Any parents in Ashland OR, Birmingham AL or Indianapolis IN with Vaccine Safety Concerns?

As part of CDC's project canvasing the public to find out about their vaccine safety concerns, they have hired a research/policy group, The Keystone Center, to take public statements at a series of "Stakeholder Meetings".

They will be holding public meetings in early January in these three cities, Ashland, OR specifically because they have a very low vaccine uptake rate and want to know why so many families are oping out of vaccinating.

If you are a parent with vaccine safety concerns, please consider attending and sharing your concerns.

I have participated in this project already, and believe that Keystone is earnest in their information gathering effort, however I will be shocked if CDC actually takes the information seriously, and earnestly (and honestly) addresses the problems in the vaccine program. I think that the more likely scenario is that this is PR busywork to make it look like they are taking things seriously, and they will continue on the same path they are on. Full steam on vaccines. (At their recently "Stakeholder Meeting" with vaccine manufacturers, vaccine safety was not the issue, greater liability protection and the elimination of regulatory hurdles for new vaccines was the issue. It was as if the increasingly loud public vaccine safety discussion didn't even exist.).

Because bottom line, CDC already knows ALL of the things that parents like us believe about the problems with vaccine safety and will be presenting during this project. As I told my interviewer at Keystone, "there is nothing that we are telling you that CDC doesn't already know. CDC reads my blog almost every single workday, and visited my site 5 times yesterday. They know all this, and they have not done jack with the information. They don't care".

However... despite my cynicism about this effort, I am encouraging you to participate. Let's get this all on the record so that when CDC ignores it yet again, or designs more bullshit studies that don't actually examine the questions in play, their brazen corruption will only be further highlighted.

Or...

Perhaps Tom Daschle will take over HHS and actually clean up this mess and make me look like a fool for doubting. Wouldn't that be nice.


One final note. Keep in mind as you read this that as low as the vaccine uptake rates are in Ashland, with one school having as many as 66% of children opting out of at least one vaccine, if not all, there have been no disease outbreaks. This is a town that should be closely watched. Just how low do vaccine rates have to go in a town before disease outbreaks occur? David Tayloe, head of AAP, claimed that vaccine uptake must be above 90% to prevent disease outbreaks on the Today Show this year.

This is a town that CDC should be doing serious research on, like the Somali's in Minneapolis and the Amish in PA. It would be a good place for CDC to start in doing a vaccinated v. unvaccinated study. But we all know they won't.

December 27, 2008
Immunization concerns
By Kira Rubenthaler
Ashland Daily Tidings

More than a quarter of Ashland parents choose not to vaccinate their children, and the government wants to know why.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is holding a community meeting Jan. 10 in Ashland to help its Immunization Safety Office prioritize vaccine safety studies beginning in the next five years.

Ashland joins Indianapolis and Birmingham, Ala., as three U.S. cities the CDC is tapping to solicit the public's concerns about vaccines.

"I think what's important about this is it's the government coming out and asking people's opinions, asking their advice, asking them to help set policy," said pediatrician Ben Schwartz, a senior scientific advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services' National Vaccine Program.

Ashland was chosen partly for its high rates of unvaccinated children, Schwartz said.

"We wanted to learn from people who had more concerns about vaccines," he said.

The CDC held the Birmingham meeting Dec. 13 and will hold the Indianapolis meeting Jan. 17 before the National Vaccine Advisory Committee's Vaccine Safety Working Group convenes in Washington, D.C., Feb. 4 to hear the results.

Ashland's meeting will take place Saturday, Jan. 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ashland Middle School commons. Registration and a continental breakfast begin at 8 a.m. and lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Attendees must live within the city limits and be at the meeting all day. Participants qualify for a $50 stipend, which Schwartz said is a "reflection of how we value people's time" and is also aimed at recruiting a cross-section of the community.

The CDC hopes for about 75 attendees, and people must register in advance by calling facilitator The Keystone Center at (800) 219-6670 or going online to www.keystone.org/registration/ashland. For more information, including a link to the draft scientific research agenda, go to www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/publicengagement.html.

High rates

While Birmingham and Indianapolis are more representative of typical communities, Ashland stands out with its "substantially higher" rates of unvaccinated children, Schwartz said.

Oregon requires schoolchildren to be vaccinated against 11 diseases, but parents can opt out by signing a religious exemption, which defines religion as "any system of beliefs, practices or ethical values."

Statewide, 3.7 percent of kindergarteners had exemptions in 2007, while 28.1 percent of Ashland kindergarteners were exempt, according to numbers provided by the Jackson County Health Department.

Ashland's numbers get even higher when broken down by school.

For 2007, 66.7 percent of students at Willow Wind Community Learning Center were exempt, while 65.9 percent of Siskiyou School students and 45.7 percent of John Muir Elementary students had exemptions, according to reports submitted to the health department.

At Walker Elementary, 23.4 percent of students had exemptions, while 15. 3 percent of Bellview students and 14.8 percent of Helman students were exempt.

Belinda Brown, Ashland's school nurse coordinator, said the numbers can be somewhat misleading because if a parent signs a religious exemption for one vaccination but follows the remaining requirements, the child is counted as an exemption.

Regardless, the numbers are still high, "and they're higher than we want them to be," Brown said.

A variety of reasons contribute to the high exemption rates, Brown said.

A small group faces barriers to vaccinating, such as not knowing where to get the shots or lacking money or transportation, but the school works hard to help parents overcome these obstacles, she said.

Some parents are adamantly opposed to immunizations for personal or religious reasons, Brown said, and many are worried about vaccine safety.

It's important to respect parents' choices, but the number of exempt students is troublesome, Brown said.

"It's been an area of concern for the school district and the community at large, and we've been thinking of ways to improve that," Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said at the Dec. 8 school board meeting.

If there were an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease, unvaccinated students would have to stay home until it passed. Meanwhile, the school district would be required to provide five hours of one-on-one tutoring each week to every quarantined student, Di Chiro said.

When parents want to sign an exemption, the school tries to make sure they understand the risks of not vaccinating, Brown said.

"It's our job to make sure everyone has the information they need," she said.

Studying the reasons

Information is key for Kaitlin Newman, Shauna Gargus and Joel Carrick, nursing seniors at Oregon Health and Sciences University who are studying Ashland's high exemption rates and how to bring the numbers down.

They have contacted community leaders and school administrators and designed an informational pamphlet, and they talked about their project at the Dec. 8 school board meeting.

Besides running the risk of contracting a serious disease, unvaccinated children also jeopardize others, the students said.

When large segments of a population are not vaccinated, it causes a drop in protection provided by immunizations, a loss of "herd immunity," the students said.

For instance, the elderly and newborn babies are susceptible to pertussis (whooping cough), said Jim Shames, the medical director for Jackson County's Health and Human Services and adviser to the students.

Until the baby is old enough to be vaccinated for pertussis, its only protection is for people around it to be immunized, he said.

"It really takes a community to protect a child," Shames said.

Some children can't be vaccinated for medical reasons, and people with cancer, AIDS and other illnesses that compromise the immune system are also susceptible to catching vaccine-preventable diseases, said OHSU nursing instructor Linda Brown.

Immunizations have largely eradicated many diseases — such as mumps, polio and measles — in the United States, so people don't see their devastating effects and don't think they need to vaccinate, the students said.

But as a tourist town with visitors from around the world — including places where these diseases still exist, Ashland is especially susceptible for an outbreak, the students said.

Many parents choose not to vaccinate because of concerns about reactions to immunizations, but serious reactions are rare, the students said.

