New Research Hope for US Autism Families - 1 in 100 US Kids Affected
Clifford G. Miller
October 28, 2009
Little notice was taken in 2006 when Dr Francis S. Collins MD PhD's unequivocal evidence to the US House of Representatives should have resolved a controversy raging for two decades over the causes of the worldwide pandemic of autism in children. But today Collins controls the US´ annual medical research budget of $30.5 billion making what Collins´ said of substantial international significance for many millions of parents and their children and for funding of research into the causes of autism.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability affecting 1 in 100 US children. Some rates reported internationally are higher. Those affected can be unable to care for themselves and have difficulty with social communication, interaction and imagination.
Collins as a leading medical doctor and geneticist who led the Human Genome Project confirmed in public evidence to the US House of Representatives in May 2006 that recent increases in chronic diseases like diabetes, childhood asthma, obesity or autism must have an environmental [external] cause and cannot be solely genetically [internally] caused conditions.
The drug industry, medical experts, World Health Organisation and government health officials worldwide have systematically represented autism spectrum conditions as solely genetically caused whilst denying any role of other factors like environmental toxins or childhood vaccines. Independent scientists, medical experts and parents contradict this and say there is good evidence autism is caused by vaccines and environmental toxins like mercury.
The NIH makes almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 325,000 researchers at over 3,000 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every US state and around the world. About 10% of the NIH´s budget supports projects conducted by nearly 6,000 scientists in its own laboratories, most of which are on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
Collins was appointed and sworn in as the 16th Director the US National Institutes of Health on 17th August 2009 after nomination by President Obama.
With autism now affecting 1 in 100 US children it was a political issue during the 2008 presidential election campaign. Senators McCain, Clinton and Obama all made statements in favour of research into the causes of autism.
"No matter who wins in Pennsylvania .... the next President of the United States will support research into the growing evidence of some link between vaccines and autism." wrote journalist and award winning author David Kirby in Obama Climbs On The Vaccine Bandwagon - April 22, 2008 - Huffington Post.
Bill Clinton said when campaigning for Hilary Clinton: "You do not want to bring your children into the world where we go on with the number of children who are born with autism tripling every 20 years, and nobody knows why" 12 May 2008 [Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama returning to Oregon - Amy Easley and Tony Fuller, KTVZ.COM].
Collins 2006 evidence when Director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute on the autism issue included these remarks:- "Recent increases in chronic diseases like diabetes, childhood asthma, obesity or autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool as those changes take much more time to occur. They must be due to changes in the environment, including diet and physical activity, which may produce disease in genetically predisposed persons. " Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Evidence to US House of Representatives Committee May 2006
But does this mean change or no change? Things may not be looking too hopeful: "Story Landis, PhD, director of the National Institute of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), an NIH agency, surprised many parents on Friday by stating that autism researchers should study "the children who have been most profoundly affected" by adverse reactions to vaccination. "On Saturday, Dr. Landis abruptly resigned from the powerful Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), which helps direct hundreds of millions in federal tax dollars to autism research, treatment, care and services."NIH Agency Head Backs Vaccine-Autism Research on Friday; Resigns from Federal Autism Panel on Saturday David Kirby Huffington Post 20th October 2009.
Kirby followed up with: NIH Director Francis Collins Blames Resignation Of Top Health Official From Autism Panel On "Tension And Lack Of Trust"
The idea autism is solely genetic has it foundations in the work of English psychiatrist Professor Sir Michael Rutter.
The ChildHealth Safety blog claims in its article "Autism Not Genetic – Says Expert Professor Simon Baron Cohen" to demonstrate the unscientific and flawed logic of the original paper in which the idea that autism was solely genetic was born: ["Infantile autism: A genetic study of 21 twin pairs." J. Child Psychol. Psychiat. 18, 297-321 (1977)] quoting Cambridge University England's British autism expert Professor Simon Baron Cohen contradicting the idea autism is a genetic condition:- "We know that autism is not 100% genetic in origin, since in the case of identical twins (who share 100% of their genes), there are instances of one twin having autism and the other not having it. In fact, the likelihood of the co-twin also having autism where one of them has it (in monozygotic (MZ) pairs) is about 60%. This means that there must be some non-genetic (i.e., environmental) factors that are part of the cause of autism."
ChildHealthSafety claims that what tells us autism is not genetic are the identical twins who do not both develop autism but where one does and the other does not. If the condition were genetic both twins should develop it being both genetically identical.
It seems Rutter was wrong to conclude that if 60% of identical twins develop autism the condition must be genetic. Those identical twins who both develop autism tells us nothing about whether the cause is "internal" [that is solely genetic] or "external" [environmental]. All anyone can say is their bodies have responded identically to the same set of conditions which include internal and external conditions.
