Out of the Abundance of the Heart, the Mouth Speaks

From John Gilmore of A-CHAMP:

Check out the CDC's official annual report:

The State of the CDC, Fiscal Year 2004, CDC Protecting Health for Life

http://www.cdc.gov/cdc.pdf

Do a search for "Autism".

What do you find?

Nothing.

Are we surprised?

Perhaps you might want to ask CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, what this says about CDC priorities.

Call her at 404-639-7000.

From the National Autism Association

On the Combating Autism Act of 2005

Dear National Autism Association Members and Friends:

As you know, the Combating Autism Act of 2005 was first presented to us in July of this year for our review. After carefully analyzing the draft we were given, we were unable to support the bill as it was written. Our primary concerns were as follows:

1) No mention of vaccines or vaccine components, as an area of study or in any other context, was contained in the bill.

2) Adequate oversight of government involvement in steering research and management of data was not incorporated.

3) Date of 2008 to begin research on environmental factors in the development of autism was delaying what should be a main priority in the research agenda.

4) Funding for biomedical research was too low.

After several discussions among our board members and with others in the autism community, we submitted to the other groups assessing the bill an alternate version that included our suggestions. Following several teleconferences among our board members working on the bill, and further discussions with other organizations within our community, a new version of the Combating Autism Act has been written. In its present form, we believe the bill is now one we can support.

To address our first concern regarding the absence of language including vaccines, the bill has been revised to state, under Section 499B:

'(b) Autism Centers of Excellence-

'(1) IN GENERAL- In carrying out subsection (a)(1), the Director of NIH shall award grants and contracts to public or nonprofit private entities to pay all or part of the cost of planning, establishing, improving, and providing basic operating support for centers of excellence regarding research on autism.

'(2) RESEARCH- Each center of excellence that receives funding under paragraph (1) shall conduct basic and clinical research into autism. Such research—

'(A) shall be conducted in the fields of developmental neurobiology, genetics, epigenetics, pharmacology, nutrition, immunology, neuroimmunology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and toxicology; and

(B) should include--

'(i) investigations into the cause, diagnosis, early detection, prevention, control, treatment, and cure of autism;

'(ii) research on high-risk infant siblings; and

‘(iii) research on a broad array of environmental triggers which may have a possible role in autism, including but not limited to vaccines, other biological and pharmaceutical products, and their components (including preservatives).

Our second concern regarding inadequate oversight has now been addressed by the following three mechanisms that we believe will allow for greater transparency and integrity:

1) Expanded IACC (Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee), a federal committee that meets twice per year to review and revise the Autism Research Roadmap. A minimum of 6 members, or one-third of the membership, must be from the autism community. Up until now, this membership has been discretionary, but passage of the Combating Autism Act will require that these positions from within the autism community be filled.

2) Formation of an Autism Advisory Board, a panel comprised of scientists and members of autism advocacy groups formed for the purpose of peer review of research grants.

3) Establishment of a Congressionally Mandated Medical Research Program, which requires public participation in research funding decisions.

The third concern of delaying crucial environmental research until 2008 has been addressed by moving the date up to coincide with passage of the bill, effective in 2006.

Lastly, the funding for all research, including biomedical that we believe will provide the most meaningful answers for our children, has increased to over a billion dollars. While this figure includes all areas of research, the oversight mechanisms listed above will allow those in the autism advocacy community, including those emphasizing the critical need to address neurotoxic exposures, to have a hand in allocating funds.

Although this bill may not fully address the concerns of many in the autism community, we believe it to be a first step among many that will be necessary to meet the tremendous needs of individuals diagnosed with autism and related neurological disorders.

In addition to lending our support to this legislation, we are urging Congress to declare a National Emergency regarding the autism epidemic, and to take the appropriate steps to address this epidemic that claims 100 children each day.

To adequately confront this national emergency, it is imperative that an official investigation of government malfeasance regarding the use of the mercury-based vaccine preservative thimerosal be set in motion immediately with Congressional or Senate hearings. This step must be taken to ensure that no stone be left unturned in determining the affects this exposure to mercury has had upon nearly an entire generation of American children, and to determine what role our regulatory agencies may have played in allowing such widespread and prolonged exposures to occur.

