Autistic Man Missing Since Saturday

A reminder of the questions being explored. Did this man's autism contribute to his current 'at risk' status? Would he be in danger if his autism had been 'cured'?

Authorities search for missing man
Antwan Hester

Raleigh — A 22-year-old autistic man wandered away from his family Saturday night at the N.C. State Fair and hasn't been seen since.

Antwan Hester, of Henderson, was last seen walking towards Hillsborough Street from Blue Ridge Road, according to the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.

Hester is 5-feet-8-inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. He has brown eyes, black hair. He also has a thin beard and a moustache. He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt with a blue striped T-shirt underneath. He also had on blue sweat pants and tan Timberland boots.

Hester is autistic and has childlike tendencies, according to the sheriff's office.

Anyone with information can contact Investigator S. Ikerd with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office at 856-6967.

Autistic Children are Considered an "Unwanted" Burden in Temecula

A California school board member has finally come out and said publicly what parents across the country know full well is the way school systems think of our children.

"At a board meeting on May 3 of this year, Ray made a public comment about the money spent on autistic children[sic]calling them "the unwanted stepchildren under the public schools."

At a public meeting on Sept. 20 he did it again, telling the audience that the board is "stealing" from their kids to pay for autism"

This is not new information if you are the parent of an autistic child. Every single parent I know battles with the school system. I will be going to court next month myself to try to get them to pay for an appropriate private placement for Chandler, as the public placement they offered him was nothing more than day care.

They have a specific program for Autistic children in the San Fernando Valley. There are six slots. More than a million residents and they only planned for 6 of them to be autistic.

I call your attention to this article for an additional reason, to point out the problem with the idea that there has been no increase in autism in the last 30 years, merely an increase in recognition. Some have theorized that in the past autistic children were diagnosed as mentally retarded.

In 2005 school systems across the country are going broke trying to pay for special needs kids, specifically autistic kids. Were the change in diagnosis largely responsible for the rise in autism, then those special needs kids, regardless of what their label was, would have been bankrupting school systems for the last 30 years.

In fact most of the repudiations of the change in diagnosis theory have come from veteran school teachers who attest to the fact that 30 years ago they saw autistic children once in a blue moon. And once you see autism, you don't get it confused with mental retardation.

Here is the entire article:

Trustee blames problems on autism
By: Brian Hulihan - Commentary

The Temecula Valley school board is facing increased pressure and scrutiny for financial problems and program cuts. Board member Ken Ray has identified autism, a developmental disability, as a "huge hunk" of the problem, and as an answer to the question of where the money is going.

At a board meeting on May 3 of this year, Ray made a public comment about the money spent on autistic children, calling for a separate state agency to take responsibility for them, and calling the children themselves "the unwanted stepchildren under the public schools."

At a public meeting on Sept. 20 he did it again, telling the audience that the board is "stealing" from their kids to pay for autism, and that the results are cuts to band programs, physical education programs and raises for teachers.

He added that students with autism deserve services, but not from the public schools. He urged the audience to "get on Sacramento" so that the state assumes responsibility for all autistic students.

The Temecula Valley Unified School District has an annual budget of $150 million, and their financial problems are on the order of millions of dollars. In coming years their revenues will stagnate, their new schools will age and their mounting debt will, along with other factors, turn millions into tens of millions.

They are currently dealing with a grand jury investigation, harassment and wrongful termination lawsuits, and a growing morale crisis among their employees. The administration and board continue to deny that the situation is bad or that they have any problems at all. The position they take makes it impossible for them to improve, and they blame Congress, the state of California, special education, the grand jury, whatever they can find that is not themselves.

Ken Ray told the audience on May 3 that they "are not the bad guys here." In other words, they're the good guys, but that doesn't mean much. Perhaps he can tell us where the responsible guys are. The stand-up guys.

Perhaps Ken Ray sees the writing on the wall and is concerned as to what will be the legacy of the current board. However, publicly blaming a minority of children and setting the community against them into the bargain is an irresponsible act for an elected official. His naive suggestion that we just change California law shows he does not understand how discrimination has been outlawed over decades.

His actions shed light on the problems associated with autism, but they also raise the big question of whether he and the rest of the board have the judgment needed to realistically deal with their growing responsibilities. By singling out a small group of disabled children as the cause of widespread and systemic problems, he gives himself the appearance of a man who is in over his head.

