SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism:

No Finer a Cause on the Planet"

________________________________________________________________

Monday, January 06, 2003

ADVOCACY

* Debate Over Vaccine Amendment: NBC News

ACTION ALERT

* ACTION ALERT From Safe Minds: Survey Your Senators

AWARENESS

* Family Blames Vaccine Additive For Son's Autism

* "American Normal" Book by Lawrence Osborne

COMMENTARIES

* Why Inoculating Big Pharma from Vaccine Suits Makes Sense:

Business Week

* On Tali-banning Our Children from the Courts: Lenny Schafer

MEDIA ALERT

* MEDIA ALERT: NPR Tuesday, January 7, 1 PM Eastern

LETTERS

* On Saddam and Autism

* On the NBC Report

* Taking Resentment

READERS' POSTS

ADVOCACY

Debate Over Vaccine Amendment: NBC News

Last-minute addition to homeland security bill shields makers

Many parents across the nation are still fuming over four small paragraphs at the end of 475 pages designed to protect america. Despite the lack of evidence, these parents are certain their kids were harmed by childhood vaccinations. But now, they’ve been stripped of their right to sue the vaccine makers. Why, and who did it?

Kathy Kilpatrick has to watch her daughter very closely. Six-year-old Mary-Kate is autistic and needs constant supervision.

“She’s different and she’s isolated,” says Kilpatrick. “She knows that she’s different.”

Mary-Kate is one of about 90,000 children in America diagnosed with this neurological disorder that impairs her mental and social development. Her parents believe her vaccinations are to blame, specifically a preservative added to them.

“I never once questioned the shots,” says Kilpatrick. “There was never any discussion of any risks involved.”

At issue is a vaccine preservative called thimerosal. It contains mercury and was used in child vaccines until 1999. Although a scientific link to autism has never been proven, thousands of parents believe thimerosal is the cause and filed suit against its maker, Eli Lilly.

But just days before the homeland security bill was passed this fall, an amendment was slipped in. It was part of a bill written by incoming Senate majority leader Bill Frist, and it closed off the major avenue by which people could sue a vaccine maker for illness.

“What it did to the families is it took away their last option, literally or figuratively closed the door on their last access to the courts of justice,” says Prof. Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University School of Law.

One of the most powerful members of Congress, outgoing House majority leader Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, was behind the amendment and argues that if drug companies weren’t protected, they might refuse to make vaccines, a big worry amid fears of bioterrorism.

“I’m proud that I put it in there and I know that it’s going to make America more secure, and that’s why it’s there,” says Armey.

But congressman Dan Burton is among those who are furious.

“For anybody to say they’re proud for putting that kind of an amendment in there is just beyond me,” says Rep. Burton, R-Ind.

Burton’s grandson is autistic. He also chairs the committee that oversaw the bill and says he was blindsided by Dick Armey’s last-minute addition.

“Now, he can take sole responsibility for it, that’s his prerogative if he wants to, but that amendment is criminal in my opinion,” says Burton.

Some critics of the amendment point out that drug companies give generously to the Republican party and that some top officials at Eli Lilly have close ties to the White House. Lilly’s chairman, Sidney Taurel, served on the White House advisory council on homeland security. Mitch Daniels, a former top Lilly executive, is now director of the White House office of management and budget.

The White House denies any influence.

Eli Lilly released a statement reading, “at no point did anyone at Lilly... past or present, ask for this language to be inserted in the homeland security act.”

Some members of Congress from both parties say they’re already trying to undo the effects of the recent legislation to once again give parents the right to sue in court — despite the absence of conclusive evidence to back up the families’ claims.

“There’s been no scientific connection made between thimerosal and autism, not in the medical community, not in the scientific community,” says Armey.

And for families like the Kilpatricks?

“Every night when I go to bed,” says Kathy Kilpatrick, “I think, ‘my God,’ what’s going to happen to this poor baby when I’m gone? She’s going to outlive me by 40 years.”

