Drug business prescribes a novel cure for its ills
By Lloyd Grove
New York Daily News
Who knew that the multibillion-dollar U.S. pharmaceutical industry was so keen on publishing pulp fiction?
In a tale worthy of a zany Washington satire - except for the lamentable fact that it's true - the rich and powerful pharmaceutical lobby secretly commissioned a thriller novel whose aim was to scare the living daylights out of folks who might want to buy cheap drugs from Canada.
When the project fell through in July, I'm told the drug lobby offered $100,000 to the co-authors and publisher in a vain effort to sweep it under the rug.
Talk about thinking outside the box!
"This is the most outrageous example of deception and duplicity on the part of a Washington lobby in the history of the country," said Capitol Hill denizen Jeff Weaver, chief of staff to Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a diehard foe of the pharmaceutical industry.
Drug-lobby mouthpiece Ken Johnson, executive vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, acknowledged the hare-brained scheme but shifted blame.
"We did not commission a book," Johnson argued. "The idea was brought to us by an outside consultant. We explored it, provided some background information ... but in the final analysis, decided it wasn't the right thing for us to do."
I'm told that Mark Barondess, a well-known divorce lawyer in Washington, D.C., was the so-called outside consultant and approached L.A.-based Phoenix Books with the novel idea.
Phoenix honcho Michael Viner, who happens to be Barondess' publisher, struck a six-figure deal. I'm told PhRMA made at least one payment to Phoenix.
Viner declined comment, and Barondess didn't respond to my detailed message.
Work began in April, after Viner hired veteran ghostwriter Julie Chrystyn. Her story concerned a Croatian terrorist cell that uses Canadian Web sites to murder millions of unwitting Americans looking for cut-rate pharmaceuticals.
PhRMA has vigorously fought all efforts to legalize the purchase of cheap drugs from Canada. Even though the lobby has found some success, the underground business still takes an estimated $1 billion in annual profits from American drug behemoths.
Chrystyn titled her thriller-in-progress "The Spivak Conspiracy," an homage to her friend Kenin Spivak, an L.A. telecomm entrepreneur and onetime Hollywood exec.
Spivak said he became Chrystyn's co-writer after she delivered the first 50 pages, and PhRMA made several editorial suggestions.
"They said they wanted it somewhat dumbed down for women, with a lot more fluff in it, and more about the wife of the head Croatian terrorist, who is a former Miss Mexico," Spivak told me.
Apparently, women are among the most loyal buyers of Canadian drugs.
"They also wanted to change the motivating factor of the terrorists to greed, because they didn't want it to be politics," Spivak said. "They wanted lots of people to die."
Spivak told me that since PhRMA pulled out - and he and his colleagues rejected the lobby's offer of $100,000 to kill the project - he and Chrystyn have finished a revised version, "The Karasik Conspiracy," due early next year.
October 18, 2005
The High Ethical Standards of Pharma
Just a little insight to the ethics of those we are trusting to make safe vaccines, and protecting from lawsuits:
Poor Pharma Can't be Held Responsible for Its Products
You know what would be great? If I opened a business, like lets say, a Chuck-E-Cheese and got the governmnet to tell people to bring their kids there to eat or they woudn't be able to go to school. That would be so money.
But then, if I could get the government to declare that no matter what happens to the kids that come into my resturant, if any kids get food poisoning or a video game falls on them or something, even if it kills them or mames them for life, that I am not responsible and don't have to pay for it or change my business practices or nothin'. That way I could do what ever I wanted, feed them garbage out of the dumpster and crap, and they couldn't do nothing about it. And I get MO' Money, MO' Money, MO'Money.
That would be sweet.
But then, if I could get the government to declare that no matter what happens to the kids that come into my resturant, if any kids get food poisoning or a video game falls on them or something, even if it kills them or mames them for life, that I am not responsible and don't have to pay for it or change my business practices or nothin'. That way I could do what ever I wanted, feed them garbage out of the dumpster and crap, and they couldn't do nothing about it. And I get MO' Money, MO' Money, MO'Money.
That would be sweet.
A-CHAMP ACTION ALERT!
Contact Your Senators NOW to Stop the Assault on the Civil Rights of Vaccine Injured Children in the "Biodefense & Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005."
Send a Message to Your Senator Easy - Click Here to Send a Message!
http://capwiz.com/a-champ/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=8133181
Autism Families, Parents, Grandparents and all other loved ones -
Use our Action Alert to Automatically send a Message to Your Senator and members of the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pension) Committee
Don't Even Think About Letting Them Take Away Our Children’s Civil Rights!
