FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER
Sacramento, California http://www.feat.org
December 7, 2001
News Morgue Search www.feat.org/search/news.asp
·
Some Important Stories Are Getting Buried By War News
·
ICDRC to aid Wakefield in Research @ Disneyland Calif
Jan 11-12
Wakefield Letters
·
Etiology and Pathophysiology of Autistic Behavior
·
Genetics of Autism: Complex Aetiology For
·
Vaccines And Autism
·
Adverse Outcomes Associated with Postpartum Rubella or
MMR Vax
[By Dan Fost in the San Francisco Gate, December 5, 2001.]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/12/05
/BU223588.DTL&type=business <-- Address ends here.
Every now and then, if he or she is lucky, a reporter gets
on a story that feels so important the world needs to know about it.
For Steve Silberman, that story was his expose of what
might be an epidemic of autism in Silicon Valley—an epidemic which could also
turn up in other tech capitals and which is only now attracting the attention
of health investigators.
For Silberman, a Wired contributing editor, the timing for
his big scoop couldn’t have been worse: His story appears in the December
issue.
With war dominating America’s print and broadcast news,
such enterprising reporting is struggling to find an audience.
As if to drive home the point of where the media are
focusing attention, Silberman’s story rates only a line on the cover, most of
which is devoted to a special package: “The Future of War Is Here.”
“I honestly believe (the autism piece) is the most
important story I’ve ever written,” Silberman said. “It’s a local story with
major social resonances for everyone. . . . and I’m worried that with anthrax
and planes crashing in New York City, no one’s going to hear about it.”
Silberman has good reason to worry. Wired’s director of
public relations, Robert Pini, tried selling his story to national and Silicon Valley
outlets at the end of October, when the issue came out. “The national outlets
simply were focusing on war stories,” Pini said, while medical editors in
Silicon Valley “were swamped with anthrax stories.”
* * *
[From Jeff Bradstreet, MD, Director & Founder,
ICDRC.]
Dr. Wakefield’s abrupt departure from the Royal Free
Hospital points to the absolute necessity of an independent research campus,
where government and drug lobbying influences will not preclude exposing the
truth about the causes of autism. The International Child Development Resource Center(ICDRC)
is a partnership of researchers, parents, and therapists with a heart for
helping children with autism. Drs. Wakefield, Bradstreet and Kartzinel have
agreed to donate the tuition from their conferences to keep Dr.Wakefield’s
research efforts alive, and to help the construction and funding of the ICDRC
research campus in central Florida.
Drs. Wakefield, Bradstreet and Kartzinel with an impressive
guest faculty including Stephen Shore, Jeff Sell (2 ASA Board Members),
behavioral therapists, nutrition experts and others will be presenting the
first “Open Windows” Conference in Disneyland California, January 11 and 12,
2002. The conference theme is “Opening Windows of Hope for Children With
Developmental Disorders.” All attendees receive a comprehensive training manual
to assist them with implementing all of the therapeutic interventions currently
being used at ICDRC.
Groups of 3 or more can receive a 10% group discount and
autism support groups, The conference includes two lunches with the doctors and
therapists so you have even more time to get all of your questions answered. ASA chapters or FEAT groups who organize
attendance can receive an additional 10% to support their local chapter (or
kindly donate that to autism research with Dr Wakefield and ICDRC). Couples can
also receive discounts if they request only one training manual. The next
conference will be in Orlando Florida January 26 & 27, 2002 next to the
Animal Kingdom entrance of Disney World. Disney has agreed to prepare gluten
and casein free meals upon request.
The conference will provide practical therapy guides, the
latest research and a review of the medical literature, and will be appropriate
for parents of special needs children, therapists, teachers and physicians.
This is your chance to support critical research and show
your support for Dr. Wakefield who continues to make tremendous sacrifices for
our children. Simultaneously, you will receive the tools you need to help your child.
Continuing education credits are being applied for.
For more information you may go to Dr.Bradstreet’s
website:
“http://www.gnd.org/ICDRC/Brochure.htm”>Welcome
to The Good News Doctor Foundation. http://www.gnd.org Click on News/Events http://www.gnd.org/news/news.htm and
you will be able to get information on both the California and Florida
Conferences.
