Autism in the Holy Land

[Guest guest]

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/autism-in-the-holy-land.html

 

Autism in the Holy Land

By Kent Heckenlively, Esq.

An Age of Autism reader sent me an article reporting on autism trends over time

in Israel.  The article is entitled “Time Trends in Reported Autistic

Spectrum Disorders in Israel, 1972-2004†and was published in the Israeli

Medical Association Journal in January of 2009 (HERE.) 

<http://www.ima.org.il/imaj/ar09jan-05.pdf>

The reader was concerned that little attention was being paid to the findings of

the article.  Although one might point to a more thorough, recent U.C.

study showing the rise in autism is not due to better screening and diagnosis,

and suggesting an environmental cause, the findings from the Israeli study are

nonetheless chilling. 

From the abstract, “The incidence data showed an increase in the number of

cases from zero in 1982-1984 and 2 in 1985 (1.2 million per capita under 18

years) in 1985 to a high of 428 cases in 2004 190 per million).â€Â  That makes

the current rate of autism in Israel to be about 1 in 2,400 kids.  But the

numbers on a yearly basis tell an even more interesting story than an inexorable

rise in autism rates.

The graphic for figure 1 in the document shows a slow increase from 1985 (0 per

year) to 1996 (approximately 65), then a sharp increase, peaking in 1999 (about

350), a plunge from that time to a low in 2002 (about 200), then a sharp

increase to 2004 (about 450).  The authors note that “The fivefold increase

in the annual number of patients eligible for disability benefits (author's note

- referring to the time-frame between 1996 and 1999) might be attributable to

several factors,†and then goes on to identify the usual suspects, namely

better diagnosing and reporting.

What’s curious, though, is how this population of medical professionals who

were supposedly good at identifying and diagnosing autism in 1999, then had a

drop of more than 40% by 2002.  Did they lose their newly-acquired skills in a

sophomore slump?  If I’m not mistaken, those were also the years of the

vaccine-autism " panic " which began shortly after the publication of Dr.

Wakefield’s article in the Lancet, linking the MMR shot and autism.  Was

there a drop in vaccination rates in Israel after the Wakefield publication? 

Did vaccination rates then subsequently go up in later years?

Think about it.  Autism rates in Israel dropped more than 40% during that

time.  Shouldn’t there be some investigation of what caused this dramatic

change?  Isn’t this something the CDC should be looking into?  Can somebody

call Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN?

Because if we could discover what caused such an amazing decrease in autism we'd

all have a new miracle from the Holy Land.

Kent Heckenlively is Legal Editor of Age of Autism

Love, Gabby. :0)

http://stemcellforautism.blogspot.com/

 

" I know of nobody who is purely Autistic or purely neurotypical. Even God had

some Autistic moments, which is why the planets all spin. " ~ Jerry Newport