My Gratitude to David Kirby

I was putting together a presentation in my head this morning on the bills in Maine... a quick pitch to doctors on how futile their current denial of vaccine injury is in light of all happened right out there in the media where everyone can see it... The Poling press conference on CNN, Gerberdings mito/vaccine/autism admission on CNN, Suchat's statement that we would not screen for mito to prevent vaccine induced brain damage because it was too expensive in the AJC, HHS admission via David Bowman that vaccine encephalopathy causes autism, Gerberdings secret 'retraction' of Verstraeten, and on and on

And I realized that every point I was putting together, all of it, owed its existence to David Kirby. If not for his digging, not one of these would have come to light, and things would be just like they were when Chandler regressed in 2003.

So I wanted formally thank him publicly. Kirby is smart and dedicated and he could have chosen a path that would have brought him public accolades, huge salaries, and lots of rubbing of elbows with the rich and powerful and corrupt. But instead he chose to climb down into the trench with us and serve the interests of a bunch of sick and medically neglected children.

Just like Bernie deserves a Nobel prize that he will never see, David is owed a Pulitzer or two or three.

David, whether or not the world ever recognizes what you have done, you will always have my undying gratitude. We will never know how many children are neurologically whole today because you sounded the alarm and cautioned parents that there is a problem.

Thank you.

Death At SeaWorld

Intrepid reporter, David Kirby, again gives voice to the voice less in his upcoming book, Death at SeaWorld. He was interviewed this morning on Fox & Friends about the death of Dawn Brancheau's at the jaws of the killer whale Tillikum.

Confirmation that the Autism Rate is now 1 in 100

...or if you are counting the kids who HAD autism but recovered, the rate is 1 in 63.

I am utterly speechless.

Because still... there is no sense of urgency... no rush to stop this. The entire country is practically shutting down over a mild flu, and yet brain damage to one percent of children garners still more yawns.

How many years have we been asking, "How high does the autism rate have to go?!"

Apparently higher than 1 percent of children.

Apparently higher than 2 percent of boys.

Will it be 1 in 50, is that the magic number that will finally wake up those in power?

Will it be 1 in 20? 1 in ten? 1 in two?

There should be rioting in the streets over this. Yet tomorrow will even one news network cover this?

UPDATE: Dr. Caroline Ward-Goldsmith left a comment that I should be read by everyone so I am adding it here:

I would like to comment and quote the exact figure which was officially given to me by the chair of the disabilities commission in brussels EU PARLIAMENT and it is

1 in 58 children as of Aug 2009

I have enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to another visit

Dr Caroline Ward-Goldsmith
EU Parliamentary Advisor
Director ATC TREATMENT IRELAND
www.atctreatment.com

Thank you Dr. for sharing this with us, and God help us all.

Congressional Briefing by Maloney on Vaxxed v. Unvaxxed Bill

Call your Senators and Representatives offices and ask them to attend:

Rep. Maloney and Rep. Smith To Host A Second Autism Congressional Briefing An Update On Federal Autism Research And Treatment Initiatives

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR US SENATORS (HERE) AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS (HERE) AND URGE THEM TO ATTEND OR SEND A STAFF MEMBER TO THIS IMPORTANT AUTISM-VACCINE BRIEFING ON CAPITOL HILL

Friday, July 17 at 9:30 AM
210 Cannon House Office Building
Independence Avenue, Washington, DC.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) is hosting a special briefing for Members of Congress and their Staff to discuss issues related to autism research and treatment. We hope that you will attend the briefing to learn about the changing dynamics of the autism debate, as you will find many in government and science believe this debate is far from settled.

David Kirby, investigative journalist and author of The New York Times bestseller Evidence of Harm, Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic – A Medical Controversy, will inform Members and their staff about developments regarding environmental factors in autism and the “Seven Studies to Watch” – Plus, changing ASD demographics post-thimerosal reduction. Mr. Kirby will also be joined by Mark Blaxill, Editor-at-Large of Age of Autism, Director of the Coalition for SAFE MINDS and co-author of a forthcoming book on the roots of the autism epidemic, who will address the policy and public health implications of the autism crisis.
Among the issues to be discussed are:

• The unanimous endorsement by the National Vaccine Advisory Committee to look at the feasibility of a large vaccinated-unvaccinated study, with autism as an outcome.
• 
  
• The NVAC endorsement of three other vaccine-autism investigations, including children with mitochondrial dysfunction, children with regressive autism, and vaccine injury as a risk factor for ASD.
• 
  
• Recent Vaccine Court decisions finding the MMR and Hep B vaccines caused injuries that led to autism and MS.
• 
  
• The NIH Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigations EARLI study and the HHS/EPA National Children’s Study, both of which are looking at vaccination and mercury exposures, with autism as a possible outcome.
• 
  
• The CDC’s Centers for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology (CADDRE) Network, whose five-year goal includes studying "specific mercury exposures, including any vaccine use by the mother during pregnancy and the child's vaccine exposures after birth.”
• 
  
