Watch this one get ZERO coverage in the mainstream press. It turns out that there is a link between mercury and autism, and that the scientists who said there was no link screwed up their math. For real.

DO NOT get the flu shot from the ten-dose vial, because it has mercury in it. DO NOT give it to your child. You'll never forgive yourself if you contribute to your child's neurological damage.

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Blood Levels of Mercury Are Related to Diagnosis of Autism: A Reanalysis of an Important Data Set

The question of what is leading to the apparent increase in

autism is of great importance. Like the link between aspirin

and heart attack, even a small effect can have major health

implications. If there is any link between autism and mercury,

it is absolutely crucial that the first reports of the question are

not falsely stating that no link occurs. We have reanalyzed the

data set originally reported by Ip et al. in 2004 and have found

that the original p value was in error and that a significant

relation does exist between the blood levels of mercury and

diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, the hair

sample analysis results offer some support for the idea that

persons with autism may be less efficient and more variable at

eliminating mercury from the blood.

 

Thank you, US government, for choosing to ignore this toxic chemical so that mega-corporations can make more money. Readers of this blog, it's time to spread the word and eliminate these products from your diets. If skipping canned vegetables and baby formula prevents your family from developing breast cancer or prostate cancer, it's worth it. A large-scale boycott of all food that comes in plastic-lined containers until the FDA requires Bisphenol A labeling would be ideal--think about it, and do what you can to protect your family.

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Bisphenol A: Toxic Plastics Chemical in Canned Food | Environmental Working Group

Independent laboratory tests found a toxic food-can lining ingredient associated with birth defects of the male and female reproductive systems in over half of 97 cans of name-brand fruit, vegetables, soda, and other commonly eaten canned goods. The study was spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and targeted the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), a plastic and resin ingredient used to line metal food and drink cans. There are no government safety standards limiting the amount of BPA in canned food.

Uncle Tom comes home as State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey attacks the predominantly black parents of Prince George's County, Maryland, with threats of jail for choosing not to vaccinate their children against a common childhood illness (chicken pox) and a preventable STD (Hep B). This is just one more example of the fact that the vaccination crusade is part of an overall distrust of minorities by white people. It's no coincidence that states that have adopted mandatory HPV vaccination laws (like Texas) have large non-white populations. There is still tremendous racism in this country, and it is evident any time you hear a white person say, "Well, my daughter wouldn't get HPV, but you know *those* people..." or "Well, of course the government should force black families to vaccinate against Hep B." Racist beliefs may not be unconstitutional, but racist tactics like those of Prince George's County are most certainly unconstitutional. Let's hope someone files a suit over this gross governmental interference.  

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Get Kids Vaccinated Or Else, Parents Told

Get Kids Vaccinated Or Else, Parents Told
Pr. George's Threatens Legal Action

By Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 14, 2007; B01

The parents of more than 2,300 Prince George's County students who failed to get needed vaccinations could face fines of $50 a day and up to 10 days in jail if their children do not meet the state's immunization requirements, county officials said yesterday.

The threat of legal action is a last resort after months in which Prince George's has struggled to get its 131,000 students immunized for chicken pox and hepatitis B, as mandated by the state. More than 2,300 students have not been immunized and have been barred from attending schools, almost two months after a Sept. 20 deadline for meeting the requirement.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but it's got to get done," Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D) said at a news conference in Upper Marlboro. "I'm willing to move forward with legal action."

School officials have made calls, sent letters and conducted home visits to make arrangements for free appointments for the needed shots. But often the students' addresses and phone numbers have been outdated, making contacting them difficult. Other students have received the vaccines but failed to get the necessary booster shots.

The school system turned to the justice system as a final option and received the backing of Circuit Judge William D. Missouri, the county's administrative judge, and Circuit Judge C. Philip Nichols Jr., who handles juvenile matters.

"This is an educational crisis," said R. Owen Johnson Jr., chairman of the school board. "This is a public health and a children's rights issue."

Nichols and Ivey sent another round of letters to the families still out of compliance. Nichols's letter ordered the parents to show up at Prince George's Circuit Court for a court hearing and a free vaccine; Ivey's letter warned that "unexcused absences by your child may subject you to a criminal charge."

