Autism has received formal 'epidemic' status

[call me jaded]

Apparently the American National Institute of Mental Health has awarded autism official recognition of epidemic status. I cannot find any mention of this on their website, but a few US papers are reporting this (New York Post, Epoch Times). Perhaps the delay is due to the holidays - the news reports are dated 30th December.

 

The significance of this is that autism as an epidemic cannot be a purely genetic condition.

 

I will be looking for formal confirmation.

[oracle]

My first thought is - What took them so long? There is so much more to ASD than genetics. I am currently looking into the chemical and environmental factors myself with my two - yes really. My two have so much more going on than their ASD.

 

Good to have you back and I hope that should I have need of your vast knowledge about all of this I am still welcome to ask you?

 

Carole

[loranderc]

Hi Carole Happy new year.

Haven't been onto the forum for a while. Really interested in your chemical and environmental factor data. Any trends or hotspots noticed yet? Also any thoughts about the dutch chap who thinks that he has found an complementary health "cure" to help boost the immune system?

L

[call me jaded]

Of course, Carole, I'll point you in the right direction to find out more. It's a really vast subject and our children are all unique. The things I retain in my memory relate to our circumstances.

 

Lornaderc, I don't think we've 'met', but if you don't mind I would make the following recommendation, which is Read Everything You Can. The question is, what?

 

Here's some recommendations for someone new to the subject.

 

1) The Sunderland Protocol. It's on the Sunderland University website. The longer I do this, the more I appreciate just how good that protocol is - spot on. It does need updating slightly, but to be frank if you do all the reading you will know the whys and wherefores by the time you get to it.

 

2) 'Children with Starving Brains' by Jacquelyn McCandless - doctor and grandmother to a child with an ASD. Unscary introduction to biomedical intervention.

 

3) The Autism Research Institute, headed by Bernard Rimland. Their website has a huge amount if information. Rather unhelpfully their doctors use the acronym DAN! which stands for Defeat Autism Now! There is also another group called Cure Autism Now. You need to look beyond 'defeat' and 'cure' to the science.

 

4) Schafer Autism Report. This is a free email that arrives three or four times a week containing newspaper articles and recent research on autism. Lenny Schafer is firmly in the 'mercury causes autism' camp but again look at the science.

 

5) Pub Med. This is a US government database which publishes free summaries of medical research. With a bit of googling you can usually turn up the full research paper. A tip: if you find a really interesting bit of research download it. Some of the medical journals generate a major part of their income charging for published papers - sometimes it's only available for a week free of charge.

 

So for me it goes something like this: receive SAR, read newspaper article (such as the Dutch research), look it up on Pub Med, google the university website. But just reading SAR for a few months would give a basis of knowledge.

 

I recall the gold and arthritis connection when it came out a couple of years ago because my son has arthritic joints. FWIW I don't think there is a single cause of my son's difficulties. It's a bit like peeling an onion: we've taken all the dried old brown and crusty skin off and are heading towards his sweet and tender heart.

 

Anyway read, ask questions, look beyond media spin to the research, ask more questions.

Edited January 2, 2006 by call me jaded

[oracle]

Thanks for this information which I will use. We did the urine test at Sunderland Uni when Matthew was first diagnosed and even Paul Shattock was surprised that it came back negative - but maybe we need to test again now. I have been very fortunate and am helping someone with some research work and just having to look and type up the list of chemicals of the things that we use as a matter of fact is quite frightening. Matthew never wants to use soap again!

 

There are factors that we are already fully aware of such as electro magnetic impulses and fields all in all it's a rather large minefield but one we aim to negotiate this year.

 

Carole

[sue1957]

If anyone fancies a little reading on the subject of electromagnetic impulses and fields....... try this one! Scary!

 

http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm