UC Davis: Autism Epidemic is Real; Caused by Environment

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/8/2009 10:13:53 A.M. Mountain Standard Time,

dkirby writes:

 

 

 

 

 

This may or may not have implications for thimerosal, but it is an

interesting development nonetheless. (This study cohort was born before

thimerosal was

removed from most vaccines).

Even so, the co-author calls for studies of “metals†– which would

include

thimerosal and the aluminum adjuvants in vaccines, and “infectious agentsâ€

–

which would include the live virus MMR and Varicella vaccines (The combo

MMR+V vaccine, Proquad, doubled the risk of seizures in kids and is no longer

recommended by the CDC).

But there are many other factors out there to look at as well, including

pesticides, as this report says (Women in CA’s Central Valley who live near

crops are far more likely to have children with autism) and mercury from coal

burning plants in China carried across the Pacific, which I have been

researching for two years.

The point is, it is time to ditch the “better diagnosis†canard to explain

away an epidemic. Something made these kids physically ill and we need to

find out what it is, ASAP.

_UC DAVIS STUDY: " Autism is Environmental " _

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/uc-davis-study-autism-is_b_156153.htm\

l)

By David Kirby

THE HUFFINGTON POST – January 8, 2009

I have always said there may be a small percentage of people with autism

spectrum disorder (perhaps those with Asperger Syndrome) whose symptoms are a

result only of their genetic makeup, with no environmental factors involved at

all.

But a new study out of _UC Davis' MIND Institute _

(http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/newsroom/) says that it's time to abandon

science's long, expensive, and

not very fruitful quest to find the gene or genes that cause autism alone,

without any environmental triggers.

" We need to keep (environmental) studies going, " Irva Hertz-Picciotto, the

co-author of the study and professor of environmental and occupational health

and epidemiology at UC Davis, said in a statement.

" We're looking at the possible effects of metals, pesticides and infectious

agents on neurodevelopment, " Hertz-Picciotto said. " If we're going to stop

the rise in autism in California, we need to keep these studies going and

expand them to the extent possible. "

Autism is predominantly an environmentally acquired disease, the study seems

to conclude. Its meteoric rise, at least in California, cannot possibly be

attributed to that shopworn mantra we still hear everyday, incredibly, from

far too many public health officials: It's due to better diagnosing and

counting.

The autism epidemic is real, and it is not caused by genes alone: You cannot

have a genetic epidemic. It really is time that we, as a society, accept

that cold, hard truth.

" It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for

the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California, " Dr.

Hertz-Piccotto said.

The study results suggest that " research should shift from genetics, to the

host of chemicals and infectious microbes in the environment that are likely

at the root of changes in the neurodevelopment of California's children, " the

statement added.

The UC Davis Study, funded in part by the National Institute of

Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) found that the rate of autism among

six-year-olds

in California mushroomed from less than 9 per 10,000 among the 1990 birth

cohort, to more than 44 per 10,000 for kids born in 2000.

This increase, " cannot be explained by either changes in how the condition

is diagnosed or counted, " the statement said, " and the trend shows no sign of

abating. "

(It is important to keep in mind that almost every child born in 2000 would

have received many vaccines that contained the mercury preservative

thimerosal, which was not completely phased out of most - but not all -

childhood

vaccines until at least 2003.)

Of the 600-to-700 percent increase in autism reported in California between

1990 and 2000, fewer than 10 percent were due to the inclusion of milder

cases, the study found, while only 24 percent could be attributed to earlier

age

at diagnosis.

There was only one logical conclusion: some thing or things in the

environment had to be at play here.

I have always said that all environmental factors should be considered in at

least some subgroups of autism. This position has been met with considerable

ridicule. I believe that opponents are afraid that, if we start looking at

toxins like heavy metals, it might one day lead back to thimerosal. Likewise,

if we consider live virus triggers, we may have to take another look at the

measles-mumps-, it might one day lead back to thimerosal. Likewise, if we

consider live virus triggers, we may have to take another

Now, it's always been easier and more reassuring to tell ourselves that

autism was almost purely genetic, that it was always with us at the rate of 1

in

90 men (1 in 60 in New Jersey) and that, gee, weren't doctors doing a great

job these days of recognizing and diagnosis this disorder.

This pathetic groupthink has helped create hugely lopsided funding

priorities in autism, where genetic studies get lavishly funded, while

environmental

ones are lucky to even pick up the dollar scraps left behind

" Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on studies

of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones, " Hertz-Picciotto

said. " We need to even out the funding. "

I agree.

Yes, we must continue to look for the susceptibility genes that make some

kids more vulnerable to environmental triggers - possibly through a diminished

capacity to detoxify themselves.

But the sooner our best minds in science and medicine come to grips with the

fact that these poor, hapless kids have been exposed to the wrong

environmental toxins and/or infectious agents at the wrong time, the sooner we

can find

out how to best treat what really ails them.

It is illogical for us to oppose the study of, say, mercury exposures and

autism, because it might somehow implicate thimerosal, and by extension,

vaccines.

After all, heavy metal studies into autism could very well incriminate

background environmental sources, but exonerate metal sources found in

vaccines,

such as mercury and aluminum.

And that would be a good thing for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy

steps!

(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215047751x1200957972/aol?redir=h

ttp://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=Decem\

ailfooterNO62)