SchaferAutismReport: Ontario's $2.4M Court Battle With Parents of Autistic Kids

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SAR "Healing Autism:Schafer Autism Report No Finer a Cause on the Planet"________________________________________________________________Tuesday, July 17, 2007 Vol. 11 No. 103>> PROMOTE YOUR EVENTS NOW - FREE <<Conferences * Presentations * Parent MeetingsDEADLINE FOR AUGUST AUTISM CALENDAR ISJuly 25Submit listing here: http://www.sarnet.org/frm/cal-frm.htmCHECK OUT CALENDAR: http://www.sarnet.org/events/EDUCATION* Ontario's $2.4M Court Battle With Parents of Autistic Kids* Lynchburg College Offers Tuition AssistancePUBLIC HEALTH* Austin Autism Researcher Is Investigated * Vaccines and Brain Disorders* Methylmercury DetoxCARE* Autistic Boy Dies After Slipping Into Canal* California's Liability Waiver Law Refined By

RulingEVENTS* US Autism & Asperger Association & Autism Society of America BoulderCounty To Host USAAA 2007 International ConferenceCOMMENTARY* It's Like This... Autism And Vaccines* Vaccines Vital For Protecting ChildrenEDUCATIONOntario's $2.4M Court Battle With Parents of Autistic KidsCanadian Press. http://tinyurl.com/2v5k2uToronto — The provincial government says it spent $2.4-million in itscourt battle with the parents of autistic children.Attorney General says the total covers more than sevenyears of legal fees, dating back to when the lawsuit was first launched in1999.A group of parents sued the government over its refusal to fundintensive behavioural intervention therapy for autistic children older thansix.The government had previously revealed that it spent almost $620,000on trial transcripts and other costs.But the Superior Court of

Justice then ordered the government todisclose how much it spent on lawyers.Mr. says government lawyers were used for the case, and almost$1.8-million of their salaries went toward defending against the lawsuit.New Democrat Martel had filed a request under the province'sFreedom of Information law to find out the cost of the province's legalbills but the government twice fought that disclosure.Ms. Martel had argued the legal costs were a matter of publicinterest, because they would reveal how much money the government wasted onlawyers rather than providing treatment for children.Crown lawyers had argued the government's legal bills were covered bysolicitor-client privilege and shouldn't be disclosed.They told the court that disclosing the fees would set a precedentthat would apply to all lawyers and their clients across the province.-- > DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW <

--SUBSCRIBE. . . !. . .Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.To Subscribe http://www.SARnet.org/ $35 for 1 year - 200 issues, or No Cost Review Sub.• • •Lynchburg College Offers Tuition AssistanceBy Christa Desrets http://tinyurl.com/2fzbtfLynchburg College is offering a financial support program that paysall but $200 in tuition costs for students in the advanced study of specialeducation, the school announced Monday.The collaborative program with the Virginia Department of Educationwill assist students enrolled in special education licensure coursework.Partial scholarships also are available for teachers and prospectiveteachers enrolled in Lynchburg College’s master of education program inspecial education. Graduate assistantships also will be offered forfull-time students.Lynchburg College offers a comprehensive graduate program in specialeducation with numerous

options including learning disabilities, emotionaland behavioral disorders, mental retardation, early childhood specialeducation and autism spectrum disorders.For information and an application, contact the Graduate StudiesOffice at or ext. 8464, or log on towww.lynchburg.edu.• • •PUBLIC HEALTHAustin Autism Researcher Is Investigated Man behind discredited study on autism and vaccines now runs Austin centerfor autistic children.Associated Press. http://tinyurl.com/236cw3 Listen to reporthttp://c2l.newsworthyaudio.com/Partners/COXNewspapers/C2lPlayer.aspx?London — The Austin doctor behind a controversial study linking acommon children's vaccine to the developmental disorder autism on Mondaywent before an investigative panel looking into misconduct allegations,including whether he took blood samples from children at a birthday party.Britain's General

