Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Comment-Combating Autism From Within

This item was emailed to this blog.-AR


The stunning information presented by Ashley Reynolds and her news team should be setting off alarms everywhere. Our federal health agencies have done little to address the autism epidemic affecting one in every 150 children--specifically one in every 94 boys in the U.S.

For too long the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been given oversight over itself. This is the agency in charge of the vaccine program and the commonly accepted source for information on vaccine safety. It should come as no surprise that every CDC study on vaccines and autism shows no link. Many times reporters go no further but simply give the CDC the last word.

The simple truth is our children have been exposed to a known neurotoxin in their vaccines made from the second deadliest element on Earth. As they received more and more vaccines in the mandated schedule, the autism rate exploded. The CDC has been a constant state of denial and can only present easily manipulated population studies to try and show that injecting mercury into children is safe.

This research can never make up for the fact that thimerosal, the mercury-based vaccine preservative, was never tested for toxicity BEFORE it was allowed in our children's vaccines. The population studies we're continually told about are the same type of science produced by the tobacco industry in the 1940s and 50s as proof that smoking didn't cause lung cancer. The fact is that there isn't a single toxicological study that can show us that thimerosal is safe.

The CDC has left health care professionals with no choice but to defend vaccines as safe, but this heated controversy shows no sign of going away. More and more in the press are presenting the facts about autism and the link to vaccines.

Ashley did the extraordinary. She looked into the studies. She talked to the scientists and doctors who challenge the CDC findings as well as pointing out the financial ties between the people doing the CDC studies and the vaccine makers. She told the public about the difference between epidemiological and toxicological studies. Combating Autism from Within has raised the standard for reporting on the autism epidemic.

Those of us responsible for the AGE OF AUTISM blog are happy to recognize the Combating Autism From Within series in naming the work by Ashley as the best media coverage on autism for 2007! AGE OF AUTISM AWARD: BEST MEDIA Thank you Ashley Reynolds and KOMU-TV!

Anne McElroy Dachel
Media Editor: AGE OF AUTISM

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't say it's the best autism coverage, but sadly it is representative of how most media cover the topic.

By the way, Age of Autism takes its name from a series of articles written by a UPI reporter named Dan Olmsted. The "highlight" of Mr. Olmsted's series was telling his readers that the Amish don't vaccinate, and that they don't have autism. He tells us he traveled Pennsylvania Amish country far and wide, and found two autistic kids, one of whom was adopted from China.

But Mr. Olmsted missed the crypically named Clinic for Special Children in Lancaster County, where doctors regularly see Amish children with autism. Ms. Dachel - care to respond?

So you're in good company, Ashley. Mr. Olmsted was also awarded the Age of Autism's Golden Trainwreck Award.

Anonymous said...

I left a comment on one of Mr. Olmsted's postings on the very very young Age of Autism blog asking when we can expect to read about the interviews he did at the Clinic for Special Children.

The Age of Autism blog looks to be a heavily moderated blog, so I don't expect my simple question to appear. Nor do I expect Mr. Olmsted to write anything about that Clinic.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kenneth,

I glad you had to punch the time clock again. I guess I was to busy in the Lilly boardroom filing VICA claims, in my Wildcat slippers, cooking up ways to cover up the poisoning kids, that I missed those other reports. Would you be so kind to direct me to the reports that media has covered the way Ashley Reynolds and KOMU have covered Combating Autism. Most coverage I've seen does not look at science. The normal coverage states we have pharma paid epidemiological studies from Denmark that say there is no link. Where are the other 6 month investigation?

Linda “Lilly”

Anonymous said...

Pas problem, ma petite chou. Go to:

autismnewsbeat.com

There's plenty more where that came from!

Anonymous said...

Its clear our children need better safety science than what has been done on this issue, if any journalists are coming from Autism News Beat's site please email me at efogarty@medicine.nodak.edu, I will have someone check your credentials and you will have a piece that will help move science forward toward safer vaccines, if they don't come soon the growing concerns are going to burst the bubble of confidence built on the mantra of 100% safety. Do the math, even if they are 99.9% safe in a million kids thats 1000 kids per million vaccinated that should be through vaccine court, I really don't think the numbers add up. Point is IT IS OUR DUTY AS PHYSICIANS TO FIND THE VULNERABLE POPULATION AND KEEP THEM OUT OF THIS OTHERWISE GREAT IDEA.

Dr. E. F. Fogarty
Chair of Radiology UND SOM

tkasemodel said...

I googled the Clinic for Special Children in Lancaster County and called them up.

http://www.clinicforspecialchildren.org/Welcome_files/brochure.pdf

Their information does not mention autism at all. The receptionist stated they do not treat children with autism, but they do treat metabolic disorders which have been known to include some symptoms that look like autistic behavior. She did not make it clear to me that they do actually treat kids with an autism diagnosis.

Unless you two have gone further and identified patients of this clinic that actually have autism, I guess I may have saved Mr. Olmsted the trouble of aknowledging your persistent comments regarding all the autistic amish kids he missed......

I am not even a journalist, yet I made one phone call and have easily show your claim that this clinic, "where doctors regularly see Amish children with autism" is incorrect.

And you critcize Ashley Reynolds' investigative abilities? Yikes........

Anonymous said...

The receptionist "did not make it clear... that they do actually treat kids with an autism diagnosis," and that proves that I am wrong?

