May 22, 2002 (Belfast News Letter) - A survey by the National Autistic Society has shown that teachers believe levels of autism are now three times higher in primary than secondary schools.

I wrote recently about the work of Dr. Bradstreet who, with a with a research team the USA, has been looking at the variety of clinical findings and biochemical, biological and toxic abnormalities that have been found in autistic kids.

In our clinic we can testify to those findings. Lets look at some of them:

1. Toxic Metals:

Some, if not most, of these come from vaccines, especially the ones given to very young babies, and they are not found by routine blood tests. One has to look at tissue levels in hair and do a urine test. You can also do a white cell sensitivity test to see how sensitive the child is to the metals.

2. Dysbiosis of the Gut:

Means abnormal bacteria or yeast in the gut often triggered by the presence of toxic metals which suppress the immune system and by antibiotics. Dysbiosis is also triggered and reinforced by excess sugar or refined carbohydrate in the diet.

3. Nutritional Deficiencies

These have to be examined via blood and hair. In order to measure the nutrients as accurately as possible you can look at levels in cells (e. g. red cell magnesium or white cell zinc), cell membranes (e. g. essential fatty acids in red cell membranes), serum (e. g. chromium) and enzyme activity (e. g. B vitamins). It is a little complicated but can help a lot in understanding the condition.

4. Allergies:

Vaccines in general may be increasing the allergy rate in children. Austic children often have multiple allergies.

5. Food Intolerance:

Intolerance to casein (in milk) and gluten (in flour) is common. It seems likely that the digestion is poor in autistic children which is why some get ease with Secretin injections.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield lost his job because he would not say there is no link between autism and the MMR as the Government believes. Doctors like myself who specialise in environmental medicine believe there is a link.

The facts stare us in the face. After getting those three early vaccines containing mercury which can lead to some children developing a dysbiosis which in turn leads to an even worse immune state because the levels of nutrients go down, we then give these children three live viruses together in the MMR (which does not contain mercury) and expect them to handle the immune response properly.

While most seem to be fine and this in itself is quite amazing, there are many who fall victim to the toxic load and fall into the autistic spectrum. You will read in the future that Dr. Wakefield is right. Even normal infections close together put up the chance of developing autism. Three live viruses are a recipe for disaster.

Logic tells us that certain key triggers could be avoided and the most obvious area is the toxic metals. These in a way start the whole ball rolling and could easily be avoided by giving our children vaccines that are toxic metal free.

Each DTP vaccine, i.e. for diptheria, tetanus and whooping cough, can contain about 25micrograms of mercury and some aluminium. This is a lot for say a 10 pound baby, given three times to a baby, with an underdeveloped immune system and an immature blood brain barrier will make the metals and other effects more pronounced. If we work out the equivalent for a 60kg adult - it would be equivalent to injecting an adult with over a gram of mercury! Believe it or not the government is still using these vaccines.

The Department of Health has recommended that manufacturers reduce or withdraw the use of thiomersal (the mercury containing preservative) but have not withdrawn these vaccines.

My conscience tells me to advise parents that if they are getting their children vaccinated then ask for a copy of the data sheet and check carefully for thiomersal.

There is no thiomersal in any MMR vaccine used in the UK. But there are other toxic elements in MMR - phenol red and formaldehyde.

There is also no thiomersal in the childhood immunisation programme, Hib, oral polio, meningitis C and BCG.