Editorial #153: 65% Of Measles Cases In US In Unvaccinated People

Autism Politico has learned that unvaccinated kids in the US are the ones who have the most measles cases.

Two out of every three American children who have been infected with measles recently did not receive a vaccination against the illness, claims a report in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Something to remember. Another thing to remember is how widespread the disease was before the world began vaccinating for it.

They discovered that 65-percent of the cases in the U.S. occurred in unvaccinated subjects. Infections among Americans were most common among children under the age of 15, and there were a total of 557 confirmed cases of the illness worldwide during the period studied. Prior to the introduction of the vaccine, Reuters says that as many as 4 million people caught measles annually.

If you are vaccinated, that is great. Please urge others to get vaccinated as well. The fewer people with illnesses we have on this planet, the lower the risk of death to these people, the lower the risk of spread of infection, and the less of a drain it is on our medical system.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #152: FDA Issues Warnings to ‘Chelation’ Marketers

Autism Politico is pleased to see the FDA taking action against purveyors of unapproved chelation therapy drugs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned eight companies that their over-the-counter (OTC) chelation products are unapproved drugs and devices and that it is a violation of federal law to make unproven claims about these products. There are no FDA-approved OTC chelation products.

Outstanding. This should go a long way toward preventing autistics from being harmed by some forms of chelation therapy. 

 

The companies that received the warning letters claim that their products treat a range of diseases by removing toxic metals from the body. Some also claim to treat autism spectrum disorder, cardiovascular diseases, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration, and other serious conditions. Some companies that received the warning letters also claim their products will detect the presence of heavy metals to justify the need for chelation therapy.

 

The drug products involved have not been evaluated by the FDA for treatment of these diseases, and violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). Despite the claims of the companies that received warning letters, the effectiveness in treating any of the diseases listed is unsubstantiated.

The FDA has clearly stated that there is no proof that chelation treats autism. Parents and caregivers who continue to attempt to treat children with autism go against the advice of the FDA.

 

The companies must take prompt action to correct the legal violations cited in the warnings letters or face possible legal action, including seizure and injunction. The FDA issued warning letters to the following companies:

• World Health Products, LLC: Detoxamin Oral, Detoxamin Suppositories, and the Metal Detector test kit
• Hormonal Health, LLC and World Health Products, LLC: Kelatox Suppositories, and the METALDETECTOR Instant Toxic Metals Test
• Evenbetternow, LLC: Kids Chelat Heavy Metal Chelator, Bio-Chelat Heavy Metal Chelator, Behavior Balance DMG Liquid, AlkaLife Alkaline Drops, NutriBiotic Grapefruit Seed Extract, Natur-Leaf, Kids Clear Detoxifying Clay Baths, EBN Detoxifying Bentonite Clay, and the Heavy Metal Screen Test
• Maxam Nutraceutics/Maxam Laboratories: PCA-Rx, PC3x, AFX, AD-Rx, AN-Rx, Anavone, AV-Rx, BioGuard, BSAID, CF-Rx, CreOcell, Dermatotropin, Endotropin, GTF-Rx, IM-Rx, Keto-Plex, Natural Passion, NG-Rx, NX-Rx, OR-Rx, Oxy-Charge, PN-Rx, Ultra-AV, Ultra Pure Yohimbe, and the Heavy Metal Screening Test
• Cardio Renew, Inc: CardioRenew and CardioRestore
• Artery Health Institute, LLC: Advanced Formula EDTA Oral Chelation
• Longevity Plus: Beyond Chelation Improved, EndoKinase, Viral Defense, Wobenzym-N
• Dr. Rhonda Henry: Cardio Chelate (H-870)

This is outstanding, and Autism Politico hopes the FDA seeks enforcement against those which fail to comply with the directive.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #151: Bullies and Cyberbullies Don’t Discriminate

Autism Politico wants its readers to understand that bullies and cyberbullies don’t always go after autistics.

A recent article talks about how a seven year old Michigan girl dying from Huntington’s disease was bullied and cyberbullied by her adult neighbors.

Jennifer Petkov of Trenton, Michigan, reportedly posted an image of 7-year-old Kathleen Edward’s face next to a skull and crossbones on Facebook after a dispute with the girl’s grandmother, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.

But wait, there’s more! Her mom died of the same disease, and so…

The station reports that Petkov, a neighbor of the girl’s family, also posted a photo of Kathleen’s mother wrapped in the arms of the grim reaper on Facebook. The woman’s husband, Scott Petkov, is accused of painting images of death on the side of his pick-up truck and parking it in front of the girl’s home.