They expect almost 1,700 children to show up Saturday with their parents for the first in a series of Circuit Court hearings on the matter. School officials said the parents would receive a verbal reprimand from the judge and be ordered to have their children immunized in the courthouse. The students would then be allowed to return to school.

Parents who do not appear could face fines of $50 for each day they fail to get their children immunized after being charged. They also could serve up to 10 days in jail. Ivey said he hoped charging parents would not be necessary.

"The goal is to get kids in school, not to put parents in jail," Ivey said.

Missouri said he looked forward to talking to the parents who had not gotten their children immunized, to understand why.

"I'd like to know exactly what the reasons are because the reasons may be able to be addressed without ratcheting it up to this point," he said.

Schools officials said they were sorry the crisis had gone this far, but that it needed to be solved immediately.

"This has really, really been a difficult time for us," said Betty Despenza-Green, the school system's chief of student services. "It hurts us when any child is out of school because he needs to be immunized, and so we felt we needed to be creative. We need those students immunized. We need them in schools."

 

...or maybe the vaccination gave these volunteers AIDS. In any case, wouldn't it be better to choose a safe lifestyle (one free of IV drugs and anonymous sex, for example) instead of relying on vaccines to protect you from every STD?

Quote

Cold virus suspect in AIDS vaccine failure - AIDS- msnbc.com

MSNBC.com

---

Cold virus suspect in AIDS vaccine failure

Researchers halted test after volunteers became more susceptible to virus

Reuters

updated 2:26 p.m. ET, Wed., Nov. 7, 2007

WASHINGTON - A cold virus used to make an experimental HIV vaccine that was discontinued in September somehow may have caused volunteers to be more susceptible to the AIDS virus, the vaccine's developers said on Wednesday.

Researchers were doubly dismayed when it appeared that those who had been vaccinated were more likely to become infected, and cautioned more than 3,000 volunteers who had been testing the vaccine that they may be at higher risk of infection.

Merck and the National Institutes of Health agree that the vaccine itself could not possibly cause HIV infection. But initial data appears to indicate that people who got vaccinated had a higher rate of HIV infection that those who got placebo shots.

Experts are hashing out the confusing findings at a meeting in Seattle. Merck and the NIH say that men with the highest pre-existing levels of immunity to a cold virus called adenovirus 5 were the most likely to have also become infected with HIV after being vaccinated.

That adenovirus was modified to use as a so-called vector or delivery mechanism in making the HIV vaccine.

Dr. Keith Gottesdiener, vice president for clinical research at Merck Research Laboratories, said it is possible an earlier infection with adenovirus 5 primed the immune system to produce more of the cells that HIV attacks.

"That is the leading hypothesis — that the vector causes production of more CD4 cells that the virus could infect," Gottesdiener said in a telephone interview.

AIDS, which has killed 25 million people globally and which currently infects 40 million, attacks immune system cells called CD4 helper T-cells. The infection itself does not kill, but it runs down the immune system so that patients die of other infections or sometimes of cancer.

Attempts to make a vaccine against HIV have flopped because of its unique effects on the immune system. The Merck vaccine was aiming to stimulate production of T-cells called CD8 killer cells, which, it was hoped, would recognize and attack HIV.

Common cold
Usually, vaccines use a whole or weakened virus to stimulate an immune response. This was too dangerous to do with HIV, so the Merck scientists used pieces of genetic material from the virus instead.

To carry them into the body, they used a virus that infects people easily — in this case, adenovirus 5, one of dozens of common cold viruses.

To test the vaccine, the researchers sought volunteers who had a high risk of HIV infection anyway, such as injecting drug users and men who have sex with men. The volunteers are counseled on ways to protect themselves, such as by using condoms, but some get infected anyway.

When they combed through the numbers, the researchers found that mostly men who had sex with other men became infected after vaccination.

They also noticed that people with more pre-existing adenovirus 5 immunity — meaning they had been infected in the past and mounted a strong immune response — were also more likely to become HIV infected after receiving the vaccine.

