Autism rate in Calif. increases

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Autism cases in California continued to climb after a mercury-rich vaccine preservative that some people blame for the neurological disorder was removed from routine childhood shots, a new study found.
more stories like this

Researchers from the state Department of Public Health found the autism rate in children rose continuously during the 12-year study period from 1995 to 2007. The preservative thimerosal has not been used in childhood vaccines since 2001, but is used in some flu shots.

Doctors say the latest study adds to evidence refuting a link between thimerosal exposure and autism risk and should reassure parents that the disorder is not caused by vaccinations. If there was a risk, they said, autism rates should have dropped between 2004 and 2007.

The findings show "no evidence of mercury poisoning in autism" because there was no decline in autism rates even after the elimination of thimerosal, said Dr. Eric Fombonne, an autism researcher at Montreal Children's Hospital, who had no role in the research.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/08/autism_rate_in_calif_increases/

[LostinVA]

1. OOOOOOOOO

:popcorn:

[Mojorabbit]

2. Really if this is true

and it is not the mercury then I hope they find out soon what is causing it. There are so many pesticides and contaminants in everything these days that it will be like sifting through a haystack and it is the children who pay.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Perhaps the rates of autism are not actually increasing, but

more children are being diagnosed simply because there is more screening for the disorder and better trained doctors.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I've wondered about this myself. According to PSA's I hear on

tv the incidence of autism is 1 in 160. That just seems terribly high to me. I have also heard some discussion that they have broadened the definition of autism to include certain disorders that were previously called something else, but I don't have that info available right now. Could this account for part of the increase?

[Warpy]

9. They used to label the kids either retarded or socially maladjusted

instead of being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

We may eventually go back to "socially maladjusted" when we have more specific genetic testing that can be done to distinguish an autism kid from a merely goofy kid who acts out a lot and has few friends.

[BadgerKid]

6. And: there are simply more kids. n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. The article said that the RATE was increasing

That means that the percentage of the population, not just the total number, has decreased.

[BadgerKid]

42. Yes...percentages increasing

Now that I read the article (shame on me for not reading it in the first place), the total population of kids is really irrelevant. The article seems to say that the percentage of occurence is increasing among all age brackets studied (whatever the other ones were) despite the discontinuation of thimerosal.

Thanks for keeping me on task :hi:

[EFerrari]

21. Is there more screening? Are there better trained doctors?

:shrug:

This is only anecdotal, I know, but I know more than several families with no history, formal or informal, who are now dealing with this.

We are going to find out that this is environmental.

[tigereye]

24. yes, there is much more training and better screening tools

so far there isn't any proof that I have read (and there is so much I might have missed more recent research) that the main cause is environmental.

The disorders are highly complex and there are multiple factors; although the big focus seems to be on genetic factors...

[EFerrari]

26. My thing is, tech is vastly under delivered.

So, the ratio of available tools to actual implementation is a problem -- at least, it has been in every community I've lived in.

[defendandprotect]

32. Yeah . . . and maybe the rate of cancers isn't actually increasing . . .

but we're just screening better --- LOL

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. i think more people are being diagnosed autistic since now there is a standard of diagnoses.

i have always doubted that it had to do with vaccines.

[havocmom]

8. I always wonder about all the electomagnetic fields modern life creates

and how that might affect nervous system of the small and even the unborn.

[defendandprotect]

33. EXCELLLENT and very serious question . .. !!!!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. is autism the new ADHD?

It seems like something called "aspergers syndrome" is the new catch all for any child pissing off his school teachers or with poor social skills.

A neighbor is fighting their kids school over this - no specialist has seen their son, who seems perfectly normal to everybody else aside from being disinterested in his immature classmates, but the school is adament that he is autistic - they think it is just a funding scam if the school can label enough kids disabled.

[loser_user]

15. Aspergers is real

While I don't doubt there probably over diagnoses going on similair to ADHD it really does happen. My brother was diagnosed with it when he was twelve and from my readings about the condition most of it describes him dead on.

[tigereye]

25. there is no evidence that ADHD is over-diagnosed

omni-present perhaps, there is a high incidence rate.


There are better diagnostic tools for ASD than there used to be.

[panzerfaust]

45. It may, or it may not be, overdiagnosed.

Quick search on PubMed for "ADHD overdiagnosis" turns up 18 articles discussing this.

There is evidence for under, over, and 'just right' diagnosis of the clinically recognized condition.

It is not true that there "is no evidence" ADHD is overdiagnosed.

