Scientists baffled as autism cases soar in state, with no relief in sight

Someone requested that I post this here, I also posted it in the California forum earlier. Scary article.


Scientists baffled as autism cases soar in state, with no relief in sight
Treatment centers, schools inundated by kids needing help

Katherine Seligman, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, February 4, 2005

California's mysterious explosion of autism cases worsened in 2004, disappointing researchers who had hoped the number of new diagnoses would level off as they searched for an explanation for the neurological disorder.

The number of people treated for autism at regional centers operated by the state Department of Developmental Services increased 13 percent last year from 2003, according to agency figures.

Autism now accounts for a little more than half of the new cases handled at the centers, which treat a variety of developmental problems. An average of nine new autism cases a day come to the state's attention, the vast majority in children 13 and younger.

Scientists have various theories, but there is little agreement about what is driving the growth of autism cases in California. The number of autistic people getting services at the centers has increased from 5,000 in 1993 to more than 26,000 now.

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/04/MNGH2B60I41.DTL

I am bewildered and saddened by these numbers. There is something behind this, and I'm becoming more convinced that it is a man-made problem. Something environmental, something related to chemical additives to food or vaccines, pollution, SOMETHING.

The effects of this growing epidemic are going to be catastrophic. Something must be done to identify the cause and successfully treat the victims.

I have fibromyalgia and CFS; when I was diagnosed over 20 years ago, almost no one had heard of Fibromyalgia, and now it's everywhere. I'm convinced that many illnesses and conditions like autism are caused by man made environmental factors. Something needs to be done, and soon.

I have a lot of things physically and emotionally wrong with me and I fear that the cause might be man-made. But how can we know for sure? And even if we found out what the problems are, I doubt big business would care to stop whatever is happening.

We are at the mercy of Corporate America. God help us all.

plus water supplies that may contain traces, along with the seafood...China has huge coal-fired plants to fuel its industrialization. Are we seeing the effects of this coming in as airborne and, with fish, seaborne vectors ? Small amounts of mercury in women may be enough to set this off ?

You might want to investigate that. How old is your child? I would consider looking into it and suing if warranted.

I'm thinking that if we ever find out autism is caused by something, the something that causes it might be something we use every day, and it's just that in some people, this creates a genetic instability of some sort that gets passed to the child as autism. The parents weren't born with it, it never affected their developing brains, but they pass a damaged gene, say, to their child- a gene damaged by something in the environment.

Watch. Prolonged exposure to electronics of any sort might damage sperm, for example, but in a very specific way, maybe (hah, right, try finding a causal relationship with that example). This is all utter speculation, but I think everyone else is grasping at straws as well.

I wonder what state has the lowest rate? My son has autism but only a mild form.
It was looking like the thimerosol for a while, but that theory's been disproved, especially after seeing this.
It's gotta be some chemical agent exposure of some kind.

I have never sued anyone but this is an outrage and I hope the REAL info comes out. I have a sneaky feeling someone is hiding the FACTS just like the tobacco companies did.

My daughter had a mild case of hydrocephalus with onset IMMEDIATELY after her vaccinations. She has mild learning difficulties but has managed to get up to grade level since she is such a hard worker and so responsible. Other than the mild learning difficulties, she is normal and is very intelligent. (We had her tested).

Simply can't relate to people.

you might be surprised to learn how many of us are right alongside you here at DU! Check out the Disability Issues forum, for instance.

at this rate, we will be in the majority by 2050, and you "neurotypicals" will have to seek out special schools that accommodate your disabilities in the areas of pattern recognition, computer programming, calendar skills, etc. Oh yes, state-run TV will show nothing but science fiction, 24/7. At least you get me as President!! :-)

Seriously, and I've worked in the field (I helped get Asperger syndrome recognized in the U.S.), I can't imagine what's behind this. The thimerosal theory wouldn't explain geographic clusters (kids everywhere in the country get vaccinated), for instance. Naysayers point to better diagnosis and awareness; again, no soap.

Population density in some areas of California is significantly higher than in most areas of the country. Given the sensory sensitivity issues accociated with autism, it seems somewhat plausible that excessive stimulation leads to more "autistic" behaviours in children who would otherwise be seen as merely odd or eccentric.

Not bloody likely.

in this country, anyway, with Tokyo, Mexico City, etc. being off the charts?

