I am trying not to think of it as a waste of time, even while I know this must be devastating for the families on so many levels.  My hope would be that it will help people turn research in new, better direction, and that doctors who have been perpetuating this to families will stop so we can put the vast resources that are being put into this research into seeking the real cause(s) of autism.  I believe if doctors started asking the right questions of families about early childhood development, they would be able to identify that there were signs of autism prior to the vaccinations, and we would be able to treat children with autism according to their learning needs and their medical symptoms without confusing the two so much, and we would also be able to help parents seek and advocate for long-term supports, recognizing that while many children with autism will make progress, most will never get through life without additional supports beyond what their family will be able to provide.

Does anyone know if there are studies that look at an autism-vaccine link from the other direction?  If vaccines don't cause autism, then is a bad reaction to vaccines a common symptom of autism?  Their reaction to vaccine-preventable diseases might be much worse, so it may be more important for them to get vaccines, but as a symptom it could help explain why parents are so convinced.  I know, I know, probably no link whatsoever, but I am curious.

"I hope that scientists and the medical community can proceed with the care and respect shown by Special Master Hastings."

I hope that the media can proceed with some of that care and respect. I saw a TV news broadcast this AM that seemed to use the decision purely as a launching pad to jump into many of the familiar talking points of "parents against scientists schism" and "controversy". Except for the date, it could have been a broadcast from 3 years ago.

"No one thought anything was delayed with my son's development for most of his first year or rather, no one (including the pediatrician) said that there was anything unusual about his development."
Meghan's pediatrician also didn't think that anything significant was wrong with her, although we had discussed our concerns over the "sifting/dribbling" behaviors we observed. But she was always a little behind the curve, especially in her motor skills. Even her daycare providers mentioned it. But just when we'd start to think "We should really get this looked at", she'd suddenly start doing whatever developmental skill we'd been concerned about. 
There was the online video series that was released a few years ago showing a typically developing toddler vs. one with autism. I felt that was a powerful tool for parents to have at their disposal because, no matter the level of functioning, autistic traits are pretty consistent. We have four on the spectrum, and we are always amazed to see how, even in their individuality, the commonality in their behaviors. 

I am very disappointed by the recent ruling in the vaccine court stating that vaccines (i.e. the MMR) do not cause Autism. WHY do they keep focusing all the studies and theories around this One vaccine and One ingredient (thimerisol)? Why do they not take into account the other toxic ingredients, live viruses and antigens? I am by no means saying everyone should stop vaccinating and that all the research monies need to go to this subject. I believe we definately need to focus on taking care of individuals with Autims first and then look at the other stuff. I know I will probably get blasted for this but I sickens me to read the comments on here and had to give my "emotional" side of it.

I  have heard So many times a parent say "I know it wasn't the vaccines because my child was this way from birth".  It makes me want to scream "Did your one day old infant get the Hep B shot before leaving the hospital? Did your two month old get the Hib and IPV? Did your Ten week old baby get the DTP??? The answer would typically be Yes and to that I have to ask "Then how do you know your child was born this way? How do you know these vaccines did not trigger your child's Autism?"

My son was premature but very strong and healthy, he did not require the NICU and went home in 48 hrs. My husband and I were very concerned about vaccinating on the typical vaccine schedule. Our Pediatrician Assured us that they were Safe and reactions were extremely rare. I should have followed my gut instinct and not vaccinated, I should have done more research and not listened to this "professional". Our son was Clearly injured by his eight week vaccines (the Hib and IPV)  about 45 minutes after he had a horrible shrill scream became limp and palish blue. We immediately called the pediatrician who assured us (yet again) that he was having a mild reaction and would be fine. We again believed this "professional" This was not documented in his chart or reported to VAERS as is suppose to be done. @ six months old my son was not meeting any developmental milestones, the pediatrician continually assured us that is was because he was "just premature". The same @ nine months and then @ twelve months. My child was still not sitting unassisted, crawling or doing anything a one year old should do. He was very jumpy and would be startled when you would walk in the room. Thankfully we moved out of state and got a new pediatrician who immediately order a CT then an MRI which showed that our son has extra fluid on his brain (hydrocephalus) a mild diffuse atrophy like pattern, enlarged ventricles or inflammation of his brain (encephalitis and encephalopathy), diffuse demyelination. No one could (would) tell us why, what caused this or if it was progressive. We have since seen every specialist known to man and I have done tons of my own research to low and behold read that adverse reaction to a vaccine can cause ENCEPHALOPATHY OR ENCEPHALITIS AND DEMYELINATION OF THE BRAIN.  Unfortunately it took so long for me to put two and two together the limitation on filing a claim with the vaccine court had expired, besides I would probably Never be able to Prove causality anyway. I will never forgive myself for letting them poison my child. It infuriates me that they continued to tell me it was safe to vaccinate even though my child already had encephalopathy. My family has a history of Autoimmune disorders.  I do believe that genectics loads the gun and environment (i.e. mothers toxic load, the environment and vaccines) pulls the trigger. We do suspect mitochondrial disorder and are seeing yet another specialist.