* * *
Letter to: Professor Humphrey Hodgson [Dean]
Royal FreeandUniversity College Medical School (Royal Free
Campus)
Pond Street
Hampstead, London NW3 2QG
Dear Professor Hodgson,
We were saddened, dismayed and angered, quite frankly,
when we received news of Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s resignation from your
institution.
As parents of a son with Autism, we believe his disability
is directly
linked to his vaccinations. Subsequently, we have followed
Dr. Wakefield’s
research and findings with much interest. After reading
about the
circumstances under which he tendered his resignation, we
started to do a
little research. Here are some of our findings from the BBC
web site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/medicine/nonint/modern/dt/modtbi1.shtml
Joseph Lister: At first Lister was regarded as an eccentric
and nurses resented the extra work that his obsession with cleanliness caused.
...
Edward Jenner: In 1798 Jenner published his findings and
submitted them to the Royal Society who refused to publish them because of
opposition to vaccination from doctors. Doctors opposed vaccination because
they were suspicious of new ideas and were accustomed to using inoculation. ...
Louis Pasteur: However, not all of Pasteur’s ideas were
accepted. He recommended that surgical instruments be boiled before an
operation to kill any germs on them, but most surgeons ignored this advice. ...
Marie Curie: Despite her success, Marie Curie faced great
opposition from male scientists in France and she never received the
recognition she deserved.
As you can read, many of the doctors, scientists and
researchers that are regarded as “icons” today were often considered pariahs in
their day. They were frequently treated
with derision and/or ridicule. The irony of including Edward Jenner in our
sampling is not lost on us!
We have met Andy on several ocassions since 1998. We have
heard him present his findings and research plans at conferences, workshops and
rallies. Lesa was fortunate to present at a conference [March, 2001] in Brooklyn
with Andy. His science is solid and, one day, he will be validated. We have to surmise that someday, you may
seriously regret the political avenue you have chosen to pursue.
·
David and Lesa Walsh Warwick, New York lesaland@warwick.net
The harassment that Dr Andrew Wakefield has experienced as
a result of questioning the established view on the safety of the MMR vaccine
is not an isolated case of abuse (It is not about science, it is about belief,
G2, December 5). A number of scientists have recently disagreed with the orthodox
view on BSE, Aids and genetically modified food only to have their careers
severely damaged. Not surprisingly the root of these problems is money. Since
the early 1980s, medical scientists have had to devote increasingly more of
their time fighting for funds. This competition for scarce resources has
concentrated money in the hands of a few who have the power to decide which
research is funded and which findings are believed.
Science needs heretics, yet instead of being nurtured
those who fail to toe the line risk being humiliated and the loss of their
jobs. Where are the university unions, the Royal Society, the royal colleges
and the general scientific community when fellow scientists suffer such
treatment? If the government wishes to avoid science-related problems in the
future it should make sure that such abuse is not tolerated. It should also
ensure that anyone with a valid, rogue viewpoint on a life and death issue is
listened to and funded, even if (or especially if) their views are contrary to
the established view.
·
Dr Milton Wainwright University of Sheffield m.wainwright@sheffield.ac.uk
You say Dr Wakefield’s paper in the Lancet raised “the
possibility of a link between MMR and regressive autism”. In fact, Dr Wakefield
and his coworkers stated they “did not prove an association between measles, mumps
and rubella vaccine and the syndrome described”. You also quoted the editorial
comment in the British Journal of General Practice, which is not our policy.
Our position was expressed in the January declaration with the other medical
colleges that “our professional confidence in the MMR vaccine, its safety and
effectiveness remains fully justified”, and that “we wholeheartedly endorse the
current policy of using the combined MMR vaccine”.
·
Dr George Kassianos Immunisation spokesperson, Royal
College of
General Practitioners gckassianos@netscapeonline.co.uk
Letter to FEAT Newsletter:
There are no coincidences in life. There are choices and consequences. Dr. Wakefield made a choice to stand up for
what is right, to listen to parents and to help uncover the reason why autism
has reached epidemic proportions.
As a result of his bravery, the British government, the
Royal Free Hospital’s administration and others with similar fear based
restrictive thinking have caused him to move on. Knowing Dr. Wakefield to be a brilliant, brave and savvy
survivor, he will prevail. He will
emerge from this fight stronger, more determined and as many heroic individuals
have done, he will turn this challenge into an opportunity to further the
cause.
·
Maureen McDonnell, R.N. DAN! Conference Coordinator
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* * *
Etiology and Pathophysiology of Autistic Behavior
Clues from two cases with an unusual variant of
neuroaxonal dystrophy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11732766&dopt=Abstract <-- Address ends here.
1: J Child Neurol 2001 Nov;16(11):809-19
Weidenheim KM, Goodman L, Dickson DW, Gillberg C, Rastam M,
Rapin I.
Department of Pathology (Neuropathology), Albert Einstein
College of
Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10467,
USA.
Two unrelated individuals with autistic behavior had
numerous swollen axon terminals (spheroids) located in specific brain regions
relevant to their behavioral symptoms. Spheroids are characteristic of
neuroaxonal dystrophy, but the clinical profile and anatomic distribution of
the lesions in these two patients differed from those of previously described
patients with neuroaxonal dystrophy. Spheroids were numerous in the sensory
nuclei of the spinal cord and medulla, specific nuclei and the reticular
formation of the brainstem tegmentum, hypothalamus, anterior and dorsomedial
thalamus, hippocampus, and cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices.
Spheroids were sparse in the primary and association
cortices and basal ganglia and absent in the hemispheric white matter.
Cerebellar atrophy was present in both cases but associated with spheroids in
only one case. These cases represent a
new variant of neuroaxonal dystrophy in which behavioral symptoms
characteristic of autism dominated the clinical picture. Neuroaxonal dystrophy should be included in
the list of diseases that may be found in persons with autism.
PMID: 11732766 [PubMed - in process]
* * *
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11733747&dopt=Abstract <-- Address ends here.
Folstein SE, Rosen-Sheidley B.
Department of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of
Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA.
Since autism was first recognized as a disorder in 1943,
speculation about its aetiology has ranged from biological to psychological and
back again. After twin studies during the 1970s and 1980s yielded unequivocal evidence
for a genetic component, aetiological research in autism began to focus
primarily on uncovering the genetic mechanisms involved.
The identification of chromosomal abnormalities and
Mendelian syndromes among individuals with autism, in conjunction with data
from genome screens and candidate-gene studies, has helped to refine the view
of the complex genetics that underlies autism spectrum conditions.
PMID: 11733747 [PubMed - in process]
* * *
Vaccines And Autism http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_ui
ds=11734770&dopt=Abstract <-- Address ends here.
DeStefano F.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
PMID: 11734770 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
[That’s all she wrote. –LS]
* * *
http://www.haciendapub.com/yazbak.html
F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP, and Kathy L. Lang-Radosh, MS,
TL Autism Research, West Falmouth, MA, E-mail: TLAutStudy@aol.com.
We identified 60 rubella-susceptible mothers who were
revaccinated in the postpartum period with either the measles-mumps-rubella
(MMR) or the monovalent rubella vaccine and whose children later received MMR
vaccine. Forty-five of these women have
children diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD); another ten women
have children with autistic symptoms, ADD/ADHD or other developmental delays;
and four women have children with other health problems, mostly immunologic.
These outcomes raise concerns about the practice of
postpartum vaccination and suggest that an immune mechanism may increase
children’s susceptibility to ASD.
* * *
Anyone know if ASD appears equally among breast and bottle
fed infants and
toddlers? Is there any study that addresses the effects of
breast milk on
human intestinal development? Maureen Kappler, RNC MKappler@co.cochise.az.us
520-432-9471
Anyone having success (or not) with the NIDS Medical Board
and Research Institute (Goldberg) in CA?
Trying to decide whether to go to CA from NJ.
Space still available (for 3 individuals) in AIT session
in San Diego, Dec
22-31, 2001. contact terries@execpc.com
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AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO
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ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.