Trust me. I lived there for four years. It does indeed have a tendency to exacerbate one's behaviors.

and I'd say that people with autistic-like behaviours (probably somewhere on the spectrum, but undiagnosed) are more likely to gravitate towards science or tech as a career. And California has more of these people than anywhere else in the country. What if the rise in autism is just the result of male and female geeks with mild autistic tendencies marrying and having children? Seems a better explanation than blaming vacines (and the vaccination hypothesis had been pretty well discredited,n anyway).

where's the study that designates the autistic children as definite offspring of science geeks?

I remember reading that 90 percent of autistics have the blood type A, I'm not sure if it was a scientific study or just some random doctor with a bunch of type A's in his waiting room, but it's still interesting to research.

It would support the hypothesis of autism having to do with genetics. The type A blood type occured after the onset of the agricultural lifestyle, or so I've read.

:)

Didn't know it had anything to do with.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

Well some people contend that asperger's syndrom and autism is basically the next stage of evolution trying to assert itself rather messily. Of course, that could be part of a cover up of enviromental and other factors, but it is still interesting. I was diagnosed with atypical autism when I was younger, but I am a blood type o. (that would mean I have a hunter-gatherer blood type)

My theory is that there are monks living without monastaries and breeding like crazy.:)

500% (CA) and 600% (PA) increases in a decade (and a decade where the quality of medical care is, if anything, decreasing) don't just happen because of "better diagnostic tests". Something else is happening, and I'd bet my bottom dollar it's environmental.

although I do wish they had shown it from further back as well. Is there some sort of cycle to the appearance of new cases?

Where's the common denominator?

Oh yes, state-run TV will show nothing but science fiction, 24/7.

I for one salute our nerd overlords. :-)

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

Like:

How does this increase relate to California Population Growth?
:shrug:
or

What has changed in the Doctors ability to diagnose Autism?

And have any "New" type of Autism been added to the list? Like Aspregers (sp?) (very mild form)

Or it could just be the Water Pollution in the 1980's and 1990's? They had lot of drought, and when the water levels are low, pollutants become concentrated.

nt

in fact, California's rate of population growth has slowed to a crawl in recent years. The number of cases of autism has, however, quintupled since '94 (according to the chart).

Asperger syndrome is a separate diagnosis, although it is also considered a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, or Autism Spectrum Condition. If those figures include Asperger's, which I doubt, then they are sloppy figures.

The water pollution angle is a new one to me. Don't some parts of Cal. have high levels of selenium in their water?

...is that when I moved to Santa Barbara in 1983 (to 1986) it was the first time I had ever seen "Water Filtering" Vending machines ($0.25 per Gallon, bring your own Jug), because the water had such a Nasty taste.

I also lived in Central Florida (1989-1994) when they had a fairly bad drought too, water is REALLY nasty in Orlando. And Destin, Florida, if they have a Dry summer, is truly, Un-drinkable. But most of Florida's water is pumped out of the ground, where California's comes from Silt filled Reservoirs.

Since then, I've learned that the Tuna Fish are Loaded with Mercury and one of the house's I grew up in in Indiana was less than a Mile of an EPA SuperFund site, and the other one, We drank the city water, that was also a SuperFund Clean-up site. Their was one more on the other side of town too, of course, the City didn't EVER tell the towns people, I found out about it about 2 years ago, to the Internet. :mad:

So now I wonder if it was that, or all the times had head traumas I had as a kid that caused my Learning Disability.

I did finally find a drug that helped the ADD at age 32.

that millions more live in the central valley and inland empire than in previous generations. And what do those places have in common? Rancid, ungodly polluted from autos and/or agribusiness as well as noxious, polluted soils especially in the central valley.

In the last few generations, excessive amount of anti-biotic intake without being told to take pro-biotics = rampant undiagnosed candidiasis = system wide yeast takeover. Excessive mercury from polluted food and other sources will cause similar problems. Regular doctors having no clue. If you have fibromyalgia, go see an alternative doctor asap.

I looked into systemic candidiasis as a cause for my problems about fifteen years ago and found a lot of quacks. One told me if I took antibiotics again, I'd die. I needed antibiotics for a bad infection, took them and didn't die. Usually only young organisms are affected enough by antibiotics to require anti-yeast drugs or replacement of normal flora in the gut. I learned this in aviculture.

