Unlock Autism

The Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance will hold a Public Hearing regarding the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder on Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 10am to discuss the management of Autism in New York State with specific attention to early diagnosis and intervention. The meeting will be held in Chancellor’s Hall in the State Education Building at 89 Washington Avenue (use the entrance on Hawk Street) in Albany.

During the hearing, testimony will be presented to evaluate programs and treatment options that already exist in this state for children with ASD, as well as evaluating what can be done to improve their living standards and assist families and caregivers with their many burdens, including financial, of dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

This is the perfect opportunity for our community to demonstrate to the NYS Assembly that the autism community is dedicated to these issues – enough to show up in the winter cold and at holiday time – it’s just that important!

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

1) DRIVE TO ALBANY! This is a great chance for our community to demonstrate how important this issue is moving forward with our physical presence.  Please plan on attending.  We want to PACK THE ROOM!

2)  FORWARD THIS EMAIL FAR AND WIDE! Again, we want to pack the room so send this to anyone that you think could attend: neighbors, coworkers, family members, your child’s therapists!

3) REGISTER TO STAY INFORMED! If you haven’t signed up already, please visit the Autism Votes website and sign up to receive action alerts as we move forward on autism insurance reform in the state of New York!

Thank you for your help in this effort,

Your New York State Chapter Advocacy Chairs:

Jim Fahey, CAC – All New York State
NewYorkCAC@autismspeaks.org

Julie Rotunno, CAC – New York City
NYCCAC@autismspeaks.org

Julie Buick, CAC – Rochester
RochesterCAC@autismspeaks.org

Sharan DePalma, CAC – Westchester
WestchesterCAC@autismspeaks.org

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Taking care of our selves is just as important as taking care of our loved ones.

This company also has a full line of Digestive Enzyme products which may have good results on leaky gut.

Contact them here.

Stress in Our Diets

Currently, the Average American eats 133 POUNDS OF SUGAR each year; 75 years ago, the Average American ate only 7 pounds of sugar a year! Sugar is toxic to the body, accelerates aging, depletes the body of B vitamins and minerals, and can lead to heart disease, cancer, hypoglycemia, and diabetes.  An incredible 80% OF CARBOHYDRATES consumed by Americans are in the form of refined flours and sugars.
Only 9% of the population eats the recommended five servings of vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables.
Americans eat 230 MORE CALORIES PER DAY than they did just 15 years ago. Our diet consists of refined foods. Increasing our consumption of nutrient-depleted foods means we have an even higher requirement for the vitamins and minerals needed to metabolize them.
Many people eat non-foods like MSG, saccharine, NutraSweet, Splenda, artificial colorants and flavors that put stress on our systems.
Almost all foods have pesticides, chemical dioxins, and fluorides that come into our bodies each day. Most fast-food hamburgers have been shown to contain traces of OVER 100 PESTICIDES.
Most meats have antibiotic, hormone, and chemical residues that have toxic effects on our bodies.
Our foods are contaminated with phthalates from plastic wraps, styrofoam, tupperware, and non stick coatings from frying pans, that enter and damage our system.
Even the common practice of microwaving in plastic containers contaminates our food with toxins.
Vitamin B2 is one of the nutrients used by the body to support optimal thyroid function. An astonishing 5 million US adults suffer from Hypothyroidism (an under-active thyroid that slows the metabolism); most people go undiagnosed and do not even know they have it.
More than 10% OF CALORIES consumed in America come from ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. Alcohol in large quantities is detrimental to the liver, and it depletes B vitamins, zinc, and magnesium.
Prescription and over-the-counter medications can deplete nutrients and create deficiencies.
Birth control pills create B6 deficiencies and increase the need for B6 beyond what the diet can supply.
Those who exercise regularly have a much higher need for antioxidants and minerals.
Currently, millions of Americans are dieting and need supplements just to meet minimal nutrient requirements. Dieting increases free radical production, so more antioxidants are needed to support the health of the liver and other organs whose normal function can sometimes be compromised during weight loss.

Stress in Our Environment

An optimal selection of healthy whole foods does not give us enough antioxidants to defend ourselves against toxic chemicals and gases we absorb from office equipment, cigarette smoke, smog, and alcohol.
The average person is exposed to more than 500 CHEMICALS in the home environment and 700 CHEMICALS in drinking water that are known to deplete many nutrients.
Research has verified that routine application of organophosphate fertilizers over the past 50 years has decreased the calcium content of conventionally grown broccoli to ONE-SIXTH (17%) what it was in the 1950’s.

Even if we are drinking purified water, most of us shower in water that is full of chemicals, or sit in chemical filled jacuzzis or swimming pools, which enter our system every day.

