Minneapolis and the Somali Autism Riddle

Tomorrow, a few hundred very concerned citizens of Minnesota will gather to discuss a baffling and heartbreaking riddle: Why is the reported rate of autism among children of Somali refugees so alarmingly high (now an estimated 1-in-28 schoolchildren)?

When I first heard about this phenomenon, which some Somalis call the "Minnesota Disease," my reporter's instinct told me it could be a very big story; that a key piece of the puzzle that is autism might well lie within the bloodstreams of these poor children of the Twin Cities - whose families had already suffered through so much.

If it can be demonstrated that US-born children of Somali refugees are more prone to autism than the other kids of Minneapolis - or Somalia - then it shouldn't take too long to discover what it is about them (their genes) that clashed so terribly with the way they were conceived and raised (their environment).

It won't explain every case of autism, of course, but it might open new doors of understanding and knowledge that can be applied to combating autism worldwide.

The daylong conference on Saturday is a tribute to progressive public health and a responsive local government (plans include Somali translators, Somali food, breaks to allow time for Islamic prayer, and child care). The meeting is sponsored by a variety of Somali, autism and other community groups, as well as several State and City agencies, including the Minnesota Department of Health.

"The Somali community expressed a need for information on autism, and our duty is to respond to that, to provide as much information as possible, and in a cultural context," said state health department spokesman Doug Schultz. "The concern in the community is real, and if they have the perception that there is a high rate, then we need to talk about that."

But is there really a "high rate?" A written survey I conducted with 25 refugee parents of autistic children certainly revealed their strong belief that there is - and nearly all of them suspect the vaccine program of their adoptive country.

In August, the online newspaper MinnPost first reported that 12 percent of kindergarten and pre-school children with autism in Minneapolis speak Somali at home, and more than 17 percent of the kids in the early childhood autism program are Somali speaking.

The Minneapolis Star tribune published other staggering figures: Among Somali students in the district, 3.6 percent had autism - a rate of 360-per-10,000, (or 1 in 28). The paper said this was about twice as high as the already burgeoning district average of some 180-per-100,000 kids (or 1 in 56), and more than five times the national rate of 66-per-10,000 (1 in 150).

Virtually all of the children of Somali refugees were born in the United States, and they appear to be among the most severely affected children with autism in the district: Last year, one-in-four children in the preschool class for the most severe cases was Somali.

Reports of elevated autism rates among children of immigrants are nothing new. A small study this year showed that Swedish-born children of Somali immigrants to that country were far more likely to have autism than the general population, (Somalis there call autism the "Swedish Disease"), and another small study in 1995 found an autism rate of 15% among children in one Swedish town born to mothers from Uganda - 200 times more than the national average.

Higher than normal autism rates among children of immigrants have also been reported in Ireland, the UK and several cities in North America, especially Montreal.

Meanwhile, none of the refugees that I surveyed had ever heard of autism back in Somalia, where there isn't even a name for the disorder. In fact, no one had ever seen nor heard of a single child who displayed any of the common symptoms of autism -- though a few did report knowing kids with speech delay that eventually resolved itself.

Not everyone is convinced that there is a problem, however.

"These reports are interesting and need further review, but you don't just take something off the news as facts," cautioned Judy Punyko, an epidemiologist for the state department of health. "We need to obtain the actual data and analyze it, so I am not sure there is much of a story here at this point."

Punyko has assembled a team of experts to determine if the Somali autism rates are in fact higher than average in Minneapolis, and she was expected to release at least preliminary results at Saturday's meeting.

But on November 12, Dr. Punyko sent me an email saying she is not able to present any results yet, "only study aim, objectives, and progress to date. I am still in the process of gathering existing data and this is taking a lot more time than I had anticipated," she wrote. "These data are tough to work with."

The delay will not be welcome news to any of the Somali parents I spoke with. They know that, without proof that their children are being afflicted more than others, officials will not intervene to investigate.

One mother (who asked not to be identified due to the tremendous stigma of autism among Somalis), first approached state and city officials in April of 2007, beseeching them to look into the apparent problem. It wasn't until local reporters started snooping around, the mother said, that government stepped up to respond.

The parent refugee-activists even secured a teleconference meeting with health staffers in the DC office of Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman. They told the Somalis that, if the prevalence was shown to be higher in their community, they would urge the CDC and other Federal agencies to "look under every rock" to find out why - including environmental factors like mercury, thimerosal and vaccines.

Many Somali parents began to suspect vaccines as a possible cause on their own, and well before they encountered any American media or autism groups who could put the idea in their head.

In fact, one of the most obvious "environmental" differences between Minnesota and Somalia is mass vaccination (another is sunlight, but more on that later).

There are an estimated 15,000-40,000 Somalis living in Minnesota, which has the largest Somali population outside of East Africa. Most fled during or after the 1993 phase of the bloody Civil War in that country. Many spent years in often wretched refugee camps in Kenya, waiting for a chance to emigrate to Europe and North America.

A lot of the refugees got their chance in 2000, which is when the majority of Somalis arrived in Minneapolis, hoping to finally build a new life in peace and dignity.

Along the way, vaccines became an almost routine part of their life: They were often given in the camps, they were sometimes given before leaving Africa, and they were almost always given in the first year of arrival in the US (which requires a series of 10 vaccinations for all refugees, including women of child bearing age - many of those vaccines contain thimerosal).