Since then, I've done some reading on the Internet and most doctors agree that systemic candidiasis was a fad disease. Yeast overgrowth is usually a symptom, not a cause. People with yeast overgrowth almost always have an underlying immune system problem. When my father was dying of cancer, he had yeast overgrowth. Yeast overgrowth wasn't the cause of his illness, but it could have been an indicator that something else was horribly wrong.

Do a little reading. I did and it confirmed the conclusion I came to fifteen years ago. After dealing with some of the quacks who "believed" in The Yeast Syndrome by Dr. Crook, I decided for myself that yeast overgrowth was not the cause of my problems, nor the cause of my cousin's problems. The so-called doctors who sold products to combat phantom yeast overgrowth were out for a quick buck. It's the age-old story of people hoping something will help them feel better, only to get suckered into buying products that do nothing or are actually harmful. I lost so much weight on the recommended diet, it set me up for the huge weight gain that came later. I made a bad decision when I trusted these fringe "doctors."

Yeast overgrowth is only a symptom, a symptom I didn't even really have! Something else was causing my health problems.

With each passing generation the telomere portion of the gene becomes shorter. As it gets too short the species becomes more susceptable to various diseases and genetic disorders. In time, the species becomes extinct because it simply can't produce viable ofspring anymore.

It's a speculative theory, but there's a lot of evidence that suggests the human race is reaching the end of its ability as a species to produce viable ofspring.

http://seniorliving.bellaonline.com/articles/art22401.asp
http://www.pandorasfiles.com/article155.htm
http://www.meduniwien.ac.at/user/telomer/pdfs/Stindl_PP_2004b.pdf

Thimerosal
Current thinking suggests that exposure to mercury comes primarily from environmental and dietary sources, dental amalgams, and rare catastrophic events. Recently, however, another common and pervasive source of mercury exposure has been identified. Called thimerosal, it was first approved as an additive by the FDA in the 1930s and has been utilized as a preservative to prevent bacterial contamination in a number of blood and biological products, including vaccines, immune globulins, and over-the-counter eye and nose drops.

The danger that thimerosal presents is that it contains 49.5 percent ethyl mercury by weight. Mercury is a potent human toxicant and has long been the source of many serious health problems. It is especially toxic to the rapidly developing fetal and infant brain. Federal agencies have published acceptable levels for exposure; but in actual fact mercury is a poison at any level. Chemically, thimerosal is a water-soluble, cream-colored crystalline powder. In the human body it is metabolized to ethyl mercury and thiosalicylate. The literature on thimerosal metabolism and excretion is old, and toxicological information is limited. In the past there have been case reports of toxicity and death following inadvertent massive exposures to thimerosal.
Infant vaccines that routinely contained thimerosal were DPT (diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus), hepatitis B, and Hib (Hemophilus influenzae type b). Following the vaccination schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), infants were exposed to anywhere from 0.0 to 187.5 mcg of ethyl mercury, depending on the vaccine manufacturer, and total exposure over 18 months could be as high as 237.5 mcg. The dose the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deems allowable is 0.1 mcg per kilogram per day. If an average 5 kg-infant received all thimerosal-containing vaccines at his two-month visit, his exposure that day would be 62.5 mcg ethyl mercury--125 times as great as the EPA guideline.

In its analysis, the FDA multiplied EPA's daily exposure levels of 0.1 mcg per kilogram by 180 days, even though the exposures had occurred on only four days during this time period. It is perplexing that the FDA chose to average an infant's total exposure to mercury over the first six months of life as though children were being exposed on a daily basis, and reported that amounts were only slightly above one of the federal guidelines. According to toxicologists, because of the inherent pharmokinetics of mercury and its long half-life in the body, the effect of a large injected dose cannot be calculated as though it were ingested in small amounts over a longer period of time. This method of analysis inaccurately minimizes the levels of exposure. If one were to look at the mercury in thimerosal from a daily dose perspective, no one vaccine containing thimerosal would meet EPA's guidelines for safe exposure. A simple analogy can be made that since one may safely consume four Tylenol a day in six-hour intervals for a month, consuming 120 Tylenol in one day would be equally safe. (In fact, it would be a fatal dose.) At the same time the FDA findings were released, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published an interim report to physicians on thimerosal in vaccines. In the report, the AAP and Public Health Service agreed that the use of thimerosal-containing vaccines should be reduced or eliminated, stating that any potential risk was of concern.1 While this report discussed much of the uncertainty regarding the potential effect of mercury exposure in vaccines, it clearly stated that there was no evidence of harm having occurred from such exposure. The report also said, "Infants and children who have received thimerosal-containing vaccines do not need to have blood, urine, or hair tested for mercury since the concentrations would be quite low and would not require treatment." Without such tests, of course, it was impossible to know for a fact that there was no "evidence of harm."
Historical Perspective
It is interesting to note that thimerosal was introduced only a few years before Leo Kanner, MD, described a new mental disorder that differed "markedly and uniquely from anything reported" before.2 In its early history autism was diagnosed more frequently in affluent families, but by the 1970s it had become more evenly distributed socioeconomically. This apparent widening in demographics paralleled the increasing availability of vaccines to all children through federally sponsored programs.

The 1980s and especially the 1990s saw a tremendous increase in the occurrence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the vaccine schedule was amended to include both hepatitis B and Hib vaccines, each administered to infants three times during the first six months of life. Their addition to the vaccine schedule potentially tripled an infant's exposure to mercury, should he receive all thimerosal-containing vaccines. An additional concern is that these vaccine exposures occur on top of prenatal exposures from immune globulin preparations (administered during pregnancy to Rh- mothers) and from dietary, dental, and environmental exposures.
In a recent investigation, mercury levels were obtained before and after exposure to 12.5 mcg of ethyl mercury in hepatitis B vaccine in 15 preterm and 5 term infants.4 There were no differences between the two groups with respect to mean prevaccination levels, although postvaccination mercury levels were significantly increased in both groups of infants. Postvaccination levels in preterm infants were three times higher than those of term infants, a difference that was statistically significant. One preterm infant developed a postvaccinal mercury level of 23.6 mcg per liter, which falls within the range known to result in neurodevelopmental dysfunction.5

At the June 21, 2000, meeting of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, held in Atlanta, Thomas Verstraeten of the National Immunization Program presented a review of vaccine safety datalink information on thimerosal-containing vaccines.6 Over 400,000 children participate in the vaccine safety datalink program. From this database, 100,000 charts were reviewed to determine exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines and specific neurodevelopmental outcomes. Statistically significant associations were found between cumulative exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines at two months of age and unspecified developmental delay; three months of age and tics; six months of age and attention deficit disorder; one, three, and six months of age and speech and language delay and neurodevelopmental delays in general. According to a report in the Weekly Epidemiology Record that reviewed the use of thimerosal as a vaccine preservative, "This safety assessment cannot currently exclude the possibility of subtle neurodevelopmental abnormalities in infants from a cumulative exposure to thimerosal in vaccines."7

Books

Cave, Stephanie, MD. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations. Warner Books, 2001.

Hamilton, Lynn M. Facing Autism: Giving Parents Reasons for Hope and Guidance for Help. Waterbrook Press, 2000.

McCandless, Jaquelyn, MD. Children with Starving Brains: A Medical Treatment Guide for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Bramble Company, 2002.

Maurice, Catherine. Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family's Triumph Over Autism. Fawcett Books, 1994.

Paradi, Valerie. Elijah's Cup: A Family's Journey into the Community and Culture of High-Functioning Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. Free Press, 2002.

Seroussi, Karyn. Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A Mother's Story of Research & Recovery. Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Waites, Junee and Helen Swinbourne. Smiling at Shadows: A Mother's Journey Raising an Autistic Child. Ulysses Press, 2002.

Websites

www.autismresearchinstitute.com

www.autism-mercury.com

www.canfoundation.org

www.safeminds.org

www.909shot.com

a coworker who has an autistic child. I have wondered if it's not the vaccines themselves, but the number of vaccines a child receives at one time.

A year ago I took my sister-in-law's new puppy into the vet with a list of 6 or 7 shots he was suppose to get. The vet only gave him three and then scheduled another appointment for the rest. When I asked him why he said it was because there was more and more evidence that overloading a puppy with too many shots at once was not good for their immune system and he was considering spliting the puppy shots into 3 visits (he also said he dropped the office charge for subsequent visits to encourgage people to agree to spreading the vacinations out).

Not that this proves anything. Just a little food for thought. If too many shots at once may mess up a puppy's health, what might they do to a child's system?

California population from 1990 to 2000 rose 13.8% and in the last 4 years rose another 4.8%, so the increase in population doesn't seem to lend itself to more cases of autism.