Now what could these people possibly have against a 7 year old girl and their family that they would go to such lengths? And why would anyone do such a thing in the first place?

No one can say for sure that girl’s disease or her mother’s disease is part of the reason for the bullying. But the point can certainly be made that when people bully, they tend to go for the most tender and hurtful spots.

Think about this the next time you are bullied. The people are trying to hurt you where you are most vulnerable, probably because they cannot stand against you where you are the most strongest.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #150: The 411 And 911 On Bad Parenting

Autism Politico has read that a young child dialed 911 as many as 400 times, and a parent or caregiver could be heard in the background by 911 operators during some of the calls.

“Police have a message for parents — don’t let your child play with your cellphone.”

Autism Politico says: Duh!

“The child, named Alex, may have been learning a valuable skill for the future but tied up 911 service for hours.”

One wonders how many people were delayed getting emergency services because of this boy.

“At one point, an adult could be heard in the background asking if the child wanted pie.”

Well, the parents might not be paying attention to what the boy is doing, but at least they cannot be accused of starving him.

But this all goes to show just how neglectful some parents are. Parents, when you bring a child into this world, your responsibility toward it does not end at birth. Remember that and it will save you, and, in this case, many others, a lot of trouble.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #149: Good News for Bullies

If you come from a decent home, you can get a lighter sentence if you are convicted of bullying.

This is how society works.

In one article, Autism Politico reads that:

The MEN yesterday revealed the scale of the attacks – which included pelting him with dog mess, forcing him to drink alcohol until he passed out and putting tape on his genital area before ripping it off.

In another article about the same bullies and the same victim, Autism Politico reads that:

Judge Jonathan Geake admitted the attacks were “grotesque” but said he took into account the trio’s age, remorse, guilty pleas and the fact they came from decent homes. “I conclude this was a departure from your normal not sensible selves,” he said.

Autism Politico wonders if the bullies went at their victim with the same sense of empathy, sympathy, and leniency. The sentence:

But a judge – following a Government initiative – decided not to jail them and gave out community service orders and curfews.

Autism Politico has no problem posting this here. It is what a judge has decided and what society wants. Otherwise people would be bombarding the court with letters, and would be expressing their frustration here on this blog with comments.

Look below and see how many comments there are. If you do not see any, or do not see many, you know that not too many people care about some poor autistic kid was bullied over weeks and weeks in the manner described above.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #148: How NTs Can Help Autistics

Autism Politico just read an article and realized how NTs can help autistic people!

The article says:

Kids who have autism will tell white lies to protect other people’s feelings, but they are not very good at covering up their lies, says a Queen’s University study.

Very interesting. This means that autistics are more honest than NTs, and that NT’s are better liars.

This is unfair on two counts:

1) Autistics are often accused of lying when in fact this study would seem to prove that they cannot lie well if and when they do lie, which only goes to show that there is a prejudice out there about autistics which simply sisn’t true, and

2) Since NTs are better liars than autistics, it may be true to say that autistics will not know when NTs are lying to them.

So Autism Politico proposes that NTs teach autistics to lie. After all, lying seems to come naturally to NTs. They know all about it. Otherwise, they would not evaluate autistics as being such poor liars.

There is a way autistics can return the favor to NTs:

“The results are surprising because there is a notion that children with autism have difficulty appreciating the thoughts and feelings of other people, so we didn’t expect them to lie to avoid saying things that may hurt others,” says Dr. Kelley.

Since autistics have these notable traits (empathy and sympathy), perhaps they could teach these traits to NTs in exchange for NTs teaching them to lie better.

In one test, children with autism were told they were going to get a great gift, and were then handed a bar of soap. When asked if they liked their gift, most nodded or said yes instead of saying they were disappointed to get soap.

Researchers refer to this as pro-social lies told to maintain good relations with others.

 Of course, this is disappointing to Autism Politico, because the proper thing to do would be to say that the gift was a poor one, and that people would do better to think more carefully about what one might want as a gift next time.

You cannot always win.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #147: In Memoriam 6

Autism Politico knows many autistics have died since the last In Memoriam post. No autistic is forgotten, even though we cannot write a post about every single one. But here is one that really sticks in our gut: 

A mother apparently shot her two children in their home Monday while her husband was at work, then turned the gun on herself, Colorado Springs police said an autopsy by the El Paso County coroner determined.

This is bad enough, but then comes this:

Police offered no explanation for the murder-suicide. Neighbors said the son was autistic, although none said they socialized much with the family or knew them well.