Once they arrived in Minnesota, most refugees were welcomed by a progressive "Blue" state with a good public health infrastructure and a bureaucracy ready and willing to help. Refugees were given about a year or so of free medical and dental care, and special effort was made to ensure full compliance with the childhood vaccine schedule (though many mothers failed to keep well-baby visits, requiring lots of "catch up" vaccinations when they did bring their children in to the pediatrician).

Of the 25 refugee mothers who answered the questionnaire, most were vaccinated in refugee camps, and all but two were fully vaccinated after arriving in the US. About a third reported receiving vaccines while pregnant or shortly before becoming pregnant.

When asked what they thought was causing autism in their community, 22 respondents said that vaccines were at least partly to blame, while two were unsure, and only one said vaccines were uninvolved.

Many parents told me the same story of regression I have heard a thousand times before.

"He met all the normal milestones until he hit 18 months," lamented Abdulkadir Khalif, speaking of his three-year-old son with autism. "He was a beautiful baby, running around, saying a few words, until about the winter of 2006, right when he got his MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) shot. He got sick and we went to the hospital, and he stopped talking immediately around that time."

"Do I know it was the vaccines?" Khalif asks. "All I know is he stopped talking right around the time of those shots."

Neither Khalif nor his wife (who was given a thimerosal-containing flu shot while pregnant, even though the label instructed the doctor to administer the shot during pregnancy, "only when medically necessary"), had ever heard of autism until the day their son was diagnosed.

Khalif says, it is "not possible" that autism could be this common in Somalia. "I've been living with it on a daily basis, with my own child. And I lived in Somalia and Kenya for a long time. If it was this common, we would have had a name for it, and we don't. That tells me it does not exist."

"And these symptoms? I had never seen anything like it before. We have names for mental retardation or Down syndrome. But the mannerisms, the loss of speech, the tantrums and violence and running out of the house that comes with autism - I think we would have noticed those things. But we've never seen them before in Somalia or Kenya."

Hodan Hassan, mother to four children including four-year-old Jenny, who has autism, said she had been "a little lax and lazy" with vaccinating her first two kids, "and the doctors got mad at me." With Jenny, she vowed to get all shots on time (and dutifully got the flu shot while pregnant). But there seemed to be a problem with the record keeping, because Jenny was clearly over-vaccinated (for example, she received five Hepatitis B shots, when only three are required).

Soon after giving birth, Hassan started work at a hospital, where she received several mercury containing vaccines, even while breast feeding Jenny.

Jenny had several terrible, feverish reactions to some of her vaccines, twice requiring visits to the ER, where she was given IV fluids and Tylenol.

On Valentines Day, 2006, Hassan brought Jenny in for her 18-month well baby visit, right on time. "she was saying 'mommy' and 'daddy' and 'juice' and 'go, go let's go!'" Hassan recalls. "She was a very happy and attentive baby. She would look at you when talked to her, she would come when you called.

Then Jenny got five vaccines at once (M-M-R, Prevnar and chicken pox) at the doctor visit. She spiked a fever and returned to the hospital. "She never spoke again," Hassan said. "It was all gone right after those shots. I know the doctors don't believe it. They think we must be crazy. But these are our kids, and we were there when everything happened to them. The doctors were not."

Many of the parents I spoke with said they plan to stand up and speak out at the meeting, where Khalif and Hassan are both scheduled panel members.

"I have gathered information on 149 Somali families in Minneapolis with autistic children, and I plan on asking the experts why it is so much," Hassan said.

But she doesn't expect a ready answer. "I think they will try to cover it up at the meeting, avoid the issue, and say 'It is not what you guys think, you can trust us, this is not what it is,'" she said. "But that is not acceptable. Word of mouth went out and people are panicking, and they don't know who to trust. One American doctor told me he will not vaccinate any of his own kids, but has to vaccinate all the others. You have no idea what kind of message that sends to our community."

Khalif also plans on posing tough questions.

"I am going to make all those education and health officials feel very guilty," he said. "Where did this come from? This is a disease that's been acquired by our kids here. In each and in every case, all the children, with one exception, that have been identified with autism were born in this country. I want them to tell me directly that the vaccines are safe. I want someone to stand up and say that. And then, I want to ask that same person two years down road the same thing, and see what the percentages are like."

Khalif also wants to propose "a rescheduling of the vaccines for our Somali children, because I think there is something in our immune system that cannot handle that number of vaccines at one time. The rate is so high, that something will be found in our genes or systems. Science now has a window to find out the actual cause, and therefore the remedy, for autism."

Some doctors and researchers in Minneapolis that I spoke with were extraordinarily sympathetic toward the Somalis. "Vaccines have to be playing a role," said one very prominent pediatrician and researcher, who is working quietly behind the scenes to change attitudes at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere, and did not want to be named.

"Maybe if we start talking about the individual toxins in vaccines, and not the vaccine program as a whole, others in the medical profession will find it easier to come around," the doctor said.

Another local doctor, who did speak on the record, was willing to speculate on one possible variable that might make Somali kids more prone to autistic regression - with or without vaccines: Vitamin D deficiency.

Dr. Gregory A. Plotnikoff, medical director for the Institute for Health and Healing at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, said a colleague had noticed an "exceedingly high" rate of morning sickness among pregnant Somali women in Minneapolis, often requiring hospitalizations.

The doctor began checking Vitamin D levels and found that, on average, they were far below what is considered to be normal and healthy.