It has happened again. We need you to act ASAP. In The Name Of Bioterrorism, Congress Again Plans to Extend Liability Protection To Vaccine Manufacturers, Abandoning America's Vaccine-Injured Children.
Senator Enzi and Burr have introduced the new BioDefense Bill. Like BioShield and Homeland Security Bills, it plans to take away our children’s rights. Please read and take action now!
The Best Government Drug Money Can Buy - NOT!
Dear Parents,
We need your help NOW in putting a stop to this legislation designed to protect the very industry that poisoned our children.
Knowing that drug companies have suppressed safety data and poisoned a generation of children with mercury-laced vaccines, the Senate HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) is nonetheless is about to to push the Biodefense Bill through without hearings. If this bill is passed vaccine makers will have even more incentive to ignore product safety. The reckless disregard for injuries to Americans through dangerous products created by drug manufacturers must not be sanctioned by our lawmakers. Capitalizing on fear and intimidation, drug companies are using generous campaign donations to seduce Congress into awarding the pharmaceutical industry unprecedented liability protection, and thereby remove any financial incentive for manufacturers to produce safe vaccines.
The "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005", influenced by drug industry lobbyists, abandons the children and citizens of this country and rewards a pattern of bad behavior by an industry recognized for suppressing safety data on vaccines.
Your communications with the HELP Committee members need not be long or detailed, especially since time is of the essence. Just let them know you are the parent, caregiver, or friend of a vaccine-injured child, and that the language in the Biodefense Bill that protects the pharmaceutical industry for the results of lax, profit-driven safety standards is detrimental to public health and unacceptable.
Use the letter in this Action Alert Click Here to Send a Message!
http://capwiz.com/a-champ/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=8133181
For more information on the "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005" and its implications to public health, please see the analysis from the Center for Justice and Democracy at http://www.centerjd.org/free/mythbusters-free/MB_VaccinesAlert.htm
Thanks
The A-CHAMP Legislative Action Team!
October 17, 2005
The Age of Autism: Connecting new dots
The Age of Autism: Connecting new dots
By DAN OLMSTED
UPI Senior Editor
Until now, the debate over a possible link between ethyl mercury and autism has focused on its use in vaccines beginning in the 1930s, when the first children diagnosed with the disorder were born.
But medicines were not the only commercial products to harness this highly toxic form of mercury. Starting about the same time, ethyl-mercury-based fungicides appeared on the market.
In fungicides as well as vaccines, ethyl mercury did the same job -- it killed micro-organisms including fungi and bacteria. Fungicides, in fact, appear to have been a much more common application of ethyl mercury than vaccinations in their first decades of use.
Now Mark Blaxill, whose group SafeMinds opposes the use of mercury in medicines, is putting forward a new hypothesis: Fungicide exposure might help connect the dots in the very first reported cases of autism. His theory sprang from a discussion with Age of Autism about the natural history of the disorder, the focus of this ongoing series.
Many experts -- including child psychiatrist Leo Kanner, who first diagnosed autism as a separate disorder in 1943 -- have puzzled over the demographic of the first families of autistic children: The parents were notably well-educated and accomplished. Many had advanced degrees and were doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, professors.
That common bond led some researchers to conclude brainy, "geeky" parents might be prone to having autistic children. Others believe that such families -- affluent, medically sophisticated and well-educated -- were the likeliest to vaccinate their children at a time when that was not routine.
Just about everyone thinks it's a clue, and Blaxill's hypothesis is a new way of interpreting that clue. But is there anything to suggest an association between exposure to fungicide and those early autism cases? Consider two of the first 11 cases described by child psychiatrist Kanner in his landmark 1943 paper:
-- Case 2, Frederick W., born in 1936, was the son of "a university graduate and a plant pathologist" who "traveled a great deal in connection with his work," Kanner wrote.
"A plant pathologist is a professional who specializes in plant health much as a physician specializes in human health," according to the American Phytopathological Society. "Keeping plants healthy requires an understanding of the organisms and agents that cause disease as well as an understanding of how plants grow and are affected by disease. ... Plant diseases are caused by a variety of living organisms (called pathogens) such as fungi ... "
-- Case 3, Richard M., born in 1937, was the son of "a professor of forestry in a southern university. He is very much immersed in his work, almost entirely to the exclusion of social contacts."
Playing out this scenario, it might be pertinent that Richard's father worked in the south; fungus is a big problem in that hot, humid climate.
Another child -- Case 1, Donald T. -- was also from the south, making that the only geographic link cited in Kanner's original study.