For now, this family and others wait to find out how the next move in vaccine politics might affect the quality of their lives.

_______________________________________________________

>> DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW <<

Subscribe, Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.

No Cost!

_______________________________________________________

* * *

ACTION ALERT From Safe Minds: Survey Your Senators

* Survey Your 2 US Senators Or Staff--ASAP--On Repealing The Thimerosal Liability Provision In The Homeland Security Act

* Michigan Senator Stabenow to introduce repeal legislation

[In addition to Safe Minds, this alert comes from the Mercury Policy Project and The Autism Autoimmunity Project.]

Your efforts are needed to help repeal the Thimerosal Liability Shield Rider and to facilitate passage of the Burton-Waxman Act reforming the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

Background

In November the Homeland Security Act was swiftly passed by Congress. At the eleventh hour, a rider was added to the legislation that would prevent parents of autistic children from suing Eli Lilly and a small group of vaccine manufacturers for harm caused to their children from thimerosal in infant vaccines. Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative which has been linked to autism and related disorders.

Many Congressmen and Senators were outraged by the insertion of the Thimerosal Liability Shield rider into the Homeland Security Act, since the vaccines with thimerosal are routine infant formulations which have nothing to do with bioterrorism and national security. The House and Senate leadership assured these Senators and Congressmen that the thimerosal liability shield issue would be revisited when the new Congress reconvenes on January 7. Repeal of the rider will increase the chances of passage of the Burton-Waxman bill to reform the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Act of 1986 to make it easier for families to obtain compensation for vaccine-related injuries.

Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan has graciously agreed to introduce legislation in January to repeal the Thimerosal Liability Shield Rider. Safe Minds is supporting this effort. Along with other concerned groups, including the Mercury Policy Project and The Autism Autoimmunity Project, we would like to know which Senators are in favor of repealing the rider. The document below from Mercury Policy Project describes the steps you can take to determine where your two Senators lie on this issue.

Please note that several activities are being planned for Washington, DC on January 8th, to coincide with the announcement introducing the Stebenow legislation. The Autism Autoimmunity Project has sent information on these activities. Families are encouraged to attend.

[For more background information, see following article from the Standard-Times of New Jersey. –Ed.]

..........................

Survey Your 2 US Senators Or Staff--ASAP--On Repealing The Thimerosal Liability Provision In The Homeland Security Act

NOTE: Per the sample letter below, request that the Senators/staff

respond in writing and follow the instructions (see below) for forwarding written responses received. Verbal responses are NOT adequate because they can't be verfied.

The purpose of the survey is to determine:

1.) How many us senators support a separate vote to repeal the thimerosal liability shield provision in the homeland act

2.) How many senators will vote to support repeal legislation.

3.) How many will support funding research into all possible causes and cures for autism and are also willing to provide financial support to affected families.

up email contact information. (NOTE: For NEWLY elected Senators, call

202-225-3121 and ask to be connected to their office--then request their email address.)

When drafting emails to US Senators/staff, please feel free to use the sample email letter (see below). Once you have received a US Senator/staff written response to your email, please forward their entire email response

to: mercurypolicy@aol.com.

Sincerely,

Michael T.Bender

Director Mercury Policy Project

(sample survey letter to US Senators or Staff)

Dear Senator_________or (name of staff person)_________:

I am writing regarding the recent passage of the Homeland Security Act and, in particular, one outrageous provision that was snuck into the bill at the last minute that provides a so-called "thimerosal liability shield" for vaccine makers. According to news reports, the leaders in the US Senate--both Democrats and Republicans--have pledged to reconsider this provision and that bi-partisian legislation will be introduced in early January to repeal the thimerosal provision. Thererfore, I would appreciate a written response to the following questions at your earliest convenience.

