SCHAFER AUTISM REPORT "Healing Autism:

No Finer a Cause on the Planet"

The Autism Calendar, November 2002 Update is out!

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November 14, 2002 Promote Your Event - Free! -

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ADVOCACY

* Autistic Children 'Sold Out' by Law Makers Over Protecting

Vaccine Maker

CARE

* Autism Diagnosis Comes Later for Blacks Than Whites

* Don't Blame The Milk

MEDIA

* Ireland's Prime Time Program on the 'Danish Study' Online

* Halsey, Loe Fisher and Blaxill on Radio Show Online

COMMENTARY

* Epidem. Autism Studies: Why Parents Of Children With Autism

Are So Upset!

AWARENESS

* Mind the Gap

* Kansas Minister Charged With Sex Assaults on 17 yo Autistic Female

ADVOCACY

Children With Autism 'Sold Out' Over Protecting Vaccine Maker House Approves Domestic Security Bill

en=1b332c5847cd50fe&ex=1037941200&partner=GOOGLE

The House hurriedly approved a revised domestic security bill last night to reflect a new agreement with the White House.

[Relating to autism and vaccines] the bill would allow immunity from liability for companies that make faulty antiterrorism devices or technology, and would make it difficult to sue companies that make smallpox vaccinations if the vaccines cause illness.

In one last-minute addition, Representative Dick Armey, Republican of Texas, inserted a provision that was apparently intended to protect Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant, from lawsuits over thimerosal, a mercury-based vaccine preservative that some parents contend has caused autism in their children.

"I'm really quite surprised they would put in the fine-print provisions we never saw in any other versions, that never even went through committees," said Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee." But Republicans, like Representative William M. Thornberry of Texas, said the additions were minor and paled next to the importance of creating a department to protect the nation's safety.

"It will effect, but not prevent our litigation," explained Jeff Sell, an autism activist who is also an attorney working with a firm that represents parents suing vaccine makers. He adds that parts of the Frist Bill "were snuck in".

"The fight will continue", says Sell, "it may just be a bit more difficult for some of us."

More on this to come.

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CARE

Autism Diagnosis Comes Later for Blacks Than Whites

Reuters Health - Many children are diagnosed with autism years after they first show signs of the condition, and African Americans are diagnosed around 1 1/2 years later than US whites, new research shows.

The signs of autism are visible from before a child turns 2, according to Dr. David S. Mandell of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. However, he and his colleagues discovered that white children enrolled in the government health insurance program Medicaid were diagnosed at an average of 6 years of age, while African-American children tended to receive a diagnosis almost 2 years later.

Autism "is being picked up too late in everybody in this population," Mandell told Reuters Health.

This lag time could have important implications for a child's health, Mandell noted, for all children with autism are eligible for behavior treatments and enrollment in a classroom geared toward their condition.

"There's an increasing body of evidence that suggests the earlier you get into treatment, the better you do," Mandell said.

Children with autism tend to have trouble playing and interacting with others and difficulty communicating, and may perform certain behaviors or routines repetitively.

During the study, Mandell and his team examined the files of 406 children enrolled in Medicaid who were incurring health costs related to autism. The authors reviewed each patient's medical history to determine when he or she was first diagnosed with autism.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Mandell explained that by the time a child is 18 months old, he or she can make eye contact, return smiles and point to a desired object. Children with autism often do not exhibit these behaviors at this age, the researcher noted.

However, he and his team discovered that children appeared to be diagnosed with autism years after those first symptoms likely appear, and the diagnosis arrived later for blacks than whites. The authors found that white children logged an average of four visits in a four-month period between the first time they visited a mental health specialist and the moment they were diagnosed with autism, while the same process required black children to log an average of 13 visits over 10 months. Mandell noted that recent reports suggest that autism strikes an equal proportion of children from all ethnic groups.

Mandell and his colleagues presented their findings here Tuesday during the 130th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association.

In terms of why children with autism are diagnosed later than they could be, Mandell speculated that pediatricians may hesitate to tell parents their child has a condition for which there is no obvious treatment, relying on "watchful waiting" to see if something changes.

As to why autism is identified later in black children, Mandell noted that African Americans are less likely than whites to see the same doctor over time, and a pediatrician who watches a child for many years may spot autism sooner than others. He said that clinicians may also interpret symptoms differently in children of different races.

Mandell explained that one symptom of autism can be attributed to a number of causes. If a child doesn't respond when his parents call him, for instance, the doctor or the parent could believe different things: the child is deaf, he doesn't recognize his name or the fact that he is being called, or he is simply misbehaving.

"I don't know--is it because the parent says 'something is wrong with my child they won't mind me,' or is it the clinician interpreting that behavior differently for black kids as they do for white kids?" Mandell asked.