And here is the real kicker even with all of my sons ten (I didn't list them all, Autism being the last) diagnoses Not one doctor will write me a medical exemption from future vaccination. Even though encephalopathy is contraindicated with most vaccines. Why??? Because they are SCARED too give me a medical exemption. I have had a Neurologist, Geneticist and a DAN! tell me my child SHOULD NOT  get any more vaccines but they won't give me an exemption. They tell me to use the religious exemption. The problem with the religious exemption is if there is an epidemic  they can still force you to vaccinate but if you have a medical exemption they cannot.

I know it would be tragic and heartbreaking to lose a child to a disease but it is also tragic and heartbreaking to lose a child to vaccinations or have your child injured due to vaccinations. Please follow your gut instincts and do research before getting any Vaccine.

I will finish my rant with a video link to yet another young girl who's life has been tragically altered by the Gardasil vaccine.  I can tell in her sweet voice that she doesn't know how she is going to live the rest of her life in such agony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UHy-EkK2xo&eurl=http://bulletins.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bulletin.read&authorID=124168898&messageID=6337415610&MyTokeniurl=http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/6UHy-EkK2xo/hqdefault.jpg&feature=player_embedded

Educate before you vaccinate!

"It makes me want to scream "Did your one day old infant get the Hep B shot before leaving the hospital? Did your two month old get the Hib and IPV? Did your Ten week old baby get the DTP??? The answer would typically be Yes and to that I have to ask "Then how do you know your child was born this way? How do you know these vaccines did not trigger your child's Autism?"
No. No. And no. First of all, I wasn't even in the hospital with one of my sons. I had him at home. We declined Hep. We declined some of the earliest shots in the first four months, especially with our younger two sons, because of little viral infections. And I know my children were born the way they are because they showed signs from birth. I lived with each of them from day 1. Even if they'd had DTaP at 10 weeks, that would still have been after they'd each showed signs. My youngest couldn't even figure out how to breastfeed because of motor problems, and I pumped for him 24-7, every four hours.

So I guess you can stop screaming now, and I can put down my ear muffs. You have nothing peer-reviewed and scientific to cite showing that any of the vaccines you name are associated causally or even correlatively with autism. I have plenty of evidence that is peer-reviewed and scientific that argues (a) for a strong genetic component and (b) for earliest signs that either precede vaccinations or that occur even in children who have not received vaccines.

Educate before you rant.

People who read the transcripts of the proceedings will understand and applaud the court ruling. Unfortunately, most of the biomed parents were just reading the spin versions, and they'll continue to be fooled by the DAN movement. What a shame. At least I think that new parents will be more confident when taking their children for their routine vaccinations.

The transcripts are incredible in their detail, insight, and thoughtfulness. I read the entire Cedillo file. If anyone needs information about ANY of the literature in re: autism and vaccines, that's a compendium of just about all of it--the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I didn't have time to read all the special masters' reports, but I did look at the last one in the list (Vowell) long enough to declare FIDDLESTICKS...  He castigated Dr. K from Thoughtful House, though I have never used Dr. K I know lots of parents who love him dearly for helping their children find relief from their seriously diseased guts.  Further, Vowell goes on to say only 10% of the kids diagnosed with ASD show significant improvement.  Well, I know a number of parents who take their kids to Thoughtful House, and more than 10% of us have seen significant improvement.  Why doesn't someone study the kids getting well and figure out why??  Oh yea, heavy metal detox is why, we can't admit any of that.  Never mind that vaccinations are not the ONLY source of heavy metals...

And, I did note that Novella's website would lead me to believe he was prejudiced going in.. He had something about Brian Deer 'discovering' something about Wakefield - didn't someone tell him that now Mr. Deer has been discredited?  http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/sunday-times-made-up-wakefield-mmr-data-fixing-allegation/
Certainly my personal analysis of Mr. Deer's reporting of Dr. Wakefields patent indicates to me that Mr. Deer began 'investigating' with a pre-conceived conclusion...

Just like the special masters, I'd bet.

Sorry, Emily, Kristina, I'm still not buying it.  Vaccines have not yet been exonerated.   AND, there is at least one doctor currently pointing to a vaccine as being causal for one teen's development of a terminal condition.  See below.

****************

http://www.kake.com/kansas/headlines/39581687.html#
 
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/021509kvuegardasil-bkm.1d4f95fa.html
Kansas teen wants Gardasil taken off the market

08:55 PM CST on Sunday, February 15, 2009
KVUE News
It was a hot issue here in Texas a couple of years ago.  Now Gardasil, the vaccine against the virus that causes cervical caner, is back in the spotlight.

