Kids Say The Darndest Things

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned… Ok, maybe I haven’t sinned but I feel like I’m in confession and haven’t been for a while. It has been a while since I last made an entry and I thought that comparing my blog to a confessional might be fitting, given the topic.

I have had the kids at Vacation Bible School all this week and it seemed to be going well. Spencer, my autistic son, has been somewhat well behaved compared to some of the other kids his age. He is prone to sudden outbursts of speech or laughter but he doesn’t mean anything by what he does, he’s innocent in the purest sense of the word. He loves everything and everyone, often having hugs and kisses for complete strangers. This usually is met with looks of bewilderment and surprise, sometimes uncertainty if the person is young. Then I have to try to explain that he has autism and that this is his way of communicating; he has a lot of love and wants to share it with everyone. I have explained to most of the kids in his class that Spencer has autism and told them what autism is. They are understanding of his special needs and are rather accepting for the most part. They have asked me questions about Spencer and his condition and I have tried to answer them to the best of my abilities so that they will understand that while Spencer may act differently from them, he is not scary or out-of-control. That being said, he still gets looks from the other children if he is disruptive but they know I’m there to try and keep him quiet and focused on the task at hand.

However, I was troubled by a comment from one of Spencer’s “peers” at Bible Camp, and I use quotations because I really don’t consider this little boy to be Spencer’s peer, even though I consider the rest of the kids to be his peers. This little boy is mean to other kids, pushes and shoves, bullies, and is an all-around little troublemaker. So why do I care what he thinks?

We were all sitting around tables in one of the classrooms at camp the other day and this little boy was observing Spencer’s behaviour. To anyone who doesn’t know how an autistic child acts, they can seem a little strange, and frightening. This boy went one step further and surmised that Spencer is much worse than this: “He’s psychotic!”, the boy said. Now, the first time I heard him say this, I didn’t believe what I heard and just dismissed it and said to myself that he must have said something completely different. Then today he said it again.

Now, I’ve already said that Spencer is innocent in every sense of the word and he is sweet and kind to everyone. He doesn’t know that people see him differently than they see a “typical” person (with a “typical” person being someone who does not have autism). It breaks my heart to know that people view him as something akin to a misfit because they could completely insult him to his face and he’d still smile and try to hug them. He just doesn’t understand that humans have it within themselves to be hateful and disrespectful. This just so happens to be one of the reasons why we homeschool him, so that he will not be exposed to such torment and ridicule. He’s not equipped to protect himself from such onslaughts, especially since they are not warranted. But I digress…

“He’s crazy… he’s psychotic!”

Now imagine this coming out of the mouth of a 6 year old. A 6 year old said this of another 6 year old… at Bible Camp. For the last four days we have been teaching these kids about Jesus and how he cared and loved for his fellow man, how he gave them gifts and healed them. Yet for all we have taught, this little boy has it in his head that my son is crazy. Strange isn’t it? I was speechless. Thinking about it I should have said to him that the bible says “judge not lest ye be judged”. When the shock and utter disbelief of what he said finally wore off I said to him that Spencer has autism and it makes him act differently than everyone else. Normal to Spencer isn’t normal to everyone else, that’s why he is acts differently. I said that it doesn’t make him crazy just because he’s different. Actually, I wanted to slap the kid. I never would strike him, but his comments stirred in me the torment that I went through as a child because I was fat. It’s like comparing apples to oranges, fatness to autism, but the basic concept of torment is the same. I’m sure my parental instinct is also strongly to blame for me wanting to hit that little boy. Spencer is my son and come hell or high water I will protect him from anything that threatens him, whether that harm comes in physical form or emotional form.

And my son was not the only target of this little boy. He has a friend named Elliott whom he treats poorly: he pushes him, hits him, and today he even spat on him. Yet Elliott keeps coming back, sitting next to him and giving him attention. I feel sorry for Elliot that he puts up with the boy’s behaviour. A young child should not have to be exposed to such a person, especially one who is supposedly a friend. I think the phrase “wolf in sheep’s clothing” fits this situation…

I feel even more sorry for the little boy. I wonder what could have happened to him that made him the way he is. What kind of home life must he have that he feels it necessary to ridicule and torment another child? Who has taught him that this is acceptable??