[tigereye]

46. it is, the American Pediatric Association did a huge study a few years ago

I don't have the link handy....

it's one of the biggest studies.

[heliarc]

18. High Performing Asbergers Students are GREAT Artists

Performing higher than average in Music and Geometry. There are also quite a few College Professors with Asbergers

[EFerrari]

11. There's something going on here.

My family immigrated in the 50s. There was no one on the autism spectrum at that time. Two generations later, a high incidence.

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

13. I blame chemically enhanced food, toxins everywhere

Everything seems to emit "fumes" of something these days.

Back in the "olden days", carpets were wool..floors were wood..food was real..clothes were cotton, linen, wool.. walls were plaster or wallpapered...milk came in glass bottles, meats were wrapped in paper...we ate off china, we drank from glass glasses.. we stored leftovers in glass containers or waxed paper..dairy products were sold in wax-lined cartons..we used soap..not detergents.. we did not walk around with phones plugged into our ears..appliances were metal or wooden, and many were "human-powered"..

In my uneducated mind..I blame "plastics", and the unnatural combinations of chemicals that we all live with.. I'm guessing that the accumulation of all these things just affect some children more than others..and the ones who escape autism, could still later on develop cancers.allergies at later times.. (Did you EVER EVER know anyone growing up who was allergic to "peanut products"? )

[soulcore]

16. Toxins everywhere indeed.

Dallas TX, January 8th 2008, 5:23pm.

*flamesuit on

[EFerrari]

17. No, I didn't. And, I think you're right.

Too much tech introduced too quickly and carelessly. I, btw, grew up in Silicon Valley.

We went from being agri based to being Lockheed based in a matter of a few years. :(

[proud patriot]

22. I'm in agreement with you

I could just kick myself for puttig my son's bottle in the microwave .

[SoCalDem]

23. I'm lucky I was a cheapskate. I used glass bottles & cloth diapers

but i did it becasue i was too cheap to get new ones.. NOW I am really glad I did it..
I also made pajamas for my boys or scrounged up old cotton ones from garage sales. I refused to put those dish-raggy flame-proof ones on them..and we always dressed them in 100% cotton tee shirts & jeans.. and they wore leather or canvas shoes..

They are lucky their mom was cheap :)

[EFerrari]

29. See, this is what I meant about tech.

I had to mind our pennies, too. So, that meant, we bought new tech much more slowly when our boys were very young.

They were, in a way, protected by my spending limit. Okay, and by my basic cheapeness.

lol

[xxqqqzme]

40. I knew ONE kid who couldn't eat

peanut butter....and I remember all the things you list - glass milk bottles - up until I was about 5, I remember the milkman delivering milk, butter, & eggs. And my dad was a butcher @ Kroger's!

[NashVegas]

41. Having Babies Later In Life

Opens vulnerability to DNA breakdown in sperm, supposedly. A year or two, studies were in the news showing that the older the father is, the higher the risk for autism.

"The older the age of the father at the time of birth, the higher the chances of the offspring to have autism," Reichenberg says. "In fathers who were 40 years or older, the risk for autism was almost six times higher than in the offspring of fathers who were younger than 30 years of age."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5768623

I also question if there may be a link w/shifting extremely early to daycare in households with two working parents and what effect that may have on brain / emotional development.

[allthatjazz]

12. Has anyone done a study on the use of ultrasound?

Seems like the rate of autism has gone up with the use of ultrasounds during pregnancy.

[heliarc]

19. Why do you say it seems like?

Please provide a link...

Our doctor performed 2 Ultrasounds, but what was interesting is that he said he doesn't like to "go in for very long" because there weren't any dependable studies into the effects of Ultrasound on babies.

[Blue Diadem]

27. Interesting. Found this article questioning ultrasound and autism link.

This article is lengthy but informative and worth the read:

http://www.midwiferytoday.com/articles/ultrasoundrodgers.asp

snip:

Global Autism Epidemic
Statistics on the increase of autism worldwide among industrialized nations show that it has emerged in just the last few decades across vastly different environments and cultures. What do countries and regions with climates, diets and exposure to known toxins as disparate as the US, Japan, Scandinavia, Australia, India and the UK have in common? No common factor in the water, air, local pesticides, diet or even building materials and clothing can explain the emergence and relentless increase in this serious, life-long neurodevelopmental disorder.

What all industrial countries do have in common is the quiet yet pervasive change in obstetrical care: All of them use routine prenatal ultrasound on pregnant women.

