GMOs, Vaccines and Pesticides

Well I had every intention of posting yesterday for World Autism Awareness day.  We were heading to a fundraiser last night with friends from high school, so my plan was to do it afterwards.  We were going out early, I reasoned, so I’d have plenty of time to do it after we returned.  Well, I’ll just say things got a bit out of hand, and apparently we are now going to Vegas in October. J   Anyhoo, here is the post I had intended to write yesterday.  And Billy will not be happy with me as it is far from brief.

I know right now that this post will not will me any fans.  It’s not a Coleman specific story, which is why I had originally targeted it for World Autism Awareness Day.   I wanted to talk about some of the factors that influence autism…but there are so many.  Please remember I said that:  There are many factors that influence autism.  I’ve picked three to talk about here, in part because they are actionable – they are factors that you can consider in your life, or factors that your own children can consider as they become adults.  But I am not saying these are the only ones. 

GMOs

Given how much I like to eat, I figured I would start with the food chain.  J  GMO’s are ruining us my friends.   GMO’s (or “genetically modified organisms”) are living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering.  Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide.  For example, more than 80% of all corn now contains its own internal insecticide genetically engineered into its DNA.  Despite biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.  The long term effects of GMO are not known, but there is evidence that questions their safety.  Since the introduction of GMOs into the food supply in the 1990’s, allergic reactions have skyrocketed.  For example, widespread GMO soy was introduced in 1996, soy allergies have dramatically increased.  Likewise, peanut allergies (peanuts are in the same plant family as soy) have risen 20% each year starting in 1997, the year after GMO soy starting being widely consumed.  In 1999, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet reported that despite a presumption that GMO foods pose no risks compared to their conventional counterparts, there are “good reasons to believe that specific risks may exist”, concluding that “governments should never have allowed these products into the food chain without insisting on rigorous testing for effects on health.”   Because more than 80% of corn and 90% of soy is now genetically modified, and since most infant formulas contain both corn and soy, many children are having very early exposure to GMOs that may be disrupting their systems.  Gluten intolerance and Celiac disease have also grown exponentially, and it is estimated that Celiac Disease diagnosis rate may reach 50%-60% by 2019. Is it a coincidence that many kids with autism have gluten intolerance?  Is it coincidence that the very large majority of kids on the spectrum have GI issues, and can we not wonder about the correlation between GMOs and gut issues?  Coleman specifically has a long history of GI issues which began when I stopped nursing him.  I found nursing difficult to keep up after my 3 month maternity leave, working full time with two other children to care for.  Coleman developed reflux and stopped pooping.  The doctor suggested a soy formula for Coleman which he used until he stopped using a bottle.  We then moved him to Soy milk.  Interestingly neither of these products solved his GI issues.  GMOs are now considered unsafe across the globe.  In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., however, the government has approved the use of GMOs.  Sadly, the decision was based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. 

Pesticides

Aside from the actual GMO crops themselves, a further issue is the use of pesticides on our crops and their impact on our health.  Pesticides were developed during World War II as scientists were trying to find better ways to kill people.  They learned to develop effective nerve poisons and the U.S. manufactured it in large quantities.  But the war ended before we could use all of the poison that had been developed and we ended up with warehouses full of it.  Rather than waste it, chemists reconfigured the compounds in much lower doses so they could use it to kill insects and other pests.  So, a chemical originally intended to kill people is now being ingested by people in very small doses.  Sound like a good plan?  Would you give it to your newborn, even if they said “Its ok- we don’t have any evidence that it will do any harm in these tiny doses”??    Organophosphates (the most commonly used pesticide in the US) work by inhibiting cholinesterase in the nervous system.  This process disrupts acetylcholine (a neurotransmitter) and ultimately impacts muscle control, motor function, behavior disturbances, and a lack of coordination.  Hmm, sounds eerily similar to autism symptoms.    