And here we have it! It must have been the fact that one of her kids was autistic that made her do it.

Why is it that it is always the “mentally ill” kid that is blamed for these problems? How do we know the other child wasn’t the cause of it? How do we know that EITHER of the children were the cause of it?

Rene Ogden spent a lot of her time on the Internet, corresponding with people through Facebook and playing games on the social networking site, according to people she befriended online.

Hmm. Obviously her autistic child didn’t need much attention then. This woman had time to burn online.

But there is this phrase that NTs use all the time: “If EVER you need anything, just give me a call and I’ll help.”

Did this woman call out for help?

Probably not. It is socially unacceptable to do so.

If she did call out for help, did anyone actually help?

Yes, they probably “helped.”

They offered cheap, useless platitudes on the phone maybe. Or maybe the offered to babysit once in a blue moon. Or maybe they brought over disgusting food that took no real thought to make so that they could seem to be helping, when in fact they really weren’t doing anything but relieving their own feelings of guilt for not doing something that really mattered. 

“With the wife being here with the autistic kid and the husband deployed, that’s hard on a mother,” Garcia said. “Everybody’s upset about it. There were kids involved. They didn’t do anything to anybody.”

Oddly, the article makes no mention about how the father feels about this. Sympathy seems to be with the mom. And it seems like the fault for all of this lies with the autistic kid.

As a certain famous politician said: “It takes a village to raise a child,” but Autism Politico knows that when that child is autistic, the village scatters like quail before buckshot.

“We thought there was a killer on the loose”

one person from the neighborhood said, and she was part right. There was a whole village of killers on the loose, right?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #146: Just When You Thought It Was Safe…

Just when parents who hate their autistic kids thought it was safe to love their other children, along comes this article which tells us that: 

Undiagnosed siblings in families that include two or more children with autism often grapple with language delays, social difficulties and other mild symptoms of the disorder, a new study suggests.

Autism Politico  is cheered by this news. It once again goes toward proving the point that autism is genetic, and not just the autistic kids have autistic traits! But don’t take OUR word for it. Read the article:

Genes prompt autism symptoms of varying intensity among members of these families, including in some kids who don’t qualify as having an autism spectrum disorder, say psychiatrist John Constantino of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and his colleagues.

So now parents who hate their autistic children need to begin hating the children who are not diagnosed as well, because they could very well have autistic traits. And parents ought to consider that the genes their children have might very well have come from them or from someone else in their familial lines.

Alternatively, parents who hate their autistic kids could learn to love them as much as they love their NT children.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #145: Pediatricians Against Anti-Vaxers

Autism Politico is pleased the pediatricians are getting together to discuss the danger anti-vaccine people are causing to children.

The anti-vaccine movement is putting children at direct risk for infections and even death — according to pediatricians attending a national conference this week in San Francisco.

The more this is discussed publicly, the more people will come to believe it. This is good. We need to protect our kids.

Replies to this editorial are welcome.

Editorial #144: ADHD Is Genetic Too!

Autism Politico was thrilled to read that a common comorbidity of autism, ADHD, is genetic in origin.

It’s funny how the vaccines cause autism brigade never really says that vaccines cause anything else BUT autism. But here is more news that works against them. With autism already shown to be genetic by 137 scientists in 50 locations in 9 countries around the world, we now have this: 

The research by a team of scientists in Cardiff University concluded that ADHD is a brain development disorder. The study involved genetic analysis of DNA from 366 children with the disorder and 1,047 without the condition. The researchers found that children with the disorder were much more likely to have small DNA segments duplicated or missing than the other children.

The researchers also found significant overlap between these segments and those linked to autism and schizophrenia. The research suggests there may be a shared biological basis to autism and the disorder.

So now, in addition to researchers studying autism who say the disorder is genetic, we now have researchers studying ADHD who say that autism is genetic.

Another thing Autism Politico likes about this article is what one researcher said:

She said the study proved that ADHD should be seen as a neurodevelopmental disorder like autism rather than as a behavioural problem.

So no more discipline for ADHD folks is necessary, and hopefully, we will see ABA made a thing of the past here as well as in autism spectrum disorders.

More and more it seems that love and acceptance are the way to deal with people who have disorders, and love and acceptance seem to be the hardest thing for curebies to give. Perhaps curebies have a disorder of their own. While we can love them and accept them, their refusal to believe in science causes other people pain. Perhaps these curebies deserve to be subjected to their own quack therapies to get them to change their minds?

Replies to this editorial are welcome.