Our clothes, mattresses, and sheets are full of chemicals, flame retardants, preservatives, and anti-fungals which enter our bodies through the skin.

Our air is full of carbon monoxide, petrochemicals, lead, mercury, plastic fumes, etc. which enter our bodies when we breathe.

The excess of cultural and environmental stressors we face daily produce free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that trigger oxidative damage by accelerating aging and quickening disease. In order to neutralize free radical damage caused by different stressors, our livers are burdened with the task of detoxification, a process which requires additional nutrients above the RDA recommended daily amounts.

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Reuters is reporting that trace amounts of the deadly chemical Melamine was found in US baby formula. How does this happen anywhere? How can this happen in the USA! Shame on the manufacturers and those responsible for oversight of our Foods and Drugs- I guess that would mean the FDA !

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials have uncovered trace amounts of the chemical melamine in one sample of infant formula sold in the United States, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The amount found in the sample was no cause for concern, said FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said. “There’s no basis for concern because we’re talking about trace levels that are so low … that there’s absolutely no risk,” she told Reuters.

Melamine-tainted formula was found earlier this year in China, where thousands of children fell ill and several died.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey, editing by Chris Wilson)

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Looks like we are making progress..

President-Elect Obama has drafted comprehensive autism legislation, including a section addressing a broad based federal autism insurance mandate.

In his Presidential campaign statement on Autism Spectrum Disorders, President-Elect Obama committed to bringing autism insurance reform to the entire nation. The statement stated that Obama and Biden “will mandate insurance coverage of autism treatment and will also continue to work with parents, physicians, providers, researchers, and schools to create opportunities and effective solutions for people with ASD.” For the complete campaign statement, and to read the draft legislation, go to http://www.autismvotes.org.

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Please be true to your word and fund more in depth research regarding the causes and prevention of Autism

and other PDD’s   1 in 150 is an epidemic of the worst proportions as it affects defenseless children and can destroy families, wreak hvvac on local school board budgets and community taxes. We need solutions now.

Here are some suggestions, Investigate and report back within 12 months time any connection regarding

- Plastic PBA’s, Cell Phone Signals and Mercury laced shots

- Providing economic support for families who actively seek and complete therapy’s currently not covered under health insurance

- Providing economic support on a per child basis still in the school system for providing a more precise and personalized education platform and goals to work towards. I do well for my family but paying $10-$25,000 for treatments, or more per year is just a bit too much to afford.

- Increasing regulation and oversight over Autism related treatments, too much hope being sold with snake oil out there

- Creating a national database of what works for which conditions best, right now its trial and error over and over again

- Provide $10 billion in funding Autism research asap, at both the commercial and holistic levels.

12 months is aggressive, but we need to fast track this as it continues to grow in numbers both in terms of those afflicted, and those it affects.

Do it Barrack, help our children and make this your legacy while still in office, not in the last few weeks of office.  Do it now..

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You may recall seeing the Eye Chart last time you visited the doctor. Today it is also common to see the entire human body chart, inner ear chart, neck, back and knee joint models and other props for the doctor to use with patients when explaining our all too common ailments.

With the explosive growth of Autism rates, can we expect to see more of this chart appearing in a pediatricians office near you?

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This is the idiot who caused millions of dollars and years of research to go to waste. All this for 55,000 British Pound Sterling. Where are is the tar and feathers?  What has Elsevier done to make it up to all of our children ? How about $100 million in Autism funding ?

The editor of the Lancet said last night that the scientific paper which sparked the row about the safety of the MMR vaccine would not have been published if senior staff had been aware that its lead author had not revealed “a serious conflict of interest”.

Richard Horton said that Andrew Wakefield, the doctor whose research suggested a link between the triple jab against measles, mumps and rubella and autism, had made “an important error of judgement” in failing to say he had received an alleged £55,000 from the Legal Aid Board, now the Legal Services Commission to investigate grounds for legal action by parents of allegedly vaccine-damaged children.

Dr Wakefield’s article, published in the medical journal six years ago, caused a drop in uptake of the MMR vaccine and protracted argument. It also made the author a pariah in the eyes of the medical establishment.

Two months ago senior doctors boycotted a televised debate on the vaccine, scheduled to run after a Channel 5 drama documentary about Dr Wakefield’s work, as they regarded it as biased and emotive.

Dr Wakefield, who worked at the Royal Free Hospital, in north London, when the paper was published, denied last night that the authors of the report had any knowledge that one child investigated for the study reported in the Lancet had a legal aid certificate at the time.