• Cleveland Clinic – A recent article in PLoS Online by authors from the Cleveland Clinic, Harvard and Johns Hopkins University reported that, "Large, population-based studies will be needed to identify a possible relationship of vaccination with autistic regression in persons with mitochondrial dysfunction.”
• 
  
• Recent statements by Federal health officials such as Dr. Duane Alexander, Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), who said it was “legitimate to ask” whether vaccines can trigger autism, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID, who said in a US News and World report article, “we may want to screen everyone prior to vaccination (for) undetectable diseases like a subclinical mitochondrial disorder."
• 
  
• The U.C. Davis M.I.N.D. Institute study which found, that the seven- to eight-fold increase in the number children born in California with autism since 1990 cannot be explained by either changes in how the condition is diagnosed or counted — and the trend shows no sign of abating. This as young adults begin to flood the social services system
• 
  
• Reports of reduced Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) severity among the youngest children, following reduction of thimerosal in childhood vaccines.

Please contact your elected representatives and urge them to attend.
A RUNNING TALLY OF CONGRESSIONAL RSVPS WILL BE KEPT AT WWW.AGEOFAUTISM.COM,
IF YOU RECEIVE ANY REPLY FROM LAWMAKERS IN YOUR STATE, PLEASE FORWARD THAT INFORMATION TO kirbylecture@gmail.com

Coy Barefoot Interviews David Kirby

...on Charlottesville Right Now.

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. 

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.”

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”.

GMA Confirms Jenkins Comments Were About Autism

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 they believe the percentage is for kids who are at risk serious vaccine reaction and autism.

Round Up: NAA's FOUND, Poling Schools Novella, Too Many Sick Kids, More Outrage at Savage, Kirby on Peet, NZ Angry Over Expensive/Usless Vaccine

• The National Autism Association (NAA) has announced the launch of a new program called Found, aimed at providing families and counties nationwide with safety tools for children with autism which will immediately fund $54,400.00 to provide at least eight counties with Project Lifesaver equipment and tracking watches. The program was made possible by a huge donation from Pixies Train Ride and the half a million visitors to her site.  God Bless you Pixie!
• Dr. Jon Poling reminds Dr. Stephen Novella about the facts in his daughters case and requests that he refrain from attacking autism moms.
• Allison Edwards is outraged over all the sick little boys in the UK.
• Kim Stagliano takes another swing at Michael Savage over at the Huffington Post.
• Also on the Huffington Post, David Kirby with observations and more observations on the Amanda Peet kaffuffle.
• New Zealanders angry that $200 million was spent on a much hyped meningococcal vaccine that only protects 30% of users, for only 7 months, and that they were not given informed consent before taking the shot.
• Mercola on avoiding mercury and other metals.
  

Kirby on NYC Radio: The Joan Hamburg Show

Kirby on NYC Radio: The Joan Hamburg Show

Ken Stoller's Letter to Pediatrics on the Verstraeten Study

Thimerosal Mea Culpa from the CDC
Kenneth Stoller,Pediatrician
International Hyperbaric Medical Association

Letter sent to Pediatrics:

In 2003, Dr. Eric Coleman (LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Ethylmercury in Vaccines
Pediatrics, Apr 2003; 111: 922 - 923.) was able to have a letter printed in Pediatrics, undoubtedly because of his affiliation with the FDA, defending the decision to pull the Hep B vaccine until a Thimerosal or ethylmercury free version became available. He said the AAP and USPHS should be commended for this proactive decision for "the fact is, no preclinical or clinical studies were ever conducted to specifically examine the safety of thimerosal (ethylmercury) at the doses found when used in multiple infant and childhood vaccines. Thus, there was no conclusive evidence because there were no studies."

The Coleman letter is of historical importance because of what what took place next.
What followed was insanity. The CDC forced flawed and perhaps fabricated ecological
studies down the throats of pediatricians and the AAP. Pediatrics published the
Verstarten and Madsen studies, to name two, despite glaring methodological errors.

The CDC then used this planted intelligence, if you will, to not only defend the continued presence of Thimerosal, but to obfuscate the rising numbers of children with neurobehavioral disorders, including Autism, and controlled the IOM in the process to make it all but impossible for any one in academic medicine to point out the obvious and still be taken seriously.

Valuable time was lost for affected children and families were destroyed in the ensuing years when legitimate interventions and research could have been taking place.

Thimerosal continues to this day to be given to 3rd world children with the blessing of the WHO and without protest from those that know better within the USA. Meanwhile
the CDC line was all the "new" cases of affected children were but do to better diagnosis.

After numerous unanswered Data Quality Act complaints filed with the the CDC, Director Dr. Julie Gerberding has

produced a report

delivered to the House Appropriations Committee, in which she admits to a startling string of errors in the design and methods used in the CDC's landmark 2003 study that found no link between mercury in vaccines and autism, ADHD, speech delay or tics.