Somalis, he said, may start out with naturally low abilities to produce vitamin D from sunlight, (as is the case with many people with Middle Eastern blood in them). That is compounded by the fact that dark-skinned people require far more sunlight to produce vitamin D than light-skinned people and, when Somalis move to areas of higher latitude, with far less sunlight - their vitamin D stores may be virtually depleted, at least for part of the year.

"Vitamin D is crucial for normal brain development, because there are receptors for it throughout the brain," Plotnikoff said. "Vitamin D also plays a role as an anti-inflammatory agent and, besides cutting down on inflammation, it increases concentrations of glutathione, which better supports the brain's capacity to handle heavy metals and oxidative stress."

Glutathione has been found to be low or depleted in many children with autism. A lack of glutathione would make children more vulnerable to the effects of mercury and other heavy metals.

"Another problem is that Tylenol depletes glutathione, and regretfully, most kids who get a shot also get Tylenol," Plotnikoff said. "It's routinely given without considering that it can increase the risk of heavy metals, like mercury, causing oxidative injury in the brain."

"Glutathione has antioxidant properties, and it also chelates, or removes heavy metals in the body. We want a lot of it around. We need it, and we depend upon it," he added.

So, could there be a possible connection between vitamin D deficiency, glutathione depletion, heavy metal accumulation and autism?

"It's a hypothesis that absolutely needs to be tested," Plotnikoff said. "Vitamin D deficiency is crucial to study, because of its many roles in normal brain development -- including the capacity to handle oxidative stress and handle heavy metal loads. The data we have now can't say if this is the case, but it is a compelling hypothesis that deserves national attention."

"My sense is that autism is likely to be a result of a combination of many important factors," he continued. "The gift that the Somali community is giving us is about a significant awareness of the role of low vitamin D levels and other environmental issues, including immunizations and heavy metals, in autism. Severe Vitamin D deficiency could be what is behind all this. And that is what the Somali community did for us: They get no sun in Minnesota, and they have extremely low levels of vitamin D."

Finally, vitamin D deficiency in pregnant animals can lead to "dramatic" defects in mitochondrial function in offspring, according to at least one study. The role of mitochondrial dysfunction and autistic regression is only now beginning to be explored. But some researchers believe that poor mitochondrial health (perhaps exacerbated by vitamin D deficiency?) is a precursor to autistic regression in at least one subgroup of children.

All of this, of course, is speculation. There is no proof that any Somali autism cases were caused by vitamin D deficiency, lack of sunlight, mercury or vaccines. But if you look for major differences between life in Somalia and life in Minnesota, you will find that one has lots of sunlight and very few vaccines -- and the other has less sunlight, but lots of vaccines.

Is it possible that vitamin D deficiency caused glutathione depletion and mitochondrial damage to these Somali children, setting them up for regression into autism after receiving multiple simultaneous vaccines containing heavy metals (as was the case in the famous Hannah Poling Vaccine Court claim)?

No one knows. And sadly, some refugees are not waiting around for US doctors to find out.

"Some autism families have returned to Somalia," said one mother, who did not want to be identified. "They were angry and disgusted with the United States. The nation that offered them refuge was the same nation that made their children so sick," she said.

"They think that, by returning home, maybe they can make their children better."

Comments

[hilltoptc]

The information on vitamin D in this article was very revealing. I have just read a new book by Dr. Marc Sorenson called Vitamin D3 and Solar Power for Optimal Health. He cites some interesting research on vitamin D deficiency and autism. Some of it is posted on his web site:

www.vitaminddoc.com/d3autism.html

[BillCrumpler]

I believe that a component (possibly a catalyst) in this sensory processing mess that we find ourselves in may be electromagnetic fields. Mix this with 150 years of industrial pollution and this could be the problem. Is it possible that a child from Somali is not bombarded by EMRs (cell phones, etc) as much as a child in the States?

[haddayr]

I live in Minneapolis and my child has Asperger's, which is on the autism spectrum. I have been following the Somali connection closely. I am glad it is getting attention, and I find the Vitamin D information interesting. I hope we get to the bottom of this phenomenon.

What frustrates me incredibly is that you do not mention in this article the fact that study after study has shown NO connection between autism and vaccines, and you mention nowhere in this article that thimerosal is no longer present in the vast majority of childhood vaccines -- especially in Minnesota.

That is not only lazy reporting -- that is misleading reporting. You can express skepticism about the scientific data, but to leave it out completely is mind-boggling.

[jened]

the vitamin D component is really interesting. David mentioned that many of the mothers and babies did receive a lot of vaccinations in refugee camps (although thimerosal was removed in the North American market it was not in developing nations (nice eh?). Most likely those poor kids were subjected to at least flu shots (AND their pregnant mothers) and flu shots are usually given in multi-dose vials which still contain thimerosal). Even IF it's not the thimerosal that is specifically responsible, those kids were likely subjected to an extremely aggressive schedule of vaccinations to "catch them up." He is not misleading anyone. With all due respect, many of the studies supposedly absolving a connection between vaccines and autism is laughable. Maybe you just aren't aware of this but there are some studies coming out that do show there is cause for concern. (even Vaerstratens'). They haven't even had the balls to do a study comparing vaccinated children to un-vaccinated children and incidence of autism, ADHD, SIDS, seizures etc. Why do you think so many gulf war vets are sick? They are pummeled with vaccines.
I don't have a child with autism, thank God. In Canada our vaccine schedule is slightly less aggressive (we don't vaccinate with hep b at birth) and I chose to minimally vaccinate my son because of higher risk. (no chicken pox, no hep b, only 1 MMR). I do think vitamin D may play a role somehow in helping the immune system.