One thing to note though is that the article and chart states

"The number of autistic people getting services at the centers has increased from 5,000 in 1993 to more than 26,000 now."

It is possible that a small portion of that number is inflated because of the number of autistic people NOT getting services in 1993. Most likely not 20k people but maybe a small portion. Couple that with the 14% population growth and that makes the different smaller still, although I really doubt that it would come close to making up the difference.

Just my uneducated guess.

I live in the South not in California but in decades gone by, Asperger's/high-functioning autistics didn't receive any services. All I received was a label. So you would have quite a large population of people in the past who would not be using any service. Of course, the truly severely affected autistics would be documented and serviced...but not the high-functioning population. My personal best guess is that the "rise" in autism is an artifact of the different way that high-functioning autistics are dealt with today. In the past, many would not even be counted. Whether Asperger's is really a "disability" or a "difference" in some people is an open question in my book.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

we should look at the tons of neurotoxins and hormone mimicing chemicals being dumped into our atmosphere.

If you really examine the way chemicals are tested for safety you can see why something like this is happening (it is happening in Europe too). They do not test for immune damage, neurological damage, developmental damage or endocrine damage - that way when something does show up there is no "data to back up claims of injury."

Like we have found in fetal alcohol syndrome, exposure to certain toxins during certain critical points in development, especially the first three months, can result in abnormal development. By and large, what the mother is exposed to the fetus is exposed to.

Schools and playgrounds are sprayed with awful pesticides, homes are treated too, neighbors spray the entire neighborhood with the drift when they have their yards done, home laundry products and air fresheners often have chloroform in their ingredients, formaldehyde is in just about everything.

We are living in a chemical soup that is making corporations very rich but what is it doing to our population and future generations? No government agency is going to answer that question - just us.

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph: Haile Selassie

a few years ago someone in my neighborhood decided that they HAD to have a perfect Chemlawn lawn. After they began their service, I started to notice that the baby raccoons that spring didn't look well, and I found a very sick bird in my backyard. Some of the baby raccoons could hardly walk, others spun in circles and bit the air, the bird and the raccoons had goo around their eyes. I caught three raccoons and took them and the bird to a wildlife rehabilitator. The raccoons were beyond help, but they saved the bird. Autopsies on the raccoons showed that they had been poisoned, and chemical lawn treatments were suspected. A forth raccoon appeared a month later. I nursed him back to health as best I could (mostly with Pedialyte-he was dehydrated from vomiting), but he suffered permanent brain damage and couldn't be returned to the wild. I found a home for him with someone who was certified to keep wildlife.

If lawn fertilizers can make animals that eat GARBAGE that sick, what are they doing to the rest of us? Seriously-avoid the stuff if you have kids and pets-hell, avoid it period!

My parents had the lawn chemicals applied ONCE, but they stopped after they saw what it did to their dog. She developed lumps all over her body and looked as if someone had scrunched up her coat.

This convinced my parents that there was something unhealthy in the lawn treatment.

(The dog recovered after a day or two.)

I don't use ChemLawn, but I've often worried about the neighborhood Dogs and Kids that run through my Lawn.:think:

Any info on Scott's or Ortho?

where you can start to learn about chemical products. Find the name of the product and the company and fill in for a search.

For example, some of the Scott's products listed have atrazine. Then do some thorough research on atrazine. One thing about atrazine is that it is so bad that Europe has banned it but the US doesn't want to cut into corporate profits. Atrazine is also suspected of causing breast cancer.

note: these safety data sheets are prepared by the corporations that manufacture the products.

http://hazard.com/msds/index.php

I am a pediatrician and board certified child psychiatrist of many years experience. I knew very well how to diagnose autism 25 years ago when I would see a child with it about once every two years. Now I see a child with it about once a month. It used to have an incidence of 1/12,000 children, now it is 1/165. Kids with Asperger's and ADD/ADHD are also very much more common. My best guess is that our environment is inescapably polluted and this is tragic beyond belief.

Recently there has been a great deal of speculation and research into the possibility of autism being an autoimmune illness. Always viewed as a mental condition or a condition that affects the brain, viewing autism as an actual illness puts an entire new face on how Autism Spectrum Disorders are handled and treated. It would be a major shift in the thinking of the medical and educational systems worldwide.