There was one shining moment in all of this though. The little girl sitting across from Spencer, Molli, spoke up and defended Spencer. She told the boy that Spencer’s not crazy, that he has autism, and she continued to defend him for several minutes while I was searching for the right words and trying not to snap and slap him for insulting my son. It warmed my heart and I must admit that my eyes did water up a little. I don’t know if Molli will ever understand just how much her little gesture of kindness towards Spencer meant so much to me, just as Spencer will never understand why Molli was sticking up for him. He doesn’t understand how or why people are mean to each other; it is a concept that is completely foreign to him.

One final thought in closing. As Elliott and the little boy were shoving back and forth in the hallway between classes, Spencer went up to them and tried to break them up saying “Stop it, stop it!”. After they were split up, Spencer went to Elliott and touched his arm, his way of consoling him. I’m sure he would have done the same to the little boy had Elliott been to blame for the fight. That’s what truly breaks my heart: knowing that Spencer will be kind and loving to everyone, even after they call him crazy or laugh at him or ridicule him. I fear that his innocence will forever be lost due to children like Andrew. Spencer is far too young to defend himself from such a child and he is far too precious to be exposed to such behaviour. I know that there are a lot of ignorant people in the world and Spencer will have to deal with them all in time; I’m just glad he only has one more day to deal with Andrew. It’s a shame that one bad child has soured my experience this week. At least Spencer is enjoying himself… after all, that’s what’s important, not what people think of Spencer.

Is it too early for an “I told you so!”???

I was cooking dinner tonight, as I always do, and the phone rang. It was my mother-in-law on the other end calling to tell us the news she had heard about a law suit against vaccine makers in Federal Court. She told us that the family won their law suit. They had exposed their 19 month old child to multiple vaccines only to see the child’s normal development regress into autism. There was no explanation for this other than the vaccines. I decided to look into it on the net and surprisingly enough, there was little news about it. The following excerpt is from an AOL news web page, posted by one of its users:

“In November the US Government conceded that a little girl’s autism was brought on by her vaccines and she will be paid out of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund. Her case was one of the first three test cases chosen to put the vaccine/autism theory under the microscope at the Vaccine Omnibus Hearings. This is only the first of 4,900 cases before the Federal vaccine court to get a decision.

The case was supposed to go to trial this coming May, but instead settled and subsequently sealed by the court, who claimed that it was for the protection of the child’s privacy. Except that the family has waved their right to privacy and apparently wants the fact of the case and the ruling known.

Journalist David Kirby obtained the court documents and published them last week. The family of the girl is planning a press conference this week in Atlanta some time.

No major US news outlets have run the story on the bombshell court ruling, and in fact in the past week several ‘experts’ have been in the news repeating the now legally false claim that there is no link between vaccines and autism. ABC News looked at doing a story on the government court concession, it but then didn’t.

So what we have here is the government and the medical community publicly telling parents that vaccines have no relationship to autism while privately admitting the link and paying damages to a family for vaccine induced autism. And apparently hoping that no one will notice.”

So, that being said… why is there still such a hard nosed approach to the whole autism-vaccine link? Yes, vaccine manufacturers are making the effort to manufacture vaccines that are free of preservatives such as mercury and thimerisol, however what you may not know is that they still use thimerisol during the manufacturing process and attempt to “wash” it out of the vaccine post-production. An independent test was conducted on 4 vaccines from Merck claiming to be thimerisol and mercury free, only to find that 3 out of the 4 tested positive for mercury! What the hell is going on and why is this being allowed to happen?? Does no one regulate these companies so that they are actually doing what they are claiming to do? Where is the FDA in all of this? Shouldn’t a government organization, charged with deeming medicine safe for the general public’s use, be on top of this and regulating it, even to the point of random tests to ensure product quality and purity?

