FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER Sacramento, California

"Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet" ________________________________________________________________

PUBLIC HEALTH

* What's in the Water?

* On the Toxic Dihydrogen Monoxide Report

LETTERS

* $6 Million to Search for Autism Genes "A Waste"

* On School Vouchers

* On Karyn Serrousi on the Today Show on Tuesday, April 5thor April 9?

* On the 16 year old Autistic Boy Held in Sacramento Jail

on Attempted Murder Charges

* A NY Star has been Lost

* So Few Treatments

* Poking Fun at School Districts? Not this Time

* Sends Thanks to Newsletter Editorial, Circulation, Research & Production Staff

What's in the Water?

Better detection tools reveal possible ecological 'villains' - from hormones to fire retardants - in US streams and rivers

From its headwaters at Echo Lake in Hopkinton, Mass., the Charles River glides past yards, saturates wetlands, and slips under highways before emptying into Boston Harbor.

Over the years, this 80-mile odyssey through 23 cities and towns has left what seemed to be a faint imprint on the Charles's tea-colored water. But advances in the ability to detect pollutants are giving scientists a clearer idea of the nature of that imprint - and is also triggering interest in research on whether these pose a threat to the environment and to humans.

The chemicals range from fire retardants and detergent byproducts to prescription drugs, antibiotics, and hormones.

Known as organic-waste contaminants, these compounds pass through sewage-treatment plants virtually untreated. They represent the vanguard of what researchers have dubbed emerging contaminants: chemicals whose presence in US rivers, streams, and lakes has gone undetected for years and whose effects - singly and in combination - on fish, aquatic plants, and humans often are poorly understood.

Last week, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) released its first survey of organic-waste contaminants in US surface waters, and the Charles River has plenty of company. Researchers found organic-waste contaminants in 80 percent of the 139 streams and rivers that were tested in 30 states.

During the course of the survey, which ran from 1999 through 2000, the researchers found 82 compounds out of the 95 they sought.

The researchers acknowledge that the sites were selected because they presented a high likelihood that the contaminants would be found. The survey was as much a test of new sampling technologies as it was an exercise in environmental monitoring. But the target compounds also were selected because several are beginning to appear in scientific journals as potential ecological villains.

According to Herbert Buxton, a USGS scientist who took part in the survey, "Thirty-three compounds are known or suspected to be hormonally active." These chemicals, which include steroids, can affect the growth and development of aquatic life.

Assessing the risk earlier Dr. Buxton and his colleagues note that the compounds they found appeared in concentrations that rarely violated drinking water or aquatic-life standards.

But, he adds, many of the compounds have no such guidelines. Moreover, samples exhibited chemical stews of up to 38 contaminants, and little is known about how these interact, he says.

"We shouldn't confuse the ability to measure these concentrations with whether or not they're harmful," Buxton cautions, noting that these are two separate issues.

However, he adds, the ability to measure organic waste contaminants in ever-weaker concentrations allows researchers to focus on questions of risk early.

Compared with other parts of the world, the United States is a late bloomer on the issue of these emerging organic wastewater contaminants, particularly pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, according to Christian Daughton, who heads the environmental chemistry branch at the Environmental Protection Agency's National Exposures Research Laboratory in Las Vegas, Nev.

The sources for these compounds vary. Hormones and antibiotics in animal feed appear in waste and can leach into local streams and rivers. Drugs and antibiotics designed for humans move through sewage systems.

Tossed into the trash, such leftovers also are often carted off to landfills, where seeping rainwater can dissolve the capsules and carry away the compounds they contain.

EPA chemist Wayne Garrison was the first to identify drugs in sewage, in the mid-1970s. His chemo sleuthing turned up evidence of caffeine, aspirin, and nicotine. "It was noted, then people shrugged and moved on," Dr. Daughton says.

The issue lay dormant until the 1990s, when the Europeans tested samples from their waterways and found evidence for a range of human and agricultural pharmaceuticals.

"The Europeans have a higher density of urban life around surface waters" than does the US, Daughton says in explaining why European researchers were quicker to focus environmental research on human and animal drugs in their waterways.

Moreover, European farming practices, antiquated and ill-maintained sewer systems, (particularly in the former East bloc), and the flow characteristics of many European rivers raised the likelihood that drugs were finding their way back into drinking water.

Daughton notes, for example, that following the fall of the East bloc in the early 1990s, scientists found evidence of drugs in the former East Berlin's tap water.

The research in Europe and rising concerns among public-health researchers and officials in the US triggered the USGS study, says Buxton, who coordinates the toxic-substances hydrology program at the USGS office in Trenton, N.J.

Troubling presence of antibiotics To ecologist Rebecca Goldburg, the most troubling set of ingredients is antibiotics, particularly down on the farm.