1.) Is the Senator supportive of a having a vote in the US Senate to repeal the thimerosal liability shield provision in the Homeland Security Act ASAP?

a.) YES b.) NO

2.) Is the Senator willing to support legislation repealing the thimerosal liability shield provision in the Homeland Security Act?

a.) YES, I will vote to repeal the thimerosal liability shield provision in the Homeland Security Act (Note: Support for only "fixing" or altering the provision, rather than repealing the entire thimerosal liability shield provision, is considered a "NO" vote.)

b.) NO, I willl not vote to repeal the thimerosal liability shield provision in the Homeland Security Act.

c.) I AM UNDECIDED on how I would vote at this time, but pledge to respond as soon as possible once a final decision is made.

3.) Is the Senator supportive of legislation to fund research by independent investigators looking at all possible causes and cures for autism, including vaccine-induced autism, and provide financial support to families that have children with autism or related problems?

a.) YES, I am generally supportive of such measures.

b.) NO, I believe existing measures are enough.

Thank you (in advance) for taking the time to respond, via email, to these important questions at your earliest possible convenience.

* * *

Family Blames Vaccine Additive For Son's Autism

Homeland Security rules hamper lawsuit

Until he was about 15 months old, Jevyn Neves was hitting all his developmental milestones. Then he began to regress. His speech vanished.

After perplexing doctors for more than a year, he was diagnosed with autism.

"He did not play with me like other kids did with their mom," said his 25-year-old mother, Nicole Bernier, a New Bedford native.

Ms. Bernier believes that her 6-year-old son's condition was caused by a series of DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) and MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccinations Jevyn received during that critical early period of his life.

She and her husband, Antonio Neves, are plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical companies who manufactured the mercury-based additive called Thimerosal, used to give these vaccines a longer shelf life.

With Republican Sen. Bill Frist succeeding Trent Lott as Senate majority leader and a recently passed Homeland Security bill inoculating vaccine manufacturers from paying hefty damages, the prospects are dimming for the class action.

"(Sen. Frist) is our public enemy number one," said Mark Blaxill of Safeminds, a parent advocacy group in the thick of the Thimerosal controversy. "It's frightening. He is in the forefront of the movement to deprive families of their due process, the prime mover behind complete immunity provisions for Eli Lilly."

Sen. Frist defended the amendment to the Homeland Security bill on the floor of the Senate last November. He said he fears that without the added legal protections, there will be a chilling effect on vaccine manufacturer's incentive to fight bioterrorism. "The threat of lawsuits mustn't be a barrier to protecting the American people," said Frist before the bill was passed.

Frist said the vaccine injury compensation program, a special vaccine court that caps the payout to families harmed by vaccines, provides adequate recompense.

The families in the class action suit are fighting a statute of limitations specification, which bars compensation three years from the onset of signs and symptoms. "You have a class of individuals who will go uncompensated," said attorney John Kim of Gallagaher, Lewis, Downey and Kim, of Houston, Texas, one of the two law firms appointed to handle the case.

Drug manufacturing giant Eli Lilly developed Thimerosal in the 1930s and sold it for 40 years. It was used as a preservative in a number of applications other than with vaccines, such as in cosmetics and eye drops.

"It had been considered a medically safe project," said Dr. Ann Bajart at the Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston, "until we realized that over time, it caused inflammatory conjunctivitis, a reddening of the eyes. The preservative was causing an allergic response." Mercury-based products would be taken off the market for topical applications in 1985.

Pharmaceutical companies continued to manufacture childhood vaccines with Thimerosal up until a few years ago, when a 1997 report on mercury was submitted to Congress. In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics demanded that childhood vaccines stop being produced with the chemical preservative. Three years later, many of these vaccines are still on the shelves.

The amount of Thimerosal in any given vaccine shot was too small to be of any significance 30 years ago when a child received only a few vaccines. Today, the federally mandated vaccine program will have a child injected with anywhere between 25 and 30 shots.

And as autism rates skyrocket, parents are raising concerns of possible links between autism and vaccinations. Republican congressman Dan Burton from Indiana has an autistic grandson.