I eagerly await the press conference that the family will be holding in the coming weeks. I look forward to hearing their story and can only hope that it enlightens more people as to the plight of families such as theirs, such as mine, such as countless others worldwide, who live with a loved one or loved ones with Autism.

One final note which comes from an Autism message board that my wife is a part of. One mother of an autistic child wrote on there that she finds the behavior of the vaccine manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies deplorable because they seem to be sitting on their hands during this whole debate, not fully researching causes and treatments. But, she continues, that if there WAS a vaccine or medication that would cure autism, they’d be all over it like a pig on shit (I’m paraphrasing here!!). There’s no money to be made in researching a disease that you have inadvertently helped to turn into an epidemic. But because there is no way for profit to be made from treating autism, it has not been deemed an epidemic. Polio, small pox: there were “epidemics” that affected 1 in 1000 people. Autism only affects 1 in 150, or over 6.5 times as many as polio or small pox did. But autism isn’t an epidemic… Couldn’t possibly be.

I’ll leave you with this question to ponder: are you aware that there are no cases of regressive autism (normal development and then regression in functioning) before the 1980s? And are you also aware of the timing of the change to the immunization schedule in the United States? I’ll let you take a guess on that one….

Update: here is a link to the press conference and video footage

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23508982/

The Autism-Mercury Link… Debunked?

Let us all stand tall and rejoice!  The truth has come down and has set us free!  OK, maybe that’s not how I feel but it seems like that’s how the pharmaceutical companies are feeling after the release of a new “study” that shows that Autism is not linked to thimerosal in children’s vaccines.  That being said, I am not closed minded and am willing to consider the possibility that this “study” actually is based on facts and not just full of crap.  I consider myself to be somewhat intelligent and therefore able to think logically and rationally.  If I was adamant about my position without considering the other point of view then I would be no better than some crazy nut job… like George W. Bush, for example (please read my other posts for my opinion of him).

There have been several studies and many doctors who believe that there is a link between Autism and the mercury based preservative, thimerosal, that is commonly found in children’s vaccinations.  There is a large body of evidence that has been compiled, much of which has been dismissed by the FDA, the CDC, and major pharmaceutical companies worldwide.  They have all spent considerable time and money conducting studies that seem to put the theories of a link in the same category as those who believe Elvis is still alive today.  They have smeared their “findings” all over the media in an attempt to cover their asses and hide the truth from us.  What that truth is we are still searching for.  As a parent of a child with Autism, I hope we find the truth sooner rather than later so that we may help all the autistic children in the world to recover and live normal and productive lives.  That’s not too much to ask, is it?

While reading the latest article this morning debunking the myth, I was reminded of several things that seem to blatantly defy what this study has to say about the link.  For instance, autistic children have been found to contain high amounts (much higher than the norm) or heavy metals, including mercury and lead.  So what does this finding tell you?  Well, it says that autistic kids have high levels of mercury in their system.  Is this true?  Yes, it is true.  So what causes these high levels?  Well, honestly, no one really knows yet.  And if there is no link between mercury and autism then why are the characteristics of autism similar to those of mercury poisoning?

Advocates against thimerosal claim that it is mercury from vaccines, which is a plausible theory; it is plausible because an infants’ immune system is not developed enough until the age of 4-6 months to respond to the vaccine that’s been given, let alone properly and safely excrete the levels of mercury that are injected into its body.  Take the Hepatitis B vaccine, for example: it contains 12.5 micrograms of mercury.  This vaccine is administered without fail to ALL newborns within 12 hours of birth.  Before their immune system can even begin to work, it is being bombarded with a lethal neurotoxin that can have life-long damaging consequences.  This vaccine is given to newborns who are not at risk; they are not born to mothers who have used IV drugs or engaged in unsafe sexual practices.  It is a blanket immunization that is unwarranted and unsafe.