Furthermore, we are requesting a full investigation of the Institute of Medicine’s handling of the clinical research regarding thimerosal its Immunization Safety Committee members were entrusted with reviewing in 2004. We are asking that a new committee be convened to evaluate the research ignored by the IOM in 2004, along with the relevant research that has been published since the former committee adjourned.

The measure of a civilized society is the manner in which it treats its most vulnerable populations. If action is not taken now, this plague will only increase and so will the cost to our society.

The National Autism Association is prepared to support this legislation, and after its enactment, will closely monitor the policies and programs it establishes.

Sincerely,

National Autism Association
Officers and Board Members

NAAR + Autism Speaks = Autism Speaks, Inc.

I wonder what this means for the direction of NAAR's research dollars. NAAR is known for not taking the mercury hypothesis very seriously, Autism Speaks is very new to the game and I don't really know what they think of the mercury theory. We will keep an eye on this to see if this leads to any changes.

Autism Speaks And The National Alliance For Autism Research (NAAR) Announce Plans To Combine Operations

The Groups Bring Together Two of the Leading Research and Advocacy Organizations in the Fight Against the Nation's Fastest Growing Serious Developmental Disorder

(New York, N.Y. - Nov. 30, 2005) - Autism Speaks and the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) have signed a memorandum of understanding to combine operations and bring together two of the leading organizations engaged in the battle against autism, it was announced today by Mark Roithmayr, president of Autism Speaks and Glenn Tringali, chief executive officer of NAAR. The two organizations expect to conclude all due diligence and final board approvals by January 31, 2006 and will collectively be known as Autism Speaks, Inc.

The consolidation of the two charities is based on their joint commitment to accelerate and fund biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism spectrum disorders; to increase awareness of the nation's fastest growing developmental disorder; and to advocate for the needs of affected families. Autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed in one in 166 children, affecting four times as many boys as girls. The diagnosis of autism has increased tenfold in the last decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called autism a national public health crisis whose cause and cure remain unknown.

“Autism Speaks and NAAR share a vision that collaboration and cooperation among the best minds and impassioned advocates within the autism community will provide the most effective, cohesive realization of our common mission,” said Roithmayr and Tringali in a joint statement. “Research, treatment and awareness are, and will continue to be, the priorities as we move forward.”

Under the proposed terms of the transaction, the consolidated organization will maintain NAAR's nationwide walk program and international affiliates, as well as integrate the current NAAR scientific research processes and protocols. The professional staffs of both organizations are also expected to be integrated over the next year.

The boards of both Autism Speaks and NAAR, together with their founders, were unanimous in their decision to move forward with the consolidation. It is expected that under the new structure, the funds dedicated to autism biomedical research will increase significantly.


Autism Speaks, Inc.

Autism Speaks was co-founded by Suzanne and Bob Wright in February, 2005 in response to the diagnosis of their grandson. Bob Wright is Chairman and CEO of NBC Universal and is Vice Chair of General Electric. The organization's guiding principles have been to raise public awareness about autism and its devastating effects on individuals, families, and society, and to raise funds to support effective biomedical research in autism. Since its launch 9 months ago, Autism Speaks has raised over $30 million.

National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR)

Founded in 1994, NAAR was the first national nonprofit organization in the country dedicated to funding and accelerating biomedical research exclusively for autism spectrum disorders. In 1997, NAAR put biomedical research on the map when it awarded five grants, each totaling approximately $30,000, to pioneering autism researchers. Three of those initial five researchers have attracted larger, multi-million dollar grants from the National Institutes of Health based on their autism pilot studies initially funded by NAAR, exactly as NAAR hoped would occur. To date, NAAR has committed almost $30 million to fund more than 270 autism research projects, fellowships and collaborative programs worldwide - more than any other non-governmental organization. NAAR's ongoing funding of pilot studies and collaborative research projects, as well as its advocacy for increased government funding, have played a key role in the increased funding for autism research at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I'm Back

I have been mostly absent for the last week as I was prepping for Chandler's IEP mediation with the school district. I am thrilled to say that our agreement was signed yesterday and Chandler will be getting all the services that he needs.

