01
Sep
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 »
27
Aug
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.
22
Aug
Came across this CBS News Story about Chelation for Treatment of Autism at Autism Defined - http://autismdefined.net/video/
21
Aug
- Jagannath Chatterjee.(Fighting Vaccines Since 1985).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The child receives not one but many vaccines. There are no tests to determine the effects of multiple vaccines.
- 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.
Continue Reading »
21
Aug
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 »
11
Aug
NORWALK, CT - Dear EarthTalk: What’s going on with all the cases of autism cropping up and no one seems to know why? It stands to reason it must be something (or some things) environmental, yet every study allegedly turns up no conclusion? What are the possible causes? - Jessica W., Austin, TX
From the TriState Observer
Continue Reading »
06
Aug
Autism is a brain disorder or unknown etiology - which means, in layman’s terms “We don’t know what causes it.” There are a number of theories, and a lot of controversy surrounding the causes of autism, and some of it is wrapped up in the controversy surrounding just how common autism is, and whether or not there’s been a sharp increase in actual cases of autism in the past ten years.
For parents, one of the most important things to know is that autism is NOT a psychological disorder. Researchers have long since put to rest the theory that autism is caused by the lack of a nurturing mother, but the belief still persists in some circles. If your child has been diagnosed with autism, rest assured that it is not because you were a bad parent. Continue Reading »
30
Jul
The Abbreviated — Stefan Fobes
Seen as a victory by American anti-vaccine advocates and as an historic admission by the US government that vaccines cause autism, the Department of Health & Human Services recently conceded in a lawsuit that five vaccines simultaneously given to a Georgia girl, Hannah Poling when she was 19 months old, “aggravated a rare underlying metabolic condition that resulted in a brain disorder with features of autism spectrum disorder”. The sick crap about these vaccine cases is that you cannot sue the manufacturers directly. They are held in a special vaccine “court” and the best outcome possible even in there is to get some money from a federal vaccine fund. Even if a person believes the government is good and loving, and of course, there are people who do lie to milk some payments for themselves, but this unreasonable scorched earth policy is the smoking gun proof in this pudding of the Siamese twin style relationship between the government and the drug companies.
Continue Reading »
29
Jul
by Barbara Loe Fisher
From vaccineawakening blog.
It has been a challenging week for families living with the reality of autism and for those educating Americans about the need to institute vaccine safety and informed consent protections in public health programs. It was a week when individual extremists from the political right and the left revealed their capacity for ignorance and prejudice, even as many enlightened Americans demonstrated their capacity for understanding, concern and compassion. It was a week that ended with a revelation that the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child by Two and the pediatrician leading a national effort to eliminate exemptions to vaccination, Paul Offit, M.D., are all taking big money from big Pharma.
Continue Reading »
29
Jul
by Stefan Fobes
Seen as a victory by American anti-vaccine advocates and as an historic admission by the US government that vaccines cause autism, the Department of Health & Human Services recently conceded in a lawsuit that five vaccines simultaneously given to a Georgia girl, Hannah Poling when she was 19 months old, “aggravated a rare underlying metabolic condition that resulted in a brain disorder with features of autism spectrum disorder”. The sick crap about these vaccine cases is that you cannot sue the manufacturers directly. They are held in a special vaccine “court” and the best outcome possible even in there is to get some money from a federal vaccine fund. Even if a person believes the government is good and loving, and of course, there are people who do lie to milk some payments for themselves, but this unreasonable scorched earth policy is the smoking gun proof in this pudding of the Siamese twin style relationship between the government and the drug companies.
The government and medical associations insist that vaccines are 100% safe, and that there’s zero proof of any link between them and autism, despite all of the evidence pointing in the opposite direction. Safe? Hell, maybe the government’s right and what happened to little Hannah Poling is just an isolated case. Maybe not, though. Judicial Watch found, through a Freedom of Information Act request, that there were over 8,000 adverse reaction reports related to Merck’s HPV Gardasil vaccine in the two years since it has been approved for girls. These include the experiences of: Jamie Venice, who passed out and had a seizure after her shot, and three others who got paralyzed after theirs, and a dozen deaths to top it all off. The FDA, in an email to CBS, said none of these events are surprising to them, nor are the faintings that are “a common event” with teens and young adults after vaccinations. I bet if you asked the FDA about the Russian spy guy who had all the radioactive poison in his body before he died, they’d have said he was Olympic ready!
Continue Reading »