Donald's Mississippi home -- at age 72, he still lives in the small town he grew up in -- is surrounded by land that was clear-cut before the Depression. By the early 1930s the area was being planted with thousands of seedlings by workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps. Donald was born there in 1933.
Possibly relevant: The father of Case 8, Alfred L., was a chemist-lawyer at the U.S. Patent Office, perhaps involved with new chemical compounds. Another -- the father of Paul G., Case 4 -- was a mining engineer, which could have exposed him to toxins including heavy metals like mercury.
This approach puts the focus not on the advanced education of the fathers of the first autistic children, but on what they did with that education. It fits with a view this column expressed earlier this year: "What really connects these first families is more precise and less bizarre than an 'intellect' effect: It is a college education, defining the parents of these early autistic children by what they did (go to college) instead of who they were (brainiacs)."
But we noted this "raises an unpleasant prospect: Some outside factor, unique to that remarkably homogeneous group at that time, could have triggered autism in their children -- and then spread."
There is no question that commercial use of ethyl mercury began spreading widely in the 1930s -- in vaccines as the preservative thimerosal, allowing for multi-dose vials and mass vaccination; and in fungicides as the active ingredient, protecting nascent plants, crops and trees.
-- "A History of Plant Pathology in Virginia" quotes from a 1937 edition of the magazine Southern Planter. An ethyl-mercury fungicide "was recommended for cabbage, peas, and watermelon ... (and) cotton seed treatment ... for control of damping-off and seed rot."
-- The Northwest Monthly of the University of Minnesota Agriculture School reported in 1936 that seed wheat should be treated with a "new improved" ethyl-mercury-based fungicide "at the rate of 1/2 oz. per bushel of seed. At present this treatment is recommended since it controls covered smut and other seedborne diseases and may increase the emergence of seedlings considerably."
In the 1920s the same scientist who invented thimerosal also patented the technique for making ethyl-mercury-based fungicides. He appeared to be working on both applications simultaneously, and he succeeded by solving the same problem: Making ethyl mercury water-soluble, harnessing it for commercial use.
"Ethyl mercury does something unexpected," SafeMinds' Blaxill said in explaining how environmental exposure might trigger autism. "It delivers the toxic form of mercury to an infant brain more efficiently than any other common mercury compound."
Once there, he said, it is turned into inorganic mercury that "has no way back out of the brain and into the body." And inorganic mercury, Blaxill said, is the pathway by which "sub-clinical exposures have damaging effects on brain tissue."
We'll pursue this possible pathway from environment to infant in upcoming columns.
--
This ongoing series on the roots and rise of autism welcomes reader response. E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com
By DAN OLMSTED
UPI Senior Editor
Until now, the debate over a possible link between ethyl mercury and autism has focused on its use in vaccines beginning in the 1930s, when the first children diagnosed with the disorder were born.
But medicines were not the only commercial products to harness this highly toxic form of mercury. Starting about the same time, ethyl-mercury-based fungicides appeared on the market.
In fungicides as well as vaccines, ethyl mercury did the same job -- it killed micro-organisms including fungi and bacteria. Fungicides, in fact, appear to have been a much more common application of ethyl mercury than vaccinations in their first decades of use.
Now Mark Blaxill, whose group SafeMinds opposes the use of mercury in medicines, is putting forward a new hypothesis: Fungicide exposure might help connect the dots in the very first reported cases of autism. His theory sprang from a discussion with Age of Autism about the natural history of the disorder, the focus of this ongoing series.
Many experts -- including child psychiatrist Leo Kanner, who first diagnosed autism as a separate disorder in 1943 -- have puzzled over the demographic of the first families of autistic children: The parents were notably well-educated and accomplished. Many had advanced degrees and were doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, professors.
That common bond led some researchers to conclude brainy, "geeky" parents might be prone to having autistic children. Others believe that such families -- affluent, medically sophisticated and well-educated -- were the likeliest to vaccinate their children at a time when that was not routine.
Just about everyone thinks it's a clue, and Blaxill's hypothesis is a new way of interpreting that clue. But is there anything to suggest an association between exposure to fungicide and those early autism cases? Consider two of the first 11 cases described by child psychiatrist Kanner in his landmark 1943 paper:
-- Case 2, Frederick W., born in 1936, was the son of "a university graduate and a plant pathologist" who "traveled a great deal in connection with his work," Kanner wrote.