"I am personally convinced that there is a link," he said on C-SPAN last month. "Christian received nine shots in one day. Seven of them contained mercury. And two days later he became autistic, he started running around and banging his head against the wall. Severe constipation and diarrhea. Lost his ability to speak well."

Scientists are confounded. "It appears to be a dramatic increase (in autism)," said Harvard pediatric neurologist Dr. Martha Herbert.

Studies indicate a spike of anywhere between 283 and 400 percent in the past 10 to 15 years.

+ Article continues at:

---------------------

Autism Resource

Promote Your Event Free in The Autism Calendar

---------------------

* * *

AWARENESS

"American Normal" Book by Lawrence Osborne

American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome

By Lawrence Osborne

Copernicus Books

288 pages

Nonfiction

People with the rare condition called Asperger Syndrome can be brilliant, but they're unable to read the human face or the simplest social cue.

The pianist Glenn Gould most likely had it; Albert Einstein, Béla Bartók and Thomas Jefferson probably did as well. And Bill Gates shows a number of the traits.

Asperger Syndrome, as Lawrence Osborne explains in his idiosyncratic, intelligent and compassionate book "American Normal: The Hidden World of Asperger Syndrome," is a specific and rare form of "high-functioning" autism.

That is, although people with Asperger's are generally very intelligent and appear normal enough to blend fairly well into the society around them, they have pronounced difficulties when interacting with others. "Essentially, for reasons that are completely unknown, Asperger's people cannot read the human face or its emotions," Osborne writes. "They cannot learn social rules, nuances or metaphors. Often brilliant intellectually, they cannot read the simplest social cue or hint: instead, rigid obsessions, often numerical, dominate their inner life."

Children with Asperger's might memorize whole TV shows, which they will recite word-for-word, or learn everything there is to know about, say, vacuum cleaners. One child memorized the address, phone number and ZIP code of every member of Congress. As adults, Asperger people (Osborne notes that it's not uncommon for people who have been diagnosed with Asperger's to identify themselves as if they were the syndrome itself, by saying, for example, "I'm Asperger") might exhibit behavior like that of Darius McCollum, a semilegendary New Yorker who learned every detail of the New York City subway system, the intricacies of which he loved. ("How can I describe it?" McCollum once said. "I like the scenery. I like the

schedules.") McCollum eventually received a prison sentence for first pulling a train emergency brake and then rushing to the "rescue" dressed as a transit supervisor.

McCollum's behavior may have been bizarre, but he truly meant no harm, and Osborne's assessment of his case is bracingly sympathetic. And that's where "American Normal" diverges from most books written about disorders and ailments, which tend to be written by experts or specialists or people with some sort of firsthand experience. Those books may be helpful in their way, but they can also go heavy on dull statistics and insights that aren't particularly challenging. Osborne (who has reviewed books in these pages) has written a book for the common reader; he's not a specialist, but simply a writer, and a fine one. And he's motivated by curiosity, the best spur for both writers and readers alike. "American Normal" is one of those books that's conspiratorially informative -- it makes us feel we're discovering something about a new subject alongside the writer, instead of being educated, at considerable remove, after the fact.

Osborne has done his research. He explains how Asperger's first came to light.

(It's named after Hans Asperger, the Austrian doctor who pinpointed the syndrome and helped develop innovative and surprisingly advanced ways to deal with Asperger children.) He has attended conferences and support groups, and has met and spent time with people of all ages who have Asperger's. He writes about them as people, never as specimens.

"American Normal" consists largely of Osborne's thoughtful and highly personal observations; it's astonishingly readable, and often downright entertaining.

One of Osborne's concerns is that, particularly in America, "problem" children are often diagnosed with this or that disorder and hustled onto some sort of medication. He worries that in some cases, at least, we may be medicating the childhood right out of children.

At an Asperger's and Autism Conference in St. Louis, for example, Osborne listens to a paper given by a woman whose son, Nicky, was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 7. His behavior included whirling around uncontrollably (when asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, he'd say, "I want to be a screwdriver!"); he also had difficulty sleeping and a tendency to throw temper tantrums.

