The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Why It Won't Go Away

[bks]

This doesn't really fit in the Wakefield thread, and I hope some will be interested in moving the discussion away from him anyway since the evidence for a link between vaccines and ASD does not depend on his work, and because the issue is broader than the relationship between autism and vaccines. Kirby's pretty comprehensive in his coverage of the related issues.

I also find it interesting that Kirby is regarded as "anti-vaccine" (as he predicted he would be) by the defenders of the vaccine orthodoxy in the comments section.

Many links in original.

The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Why It Won't Go Away
by David Kirby


[snip] It's a fact that many children with ASD regressed following normal development just as they were receiving multiple vaccines at regular doctor visits. Health officials say the timing is entirely coincidental.

Regression usually occurs between 12 and 24 months, though one study found that some children show signs of autism as early as six months, but never before that age.

By six months of age, most U.S. children have received about 18 inoculations containing 24 vaccines against nine diseases. Over the next two years or so, they will receive another nine shots containing 14 vaccines against 12 diseases.

So whether a child regresses at six months, or 18 months, the tragedy happens during a period of intensive vaccination. In many cases, parents report that the child had an abnormal reaction after being vaccinated (seizures, spiking-fevers, diarrhea, lethargy, high-pitched screaming and/or other symptoms). [/snip]

. . .

[snip] Parents who say the vaccine-autism link has not been debunked are, like me, hardly "anti-vaccine." Why on earth would anyone not want to protect children from dangerous diseases? That is the epithet hurled upon most of them anyway. And it's what people will say about me as well, even though, as I said, I think parents should vaccinate their kids.

What's curious is the selective use of the "anti-vaccine" accusation. Few people call Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the NIH, "anti-vaccine" for not ruling out a possible link, and calling for the study of the children who actually got sick.

I have never heard it used against Temple Grandin, who said there should be "a closer evaluation" of vaccines and autism and echoed Dr. Healy by adding that, "These children should be carefully studied to determine when and why they lost language, and if factors such as vaccines and genetic predisposition may be causes."

And I've never heard it used against the many Somali parents of children with autism living in Minneapolis who said they are convinced that vaccines played a role, and will be telling that to CDC and NIH researchers who are trying to find out why the rate among Somali children is reportedly about 1-in-28 in that city. [/snip]

. . . .

[snip] There is clearly no single cause of autism, and we are not going to find answers looking only at genes, or for that matter, only at thimerosal or MMR. But there remain many reasons why some parents, doctors, scientists and people with autism say a vaccine connection cannot be ruled out, at least in some cases.

My motive has never been to "blame vaccines." I have no personal reason whatsoever to oppose them, and little to gain -- believe me. What I have been trying to do is find out why so many more kids today are so sick.

I do not believe that better diagnosis and wider awareness can explain away a tidal wave of suffering. Such dinosaur mentality never helped a single child, and most credible scientists are abandoning it.

"It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California," Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiology professor at the University of California, Davis MIND Institute, has said. Those culprits, she said, might lie "in the microbial world and in the chemical world."

Another good example is Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D, current Director of the NIH. "Recent increases in chronic diseases (like) autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool. They must be due to changes in the environment" and other factors, he told Congress in 2006. Collins called for more research into "environmental toxins, dietary intake and physical activity," in order to "determine an individual's biological response to those influences."

Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, concurred with his boss, Dr. Collins, when he told me, "There is no question that there has got to be an environmental component here," because "this is not something that can be explained away by methodology, by diagnosis."

In my opinion, many children with autism are toxic. Some thing or things happened to make them sick. Unfortunately, our world has become a hazardous juggernaut through which increasingly fewer infants seem to emerge unscathed. We need to identify what is blocking their way, and fix it.

I know that many people will say the vaccine issue has been thoroughly investigated and debunked. I honestly wish that were the case, but it simply is not true. All of the "vaccine-autism" studies you hear about investigated just one childhood vaccine out of 14 (MMR), or one vaccine ingredient out of dozens (thimerosal). That is like announcing that air pollution does not cause lung cancer because you looked at carbon monoxide, alone, and hydrogen sulfide, alone, and found no link.

Moreover, many of the large epidemiological studies that purport to show no association between MMR or thimerosal and autism were conducted by people with vested interests -- financial or professional -- in defending vaccines and vaccine programs. Much worse than that, the vast majority of these studies were marked by methodological flaws that limit their usefulness and legitimacy. A thorough point-by-point rebuttal of the epidemiology will soon be published by the advocacy group SafeMinds.

What we do know is that reported autism rates began to explode right around the 1987-88 birth cohorts in the United States and a few other western countries, according to an EPA study.

"The greatest increase in ASD prevalence occurred in cohorts born between 1987 and 1992 across the United States," the EPA study concluded. Rates did not begin to increase in developing countries until a number of years later.

U.S. special education data found the exact same thing: ASD among students nearly tripled between the 1988 cohort (5-per-10,000) and the 1990 cohort (14.3-per-10,000) and then tripled again by the 1992 cohort (42.1-per-10,000). After that, the rate of increase slowed down significantly. Some of this increase is clearly due to an expansion of the ASD definition, but not all of it.[/snip]

. . . .

[snip] We also know that autism rates are different in different populations. The latest CDC figures available (from the 1998 birth cohort) show an overall U.S. rate of 91-per-10,000 children (1-in-110), and nearly 2 percent of all boys. Among U.S. military families, however, the rate is reportedly 25 percent higher, at 114-per-10,000 (1-in-88) and among Somali immigrants in Minnesota, it could be as high as 357-per-10,000).

. . . .

[snip]Finally, we are going to be hearing a good deal more about vaccines, seizure disorders, and autism as a "residual sequela" of the injury. Maybe vaccines can't cause autism, as the government says, but they can cause complex seizures.

And complex seizures, "during early postnatal development may alter synaptic plasticity and contribute to learning and behavioral disorders" in certain types of children, said one recent study. "Early life seizures may produce a variety of cellular and molecular changes in hippocampus that may contribute to the enhanced risk of IDDs and ASDs in patients with early life seizures and epilepsy."

That study did not link vaccine-induced complex seizures to residual sequelae. But the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has many cases of normally developing children who developed seizure disorders and "encephalopathy" (brain disease) following vaccination.

"This pattern is seen frequently in vaccine cases. An otherwise healthy petitioner receives a vaccination, the vaccine causes a fever, which in turn causes or triggers a complex febrile seizure," one VICP special master wrote in ruling that the DTaP vaccine "was the legal cause of (the child's) seizure disorder and developmental delay."

Some children who suffer from vaccine-induced complex seizures go on to suffer from "developmental delay," "behavioral problems," "affective disorders," "mild mental retardation" and other residual sequelae, VICP records show. Some of them also develop an ASD, and some now get government funds to pay for things such as applied behavioral analysis (ABA), a treatment used mostly for ASD.

Either way, the difference between a child with a seizure disorder, encephalopathy, developmental delay and behavioral problems, and a child with autism spectrum disorder, is hardly vast. Given that vaccines can sometimes cause injuries that lead to the former, why is it so outrageous -- why is it so "anti-vaccine" -- to ask if they can lead to the latter?

As one special master wrote: "It is exceedingly reasonable to conclude that where the vaccine is associated with fever and seizure and the seizure is of a complex nature, in the absence of proof of an alternative cause, it is the vaccine that is responsible for a subsequent epilepsy and residual sequelae" (Italics added).

Developmental delays including ASD are residual sequelae of some vaccine-induced adverse events, the VICP has determined. What proportion of ASD cases resulted from a vaccine injury? We may never know.

The CDC estimates that there are about 760,000 Americans under 21 with an ASD. Even if just 1 percent of those cases was linked to vaccines (though I believe it is higher), that would mean 7,600 young Americans with a vaccine-associated ASD.

In that case, their parents would be neither anti-vaccine nor lunatic fringe. They would be right. (end of article)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kir ... 17879.html

[Plutonia]

The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Why It Won’t Go Away

Who said it was? Backstory: “The Autism-Vaccine Debate: Why It Won’t Go Away” is a recent blog post by David Kirby at the Huffington Post. Yes, he’s come back to talk about autism and vaccines.

I say again: who says the debate is going away? The scientific debate on the main issues: thimerosal and the MMR is over. That scientific debate has been over for some time. The rising autism “rate” wasn’t caused by mercury. It wasn’t caused by MMR. Autism isn’t a “novel” form of mercury poisoning. These facts don’t stop activist groups and online discussions, or the debate elsewhere for that matter.

The debate isn’t going away, but is is morphing. From the piece by David Kirby:

There is clearly no single cause of autism, and we are not going to find answers looking only at genes, or for that matter, only at thimerosal or MMR.

David Kirby’s main contribution to the discussion was his book: Evidence of Harm, Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy. Mr. Kirby has been a major proponent of the mercury hypothesis since he started on that book, fed by research garnered by SafeMinds founder Lyn Redwood. The book wasn’t about “vaccines” and the autism epidemic, or “environmental causes of an autism epidemic”, it was about “mercury in vaccines and the autism epidemic”.

The debate isn’t going away, but it is getting weaker. And it’s just moving a few goalposts: Let’s play down mercury. Let’s play down MMR. It’s the “Autism-vaccine” debate, not “Mercury in vaccines and the autism epidemic”.

Mr. Kirby does in this blog post what he has done so well for the past few years. He puts the current talking points out there, nicely packaged. Here’s a good example, where he even manages to include a plug for the latest pseudo-research. It’s amazing, really:

That’s because evidence of a vaccine-autism link did not come to them via a 12-year-old study published in a British medical journal, nor from Hollywood celebrities: Not very many had heard of Wakefield until recently.

Some of these parents actually keep up with the science, including a new review of autism studies in the Journal of Immunotoxicology which concludes: “Documented causes of autism include genetic mutations and/or deletions, viral infections, and encephalitis following vaccination.”

Simply amazing. People haven’t heard of Wakefield, but they know about a paper that just came out yesterday in a relatively obscure medical journal? It’s product placement. Very slick. Mr. Kirby plugs this paper as though it is as natural as all the judges on “American Idol” drinking from great big red Coca Cola cups.