It far more likely than not identical twins have identical living conditions and are exposed to the same enviromental factors at the same time and to the same extent. The experiences in their lives are more likely than not to be identical for both. And both twins are more likely than not to have their vaccinations at the same time. All illness is genetic whether "internal" or "external" so it is medically incorrect to describe any condition as "genetic". We only get ill because we are genetic but we are all genetically different so some catch flu when others rarely or never suffer from it. What we can conclude is that autism is an environmentally [externally] caused condition, with some more susceptible than others, like most other human medical conditions.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability affecting 1 in 100 US children. Some rates reported internationally are higher. Those affected can be unable to care for themselves and have difficulty with social communication, interaction and imagination.
Collins as a leading medical doctor and geneticist who led the Human Genome Project confirmed in public evidence to the US House of Representatives in May 2006 that recent increases in chronic diseases like diabetes, childhood asthma, obesity or autism must have an environmental [external] cause and cannot be solely genetically [internally] caused conditions.
The drug industry, medical experts, World Health Organisation and government health officials worldwide have systematically represented autism spectrum conditions as solely genetically caused whilst denying any role of other factors like environmental toxins or childhood vaccines. Independent scientists, medical experts and parents contradict this and say there is good evidence autism is caused by vaccines and environmental toxins like mercury.
The NIH makes almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 325,000 researchers at over 3,000 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every US state and around the world. About 10% of the NIH´s budget supports projects conducted by nearly 6,000 scientists in its own laboratories, most of which are on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
Collins was appointed and sworn in as the 16th Director the US National Institutes of Health on 17th August 2009 after nomination by President Obama.
With autism now affecting 1 in 100 US children it was a political issue during the 2008 presidential election campaign. Senators McCain, Clinton and Obama all made statements in favour of research into the causes of autism.
"No matter who wins in Pennsylvania .... the next President of the United States will support research into the growing evidence of some link between vaccines and autism." wrote journalist and award winning author David Kirby in Obama Climbs On The Vaccine Bandwagon - April 22, 2008 - Huffington Post.
Bill Clinton said when campaigning for Hilary Clinton: "You do not want to bring your children into the world where we go on with the number of children who are born with autism tripling every 20 years, and nobody knows why" 12 May 2008 [Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama returning to Oregon - Amy Easley and Tony Fuller, KTVZ.COM].
Collins 2006 evidence when Director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute on the autism issue included these remarks:- "Recent increases in chronic diseases like diabetes, childhood asthma, obesity or autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool as those changes take much more time to occur. They must be due to changes in the environment, including diet and physical activity, which may produce disease in genetically predisposed persons. " Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Evidence to US House of Representatives Committee May 2006
But does this mean change or no change? Things may not be looking too hopeful: "Story Landis, PhD, director of the National Institute of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), an NIH agency, surprised many parents on Friday by stating that autism researchers should study "the children who have been most profoundly affected" by adverse reactions to vaccination. "On Saturday, Dr. Landis abruptly resigned from the powerful Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), which helps direct hundreds of millions in federal tax dollars to autism research, treatment, care and services."NIH Agency Head Backs Vaccine-Autism Research on Friday; Resigns from Federal Autism Panel on Saturday David Kirby Huffington Post 20th October 2009.
Kirby followed up with: NIH Director Francis Collins Blames Resignation Of Top Health Official From Autism Panel On "Tension And Lack Of Trust"
The idea autism is solely genetic has it foundations in the work of English psychiatrist Professor Sir Michael Rutter.
The ChildHealth Safety blog claims in its article "Autism Not Genetic – Says Expert Professor Simon Baron Cohen" to demonstrate the unscientific and flawed logic of the original paper in which the idea that autism was solely genetic was born: ["Infantile autism: A genetic study of 21 twin pairs." J. Child Psychol. Psychiat. 18, 297-321 (1977)] quoting Cambridge University England's British autism expert Professor Simon Baron Cohen contradicting the idea autism is a genetic condition:- "We know that autism is not 100% genetic in origin, since in the case of identical twins (who share 100% of their genes), there are instances of one twin having autism and the other not having it. In fact, the likelihood of the co-twin also having autism where one of them has it (in monozygotic (MZ) pairs) is about 60%. This means that there must be some non-genetic (i.e., environmental) factors that are part of the cause of autism."
ChildHealthSafety claims that what tells us autism is not genetic are the identical twins who do not both develop autism but where one does and the other does not. If the condition were genetic both twins should develop it being both genetically identical.
It seems Rutter was wrong to conclude that if 60% of identical twins develop autism the condition must be genetic. Those identical twins who both develop autism tells us nothing about whether the cause is "internal" [that is solely genetic] or "external" [environmental]. All anyone can say is their bodies have responded identically to the same set of conditions which include internal and external conditions.
It far more likely than not identical twins have identical living conditions and are exposed to the same enviromental factors at the same time and to the same extent. The experiences in their lives are more likely than not to be identical for both. And both twins are more likely than not to have their vaccinations at the same time. All illness is genetic whether "internal" or "external" so it is medically incorrect to describe any condition as "genetic". We only get ill because we are genetic but we are all genetically different so some catch flu when others rarely or never suffer from it. What we can conclude is that autism is an environmentally [externally] caused condition, with some more susceptible than others, like most other human medical conditions.
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