"A plant pathologist is a professional who specializes in plant health much as a physician specializes in human health," according to the American Phytopathological Society. "Keeping plants healthy requires an understanding of the organisms and agents that cause disease as well as an understanding of how plants grow and are affected by disease. ... Plant diseases are caused by a variety of living organisms (called pathogens) such as fungi ... "
-- Case 3, Richard M., born in 1937, was the son of "a professor of forestry in a southern university. He is very much immersed in his work, almost entirely to the exclusion of social contacts."
Playing out this scenario, it might be pertinent that Richard's father worked in the south; fungus is a big problem in that hot, humid climate.
Another child -- Case 1, Donald T. -- was also from the south, making that the only geographic link cited in Kanner's original study.
Donald's Mississippi home -- at age 72, he still lives in the small town he grew up in -- is surrounded by land that was clear-cut before the Depression. By the early 1930s the area was being planted with thousands of seedlings by workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps. Donald was born there in 1933.
Possibly relevant: The father of Case 8, Alfred L., was a chemist-lawyer at the U.S. Patent Office, perhaps involved with new chemical compounds. Another -- the father of Paul G., Case 4 -- was a mining engineer, which could have exposed him to toxins including heavy metals like mercury.
This approach puts the focus not on the advanced education of the fathers of the first autistic children, but on what they did with that education. It fits with a view this column expressed earlier this year: "What really connects these first families is more precise and less bizarre than an 'intellect' effect: It is a college education, defining the parents of these early autistic children by what they did (go to college) instead of who they were (brainiacs)."
But we noted this "raises an unpleasant prospect: Some outside factor, unique to that remarkably homogeneous group at that time, could have triggered autism in their children -- and then spread."
There is no question that commercial use of ethyl mercury began spreading widely in the 1930s -- in vaccines as the preservative thimerosal, allowing for multi-dose vials and mass vaccination; and in fungicides as the active ingredient, protecting nascent plants, crops and trees.
-- "A History of Plant Pathology in Virginia" quotes from a 1937 edition of the magazine Southern Planter. An ethyl-mercury fungicide "was recommended for cabbage, peas, and watermelon ... (and) cotton seed treatment ... for control of damping-off and seed rot."
-- The Northwest Monthly of the University of Minnesota Agriculture School reported in 1936 that seed wheat should be treated with a "new improved" ethyl-mercury-based fungicide "at the rate of 1/2 oz. per bushel of seed. At present this treatment is recommended since it controls covered smut and other seedborne diseases and may increase the emergence of seedlings considerably."
In the 1920s the same scientist who invented thimerosal also patented the technique for making ethyl-mercury-based fungicides. He appeared to be working on both applications simultaneously, and he succeeded by solving the same problem: Making ethyl mercury water-soluble, harnessing it for commercial use.
"Ethyl mercury does something unexpected," SafeMinds' Blaxill said in explaining how environmental exposure might trigger autism. "It delivers the toxic form of mercury to an infant brain more efficiently than any other common mercury compound."
Once there, he said, it is turned into inorganic mercury that "has no way back out of the brain and into the body." And inorganic mercury, Blaxill said, is the pathway by which "sub-clinical exposures have damaging effects on brain tissue."
We'll pursue this possible pathway from environment to infant in upcoming columns.
--
This ongoing series on the roots and rise of autism welcomes reader response. E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com
Chandler Just Asked for a Hug
I had a crappy morning, dragging both boys through the rain to try to get stuff done and nothing was working and the boys were whining. I didn't buy them a treat at the store and Chandler cried from the check out line until 10 minutes after we got home. By then we were all miserable, and I was soaked and frustrated and close to loosing it. One of those sucky mornings when you just want to go back to bed.
I threw lunch at the boys and put the tv on so they would leave me alone for a minute and I could collect my self.
After about 15 minutes, Chandler came over to me and grabbed my hand, looking no where in particular, saying 'i wanna... i wanna..." I was annoyed because I just wanted to finish eating lunch before I had to get up.
He was pulling on both my hands, so I assumed he wanted me to get up do something for him. I didn't because I just didn't wanna. I asked him directly, "What do you want Chandler".
Then he surprised me by answering, "hug".
I have never heard that word out of him before, and didn't think I heard him right until he took my hands and put them behind his back and put his arms around me. I gave him a big hug, but at that point I still was not sure that he was really asking for or giving me a hug, because it was just so out of place.
I expected him to then pull me up to get him something, or ask for something else. But when he was done hugging me he ran off and played.
It was so perfectly timed and I needed it so much, but even writing this, I have a hard time trusting that it really happened the way I think it did, which just depresses me more, because why should I not just be able to enjoy the first time my son sought me out just because he wanted a hug from me and nothing more?
I threw lunch at the boys and put the tv on so they would leave me alone for a minute and I could collect my self.