I truly believe that God was looking out for my little guy as he ended up with much more support than I thought we would be able to get them to agree to. I am really grateful to Him.

So I have missed so much news and a very volatile conversation (at least for my blog) and I hope to catch up over the next week.

Ginger

Adopt-A-Child For the Holidays

AutismCares is a nonprofit agency committed to helping families affected by the gulf region hurricanes who have children with autism.

AutismCares has over 150 families in our database that need help after the Gulf Hurricanes. We are working to provide them with housing, clothing, food, medicines, beds, and other necessities. These families are facing an uncertain future and a holiday season that will be bare minimum, at best. We need your help to bring the holidays to these families. On our site is a list of children affected by the hurricanes and some of their needs and wishes. Please go to our site http://66.148.5.47/autismcares/adoptachild.htm and share your generosity this holiday season with a child in need.

Sincerely,
Holly Bortfeld
AutismCares Care Package Coordinator
www.autismcares.org

AutismCares is a coalition of National Autism Organizations who have come together to help families dealing with autism who are victims of the gulf region hurricanes.

Adventures in Autism Goes Commercial

Up until now I have avoided banners, ads and the like as to not sully the purity of the blog. But if I wanna keep on a’blogging as often as I would like, I need funding. I will keep an eye out for federal blogging grants to apply for, but in the mean time, I have another idea.

My Fund Razor is a new site for fundraising. I have my own little portal where you, the adoring blog reader can do your shopping on great places like Amazon, Ebay, Home Depot, Disney, Macy’s, Starbucks, Target, Wal-Mart, Family Christian Bookstores, and on and on and on, and a portion of your purchase will go to supporting my blogging habit.

I will be donating half of my take to the Autism Research Institute.

If you will be shopping online this season, please consider doing it through http://autism.myfundrazor.org

Thank you for your support.

Rich Tucker Wants You To Investigate This

Investigate This
Nov 27, 2005
by Rich Tucker

Oh goody.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor who’s been investigating the supposed outing of a CIA operative, plans to present evidence to another federal grand jury. “The investigation is continuing,” Fitzgerald announced, just weeks after most assumed it -- almost two years old and counting -- had finally ended.

This will be the second grand jury called to investigate whether or not Joe Wilson’s wife Valerie Plame was outed. In the long run, though, few Americans will care about -- or even be aware of -- the outcome of Fitzgerald’s probe (assuming it eventually ends). But as long as we’ve got a grand jury impaneled, let’s have it ask some questions about something that actually affects countless American lives. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

There are more questions than answers about autism. But unfortunately, it’s no longer unusual. In her new book about manners, author Lynne Truss writes that we’re living in “an age of social autism, in which people just can’t see the value of imagining their impact on others.”

Imagine reading that sentence two decades ago. In 1985, an estimated 4 in 10,000 children were diagnosed autistic. Most people went through life without meeting an autistic person. Autism then was similar to schistosomiasis -- even if you had heard of it, you probably didn’t know what the symptoms were. Today the Centers for Disease Control says as many as 1 of every 166 children is on the autism spectrum. Autism today is something that afflicts a son, nephew or cousin.

Everyone knows what it means to be “autistic.”

Still, the government seems stumped. “There are no effective means to prevent the disorder, no fully effective treatment and no cure,” the National Institute of Mental Health admitted in its February 2005 annual report on autism to Congress. And on its Web page, the CDC lists three things it is “doing about ASDs.” Two are studies tracking the number of children with autism in the Atlanta area and in Brick County, New Jersey. The third is funding various state projects. “These state projects look at how common ASDs are in children. Some of the projects also study what factors make it more likely that a child will have an ASD,” the CDC says.
Well, that’s a start, but a slow one.

Let’s use the grand jury to dispell some of the fog and ask some difficult questions. For example, in his book “Evidence of Harm” author David Kirby writes that thimerosal, a preservative long used in many vaccines, “never underwent any of the rigorous safety trials now required for FDA approval.” Thimerosal is 50 percent mercury, and mercury is a known toxin.

