Now, here are the comments of those who do not believe in the connection between Autism and vaccinations. I really don't see any scientific research to back their statements. Reader Comments 12/14/2005 Thimerasol is not causing Autism. It is the environmental insult which effects children who are genetically predisposed to this affliction. The previous comments show the amount of ignorance & denial that runs throughout this country. Wake up. 12/14/2005 You're a day late and a dollar short with your tirade against vaccines. It's been going on for quite some time now and the vaccine theory has yet to be given any merit whatsoever. I sympathize with your predicament, but urge you to accept that not everything is a giant cover-up or cause for a class-action lawsuit. 12/14/2005 The autistic adults question is an interesting one. I have a four year old with autism.He is making great progress. I believe that the reason you don't see autistic adults is because you are not looking hard enough. They may not flap or rock, because as autistic children grow into adults they learn more socially acceptable ways to stim, some do learn to speak, and some become more functional to the point that you might even say that they have aspergers. They are there, you just don/t recognize them. The other thing I wanted to add is, if it was thimerosol, which I don't believe personally, what are you going to do> you are still going to do the best you can with your child, they are taking the thimerosol out of the vaccines. You need to accept your child, and be the best you can be, not an angry bitter person who puts all their energy into hating vaccine makers and the government! Now, the comments of the mother who is getting heavy metal treatments for her child 12/14/2005 Melissa, Thank you for this article. My son is unique in that he does not have regressive autism-he simply did not develop properly from the start. My husband and I were shattered when we realized the lifetime of care that our son would need. He was receiving Early Intervention services several times a week when he was just 10 years old. After years of trying every intervention and therapy in the book, we finally began treating him for heavy metal poisoning. This has been a miracle for my family. If you'd like to read my testimonial as to how Charlie improved on this type of treatment, please go to www.generationrescue.org. And to those who call this "junk science"-Do you consider researchers at Harvard, Columbia University, University of Arkansas, University of Washington "junk scientists"? Really? Do your homework. Read the science-all of it. It is easy to blindly accept what some government agencies tell you is the truth-it takes a lot more courage to look for the truth yourself. I have read case after case. Report after report. Personal experience sharred by parents of Autistic children from many different countries. Ten bills presently before congress designed to protect the pharmacuetical companies. Demagraphic studies based on records kept during the rise and fall of the number of cases of autism. I firmly believe at this point that there is indeed a connection between autism and thimerasol. In the last several years I have begun to wonder seriously about Big government and big business and the lines that they will not cross. Mental Health And Political Forums http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=10129 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=9637 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8212 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=7420 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8259 Lifetime web building and hosting for under $40. One time payment http://www.superpayline.com/p002859 The most advanced VOIP system there is anywhere. https://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com/members/index.php?action=buy_miphone Better Universe. The People Helping People Company http://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com May a smile follow you to sleep each night, and be there waiting when you awaken. SIncerly, Bill Vanderbilt / Fanbelt

Greetings Here are the results of another independent study that seems to support the theory that there is a diffinate link between childhood vaccines and autism The Age of Autism: The Amish anomaly http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050321-115921-9566r.htm By Dan Olmsted UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Lancaster, PA, Apr. 18 (UPI) -- Part 1 of 2. Where are the autistic Amish? Here in Lancaster County, heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, there should be well over 100 with some form of the disorder. I have come here to find them, but so far my mission has failed, and the very few I have identified raise some very interesting questions about some widely held views on autism. The mainstream scientific consensus says autism is a complex genetic disorder, one that has been around for millennia at roughly the same prevalence. That prevalence is now considered to be 1 in every 166 children born in the United States. Applying that model to Lancaster County, there ought to be 130 Amish men, women and children here with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Well over 100, in rough terms. Typically, half would harbor milder variants such as Asperger's Disorder or the catch-all Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified -- PDD-NOS for short. So let's drop those from our calculation, even though "mild" is a relative term when it comes to autism. That means upwards of 50 Amish people of all ages should be living in Lancaster County with full-syndrome autism, the "classic autism" first described in 1943 by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner at Johns Hopkins University. The full-syndrome disorder is hard to miss, characterized by "markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests," according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Why bother looking for them among the Amish? Because they could hold clues to the cause of autism. The first half-dozen articles in this ongoing series on the roots and rise of autism examined the initial studies and early accounts of the disorder, first identified by Kanner among 11 U.S. children born starting in 1931. Kanner wrote that his 1938 encounter with a child from Mississippi, identified as Donald T., "made me aware of a behavior pattern not known to me or anyone else theretofore." Kanner literally wrote the book on "Child Psychiatry," published in 1934. If Kanner was correct -- if autism was new and increasingly prevalent -- something must have happened in the 1930s to trigger those first autistic cases. Genetic disorders do not begin suddenly or increase dramatically in prevalence in a short period of time. That is why it is worth looking for autistic Amish -- to test reasoning against reality. Largely cut off for hundreds of years from American culture and scientific progress, the Amish might have had less exposure to some new factor triggering autism in the rest of population. Surprising, but no one seems to have looked. Of course, the Amish world is insular by nature; finding a small subset of Amish is a challenge by definition. Many Amish, particularly Old Order, ride horse-and-buggies, eschew electricity, do not attend public school, will not pose for pictures and do not chat casually with the "English," as they warily call the non-Amish. Still, some Amish today interact with the outside world in many ways. Some drive, use phones, see doctors and send out Christmas cards with family photos. They all still refer to themselves as "Plain," but the definition of that word varies quite a bit. So far, from sources inside and outside the Amish community, I have identified three Amish residents of Lancaster County who apparently have full-syndrome autism, all of them children. A local woman told me there is one classroom with about 30 "special-needs" Amish children. In that classroom, there is one autistic Amish child. Another autistic Amish child does not go to school. The third is that woman's pre-school-age daughter. If there were more, she said, she would know it. What I learned about those children is the subject of the next column. -- This ongoing series aims to be interactive with readers and will take note of comment, criticism and suggestions. E-mail: dolmsted@upi.com ================================================== The Age of Autism: Julia http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050417-052541-5549r.htm By Dan Olmsted UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Leola, PA, Apr. 19 (UPI) -- Part 2 of 2. Three-year old Julia is napping when I arrive at the spare, neat, cheerful house on Musser School Road near the town of Leola in Lancaster County. She is the reason I have driven through the budding countryside on this perfect spring day, but I really do not need to meet her. In the last column, I wrote about trying to find autistic Amish people here in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, and noted there should be dozens of them -- if autism occurs at the same prevalence as the rest of the United States. So far, there is evidence of only three, all of them children, the oldest age 9 or 10. Julia is one of them. I found out about her through a pediatrician in Richmond, Va., Dr. Mary Megson. I had been asking around for quite some time about autism and the Amish, and she provided the first direct link. Megson said she would give my name to this child's mother, who could call if she chose. A few days later the phone rang. It was Stacey-jean Inion, an Amish-Mennonite woman. She, her husband Brent and their four children live simply, but they do drive a vehicle and have a telephone. After a few pleasantries, I told her about my trying to find autistic Amish. Here is what she said, verbatim: "Unfortunately our autistic daughter -- who's doing very well, she's been diagnosed with very, very severe autism -- is adopted from China, and so she would have had all her vaccines in China before we got her, and then she had most of her vaccines given to her in the United States before we got her. "So we're probably not the pure case you're looking for." Maybe not, but it was stunning that Julia Inion, the first autistic Amish person I could find, turned out to be adopted -- from another country, no less. It also was surprising that Stacey-jean launched unbidden into vaccines, because the Amish have a religious exemption from vaccination and presumably would not have given it much thought. She said a minority of Amish families do, in fact, vaccinate their children these days, partly at the urging of public health officials. "Almost every Amish family I know has had somebody from the health department knock on our door and try to convince us to get vaccines for our children," she