Does Autism Treatment Change Personality?

This began as a reply to Wade Rankin and Kevin Leitch’s post in the comment section of this post, but it has mutated into its own post. Kevin raises a good question that is beginning to get some discussion in the biomed community. I thought I would offer my opinions and experience and then throw it out there for discussion.

“Its an absolute nightmare scenario I agree but I don't really see how (or why) you're tying it into the desire to not 'cure'?”

The primary responsibilities of parenthood is to keep a child safe, and to teach them how to keep themselves safe when you are not longer there to care for them. I see Autism as a making the first much more difficult and a monumental obstacle to the achieving the second.

I am not so much attacking the “desire not to cure”, as using this example to defend the ‘desire to cure’.

“Kids wander away from their parents all the time, both autistic and not autistic - they do it because they're curious beings. Removing autism won't remove curiosity.”

No… but it will temper curiosity with a healthy fear of injury, so what happened to the cat may not happen to the child.

I will continue posting the stories of missing and deceased autistic children and then everyone reading can decide for themselves if the child's ASD was the factor that made them engage in the behavior that put them at risk or resulted in their death.

In this case, I have a 5 year old typical little boy and the thought of stepping out of the house in the dead of night would scare him shittless. He certainly would not get up, go out the front door and then walk for blocks.

If my typical 5 year old was separated from me at Disney, he would scream for me and look for me and it would be much easier for him to be found. Chandler (pre-biomed) would just keep walking endlessly.

FYI, Disney is a lot safer place than I thought it was. A few years back (before we had kids) we were there with another couple and were standing by that huge marble ball that is sitting on top of a high pressure water fountain so kids can spin it... you know the one? Anyhoo, this one 12 year old thought it would be funny to pee on it. Well we found out just how many plain clothes security they have in the park, because instantly the kid was surrounded and uniformed guards came around the corner about 30 seconds later.

My point being that if a child gets separated from mom at Disney World and starts screaming for mommy, there will be several security people in ear shot to scoop him up immediately. How much longer did it take the Mouse Squad to recognize the happy little Rankin was at risk when he didn't call attention to himself by recognizing that he was at risk and freaking out?

And again, I think we have different ideas of what "cure" means. To me it is that he would not longer fit the DSM IV criteria. Most specifically, and most importantly, he would be able to accurately size up his environment, act appropriately in his own best interests and advocate for himself.

Last spring we were at the park and poor Chandler was stung by a bee on his face. We were sitting on one of those kid trains, and he started whimpering for a minute but was not terribly upset. Scott assumed that he didn't like the ride. He was stung on the cheek facing away from Scott, so he could not see the big red welt.

It was not until 10 minutes later when I approached them as we were getting off the train (Web and I were in another part of the train car) that I put together what had happened. I had seen the bee earlier, Scott had not.

Now the danger part is that kids react to bee stings on their 2nd sting. What if he had developed an allergy and gets stung again, but does not call it to my attention? All the sudden my child falls into anaphylactic shock and I have no idea what the hell is happening.

Autism makes the dangers of childhood MUCH more dangerous. Come to think of it, it makes the dangers of adolescence and adulthood more dangerous as well.

“The other point of course is that the advantage of not being cured probably wouldn't occur to someone until they were in teen/adulthood and able to appreciate concepts such as determinism, self-awareness, choice etc. You wouldn't want to 'cure' someone’s gender in their childhood as that would be a choice for them as adults.”

And as far as drastically altering their personality, comparing it to as dramatic a change as someone’s gender, I don't know that "curing" them would do that. Do you know of cases where that has happened? To me it just seems to be more 'amplifying' their personality. Who they are is who they are.

The changes we have seen in Chandler have not made him different so much as they have made him 'more'. We are finding that he has talents we didn't know he had because now he uses them and even shares them with us.

Chandler's first language is math. At 2 he could not say mommy or daddy, but he could count to 10 forwards and backwards. Numbers are still his first love, but now he includes us in it, asks us to count with him, we play little number games and best of all, we can teach simple addition to him and his experience with numbers is now enhanced because he can receive what we have to teach him.

Now rather than just sitting alone and reciting numbers (he clearly has a special relationship with each digit) he is using math practically. As I was typing this he came over and began counting imaginary ice cream cones. "One Ice Cream!" he takes a lick, and offers mommy a lick, "Two Ice Cream!" and on and on. At one point the ice cream was blue.

