Unlocking Autism News Alert......September 1, 2008

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Legislature Approves 90% of Blue

Ribbon Commission Bills

SPECIAL ON AUTISM ONE RADIO...archived

ARI Releases New

Autism.tv Site

Join me at the Defeat Autism Now! Conferencec,

Fall 2008

Fears of long-range side effects fuel

vaccine debate

From the Desk of Rick Rollens:

Legislature Approves 90% of Blue Ribbon Commission Bills

It is with great pleasure and pride that I am happy to report to you that

the California Legislature this year approved 9 of the 10 bills that were

introduced, sponsored and co-sponsored by the Legislative Blue Ribbon

Commission on Autism. All of the bills received strong bi-partisan

support.

These bills which, are already law or await action by Governor

Schwarzenegger, deal with such important autism related issues as

housing, insurance reform, teacher credentialing, peace officer training,

early,

identification and referral, and the establishment of important pilot

programs to showcase and develop programs that will and do work.

While we await final action by the Governor, we should stop and recognize

this major accomplishment by many individuals and the autism community

for the successful passage of 9 important bills by the California

Legislature at a time of severe Budget and political crisis. It is indeed

an impressive accomplishment.

This action by the California Legislature represents the approval by a

Legislature of the most comprehensive package of autism related bills

that has ever been approved by ANY State Legislature ever.

Below is a list of the bills.

SB 527, SB 1175, SB 1475, SB 1531, SB 1563, SCR 97, AB 131, AB

1872, AB 2302

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SPECIAL ON AUTISM ONE RADIO

www.autismone.org/radio

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

1:00 pm - 1:30 ET

Polly Tommey presents: Autism Issues Around the World

Guest: Lord

Topic: Autism in Orphanages in Romania

Lord describes her involvement in F.R.O.D.O. (Foundation for

the Relief of Disabled Orphans), a charity focused on providing

professional care support through visiting teams to orphans in

institutions in Romania. talks about the huge challenges faced

by all involved and shares her experience of the last three years with

Polly.

AUTISM ONE RADIO PROGRAMS ARE ARCHIVED

AT

www.autismone.org/radio.

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ARI Releases New Autism.tv

Site

Link Your Child's Story to ARI's Latest Media Site

The Autism Research Institute is pleased to announce the release of its

Autism.tv website featuring links to stories of intervention and

recovery.

The website is intended to demonstrate to parents, physicians, and

research scientists that recovery is a reality for a significant

percentage of children with autism.

Autism.tv

links to caregiver stories about treatment

and recovery. Please send us existing story links to:

- Videos (youTube, short films, etc.)

- Online video news clips

- Online (written) news stories or blog articles published on the

Web

Visit

Autism.tv

Submit a Link (e-mail)

About Recovery

At ARI, we are very careful about giving false hope to parents; but

it is a far greater error to offer no hope, when recovery or

near-recovery is possible. ARI strives to give realistic hope, by

stating: " Autism Is Treatable, and Recovery is Possible. "

Dr. Bernard Rimland, ARI's Founder, worked exhaustively to identify

effective biomedical and behavioral treatments for autism. Decades ago,

when most believed children would progress only as far as their innate

potential permitted, Dr. Rimland spoke of recovery. And, in Dr. Rimland's

lifetime, we went from " no hope " to " hope for many. "

With hard work and luck, we will meet our ultimate goal: " prevention

and recovery for all. "

In the final months of his life, Dr. Rimland often talked about the

recovered children whose overjoyed parents shared their stories with ARI.

His face clearly showed how proud he was to know that increasing numbers

of children are improving dramatically from a disorder that, only a few

decades ago, was considered hopeless.

Please send your link - your video,

news clip or story can make a difference for families living with autism

today.

-------------------------------------------------------

Join me at the Defeat Autism Now! Conferencec, Fall 2008

Note From :

Registration is open for the

Defeat Autism Now! Fall

Conference. Make plans to

attend and hear the latest research and most current treatments from

doctors and researchers who are helping all those with autism.

Presentations for parents new to Defeat Autism Now! as well as a tracks

especially for those who are more experienced with this protocol are in

place.

Click

here

for a preview of what you can expect

from this conference.

Make plans now to attend, learn and network with other parents who are

striving to help their special person with autism. I'll see you

there!

The Defeat Autism Now! Conference team is pleased to announce lowered

daily rates for parents pre-registering for the Fall 2008

Conference in San Diego. Our standard parents' registration rate of $130

per day is now reduced to $99 per day for pre-registered parent

attendees.

Why Attend A Defeat Autism Now!® Conference?

Autism is Treatable. Recovery is

Possible!

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http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/35756

Scripps News, DC

Fears of long-range side effects fuel vaccine debate

Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 08/27/2008

- 15:53.

·

By LEE BOWMAN, Scripps

News Service

·

national

Barbara Loe Fisher has been fighting

about the safety of childhood vaccines for three decades.

But the president of the National Vaccine Information Center says she's

not opposed to vaccination so much as she's opposed to a

" one-size-fits-all vaccine policy imposed by government health

agencies. "

She became an activist after her oldest son, experienced

convulsions and brain inflammation within hours of his fourth DPT

(diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus) shot at age 2 1/2 in 1980, leaving

him with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.