After about 15 minutes, Chandler came over to me and grabbed my hand, looking no where in particular, saying 'i wanna... i wanna..." I was annoyed because I just wanted to finish eating lunch before I had to get up.
He was pulling on both my hands, so I assumed he wanted me to get up do something for him. I didn't because I just didn't wanna. I asked him directly, "What do you want Chandler".
Then he surprised me by answering, "hug".
I have never heard that word out of him before, and didn't think I heard him right until he took my hands and put them behind his back and put his arms around me. I gave him a big hug, but at that point I still was not sure that he was really asking for or giving me a hug, because it was just so out of place.
I expected him to then pull me up to get him something, or ask for something else. But when he was done hugging me he ran off and played.
It was so perfectly timed and I needed it so much, but even writing this, I have a hard time trusting that it really happened the way I think it did, which just depresses me more, because why should I not just be able to enjoy the first time my son sought me out just because he wanted a hug from me and nothing more?
Bird Flu Panic
From Glenn Renolds at Instapundit.com
October 17, 2005
IS AVIAN FLU BEING OVERHYPED? Reader Patrick Cunningham emails:
As a medical researcher, I want to make a gentle but sincere plea to the blogosphere to calm down this flu hysteria just a bit. The main way that flu kills is by predisposing its victims to "superinfection" by bacterial illnesses - in 1918, we had no antibiotics for these superimposed infections, but now we have plenty. Such superinfections, and the transmittal of flu itself, were aided tremendously by the crowded conditions and poor sanitation of the early 20th century - these are currently vastly improved as well. Flu hits the elderly the hardest, but the "elderly" today are healthier, stronger, and better nourished than ever before. Our medical infrastructure is vastly better off, ranging from simple things like oxygen and sterile i.v. fluids, not readily available in 1918, to complex technologies such as respirators and dialysis. Should we be concerned? Sure, better safe than sorry, and concerns about publishing the sequence are worth discussing. Should we panic? No - my apologies to the fearmongers, but we will never see another 1918.
Patrick Cunningham M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Section of Nephrology
University of Chicago
I certainly hope that this is right. I do seem to remember seeing a study some years ago suggesting that many of those who died from the 1918 flu really died because inactive cases of TB reactivated under the stress of the flu infection. Far fewer people harbor inactive TB, in the U.S. at least, than did back then -- though in less developed countries I suspect the toll could be very high. However, as I've said repeatedly, much of the avian-flu preparation is also relevant to other possible pandemics, which might be even more dangerous.
posted at 01:30 PM by Glenn Reynolds
October 14, 2005
Finding the Words
http://www.findingthewords.org
This is a PBS documentary about children recovering from autism. It premiered in San Francisco this week, and is planned to air on PBS in April as it is Autism Awareness Month.
I hope they don't wait that long. Word needs to get out NOW that there is treatment available.
This is a PBS documentary about children recovering from autism. It premiered in San Francisco this week, and is planned to air on PBS in April as it is Autism Awareness Month.
I hope they don't wait that long. Word needs to get out NOW that there is treatment available.
The Jewish Free Loan Association
The Jewish Free Loan Association has established a Children With
Special Needs Loan Fund. The organization offers interest-free loans
to families of all faiths to help with expenses when caring for a
child with special needs.
The Children with Special Needs Loan Fund can assist with interest-
free loans of up to $10,000 per family for:
- Diagnostic Expenses
- Funding for behavioral supports, shadows and/or inclusion
specialists
- Funding to purchase specialized vehicles
- Home Improvement expenses for medical necessity
- Assistive Technology and Durable Medical Equipment Needs
Borrowers must reside in the Greater Los Angeles Area. One or two co-
signers are required based on the amount of the loan request.
Borrowers must have the ability to repay the loan.
To apply:
Call the JFLA office at (323) 761-8830 to schedule an appointment
with a Loan Analyst to receive help with a one-page application and a
promissory note. Take your application to your local co-signer(s) to
sign a guarantee for the loan. Return the completed application to
be reviewed by a Loan Committee.
City Location:
6505 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 715
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 761-8830
fax (323) 761-8811
Valley Location:
22622 Vanowen Street
West Hills, CA 91307
(818) 464-3331
fax (818) 461-3371
www.jfla.org
Special Needs Loan Fund. The organization offers interest-free loans
to families of all faiths to help with expenses when caring for a
child with special needs.