But Nicky also loved everything to do with ships. He made his bedroom look like a ship, and he sang old sailing songs over and over again. Osborne describes seeing a picture of Nicky, "a slender fair-haired elf in a yellow hat sitting in his nautical room with a huge 'sail' suspended above him." He explains that Nicky "would spend much of his day building Lego ships, then destroying them.

In all, he looked like an interesting kid, and I immediately wanted to meet him."

"The child is seen as a machine which has gone wrong"

Osborne goes on to describe the treatments applied to Nicky (they included eliminating sugar, wheat and cow's milk from his diet, as well as administering Prozac and Valium) and the tips Nicky's mother had for dealing with similar "problem" children (such as "Initiate functioning interaction" and "Develop self-monitoring and self-management skills, create predictability").

Without being wholly unsympathetic to parents at the end of their rope -- how, exactly, does one deal with a child whose chief desire is to be a screwdriver? -- Osborne wonders aloud at the language used by most of the conference attendees. "It appeared essentially to be a corporate lingo whose vocabulary was relentlessly technical ... The child is seen simply as a machine which has gone wrong."

In a compact, funny and sharply written passage, Osborne describes the way he escaped, at the age of 9, from his own birthday party, a carefully planned event ("complete with a professional clown and fire-eater") that he had been dreading. (The actual escape was a feat of derring-do involving two sheets tied together, which he used to lower himself from his bedroom

window.) And as a youngster growing up in England, Osborne was obsessed with the lute, which he considered deeply odd; its oddness in turn seemed sexy to him. As much as he loved this difficult-to-play instrument, its idiosyncrasies got the better of him one day, and he dashed his beloved lute to pieces on the road outside his family's home. (A passerby rang the doorbell and said to Osborne's mother, "I've found some pieces of lute in the road, madam. Are they yours?") While Osborne doesn't claim to have Asperger's, he does wonder if these and other childhood (as well as adult) obsessions don't themselves seem a little Aspergerish. He also wonders if diagnoses of Asperger's and other syndromes or disorders aren't sometimes

misapplied: "As the whole notion of individual eccentricity declines in Western culture, we come to rely more and more on the notion of medical disorder, and an array of syndromes that can be applied to all who are strange, or simply solitary."

Without diminishing the difficulties that people with Asperger's face -- the time he spends with such people makes their troubles, sometimes bordering on anguish, quite clear -- he does strive to show how, in some ways, they're not so different from "neurotypicals," or NTs, like you and me. And then, of course, there are the ways in which their differences are a kind of superiority. Osborne isn't out to romanticize Asperger's Syndrome, but he is open to the ways in which Asperger people see the world differently. He describes, for example, the way they sometimes express their thoughts in surrealist metaphors that make absolute sense. For example, "My sleep today was long but thin," or "I don't like the blinding sun, nor the dark, but best I like the mottled dark."

Osborne also spends some time chatting with some Asperger adults at a meeting, who mournfully admit that it's very difficult for them to find girlfriends (some 80 percent of people with Asperger's are boys or men). But they're blazingly intelligent and, Osborne finds, charming in a very specific way. One of them speaks of his desire to move once and for all to Hawaii. (He connects, Osborne explains, with Hawaii's "volcanic dramas, prehistoric greenness and sense of oceanic isolation.") "The mainland," the young man says with a sigh.

"It's so NT."

Osborne's book is a fabulous example of the rather old-fashioned -- and, sadly, largely outmoded -- notion of allowing a curious, intelligent writer loose on a subject that interests him, even though he or she might not be a "known expert"

or "specialist" in the field. What Osborne does have on his side is

considerable: research, passion, clarity of thought, the ability to impart information in a way that's readable and entertaining. There are probably some persnickety scientific types out there who will object to the fact that a mere journalist -- in their eyes, a regular Joe -- has dared to write a book like "American Normal." Shouldn't such a book be written by a professional with years of experience in the field? Maybe. But then, that way of thinking is so NT.