He also gets in the “the discussion isn’t all about Wakefield” theme that is in the current responses to the disclosure of fraud in Mr. Wakefield’s research. “Not many people had heard of Wakefield until recently.” As a side note, the obscure Mr. Wakefield appears on 30 pages of Mr. Kirby’s book, Evidence of Harm.

Let’s check whether people have heard about Mr. Wakefield. According to a recent Harris poll (one that Mr. Kirby cites, by the way):

In the new Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll, 69 percent of respondents said they had heard about the autism-vaccination theory—but only half (47 percent) knew that the original Lancet study had been retracted, and that some of that research is now alleged to be fraudulent.

The question “Are you aware that the medical journal that published the paper linking vaccines to autism has now withdrawn the paper, and a published account describes the research as fraudulent?” 47% of people asked said yes.

That’s a pretty big number of people who not only (a) knew about Mr. Wakefield’s paper but also (b) knew it had been retracted and described as fraudulent. What other research paper would the public know about in such great numbers, 12 years after publication?

To state the obvious, yes, Mr. Wakefield and his research was known. Well known. It has been a big piece of the vaccines-cause-autism debate.

Here’s the table from that Harris poll question, showing that 47% of people had heard about the retraction and fraud. Even more important, take note of the fact that people who are informed about the retraction and the fraud are much less likely to believe that vaccines cause autism (click image to make big):



Yep, 65% of people who have heard about the retraction and fraud say that the vaccines-cause-autism idea is “not true”. Mr. Wakefield’s work was known and important to the vaccines-cause-autism cause.

Mr. Kirby then goes into the standard talking points of the day: only two vaccines (MMR) and one ingredient (thimerosal) have been explored for relationship to autism, followed closely by a denial that any of those studies were of any value because they are performed by people who have a “vested interest”.

Of course, “vested interests” in those promoting the vaccine hypothesis, both professional and financial (of which Andrew Wakefield is only the most prominent example) are ignored. As we quickly see as Mr. Kirby warns us that the expected SafeMinds response is on the way to the recent paper showing no link between thimerosal exposure and autism.

Mr. Kirby finishes with “The CDC estimates that there are about 760,000 Americans under 21 with an ASD. Even if just 1 percent of those cases was linked to vaccines (though I believe it is higher), that would mean 7,600 young Americans with a vaccine-associated ASD. ”

Yes, Mr. Kirby is adapting. Adapting in much the way that I have said the vaccine-causation community needs to adapt in order to stay alive. They need to abandon the “epidemic” rhetoric. Claim that if there are people with vaccine-induced autism, the number is very small, too small to be picked up by epidemiology.

Rather than really adapt, Mr. Kirby wants to play both sides of this. He wants to say, “what if the number is really small” and say that the data available show that the rise in autism prevalence is correlated with vaccines.

At the risk of being accused of “product placement” myself, I can’t help but bring up an incident discussed in the book “The Panic Virus“. I don’t have the book handy, so I apologize if I get this not 100% accurate. Seth Mnookin tells of talking to Dr. Jon Poling, father of Hannah Poling, during an AutismOne conference. While Dr. Poling is telling Mr. Mnookin that, yes, the concession in the vaccine court isn’t about causation, David Kirby is giving his talk saying exactly the opposite.

One question I know I will face soon is: why do I bring up David Kirby again? Why not move on from the vaccine debate. In the end it is because of statements like this:

In my opinion, many children with autism are toxic.

After over five years as a self-described member of the autism community, David Kirby still uses damaging language. Children are not “toxic”. Even children who have demonstrated heavy metal poisoning (which autism is not) are not “toxic”. If you touch them, you don’t get poisoned. They are “intoxicated”. But, that doesn’t read well, does it? I’ll say it again, autism is not a form of mercury poisoning. I really don’t need my kid labeled “toxic”.

I don’t know if David Kirby is “anti vaccine” or not. If you notice, I rarely use the term. I don’t care if David Kirby is anti vaccine. It isn’t the label “anti-vaccine” that matters. David Kirby is intellectually dishonest and his actions are irresponsible. On a more personal note, he puts forth an image of autism that is damaging to my kid.

[stickdog99]

Case closed. The evidence is in. Lead exposure does not cause learning disorders. One scientist who once suggested lead is harmful has been discredited. Several studies funded by lead suppliers have proven no connection between lead exposure and learning disorders. Therefore the case is now closed.

[hava1]

Anyone can help out, is the vaccine side effect encephalitis, menengitis or "high fever" without a name ?

--
Of course excess metals of sorts is poisoning, but that might not be linked to autism. In fact I think it might look more like Schizophrenia for some metals.

there is a village in India, where they eat mercury, a lot of it, and claim that with some training this will bring you to age 300 ! or around that. So what doesnt kill you, will make you live longer.

(anything on longevity in autistic individuals, just curious).

[undead]

This board's management is obviously biased on this issue as well as issues concerning psychiatric drugging and psychiatry in general. Apologists and professional hacks will be supported and skeptics of the mainstream view (real skeptics) ridiculed. Trying to have this discussion here is like pissing into the wind. I suggest that concerned citizens find other venues for productive discussion.

