I think you're being a little too harsh on Jenny here. Vaccines in general aren't even brought up until half way through the article. And with that, she consistently mentions that she doesn't think vaccines are the sole cause or that they should be abandoned. It's not a caveat, it's a clear explanation of her position, one which, mind you, argues for a alternative vaccination schedule, not an elimination of vaccination. As for trusting Jenny over a doctor...well, of course a doctor, in general, is more qualified to discuss the disease and it's causes. But let's not completely discount first hand knowledge, which Jenny clearly has. And which thousands of other parents also have. It's not all parents, but a good portion of parents with autistic kids definitely DO question the vaccination issue. Could they all be wrong? Of course, but I personally don't think that judgement can be made yet. And as you pointed out, the key issue here is the recovery. And heck, why hasn't there been more press on it? I have never heard of recovery from autism at all, while apparently it is something that has happened on more than one occasion.
When can such a judgment be made? Do a survey of mothers, and you might well find a majority of them who find a link between their kids not wearing a hat in cold weather and getting colds. Science says colds aren't caused by cold weather. So do we discount the first-hand experience of mothers (because of lot of hatless kids do end up getting colds in the wintertime), or do we trust the science? Or do we say that such a judgment just can't be made yet? I don't know. I've seen quite a bit of press on it, even so far as to see something of a backlash (because autism is a spectrum of disorders and people can have varying degrees of severity, there are many whose children are much more severely autistic who see stories of less-severe cases having seemingly dramatic turnarounds and giving them false hope of progress for their own children). But my wife is a special education teacher, so she points those sorts of stories out to me a lot.
I’ve tried my best not to get stated on this issue but, my wife is a doctor of child psychology and every time she listens to Jenny McCarthy spew her crazy rhetoric she gets really pissed with all this misinformation.. McCarthy believes in a nutshell that autism is a direct result biomedical factors that can be caused by food, medicine and vaccines while the mainstream medical community believes the cause is a combination of many factors that need to be addressed individually depending on where the child fails within the Autism spectrum .. The biggest problem my wife has with Jenny McCarthy is that she is proponent of these morons called “DAN! Doctors”, most are just average Joes with little to no medical experience and are trying these dangerous untested techniques on young children.. To become a “DAN! Doctor” all you need is to do is complete an eight hour class, then you’re certified by the organization to practice some of the craziest training you would ever imagine.. Just look up “Roy Kerry” and see for yourself what he did to a little boy using these treatments.. IMO most of these DAN! doctor people are in it for a quick money grab before the window closes.. Other parents are led astray in taking there children to weekly blood cleanings similar to a dialysis machine to get treatment in the hopes of curing their child.. The list of off the wall procedures with little to no research behind them that are being used to “cure” autistic children is unbelievable and the idea that parents cant exercise better judgment for their own kids treatment is very alarming..
Davidoff, I would have your wife read the article I posted.......it is by a physician. I think Autism may have many causes, and if something works, why are we NOT exploring it? Jenny McCarthy has a child that had autism, purged their system and the kid recovered....shoudn't that be grounds for major research? I would try anything if my child was diagnosed with Austism...ANYTHING.... Basso, have you tried the detxification programs? Read that article I posted, it is fascinating. DD
I watched a special on Autism a while ago. Their contention is that the increase in autism is not an actual increase in children with autism, it is just an increase in children DIAGNOSED with autism. The standards for diagnosing autism has changed pretty drastically in the last decades or so, so more and more children are falling into the diagnoses range. Also, children that in the 50s-80s that would have been diagnosed as "slow", or with "learning disabilities" are now being diagnosed with autism. It isn't so much as more kids with autism as it is with more kids falling under the definition of autism. I have read countless studies that have shown NO connection between vaccines and autism, and the much bigger risk of some of these diseases which we vaccinate against greatly outweighs even the percieved risk of autism from vaccines. Non vaccination is not only a risk to the child who did not get vaccinated, but its a risk to everyone as some of these diseases that are basically eradicated inside the US are starting to creep back in, so the risks increase again to the next generation, as well as increased risk in mutation of diseases to non-vaccinated forms. I just hope some group of lawyers and celebrities don't bring down established medical vaccinations that save lives because of a percieved risk. I hope vaccines don't go the way of DDT.
Quoted for truth. There is no evidence of a link between vaccines and autism. NONE. Not getting your children vaccinated is tantamount to refusing them treatment.
Maybe not, but there is an apparent link between Autism and too much metal in your system, like Mercury. DD
No argument. I'd wager (as i did previously in this thread) that it is not just metals either. FWIW, I studied this in grad school. The world is a poisoned place. EDIT: Sad little link relevant to heavy metal poisoning and the complete lack of PROOF that it has anything to do with autism: http://www.casewatch.org/board/med/kerry/complaint.shtml
Perhaps, but I read a great article about it in a doctors office.......and it was by a physician.... I can't remember if the article is the same as the link, it has been awhile, but still....why not give it a go? I think the premiss was that areas of their brains were poisoned by toxic metals, they were ultra sensitive to those metals, and when they were removed, their brains could function as normal. DD
how about when we find out what causes autism? The very first sentence of the very first link when you google "What Causes Autism" is from the Autism Society of America and notes: There is no known single cause for autism. Moreover, while there is not direct link between cold weather and getting a cold, there is definitely an indirect link...being that cold weather causes closer contact which tends to increase transfer rates of viruses, etc. that lead to the spread of colds. If we still didn't know what caused colds, knowing that people tend to get colds more frequently in cold weather would definitely be a good fact to consider. Again, I'm not saying worried parents are experts, or scientists, or anything. But we don't know what causes autism.
When I saw this thread bumped I just assumed the child was r****ded again and that Jenny McCarthy was stupid herself.
DaDa, you have to be very careful about trusting the legitimacy of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) sources. Pharmacists, physicians and surgeons are required to by law to abide by strict guidelines for administrating health care. CAM is not under the same scrutiny, and that is why you have people making wild allegations about the effects of detoxing, chiropractors, and even acupuncture. If, for example, EDTA treatments that were outlined in the paper were effective treatments for autism, a carefully performed case study would demonstrate its viability as a treatment option. EDTA has important uses in medicine, but that does not mean it can be used because commoners ideas say so. But sometimes disinformation becomes confused for fact, and we see from http://www.casewatch.org/board/med/kerry/complaint.shtml (Quack Watch) that a young boy died at the hands of Dr. Kerry because the doctor chose to ignore the lack of evidence supporting autism is caused by heavy metal intoxication. Medical experts are just that, experts. They have spent their entire careers trying to further understand the science of medicine both through lab and clinical research. Scientific medicine should be the only option, because if one accredited person says something that is false, the community will immediately test the validity of the statement and it will end without harming the patients. The alternative, a growing trend these days, is that you have alternative medicine profiting on the ignorance of common man, or god-forbid, CAM practitioners actually decrease the well-being of the common man. These people were snake-oil salesmen 100 years ago, today they are just putting needles in your body or telling you to reject vaccinations.
Excellent post, Azadre. I'm no doctor. I'm just a parent. But even my simple little brain tells me to trust those that didn't get their degree from a storefront in a strip mall. My son's doctor tells me that the likelihood of negative effects from vaccinations are minuscule when compared to the benefits of not getting measles, chicken pox. influenza, etc., etc., etc. I'm going to go with her opinion...