"The use of antibiotics in agriculture is growing," notes Dr. Goldburg, senior scientist with Environmental Defense, a New York-based group. Of particular concern, she says, are those fed each year to hogs, chickens, and cattle to promote growth.

By some estimates, these "subtherapeutic" doses constitute 8,000 tons of antibiotics a year.

The concerns arise over the prospect that over time, the bacteria these antibiotics are designed to destroy will grow increasingly resistant to the compounds and at a faster pace than would be the case if the antibiotics were used only to treat animals diagnosed with disease.

In addition, over the years antibacterial agents have become common in soaps and other personal-care products, which wind up being rinsed down the sink and into the sewer system.

For his part, the EPA's Daughton is focusing his research on the effects pharmaceuticals may have on aquatic environments.

"Drugs are designed for people, so not much has been done to test them on aquatic organisms," he says.

Thus, he continues, the presence of drugs in rivers, lakes, and streams may have a more serious effect on fish, shellfish, and other organisms they rely on for food than on humans. The problem is that little is known about the impact of drugs on aquatic ecosystems.

Research in this area could become more important as drug companies develop new, more potent compounds. Daughton notes that the drug companies are intensely interested in results coming out of the federal Human Genome Project.

That project aims by the end of next year to complete its goals of identifying all of the estimated 30,000 genes in human DNA, and determining the sequence of four basic chemical building blocks that DNA is built upon.

Drug companies, he says, hope to use data from the project to develop new, more potent compounds for battling a range of diseases -- compounds that, if history is any indication, also could wind up in waterways.

Already, he notes, studies have shown that antidepressants can trigger premature spawning in shellfish, while other compounds used to treat heart conditions have blocked the ability of fish to repair damaged fins.

The canary in the mine Even less well-known are the effects these and other compounds might have in combination, he says.

Some pharmaceuticals include compounds also found in pesticides, according to Marsha Black, an aquatic toxicologist at the University of Georgia at Athens.

Armed with a $500,000 grant from the EPA, she is heading a team that will be looking for five commonly prescribed antidepressants in samples taken from wastewater treatment plants.

Already, Dr. Black has documented one antidepressant's lethal effects on sand fleas. While most people might not mind fewer of these tiny crustaceans nipping at them, these creatures, like canaries in a coal mine, provide researchers with valuable clues about the quality of surface waters, she says.

Not your average contaminants Using new technology, scientists are finding chemicals in US rivers, streams, and lakes that have gone undetected for years.

These "emerging contaminants" include:

* Steroids.

* Nonprescription drugs.

* Insect repellent.

* Detergent byproducts.

* Disinfectants.

* Plasticizers.

* Fire retardants.

* Antibiotics.

* Insecticides.

* Reproductive hormones.

* Other prescription drugs.

* Antioxidants.

* Fragrances.

* Solvent.

[But not dihydrogen monoxide. See following letters. -LS]

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* * *

On the Toxic Dihydrogen Monoxide Report

Letters to the Editor

I hope you realize that "Dihydrogen monoxide" article presented in this FEAT list was undoubtedly meant to be a joke. -Will

* *

Aren't you a few days early for April Fools jokes?

-Ben

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Why don't you just say this is a hoax?

-Sharon

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I am sorry to say this, but you have fallen victim to a cruel April Fool's prank. I strongly suggest you make it clear to those FEAT readers who have little scientific knowledge, as this may cause panic and undue distress. -Vanessa

* *

I thought the article was extremely inappropriate to send out. Actually on the cruel side as someone altered it to include MMR and autism. For parents who are already on edge, we just don't need cruel humor or more things to be alarmed about unnecessarily. Surprised it was sent out. Maybe it fooled whoever originally sent it out as well.

- Tracy

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In case anyone was wondering, the chemical compound "dihydrogen monoxide" which was referred to in a very tongue-in-cheek article in a recent FEAT Newsletter is also known as H20: water! If you reread the following statements from the article, "Move to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide Picks Up Steam (it's in the headline): In the Guts of Autistic Children. . .Month of April hits hardest (April showers)," with that in mind, it makes perfect sense:

"Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO (drowning), but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage (wrinkly toes and fingers in the bathtub). For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death (dehydration).

Dihydrogen monoxide:

* is also known as hydroxyl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.

* contributes to the "greenhouse effect."

* may cause severe burns. (scalding)

* contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.

* accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.

* may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile

brakes (in rainy weather).

* has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

* has been found both in the guts of autistic children and in MMR vaccines

and passes blood-brain barrier.

* is a pronounced element in internal bleeding, high blood pressure and is

present in urine, mucous, sputum, infectious discharge and even

breast milk.

*Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream,

lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the

contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice (duh!). "

Please print this to the list so that people will not be fooled by this attempt at humor, which is in poor taste; especially since it could engender fear in unsuspecting parents who would worry that this substance might be harming their children. -DeAnna

* *

From the Editor: Yes, the report is not real, but only a bit of parody, with the punch line held to be revealed here today, April 1st. The note at the end of the article does indicate the story is false. There are more clues as well, like the introductory comment that states that the news report is "dubious".