said. "The younger Amish more and more are getting vaccines. It's a minority of children who vaccinate, but that is changing now." Did she know of any other autistic Amish? Two more children, she said. "One of them, we're very certain it was a vaccine reaction, even though the government would not agree with that." Federal health officials have said there is no association between vaccinations and autism or learning disabilities. "The other one I'm not sure if this child was vaccinated or not," she added. During my visit to their home, I asked Stacey-jean to explain why she attributed the first case to vaccines. "There's one family that we know, their daughter had a vaccine reaction and is now autistic. She was walking and functioning and a happy bright child, and 24 hours after she had her vaccine, her legs went limp and she had a typical high-pitched scream. They called the doctor and the doctor said it was fine -- a lot of high-pitched screaming goes along with it. "She completely quit speaking," Stacey-jean said. "She completely quit making eye contact with people. She went in her own world." This happened, Stacey-jean said, at "something like 15 months." The child is now about 8. For similar reasons, Julia Inion's Chinese background is intriguing. China, India and Indonesia are among countries moving quickly to mass-vaccination programs. In some vaccines, they use a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal that keeps multiple-dose vials from becoming contaminated by repeated needle sticks. Thimerosal was phased out of U.S. vaccines starting in 1999, after health officials became concerned about the amount of mercury infants and children were receiving. The officials said they simply were erring on the side of caution, and that all evidence favors rejection of any link between Autism Spectrum Disorders and thimerosal, or vaccines themselves. Julia's vaccinations in China -- all given in one day at about age 15 months -- may well have contained thimerosal; the United States had stopped using it by the time she was born, but other countries with millions to vaccinate had not. Stacey-jean said photographs of Julia taken in China before she was vaccinated showed a smiling alert child looking squarely at the camera. Her original adoptive family in the United States, overwhelmed trying to cope with an autistic child, gave Julia up for re-adoption. The Inions took her in knowing her diagnosis of severe autism. I tried hard -- and am still trying -- to find people who know about other autistic Amish. Of the local health and social service agency personnel in Lancaster, some said they dealt with Amish people with disabilities, such as mental retardation, but none recalled seeing an autistic Amish. Still, I could be trapped in a feedback loop: The Amish I am likeliest to know about -- because they have the most contact with the outside world -- also are likeliest to adopt a special-needs child such as Julia from outside the community, and likeliest to have their children vaccinated. Another qualifier: The Inions are converts to the Amish-Mennonite religion (Brent is an Asian-American). They simply might not know about any number of autistic Amish sheltered quietly with their families for decades. It also is possible the isolated Amish gene pool might confer some kind of immunity to autism -- which might be a useful topic for research. Whatever the case, Stacey-jean thinks the autistic Amish are nowhere to be found. "It is so much more rare among our people," she said. "My husband just said last week that so far we've never met a family that lives a healthy lifestyle and does not vaccinate their children that has an autistic child. We haven't come across one yet." "Everywhere I go (outside the Amish community) I find children who are autistic, just because I have an autistic daughter -- in the grocery store, in the park, wherever I go. In the Amish community, I simply don't find that." -- UPI researcher Kyle Pearson contributed to this article. http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050321-115921-9566r.htm Mental Health And Political Forums http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=10129 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=9637 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8212 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=7420 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8259 Lifetime web building and hosting for under $40. One time payment http://www.superpayline.com/p002859 The most advanced VOIP system there is anywhere. https://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com/members/index.php?action=buy_miphone Better Universe. The People Helping People Company http://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com May a smile follow you to sleep each night, and be there waiting when you awaken. SIncerly, Bill Vanderbilt / Fanbelt

