Autism and scapegoating Big Pharma

[Angel Heart]

OH LOL... and Thank You for the correction.

 

[Paulie]

Angel Heart, it's not necessarily the MMR shot itself that supposedly has a link to causing Autism. It's the preservative called Thymerisol that is present in the vials of most, if not all, vaccines. They contain a certain amount of Mercury. A newborn hasn't yet built up its immune system to the point where it can handle amounts of toxins, such as Mercury.

I'm not trying to say there is a proven link, but it raises enough concern to warrant being skeptical about pumping your kid full of shots at such a young age. We're personally going to wait until our son is about 3 or 4 before we vaccinate him (if we decide on public school, which is still up in the air).

I'd rather err on the side of caution. Measles, mumps and Rubella aren't exactly plaguing our country. I'll take my chances.

I've also seen way too many stories, one from someone I know personally, about how kids were completely normal socially, and after they received specific doses of certain vacs, they suddenly took a turn for the worse.

It's a scary thing, and Autism is one of the toughest disorders to deal with. My GF works with handicapped people and she says nothing is tougher than Autism.

 

[bennylava]

I have heard lots of those stories too. There was a boy in my daughter's class who was perfectly normal until his third round of shots, and then boom! he was autistic suddenly.

 

[Angel Heart]

Oh I bet there where signs before. Are you going to take science fact from someone you met that just happens to be in your kids class or the ones studying it?

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism/complete-publication.shtml

Research into Causes and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Research into the causes, the diagnosis, and the treatment of autism spectrum disorders has advanced in tandem. With new well-researched standardized diagnostic tools, ASD can be diagnosed at an early age. And with early diagnosis, the treatments found to be beneficial in recent years can be used to help the child with ASD develop to his or her greatest potential.

In the past few years, there has been public interest in a theory that suggested a link between the use of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, and autism. Although mercury is no longer found in childhood vaccines in the United States, some parents still have concerns about vaccinations. Many well-done, large-scale studies have now been done that have failed to show a link between thimerosal and autism. A panel from the Institute of Medicine is now examining these studies, including a large Danish study that concluded that there was no causal relationship between childhood vaccination using thimerosal-containing vaccines and the development of an autism spectrum disorder,28 and a U.S. study looking at exposure to mercury, lead, and other heavy metals.

Research on the Biologic Basis of ASD

Because of its relative inaccessibility, scientists have only recently been able to study the brain systematically. But with the emergence of new brain imaging tools—computerized tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), study of the structure and the functioning of the brain can be done. With the aid of modern technology and the new availability of both normal and autism tissue samples to do postmortem studies, researchers will be able to learn much through comparative studies.

Postmortem and MRI studies have shown that many major brain structures are implicated in autism. This includes the cerebellum, cerebral cortex, limbic system, corpus callosum, basal ganglia, and brain stem.29 Other research is focusing on the role of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and epinephrine.

Research into the causes of autism spectrum disorders is being fueled by other recent developments. Evidence points to genetic factors playing a prominent role in the causes for ASD. Twin and family studies have suggested an underlying genetic vulnerability to ASD.30 To further research in this field, the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange, a project initiated by the Cure Autism Now Foundation, and aided by an NIMH grant, is recruiting genetic samples from several hundred families. Each family with more than one member diagnosed with ASD is given a 2-hour, in-home screening. With a large number of DNA samples, it is hoped that the most important genes will be found. This will enable scientists to learn what the culprit genes do and how they can go wrong.

Another exciting development is the Autism Tissue Program (http://www.brainbank.org), supported by the Autism Society of America Foundation, the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (M.I.N.D.) Institute at the University of California, Davis, and the National Alliance for Autism Research. The program is aided by a grant to the Harvard Brain and Tissue Resource Center (http://www.brainbank.mclean.org), funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Studies of the postmortem brain with imaging methods will help us learn why some brains are large, how the limbic system develops, and how the brain changes as it ages. Tissue samples can be stained and will show which neurotransmitters are being made in the cells and how they are transported and released to other cells. By focusing on specific brain regions and neurotransmitters, it will become easier to identify susceptibility genes.

Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that a contributing cause for autism may be abnormal brain development beginning in the infant’s first months. This“growth dysregulation hypothesi” holds that the anatomical abnormalities seen in autism are caused by genetic defects in brain growth factors. It is possible that sudden, rapid head growth in an infant may be an early warning signal that will lead to early diagnosis and effective biological intervention or possible prevention of autism.31

LOTS MORE......

It has been here all along. Yeah, it sucks for these parents and the children. We just happen to hear of it more and actually are tracking numbers now. It's not that the rates have actually gone up.

Just like horrible things in the news. It's not that bad things are happening more, we are just hearing about everything happening everywhere. Things that would of maybe been a small article at the back of a local newspaper are now being seen by everyone everywhere.

 

[CrimsonWhite]

http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2007/06/a...-pharma_19.html

It was discussed in an earlier thread that my wife is a doctoral researcher in this field. I asked for more info on this. She tells me that autism is in fact in genetic coding, that can be proven, the problem is that the vaccines, primarily a preservative called Thymerisol enhances the symptoms. The study that she is working in now actually has detox as part of the treatment regimen. She tells me the difference that it makes is nothing short of amazing. By detoxing, the symptoms are alleviated enough to actually connect with these kids and teach them life skills. It really is facinating. Don't have any links yet, but as soon as she publishes, I will post for you.

 

[Angel Heart]

That would be awesome. I'll be sure to pass it on to others as well.

 

[bennylava]

Do you know what kind of detoxing? Is it chelation?

 

[midcan5]

Why could it not be both a propensity and an outside cause? Smoking for instance kills some while others seem little affected. That link in smoking may have been found.