"The most common reaction to a vaccine is a sore arm," Gargus said.

Some concerns, like the possible link between vaccines and autism, are unsubstantiated, the students said.

"There's a lot of fears that parents have that a lot of people believe but aren't scientifically proven to be linked to the vaccine," Carrick said.

Parents don't always give equal concern to the complications from the diseases the vaccines aim to prevent, Linda Brown said.

"There's a balance between the risks of disease and the risks of side effects," Shames said.

As a parent, it can be hard to know if you're doing the right thing, Linda Brown said. "And so many of the families in Ashland are very concerned about trying to do the right thing," she said.

A parent's view

Julie Freed is one of those parents.

For her, doing the right thing was not vaccinating.

After a "huge amount of research," Freed, a homeopathic and nutritional consultant, chose to abstain from immunizations for her daughter.

Arianna Marshank, now an eighth-grader at the Siskiyou School, has been vaccinated for tetanus, but has not received the other recommended childhood immunizations.

Freed has signed the religious exemption and has never had any trouble getting her daughter into classes or camps, she said.

Her decision to not vaccinate had a lot to do with the timing of the shots and the amount of them, as well as the potential for side effects, Freed said.

"It's more just the safety aspect and the respect for the immune system developing on its own and not inundating it with chemicals," Freed said.

The amount of vaccines recommended for young children is a challenge to an undeveloped immune system, she said. In addition to the preservatives and chemicals in the vaccines, some of them don't seem necessary at such a young age, she added.

She has also seen adverse reactions to vaccines.

Although nothing has been proven, links suggest that vaccines may cause learning disabilities, autism and SIDS, Freed said. Complicating the issue, there's evidence on both sides to argue for and against vaccinations, she added.

"We don't know. We don't know what these chemicals do to our bodies," Freed said.

Now that her daughter's immune system has developed and she's healthy and strong, feeding her wholesome, organic food and making sure she gets fresh air and exercise "are my choices at keeping illness at bay," Freed said.

Her friends span the range of vaccination theory, with some not vaccinating at all, some who selectively vaccinate, some who don't adhere to the vaccination schedule and some who follow all the recommendations, Freed said.

It comes down to personal choice, and it's important to make an educated decision, she said.

Freed is not opposed to vaccines, but "I do feel like people feel like they don't have a choice," she said.

Whichever option parents pick, it's not an easy decision, Freed said.

"I'm not going to lie. I've had sleepless nights," she said. "We all worry about our kids and are concerned about our kids. And we all want to do what's best for our children."

Kira Rubenthaler can be reached at 482-3456 ext. 225 or krubenthaler@dailytidings.com.

Best Christmas Ever

We didn't have to fight the crowds to go anywhere or clean the house for company. We had a little money this year and got to buy the boys things they wanted. We had a beautiful white New England Christmas, except that it was also sunny and bright.

But none of those reasons were the reason that it was the best Christmas ever.

It was the best because Chandler has fully joined us in Christmas this year.

"Who is dis present for"?
"Can I open it?"
"What's inside?"
"Its a... its a... LEGO INDIANA JONES"!
"COOL!"
"Awwwwww.... huuuuugggggssss".

"Wait... where's my Darth Maul light saber?! Gimme dat Webster!"

I remember when we had to sit him on our laps and do hand over hand to get him to unwrap a present, which he may or may not have had any interest in.

This year we had a big breakfast at the table, and he didn't try to leave, or crawl under the table, or stand in his chair. He read his Christmas cards out loud, took turns opening presents, showed off his gifts and took pictures of us. He decorated the tree with us and played Wii bowling and tennis and soccer and even Yoga with us.

He is just with us now.

I even dared to put three glass ornaments on the tree this year. I might even go out tomorrow and pick up some more on sale.

I will leave you with some of his photographs from today. I got the camera out to take pics of the kids, but I forgot to and Chan took over.





















Merry Christmas

Thank Senator McCain and Ask Him to Keep Fighting For Our Kids

Lin Wessels, whose sweet son Sam caught Senator McCain's attention more than a year ago, has written a letter to John McCain thanking him for all he has done for our kids and asking him to continue fighting for them from his position in the Senate.

Please consider adding your signature to the letter as I have.

Thank you Senator McCain.

Jenny McCarthy, JB Handley and Stan Kurtz of Generation Rescue on Larry King Tomorrow

From AOA:

Jenny McCarthy, JB Handley and Stan Kurtz will appear on Larry King Live Saturday Dec. 20 at 9pm eastern, 6pm pacific. The show is focused on autism with very direct discussions about vaccines, how to lower your risks of having a child with autism and how to effectively treat children with autism for their medical issues.

Fire up your TIVOs.

FDA Officially Jumps The Shark, Tells Pregnant Women To Eat Mercury Laden Fish

From the "How stupid do they think we are" department....

WaPo: FDA Draft Report Urges Consumption of Fish, Despite Mercury Contamination.

They will soon claim that the benefits of the omega 3s found in fish are worth the mercury poisoning.

Apparently they have not heard that you can get cheated fish oil in a little pill which gives pregnant women all the bennies of fish oil with out all the brain damagie effects of mercury.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in his comments last summer at the Green our Vaccines rally talked about the phenomenon of agencies being captured by the industries that they are supposed to be regulating. I think that once we find out exactly how this report came to be, this will turn out to be a huge, glaring example of this destructive trend. I will be surprised if we don't find Big Tuna's fin prints all over this thing.

FDA Draft Report Urges Consumption of Fish, Despite Mercury Contamination
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 12, 2008; Page A07

The Food and Drug Administration is urging the government to amend its advisory that women and children should limit how much fish they eat, saying that the benefits of seafood outweigh the health risks and that most people should eat more fish, even if it contains mercury.

If approved by the White House, the FDA's position would reverse the government's current policy that certain groups -- women of childbearing years, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children -- can be harmed by the mercury in fish and should limit their consumption.

The FDA's recommendations have alarmed scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, who in internal memos criticized them as "scientifically flawed and inadequate" and said they fell short of the "scientific rigor routinely demonstrated by EPA."

The FDA sent its draft report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, to the White House Office of Management and Budget as part of the FDA's effort to update the existing health advisory. The report argued that nutrients in fish, including omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and other minerals could boost a child's IQ by three points.

The greatest benefits, the FDA report said, would come from eating more than 12 ounces of fish a week, which is the current limit advised for pregnant women, women of childbearing age, nursing mothers and young children.

FDA spokesman Michael Herndon declined to discuss the draft report. "As a science-based regulatory agency we periodically and routinely review and analyze scientific evidence about health effects of FDA-regulated products," he wrote in an e-mail. "We do not comment on draft reports that are undergoing internal review."

Benjamin H. Grumbles, the EPA's assistant administrator for water, said, "EPA is working closely with other agencies in the scientific review of this report to better understand the risks and benefits of fish consumption."

The FDA and the EPA both play a role in protecting the public from mercury contamination. The EPA investigates and regulates mercury and other contaminants in recreationally caught fish, while the FDA regulates mercury in seafood sold in markets and restaurants. States rely on the federal agencies in issuing their own advisories.

In 2004, the two agencies issued their first joint advisory, suggesting that women of childbearing age, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children stop eating four species of fish considered especially high in mercury: swordfish, shark, tilefish and king mackerel. At the same time, the government advised limiting consumption of other mercury-contaminated fish.