In countries with nationalized healthcare, where virtually all pregnant women are exposed to ultrasound, the autism rates are even higher than in the US, where due to disparities in income and health insurance, some 30 percent of pregnant women do not yet undergo ultrasound scanning.

[defendandprotect]

31. And with it the rate of Caesareans has sky-rocketed ---

Those who have watched the ultrasounds say that the fetus is trying to move away from the
impulse ---

[AngryAmish]

43. The rate has also gone up since Skylab fell

Has anyone done a study on that?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. What about plastic nursing bottles or soy-based formulas?

What if it's air pollution?

It could be any number of things.

Honestly, you can't know unless you do a longitudinal study of a large sample of autistic children and trace back every factor of their life experience and what their mother did and ingested during pregnancy.

I pretty much knew that the mercury connection was bogus, because Japan is experiencing an increase in autism despite not using mercury preservatives in its vaccines.

[heliarc]

20. Yeah...

But There's a lot of mercury tainted fish in the typical Japanese mother's diet.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

37. Not so much anymore

They're pretty good on watching what pregnant women eat and drink.

[defendandprotect]

28. Parents of newborns must be in a panic --- !!!

I can only hope that the medical industry begins to listen to them ---

[SoCalDem]

30. or that the daughters & daughters in law listen to their female elders..

sometimes, the old ways ARE better :)

[defendandprotect]

34. Right --- but it 's hard to buck the system. Know how many young women are

"scheduling" delivery with induced labor for a particular day!!???

[defendandprotect]

35. Especially when so many people have such misguided confidence

in our medical system ---

We rank 37th in the world in heath care --- if we haven't dropped even further recently!!!???

[juno jones]

39. Many doctors will not deviate from their protocols

If you are locked into a particular situation because of insurance or medicare you may be unable to prevent certain proceedures from occuring. It seems to be a combination of CYA from possible lawsuits and good old fashioned sexism- in the form of dismissing all pregnant women as hyper- emotional thus 'hysterical'. It sounds so simple to go the 'natural' route, but if you lack the financial and emotional support and independance to do so, you get sucked into the system.

Been reading an interesting book "Changing the Course of Autism' by Brian Jepson, MD. He thinks that enviromental toxins might be a triggering factor but the real causes may lie deeper. There is also some support in his work for diet changes, etc that may help with management of the disease. A lot of in-depth research on brain chemistry, toxicology etc to back up his claims. Some interesting numbers and data if nothing else.

[Diresu]

36. Autism (and other mental illness) is caused by Flu Virus

Technically speaking it is caused by the bodies response to the virus.

Pollution and other environmental factors may play a part. Genes certainly play a role in susceptability. But generally speaking most mental illness is triggered by exposure to various pathogens (germs/viruses).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071016090135.htm

I could go on at length but I'll spare you guys.

This is an old article but it sums up the direction most credible research is now heading.
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19990701-000031.htm

Darwin was right again. If something is going wrong it's the environment stupid!

[Bearware]

38. Maybe the Hygiene Hypothesis is to right...

Autoimmune disease may be increasing because we are living too clean. In the first world most people don't have parasites and everybody is wearing sunscreen all the time. They have begun seeing Rickets in a number of places where it has not been for 70+ years.:wtf: Rickets is not merely a sign of vitamin D deficiency but rather an sign of extreme deficiency.

Lots of Autism is probably at least partially autoimmune. Guess what is happening to the rate of autoimmune diseases - significantly increasing.

Before we worry to much about new things causing autoimmune disease, maybe we should look at what we evolved with more than 100k+ years ago that we have eliminated.

Just a thought...

[panzerfaust]

44. The sad fact: No one KNOWS the cause(s) of autism

Not even the Evil, Rich, Doctors know (just as they do not know "The Cause" of cancer).

Vast harm is done by witch-hunts started by people like Wakefield, who have Found The Truth.

My own bet is on psychological effects from their being too damn many humans living in totally artificial environments, or, perhaps, from water supplies contaminated by biologically active drugs and hormones (or their metabolites). To study this, one would have to look at autism incidence in megalopoli, cities, towns, rural, other countries etc, etc. With all of the confounding factors, expect it would take a very large and long study: Thus likely being prohibitively expensive to actually do.

To keep things in perspective, many more people will suffer ill effects and die from the results of smoking, excessive drinking, injection drug use, and obesity than will ever suffer from autism. Oddly, knowing the cause of these ills does not seem to help.