"Among the 778 male volunteers who had high levels of pre-existing immunity to adenovirus 5, 21 cases of HIV infection were observed in those who had received vaccine and nine cases of HIV infection were observed in the volunteers who had received placebo," Merck said in a statement.

But it was possible that people who happened to have high levels of adenovirus 5 immunity just behaved differently, having more risky sex, for instance, Gottesdiener said.

"It could be due to some biological phenomenon that we don't even understand yet or, honestly, it still could be due to chance," he said.

The trial, which began in 2004, had enrolled volunteers in the United States, Peru, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Australia. A second trial had begun in South Africa earlier this year with 800 volunteers.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21674059/

---

MSN Privacy . Legal

© 2007 MSNBC.com

 

 It drives me crazy how careless most people are, and how much they depend on pharmaceutical "solutions" to their self-created problems. Here's yet another example: hot tubs harbor bacteria (some deadly) because the pipes are perfect breeding grounds, yet every suburban fool thinks he's adding thousands of dollars of "value" to his home by adding one of these monstrosities to the "master bath." What wouldn't I give for an old-fashioned claw-footed tub!?

Here's the scoop: You should be cleaning your tub twice a month with the following procedure; however, after you read the clip at the end of this posting (from here http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/articles/231feat1.html), you'll want to rip your hot tub out of the wall, no matter how often you clean it.

"About twice a month try this simple eradication adventure.

Start by closing the air intake valve. Fill the tub up with hot water, making sure to completely cover the jets by at least a couple of inches. Then add a quarter cup of bleach and two ounces of automatic dishwasher detergent. Open the air intake and run the tub full blast for ten minutes.

Drain the tub, fill it up again with cold water this time, and run the jets once more for another ten minutes (this is to rinse out all the detergent). After that, simply drain the tub and wipe it down." (http://www.ars.com/ars/Know-How_Hot-tubs.aspx?)

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Relaxing in Filth: What Your Whirlpool Tub May Be Hiding

Rita B. Moyes, PhD, with the Department of Biology at Texas A&M University, decided to research the water quality of 43 whirlpool baths while writing, "Microbial Loads in Whirlpool Bathtubs: An Emerging Health Risk." She found 100% of the samples, taken from both private and public tubs, contained microbial growth; 95% of the water sampled additionally contained enteric organisms; 81% had fungi; 56% had Pseudomonas sp.,; 36% had Legionella sp.,; and 34% had Staphlococcus aureus.

In her report, she writes, "Stagnant, organic-containing bath water trapped inside a system already rich in bioflim provides an ideal environment for bacteria to flourish."³

The pathogens found during the random sampling are responsible for: septicemia, urinary tract infections, intestinal infections, infections of the respiratory tract, burn wounds, ears and eyes, bacteremia, endocarditis, gastroenterisits, Legionnaire's disease, Pontiac fever, impetigo, folliculitis, furuncles, carbuncles, scalded skin syndrome, toxic shock syndrome, food poisoning, pneumonia, empyema, osteomyelitis, and septic arthritis.³

"If you think about taking a bath in a whirlpool tub, you should realize that warm water is going to open up your pores and the whirlpool action is going to create an aerosol that can then enter your lungs. Lung infections (Legionnaire's disease), urinary tract infections, and skin infections have already been documented in hot tubs, which have basically the same design except they are filtered and chemically treated. The problem with a bathtub is, you (generally) only have one or two users, and if you get an infection the doctor will just treat it and not try to find the source--opposed to an outbreak associated with a hot tub on a cruise ship for instance," she said.

 

Check out this video of Talk About Curing Autism spokeswoman Jenny McCarthy, whose son is currently recovering from autism.

Quote

YouTube - Talk About Curing Autism. An Introduction For New Parents.

This article is the biggest piece of fluff I've read on this topic so far. One person from each "side" is quoted, and one set of figures is presented. Here's the summary: the article contends that there are just as many autistic children as there ever have been, but that parents are now labeling kids "autistic" who were once called "mentally retarded" so that they can get more services in school. First, I'll admit that it's probably true that some autistic children were previously labeled "retarded." However, the fact that there was ZERO autism prior to 1930 (see Dan Olmsted's brilliant series of reports for UPI at www.upi.com), and the fact that the growth in autism has outpaced the decrease in "retarded" children (see the article linked to in this blog entry), tell me that there is a real increase in autism happening in this country.