A 2006 report from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS),
concluded that the CDC's infamous Verstarten Thimerosal safety study publish in this journal was riddled with "several areas of weaknesses" that combined to "reduce the usefulness" of the study.

"CDC concurs," Dr. Gerberding wrote in an undated confession (see above link) to Congress, (provided to journalist David Kirby through a Capital Hill staffer) adding that her agency "does not plan to use" the database in question, the Vaccine Safety Datalink, (VSD) for any future "ecological studies" of autism.

In fact, Gerberding's report said, any continued use of the VSD for similar ecological studies of vaccines and autism "would be uninformative and potentially misleading."

After Verstarten revealed the link between Thimerosal and neurobehvioral disorders in the report presented to the secret Simpsonwood meeting in June of 2000 (http://www.putchildrenfirst.org/media/2.9.pdf) CDC officials conducted at least five separate analyses of the data. The first analysis revealed at Simpsonwood showed that children exposed to the most Thimerosal by one month of age had extremely high relative risks for a number of outcomes, compared with children who got little or no mercury: The relative risk for ADHD was 8.29 times higher; for autism, it was 7.62 times higher; ADD, 6.38 times higher; tics, 5.65 times; and speech and language
delays were 2.09 more likely among kids who got the most mercury.

Verstarten, who did NOT disclose to this journal that he was now an employee of vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline (not the CDC) diluted his data five times The relative risk for autism plummeted from 7.62 in the first analysis, to 2.48 in the second version, to 1.69 in the third round, to 1.52 in the fourth, and down to nothing at all in the fifth, final, and this was what was published in November of 2003 (Pediatrics 2003; 112:1039-1048).

The new and improved Verstarten VSD study was the main pillar of a hugely influential 2004 report by the Institute of Medicine, which was essentially ordered to conclude that there was no evidence of link between mercury, vaccines and autism.

The AAP published VSD study has long been held up as the best and brightest of all epidemiology studies(the others were in Sweden, the UK, and two in Denmark).

There is now not a single pediatrician in the USA who can not quote from at least the AAP (Verstarten) study.

In 2005, a group of Senators and Representatives headed by Sen. Joe Lieberman wrote to the NIEHS (an agency of the National Institutes of Health) saying that many parents no longer trusted the CDC to conduct independent minded studies of its own vaccine program. Lieberman et al asked NIEHS to review the CDC's work on the vaccine database and report back with critiques and suggestions.

The final NIEHS report detailed where the CDC went wrong in its design, conduct and analysis of the study. The NIEHS panel "identified several serious problems," with the CDC's effort, criticism to which the agency had not responded until Dr. Gerberding delived her undated report referenced above.

The NIEHS had criticized CDC for failing to account for other mercury exposures, including maternal sources from flu shots and immune globulin, as well as mercury in food and the environment.

"CDC acknowledges this concern and recognizes this limitation," the Gerberding reply
says.

The NIEHS also took CDC to task for eliminating 25% of the study population for a variety of reasons, even though this represented, "a susceptible population whose removal from the analysis might unintentionally reduce the ability to detect an effect of thimerosal." This strict entry criteria likely led to an under-ascertainment" of autism ases, the NIEHS reported.

"CDC concurs," Gerberding wrote, again noting that its study design was "not appropriate for studying this vaccine safety topic. The data are intended for administrative purposes and may not be predictive of the outcomes studied."

Another serious problem was that the HMOs changed the way they tracked and recorded autism diagnoses over time, including during the period when vaccine mercury levels were in decline. Such changes could "affect the observed rate of autism and could confound or distort trends in autism rates," the NIEHS warned.

"CDC concurs," Dr. Gerberding wrote again, "that conducting an ecologic analysis using VSD administrative data to address potential associations between thimerosal exposure and risk of ASD is not useful."

So, the Director of the CDC is now saying that its most powerful and convincing piece of exonerating evidence for Thimerosal is, in effect, "useless." This after years of
propagandizing the American public in violation of the law, after holding the illegal secret Simpsonwood meeting when all of this was revealed - including to a representative of the AAP!

Now we have a generation of pediatricians, who face perhaps the greatest iatrogenic accident in the history of pediatrics, who actually need to be deprogrammed to understand what the true nature of all the neuro-behvioral problems are that they confront without any understanding of etiology or potential interventions.

The most serious message that affected children have sacrificed themselves for still goes unheeded. The message is that the level of industrial pollution we are exposing ourselves to is so great now, that just a little more toxic load will push us over the edge.

It pushed a generation of children over the edge and so while we ponder who is going to pay for the many who will go on full disability, we should ponder the fate of our species as well.

(Special thanks to the journalist David Kirby.)

Julie Gerberding Tells Congress That The Verstraeten Study is Junk!

I am stunned.

I can't even think of a snarky comment to write.

My only question is, when is the press release from the CDC retracting Verstraeten coming out?