Mercury can damage the neurological development of fetuses and infants. Recent studies have suggested that mercury may also pose a health risk for adults, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The two agencies are supposed to work together to regularly review the advisory, but EPA sources said the FDA went ahead with its own proposal earlier this year, not consulting the EPA until the document was nearly finished.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization, wrote yesterday to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and urged him to fight the FDA's recommendations.

"This is an astonishing, irresponsible document," said Richard Wiles, the environmental group's executive director. "It's a commentary on how low FDA has sunk as an agency. It was once a fierce protector of America's health, and now it's nothing more than a patsy for polluters."

Kathryn Mahaffey, who was the EPA's top mercury scientist until she left the agency in August to become a lecturer at George Washington University School of Public Health, said the FDA used an "oversimplified approach" that could increase the public's exposure to mercury.

But Gavin Gibbons, a spokesman for the National Fisheries Institute, applauded the FDA's efforts. "This is a science-based approach," he said. "And you start to see a picture emerge that shows the clear benefits of eating seafood outweigh the risks of a trace amount of mercury in fish."

Methyl B12 and Folinic Acid Raise Glutathione Levels in Autistic Children

Efficacy of methylcobalamin and folinic acid treatment on glutathione redox status in children with autism.

James SJ, Melnyk S, Fuchs G, Reid T, Jernigan S, Pavliv O, Hubanks A, Gaylor DW.

Departments of Pediatrics and Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, AR.

BACKGROUND: Metabolic abnormalities and targeted treatment trials have been reported for several neurobehavioral disorders but are relatively understudied in autism.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether or not treatment with the metabolic precursors, methylcobalamin and folinic acid, would improve plasma concentrations of transmethylation/transsulfuration metabolites and glutathione redox status in autistic children.

DESIGN: In an open-label trial, 40 autistic children were treated with 75 mug/kg methylcobalamin (2 times/wk) and 400 mug folinic acid (2 times/d) for 3 mo. Metabolites in the transmethylation/transsulfuration pathway were measured before and after treatment and compared with values measured in age-matched control children.

RESULTS: The results indicated that pretreatment metabolite concentrations in autistic children were significantly different from values in the control children. The 3-mo intervention resulted in significant increases in cysteine, cysteinylglycine, and glutathione concentrations (P < 0.001). The oxidized disulfide form of glutathione was decreased and the glutathione redox ratio increased after treatment (P < 0.008). Although mean metabolite concentrations were improved significantly after intervention, they remained below those in unaffected control children.

CONCLUSIONS: The significant improvements observed in transmethylation metabolites and glutathione redox status after treatment suggest that targeted nutritional intervention with methylcobalamin and folinic acid may be of clinical benefit in some children who have autism. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00692315.

UPDATE: Some one provided me with a TIF of the full study.

Christmas Cards for the Kirton Kids!

Many of you know the Kirton family from their many media appearances. All six of their children have been diagnosed with some form of ASD.




Well John has asked for a Christmas Present for his kids...

CHRISTMAS CARDS!

So send one or two or all six of the little nippers a card this week.

Their names are Bobbie (14), Emma (9), Nephi (8), Sarah (6), Ammon (4), Mary (3).

Write to them at:
The Kirton's
6905 South 1300 East Box 321
Midvale, Utah 84047

Keep in mind, they are Mormon, so no need for bland, PC "Holiday" Cards if you are worried about offending.

And you might wanna consider throwing a few bucks in the card. They have six kids with autism for petes sake.

Autism Speaks Hearts Paul Offit

... and Katie Wright, whose son the foundation was created for, is the one spilling the beans.

Time for AS to either change the guard or close their doors.

Anyone up for picketing in front of #2 Park Avenue? Because this is just getting sickening.

A Message to Autism Speaks' Singer and Shih: ENOUGH ALREADY!

Round Up: DOD, State Health Rankings, HPV Vaccine Related Injury, Mercury in Tuna

So much happening... but my husband just got back from two months away and he is way cuter than you guys, so you get the short end of the stick.

Here are a few things that you should be keeping up with:

• Updates on the DOD Story - DOD yanks up the welcome mat and puts out a "gone fishin" sign.  Anderson Cooper ditches the story, then unditches it.  Army dad says high ranking military officials believe vaccines cause autism.
• Vermont - number one in health but coming in last in vaccinations... hmmmmm.
• Another girl paralyzed after HPV shot.
• Find out why so much mercury is still in tuna.
• EPA starts environmental fugitives list.
• This is on the front page of US News and World Report's web site:

"Vaccines Get New Scrutiny - Vaccinations are supersafe, but maybe not all at once, or for certain children.

A Parents' Guide to Managing Vaccinations - What to do if you don't want your child to get 8 vaccines at once."

UPDATE:  Kirby highlights the amazing quotes in the articles.  It is amazing how much faster the vaccine caution ball is rolling.  Things are changing faster and faster.

MORE UPDATE:  Just go read everything on AOA today.  It all kicks ass.

Vote for Bodies In Rebellion on Change.org

Go sign the letter to Obama and then vote to make it the top health priority on Change.org. We have to stop poisoning our children.

An excerpt:

"We, the undersigned, are very concerned about the increasing scientific evidence showing a positive association between environmental factors, such as mercury and pesticide exposure, and neuroimmune illnesses, most notably autism.

We believe that the many neurotoxins we are exposed to threaten the viability of human life on Earth and that affected children are the 'canaries in the coal mine.' Many illnesses, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's have their origins in the rising levels of pernicious chemicals we come in contact with including, but not limited to, the contents of vaccines.

The precautionary principle calls for a zero tolerance on the use of mercury and a moratorium on organochlorine pesticides. In truth, the toxic synergy of the many chemicals humans are exposed to is under-appreciated and makes their removal from the environment a priority well beyond the precautionary principle.

Approximately 4.5 billion pounds of pesticides are applied each year in the USA. When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in the early 1960's, only 400 million pounds of pesticides were used annually. Today, almost 1 out of 3 American children suffer from at least one chronic illness, and 12 million have some form of developmental disorder. The U.S. has the 4th highest incidence of childhood cancer in the world. Since the 1970's, there has been a 50% increase in childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia and a 35% increase in brain cancer. This new pediatric morbidity & mortality is not due to better diagnosis."

To read the rest of the signing statement go to www.BodiesinRebellion.com

Tom Daschle is Asking For Your Health Care Stories

Tom Daschle is "asking anybody and everybody to share their health care experiences."

GO TELL HIM!

I encourage you to begin your letter to him, as I have, "I am the _________ of a vaccine injured child". They need to be confronted with that sentence over and over again.

My letter:

I am the mother of a vaccine injured child.

My six year old son had early vaccine reactions, but instead of recognizing them for what they were, his doctors continued to vaccinate him according to the overly aggressive CDC vaccine schedule. After his 18 month shots he began to display the symptoms of Vaccine Induced Encephalopathy, but because his doctors had not been educated on how to look for vaccine induced encephalopathy (loss of eye contact, not responding to stimuli, seem disconnected from the world around them - according to HHS/VICP vaccine injury table http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/table.htm), his doctor called it "Autism", did no medical investigation of his case, and simply sent him for speech and behavioral evaluations.

I had to learn on my own what was medically wrong with my son and figure out how to treat him myself.

Along with the symptoms of "Autism" and Vaccine Encephalopathy, it turns out my son also had mercury poisoning, which he also displayed the symptoms of at that unfortunate appointment. He displayed an inability to speak, neurological damage and digestive system damage, which, according to CDC/ATSDR, are all symptoms of mercury poisoning. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts46.html#bookmark07

But again... my doctor was never taught to look for the symptoms of mercury poisoning, even though he had been injecting children with HUNDREDS of times the EPA safe level of mercury for years. So he just called it "Autism", because that is what CDC/AAP taught him to do.

