formal response to an unknown blogger who insists there’s no Thimerosal in Vaccines anymore on his blog. Watch the Video response here.

There’s an old saying about Any Press is Good Press…. but what if that press says you are pro-measles?  Well sometimes you have to consider the source.  For more information, check out this entry on Dr. Buttar’s Blog.

Monday September 1, 2008 (from autism.about.com)
Last Friday, Dr. Paul Offit was a guest on NPR’s Science Friday. Offit is the Chief of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the author of a new book (which I will soon be reviewing) entitled Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search for a Cure. Knowing the autism community as I do, I’d guess that that title was carefully crafted to get the biggest rise possible out of those who disagree with Offit’s perspective; so far, it’s working pretty well.

Offit is a strong proponent of vaccines. He works in the field, and has actually developed a vaccine himself. He has also become a national (and possibly international) spokesman for the vaccine development, testing, and approval processes in the United States. As such, he’s become a lightning rod for the “do vaccines cause autism” debate. Continue Reading »

I found this interesting post at Hating Autism which highlights the benefits of chelation therapy for Autism.

I took Sam to an amusement park today, hadn’t tried that for two years. I was expecting the usual horror show based on our past experiences, meltdowns, flopping on the ground and refusing to get up, lots of screaming and forcing us to stop rides to let him off. Guess what, none of that happened!!

Sam was well behaved all day, dragged me to the rides he wanted to go on, rocked a small boat that he was on so an attendant yelled at him, just like a normal kid, and scared the attendant when he yelled back at him with an unusual noise. That worked for him as the attendent didn’t bother him again and he kept rocking the boat and enjoying himself.

Later, when we stopped to eat on the way home, Sam tried to steal a beer off the table next to us, something I might have done at that age but, not with my old man standing behind me. Anyhow, I give him credit for trying. Good to see typical behavior.

It’s good to have these long gaps in certain situations so you can look back and see the improvement from chelation over time. Our experiences with amusement parks had always been nightmares, no enjoymant for the kid and nothing but frustration for the parents. So, today he smiled all day and had a good time. Thanks again, Andy Cutler. I don’t think Sam ever would’ve enjoyed a good time at any amusement park if you hadn’t taught us how to help our kids.

Came across this CBS News Story about Chelation for Treatment of Autism at Autism Defined - http://autismdefined.net/video/

- Jagannath Chatterjee.(Fighting Vaccines Since 1985).

1. There is no scientific study to determine whether vaccines have really prevented diseases. Rather disease graphs show vaccines have been introduced at the fag end of epidemics when the disease was already in its last stages. In case of Small Pox the vaccine actually caused a great spurt in the incidence of disease killing thousands before public outcry led to its withdrawal.
2. There are no long-term studies on vaccine safety. Very short-term unscientific tests are carried out where the vaccinated subjects are checked against another group who are given another vaccine. Technically the tests should be carried out against a non-vaccinated group. No one really knows what protocols are followed at such industry-sponsored trials.
3. There has never been any attempt to compare a vaccinated population against a non vaccinated population to know what vaccines are doing to the children and the society.
4. The child receives not one but many vaccines. There are no tests to determine the effects of multiple vaccines.
5. There is no scientific basis for vaccinating infants. As per senior doctors quoted by the Times of India, “Children suffer from less that 2% of vaccine preventable illnesses but 100% of the vaccines are targeted towards them.” The vaccine pioneers who have recommended abundant caution before vaccinating the population have never advocated Mass vaccinations.

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Local health officials say part of the problem is a high-profile court case that seemed to link vaccines to autism. In March, a federal ”vaccine court” approved paying an unspecified sum to the parents of Hannah Poling, 9, of Baltimore, who argued that her autism-like symptoms were caused by vaccines.

BY FRED TASKER at the Miami Herald
More than 10,000 students sought exemptions from required vaccinations last year in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe county schools, giving South Florida some of the highest noncompliance rates in the state.

And the percentage of South Florida children not having their shots when school starts is growing, according to Florida Department of Health records. Those records count only kindergartners and seventh graders, meaning the overall numbers are certainly higher.

With South Florida public schools starting Monday, local health officials say they hope things are going better this year but admit they have no way to know.

Doctors say childhood vaccinations are a crucial underpinning of public health, protecting against such serious diseases as mumps, measles, polio and meningitis.

”There’s a social contract here,” said Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami School of Medicine. “If you get meningitis or polio you could die.” Continue Reading »