The Children with Special Needs Loan Fund can assist with interest-
free loans of up to $10,000 per family for:
- Diagnostic Expenses
- Funding for behavioral supports, shadows and/or inclusion
specialists
- Funding to purchase specialized vehicles
- Home Improvement expenses for medical necessity
- Assistive Technology and Durable Medical Equipment Needs
Borrowers must reside in the Greater Los Angeles Area. One or two co-
signers are required based on the amount of the loan request.
Borrowers must have the ability to repay the loan.
To apply:
Call the JFLA office at (323) 761-8830 to schedule an appointment
with a Loan Analyst to receive help with a one-page application and a
promissory note. Take your application to your local co-signer(s) to
sign a guarantee for the loan. Return the completed application to
be reviewed by a Loan Committee.
City Location:
6505 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 715
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 761-8830
fax (323) 761-8811
Valley Location:
22622 Vanowen Street
West Hills, CA 91307
(818) 464-3331
fax (818) 461-3371
www.jfla.org
October 13, 2005
New California Autism Cases Continue To Decline
Here is the initial press release from California autism advocate (and
Regional Center lobbyist) Rick Rollens.
UPDATE: Teresa Binstock has a good, albeit technical, frame of reference as to how the numbers in California fit into the current biomedical theory of autism:
Regional Center lobbyist) Rick Rollens.
California Reports: New Autism Cases Continue To Decline
According to information released today by the California Department of Developmental Services (www.dds.ca.gov), the number of new cases of professionally diagnosed full syndrome DSM IV autism entering California's developmental services system declined from 734 new cases during the second quarter of 2005 (April through June) to 678 new cases during the just completed third quarter of 2005 (July through September), a 7 1/2% decline in one quarter.
During the first three quarters of 2003 California added 2,449 new cases, last year in 2004, California added 2,267 new cases of autism, and most recently, during the first three quarters of this year, 2005, there have been 2,148 new cases added to the system.
The recent continuing decline of new cases of autism is occurring against the backdrop of over two decades of record setting consecutive years of new cases of autism entering California's 36 year old system. Even with the declining numbers, autism as a category, the other categories being mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy, now comprises 66% of all new intakes, or 2 out of every 3 persons now entering California's system has been professionally diagnosed with full syndrome, DSM IV autism..easily making autism the number one disability entering California's developmental services system.
It is important to note, that in California's developmental services system, children under the age of 3 years old are NOT counted in DDS's quarterly reports. Also, only those persons with professionally diagnosed full syndrome autism, not including PDD, NOS, Asperger's, or any other autism spectrum disorder, are included in these reports.
The latest quarterly report confirms the trend of decreasing number of new cases entering California's developmental services system.
UPDATE: Teresa Binstock has a good, albeit technical, frame of reference as to how the numbers in California fit into the current biomedical theory of autism:
Yesterday, Rick Rollens shared California news wherein the number of new autism cases has again declined, thus potentially reflecting the gradual reduction in thimerosal injections into Calif infants and toddlers.
Several days ago, Dan Olmsted's most recent column featured a arent who wrote "My child is toxic" (1), wherein the parent well expresses the challenge of inter-individual differences among children with autistic traits.
The two news items - Calif's reduced rate, toxic children - are related. First, thimerosal probably is not a major etiologic agent in *all* cases of autism, tho' thimerosal may have been a major etiologic agent in many and perhaps most cases of autism. Secondly, as previous citations have delineated, many, perhaps most, and nearly all human-made toxins are detoxified via cellular processes dependent upon glutathione.
A ramification is that the so-called "background" toxins increasingly documented in human bodies, amniotic fluid, cord blood, and breast milk contribute to the depleting of intra-body glutathione and thereby tend to overwhelm cellular detoxification, and thereby increase the likelihood of developing adverse sequelae when a bolus dose (eg, thimerosal injection) occurs and/or when a given locale has a high level of another toxin or several (eg, arsenic in water, on playgrounds equipment).
The Calif data suggest that the reduced number of thimerosal injections has induced a decrease in the bolus doses of ethylmercury injected into children who nonetheless retain a high level of "background" toxins. Many such children (high toxin levels, virtually no injected thimerosal) would seem likely to develop at least some adverse sequelae from the 'background' toxins - even if traits defining DSM-IV autism do not appear in full force in otherwise affected children. Furthermore, other epidemics (eg, childhood and adult cancers) appear to have environmental factors as etiologically significant.
Three points in closing:
1. The toxic child had "chronic constipation since infancy" (1), thus
gastrointestinal problems and a likelihood of impaired nutritional status were occurring prior to his regression. The impaired nutritional status is likely to have corresponded to a lower availability of glutathione's precursors and thus to a gradual increase in the child's intra-body toxic load. The gradual increase in his body burden of toxins finally manifested into a regression that included observable traits defining autism (DSM-IV).