David Kirby "CDC: Vaccine Study Design "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading"

For those of you who may not understand the significance of this development, Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, has just taken down the tent pole arguement in the "vaccines don't cause autism" claim, on her own, with her bare hands.

UPDATE:

Pamella Addresses the AAP and All Star Pediatrics about the Gerberding report and their continued disrespect for parents.
The American Academy or Pediatrics in an Awkward Position after CDC Takes Thimerosal Safety Studies Off the Table

David Kirby to Visit UK

BESTSELLING AMERICAN AUTHOR DAVID KIRBY TO VISIT UK IN JUNE

--Journalist Who Covers the Autism-Vaccine Debate to Speak About Political and Scientific Developments in the US and Updates to His Book “Evidence of Harm”—

David Kirby, the New York based investigative journalist and author of the NY Times Bestseller, “Evidence of Harm, Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic – A Medical Controversy,” will visit the United Kingdom on the 4th - 6th of June to discuss recent developments in the vaccine-autism debate in the United States.

Mr. Kirby, a former contributor to The New York Times and a regular writer for the extremely popular online blog, The Huffington Post, will give a free public lecture on Wednesday 4th June, 6:30-10PM at Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street, London. He will also attend a book signing and speak with members of the UK media, among other activities, while in the country.

Among the subjects to be addressed by Mr. Kirby are:

1) A recent case in the US Vaccine Court in which the federal government conceded that vaccines induced autism in one little girl – and updates on other cases in the court.

2) Growing evidence of a link between mitochondrial dysfunction and autistic regression, and case studies of several ASD children with mitochondrial issues.

3) State-of-the-art research underway at top universities on the connection between environmental toxins, mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, glutathione depletion, neuro-inflammation and autistic encephalopathy.

4) Declarations by all 3 US Presidential candidates that autism is epidemic and calling for more research into vaccines and mercury as a possible cause.

5) Recent studies linking ASD risk with heavy metals and other contaminants in air pollution.

Mr. Kirby’s visit is being sponsored by Generation Rescue, The Autism Research Institute, National Autism Association, Coalition for SAFE MINDS, and Talk About Curing Autism. All are autism groups formed by US parents of children with neurological disorders. These parents believe that autism and other learning disabilities are environmentally-based illnesses that can be treated through biomedical intervention.

“Evidence of Harm,” debuted on The New York Times bestseller list in 2005, and is still widely read today. It won the 2005 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award in 2005 for Best Book. Kirby has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s Larry King Live, NBC’s The Today Show, MSNBC’s Imus in the Morning, CNN Headline News, Air America, and hundreds of other radio and television stations around the world. He has been invited to speak at the US Federal Claims Court’s Judicial Conference, this November in Washington, DC.

David Kirby is available for media interviews before and during his visit.

Please contact him directly at dkirby@nyc.rr.com.

A list of other appearances will be issued next week


More information about Evidence of Harm is available at www.evidenceofharm.com

Mr. Kirby’s essays at Huffington Post can be viewed at www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby

Information on Generation Rescue is available at www.generationrescue.com

David Kirby: US Medicine: 97% of All Autism Cases Went Undected - Until Now?

David Kirby explores the VERY Hidden Horde:

US Medicine: 97% of All Autism Cases Went Undected - Until Now?
May 9, 2008
Huffington Post

If autism has always been with us in the same high numbers that we see today -- as some scientists and academics contend -- then we should be able to identify the 1 in 150 adults currently living with autism in places like the US and UK...

But still, by any currently available measure, there appear to be many more people under the age of 18 with autism than there are adults with the disorder....

Investigators could only find, "a total of 645 adults diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders in Scotland,"...

...Is it possible that only one in every 110 adults with autism in Scotland is standing up and being counted?...

Read the whole thing.

Monsanto GMOs: My Questions about Monsanto’s GMOs and Autism

Watching The World According to Monsanto, I was struck by the section of the film about Árpád Pusztai’s research that showed that rats fed GMO potatoes developed gut problems and an immune response. The section is as follows:

Árpád Pusztai, world renowned scientist lost his job when he warned about GE (genetically engineered or genetically modified) foods.

1998 Aberdeen, Scotland

Árpád Pusztai worked for the Rowett Institute in Scotland. At the Ministry of Agriculture’s request, he lead a study on genetically modified potatoes with a budget of over two million Euros and a staff of 30 researchers, to prepare the arrival of GMOs in Great Britain.

"We were all enthusiastic about it… I was enthusiastic about it… The ministry thought that if we did this study, looking at all aspects, then it would be an endorsement of GM and when they introduce it, they will say that the foremost laboratory in Europe… nutritional laboratory… had looked at them and found them all right."

Árpád Pusztai specializes in lectins, these proteins function as an insecticide protecting plants against aphids. Rowett scientists had created potatoes that were resistant to aphids, and into which they introduced a snowdrop gene which produces the lectin in question. Beforehand they verified that in their naturally occurring state, lectins themselves do not pose a health risk.

The genetically modified potatoes were tested on rats.