He is still Chandler, just happier and no longer in a fog. He can communicate his wants and needs, and cope better when he doesn't get his way. He is recognizing opportunities that he never noticed before. But he is still the same kid.

I think my husband is a good example of someone who has lost ASD symptoms (not the good ones) through biomed, but retained his skills and "specialness". Whereas in his youth, his waters were so still that no one knew how deep they ran, now he is a big stand out because people know how freakin' smart and talented he is. I should write about his story.

Since the personality change question has been raised on the Evidence of Harm list by Adult Autistic that oppose a 'cure', parents have been asking one another if they know of any children loosing their special talents or personality traits as they recover. I have not heard people report that they have, but I don't read all the posts.

I think it is a great question to put out here. Do you know a child who is recovering through biomed or ABA or whatever? Have you seen him loose any special personality traits or talents?

To be completely honest, I am not open to the idea that a ‘cure’ for Autism should not be perused. Certainly it should be up to each autistic individual, or autistic child’s parents as to what treatments they want to implement.

To me this is a completely subjective discussion because bottom line, my child suffers physical illness, metal toxicity, metabolic disorder and autoimmune disorder, and I am going to treat them. Regardless of the impact on his autistic symptoms, it would be irresponsible of me to leave him be now that I know that these problems exist. In addition, if I actually had to choose between Chandler’s recognition of danger and his mathematical acumen, then bye-bye advanced calculus.

But just because my mind is pretty much made up as to the answer to this ethics question for my family does not mean that the question should not be explored. I believe in looking at things, even that we disagree with entirely, because at worst it tempers our judgment of those who disagree with us and at best it gives us wisdom on the journey that we have chosen.

This specific question is just another one in the larger medical ethics discussions, ‘just because we can cure something, does it mean that we should’? That is a discussion that I am very open to.

Ironically, both my side of the aisle and Kevin’s side contradict themselves in this ethical question. Allow me to over generalize and use the most extreme stance for illustrative purposes:

My camp says: Don’t ‘cure’ infectious diseases through vaccinating because the side effects (neurological, toxicological and immunological) are too dangerous and not worth it.

His camp says: Don’t ‘cure’ autism through biomed treatment because the side effects (mineral depletion, personality change and child’s self-esteem) are to dangerous and not worth it.

Both sides assert their right to reject and condemn the treatment they don’t like, while attacking the other group for doing the same.

At this point, in what we know it is still a subjective decision and reasonable people can disagree on whether or not to vaccinate or chelate.

So enough of my commentary, back to the question:

I think it is a great question to put out here. Do you know a child who is recovering through biomed or ABA or whatever? Have you seen him loose any special personality traits or talents?

UPDATE: Wade had expounded on my thoughts here.

You see, the point is not trying to keep our children from being lost in a theme park or on the streets of a new city. It’s to keep our children from being lost in the world!

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: BLOGSWARM!
Ok... I don't know if three is a blog swarm, but I am gonna go ahead and call it that. Kyra at This Mom has her thoughts on the matter. Here is a sample:

I hear of this heated debate, the biomedical approach versus those who petition for greater acceptance of these children, greater awarenes of autism, greater education. And I think, what am I missing? I do accept my son as he is. I embrace him and love him and will continue to work to allow for him to grow into his potential...

...Put 100 ASD kids in the room, you’ve got 100 highly different kids. Remediate the autism, and you’ve still got 100 different kids. But maybe they can now deal with the sensory input of the scene, maybe they will feel safe, and will express themselves with the confidence and competence that is their birthright.

I love this thought:

Now that we know where the deficits lie, let’s treat them and turn down the static so we can hear what these kids are saying.

I, for one, am interested. I’m not trying to fix them. I’m trying to hear them.

Go read it.

Zaire Knott, 5-week-old Foster Child, Dies at DYFS Office

The birth dose of the Hep B vaccine was the first of Chandler's two adverse vaccine reactions.

5-week-old foster child dies at DYFS office
Officials in Newark suspect reaction to routine vaccination
Friday, October 21, 2005
BY SUSAN K. LIVIO
Star-Ledger Staff

A 5-week-old foster child died at a state Division of Youth and Family Services office in Newark yesterday, shortly after a routine visit to a medical clinic where he received a vaccination.