[About the writer: Stephanie Zacharek is a senior writer for Salon Arts & Entertainment.]

----------------------

Autism Resource

Free Readers' Posts

----------------------

* * *

COMMENTARIES

Why Inoculating Big Pharma from Vaccine Suits Makes Sense: Business Wk By John Carey

It seemed like Washington at its backroom-dealing worst. With no debate, congressional conferees in November quietly inserted language into the Homeland Security Act that prevents parents from suing Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY ) and other makers of the mercury-containing preservative, thimerosal--an ingredient once used in infant vaccines that some believe is responsible for mushrooming rates of autism in young children. Parents and some consumer advocates have been complaining about the provisions ever since. "The legislation gives Lilly a get-out-of-court-free card," says Janell M. Duncan, legislative counsel at Consumers Union.

Washington is abuzz with allegations that the drug industry's political friends were behind it. The provisions were authored by newly named Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and stuck in the bill by Representative Dick Armey (R-Tex.). "It appears this provision was added at the last minute as a payback to a powerful political supporter," charges Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who vows to strip the offending language from the bill after Congress reconvenes in 2003.

The process was indeed dubious. Rather than trying to avoid the politically charged issue, Congress should have openly debated the pros and cons. But sometimes even shady dealmaking can yield decent policy. Far from being a disaster, the provision makes sense, especially as part of a package of vaccine policy proposals that Congress is expected to take up.

To understand why, jump back to a mid-1980s crisis. Although vaccines had revolutionized public health, their side effects were prompting suits against vaccine makers. As a result, many companies left the low-profit business. That raised the specter of shortages and a resurgence of such diseases as polio. So in 1986, Congress limited companies' liability by creating a national injury compensation program--in essence, a vaccine court--to evaluate claims and hand out damages. And if people don't like the awards they get, they're free to sue in regular court.

That law, however, contains a loophole that plaintiff's lawyers representing parents with autistic children have since tried to exploit. Because the vaccine court's compensation program has a three-year statute of limitations, lawyers seeking damages for children who got the disease earlier than 1999 have been going after the ingredient makers. The new bill would give these companies the same legal protections as vaccine makers. That would eliminate the discrepancy in how the cases are treated, ending much fruitless litigation; courts have quashed some attempts to sue the likes of Lilly.

The new law, moreover, would keep claims against ingredient producers in the vaccine compensation program, which was set up to handle these difficult issues. Even many trial lawyers who back changes to vaccine policy--including an extension of the statute of limitations--would rather deal with the vaccine court. For one thing, the awards can reach into the millions of dollars. In theory, many cases also have a better chance, since parents and their lawyers need not prove liability, says plaintiffs' lawyer Clifford J. Shoemaker. That's crucial in the case of alleged injury from thimerosal, because there's no proof it causes autism. To the contrary, autism rates have increased since 2000, when vaccine makers began reducing the amount of mercury used.

Unless Congress closes the loophole that threatens ingredient makers, a repeat of the 1980s liability crisis that drove companies out of the business could occur. "If we vote to strike these provisions," argues Senator Frist, "we're putting at risk our manufacturing base."

Yet Congress shouldn't stop there. It also needs to improve the compensation program. Lengthening the statute of limitations is one fix, particularly as more time is needed for research on whether mercury plays any role in autism. With studies under way, "it makes sense to wait for the results," says plaintiff's attorney Michael L. Williams, chair of the Mercury Vaccine Alliance.

Every child stricken with autism is a cause for sorrow. It's only human to assign blame and seek damages. But with a program in place to handle these questions, allowing endless rounds of extra litigation makes no sense. Even when it goes about things the wrong way, Congress sometimes gets it right.