Oh, and ask any parent of an autistic child how hard he or she had to fight to get extra support (such as ABA) in school, and they'll tell you how ridiculous it is to claim that autistic kids get more help than mentally retarded kids.

The bigger problem here, though, is that this article contains about three lines of content, and about twenty paragraphs of fluff. The writer clearly has no understanding of the topic, and didn't bother to do any research on his own. He just quoted one CDC guy and one pediatrician who believes in environmental autism triggers, and then ran with the "autism is just relabeling of retardation" angle to generate the rest of his shallow article. Shame on the Associated Press for publishing this article, and shame on every newspaper and website in American who printed it.  

Autism ‘epidemic’ may be all in the label - Mental Health - MSNBC.com

By MIKE STOBBE

The Associated Press

updated 1:55 p.m. ET, Sun., Nov. 4, 2007

ATLANTA - A few decades ago, people probably would have said kids like Ryan Massey and Eddie Scheuplein were just odd. Or difficult.

Both boys are bright. But Ryan, 11, is hyper and prone to angry outbursts, sometimes trying to strangle another kid in his class who annoys him. Eddie, 7, has a strange habit of sticking his shirt in his mouth and sucking on it.

Both were diagnosed with a form of autism. And it's partly because of children like them that autism appears to be skyrocketing: In the latest estimate, as many as one in 150 children have some form of this disorder. Groups advocating more research money call autism "the fastest-growing developmental disability in the United States."

Indeed, doctors are concerned there are even more cases out there, unrecognized: The American Academy of Pediatrics last week stressed the importance of screening every kid — twice — for autism by age 2.

But many experts believe these unsociable behaviors were just about as common 30 or 40 years ago. The recent explosion of cases appears to be mostly caused by a surge in special education services for autistic children, and by a corresponding shift in what doctors call autism.

Autism has always been diagnosed by making judgments about a child's behavior; there are no blood or biologic tests. For decades, the diagnosis was given only to kids with severe language and social impairments and unusual, repetitious behaviors.

Many children with severe autism hit themselves or others, don't speak and don't make eye contact.

Blake Dees, a 19-year-old from Suwanee, Ga., falls into that group. For the past eight years, he has been in a day program with intense services, but he still doesn't talk, he's not toilet-trained, and he has a history of trying to eat anything _ even broken glass.

But he's not a typical case.

In the 1990s, the autism umbrella expanded, and autism is now shorthand for a group of milder, related conditions, known as "autism spectrum disorders."

The spectrum includes Asperger's syndrome and something called PDD-NOS (for Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified). Some support groups report more than half of their families fall into these categories, but there is no commonly accepted scientific breakdown.

Gradually, there have been changes in parents' own perception of autism, the autism services schools provide, and the care that insurers pay for, experts say.

Eddie, of Buford, Ga., was initially diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other conditions. But the services he got in school were not very helpful.

His mother, Michelle, said a diagnosis of autism brought occupational therapy and other, better services.

"I do have to admit I almost like the idea of having the autistic label, at least over the other labels, because there's more help out there for you," said Scheuplein.

"The truth is there's a powerful incentive for physicians and schools to classify children in a way that gets services," said Dr. Edwin Trevathan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many with Asperger's and PDD-NOS succeed in school and do not — at first glance — have much in common with children like Blake Dees.

At a recent gathering of families with Asperger's children in the Atlanta area, parents told almost comical stories about kids who frequently pick their noses, douse food in ketchup or wear the same shirt day after day.

Such a frank, humorous exchange was once a rarity. Doctors for many years believed in the "refrigerator mom" theory, which held that autism was the result of being raised by a cold, unloving mother. The theory became discredited, but was difficult to dislodge from the popular conscience.