What is an autoimmune illness? The immune system is one of the most vital systems in the human body. It serves to protect us from illness by sending out white blood cells to find and destroy viruses and bacteria that can harm the body by causing illness. It is even possible for these cells to command a lymphocyte to destroy a cell that has turned cancerous. Normally this system works efficiently and without our knowledge. It is like soldiers being on patrol; working constantly and quietly to be sure the job is being done.



http://autism.about.com/library/weekly/aa092602a.htm

I just Googled this up on a hunch. All the other autoimmune diseases, especially MS, are increasing.

adults are being diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorders far more often than they ever were before. And a lot of children who were formerly diagnosed with other things (or not at all) are getting more accurate diagnoses now. There is **much** greater awareness of autism now than ten years ago.

But can this account for such a spectacular increase in numbers? I don't know. Seems hard to believe.

When my daughter was diagnosed in 1994, I was told the incidence was 1 in 10,000. Now the latest NIH study shows an incidence of 1 in 166. I don't think that better diagnosis alone can account for the HUGE increases we are seeing.

http://www.autismlink.com/index.php

( few paid attention to it in the past) and the greater likelihood of it being diagnosed at an earlier age. Plus PA has a wider range of treatments for it than many other states. Maybe all the research being done will point out a few more factors leading to the increase.

because WE parents fought to raise awareness and fought for funding for treatment and education.

When the rate of autism began to skyrocket in PA about 10 years ago, there was virtually NOTHING available in terms of appropriate treatment options. I would say that it was the large increase in cases of autism being diagnosed, and the activism of parents that led to better treatment options, rather than visa versa.

trying to cap lawsuits. Corporations such as Lilly whose vaccines have most likely caused many of these cases are paying big money vis a vis the lobbyists to get this limitation passed. Cousre the bushbots being more greedy than compassionate won't let a bunch of sick kids get in the way of all that money.

I wonder how many of the parents sport Bush/Cheney stickers on their car windows?

Here's a link to a pdf file: http://www.autismwebsite.com/arri/v062/page1.pdf

And the EPA General inspector slammed the EPA emission rules today. Said they bowed to political pressure and ignored the facts.

Bet there will be another added to the unemployment line after that.

there does seem to be a genetic component. The three major forms of the APO-E blood proteins, responsible for pushing cholesterol around, seem to have a huge affect on whether the body can clear mercury. People with APO-E2 appear to have a high degree of protection against mercury poisoning. APO-E3 offers much less protection, and APO-E4 offers none at all. ABout 20% of a genetically mixed population like the U.S. will be APO-E2. ABout 60% will be APO-E3, and 20% APO-E4. I am APO-E3 and "got" mercury poisoning in my 40s. Typical.

There are actual studies that show that mercury poisoning causes the manifestation of a host of different nervous disorders, including autism and MS. http://www.keeper.org/mainarticledetails.aspx?articleid=150

I think part of the problem is in the separation of the problems into various disorders. People should be more holistic, and think of the many enviromental factors that affect our nervous system and can cause a variety of symptoms, rather than looking for the ONE cause of the ONE disoder.

Except, I must say, for mercury poisoning, which may well be ONE cause of many disorders.

:)

I think some people are genetically more fragile to poor environmental effects and pollution. My oldest son is autistic. Beautiful, sweet, smart loving child. It breaks my heart every day. And we think he may be slipping further away.

Genetically, boys are 4 times more likely to be affected than girls, but there has to something else to account for the increase in incidence.

What is so sad and so frustrating, is that until the past 5 or 6 years, autism research has been grossly underfunded.

Hugs to you Ilsa. There cannot possibly be anything more heartbreaking than feeling you are unable to help a child that you love so dearly.

:hug:

:hug:

Don't know what to say but I hope God sends you a miracle, even a little one.

I hope the best for your son. There may be a major medical breakthrough that is life changing for him. :loveya:

both born in CA (now living in WI), both children have autism. Another student of minehas two children, both autistic (born in WI). I had never known anyone with this condition up until the past few years. Scarey.