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

I respectfully disagree. There are NO studies that show there is no connection between autism and vaccines. The studies you are referring to are epidemiological studies which, by their nature, can not prove there is no connection (if read these studies carefully you'll find that they indicate no connection was found -- which is quite a different thing from saying there is no connection). A number of these studies have been found to lack sufficient statistical power to identify a deficiency in a small percentage of the population -- which is what is suspected by the few people who have looked at these children; a very high percentage of them are unable to detox heavy metals.

Then, there is the epidemiological study which did show a connection (epidemiology can be used to show a correlation -- not causation -- but is woefully inadequate at the opposite) that was done by the CDC. They massaged the data through four or five more generations of the study to wash out the connection before they published it: http://www.safeminds.org/legislation/foia/Simpsonwood_Transcript.pdf try this link for a summary of the pertinent points: http://www.safeminds.org/legislation/foia/Simpsonwood_Overview.pdf

Then, there is all of the empirical evidence that shows mercury toxicity and combined vaccines in animal studies to show that there is more than likely an issue with both of these. See studies by: Burbacher, Haley, James, Holmes, Deth, etc.

[nhokkanen]

I attended that 6-hour Minneapolis autism forum for Somali families, at 34th & Chicago. I sat by investigative journalist David Kirby, author of "Evidence of Harm." Strib reporter Maura Lerner sat across the aisle. The department of health people came and went without offering any useful help. The Somali families deserved far more than misleading press release blurbs.

You should do less writing and more reading. Parents on autism biomed listservs have been swapping incriminating CDC FOIA documents for years. Not to mention swapping kids' lab reports showing metals toxicities and nutritional insufficiencies. Oh, yeah -- and GF/CF recipes.

MDH statistics are irrelevant to the Somali parents who've witnessed their children deteriorate physically and mentally following multiple vaccinations. These "anecdotes" can be backed up with lab tests to find mitochondrial dysfunction, vaccine-strain measles in the gastrointestinal tract, immune dysfunction, and other symptoms described in books such as "Changing the Course of Autism" by Dr. Bryan Jepson. He spoke in Bloomington this past summer.

Minnesota's Somali immigrant families are highly intelligent, well-read, and they know how to look up peer-reviewed studies on PubMed. They know what happened to their children -- vaccine injury -- and they will be justifiably vocal about demanding that it stop. It should not take thousands of cases in the NVICP, VAERS, VSD and Federal Omnibus Autism Proceedings to get the CDC and MDH to stop writing off these kids as collateral damage in the war on disease.

[CA Alamo Joe]

I am not a doctor, therefore the following should not be construed as medical advice. The conclusion of an investigation into the physical disorders associated with regressive autism is: The primary cause of regressive autism is bottle feeding followed by vaccination.

From the Internet: “The cause is of ulcerative colitis is unknown. … Attacks may be provoked by many factors, including respiratory infections.” Pertussis, mumps and measles, in addition to being respiratory infections are components of vaccines. Thus, both MMR and DpT vaccines can cause colitis, a physical ailment common in regressive autistic children.

Bottle feeding followed by respiratory infection can cause regressive autism. (Reminder, pertussis. mumps and measles are respiratory infections.)

Bottle feeding is a risk for all the physical ailments because it predisposes the child to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). (A marginal respiratory system can also predispose the child toward OSA, which directly underlies all the physical ailments. The intestines, the pancreas and the kidneys will be used as examples. During an apnea the diaphragm makes multiple attempts at efforts 10 to 15 times normal effort in the attempt to overcome the airway obstruction. The intestines, pancreas and kidneys are ‘pounded’ hundreds of times a night resulting in colitis, diabetes and gout. Although reflux and ear infections are also secondary to OSA, different mechanisms are involved.

Refrigerators to store baby bottles are more likely to be found in urban areas and developed countries than in rural areas and undeveloped countries.

( google: three sources of autism)

[abitcrunchy]

Its really simple. If there is proof that vaccines do not cause Autism then we would see thousands of websites where lists upon lists of stories about Autistic children who were NEVER vaccinated could be found

But there is not a single article, website, peer-reviewed study, paper, book or anything else listing these children's stories is there?

It's not rocket science! I've been at this for over 12 years and have read story after story after story that is almost identical - baby is normal, baby gets vaccine, baby is never normal again. If I read just half that many stories of babies who suddenly became Autistic and never had the shots, then I might give up the fight...I imagine many of us would.

Why won't they (our trusted government) do the studies?

[Leedox]

How about an entire country? Thimerosal has been banned in Australia for 10 years and we still have lots of Autistic children. My 7 yr old son is one of them. This fact alone tells me vaccines are not the cause for Aussie children. I have read many times over that parents in AMerica saw the change after the vaccine and I can say that for my child the vaccines never caused him to regress or get very ill. I don't doubt the other parents since we are talking about 2 different countries but i think it must be noted that Australia still has many Autistic children. I wish it weren't so.

[TruthWinsNow]

"If you look for major differences between life in Somalia and life in Minnesota, you will find that one has lots of sunlight and very few vaccines -- and the other has less sunlight, but lots of vaccines." - This explains a lot. If our medical establishment and health care officials think this way, there would have been much progress in Autism prevention. Shame on them for not doing so.

