Autism Mercury Link . com

Children with health problems require extra attention and can be very expensive to treat. And a new study, published in the journal Pediatrics this week, shows how demanding one condition in particular can be. The study surveyed almost 40,000 children with special needs. Children with autism were shown to create some of the highest financial burdens for families.

Through occupational therapy sessions, Devon Heit, 7, is learning some basic life skills a little later than most children. That`s because he`s autistic. His mother Kristie spends a lot of money on Devon`s therapy and on countless of other types of treatments she says are necessary to his development. And while this session is covered by insurance, Kristie says that isn`t always the case. Continue Reading »

ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2008) - A new study shows that women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may significantly increase their child’s risk of developing autism. The preliminary research is published in the December 2, 2008, print issue of Neurology.The ongoing study involves 632 children, nearly half of whom were exposed to epilepsy drugs during gestation. Of the children whose mothers took epilepsy drugs while pregnant, 64 were exposed to valproate, 44 to lamotrigine, 76 to carbamazepine and 65 to other epilepsy drugs. Of the 632 children in the study, nine have been diagnosed with autism and one has shown symptoms of the disorder. The children were tested at one, three and six years old. Two-thirds of the children were six years old by the end of the study.

The study found seven of the children with autism had mothers who took an epilepsy drug while pregnant, four of those children were exposed to valproate while a fifth child’s mother took a combination of valproate and lamotrigine. The children whose mothers were given valproate during pregnancy were seven times more likely to develop autism compared to children whose mothers did not take an epilepsy drug while pregnant. This risk was not seen with the other epilepsy drugs. None of the children in the study had any known family history of autism. Continue Reading »

If you had 30 seconds to ask Dr. Buttar one question about Autism or Heavy Metal Toxicity, what would your single most important question be?

Ask your Question at www.AskDrButtar.com

Though I think that everyone has a choice to make a decision to immunize their child or not, I feel it was inappropriate to add the information quoted by Mr. Brian O’Connor that “misinformation includes the notion that immunization can bring on Autism.”

Let me tell you about my story. I have two children on the Autism Spectrum. Both my children received their immunization shots until my youngest reached the age of approximately 18 months (my children are two years apart). My youngest, after receiving his mumps/measles/rubella (MMR) shot at this age got a rash and high fever the day after. I remember my husband rushing him to the clinic and being isolated from the rest of the patients. The diagnosis he had was roseola, a form of measles, and to watch his temperature and the rash so it did not get worse. My son was meeting all his developmental milestones until this moment. He was using single words, making eye contact and making reciprocal gestures but after that fateful day, it all changed. He withdrew, stopped talking and started mumbling and had horrible, horrible tantrums. From that day forward, we were on a new path. I researched and read as much as I could about the link between immunizations and autism and feel, in my personal journey, that the MMR vaccine, the combination of the virus’s and the preservative, thimerosal (mercury based) were all contributing factors to my son’s autism. Many vaccines, including whooping cough, diphtheria, MMR, and especially hepatitis B, contain mercury (thimerosal) in amounts far in excess of those cited as dangerous by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998.

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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.