"It had a twofold effect. First it started to increase a proliferative response in the gut… and that you don’t like… because this is possibly… I am not saying it is cancerous… but what it does… it can have an adjuvant effect on any chemical… any chemically induced tumor.

The other thing is that the immune system was certainly… got into high gear. And that was… we don’t know whether that is good or bad. But it certainly did recognize the GM potatoes as alien. And we were convinced that this insertion is causing the problem and not the trans gene. As I said, the trans gene when we did it in isolation, even at 800 fold concentration, didn’t do any harm.

It was a very important point because the American FDA is going on by mutual Technology. And what we did say and what we did publish actually corroborated and confirmed that it was not the trans gene that was the problem, but it was the technology."

When Pusztai was interviewed by the BBC, with permission from his bosses, he stated:

"As a scientist actively working on the field, I find that it is very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs."

The day after the statement was broadcast, Pusztai was fired and the team was dismantled.

While watching this, I put together a few things:

1. Dr. Pusztai’s finding, that GM potatoes triggered gut problems and an immune response.
2. The additional section of the documentary which discussed the migration of trans genes (genes that have been genetically modified and inserted into cells that then become a part of the DNA) from GM corn sold in the US to native corn grown in rural southern Mexico.
3. A comment that David Kirby made in his column that reported on the March 11th CDC conference call that discussed the Hanna Poling mitochondrial disorder and its link to autism.

Kirby wrote:

"Some researchers believe that the modern American diet is largely to blame for an increase in the number of children whose underlying mitochondrial dysfunction is "triggered" into autism by febrile infections.

The answer, they hypothesize, is corn.

The American diet has become extraordinarily dependent on corn oil and corn syrup used in processing, these experts contend. They say that corn oil and syrup are inflammatory, whereas fish oil is anti-inflammatory. Could our diet be a factor in making this mutated gene become more pathogenic?"

In an email conversation with Mr. Kirby while he was researching that conference call, he wrote to me that:

"One of the top scientists I spoke with today said the increase in autism in America was due to consumption of corn"

His comments in the article about the theoretical corn/inflammation link to autism were straight from a high level scientist involved with the CDC and on that conference call.

Putting all these together, my questions are these:

||Could not just over exposure to corn be the problem, but exposure to genetically modified corn, presumably that used the same problematic technology as Dr. Pusztai’s believed was to blame for the gut inflammation and immune response in his rats that were eating genetically modified potatoes?||

||And what exactly does the CDC believe to be the relationship between the American diet, overconsumption of corn products, inflammation and autism?||

||And if they believe, or even suspect, that inflammation is at play in the bodies of children with autism, why have they not stated this publicly and encouraged research and treatment along these lines?||

||And if they believe there might be a link, then why are they not investigating and promoting the Specific Carbohydrate Diet that removes corn products?||

Most vaccine induced regressions happen after a child's first birthday, around 18 months to age two, after they have begun eating processed foods; and we have no way of knowing if those were GMO foods unless we only bought foods that were labeled organic.

||Was there an inflammatory/autoimmune response already going on in our children, due to the gm foods they were consuming, that set them up for vaccine injuries because they had taken in one adjuvant too many?||

Remember Dr. Pusztai's words, "it can have an adjuvant effect on any chemical"

The standard contraindication for vaccination is the illness of the child because their immune system is not properly regulated to safely accept the vaccine. Parents are taught not to vaccinate when their child has a cold or the flu or any other viral illness. But if our kids had dis regulated immune systems at the time of vaccination due to GM food derived immune system over stimulation, we would have no way of knowing, and would be presumably be putting our kids at risk for further immune system damage by vaccinating at a time of immune activation.

Corn is a problem for many of our kids. Because genetically modified food products are not labeled, we have no way of figuring out if our kids are having problems with corn, or GM corn. Or if one causes a bigger problem than the other. In fact we have no way of knowing at all what GM foods might be doing to our children.

Chandler drank milk by the truck load before he regressed, it was probably Bovine Growth Hormone milk, which is found to have inflammatory effects on the cows and because of the illness of the cows puss is in the milk, as well as the antibiotics that were given to the cows to counter the infections. To say nothing of the hormone itself which also may be in the milk.

||So is the very good response that my own son had to the GFCF/SCD Diet, which removes grains, dairy and processed foods, and encourages eating only organic foods, due in part to the fact that he is no longer eating pro-inflammatory genetically modified foods?||

The way most of the interventions that help our kids are discovered are by happy accidents, we find something that helps them, then spend 5 years trying to figure out exactly why it works for them.

||What if the SCD diet worked not just because it was removing complex carbohydrates that feed yeast, but also because it was removing foods that were having an adjuvant effect on him?||

His belly went from puffy (suggesting gut inflammation) to flat in about three weeks.