[Vivian Norris de Montaigu - Huffpost Blogger]

I raised my child in France and ordered all of her vaccines separately , instead of giving them in one dose of 5 or 3, which can overwhelm a child's immune system and make it crash...you can do this and space out the vaccines...and only give really needed ones!!!!

Look at the evidence of multiple vaccines given in very short periods of time to Gulf War soldiers during the first Gulf War...also look into co-factors­/contamina­nts which appear in vaccines such as mycroplasmas and adjuvants. Check out:http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/2006/Apr_5/scandal77.htm

I also did not give my child vaccines that were not needed until we lived in the US for 6 months and she was forced to have a chicken pox vaccine to go to public school...why do we need chicken pox vacccines???...she got sick from that vaccine and had lots of health problems in the US directly tied to pesticides, pollutants and hormones in foods.

We came back to Europe and she got better. I held off on further vaccines.

It should be criminal that young girls are being vaccinated in Texas for the virus which causes cervical cancer! Just refuse to do it! Teach your daughters to protect themselves

[jened]

right on Vivian!! That's exactly what you need to do as the parent. You have to be a maverick (to use a John McCain phrase) to navigate your children through this medical/healthcare system. I feel really sorry for people in the U.S. because they seem to push the vaccination agenda way more than in Canada, evenl. I'd be interested in how they deal with the hep b vaccine now there in France. Do many people give it to their babies? You're right about chicken pox. When they added that to the Canadian schedule, that's when I lost faith in the common sense and purpose of the vaccination program.

[Josephius]

"and ordered all of her vaccines separately , instead of giving them in one dose of 5 or 3, which can overwhelm a child's immune system and make it crash"

Huh?! You are describing a phenomenon that has never been reported in the scientific literature. Where did you come up with this?

"Look at the evidence of multiple vaccines given in very short periods of time to Gulf War soldiers "From the Gulf-war illness report: "The report concludes there is no clear link between the illness and a veteran's exposure to factors such as depleted uranium or an anthrax vaccine administered at the time."

"It should be criminal that young girls are being vaccinated in Texas for the virus which causes cervical cancer! Just refuse to do it! Teach your daughters to protect themselves"
Yeah, not only girls, but boys too!
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/heart-to-heart/2008/11/17/7-facts-you-need-to-know-about-hpv-and-gardasil.html

[abitcrunchy]

Depending on what U.S. state you lived in, its highly likely that you fell for a big lie when you gave her the chickenpox vaccine. Most states have at least one way out of vaccines, if not two or three. But find a principal or teacher who knows that (insert eye roll). They believe their lies, just like the doctors do.

[bluevalentine]

David, as usual, THANKS!
As for the poor Somali children being harmed by America...good luck.
I'v wondered for the last couple of years what was up with Somali children and autism. Mostly because the therapists my son has have many, many. many, Somali children. Because of HIPPA there has never been an elaboration on the topic, but I wondered if it was for speech being in a new country or something along those lines....but that is something I only see in the preschool programs (speech for new arrivals to the US), not in in-home developmental therapies.
Anyway, I feel for the families and hope that they fond someone who cares enough to get answers for them. America has David Kirby and Robert Kennedy Jr, and a few other heros for our cause....but we don't have anyone listening or making a move to help our children from a position of authority (DOCTORS!!!!!!! AAP!!!!!!!!! CDC!!!!!!!!!)
I am afraid that the Somali families will end up like the rest of us here.....left out in the cold, only to hope, and to lose:(

(How's that for hitting the negative of our society?)

[passionlessDrone]

I'm not saying the facts shouldn't be studied, but the domain ethioautis­msupport.c­om was first registered in 2008 from the US and is presented in English.

Hehe. One wonders how many people in Ethiopia have internet availability. And are literate. And read in English.

[jened]

write the Red Cross. This is important to really look into.

[AutismNewsBeat]

Yes, I agree. The medical professionals at the Red Cross, the ones who truly understand that vaccines are far, far safer than the diseases they prevent, will help put an end to Mr. Kirby's reckless speculation.

[jened]

You KNOW they're safer, eh? All those combinations of vaccinations have never been studied for safety. The Hannah Poling case finding sort of indicates that there really could be a problem.

[Josephius]

How come no mention of the role Vitamin D has in gene regulation and the fact that autism has its roots in de novo CNV's? Seems to me that's a better place to look than vaccines or mercury.

BTW, the kids in Sweden, did not receive a single vaccine with thimerosal in it. They do not use it. Explain that one (or, ignore it like you usually do).

[jened]

I believe only about a gazillion people have mentioned to you before that we don't necessarily know that it is the thimerosal. It is one of the contenders, but there are many other ingredients that may alone or in combination cause harm in some infants/children. You can not like anecdotal evidence all you want but there are too many parents who have seen their children go downhill or even die after vaccinations. You once mentioned some experts who could see autism in children before the parents even noticed it. This does NOT negate the role of vaccines since babies get hep b at birth. Honest to God, how many times do you need to hear that a lot of us would rather 'skip' some of the useless vaccines, like chicken pox or hep b (Ya cause babies love to have sex and do needles)?

[AutismNewsBeat]

How many times do you need to hear that chicken pox is dangerous and that yes, infants do need Hep B because it can be spread by means others than sex and needles?