* * *

On Tali-banning Our Children from the Courts

By Lenny Schafer

Both the legislative and executive branch of the US government have failed to protect our children from whatever is out there that is spreading this plight of autism and other disorders. Their continued negligence and disingenuous "there is no increase in autism prevalence, so no need to pay too much attention" spin borders on the criminal. Where is Sen. Frist's Bill that calls for a proper response to the autism epidemic? The Good Samaritan Doctor doesn't have such a bill, nor a platform, or a program. Neither do the rest of the Republicans as a party. All they have so far is cheap legislative dead-of-night payoff panty raids under the color of homeland security.

And neither have the Democrats had anything to offer, for that matter.

And neither does President Bush, nor does his executive branch NIH, nor his CDC nor his FDA. The government spends almost all its research money looking for alibis for vaccines and a pittance is spent tracking down the cause. Next to nothing is spent on treatment research for the hundreds of thousands who now suffer from the disorder.

Our children must be allowed their day in court, their equal protection under the law. If this fundamental right is lost in the name of homeland security, then Al Qaida and Saddam have already won, as far any child with autism is concerned. Meanwhile an estimated two to three dozen new cases of toddlers with autism are diagnosed in the United States EVERYDAY.

Now that public health officials, psychiatrists and pediatricians are increasingly being robbed of their smug assertions that autism is the result of parental flaws of toxic emotional neglect or bad genes, by every new seceding prevalence study, they are grudgingly starting to look at environmental factors.

These boil down to three possible sources.

1. Iatrogenic. This is pathology caused by legal drugs, public health,

medicine: vaccines, prescription medication, dental fillings, dirty hospitals, tonsillectomies, induced labor, water fluoridation, water chlorination, "fortified" food additives, etc.

2. Public self-medication. Illegal drugs. Cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine, steroids, etc.

3. Environmental (corporate) pollution. From pseudoestrogens to ozone, to engineered corn.

If the cause is not iatrogenic, it is likely to be some collection of environmental pollutants that can be pinned onto corporate entities, ff not Eli Lilly, then some other similar big donor to politicians, no doubt. Politicians in our American democracy must find some balancing point between their corporate election donors and the rest of the public their jurisdiction serves. Even the most conservative of electable politicians cannot be perceived to be too much in the pocket of big business. Besides, "Big business" is not a monolith, and by definition, is made up of competing interests. There is also something called "small business" which collectively is equal, if not larger in financial muscle than Wall Street.

The question is: how far will the political machine go to protect their big donors before they "get real"? How far will they let the autism epidemic spread before it becomes a political liability to pretend nothing, or almost nothing, is wrong, like the CDC is doing. When will they do more than spin-directed token research designed mostly to kill time until the next dodge, duck and spin can be manufactured to cover up their own possible duplicity?

-------------------

Autism Resource

-------------------

* * *

MEDIA ALERT: NPR Tuesday, January 7, 1 PM Eastern

[This comes from Nancy Cale of Unlocking Autism.]

Judy Converse, MPH, RD will be the guest of Mindy Todd on "The Point", on NPR radio, Cape Cod and The Islands, on Tuesday, January 7 at 1pm Eastern.

Mrs. Converse is the author of "When your doctor is wrong: Hepatitis B vaccine and Autism." She has testified on Hepatitis B vaccination at a Congressional Hearing and at The Massachusetts State House.

Mrs. Converse will be discussing her book, Hepatitis b vaccination of infants and children, and diet management in autism and other behavioral/deveopmental disorders.

The toll-free telephone number to call the show is 866 999-4626

_______________________________________________________

>> DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW <<

Subscribe, Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.

No Cost!

_______________________________________________________

* * *

LETTERS

On Saddam and Autism

In the Commentary in Friday's extra edition, Catherine Johnson quotes "Are Saddam's Weapons Really So Unconventional?. . .This means our autism epidemic began at the precise moment we defeated Saddam in war but left him in power. (Hey! Anyone for a class action suit against Colin Powell??)"

This seems to imply that the massacre in Halabja occurred because we left Saddam in power. In fact Halabja occurred in 1988 and was used by some, and rightly so, as justification for our involvement in Desert Storm.