He recommended that experts work to educate parents and clinicians about the symptoms of autism, provide parents with the right language to explain their child's behavior, and help physicians recognize and ferret out their own biases in how they treat patients.

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Don't Blame The Milk

Australia's food safety regulator today said it was aware of claims that some milk proteins may be linked to diseases like autism, schizophrenia, diabetes and heart disease [reported in yesterday's SAR].

But Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) said it would not change recommendations to include milk and dairy products in a balanced diet until the claims were backed by scientific evidence.

The debate centres on whether a genetic variant of the beta-casein milk protein, beta-casein A1, is responsible for a possible raft of ills.

Food Standards chief scientist Dr Marion Healy said FSANZ had been observing the debate over recent years.

"We've been aware that there's been research for a couple of years looking at the variants for these particular proteins and that there had been proposals, and some evidence, that there are links to a cluster of diseases," she said.

But she said scientific opinion remained divided and the evidence wasn't strong enough to warrant any regulatory change.

"The evidence is not strong enough to change the health messages around milk at this particular point, and that is to say that milk is nutritious and beneficial and should be part of a balanced diet."

The claims, which have been aired at conferences and in some relatively obscure publications, are at the centre of a reported legal stoush between rival dairy companies in New Zealand.

Dairy giant Fonterra is accused of suppressing research linking A1 milk - containing the protein beta casein A1 - to autism, schizophrenia, diabetes and heart disease.

The accusations were reportedly made in court documents by the A2 Corporation, a New Zealand biotechnology company producing A2 milk, or milk with beta casein A2.

Dr David Topping, a senior scientists with the CSIRO Health Sciences and Nutrition unit, said the debate was new and untested.

"I'm not aware of any large scale interventions or studies that have looked into this matter," he said.

"I'm not aware of anything that would justify - at the moment - alarm."

Leading nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton also said the link between A1 milk and disease had not been recognised in any of the major medical journals.

"Nothing of this nature has appeared in the medical literature," she told AAP.

Milk co-operative company Dairy Farmers nutrition manager Dr Anita Wells said the A2 Corporation was acting irresponsibly by attacking consumer confidence as a means of marketing a product.

Australian dairy products, which were mainly a mixture of A1 and A2 milk, were safe, she said.

"There's absolutely no scientific basis for the claims," she said.

"We would like to reassure consumers that milk is safe and it's an important part of their diet."

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Ireland's Prime Time Program on the 'Danish Study' Online

You can watch the entire show, or watch individual reports using the menu provided. New Danish study says there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

Eithne O'Brien reports on parents' continuing concerns over the possible side-affects of the three-in-one vaccine.

Mark Little discusses the report's findings with Dr Kreesten Madsen, author of the report, Kathy Sinnott, HOPE project, and Dr Darina O'Flanagan, Director the National Disease Surveillance Centre. There's no tell how long the material will be available for viewing.

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Halsey, Loe Fisher and Blaxill on Radio Show Online

The Diane Rehm Show of November 13, discusses vaccine issues and is available online for streamed listening. The show features Dr. Neal Halsey from Johns Hopkins, Kathleen Stratton from the Institute of Medicine and Barbara Loe Fisher from the National Vaccine Information Center. Mark Blaxill, a parent and autism expert.

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COMMENTARY

Epidem. Autism Studies: Why Parents Of Children With Autism Are So Upset!

The Peltola Studies were funded in part by Merck & Co

The Taylor Studies were commissioned by the Medicines Control Agency of the UK Department of Health.

The Kaye Study had no specific funding. James A Kaye is an epidemiologist at the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, which is supported in part by grants from AstraZeneca, Berlex Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Boots Healthcare International, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, GlaxoWellcome, Hoffmann-La Roche, Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, R W Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute; McNeil Consumer Products, and Novartis Farmaceutica.

The Dales Study: Loring Dales works for the California Department of Health Services.

The Meldgaard Madsen Study, the just-released study from Denmark, was co-funded by the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) The above “feel-good studies” about the safety of the MMR vaccine have enchanted the vaccine authorities. CDC’s Chen described the Peltola publication and Taylor’s first study in superlative terms, the British vaccine hierarchy assured everyone that the MMR is safe and the vaccine supporters on both sides of the Atlantic thought the Kaye and Dales studies were wonderful. Dales applauded the Danes and Taylor applauded himself by stating that his second paper was the “final” word.

Not surprisingly, the earlier studies failed to fully reassure the public that the MMR is totally safe. They also failed to convince the parents of affected children that the MMR had no role in the present autism epidemic. The impact of the latest study from Denmark, which “provides strong evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccination causes autism”, has yet to be felt, but it is likely that interested parties will be commissioning and financing more “final” studies in the future.