Another vaccine linked to autism is the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella).  It is known that thimerosal is being phased out and that the majority of MMR vaccines do not contain mercury anymore.  However, I believe there is another factor involved with this vaccine.  The MMR vaccine uses a live virus strain of each disease in order to get the immune system to build up the necessary antibodies to become immune; essentially, the child is infected with three viruses at the same time.  This would put a strain on any immune system, let alone that of an infant.  According to Stephanie Cave, M.D., “Our children are being injected with foreign, disease-causing substances before their immune systems have matured to the point where they can cope with such invasions.  We are also giving our children multiple, simultaneous vaccines, which may cause reactions not seen when a single vaccine is given.”  I’m a hockey playe and will use an analogy here.  Consider your immune system to be a goalie: it is there to protect the goal (the person) from the puck (the disease).  Shoot one puck at the net and the goalie will stop the puck.  However, shoot 3 or more pucks at the net at the same time and the goalie is inadequate in stopping everthing.  Basically, the more live virus vaccines you inject into a still developing immune system, the more likely the chance that one or more of the viruses will not be fought off, causing autoimmune disorders.

The usual immunization of MMR occurs between 12-18 months.  According to the Recommended Immunization Schedule for Person Aged 0-6 Years (2008), a child will receive approximately 23 vaccinations prior to receiving the MMR (at least 3 hep B vaccines, 3 rotavirus vaccines, 4 DTaP vaccines, 4 Hib vaccines, 4 pneumococcal vaccines, 3 polio vaccines, at least 1 flu shot, as well as the possibility of 1 varicella vaccine and possibly 2 Hep A vaccines).  In 1999, the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research (CBER) confirmed that thimerosal was present in over 30 licensed vaccines in the US in concentrations of 0.003% to 0.01%.  According to the agency’s calculations, an infant six months old who got all vaccine doses on schedule would receive 75 micrograms of mercury from three doses of DTaP, 75 micrograms from three doses of Hib, and 37.5 micrograms from three doses of hepatitis B vaccine – a total of 187.5 micrograms of mercury.  According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the safe limit for mercury is 0.1 microgram of mercury per kilogram per day.  So the 12.5 micrograms of mercury in the hepatitis vaccine injected into, say, an eight pound baby newborn (approximately 3.6 kilograms) is dramatically higher than the safe limit of 0.36 micrograms set by the EPA.  It should also be stated that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) do not agree with the EPA’s safe limits and say that the limits are actually higher.  I think, however, it is prudent to air on the side of caution and accept the lower limits in order to minimize adverse reactions and consequences.  Wouldn’t you agree?  If you accept the EPA’s limits, which I prefer to accept, you are injecting your newborn with more than 34 times the amount of mercury that can be processed safely and excreted from the body.  Does it make sense to inject that much of a poison into an innocent, new life?  Perhaps the interaction of the mercury with multiple live virus vaccines plays some part in autism.

Recently, the rule has been to give the MMR with the varicella vaccine, another live virus vaccine combating the chicken pox.  Now, perhaps I am being cynical but I believe the best antibodies you can have come from actually having the disease and fighting it off naturally; this is the purpose of our immune system as it has continued to evolve over tens of thousands of years.  I’m not against vaccines that help save lives but a childhood ailment that guarantees never having the ailment again sounds better that having multiple vaccines only to push the onset of a disease into adulthood where it can actually prove to be fatal.  This is the trend we are seeing with the varicella vaccine: it tends to protect into adulthood but then you become susceptible to contracting the disease, which in adulthood can prove to be much worse than had you had it as a child.  So why create such a vaccine?  Simple… money. 