Where you asking me? I'm not sure what you mean. If you've gone off to bed, which i'm about to do, i'll check your response tomorrow.

stats are nationwide. Although the theory is by some looked at as spiritual others take a scientific view. Indigos by some estimates will in the next 10 years make up 95% or more of the world's children. Autism, ADHD, ADD are often considered Indigos. Even Psychologists are getting on board.





http://www.bookfinder.us/review6/1561706086.html


>>>Amazon.com
Do you think your child is special? Well, perhaps he or she is! Self-help professionals Lee Carroll and Jan Tober have collected essays by dozens of doctors, counselors, and other childhood experts that seem to document the arrival on earth of a newly evolved species of human kiddie referred to here as an "indigo" child. The 10 most common traits are: 1.) They come into the world with a feeling of royalty. 2.) They have a feeling of deserving to be here. 3.) Self-worth is not a big issue. 4.) They have difficulty with authority by ritual or without explanation. 5.) They simply will not do certain things. 6.) They get frustrated with systems that don't require creative thought. 7.) They often see better ways of doing things. 8.) School is often difficult for them and they can seem antisocial. 9.) They will not respond to guilt-trip discipline. 10.) They are not shy about letting you know what they need.<<<

While the idea of Indigos may bother some people it is a phenomenon that is becoming accepted by countless beliefs systems as well as scientific communities.

Some suggest our DNA structure is changing. Like any evolutionary process it is necessity that brings about changes.

Something to think about.


:D

Maybe indigo children are an evolutionary change in the right direction. But I'm pretty certain that autism, if it is an evolutionary change, it is in the wrong direction with a designation toward extinction.

I want to be sure we are clear with our logic here.

Something (probably environmental) is causing this horrific increase.

It is certainly possible that some people are more genetically SUSCEPTIBLE to it, and more likely to become autistic when OTHER (undetermined) triggers ALSO are present. But without those triggers, they would not have gotten it (except the small number that were getting it in the past.)

OUR GENES HAVE NOT CHANGED OVER 1/2 GENERATION's TIME. That would take probably hundred of generations to occur.

If you starve a hundred people and 10 die, because they were naturally thinner to begin with (bad example, I know), did they die because of their genes, or because they didn't have enough food? NONE of them had to starve if they got enough food.

people pretty much "lived off the land"...land that was "designed" for all the creatures that inhabit the earth (regardless of "how" we all got here)..

Once the man-made/generated sludge & toxins arrived, all bets were off ..

Watch animals.. they do NOT "shit where they eat".. Only humans have acquired that trait..

In a way we must be pretty hardy organisms to have weathered the chemical assaults we have been enduring for over 100 years.. After 3 or 4 generations, though it's not really surprising to me that our offspring is starting to show signs of the degradation.

My children have not had children yet, but I am seriously worried about them when they do.. I was "fogged" twice a day with DDT for EIGHT YEARS (when I was a child in Panama)..of course that was before they banned it..:scared: so who knows what "damage" I may have passed one to my boys, without even knowing it..

One of my son's friends is pregnant with a Downs syndrome child right now, and she and her husband are 23..healthy, and there is no "history" of downs in their family, it's their first baby, and they are simultaneously happy and devastated.. They have only been married a year..My son and his fiancee are not even sure they want children..


My heart goes out to all you parents who are struggling to find out what caused your child's problems... and to all of you here who have forms of autism and work so hard to manage.:hug:

The youngest has autism. The first two were born in Florida, the third in Roanoke, VA. We lived in Eagle Rock and I drank water from my neighbor's well. From time to time, we could smell the emissions from a nearby paper mill; peop;e called it the smell of money. I wonder if that caused the autism. I say that because I read in something send out by CARD that some chemical may be associated with autism, and that it is used in the production of paper. In that case, I might as well have been drinking booze and Drano the whole pregnancy! I also ate a lot of fish at that time (1990).

Been dealing with this my whole life. My brother's disabilities are more profound, but he functions pretty well these days. My son's Asperger's is pretty mild which I am very grateful for, I KNOW how hard it can be.
When I was a kid, hardly anyone seemed to have a relative with autism, now I meet people ALL the time with kids, cousins, friends with Aspergers and autism...it is pretty amazing. Personally, I do think the increase is due to environmental pollutants, esp. mercury from power plant emissions.
I see more and more kids with neuro condtions at the hospital too, it breaks my heart to see so many damaged babies and devastated parents. I went to the EPA's public hearings a year or so ago on the evil "Clear Skies" initiative and told them how WRONG it was to even consider loosening regulation on power plant emissions. Fat lot of good it did.

BTW, the symptoms of mercury poisoning are almost identical to those of autism. There are many sites on the web, some mentioned above, that compare the two.