The parents who have watched their normal children sink into autism shortly after MMR vaccination do not believe that it is “just a coincidence” . Specific pathological findings in the gut, evidence of vaccine-strain measles, elevated IAG / urinary polypeptides levels, and positive Myelin Basic Protein antibody tests are impressive objective findings. Claiming that they mean nothing because of data no one can check, or conclusions proved erroneous with time, only adds insult to injury.

Honest, unbiased, and scientific studies, which actually LOOK at the children, and the biological, cellular, molecular, toxic and immune aspects of their medical illness, are urgently needed. Talking to parents is also a great idea! Now, that kind of research will be well worth the money.

F. Edward Yazbak, MD, FAAP, TL Autism Research, Falmouth, Massachusetts.

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AWARENESS

Mind the Gap

We thought George and Sam would be useful in an experiment on autism. George and Sam had other ideas

George and Sam have just been to Addenbrookes hospital, in Cambridge, to have their brains scanned. Their brains didn't get scanned, as it turned out, but nobody could say we didn't try. I have no worries about the physical health of my sons' brains. The scanning was not diagnostic, or even for their benefit. The Cambridge University department of experimental psychology is investigating emotion in autistic people. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner is used to record brain activity in people with and without autism. The project requires boys with autism or Asperger's syndrome, aged between 10 and 14, right-handed, with no history of seizures. George and Sam fit the criteria so, in the interests of science, off we went.

The Addenbrookes unit is state of the art. The huge scanner is protected by Star Trek-style doors; there's a special viewing area, and everything is immaculately clean. Or was until we arrived. Chris Ashwin, who is in charge of the project, had taken great trouble: he had provided favourite videos and a sack of jelly beans to coax the boys into compliance. We all had to sign forms declaring that we had no false hips, penile extensions and the like, we removed keys and coins from our pockets because of the powerful magnets, and then we were ready to begin.

The boys practised pressing a switch every time they saw a picture. Some of the images were human faces expressing exaggerated emotions, others patterns with no emotive content. Brain cells use more oxygen when active: as the brain responds to the pictures, the scanner measures changes in oxygen levels. The hypothesis is that activity in the autistic brain will differ from that in the "neurotypical" brain in response to emotional and social stimuli.

George and Sam just about mastered pressing the button. Then they were introduced to earplugs. The scanner makes a noise not unlike a road drill, so ears have to be protected. Sam was intrigued by the earplugs. They were squidgy, peach in colour, and looked distinctly edible (most things look edible to Sam - except, of course, food). He made several attempts to ingest the earplugs, before deciding that he preferred the jelly beans.

Once the earplugs are in, headphones have to be worn on top. I had brought some of the boys' CDs with me; the plan was that, once inside the scanner, they could listen to familiar music to relax them before beginning the button-pushing tasks. This looked as if it might work. To the strains of the Kinks, they began to enter the long tunnel of the scanner.

Not for long. Once they realised that they were meant to lie flat on their backs with their heads down, they popped up again like meerkats. Sam, in particular, hates the position - he will never lie down to rinse his hair in the bath. Shampooing him involves throwing jugfuls of water at a moving target, like washing a dog. A large stuffed snake was introduced into the tunnel as an enticement. George, who is not motivated by stuffed snakes, wandered off in search of some Fanta, but Sam quite enjoyed chasing the snake into the tunnel. Only on his tummy, though; he was still not going to lie on his back.

Time was ticking by. Bags of chips were fetched from Burger King; these, plus crumbs from Sam's gluten-free biscuits, created a forest-floor effect on the waiting-room carpet. Four-year-old Jake had finished his activity book and was becoming restless. He was keen to have a "photograph" of his (non-autistic) brain. He followed instructions to the letter. He was inserted into the scanner - and given the (illusory) impression that he was taking part in the project.

I reckon that if we had tried every day for a week, we could have trained the boys to cooperate, but the procedure involved too many different steps for them to master in one session, so we gave up. Our failure illustrates a real problem: how do you investigate a condition of which erratic and non-compliant behaviour are major symptoms? Thirty volunteers are needed. It's likely that they will all be from the high-functioning end of the spectrum. Getting an image of an unsedated, deeply autistic brain is extremely difficult.

I hope the project succeeds. New scanning techniques offer exciting possibilities for understanding not just autism, but conditions such as dementia and schizophrenia as well. Going home, Sam said, "Want tunnel" several times. Too late.

· For information about the project, call 01223 333557 or email ca235@cam.ac.uk

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Kansas Minister Charged With Sex Assaults on 17 yo Autistic Female

[By Neal Jones.]

The pastor of the Church of the Nazarene in Wakefield, Kansas who also served as a teaching assistant in the South Kingstown School District's Farm School for learning-disabled students was arrested Friday by North Kingstown police and charged with three counts of second-degree sexual assault for alleged incidents involving a 17-year-old female student who has autism and cerebral palsy.

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