A DYFS aide bringing newborn Zaire Knott from the clinic to the office on Halsey Street noticed the infant was having trouble breathing and was bleeding from his nose, state spokesman Andy Williams said.

The aide rushed the boy inside DYFS District Office #1, where an in-house nurse urgently gave the newborn cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Although the nurse was assisted by emergency medical technicians who managed to regain a pulse, the baby died in the office at 12:46 p.m., Williams said.

There was conflicting information last night about who took the boy to St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark, where he was officially pronounced dead. DYFS said EMTs drove him there after taking nearly 30 minutes to arrive; a statement from the Newark Police Department said a DYFS worker drove the baby to the hospital.

"An exact cause of death will be determined at a later date pending the results of an autopsy," according to the police statement. DYFS officials suspect the immunizations -- for hepatitis B and polio -- "caused the distress or some sort of reaction," Williams said.

"We'll review the circumstances, but it sounds like a medical complication. We'll look at exactly what was done after they discovered the baby was in distress," Williams added. But one expert said fatal reactions to those routine vaccinations are nearly unheard of.

"Every (vaccine) has risk," said Susan Morrison, an immunology and pediatric infectious disease specialist at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville. But she added, "I have never, in 25 years, heard of anyone dying within an hour of getting the vaccine for the first exposure time. ... In my experience, I have never had anyone have a life-threatening complication to polio and hepatitis B (vaccines)."

A person can die from a severe allergic reaction to a component of a vaccine, but that requires previous exposure to that substance, Morrison said. "And at this age, I find it very hard to believe that would happen."

It is standard for a 5-week-old to get several vaccinations, such as hepatitis B, according to the recommended childhood and adolescence immunization schedule provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The schedule recommends the polio vaccine be given at 2 months.

Nobody could be reached last night at the Forest Hill Family Health Center in Newark, where his foster mother had taken Zaire. The DYFS transportation aide had picked up the boy from the clinic for a scheduled visit with his birth mother at the district office. DYFS workers were distraught over the baby's death, said Hetty
Rosenstein, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1037, which represents most employees in that office. "I have never seen more wrecked people," she said.

Williams said the workers have been offered grief counseling, which will continue today. He said the foster mother, a resident of Newark who has cared for the boy since he left the hospital after his Sept. 16 birth, also will receive bereavement counseling.

The baby had been taken at birth from his mother, a resident of Irvington. Williams declined to reveal details about the child's family and foster home.

State Child Advocate Kevin M. Ryan said his office is investigating the child's death as well as his involvement with DYFS. Regarding any role the vaccination might have played, he said, "I think it's premature to draw any conclusions."

DYFS is in the midst of a systemwide overhaul amid criticism from child advocates who say the agency is in disarray.

Staff writers Kate Coscarelli and Brian Donohue contributed to this report.

How Autism Threatens Childrens' Lives

Several times a month there are stories in the news about autistic children who have walked away from home. Some of the time the children are found safely, many times they are not. Up until now I have not been posting these stories, as they are difficult for parents of autistic children to read. ...as they are difficult for me to read. I now think that I should have been.

I think people need to understand how vulnerable most of these kids are because they lack a healthy fear of their environment.

I do this to make a point to those who say that trying to find a 'cure' for autism is either morally wrong or physically dangerous.

Lost child found by Rockland police
by Max Bowen
Friday, October 21, 2005

An autistic child found at midnight on Monday in Rockland was later reunited with his mother, according to Rockland Deputy Police Chief John Llewellyn.

On Monday, Oct. 17 at 11:45 p.m., police received a call from the fire department reporting a small boy walking near the intersection of Westwater and Grove streets. A detail officer found the child a short time later.

"He wasn't wearing any shoes or socks," said Llewellyn. "The child was non-responsive."

Police were able to coax the boy into a police cruiser using potato chips. Officer Thomas MacDonald drove the boy, who police described as being 6 or 7 years old, around the area where he was found in the hopes he would indicate where he lived. The child gave no response, however, and the officer took him back to the station.

Police contacted the fire department, who took the child by ambulance to Brockton Hospital while the Department of Social Services was notified to send a caseworker. The Plymouth County Sheriff's Department performed a reverse 911 call to all the homes within a one-mile radius of the area where the boy was found.