A grand jury could subpoena records to find out if the government (which approved thimerosal) or drug companies (which included the preservative in their vaccines) ever ran any tests to determine if it really was safe to inject it into infants. And if there were no such tests, perhaps a grand jury could find out why not.
This isn’t simply an academic exercise. While it’s been removed from most childhood inoculations, thimerosal remains in one vaccine: The flu shot we’ve heard so much about.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says flu shots are critical. “Since young children are at such high risk of getting the flu, the AAP recommends the flu vaccine regardless of whether it contains thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative,” the group says on its Web site. “To date, there is no scientific proof that mercury in vaccines caused autism despite years of study.” That’s true, but it’s also true that thimerosal has never been proven safe, either. Our grand jury could ask the AAP if medical standards have changed -- is it now all right to inject a substance that may be dangerous, as long as it hasn’t been proven dangerous?
The jurists might also want to hear from some experts who question the use of thimerosal. Michael Wagnitz is a senior chemist for the state of Wisconsin. He’s urging his state to stop giving thimerosal-containing flu shots. “Liquid waste needs to go to a hazardous site if it contains more than 200 ppb mercury. Is it really safe to inject people with a level of mercury 250 times higher than hazardous waste?” he asked in a recent letter republished by the UPI wire service’s “Age of Autism” column.

It’s said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Today our government spends time and money investigating whether or not a CIA officer’s name was leaked to a reporter. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of children have descended into autism, with no apparent hope of a cure.

Wouldn’t it be grand if a simple grand jury investigation could help change that?
Rich Tucker is an editor in Washington D.C. and a columnist for Townhall.com. You can email him here.

What Suzanne Messina is Thankful For

On this early Thanksgiving Morning, it seems right to pause and reflect on how far this effort has come. The synergistic effect of dedication, loyalty, intellect and emotion that gathers like a hurricane begins to take hold, and creates a wellspring from which truth emerges.

With truth as strong as this, a clear focus is a given. We draw on our patience, our knowledge, and our passion to sustain us, and to keep us focused and positive about achieving our goals.

Life is fleeting, passion and justice elusive. In this somewhat narrowly defined window of time we call our life, we have, collectively, found that passion as we now fight for justice; may we strive to promote truth, destroy myths, and save the bodies and souls of our children from the poison that we know as mercury.

As Evidence of Harm surrounds us, Love drives us, knowledge empowers us, unity saves us.

May each of us use our individual skills to hold the status quo accountable to that evidence, to effect change, and to free our children from the invisible ties that bind them, so that their voices and their bodies become once again...their own.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, and find comfort in the love you have fostered, the love that surrounds you. The love of family

Suzanne Messina

What I Am Thankful For

For my beautiful boys and that Webster has a happy little brother that will play with him. For my adorable red head that mugs for the camera. I am thankful that Chandler is halfway home to us.

What Bob Moffitt is Thankful For

From the Grandparent of an Autistic Child:

It has been three long years since my grandson (Bobby) was diagnosed autistic. While his diagnosis was a devastating experience for our entire family, we have learned we have much to be thankful for. Such as the pure joy my wife and I experience as we stand curbside with Bobby's baby sister Kristin, eagerly anticipating the moment his school bus doors will open revealing a very happy child smiling ear to ear in clear recognition he is home. The moment is even more joyful on those rare occasions when he manages to blurt out "Hi". It is amazing how much hope we derive from hearing his voice speak such a simple word. Hope for our little guy's improvement is something our entire family can be thankful for on this day of thanksgiving.

I would also like to thank God for all those who have given our family reasons to hope:

David Kirby for his talent as a journalist, writer and now accomplished speaker, whose best selling book "Evidence of Harm" dared raise troubling questions about the cause of autism, at a time when powerful interests work tirelessly to prevent those questions from being raised. David exhibits all the personal courage of a man who remained fearless even after finding he had been tossed into a pit of rampaging, hungry lions.

Dan Schulman of the Columbia Journalism Review for his extremely courageous critical examination of major media's blatant unfairness in presenting the raging debate over thimerosal and autism.

Dan Olmstead for his continuing series of columns asking the right questions and seeking the right answers. This sounds far easier than it actually is, especially after reading Mr. Schulman's review illustrating that media fairness is a rare exception. That rare exception is Dan Olmstead.