Autism is a junk diagnosis that tells us NOTHING about what is going on inside a child's body. It allows the medical profession to shrug its shoulders, repeat the mantra, “no known cause or cure” and get away with not even having to take our kids temperature.

Because it has been four year since my son's regression, and the arbitrary and unfair statute of limitations for filing a claim with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is three years, unless it is changed, my son will not receive the money he needs, and is legally due, for his injuries.

We have treated him via the emerging medical interventions that mainstream medicine refuses to investigate because they do not want to believe that something that has been so good in the past, vaccination, is now being overly used, causing severe damage and death to children on a huge scale, and that the "autism" epidemic is largely a iatrogenic illness.

My once healthy, social and verbal son could only speak two words, could make no eye contact and would not even answer to his own name after his vaccine induced "autistic" regression. With in 48 hours of putting him on the GF/CF diet to treat his digestive symptoms, he began making eye contact and answering to his name. The FIRST day we began chelating him with DMSA, he looked me in the eye and called me "Mommy" (four times in a row) for the first time since his regression 10 months earlier!

The treatments we are using on him are expensive and all consuming. We sold our home in Los Angeles, my husband quit his job in the entertainment industry, and we moved to much less expensive life in Maine so that we could pay for Chandler's treatment.

Almost every penny comes out of our pocket, as the medical community's denial and obfuscation prevents these long established medical treatments from being properly studied on children with an "Autism" diagnosis.

But if we have to spend every penny we have, down to the shirts on our backs, we will do it.

Because biomedical treatment for "Autism" works! There are over 1100 documented cases of children loosing their diagnosis all together via these methods.

Chandler has not fully recovered, but we have gotten him half way back. He has gone from severe to high functioning autism, he is verbal, with some impairment, almost all "autistic" behaviors like flapping/spinning/self injury are long gone, he is mainstreamed in 1st grade with a helper, and he is a happy boy that plays with his brother and hugs and kisses his loved ones. AND CALLS ME MOMMY!

I have spent four years reading and writing about vaccine induced autism, and the things that have gone on at CDC/HHS/AAP that have caused this epidemic and allowed it to snowball are not only unconscionable, some of them are illegal.

Further, CDC statements that there is no link between autism and vaccination have become completely nonsensical. Julie Gerberding actually went on CNN to talk about the Hannah Poling case, explained that in children with mitochondrial disorders, vaccination can cause "fevers and other complications" that result in the symptoms of autism, and then in the next breath said that vaccines had no relationship to autism. You can watch this absurdest theater for yourself: http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2008/03/julie-gerberding-admits-on-cnn-that.html

HOW STUPID DOES SHE THINK WE ARE!?

THIS HAS TO CHANGE..... NOW!

The vaccine schedule is NOT properly safety tested, it is too aggressive, and doctors are not trained to look for vaccine damage or to know which children are at risk for serious vaccine damage.

BUT MOMS KNOW! We all have the same story. We all saw the same early warnings, told our docs, but they didn't listen. Because CDC/AAP, instead of listening to us, have labeled us “desperate parents” who are “scientifically illiterate” and “looking for someone to blame” for their children’s autism.

So we no longer listen to them. Trust between us and the medical profession is dead. My friends no longer go to their doctors for vaccination advice, they come to me.

There is NO study that shows that the four shots my son was given before his regression are safe when given together, and even the individual shots are not tested against true placebo, but just other versions of the same type of vaccine!

We have been begging for a simple vaccinated v. unvaccinated study to see what overall health out comes for kids are, but CDC/HHS/NIH won't do it. They will allow nothing to stop the run away vaccine program, and they are busy adding MORE VACCINES!

Our kids are not bottomless pits that can constantly have powerful pharmaceuticals poured into them!

I WILL DO WHATEVER, GO WHEREVER AND TELL MY STORY TO WHOMEVER, TO BRING ABOUT VACCINE REFORM!

CHANGE THIS!

Ginger Taylor, M.S.
Brunswick, Maine
Http://www.adventuresinautism.com

Spread the word.

The DOD Aknowledges Autism as a Vaccine Injury

Please read David Kirby's article on the DOD documents that recognize autism as an adverse reaction to the DTaP vaccine, and that thimerosal toxicity, which may also cause autism, be treated with methyl B12 and chelation. In fact DOD is paying for chelation and DAN! doctors for military dependents.

And this stuff is still considered "controversial"???

Additionally, the DOD urges caution in giving multiple vaccines and in not continuing to vaccinate those who have shown previous vaccine reactions.

I am looking forward to the discussion that follows and from hearing from DOD doctors on why they have put out these statements.

But I suspect that it is because, unlike civilian medical authorities and private practices, the military cannot jettison their vaccine injured personnel and dependents. They will have to care for these people, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

So unlike Medicine/Pharma/Federal Government, vaccine injury effects the DOD bottom line, and their actual reason for existing... military readiness.

The Pentagon - A Voice of Reason on Vaccines and Autism?

UPDATE:  DOD yanks up the welcome mat and puts out a "gone fishin" sign.  Anderson Cooper ditches the story, then unditches it.  Army dad says high ranking military officials believe vaccines cause autism.

Several military autism families are digging into this and I would encourage those who are interested in the DOD story to keep an eye on Autism Salutes.

Keep in mind, the Navy was the first organization to implement chelation.  In the 1950's they began giving EDTA to those with lead poisoning from paint on ships. 

1000 Posts

So this is my thousandth post on this blog.

I thought I would mark it by thanking all my readers who have been so encouraging to me over the last four years, and those who have challenged me as well.

And to thank Chandler for all the profound wonder that he has brought into my life.

I love you Chandler P.

FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children

This is actually recycling an old story from June, but I am gonna run it again anyway because the point needs to be made loudly.

Again... props to Amy and Angela of Mom's Against Mercury for forcing the FDA to do its job.

FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children
David Gutierrez Natural News
Wednesday, Dec 03, 2008

For the first time, the FDA has issued a warning that the mercury contained in silver dental fillings may pose neurological risks to children and pregnant women.

"Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses," reads a statement that has been added to the agency's Web site. "Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care, but should discuss options with their health practitioner."

The warning was one of the conditions that the FDA agreed to in settling a lawsuit filed by several consumer health groups.

"Gone, gone, gone are all of FDA's claims that no science exists that amalgam is unsafe," said Charles Brown, a lawyer for Consumers for Dental Choice, one of the plaintiffs.

"It's a watershed moment," said Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project, another plaintiff.

Mercury is a well-known neurotoxin that can cause cognitive and developmental problems, especially in fetuses and children. It can also cause brain and kidney damage in adults.

So-called dental amalgams, or fillings made with a mix of mercury and other metals, have been used since the 1800s. Although it is known that small amounts of mercury are vaporized (and can be inhaled) when the fillings are used to chew food, and though Canada, France and Sweden have all placed restrictions on the use of mercury fillings, the FDA has always insisted that amalgams are safe.

Dental amalgams are considered medical devices, regulated by the FDA.

Even the FDA's new warning stops short of admitting that dental amalgams are dangerous for the general population. Instead, it focuses on the same population that has already been warned to limit mercury exposure by consuming less seafood: children and pregnant women. The FDA says it does not recommend that those who already have mercury fillings get them removed.

Millions of people have received amalgam fillings, although their popularity has dropped off in recent years. Currently, only 30 percent of dental fillings contain mercury - the rest are tooth-colored resin composites made from glass, cement and porcelain. These alternative fillings are more expensive and less durable than amalgam, however.

