Re: SchaferAutismReport: The Great Autism Rip-Off

[Guest guest]

Did anyone else find this article insulting to parents? Particularly to those of us using biomedical interventions and who are well informed of such interventions.

Our practitioner never indicated he could "cure" our son. There are labs for so many of the conditions for which the interventions are recommended. For the child that died during a chelation treatment, the doctor administered the entirely wrong medication. It was not the chelation that killed the child, it was the wrong medication. Our local pharmacies screw up meds all the time.

I guess I also just don't see myself as "desperate."

The Great Autism Rip-Off

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 Reader Supported Vol. 12 No. 80p

In This Issue:

•

TREATMENTThe Great Autism Rip-Off

• •

RESEARCHBeing Born Small, Early Raises Autism Risk Robison Writes About TMS Therapy For Autism

•

PEOPLEMissing Autistic Teen Found OK

•

EDUCATIONSpecial Ed Busting Budgets

• • •

PUBLIC HEALTHVaccine Debate: Are We Hurting Our Kids?MEDIAThe Green Our Vaccines Rally Audio Live From Washington, DCCOMMENTARYA Timely Truth Untold... AgainLETTERS

Send your LETTER

Publisher's Note: Due to our attendance at the Green Our Vaccines Rally in Washington DC, publication frequency may be irregular this week. - Editor.TREATMENTThe Great Autism Rip-Off How a Huge Industry Feeds On Parents Desperate To Cure Their Children By Barney Calman in the Daily Mail, UK.tinyurl.com/5k2k3z There is little hope given to parents of children with autism. Mainstream medicine offers no explanation for the cause of this life-long learning disability, thought to affect one in 100, and there are no effective treatments. Perhaps the most cruel characteristic of the condition, which impairs communication development and ability to relate to others, is that children often develop normally until about two years of age, when they suddenly 'regress', becoming mute, withdrawn, refusing to make eye contact and prone to tantrums. Many never take part in mainstream education and some require full-time care, even as adults. In the absence of solutions, desperate parents are increasingly turning to the world of alternative medicine in their search for a cure. In this burgeoning market, private doctors and clinics have sprung up across the UK claiming they can treat or even 'reverse' the disorder. Recent research published in the Journal of Developmental And Behavioural Paediatrics found that a third of parents of autistic children have tried unproven 'alternative' treatments. Worryingly, the study claims one in ten has used what the experts class as 'a potentially harmful approach'. The Blackpool-based mother of seven, five of whom suffer from ASD, knows all too well the powerful allure of the promised 'cure'. After the family - including , 24, , 22, , 20, Luke, 19, , 18, Joe, 15, and Ben, 11 - appeared in the 2003 BBC documentary My Family And Autism - dramatised in the film Magnificent 7, in which actress Helena Bonham played a character based on Jacqui - they were inundated with calls from alternative practitioners. 'You are so desperate in the early stages, you'll try anything,' says Jacqui. 'I bought enzymes and supplements from America, which cost a fortune. I even paid thousands for a special mattress, blankets and pillows with magnets sewn into them that the sales people promised would do wonders but, of course, didn't work. 'Autism is seen by some people as big business. 'I meet parents who want a cure and spend money in the hope they'll have a normal child. I try to warn them that there is no evidence any of these things work, but they'll often go ahead.' Jacqui and autistic sons Jacqui with her four sons who all suffer from autism - from left, , Luke, Ben and Joe To investigate Jacqui's claims and to discover exactly what is being offered to parents, I visited five practitioners of 'biomedical' autism therapies posing as a parent of a three-year-old boy diagnosed with ASD. In each case my story - a 'typical' case of an autistic child, developed with the help of medical experts - was the same: My 'son' Archie was born on September 15, 2004, after an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth. He had all the usual baby vaccines, including the MMR at 14 months, and developed normally until around 18 months old when he became withdrawn and stopped speaking, refusing to make eye contact. Our GP referred us to a specialist who diagnosed him with ASD. I claimed to be seeking help from more 'forward-thinking' doctors. During my investigation, I was recommended expensive tests, vitamin supplements and special diets, ointments, suppositories and injections to 'flush out toxic heavy metals', bizarre-sounding high-pressure oxygen chambers and intravenous infusions of hormones - and told in each case that they could bring about a complete recovery from autism. Yet medical experts say there is no evidence to support their claims, and in fact many of the treatments I was offered were potentially harmful, and even possibly fatal. The experience left me disturbed at the lack of regulation surrounding these practices. The cost of some treatment programmes ran into thousands. Yet some clinics claimed to have six-month waiting lists. This week, new legislation aimed at protecting consumers from 'rogue traders' came into force, prohibiting businesses from making 'false claims' that a product is able to cure illness. Although the practitioners stopped short of saying they could 'cure' autism, each described to me instances of young patients who had been transformed by their treatments and were able to lead totally normal lives and participate fully in mainstream education. The doctors I visited are all linked to the highly controversial US-based Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) group - a collection of fringe academics and doctors.+ Read more: tinyurl.com/5k2k3zFor rest of today's SAR click here:wwwsarnet.org/frm/forsar.htm

Today's SAR is provided through the support of paid subscription readers. - THANK YOU -

$35 for 1 year - or free!www.sarnet.org

Copyright Notice: The above items are copyright protected. They are for our readers' personal education or research purposes only and provided at their request. Articles may not be further reprinted or used commercially without consent from the copyright holders. To find the copyright holders, follow the referenced website link provided at the beginning of each item.

Lenny Schafer editor@... The Schafer Autism Report is a non-profit corporation

Unsubscribe here: wwwsarnet.org/frm/unsub2.htm