At 12:12 a.m. the boy's mother came to the station to pick up the child. She informed officers that her child was autistic and unable to communicate. The family had recently moved to the area.

New Jersey Baby Dies After Being Vaccinated

Earlier this year an autistic child died during Chelation, spurring critics to characterize it dangerous and call for the practice to cease.

Will they have the same reaction to this little boy's death?

Infant dies at DYFS office after shot
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/21/05
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEWARK — An infant died Thursday after being stricken at a downtown office of the state child welfare agency, police said.

The month-old boy, who has been in foster care since birth, had just arrived about noon at an office of the state Division of Youth and Family Services from a doctor's visit. He had received immunizations at the doctor's office, said DYFS spokesman Andy Williams.

"When the aide arrived to bring the baby upstairs, he noticed he was having trouble breathing and there was blood in his nose," Williams said.

The aide brought the child to the office nurse, who began resuscitation efforts while emergency medical workers were called. The baby was pronounced dead at 12:46 p.m., Williams said.

"It appears the baby had a reaction to an immunization," Williams said.

Books for Sibs

Bonnie Sayers has a good review of books for the siblings of autistic children.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art35507.asp

How to Get Kids to Swallow Pills

I am gonna try this. I will let you know how it works.

From Lisa on one of the autism lists:

Since it seems we have some people new to biomed here I thought I'd post this about how we got our boys swallowing pills. I highly recommend buying this cup. Both my boys have residual oral motor skill issues still and this totally got them going in the pill swallowing department for a very small investment:

http://www.oralflo.com/

It's only been 3 weeks since we got it and now boys are swallowing pills totally independently w/o the help of the cup! The only thing we still need it for is to help Nate get all the Lauracidins down, he actually does better with it if I put about 1/4 of the scoop in the spout at a time instead of trying to swallow them 1 at a time.

What helped us was using the pill cup to swallow frozen peas as practice (Thanks to our DAN! doc for that suggestion). Then we moved on to small gel caps (NN DHA Jr.) once they were good at those we did a slightly bigger gel pill (Thorne SF 722) and didn't try the regular capsules till they were good at the gell ones (since you get many tries with the gel before they are too mushy to keep trying and the regular caps you really only get 1 try before it gets stuck in the spout).

The other thing that helped us was bringing over a peer who swallows pills and having them do it together, then insitutuing a 'race' to see who could do it faster with a prize at the end.

We went from refusing to even try swallowing pills to 100% independence in only 3 weeks. I hope those that haven't gotten this skill down yet get inspired to try. This pill cup was key to getting this skill down, esp. since I talked it up before it's arrival too...(the magic feather affect).

Now they down 1/2 a dozen pills in a minute including 1 that is a size OO (aka BIG!) as well as a scoop of Lauracidin!

More Biodefense Bill Fun Facts

Excerpts from GovExec.com:

Senate panel backs bill to create biodefense agency
By David Ruppe, Global Security Newswire

....."Critics say the new bill would do nothing to address the potential near-term threat of a deadly avian flu outbreak and that its provisions could drive up the cost of certain drugs and vaccines and greatly reduce the public's legal recourse for defective products.

"I hope ... that people don't think that this is going to solve the problem of the possible avian flu pandemic that is on our doorstep," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said...."

"....Burr's legislation would also provide incentives that proponents said are needed to encourage the biotech and pharmaceutical industries to invest more for drugs and vaccines for biological defense and naturally occurring disease protections."

"For instance, the bill would allow Health and Human Services to sign exclusive sales contracts with particular manufacturers for a particular product. It would forbid government purchases of generic versions of such new drugs or vaccines as well as public sales of the products for use as countermeasures."

"The bill would also provide companies with liability protections for new countermeasures not yet licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, so that a company producing products for epidemics or biodefense could only be sued if the Health and Human Services secretary finds clear and convincing evidence it willfully engaged in misconduct that caused the injury."

"The bill would provide rebates or grants to encourage companies to manufacture vaccines, medical countermeasures, and pandemic or epidemic products within the United States and would allow the government to help pay the costs of establishing domestic manufacturing facilities."

"Burr's proposal would provide a "limited antitrust exemption" for the Health and Human Services secretary and the BARDA director that would allow them to collaborate and consult with industry on developing new countermeasures."

"It also would exempt the new agency from standard Freedom of Information Act and Federal Advisory Committee Act requirements for public transparency and would exempt certain federal cost oversight requirements."