No amount of evidence is going to persuade you of anything. I could round up 100 autistic kids and drop them in your living room, and you would still cling to the improbable. That's what true believers do.

At least I'm open minded. Show me evidence that vaccines cause autism, and I'll go long on Titer Meter® stock.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that on this blog both Autism News Beat and Kathleen Seidel have made this reference: Titer Meter®. You two sure think alike.

Kathleen Seidel said...

> Interesting that on this blog both
> Autism News Beat and Kathleen Seidel
> have made this reference: Titer Meter®.

This is incorrect.

> You two sure think alike.

This is correct.

Anonymous said...

One mind communications

Kathleen Seidel said...

> One mind communications

Are you suggesting that if two people have a similar perspective and opinions on a subject, that they are thinking with "one mind?" By that token, wouldn't CoMed's campaign to persuade Special Counsel Scott Bloch to investigate its members' allegations of official misconduct, and its petition to the FDA, qualify as "one mind communications"? Doesn't A-CHAMP exist to facilitate unified action towards the achievement of goals agreed upon by its members? Doesn't a football team require a shared vision to be successful? Your participation in these sorts of team endeavors suggests that you don't have a problem with "one mind communication" unless you happen to disagree with the communicators.

Anonymous said...

I was just about to say that!

Linda thinks "Kathleen" and "ANB" are one and the same. She also thinks I'm paid to post inconvenient truths.

Anonymous said...

True to form, neither of my comments on the "Age of Autism" blog were approved. Why are they afraid of simple questions?

Can someone PLEASE tell me when and where Mr. Olmsted's interview at the Clinic for Special Children will be published? He keeps mentioning the Amish, but he seems to neglect the major medical research facility in their midst.

Why should a journalism student be afraid of taking some basic science courses?

By the way, while my grandfather once upon a time had a home on Lake Wissota, I am over a thousand miles from both ANB and Kathleen.

Anonymous said...

The Amish have autism, and they vaccinate. So this whole discussion will just end with Ms. Dachel telling us "Of course the Amish have autism - they vaccinate!"

Olmsted is not qualified to diagnose autism, which as we know occurs on a spectrum and is not always accompanied by "spinning an flapping" as David Kirby tells us. Could it be that the Amish, who are known for their modesty and private life style, accept the child that God has given them, instead of publicly whining on television?

Anonymous said...

Severely dysfunctional children can be helped and part of what makes the clinical science of helping these children so difficult is the genetic and environmental heterogeneity of the population. In addition, looking at the work of Dr. Jill James would indicate that the approach requires nutraceutical rather than pharmaceutical appriach as relates to the enzyme pathways in sulfation and methylation that are affected. The neuological side of things may be helped by some pharmaceuticals but much of the underlying problems with detoxification need bootleneck hurdles (neutraceuticals) rather than cascade or pathway blockers (pharmaceuticals). If big drug companies could patent and protect those approaches it would help get more research done but at some level you are dealing with a number of "orphan" drug/nutraceutical issues here as one kids autism is impacted by MTHFR mutation, another by COMT, another by paronoxyl-arylesterase, another by COMT dysfuntion, etc. I will post a graphic to help unify the issues for those who are interested in just how complex this is.

Anonymous said...

Is it true that all one needs to be certified as a DAN! practitioner is to attend an eight-hour seminar? You don't even need to be an MD. One guy just listened to tapes of a seminar, and now he can hang the DAN! shingle.

Anonymous said...

Interesting, someone in Pediatrics at a US medical school acting like a DAN!

SUNY Buffalo DEPARTMENT OF PEDIATRICS there's my mavericks.


J Altern Complement Med. 2007 Dec;13(10):1091-8.

A comprehensive approach to treating autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a prepilot study.

Patel K, Curtis LT.

Environmental Health Center, Buffalo, NY., Department of Pediatrics, State University of NewYork, Buffalo, NY.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of a multi dimensional treatment plan involving nutrition, environmental control, chelation, and behavioral/educational/physical/speech therapy to treat children with autistic spectrum disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) disorder. This study is only a preliminary study, and its small size (10 patients) precludes statistical analysis of simultaneous multiple modal treatment regimes. Design: This was an open-label observational study. Settings/location/subjects: This study examined 10 children aged 4-10 years old who had been diagnosed with both autistic spectrum disorder and ADHD by outside physicians or psychologists. These 10 children presented consecutively in an environmental medicine clinic in Buffalo, New York. The children were given comprehensive nutritional/environmental/chelation treatment for 3 to 6 months in addition to their usual behavioral, educational, speech, and physical therapies. Outcome measures: Study outcomes were measured by objective/subjective improvement as judged by physicians/parents/teachers. Outcomes were also measured by changes in urinary heavy metal burdens over time. Results: All 10 children showed significant improvement in many areas of social interaction, concentration, writing, language, and behavior. Urinary lead burden dropped significantly in all 10 children. Conclusions: Autistic spectrum disorders and ADHD are complicated conditions that probably require multidimensional treatment strategies. Larger studies are needed to determine optimum treatment plans involving nutrition, environmental control, medication, and behavioral/education/speech/physical therapies.

PMID: 18166120 [PubMed - in process]


GO AHEAD LIBEL THEM NOW!!!

Anonymous said...

I am second to no man in my admiration of your copy and paste skills.