Consumer Health The Age of Autism: Gold salts pass a test By Dan Olmsted Dec 23, 2005, 19:16 GMT printer friendly email this article 1 | 2 In a Striking Follow-up to Our Reporting on the First Child Diagnosed with Autism -- and His Improvement After Treatment with Gold Salts -- a Chemistry Professor Says Lab Tests Show the Compound Can 'reverse the Binding' of Mercury to Molecules. 'This does lend support to the possible removal of mercury from biological proteins in individuals treated with gold salts,' Boyd Haley, professor and former chemistry department chair at the University of Kentucky, said Thursday. The potential significance: Donald T. -- Case 1 among children diagnosed with autism in the 1930s -- showed marked improvement in his autistic symptoms after being treated with gold salts for an attack of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. That`s according to his brother, who we interviewed earlier this year in the small Mississippi town where he and Donald, now 72, still live. One theory of autism -- strongly dismissed by federal health authorities and mainstream medical groups -- is that the disorder is primarily caused by a mercury preservative called thimerosal that was used in vaccines beginning in the 1930s. Some parents and researchers who believe autism is, in essence, mercury poisoning are using treatments designed to remove mercury from the body or offset its neurological effects. Haley is among a minority of scientists who holds this view, and after reading about Donald`s improvement he set out to test whether gold salts have any effect on mercury. 'You follow your nose in research, and when I saw that I thought, yes, this is a possibility,' said Haley. Haley`s experiment was quite simple: He began with a colored thiol-containing compound. Thiols are the class of molecules that contain a sulfhydryl group (a sulfur and hydrogen atom bound together) and, because of the affinity of mercury for sulfur, these molecules bind tightly to mercury. Thiols are found in most enzymes, and when mercury binds to them, these enzymes lose their biological activity, which is needed to maintain healthy cells, he said. Haley performed two tests involving inorganic mercury -- the type of mercury thimerosal breaks down to in the brain, he said. Haley`s compound was designed to turn colorless when mercury binds to it. In the first test, he added the mercury, and the 'optical density' measurement went from 0.23 units down to 0.11 units immediately, and down to 0.03 units in half an hour -- a clear sign that the mercury had bound to the thiol. In the second test he premixed the mercury with gold salts for two minutes, then added it to the same solution. This time the optical density dropped to 0.11 but then slowly increased back up to 0.23 within about 30 minutes -- 'totally the opposite of the situation with mercury alone,' Haley said. 'The only way this could happen would be for the gold salts to remove mercury from the thiol-containing compound.' The advocacy group SafeMinds -- which opposes the use of mercury in medicines and provided Haley with the $142 prescription of gold salts to test -- called the results potentially significant but cautioned against premature use of the compound to treat autistic people. 'Clinicians have shown that some autistic children show strong recovery from their symptoms after biomedical treatment,' said SafeMinds` Mark Blaxill. 'So any time we discover a treatment that works in a child, we need to take it seriously. 'According to his brother`s unprompted report, Donald T. recovered from autism after treatment with gold salts. We should be all over that, especially after Boyd`s work. But we need to proceed with care to make sure that this is a safe treatment.' Haley made the same point. 'Please note that I am not recommending using gold salts to treat autistics, but it would certainly be worth a project if carefully monitored by a physician in a good clinic.' In August Donald`s brother described to us his 'miraculous response' to gold-salts treatment for a life-threatening attack of juvenile arthritis. Donald was given injections of the salts over a two- to three-month period at the Campbell Clinic in Memphis at age 12 in 1947. The arthritis cleared up, and so did the 'extreme nervousness' and excitability that had afflicted him, his brother said. Donald also became 'more social.' He went on to college, where he was invited to join a fraternity; worked as a bank teller; and now, in retirement, pursues his love of golf and travels the world. Most of those early patients -- and thousands since -- were institutionalized when they got older or lived in extremely sheltered circumstances, according to follow-up reports. (Donald did not respond to our request for an interview, and we are not identifying him at this time beyond information in the original case study and follow-up.) Consumer Health The Age of Autism: Gold salts pass a test By Dan Olmsted Dec 23, 2005, 19:16 GMT printer friendly email this article 1 | 2 Before Haley tested the gold salts, he told us why he thought it was worth investigating. 'Nothing has a higher affinity for mercury than elemental gold. They form bonds that are very tight,' Haley said. Devices designed to detect and filter out mercury routinely use gold, he noted -- and they obviously would employ a less expensive element if gold weren`t so effective. Mercury was also used to extract gold from ore in mining operations. In the body, Haley said, gold likely is 'attracted to the same places as mercury. They would probably make it to the same spot in the body. It (gold) would probably cross the blood-brain barrier like mercury. There are reasons to think that if you put it in, it would chase mercury down because they`re very similar in their chemistry. 