Though the EPA banned household use of most organophosphates in 2001, over 33 million pounds are still applied for agricultural and commercial uses each year. There have been several studies published linking exposure to organophosphates to ADD/ADHD and to higher risks of autism.  One study by the National Institute of Environmental Health study found that children whose mothers lived within a mile of fields treated with organophosphate pesticides during their pregnancy were 60% more likely to develop autism spectrum disorders than children whose mothers did not live near treated fields. Additionally, children whose mothers lived near fields treated with organophosphate pesticide, during the second trimester of the pregnancy were 3.3 times more likely to develop autism.  And yet another study in the medical journal Pediatrics published results linking pesticides to ADD/ADHD.  Most of us can handle small amounts of toxins without noticeable effects, but there exists in all of us a limit.  When that limit is surpassed, our body is unable to detoxify, and those toxins burden our system in unique ways.  Which leads me to vaccines. 

Vaccines

Ah, the highly debated and super controversial topic of vaccines.  I will win no fans here I am sure, but this isn’t a popularity contest.  I will say first that I am not anti-vaccine.  I had all of my kids vaccinated according to schedule.  That was before I actually did a bit of my own research.  Still, I support vaccination.  But I believe we should all fight for an open and honest discussion about vaccine safety, we should question the incestuous relationship between CDC and pharmaceutical manufacturers and insist on non-biased review of any new vaccines by independent boards without conflicting interests, and we should closely re-examine the vaccine schedule and re-consider the one size fits all approach that the current schedule seems to support,   

The discussion about vaccine safety is hardly honest.  Anyone who questions vaccines is suddenly labeled “Anti Vax” and viciously characterized as “crazy’ and ‘irresponsible’ which you guys will all probably label me after this!  But in this age of the Internet,  you can do your own research.  You should understand that being concerned about vaccines is not the same as discounting the dangers of infectious diseases.   Vaccine safety starts with the manufacturer.  But the fact that pharmaceutical companies are indemnified by the government against liability certainly removes the incentive from the companies to supply the safest, most effective vaccines possible.  Instead of suing the companies directly for injuries sustained from vaccine, there is a special vaccine court that compensates the very few patients who can prove their injury beyond a shadow of a doubt. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out over 3 billion dollars to date.   But vaccines are “safe”. 

And the incestuous relationship between the CDC and the vaccine manufacturers is appalling.  According to Robert F. Kennedy Fr, “There have been four separate, scathing, federal studies by the United States Congress: a three-year study by Congressman Burton, a follow-up study by Senator Coburn’s committee, another study by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2008, and a study last year by the Office of Research Integrity of HHS. All of those studies paint the CDC as an absolute cesspool of corruption, as an agency that has fallen under the spell of this trillion-dollar Big Pharma industry. Instead of serving its primary mission, which is to protect public health, its mission now, according to these federal studies, is to serve the mercantile interests of the vaccine industry. “ 

Now consider that many of the studies to review the link between autism and vaccines have been funded by these two groups.  Fox minding the henhouse much?  The two most oft cited studies supporting vaccine safety are Madsen, 2002 and Destafano 2004.  The Madsen study, which supposedly compared vaccinated to unvaccinated children, was co-authored by Paul Thorsen, who is on the US Government’s most wanted list for fraud.  Thorsen is a co-author of 22 papers on autism and 5 papers on vaccine safety that still stand and are widely referenced by other authors. Thorsen lives happily in Denmark and continues to write scientific papers today.  Why is someone on the FBI’s “most wanted” list for defrauding the CDC of over a million dollars being left alone in Denmark?   More importantly, why does the Department of Justice continue to cite Thorsen’s Research?  It is unreal that the very Justice Department responsible for indicting him and for prosecuting his case, continues to use papers he co-authored to substantiate legal decisions that absolve vaccine damage. 

The other study was Destefano 2004.  One of the authors of that paper was Dr. William Thompson, who was granted official whistleblower status and immunity, alleging that the authors manipulated data to cover an association between vaccines and autism in African American males vaccinated before the age of 36 months. The other author was Dr. Frank DeStefano, the CDC Director of Immunization Safety. Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson posted a recorded phone call she had with Dr. DeStefano.   In this interview, Dr. DeStefano admitted that the CDC omitted a large group of African American children based on the absence of birth certificates.   Both of these studies are in good part the basis for the “indisputable” science you hear about ‘debunking’ the link between autism and vaccines.  Sound credible to you?