According to Stephanie Cave, M.D., “the reason is that the government was looking for a way to save businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production time, because mothers had to stay home when their children got sick.  The solution: develop a vaccine for chicken pox so moms could keep working instead of taking time off to nurse their kids.  The savings, calculated by Merck Laboratories, the makers of the only chicken pox vaccine on the market, were estimated at $400 million.  Apparently marketing the vaccine to every child in the United States does have a cost benefit.  So the bottom line is that Americans have yet another vaccine mandated in many states as a requirement for children to get into school.”  Does this mean that the true origin of the varicella vaccine isn’t one of protecting our children from the “deadly” childhood disease of chicken pox, but rather one that helps to ease the burden that businesses must bear when their workers take sick leave to help their children recover from an illness?  Perhaps.  But again, maybe I’m just being cynical when I think that the government does not have the public safety in mind.  It is not right that a government dictate to its citizens that children be vaccinated with 37 vaccines before the age of 6, just so they can attend school.  They use this threat as a means to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated.  Sounds a little like communism to me.  What happened to the freedom of choice?  I mean, a woman can still have an abortion if she chooses and she won’t be shunned from society, so why should we shun our children who’s parents have decided that they should not receive all their vaccinations?  Does every child not deserve an education in this country?  Why force parents to immunize their children with vaccines that prevent diseases that they could just contract and be done with for the rest of their lives?  I have had chicken pox and measles and I am not afraid of ever catching them again because I have the natural immunity now.  Isn’t that what we are trying to accomplish with vaccines?  I understand the desire to protect our children from harm and pain, but without allowing the immune system to do its job and continue to evolve naturally, without the aid of 40-50 vaccinations throughout childhood and adolescence, won’t we be dooming them instead to a life of sickness and poor health with an immune system that is incapable of properly defending itself?

Back to mercury.  So if there is mercury in the system and it hasn’t come from vaccines, as the evidence always seems to point to, then where does it come from?  Some researchers believe that the mercury comes from fish.  While it is true that fish does contain mercury (approximately 17 micrograms in a 6 ounce can) there is a big difference.  First, how safe is a poison?  Mercury is toxic for everyone, including people who eat tuna or have mercury filling in their mouth (called amalgams).  High levels of mercury can cause brain cells to die; lower, chronic levels can result in silent, insidious effects that affect the immune system at the cellular level.  The first signs of low level mercury poisoning may be an inability to get rid of the flu, bronchitis, or a yeast infection, or it may lead to cancer.

Much more important to this argument is the second point: the ethylmercury in the vaccine is being injected into the bodies of infants who do not have a fully developed immune system, and their bodies can’t get rid of the mercury properly.  The mercury from the tuna, on the other hand, is not injected into the bloodstream; it is eaten, which means it goes through the digestive tract, and the liver has the opportunity to help rid the body of this poisonous toxin.  In infants, the blood-brain barrier (a membrane between circulating blood and the brain that prevents certain harmful substances from reaching the brain) is not yet able to keep out toxins that can damage the brain.  This means that mercury sent directly into the bloodstream enters the brain and converts to a form of mercury (inorganic) that remains in the brain, where it does the damage.  Once in the brain, mercury gathers in the areas that affect motor skills and attacks the nerves, affecting emotional and mental functioning.

To further illustrate my point that mercury is linked to autism, I will now compare the characteristics of Autism and mercury poisoning.  I will list the characteristic, followed by symptoms of autism followed by symptoms of mercury poisoning.  Let’s begin:

Movement disorders: Autism – arm flapping, jumping, spinning, rocking, circling; abnormal posture and gait; clumsiness, uncoordinated; difficulties crawling, lying down, sitting, walking; difficulty swallowing or chewing; walking on the toes.  Mercury Poisoning- arm flapping, ankle jerks, rocking circling; uncoordinated, clumsiness; inability to walk, stand, or sit; difficulty swallowing or chewing; walking on the toes.

Sensory abnormalities: Autism – oversensitive to sound; abnormal sensation in the mouth, arms, and legs; doesn’t like to be touched.  Mercury Poisoning – oversensitive to sound; abnormal sensation in the mouth, arms, and legs; doesn’t like to be touched.

Speech, hearing, language problems: Autism – Delayed language or failure to develop speech; mild to severe hearing loss; problems with articulation; word use errors.  Mercury Poisoning – Loss of speech or failure to develop speech; hearing loss; deafness at very high doses; problems with articulation; word retrieval problems.