Gabi Swank, a 16-year-old from Wichita, Kansas, says she and other girls are dying from the side-effects of the drug.  Once a cheerleader with a 4.0 grade point average, she is now homebound, suffering from seizures, migraines and even two small strokes.

Swank’s doctors diagnosed her with cerebral vasculatis, a terminal disease.  And he blames Gardasil complications.

Now, Swank and her mother are on a mission.

“She looked at me with the most somber face and she said, ‘If I have to die to save other girls, then I am prepared to do that’,” said Gabi’s mother, Shannon Schrag.

“I want this drug off the market,” said Gabi.

Governor Rick Perry made headlines two years ago when he made Texas the first state to require the vaccine against human pappilomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease.  Conservatives and parents rights groups felt the requirement condoned pre-marital sex.

The makers of Gardasil say the drug is safe.  They’re hoping to vaccinate boys as well.

How much do I need to read if I can determine a) the reports are biased and b) not enough information regarding experiments is given for me to come to a conclusion.

I'm looking now at Hazelhust report.  Again, Krigsman, who I know to be a very good doctor based on the satisfaction of the parents' of his patients, is not deemed as credible as MacDonald and Hanauer.  Do either of them even SEE patients?  How many autistic kids have they HELPED personally?  Hanauer is an advisor for the FDA - I'm so convinced the FDA puts the interests of big business above those of mere citizens that the FDA association alone is a net negative in that Dr's credibility (its a sad day, isn't it, that we can't trust those entrusted to protect us, but that is the fact IMO).

I cannot believe the conclusions of any experiment unless I can read the experimental design and see the raw data.  I know some people read the canned conclusions of these experiments and exclaim "SEE!  Proven by science!"  However, absent the full experimental design, execution information, analysis information, and raw data - you really know NOTHING except what whomever canned the results wants you to 'know'.  Any good statistician can manipulate data to say whatever you want... a task made much easier if the experiment is designed in your favor to begin with.

I don't have time to read 1000 pages of documents...  and, frankly, I am beginning to understand why more parents like me don't participate on boards like this.  It is a frustrating waste of time.  But, assuming there are readers of this blog without a dog in this fight, I feel a bit of a duty to continue to participate somewhat because the predominant views here are so biased and, IMNTBHO, just flat WRONG. Perhaps right for individual children, like Charlie, but not right for all autistic children.

I did look at Hastings report somewhat and I find it just as non-persuasive as the others.  I looked at those portions related to Dr. Krigsman and I am able to conclude that Hastings report was as predetermined as the others.  He too found Dr. K to be less reliable than the other doctors.  The other doctors had thicker resumes, perhaps, but much less clinical experience as far as I could see. To draw an analogy, if you have a choice between an electrician and an electrical engineer to do all the electrical wiring in your house, choose the electrician.  That a person has more credentials theoretically does not mean they are more skilled practically.   Too bad Hastings didn't evaluate the doctors based on results in helping autisitic children.  Have the other doctors done anything more than pat parents on the head and told them to prepare for a permanently disabled autistic child, while writing the parents a rx for serious anti-depressants??  Had Hastings evaluated the doctors based on clinical results in healing autistic children, my bet is he'd have found Dr. K the most credible witness.

Hastings totally discredited Dr. K because Dr. K offered a view in regard to the patient's symptom history that was in conflict, supposedly, with the patient's records documented by another doctor.  (Even though the footnote clearly indicates the patient's parents said Dr. K's view of the history was correct AND the other doctor's notes were in my opinion clearly ambiguous). 

Dr K was discredited because 'autistic entercolitis' is not mentioned in any textbooks.  ( Sir, the world cannot be round, our textbooks clearly say it is flat. )  I'm not sure how doctors can ever discover anything new with such a constraint.  Dr. K was further discredited merely for giving children  colonoscopies - which is just crazy in my view.  You can't diagnose a child without looking at them, and in this case, looking at them includes colonoscopies.  I don't know if this is some homophobe objection, or merely an objection based on not wanting to find what is really wrong.  Seriously, circumcision (sp?) is in my view much more questionable (and permanent) than colonoscopy, ever get any flak about the choice to circumcise?  Of course not. How about getting any flak for injecting known toxins, several of them, into a new born or very young infant?  Of course not.  But colonoscopies?  Oh the horror...  And, yes, Hastings was following suit on this point, but it doesn't make it less wrong the second time.  It is not Dr. K's fault that a need to give children colonoscopies did not exist previously.  Again, how do doctors progress if they are held to standards of care that are stagnant?  Autistic entercolitis not in the book, colonoscopies to see it not current standard of care... Dr K must be wrong?  Do you really agree with that?