In 2002, the FDA began a regulatory review of amalgam that was expected to be complete within a few years. In 2006, with the review still incomplete, an independent FDA advisory panel of doctors and dentists rejected the agency's position that there is no reason for concern about the use of amalgam. While the panel agreed that the majority of people receiving such fillings would not be harmed, panel members expressed concern for the health of certain sensitive populations, including children under the age of six.

The panel recommended that the FDA conduct further studies on the risks to children from dental amalgam, and that it consider a policy of informed consent for children and pregnant: that is, warning those groups of the risks associated with the fillings before installing them.

Part of the lawsuit centered on the FDA's failure to respond to these recommendations in a timely fashion.

"This is your classic failure to act," federal judge Ellen Segal Huvelle told the agency.

As part of the lawsuit settlement, the FDA must reach a final decision on the regulation of amalgam by July 28, 2009.

"This court settlement signals the death knell for mercury fillings," Brown predicted.
But J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Ipsita Smolinski disagreed, saying that the FDA is unlikely to ban amalgam entirely

"We do believe that the agency will ask for the label to indicate that mercury is an ingredient in the filling, and that special populations should be exempt from such fillings, such as: nursing women, pregnant women, young children, and immunocompromised individuals," Smolinski said.

Moms Taking Valproate While Pregnant Increase Risk of Autism

Epilepsy Drug, Pregnancy Raise Autism Risk
Study Shows Kids at Risk for Autism When Pregnant Women Take Valproate
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Dec. 1, 2008 -- Women who take the epilepsy drug valproate while pregnant may increase their child's risk of autism, a new study shows.

British researchers looked at 632 children, almost half of whom were exposed to epilepsy drugs during gestation. Nine of the 632 have been diagnosed with autism, and one has shown symptoms of the disorder, Rebecca Bromley, a PhD student and one of the researchers at the University of Liverpool, tells WebMD.

Sixty-four of the children were exposed to valproate during pregnancy, 44 were exposed to lamotrigine, 76 to carbamazepine, 14 to other single-medication therapies, and 51 to polytherapy treatments for the neurological disorder.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, showed that seven of the children with autism had mothers who took epilepsy drugs while pregnant, including four who were exposed to valproate and a fifth who was exposed to valproate and lamotrigine.

The children whose mothers were taking valproate alone for epilepsy were seven times more likely to develop autism, compared to children whose mothers did not have epilepsy and were not taking any drug while pregnant, the study shows.
Counseling Prior to Pregnancy

The risk seen with valproate was not seen with the other epilepsy drugs, Bromley says. None of the children in the study had any known family history of autism.

"The take-home message is that women with epilepsy should be provided with counseling regarding their condition and its treatment prior to pregnancy," Bromley tells WebMD in an email interview. "It is important to consider that not every child is affected."

She says women with epilepsy should not stop taking their current epilepsy treatments without medical consultation with their doctors.

Bromley says three youngsters born to women without epilepsy who were not medicated also were diagnosed with autism.

That's the same rate as reported in the general population, Bromley says. The autistic children were tested at the ages of 1, 3, and 6. Two-thirds of the children were 6 years old by the time the study ended.

"The children were diagnosed independently of our study team by community psychiatrists with normal clinical practice," Bromley tells WebMD.

"This study highlights the importance of pre-conceptual advice, information, and treatment for women with epilepsy from her physician," Bromley says. "Parents who have concerns regarding the development of their child should consult their family doctor."

She says women who are pregnant and require medical treatment should talk to their doctors about possible effects on unborn babies.
Effects on Brain Development

Page Pennell, MD, director of the epilepsy program at Emory University in Atlanta, says the study is "very helpful" because it "is confirmatory of other smaller studies that we need to be concerned about, not only the effects of the medications during the first trimester, but also about continued effects of the medication on the developing brain."

Previous studies suggested concern about the effects of valproate in particular, Pennell tells WebMD, and that "the effects may be more selective for verbal abilities. The strength of this study that stands out is, there was really a rather large cohort of patients followed prior to birth and then in a systematic way up to the age of 6 years old."

Sodium valproate is an effective drug used to control seizures, Bromley says. She adds that some women have been prescribed the medication because "it is very effective at controlling the type of epilepsy they have."

Pennell says the study suggests the need to "consider exposure throughout the entire pregnancy" and even before conception. "Also, this study raises concern not only for the effects on brain development in general, but the specific finding of autism spectrum disorders points out that the children should be followed closely to be able to identify features of autism during development to allow early intervention."

She says she'd recommend that women of childbearing age steer clear of valproate unless it's the only medication that can control seizures. "Most of these women unfortunately have to be on a medicine. But the idea is, women of childbearing age should be on another anti-epileptic drug."

Pennell says 50% percent of pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned, so women of childbearing age should talk carefully with their doctors about any anti-epileptic medications.

Laureen Cassidy, a vice president for Abbott Laboratories, which manufactures Depakote, a brand-name version of valproate, says "uncontrolled seizures can cause permanent damage" to the brains of children and "for pregnant women can be fatal to both mother and child." The product's label "makes it clear that it should not be used as a first-line treatment for women of childbearing age."

Raquel Powers, another spokeswoman, says "it's a global drug" and that its risks are well known.

Consuming Kids The Commercialization of Childhood

One of the appeals of moving to Maine from LA is that there was so much less of a marketing assault on my kids. But even now, I need to work harder to shield them from this crap.

Web and I have had long talks about marketing promotions and that their purpose is to sell you things you don't need. I have spent time out in public playing "spot the promotion" and he is getting better at thinking critically about the marketing he comes into contact with.

Protect your babies from being sold a bill of goods.

David Kirby: The Growing List of Professionals Recognizing the Vaccine/Autism Connection

From David Kirby:

The List Keeps Growing
By David Kirby

It’s getting harder to keep up with the list of scientists, doctors, and public health officials who now believe that a vaccine-autism connection is at the least possible, and should be researched further.

Earlier this week, Dr. Peter Fletcher, former Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Department of Health was added. Now, eight more prominent researchers have joined the group. (See list below – they are the last eight names added).

These are the authors of the new study, “Mitochondrial Disease in Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients: A Cohort Analysis,” who did chart reviews on Hannah Poling and two dozen other young people with autism and mitochondrial dysfunction.

In my opinion, it could well prove to be one of the most significant autism studies published to date. (My Huffington Post article on this is HERE:

Mito disorders, which might affect 7-to-30 percent of all children with ASD, can predispose kids to developmental regression following a stressful trigger. Such a trigger might come from a febrile infection – or it could conceivably come from a vaccine reaction, the authors wrote.

“There might be no difference between the inflammatory or catabolic (breaking down of tissue) stress of vaccinations and that of common childhood diseases, which are known precipitants of mitochondrial regression,” they said.

And then they wrote this: “Large, population-based studies will be needed to identify a possible relationship of vaccination with autistic regression in persons with mitochondrial cytopathies (cellular disorders).”

And so, they get added to the list.

The list keeps changing in other ways. For example, late last spring it listed, “all three presidential candidates” (Obama, Clinton and McCain). Soon enough, that will be changed to US President, Secretary of State, and a pivotal and potentially filibuster-busting Senator from Arizona.

Another change: Before, the list said, “Autism researchers at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center.” Now, those people can be named, along with their colleagues: Investigators at the Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. I have also listed a Harvard scientist who sits on an advisory panel of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).