"Less controversially, the bill also would compensate first responders for countermeasures they purchase and would provide money to encourage development of animal models on which countermeasures could be tested against diseases too dangerous to test on humans."

For Autism Families in Florida

From Unlocking Autism:

HERE WE GO AGAIN...GET READY FLORIDA!

We have all learned lessons from Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Unlocking Autism, together with Autism Cares, has assisted over 100 families to date and UA has distributed over $30,000 in aid to needy families in the form of rent, groceries, utilities, transportation, medication and more.

As Hurricane Wilma begins to approach the Eastern Gulf Coast, we are working hard to use lessons learned earlier this fall from other storms and help our special community prepare for Wilma.

ATTENTION FAMILIES IN FLORIDA!!!!

If you will potentially be impacted by Hurricane Wilma, you are invited to register your family or families you know about who have children with autism, at the AutismCares website, free of charge. You can put in emergency contact information so that our coordinators can call to check on you after the storm hits. A checklist to help you and your family prepare for the storm is listed below. Should your family need anything after the storm, we will do our best to assist you in coordinating those needs.

Registering prior to the storm will help us be more effective in helping your family once it passes!!!

To register, please fill out the form at AutismCares Registration before landfall this weekend.
We are still working hard to assist families we have located in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita. If you know of a family in need of assistance please enter their information at www.autismcares.org . If you have any questions please contact AutismCares at 1-800-960-1844 or email autismcares@talkautism.org.
For our friends preparing for Hurricane Wilma, please find a list of hurricane preparations below:

Discuss the type of hazards that could affect your family. Know your home's vulnerability to storm surge, flooding and wind. Prepare your house and your yard for the approaching storm. Remove things in the yard that could become projectiles in heavy winds and secure windows as needed.

Locate a safe room or the safest areas in your home for each hurricane hazard. In certain circumstances the safest areas may not be your home but within your community at a shelter. Is the room you select as your safest spot high enough to evade flood waters? Is there glass in the room that can break with winds? If your area is prone to high flood waters, put an ax in the attic so that you can break out if needed. If your home is not safe, evacuate to a shelter.

When selecting your safe room, consider your child's special needs. Will winds be too loud? Bring a battery operated headset with soft music to keep your child distracted or a portable DVD player, games or drawing materials, if possible. Be sure to bring food and beverages with you to the room so that you don't have to leave it during the height of the storm.

If you have to evacuate in separate modes of transportation, determine escape routes from your home and places to meet. These should be measured in tens of miles rather than hundreds of miles. Have directions with alternate routes available in the event that you are diverted to a different course than what you originally planned by officials. Have a map in the car.

Have an out-of-state friend as a family contact, so all your family members have a single point of contact. Register at AutismCares when you evacuate so that we will be able to assist you more quickly and bring the toll free number with you in your important papers. Remember that phone lines are often damaged for weeks after the storm so having a contact that is several hundred miles from your own area code is a good idea. Make sure that your cell phone is fully charged and that you have important phone numbers either programmed into it or a list of those numbers with you.

Refill any necessary prescriptions for all members of your family. Have medication and supplements that your child might take on hand with enough for a two week supply, minimum. Bring a copy of your child's doctor’s names and phone numbers.
Remember to take cash out of the bank. Without electricity, those credit card machines are useless!

Be sure to fill your car with gasoline. Without electricity for even up to a week, many stations may not be open and you need to be able to keep on going!
If you do evacuate to a shelter, put a label on the back of your child's shirt with their name, your name, your emergency contact information and their diagnosis in case you are separated during the evacuation.

Bring any important documents with you including a copy of your child's IEP, insurance papers, medical records, school records, evaluations, etc. Take pictures of your house in each room if you can and bring the film with you. Be sure to have pictures of all family members with you in the event that any of you! are separated so that you can notify people more quickly.

Contact the local Red Cross, or local emergency officials, in your area to determine if Special Needs Shelters have been set up prior to the storm's arrival in case you need to evacuate to one. A Special Needs Shelter is more prepared to handle your child's needs.

Make a plan now for what to do with your pets if you need to evacuate.
Post emergency telephone numbers by your phones and make sure your children know how and when to call 911.

Check your insurance coverage - flood damage is not usually covered by homeowners insurance.