Dr. K was discredited for advertizing in Texas before his certification was approved, or something like that.  I'm not sure the details, but more likely than not an honest mistake. Dr K was a licensed physician when he advertized, and he didn't practice in TX before being fully licensed there.   But, the doctors who have been brave enough to deviate from the pharmaceutical companys' party line are not allowed ANY honest mistakes.

Finally, Dr. K was discreditied because Hastings adjudged the lab to evaluate the tissue samples to be unreliable, but it was never clear to me how.

Sorry, Kristina, I skipped whatever parts Hastings included to gently suggest that ALL the parents who know vaccinations are related (not necessarily causal but definatley related) to their child's autism are crazy.  We aren't crazy.  I know your own trials of bio-medical interventions have not been fruitful, and I am genuinely sorry about that.  However, it isn't right to insist those of us who have seen results from implementing the treatments prescribed by the doctors at Thoughtful House are crazy.

If anyone reading wonders about Dr. Krigsman, seek out parents of his patients for yourself and ask them.  Don't rely on these special masters reports.  

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."
     —Vladimir Lenin


"The bigger the lie, the more people believe it."
     —paraphrase of a statement by Adolf Hitler

Dr. K was discredited because he discredited himself. And I know parents of his "patients." Not all are satisfied. It's not everyone who's going to be deeply pleased with unnecessary colonoscopies. And it looks like El Wakefield is under scrutiny for...gee, what a surprise...not adhering to the rules governing not practicing medicine without a license here in the good old US of A.

If you don't have time to read the hundreds of pages...it is hundreds...then that's in your court. Given your passion about this stuff, I'd suggest you read them. The detail is remarkable. The unreliability of the lab data was made abundantly clear. Abundantly. In fact, it sounds almost actionable.

Charlatans take advantage of passionate people who harken to emotional appeals, spurious claims, and cries of conspiracy. It's age old. Everything about Wakefield and his Thoughtful House so clearly fits the clearly laid-out criteria for pseudoscience that I'm thinking about subbing this stuff in for Intelligent Design the next time I teach pseudosciences. It's got it all: Research that never advances; an inability of other scientists to reproduce any claimed results; emotion emotion emotion/passion passion passion; "sciency" sounding nonsense terms like "autistic enterocolitis," a payoff to the peddlers (always follow the freaking money; Andrew W apparently makes several hundred thousand dollars a year; how thoughtful); scary scary threats of what would happen if you don't do it (toxic! mercury!); conspiracy accusations and martyrdom (the man has compared himself to Galileo, for God's sake, if memory serves); demands to prove a negative; claims of benefits to multiple physiological systems that have no mechanistic relationship; and on and on. It's just as beautiful as an example as Intelligent Design, and I never thought I'd find something better than ID. Thanks, Dr. Wakfield! I mean...Wakefield!

I think many parents, regardless of the various possible diagnoses of their children, are trying their very best to do the right thing, in an age when they are quite bombarded by all sorts of information and when they feel that they have to be quite active in making such decisions and choices. "Parenting" is a relatively new concept, after all.

Well, Kristina, I see you sent me another compliment for 'sticking to the discussion', which I guess is your way of saying you won't answer my questions?

I do want to know how you explain away results seen from use of biomedical interventions.  As you know, not every child responds to biomed  However, it furthers the cause of no autistic children to adopt an ostrich approach and declare everyone who sees the results you didn't see 'deceived' or 'crazy'. 

I think it ironic that you call me deceived given I am the one who believes you need to see more than the canned results from studies.  I am the one who believes it necessary to see the experimental design and raw data and not trust the prepared analysis.  Why?  Because it is too easy to deceive people with no understanding of experimental design and statistics.  So ironic you think I am the one deceived...  I know you are educated, Kristina, but do you have a degree in science?  math?

I have a degree in science. It's called a PhD. And postdoctoral education in science, as well. I know what I'm talking about, and some people don't. And I haven't said people are "crazy," and I'd resent that erroneous paraphrase of my comments, which are not meant to insult, had your latter postings not actually provided evidence on your behalf. Lord.

I've often observed on boards like this that certain commenters who are quite fixated on their version of the etiology of autism tend to, um, perseverate on the idea, ad nauseum. Over and over and over again. It brings to mind something...starts with an "a"...maybe a capital letter A...hmm...what is that...so hard to recall.........wonder if it's heritable?

The Vaccine Court's release of its opinion on Darwin's 200th birthday was fortuitous, seeing as the vaccine-autism faithful have a good deal in common with religious fundamentalists.  They are so invested in their ideas that they ignore or attack any evidence to the contrary, and treat gaps in the opposing evidence as further proof in their favor.  

The obscenity of the "anti-vax" movement is stupefying-- a campaign to reinstitute open sewers or ban refrigeration could scarcely threaten greater violence to the public health.