Medical Council is examining claims that Dr. Wakefield failed to disclose his links to autism litigators and conductedthe study without proper ethical approval. Wakefield denies any misconduct.Wakefield came to Austin several years ago and in 2005 started ThoughtfulHouse, a nonprofit organization that provides treatment and education andperforms research on children with autism. It has seen 1,700 children fromaround the world, said Anissa Ryland, director of operations.As executive director, Wakefield does strictly research andadministrative work, she said. He does not have a license to practicemedicine in the U.S.Wakefield's study, done while he was a doctor in Britain, suggestedthat the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which is administered throughout theworld, could put children at risk of autism or bowel disease. The finding,published in The Lancet medical journal in 1998, and the subsequent mediacoverage led

many parents to refuse to vaccinate their children.But the study was soon discredited, and 10 of its 13 authors haverenounced its conclusions. The Lancet also said it should not have publishedthe study, saying Wakefield's link to litigation against the manufacturersof the vaccine was a "fatal conflict of interest.”Numerous studies have concluded that there is no link between thevaccine and autism or bowel disease."It is one of the safest, best-studied vaccines," said Dr. PhilipMinor, head of virology at Britain's National Institutes of BiologicalStandards and Control. Doctors warn that the controversy has led manyparents to underestimate the dangers of the diseases.Wakefield stands accused of performing operations on children —including colonoscopies and lumbar punctures — that were arguablyunnecessary, of coordinating his research with lawyers for autism patientsand of taking blood from a group of children at his

son's birthday party,paying them 5 pounds each for their contributions and later joking about it.Ryland said doctors who collaborate with Thoughtful House don't dolumbar punctures, which involve drawing fluid from the spinal column, butthey perform colonoscopies — examinations of the intestinal tract — whennecessary.Meaghan McGovern, a Cedar Park parent of an autistic child, said thatthe diet changes the Thoughtful House staff recommended had an immediateeffect."My son has completely recovered from all autism symptoms," McGovernsaid.Ken Reibel, a blogger and activist in Milwaukee who has a 12-year-oldson with autism, said Wakefield's theory that autism may be linked tointestinal disorders has been discredited."There is a lot of quackery out there, and they're preying on parentsand hurting kids," Reibel said. "Wakefield is the worst of the worst.”Ryland said Thoughtful House has not received any complaints

aboutWakefield's work.• • •Vaccines and Brain DisordersBy Arnold Glueck & J. Cihak, The Medicine Menhttp://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/7/16/103017.shtmlThe U.S. autism rate is 1 in 150 children, according to the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention.Is there a link between childhood vaccines and autism? The pendulumkeeps swinging in opposite directions as this skin wrenching emotional andscientific national debate continues.In the meantime, we continue to play risky "cocktail" roulette withthe health of our children.Generation Rescue commissioned SurveyUSA, an independent opinionresearch team, to interview parents in nine counties in California andOregon.Methodology closely mirrored that used by the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC) to establish the national prevalence forneurological disorders such as "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder,""Attention Deficit Disorder," "Asperger's Syndrome," "Pervasive DevelopmentDisorder," "Not Otherwise Specified," or "Autism."Roll Call, a leading publication for congressional news andinformation, recently drew attention to this survey that showed vaccinatedboys had a 2.5 times higher risk of neurological disorders than unvaccinatedboys, and calling for a national study to explore these disturbing results.Based on interviews of 11,817 households, involving 17,674 childrenaged 4¬17, the data showed: • Vaccinated boys, compared with unvaccinated boys, were 155 percentmore likely to have a neurological disorder (relative risk RR 2.55), 224percent more likely to have ADHD (RR 3.24, and 61 percent more likely tohave autism (RR 1.61).• All vaccinated boys and girls, compared with unvaccinated children,were 120 percent more likely to have asthma (RR 2.20).Comments J.B. Handley of Generation Rescue, "For less

than $200,000,we were able to complete a study that the CDC, with an $8 billion a yearbudget, has been unable or unwilling to do. We think the results of oursurvey lend credibility to the urgent need to do a larger scale study tocompare vaccinated and unvaccinated children for neuro developmentaloutcomes."At a press conference in summer 2005, Dan Olmsted of United PressInternational asked CDC Director Geberding whether the government hasever looked at autism rates in the unvaccinated population.She responded, "In this country, we have very high levels ofvaccination . . . and I think this year we have record immunization levelsamong all of our children, so to (select an unvaccinated group) on apopulation basis that would be representative to look at incidence in thatpopulation compared to the other population would be something that could bedone . . .""Listening to the CDC talk about the reliability of parent