Lenny Schafer for his "Schafer Autism Report" which in my family is required reading. We have learned nothing compares with SAR if we want to maintain daily vigilance over quickly unfolding events.

Dr. David Wakefield for his dedicated, determined resolve to pursue medical research that may one day help unravel the mysteries of autism that have stymied his medical colleagues for decades. Dr. Wakefield is a battle-scarred veteran of an often dirty war being waged to shed sunlight on subjects that many would prefer remain unexamined in the light of day.

Prof Boyd E. Haley, University of Kentucky, who has offered a truly remarkable hypothesis: Thimerosal in mandated vaccines is the major etiological agent in the recent increase in autism and ADD. Prof Haley's hypothesis has not been received with enthusiasm by many in the academic or scientific communities who appear desperate the cause and cure of autism remain unexplained and incurable.

Mark and David Geier who have undertaken the thankless task of attempting to penetrate a carefully constructed wall of secrecy behind which too many public health agencies may have hidden evidence of their failure to act responsibly on the issue of thimerosal and vaccines. It is this lack of transparancy that causes a public perception, fairly or not, that public health officials are being less than truthful with the people they are sworn to protect.

DAN doctors and N.Y.S. BOCES teachers who have provided Bobby the best health and educational care our family could hope for. These extraordinary people have made little Bobby's life far better than it would be without their dedication and compassion.

I want to offer special thanks to all those moms and dads who began this lonely fight to ascertain what happened to our children in the quiet isolation of their family kitchens and living rooms. I mean those men and women who are responsible for constructing the support organizations that my family found already in place when we first learned of Bobby's autism. These grass roots organizations provided my family with the comfort and immediate access to information at a time when we thought we were all alone. There are many but here are a few that my family turned to in our time of need: CAN, NAA, Moms and Dads Against Mercury, Educate Before you Vaccinate, DAN, Safe-Minds, ASA, National Vaccine Information Center, Generation Rescue, Autism Research Institute, A-CHAMP. These organizations continue to provide our family with reasons to hope that our little guy is not lost forever. On this Thanksgiving Day, that is something to be truly thankful for.

- Bob Moffitt

FDA Says Tamiflu Did Not Cause Japan Deaths

Dr. Mercola's comments:

So, even if these drugs or vaccines wind up killing innocent children, these companies will not be held liable. But you don't have to worry as on Saturday the FDA announced that Tamiflu was safe. Of course, this is the same agency that gave Vioxx its safetly blessing before it killed 55,000 people.

Read the whole thing here.

Regulatory agency asserts Tamiflu safe

WASHINGTON (AP) — The anti-flu drug Tamiflu is safe, federal health advisers said Friday, after finding no direct link between the drug and the deaths of 12 Japanese children who had taken it.

"If we ever have a pandemic of avian flu, which is a debatable point, people want to know that they have a drug that will not cause more (harm) than the flu itself," said Dr. Robert Nelson, chairman of the Food and Drug Administration's Pediatric Advisory Committee. "There is no evidence that this will."

The committee reviewed Tamiflu as part of a routine safety check of drugs whose original uses had been extended to cover children.

Interest was raised, however, because the drug is key in the arsenal of treatments for pandemics caused by bird flu or another superflu strain.

The committee voted unanimously that no change was needed in the label to reflect the deaths of the Japanese children or other adverse affects. But it did say that information should be added to the label about serious skin reactions.

The FDA is not bound by its advisory committee recommendations, but usually follows them.

Nelson said the FDA should still be vigilant in going forward despite the finding that there was reason for concern about the drug at this point.

The committee asked the FDA staff to provide an update in about a year on any adverse reactions associated with Tamiflu. A full-report should be made in two years, the committee said.

"Influenza is a serious disease. Kids die of influenza, both in Japan and the United States, and if you give a drug to people who are at risk of dying, there will be people who die who got the drug," Nelson said. "There is no signal the drug is doing it as opposed to the disease."

There have been no reports of deaths linked to Tamiflu in the United States or Europe.

Melissa Truffa, of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, told the panel earlier Friday that they found no direct link between the use of Tamiflu and the deaths in Japan.

The FDA staff said Tamiflu is used much more often in Japan than in the United States — 11.6 million prescriptions for children in Japan between 2001 and 2005, compared to about 872,000 during that same period in the United States.