It makes you wonder how long the term “fringe” can seriously be applied to people who believe that this debate is not over.

Finally, keep your eye on the draft National Vaccine Plan at HHS, especially this January - right around the time the nation gets a new HHS Secretary and, reportedly, a new Director of the CDC – both of whom could potentially be added to the list, as well.

-----------------------------------------------

In 2008, the following groups and individuals have advocated, or at least considered, further study of a possible vaccine-autism connection:

1) Presidenti-Elect Barack Obama,
2) Sen. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Designee
3) Sen. John McCain, Senior Senator from Arizona and pivotal minority vote
4) Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC
5) Dr. Bernadine Healy, Former Director of the NIH and President of the American Red Cross
6) Rep. Brad Miller, (D-NC), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the House Committee on Science and Technology
7) Members of the HHS Vaccine Safety Working Group
8) Officials at the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office who drafted the federal vaccine safety research agenda, the National Vaccine Plan
9) Medical personnel at the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program of HHS, who ordered federal compensation to Hannah Poling for her vaccine-associated autism.
10) Members of the CDC’s Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network (CISA)
11) America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association representing nearly 1,300 companies covering more than 200 million Americans
12) Research grant making officials at Autism Speaks
13) Dr. Douglas Wallace, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, Director of the UCI Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine in Genetics, and member of the Scientific & Medical Advisory Board of the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation
14) Dr. Peter Fletcher, former Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Department of Health
15) Dr. Jon Poling, prominent neurologist and father to Hannah Poling
16) Dr. Isaac Pessah, Professor and Chair, VM: Molecular Biosciences,
Director, Center for Children’s Environmental Health, University of California, Davis, and member of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).
17) Dr. Martha Herbert, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Neurology Director, Transcend Research Program, Harvard Medical School, and member of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).
18) Dr. Geraldine Dawson, Chief Science Officer, Autism Speaks, and member of the Strategic Planning Workgroup for Autism Spectrum Disorders of the federal Inter-Agency Autism Committee (IACC).
19) Dr. Jacqueline R. Weissman, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
20) Dr. Richard I. Kelley, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University Medical Center and Division of Metabolism, Kennedy Krieger Institute
21) Dr. Margaret L. Bauman, Department of Pediatrics and Learning and Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation Services (LADDERS), Massachusetts General Hospital
22) Dr. Bruce H. Cohen, Neurological Institute and Pediatrics Institute, Cleveland Clinic
23) Dr. Katherine F. Murray, Genomic Department of Pediatrics and Learning and Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation Services (LADDERS), Massachusetts General Hospital
24) Dr. Rebecca L. Mitchell, Genomic Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic
25) Dr. Rebecca L. Kern, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University Medical Center and Division of Metabolism, Kennedy Krieger Institute
26) Dr. Marvin R. Natowicz, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine


“HONORARY MEMBER”:

HHS Secretary Designee Tom Daschel, who said in November of 2002: “Mercury-based vaccine preservatives actually have caused autism in children.”

They Gave Him 12 Shots at One Time

I am not sure what this woman is complaining about. According to Paul Offit her kid still could have gotten another 99,988 shots and still have been fine.

Taking on autism
Jessica Glover hopes to be a champion for children on the autism spectrum, like her son Cade

By Christina Lent
The Beaverton Valley Times, Nov 27, 2008

Cade Glover has regained his engaging personality after a switch in diet. His mother Jessica is on a mission to share the lessons she’s learned with Cade to help other children with autism.

Jessica Glover is on a personal quest to change opinions about autism on a local and national level.

She and her family moved to Beaverton from Bend eight weeks ago to launch Autism Resources of Beaverton, a non-profit resource agency dedicated to autism and advocacy, and to work with the Beaverton School District to open its first K-12 charter school for autism spectrum children.

The 27-year-old mother of four children also opened an in-home Sun Drops Child Care and Preschool for children on the autism spectrum.

Her focus on autism awareness and advocacy is one from the heart.

Glover’s son Cade was diagnosed with autism when he was 22 months old after going in two months before for vaccinations.

“When I went to the health department in Central Oregon, they told me they wanted to ‘catch him up’ on his vaccinations,” Glover recalled. “They gave him 12 at one time.

“When I took him home, his fever spiked to 102, 103, 104 and 105. I took him to the emergency room four times in six days. In two weeks, he stopped walking and talking and regressed to an infant. Before that, he was a very typical, very healthy baby.”

Over the next couple months, Glover began to notice other changes in her once “very loving, adorable, cuddle bug.”

Cade had been really excited about the coming birth of his baby sister Maycie, often asking questions and feeling his mom’s expanding tummy. But when Maycie was born, his previous interest was nonexistent.

“For two months he never kissed or touched her,” Glover said as she fought back tears. “I knew then that something was wrong because by that point he had stopped looking at us.

“All of a sudden he wanted nothing to do with us. He didn’t want to be held or kissed and we’d find him buried in his room under blankets. He also started to fixate on things like lining up all his toys or playing with his trains for eight hours at a time.”

At that point, Glover began seeking answers for the differences in his personality and behavior.

“Something inside me started this personal quest,” Glover recalled.

After extensive research and reading, “Unraveling the Mystery of Autism,” the business woman’s life focus shifted.

She began using holistic methods she found in her research to help her son.

“I took him off of dairy and within a week he started walking,” Glover said. “It was like a veil had lifted.

“A week into his new diet, he said, ‘Mama,’ and I about died. From there I cut out gluten and the words just started flowing. Within that week he also stopped obsessing over things. He would drink out of different cups. He wanted to interact with the family again and started loving on his baby sister.”

Glover cherished each new development.

“It was like he had been in a cave for 18 months,” she recalled. “Now he is the most loving child – it’s like he’s making up for lost time.”

It became Glover’s mission to start Autism Resources in Bend and help other families convert autism children’s diets over to gluten- and dairy-free.

“I needed to share this with as many people as possible,” she said.

That thought led her to dreaming of opening a school that would not follow the common Applied Behavioral Analysis model used in many public schools.

Her dream school for children like Cade would have a natural setting, where teachers and specialists would work one-on-one with students, figure out their allergies and focus on their abilities rather than their disabilities.

“By sitting with them one-on-one you can help them with their social skills by getting them to use their words to say how they are feeling or having them draw a picture to express their emotions,” she said.

The school would also offer all organic food, not require immunizations, follow a pattern of daily routines rather than a strict schedule and expose students to art, music and outdoor activities like gardening.

That vision became so clear that Glover looked for the ideal place to open a charter school.

Beaverton is that place, she said, “because it has one of the highest autism rates in the nation.”

“There is an entire lost generation of kids that are lost in public school systems across the nation because they were mainstreamed and there is no funding for supporting these kids,” Glover said. “There is a big group of teenagers who are hurting.

“It’s important to work with autistic children when they are young and focus on their abilities. These children are gifted in their own ways.”

Glover is in the process of laying the ground work for opening a charter school tailored for autism spectrum children in Beaverton.

The idea to offer an alternative option for students has gained the interest of both the Educational Service District and Beaverton School District.

“They are both helping me so much because they want a different option for these kids,” Glover said. “The responses I’ve had so far have been wonderful. Families have really welcomed me with open arms.

“We all want these kids to feel like there is a group of people here who love and support them.”

Ideally, she’d like to open a charter school near Beaver Acres Elementary School in August 2009, just as Cade enters kindergarten.

But there is a lot to accomplish between now and then, including an extensive review process by the Beaverton School District.

“There are a lot of people in Beaverton that need another option for their children, so this will be very good for the community,” Glover said.