reporting,we thought there's a quick way to get a proxy for whether or not there's anytruth to the hypotheses that vaccines and all these neurological disordersare related," Handley said.His organization believes that mercury, including a type used fordecades in routine childhood immunizations (the preservative thiomerosol) isa major factor in the 10-fold increase in reported autism cases over thepast 20 years.The anxiety that vaccines are linked to the rise of autism and otherneurodevelopmental disorders has been largely dismissed by public healthofficials and mainstream medical groups — especially since a 2004 report bythe respected Institute of Medicine found no such evidence — and suggestedresearch money go to more "promising" areas.Affected parents, some of whom say they watched their children regressinto autism immediately following physical reactions to vaccines, havecontinued to press the issue.Rep.

Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., has re-introduced a bill to compel theNational Institutes of Health to do a study comparing vaccinated andunvaccinated populations (Dan Olmsted, Science Daily 6/26/07)."Generation Rescue's study is impressive and forcefully raises someserious questions about the relationship between vaccines and autism,"Maloney said."What is ultimately needed to resolve this issue one way or the otheris a comprehensive national study of vaccinated and unvaccinated children.The parents behind Generation Rescue only want information. These parentsdeserve more than roadblocks; they deserve answers. We can and should moveforward in search of those answers."EVIDENCE OF HARM DISCUSSION LIST HEATS UPAS VACCINE LINK TO AUTISM QUESTION SPREADS>> PAPERBACK BOOK NOW OUT - CHECK AMAZON.COMAn Evidence of Harm email discussion list hasbeen created in response to the growing interestin

the book and the issues it chronicles. Now over1,850 subscribers. Here is where to subscribe(no cost): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EOHarm/• • •Methylmercury Detox Hg complex provides clues to enzymatic breakdown of toxic compoundSteve Ritter http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i29/8529notw8.htmlBioremediation July 16, 2007 Volume 85, Number 29 p. 10Accumulation of extremely toxic methylmercury in theenvironment—particularly in fish—has triggered an effort by scientists tounravel the process by which a set of bacterial enzymes capture and thendetoxify the compound. In a new development, G. Melnick and GerardParkin of Columbia University report a synthetic mercury complex thatprovides insight into how one of these enzymes catalyzes cleavage of theHg-C bond (Science 2007, 317, 225). The finding is expected to boost effortsto genetically modify plants to sequester HgCH3+ for

environmental cleanup.Mer Mimic Mercury complex emulates the MerB enzyme in binding Hg in asulfur-rich environment and cleaving off a methyl group (R = tert-butyl, Ph= phenyl).In nature, microbes synthesize HgCH3+ from naturally occurring Hg2+,as well as from mercury released in the emissions of coal-fired powerplants. Organomercury compounds are toxic because the metal has a highaffinity for sulfur, in particular the sulfur of thiol (-SH) groups incysteine units of proteins. Once the mercury binds, the normal function ofthe proteins is disrupted.Bacteria resistant to HgCH3+ toxicity produce an enzyme named MerB,which has three cysteine residues in its active site that are known to becrucial for cleaving the Hg-C bond. But the exact way in which MerBcoordinates to HgCH3+ and the "intimate details of the reaction mechanism"have been a mystery, Parkin says. (A second enzyme, MerA, reduces theresulting Hg2+ to less

toxic elemental mercury.)Melnick and Parkin thus set out to decipher the mechanism of action ofMerB. They synthesized bulky alkylmercury complexes by coupling amethylmercury or ethylmercury group to a sulfur-rich imidazolylborateligand. Like MerB, the ligand contains three key sulfur atoms for bindingmercury.From crystal structure data and nuclear magnetic resonance spectralstudies of these complexes, the researchers determined that HgCH3+ orHgCH2CH3+ is bound to one sulfur donor in the solid state via linear S-Hg-Cbonding. But in solution, the complexes exist in rapid equilibrium withanalogs in which the mercury atom binds to two or three ligand sulfur atoms.As a further test, they reacted their complexes with phenylthiol tosimulate a cysteine thiol group in MerB. Introducing phenylthiol into thesystem results in cleavage of the alkyl group.The researchers conclude that the ability of the mercury atom