2. Decreasing environmental toxins in individuals, in our communities, and in the biosphere has become a necessity. However, modern economic systems contain numerous financial incentives (a) for inventing, selling, and releasing toxins, (b) for shortcutting on pollution controls, and (c) for profiting via OTCs and pharmaceuticals used to mask the chronic symptoms induced by chronic exposures to "background" toxins. These financial incentives need to be minimized then eliminated.
3. A recent study documented that children's levels of toxins can be rapidly decreased when the child's diet includes more organic foods and fewer non-organic foods. That finding by NIH researchers suggests an important principle: reducing the level of toxins entering a child's body is likely to increase his or her availability of glutathione needed for detoxification.
Teresa Binstock
Researcher in Developmental & Behavioral Neuroanatomy
October 11, 2005
Slow Mercury Excretors
I have heard it said that ASD kids that tested negative for mercury may still have it, and that it is bound so tightly that it takes a few months of chelation for it to start coming out.
To be honest I didn't really believe it. I figured that it didn't really make sense that it would not show up at all if it was not there in the first place.
Well I ran across this post from a mom whose son is a slow excretor who took months of chelation to start dumping Hg. Sharing it here with her permission:
To be honest I didn't really believe it. I figured that it didn't really make sense that it would not show up at all if it was not there in the first place.
Well I ran across this post from a mom whose son is a slow excretor who took months of chelation to start dumping Hg. Sharing it here with her permission:
We are very excited tonight. My son is 8 years old, Aspergers, and we started chelating with TD-DMPS exactly one year ago. We had 0 mercury when we started the urine tests, and a hair test done prior to chelation, showed almost 0 mercury in hair. We did challenge tests every 1-2 months, alternating doing urine and stool. We finally got mercury in the YELLOW, elevated range, using oral DMPS! Here is a summary of our results, culminating in the current elevated figure. Notice that the level of mercury kept rising over the months of chelation.
At Three months: No mercury in urine test.
At Five months, No mercury in urine test.
At Five months: a tiny dot of mercury in stool test, but still below detectable numbers.
At Eight months: .009 mercury, with a reference range of .05, in a stool test, still a tiny dot in the green.
At Nine months: .013 mercury, with a reference range of .05, in a stool test, still very little.
At Eleven months: 1.3 mercury, with a reference range of 5, in a urine test, about 1/3 way across the green.
At Twelve months: 8.7 mercury, with a reference range of 5, in a urine test, almost half-way across the yellow (elevated)!
Mercury was the highest of all the metals in this test, complete opposite of when we started chelation. We had no other elevated metals in this last test, except tungsten, which was also in the yellow, elevated range, but not as high as the mercury.
Two weeks ago we started my son on oral DMPS. This is the first time we did testing using the oral DMPS, done about 1 week after we started it. He has done much better on the oral DMPS than TD-DMPS. Better articulation, far less stuttering, more social. I feel like we've had more progress on the oral DMPS in the last two weeks, than the last year on the TD-DMPS. Up until now we've just gotten twinkles of improvement, no Wow. This week was a Wow week. He gets a hefty dose - 200mg of oral DMPS, given all at once, only once per day, every other day. We did the regular dose for the latest challenge test, as his dose is already a high one, so we did not double it. He weighs 55 pounds.
We also do transdermal, oral, and lipo-ceutical glutathione, B12 shots, Authia, GFCF, vitamins, minerals, grape seed, pycnogenol, customized amino acids, fatty acids, Folapro, probiotics, etc. We start IV glutathione this Friday. My son is ++ on the MTHFR and Null on Glutathione Transference, so genetics are not on our side for getting him to excrete mercury.
For those considering oral DMPS, it costs us $150 for a month supply from College Pharmacy. Also, in some kids it causes stomach ache and gut bugs. My son has not had those issues on the oral DMPS so far. For this last challenge test we gave the oral DMPS on an empty stomach, empty bladder, in the morning, and collected urine for 6 hours afterwards.
-- Mara in San Antonio (DAN Doc is Dr. Melissa Kempf, M.D. of San Antonio).
October 10, 2005
Another First
So Chandler and I just got into our first disagreement. It was a really nice experience. He didn’t get frustrated or upset. Just locked on eye contact and advocating for what he wanted. Here is the transcript:
Chandler: (standing at the back door) Outside.
Mommy: No outside.
Chandler: Yes. Yes!
Mommy: Sorry Chandler, you can't go outside.
Chandler: I want outside.