'So you might be able to displace it with the gold. The chemistry gets complicated here, but gold does not do as much oxidative stress as does mercury. The gold isn`t nearly as toxic as the mercury. ... It could take it off the enzyme it`s inhibiting and reactivate that enzyme.' Haley said he was intrigued that the treatment may have benefited Donald when he was 12 -- old for such a positive response, according to proponents of biomedical therapies. The most controversial such treatment is chelation, which uses drugs in an attempt to pull toxic metals -- mercury in particular -- from the body. 'It doesn`t seem to work with the older kids,' Haley said. 'These older kids are just lost.' But, Haley emphasized: 'Don`t jump on this. Be careful. You can hurt kids.' That concern was underscored when a 5-year-old autistic child died this year while undergoing chelation in Pennsylvania. Federal officials say it is not a responsible practice, although one advocacy group says more than 10,000 families have tried it, with significant benefit. This Ongoing Series on the Roots and Rise of Autism Welcomes Reader Comment. E-Mail: Dolmsted@upi.Com Consumer Health The Age of Autism: Gold salts pass a test By Dan Olmsted Dec 23, 2005, 19:16 GMT printer friendly email this article 1 | 2 Before Haley tested the gold salts, he told us why he thought it was worth investigating. 'Nothing has a higher affinity for mercury than elemental gold. They form bonds that are very tight,' Haley said. Devices designed to detect and filter out mercury routinely use gold, he noted -- and they obviously would employ a less expensive element if gold weren`t so effective. Mercury was also used to extract gold from ore in mining operations. In the body, Haley said, gold likely is 'attracted to the same places as mercury. They would probably make it to the same spot in the body. It (gold) would probably cross the blood-brain barrier like mercury. There are reasons to think that if you put it in, it would chase mercury down because they`re very similar in their chemistry. 'So you might be able to displace it with the gold. The chemistry gets complicated here, but gold does not do as much oxidative stress as does mercury. The gold isn`t nearly as toxic as the mercury. ... It could take it off the enzyme it`s inhibiting and reactivate that enzyme.' Haley said he was intrigued that the treatment may have benefited Donald when he was 12 -- old for such a positive response, according to proponents of biomedical therapies. The most controversial such treatment is chelation, which uses drugs in an attempt to pull toxic metals -- mercury in particular -- from the body. 'It doesn`t seem to work with the older kids,' Haley said. 'These older kids are just lost.' But, Haley emphasized: 'Don`t jump on this. Be careful. You can hurt kids.' That concern was underscored when a 5-year-old autistic child died this year while undergoing chelation in Pennsylvania. Federal officials say it is not a responsible practice, although one advocacy group says more than 10,000 families have tried it, with significant benefit. This Ongoing Series on the Roots and Rise of Autism Welcomes Reader Comment. E-Mail: Dolmsted@upi.Com Mental Health And Political Forums http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=10129 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=9637 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8212 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=7420 http://community.adlandpro.com/forumShow.aspx?ForumID=8259 Lifetime web building and hosting for under $40. One time payment http://www.superpayline.com/p002859 The most advanced VOIP system there is anywhere. https://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com/members/index.php?action=buy_miphone Better Universe. The People Helping People Company http://wv0079721.betteruniverse.com May a smile follow you to sleep each night, and be there waiting when you awaken. SIncerly, Bill Vanderbilt / Fanbelt

Wow.. Gold Salt??? That's very interesting. How easy do you think it is to get Gold Salt.

Hi everybody: I have been a teacher of MRDD students for 23 years, having retired several years ago. Within the classroom I many times taught Autistic children. One of the difficulties was language. During that time we used many different methods of communication, including augmented devices. Now I have come across something upon which I would like to see some research completed. I am associated with en101, an internet language program. It was designed for non-English speaking people in remote areas who do not have access to classes and teachers with neutral accents. A doctor in our group of consumers has used the program with patients suffering from amnesia. Now, I have a strong suspicion that this could work for autistic children. Here is why I think this might be beneficial. 1) work at a computer with headphones. Quiet and controlled environment. 2) Work alone or with someone they like to have near. 3) text, sound, visual. 4) You could choose Spanish or English 5) independent computer skills 6) repeat as often as they like. We have 2 levels of 24 week units. Eventually it will be a 3 year course. No delivery-no books as this is on the internet and available immediately. My site is http://hofs.en101.com I look forward to hearing from you. Anyone willing join in on the experiment? You may send me names of families or schools you think would like to participate. Your opinion will be valuable!! You could donate the program to an institution as an end of the year tax deduction. Mary Hofstetter, BS educ. mahofst@bright.net 419-999-1763 logopedmar@yahoo.com