Stock non-perishable emergency supplies and a Disaster Supply Kit. You will need candles, flashlights, batteries, enough food and bottled water for your whole family for five days, charcoal, lighter fluid and matches for cooking, mosquito repellent, ice , toilet paper, body wipes, diaper wipes, plastic bags, diapers (as needed). We also recommend keeping hand cleansers like Purell handy.

In the most affected areas, fill your bathtubs and any other containers with water after the storm passes in the event that water pumps fail. This will allow you to still be able to flush your toilet by boiling the water from the tub to the toilet. Be sure to keep small children out of the bathroom to avoid them stumbling into a full tub.

Use a NOAA weather radio or other battery operated transistor radio. Remember to replace its battery every 6 months, as you do with your smoke detectors.

The majority of deaths associated with Hurricanes result in the post storm flooding. Do not venture out after the Hurricane has past if at all possible until officials indicate that it is safe to do so.

Burr-Enzi Bill

I am a big fan of the free market. Make a really good product, everyone will come a-runnin'. Make a really bad product, you end up seeing your customers in court. It is a simple but powerful construct. It works to keep people on the up-an-up and when you remove it, bad things happen.

It is a sad fact of human nature, if we don't think we will be held accountable, we are far less likely to behave well. If you knew you could never be audited, would you pay your taxes? Honestly and on time?

Corporations use cost-benifit analysis to make decisions. If the cost of recalling a car that doesn't work properly will exceede the cost that the lawyers estimate that the company will have to pay in court damages to those injured as a result of the defect, then they tend not to recall the car. They just let people get hurt and take their chances in court.

What would happen if you removed car manufacturers responsibility for making sure cars were safe and didn't even make them share crash test information with the public? What would happen to those cost-benefit ratios?

If the Vioxx disaster happened with Merck knowing full well that the kind of huge lawsuits that are happening now were a possibility, and still chose to knowingly put out a painkiller that caused heart attacks and death, then what in the hell is going to stop them from putting out bad products when they can't be sued?

Oh... and don't miss the last paragraph about the new health agency that won't be subject to FOIA. BONUS!

From The Schafer Report:

"Burr-Enzi Bill Gives Pharma Greenlight To Ignore Product Safety

In July, Senator Richard Burr Defended Vioxx, claiming media blew associative health risks out of proportion; his newest legislation slams door on vaccine safety"

From The National Autism Association:

"Washington, DC – New legislation is said to go into mark-up today. Much like legislation introduced by Senator Bill Frist in the past, the Biodefense Bill gives immunity to vaccine-makers and softens guidelines for product safety. The bill also grants profitable incentives to the pharmaceutical industry, and permission to suppress safety data.

In a statement today issued by advocates for children’s rights and safety, parents say that Burr and Enzi are capitalizing on fear and intimidation, and that drug companies are using generous campaign donations to seduce Congress into awarding the pharmaceutical industry unprecedented liability protection, thereby removing any financial incentive for manufacturers to produce safe vaccines.

“We’ve seen this before,” says parent Lori McIlwain (Cary, NC). “Whenever a health scare arises, certain political figures use it as an opportunity to provide immunity to drug companies. What’s ironic is that by cushioning safety standards, they are creating an equally detrimental health scare,” she says. McIlwain and other North Carolina parents met with Burr in July. “He was gracious enough to meet with us in person and we were grateful; however, his stance on Vioxx struck us as odd. He defended the drug and blamed the media for its demise,” says McIlwain. “He seemed to side more with compromises on human health, than pushing for optimum health by
way of safe medical products. Now he’s using the media’s coverage of the bird flu to his advantage."

The "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005", influenced by drug industry lobbyists, abandons children and citizens of this country. It also rewards a pattern of bad behavior by an industry recognized for suppressing safety data on medical products.

Similar to past legislation, this bill will once again spawn opposition. Parents are willing to go back to Washington and launch a media campaign. Back in 2002, a campaign that targeted Senator Bill Frist for his liability–protection legislation raised enough awareness to gather more parents for the current fight. “We have an army now,” says NAA Executive Director Jo Pike. “There will be no dollar-figure placed on the health of children."

The bill creates a new agency called the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA) and specifically states that FOIA will not apply to their duties, activities and advisory boards. According to the legislation, states will lose rights their rights to hear vaccine-related court cases and documents will be unavailable to the public."

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:

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.

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.

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!