- Mullen

* *

I think the article on Hussein by Hitchens makes no sense and I can't believe you printed it....how can anyone makes such unfounded sweeping statements. It makes him look silly and it makes our cause look worse. At least give us some facts.

- Truly upset, Laurie

* *

On the NBC Report

Politics, politics, politics! He democrats didn't give Dan Burton the time of day in his fight against MMR until they saw it as a political football. Makes you wonder.

- Rita Chiacchio

* *

Taking Resentment

I resent this kind of political BS ("Seasonal Song Parody For Senator Doc Bill Frist", in Friday's extra edition of the SAR). If this is your attitude, count me out. We get enough of this kind of crap from the liberal media. The bill you are so concerned with was full of junk. The Republicans have done much more for the disabled than the liberals. I am completely unconvinced (by your info especially) that vaccines are to blame for autism. Why should people be able to sue for something unproven?

- J. L.

Editor's Response: No, J.L., this is not necessarily OUR attitude. The commentaries we reproduce only belong to those who authored them. Our readers span the political spectrum and we try to provide a relative reflective range of opinions. Even the commentaries authored by the editor, which promote bi-partisans solutions to the political problems of autism, do not necessarily reflect the views of all who contribute to the production of the newsletter.

Clearly, the two commentaries added onto Friday's extra edition struck a chord with some readers. Unfortunately, the chord was off-key.

This is why we normally make it a point to add a disclaimer to our more controversial commentaries, to avoid such misunderstandings. In the rush to put out the extra in time for readers to view the NBC report, this detail was left off. We regret any discomfort this omission has created for you or any of our other readers. Since we don't think we meet your "political BS" criteria, we left you on our subscription list. We appreciate being given the benefit of the doubt. As for the mercury-autism debate, it is my personal opinion that the jury is still out. See my further –personal- commentary. –Lenny Schafer, Editor.

* * *

READERS' POSTS

Riverdale, NY - seeking part time or full time help with warm and delightful 3 yr diagnosed with PDD. Must know or be willing to learn play techniques to aid development. linda.kahan@verizon.net

******

Do you know that there is a nutrient, the 8 glycoproteins, listed in Harpers Biochemistry, 24th edition, by Dr.Robert Murray, chapter 56,page 648, that has helped many children with autism ? Why not check it out?

******

******

******

I have recently moved my Auditory Integration Training office, and am sharing with Paula Herrington - a speech patholigist. Paula has special training in PROMPT. She also has special training in Greenspan's Floortime & ABA. We have joined the office of Dr. Curtis Baxstrom (developemental

******

Our multilayered therapy office needs another professional specializing in ASD to share approx. 500 sq ft space. Psychologist, social worker, naturopath, physical therapist, etc. Call us: 253-815 8438

******

>From the Autism Society Ontario, Wellington County Chapter: You are

>invited

to our Annual Social Meeting, Thursday, January 23, 2003. At the Greenroom at The Bookshelf,41 Quebec St., Downtown Guelph. 7:30 pm. Have a little break from home and catch up on how everybody is doing. We hope to see you all there! Free admission. Snacks and drinks are being provided. For more information or directions, call Louisa Kuitert at (519) 787-8701 or Natalie Veltmeyer at (519) 836-8589.

******

******

>> FREE (Almost) READERS' POSTS <<

For Individuals, organizations, non-commercial and

commercial. Limit your posting to no more than 60

words please. There is no charge for this service,

but posters are obligated to thank all those who take

the time to answer your ads. This is a consideration

for others with autism after you and yours, who seek

assistance from appreciated readers. Send submissions to:

_________________________________________________________________

Lenny Schafer, schafer@sprynet.com Kay Stammers Edward Decelie

CALENDAR EVENTS@doitnow.com Michelle Guppy Ron Sleith

++ To Unsubscribe, Send an email to unsubscribe@doitnow.com ++