Mommy: No. Sorry.
Chandler: (Sighs and walks away. Comes back 20 seconds later) I want bye bye.
Mommy: What?
Chandler: (taking my hand and pulling me across the room to the front door) Door open.
Mommy: No Chandler, we are not going anywhere.
Chandler: (Groans/whines in that 'mommy I am so bored' way that kids do and plops down into a pile of blankets on the floor.)
Mommy: Wanna go jump on Mommy's bed?
Chandler: (Jumping up and running down the hall) Jump! Jump!
The End.
We went and jumped on the bed and had a great time. At one point I was tickling him and yelled, "Hey, watch it!." So funny.
Now he is standing in the living room and singing the theme to Jack's Big Music Show. I didn't know how much he knew until he started sharing it with us in the last few weeks. He hears a song once or twice and then can sing it. He can also read and spell a lot of words.
I was writing letters on a piece of paper this morning and thought he was just shouting out random letters for me to write, as he has done for the last two years or so with numbers. I was writing them in random places on the paper, and he took my hand and made me write them in a line. It was then that I realized he was calling out the word STOP.
Chandler: (standing at the back door) Outside.
Mommy: No outside.
Chandler: Yes. Yes!
Mommy: Sorry Chandler, you can't go outside.
Chandler: I want outside.
Mommy: No. Sorry.
Chandler: (Sighs and walks away. Comes back 20 seconds later) I want bye bye.
Mommy: What?
Chandler: (taking my hand and pulling me across the room to the front door) Door open.
Mommy: No Chandler, we are not going anywhere.
Chandler: (Groans/whines in that 'mommy I am so bored' way that kids do and plops down into a pile of blankets on the floor.)
Mommy: Wanna go jump on Mommy's bed?
Chandler: (Jumping up and running down the hall) Jump! Jump!
The End.
We went and jumped on the bed and had a great time. At one point I was tickling him and yelled, "Hey, watch it!." So funny.
Now he is standing in the living room and singing the theme to Jack's Big Music Show. I didn't know how much he knew until he started sharing it with us in the last few weeks. He hears a song once or twice and then can sing it. He can also read and spell a lot of words.
I was writing letters on a piece of paper this morning and thought he was just shouting out random letters for me to write, as he has done for the last two years or so with numbers. I was writing them in random places on the paper, and he took my hand and made me write them in a line. It was then that I realized he was calling out the word STOP.
October 6, 2005
Autism Study Looking for Subjects
Austism, medicine study
Posted October 6, 2005
The University of Florida is looking for autistic children with persistent gastrointestinal problems to participate in a research study on medical treatment for the gastrointestinal dysfunction.
Children ages 2 to 17 who have been diagnosed with autism and have symptoms such as chronic diarrhea and constipation or abdominal pain are eligible for the study, which is being done at 12 sites nationwide.
The study will focus on gastrointestinal function through treatment, as well as the effect of the symptoms on behavior. Candidates in the research will receive study medication and medical care at no cost.
For more information about the study and eligibility, contact Jane Mutch at 352-392-7855.
Ramsey Campbell, Martin E. Comas and April Hunt of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Posted October 6, 2005
The University of Florida is looking for autistic children with persistent gastrointestinal problems to participate in a research study on medical treatment for the gastrointestinal dysfunction.
Children ages 2 to 17 who have been diagnosed with autism and have symptoms such as chronic diarrhea and constipation or abdominal pain are eligible for the study, which is being done at 12 sites nationwide.
The study will focus on gastrointestinal function through treatment, as well as the effect of the symptoms on behavior. Candidates in the research will receive study medication and medical care at no cost.
For more information about the study and eligibility, contact Jane Mutch at 352-392-7855.
Ramsey Campbell, Martin E. Comas and April Hunt of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
October 4, 2005
Power of Parents Rally - Vigil
Please bring a candle with you and join us for a candlelight vigil scheduled for Friday night at 8:00 p.m. in front of the HHS building. With John Gilmore of A-CHAMP and NAA-New York City coordinating the event, Rev. Elizabeth Naylor, special needs teaching assistant, will lead us in prayer followed by comments anyone in attendance would like to share. We expect the vigil will last 30-45 minutes. For those of you who cannot be at the rally this time, please join us in spirit by lighting a candle in honor of all of our children, and all the children who will be needlessly harmed by mercury in vaccines, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, wherever you are. We hope this will be a time for all of us to reflect upon the reason we are back in Washington once again: the future of our precious children.
The Power of Parents Rally Team
www.nationalforce.org
The Power of Parents Rally Team
www.nationalforce.org
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