An official with the drug maker Roche Holdings AG told the commission that there are 10 times the number of adverse reactions to the drug in Japan than in the United States and about 10 times the number of prescriptions. He said that studies show no higher mortality rates for users of Tamiflu vs. non-users.

"The absolute numbers are in the opposite direction," said Joseph Hoffman, a vice president at Roche.

In addition to the deaths, briefing material prepared by the FDA staff also includes reports of 32 "neuropsychiatric events" associated with Tamiflu, all but one experienced by Japanese patients. Those cases included delirium, hallucinations, convulsions and encephalitis.

Roche said several studies in the United States and Canada had shown that the incidence of death in influenza patients who took Tamiflu was far lower than in those who did not.

The company also has supplied the FDA with two additional studies it commissioned that evaluated the safety of Tamiflu in pediatric patients.

Complicating the issue is that many of the Japanese death and adverse reaction reports list symptoms commonly associated with the flu, Dr. Murray Lumpkin, deputy commissioner of the FDA, said prior to the meeting.

"It is very difficult, when the underlying disease causes what it is being reported, to figure out: Is it the underlying disease? Is it the drug?" he said.

The popularity of Tamiflu in Japan may explain in part the number of reports from that country: Of 32 million people treated with Tamiflu since its approval in 1999, 24 million were in Japan, according to Roche.

Japan's Health Ministry warned last week that Tamiflu may induce "strange behavior" after reporting that two teenage boys died shortly after taking the medicine.

The Japanese distributor of the Roche-patented drug told health officials it could not rule out a link between Tamiflu and the deaths.

However, Roche said earlier this week that it "carefully reviewed these events and has concluded that a causal link cannot be established."

The U.S. labeling for Tamiflu lists nausea and vomiting as its most serious side effects. Its labeling in Japan includes any adverse effects that have been reported — including impaired consciousness, abnormal behavior and hallucinations — regardless of whether they can be attributed to the drug, according to Roche.

Tamiflu is one of the few drugs believed effective in treating bird flu, which health officials fear could spark a pandemic should it mutate into a form easily passed from human to human.

Gone Fishin'/Umbilical Cord Clamping

I have been absent for the last week, fighting Chandler's schooling battles. I hope to be back at full speed after next Wed. when our mediation meeting with the school system will take place.

Until then, I may post randomly.

Like this one:

Every once in a while I will run across an autism theory that I have never heard of. Once before, as I will do today, I will just throw it out there for people to chew on. I have no idea if this has any validity or not, but thought I would mention it as a part of our continuing conversation.

Letters to the British Medical Journal Online
George M. Morley, MB ChB FACOG,Retired
Eillen Simon, R.N. PhD

Sir:

Recent rates for autism spectral disorders are estimated to be 3-4 times higher than 30 years ago (1). This increase is partly accounted for by changes in methodological factors, but the influence of new environmental exposures cannot be discounted.

A causal association with measles-mumps-rubella immunization is discounted (2) and that with mercury-containing vaccines is weak (3). However, is an association with the dramatic increase in immediate clamping of the umbilical cord (ICC) at birth possible?

ICC is routinely applied during premature, operative and "at risk" births, and increasingly during "normal" births following the recommendation (4) that a segment of the cord should be retrieved immediately after delivery for medico-legal purposes.

The immediate effect of ICC is to deprive the neonate of placental respiration and transfusion resulting in complete asphyxia until the lungs function, and 30%-50% loss of the neonate's natural blood volume; the combined hypoxia and hypovolemia / ischemia is then conducive of hypoxic ischemic brain injury. The neonate that receives a full placental transfusion has enough iron to prevent anemia during the first year of life(5), but blood loss in a neonate subjected to ICC becomes evident in infancy as anemia.(5)

In grade school children, anemia correlates with all types of autistic disorder (6) and the degree of anemia correlates with the degree of mental deficiency; (7) correcting the anemia does not correct the defect.

Kinmond et al. (8) showed that delayed cord clamping combined with gravity assisted placental transfusion prevented anemia (the need for blood transfusion) in preemies. Hack et al. (9) found a high incidence of poor achievement in low birth weight babies.

