[NVIC] Recovering From Autism Despite Doctor Denials

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BL Fisher Note:

Many children who became autistic after receiving multiple

mercury-containing vaccines have recovered from severe autism through

chelation therapy and other nutritional and alternative therapy

interventions. Pediatricians and health officials, who have forced mercury

containing vaccines on American children through their misguided policies,

do not want to admit that vaccines can cause autism and that vaccine-induced

autism is reversible. They want to blame the child's " genes " or bad

parenting rather than admit that exposure to toxic substances, including

impure vaccines, can play a significant role in causing brain and immune

system dysfunction leading to autism.

The leadership of the American Academy of Pediatrics is primarily

responsible for misinforming America's pediatricians about the role that

vaccines can play in the development of autism in biologically susceptible

children. As a result, pediatricians do not report regression into autism

after vaccination to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

Nobody knows how many children are losing their health and their lives as a

result of adhering to the AAP vaccine recommendations that have led to most

American pediatricians denying families medical treatment if they question

vaccine safety or want to selectively vaccinate in order to prevent

vaccine-induced autism and other neuroimmune dysfunction.

Our children deserve better treatment from pediatricians and parents of

vaccine injured children deserve to be treated with respect and

understanding as they work to heal their children. The American Academy of

Pediatrics is doing a disservice to its membership by failing to encourage

them to become partners with parents in preventing vaccine damage and, when

it occurs, working with them as partners to repair the damage.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060117/NEWS/60117

0350/-1/NEWS01

The News Journal, DE

01/17/2006

Controversial autism therapy used in Del.

Chelation blamed for Pa. death, but some parents say they have no choice

By HIRAN RATNAYAKE

The News Journal

y Dent refused to get on an elevator two years ago. He'd kick burgers

and drinks off tables at the mall food court. He'd pound his head against

the floor and claw his face with his fingernails.

His parents, Greenwood residents Joe and Dent, couldn't cut his

fingernails, couldn't cut his hair, couldn't understand him, kiss him or

touch him.

y, now 4, was diagnosed with autism when he was 2. In April 2004, his

parents put him on chelation, a treatment that removes heavy metals from the

bloodstream, usually through urine or stool. The Food & Drug Administration

considers chelation a risky treatment for autism, but the Dents say it has

vastly improved y's and the family's lives. y, who hasn't used the

treatment since September, also was given other remedies.

But Dent said " chelation was the key. "

" One month after chelation, there were noticeable differences, " she said.

" He started allowing us to get his hair cut and his nails clipped. The

speech came back. The first birthday he recognized was that year he started

chelation. "

Because of chelation's success, Dent said her son now wouldn't meet the

criteria to be considered autistic.

She resents being called a desperate parent, a phrase that has been used to

describe adults who use chelation to treat their autistic children.

It's a disease many parents believe is caused by a high amount of heavy

metals in the body.

While the FDA has approved chelation for treatment of lead and heavy metal

poisoning, the agency has not approved it to treat autism because it is

considered risky and ineffective. A coroner from the Pittsburgh area

recently ruled that the Aug. 23 death of a 5-year-old autistic boy was the

result of intravenous chelation therapy. The boy died from cardiac arrest.

Newark resident Beverly Greene gives her 9-year-old son, Wesley, chelation

transdermally, or through the skin. Insurance doesn't cover his treatments.

She pays $172 per bottle of the liquid cream, which lasts two months and is

applied to Wesley's forearm.

The first thing Greene noticed once Wesley started chelation was a drop in

the frequency of his seizures.

" It's not controversial, " she said. " Just because someone doesn't understand

something doesn't mean it's controversial. "

Finding the problem's source

Autism is a term used to refer to a group of neurologically-based

developmental disorders in which individuals have trouble with social

skills. People who have autism have a penchant for repetitive behaviors and

interests. Typically diagnosed during toddler years, autism occurs in all

races.

Some people believe the disease is caused by vaccines preserved with

thimerosal, which contains mercury.

In chelation, a synthetic solution known as EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic

acid) is introduced into the bloodstream to remove heavy metals such as

copper, lead and mercury. The treatment is typically administered

intravenously, orally, rectally or transdermally.

In 1999, the FDA -- despite finding no harm from thimerosal -- requested

that it be reduced or eliminated from vaccines as a precautionary measure.

On its Web site, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that

none of the vaccines used in the United States to protect preschool children

against infectious diseases contains thimerosal, though it warns some flu

vaccines do.

But Bernard Rimland, director of the Autism Research Institute, said

thimerosal is still in some vaccines and can be linked to autism.

The institute, headquartered in San Diego, supports the work of Defeat

Autism Now doctors, many of whom prescribe chelation treatments. Both y

Dent and Wesley Greene were seen by DAN doctors.

" Among knowledgeable people, chelation is not controversial, " said Rimland,

who is also a research psychologist. " Ignorant people have great hostility

to it. One child died while undergoing chelation treatment, but he's the

only death that has been reported for 50 years. "

Rimland said a highly organized effort by the drug industry has prevented

the FDA from recognizing that mercury in vaccines has led to autism.

" If they recognized it, Congress would ask them why they used it without

safety testing, " he said.

Phone calls to the FDA for this story were not returned.

Risky treatment

Dr. Sandler, medical director of Olson Huff Center at the Mission

Children's Hospital in Asheville, N.C., called Rimland's accusation

" nonsense. "

" Any researcher can develop a research protocol and get that study funded

without having to do it through a drug company, " he said. " The reason that

the FDA hasn't approved [chelation] is because there is absolutely no

published peer-reviewed research that shows chelation therapy has any role

to play in autism. "

Sandler co-authored an American Academy of Pediatrics article that said

chelation is neither safe nor effective as an autism treatment. He said

children could die from either a severe allergic reaction or severe liver

damage stemming from chelation.

He pointed to a 2004 panel by the Institute of Medicine, a federal

scientific advisory agency under the National Academy of Sciences, that

reviewed several reports on the issue and rejected the idea that vaccines

containing thimerosal caused autism. Parents who have seen dramatic changes

in their children after chelation treatment may have fallen under the spell

of the placebo effect, Sandler said.

" When a parent starts something new, they want to know if it's helping and

they start engaging their children more, " he said. " That change in parent

behavior can lead to improvements. "

The debate has not swayed Greene, who plans to continue using chelation on

her son.

" I have no choice, " she said. " Autism has robbed Wesley of his childhood,

and I want to see him get it back. "

Contact Hiran Ratnayake at 324-2547 or hratnayake@....

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