Although the bulk of scientific studies have found little evidence that

vaccination is the cause of the growing number of young children being

diagnosed with autism and other development or neurological disorders,

Fisher says the question remains open because definitive, independent

studies haven't been done.

" We've seen a doubling of the number of vaccines and doses that the

government recommends to stay healthy before age 6, while at the same

time we've seen a tripling of the number of children with learning

disabilities, asthma, diabetes and other conditions, " Fisher said.

" The only way to put the question to rest is to do the proper

science. "

To her, that means a large, independent study of at least several

thousand children of diverse backgrounds enrolled in a full-scale

investigation into all possible environmental causes of autism. That

would mean some would go unvaccinated into their teens, some partially

vaccinated and the rest following standard guidelines. So far, no

organization in the medical establishment has agreed to sponsor such a

test.

" No one is saying this is necessarily all due to the increase in

vaccines, but vaccines shouldn't be left off the table when no one has

come up with an answer,'' Fisher said.

In the meantime, " parents simply have to be educated and put in the

best position to consider the risks and benefits of vaccines and the

various diseases. And they have to be free to make informed, voluntary

decisions for their children. That includes being able to get exemptions

and work with physicians to adjust vaccination schedules. Bigger and

bigger government clubs are not going to work,'' Fisher said.

Dr. Saad Omer, assistant professor at Emory University's School of Public

Health in Atlanta, said he agrees that the public health community needs

to do a better job communicating both the risks and benefits of vaccines.

" And I think government and industry need to spend more, be more

proactive, on vaccine safety research.

" On the front lines, no provider should be dismissive of parents

with concerns about vaccines. You should listen and try to address them,

not kick them out of your practice,'' he added.

Fisher notes, " The safety movement was largely launched by middle

class moms who had the education and time to analyze the medical

literature. But now we're in a third generation of parents dealing with

these issues, and it's a more diverse group with a much broader reach

because of the Internet. They can see that adverse reaction reports are

similar around the world. "

Yet despite an explosion of vaccine Web sites, pro and con, and assorted

celebrity-led campaigns demanding safer vaccines, studies suggest that

parents are most likely to accept the advice of their pediatricians on

childhood immunization.

Some doctors, following the lead of popular online pediatrician Dr.

Sears, do cooperate with parents on spacing out shots in the first

years of life at wider intervals than recommended, on the theory that

some babies' immune systems are less able to handle the challenge of

multiple vaccines given the same day.

Other doctors treat unvaccinated kids, but only if parents sign off that

they've been warned of the risks.

" The public health infrastructure of this country, the CDC and the

vaccine industry operate on the ideology that some adverse reactions to

vaccines are acceptable to serve the greater public good. But how many is

too many -- 5, 5000 or 5 million. It's a slippery ethical slope, "

Fisher said.

(E-mail Scripps News Service health and science writer Lee Bowman

at bowmanl(at)shns.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps News Service,

http://www.scrippsnews.com) Comment viewing options

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Talking

sense

Submitted by Anonymous (not

verified) on Thu, 08/28/2008 - 17:28.

Barbara Loe Fisher has been talking sense for three decades. And the

response from the medical authorities? Stonewall.

It's not good enough. We should have had the independent studies that she

has been calling for decades ago. Yes, vaccines do good. But at what

cost? Cost in chronic illness and disease as adverse effects -

allergies/asthma/anaphylaxis; arthritis/arthralgia; ADD/ADHD &

dyslexia & dyspraxia, & yes, the whole range of ASD/PDD-NOS

disorders; convulsions/seizures/epilepsy; type 1 diabetes, MS & other

autoimmune diseases - the list goes on and on. How much? We don't know.

Why? Because the authorities haven't done the studies. Why not? Because

they're ideologues: nothing must stand in the way of their vaccine

schedule. That's not an American response to this sort of thing. That's

the sort of response one would get from an authoritarian regime, like the

former Soviet Union. This is a scandal of major proportions. It's long

past time that it was faced up to, honestly, and with integrity - ie,

what is the REAL risks-vs-benefits of various vaccines? Time's a'wasting.

Lives are at stake. The truth must set us on a better road than the one

we are on now, which is leading nowhere but into darkness.

·

reply

Vaccines do have long-term side effects

Submitted by Anonymous (not

verified) on Tue, 09/02/2008 - 06:24.

I actually showed the vaccine literature to a Behavioral Optometrist and

Audiologist. They both looked at the adverse reactions listed and agreed

that many learning disabilities that we are seeing today may be adverse

reactions to vaccines - Dyslexia, ADHD, Auditory Processing Disorders,

Visual Processing Disorders, etc. Well, if vaccines use known brain

damaging ingredients, it is safe to blame them for the sharp rises in

these problems that we face today. I guess we will never know as long as

the medical community continues to deny that vaccines may be harmful for

many people. Why don't you ask your state representatives why they won't

support a study on the unvaccinated/vaccinated (a House Bill that remains

unsupported as I write this)? I will tell you why. Many receive funds

from the drug companies. Why would they want to bite the hand that feeds

them?

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