Why Is The Autism Rate Rising So Fast?
 

About one in 150 American children has autism, an urgent public health concern, said U.S. health officials Thursday who reported on the largest study done so far on the troubling disorder.

I have been told more than once from parents of children with autism, it's the shots they give the babies/toddlers. I don't have enough knowledge to say which shot it is but apparently there is one that has mercury in it. I have a cousin and 2 friends both that there children have this and all were born normal. This showed up after the baby shots i think around the age of 2.

yea,.. I found that stat to be just crazy.. 1 in 150 !!?? that's insane.. i don't know if that was the case when my boys were born, but if it had been, i would have been a wreck just thinking about it.

Glad to have two healthy boys, here to drive me insane on a daily basis :)

Updated News Story
 

A new story has been added to the "Read More" section of this topic, as follows

USA Today -- Feb 19 2007 10:18 AM
Autistic kids can be helped

Parents are generally the worst source of pediatric health information.

There have been countless studies on the affect of pediatric vaccinations with thiomersal (the preservative that contains mercury) and autism, and there has never been a causal link found. It's an old wives' tale. Unfortunately, there are a lot of old wives in this country so the FDA told manufacturers to stop using it even though there was no reason to. Most stopped using it by 1999, and all stopped using it a few years after that. Autism continues.

I never knew there was a cause of sorts
 

I thought that was something that you inherited from your mom or dad. Have they found any links to other sources ?

As the number of births increase, so do the number of birth defects.....it's not rocket science folks.

The total number of births should not affect the rate at which something like autism appears.

Incorrect my friend, it is not a percentage on exponential growth. It is a ratio. Just because their are more births does not mean the genetic problems increase.

A percentage is a specific type of ratio.

Also, autism rates are not increasing exponentially.

at least agree you agree with 50% of what I was saying. Autism occurs at a specific rate unless factors influence it otherwise. Joepole you sound like a math prof. at a unversity.

This forum is like a Casino
 

You can have highly educated people talking to complete fools that in the real world you would never even give them the time of day. I am not calling you a fool or highly educated :laugh: but everyone reading these post can tell when someone is talking from the hip and not the brain. I think Joe and Rhertz and you are three of the higher educated people posting. I enjoy your sharpe comments as they fly by :clap:

Isaac-Saxxon

Like a significant increase in the population due to delinquent behavior resulting in abnormal family units? Teen pregnancy, single mothers, drug abusers...

Perhaps my general statement of increased population = increased birth defects was over simplifying the problem. More births doesn't necessarily mean an increased ratio of birth defects, but more births to unhealthy/unfit mothers certainly does.

Case and point made
 

Even hiding behind a avatar or screen name can not hide the fools :laugh:
Isaac :rolleyes:

It is sad that pregnancy has become a choice and not life a changing event of creation. Short of gene manipulation there will always be gentic disorders to some degree.

>More births doesn't necessarily mean an increased ratio of birth defects, but more births to unhealthy/unfit mothers certainly does.

That requires a connection between unhealthy/unfit mothers and the likelihood of having children with "birth defects." That is sometimes the case and sometimes not, depending on the particular problem.

Pregnancy has always been either a choice or an accident. It is birth that has recently (in terms of human history) become a legal and reasonable choice.

Do you really need to see data that proves women who spend their money on vitamins and doctor visits, as opposed to booze and crack, have healthier babies before you believe there's a correlation?

Edit: And it doesn't even have to be booze and crack...it can be anything the individual deems more important than health and hygiene. Said individual isn't going to have a healthy child if they sit in a chair eating Big Mac's all day either. Remember, over 32% of the American population is now considered obese.

Your grouping people and do you have numbers on this ?
 

Do you think some races fill more of that gap than others or is it the entire population ? Maybe that is just how you feel and not facts which you seem very good at avoiding. From looking at your web site you do not seem to like much of anybody are you in the hate business ? Maybe you could tell us who is it that you "DO" like that would be a shorter list.
Isaac

Stupidity isn't a characteristic of any particular race. It's a chosen way of life....take you for instance. Someone who bases their entire life on their own interpretation of the writings contained in one book of pure fantasy devoid of any and all fact.

That's stupidity at it's finest. You being to blind to see the truth is just icing on the cake.

>Do you really need to see data that proves women who spend their money
>on vitamins and doctor visits, as opposed to booze and crack, have healthier
>babies before you believe there's a correlation?

"Healthy babies" and "birth defects" (or lack thereof) can be very different things. Aortic valve stenosis is one of many "birth defects" that show up children whose mothers did all the "right" things as often as it shows up in the children of crack whores. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is an example of a birth defect that does correlate with maternal prenatal activity.

I have no idea what maternal activities correlate with autism, it's not something we ever worried about with our kids because my wife didn't have any vices (smoking, drinking, caffeine, etc.) during either pregnancy. Do you have any evidence to suggest that autism is caused (or contributed to) by maternal prenatal activity? If you do't then it's pretty foolish to make statements like the rise in the autism rate is "due to delinquent behavior resulting in abnormal family units...Teen pregnancy, single mothers, drug abusers..."

If you had to wager whether the typical single mother or pregnant teen of 2007 gets better or worse prenatal care than the typical middle-class housewife of 1940, where would you put your money?

I do not think he will be able to understand that statement
 

Well done Mr. Joepole :clap: Facts not emotions should and will rule the day not shooting from the hip emotions. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Isaac

Haha..."crackwhore"...thats hilarious! Its not just a lifestyle, its an occupation! How about "assistant crackwhore"? Even crackwhores have to pay their dues.:eek: Ok, show of hands...how many of you are crackwhores?:D

Your view is to short sighted. Try thinking in terms of generations rather than in terms of mother/child.
No, what's foolish is to expect a direct, mathematically predictable rise in the number of birth defects in relation to the increased number of births. There are entirely to many variables that didn't exist in previous years, NOT due to man made influences. How about the increase in traist specific to African Americans , or even hispanics....the new largest minority.

Did the typical single mother of 1940 have multiple sex partners? Experiment with drugs and/or alcohol? Did she work a physically demanding job or flip burgers part-time?

Seriously dude, do you REALLY think the modern single parent is in better health and therefore providing a better environment for her fetus simply because of progress in medical technology?

I hope this does not get edited
 

For a smashed brain being stupid comes easy. :laugh:

So Mr. "Confirmed Catholic" you make fun of the Bible and and your for abortion and you live in the cartoon world :nono: You do hate blacks, gays and many others from looking at your web sit. Hot, cold, hot , cold and hot around the collar all the time. Now that is stupidity at it's low point

>Seriously dude, do you REALLY think the modern single parent is in better health and therefore providing a better environment for her fetus simply because of progress in medical technology?

Yes I do.

Well that would be incorrect. Medicine fights disease, they doesn't improve health.

Pills aren't better than vegetables.
Dieting isn't better than exercise.

After all, isn't one of the suspected causes of Autism all the immunization shots (modern medicine) we give our children? While not a proven fact, even the CDC supports continued research in this area:

Vaccines and Autism Theory

At a glance: The weight of currently available scientific evidence does not support the hypothesis that vaccines cause autism. [b]We recognize there is considerable public interest in this issue, and therefore support additional research regarding this hypothesis. CDC is committed to maintaining the safest, most effective vaccine supply in history.[/i]

Or maybe you're just to stupid to realize that you can't judge an individual based on one aspect of their life.....say an internet persona for instance.

Does being a confirmed Catholic also mean I am a Christian?
Does being pro-choice mean I cannot be a right-wing extremist?
Does supporting law over religion mean I must support Socialism over Democracy?

Can you hear me all they way back there in the 50's?

Not just one approach can fix a problem. A combination of diet, exercise, veggies and pills as needed can do wonders. Look what penicillin did to life expectancy:cool:

A suspected cause of rising autism rates was the use of thiomersal (a mercury-containing preservative) in vaccinations, especially vaccinations that were packaged together into one shot. Study after study showed that there was no link between thiomersal and autism, but the FDA had manufacturers stop using it. Most did in 1999, all did by 2002. Its removal from the market caused no change in the autism rate.

>Medicine fights disease, they doesn't improve health.

Incorrect, medical knowledge improves health. My wife took prenatal vitamins that were unknown and unavailable in 1940. We now know not to smoke or drink alcohol during pregnancy, something our great-grandmothers did without a second thought. Pregnant women used to be told to sleep on their backs. now we know this is bad advice.

>Pills aren't better than vegetables.

Depends on the pill and the vegetable. To get the recommended about of prenatal folic acid that comes in a pill my wife would have had to eat 4 or 5 pounds of spinach a day.

>Dieting isn't better than exercise.

Dieting is MUCH better than exercise. That's true in general, but especially true when referring to prenatal health. Although are important, what you do doesn't affect your baby nearly as much as what you consume. Once baseline activity levels are met (so you don't have high blood pressure, anemia, etc.) exercise doesn't really help the baby much.

Updated News Story
 

A new story has been added to the "Read More" section of this topic, as follows

SBLive! -- Feb 20 2007 10:54 AM
Signed! Despite Controversy CAA Bill is now a reality

I guess this site gets things done GW must be watching (bigbrother is always watching)....

He even managed to go back in time to sign the bill.

what do you think G.W.'s avatar is....

His avatar is the BUSH that burns
 

Isaac :laugh:

I don't dispute what you are saying, but you fail to note that even the CDC feels there isn't enough evidence to dismiss the hypothesis either.....and I have to agree that it's better to err on the side of safety.

If I am incorrect then why change the key term away from medicine and into medical knowledge? I mean if the medicine makes you healthier as oppose to lifestyle, then why stop smoking and drinking when you could just take a pill "to make you healthier"?


And if spinach were the only available source of folic acid then you might have a point, but it's found in just about all of the leafy vegetables AND liver.
If baseline activity levels are being met then additional exercise isn't even required. My example was an A or B example, not a combination of both.

No kidding, I heard a news report about 12 months ago when I first started seeing myspace in the news a lot. The report claimed that the FBI has created an automated system (like carnivore?) that will profile every member of every community site on the Internet. The report was about myspace type of sites, but who knows, maybe they track small hometown sites like this too. I wouldn't be surprised.

Tracking helps keep the whackos away.

Only time will tell on that one
 

This is the world wide web and the door is open for what ever the wind might blow in so keep your fire wall up.
Isaac :D nice teeth

Years ago autism was not diagnosed. Know one knows how many people had autism previously. Awareness of this disorder is one factor why the numbers are increasing. Autism in not limited to one group of people (rich, poor, etc.). I know people who do not have any vices and are well educated who have autistic children. Autism covers a wide spectrum of behaviors.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The incidence of diagnosed autism has increased since the 1990s. [4] Reasons offered for this phenomenon include better diagnosis, wider public awareness of the condition, regional variations in diagnostic criteria, or simply an increase in the occurrence of ASD (autism spectrum disorders). The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders to be about one in every 150 children.[5][6] In 2005, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) stated the "best conservative estimate" as 1 in 1000.[7]. In 2006, NIMH estimated that the incidence was 2-6 in every 1000 [8]

There are numerous theories as to the specific causes of autism, but they are as yet unproven (see section on "Causes" below). Proposed factors include genetic influence, anatomical variations (e.g. head circumference), abnormal blood vessel function and oxidative stress. Their significance as well as implications for treatment remain speculative."