For me, my belief in a link between autism and vaccines is not based on science.  I personally base my opinion on the literally thousands of moms and parents whose child was hitting all of their milestones on time until they got a round of vaccines at around 18 months of age that led to a sudden and definitive loss of all the child’s previously acquired skills and ended  with a diagnosis of “autism”.  These parents tell the same story, eerily similar, over and over again.  I just don’t believe that thousands of parents are wrong.  Plain and simple.  As parents we know our kids.  We know when something changes.    We should demand further studies into vaccine safety.  Within the total NIH budget, less than 1% of a>$30 billion budget is spent on autism research. 

The other debatable issue of vaccines is the schedule.  The US childhood immunization schedule requires 26 vaccine doses for infants aged less than 1 year, the most in the world.  Surprisingly, despite this ‘protection’, 33 nations have better Infant mortality rates.  Do we really need all these vaccines?  I commonly hear the comment “I had all of my vaccines and I’m fine.”  Well consider this:  when I was born the total doses of vaccines given from birth to 18 years was about 5.  In 1983 it was 24.  In 1986 pharmaceutical companies were given, by Congress, immunity from lawsuits.  And things changed.  The number of vaccines skyrocketed.  Today there are 69 doses of vaccines.  We seem to be vaccine crazy.  We should be confident that the CDC advisory committees that make the decision to add new vaccines to that schedule would be independent scientists with nothing to gain from a successful introduction of that vaccine.  But that’s not the case.   In 2008, the  Inspector General found that virtually all of the members of those committees had financial interests with the vaccine companies.  Make no mistake – vaccines are profit centers – they make products that the federal government orders people to buy.  Without independent oversight, we will continue to add unnecessary vaccines and put our children further at risk. 

Take for example the Hep B vaccine.  Why are we giving newborns with no risk of infection this shot??   Can we please question the wisdom of giving a vaccine for a disease transmitted primarily through sexual activity and dirty needles?  Worse, there have been studies linking the Hep B vaccination to autism.

What about the chicken pox vaccine?  The chicken pox was simple illness when contracted in childhood.   Once contracted, you had lifetime immunity.  But this vaccine is an example of setting people up for waning immunity when they are older.

What about the flu shot which (at least until very recently) still contained mercury?  The current CDC recommendation is “Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every season.”  Forget that the Cochrane Collaboration made it clear that there is no evidence that flu shots are effective at all in children under two.  And forget they have never been studied in immunocompromised people. 

Finally, how about the HPV vaccine?  Will you let your teenager assume the risk of developing overwhelming autoimmune illness in order to cut the risk of death by cervical cancer (30-40 years away on average) by 0.5%? And what about the growing list of countries where criminal lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers of the HPV vaccine, including Spain, France, India, Japan, and many more.  What about the study done in Australia by a doctor after several patients who were teenagers became menopausal after the vaccine?  Still feel confidant it’s safe?    

I am not suggesting anyone stop vaccinating.  I only ask you to do your own research and demand safe products. Space your vaccines out.  Never give Tylenol before or after a vaccine (it depletes glutathione, the body’s chief detoxifying agent).  Most of all, whatever you think about vaccination, think long and hard before you endorse the idea that the government should be able to mandate a profitable but invasive medical procedure without informed consent. This is the very basis of medical practice and abandoning consent sets a very dangerous precedent.  This is about your freedom to choose what goes into your body and your child’s body.  Don’t give that up. 

For me, I'll never know what caused Coleman’s autism.  I’m sure it was many, many contributing factors, including those talked about here.  What factor exactly pushed the toxic tipping point beyond manageable for Coleman?  I don’t know.  But if I knew then what I know now, I would have done some things differently that is for sure. 

Now I promise tomorrow to start on true Coleman updates.  J