[seemslikeadream]

This board's management is obviously biased on this issue as well as issues concerning psychiatric drugging and psychiatry in general. Apologists and professional hacks will be supported and skeptics of the mainstream view (real skeptics) ridiculed. Trying to have this discussion here is like pissing into the wind. I suggest that concerned citizens find other venues for productive discussion.

oh really? Pray tell where that other venue might be? I doubt you will find anything, this is the best place, have you been censored here?

[undead]

Pray tell where that other venue might be?

A physical place where you can see the people you are talking to would be more productive, but there are plenty of other websites as well. The people that hang around here are not as smart and important as they think they are, with honorable exception, and convincing those few people makes very little difference no matter what issue is under discussion.

[seemslikeadream]

Pray tell where that other venue might be?

A physical place where you can see the people you are talking to would be more productive, but there are plenty of other websites as well. The people that hang around here are not as smart and important as they think they are, with honorable exception, and convincing those few people makes very little difference no matter what issue is under discussion.

Please give me some examples of websites you are speaking of, and there is no one in my physical world that I care to discuss most all that is posted here, it is not my job to enlighten anyone here or the concrete jungle I reside in, only myself, and that is why I am here. I believe you are wrong in your perception of the RI folks. I love them all. And am extremely grateful to them for posting and for Jeff to continue this place for so long. It's not an easy job. Sometimes I get rubbed the wrong way but that's life and my Irish temper and the occasional box o'wine


on edit I have to say there are people here I have known for almost 10 years now, 10 frickin' years! What a place, thanks Jeff

[Plutonia]

and convincing those few people makes very little difference ...

Eh? What's that again?

[Jeff]

This board's management is obviously biased on this issue as well as issues concerning psychiatric drugging and psychiatry in general. Apologists and professional hacks will be supported and skeptics of the mainstream view (real skeptics) ridiculed. Trying to have this discussion here is like pissing into the wind. I suggest that concerned citizens find other venues for productive discussion.

A discussion means more than a Hallelujah chorus. It can also include such elements as opinion, argument, counter-argument and disagreement. Most here expect and like that about a good discussion. Others just want to drum up signatures for a manifesto. They find the experience of actual discussion offensive and deeply suspect.

I have no objection if you wish to post links to "other venues."

[stickdog99]

This board's management is obviously biased on this issue as well as issues concerning psychiatric drugging and psychiatry in general. Apologists and professional hacks will be supported and skeptics of the mainstream view (real skeptics) ridiculed. Trying to have this discussion here is like pissing into the wind. I suggest that concerned citizens find other venues for productive discussion.

A discussion means more than a Hallelujah chorus. It can also include such elements as opinion, argument, counter-argument and disagreement. Most here expect and like that about a good discussion. Others just want to drum up signatures for a manifesto. They find the experience of actual discussion offensive and deeply suspect.

I have no objection if you wish to post links to "other venues."

Have I thanked you lately? If not, thanks.

It's hard to keep a discussion place from devolving. So thanks again for trying hard.

[undead]

[bks]

Simply amazing. People haven’t heard of Wakefield, but they know about a paper that just came out yesterday in a relatively obscure medical journal? It’s product placement. Very slick. Mr. Kirby plugs this paper as though it is as natural as all the judges on “American Idol” drinking from great big red Coca Cola cups.

Yeah, Kirby might be being less than completely genuine here, but this is hardly proof of general intellectual dishonesty. Notice that the writer at leftbrainrightbrain employs his own sleight of hand a few lines down in quoting the Harris poll:

The question “Are you aware that the medical journal that published the paper linking vaccines to autism has now withdrawn the paper, and a published account describes the research as fraudulent?” 47% of people asked said yes.

That’s a pretty big number of people who not only (a) knew about Mr. Wakefield’s paper but also (b) knew it had been retracted and described as fraudulent. What other research paper would the public know about in such great numbers, 12 years after publication?

"People who. . .knew of Wakefield’s paper” does NOT, of course, equal people who knew who Andrew Wakefield’s name. Knowing ‘some guy’ wrote a paper claiming a link between autism and vaccines and knowing that guy’s name are two very different levels of knowing. Most who know the first don’t know the second.

Kirby provides links to studies in which epidemiologists and other medical professionals argue that environmental considerations need more study, and aren’t getting it. For example:

Funding for studying genetic causes of autism is 10 to 20 times higher than funding for environmental causes, she said. “It’s very off-balance,” Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto said.

[Dr. Bernard Weiss, professor of environmental medicine] agreed, saying that "excessive emphasis has been placed on genetics as a cause."

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ ... nvironment

He also quotes the Director of the NIH who flatly states that increases in autism cannot be solely traceable to genetics, and a deputy says essentially the same thing.

What is incorrect about this line of contention, if anything?

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

I encourage people to give a listen to bigshots Paul Offit and Seth Mnookin on "Radio Times" from earlier in the week, hosted by Marty Moss-coane. They make some arguments that may elicit groans from some defending the vaccine orthodoxy position here.

http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2011/03/ ... -vaccines/

Some of the highlights:

About five minutes in, for instance, Offit says that children are exposed to billions and billions of bacteria and other immunological components every day, to which they make an immune response. Compared to that, he says, the immunological challenge to children posed by vaccines is trivial.