The intent here is to show readers how facts can be compiled to present compelling, but false warnings and claims, with even the "knowledgeable" missing that the article was labeled dubious and false at the beginning and end respectively.

All of the humor presented in this publication is rendered in strict accordance with the standards established by Gray's Elements of Satirical Style and Nuanced Derision, pending-advances first edition, in order to protect the humor-impaired and others on the mirth challenged spectrum. –LS

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$6 Million to Search for Autism Genes "A Waste"

[…So writes in Rees, rees@pp.sbbs.se, in response to a recent FEAT Newsletter article, "UCLA Neurologist Awarded $6 Million to Search for Autism Genes." Rees asserts, "This award of 6 million dollars is a total waste of money. Autism has increased tenfold in ten years. It cannot possibly be genetic in origin." Below is a statement Lees sends in support of his argument. It's by Bengt Olle Bengtsson, Professor of genetics at the University of Lund. -LS.]

Lund University Department of Genetics

Statement concerning the relationship between diseases and genetics

Can a disease that rapidly increases in frequency be genetically determined?

The basic answer to this question is no. In this statement I shall first explain why the answer is in the negative and subsequently make some clarifications. Finally I will explain why I make a statement on this issue and will briefly touch upon my specialist knowledge in the field of human population genetics.

Explanation Genes are like hard particles. They do not wear out, they do not merge with each other and they are not changed in any systematic way by the environment in which they find themselves. They are modified

(mutated) at an extremely low rate, and then usually in a way that is disadvantageous to their host.

This means that the genetic composition of a population only changes slowly over time ("population" in this context may be considered synonymous with "society"). Those genes that exist in one generation recur in the form of copies in the next generation. New damaged genes that arise as the result of mutations are balanced by the loss of a corresponding number of old damaged genes that disappear because their bearers survive for a relatively shorter period of time and/or have fewer children than normal. There is thus great inertia with respect to the frequency with which various genetic combinations are found in populations.

This means that if a disease is strictly genetically determined, by which I here mean that it is the bearers of a certain combination of genes that are afflicted by the disease (all and only those bearers), then the frequency of the disease will be practically constant over time. Strictly speaking, a genetic disease can thus neither increase nor decrease at a rapid rate.

Clarification 1) If, over time, a disease is diagnosed in various ways, then of course it can exhibit rapid changes in frequency in public statistics and other records. This objection does not contradict the above explanation, which refers to the disease as such and not to its diagnosis.

2) The frequencies of various traits in a population are, in principle, determined not only by the rates with which the relevant genes occur, but also by the reproductive pattern that prevails in the population. If the degree of inbreeding diminishes, then there is normally a reduction in the frequency of certain genetic diseases. This phenomenon is well known and has been observed in a number of cases in Sweden over the past century. However, for the last few decades, the degree of inbreeding has remained stable at a low level in modern Western societies and has consequently not given rise to any major changes in the incidence of disease. In certain groups of immigrants, marriage between relatives is common, with a consequent risk for problems of inbreeding. Such situations are normally easy to identify, however. 3) The explanation I have given above presumes that the disease in question is strictly genetic in nature: in order to get the disease one has to be born with a certain characteristic combination of genes and all those who have this combination of genes get the disease. (The disease is thus "congenital" in common parlance, but this does not necessarily mean that the affected person is sick from the moment of birth. Some genetic diseases first commence later in life, and then often at an age that is characteristic for the disease.)

Modern research has shown that genetic factors also affect the risk of falling ill with such "non-genetic" diseases as cancer, rheumatism and schizophrenia. These, and many other illnesses, may be considered to be diseases with a "genetic component". We know that the frequency of these diseases can change very rapidly in society. For example, hay fever and diabetes in children have become more common in recent years even though both these diseases clearly have a genetic component. In these cases however, the increase is due to changed factors in the environment and not to altered frequencies of the genetic risk factors involved. "Strictly genetic diseases", which the principal argument is about, can be defined as those very diseases that are not significantly affected by factors in the environment.

Background and competence I have written this statement after conversations with Alan Rees over the relationship between genes and diseases. The argument does not specifically concern the case that is of interest to him, but is generally applicable. Nothing that is said here can be considered controversial. On the contrary, this is standard knowledge in the field of human population genetics.

My own area of research primarily deals with issues concerning the population and evolutionary genetics of plants. However, I have published several scientific studies dealing with human genetics and I regularly teach the section on population genetics in the most advanced course on human genetics that is offered at Lund University.

I am greatly interested in how knowledge about genetics is used in society and, to the extent that I am able to, I shall willingly contribute more information on the relationship between inherited traits and diseases.