tocoordinate to multiple sulfur atoms sets up cleavage of the Hg-C bond. Theyenvision that, for MerB, one cysteine is required to coordinate HgCH3+ in alinear fashion, a second cysteine is required to activate the Hg-C bondtoward cleavage, and a third cysteine is required to sever the bond.Melnick and Parkin "provide an elegant atomic-level description forthe facile cleavage of a carbon-mercury bond," notes G. Omichinski ofthe University of Montreal in a Science commentary. Their observationsprovide valuable insight into the basic mechanism of MerB's activity, headds. Considerable work remains to be done, but understanding this mechanism"is essential to efforts to reengineer MerB to improve its catalyticefficiency for the bioremediation of methylmercury," Omichinski writes• • •CAREAutistic Boy Dies After Slipping Into CanalBy Jordan LaPier. The Arizona Republic

http://tinyurl.com/2sn56qA 6-year-old autistic boy died after becoming separated from his daycare group and sliding into a west Phoenix canal Tuesday afternoon.Mike Sandulak of the Phoenix Fire Department said the boy wasunderwater in the canal near Indian School Road and 67th Avenue for about 4minutes.He was taken to vale Hospital with no vital signs, Sandulak said,and died there some time later.An official from the program, Quest Alliance, said the group was madeup of special-needs children. The program works through local organizations,in this case a church.A man at a nearby auto lube store saw the boy slide down theembankment after 3:30 p.m. and jumped in to help pull him out, according toSandulak.Sandulak said the man and police officers performed CPR on the scene,but the boy was apparently unresponsive.• • •California's Liability Waiver Law Refined By Ruling The state Supreme

Court says releases signed by participants or theirparents don't protect recreation providers in cases of gross negligence.By Maura Dolan and Ari B. Bloomekatz, LA Times http://tinyurl.com/2ej779Recreation providers in California may be held liable for grossnegligence regardless of the wording on liability waivers signed byparticipants or their parents, the California Supreme Court ruled 6-1Monday.The state high court decision permits the parents of a developmentallydisabled girl who drowned at a summer camp run by the city of Santa Barbarato sue even though her mother had signed an agreement assuming "fullresponsibility for risk of bodily injury, death or property damage."California's recreation and sports industry had strongly urged thecourt to reject liability, warning that it could be the death knell forcamps, fitness centers, hiking clubs and other providers of physicalactivity.But Chief Justice

M. , who wrote the majority opinion,said there was no evidence that states with even more liberal rights to suehave lost recreational opportunities.The ruling means that despite the wording on waivers parents routinelysign to permit their children to participate in sports and other activities,the providers can be held liable if an accident was caused by gross ratherthan ordinary negligence.Ordinary negligence is the failure to provide care that any reasonableperson would know was required. Gross negligence is defined as "want of evenscant care" or "an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct."Lawyers on opposing sides of the Santa Barbara case agreed thatMonday's ruling makes a major change in the law involving legal releases inCalifornia.Even though people now can sue only for gross negligence, juries tendto assume that any accident that results in a serious injury or death musthave

involved gross negligence, said J. Saltzman, who representedSanta Barbara in the case.+ Read more: http://tinyurl.com/2ej779• • •EVENTSUS Autism & Asperger Association & Autism Society of America Boulder CountyTo Host USAAA 2007 International ConferenceFrom an organization announcement.US Autism & Asperger Association, Inc. holds its annual InternationalAutism and Asperger Conference (http://www.usaaaconference.com) in Denver,Colorado, August 8-11, 2007. Some of the world’s most renowned leadingautism experts will present new interventions and new research in botheducation and medicine. The conference is co-hosted by Autism Society ofBoulder County (ASBC) and will be held at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center -Denver."This is an incredible opportunity for parents/caregivers andprofessionals to attend one of the most comprehensive autism conferences inthe world, explained

L.P. Kaplan, PhD, USAAA Founder and Executive Director.Attendees will receive information that will empower them to help their=== message truncated ===

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