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5251a3.htm

[all4ben]

Why don't you look it up yourself. De novo CNV are not unique to autism. However it didn't take mush reading to rule out de novo CNV's as playing a role in most forms of autism, since studies only show a correlation in a small percentage of autism cases. Further, I don't think there is ANY research to show that de novo CNV's cause any cases of autism, any I won't lecture on correlation vs causation. Perhaps de novo CNV detection will merely be helpful in identifying populations that are susceptible to risk from environmental influences. You can't just compare de novo CNV detection rates between autistic individuals and the general population, since the set of autistic individuals already represents a 1:150 subset of the population. Also, you still have to ask, what is causing the de nova CNV's in the first place?

The question of why autism rates among Somali's in Sweden is high is a one that needs to be studied.

For people who make healthy choices, there is simply nothing desirable about downing some mercury, regardless of what it may or may no be linked to. At the very least its like talking on the cell phone while drive – its just not a good idea even if everyone does it.

[Josephius]

I have "looked it up myself", thank you, it was a rhetorical question. "However it didn't take mush reading to rule out de novo CNV's as playing a role in most forms of autism, since studies only show a correlation in a small percentage of autism cases."

What did you read? A small percentage of cases? When they examine groups, yes, the groups are small relative to the population. That doesn't equate to only a few have CNVs. That's an erroneous interpretation.

Science and Nature (the top two peer-reviewed scientific journals) have recently published studies that show groups examined DO have large percentages of CNVs in their test groups relative to the general population.

"You can't just compare de novo CNV detection rates between autistic individuals and the general population, since the set of autistic individuals already represents a 1:150 subset of the population."

Huh? I think you should re-examine that statement.

"Also, you still have to ask, what is causing the de nova CNV's in the first place?"
Good question, but not addressed by any of the studies. It is relevant because another symptom of mis-wiring, schizophrenia, is likely to be caused by CNVs as well.

[sdtech]

With regard to Thimerosal (which is 49 % mercury) one finds studies where “the data is not consistent” with other studies that do indicate mercury poisoning from vaccine mercury. But one does not find studies that prove it is safe in humans.

And no one should ASSUME that it is safe in humans. In that regard, W. Eugene Smith wrote this “It must be said” excerpt from the Japanese District Court condemning the failure to establish safety during the Chisso factory’s mercury pollution activities.

“…It must be said that a chemical plant, in discharging the waste water out of the plant, incurs an obligation to be highly diligent; to confirm safety through researches and studies regarding the presence of dangerous substances mixed in the waste water as well as their possible effects upon the animal, the plant, and the human body, always availing itself of the highest skill and knowledge; to provide necessary and maximum preventive measures such as immediate suspension of operation if a case should arise where there be some doubts as to safety.”

It is highly probable that the children of this country could have been spared the disabling effects of mercury poisoning from vaccine Thimerosal – if the watchdog agencies in our government had taken heed to this advice. Thirty five years later, instead of taking actions to “confirm safety” or for “immediate suspension” of mercury in vaccines, we still have Thimerosal in most flu vaccines in this country.

[abitcrunchy]

There was a meeting in Norcross Georgia, held on June 7-8, 2000 at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center. If mercury is so safe then why are the minutes of that meeting not available to the public? Many non-profit groups attended...their meetings are supposed to be open to the public. I'm not certain, but I believe this to be the law in all 50 states. Since the CDC, FDA and AAP (as well as other government agencies) are in constant violation of conflicts of interest rules, I guess they worded their by-laws to allow them to find a way around the state laws. Or maybe it's only when mercury and vaccines are the topic of discussion? Does that give them special permission to break the law?

If anyone understands the legal basis for why the very ones making decisions regarding vaccines are allowed to hold stock in pharmaceutical companies, please explain it to me. I just don't understand why its allowed.

Also - If anyone has copies or access to the ever so secret documents mentioned above, I beg you to share!

[bluevalentine]

Are you sure that the Somali children receive the same vaccines that the Swedish children do? And given the fact the there has never been a study on the safety of vaccines in teh amount that our childen receive them to day.....maybe these children are receiving more vaccines in a shorter period of time. The vaccines have many other preservatives other than mercury, and those may be just as toxic. Especially aluminum. Another metal salt....NEVER studied for safety when executed with another metal salt...mercury....
And Josephius, have you ever wondered why the Swedes do not use it? They recognized the fact that there is NOTHING good about mercury. We here in America still have mercury in our vaccines. It is only our of some, definitely not all, and that is also a problem.
And also, it really makes me angry to know that thimerosal is not used AT ALL for anything given to a dog due to it's effects on their neurological system! True, and sad, out children are not treated as well as dogs...nice....

[Josephius]

The schedule is nearly identical. There is no source of variability between the groups.

"We here in America still have mercury in our vaccines."
Check your facts. Most children do not receive any vaccines with thimerosal (unless you are taking them to flu-shot clinics where they use multi-dose vials). Just because older alternative formulations are still available doesn't mean "all of our kids are being injected with thimerosal". Company marketing reports make this very clear.

If you are truly, truly worried about mercury exposure in your kids, then they should be wearing a gas mask at all times, because most of the mercury they will be exposed to is airborne (unless you have them on an all canned tuna diet).

[sdtech]

To ThoJ
Here are two more Google suggestions.
Just type in:
JAPAN NAME FOR MERCURY POISONING
W. Eugene Smith and his wife Aileen lived in Japan for three years. He wrote these eloquent words in 1975 in his book “Minamata – The story of the poisoning of a city and the people who choose to carry the burden of courage.”