There has not been any discussion that I know of surrounding the potential role of GM foods and autism in our community. I am assuming because, like me, none of us knew our kids were eating them. It is certainly an important discussion to be had as many of our kids on GFCF diets will continue to eat processed foods with genetically modified ingredients. The most immediate treatment question that jumps to mind is:

||Are poor responders to the GFCF diet still getting so many processed GM foods that gut inflammation and autoimmune responses remains high and negates much of the good the diet may do them?||

But bottom line for me, the biggest question I have is:

||WHAT THE HELL HAVE I BEEN FEEDING MY CHILDREN FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS???||

UPDATE:

I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT PESTICIDES AND HERBICIDES!

These plants are being engineered so that they can be doused in Roundup herbicide and so that they produce their own pesticides, and we already have evidence that bug and weed killers are implicated in autism and mitochondrial disorders, which HHS and Julie Gerberding herself say are at play in vaccine injuries that produce autism 'symptoms'.

Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals 28min

David Kirby On The Case that Replaced Hannah Poling

The boy who replaced Hannah Poling as a test case in the Vaccine Omnibus Hearings has the same biomarkers for having the "rare" condition that Hannah has.

If the first to thimerosal test cases both just happen to have the same "rare" mitochondrial disorder, then at what point do you have to retract your claim of "rare"?

The Next Vaccine-Autism Newsmaker: Not Isolated, Not Unusual
David Kirby
Huffington Post
April 27, 2008


In February, I leaked news of the Federal government's admission that vaccines had triggered autism in a little girl named Hannah Poling. The stunning revelation, though still reverberating around the world, was roundly downplayed by US officials, who insisted that Hannah had an extremely rare, genetic case of "aggravated" mitochondrial disorder, with zero bearing on other autism cases.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rushed to the airwaves, exhorting parents to adhere to the nation's intensive and virtually mandatory immunization schedule, and brushing off their legitimate anxieties by saying: "We've got to set aside this very isolated, unusual situation."

Well, the days of setting aside are over: Hannah Poling is neither isolated nor unusual.

In fact, the boy who was selected to replace Hannah Poling as the first-ever thimerosal "test case" in so-called Vaccine Court, has just been found with many of the same unusual metabolic markers as... you guessed it, Hannah Poling.

Hannah's case was scheduled to be heard in Federal Claims Court on May 12 -- as one of three "test cases" of the theory that thimerosal (a mercury-based vaccine preservative) can cause autism.

Test cases will help address general causation issues in all 4,900 autism claims now pending in Vaccine Court. But following the government concession, Hannah was withdrawn as the first test case of the thimerosal theory, and attorneys scrambled to find a replacement: a young boy from New York.

Last week, however, the court announced that the replacement thimerosal test case was also being withdrawn, in order to "proceed to an individual hearing on a different theory of causation."

That theory, which applies to Hannah as well, maintains that children with dysfunctional mitochondria (the little batteries within each cell that convert food into energy) are susceptible to autistic regression, triggered by a vaccine-induced overtaxing of the immune system.

"We want to pursue an additional theory, not a different theory," the boy's father told me. "We are by no means abandoning the thimerosal theory of causation but, in the context of the test case, the thimerosal theory would have eclipsed our other evidence, including evidence of metabolic dysfunction," such as impaired mitchondria and low cellular energy.

Following the Poling concession, he said, "I saw right away that we needed to pursue the mitochondrial theory,"but the lead attorneys did not see it that way. "Perhaps they did not properly understand the concession, and believed the finding was of a rare, genetically caused mitochondrial disorder," as the government contends. "I think they rightly want to keep clear focus on thimerosal in the test case, and not muddy the presentation with other theories."

The court's test case process is unusual and unwieldy. "They limit the cases to one theory at a time, when the theories are not mutually exclusive," the father said. "For example, thimerosal could cause, contribute to, or aggravate mitochondrial dysfunction. These cases can't be wrapped into neat
little packages."

The unexpected withdrawal of two test cases in a row - both because of their apparent mitochondrial underpinnings - is sure to have larger ramifications in the Court of Federal Claims, as well as the much larger court of public opinion.

A new, additional theory of causation is about to be introduced in Vaccine Court: Vaccines can trigger a chain of events in children with mitochondrial dysfunction that causes autism.

But the US Government now has a major quandary to deal with. Federal officials already conceded that, far from being "theoretical," this chain of events already happened to Hannah Poling. This will make it difficult, if not impossible, to argue against compensating the boy from New York, when compensating a nearly identical case - Hannah Poling - was already deemed appropriate.

Some estimates of mitochondrial dysfunction in children with autism range as high as 20%-30%. But among the regressive subset of cases (virtually all of the claims in Vaccine Court) up to half of the children might show signs of it.

No one knows how many of those families will pursue a similar strategy of individual hearings on causation, based on the mitochondrial concession in the Poling case. But my guess is that there could be hundreds of them, following in the precedent of this case's footsteps. The legal ramifications, inside Vaccine Court and throughout the judicial system, remain incalculable at this point.

Still, when the American public finds out that the exceedingly "rare" Poling case was replaced by what is shaping up to be yet another exceedingly rare case - they will follow the lead of all three presidential candidates and finally reject the tired mantra that, "there is no link" between vaccines and autism.

Then perhaps will end, "One of the most vitriolic debates in medical history," as it is called by Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH and the Red Cross. "At some level," she said, the Poling case "was a vindication for families," adding that, "vaccines as a trigger carry a ring of both historical and biological plausibility."

The government is currently examining the national vaccine schedule to see if we are, perhaps, immunizing children too early and too often (and with too much thimerosal from the flu shot).

I personally thought that one Hannah Poling emerging out of Vaccine Court would be enough to
change the way we vaccinate in this country. But now we have two. And there are many more Hannah's out there, waiting to be counted.

NOTE: Today, the UK's Sunday Sun writes about the controversy today, and mentions the second test case being withdrawn.

Nassau County NY First Municipality to Hold Vaccine Autism Hearings

How great would it be if CDC's vaccine/autism judgments were just rendered irrelevant in each local area because everyone just decided to look into it themselves rather than just handing off their rights and responsibilities to some corrupt federal bureaucracy that is in bed with the pharmaceutical companies?

This ladies and gents is why I am a republican.

Act locally people.

Oh... and David Kirby has been invited.

NASSAU COUNTY LEGISLATURE
1550 FRANKLIN AVENUE
MINEOLA, NEW YORK 11501

(516) 571-6214

FO IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT GINA SILLITTI 516-571-6214

NASSAU COUNTY TO BECOME FIRST MUNICIPALITY IN THE NATION TO HEAR CONCERNS ABOUT SAFETY OF VACCINES AND ITS LINK TO AUTISM BY PARENTS/ SPECIAL PRESS CONFERENCE MONDAY APRIL 28, 2008

NASSAU COUNTY LEGISLATURE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES CHAIRMAN DAVE MEJIAS AND NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN HARVEY WEISENBERG AS WELL AS OTHER HEALTH OFFICIALS WILL HOLD A SPEICAL NEWS CONFERENCE ON APRIL 28, 2008 @ 12 NOON WITH HUNDREDS OF PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT THE SAFETY OF VACCINES AND ITS LINK TO AUTISM. THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN AUTISM WILL BE SPEAKING AT LEGISLATURE’S HEALTH COMMITTEE LATER THAT DAY. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN THE NATION THAT A MUNICIPALITY HAS HAD THIS CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC ADDRESSED AT ITS HEALTH COMMITTEE.

THERE ARE ABOUT 5,000 LAWSUITS AGAINST THE FEDERAL GONVERNMENT BY PARENTS CLAIMING AS A RESULT OF VACCINES THEIR CHILDREN DEVELOPED AUTISM. OTHER MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE WILL BE ATTENDING THE PRESS CONFERENCE AND HEARING.


WHERE: NASSAU COUNTY LEGISLATURE BUILDING

WHEN: APRIL 28, 2008 @ 12 NOON

1550 FRANKLIN AVE,

2ND FLOOR

MINEOLA, NY

Meet the New Boss, Totally Different As The Old Boss

Mr. Obama has joined Mr. McCain in sharing that he suspects that vaccines trigger autism. Hillary is not far behind them.

"We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it."
--Barack Obama, Pennsylvania Rally, April 21, 2008.

"It's indisputable that (autism) is on the rise among children, the question is what's causing it. And we go back and forth and there's strong evidence that indicates it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines."
--John McCain, Texas town hall meeting, February 29, 2008.

"I am Committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines." When asked if she would support a study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children, she said: "Yes. We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out.
--Hillary Clinton, A-CHAMP Questionnaire 2008.

It is all downhill from here.

Obama Climbs On The Vaccine Bandwagon
David Kirby
Huffington Post
April 22, 2008

No matter who wins in Pennsylvania today, the next President of the United States will support research into the growing evidence of some link between vaccines and autism.

Senator John McCain has already expressed his belief that vaccines and the mercury containing preservative thimerosal could be implicated in what he has rightly termed an "autism epidemic."

Senator Hillary Clinton, in response to a questionaire from the autism activist group A-CHAMP, wrote that she was "Committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines." And when asked if she would support a study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children, she said: "Yes. We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out.

And now, yesterday, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama had this rather surprising thing to say:

"We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it."



So there you have it, our next President will share the views of such radical fringe crazies as, well, me, Democrat Robert Kennedy, Jr., Republican Joe Scarborough, former NIH and Red Cross chief Bernadine Healy, and several researchers at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the Universities of California and Washington and elsewhere.


All of us agree: Current evidence suggests that vaccines could be a contributing factor in some cases of autism, and more research is immediately required.

And yes, now the comments to this piece will come flying in, repeating the tired mantra that "this case is closed," that vaccines and thimerosal have been "completely vindicated," and that people like me are just trying to scare the public and drive them away from vaccines, leaving their children vulnerable and sick.

Of course, none of the above is true. So stay tuned.

