Rick Reuben wrote:Rick Reuben, 1

People Who Lie For Corporate America, 0

Study after study has failed to show any link between vaccines and autism, but many parents of autistic children are convinced that vaccines — usually given around the time autism becomes apparent — are to blame.

Parents and a small group of doctors have offered a variety of scientific explanations in recent years to try to explain why they think vaccines may cause or contribute to autism. Among the first was that the measles vaccine caused a low-level measles infection that affected children’s brains. The science underlying that theory has since been discredited.

The next theory was that a mercury-containing vaccine preservative, thimerosal, poisoned their brains, causing autism. Multiple studies have failed to find any relationship between thimerosal exposure and autism, and nearly seven years after the preservative was removed from childhood vaccines, autism rates seem unaffected.

The Poling case, however, offered advocates a new theory: that vaccines may cause or contribute to an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which in turn causes autism. Although autism is common among children with mitochondrial disorders, several experts in the disorders dismissed the notion that vaccines may cause the disease, which is widely understood to have a genetic origin.

“After caring for hundreds of children with mitochondrial disease, I can’t recall a single one that had a complication from vaccination,” said Dr. Darryl De Vivo, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Columbia University who will present at the meeting on Sunday and is one of the premier experts in the field.

newberry wrote:I refuse to directly debate with Ricky Bobby. But I feel compelled to post this for the record--the above post puts words in my mouth that I did not say. If anyone is curious about my views on this topic, they can read my posts on this thread. My views have been misrepresented by Rick on multiple occasions.

Rick Reuben wrote:you can't keep your fingers off my autism

Rick Reuben wrote: 2- If you don't know, then why do you insist you know what isn't the cause?

Many parents have tried the controversial treatment known as chelation, which is a method of precipitating metals from the body. Long used to treat lead poisoning, chelation is more controversial for mercury, with some doctors suggesting that it could do more harm than good. The issue has come up with regards to mercury leaking from amalgam fillings, as well as the long-standing argument over whether mercury in vaccines may lead to childhood autism. (Most Western doctors think that's unlikely, though many advocates still believe).

Now, the Associated Press reports that so much pressure from parents and advocacy groups has forced the National Institute of Mental Health to take a closer look at chelation as a possible treatment for autism. The AP quotes a number of prominent physicians who say they believe directly studying the issue in children would be unethical, given the controversial nature of chelation for mercury.

But, the feds point out that an estimated 3,000 autistic children are already getting the treatment at any time in the United States, meaning they have a responsibility to try to assess if the procedure is safe, and if it indeed may have potential in addressing the disease.

david kirby, huffington post wrote:In February, when the US government conceded that vaccines had caused an autism-inducing reaction in little Hannah Poling, most experts declared that her underlying condition, a mitochondrial disorder, was exceedingly rare - so rare, in fact, that it had no bearing on other autism cases.

But on Monday, the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation announced a "landmark research finding" showing that at least one in 200 healthy humans "harbors a pathogenic mitochondrial mutation that potentially causes disease." The finding was published in the current issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

"This is earth shattering news," UMDF Executive Director and CEO Charles A. Mohan, Jr. told me. "Some of my colleagues are calling it 'revolutionary.' We have shown that mitochondrial disease is not rare."

Mitochondria are the little powerhouses found within most cells, and which produce most of the body's energy. Mitochondria are key for proper neurotransmission and, for obvious reasons, are highly concentrated in cells of the brain and central nervous system.

Up until now, estimates of mitochondrial disease rates have held steady at about 1-in-4000 people. But this study shows that 20 times that number have genetic mutations that could cause mitochondrial disease.