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Vaccine Court Considers Autism Link
CBS News Exclusive: Former Head Of NIH Says Government Too Quick To Dismiss Possible Link
A second round of autism test cases begins Monday in federal vaccine court.
Tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Attkisson has exclusive interviews with the two families bringing the cases: two of nearly 5,000 autism cases that have been filed in this special court.
The government and many scientists have consistently maintained for more than a decade that there is no link between vaccines and autism. The Institute of Medicine issued a report in 2004 that was intended to put the controversy to rest, saying that the weight of the body of scientific evidence does not show a causal link between vaccines and autism. However, other scientists and parents disagree.
Attkisson interviewed Dr. Bernadine Healy, the former head of the National Institutes of Health and a member of the Institute of Medicine who breaks with her colleagues in this exclusive CBS News interview: Dr. Healy says the government has been too quick to dismiss the possibility of a vaccine-autism link, and that it should be explored with renewed vigor.
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So apparently one CFL light bulb contains 200 times the amount of mercury that is in the full dose mercury shots. It is astonishing to me that anyone thinks these are a good idea. From Barb Kaplan: Energy Efficient Light Bulbs
“Consider removal of carpeting section where the breakage has occurred as a precaution when there are infants, small children and pregnant women present.” This unsettling quote comes from the Vermont Department of Health and Environmental Conservation website, and it is one of the instructions given if you break a compact fluorescent light bulb.
In an effort to reduce the amount of energy we use, new legislation has been enacted at the local, state, and federal level here and abroad regarding energy efficient light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs, the type most people use in their homes, will in time cease to be manufactured because they are not energy efficient.
In the last year, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) have been repeatedly in the news because, although they cost about four times as much as a traditional light bulb, they use less energy to power them and last about six times as long. The main downside to CFLs is that they contain mercury, the second most hazardous neurotoxin on the planet. While a functioning CFL is not of concern, breakage and disposal of them are.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs contain a “trace” of mercury, 4 to 5 milligrams of it. The 25 micrograms of mercury in a flu shot, which may be responsible for the epidemic of children diagnosed with autism, is 1/200th of the mercury in a single light bulb of which there could be several in every room of every home. Keep in mind that leftover flu shots have to be treated as bio-hazard waste because they contain mercury, far less than what is in one CFL. To realize the enormity of this, consider that there are about 8 million households in New York State alone. If each household disposed of just one compact fluorescent light bulb per year, that’s over 32 kilograms of mercury to be recycled.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs cost 4 times as much as a traditional light bulb, averaging $2.00 versus 50 cents, and will save around $5.00 in electricity. There are other new bulbs that are emerging that are safer but may be, for the time being, cost prohibitive. For example, Home Depot has started selling a $5.00 Philips halogen bulb that’s 30% more efficient than current incandescents and has no mercury; however, most consumers will already balk at the $2.00 CFL and are unlikely to want to spent twenty dollars on a 4-pack of bulbs.
Under law recently signed by President George W. Bush, all light bulbs must use 25% to 30% less energy than today’s products by 2012 to 2014. The phase-in will start with 100-watt bulbs in January 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in January 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70% more efficient. Compact fluorescent bulbs meet the more stringent 70% efficiency standard. There are now laws banning incandescent bulbs in Cuba, Venezuela, Australia, Canada, and the European Union (27 countries). However, most of the other countries are not making as aggressive a timeframe for phase-in, which allows more time for new, less expensive, technology to be invented and recycling resources to potentially be created.
Some state and counties are beginning to pass similar laws. California, Connecticut, North Carolina and Rhode Island, and New Jersey are in the process of legislating against or have already passed laws against incandescents. Beginning January 1, 2012, it will be illegal to sell, purchase or even use a low-efficiency incandescent lamp in Suffolk County, New York.
The idea of allowing mercury to be placed in an easily breakable consumer product is fraught with public safety risks. In fact, it required a special exemption from the EPA to allow mercury-fluorescent lamps to be sold to consumers in the first place. Despite the decrease in the amount of mercury in the environment coming out of coal-fired power plants, the risk is being delivered directly to consumers’ homes.
The issue of breakage and disposal of CFLs is significant. If you drop one or more bulbs during installation or removal, or if your child knocks over a lamp with a CFL and it breaks, you have exposed yourselves and your children to airborne mercury. If a bulb does break in a home, leaving the window open and clearing out the room is not sufficient clean-up. Clean-up requires individuals to wear respiratory protection, as the Lumex values in the area surrounding the broken bulb will exceed safety guidelines. The broken glass cannot be vacuumed because the mercury vapors will disperse, causing wider-spread danger. Note that on some packages of CFLs, there are no warning labels (they are not mandatory) to tell a consumer that, for example, CFLs cannot be used with track, recessed, or dimmer fixtures, which could cause overheating. Some warning labels have information but in fine print.
Mercury affects the nervous system, causing brain, nerve, kidney, and lung damage. It can cause memory loss and, in extreme cases, even death. It retards brain development of fetuses and children, who are most vulnerable to mercury’s toxic effects. In fact, as of January 1, Minnesota banned mercury as a preservative in beauty products. Senator John Marty of Roseville, Minn., who sponsored the ban, stated, “Mercury does cause neurological damage to people even in tiny quantities. Every source of mercury adds to it.” New York and Illinois prohibit consumer products with mercury, such as figurines, toys and jewelry. So, why make mercury in the form of compact fluorescent light bulbs the likely replacement for incandescents?