But this is a very odd statement. When their children are immunized, parents are told that it's very common for the child will have a negative reaction to being vaccinated. If the immunological challenge posed was 'trivial' compared to the day-to-day challenge, why would anything be mentioned to parents? Clearly, the odds of having a bad immunological response to vaccines on the day they are administered is far greater than having a bad immunological response on any one given day in a baby's life. Does he mean that vaccines can't result in something terrible happening, whereas day-to-day life can? If so, it's a strange way of making the point.

A few minutes later, Mnookin treats us to the "people need a narrative" argument to explain why the memory of parents of autistic children just isn't reliable when they recount what happened to their children after they were vaccinated and then regressed profoundly. The poor parents craft a false narrative not because they're dishonest, but because "that's how the human brain works". [His book is called "The Panic Virus", by the way, so you know where he leans]

On the subject of Kirby: Offit tries to subtly badjacket him, mentioning him in association with 19th century anti-smallpox-vaccine-ers, creating the impression that he's a 21st century version. Nice move. He then goes on to say that if someone really knew about vaccines, he'd get every one, which is pretty close to Kirby's position as I understand it.

Mnookin then shows more sloppiness, suggesting that Kirby's view is that because Park Slope parents (who are well educated) distrust vaccines, there must be something to their concern. He says Kirby acts as if "there are more issues than there are", about vaccines. Is this an admission that there are some issues with vaccines? I didn't hear Mnookin say what they were.

A few minutes later, though, he can't resist drawing a comparison between the vaccine-autism story and the 'birthers'. The media likes an exciting story, you see. We also get a ridiculous false dilemma from him, that it's either make an exciting one-hour program about Obama perhaps being a Kenyan, or a one-hour show about the boring fact that he was born in America.

His subsequent points about media are interesting and have merit,yet they don't establish his broader claims IMO.

In the last few minutes, a caller makes an interesting point about trust, which Mnookin just isn't equal to. The caller makes the point that many families come to the vaccination schedule fresh from the poor care they got in hospitals from doctors who, often out of convenience or expediency, choose to do caesarian sections at a rate that is scandalously high. The suggestion that doctors don't care sufficiently for their patients causes the host to leap to the defense of physicians, but the caller doesn't lose his composure, thankfully. Ultimately she grants his point. Listening to Mnookin's response, I have to wonder if he really understands the significance of the feeling people are left with when they go into the buzzsaw that organized medicine can be. Mnookin accepts that the managed care system is problematic, but then breezily states that because obstetricians may hurry along the birthing process, suspicion of those who created the vaccine schedule is hardly warranted. But the point is even if that suspicion isn't warranted, it's understandable that it's there. It's an entirely predictable effect of an impersonal system that prioritizes other goods above patient well-being. If Mnookin is really concerned that people get vaccinated, one would think he would realize that advocates of the vaccination schedule need to deal with that perception, not brush it aside. Mnookin essentially brushes it aside, I thought, but others might disagree.

In all, it was an underwhelming performance by the two experts. I'd like to hear what others take away from it.

[Plutonia]

Bah! For those of you having the same difficulty as me sitting through that video, here's the transcript:

HOUSE CALL WITH DR. SANJAY GUPTA

Unraveling the Mystery of Autism; Talking With the CDC Director; Stories of Children with Autism; Aging with Autism

Aired March 29, 2008 - 08:30 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SANJAY GUPTA, CNN HOST: Good morning and welcome to a special edition of HOUSE CALL, "Unraveling the Mystery of Autism."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think I've let myself think too far ahead into the future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He started kind of slipping away from us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The doctors keep on saying that boys develop slower than girls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The early intensive behavioral intervention is the best way to deal with autism.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think you're dealing with something that's going to come and go. And then you get your child back. And then you don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to become an expert on education because you are the advocate for your child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you know something is wrong, something is wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Rates of autism are jumping, an alarming 10 to 17 percent every year. The numbers can be overwhelming, but today, our goal is to investigate, empower, and educate, giving real answers to the thousands of questions surrounding this medical mystery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THERESA CEDILLO, MOTHER OF DAUGHTER WITH AUTISM: Hi, Michele. I see you.

GUPTA (voice-over): Watching old videos, Theresa Cedillo sees the child her daughter Michele could have been, happy, engaged, playful. Michele's childhood has turned out very different. She's autistic. Now 13, she can't walk without help. She gets her nourishment from a feeding tube. And she needs constant monitoring for seizures.

CEDILLO: You think you're dealing with something that is going to come and go. And then you get your child back. And then you don't. And you just have a very sick child.

GUPTA: Teresa and Mike Cedillo blame vaccines for causing their daughter's autism. And they've sued the federal government through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The Cedillo's case is more than 4900 claiming a vaccine autism link. They're being considered together in a so-called vaccine court, part of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Last year, Michele Cedillo's claim was chosen as the first of nine test cases to determine whether the vaccines could plausibly trigger autism. More testimony is scheduled this year.

CEDILLO: She was a normal and healthy developing child.

GUPTA: The Cedillos say their daughter was sickened by a combination of the measles, mumps, and rubella or MMR vaccine, and the mercury containing preservative thimerasol, which was in childhood vaccines at the time. As a precaution, thimerasol has since been removed from all childhood vaccines and only remains in some flu shots.

While the court considers the vaccine autism case, the medical establishment has already passed judgment. More than a dozen large studies finding no vaccine-autism link.

PAUL OFFIT, DR., CHILDREN'S HOSP. OF PHILADELPHIA: It's been asked and answered. Vaccines don't cause autism. I mean, about 20 percent of children with autism will regress between often the first and second birthdays. So statistically, it has to happen where some children will get a vaccine. They will have been fine. They get the vaccine. Then they're not fine anymore.

GUPTA: Theresa and Mike Cedillo hope the vaccine court will decide vaccines can cause autism and award them enough money so Michele can be well taken care of when they're gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And one of those 4,900 cases was the case of nine-year- old Hannah Polling, which has been making a lot of news lately. Luckily, we have the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Julie Gerberding here.

We're talking a lot about autism, as you know. I should remind people that the -- my understanding is the federal government conceded that vaccines caused her autism like symptoms. First of all, is there a difference? I mean, does she have autism or autism like symptoms? What's the difference?

JULIE GERBERDING, DR., CDC DIRECTOR: Well, you know, I don't have all the facts because I still haven't been able to review the case files myself. But my understanding is that the child has a -- what we think is a rare mitochondrial disorder. And children that have this disease, anything that stresses them creates a situation where their cells just can't make enough energy to keep their brains functioning normally. Now, we all know that vaccines can occasionally cause fevers in kids. So if a child was immunized, got a fever, had other complications from the vaccines. And if you're predisposed with the mitochondrial disorder, it can certainly set off some damage. Some of the symptoms can be symptoms that have characteristics of autism.

GUPTA: Yes, I have a two-and-a-half-year-old and a one-year-old as you know. And you know, you know, you think about this all the time. Are we ready to say right now as things stand that childhood vaccines do not cause autism?

GERBERDING: What we can say absolutely for sure is that we don't really understand the causes of autism. We've got a long way to go before we get to the bottom of this. But there have been at least 15 very good scientific studies on the Institute of Medicine who have searched this out. And they have concluded that there really is no association between vaccines and autism.

GUPTA: Are you comfortable everything that we know? So you talk about the...

GERBERDING: Well, I'll never be comfortable with everything we know. I mean, I think we have to have an open mind about this. We know that there's very little chance that it's something related to a vaccine that's going to cause a serious problem for a child. We also know how life saving vaccines really are.

GUPTA: Yes.

GERBERDING: You know, something like 33,000 children a year are saved from death associated with the vaccines...

GUPTA: Right.

GERBERDING: ...because of our immunization program. That's a huge benefit.

GUPTA: Yes.

GERBERDING: One of the things that concerns me is while the attention is focused on vaccines, in a sense, it means people are not looking for other causes. I mean, we've got to keep reminding ourselves that the vaccine story has been one that's been debated for many, many years now. We keep looking and looking and looking. And we really cannot turn up any information.

GUPTA: How do you -- how does the -- should the government be doing more to try and address this controversy, especially in the minds of, you know, so many people out there who worry about this and live with this, as you say, every day?

GERBERDING: Well, one thing that I remember is that the government is actually composed of moms and dads. And there are a lot of moms and dads at CDC who look at this the same way. Many of the people in our immunization program are parents of young children. So they understand the dilemma that a parent feels. But it's kind of our job to do the science to help clarify and separate concern from scientific fact. Autism is a huge challenge. And it is much more common than I think anyone realized. And we aren't doing enough. And we need to do more.

GUPTA: Yes.

GERBERDING: We need answers not only to the cause, but we need answers for treatment and for management. And certainly on autism awareness day, we need to understand how we can detect this disease early so that intervention can start soon enough to really help these children.

GUPTA: Our viewers have a lot of questions. I'm so delighted you were here to help answer some of them.

GERBERDING: Thank you.

GUPTA: We're going to stay on this. And we hope you'll join us again.

GERBERDING: Appreciate that. We're staying on it, too.

GUPTA: Thanks so much, Dr. Gerberding.

GERBERDING: Thank you.

GUPTA: Appreciate it.

Become a part of researching the cause and treatments of autism. Log on to the Interactive Autism Network at ianproject.org. Families share what works for them. And researchers hope the information will help find effective treatment options. CNN is covering autism on a global scale. Beyond the sound bites, you're going to find interviews, expert blogs, and stories of hope at cnn.com/autism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was almost as if a switch, somebody came to our house and turned the switch off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Parents know when something doesn't seem right. Just ahead, signs you can look for in your child. And later, we really want to help you navigate the frustrating red tape so you can get what your family needs. We'll bring in the experts to connect you with the latest information. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know how special the word "mama" is? When I waited over four years to hear it for the first time from my child, it made me cry. I am a mother of twin boys who just happen to have autism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: We're back with this very special HOUSE CALL, "Autism, Unraveling the Mystery." You know, what I found in my reporting on autism is that early diagnosis is critical. More and more of the latest research shows real progress is possible with early intervention. And the key to that is knowing when to seek help.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband and I both, we felt something was not right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We knew what the stereotypes of autism. Dustin Hoffman character in "Rain Man."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were so many milestones that other children hit that he just did not hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought that maybe he had a speech delay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No matter how many times I changed the symptoms around or left one or two off, it kept coming back, autism.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the area of social communication, these are children who don't establish eye contact. They don't share common enjoyment. They don't offer comfort. They don't have the skills to approach a person, say hello, start a conversation, or interact in a game in an appropriate way.