“Today, if you the have the courage to reach out to the child poisoned in the womb, across the barrier of a twisted body, across the barrier of slurred or nonexistent speech, you find yourself groping towards the being that does live, somehow, behind the barrier. Envision as you may, though, you cannot project the child normal and whole, you can not project the child that might have been, the child not struck by poison. The child itself, can that child ever have recollections of a beginning? That child is an island, rising out of unfathomable depths. We have no way to comprehend.”

Today, 50 years later, people in Japan are still suffering from the mercury exposure and Minamata disease.
And next Google:
Mercury in Flu Shots

[Josephius]

Funny how Minamata disease and autism look nothing alike. (Google for you: Omnibus autism proceeding­s...sub-ca­tegory how Minamata diseases was used to discredit the purported mercury-autism link).

Acrodynia looks nothing like autism.

And no one adds mercury to flu shots. They add Ethyl(2-me­rcaptobenz­oato-(2-)-­O,S)mercur­ate(1-) sodium to bulk vaccines (a not to single dose vials). Where did the lack of basic chemistry go in this country? No one has ever added mercury to a vaccine.

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

You sir, are an idiot. "No one has ever added mercury to a vaccine"????? Look up mercurate, you'll find that there is a little thing in there called Hg. Thimerosal, which IS added to many vaccines, is 50% mercury by weight.

[hanjo]

Josephius,

"Acrodynia looks nothing like autism"

EXPLAIN. And, be careful not to reveal NPD.

[Helke]

Josephius,
Ethyl(2-me­rcaptobenz­oato-(2-)-­O,S)mercur­ate(1-) sodium IS the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) name for THIMEROSAL.

[SuxanneUg]

I am Ugandan and my sisters son who is now 5 years of age stopped talking (making baby noises) at the age of one year....right after severely reacting to a vaccine he received.......He still does not speak a word till now and tends to be violent with other strange sypmptoms.....I do understand why this disorder is becoming more common....­especially in the era of increased vaccination....do our children really need all thos (modified viruses in their systems)....I mean thats what many vaccines are..... I have also read alot of articles speculating that contaminants in vaccines are the most likely source of this.....perhaps the reaction in somali children is aggravated by their nutritional status??? I am thinking VERY twice about giving any of my children these vaccines.....our health system has inadequate resources to deal with common diseases like malaria....what would happen if we got an epidermic of autism.....its unlikely that the government would support families with autism. Infact my sister had to travel to S.Africa do conduct tests for diagnosis....if vaccines are causing this....there is trouble ahead for low and middle income countries.....on top of all the have.....SAD!

[Gatogorra]

Suxanne-- As an American with two effected children (twins), I wouldn't wish this on anyone. My children are recovering slowly, but the cost of treating them for vaccine injuries is cruel, even for middle to upper income families. I can't imagine how parents below middle income or in countries without access to these treatment methods could do it.

My family believes that vaccines are a cause. We also wonder about the "charity" of WHO and other organizations which are in such a rush to bring thimerosal-laden vaccines to "underdeveloped" countries. Some believe it is less about saving certain populaces from disease than about wiping out the "control" population of undervaccinated or unvaccinated children, whose existance-- and possible low or nonexistant rates of autism-- are a standing accusation that excessive and unnecessarily toxic vaccines play a role in the American epidemic. Like many people, we're not anti-vaccine, we're anti-cheap­-toxic-exc­essive-pro­fit-orient­ed vaccines. There has to be an answer to deadly disease that doesn't exchange life-long tragedy.

I daydream about the formation of an independent international coalition which would go to investigate autism rates in areas of countries not yet hypervaccinated. I believe the first hand testimony of families saying that they'd never heard of autism until coming to this country. The race is on to verify this. I'm afraid of what will happen when other nations find out that their own (possibly coming) epidemics were facilitated by western medicine. This wouldn't exactly promote peace.

[RaisingAwareness]

I've been reading some testimonials from parent's of autistic children who have used CHELATION THERAPY to help their children remove heavy metals from their bodies. They claim varying degrees of success with this program. Some parents claim huge improvements others small but significant nonetheless.

Does anyone on this blog have any personal knowledge about any parent who has used CHELATION THERAPY for their child and if they've witnessed some degree of improvement in the child?

[Thrillcat]

We've been doing IV chelation and Glutathione for about 2 years and have seen GREAT improvement with my son. Increased language, reading comprehension, socialization, de-sensitivity to foods and ability to have conversations. My neighbor keeps saying to me "If you didn't tell me he had autism I would have never guessed". You can read more about it on my blog: http://www.michaelsrecovery.blogspot.com

Btw- Great article David!

[RaisingAwareness]

Thank you for sharing this. It gives me great hope.

[AutismNewsBeat]

Save your money, RA. There is no good evidence that chelation helps children with autism.

Autism is a developmental disorder, meaning the child will develop and grow without quack therapies. That's why it's so easy to fool parents into thinking such therapies work - given enough time, and lack of a control group, tap water can look like a miracle cure.

Health care fraud is an $80 billion a year racket in the US, and the bad guys know about autism. Be careful out there.

[jened]

Oh, so Jenny McCarthy's kid either never had autism or he's not cured now, I guess. Funny but I sure hear a lot of parents say that chelation and bio-medical treatments are helping them. You must not want to believe it. Sure, it doesn't work for all kids but parents know there are risks and are willing to try diet and bio-med.

[ObjectiveAutismDad]

Where's your proof that chelation doesn't help???

Autism has no cure -- according to the main stream medical community. It is only recently that parents, and some few brave Doctors, have proven that this is not the case. Despite people like yourself who continue to slander them. No child ever recovered from autism with tap water.

I agree with you that there are a number of bad guys out there selling snake-oil. Chelation is not one of them. When you have blood, stool and urine tests that show high levels of heavy metals this is the standard protocol. If kids have lead poisoning that's what the doctors do. But some reason if they have mercury poisoning this is a quack therapy???

[RaisingAwareness]

Chelation Therapy is not a quack therapy. It's actually a mainstream, FDA approved treatment for heavy metal poisoning that's been used for over 40 years.

[ThoJ]

"Khalif says, it is "not possible" that autism could be this common in Somalia. "I've been living with it on a daily basis, with my own child. And I lived in Somalia and Kenya for a long time. If it was this common, we would have had a name for it, and we don't. That tells me it does not exist.""

Mr. Kirby, a quick google search brings up the National Autistic Society in Kenya. Not as cryptically named as, say, the Clinic For Special Children in Lancaster County. Perhaps you would like to contact them? It sounds like they use the name autistic there.

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=661

[ThoJ]

In 1982, it appears that in Kenya it was called, "Autism"

http://www.springerlink.com/content/c0t0035k8175q568/

I realize that you may have meant to narrow this down to Somali communities in Kenya. It would have been good to have made that clear.

Perhaps you would like to contact the MIND Institute, who have a Kenyan researcher. It appears from her webpage that autism can go undiagnosed in Kenya.

Ethiopia has auitsm:
http://ethioautismsupport.com/

Eritrea has autism.

Why do all the countries around Somalia have autism, but Somalia (in this model) does not?

[all4ben]

I'm not saying the facts shouldn't be studied, but the domain ethioautis­msupport.c­om was first registered in 2008 from the US and is presented in English.
"neurons (say: nur-ahns)"

[mfb]

You are displaying here the remarkable inability to make the distinction between the presence of a small number of cases in a large country and a rate of 1 in 28 children.

With respect to the facts in Kenya,, perhaps you should have read the study you cite before you claim that it suppports your argument. I have. Dhadphale et al (1982), in a survey of Kenyan clinics, were able to find only three cases of children with autism, “in all cases, the parents belonged to the upper socio-economic class”, including a medical doctor, a “brilliant engineer and the chairman of a “parastatal organization” among the fathers and a teacher, a career businesswoman and a 5-star hotel housekeeper among the mothers.

Connect the dots, my friend. Do you epidemic deniers have even the slightest capacity for critical thought?

[nhokkanen]

There is no similar agency in Somalia. And in what year was this lone Kenya branch established? In the U.S. we have many autism agencies in each of the 50 states.

[ThoJ]

Are you certain there is no similar society in Somalia? I was under the impression that absence of evidence is not the same thing as evidence of absence.

Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea all have autism. Even Muslim Yemen has autism. Take a look at how it is considered in Yemen:

“Unfortunately, not all the families who have autistic children attended the bazaar, though we tried to encourage them," said Ahlam Al-Arashi, the executive manager of the Yemen Center for Autism. "I don’t know what prevented them [from coming], but some families may still feel embarrassed to introduce their children into a society that assumes these children are insane.”
http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1137&p=local&a=1

If the vitamin D theory is valid, why only Somalis? Africa is a very large continent, with many immigrants to the U.S. and other northern places.

This is definitely something worth looking into, don't get me wrong. But the first order of business is to validate the assumptions. After that, one should ask larger questions--like why wouldn't Somalis get autism in their home country when all the surrounding countries have people identified with autism.

[theresma]

Just a quick glance at the National Autistic Society website shows that it's a UK group with resources around the world. This means that the Kenya branch of the NAS serves mainly (perhaps exclusively) UK expatriates living in Kenya, rather than Africans, so autism in Kenya is still likely a phenomenon of over-vaccinated Americans and Western Europeans, not native Africans. ThosJ's post appears to be disingenuous.

Another thought on the subject is that UNICEF and other groups are currently at work on vaccinating children in developing nations with the thimerosal­-containin­g vaccines that are too dangerous for Americans. It would be no surprise to me, then, if children in developing nations started developing autism.

[ThoJ]

I am assuming you haven't read Unstrange Minds? One of the countries featured in the book is Kenya. Not Americans and Western Europeans (over-vaccinated or not), but Africans.

Good book, I highly recommend it.

Perhaps David would like to contact someone who has actually studied Africans in Africa, when it comes to autism?

But, your response is an excellent demonstration of working diligently to fit any data to the vaccine hypothesis. "Autism in Kenya is not due to native Africans" moves seemlessly into, "Native Africans have autism due to vaccination by Unicef."

[all4ben]

Thank you for keeping on this story. What is wrong with these people that they are not studying this more urgently? This Galapagos like population should be ground zero for autism research. Are you listening Obama team? START HERE. Just for the record, our parents had no word for autism either growing up.

[HeatherO]

Excellent piece David! This is so heartbreaking. Our Minnesota public health officials have stalled and brushed off the concerns of families affected by autism for far too long. This is far too important and critical a situation of them to discount. Too many piece of the puzzle are falling into place and too many children have been needlessly harmed.