Cognitive problems: Autism – borderline intelligence, mental retardation: may be recovered; poor concentration, shifting attention; difficulty following multiple commands; difficulty comprehending words; difficulty understanding abstract ideas and symbols.  Mercury Poisoning – borderline intelligence, mental retardation: may be reversed; poor concentration and attention; difficulty following complex commands; difficulty comprehending words; difficulty understanding abstract ideas and symbols.

Visual problems: Autism – poor eye contact; blurred vision.  Mercury Poisoning – poor eye contact; blurred vision.

Physical problems: Autism- decreased muscle strength, especially in upper body; incontinence; rash, dermatitis; abnormal sweating, poor circulation, high heart rate; diarrhea, constipation, gas, abdominal discomfort; anorexia, feeding problems; seizures; tendency to have allergies or asthma; family history of autoimmune symptoms, especially rheumatoid arthritis.  Mercury Poisoning- decreased muscle strength, especially in upper body; incontinence; salivating; rash, dermatitis; abnormal sweating, poor circulation, high heart rate; diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain; anorexia, nausea, poor appetite; seizures; sensitive individuals more likely to have allergies, asthma; more likely to have autoimmune symptoms, especially rheumatoid arthritis.

Unusual behavior: Autism – sleeping difficulties; injures self, such as head banging; staring, unprovoked crying, social isolation.  Mercury Poisoning – sleeping difficulties; injures self, such as head banging; staring, unprovoked crying, social isolation.

Seeing autism and mercury poisoning compared side to side, do you still have doubts that there is a connection?  You might, I won’t deny you that, but you have to admit that there are similarities between the two, which does suggest some sort of a link between the two.

So what does this mean?  Well, for starters it means that there is a lot about autism that we still don’t know or understand.  The key right now is to not eliminate any possibilities when it comes to causes.  Does mercury play a role?  I tend to think it does.  Mercury poisoning and autism share similar characteristics and autistic children test for high levels of mercury in their systems.  Does the mercury come from the vaccines?  I think there is a connection, seeing as how there has been a mad scramble to eliminate thimerosal from vaccines.  But other factors could play a role.  For instance, California reports more cases of autism that any other state.  They also happen to be down-wind from China’s coal fired power plants, which happen to release mercury into the atmosphere.  Do genetics play a role?  Possibly.  Autism incidence is 4 times higher in boys than girls.  Obviously there is/are some genetic factor(s) involved in autism.  Would stem cell research help in the fight against autism?  I don’t think it would hinder it, that’s for sure.  There are so many opportunities for stem cell research to help in a vast array of medical conditions.  Ethical bias aside, it is a step in the right direction for medicine.  Besides, stem cell research uses unwanted embryos; it’s not like we would be impregnating women and forcing them to have abortions in the name of medical research.

One thing is sure: autism is an epidemic and the first step is understanding it.  Once we understand what causes it, we will be better equipped to find a cure for it.  In the meantime, we need to improve services for autistic children while increasing access to the same services.  ABA therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy: these have all been proven to help autistic children learn and become able to interact socially.  With the estimated cost to the government associated with autism approaching $5 million per person over their lifetime (including social cecurity payments, medicaid benefits, etc.), and an incidence rate of 1 in 150 children being diagnosed, can we really afford not to do whatever we can to treat autism and lessen the effects of the disease, thereby enabling our children to function somewhat normally, resulting in a smaller cost over their lifetime?  If we properly rehabilitate autistic children, they will have a much better chance of becoming productive members of society, thereby reducing the amount of government assistance they will receive.  Spend a little now or wait and spend a lot later?  Until we know for certain what causes autism and how to cure it, we need to address their behaviors while providing them with an environment that is conducive to learning.  It is no different than sending a non-autistic child to school.  And if you’re unsure of what to do, ask a parent of a child with autism what they want.  Who else is better equipped to know what their autistic child needs?