Mercury is so toxic that the world’s 30 leading industrialized countries, including the U.S., have agreed to “cease all further work on mercury”. This means that we have to import mercury in order to make the bulbs, in violation of the spirit of the coalition.
There are inadequate ways to CFLs recycled. Ikea Stores are accepting them for recycling. However, my local store representative told me that when “dropping” the CFLs into the mailbox-type receptacle, the possibility exists that the bulbs could break. In addition, communities will have to find a safe and effective means of recycling these bulbs. Currently, this type of recycling in many communities is the once every month or two whereby any hazardous materials, such as lead-based paint cans and car batteries, can be dropped off. Some states, cities and counties have outlawed putting CFL bulbs into the trash, but in most states the practice is legal. Generally speaking, compliance is likely to be quite low as consumers currently toss used mercury-free incandescent bulbs into the trash.
However, there is obvious risk to storing and transporting the CFLs, which could be broken inadvertently while in one’s garage. Certainly we can’t all be driving to Ikea every time a bulb needs replacing. “The problem with the bulbs is that they’ll break before they get to the landfill. They’ll break in containers, or they’ll break in a dumpster or they’ll break in the trucks. Workers may be exposed to very high levels of mercury when that happens,” said John Skinner, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, the trade group for the people who handle trash and recycling.
If a CFL is thrown into the regular trash container, when the garbage truck crushes the bulb, the mercury is released and the garbage man is exposed to a neuro-toxin. Subsequently, when the garbage is delivered to a landfill, mercury is released into the air, and, subsequently, soil, and water.
In Suffolk County, New York, County Executive Steve Levy, after signing into law legislation banning incandescents in 2012, he responded to a constituent as follows: “Rest assured, I did not make the decision to convert County facilities lightly and will take proper disposal of these bulbs [CFLs] seriously once full-scale conversion begins officially.” In other words, ban the safe but inefficient bulbs even though we have not figured out a safe way to deal with the very real problem of what to do with broken bulbs and used bulbs. As fluorescent bulbs are already on the market, the time to explore the options has already passed.
According to www.lightbulbrecycling.com, each year an estimated 600 million fluorescent light bulbs (“lamps”) are currently being disposed of in U.S. landfills, amounting to 30,000 pounds of mercury waste. Astonishingly, that is almost half the amount of mercury emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants each year. In addition, it only takes 4 mg of mercury, the amount of mercury in one compact fluorescent bulb, to contaminate up to 7,000 gallons of freshwater. This is prior to these laws even going into effect.
We need to delay legislation until mercury-free bulbs, such as halogens, become more available at prices less expensive than they currently are. The reality is that consumers are going to choose the relatively cheaper, mercury-laden compact fluorescent light bulbs which bring the dangers of mercury directly to the consumer and will inevitably harm the environment and its inhabitants far more than the energy efficiency will help.
We need to contact our local legislators as well as President Bush and tell them to delay implementation of the new energy efficiency standards indefinitely until such a time that halogen technology can improve and become cheaper. We need to have more recycling facilities in place for the compact fluorescent light bulbs that are already out there and safer ways to get the light bulbs to these facilities.
For additional reading on this subject, consult these web links where much of the preceding information originated:
http://www.mercvt.org/PDF/cflampfactsheet.pdf
http://www.newstarget.com/022279.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22258423/
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2007-12-16-light-bulbs_N.htm/
www.lightbulbrecycling.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071213/ap_on_he_me/mercury_in_mascara;_ylt=AtxQTWQCPuzHRVe7o.V_oCTVJRIF
http://www.newstarget.com/021907.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268747,00.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7431198
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55213
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update66.htm
http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/homeowner/pdf/prospecthistory.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/hg/spills/index.htm
http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/legis/resos2007/i1867-07.htm
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36103.html
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This Mother's Day, from my boys, I got two hydrangea bushes to start a little garden on the side of my house. I named them Bessie and Myrtle. But my best mothers day present was being introduced to some chickens. Today after church we decided to drive around and explore Maine. We drove by a farm and noticed that three chickens had crossed the street and were hanging out next to the primary school. We pulled up to them to show them to the boys. Chandler rolled down his window to greet the hens. "Hewwo Chickens. How are you? My name is Chanwer. These are my friends, Webster, Mommy and Daddy". That is the biggest mouthful my little guy has ever been inspired to say. I love those damn chickens.
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Shannon Johnson is a Maine autism mom, founder of the autism social networking site FoggyRock.com, and daughter of Nancy Cale of Unlocking Autism. Her piece on her experience this Mother's Day really brought home to me the continuing quiet sacrifices that autism mom's make daily, hourly, for the children that they love so much. Happy Mother's Day to you mom's who have joined the club that none of us wanted to join, and earned the title "Loving Mother" in a way that few have. Happy Mother's Day Shannon. Un-invited
by Shannon Johnson
Wynn's teacher gave me a head's up about the Mother's Day luncheon planned for the next week. She wanted to be certain that I set the time and date aside so that I wouldn't miss the festivities. Maybe she also knew that Wynn would need some extra time to process the event. Well, he did.
The first time I mentioned the party he screamed, "No! Don't come!". When the official invitation arrived in his lunch box, he screamed, "I said, don't come! I'll be really mad if you do!" When Wednesday finally arrived, and I brought up the topic of the big day, he screamed, "You mean you have to come? It will ruin my day!"
Now, for the best part of the last 13 years, I have gone out of my way....certainly, I have ignored, looked the other way, justified, set aside, left alone, let go, avoided, adjusted, adapted, hesitated, rotated, navigated and even subjugated.....all in an attempt to NOT ruin my son's day.....so I knew that attending the luncheon (never mind that it was in my honor) was out of the question.
I would again, do everything in my power, not to ruin an otherwise good day.
Wynn just hasn't understood, ever, the subtle inferences of social occasions. Why would Mother's Day be so important when his own birthday only means he can have a dessert or two? He attaches no significance whatsoever to holidays, ceremonies or traditions. If I showed up at his school at 12:15, as the invitation advised, I would simply be someone being somewhere she didn't belong. If he handed me anything, it would be in an attempt to move me quickly to the parking lot and back into the oblivion where I exist until he steps off the bus and asks for dinner. In his world, the one he daily constructs to bring meaning into his chaos, he has no place for luncheons, and no room for an annual display of sentiment as dictated by Hallmark or even Congress.
So, I meet briefly and covertly with Wynn's teacher on the front lawn by the parking lot. She hands me a hand-painted clay pot overflowing with budding violets that she promises Wynn planted. There is also a package donning tissue paper and a card that I open in the car. In a curly font are the words of Emily Dickinson, probably written for her own worried parent.
"A mother is one to who you hurry when you are troubled".
If Wynn's calls for "more hot" water in the tub, for more lima beans in his plate, for snuggles and songs, for stories and jokes, for answers and action are ushered my way, which they are, then I guess, luncheon or no luncheon, I know, at least, that I am, in no uncertain terms, his mother.......And knowing that is celebration enough for me.
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BESTSELLING AMERICAN AUTHOR DAVID KIRBY TO VISIT UK IN JUNE
--Journalist Who Covers the Autism-Vaccine Debate to Speak About Political and Scientific Developments in the US and Updates to His Book “Evidence of Harm”—
David Kirby, the New York based investigative journalist and author of the NY Times Bestseller, “Evidence of Harm, Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic – A Medical Controversy,” will visit the United Kingdom on the 4th - 6th of June to discuss recent developments in the vaccine-autism debate in the United States.
Mr. Kirby, a former contributor to The New York Times and a regular writer for the extremely popular online blog, The Huffington Post, will give a free public lecture on Wednesday 4th June, 6-10PM at Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, London. He will also attend a book signing and speak with members of the UK media, among other activities, while in the country.
Among the subjects to be addressed by Mr. Kirby are:
1) A recent case in the US Vaccine Court in which the federal government conceded that vaccines induced autism in one little girl – and updates on other cases in the court.
2) Growing evidence of a link between mitochondrial dysfunction and autistic regression, and case studies of several ASD children with mitochondrial issues.
3) State-of-the-art research underway at top universities on the connection between environmental toxins, mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, glutathione depletion, neuro-inflammation and autistic encephalopathy.
4) Declarations by all 3 US Presidential candidates that autism is epidemic and calling for more research into vaccines and mercury as a possible cause.
5) Recent studies linking ASD risk with heavy metals and other contaminants in air pollution.
Mr. Kirby’s visit is being sponsored by Generation Rescue, an autism group formed by US parents of children with neurological disorders. GR parents believe that autism and other learning disabilities are environmentally-based illnesses that can be treated through biomedical intervention.
“Evidence of Harm,” debuted on The New York Times bestseller list in 2005, and is still widely read today. It won the 2005 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award in 2005 for Best Book. Kirby has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s Larry King Live, NBC’s The Today Show, MSNBC’s Imus in the Morning, CNN Headline News, Air America, and hundreds of other radio and television stations around the world. He has been invited to speak at the US Federal Claims Court’s Judicial Conference, this November in Washington, DC.
David Kirby is available for media interviews before and during his visit.
Please contact him directly at dkirby@nyc.rr.com.
A list of other appearances will be issued next week
More information about Evidence of Harm is available at www.evidenceofharm.com
Mr. Kirby’s essays at Huffington Post can be viewed at www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby
Information on Generation Rescue is available at www.generationrescue.com
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David Kirby explores the VERY Hidden Horde: US Medicine: 97% of All Autism Cases Went Undected - Until Now?
May 9, 2008
Huffington Post
If autism has always been with us in the same high numbers that we see today -- as some scientists and academics contend -- then we should be able to identify the 1 in 150 adults currently living with autism in places like the US and UK...
But still, by any currently available measure, there appear to be many more people under the age of 18 with autism than there are adults with the disorder....
Investigators could only find, "a total of 645 adults diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders in Scotland,"...
...Is it possible that only one in every 110 adults with autism in Scotland is standing up and being counted?... Read the whole thing.
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After writing my last piece on the questions on the link between GMO's and Autism based on the comments of Dr. Arpad Pusztai in "The World According to Monsanto", I wrote to Dr. Pusztai and asked if he thought the ideas may be plausible ones. He has not read the post yet, as he is traveling, but after reading the summary of the ideas in my email to him, he thought that the idea that the adjuvant properties of GMO's setting our kids up for vaccine injury was a plausible one. Here is his response: Unfortunately, I have not had the time to read your second bit but I shall do so soon. However, I have found your ideas on the possible adjuvant role of GMOs very convincing.
You know there is quite a bit of evidence that the Cry toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis are strong immune stimulants and also immune adjuvants. Moreover, in GM-peas (not commercially available) even the transgenically expressed bean alpha-amylase inhibitor (not allergenic in beans) becomes an allergen and and immune adjuvant when its gene is transferred to peas.
There is now ample evidence to reinforce our original observation... that one of the unintended and unpredicted consequences of genetic engineering is the inducement of immune changes in the recipients, particularly in their mucosal (gut) immune system.
I shall attach our 2006 scientific review in which you will find more material on this.
So, your idea that in addition to the adjuvants (thiomersal, aluminium, etc) used in vaccines, if the diets contain immune adjuvants originating from GMOs and in receptive individuals, one may reinforce the possibly unwanted immune consequences of vaccination. This may be one too many of the immune changes that contribute to the development of autism in a genetic subset of individuals.
I am sorry that your child may be one these unfortunate individuals. It is possible that you may shut the doors after the horses bolted but I very strongly advise you to keep an eye on your child's diet and avoid GM corn, GM rice, etc at all cost. Although the Americans have difficulties to maintain the GM free status of even organic foodstuffs, please, do your best to cut out all GM from the diet. Write to Ronnie Cummins at OCA (ronnie@organicconsumers.org) for advice if you have not done so already. This is the paper he sent: Biotechnological, molecular and ecophysiological aspects of nutrition: GMO in animal nutrition: potential benefits and risksI have not read the paper yet, but will comment further after I have a chance to digest all this.
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Because GMO foods are not labeled in the US, we have no idea if our kids are reacting to them. Apple Mark of Something Beginning with A has the luxury of actually know what his child is eating as a resident of the UK and shares this with us about his autistic son's experience with GMO foods (FYI... in Europe, Soy is called Soya): Edward had been on gf cf diet for 6 months had made huge progress. We had also eliminated Soya on the advice of Paul Shattock as most Soya is gm and we have tried to go as organic as possible.
Interestingly Edward does not appear to have a problem with corn (not sure if gm maize is permitted in the UK)
Soya was reintroduce into his diet accidentally on the 17th Nov 2006. He slowly slipped back into autism. The effect on Edward was such that he was unteachable at the nursery. They had to devote 1-1 care for him and this is not expected of them as they are not special needs. We were extremely luck to have such a good nursery.
He started to recover after a week but it was 6 weeks before he was back to pre soya. Not a happy Christmas.
His nursery had a nativity play and Edward sat through it looking dazed occasionally stimming with his fingers, this is in contrast with the Easter 4 months later.
Here is his diary entry on the day we realised:
Saturday 2nd December (Lara)
"SOYA DAMN IT has made Edward autistic again.
Everyone has noticed. I stopped his "new dietary needs". All his new food had Soya in it. He has had such a bad reaction to it and has gone backwards. He is not receptive, no eye contact, no concentration, tantrums, not able to speak, "unusual behaviour", on his tiptoes, no poo since Friday [5days].
I have been stressed tearful and feel really awful. He desperately needs a poo to get rid of the toxins. I gave him lactulose Tuesday and Wednesday."
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Watching The World According to Monsanto, I was struck by the section of the film about Árpád Pusztai’s research that showed that rats fed GMO potatoes developed gut problems and an immune response. The section is as follows: Árpád Pusztai, world renowned scientist lost his job when he warned about GE (genetically engineered or genetically modified) foods.
1998 Aberdeen, Scotland
Árpád Pusztai worked for the Rowett Institute in Scotland. At the Ministry of Agriculture’s request, he lead a study on genetically modified potatoes with a budget of over two million Euros and a staff of 30 researchers, to prepare the arrival of GMOs in Great Britain.
"We were all enthusiastic about it… I was enthusiastic about it… The ministry thought that if we did this study, looking at all aspects, then it would be an endorsement of GM and when they introduce it, they will say that the foremost laboratory in Europe… nutritional laboratory… had looked at them and found them all right."
Árpád Pusztai specializes in lectins, these proteins function as an insecticide protecting plants against aphids. Rowett scientists had created potatoes that were resistant to aphids, and into which they introduced a snowdrop gene which produces the lectin in question. Beforehand they verified that in their naturally occurring state, lectins themselves do not pose a health risk.
The genetically modified potatoes were tested on rats.
"It had a twofold effect. First it started to increase a proliferative response in the gut… and that you don’t like… because this is possibly… I am not saying it is cancerous… but what it does… it can have an adjuvant effect on any chemical… any chemically induced tumor.
The other thing is that the immune system was certainly… got into high gear. And that was… we don’t know whether that is good or bad. But it certainly did recognize the GM potatoes as alien. And we were convinced that this insertion is causing the problem and not the trans gene. As I said, the trans gene when we did it in isolation, even at 800 fold concentration, didn’t do any harm.
It was a very important point because the American FDA is going on by mutual Technology. And what we did say and what we did publish actually corroborated and confirmed that it was not the trans gene that was the problem, but it was the technology." When Pusztai was interviewed by the BBC, with permission from his bosses, he stated: "As a scientist actively working on the field, I find that it is very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs." The day after the statement was broadcast, Pusztai was fired and the team was dismantled. While watching this, I put together a few things: 1. Dr. Pusztai’s finding, that GM potatoes triggered gut problems and an immune response. 2. The additional section of the documentary which discussed the migration of trans genes (genes that have been genetically modified and inserted into cells that then become a part of the DNA) from GM corn sold in the US to native corn grown in rural southern Mexico. 3. A comment that David Kirby made in his column that discussed the March 11th CDC conference call that discussed the Hanna Poling mitochondrial disorder and its link to autism. Kirby wrote: "Some researchers believe that the modern American diet is largely to blame for an increase in the number of children whose underlying mitochondrial dysfunction is "triggered" into autism by febrile infections.
The answer, they hypothesize, is corn.
The American diet has become extraordinarily dependent on corn oil and corn syrup used in processing, these experts contend. They say that corn oil and syrup are inflammatory, whereas fish oil is anti-inflammatory. Could our diet be a factor in making this mutated gene become more pathogenic?" In an email conversation with Mr. Kirby while he was researching that conference call, he wrote to me that: "One of the top scientists I spoke with today said the increase in autism in America was due to consumption of corn" His comments in the article about the theoretical corn/inflammation link to autism were straight from a high level scientist involved with the CDC and on that conference call. Putting all these together, my questions are these: ||Could not just over exposure to corn be the problem, but exposure to genetically modified corn, presumably that used the same problematic technology as Dr. Pusztai’s believed was to blame for the gut and inflammation in his rats that were eating genetically modified potatoes?|| ||And what exactly does the CDC believe to be the relationship between the American diet, overconsumption of corn products, inflammation and autism?|| ||And if they believe, or even suspect, that inflammation is at play in the bodies of children with autism, why have they not stated this publicly and encouraged research and treatment along these lines?|| ||And if they believe there might be a link, then why are they not investigating and promoting the Specific Carbohydrate Diet that removes corn products?|| Corn is a problem for many of our kids, because genetically modified food products are not labeled, we have no way of figuring out if our kids are having problems with corn, or GM corn. Or if one causes a bigger problem than the other. In fact we have no way of knowing at all what GM foods might be doing to our children. Chandler drank milk by the truck load before he regressed, it was probably Bovine Growth Hormone milk, which is found to have inflammatory effects on the cows and because of the illness of the cows puss is in the milk, as well as the antibiotics that were given to the cows to counter the infections. To say nothing of the hormone itself which also may be in the milk. But bottom line for me, the biggest question I have is: ||WHAT THE HELL HAVE I BEEN FEEDING MY CHILDREN FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS???|| And is the very good response that my own son had to the SCD Diet, which removes processed foods and encourages eating only organic foods, due in part to the fact that he is no longer eating pro-inflammatory genetically modified foods? There has not been any discussion that I know of surrounding the potential role of GM foods and autism in our community. It is certainly an important discussion to be had as many of our kids on GFCF diets will continue to eat processed foods with genetically modified ingredients.
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If you eat food, you need to watch this documentary: The World According to Monsanto wmode="transparent" data="http://www.arronsfootball.co.uk/flvplayer.swf?file=http://www.archive.org/download/tawtmonsanto/twatmonsanto.flv"> I have never understood what the big complaints about genetically modified foods were all about. If you can breed a plant to be resistant to bugs or more fruitful, if you can get a cow to give more milk, why would that be a bad thing? People have been cross breeding plans for thousands of years. I assumed that bioengineered foods would be tested like crazy by the FDA, not allowed into the food supply if they were problematic and would be labeled as GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in the grocery store, because in this country we have to have full disclosure in the packaging of our food. I figured that when they did come on the market, I would just avoid them for a few years to make sure that there were not problems en mass. You don’t buy a new model car the first year on the market, you don’t take a new vaccine (Gardasil) or medication as soon as it is introduced, and you don’t eat stuff that has ingredients that have not had a safety history of at least a few years, right? On March 11th this documentary on Monsanto’s business practices and their introduction of GMOs into the food supply aired on French television. Apparently we have all been eating genetically modified foods for a decade or so. They are not labeled as such, and, as I was with vaccines, apparently I was very naive about the FDA’s regulatory process. Instead of testing GMO foods for safety, the FDA decided that they were similar enough to the original food product to just be considered equivalent to the original food product, and GMOs do not even have to go through as stringent a regulatory process as a new food dye or preservative. As with vaccines, the FDA does not do any testing of their own, but just reviews the company’s safety studies; but just taking the word of a company that already has a history of very serious abuses of the public, like the PCB poisoning in Anniston, Alabama that Monsanto was responsible for, is monumentally foolish. Internal Monsanto documents showed that the contamination in Anniston was so serious that fish put in the local waters died in THREE AND A HALF MINUTES, but Monsanto decided to continue what they were doing because, "…we can’t afford to loose one dollar". Watch the documentary to see what happened to the poor, black population of Aniston. (If this was done in a town full of white people with money, you probably would have heard about it long before now. We tend to draw more attention when we complain that our kids are being poisoned). As with vaccines, the Monsanto GMO safety studies turn out to be junk, that actually claim the opposite of what a well designed study might find. (If you don’t want to find a problem, only look where you know you won’t find it!) The parallels to Verstraeten, Denmark and Fombonne and the like are obvious to anyone in our community. This is a two hour documentary, so pick a night this week, grab your spouse and watch it. This is really important. I lost track of how many whistle blowers, previously highly respected scientists, were fired and had their reputations trashed for reporting that their findings showed that Monsanto’s GMO products were not safe or reported the million dollar bribes that Monsanto was offering to regulators. Researchers found they caused problems in cell division, which is step one in the development of cancer, and that the bodies of animals reacted to the GMO food as a foreign substance to be attacked, stimulating the immune system. (Does this set off any alarms for anyone? More on this in my follow up post.) I also lost track of how many cotton farmers in India had committed suicide because of Monsanto’s take over of the industry. Was it 600 last year and then another 600 so far this year? Monsanto sells the seed, which are marketed as growing plants that are resistant to a certain problematic bug, at very high prices, but it apparently doesn’t even protect against the bug, and often take on a blight and dies. Farmers, rather than being faced with the shame of loosing everything, are killing themselves by the hundreds. And because Monsanto has flooded the market with their seeds, it is apparently next to impossible for the farmers to get a hold of regular seeds any more. Which leads us to the craziest thing about this whole story. That Monsanto had patented seeds (how did the supreme court decide that was legal?), and by flooding the market, gotten rid of other seeds (if they are not being grown and re harvested every year, plant lines die out, and in about a decade, Monsanto has come to own like 90% of the world's seeds. Farmers using these seeds cannot save the Monsanto owned seeds from a previous crop and replant. They have to re buy them every year from Monsanto, and the corporation is suing local farmers suspected of resowing seed. Even when they haven't and can prove they bought the seed. Apparently Monsanto is now the Stalin of the Farm Belt infiltrating local farming communities, showing up incognito at local meetings and encouraging farmers to report on each other. If a truck driving by your land accidentally drops a seed and it grows on your property, Monsanto can sue you. And apparently is suing people for seeds that have blown on to their land and taken root. Farmers are giving up fighting these law suits, that drag on for years, because they can't afford protracted legal battles, and just paying Monsanto a settlement. Additionally, Monsanto is patenting regular seeds, seeds that have been around forever, so that they can just put them in a vault and not let anyone use them. So Monsanto is basically poised to own food. All food. It is like something out of a movie, but apparently Monsanto is more clever than Hollywood, because not even the X-Files came up with a conspiracy plot to own all the food in the world. Oh and by the way their food may cause cancer and autoimmune disorders. I can’t even explain all the problems that this documentary brings to light in the US, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and India. Monsanto declined to be interviewed for the documentary and has not commented on it, but their web site assures us that they are working ethically. For anyone who criticizes the autism community for their mistrust of the federal regulators, big pharma and the revolving door between the two where one day someone is working for the government on vaccine safety, the next they are a high paid pharma employee and next year they are back in government regulation (or even doing both at the same time), this documentary shows in living color that our mistrust is not only founded, but probably not distrustful enough. This story is our story. Replace Merck for Monsanto, replace FDA/CDC for the FDA and replace vaccine for food, and this is what parents like me have been bitching about. Our kids are getting sick, and when we look into how the sausage that is being injected into our kids is made, this is the junk we are finding. Our sick babies are the canaries in the coal mine of this toxic world. It is long past time for us all to wake up and realize that we might have been wise to listen to those crazy, drama club drop out hippies screaming about FrankenFoods in the 1990’s. They might have been crazy and dramatic, but they might not have been wrong. This documentary has brought up a specific question for me that I will address in part 2 of this series: Monsanto GMOs: A Question about Monsanto’s GMOs and Autism
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The boy who replaced Hannah Poling as a test case in the Vaccine Omnibus Hearings has the same biomarkers for having the "rare" condition that Hannah has. If the first to thimerosal test cases both just happen to have the same "rare" mitochondrial disorder, then at what point do you have to retract your claim of "rare"? The Next Vaccine-Autism Newsmaker: Not Isolated, Not Unusual
David Kirby
Huffington Post
April 27, 2008
In February, I leaked news of the Federal government's admission that vaccines had triggered autism in a little girl named Hannah Poling. The stunning revelation, though still reverberating around the world, was roundly downplayed by US officials, who insisted that Hannah had an extremely rare, genetic case of "aggravated" mitochondrial disorder, with zero bearing on other autism cases.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rushed to the airwaves, exhorting parents to adhere to the nation's intensive and virtually mandatory immunization schedule, and brushing off their legitimate anxieties by saying: "We've got to set aside this very isolated, unusual situation."
Well, the days of setting aside are over: Hannah Poling is neither isolated nor unusual.
In fact, the boy who was selected to replace Hannah Poling as the first-ever thimerosal "test case" in so-called Vaccine Court, has just been found with many of the same unusual metabolic markers as... you guessed it, Hannah Poling.
Hannah's case was scheduled to be heard in Federal Claims Court on May 12 -- as one of three "test cases" of the theory that thimerosal (a mercury-based vaccine preservative) can cause autism.
Test cases will help address general causation issues in all 4,900 autism claims now pending in Vaccine Court. But following the government concession, Hannah was withdrawn as the first test case of the thimerosal theory, and attorneys scrambled to find a replacement: a young boy from New York.
Last week, however, the court announced that the replacement thimerosal test case was also being withdrawn, in order to "proceed to an individual hearing on a different theory of causation."
That theory, which applies to Hannah as well, maintains that children with dysfunctional mitochondria (the little batteries within each cell that convert food into energy) are susceptible to autistic regression, triggered by a vaccine-induced overtaxing of the immune system.
"We want to pursue an additional theory, not a different theory," the boy's father told me. "We are by no means abandoning the thimerosal theory of causation but, in the context of the test case, the thimerosal theory would have eclipsed our other evidence, including evidence of metabolic dysfunction," such as impaired mitchondria and low cellular energy.
Following the Poling concession, he said, "I saw right away that we needed to pursue the mitochondrial theory,"but the lead attorneys did not see it that way. "Perhaps they did not properly understand the concession, and believed the finding was of a rare, genetically caused mitochondrial disorder," as the government contends. "I think they rightly want to keep clear focus on thimerosal in the test case, and not muddy the presentation with other theories."
The court's test case process is unusual and unwieldy. "They limit the cases to one theory at a time, when the theories are not mutually exclusive," the father said. "For example, thimerosal could cause, contribute to, or aggravate mitochondrial dysfunction. These cases can't be wrapped into neat
little packages."
The unexpected withdrawal of two test cases in a row - both because of their apparent mitochondrial underpinnings - is sure to have larger ramifications in the Court of Federal Claims, as well as the much larger court of public opinion.
A new, additional theory of causation is about to be introduced in Vaccine Court: Vaccines can trigger a chain of events in children with mitochondrial dysfunction that causes autism.
But the US Government now has a major quandary to deal with. Federal officials already conceded that, far from being "theoretical," this chain of events already happened to Hannah Poling. This will make it difficult, if not impossible, to argue against compensating the boy from New York, when compensating a nearly identical case - Hannah Poling - was already deemed appropriate.
Some estimates of mitochondrial dysfunction in children with autism range as high as 20%-30%. But among the regressive subset of cases (virtually all of the claims in Vaccine Court) up to half of the children might show signs of it.
No one knows how many of those families will pursue a similar strategy of individual hearings on causation, based on the mitochondrial concession in the Poling case. But my guess is that there could be hundreds of them, following in the precedent of this case's footsteps. The legal ramifications, inside Vaccine Court and throughout the judicial system, remain incalculable at this point.
Still, when the American public finds out that the exceedingly "rare" Poling case was replaced by what is shaping up to be yet another exceedingly rare case - they will follow the lead of all three presidential candidates and finally reject the tired mantra that, "there is no link" between vaccines and autism.
Then perhaps will end, "One of the most vitriolic debates in medical history," as it is called by Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH and the Red Cross. "At some level," she said, the Poling case "was a vindication for families," adding that, "vaccines as a trigger carry a ring of both historical and biological plausibility."
The government is currently examining the national vaccine schedule to see if we are, perhaps, immunizing children too early and too often (and with too much thimerosal from the flu shot).
I personally thought that one Hannah Poling emerging out of Vaccine Court would be enough to
change the way we vaccinate in this country. But now we have two. And there are many more Hannah's out there, waiting to be counted.
NOTE: Today, the UK's Sunday Sun writes about the controversy today, and mentions the second test case being withdrawn.
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So there has been much, "How do i know if my child has a mitochondrial disorder" discussion these days. Here is a blurb from David Kirby on the biomarkers to look for that could point toward mito dysfunction. Discuss them with your doctor. "1) Mark Blaxill sent this to me. It is a sample list of some of the higher estimates of mitochondrial imbalances in autism samples. Most of these are elevated relative to a reference range.
1. 47% (elevated serum creatine kinase, Poling et al)
2. 38% (elevated plasma aspartate aminotransferase, Poling et al) vs. 22% in controls
3. 28% (elevated plasma lactate/pyruvate ratio, Correia et al)
4. 20% (elevated plasma lactate, Oliveiro et al)
5. 17% (elevate plasma lactate, Correia et al)
6. 13-16% (two hyperlactidemia markers, Oliveiro et al)
7. 65% - Shoffner (I need to check this abstract – DK)
2) Another ASD doctor, who does not specialize in mito disorders, went back and looked at blood work from his patient caseload in Jan 08. A high lactate/low pyruvate ratio is one marker (though a child who squirms during a blood draw can have elevated levels, though Poling and others try to control for false negatives)
This is what the pediatrician found:
168 total visits (consecutive)
147 different patients (consecutive)
67 had blood lactate done in clinic and sent stat to the local hospital (45.5% of patients)
21/67 had a blood lactate above the normal reference range (31.3%)
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How great would it be if CDC's vaccine/autism judgments were just rendered irrelevant in each local area because everyone just decided to look into it themselves rather than just handing off their rights and responsibilities to some corrupt federal bureaucracy that is in bed with the pharmaceutical companies? This ladies and gents is why I am a republican. Act locally people. Oh... and David Kirby has been invited. NASSAU COUNTY LEGISLATURE
1550 FRANKLIN AVENUE
MINEOLA, NEW YORK 11501
(516) 571-6214
FO IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT GINA SILLITTI 516-571-6214
NASSAU COUNTY TO BECOME FIRST MUNICIPALITY IN THE NATION TO HEAR CONCERNS ABOUT SAFETY OF VACCINES AND ITS LINK TO AUTISM BY PARENTS/ SPECIAL PRESS CONFERENCE MONDAY APRIL 28, 2008
NASSAU COUNTY LEGISLATURE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES CHAIRMAN DAVE MEJIAS AND NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN HARVEY WEISENBERG AS WELL AS OTHER HEALTH OFFICIALS WILL HOLD A SPEICAL NEWS CONFERENCE ON APRIL 28, 2008 @ 12 NOON WITH HUNDREDS OF PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF VACCINES AND ITS LINK TO AUTISM. THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN AUTISM WILL BE SPEAKING AT LEGISLATURE’S HEALTH COMMITTEE LATER THAT DAY. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN THE NATION THAT A MUNICIPALITY HAS HAD THIS CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC ADDRESSED AT ITS HEALTH COMMITTEE.
THERE ARE ABOUT 5,000 LAWSUITS AGAINST THE FEDERAL GONVERNMENT BY PARENTS CLAIMING AS A RESULT OF VACCINES THEIR CHILDREN DEVELOPED AUTISM. OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE WILL BE ATTENDING THE PRESS CONFERENCE AND HEARING.
WHERE: NASSAU COUNTY LEGISLATURE BUILDING
WHEN: APRIL 28, 2008 @ 12 NOON
1550 FRANKLIN AVE,
2ND FLOOR
MINEOLA, NY
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When Miranda Hall sent out her wedding invitations, she asked that her guests, in lieu of sending gifts to her and her groom, send in donations to send an autistic child to camp. Miranda get's an Autism in God's Economy Award, because she clearly gets it.
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By now we are all familiar with the Verstraeten Study, the only government study into the safety of thimerosal containing vaccines. The study began in late 1999 and was supposed to be a simple study that looked at the amount of thimerosal a child got in their vaccines to see if it correlated to the onset of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism. The four month study took four years to complete and cost the government in the ballpark of 25 million dollars. The sausage making that went into the creation of this monstrosity of a study became a main subject of David Kirby’s book, Evidence of Harm. The reason it took so long and cost so much is that the simple version of the study found a significant correlation between thimerosal exposure and neurodevelopmental disorders, autism among them, so a lot of time and money had to go into figuring out a way to unfind the thing that no one wanted found in the first place. Through FOIA requests, parents have been able to glean bits and pieces of what actually happened behind the scenes as Verstraeten’s creation grew from simple correlation study to the monster that was eventually published in 2004, but not much is known about his involvement in the project that bears his name after he left the CDC in June of 2000 to work for GlaxoSmithKlein, a manufacturer of thimerosal containing vaccines. The CDC has claimed that Verstraeten had no involvement in the study after leaving for GSK, for to do so would be a very serious conflict of interest. Today we have yet more evidence that CDC has not been honest with us. This week, in response to a FOIA request, an interested physician was sent these records. They are emails back and forth between Verstraeten and CDC employees in the summer of 2001, setting up a conference call on the thimerosal study, more than a year after he went to GSK. The emails tell us nothing specific about the content of the discussion to take place, just that it was scheduled to take place on September 6th, 2001. The presumption is that the meeting took place, that Verstraeten was involved, and that the transcripts are out there somewhere. It is my understanding that FOIA requests for these transcripts have already been filed. So stay tuned to see what they say. That an employee of GSK was shaping a government safety study that could so profoundly impact its products and its bottom line is a serious breach. The Institute of Medicine relied heavily on the Verstraeten Study when it came to its 2004 opinion that thimerosal had no relationship to the development of autism and recommended that no further inquiry into the vaccine/autism be made. In turn, Julie Gerberding, head of the CDC, is currently proffering that now clearly erroneous 2004 opinion as evidence that there is no link between vaccines and autism. The CDC gave the IOM a bad study to base their opinion on, and the IOM gave them back a bad opinion for the CDC to base their policy on. Current CDC vaccine policy and its safety claims are built on a house of cards and both the Verstraeten Study and the 2004 IOM opinion should be formally retracted. It is long past time for open investigations and open hearings into all of the CDC’s misbehavior and mismanagement in this matter and I renew my call to Congress to begin proceedings with all due speed. Witness number one to testify should be Thomas Verstraeten.
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