Investigations as a result of allegations made to the Lancet in the past few days suggest that as many as four of the 12 reported cases may have been on a list of 10 children on whom Dr Wakefield was commissioned by a solicitor to make studies. The exact number has still to be confirmed.

The two studies were completely separate and money from the Legal Aid Board was paid into a special research account administered by the hospital trust.

Dr Wakefield said: “Whether parents perceived an association with MMR vaccine or not, whether parents had approached lawyers with an intent to seek legal redress, or whether children were in receipt of legal funding or not, had no bearing whatsoever on their selection for clinical investigation of inclusion in the Lancet report.”

The paper in fact did not claim to prove a link between the MMR vaccination and autism, although Dr Wakefield said at its launch that he thought parents might be advised to give the jabs separately.

Mr Horton refused to reveal last night who had made six serious allegations of research misconduct. Three were not accepted.

“We regret that aspects of funding for parallel and related work and the existence of ongoing litigation that had been known during clinical evaluation of the children reported in the 1998 Lancet paper were not disclosed to editors.

“We judge that all this information would have been material to our decision-making about the paper’s suitability, credibility and validity for publication.”

The Lancet would publish an editorial commentary and statements from researchers involved in the 1998 study “as soon as possible”.

Mr Horton underlined how seriously he viewed the case. “In my view, not to disclose such a serious conflict of interest was an important error of judgement and conflicted with our guidelines on conflict of interest at the time.

“It is always very difficult with hindsight, but if we had known Dr Wakefield was not only lead investigator in the Lancet paper but also had been commissioned by the Legal Advisory Board, I am sure our view would have been this was a fatal conflict of interest and we would not have published the paper.”

Dr Wakefield’s co-authors have become increasingly critical, saying they believe in the safety of the MMR. Dr Simon Murch and colleagues have continued to research links between inflammation of the gut and autism and believe there is evidence of an association.

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You know, I had heard it was a disgruntled ex employee of a Pharmaceutical company that started this whole MMR connection, if that is true this person should be tarred an feathered and tied to a whipping post in the village square for wasting so many valuable years of research down a wrong street, years that could have been used to find a cause and cure. Instead, we have wasted big time dollars and time accusing and defending.. What a shame, Now this article appeared int he NY Times claiming that the researchers had a conflict of interest who published the findings.. all this for what, a Gov’t grant or a mention in some Journal?

“Meanwhile, the original paper’s publisher — The Lancet — complained in 2004 that the lead author had concealed a conflict of interest. Ten of his co-authors retracted the paper’s implication that the vaccine might be linked to autism. Three of the authors are now defending themselves before a fitness-to-practice panel in London on charges related to their autism research.

Sadly, even after all of this, many parents of autistic children still blame the vaccine. The big losers in this debate are the children who are not being vaccinated because of parental fears and are at risk of contracting serious — sometimes fatal — diseases.”

How about we shift towards researching things introduced into the environment that mirror the rise of Autism, Such as; Cell Phones, PC’s, Plastic Everything, Teflon, Hormone use in the food supply, even down to Hydro-Ponic Marijuana. Doesnt anyone else wonder about these things and their possible place in the cause of the Autism Epidemic? Anyone there?

Ten years ago, a clinical research paper triggered widespread and persistent fears that a combined vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella — the so-called MMR vaccine — causes autism in young children. That theory has been soundly refuted by a variety of other research over the years, and now a new study that tried to replicate the original study has provided further evidence that it was a false alarm. Read More from this New York Times article

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Its comical and sad really how a well known doctor with a “Clinic” named after him could charge $2,500 for an evaluation, before admitting an Autistic child into their program. Evaluate what, the files?

I mean come on here, are you here to help or just profit? I understand the need to evaluate prior to providing services but these kids come with volumes of medical folders which one needs a milk crate to carry them around. It’s not as though an Autistic kid is coming in cold, by the time one is ready for the “Clinic” they may have seen upwards of 20-30 doctors and had dozens of tests from neurological to nutritional to IQ and most likely has been engaged in thousands of hours of therapy.

Its a shame or perhaps a sham that doctors would put profits in front of services. Or maybe they just want the right kids , on the cusp of a breakthrough, in the program so it looks more effective. Who knows these days, everyone seems to be “Selling” hope these days, instead of providing it.

Ranting and Raving because I am disgusted with the notion of Medicine being big business. When was the last time a disease was cured? Polio I believe it was – why? Because drug companies make more money from treating a disease than curing a disease. Medicine should not be free enterprise, it should not be free, but it should be there when people need it.

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by: Helen Williams

About The Author

Helen Williams
Editor Consistent Parenting Advice.com

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