The correlation between autism and birth complications is supported by aother sudies. Hultman (10) reports a great increase in the risk of autism in cesarean deliveries, deliveries with fetal distress and five minute Apgar scores below seven. These obstetrical situations correlate with ICC.

In extensive studies on brain damage from induced birth asphyxia (11) in primates, ICC combined with pulmonary obstruction was used routinely to produce asphyxia, brain damage and cerebral palsy. In milder cases of asphyxia, memory defects were noted without any permanent neurological defect; brain stem nuclear damage was noted at autopsy.(12)

Meyers (11) found. in monkeys, that when placental circulation was left intact by delayed cord clamping, resuscitation of the depressed fetus did not result in brain damage. In humans, Gunther (13) and Peltonen (14) demostrated continued placental function (respiration and transfusion) after birth, and concluded that "there is good reason in cases of resuscitation to keep the placental circulation intact".

I therefore conclude that ICC, especially when imposed on existitng birth asphyxia, can cause mental impairment without obvious neurological impairment, and therefore may well be a significant contributory cause of the current autism epidemic.

Erasmus Darwin predicted the autism epidemic 200 years ago, and left instructions for its prevention and its correction (15)

"Another thing very injurious to the child, is the tying and cutting of the navel string too soon; which whould always be left till the child has not only repeatedly breathed but till all pulsation in the cord ceases. As otherwise, the child is much weaker than it ought to be, a portion of the blood being left in the placenta, which ought to have been in the child."

References:

1. Fombonne E The Prevalence of autism. JAMA 2003;289:87-89

2. Taylor B. et al. Measles, mumps and rubella vaccination ... in children with autism. BMJ 2002;324:393-396

3. Pichichero ME et al. Mercury concentration and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines containing thiomersal: Lancet 2002;360:1737- 1741

4. ACOG COmmittee Opinion on Obstetric Practice. Number 138. Int J. Gyn Obs 1994:45:303-304

5. Linderkamp O. Placental transfusion: determinants and effects. Clinics in Perinatology 1982;9:559-592

6. Lozoff et al. Iron deficiency anemia and Iron therap[y effects on infant development test performance. Pediatrics 1987;79:981-995

7. HurtadoEK et al. Early childhood anemia and mild to moderate mental retardation. Am J Clin Nut 1999; 69(1): 115-9

8. Kinmond et al. Umbilical Cord Clamping and Preterm Infants: a Randomized Trial. BMJ 1993; 306: 172-175

9. Hack M, et al. Outcomes in Young adulthood for very low birth weight infants. New Eng J Med Vol. 346, NO. 3 Jan, 2002:149-157

10. Department of Medical Epidemiology, Karolinska institutet, S- 17277 Stockholm, Sweden. Christina Hultman@mep.ki.se

11. Myers,RE (1972) Two patterns of perinatal brain danmage. American J Obst and Gynec. 112:246-276

12. Windle et al. Brain Damage by Asphyxia at Birth. Scientific American 1969 Oct;221(4):76-84

13. Gunther M The transfer of blood between the baby and the placenta in the minutes after birth. Lancet 1957; I:1277-1280

14. Peltonen T. Placental transfusion, Advantage - Disadvantage. Eur J Pediatr. 1981;137:141-146

15 Darwin E. Zoonomia 1801; Vol III, p301

Further references at www.cordclamping.com

Competing interests: None declared

Orac Gets Punked

JB Handley of Generation Rescue, who has been at odds with several bloggers for their position that mercury poisoning and autism have nothing to do with one another, has punked his online adversaries.

He bought domain names similar to theirs, oracknows.com, supportvaccination.com and autismdiva.com, redirected them to his site.

Today Orac discovered the punkage.

The picture that I am getting of Handley is of a well intentioned, pissed off bull in a china shop. He is mad about what was done, and is being done, to his, and other autistic children; and he is pushing back with his full weight to fix the problem. ...and he has a lot of weight to throw around.

JB's methods are not ones I would choose, and I feel that his message is a bit narrow, but what he is doing is not wrong, so I am willing to sit by and let him cut a wide path into the debate.

I hope to use it to bring a bit more reason and grace in.