JUDITH STEUBER, TWO SONS HAVE AUTISM: He was just finishing kindergarten when he started talking, which is not what other kids do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Children with autism don't necessarily develop expressive language skills. Many times, children who do have verbal expression make up their own words, don't use pronouns appropriately, and have difficulty really understanding some of the common conversational language that we use in our society.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He kept washing his hands, he was flipping the light switch on and off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are kids who become obsessed with the garbage truck, ceiling fans, stop signs, flag poles, sewer covers, very strange things. Other children, they have interests in lining things up, or playing with just very specific parts of toys, spinning wheels on a car, or opening and closing doors, or switching lights on and off, or running from one room to the next. So the activity that they engage is in is sort of a meaningless activity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You would have horrible, horrible tantrums, an inability to calm down from those. Everything that we did, it affected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any time a behavior results in a tantrum or in crying or in re-establishes the routine of the families, any time that child's behavior is really running the family, now that certainly is a great red flag that something's wrong.

Early intervention can really circumvent the development of those behaviors. And certainly, early intervention can assist in minimizing those behaviors if the behaviors emerge.

JEFF CHIUSANO, FATHER OF SON WITH AUTISM: It's remarkable how far he's come along. He now has complex speech. He interacts with other kids and wants to. He can recognize social cues. He's funny. He has a personality. It is 180 degrees from where we were.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: And here's another idea. As a doctor, I believe clinical trials are a great way to get cutting edge treatment for your child and help with research. Go to clinicaltrials.gov like we did. Search for autism and you'll find studies recruiting for culation (ph) therapy, acupuncture, various medications and more.

Of course clinical trials are just one piece of the puzzle. Parents must become the best advocates for their autistic child. We have expert advice coming up on navigating the system and finding all the right tools and resources. Plus, an incredible mom and her pediatrician with their advice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUPTA: There is a way you can help cause change. Go to cnn.com/impact. Impact your world by donating to groups researching the causes and treatments of autism.

Now we've talked about signs to look for, but what's next? What should you do when you know something's wrong? Experts we talked to agree your next steps are very critical. And in this week's "Empowered Patient," Elizabeth Cohen has some practical steps for parents to ensure children get the help they need.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In many ways, Justin Kinninger is your typical seven-year-old. He loves math, pizza, and Pokemon.

CHILDREN: I pledge allegiance to the flag.

COHEN: But from the very beginning, Justin's mom Shannon says something wasn't right.

SHANNON KINNINGER, MOTHER: When he was supposed to be sitting up, he wasn't sitting up. When he was supposed to be holding his head up, he wasn't holding his head up. When he was supposed to be rolling over, he wasn't rolling over.

COHEN: But when Shannon took Justin to the pediatrician...

KINNINGER: The doctor kept on saying that boys develop slower than girls. I was very frustrated.

COHEN: Finally when Justin was four, Kinninger found a specialist, a developmental pediatrician, who knew immediately what was wrong.

KINNINGER: He's autistic. And I'm thinking finally we got a diagnosis.

COHEN: From getting a diagnosis to getting the right schooling, parents of children with autism have to be tenacious, even relentless sometimes to get their children what they're entitled to. First, getting a diagnosis is crucial. If your doctor isn't listening to you, be persistent. The Kinningers lost valuable years. The earlier your child gets help, the better.

STEUBER: Don't wait -- don't just wait for him to grow out of it. In order to get some services you have to have a diagnosis.

COHEN: The problem, your doctor may not notice your child's behavior during a short office visit. So you might need to videotape your child at home. Also, a letter from a daycare provider or a preschool teacher discussing your child's behavior might help. The diagnosis is just the beginning. Parents need to push for services in school.

STEUBER: You have to become an expert on education because you are the advocate for your child.

COHEN: In the end, says both Kinninger and Steuber, it's always good to go with your gut.

STEUBER: You really do have to trust yourself.

KINNINGER: You are the best advocate for a child.

COHEN: With this week's "Empowered Patient," I'm Elizabeth Cohen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: We have been stressing early intervention. And parents can log on to nichy.org/states to learn how to apply for services in your community. You can also click onto cnn.com/empowered patient. You'll see Elizabeth's column there, which includes tips ranging from ways to finding support, to knowing your kid's rights at school.

Now staying fit is tough for anyone, but when sounds and sensations are overwhelming, imagine the challenge. We're going to have some great tips you won't want to miss.

And up next, beyond the childhood years, aging with autism. There's some hope for families. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even with all of the stress factors associated with raising a child with autism, I would never want Cameron to be anything than what he is. He has shown me what unconditional love means, what, true happiness is. And he has taught me more about life than life itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Ten years ago, only a handful of scientists were investigating autism. Now they number more than 1,000. Unraveling the mystery is an ongoing struggle for parents. They not only worry about caring for their children today, but worry about what the future holds. So here is a story of success that will provide some hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): 42-year-old Bob Esposito is on his way to work.