Early diagnosis of mental retardation
Even in the early 1980s, some parents were more comfortable with a diagnosis of mental retardation than autism, said Trevathan, director of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

Today, parents are more likely to cringe at a diagnosis of mental retardation, which is sometimes equated to a feeble-mindedness and may obscure a child's potential.

And increasingly, professionals frown at the term: The special education journal Mental Retardation this year changed its name to Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities.

The editor said that "mentally retarded" is becoming passe and demeaning, much like the terms idiot, imbecile and moron — once used by doctors to describe varying degrees of mental retardation.

In contrast, autism has become culturally acceptable — and a ticket to a larger range of school services and accommodations.

In 1990, Congress added the word "autism" as a separate disability category to a federal law that guarantees special education services, and Education Department regulations have included a separate definition of autism since 1992.

Before that, children with autism were counted under other disabling conditions, such as mental retardation, said Jim Bradshaw, an education department spokesman.

The Social Security Administration also broadened its definition of disability to include spectrum disorders, like Asperger's.

Something else changed: The development of new stimulants and other medicines may have encouraged doctors to make diagnoses with the idea of treating them with these drugs.

Changing perception
Perception of the size of the problem changed, too.

Fourteen years ago, only 1 in 10,000 children were diagnosed with it. Prevalence estimates gradually rose to the current government estimate of one in 150.

That increase has been mirrored in school districts. Gwinnett County Public Schools — Georgia's largest school system — had eight classrooms for teaching autistic youngsters 13 years ago; today there are 180.

Some researchers suggest that as autism spectrum diagnoses have gone up, diagnoses of mild mental retardation have fallen.

U.S. Department of Education data show that the number of students with autism rose steadily, from about 42,500 in 1997 to nearly 225,000 in 2006. Meanwhile, the number of students counted as mentally retarded declined from about 603,000 to about 523,000.

CDC scientists believe education numbers are misleading, because they reflect only how kids are categorized for services. They say there's no clear evidence doctors are substituting one diagnosis for the other.

Environmental causes?
Some parents believe environmental factors — ranging from a preservative in vaccines to contaminants in food or water — may be important contributors. (The last doses of early childhood vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal expired in 2002, although some children's flu shots still contain it.)

Dr. Gary Goldstein, scientific adviser to the national advocacy group Autism Speaks, said the explanation for the rising autism prevalence is probably complex. Labeling and diagnosing probably play a role, as do genetics, but he believes the increase surpasses those two explanations.

"I'm seeing more children with autism than I ever would have expected to see," said Goldstein, who is chief executive of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a treatment center for pediatric developmental disabilities in Baltimore.

Autism Speaks budgets more than $4 million each year to research the causes of autism, and about 90 percent of that has gone to genetics research. But organization officials recently have been talking about changing that mix, and spending as much as 50 percent of that money on potential environmental triggers, Goldstein said.

Three brothers with autism
Whether it's because of genes or the environment (or both), autism has hit the Massey family hard. Chuck and Julia Massey, of Dacula, Ga., have three sons with Asperger's.

The youngest, Ryan, was first diagnosed after he was slow to develop speaking ability. His brothers — Trevor, 14, and Morgan, 16 — had learning and behavior problems and were later diagnosed with Asperger's, too.

All got special education services and were treated with medications. Morgan has improved, or matured, or both, and is now a social kid in mainstream classes at a Gwinnett County high school. Trevor seems to be making the same transition, his mother said.

Ryan is the most extreme. He still has uncontrollable tantrums and must attend an Asperger's-only sixth-grade classroom that teaches social skills along with traditional subjects.

In a recent interview at the family's home, Ryan acknowledged he still has anger control issues. One of the three other students in his class is particularly irritating. Ryan said the way he reacts is by "grabbing his throat."

But on this night, Ryan was calm. He described himself as happy, and paced the room telling jokes, like a nervous stand-up comedian. ("Why didn't the skeleton go to the party? He didn't have the guts," he said, eyes fixed on his audience.)

Having three Asperger's boys under one roof has at times been very intense, Massey said, noting a replaced dining room window.

Ryan acknowledged it's been educational living in a house full of Asperger's kids. Asked to name something he's learned from his brothers, he replied, "Swears."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21600784/