To begin with, government researchers are currently looking into a number of factors that may trigger autism, including vaccines, their ingredients and the crowded vaccine schedule itself.

Secondly, on April 11th, I attended a top-level meeting in Washington where vaccine safety officials discussed all of the above issues, and more. Included on the Federal Draft Research Agenda for vaccine safety are now questions such as:

Can vaccines cause neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism?


Can vaccines in children with mitochondrial dysfunction cause significant "neurological deterioration?"

Can the combination live-virus measles, mumps and rubella vaccine cause seizures and long term damage in children?

Can vaccines cause autoimmune disease?

Can thimerosal cause tics or Tourette syndrome?

Can attenuated viruses in vaccines cause asthma in children?


So, no matter who is President next year, top government researchers will be examining the role of vaccines in autism and other childhood illnesses. Thus, the declarations of McCain, Clinton and now Obama, make good scientific sense.

But there is more.

Dozens of autism cases (and perhaps more) currently filed in so-called Vaccine Court will almost certainly be compensated this year. Why? Because a little girl named Hannah Poling with a supposedly rare mitochondrial condition was recently compensated for her own vaccine injuries, including autism and epilepsy.

But I have personally identified at least a dozen (and there are reports of many more) children with cases in the court who meet the exact same medical criteria as Hannah, and whose cases will almost surely be compensated as well -- each time with the attendant media fanfare.

My prediction is that, by Election Day, few Americans will still believe there is absolutely no evidence to link vaccines to at least some cases of regressive autism.

So the remarks by all three candidates not only reflect good science, they reflect good politics as well.

Autism Yesterday

A reminder to get to a screening of Autism Yesterday (Here is the info on our showing in Falmouth Maine tomorrow), or buy it on Amazon.

Check out the trailer:

From the Age of Autism:

"AUTISM YESTERDAY" - A TRIBUTE TO TIRELESS PARENTING

By David Kirby

At a time when Big Medicine, Big Government and Big Media are trying hard to make the vaccine-autism debate go away, along comes a quiet little film like “Autism Yesterday” to throw a wrench in the establishment’s best laid plans to stifle the pesky vaccine chatter once and for all.

Anyone out there still declaring that this debate is over, that medical science has fully exonerated mercury and vaccines, and that thousands of parents who insist otherwise don’t know what they are talking about, really should watch THIS film before embarrassing themselves further.

“Autism Yesterday,” a beautifully shot film with a stirring original soundtrack of softly strumming guitars and plaintive but hopeful songs, tells the story of five West Coast families who bucked all conventional wisdom -- and began to recover their kids.

In each story, we see clear before-and-after evidence of a child’s heartbreaking descent into the silent, baffling world of autism, and then their steady, sometimes miraculous progress back towards health, happiness, communication and, yes, recovery.

In each case, the parents explain how they turned to controversial “biomedical interventions” such as wheat and dairy-free diets, or the removal of heavy metals from the body, to treat their ailing children. And the film, in elegant detail, shows us exactly how far these kids have come.

Their progress stands in glaring opposition to all those “experts” who insist that neither mercury nor vaccines could possibly have anything to do with autism, and that biomedical intervention is nothing short of dangerous snake oil, bordering on child abuse.

Many of them, in the process, have denigrated, ridiculed and dismissed parents who are treating their children anyway. Such parents, the media tell us, are overwrought and hyper-emotional, they are desperate and distraught, confused and ignorant, even greedy and litigious.

But watch “Autism Yesterday” and you see and hear a different story – something I have come to know after speaking with thousands of parents in over 30 states: These tireless advocates for children are neither crazy nor stupid. Their thoughtfulness, intelligence, compassion and determination is what strikes us most.

Instead of slamming them, we should be listening very carefully to what they have to say.
One clear message from “Autism Yesterday” is that parents often know what is going on with their kids far better than the professionals. Many doctors dismissed them when they insisted their healthy children regressed into autism. Studies have proven the doctors wrong.

Now, parents are insisting that biomedical treatments, in at least some cases, can virtually make autism go away. And once again, the moms and dads are being dismissed, even laughed at.

But all the derision, scorn and snickering in the world is, to them, irrelevant. As one mother calmly explains about treating these kids: “If you don’t fix ‘em, who will?”

(Managing Editor’s Note: You can watch the trailer for Autism Yesterday HERE. The film will be making its premier in April, stay tuned for more information.)

David Kirby (www.evidenceofharm.com) has been a professional journalist for over 15 years, and has written extensively for The New York Times for the past eight years. Kirby was a contracted writer with the weekly City Section at The Times, where he covered public health, local politics, art and culture, among other subjects. Kirby has also written for a number of national magazines. He was also a foreign correspondent in Mexico and Central America from 1986-1990, where he covered the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and covered politics, corruption and natural disasters in Mexico. From Latin America, he reported for UPI, the San Francisco Examiner, Newsday, The Arizona Republic, Houston Chronicle and the NBC Radio Network.