BOB ESPOSITO: Hi, how are you?

GUPTA: Bob works at the College of New Jersey. His day starts off with instructions from his supervisor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I want you to do is, since it's cold out this morning, I want you to go to Fresino.

ESPOSITO: Sounds good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK? Then after lunch, I want you to go out and pick up. OK?

ESPOSITO: Sounds good.

GUPTA: Bob's held this job for more than 15 years. Bob has autism, a developmental disorder that causes substantial difficulties with social interaction and communication and unusual or repetitive behavior in young children. Autism doesn't go away. But with early and intensive therapy, children with autism can learn skills that will allow them to succeed as they grow older.

Bob began receiving intensive behavioral therapy at New Jersey's Princeton Child Development Institute when he was eight-years-old. The institute has students as young as three and as old as 43. Its executive director Greg Macduff has been working with Bob since 1977 when Bob moved into their first group home.

GREGORY MACDUFF, PRINCETON CHILD DEVELOPMENT INST.: Well, not everyone will get to Bob's level where they can choose whether they're going to go out for dinner or go to a movie. But many of these, the students, are choosing what kind of work tasks they're going to do. Some of them are choosing the order of their work. They're choosing what kind of rewards they purchase.

GUPTA: Bob still gets help from therapists who teach him new skills like paying bills on his computer. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's excellent, Bob. That's clicking the selected checks. Good for you.

ESPOSITO: Thanks.

GUPTA: Bob lives a fairly independent life. For the past two years, he has shared an apartment with another person with autism. He makes his own schedule, shops, cleans, does his own laundry, and he loves to cook.

ESPOSITO: I like to cook spaghetti and meatballs.

MACDUFF: I think he enjoys the fact that he pretty much controls his life at this point. He makes the decisions about what he eats, where he goes, how he spends his money.

ESPOSITO: It's great. You know, I'm just enjoying life and everything. So it's pretty cool. It's a pretty cool thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: We're still trying to change the future of autism. For more information on family services, treatments and resources for your child, log onto autism speaks.org.

Coming up, getting kids to play outside and be fit can be a struggle for any parent. But for children with autism, there are different challenges. So just ahead, the perfect workout and why it's so important.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUPTA: Here on HOUSE CALL, our mission is to help everyone live longer and healthier lives. Eating right and being fit can be especially challenging for families in a battle with autism.

Challenge number one, finding the appropriate exercise venue. That's because people with autism often have a very different way of processing the world. And they may tend to avoid social activities, including sports. But experts tell us there may be both physical and cognitive benefits specific to people on the autism spectrum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAYLE MCGEE, DR., EMORY UNIVERSITY: You sort of get two benefits for the price of one in terms of both the physical health, the physical appearance, and I guess that's three benefits in terms of reduction of self stimulatory behaviors. The research that exists shows that if children with autism are doing very vigorous, extremely vigorous exercise of any variety for at least 20 minutes a day, that there's actually a significant decrease in their self stimulatory behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Challenge number two, finding the best types of exercise. Now there are no specific guidelines, but researchers say certain activities may be a better fit.

Consider this. There's often a deep appreciation of rhythm and pattern. So the repetitive movements of walking, swimming, ballet, even martial arts are often recommended. And there are physical fitness programs specifically tailored for people with autism.

You can visit the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability Web site at ncpad.org to find a program near you.

Autism is such an important issue. We must continue to search for answers. Now if you missed any of today's show, be sure to check out my podcast online at cnn.com/podcast. Also, tune in for CNN's special coverage of world autism awareness. That's starts on Monday.

Remember, this is the place for the answers to all of your medical questions. Thanks for watching. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Stay tuned now for more news on CNN.

It's not particularly compelling evidence from where I'm sitting.

[catbirdsteed]

Not to be drumming up signatures for a manifesto or anything like that, but...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... y-MMR.html

Public want inquiry into MMR

More than three-quarters of the population believe there should be a full public inquiry into the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, according to a recent survey.

Some 76 per cent of the 1,001 people surveyed believe the facts about the controversial MMR jab, which has been blamed for a rise in autism and bowel disease in children, should be made public.

The ICM poll for the News of the World found that the number of parents who believe the jab is safe has fallen since the same question was asked last year.

Asked if they believed MMR was safe, 55 per cent said they did - down 11 per cent since August 2001 - 28 per cent said they were unsure while 17 per cent believed it was dangerous.

Parents' groups advocating the use of single, separate vaccines welcomed the results.

Debbie Ryding, of Desumo Information & Healthcare Ltd, said: "I think most of the parents that come to us would be behind that.

"I certainly think it needs looking at. We have been asking as parents for long enough about these issues."

Mother-of-six Mrs Ryding, from Ledbury, Herefordshire, set up the organisation with Natalie Bowden, who has three children and lives in Swansea, to raise awareness about choices available in vaccination.

They operate a clinic in Worcester using the services of a Lincolnshire GP, Dr Peter Mansfield, and are setting up centres in Bournemouth and Swansea.

Mrs Ryding said the numbers of parents with concerns about MMR and other childhood vaccinations were growing.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... z1FecVQCxH

Obviously not a rock solid sampling in this case, but it does address the title of the thread fairly concisely.