As for Cade, he’s doing very well, she said as the young man bounced from one inflatable activity to the next at Pump It Up Jr.! in Beaverton.

“My biggest goal is to find what he likes and is passionate about,” Glover said. “I want him to be able to one day be able to make a living doing what he loves, be able to live on his own and ultimately be able to relay his feelings with others.”

HT: Anne Dachel

UPDATE: Jessica dropped by and left this comment:

"Hey :) this is Jessica Glover Cades mom (the one in the article.)

Hindsight is always 20/20.

The silver lining is that Cade is doing very well and he is a jewel. My personal mission is to create a concept learning environment for these kids. My ultimate goal is to see the vaccine companies and government pay for it.... that is a dream. Until then we are fund raising and grant seeking. Bio-med intervention has helped Cade so much. He will grow to be a great Man who changes the way the World perceives these Children. Much like your precious Son. I refuse to label Cade. Thanks for all you do! "

FDA Hid Names of Melamine Contaminated Infant Formula Products from the Public

Peter Rost for FDA Commissioner. It is going to take proven whistle blower to clean up this disaster.

FDA Hid Names of Melamine Contaminated Infant Formula Products from the Public

by Mike Adams
November 27, 2008

When the FDA discovered melamine in U.S. infant formula products, it made a conscious decision to withhold that information from the public. Instead, it called a teleconference with the infant formula manufacturers to warn them about its findings!

The truth about the melamine only became public after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request, demanding the test results from the FDA. Absent that request, this whole issue would have continued to remain an FDA secret.

In the aftermath of that decision, the FDA is now under intense fire for once again betraying the public trust and acting to protect the interests of corporations rather than the people. Congress, public health groups and consumer advocate (like me) are blasting the FDA for utterly disregarding public safety and catering (once again) to the financial interests of the companies it regulates...

Autism Rate in the UK is now 1 in 88

... and 1 in 54 boys.

Autism catastrophe
Published Date: 28 November 2008
The Scotsman

...The most recent government study confirmed that the rate of autism in the UK now stands at one child in 88, with the rate for boys, who are most likely to be affected, around one in 58. Make no mistake, this is a public health catastrophe.

As a result of parental demand, Autism Treatment Trust opened a clinic in Edinburgh in 2006 and to date has arranged comprehensive testing and commenced treatments for more than 300 autistic children. The results of the tests have been striking and a remarkable pattern is emerging: gastrointestinal issues are common, particularly inflammation; food intolerances and allergies feature regularly, as do immune abnormalities and heavy metal toxicity. Many of these children are very ill. All are treatable.

The belief that autism is solely genetic in origin is unsustainable; environmental factors must be at play. You do not get genetic epidemics.

BILL WELSH
President, Autism Treatment Trust
Stafford Street
Edinburgh

Open Letters to Barack Obama

Mark Blaxil and Angela Warner have both written open letters to the President Elect asking for him to do right by our children and children yet to be born.

Dr. Kenneth Stoller has put together a letter for the rest of us asking our new president to end the chemical assault on Americans.

Please visit http://www.bodiesinrebellion.com and add your name to the signing statement.

CDC States that Chemical Exposures Will Be Shown to Cause Autism

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 full of questions to each of them has elicited lengthy responses and more promised to come. 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”.

Is Anyone Open to and Autism Adoption?

I thought I would put this out to my readers:

I hope this e-mail finds you well. I am writing because I am actively looking for a home for 3 year old “Sam”. Sam was adopted from Russia in 2006, at the age of 13 months. Sadly, his placement is not working out and I must find him a new family.

Sam has been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder and he shows signs of having an autism spectrum disorder, although this is not yet confirmed. Sam can be a very challenging little boy who is sometimes loving, but often prone to tantrums. He would do best in a home with no other children or older children, and a parent or parents who feel called to adopt a special needs child.

If you think you might be the right parents for this little boy, contact me and I will get you in touch with his adoption agency.

Hep B Vaccine is Associated with a 9 Fold Developmental Disability Rate

Boys getting the recommended 3 Hep B shots, while the vaccines still contained Thimerosal, were NINE TIMES more likely to have a developmental disability than unvaccinated boys.

Finally... someone actually did a vaccinated v. unvaccinated study.

After Chandler was diagnosed, I printed out the Engerix B vaccine package insert, which I believed to be most significantly responsible for his autistic regression at 18 months and took it into my pediatrician.  My main question, "If the vaccine is known to cause Gilliam-Barre, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system, then why couldn't it cause autism, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system?"

He wouldn't take the highlighted print out from me and he didn't answer the question. He did remind me that vaccines were not associated with autism.

I will be sending this to him this week, as I am sure the American Academy of Pediatrics International Pediatricians Union won't be bringing this to his attention:

Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children aged 1-9 years

Authors: Carolyn Gallagher ^a; Melody Goodman ^a

Affiliation:

a Graduate Program in Public Health, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Health Sciences Center, New York, USA

DOI: 10.1080/02772240701806501

Publication Frequency: 8 issues per year

Published in: Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, Volume 90, Issue 5 September 2008 , pages 997 - 1008

Abstract This study investigated the association between vaccination with the Hepatitis B triple series vaccine prior to 2000 and developmental disability in children aged 1-9 years (n = 1824), proxied by parental report that their child receives early intervention or special education services (EIS). National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2000 data were analyzed and adjusted for survey design by Taylor Linearization using SAS version 9.1 software, with SAS callable SUDAAN version 9.0.1. The odds of receiving EIS were approximately nine times as great for vaccinated boys (n = 46) as for unvaccinated boys (n = 7), after adjustment for confounders. This study found statistically significant evidence to suggest that boys in United States who were vaccinated with the triple series Hepatitis B vaccine, during the time period in which vaccines were manufactured with thimerosal, were more susceptible to developmental disability than were unvaccinated boys.

Keywords: early intervention; special education services; developmental disability; Hepatitis B vaccine triple series

Even though he was born in 2002, His first Hep B Shot contained thimerosal, which is known to cause mitochondrial dysfunction, which HHS has conceded become autism when multiple vaccines are later administered.

I would like to see this study repeated with children born since 2003 who received, "Thimerosal Free" Hep B shots. Was it the thimerosal or the aluminum or the shot itself.

New AAP President Shows Us His Priorities, And It Is Not The Health of American Children

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 decays into a corrupt, ass covering, buck making organization... rise up... take back your profession.

Dr. Stephen T. Colbert Gives Props to Statins

Statins for Everyone!

Offit: "Vaccines are Safer than Vitamins".

First off, kudos to Lisa Green for actually researching an article on vaccine controversy and not just recycling the same pablum.

It is difficult to understand why anyone listens to Paul Offit's opinions on vaccine safety. Yet another irresponsible statement from him:

"I see myself as a champion of children. That's why I went into pediatrics," Offit said.

He knows parents dislike seeing children get painful shots.

"What really upsets people is that their child is pinned down and injected with a biological agent that they don't really understand," Offit said. "But in many ways, they're safer than vitamins."

The article does not elaborate on how toxic substances like mercury and aluminum are less dangerous to humans than the vitamins that the body actually needs to function properly.

I can't imagine what kind of narcissistic delusion I would have to descend into in order to call myself a "Champion of Children". If you ever hear me calling myself a "Paragon of Pediatrics" or a "Liberator of Little Ones", please slap me.

UPDATE: Best email response I got to this headline:

"Then why don't we have a Vitamin Injury Compensation Program?"

UPDATE:

In 2008 the number of people who died from vitamin overdose was zero.

