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From Wendy Fournier, head of the National Autism Association: "Better diagnosing? I just got a call from a pediatrician’s office in Dallas looking for a toolkit to help them evaluate patients for autism. I told them they should call the AAP. They already had. The AAP told them they didn’t have any materials to send and the doc should Google autism for information. Seriously."
I didn't think that it was possible for AAP to care less about our kids and the autism epidemic that they have helped create and sustain. I was wrong. Clearly I was thinking too highly of the American Academy of Pediatrics International Guild of Pediatricians.
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I am a little speechless.
Apparently David Kirby has attained some sort of Jedi mastery and has gotten the Centers for Disease Control, The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Minnesota Department of Public Health snapping to attention to answer his questions. And all in one day!
One letter to each of them has elicited lengthy responses. This is in stark contrast to CDC's response to him in 2005. He wrote a big fat book about their malfeasance and their only response was to post a note on their web site that they were reading the book and would respond, and then just took down the notice a few months later with out ever responding.
Some sort of fire has been lit under some asses somewhere. Could it be in response to the rumor that Julie Gerberding is on her way out, and during her lame duckiness everyone is scrambling to make themselves look like they were doing the right thing all along so that if/when Secretary Daschel walks in the door on Jan 21 and asks to see the Poling files, their flesh will not burn under the white hot sunshine that starts to flood the place?
(Now you know what I dream about at night).
I will let you read for yourself, but the highlight of the work is this statement from CDC, in fact Julie Gerberding's officer itself, that Chemical Exposure will be shown to be one of the causes of autism through "today's research".
"While it is important to understand if autism is affecting any group of children disproportionately, it is also important to keep in mind that there are likely multiple causes of the autism spectrum of disorders. Most scientists agree that today's research will show that a person's genetic profile may make them more or less susceptible to ASDs as a result of any number of factors such as infections, the physical environment, chemical exposures, or psychosocial components."
-CDC Director’s Office of Enterprise Communication (OEC)
Oh... and they also mentioned that infections may cause autism as well.
Minnesota and the CDC Confer on Somali Autism Situation: CDC’s Office of the Director: Autism May Result from “Chemical Exposures”.
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Last month David ' no such thing as vaccine injury' Tayloe, was sworn in as the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Naturally, on day one of his new job, he laid out his priorities for his tenure:
'Tayloe said that he intends to focus on 5 main areas this coming year -- "Medicaid payments, vaccine financing issues, fair payment of pediatricians, retail-based health clinics and funding medical students' education." "
As Anne Dachel notes in her piece, there are no actual children's health issues on his list of priorities. What is important to Tayloe, is getting pediatricians paid.
His priority is money.
Since he has decided to shift the focus of the group from children's health to doctors liquidity, it only seems appropriate to change the name of the group from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the Pediatricians Guild or the American Union of Pediatricians, so that the public can know who they are really dealing with. A group that puts the interests of pediatricians above the interests of children.
Or I would have recommended those names, before I read this article today:
Dubai to welcome US paediatric group
Dubai: A US-based advocacy and education group for paediatricians is setting up practice in Dubai, bringing regulation and education standards for child health to an area lacking uniform paediatric policies.
The Dubai chapter of the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), would be the first overseas chapter of the medical group, comprising mostly of paediatricians, dedicated to the well-being of children.
The organization sets out guidelines and recommendations for child care in the US, while also looking after the interests of child healthcare providers. These policies have now been adopted as standard policy in many countries.
Dr. David Tayloe Jr., President of AAP, told Gulf News Dubai was ripe for a chapter. "A number of countries are underdeveloped, poverty is an issue - and that is not the case here," he said.
He added the UAE's struggle with child health issues, such as obesity and diabetes - on par with developed countries, were issues the AAP usually dealt with. Dr Tayloe expects the chapter to work closely with UAE health authorities on child health policies...
Tayloe's first order of business is not only NOT the health of American children, it is not anything American or health related. His first order of business is to expand his group internationally, and to expand it to one of the richest nations in the world. He was not kidding about getting paid, now was he.
I have a friend who is a pediatrician. She makes house calls, she does not charge her low income patients a good part of the time, she spends one month out of the year digging wells and treating kids who live on an island in Indonesia with no doctor and a few time she has even babysat her poorest patients when their single mothers had job interviews and other opportunities to elevate them selves and their little families. Her patients can call her cell phone at three in the morning and they will get her. While she and I don't agree on how vaccines should be used, I have a great deal of affection for her, because it is clear from the way she lives her life that the well being of children is what is vital to her.
When I stand David Tayloe next to her, the contrast is stark. His are the actions of someone who cares about money, hers are not. Hers are the actions of someone who cares about the health of children, especially poor children, his are not.
If he was concerned about the health of children, his focus would be on fixing the HORRIBLE condition of children's health in this country, that has happened under the watch of his own group, instead of exporting and OBVIOUSLY broken system to the children of Dubai. If he was concerned about the plight of foreign children, he would go to Africa to confront AIDS, or Thailand to confront the child sex trade, or even Minneapolis to confront autism. Instead he goes to UAE where their most notable characteristic is an overabundance of cash.
This is not the move of a man who is working for the benefit of children, this is a man who is looking to expand his business internationally. Dubai is not a place for health missionaries, it is a place for expanding market share.
I thought I couldn't get more cynical about this man. Well he managed to make that happen after only one month in his position.
So now if we want to properly name the American Academy of Pediatrics, we have to drop "American" because Tayloe is taking it global; we have to drop Pediatrics, because it is not about the art of keeping children in good health, but getting docs and their reps paid while covering their collective asses; and after his nonsensical comments on The Today Show, well let's just say that referring to any group that follows his lead as an "Academy" is a poor choice.
International Guild of Pediatricians seems like a good fit.
To the people of UAE, please take a look at the health of American children. Around 1% have autism; 17% have a developmental delay or disability; diabetes, asthma and cancer are through the roof; and our country is consistently listed near the bottom of modern countries in terms of children's health. Why in the world would you want to invite in and adopt the policies of the professional organization that ushered in this health disaster? Smile politely at Tayloe, and move on.
And again... to our wise American Pediatricians who have watched silently as your professional organization decay into a corrupt, ass covering, buck making organization... rise up... take back your profession.
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This is a pretty good local news report on alternate vaccine schedules featuring Dr. Bob Sears who advocates breaking up the MMR and giving no more than two shots at a time.
But the most interesting part of the piece was this statement:
"The I Team asks the American Academy of Pediatrics why they are opposed to different vaccine schedules. Infection disease specialist Dr. Paul Offit responds on its behalf, saying, "...by delaying those vaccines, all you're doing is increasing the period of time during which children are susceptible to vaccine preventable diseases with out any benefit."
Paul Offit is a vaccine millionaire. Having him speak on behalf of the AAP is analogous to having the president of Merck speak on behalf of the AAP. This is completely inappropriate.
Now I and others in our community have railed against the ethical breaches and the revolving door between Pharma, government, Pharma non-profits and professional medical associations, but this move demonstrates that there is no door any more.
Having a vaccine patent holder (again not disclosed in the story) represent the AAP shows complete boundarylessness. Offit can apparently represent CHOP, Merck, AAP, CDC/ACIP, and the best interest of children, and there are no conflicts of interest, because, as he claims, he is a good guy and only has the good of children in his heart.
He is an infectious disease specialist who writes a book on autism, even though he does not treat autism, that clears him, his associates and his profession of any culpability in the autism epidemic?
This is just crazy. Do we allow lawyers to represent both opposing litigants in a case? Do bank robbers get to be the judge or jury at their own trial?
If you went to the bank tomorrow to deposit your paycheck, and found that all your accounts were empty, and the bank responded to your astonished and urgent demands to know where all your money went with, "Good news sir! We have audited your accounts, and ourselves, and we have exonerated ourselves of any wrongdoing! We found that you never had any money in these accounts. So you can feel safe going ahead and depositing your next paycheck"... there is not a chance in the world that you would say, "Whew! Good thing that is straightened out. Here is my hard earned paycheck!".
Again... do they think that people are really this stupid? Do they really think this continued madness will work long term?
And again... I call out to you wise pediatricians out there who are members of the AAP. Rise up, take back your profession and bring ethics and integrity back to the profession of pediatrics.
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Amy Pisani, director of Every Child By Two, (a vaccine advocacy non-profit funded by Pharma) has asked her supporters to write to the Oprah show and ask "that she dedicate a show to the science behind the question of whether vaccines cause autism".
We here at Adventures in Autism think that is a GREAT idea.
It is LONG past time to have an ACTUAL public debate between physicians, researchers and parent advocates that believe that there is a link and those that think there is not, an ACTUAL debate on the merits of the arguement. Have your opponent right there to respond, rather than just having AAP and CDC issue statements that they cannot be questioned on.
As a matter of fact Pamela Felice of The Educated Parent got in touch with Oprah earlier this year and asked for exactly that.
So if you are so inclined, I would encourage you to write to the Oprah show and let them know that you would like to see such a debate, not just Paul Offit and ECBT being given an hour to say whatever they want unchallenged, but an actual, equal time, debate.
Time and time again, those of us on this side of the debate have requested that CDC/AAP/those who deny the vaccine autism connection appear on TV alongside us to actually debate the issue, but apart from Larry King's program last spring with Jenny McCarthy, that request is pretty much universally turned down. And CDC would not even show up to sit next to AAP on Larry King. They just issued one of those damn statements to be read.
Is the topic of a vaccine/autism connection is of so little importance, and so little concern to the American public, that they can't spare one single person to show up and talk about it?
So we thank Ms. Pisani for being willing to participate in this public debate. Let Oprah know that this is the debate that you have been waiting to see!
Dear Oprah,
I am the mother of a child who regressed into autism following his 18 month vaccinations. I have been reading and writing about the vaccine/autism connection for four years and believe that there is more than sufficient evidence to prove a link.
More importantly, apparently so does the Department of Health and Human Services as they have been quietly paying children with vaccine induced autism from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund for more than 15 years now, and they list the symptoms of autism under vaccine induced 'acute encepalopathy' on the VICP's web site. In addition, the head of the CDC, Julie Gerberding, went on CNN this spring and said that vaccines trigger autism in a subset of the population.
It is been incredibly frustrating to see advocates of the vaccine autism connection, like Jenny McCarthy, appear on national programs like yours to discuss it, and hear that CDC/HHS ubiquitously refuses to appear along side them and have an actual debate and be questioned on their claims. Instead they issue a statement to be read at the end of the show that they can never be questioned on.
Do they think that this is not an important enough issue for them to send one person to speak on their behalf? If the science is so sound that vaccines don't cause autism, then why are they so afraid to show up and be questioned on it?
However, it is my understanding that Amy Pisani of Every Child By Two has contacted the show and asked for an episode on the autism/vaccine connection, and I am writing to support her in her request. What this country needs is OPEN debate on this issue between physicians/researchers and parents on both sides on what the science really says, what the science is silent on, and who is overstating their case.
I think that Ms. Pisani has envisioned an hour for her and her experts (ECBT is funded by pharmaceutical companies) to extol the virtues of vaccines and ignore the questions and points that parents like me and our physicians would make, but honestly, that is pretty much what has been going on in this country for the last decade.
So instead, I hope you will consider Pamela Felice's request to your show from last spring:
With autism awareness month approaching in April and in light of the recent court ruling regarding Hannah Polling's vaccine related autism, I thought it might be interesting for Oprah to host a debate on the topic of vaccine safety.
Some suggested guests might include; David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm, Dr. Robert Sears, Author of The Vaccine Book , Dr. Boyd Haley, head of the Chemistry Dept at Kentucky State University, Dr. Jerry Kertzinel, the DAN! Dr. treating Jenny McCarthy's son and Barbbra Lowe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Ctr. on the Critic side.
Possible panelists who support the current vaccine program might include, Dr. Paul Offit, Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC, a representative of the American
Academy of Pediatrics and/or a representative of Every Child By Two.
Personally, I would like to see Bernadine Healey expound on her understanding of the state of the research and why she is of the opinion that we can't no longer say that vaccines don't cause autism, or neurologist Jon Poling explain his understanding of the relationship between vaccine induced autism and undiagnosed mitochondrial disorders.
Thank you for your attention this vital issue.
Ginger Taylor, M.S.
AdventuresInAutism.com
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Last week GMA ran a piece on vaccines and autism that included a quote by Rene Jenkins of the AAP.
"Ninty Seven plus percent of children don't have these defects, so, when you look at what the risk and the benefits to children are, and, you really weigh the risks, then the benefits far outweigh the risks that occur." I wrote a piece heavily criticizing AAP for throwing away three percent of the population to serious vaccine injury.
Andrea Keller called GMA to see if they would release the rest of the interview. They said their policy is not to release unused footage, but that the context of the conversation was Autism.
Daivd Kirby called AAP and asked for comment, and they said that Jenkins 'misspoke' and she was talking about minor vaccine reactions like "localized pain and swelling, and/or fever."
I spoke with the producer of the GMA piece this morning who interviewed Jenkins. She reiterated that they don't release unused interviews, but she was nice enough to read me the question that was asked and Jenkins full response.
The discussion was about autism and not minor vaccine reactions. The question was a version of 'can you rule out an association between vaccines and autism', and Jenkins answer was something to the effect of 'you can never rule out an association between anything and anything else, but we don't see an association.... but in the case of Hannah Poling...', (the interviewer had not mentioned Hannah). And that lead into her quote, "Ninty Seven plus percent of children don't have these defects, so, when you look at what the risk and the benefits to children are, and, you really weigh the risks, then the benefits far outweigh the risks that occur."
So ABC DID use the quote correctly and in context.
David Kirby reports:
"I was told [by AAP] that Dr. Jenkins misspoke when she referred to children with “defects.” What she was talking about is the subset of children who have adverse vaccine reactions such as localized pain and swelling, and/or fever."
Jenkins was NOT talking about minor reactions and autism was the subject Autism and Hanna Poling WAS Jenkins reference point.
If Jenkins was misspeaking then that was a pretty out there misstatement. If someone was asked about about the percentage of people who get brain damage from boxing, how would one rationally include bloody noses in the answer?
I encouraged ABC to follow up on this and help us get a real statement from AAP (or CDC) on what the percentage of kids at risk for serious vaccine reaction and autism are.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two and Dr. Paul Offit, whom I have now decided to refer to as the Axis of Conflict of Interest, forgot to mention something during the press conference, when they were encouraging everyone to "Vaccinate Your Baby".
They forgot to mention their conflicts of interest.
This after having the CBS Evening News expose their serial nondisclosure of their financial ties to vaccine makers only ten days ago!
From Jane Johnson director of DAN!, whose account of the event was on AOA this morning when I asked if the Axis disclosed their financial ties to vaccine makers:
"Not a peep. Amanda referred, vaguely and defensively, to 'following the money trail,' but if you hadn't seen Sharyl Attkisson's CBS news piece you wouldn't have known what she was talking about. She made an analogy to Boeing investigating airplane safety that was mystifying--I'm still trying to remember what she said and make sense of it. There was no mention by anyone else that they make a penny off of anything relating to vaccines." This the day after Paul Off it made a statement to Inside Autism claiming that he discloses his vaccine profits.
"Do we ever hide information? Of course not. I have declared my potential conflicts of interest regarding my relationships with Merck on the development of the Rotavirus vaccine ever since I was on the (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) starting in 1998. Every time I’ve written an article, whether it was for the New York Times or the New England Journal of Medicine, I’ve declared that, because I’m not ashamed of it. Quite frankly, I’m proud of it. I’m the co-inventor of a vaccine that’s currently in five developing countries and clearly has already made a difference in this country." Apparently he was not proud enough of his patent this morning to mention it to the press covering the event.
Don't miss the part where Offit flip flops on CBS's story on him.
First Attkisson lied:
“Did (reporter Sharyl Attkisson) lie about whether or not we provided materials? Of course,” said Paul Offit" But when pressed for specific errors, he only can object to the "tone" of the story.
"Asked whether any specific facts in the story were wrong, he said it was primarily the tone he objected to. But he did say that the hospital owns the patent, not him (though he received a share of royalties from it). Also, when Attkisson noted that he had been quoted as saying children could safely take up to 10,000 vaccines at once, “what I actually have said is at least 10,000. It’s probably closer to 100,000." So I guess Attkisson did get one thing wrong... Offit's claims of vaccine safety are WAY crazier than she gave him credit for.
Posting the video again:
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Today Amanda Peet appeared on on GMA to show the world how little show knows about vaccines. More on Amanda's statements later, but for the moment I want to focus on the story that ran before her interview and the current head of the AAP, Rene Jenkins', statement on vaccine safety and the charge that vaccines play a role in autism:
"97% of children don't have these defects, so, when you look at what the risk and the benefits to children are, and, you really weigh the risks, then the benefits far outweigh the risks that occur." Ergo, for 3% of children, who have these "defects", the risks DO outweigh the benefits? What are the "defects" and what is the outcome of vaccinating those with "defects"? Who are those three percent?!
What are you doing to find out who those three percent are so you can keep from hurting them!
If you KNOW that three percent of vaccinated children will fall ill, why are you not moving hell itself to find out who those kids are? AND WHY ARE ARE YOU OK WITH VACCINATING ALL NEWBORNS BEFORE THEY EVEN LEAVE THE HOSPITAL KNOWING THREE PERCENT WILL BE INJURED!!!
Four years ago my son turned out to be the one in 33 kids that had such a "defect" and for him, the risks of vaccinating FAR outweighed the benefits. If he had been unvaccinated and exposed to EVERY serious illness, I don't think his chances of death or life long disability would have been as high as three percent.
As I have mentioned, my father his little brother and their father both got polio at the height of the epidemic and my grandfather died as a result. So my grandfather was 1 in 60,000 for loosing his life to the disease, my father and uncle were each 1 in 3000 for getting the disease (both recovered and went on to be decorated Naval Aviators), but my son in 1 in 33 for being damaged by a vaccine against such diseases. (Note, I have been as generous as I can to polio rates, I used the highest rates of infections and death I could find, and then rounded up)
Why the hell would any parent vaccinate their child knowing they have a 1 in 33 chance of that vaccine doing damage?! And you can't tell them in advance if they are more likely to be part of that three percent or not!
Especially when AAP, who recommends they vaccinate anyway, treat that three percent like throw aways. They don't try to protect them in advance, they don't treat or even acknowledge the injury once it has happened, and they teach doctors how to throw a child out of a practice if the parents won't vaccinate.
Would it be wrong for me to suggest that Rene Jenkins is at risk for spending three percent of her afterlife in hell?
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You have to admit, they have balls.
A week after having CBS hold the spot light on their conflict of interest and all the cash they get from vaccine manufacturers, AAP, Every Child By Two and Paul Offit will hold a press conference together, along with Amanda "Parasites" Peet, to tell everyone "The Facts About Vaccination®" and to kick off their "Vaccinate your Baby" campaign.
I guess they have decided that the best defense is a good offense, rather than simply responding to CBS and addressing their credibility problems.
I am reminded of Ken Lay's assertions that Enron was just dandy when the press started asking questions after Jeff Skilling took his money and ran. August 24th 2001, two months before the stocks hit the fan:
Business Week: "There has been some concern among investors that perhaps there is more to his resignation than meets the eye, perhaps accounting or other issues that have yet to come to light. Is there anything more?"
Ken Lay: "There are absolutely no problems that had anything to do with Jeff's departure. There are no accounting issues, no trading issues, no reserve issues, no previously unknown problem issues. The company is probably in the strongest and best shape that it has ever been in." JB Handley has unearthed more info on Every Child By Two, turns out half their income is from Pharma.
Jenny McCarthy has sent a shout out to all available hands that can get into NYC tomorrow to picket and get our mesage out.
I will go ahead and repost the CBS piece from last week to remind us that what is on tap for tomorrow is merely a commercial brought to you by the good folks who sell vaccines:
And a blast from the past so that you may remember the bravado and seduction that was Enron, when in their last days they promised that they could protect you from the weather:
The lesson? If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If someone promises you that your child can be free of all diseases, down to the common flu, with no side effects... buyer be ware.
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Finally.
AAP, Every Child by Two and Paul Offit have begun to get the public scrutiny from a mainstream medial outlet on the huge sums of money they get from pharmaceutical companies and how those conflicts of interest (both disclosed and undisclosed) should call into question their claims of 'independence' and their claims of vaccine safety. These three sources are almost always portrayed in the media as reliable sources for vaccine safety information that are only working in the interests of children and that parents should turn to for advice, and their Pharma ties are not mentioned.
Sharyl Attkisson was generous to these three vaccine promoters in her piece. She didn't even mention Offit's scolding by congress for his serious ethics breaches and conflicts of interest during his time on the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Nor did she mention the absurd safety statements that the incoming head of the AAP, David Tayloe, has been making, as he did on Good Morning America. Really there is enough here for for hours of in depth news magazine coverage or even a book or two.
I hope that this story will lead to some more in depth coverage of the shenanigans that are going on in the relationships between Pharma, health authorities, professional organizations and the medical industry and get the media to examine with new eyes the evidence for the vaccine/autism connection. I hope that parents will consider these huge cash payouts before taking the word of these people as gospel.
And I ESPECIALLY hope that wise pediatricians who do want to make balanced, informed vaccine recommendations for their patients will stop listening to these very questionable sources and begin to do their own research into vaccine safety, rather than taking the AAP's word. We are never going to bring balance to the vaccine program or transparency to the vaccine/autism relationship until those who are making bank off shots stop calling the shots and influencing the process.
Someone email this to Amanda Peet before she does those ads for Every Child by Two. She has already sullied her self by considering calling Paul Offit as "doing her research", and she needs to know who she is getting into bed with.
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Earlier this month the AAP got their heinder handed to them by... well everyone... for recommending that children as young as eight years old be put on cholestorl lowering meds. From Pharmalot:
Quote Of The Day: ‘I’m Embarrassed For The AAP’
"The American Academy of Pediatric guidelines released this week recommend that some children as young as 8 years old be given cholesterol meds is, predictably, causing controversy. Why? A lack of evidence, for one thing. Nicolas Stettler, an assistant professor of pediatric epidemiology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the AAP panel defends the decision by saying extrapolating data from adults using cholesterol meds makes sense. Not everyone agrees.
"To be frank, I’m embarrassed for the AAP today," Lawrence Rosen of Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, and vice chairman of an academy panel on traditional and alternative medicine (see photo), tells The New York Times. "Treatment with medications in the absence of any clear data? I hope they’re ready for the public backlash."
Today we have learned that the Pediatrics article in which the recommendation was made did not include the conflicts of interest of the writers. Shocker.
From the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
Pediatrics Fails to Disclose Industry Ties in Lipid Guide for Kids . . . The American Academy of Pediatric’s new cholesterol guidelines for children did not reveal the industry ties of three of the six authors despite its policy requiring conflict of interest disclosure in its flagship journal. The recommendations, which appeared in the current issue of Pediatrics, caused a national uproar by recommending statin drugs for children as young as eight if suggested dietary interventions, including the use of foods fortified with fiber, stanols, and sterols, proved ineffective in lowering lipid levels in overweight children. The lead author, Stephen R. Daniels, a professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, has served as a consultant to Abbott Labs and Merck. Abbott makes baby food, while Merck markets Mevacor, a statin. Co-author Nicolas Stettler, an assistant professor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia , consults for numerous firms, including Wyeth Nutritional and the Dannon Institute, a non-profit wholly funded by Dannon Yogurt. Co-author Jatinder Bhatia, a professor at the Medical College of Georgia, has commercial ties to Mead Johnson, Ross Labs, Forest Laboratories, Dey Labs, and Inhibitex. Mead Johnson, a unit of Bristol-Myers Squibb, produces fortified foods for infants and young children.
So parents if your child elementary school child has high cholestoerol and is overweight, don't bother changing him to a diet of whole, unprocessed foods like organic fruits veggies and naturally raised meat bought straight from farms that use healthy farming practices or taking him off the processed foods made for us by the good people at Dannon, just put them statins made by Merck, who is totally sure that their Gardasil is not killing your daughters.
I can't believe that anyone (Amanda Peet) is questioning whether or not the medical industry is capable of "conspiracies". They are in the press practically every day! All they have to do to is just not give you important information like, 'Oh yeah.. we are all getting paid by companies that will profit from our recommendations', or '...and when we say there is no proof that chelation will improve autism, by that we mean that we have never looked into it' and of course it would be helpful for parents decision making if they actually said, "What I mean by 'there is no convincing evidence that vaccines are a cause of autism, what I am really saying is that there is lots of evidence that vaccines cause autism, but we won't read it and therefore we don't allow ourselves to be 'convinced' by it'.
HT: Mary Webster
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This just in from Pamela Felice: The AAP has removed the last paragraph from their original press release that they are working with DAN!.
This paragraph specifically:
“Autism is a challenge for pediatricians, their patients and families. By working together, we stand the best chance of helping these children to realize their full potential,” Dr. Jenkins said. “The Academy is committed to working with researchers and treatment groups like Defeat Autism Now! to get closer to finding answers to the multiple causes of autism and determining effective therapies."
although it is still dated April 1 http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/apr08autismday.htm.
This is interesting...and disheartening. I told my husband that something didn't add after watching Tayloe on the Larry King debate. The AAP can not stand on safety to the point of out right lying and then be sincere about working with DAN!
Pamela
http://theeducateparent.blogspot.com I gotta wonder what those meetings inside the AAP are like right now. Clearly they have some decisions to make and waffling like this does not present a united front. Again... rise up wise and prudent pediatricians and demand that your leadership cut the crap and do the right thing.
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Reading articles like this is discouraging. After all that has happened this month to see an autism presentation at a University canceled due to lack of interest from doctors is quite telling. It brought to mind the comments of one of the mothers in Autism: The Musical. 'I don't know how to make them value her'. Why do so few doctors value our children? Local doctors don't show much interest in autism
My family was happy to see that The Pantagraph had a blurb about the upcoming discussion regarding early identification of autism and autism awareness sponsored by the Autism Spectrum Institute, Autism Clinic at Illinois State University, the Autism Society of McLean Cunty, SPICE, Marcfirst and Child and Families Connection 16 at Ewing Manor on April 3.
I was looking forward in hearing what Dr. Charles Morton had to discuss and to pass on to the local physicians - the target audience.
When I phoned the Autism Clinic at ISU on Tuesday to inquire if this was open to the public, the clinic informed me that, due to low physician response/interest, they were canceling the presentation.
Much to my chagrin, this solidifies my theory that the local medical community doesn't appear to be interested in this very important health issues facing us as a society today.
I know that that might be an over-generalization, but I have seen it.
There were only a total of 10 physicians responding to attend; I think that is telling.
The local universities, service centers and private practice therapists have much to offer. My family believes that early identification and intervention are key in helping a child become all that they are able to be and more.
One in 150 children will be affected by autism and those numbers will be increasing. So if you don't know anyone affected by autism, you soon will.
Julie Gifford
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