Lund, 17 April 2001

Bengt Olle Bengtsson Professor of Genetics

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* * *

On School Vouchers

In her argument against school vouchers, Michelle Fecteau implied that public schools were a preferable choice over private schools for autistic kids. I would argue that, given the funding, private schools would be able and willing to serve the autism community.

I also believe private schools could teach more effectively and efficiently -- at least half or less than Portland ISD's reported $100,000 annual per student. Public schools are designed to serve the masses. Autistic kids don't learn well in mass environments. Why waste time and valuable resources trying to marry entirely different teaching approaches? -Linda Lange

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On Karyn Serrousi on the Today Show on Tuesday, April 5thor April 9t?

I am a bit confused. Has Karyn Seroussi been rescheduled for April 5th (as it says in your title) or for April 9th (as it says in the body of the article)? -Patti

Reply: Neither. Karyn reported the previous two dates, but now assures us that the final date is Friday, April 19.

* * *

On the 16 year old Autistic Boy Held in Sacramento Jail on Attempted Murder Charges

I for one did send a letter to David Maggi's attorney. I hope more of you did. I am concerned that my 7 year old could end up doing something to get himself in trouble as he grows up and we need to make more people aware that our children really do have a neurobiological problem even though it seems some of them do not. -Trish (Mom to AJ, age 7, Autistic, OCD)

* * *

A NY Star has been Lost

I learned Saturday, that a lady that I so admired, Angela Lagenor, founder and Director of Autistic Services, has passed away.

Angela was instrumental in making a difference in the lives of those with Autism. She founded Autistic Services in 1982 and has served hundreds of consumers. Angela worked tirelessly and unselfishly to raise the level of awareness when there was NO interest, NO support groups, nothing. She paved the roads for many children and adults, who are receiving the supports and services they need today, not only in Western New York, but also in the country.

Her legacy will live on through many!

I am so grateful for all that Angela has done in the Autism community and will miss her immensely. Please say a prayer for her husband, children and family.

- Monica

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So Few Treatments

Why are the "treatment" programs so limited? Children with autism need about 10 hours a day of "treatment."

The school systems offer a few hours a week. Where are the real supports?

Parents are able to get their children evaluated. They are told they need treatment. But, then they cannot find real treatment. The parents become frustrated, consumed with trying to find help, never finding a treatment program that will truly make a difference. And meanwhile, they have to care for their child who is growing daily and the autistic problem also growing rapidly. My point? Focus should be on creating treating children with autism; long range planning is a must.

Treatment has to be intense. Every minute is time that can either be

lost or used to treat the problem. Has anyone identified programs that

make a difference? Where are they?

It seems like every one is an "expert" in diagnosis, but where are the treatment programs?

- Nancy M. Klein Glendale, CA

* * *

Poking Fun at School Districts? Not this Time.

The school district joke (about parents going to the devil to get

services) prompted me to post a note: I've had such amazing and wonderful supportive success with the team from the Sacramento (California) City Unified School District. I want to publicly praise my son Matthew's IEP

team: Sue Raske, Lois DiMartini, Monica, Kristy Kegstrom, and the wonderful transpiration staff, Patrice, Genevia and Ann. Thank you!

- Elizabeth Cundiff

Comment: I'd like to pile on some kudos, too for some great people the Sac City School District has. Thank you Beverly Nowak, Izak's former regular ed teacher, for going more than the extra mile to include my son Izak in her classroom. Every school should have a Beverly Nowak. James Marshall Elementary in Rosemont just got lucky. –Lenny Schafer, Izak's dad.

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Sends Thanks to Newsletter Editorial, Circulation, Research & Production Staff

I wanted to say thank you for the wonderful job you and your staff :) do on the daily FEAT newsletter. I am one of those on AOL that wasn't receiving the daily newsletter for a while, and now I realize how much I missed it.

The newsletters are convenient, informative and assist me in making life choices for my son. I find it neither biased or irrelevant, and always on-topic (READ: AUTISM) focused. Thanks for the great job and keep up the good work! It is rare you get something for nothing.

- Christine, specialeducationadvocate@hotmail.com

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APRIL 21, 2002 - 12 Noon to 5pm

THIRD NATIONAL AUTISM AWARENESS RALLY:

"The Power of ONE! I.D.E.A."

FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

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FEAT'S "Night of Caring" April 27

Sacramento FEAT is holding its' 9th Annual "Night of Caring" Dinner and Auction fundraiser on April 27, 2002. If you have been helped by the FEAT and the Daily Newsletter and would like to show your appreciation you can by supporting our fundraiser. Make an auction contribution or sponsorship donation. Please call 916-843-1536 for more information. Thank you.

FEAT is a tax-exempt non-profit corporation

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Lenny Schafer, Editor@feat.org • CALENDAR EVENTS@feat.org Michelle Guppy

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