Paul Offit Acts As A Spokesman For The AAP

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 "100,000 vaccines at once are safe for babies" 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 accused 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 pediatrics.

Boston Launches Flu Shot Tracking

Does this freak anyone out just a little? Or is it just me?

The logical stage two would be to use this to find out who has not been vaccinated, applying pressure to do so, and implementing restrictions on those who don't.

Senator Tom Daschle to Head HHS

...and this may be good for our kids.

Daschle fought the Eli Lilly rider in the Homeland Security Bill and fought the anthrax vaccine that was harming military personnel.

From David Kirby's HuffPo piece today:

By nominating Tom Daschle to head up the agency, President Elect Obama has selected a man who has demonstrated an unflinching willingness to question vaccine safety, and to fight for the rights of those people who believe they have been, or may be, seriously injured by certain vaccinations.

Senator Daschle is not anti-vaccine, but his record shows his willingness to question - and even oppose - vaccine makers and big pharmaceutical interests when it comes to protecting the rights of American medical consumers.

Certainly this is better than the guy that is running HHS now. Whose name I can barely remember because the only time his name comes up in articles on autism is when he is rumored to be telling friends in the church parking lot that HHS knows that the epidemic is due to the vaccines.

Is it Michael something...

Perhaps he is so forgettable to me is because our kids are so forgettable to him.

We Are All Somali!

In the past few months it has come to the attention of our community, via David Kirby's tenacious investigating, that the autism rate in the Somali community in Minneapolis looks to be 1 in 28.

Read that again.

The 1 in 28 Somali children in that community look to have autism.

I say "look to", because the Minnesota Department of Health's Judy Punyko, who collected the data from the school system in August order to confirm this number, and was supposed to have a report on Nov 15th, says they will need four more months to run the numbers.

Bullshit.

They have had time to run those numbers 8 ways to Sunday by now.

I would bet my house that they know that they have found an autism cluster that is on fire, and like the shenanigans in the Verstraeten study, they are inventing new math to try to hide the true incidence of autism in the Somali community.

Last weekend the Minnesota Department of Public Health held a PR party with the Somali community to assure them that they were hard at work on the problem, offered them no answers, and assured it was not the vaccines.

Totally Disgusting.

These people have been through hell and back, finally land in the Land of Promise, their kids get sick in obscene numbers, but the state government obfuscates and stalls and the federal government is no where to be found.

That is right... CDC has not even shown up in Minneapolis.

If there was ever a doubt that the Centers for Disease Control did not give a flying fig tree about autism, the fact that an autism cluster with a 1 IN 28 ratio does not even warrant a look, then it should be wiped away with this DISGUSTING inaction by Julie "Let them eat cake" Gerberding.

HOW HIGH DOES THE AUTISM RATE HAVE TO GET BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING!!!!!!! 1 IN 10? 1 IN 2?

I have not been so angry in a long time. These Somali-Americans and their children deserve better.

So I say today, WE ARE ALL SOMALI!

Idil, Abdulkadir and Hodan... we got your back.

Here are the links to all the relevant stories so you can catch up and be as horrified as I am:

Is Autism an "American Disease?" Somali Immigrants Reportedly Have High Rates

Minneapolis and the Somali Autism Riddle

Somali Parents Give the Autism Forum a "C+"

Autism Strikes 1 in 28 Somali Children in Minnesota

Minnesota Tracked Down Pig Brain Disease, Ignores Autism?

Somali Gloves Come Off: Autism in Minnesota

An Open Letter to the Somali Parents of Minnesota

Our Kids Somali or American

SCDBakery.com for Thanksgiving

So last month we ordered some Halloween yummies for Chandler through the SCD Bakery, and my very picky eater baby gobbled them all up.

So for those of you who want to get some Thanksgiving yums for your little GFCF/SDC chickens, I highly recommend Jill's particular yums.

This was her email this week. Her menu rotates every week, you have to order for Thanksgiving by Nov. 13:

SCD Bakery
Dear Ginger,

Baking for Thanksgiving:
Apple Delight
Blueberry Delight
Pumpkin Bread
Pecan Apple Muffins
Banana Whoopie Pies
Apple Cinnamon Whoopie Pies

NOTE: The baking schedule for Thanksgiving will be a little different than usual with orders due Thursday Nov. 13th instead of Sunday and shipped to the West Coast on Monday Nov. 17th and the East Coast on Thursday Nov 20th to ensure delivery in time for the holiday. All menu items can be frozen.

Please note orders will close on Thursday at midnight, due to time limitations we will not be able to accept any orders placed after Thursday. :)
Orders due by Thursday November 13th.

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

Take Care,

Jill Rainville
SCD Bakery

Obama's Autism Influences, Correcting Arthur Allen

Today in the Washington Independent Arthur Allen reported, while lamenting the possibility that RFK, Jr. could be chosen as head of the EPA, that Obama adviser David Axelrod was an autism parent who had been rumored to have let the President Elect know that autism was not caused by vaccines:

During the campaign, anti-vaccine advocates asked Obama and Sen. John McCain to comment on whether they thought parents should have the right to skip vaccines they feared. McCain hemmed and hawed, while Obama said he thought children should get all the recommended vaccines. Obama apparently was influenced on this by his chief strategist, David Axelrod, who reportedly has an autistic child. Sources in the autistic parents’ community say that Axelrod set Obama straight about the lack of any link between vaccines and autism.

Except that Alexrod apparently does not have a child with autism, but a child with eplipesy.

Senior Obama Strategist David Axelrod and Wife Susan to be Honored for Their Decade-Long Commitment to Epilepsy Research at NYC Benefit

NEW YORK, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- David Axelrod -- one of America'sleading political strategists and senior adviser to Senator Barack Obama --and his wife, Susan, will be honored for their decade of leadership andcommitment to epilepsy research at the First Annual New York City Benefitfor CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy). George Stephanopoulos,Chief Washington Correspondent for ABC News and anchor of "This Week withGeorge Stephanopoulos," will be the guest speaker at the May 13 event.PARADE Publisher Randy Siegel will emcee.

The Axelrod's commitment to curing epilepsy is deeply personal. Theirdaughter Lauren, now 26, has suffered irreversible brain damage as a resultof the disease. She began experiencing life-threatening seizures when shewas just seven months old.

However Michael Strautmanis, Obama’s former Senate chief of staff and close personal friend, is apparently an autism dad. From AutismPac.org:

"Obama’s Senate chief of staff and close personal friend, Michael Strautmanis, is the father of a child with autism; Obama’s campaign chief David Axelrod is the father of an adult with epilepsy (Obama was a keynote speaker for a foundation run by Axelrod’s wife in 2005). I have spoken with Sen. Obama about our issues in the past and he was always receptive and supportive."

Now, I have no idea if either of these men have "set Obama straight about the lack of any link between vaccines and autism", but I thought the record should be corrected.

Obama May Choose Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head EPA

Today has been a discouraging day, having lost the opportunity to have a president who was supporting families with autism. I have been looking for possible bright spots, and one has exploded onto the scene.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is said to be under consideration to head the Environmental Protection Agency, according to Politico. Mr. Kennedy is a great friend to out community and showed up for us at the Green our Vaccines rally in July.







He is a true environmentalist, in the best sense, and understands the threat that environmental mercury is to our children. In fact, his attention to the Simpsonwood cover up was the piece that made me start writing publicly about my own sons mercury toxicity.



Let's hope the rumors are true.

Update: Kennedy told HuffPo that if he is tapped, he will serve.

Update: Here is a little more: